End of an era: Blackwater's Iraq contract ends today

All you peace activists, listen up.
Today is special. You'll want to remember this day -- May 7, 2009 -- as the day when the second largest occupying force, the private army formerly known as Blackwater, finally left Iraq.

Triple Canopy, a Herndon, Virginia-based company, picks up the expiring contract of the security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, which changed its name to XE a few months ago. The U.S. State Department decided not to renew XE's contract in January.
"When the U.S. government initially asked for our help to assist with an immediate need to protect Americans in Iraq, we answered that call and performed well," XE spokeswoman Anne Tyrell said in a statement Wednesday. "But we always knew that, at some point, that work would come to a close."
The end of the contract followed the Iraqi government's refusal to renew the firm's operating license because of a September 2007 shooting in which Baghdad says security guards -- then employed by Blackwater -- killed 17 Iraqi civilians. LinkHere

Pakistan declareswar on Taliban
Government calls upon citizens to unite behind country's armed forces.

Anchor Tells Gay Activist Blogger: I'd Like To "Give You A Punch Across The Face"

Michael Rogers of BlogActive.com and editor of PageOneQ.com was on Let's Talk Live on News Channel 8, an ABC affiliate in the greater D.C. area when anchor Doug Mckelway told him he would like to "give you a punch across the face." Rogers is now calling on Mckelway to issue an on air, as well as a written, apology.

"Well, if Mrs. Obama wants to exercise, Elmo wants to exercise too! Yay exercise!!"

Michelle Obama's Sesame Street PSA: "You're Your Child's Best Role Model" (VIDEO)
The First Lady explains:
"If you want your child to have healthy habits, practice healthy habits, too. Because you're your child's best role model."

Not A Minute Too Soon.!!!!!!

Palin's Popularity Plunging In Polls

Time: Joe The Plumber Quitting The GOP

The Goons At Work Again!!!!

Vote for the bill or vote against it. Support it or denounce it. Make your case with due respect for what this sort of thing involves. Just don't play politics with it.

Republican Political Hackery and the Hate Crimes Bill

Bob Cesca
During the same historic week in whichmarriage equality was passed in Maine, the Republicans -- the self-proclaimed party of emancipation and "the liberty tree" -- attempted to derail hate crimes legislation with some political trickery that succeeded in allowing Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh to accuse the Democrats of protecting pedophiles. Stay with me on this.
Rep. Steve King (R-Batshittia) introduced an amendment to the hate crimes bill calling for the term "sexual orientation" to exclude "pedophiles" even though the bill specifically defines sexual orientation as "consensualhomosexuality or heterosexuality." Pedophelia, as everyone knows, is nonconsensual no matter who engages in it.
Not only was King insinuating the derogatory stereotype that homosexuals are pedophiles, but his amendment would've further validated this stereotype by writing it into the legal record. By the way, Joe the Plumber -- another very serious leader of the Republican Party --advanced the same stereotype this week when he said that he'd never let his "gay friends" anywhere near his kids. Classy. Nevertheless, King making this kind of distinction is sort of like amending civil rights legislation with: "the term 'African Americans' shall not include anyone who rapes white women." It elevates a stereotype while denying one exists. Pretty slick -- in a creepy, sinister kind of way.
Obviously, the point of King's amendment was neither to help to separate the LGBT community from nonconsensual sexual deviants, nor was it designed to make sure pedophiles weren't covered under the hate crimes law. King's intention was absolutely to trick Democrats into voting against the amendment -- and they did -- thus allowing the Republicans to say that Democrats are with the pedophiles.
So the Republicans are seeking a way out of their current mess by defining the Democrats as the party of pedophilia, even though the GOP's previous attempts to paint the Democrats as the pro-terrorist, anti-American party failed miserably to prevent landslide Democratic victories in the last two general elections.
But of course King's stupid amendment trick allowed Sean Hannity to repeat throughout his Tuesday night show things like, "Is it safe to say that Democrats were willing to protect pedophiles?" Limbaugh, meanwhile, remarked that the Democrats are "carving out protection for perverts." This from a guy who successfully wiggled out of a legal situation involving the possession of prescription E.D. meds (not in his name) during a stag trip to a destination apparently known for sexual tourism.
Here's the thing, though. Hannity, Limbaugh, King and 166 House Republicans are decidedlyagainst the hate crimes bill. The legislation, as passed by the House, specifically defines hate crimes as being "motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim." Again, Hannity, King and the rest are absolutely opposed to this.
So while the Republicans have vocally and repeatedly expressed their position against "protecting pedophiles," it can be said -- and, quoting King, "it's a matter of record" -- that they're also against protecting women, racial minorities, ethnic minorities, religious people and disabled people, among others.
Get it?

Pass Or Fail,

Pass or fail, U.S. banks bow again to Washington

A couple of weeks ago, not long before disgruntled shareholders stripped him of his chairman’s title, Bank of America chief executive officer Ken Lewis insisted he was done drinking from the government trough. But U.S. President Barack Obama and his team of number crunchers at the Treasury Department apparently beg to differ.

Cantor Tries, Fails To Offer GOP Health Care Plan On Morning Joe

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Many Media Monitors recommended this clip from this Morning's edition of Morning Joe. Eric Cantor, asked by Carlos Watson if it might be a good idea for the GOP to partner with the White House on a "big initiative," like health care. Cantor allowed that while it's important for everyone to recognize that any individual without access to health care is facing "a crisis," he "drew the line" at any sort of government "takeover" of the health care system. So, what did he favor? Mike Barnicle attempted to suss this out with a very well formulated question LinkHere

The party leaders all personify the geographic and ideological base -- namely, southern white conservatives.

Dem Pollster Defines GOP Brand: "Utterly Uncaring" In "Time Of Crisis"

Longtime Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg is not normally in the business of advising Republicans. So when he willingly offers a diagnosis of the GOP's ills and a blueprint for its recovery, the material is worth noting.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, the onetime Clinton pollster and head of Democracy Corps pinpointed four points of vulnerability in the Republican brand.
The party leaders all personify the geographic and ideological base -- namely, southern white conservatives, he said. The emphasis on cultural issues is ill-fitting in the current climate. The strict opposition to the president's economic plans was almost transparent in its motivation. And the criticism of the stimulus was "defining their party as utterly uncaring during this time of crisis."
Taken as whole, Greenberg notes, the proof of GOP malaise is in the pudding. While most recent polling places Republican identification at a paltry 21 percent, his data suggests that there has been no corresponding drop in Democratic affiliation. We are seeing "a rise of Democrats, with the pool of Independents mostly coming out of the Republicans."

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Coincidence?

The heart of conservative economics is the idea that rich people’s wealth eventually benefits everybody. But there's an opposing idea called the Winner Take All theory which says in this competitive society people have an intense drive to win. And the prize for rising to the top is that you grab it all - or a huge percentage - then the losers divide up the little that's left. LinkHere

Report: US tortured at least 8 detainees to death

US interrogators may have killed dozens, human rights researcher and rights group say

United States interrogators killed nearly four dozen detainees during or after their interrogations, according areport published by a human rights researcher based on a Human Rights First report and followup investigations.
In all, 98 detainees have died while in US hands. Thirty-four homicides have been identified, with at least eight detainees — and as many as 12 — having been tortured to death, according to a 2006 Human Rights First report that underwrites the researcher’s posting. The causes of 48 more deaths remain uncertain.
The researcher, John Sifton, worked for five years for Human Rights Watch. In a posting Tuesday, he documents myriad cases of detainees who died at the hands of their US interrogators. Some of the instances he cites are graphic. LinkHere

Senate to hear testimony on Bush detainee interrogations

Pentagon admits planted stories probe 'whitewash'

Rush Limbaugh Speech At Heritage Foundation President's Club Meeting

While Limbaugh jets around the country in his $54 million Gulfstream G550, laughing off the recession, does he even realize that his own bloated contract is contributing to the rising unemployment rate?

Limbaugh is no stranger to belittling the poor and dismissing the economic troubles of others. In March, Limbaugh scoffed at a question on homeless children, asking, “Would somebody tell me the last time you saw a kid sleeping under a bridge?”
As Media Matters reported, even Limbaugh’s employer Clear Channel is struggling under the weight of the recession. Already this year, Clear Channel has “shed nearly 3,000 employees, or 12 percent of its workforce.” LinkHere

Poll: Republicans, Southerners most unpatriotic

Margaret Carlson: Rove ‘really rattled’ by Obama

Former White House adviser Karl Rove admitted during a debate about “the partisan divide” in Washington on Monday that the atmosphere is “poisonous,” but he refused to take any personal responsibility for the situation.
“The atmosphere in Washington D.C. is too poisonous and has been for the last 16 years,” Rove stated. However, when asked about his own role in creating this divisiveness, he responded, “I’m a myth.”
Rove also insisted that President Bush had reached out to Congressional Democrats early in his presidency, contrasting this with President Obama’s pushing through his stimulus program and budget without support from most Republicans.
Columnist Margaret Carlson commented to MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, “That exchange was so fierce, I found it very surprising. I think Karl Rove must be really rattled by President Obama, because Republicans have not mounted an opposition.” LinkHere

Blackwater guards allegedly tried to get rid of evidence in deadly Iraq shooting

US government informants allege that military contractors tried to cover up their role in a deadly shooting in Iraq by disposing of the weapons involved, according to a report.
“Shortly after a 2007 shooting incident in a Baghdad traffic square … Blackwater contractors allegedly transferred a number of machine guns to another contractor who is now charged with trying to smuggle them out of Iraq,” writes Bill Sizemore of The Virginian-Pilot.
The contractors tried unloading the guns “before an investigation of the bloody incident began,” according to two confidential government informants in a sworn statement.
A half-dozen contractors face multiple charges over the shooting, which left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, including children.
The Baghdad shooting in September 2007 infuriated Iraqi citizens and reversed the fortunes of Blackwater, which has since changed its name to Xe.
The company’s founder, Erik Prince, stepped down shortly after the name change.
The notorious contractor has been investigated several times by the US government over various allegations, particularly involving arms.
Blackwater has also been accused of numerous misdeeds in Iraq by Iraqi officials,congressional reports and independent investigators. LinkHere

Over 1 million records on government’s combined watch list

400,000 still on terror watch list, including author of book on Rove

The US government’s consolidated terrorist watch list has exceeded an estimated 400,000 “unique” records of “known or suspected terrorist identities,” according to a Justice Departmentreport released today.
The controversial list, according to the report issued by the Office of the Inspector General Audit Division, is a combined database of various federal law enforcement agencies, administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) via its Terrorist Screening Center (TSC).
As of 31 December 31 2008, 1.1 million records exist on the government’s combined watch list, according to the Inspector General’s report. That number, however, includes duplicate files and aliases and does not reflect the actual number of people on the terrorist watch list.
The TSC estimated, as of 9 September 2008, that the total number of “unique” individuals on the watch list was approximately 400,000.
The report is the result of an investigation by the Audit Division and discusses findings related to three objectives:

» Justice Dept. drops case against war resistor Watada

MAN OF PEACE: Justice drops criminal charges against Ehren Watada, the Iraq war's first high-profile resistor.

The Department of Justice has dropped its case against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, a war resistor who refused Iraq deployment in June 2006 and denounced President George W. Bush’s decision to invade as illegal and immoral.
In Feb. 2007, military judge Lieutenant Colonel John Head halted Watada’s case following possible inconsistencies concerning a “stipulation of fact” agreed before the hearing. The decision led to a mistrial, ending Watada’s court marshal. The Army appealed, but a judge said Watada could not be tried again on the same charges, as it would violate his right to be free of double jeopardy.
The Justice Department is dropping its appeal of that judge’s decision.
“Because there are no longer any criminal charges pending against Lt. Watada, and because (his) military service has been extended far beyond his normal release date, he anticipates that he will soon be released from active duty,” Watada’s attorney, James Lobsenz, said in a media advisory published Wednesday. “He plans to return to civilian life and to attend law school.”
“Settle set aside two specifications of the same charge — conduct unbecoming an officer — which stemmed from public statements Watada made against the war and President Bush,” reported Vanessah Ho for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
LinkHere

Spanish judge sends Guantanamo inquiry

A Spanish judge will ask the United States if it plans to probe alleged torture at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp before deciding whether to open his own inquiry. Judge Eloy Velasco from Spain's top criminal court will make the request formally in a letter to officials in the United States, according to a copy of the document obtained on Tuesday. LinkHere

About time someone with some intelligence and integrity took on this "IMBECILE."

MN Doctor Says She'll Challenge Michele Bachmann In 2010

Dr. Maureen Reed, a Stillwater area physician and the Independence Party's 2006 nominee for lieutenant governor, today announced she would seek the endorsements of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Independence parties for the 6th Congressional District seat held by Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Reed said in a press release that she would file papers with the Federal Election Commission so she can start raising money for her campaign.

Bachmann Speaks At Anti-Tax Rally (1 and 2)

Minnesota you proud of her ignorance

This is why WPITW was invented: Michele Bachmann, 29 April, 2009

Michele Bachmann Is Proud Of Her Ignorance

Democrats Accused Of Using Hate Crime Bill To Protect Pedophiles

Hannity "House Dems vote to protect pedophiles, but not veterans":SUMMARY: Sean Hannity, Bill Hemmer, and The Fox Nation advanced the false claim that House Democrats voted to "protect" or "defend" pedophiles by voting against an amendment to the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Discussing the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which defines as a crime acts of violence or attempted violence "motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim," Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Bill Hemmer, and The Fox Nation, have all recently advanced the false claim that House Democrats voted to "protect" or "defend" pedophiles by voting against an amendment to the bill by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) stating that "the term 'sexual orientation' shall not include pedophilia." In fact, as Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) noted during an April 23 House Judiciary Committee hearing, the term "sexual orientation" is already defined by federal statute as applying only to "consensual homosexuality or heterosexuality," thereby excluding pedophiles, who engage in nonconsensual sexual relationships with children. In providing her reasons for opposing King's amendment, Baldwin said that it "is unnecessary and, I would add, inflammatory in terms of insinuations." LinkHere

You Lose Hannity, Take Notice You, and the GOP are "IRRELEVANT"

Christian Conservative Family Research Council Slams New GOP Initiative: "Devoid Of Values ... Running Scared"

Virginia Foxx Sends Apology Letter To Matthew Shephard's Mother

Cheney: I'm Speaking Out On Obama To Defend The "Little Guys"

Torture Memo Author Advocated Presidential Pardons, Jury

Nullification

Twenty Percent Of Americans Support Torturing Terrorist Suspects: Poll

WATCH: GOP Releases "Guantanamo Bay Terrorists: Coming To A Neighborhood Near You?"

GOP Pollster: Our National Security Attacks On Obama Make Us Look "Irrelevant"

Tennis star's dad under arrest

Damir Dokic arrested over threat to blow up Australian embassy

Damir Dokic arrested for bomb threat
Australian embassy in Belgrade the target
Illegal bombs, weapons found in his home

POLICE have found two illegal "bombs'' in a raid on the home of Damir Dokic, government officials say.

The father of Australian tennis ace Jelena was arrested at about 2am Sydney time after threatening to blow up the Australian embassy in Belgrade.

An Interior Ministry official did not elaborate on the explosive devices allegedly found at Mr Dokic's home at Vrdnik north of Belgrade.

Seven hunting rifles and a Beretta handgun were also found in the home, with Mr Dokic holding permission to possess the weapons.

But a cache of .357-calibre bullets may also have been held illegally.

"Nobody can threaten the security of a foreign embassy,'' a Serbian Government spokesman said of Dokic's arrest.

The notoriously volatile father can be held for 48 hours without charge before he has to be taken before an investigating judge. Mr Dokic had phoned the embassy in a rage this week after Jelena claimed in an interview that she was physically abused by her father. LinkHere

A party of "Eunuchs", bowing to a friking "PHYCHO"

WATCH: GOP Leader Cantor Bows To Rush: "This Is Not A Listening Tour"

Rep. Eric Cantor led a much-publicized GOP listening tour this past weekend -- or so we all thought.
"What we're trying to do here today is kick off a series of town hall forums so that we can get back to listening to the people," Cantor told CNN on Sunday morning as he kicked off the rebranding effort.
"Listening to people can make a difference," declared Mitt Romney while sitting on stage with Cantor during the first event. "That's what we're talking about here, we're listening to people."
Fellow GOP luminary Jeb Bush sounded like an echo: "I'm actually optimistic [about the future], if we have the humility to start listening and learning..."
But then Rush Limbaugh spoke up. "We do not need a listening tour," the conservative radio king made clear on Monday. "We need a teaching tour. That is what the Republican Party, or, slash, the conservative movement needs to focus on. Listening tour ain't it."
And so it was on Wednesday morning, when Eric Cantor appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe, that he cleared the matter up. "You know, Joe, really, this is not a listening tour."
We've put together a little video compilation so you can watch the change occur in high-speed:

LinkHere

John Kerry: Newspapers Are "Endangered Species"

WATCH LIVE: Arianna, David Simon, Others Testifying Before Congress On Newspapers

4AM Deal Saves Boston Globe

Jon Stewart Investigates The "Lost Party": Republicans

They've been out of office for three months and already they're collapsing in on themselves like a hollowed-out wedding cake. Arlen Specter defected, President Obama's approval ratings are through the roof and everyone's wearing blue this season. Yes, Republicans have tried everything from an "off the hook" public relations offensive tohanding the party over to a child, and are still losing ground to the Democrats.
Jon Stewart premiered a new segment last night that chronicles the Republican's woes and the possible solutions called "The Lost Party." Last night we watched as leaders of the GOP ate "local ethnic food in casual attire" proving their allegiance to the common man. Unfortunately, this make-over came with no new ideas. LinkHere

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Republicans: The Lost Party
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The Subprime 25: The Top 25 Lenders Responsible For Almost $1 Trillion Of Subprime Loans

Today, the Center for Public Integrity releases the results of its investigation into the housing crisis, which showed that investment banks, some of which were recipients of billions of taxpayer dollars through the federal bailout, made major investments in subprime lending.
"The top subprime lenders whose loans are largely blamed for triggering the global economic meltdown were owned or bankrolled by banks now collecting billions of dollars in bailout money -- including several that have paid huge fines to settle predatory lending charges," write John Dunbar and David Donald.
"The banks made huge profits and executives collected handsome bonuses until the bottom fell out of the real estate market."
According to their analysis, 21 of the top 25 subprime lenders were either owned or partly financed by one or more of the top bailed-out banks.
Among those banks: Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs.
Click here to read the rest of the report.
Here is the list of the top 25 subprime lenders based on the center's analysis of data collected on almost 7.2 million high-interest mortgages.
The center's investigation also features maps showing where the top 25 subprime lenders originated most of their high-interest mortgages from 2005 through 2007, the period that marks the peak and collapse of the subprime boom. LinkHere

Convicted as a teen, US man freed after 16 years in prison

"The case was built largely on the testimony of a terrified 14-year-old boy whom the police woke up in the middle of the night and took down to the station without a parent and interrogated until he changed his story," he said.
An estimated 200,000 juveniles are tried, sentenced or incarcerated as adults every year in the United States, according to the Campaign for Youth Justice.
The United States is alone in the world in applying the sentence of life without parole for crimes committed by juveniles, according to Human Rights Watch, which found nearly 2500 US youth offenders serving such sentences last year.

Arrested at 13 for a murder he didn't commit, US man freed after 16 years in prison

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Arrested at 13 for a murder he didn't commit, Thaddeus Jimenez spent more than 16 years in jail before his conviction was tossed out and the man originally fingered for the crime was arrested. Jimenez is believed to be the youngest person convicted of a crime who has been exonerated in the United States.
He was tried as an adult and sentenced to 45 years in jail -- despite the fact that an alleged accomplice in the murder insisted that another teen been the shooter and that police were provided with a tape in which that teen confessed. According to news reports, prosecutors have charged Juan Carlos Torres, mpw 30, with the murder, and have filed papers for his extradition from Indiana, where he now resides.
Meanwhile, Jimenez, also 30, who went to prison baredly in his teens, returned to his mother's arms Friday a grown man. "Oh my God I can't believe it. I can't believe he's here," Victoria Jimenez sobbed as she wrapped her arms around her son. Jimenez clutched a piece of paper as he walked up to a podium in Chicago Monday to thank his family and his lawyers for working so hard to get him free. "You'll have to excuse me if I fumble some of my words. I'm a little bit nervous," he told reporters.
"I'm happy to be alive today," he said as his mother wiped tears from her eyes and clutched his sister's hand. "There are many more innocent men, women and children still in prison today. I hope my case can be studied and used to prevent other defendants -- especially juveniles -- from having to endure what I had to endure." LinkHere

Poll: For first time, majority in California want legal weed

Schwarzenegger: Debate pot legalization

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that Californians should have a debate over the legalization of marijuana and study how marijuana taxation has worked in other countries.

CBS Reporter Debunks Video Of Press Corps Allegedly Showing Fealty To Obama

A YouTube clip purporting to demonstrate -- through press room etiquette -- that the White House Press Corps has a greater level of fundamental respect for President Barack Obama than his predecessor has been making its way around the internet. In the video, the viewer is offered a side-by-side comparison between Obama's interruption of last week's press briefing to announce David Souter's retirement and another instance in which President George W. Bush entered the briefing room. In the former, the press corps stand up. In the later they remain seated. Here, you can watch for yourself: LinkHere

Specter Will Be Junior Democrat On Committees

Despite promises from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) would retain his seniority after switching parties, Specter will be put at the end of the seniority line on all his committees but one under a resolution approved on the floor late Tuesday.
Under the modified organizing resolution, Specter will not keep his committee seniority on any of the five committees that he serves on and will be the junior Democrat on all but one — the chamber’s Special Committee on Aging. On that committee, he will be next to last in seniority.
As a result, Specter — who as a Republican was ranking member on the Judiciary Committee and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, as well as ranking member of the panel’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education — will now rank behind all the other Democrats, at least until the end of this Congress.
According to a senior Democratic aide, it remains unclear whether Specter — who will still retain his seniority in the Senate outside of the committees — will see a boost in his committee seniority should he be re-elected for the next session. The status of his seniority for the next Congress will be determined once the 112th Congress convenes in 2011, the aide said. LinkHere

Mike Pence Descends Into Gibberish After Evolution Questioning From Chris Matthews

The conversation started off with a rather simple question. "Do you believe in evolution, sir?" Chris Matthews asked Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), a leading House conservative. LinkHere

No, Krugman Will Not Comment On His Off-The-Record Dinner With Obama

Nobel-Prize-winning economists Paul Krugmanand Joseph Stiglitz have been persistent critics of the bailout, serving as thorns in the side of President Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
Obama, who has been criticized for stacking his economic team with proteges of Robert Rubin, the former Clinton Treasury Secretary and former Citigroup chairman considered by many to be partially responsible for fueling Wall Street's obsession with risky investments, even joked about it during a recent New York Times magazine interview.
When columnist David Leonhardt noted that Obama has a "spectrum of Democrats" within his economic policy team, Obama laughed:
"But I don't have Paul Krugman or Joseph Stiglitz."
Later, the president expressed his "enormous respect" for Stiglitz, adding that "I actually am looking forward to having these folks in for ongoing discussion."
On April 27, Obama invited Krugman and Stiglitz to the White House for a roast-beef dinner and to get their input on the financial crisis, reports Newsweek: LinkHere

Mullah Noorullah tracked down in tunnels

Diggers kill Taliban commander

AUSSIE troops have inflicted a major blow to the Taliban after hunting down and killing a top insurgent in his tunnel lair.

Likely to disrupt Taliban activities for months. LinkHere

Biden: Israel must stop settlements

Calls for two-state solution; PM Peres to Clinton: Israel won't give US ultimatums.

Former unit of Cheney’s firm makes up ‘vast majority’ of criminal audit cases in wake of Iraq war

Ex-Cheney firm accused of massive criminal fraud, bribery

In shocking testimony made by the Pentagon’s top auditor on Monday, the Defense Department revealed that a former unit of the company where Vice President Cheney was CEO is under investigation for allegedly billing for unallowable costs, accepting bribes, falsifying time cards and overbilling.
The onetime unit of Halliburton, KBR, is now an independent company. Halliburton formally broke off ties with KBR in April 2007.
April Stephenson, head of the Pentagon’s contract audit agency, said she didn’t know of any contractor probed that had ever been cited for so many abuses. Of the 32 cases under criminal investigation, KBR constituted the “vast majority.”

“I don’t think we are aware of a program, a contract or a contractor that’s had this number,” Stephenson said.
The allegations of potential fraud began in February 2004, with the most recent one being in March of this year. Cheney was CEO of KBR’s then-parent company, Halliburton, from 1995-2000, in the years leading up to his election to the office of vice president.
In a statement to Bloomberg News, a KBR spokesman said the firm “in no way condones or tolerates illegal or unethical behavior” and that “when KBR has discovered wrongdoing of any sort by an employee, we have swiftly reported it to the government.”
KBR is purportedly the largest non-union construction contractor in the United States.
The Associated Press’ writeup of the story follows.

Pentagon auditor cites heavy fraud by contractor
Top Pentagon auditor cites unprecedented number of reports of suspected contract fraud, waste

LinkHere

We'll see?

White House Continues To Fully Support Specter: Gibbs

The Obama White House, to this point, remains untroubled by the opposition of the Democratic Party's newest member, Arlen Specter, to the president's budget, the Employee Free Choice Act, and a public plan for health insurance.
Asked about the Pennsylvania Democrat on Tuesday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that Specter continues to enjoy Barack Obama's "full support" and that the administration would do "what's necessary to see him re-elected," despite their divergence on these policies.
"I think Senator Specter said it the day he made his announcement that he's going to make decisions on individual bills, but I think him switching to the Democratic Party was a belief that that's the party that could best serve his constituents," Gibbs said, in response to a question by ABC's Jake Tapper. "We don't get 100 -- we don't generally get 100 percent of any party voting for us, but we'll continue to try." LinkHere

Poll: Even Republicans Want Specter To Back EFCA

Buried in this week’s Quinnipiac Poll of Pennsylvania is a stunning number that really leaves you wondering why Arlen Specter is holding out against the Employee Free Choice Act. LinkHere

Sestak: We Don't Need The GOP's Benedict Arnolds

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) hasn't been shy about criticizing Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) for switching parties last week, but his harshest words came last night in an interview with TPMDC: "He left the fight," said the former admiral and highest ranking military man ever to serve in Congress. "In the military, we just don't leave fights."
Sestak's shot at Specter comes amid grassroots grumbling that the deal Democratic leaders struck to get Specter to defect from the GOP cost the party a shot at putting a real liberal in the seat in 2010.
"I can't figure out...why the deal was done," Sestak told me, saying he's concerned that the party was so quick to embrace Specter for reasons of "expediency," and without regard to the needs of Pennsylvania voters. "It isn't Washington's prerogative to tell us what to do," Sestak insisted.
I asked him whether he'd been on the receiving end of establishment pressure -- from people like Vice President Joe Biden and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell -- to stay out of the race, and he insisted, "I haven't heard from anyone."
While Democrats from the While House on down might be trying to keep the Democratic primary field clear for Specter, they might not necessarily mind the fact that, for the time being, Sestak is applying pressure on Specter to move left. By keeping the door open to challenging Specter in the Democratic primary, Sestak may serve to nudge Specter further than he might otherwise have gone. Yesterday, Sestak told Greg Sargent that if Specter "doesn't demonstrate that he has shifted his position on a number of issues, I would not hesitate at all to get in" to a primary fight against him.

Do you ever get tired of Fox News' crops?

Fox News Caught Repeatedly Cropping, Manipulating

Hey, kids! Do you ever get tired of Fox News' crops? I don't mean the food they might be literally growing, in Glenn Beck's Doom Room, in preparation for Imminent Socialist Panic. I'm talking about the way they manipulate video to make it look like people are just straight up saying the opposite thing they actually said. Well, it's been bothering the media critics at Media Matters For America for some time, and they have, for a long time, been cataloging "examples of Fox News hosts and correspondents cropping comments by progressives and Democratic political figures in a manner that misrepresents them." A new mash-up video offers some side-by-side examples of what they're talking about:

Fox Crops

REPORT: Time and again, Fox News doctors video to smear progressives

Media Matters 8 hours and 28 minutes ago
SUMMARY: Media Matters has documented numerous examples of Fox News hosts and correspondents cropping comments by progressives and Democratic political figures in a manner that misrepresents them.

by draftedin68

FOX NEWS...We Distort, You're Deceived.

What part of "lifetime appointment" does Justice Souter not understand?

Justice Is Bland

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Three-Minute Confirmation Stick

Aasif Mandvi's three-minute confirmation stick determines where justices stand on abortion with 98% accuracy.

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Three-Minute Confirmation Stick
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House DC - College Bowls & Hate Crimes

Congress questions the fairness of the college bowl championship, and whether sexual orientation should be added to the hate crime...

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House DC - College Bowls & Hate Crimes
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Letterman Takes On Cheney For Attacking Obama (VIDEO)

Since leaving office, Dick Cheney has been on a whirlwind media tour of Obama-hate. He told CNN's John King that President Obama hasraised the risk of attack on America, he called the new president's economic policies"devastating," and he said Obama's trips abroad were "disturbing."
Well, David Letterman thought it was time to remind our former VP of his time in office with a segment called "Dick Cheney: How'd He Do?" It doesn't turn out well for Dick. LinkHere