It is rare to find a political ad that puts this information into just 30 seconds. Like with the issue of climate change, it is difficult to argue with facts. A progressive group called released this ad on television, which targets ethically challenged Kentucky Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher.
Fletcher is toast:
As of the Washington Post notes, this ad is perfect because Fletcher becomes his own worst enemy:
The ad, which was produced by Envision Communications, is so effectivebecause it uses Fletcher's own words against him. Taken from footage ofhis inaugural address in 2003, Fletcher promises to bring change andreal reform to state government even as his own indictment and those ofaides around him are flashed on the screen.
The election is on November 6th, so it's coming right up.
Two years after hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, there are still so manypeople without homes. Robert Greenwald has a new video and message abouthurricane Katrina, and what you can do to help.
Below is quoted from an email sent by Jamiah Adams and Paris Marron of
Tomorrow marks the two year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and still thereare tens of thousands of families without homes. 30,000 families are scatteredacross the country in FEMA apartments, 13,000 are in trailers, and hardly any ofthe 77,000 rental units destroyed in New Orleans have been rebuilt. To sharesome of these people?s stories, we have put together a short film, "Whenthe Saints Go Marching In."
During the making of this video, we heard the heartbreaking stories of goodpeople unable to return home. We have heard the story of the Aguilar family wholost their home to the storm and only received $4,000 in payments from theirinsurance company. We have met Mr. Washington, an 87-year-old man and formercarpenter, who owned three homes prior to the storm. He is still living in aFEMA trailer today. And we've met Julie, who could have returned to her job andnormal life, if the government had opened up the public housing units that shehad lived in prior to the storm
is a site dedicated to helping the victims of Katrina.
'Two years after Katrina and thousands are still w/o homes'
I don't understand how some of our politicians sleep at night, knowing theconditions others are in...and not only in New Orleans, but throughout Our Country.
You can sign a petition for Senator Dodd.
We, the undersigned, urge the United States Senate to pass (S1668) to assist the Gulf Coast region in rebuilding the infrastructure lost after the Katrina and Rita disasters.
Passage of this bill is an important step towards returning the Gulf Coast residents to their homes.
The signing of the petition consists of Name, email and Zip Code.
Well another Bushee has left the building! I'd like to think I helped by signing a few of the many of petitions out there calling for Gonzales's resignation. "I can't recall" exactly how many I did sign, but as they popped up, I signed.
''
WACO, Tex., Aug. 27 — Attorney General ,whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjurybefore Congress, announced his resignation in Washington today,declaring that he had “lived the American dream†by being able to leadthe Justice Department
Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation for months,submitted it to President Bush by telephone on Friday, a senioradministration official said. There had been rumblings over the weekendthat Mr. Gonzales’s departure was imminent, although the White Housesought to quell the rumors. ...
was a major player in getting the word out.
'The President Won't Fire Him -- But You Can'
'New Impeach Gonzales Video. Part 2: The Crimes'
'' was also another big player in getting the word out.
I am sure this will be an interesting week of news. I suppose we'll have FNC(Fox) telling us "come on, the guy wanted to spend time with hisfamily", then go into a few rants about some of the fallen Democrats.
Today on ,one of Tim Russert's guests was . Warner who recently from Iraq, "I say to thepresident respectfully, 'Pick whatever number you wish.' . . . Say, 5,000 couldbegin to redeploy and be home to their families and loved ones no later thanChristmas of this year. That's the first step."
To me, that sounds like a political move...5000 out of 160,000 which are deployedin Iraq.
He has recommended Bush announce the beginning of a U.S. withdrawal inmid-September, after a report is released from the top U.S. officials in Iraq,and that those troops should be back in the United States by Christmas.
"In my humble judgment, that would get everyone's attention -- theattention that is not being paid at this time," Warner said.
He added: "I really, firmly believe the Iraqi government, under theleadership of Prime Minister [Nuri] al-Maliki, let our troops down."
Maybe it's me, but when I watched Warner's interview this morning, it soundedlike he was agreeing with everyone's point of view, opinion and plan, and notplaying hardball (like a kid in a candy store that wants to have one of each)
What put the icing on the cake for me, making it sound like a political movewas when Russert questioned Warner on what the answer was:
Russert: "What's the answer"
Warner: "The answer is clear, we have a problem and we need to solveit"
After almost 10 minutes of complimenting everyone on the job/s they aredoing, he comes up with "we have a problem"? I think it's time for himto move to Florida.
I could be missing the boat here, but watch and weigh in with your opinion.
I saw a segment on MSNBC's Countdown about Jimmy Justice, a "regularJoe" Brooklyn resident that was fed up with the double standards of the NYCtraffic agents. I am sure this is not isolated to NYC, and I am sure we have allexperienced this type of behavior and hypocrisy in our towns and citiesUSA.
J.J. (Jimmy Justice) keeps an eye out for the traffic agents breaking lawsand video tapes the crime in progress i.e. parking their official vehicle infrot of a fire hydrant to run in and grab a cup of coffee or lunch. Trafficagents play an important role in society, and ticket individuals that break thelaw. Naturally no one wants a ticket and we tend to get angry when we do getone, but that's life and the law. Actual Police Officers get away withtheir minor crimes, and that's been the way it's been since the beginning oftime and will continue to be that way, but traffic agents are not even close torealizing that status.
Anyone who has experienced dealing with the NYC 'personality-less, I have aticket pad cockiness' of one of these agents know exactly the frustration we experience.
On August 17, 2007 'Live From Studio 1A' Dick Gregory interviewed JimmyJustice in a piece called '' with video
J.J. currently has 11 videos posted on his YouTube account ''.and you wouldn't believe some of the responses he receives. You would think thelaw breakers would be humble and friendly in order to squelch the controversyand not act like 'holier than thou' on a video camera.
Here are a couple of examples:
NYC Board of Ed "teaches" its employees to break the law
Traffic Enforcement Agent Blocks Fire Hydrant During A Fire (She responds with "don't you think there's something wrong with filming somebody?" LOL...that's funny)
traffic cop Anderson breaks the law & has a message for NYC (This one is classic, the agent gets "back-up")
**** CAUTION: Adult Content Vulgarity Used. ****
Local NYC Contacts:
Quick Story: One of our company delivery trucks were double parked early one morning (delivering office supplies and very light traffic) when a traffic agent approached. I was outside smoking a cigarette and before the agent stated writing, I told him the driver is going to get fired if he receives another ticket, I also mentioned the driver had a family and was going through some hard times. The agent wrote him the ticket. The good news is I was lying about the driver getting fired.
This post is a follow up to a story in today's 'BlueRadar' regarding the White House's attack on Hillary Clinton:
In response to her campaign ad that was released yesterday, the White House 's claim that Americans are not well-represented by thisadministration. WH Depouty Press Secretary: "As to the merits of it,I think it's outrageous. This is a president who, first and foremost, has helpedmillions of seniors across the country have access to prescription drugs at amuch lower cost." ("Have access to?" But at whatcost?)
More Specifically the line:
"As to the merits of it,I think it's outrageous. This is a president who, first and foremost, has helpedmillions of seniors across the country have access to prescription drugs at amuch lower cost."
The audacity of that statement made my skin crawl, so I figuredI would post a reminder about the republicans wonderful victory of Medicare PartD. Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes did a segment on Part D back on April 1, 2007, andit is more than worthy to get it back out there.
The unorthodox roll call onone of the most expensive bills ever placed before the House of Representativesbegan in the middle of the night, long after most people in Washington hadswitched off C-SPAN and gone to sleep.
The only witnesses were congressional staffers, hundreds of lobbyists, andU.S. representatives, like Dan Burton, R-Ind., and Walter Jones, R-N.C.
"The pharmaceutical lobbyists wrote the bill," says Jones."The bill was over 1,000 pages. And it got to the members of the House thatmorning, and we voted for it at about 3 a.m. in the morning," remembersJones.
Why did the vote finally take place at 3 a.m.?
"Well, I think a lot of the shenanigans that were going on that night,they didn't want on national television in primetime," according to Burton.
"I've been in politics for 22 years," says Jones, "and it wasthe ugliest night I have ever seen in 22 years."
The voting which is supposed to remain open for 15 minutes remained open foralmost 3 hours! Read the transcript .
A brief 2 minute video which outlines the story can be viewed .
Here is the complete '60 Minutes' segment 'Under The Influence'
And let's hope Romney isn't elected. Last night on Hannity & ColmesRomney talked about his idea of healthcare.
Well actually, the plan I put forward said no one gotfree insurance. Everybody could pay what they could afford. And so we had asliding scale and still do, based on your income. And the state will help paythe portion of your premium you can't afford for the poor.The good news is it costs us less to help people buy their own private insurancethan it was costing us giving out free care at hospitals. So I do talk aboutthat. And I'll be giving a speech to the Florida Medical Association describingto them our plan in some detail.But I insisted that everyone pays something. I didn't want to have anythingfree. Our legislature overrode that idea and so the people at the very low gotit free. I think that's a mistake. I think everyone should pay something.Read the complete transcript
Great plan Mitt, the poor can pay something for healthcare and eat cardboardboxes.
If you were to lay out a combat soldiers standard issue combat gear, andtold them to choose one item, I'm sure damn near 100% of them wouldchoose their rifle. So why has it taken months for the Army to finallydecide to test three other options, that are considered by some to be a superiorweapon to the currently issued M4? I don't know either.
This story was kicking around back in April (The Blue State posted 'SoldiersIssued Inferior Rifles'), and here we are four months later with thedecision to do a "side by side test".
After months of heated debate, the Army will conduct a side-by-side testshoot next month with its standard-issued carbine to see how well it canwithstand extreme dust and sand environments.
The service yielded to critics - particularly lawmakers in Congress - whorecently ratcheted up the debate over whether the current M4carbine, manufactured by Colt Defense, is more susceptible to jamming industy conditions than other weapons used by Soldiers and special operators. ...
So, with the help of Senator Tom Coburn (R-OKLA.), theArmy decides to "look into" the problem, and the "winner"will be issued shortly, right?...Wrong. According to Lt. Col. Timothy Chyma( product manager for individual weapons with Program Executive Office Soldier)"The firing, collection of data and analysis of data is expected to takeapproximately five months."
The sand tests will include 10 samples ofeach weapon through which engineers will fire 6,000 rounds. Each weapon andloaded magazine will be exposed to "extreme dust" for 30 minutes thentest fired with 120 rounds, Chyma said.
"Each weapon will be wiped down and lubricated every 600 rounds with afull cleaning every 1,200 rounds," Chyma added. "The firing,collection of data and analysis of data is expected to take approximately fivemonths."
I understand you can not be too hasty while testingweapons, but I wonder if the tests will consist of three working shifts (24/7)like the shifts of the soldiers we are testing the rifles for?
Once theydecide which is the superior weapon, and if the tests prove to be one other thanthe one currently issued, our soldiers might see them in a year. That's what"approximately five months" means to our government.
Military.comreports that the Army missed its recruiting goal by 15% (as per Army officials,so it might be more of a "miss")
WASHINGTON - The Army failed to meet its recruiting goal in June, raisingconcern that the unpopular Iraq war and strong economy could wreak even morehavoc on enlistments.
Army officials acknowledged Monday that the service missed its recruitingtarget for the second month in a row, but would not provide exact numbers. Buttwo defense officials said the Army fell short of its 8,400 goal by about 15percent - which is more than twice the June shortfall and would mean thatroughly 7,000 recruits signed up. ...
Enlistment was up after the 9-11 because we wereattacked, and we were on our way to even the score in Afghanistan, and getthe guy who was responsible. Similar to after we were attacked by the Japaneseand . Further info at the . Maybe if we "stayed the course" and focused onOsama bin-Laden in Afghanistan, our military wouldn't be in the shape its inright now. You know the shape I'm talking about; the National Guard. Theiroriginal duties were for the . Bush changed that. I wonder when he'llmobilize the Boy Scouts?
When I hear people talk about a draft, it makes youwonder...out of 6 of your friends, how many of them would really be suited forthe military and combat? 2-2 1/2? They could all be great people and friends, andthey all wouldn't make great accountants either.
Anyway...feel free toGoogle "",and you'll see the numbers are all over the place, and it wasn't only in June'07.
(regardless of the opposing bias in which it was written) dives into the slow and "debilitating" process with which Democrats are approving President Bush's nominations in various open positions.
Since Jan. 7, the president has sent 229 major nominations to theSenate, but just 66 have been confirmed. Those figures exclude U.S.attorneys, marshals and judges, but the White House says thosenominations also have an alarmingly low confirmation rate — just 18 ofthe 46 (39 percent) sent to the Senate this year have been approved.
I thought "typical partisanship" much like you probably did. However, the magazine compares the approval rate to the period in 1995 when Republicans gained control of the Senate and the House.
Back then, President Clintonsent up 188 nominations between January and June, winning approval for112 — a 60 percent confirmation rate.
While the article is written in a negative slant (which would also indicate that some pieces of the story could be missing), it seems like there are at least two things to consider:
1) President Clinton didn't establish a precedent of nominating unqualified buddies for high-level positions, nor did his administration show a trend of vast and complete failure when those buddies faced tough decisions or situations (Iraq, the World Bank, Katrina, UN, etc); and
2) This is a battle the Democrats are winning, in a stubborn but effective way. Clearly the feet-dragging is frustrating the administration and slowing their business. If the administration has made it clear that they aren't interested in listening to the people, the Congress, or the judiciary, why not come up with a simple strategy to slow the administration down? It makes "running out the clock" much less fulfilling.
2003 - ''"Jennifer Ludden reports on the U.S. military's direneed for more translators who speak Arabic and other Middle Easternlanguages."
2005 - ',Morecash and appeals to parents, patriotism haven't reversed trend'"WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials say it's not a crisis, but it is a majorconcern — a battle here at home to win the hearts and minds of potential newrecruits."
2006 -' . Felons, racists, gang members fill in theranks' "After falling short ofits goals last year, military recruiting in 2006 has been marked by upbeatpronouncements from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, claims of success bythe White House, and a spate of recent press reports touting the military'sachievement of its woman- and manpower goals."
2006 - : "As you know, you go to war withthe army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a latertime."
2006 - '' "WASHINGTON - The Army isending its best recruiting year since 1997 and expecting similar success in2007, despite the weight of grim war news from Iraq, Army Secretary FrancisHarvey said."
2007 - '' "With an array of special incentivesfor attracting recruits, the Army managed to recover from a 2005 recruitingslump, but the impact of the Iraq war and the strong domestic economy have madeit difficult to attract enlistees."
2007 - '' "GeneralPeter Schoomaker outlined an unfunded $10bn additional "wish list" ina memo to the congressional military committee" (included $13.3 MILLION forforeign languages translation.)
I think I found some clues where some of the problems lie, AND where GeneralShoomaker's money could have come from...
2007 - ', and Congress members seek hearing' "WASHINGTON:Lawmakers who say the military has kicked out 58 Arabic linguists because theywere gay want the Pentagon to explain how it can afford to let the valuablelanguage specialists go."
''
Since ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ became law, over 11,000 service membershave been discharged because of their sexuality. The number of servicemembers who have left on their own volition, or have decided not tore-enlist because of this law is not documented. The government has spent over$363 million dollars in taxpayer money to implement this unfair legislation. Dozens of other countries, many of whom have fought side-by-side with oursoldiers, allow lesbians, gays and bisexuals to serve openly. Those are thefacts and they have nothing to do with a service members passion and skill toperform his duty.
So I pose this question to each and everyAmerican (civilian and military). Would you feel safer fighting side by sidewith an individual which is capable of telling you "they areyelling, watch out, the bad guys are over there...you should go theother way" OR would you rather be with someone that can tell you thestarting line-up of the NY Yankees?
I wonder how many hungry children (andadults) $363 million would feed? And as far as the argument "themilitary is no place for gays"...well we would probably have to go wayback to the very first army ever formed, then tell the first 10 soldiers"one of you is one of them and this is no place for you".
Ican't even believe that we are still having this conversation with the statethis world is in today.
Recent Comments