Then there was the G.Gordon Liddy (Kicked out of Costa Rica by Nobel Laureate President Oscar Arias when he used an unauthorized encampment there to make war on Columbia) very special remark about potential Justice Sotomayor having problems with menstruation when she makes serious decisions. Guessing that, if anyone in the press has the least amount of sense, he is going to be asked if male menopause was the real reason behind the Iran-Contra episodes.

GM execs will now probably get bonuses since the UAW, quite reasonably, bit the bullet.

Aside from the fact that they clearly don't care about their impact on their environment, I've always wondered why smokers don't just carry around some kind of metal receptacle (like a used sucrets box) to dispose of their butts in.

Should this keep the former vice president off of the Sunday news shows this week? Puleeezzze....

General Petraeus says the Bushies violated the Geneva Convention.

Question: So is sending this signal that we're not going to use these kind of techniques anymore, what kind of impact does this have on people who do us harm in the field that you operate in?

Gen. Petraeus: Well, actually what I would ask is, "Does that not take away from our enemies a tool which again have beaten us around the head and shoulders in the court of public opinion?" When we have taken steps that have violated the Geneva Conventions we rightly have been criticized, so as we move forward I think it's important to again live our values, to live the agreements that we have made in the international justice arena and to practice those."

I would say Obama is really being even handed in the Israel/Palestine issue. Good.

Just read TMP, and seems Mr. Gingrich has move into the "UnAmerican" rhetoric. Someone needs to tell Newtie his impression of a rabid dog is very unbecoming! Besides, he does a better Jabba the Huht impression! -Kevo

"Romney won't rule out Sotomayor filibuster." I'm pretty sure he won't get a vote. -- Steve Benen

And I'm pretty sure that you've taken his words out of context. What he meant was: he's set it up with his pal, Coleman, to do the actual filibustering, once Coleman is elected.

How could anyone not know the connection between Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy?

They are all cats,right?

Steve missed this one:

DOJ political appointees overrule career lawyers, drop voter intimidation suit against New Black Panthers.

Wow. Talk about politicizing DOJ.

Will that video of those thugs now be a campaign commercial?

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/29/career-lawyers-overruled-on-voting-case/

Will that video of those thugs now be a campaign commercial?

I would love to see Republicans use that, since the NBP were intimidating black voters who were voting for Obama in a black neighborhood and they spout a pretty astounding volume of anti-Obama venom. Please, use it.

"...329 House members and 76 senators sent [Obama] a letter advising against putting too much public pressure on Israel."

I wish we could get this much consensus on issues facing American voters.

Judging by how hard the white guy wingnuts are pressing down on the gas pedal, the Sotomayor nomination must be some kind of fundraising jackpot winner.

And there I was in the gym this afternoon and CNN gives Meg Whitman and Grandpa McCain 20 uninterrupted minutes of airtime to extol her virtues as the next Governor of California. Ol' McCain looked embalmed. I will be waiting patiently for them to do the same for a Democratic candidate .
Damn LIBRUL Press

I am wondering when Newt Gingrich, Tancredo and Limbaugh's heads will explode. Now that will really be something to see!

George "Herbert Hoover" Bush? Would that be 41 or 43?

As far as the Israel piece. It's about time there was a consistant policy. Previously Presidents would espouse a policy and then the Congressional buddies would find all kinds of loopholes that the Israeli's could squirm through to get around those policies. Not that I'm anti Israeli at all, but we have to stop saying one thing and doing another.

As far as I'm concerned "Bibi" and Lieberman are disasters for the Israeli people and need to be clamped down.

I agree with the right for Israel to exist, but come on, this has been going on for 60 years and has gone nowhere, someone has to be a hard ass with these guys.....

I'd love to see a tough but fair stance with the Israel/Palestine issue.

How about Obama request Bibi stop the settlements and at the same time request Hamas to stop lobbing mortars and rockets into Israel.

Seems like the former is getting a lot of press, but not the latter.

I don't see why the Israelis should stop settlements as long as Hamas is launching attacks into Israel.

Robert Gibbs walked back Sotomayor's "wise Latina" quote today, telling reporters, "I've not talked specifically with her about this, but I think that -- I think she'd say that her word choice in 2001 was poor, that she was simply making the point that personal experiences are relevant to the process of judging."

That surprised me, and I wish that he had remained silent. Sotomayor's comments were at worst thought-provoking (bait for people like me who like debate), certainly better phrased than Gibbs' restatement, and they echoed sentiments uttered by other Supreme Court nominees, Dem and Rep. Even if they had been a mistake in some sense, they are very fine compared to the anguishing idiocy of the comments made against her since her speech was circulated. All Gibbs really had to do was to let the Republican extremists (e.g. Liddy quoted earlier) dig the Republican grave deeper.

But, I suppose, if Gibbs was asked a question, he had to give some answer or another, and that answer was sufficiently vapid.

"I would love to see Republicans use that, since the NBP were intimidating black voters who were voting for Obama in a black neighborhood and they spout a pretty astounding volume of anti-Obama venom. Please, use it."

I thought justice was supposed to be blind. This kind of thing should not happen at our polling places. Period. Make an example of it.

DOJ got an affadavit from a civil rights guy saying this was the worst example of voter intimidation he'd seen, including from the 60s.

It's alright with the politicos at Obama DOJ though.

(and a commercial can be fashioned from the video that will not make the inaction of the administration look good, I assure you.)

(and a commercial can be fashioned from the video that will not make the inaction of the administration look good, I assure you.)

Of course. The commercial will be all white-haired suburban grannies and mothers with young children cowering away from the scary, scary black men invading their polling place with a voiceover telling everyone that THIS WILL HAPPEN TO YOU!!! unless you vote Republican.

Also, I wouldn't hang my hat on anything the Washington Times reports if I were you. They have an, um, interesting relationship with the truth.

I would love to see Republicans use that, since the NBP were intimidating black voters who were voting for Obama in a black neighborhood and they spout a pretty astounding volume of anti-Obama venom. Please, use it.

That's the biggest crock I've seen. Yes, those NBP were intimidating black voters to vote McCain.

LMAO.

If you bothered to read the article, you'll see that you are mistaken.

The NBP brought weapons to a voting site and threatened a white poll watcher.

Yes, those are today's Democrats.

Also, I wouldn't hang my hat on anything the Washington Times reports if I were you. They have an, um, interesting relationship with the truth.

Read the article, especially the quotes from the affidavit. Next thing I'll know is that affidavits have an interesting relationship with the truth.

Of course, if your lie was correct and these NBPs were intimidating voters to vote McCain, I'd think Obama would be all for prosecuting.

The question is why did his Attorney General let it slide?

More like, this should not happen at our polling places. Why was it tolerated?

Pretty stupid political decision, if you ask me, regardless of which party made it.

"...329 House members and 76 senators sent [Obama] a letter advising against putting too much public pressure on Israel."

We have the best congress that AIPAC money can buy.

"same time request Hamas to stop lobbing mortars and rockets into Israel."

ROFL. Pretty tough to 'ask' when the US unilaterally refuses to talk to the democratically elected government of Palestine.

Like maybe, the US could ask the Israeli government to abide by the Oslo accords?

The Zionists took the land at gunpoint and created an aparthied state to preserve the purity of the culture and race. Some 6-odd billion of american tax dollars go each year to support this system.

As long as the AIPAC controls congress, not a damn thing we can do. For the same reason there will never be effective public campaign financing... they can't afford to let it happen.

Buford,

Any daylight separating you and Hamas re Israel?

democratically elected government of Palestine.

Yes, I think we got one...

The Zionists took the land at gunpoint

Getting warmer....

As long as the AIPAC controls congress, not a damn thing we can do.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a true-blue anti-Semite!

I would love to see Republicans use that, since the NBP were intimidating black voters who were voting for Obama in a black neighborhood and they spout a pretty astounding volume of anti-Obama venom. Please, use it.

I don't think the NBP got the anti-Obama memo:

Minister Najee Muhammad, national field marshal for the New Black Panther Party, and Uhuru Shakur, local chairman of the Atlanta chapter of the party, took turns reading statements from Dr. Malik Shabazz, leader of Black Lawyers for Justice and attorney for the party...

�We will not allow some racists and other angry whites, who are upset over an impending Barack Obama presidential victory, to intimidate blacks at the polls,� Muhammad said. “Most certainly, we cannot allow these racist forces to slaughter our babies or commit other acts of violence against the black population, nor our black president.�

North Korea, not only test fired yet another short-range missile today, it "warned it would act in "self-defense" if provoked by the U.N. Security Council."

They've been saying that all week.

What *is* new is that after pressuring SKor to join the PSI, thereby prompting NKor to withdraw from the armistice that's been in place for 55 yrs and throwing the whole situation into a higher level of defcom, the Obama admin realized that they made a huge mistake and are now sending out Gates to proclaim that the crisis is not indeed a crisis, and stressing the need for diplomacy. Yeah for that.

I assume that someone finally informed Obama that the new SKor president is a rightwing hawk, and that the US needs to sit on him, instead of encouraging him to greater acts of belligerency.

Is Obama "getting tough" with Israel?

More meaningless Kabuki.

I'll pay attention when Obama threatens to blockade Israel unless they open up their nukes to intl inspection.

What Buford said. We've no defense treaties with Israel and they're in violation of so many UN resolutions I've lost count- yet we act as though this 'tiny, struggling nation' is the founding member of NATO, and any talk of cutting 'aid' to them is a political third rail...

Cut 'em loose from our welfare tit. A nation in possession of 200+ nukes and the region's most powerful military can take care of itself, and those who menace it. We've gained nothing but misery and the emnity of most of the civilized world from our needless grovelling at Israel's feet. Enough. Any politician that has the guts to stand up to them has my vote.

Haha, Jake- the 'racist' strawman schitck is wearing awfully thin. Look up who the 'Semites' really are, sometime.

I assume that someone finally informed Obama that the new SKor president is a rightwing hawk, and that the US needs to sit on him, instead of encouraging him to greater acts of belligerency.

Is he testing nuclear weapons and firing missiles? So how is he acting belligerent? You know the South Koreans are scared shitless of that whack-job up North, what with all the artillery pointed at Seoul. He'd better do all he can to protect his people from that madman.

Glad you see him as the belligerent one.

I'll pay attention when Obama threatens to blockade Israel unless they open up their nukes to intl inspection.

Blockade Israel while doing nothing to Iran, who is developing nukes, testing missiles, and promising to use them to destroy Israel.

You liberals have a warped worldview. Iran, Hamas and North Korea are the poor oppressed governments suffering at the hands of the evil democracies that are Israel and South Korea.

As long as the AIPAC controls congress, not a damn thing we can do.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a true-blue anti-Semite!

Posted by: Jake on May 29, 2009 at 8:45 PM | PERMALINK

GAAAOOOOGAAAHH!

Another AIPAC lobbyist 'earning' his pay!

Eat it raw, Jake!

Haha, Jake- the 'racist' strawman schitck is wearing awfully thin. Look up who the 'Semites' really are, sometime.

And your schtick about who the "Semites" really as is quite old. Do you prefer "Jew-hater?" Everyone knows what is meant when you refer to an anti-Semite. Buford is one.

PS - when the U.S. stops sending billions of dollars to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and all the other Arab nations who have pledged to destroy Israel, then maybe we can stop helping Israel as well.

I can guarantee you we send a lot more money to the Arab states than Israel.

He'd better do all he can to protect his people from that madman.

Joining PSI gives SKor nothing that it doesn't already have, and does nothing to protect the SKor people. It does, however, increase the threat of war on the peninsula, which would certainly lead to the deaths of millions. While bloodthristy racists such as yourself would more than love to see that, it isn't all that very helpful to the Korean people, who, unlike racists such as yourself, do not distinguish between south and north, and only see one Korean people separated by different gvmts.

U.S. stops sending billions of dollars to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and all the other Arab nations who have pledged to destroy Israel

So, Egypt has pledged to destroy Israel? I must have missed that in the fine print of the Camp David Accord....

Hey mod, how about blocking this racist bloodthirsty warmonger? His lies are beginning to overtake this thread.

Get your facts straight:

http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_faq_palestine.php

The Dick & Liz Show

I'm curious as to what basis Liz Cheney has to comment on the Torture Memos Mr. Cheney wants to be declassified that show the effectiveness of torture.

Does she have security clearance?

I don't see why the Israelis should stop settlements as long as Hamas is launching attacks into Israel.

Posted by: Jake on May 29, 2009

That's been the situation for quite a long time now. Time to move forward.

The possibility that both of them will stop their aggression toward one another at precisely the same moment is approaching nil. Somebody has to go first, at least for a 'cease fire' for some negotiations.

Should Israel limit itself to only negotiating with one party representing the West Bank, Hezbollah and Hamas or should it seek peace where it's available and deal with each of them separately?

Waiting for the other side to agree to all your terms BEFORE sitting down to negotiate is a sure way of never getting there. Is that what Israel wants? Sometimes it seems that way.

I have no idea if Abbas is strong enough on the Palestinian side to manage these negotiations, but Israel should be strong enough for the two.

How are governments not virtually like middlemen drug dealers when it comes to cigarettes. They maximize their profits by exploiting addicts and using little or none of that money to discourage addiction or for the health care problems of the addicts, even though it is well known that a smoker ultimately costs society less than a nonsmoker.

California tried some strong, graphic ads about smoking years ago and the results were very discouraging, for those that profit off smokers. The ads were so effective that for their own interests and those of the manufacturers, they stopped running them. They must have burned the tapes in the desert when they destroyed the electric car.

This was the plan for Iraq: Disband the Iraqi army, de-Baathify down to the lower ranks, stoke resentment and eventual civil war between the Sunni and Shia, with the ethnic cleansing and defacto Partitioning of Iraq into smaller, weaker states as the ultimate goal.

Watch the following videos on the carving up of Iraq:
youtube.com/watch?v=u4MdyJDnSoI
youtube.com/watch?v=yp_iTR9dI6o

Washington Post Q & A with PBS Frontline director Michael Kirk

Q: In making your film, what were you able to learn about who originated the "deep deBaathification" and the "disband the Iraqi army" decisions? Did you learn what motivated these disastrous decisions?

KIRK: The idea of deBaathification seems to have grown out of the offices of Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith at the Pentagon.

VIDEO: Watch Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif) say the following at AIPAC (1:20 minutes in)

"The Persian population in Iran is not a majority, it is a plurality. There are many different, diverse and disagreeing populations inside Iran. And an obvious strategy, which I believe is a very good strategy, is to work to separate those populations."

Listen to Philip Weiss discuss the Neocon/AIPAC War for Israel agenda:
Antiwar.com/Radio - 2008/07/12

What Jake and his detestable fellow travelers really have their knickers in a twist about is that they always, always put Israel's interests first, not the USA's, hence the ceaseless, irrational bleating of 'anti-Semite...anti SEMITE!1!!1!' Haw.

Your 'fledgling Middle Eastern democracy''s treatment of the Palestinians, on the other hand...man, Himmler must be smiling in Hell. You all learned your lessons from the masters, after all!

Don't you know, Jake, us libs are the anti-racists? You, on the other hand, have aligned yourselves with the party of the modern KKK...and the ones the Stormfront types tend to vote for in distressingly large numbers. How's it feel to have your head about to explode?

As I said, Jake, eat it raw...like any Israel-first Quisling should.

[play elsewhere -- mod.]

What about Clinton & Bush? Only good thing about it is that Steve will have to man up or lose all credibility. Of course, in an untenable binary situation, a clever dude will claim parity default.