I dubbed that "Military Times" piece the "Hyperbolic Headline of the Day" last night in my news roundup. They knew they were out of line, too. They slipped this in at the end of the piece: The responses are not representative of the opinions of the military as a whole. The survey group overall under-represents minorities, women and junior enlisted service members, and over-represents soldiers.

Lotta damned gall even calling it a poll.

The Rolando Cruz affair here in Illinois ("Burris no stranger to controversy") is a black mark against the entire Illinois criminal justice system, and Exhibit A for why we shouldn't have the death penalty at all. However, Rob Warden's criticisms are, while warranted, a little extreme. Roland certainly didn't distinguish himself in the episode, but nobody else did either.

Blue Girl, for the Right to seize on such a phony poll is "a feature, not a bug" of their thought and tactical process. They have no respect for objective logical and factual considerations.
BTW pls. put up link for your blog, since links no longer work from handles (why not, Steve?)

Thanks for asking! It's They gave us a republic...

What an appalling thing to be kicked off a plane and then cleared by the FBI, yet denied back on said plane! I have a feeling we'll be hearing more about this. Sounds like grounds for a lawsuit to me.

They will, however, return.

Damn. Bar the gates!

I wonder how many temper tantrums John Cornyn will throw before Al Franken takes the oath of office.
I wonder whether ignorance of Senate rules beyond a filibuster is all Republican has to know. You can't filibuster the seating of a duly elected Senator. The best you can do is refer them to the Credentials Committee. Cornyn, idiot as always, has tipped the Republicans' hand: obstruct, filibuster, lather, rinse, repeat. Reid had better hold their feet to the fire and make them carry out the endless filibusters lest he get kicked in the junk by a man of the cloth.

The Rolando Cruz affair here in Illinois ("Burris no stranger to controversy") is a black mark against the entire Illinois criminal justice system, and Exhibit A for why we shouldn't have the death penalty at all. However, Rob Warden's criticisms are, while warranted, a little extreme. Roland certainly didn't distinguish himself in the episode, but nobody else did either.
Posted by: Chocolate Thunder

Really? How about former Assistant AG Mary Kenney, who resigned her office rather than prosecute an innocent man?

Burris is in a very interesting turn of events, for me all the more reason Burris should be seated to work out the remainder of the Obama’s Senate seat.

The Cruz issue exposed what the Tribune paper identified as a wild wrong, and began openly speculating that the Du Page law enforcers were more interested in protecting reputations than justice. At least Ryan did something right at that time.

So, here we are within the same context where Fitzgerald may very well be exposing that fractured legal system at the Federal Level. Who knows perhaps this legal wrangle is the under layer of the real politics that has trashed Illinois for decades.

The whole way Fitzgerald grandstanded in public sensationalism, a news conference that to me clearly was viewed as a Cable news wiping session cornering Blagojevich. Come on handcuffs, and camera’s in view come on they kept this special for sensational Democratic wiping.

Adding to the foul features, in theater cable, that have been extended to the journalist shield of, hate and switch, with bate and switch, now want another ninety days of drama, fueling the media engine of corruption simply saying at anytime “Huh we are just making satire here� “Huh�. Now for the MSNBC side show…Hey Chris take it away…

For me there is a huge disappointment in Obama’s decision to prevent Burris from being seated. Being a constitutional savvy person Obama knows there no reason to legally prevent Burris to be seated unless Obama is bought and paid for already.

Perhaps there is also something to the land deal on the sale of Wriggly Field. Wriggly Field is an anchored piece of real estate in a very deep gay neighborhood. Did Blagojevich piss off the Gay community? That would be a hoot.

The Cruz issue exposed what the Tribune paper identified as a wild wrong, and began openly speculating that the Du Page law enforcers were more interested in protecting reputations than justice. At least Ryan did something right at that time.

Jim Ryan? The former Illinois Attorney General and former DuPage County State's Attorney who was full steam ahead in prosecuting Rolando Cruz? Or are you referring to Gov. George Ryan, who issued a blanket commutation of all pending death sentences to life imprisonment, after promising the families of their victims that he would do no such thing, and in anticipation of his own criminal case? (My point is not to advocate for the death penalty, but to point out that Ryan's motives were less than pure).

Perhaps there is also something to the land deal on the sale of Wriggly (sic) Field. Wriggly (sic) Field is an anchored piece of real estate in a very deep gay neighborhood. Did Blagojevich piss off the Gay community? That would be a hoot.

Dunce. Wrigley Field is not in a gay neighborhood (and I say this as a White Sox fan). Moreover, Blagojevich's sister-in-law, Deborah Mell, has just been elected to the General Assembly after beginning her public life as an activist for GLBT issues (she herself is gay). If Blagojevich has offended gay citizens in Illinois, it had nothing to do with Wrigley Field.

Solar powered cars are a silly concept. You can't get a meaningful amount of power out of the surface area of a car, and cars move around, so they are by definition not positioned in the optimal orientation for maximum solar gain.

And then there is the issue of having to lug around the solar cells wherever you go, which wastes energy. This announcement from Toyota reeks of greenwashing, much like domestic car companies with their hydrogen fuel cells.

Gaza + Obama + Israel = It is now or never time

Is an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza the next move?

You'd have to be a dummkopf not to ken the backstory here. No way Israel would launch this blitz without the approval of the incoming POTUS. Barack signed off on all of this. And I am okay with that: Sometimes the road to a treaty runs through the valleys of Hell.

Let's hope that by the time Barack takes the American throne, everyone will be ready to sit down and smoke the peace pipe.

Because basically the world can't afford another 8 more years of this strife. Eight more years of this hell is unsustainable. Lots and lots of horrible shit will happen to lots and lots of people if the Middle East problem does not get solved post haste. The weapons will be meaner 8 years hence. So too, with the people involved...

Are Israel's attacks on Gaza starting to eerily resemble their attack on Lebanon two years ago ?

Back then, the Israeli RightWingers instigated an incident, feigned shock at the retaliatory rockets, and then claimed self-defense for their military aggression.

Israel began by saying their goal was to destroy Hezbollah, then that morphed into that their goal was to disarm Hezbollah, and then that morphed into that their goal was to prevent Hezbollah from being able to launch any more rockets into Israel.

Escalation after escalation, the Lebanese civilian body count piled up, yet the rockets kept coming.

Apparently Hamas has yet to even break out their long-range rockets.

The Israeli RightWing is as bone-headed as our American RightWing.

I had totally forgotten that Burris was AG during the Cruz thing. We were all so focused on Jim Ryan's crimes at the time. The Kenney resignation is all coming back to me now. God, what a horrible mark against Burris.

Vis repubs leaving town to swallow their bitter pills in privacy:

Ryan Patmintra, press secretary to Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), has a good excuse.

“Not only will I be down in Tampa getting married the weekend before the Inauguration, but I'll be halfway across the world and hopefully sipping on a drink out of a coconut on the beaches in Phuket, Thailand, when our new president is being sworn in,� he said with no small amount of glee.

Being in a place called "Phuket" is, probably, the only way he can get it up and fulfill his marital obligations, even without the additional downer of Obama's inauguration.

Are Israel's attacks on Gaza starting to eerily resemble their attack on Lebanon two years ago? -- Joe Friday, @19:18

And, more recently, the events in Georgia. Except, in Georgia, we took the exactly opposite position as to who's the big, bad, guy in the conflict...

Whether AirTran acted appropriately in the Muslim passenger incident remains to be seen. One thing that is clear is that the two air marshals aboard the aircraft wanted the passengers removed for questioning. While technically speaking AirTran, through its employee the pilot, had the final word on removal, you can't reasonably expect them to go against the air marshals.

Where things get muddy is in regards to AirTran's refusal to rebook the Muslims on another flight. The passengers say that AirTran representatives refused to let them fly even after the FBI had interviewed them and cleared them to travel. AirTran has issued a press statement saying that their employees hadn't yet gotten the word about FBI clearance when they refused to rebook the passengers. It'll probably end up getting sorted out in a lawsuit.

So maybe Franken can be sworn in while those "powerful Republicans" are out of town. heehee

Republicans escaping D.C. --by their fruits ye shall know them.
Ready to practice their political grandstanding, these right wingers
hope to eliminate health care for the poor. Would step over a disabled man.
Would love to see corporations pay fewer taxes while the middle class loses jobs. Heartless,
practiced in mastering the politics of deception with Georgie Bush.
Dudes, get out of our town.

I came in to say something like Mike above, except far less negatively. We simply don't have the anything near the technology to make a useful pure-solar car at this point.

However, with some minor advances in solar cell efficiency, we could extend the range of a plugin car by a non-trivial amount.

Mike's notion that it would waste more energy to haul around solar cells than could be made up is completely ludicrous. That is, unless those solar car competitions are complete frauds.

“�Dunce. Wrigley Field is not in a gay neighborhood (and I say this as a White Sox fan). Moreover, Blagojevich's sister-in-law, Deborah Mell, has just been elected to the General Assembly after beginning her public life as an activist for GLBT issues (she herself is gay). If Blagojevich has offended gay citizens in Illinois, it had nothing to do with Wrigley Field.��

Geez do you get up set easy or what. Please anyone who knows Chicago, and North Halsted Street, knows just off a few blocks every year is the Grand Gay Parade of second city that marches down with in few blocks from Wriggly.

Floats and stuff usually start about Grace Street, It is local and internationally recognized, even Daily marches with them for votes. And he is a White Sox fan too; don’t think he is gay though. They are White sox fans too you know.

So, here again you prove my point, for me, DJ, For me, even though you and the world are against me, especially being a family person and watching how straight Blagojevich looks undoubtedly has very little interest in gay stuff. Likely adds to the fuel in basic heated hating family feuds that happen in families and last for centuries.

That is said with a giggle and laugh. You should look up the �Man Hole� if its still there, a few blocks away. There are a few cute shops that sell good leather whips for your tool chest, should look into it. Had to have a laugh, only kidding.

While writing this the news media,CNN has whole Senate with Reid and Pelosi with the background
Subtitled audios saying they are getting ready and bracing themselves for the confrontation of the seventy one year old Burris.

Burris to strong arm, through the sarget of arms, into the Senate chambers to foul and disgrace it for ever and ever because they hate Blagojevich.

Here,Blagojevich finally having the courage to be a decider in the heat of politics. More than we could say about Bush.

The only time I will change my mind about this whole thing is when the Illinois legislature starts to appear before cameras with the impeachment process, thats what I really want to see. Many of those that are already in the legislature likely are not worthy of the position they have. It will be fun to single them out.

To be sure Blago will make it happen...

Geez do you get up set easy or what. Please anyone who knows Chicago, and North Halsted Street, knows just off a few blocks every year is the Grand Gay Parade of second city that marches down with in few blocks from Wriggly.

For someone who claims to "know" Chicago, you seem to have a problem with spelling "Wrigley" properly. You also have problems with history, factual command, logic, rhetoric...need we go on?

Odd that Fox News has come to opposite conclusions form what every other news organization is reporting about a recent sex study that is reporting that Christian sex abstinance ideas don't work. http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1285053193

But says Fox news:
Study: Religious Teens More Likely to Abstain from Sex
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,475306,00.html

Yet when I look up the study I don't find the 'having sex three years later' assertion.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/04/4/gr040401.pdf

Are they making this stuff up or do they have access to information that the rest of us don't?

True to form, the Repubs are renting out their condos, making more than a little money off an otherwise unpleasant event.

“I want to rent my place out but don’t put my name next to that in case I do — don’t want people knowing they are staying in a [REDACTED] staffer’s place and trash[ing] the joint.�

This guy mistakes the other side for his own kind. Dems don't trash -- that's a spoiled rightwingers' tactic. What to do with these people... you can't prevent them from coming back to town, just keep 'em out of power. Have you noticed K Street is starting to smell better? I hope.

I am in a giggaly mood just cant stop laughing, the issue is so funny DJ.

No offense to you, you don't get it yet, nothing will upset me...or my logic which goes in circles I know, sometimes on a tangent, and if I miss spell my micro soft word is a little off. Any way I don't wish to be a journalist, just an ordinary guy... fooling around giving my opinion.

Mad season. I'm spinnin'

From the Wilkerson interview: “He became vice president well before George Bush picked him,� Wilkerson said of Cheney. “And he began to manipulate things from that point on, knowing that
he was going to be able to convince this guy to pick him, knowing that he was then going to be able to wade into the vacuums that existed around George Bush — personality vacuum, character vacuum, details vacuum, experience vacuum.�

Expect to be nauseated by Bush in 30 Seconds.

To be really repulsed, read "The Truth Behind the Pillars" where the 2000 Supreme Court, appointing George W. Bush to the presidency over popular vote winner Al Gore, pronounced
"The Recount Process in its features here described, is inconsistent with the minimum procedures necessary to protect the fundamental right of each voter."

"The Court's conclusion that a consitutionally adequate recount is impractical is a prophecy (the court) will not allow to be tested. Such an untested prophecy shall not decide the presidency." Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Cliff Notes version of Orwell's 1984?

Or a quick way for Sandra Day O'Connor to retire?
from Evan Thomas and Mike Isikoff's forgotten essay in Newsweek, 12/25/01. Read it and weep

5 Republican-appointed justices decide George W Bush's presidency

Any way I don't wish to be a journalist, just an ordinary guy... fooling around giving my opinion.
Posted by: Megalomania

Hey...if you're fine with people laughing at you, as opposed to laughing with you...God bless.

Another ground assault - war in the Middle East. Now the question is, if there are any Palestinian survivors, who will take them in as refugees?

The Iraq war caused many Iraqis to flee their country, so many, that other countries closed their borders and refused to let any more in.

***there are interesting stories posted on Free Gaza.org

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
---Martin Luther King

Isn't that a beautiful thought?

Good idea that the Republicans flee D.C. during the inauguration. It's time for them to get used to living in holes under rocks in Okeefenokee - it's their home for the rest of their lives.

Only 18 days left till it's illegal to be a thug.

I'm with Franklin on solar cars. Solar only, not feasible. Solar panels on cars to trickle-charge the batteries of hybrids and reduce the need for gasoline or plug-in recharging, very promising.

I was just trying to imagine what would have become of Social Security this past year if George Bush had succeeded in privatizing it.

Wow, pretty unusual monument/grave. I'd better get started on my pyramid!

The High light to bring in the New Year for me is your article

Last Secrets of the Bush Administration
How to find out what we still don't know.
By Charles Homans

Especially

"When Obama takes the reins in January, he will inherit the same bureaucratic apparatus Bush used, and with it the records of how he used it. This is the best opportunity for the new president to shine a light on the past eight years with the stroke of a pen. He should direct the government’s inspectors general to undertake exhaustive, top-to-bottom audits of the classified documents their agencies have produced under Bush, declassifying and releasing everything for which secrecy isn’t of demonstrable national security interest."

For me, America will not be the country it can if this does not happen…take it a step further, as a citizen all secrets within my life time, or your life time falls under Article one were as we the people demand and submit this grievance that all National Security Secrets be opened with out delay. Then ratchet down to eventually eliminate the Federal Reserve banking system to bring it back in total control of the Congress of the people.

Thomas Jefferson said it well and now it has come to pass

'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

Thomas Jefferson, 1802.

Jeffersonian purists, or "Old Republican" wing of the party, hard to believe isn’t it? Americas foundations has turned ass backwards by greed and corruption.

Happy New Year Steve Benen and Kilzoy

And a prayer for Andy and the rest.

@ Byron... Fox makes stuff up???? I am personally shocked at such an accusation. Don't you know anything about "Fair and Balanced" We report what we would like you to hear.

* Powerful Republicans in D.C. will be fleeing the capital for "an extended holiday vacation" during the Obama inauguration. They will, however, return.

Not if ya'll help me with these barricades.