Don't Listen To All The Critics, Listen To Me!!!

It's getting pretty pathetic on the Giuliani campaign, hopefully this should all be over by Jan 29th when Florida gives him a 3rd or 4th or....5th place finish.

WTF Is Wrong With Andrew Cuomo

The raging debate today going on at DailyKos has to do with one of New York's top politicians. Andrew Cuomo is no stranger to controversy here in NY but now he has outdone himself across the country by making a racially charged remark. He claims that it was taken out of context when he used the phrase "shuck and jive" against Obama, saying that he said nice things about the candidate and that he's a great symbol. What a bunch of bullshit. Is anyone buying this bastard's BS?

From Jack and Jill:

Hat tip: Politico.com

Dept. of word choice


A prominent New York Clinton supporter, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, on how Hillary beat Obama in New Hampshire by beating him at retail politics:

”It’s not a TV-crazed race. Frankly you can’t buy your way into it,” Cuomo said. “You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference,” he added. “All those moves you can make with the press don’t work when you’re in someone’s living room.”

Are you going to tell me THAT isn't racial? SHUCK AND JIVE? How come it seems as if, we repeatedly get these statements coming from the Clintons, and/or their surrogates, and then we're either given a phony apology, or we're told we 'misinterpreted' it. English is the PRIMARY language of the Black community. We understand it when we hear it, and don't need anyone else to interpret it for us. But, oh yeah, we're ' imagining' it.

Jack and Jill isn't imagining anything here. Before Cuomo became Attorney General here, he was a member of Bill Clinton's cabinet and of course the son of the former Governor. He's got quite a page on wikipedia, but this is the first time we've heard a comment out of him like this. Shame on Andrew for sinking this low for the Clintons.

Chris Matthews Has His Panties All In A Bunch

How's that for a little gender joke Chris? You like to make fun of women like Hillary and conduct yourself in a crude manner around women on your show, well why don't you just shove it. Turns out your 'friend' on the election night specials has saved the network from your inane commentary and an executive at MSNBC has sold you down the river.

From MediaBistro:

If MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann were to write a book about Office Politics 101, he'd call it "Do As I Write, Not As I Did for 20 Years." Olbermann discusses office politics and other issues in the February issue of Men's Journal magazine, out yesterday.

In the interview with Paul Tullis, one focus is Olbermann's habit of, "trashing people publicly, even his employers."

But he seems to be doing well for himself in the office now. Tullis cites a senior executive at MSNBC, who says, "Keith runs MSNBC. It's been an amazing turnaround, because two years ago they were going to cancel him. Because of his success, he's in charge. Chris Matthews is infuriated by it."

The article also touches on Olbermann's goals, in the context of his main competition, Fox News Channel. "I'd like it to be the accurate counterweight to Fox. My attitude is not to counterbalance them because they're conservatives; it's counterbalancing because some of their stuff is outlandishly in violation of every tenet of responsible broadcasting," he says.

Awww, why so upset Chrissy? Is that bruised ego of yours actually bigger than your fat head? Get over it quick, or (hopefully) you'll find yourself out of a job.

So How's That Surge Going?

Olbermann takes a look at the surge, one year later:

When Hell Freezes Over

The cliche above is often meant for one person to use a certain type of sarcasm against another, implying that something will never happen. Well to be fair, nothing froze in Baghdad, but it did snow in the Iraqi capital today. No one can really recall anything like this happening for decades. Is it just a freak and bizarre occurrence, or a sign from up above?

From Yahoo News:

Although the white flakes quickly dissolved into gray puddles, they brought an emotion rarely expressed in this desert capital snarled by army checkpoints, divided by concrete walls and ravaged by sectarian killings — delight.

"For the first time in my life I saw a snow-rain like this falling in Baghdad," said Mohammed Abdul-Hussein, a 63-year-old retiree from the New Baghdad area.

"When I was young, I heard from my father that such rain had fallen in the early '40s on the outskirts of northern Baghdad," Abdul-Hussein said, referring to snow as a type of rain. "But snow falling in Baghdad in such a magnificent scene was beyond my imagination."

It snows up in the north in the Kurdish areas, but never down in the desert. For once, the snow actually brought calm to the city. No violence was reported late into the afternoon. Isn't it amazing that little water crystals falling from the sky can bring peace where the U.S. military and Iraqi government has miserably failed.

I only wish it snowed more often there.

Happy Anniversary Guantanamo!

Isn't it amazing how we've stuck together after all of these years. All of the torture, dehumanization, stripping of habeus corpus and destroying the Constitution. It sure has been good times for the Bush Administration and their one and only Guantanamo Bay facility. In most loving relationships those around them seek to foster more good years to come, but I'd rather pledge for the two to be divorced immediately and commit Guantanamo so that no one gets hurt from this day forward.

In all seriousness, six years is far too long for the U.S. to condone torture and prohibit the due process of law for the detainees on our military base in Cuba. Six years ago today the military brought the first 20 men over and since then hundreds more to follow. Many of these detainees were sold to the military from Pakistan and local warlords to profit off of the "war on terror." Many have never even seen a court room, let alone the evidence that is supposedly holding them away from their families and their country.

Today, New Yorkers will be praying during the lunch hour down at Foley Square for this sad chapter of American history to come to an end. Across the country, from Maine to Hawaii, Americans are standing up and having their voices heard. Will George Bush listen? Of course not, but the candidates hear us and while some want to double or triple Guantanamo, thankfully all of the Democratic candidates pledge to shut down the facility along with some of the Republicans.

It'll be a great day when we won't have to commiserate over a seventh anniversary for these terrible two.

Ron Paul The Racist?

CNN's Anderson Cooper did a big story on Ron Paul's highly controversial newsletters from the late 80s and early 90s the other day. It goes the terrible things that are said in there, but never really got to the bottom of the story. When Ron Paul was confronted about them, he claims he has no idea who wrote them and doesn't feel like investigating who did. Let the past be the past? That's bullshit, this is the race to be President, Paul better expect this to be dragged out until he either comes clean about what was written or slowly die out on the campaign trail.



Seriously Ronnie, expose the writer if it wasn't you.

Another Shocker From The President

The country was riveted to their television screens multiple times in 2006 and 2007 when the media descended upon mines across the country like Sago and Crandall Canyon to see if rescuers could save several miners trapped in what was claimed to be an earthquake (though that is under dispute). When hope ran out people demanded action, they wanted the President to come to the mining community's aid and make sure that the tragedy we saw wouldn't happen again. Remember that? Well guess what's happened since?

From the AFL-CIO:

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao missed the Dec. 15 deadline to issue new federal rules for better trained mine rescue teams at the nation’s coal mines. The Charleston Gazette reports:

The rules are still not finalized and are sitting at the White House, under review by the Office of Management and Budget.

In 2006, spurred by what would become the highest coal mine death toll since 1996—including the deaths of 19 coal miners at the Sago, Aracoma and Darby mines in West Virginia and Kentucky—Congress passed and President Bush signed the MINER Act that mandated several mine safety improvements, including rescue teams.

The June 2006 mine law gave the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) 18 months to finalize the new rescue rules. It took the safety agency 15 months to write the proposed rules and now the Bush administration says it can’t provide a timeline for issuing them.

Are you surprised nothing got done? You better not be when it comes to George Bush protecting his friends in the mining industry. Speaking of those friends who make their money off of the blood of dead miners....

Meanwhile, Bush once again circumvented Congress and reinstated MSHA administrator Richard Stickler to head the agency. Stickler, a former coal company executive, twice failed to win Senate confirmation, but in late 2006, with Congress out of session, Bush used a recess appointment to install Stickler in the post, officially known as the assistant labor secretary for mine safety and health.

The recess appointment expired at the end of 2007. In a somewhat bizarre chain of events, MSHA removed Stickler’s bio from the agency’s website and announced Jan. 3 that Stickler’s assistant was the acting assistant secretary. But his tenure was brief: On Jan. 4, Bush named Stickler the new acting assistant secretary, a move that does not require congressional approval and is likely to last until the end of Bush’s term. After press reports that Stickler’s bio had been removed, it’s now back online.

Yep, that's right, George Bush does not care about those dead miners, their families or the thousands more that are still in the mines day in, day out. As long as people like Richard Stickler can make a profit, no one in George's Administration really gives a damn.

Forget FISA "Security," It Really Is All About The Money

Remember how the Democrats were accused of being weak on national security for objecting to the new FISA laws Bush wanted for limitless spying? He told us it was absolutely necessary for him to have his way to wiretap anyone he pleases, because you know we all could be terrorists.

Well as Chris Dodd fights against retroactive immunity for the telecommunications industry that acted as co-conspirators in Bush's illegal wiretapping, the telecoms have done something that comes from far left field. It turns out they are shutting off some of the FBI's wiretaps. Now why would they do something to endanger America and embolden the terrorists?

From The Boston Globe:

WASHINGTON—Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.

A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. Poor supervision of the program also allowed one agent to steal $25,000, the audit said.

In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.

So potentially useful evidence has stopped being recorded because the FBI can't pay their AT&T or Verizon bill? The phone companies (save for Qwest) were best buds with the Bush Administration when they thought they'd be making bank by allowing the government to wiretap everybody. Now that they realize the FBI is too incompetent to pay their bills, the new policy is f**k em.

Such is Corporate America in 2008, there isn't even a false sense of patriotism left at these companies.

Huckabee Goes On Colbert For Another Bounce

The interview is hilarious, even of Huckabee's positions can be downright scary. Once again, Huckabee promised Colbert the VP bid if he wins the nomination, damn I almost want the Huckster to get the GOP's nod to see Colbert run. Or maybe the Gov is just saying that because he doesn't think he stands a chance.

Big Media Says Free Speech be Damned On The Internets

It really is a constant battle trying to save free speech against corporate America these days. Companies like AT&T, NBC, Verizon and a whole slew of them seem to have a never-ending thirst to see their customers be stripped of their rights from the First Amendment while using the Internet. The latest salvo concerns network-level filtering, a tool the corporations want to use in order to stop any possible "copyright infringement." What that really does is stop free speech like parody and the people's right to discuss specific pieces of content while online.

From The NY Times:

Network-level filtering means your Internet service provider – Comcast, AT&T, EarthLink, or whoever you send that monthly check to – could soon start sniffing your digital packets, looking for material that infringes on someone’s copyright.[...]

“We are very interested in a technology based solution and we think a network-based solution is the optimal way to approach this,” he said. “We recognize we are not there yet but there are a lot of promising technologies. But we are having an open discussion with a number of content companies, including NBC Universal, to try to explore various technologies that are out there.”

Internet civil rights organizations oppose network-level filtering, arguing that it amounts to Big Brother monitoring of free speech, and that such filtering could block the use of material that may fall under fair-use legal provisions — uses like parody, which enrich our culture.

Now why would media giants be so concerned about what goes on the Internet if they aren't going to make a dime anyways? Of course the writers of said content say otherwise, and helpfully explain the producers' excuses and the reality of new media, all in one wiki!

Perhaps they might want to add this net neutrality piece, showing that the networks really do care about every dime they make off the net, and the millions they are willing to spend to protect those shiny pieces of money.

When Is Enough Enough For Blackwater?

While we pay our troops shit for serving over in Iraq, Blackwater mercenaries have been making ridiculous amounts of money with no shortage of controversy. First it was the four contractors killed in Falluja and then we found out they killed civilians without a care in the world. Plenty of outrage was expressed, by the American people and even some in the Congress. At one point even their overlords at the State Department said they'd do something about the problem. Of course that was just a bunch of hot air.

Now we have discovered that Blackwater "accidentally" gassed our own troops. You want outrage? You got it. Accusations? They're coming. You want something to actually be done about it? We'll see.

From The NY Times:

Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders. An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.

“This was decidedly uncool and very, very dangerous,” Capt. Kincy Clark of the Army, the senior officer at the scene, wrote later that day. “It’s not a good thing to cause soldiers who are standing guard against car bombs, snipers and suicide bombers to cover their faces, choke, cough and otherwise degrade our awareness.”

Gassing our own troops with a chemical that has been banned by international treaty is a war crime. Forget "uncool," these mercenaries should be tried in the Hague. So should the people that give them political cover from the Bush Administration. Blackwater's PR machine was quick to react of course, saying “It seems a CS gas canister was mistaken for a smoke canister and released near an intersection and checkpoint.”

Excuse me? They mistook them for smoke canisters? Are you f*%ing joking? What about the armored vehicle on the ground? Looks like that press release forgot to address ALL of the facts.

I'm sure there will be a modification to that statement, so that they can escape blame and "earn" some more of those billion dollar contracts. Where the hell is the accountability here? Congressman Waxman, these killers need to be stopped, the privatization of our military is going to destroy the institution. Put Blackwater, CACI, Halliburton and the rest out of business and let the military do its job.