Malkin And The Moustache Man

I would never, ever, never-ever call Fox News "fair and balanced," even I had a gun held to my head. I just wouldn't be able to live with myself. Though to their credit, they let one wacko Republican by the name of Geraldo Rivera counter certified wingnut Michelle Malkin for attacking him on one of their programs. Geraldo completely obliterates Malkin for the lunacy that comes out of her mouth. Maybe it was the shouting match between him and Bill O that lit some sort of fire under him. Of course in the end, I wouldn't want to touch either one of them with a ten foot pole.

Giuliani's Toxic Lies

Earlier this week Rudy made news when he claimed he spent as much time or more down at the World Trade Center than the rescue workers themselves. Obviously this riled anyone that cares about the firefighters and rescue teams more than they do about Giuliani and his ego (meaning the great majority of Americans). The heat got so bad that Rudy had to "clarify" his statements but he never answered how many hours he was down there. You want to take a guess at the real number?

From Your New Reality:

Rudy Guiliani (second from right) knew he had to protect his lungs from the toxic dust at Ground Zero. This is rare photo of Guiliani in a mask. He usually removed it for interviews and photographs.

Following up our recent report on wannabe Republican president, and former New York City Mayor, Rudy Guiliani's absurd claim that he was just like all those first responders and rescue workers, who clocked up many hundreds of hours in the toxic pit of 9/11's Ground Zero, a story in the New York Times reveals just how much time Guiliani actually spent on site.

The number of visits Guiliani made to Ground Zero between September 11 and December, 2001, is one-tenth of the number of visits he's previously claimed to have made.

Considering, also, that when Guiliani did visit the smoking ruins of the World Trade Centre he spent no more than 15 to 30 minutes at a time there, only increases the suspicion that Guiliani knew exactly how toxic the air was at the site, as did clearly the staff and security detail of the luminaries and world leaders he took there for tours.

Why am I not surprised? Rudy seems to be a run of the mill pathological liar. Usually these people do not amount to much since their lack of credibility keeps them down. Yet Rudy has skillfully alluded the adjective and replaced it with a blatantly false "America's Mayor" stamp. This qualifier needs to be quashed, and people should start calling him what he is, a liar that will go to any length to gain more power and feed that goddamn inflated ego of his.

We're Running Out Of Purple Hearts

With all the shouts and cries from the right that we are turning the corner (so 2004) and that things are getting better with the surge, it is hard to think good things about the occupation of Iraq when our military does not have enough purple hearts to send out to its veterans. Korean War Vet Nyles Reed was approved for his medal but only received a certificate and a letter that said he could buy his own. One might ask, why didn't he get it immediately after his injury? Well when you hear this story, you would think the military would want to jump to reward this dedicated soldier.

From The Houston Chronicle:

On the day he was injured, getting a medal was the last thing on his mind. Stationed close to the front lines at Panmunjom, where peace talks were under way, Reed "was a forward observer — the one that's up on the front line directing the artillery. I had to get to the observation point."

Reed jumped in a Jeep and had started out when a 76-millimeter shell "comes in and hits right below the Jeep in the mud. And when it went off, it blew the Jeep over and threw me into the windshield, where I busted my cheek — you can see the scar — and I was bleeding like a stuck pig."

"And I could see this battalion aid station, with Navy corpsmen. So this doc, this surgeon, sewed me up and he says, 'Do you want a Purple Heart?' That's when I said, 'I haven't got time! They're waiting for me up at the front lines,'" Reed recalled. He rushed back to duty.

About three years ago, Reed said, he started thinking that it would be nice to have the Purple Heart to pass on to his two sons or daughter, or to show to his eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

First of all, this is a smack in the face to any veteran to be asked to buy their own medal, especially one that was earned by being wounded in a conflict fought for their country. Secondly. how the hell could we have run out of medals?!? If the "surge" was going so well, we should have more control over Iraq and less casualties. Instead the medals are either being handed out quicker than they can be made, or the Pentagon was careless enough not to have more being put into production. Either way, it is a shame that Nyles Reed was made to pay for his medal. It is even more of a shame that the chaos in Iraq is to blame for this type of crap.

Oh and by the way, Mr. Reed spent $42 dollars plus tax at a surplus store for the purple heart. The army should refund him his money and his time spent going to get it.

Young Turks Recap The Week

From Karl Rove's departure and the mine safety fiasco to Dick Cheney's old video that shows he thought invading Iraq would be a complete disaster; its been a hell of a week.

Rally For Workers Rights: Sept 8th At WTC Site

Union leaders are ditching their plans to hold the regular labor day parade on 5th Avenue this year, and I couldn't be happier. Instead of a march, there will be a giant rally to address the concerns of the brave men and women who worked on the pile nearly six years ago. The air in the area damaged their lungs, killing some already while city, state and federal officials mostly turn a blind eye. People were outraged to see what Michael Moore brought to the screen with SiCKO and those were just a few of the victims. Now we want to see action, this is the beginning of it.

From 1010 WINS:

The parade, headed by the Central Labor Council, usually winds down Fifth Avenue and has about 50,000 participants. This year, the event will take place Sept. 8 at the World Trade Center site, "to address the chronic health impacts, ongoing monitoring, medical treatment and worker's compensation for first responders and other workers suffering from the long-term effects of 9/11,'' said Ed Ott, executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council.

Ott was left in charge after the former leader, Brian M. McLaughlin, was arrested on federal racketeering charges. The labor council is an umbrella group of unions.

Thousands of first responders who got sick after Sept. 11 now blame their health woes on exposure to the toxic fumes and dust at ground zero.

The terrible aftermath that has befallen these people still goes largely unnoticed. This event is one that will try to change things. If fifty thousand can march in a parade, I know that the citizens of New York can at least double that number at this rally. So take out your calendars and set aside a couple hours that Saturday to show your support for the workers at the World Trade Center disaster and for all workers across the nation and the world.

Manhattan Mini Storage + Bloody Coathangers = *&^%#$ @(*&

The NYC company Manhattan Mini-Storage created a huge controversy over their new ad. In the past they have used funny one-liners that skew to the Democratic side, such as "Your closets's so narrow, it makes Cheney look liberal." The latest ad takes on abortion and tells us exactly what will happen if pro-lifers get their way by eliminating a woman's right to choose.

From The NY Post:

The Manhatttan Mini Storage advertisement reads, "Your closet space is shrinking as fast as her right to choose," and is overset on a picture of a coathanger.

"These billboards, we think they're absolutely disgusting," said Kiera McCaffrey of the Catholic League told WCBS.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue also spoke out against the billboard.

(snip)

A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of NYC told the New York Sun, "We think it's fabulous. We salute Manhattan Mini Storage for helping to make New Yorkers as aware as we are of the growing restrictions on reproductive freedom in this country."

Pro-lifers like Donahue obviously hate ads like these because it shows Americans the realities that would beset our nation without having the freedom of choice. It isn't a debate of whether abortions are bad. Aborting a baby is not like going to the amusement park. It is a serious decision that a woman needs to make about her body due to whatever circumstances are present. Do we really want to go back to the time when people used coat-hangers when there were no professional medical facilities? Obviously scumbags like Bill Donahue do....and by having billboards like those from Manhattan Mini-Storage, the national debate takes that aspect into account.

Super Agent "W"

This cartoon is a little hokey, but makes it's point about George Bush, his buddies and what they are doing by wiretapping everyone and everything in sight.

Responding To "Some Idiot" At Fox News

Jon Stewart is one of my heroes. He tells the news as it is, with all the humor that it deserves. When people personally attack him like John Gibson did the other day, it rolls right off his back while he gets a quick, humorous jab in at the perpetrator. A response to Gibson did not have to be a big to do, like you would expect from Bill O'Reilly, who happens to be another idiot at Fox News.

From Media Matters:

On the August 15 edition of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart briefly mentioned comments that, as Media Matters for America has noted, John Gibson and his Fox News Radio show's executive producer made on August 10 and again on August 14, mocking Stewart's emotional on-air reaction after the 9-11 terror attacks as "phony." On The Daily Show, during an interview with Stephen F. Hayes, author of Cheney: The Untold Story of American's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President, (HarperCollins, July 2007) about Hayes' characterization of Vice President Dick Cheney, Stewart said that "there's a real feeling in this country that your patriotism has been questioned by ... people in ... very high-level positions. Not fringe people." Stewart continued: "I myself had some idiot from Fox playing the tape of me after September 11th -- very upset. And them calling me a phony ... because, apparently, my grief didn't mean acquiescence."

Hayes responded: "Look ... I think we can agree that ... we shouldn't be questioning other people's patriotism. On the other hand, I think it's totally legitimate to talk about different ways of handling the war on terror."

Questioning the patriotism of those that disagree with the President is all wingnuts like John Gibson have. They do not rely on facts or common sense. Without those little essentials, all they can do is pull stunts like the cowardly attack against Stewart. Gibson is piece of work, but there is little work or thought that goes into his program. Anyone can act like a bully, it takes class to be on Jon Stewart's level.

More Rats Jumping Off U.S.S. White House Disaster

Tony Snow"job" told the White House Press Corp today in a not so clever way that he was going to be resigning soon due to 'financial reasons' (yeah, sure Tony) but did not give a specific date. He also mentioned others were going to be departing their posts at the White House. It seems that whoever joined the Bush team has left with deep scars. Tony already had some bad bruises from working at Fox, the White House added the lacerations. The full list was compiled by TP today.

From ThinkProgress:

Snow’s upcoming departure makes him one of a bevy of top administration officials who, since November, have left their posts. ThinkProgress has compiled a list of some of the key resignations:

- White House Senior Political Adviser Karl Rove
- White House Counselor Dan Bartlett
- White House Budget Director Rob Portman
- White House Counsel Harriet Miers
- White House Political Director Sara Taylor
- White House Director of Strategic Initiatives Pete Wehner
- White House Deputy National Security Adviser J.D. Crouch
- Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty
- Acting Associate Attorney General William Mercer
- Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling
- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
- Army Secretary Francis Harvey
- Joint Chief of Staffs Chairman Peter Pace
- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson
- U.N. Ambassador John Bolton
- USAID Director Randall Tobias

With so many key staff departures, the AP reports that “Bush has decided he might get more done in his final months by going it alone,” making increased use of executive orders and veto power.

Bush is definitely "going at it alone." He lost the support of most Americans a long time ago. Only the die-hard ideologues remain and even some of them have left him to twist in the perilous winds of history. He continues to make a mockery of our democracy and will stop at nothing to run America into the ground. We will be left to pick up the pieces in 2009 and rebuild from there.

Colbert Exposes Nazi-Traitor Markos Moulitsas

Stephen Colbert, the ever-intrepid investigator and interviewer follows Poppa Bear's lead and goes after Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos. Of course Bill O in his infinite wisdom thinks DailyKos, with its pictures of 'pooties' and Democratic blogging, is a hate site that is indistinguishable from the Nazis (sigh). Well Colbert gets to the bottom of it when he hosted Markos on his show yesterday.

Millions Of Gallons Wasted Everyday In NYC, Infrastructure To Blame

Public service announcements are bought and paid for to remind us to conserve water, but what is the point when the city itself wastes up to 35 million gallons a day. It would be like having almost every single New Yorker filling up a typical 5 gallon drum and pouring it out onto the street, every goddamn day. Due to our crumbling infrastructure, a pipe that delivers part of our water supply is quite a prolific leaker.

From AM New York:

The city Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the water supply, has been aware of the leaks since 1988, but hasn't yet made repairs and has not developed an emergency response plan to deal with a potential collapse of the tunnel, according to the audit released Wednesday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

The leaking tunnel supplies more than half of the 1.3 billion gallons of drinking water consumed each day in the city.

The report found that the city has spent more than $28 million on engineering consulting services since 1998, but failed to consistently follow the consultant's recommendations. In that time, water loss due to the leaks has increased from about 20 million gallons per day in 1992 to 35 million per day, the report said.

Seriously, WTF is going on here. They have known about this for nearly twenty years and haven't done anything but 'study' it. Our steam pipes are antiquated, our electrical grid is shot to hell and now we find that the pipes that carry fresh water to New York has a mile and a half long 'leak'. A dripping faucet with a bad washer constitutes a leak. An old roof over your head that requires a few pots and pans during a storm....that would be called a leak. Thirty-five million gallons a day? That would be the daily flow of a small river. The city and the state needs to get their act together.

Giuliani Tells Voter To "Leave My Family Alone," Rudy's Family Leaves Him Alone Instead

Up in New Hampshire citizens take their Presidential politicking seriously. One likely Republican got up to give Rudy some praise, but then asked about why his family isn't supporting him. The other week his daughter Caroline had informally announced her support for Barack Obama on her Facebook page. Of course Rudy couldn't give a good answer since any truthful reply would look pretty damn bad. So instead he attacked the questioner and then gave the audience some bullshit about health care.

From the AP:

The questioner, Derry mother Katherine Prudhomme-O'Brien, opened by thanking Giuliani for how he handled the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and introduced him to her 5-year-old daughter, Abby, who was playing on the floor next to the platform where Giuliani stood.

Prudhomme-O'Brien, 36, wasn't certain about Giuliani's answer.

"If a person is running for president, I would assume their children would be behind them." she said. "If they're not, you've got to wonder."

She said the issue is a question mark that is "going to stay there for a lot of people."

(snip)

Giuliani wants to give families a $15,000 tax credit to buy insurance privately rather than through employers and he proposes that any money left over from the credit be kept in tax-free health savings accounts.

Prudhomme-O'Brien is on to something. Your family should support you, regardless of divorce or separation, especially when it is your own daughter. After Rudy snarled in self-defense, he talked about his health care "policy" that would give tax credits only to people that could actually save $15,000 on their taxes. If you are in the working class and pay little taxes already, you won't save a dime. No wonder his family won't support him, no one can trust the garbage that comes out of his mouth.