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It was very surreal to me Boomers, to see Putin yukking it up with Bush at the Olympic Games in Beijing while his troops invaded Georgia. Used to be that leaders actually led their armies into battle, and didn't sit back with some popcorn and beach volleyball while innocents were slaughtered by their command. It makes me think that they should give out medals for war. Better yet, send the leaders directly to the front lines, and let us get the front row seats.

george w. bush is flanked by sec'y of state condoleezza rice and defense secretary robert gates in the rose garden at the white house for a 13 august 2008 statement on russian / georgian / south ossetia conflict Author: wesawthat Keywords: george+w+bush russia georgia south+ossetia condoleezza+rice robert+gates august 2008 random Added: August 13, 2008

Bob Costas presses George Bush on the rise of China and the leverage (or lack thereof) of the United States in helping shape our relationship with them. What does it say about the state of political journalism in this country when a sportscaster alebit a well-informed and politically-engaged one shows them up in an interview with the President of the United States? Download | Play Download | Play Q But given China s growing strength and America s own problems, realistically how much leverage and influence does the U.S. have here? THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I don t see America having problems. I see America as a nation that is a world leader, that has got great values. I appreciate the optimism especially given the light-hearted atmosphere of the Olympic games but let s get realistic here. I don t expect the president to go into a policy speech about the collapsing housing market or unemployment (not to mention our adventures in the middle East) but don t talk to us like we re children who can t handle the reality of our nation s problems. Full transcript available at WhiteHouse.gov.

The bombing of Russia will begin in five minutes • Douglas, Turner, and DeVito are Romancing The Stone • Guess whose jersey number is retired.

9/11 In 7 Minutes Ranked 3.39 / 5 | 2562 views | 6 comments Click here to watch the video Submitted By: tuffsnuff Tags: New World Order 9/11 Truth Barack Obama George W. Bush Dick Cheney John McCain Hillary Clinton Bilderberg Group Economy Global Economic Collapse Alex Jones Ron Paul Money Recession Great Depression Ww3 World War III Israel Isreal Iran Ira Categories: News & Events People & Stories

Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Heather) Flying Spaghetti Monster bless Dennis Kucinich. He s in the middle of an absolutely sisyphean task of trying to make Congress actually do their job one that far more Americans support than they did the impeachment of Bill Clinton and one that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is frustratingly and blindly ignoring, as evidenced by her stop-me-before-I-throw-something-at-the-screen appearance on The View. JOY BEHAR: You’ve ruled against impeaching George Bush and Dick Cheney, and now Kucinich is trying to pass that. Why do you insist on not impeaching these people, so that the world and America can really see the crimes that they’ve committed? REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, I think that it—I think it was important, when I became Speaker—and it’s, by the way, a very important position—President, Vice President, Speaker of the House—I saw it as my responsibility to try to bring a much divided country together to the extent that we could. I thought that impeachment would be divisive for the country. In terms of what we wanted—set out to do, we wanted to raise the minimum wage, give the biggest increase in veterans benefits to veterans in the seventy-seven-year history, then pass research for stem cell research, all of that. This week, we’re going to pass equal pay for equal work. It has been a long time in coming—pay equity. We’re going to pass legislations for product safety, for toys that children put in their—there’s an agenda that you have to get done. You have to try to do it in a bipartisan way. The President has to sign it. If somebody had a crime that the President had committed, that would be a different story. Have you not been paying fricking attention for the last eight years, Nancy??? What do you mean, IF???? Say it with me now: warrantless wiretapping; waterboarding, lying to Congress and the American people to illegally invade and occupy a sovereign nation that posed no threat to us, firing US Attorneys for not pursuing partisan prosecutions, outing a covert CIA agent. And those were just ones you knew about and did nothing to stop, Pelosi. How dare she play stupid on national television and insult all our intelligence and what this country (once) stood for? How. Dare. She. So it makes me love the undaunted Kucinich that much more. He appeared on Democracy Now! and tried to spin this in the best way possible. (T)he reason why the Judiciary Committee should hold a hearing on the impeachment itself is because there needs to be a public airing of this. So, I have a great deal of respect for Speaker Pelosi, and I think that since she made that statement on The View, there s an opportunity now for us to come forward and to lay all the facts out so that she can reconsider her decision not to permit the Judiciary Committee to proceed with a full impeachment hearing. Give em hell, Dennis. full transcript below the fold JUAN GONZALEZ: We re talking about the use of public subsidies for sports stadiums. We re joined from Washington, D.C. by Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. And here in New York, we have Bettina Damiani, the project director of Good Jobs New York, and Neil deMause, author of Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit. But, Congressman Kucinich, you ve been leading the fight for impeachment, and I know you have to go very soon, so I wanted to ask you about an interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that aired on The View earlier this week. She was asked about impeachment. JOY BEHAR: You ve ruled against impeaching George Bush and Dick Cheney, and now Kucinich is trying to pass that. Why do you insist on not impeaching these people, so that the world and America can really see the crimes that they ve committed? REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, I think that it-I think it was important, when I became Speaker-and it s, by the way, a very important position-President, Vice President, Speaker of the House-I saw it as my responsibility to try to bring a much divided country together to the extent that we could. I thought that impeachment would be divisive for the country. In terms of what we wanted-set out to do, we wanted to raise the minimum wage, give the biggest increase in veterans benefits to veterans in the seventy-seven-year history, then pass research for stem cell research, all of that. This week, we re going to pass equal pay for equal work. It has been a long time in coming-pay equity. We re going to pass legislations for product safety, for toys that children put in their-there s an agenda that you have to get done. You have to try to do it in a bipartisan way. The President has to sign it. If somebody had a crime that the President had committed, that would be a different story. JOY BEHAR: Can they still do it after he s out? BARBARA WALTERS: When we-when I interviewed you last year, you had just begun, and you were going to clean up the mess, remember? REP. NANCY PELOSI: And we did. BARBARA WALTERS: You look around this country, 75 percent of the country-forget George Bush-thinks that Congress is doing a lousy job. ELISABETH HASSELBECK: I think it s 91 percent now. REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, I don t disagree with that, because largely it s predicated on ending the war in Iraq. That s the main question, and we were not successful. In our House of Representatives, I m very proud of our members, because they voted overwhelmingly over and over again to bring the war to an end, bring the troops home safely and soon, sent it to the Senate, and it hits a dead end. But in terms of that particular standard, I would say I disapprove, as well. But we do-we passed some of the things I just mentioned, the energy bill. We worked in a bipartisan way, Innovation Agenda. We have to create jobs, expand healthcare, protect the American people and educate our children. And you can t do that if you re trying to impeach the President at the same time, unless you have the goods that this president committed crimes. JUAN GONZALEZ: That was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Congressman Kucinich, your response to her take on the situation with impeachment? REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: Well, now that I ve heard that the Speaker is looking for evidence that crimes may have been committed, I certainly want to direct her attention to the thirty-five articles of impeachment that I presented, which assert quite directly that crimes have been committed, including taking this nation into a war, an illegal war, based on lies; including the deaths of over a million innocent Iraqis, which constitute a war crime; including wiretapping, rendition, torture, illegal detention. There are many examples of laws that have been broken. And the reason why the Judiciary Committee should hold a hearing on the impeachment itself is because there needs to be a public airing of this. So, I have a great deal of respect for Speaker Pelosi, and I think that since she made that statement on The View, there s an opportunity now for us to come forward and to lay all the facts out so that she can reconsider her decision not to permit the Judiciary Committee to proceed with a full impeachment hearing. I just want to state this, that I appreciate that she consented to a hearing on Friday. It was a six-hour hearing, over a dozen witnesses. Twenty-four members of Congress attended. It s being taken seriously. I think the idea that nothing can be done right now because we re on the eve of an election raises questions about our constitutional responsibility to be a check and balance to administration abuse of power. If in fact we re in a war that s based on lies, and we have thousands of troops whose lives are on the line every day, we owe it to them and we owe it to the American people to set straight the public record. And then, whether or not it results in the President being removed from office before the end of his term is another matter. I want to further say that with the possibility of a war in Iran in the offing, a war against Iran, a war that would be a result of a pre-emptive attack, much like the one that the United States launched against Iraq, it becomes very important that we hold this administration to the highest standard of having to verify the statements they make to take us into one war and to try to take us into another. JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, thank you, once again, for joining us.

Download | Play Download | Play (h/t BillW) By one count, the president has publicly vowed to “solve problems, not pass them on to future presidents and future generations” upwards of 400 times. As the clock starts to run out on Bush’s presidency, we know, of course, that the opposite is true. Global warming, the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, a weak economy … not only is Bush passing monumental problems onto his successor, he’s created new ones that didn’t exist when he got there. This is especially true when it comes to the federal budget. Bush inherited the largest surplus ever recorded ($128 billion), but his fiscal legacy is a painful one. The White House on Monday predicted a record deficit of $490 billion for the 2009 budget year, a senior government official told CNN. The deficit would amount to roughly 3.5 percent of the nation’s $14 trillion economy. The official pointed to a faltering economy and the bipartisan $170 billion stimulus package that passed earlier this year for the record deficit. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Bush “will be remembered as the most fiscally irresponsible president in our nation’s history,” adding, “If they gave out Olympic medals for fiscal irresponsibility, President Bush would take the gold, silver and bronze. With his eight years in office, he will have had the five highest deficits ever recorded. And the highest of those deficits is now projected to come in 2009, as he leaves office.” Wait, it gets worse. USA Today added: Curbing the deficit will fall to Bush’s successor and the next Congress following a time when taxes were cut and major spending initiatives were undertaken, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, transportation projects, farm subsidies, Medicare prescription drug coverage and a recently passed expansion of veterans’ education benefits. The actual 2009 deficit could climb still higher because the new projection does not reflect full funding for the wars. In addition, a worsening economy could add to the red ink by reducing tax revenue and increasing safety-net payments, such as jobless benefits and food stamps. To be fair, the deficit, while approaching a half-trillion dollars — that’s “trillion,” with a “t” — isn’t entirely a record-setting shortfall. In terms of deficits as a percentage of GDP, Reagan’s deficits were worse. What’s more, we’ve had worse deficits when adjusted for inflation. But Bush’s record is nevertheless a humiliating one. The president took office supporting a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, and assuring voters that he would keep the federal government in the black. Instead, when all is said and done, Bush will have added $2 trillion to the national debt, and will be the first and only president to ever cut taxes during a war, effectively putting major military conflicts on the national charge card. It’s not a legacy to be proud of.

"Secret Pants hit the streets to find out how much ordinary people know about our nation's greatest patriot, Batman." Uploaded Today 88 likes .

"Secret Pants hit the streets to find out how much ordinary people know about our nation's greatest patriot, Batman." Uploaded Today 119 likes .

Author: badrackets Added: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:55:13 -0800 Duration: 133The second video from The Bad Rackets from Austin, Texas. A flattering homage to Monty Python and sing-a-long videos of our youth. A not-so-flattering homage to the 43rd President of the US and the last 8 years.

Author: badrackets Added: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:55:13 -0800 Duration: 133The second video from The Bad Rackets from Austin, Texas. A flattering homage to Monty Python and sing-a-long videos of our youth. A not-so-flattering homage to the 43rd President of the US and the last 8 years.

After John Ashcroft s testimony last week in which he bobbed and weaved his way around answering every question about what he did during his time in the White House, Jon Stewart and John Oliver compare Bush and his merry band of obfuscators to other American Presidential liars in order to make a historical comparison. Needless to say, the Bush team is in a league of its own. Download | Play Download | Play Oliver: I just hope everyone at home appreciates the magnitude of what they re witnessing here. For 7 straight years, this administration has been untouchable in hearings. These guys are the 27 Yankees of dodging questions. The 55 Dodgers of yanking Congress chain. They re the right stuff of wrong stuff. John, this is once in a generation bullsh*t. Steart: You really think this admininstration is that good at this? John: Sure, look, we can quibble at the level of competetition. You can criticize the strength of their opponents lets face it, the Democrats have been pathetic. But you still can t help but be impressed at the level of skills on display. I won t be surprised if in years to come they describe these hearings as the Immaculate Deception. I truly can t wait to see those jerseys hanging from the rafters. Digg It!

Last week, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed charges for the first time against a sitting head of state, charging President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan with three counts of genocide, five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crimes. Fareed Zakaria had Sudan s ambassador to the United Nations on his CNN show, GPS, to discuss the charges, which he called a joke and cited the U.S. 2002 withdrawal from the ICC treaty as an example of why Sudan does not recognize the court s authority and will not cooperate with it: Download | Play Download | Play ZAKARIA: Will your government mount a defense in the International Criminal Court? MOHAMAD: We have no relation with the International Criminal Court. We don t recognize its authority. We are not going to cooperate with it. ZAKARIA: But of course, you know that other governments that did not recognize the Criminal Court were still forced to extradite their leaders. I m thinking of Yugoslavia. MOHAMAD: No. I don t care about them. As far as we are concerned, we are not members. We have been told these days repeatedly that the ICC is an independent body. And so, OK, if it s an independent body, I am not a U.N. organ. We have full right to be part of it or not. And we choose not to be part of it, like the United States. (full transcript) Complicating the ICC s ability to pursue war crimes charges, as referenced in the interview by Sudan s UN ambassador, is President Bush s unsigning of the International Criminal Court treaty in 2002. Though President Bush has publicly denounced the killings in Sudan as genocide, the administration has soft-pedaled sanctions against the Sudanese government to preserve its extensive intelligence collaboration with Sudan, once a safe haven for bin Laden that has become a crossroads for Islamic militants making their way to Iraq and Pakistan. The most major impediment to ending the genocide in Darfur has been China s longstanding diplomatic protection and economic support in return for its access to the 500,000 barrels of oil that Sudan produces daily. China, also not a signatory to the ICC treaty, was revealed in a report about a week ago by the BBC to be in violation of the UN arms embargo there through its export of weapons and training of fighter pilots. Supporters of Barack Obama who would like to see the United States reembrace the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty, thereby reaffirming its commitment to human rights, have created a group on the candidate s website, my.barackobama.com.

McCain: There Will Be Other Wars, Smilin John McCain - Tough Talk - Fool or Fraud?, Ball Bounce, Obama Talks Tough, Biography of George Washington, A Brief Profile of the Continental Army, Dwight David Eisenhower At a Glance, World War II, The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses Grant, The Civil War Home Page, Abraham Lincoln Research Site, Emancipation Proclamation, Theodore Roosevelt Association, The Harvard Boxing Club, John Quincy Adams POTUS Page, Colorado Alligator Farm, White House, Thomas Jefferson Digital Archive, Sage of Monticello - Thomas Jefferson Wiki, Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation, George W. Bush was a fighter pilot, Andrew Jackson

You know what I hate Boomers? Bicyclists. I know that might be an unpopular sentiment, but I find them all so smug. Like they're saving the planet and I'm a big lame polluter. Well, one of these days, either accidentally or on purpose, I'm sure I'll run one of them down, and then who'll be the smug one?

The Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant, Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco to name the Sewage Plant after George W Bush, Real Flying Car, The Sky Cutter .40 V2, The Flying Lawn Mower, Gear Factor Marketing, The heads of the International Space Station meet in Paris, International Space Station, WaPo: Put Wings on The ISS and Send it to the Moon, Slashdot Readers to WaPo: ROFLMAO, Connect a Desk Connects a Laptop to Your Neck, 9.2 Percent of Koreans are Addicted to the Internet, More evidence that Koreans are hooked to the net, God is with us by the Choir of St. Romanos the Melodist, $314.44 Holy Birdhouse, Holy Birdhouse Mosque, Atomic Bomb Detonation at 1,000,000,000th Of A Second, Herostratus, Temple of Artemis, Rocket no boom (thx, Kam!)

In an interview to be aired this Sunday on Late Edition, Nancy Pelosi, in response to a quote from Bush about the Democratic Congress failures, doesn t hold back her true feelings for the lame duck President. Download | Play Download | Play God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject.

John McCain and George Bush readily concede that off-shore drilling won t produce a drop of oil in the near future, but believe it will relieve our psychological pain. And we all know losing ones home is merely psychological. Download | Play Download | Play We want to believe that the nothing President Bush is offering is the something we ve all been waiting for.

Make up your mind, George...should we stay or should we go?? Real sound bites from President Bush. Distributed by Tubemogul.

In this short, two-minute clip from his press conference today on the sad state of the American economy, President Bush managed to embarrass himself (and thus the country) on at least three occasions. First he smirks and gives a smart ass answer when asked about $5 gasoline not very funny considering he hadn t heard of $4 gas back in February. Second, he repeats the McCain campaign talking point gaffe about our economic woes being merely psychological. Then, finally, he tops if off with what he calls his brilliant statement about magic wands. Download | Play Download | Play I think it was in the Rose Garden where I issued this brilliant statement: If I had a magic wand but the President doesn t have a magic wand. You just can t say, low gas. It took us a while to get here and we need to have a good strategy to get out of it. Can this guy seriously be any more out of touch? Watching him chuckle his way through questions about how badly he has destroyed our economy as millions of Americans are losing their homes and being forced to change the way they live tells you all you need to know. Full transcript below the fold: Q Mr. President, in February you were asked about Americans facing the prospect of $4 a gallon gasoline and you said you hadn t heard of that at the time. Gas prices THE PRESIDENT: Aware of it now. Q Gas prices are now approaching $5 a gallon in some parts of the country. Offshore oil exploration is obviously a long-term approach. What is the short-term advice for Americans? What can you do now to help them? THE PRESIDENT: First of all, there is a psychology in the oil market that basically says, supplies are going to stay stagnant while demand rises. And that s reflected somewhat in the price of crude oil. Gasoline prices are reflected the amount of a gasoline price at the pump is reflected in the price of crude oil. And therefore, it seems like it makes sense to me to say to the world that we re going to use new technologies to explore for oil and gas in the United States offshore oil, ANWR, oil shale projects to help change the psychology, to send a clear message that the supplies of oil will increase. Secondly, obviously good conservation measures matter. I ve been reading a lot about how the automobile companies are beginning to adjust people consumers are beginning to say, wait a minute, I don t want a gas guzzler anymore, I want a smaller car. So the two need to go hand in hand. There is no immediate fix. This took us a while to get in this problem; there is no short-term solution. I think it was in the Rose Garden where I issued this brilliant statement: If I had a magic wand but the President doesn t have a magic wand. You just can t say, low gas. It took us a while to get here and we need to have a good strategy to get out of it. Q But you do have the Strategic Oil Petroleum Reserve. What about opening that? THE PRESIDENT: The Strategic Oil Petroleum Reserve is for, you know, emergencies. But that doesn t address the fundamental issue. And we need to address the fundamental issue, which I, frankly, have been talking about since I first became President which is a combination of using technology to have alternative sources of energy, but at the same time finding oil and gas here at home. And now is the time to get it done. I heard somebody say, well, it s going to take seven years. Well, if we d have done it seven years ago we d be having a different conversation today. I m not suggesting it would have completely created you know, changed the dynamics in the world, but it certainly would have been we d have been using more of our own oil and sending less money overseas.

Today President Bush lifted the executive ban on off-shore drilling first enacted by his father is 1990, and had the audacity to blame Democrats for the high price of gas. No, I m not kidding. Download | Play Download | Play Bush s cynicism on this issue is simply breath-taking. He s trying to exploit the anger Americans are feeling over the crushing price of fuel by blaming Democrats and challenging them to allow a vote on a bill that would have ZERO immediate impact on fuel costs, but would be very difficult (politically speaking) to oppose. Just like the Republicans do with every possible issue, they feed off voter resentment and play cynical politics with a very serious and complicated problem. The fact that opening up off-shore drilling sites won t yield more resources for at least a decade doesn t matter. What matters is that Republicans can use the issue as a political bludgeon to bash Democrats with, all the while just prolonging our addiction to foreign oil. Shameful. Nicole adds: And for all the talk that drilling would provide a psychological boost and drop prices, it s noteworthy that oil is slightly up today at more than $145/barrel. You d think such a presidential announcement would provide a nice drop even if short-lived if there was a psychological element to this. Nope. Senator Obama: If offshore drilling would provide short-term relief at the pump or a long-term strategy for energy independence, it would be worthy of our consideration, regardless of the risks. But most experts, even within the Bush Administration, concede it would do neither. It would merely prolong the failed energy policies we have seen from Washington for thirty years. Check below the fold for more responses and a thorough debunking on this farce George Bush and John McCain call an energy policy. Carol Pope, Executive Director of the SierraClub: This is the most cynical of political ploys. Even the Bush administration admits that offshore drilling will do absolutely nothing to lower gas prices, today, tomorrow, or even a decade from now. This is nothing more than an attempt to exploit the suffering of hardworking Americans in order to pad Big Oil’s bottom line. [ ] America simply cannot afford another president from the Grand Oil Party. Speaker Pelosi: Once again, the oilman in the White House is echoing the demands of Big Oil. Progressive Accountability put together this fact sheet: McCain s Voting Record And Policies Favor Big Oil McCain s Tax Plan Gives Top Five Oil Companies $3.8 Billion A Year In Tax Breaks. According to a study conducted by the Center for American Progress, “The McCain plan would deliver approximately $170 billion a year in tax cuts to corporations, including some corporations that are very large and profitable. Just one of the proposals-cutting the corporate rate from 35 percent to 25 percent-would cut taxes for five largest U.S. oil companies by $3.8 billion a year.” [Center for American Progress, 3/27/08] McCain Voted Against Reducing Dependence On Foreign Oil. In 2005, McCain voted against legislation calling on the President to submit a plan to reduce foreign petroleum imports by 40 percent. [Senate Roll Call Vote #140, 6/16/05] In 2005, McCain Voted Against a Windfall Profit Tax on Oil Companies At Least Twice. McCain voted against a measure that would have provided an income tax rebate to Americans by taxing enormous oil company profits temporarily on an sale of crude above $40 a barrel. [S 2020, Vote #331, 11/17/05; S 2020, Vote # 341, 11/17/05; Houston Chronicle, 11/17/05; Las Vegas Review-Journal, 11/18/05; Environment and Energy Daily¸ 11/18/05] McCain Voted Against Taxing Oil Companies To Provide $100 Rebate To Consumers. In 2005, McCain voted against an amendment to impose a temporary tax on oil company profits from the sale of crude oil. The funds would be used to provide every taxpayer with a $100 non-refundable tax credit for 2005 for each person in their household. The amendment failed 33-65. [S 2020, Vote #341, 11/17/05] McCain Voted Against Temporarily Taxing Oil Companies to Finance Tax Rebate For Consumers. In 2005, McCain voted against an amendment to would impose a temporary 50 percent tax on oil company profits from the sale of crude oil. Funds collected from the tax would be used to provide a consumer tax credit for petroleum products. The amendment failed 35-64. [S 2020, Vote #331, 11/17/05] McCain Called To End Off Shore Drilling Ban; Boon For Big Oil McCain Now: McCain Called For Lifting The Off Shore Drilling Moratorium. During a press availability in Arlington Virginia, John McCain called for a lifting of the federal moratorium on offshore drilling. McCain said, “I think that s a subject of negotiation and discussion. But right now, as you know there s a moratorium. And those moratorium, in my view, moratoria, have to be lifted. And they have to be lifted so that states can make those decisions. I m not dictating to the states that they drill or they engage in oil exploration. I am saying that the moratoria should be lifted so they have the opportunity to do so. And by the way, I would also like to see perhaps additional incentives if the states, in the form of tangible financial rewards if the states decide to lift those moratoria.” [McCain Press Avail 6/16/07] Houston Chronicle: McCain Announced Drilling Stance To “Make Amends With Texas Energy Producers.” The Houston Chronicle Reported, “Republican presidential candidate John McCain, seeking to make amends with Texas energy producers who did not support him during the 2008 GOP primary season, said Monday he wants to end a federal moratorium on offshore drilling and create “additional incentives” for states to approve new exploration ventures.” [Houston Chronicle, 6/17/08] McCain Said Coasts “Should Be Open To Exploration and Exploitation.” John McCain said, “So I do believe that there are places in the world, as I said, that we should not drill. But I certainly think there are areas off our coasts that should be open to exploration and exploitation. And I hope that we can take the first step, by lifting the moratoria in order to do so.” [McCain Press Avail 6/16/07] McCain Then: He Opposed Off-Shore Drilling At Least Three Times, and Twice Supported Florida Efforts To Prevent Drilling Off Their Coasts. McCain Voted Against Off-Shore Drilling. In 2005, McCain voted for an amendment that would strike language instructing the Interior Department to conduct a comprehensive inventory of Outer Continental Shelf oil and natural gas resources. The amendment failed 44-52. [H.R. 6, Vote #143, 6/21/2005] McCain Voted Against Off-Shore Drilling. In 2003, McCain voted against a provision requiring a survey and inventory of possible off-shore oil and natural gas deposits by the Secretary of the Interior. He voted for an amendment striking the provision. The amendment failed 45-53. [S. 14, Vote #221, 6/12/2003] McCain Voted for One-Year Moratorium on Oil and Gas Exploration in North Aleutian Basin. In 1989, McCain voted for a bill making appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1990, and for other purposes. The bill contained a total of $956.4 million for the Bureau of Land Management of which $442.1 million is for management of lands and resources; $535.5 million for the Fish and Wildlife Service. The bill also imposed a one-year moratorium on oil and gas exploration and development in the North Aleutian Basin and ensured that the Department of the Interior will continue its assessment of damage from the Exxon Valdex oil spill through September 30, 1990. The bill also contained $1.5 billion for the Department of Energy, which includes $422.1 million for the fossil energy research program; $192.1 million for the Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves; $413.3 million for energy conservation. The bill passed 91-6. [H.R. 2788, Vote #241, 10/7/1989] Bush Also Called For Oil Drilling In the Outer Continental Shelf. President Bush said, “This morning, I asked Democratic Congressional leaders to move forward with four steps to expand American oil and gasoline production. First, we should expand American oil production by increasing access to the outer continental shelf or OSC. Experts believe that the OCS could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil. That would be enough to match the current oil production America for almost 10 years. The problem is that congress has restricted access to key parts of the OCS since the early 1980 s. Since then, advances in technology have made it possible to conduct oil exploration in the OCS that is out of sight, protects coral reefs and habitats, and protects against oil spills. With these advances, and a dramatic increase in oil prices, Congressional restrictions on exploration have become outdated and counterproductive. Republicans in congress have proposed several promising bills that would lift the legislative ban on oil exploration in the OCS. I call on the House and Senate to pass good legislation as soon possible.” [President Bush statement, 6/18/08]

Download | Play Download | Play (excerpt courtesy of Bill W, full video available at Times Online) Steve Benen: Fundraising for a presidential library has always been controversial, in part because, unlike contributions to U.S. political campaigns, donations to libraries can come from foreign sources, and are easier to conceal. But this kind of corruption is striking, even by the Bush administration s standards. The Sunday Times reports Stephen Payne, a Bush pioneer and a political appointee to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, was caught on tape offering access to key members of the Bush administration inner circle in exchange for six-figure donations to the private library being set up to commemorate Bush s presidency. In an undercover video, Payne is seen promising to arrange a meeting for an exiled leader of Krygystan with Dick Cheney or Condoleezza Rice. (Not President Bush because he doesn t meet with a lot of former Presidents these days, Payne says. I don t think he meets with hardly anyone. ) All it will take for him to arrange this high-level meeting, says Payne, is a couple hundred thousand dollars, or something like that. Specifically, Payne tells a Kazakh politician he knew as Eric Dos that Payne would come up with the exact budget, which would be somewhere between $600,000 and $750,000, with about a third of it going directly to the Bush library. The contribution would be a show of ‘we re interested, we re your friends, we re still friends. The TimesOnline piece makes no specific mention of the politician that Dos is representing, but both Benen and BooMan narrow it down to former Krygystan President Askar Akayev, and possibly a motive as well: (T)he prospective client who is being asked to pony up $600,000 - $750,000 ($200,000-$250,000 of which will go to the Bush Library) is former President Askar Akayev, as he is the only exiled former president of Kyrgyzstan in existence. Akayev s human rights record is mixed. For the region, it was better than average, but in the years just prior to his ouster he began to restrict and harass political and media freedoms. The Times of London sting operation is curious. The video shows a meeting between Stephen Payne, [who is a Bush pioneer, a political appointee to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and a Senior Advance Representative traveling internationally in advance of and with President Bush and Vice President Cheney], an unidentified representative of Askar Akayev, and an undercover reporter who is surreptitiously videotaping the conversation. It appears that the latter two gentleman colluded in setting up the sting and that part of the agreement was that the Times would not mention Akayev s name or country in print. What possible motivation would Akayev have to embarrass the Bush administration? Let s look at who Akayev blamed for his ouster: The ousted Kyrgyzstan president, Askar Akayev, last night accused the US of being behind the anti-constitutional coup which forced him to flee the country last week, and said he wold only resign if given sufficient a guarantee of his personal safety. I believe we have what is known as payback time, ladies and gentlemen.

20 Funny Photoshop edited pics ..... Its nice ...

Today s vote in the Senate approving FISA legislation was a huge blow to our country, our Constitution and our rule of law. Twenty-six Democrats stayed true to democratic principles and voted against the bill, which grants immunity to telecommunication companies who betrayed the American people by illegally spying on our communications without warrants. Download | Play Download | Play One of the Democrats who voted correctly today was Senator Russ Feingold, who appeared on Wednesday s Countdown with Rachel Maddow. Feingold has long been a staunch advocate for following the Constitution, speaking out against President Bush s illegal wiretapping program and fighting and voting against the anti-American Patriot Act. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama voted for the FISA legislation, and while Feingold says there is hope that as president, Obama could change the unconstitutional aspects of the bill, it was still the wrong vote. Maddow: It is heartening to hear your optimism on the prospect of Obama s presidency on this issue, but of course, his vote today led a lot of us who see this as a real abrogation of the fourth amendment to be very concerned. Feingold: Well, it was the wrong vote. Any Democrat that voted that way was not voting according to what people in the Democratic Party clearly want, but, you know, we ll pull together after the election, we ll lay the case out again.

Girls between the ages of 8 and 14 spent the day helping their parents fight insurgents and defuse mines. More coverage at:

This one from last year is worth reposting. Great editing!

The Bush/McCain debacle in Iraq devoured so many lives and resources that the U.S. was forced to take their eye off the Taliban and the real al Qaeda threat in Afghanistan. As a result of this gross negligence and lack of foresight and planning, both groups have reconstituted and become stronger and deadlier than ever. June saw the highest U.S. body count in Afghanistan since that conflict began in 2002. More than six years in, things are now worse than ever there for our troops. Download | Play Download | Play (h/t SilentPatriot) During a press conference Wednesday, when asked about deteriorating conditions and the growing number of troops deaths in Afghanistan, President Bush falls back on the same predictable propaganda of patriotism, and distraction from reality. What does our president propose to fix the situation? Throw more money and bodies at it get ready for The Surge 2.0. We re constantly reviewing troop needs, troop levels. We re halfway through 2008; as I said, we re going to increase troops by 2009. One thing, however, that you got to understand is that we have doubled Afghan troops coalition troops have doubled from two years ago. So there is an active presence and there are more troops there than there were. But we re constantly reassessing and seeing whether or not we can change tactics in order to achieve our objective. Update: Video at The Huffington Post shows the top U.S. military officer saying yesterday that he doesn t have enough troops to send to Afghanistan because they are bogged down in Iraq. Full transcript below the fold: WhiteHouse.gov: Q Thank you, Mr. President. June was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in since we began the war in Afghanistan. Has Afghanistan replaced Iraq as the central front of the war on terror? And is al Qaeda and the Taliban taking the upper hand? And also, is it possible that we could send additional U.S. troops there sooner than the 2009 date that you ve been talking about? THE PRESIDENT: First of all, anytime a troop loses their life, whether it be in Afghanistan, Iraq, or elsewhere, our hearts go out to their families. And I am so appreciative that, in a time of danger, Americans are willing to step up and volunteer and sacrifice. Secondly, it has been a tough month in Afghanistan, but it s also been a tough month for the Taliban. You know, one reason why there have been more deaths is because our troops are taking the fight to a tough enemy, an enemy who doesn t like our presence there because they don t like the idea of America denying safe haven. America is pressing an ideology that s opposite of theirs, and so, of course, there s going to be resistance. I am confident that the strategy is going to work, which is to confront the Taliban, confront elements of al Qaeda, and at the same time, encourage the growth of a free society by good economic policy, good education policy, and good health policy. We re constantly reviewing troop needs, troop levels. We re halfway through 2008; as I said, we re going to increase troops by 2009. One thing, however, that you got to understand is that we have doubled Afghan troops coalition troops have doubled from two years ago. So there is an active presence and there are more troops there than there were. But we re constantly reassessing and seeing whether or not we can change tactics in order to achieve our objective.

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