Too Progressive

If you’re a frequent reader (thank you!), or you’ve read any of my entries on my old blog, you know that I absolutely loathe Senator John Warner - so naturally, this article is very encouraging to me!

Seems former Governor Mark Warner is being courted by national Democrats to challenge John Warner for his Senate seat in 2008, and according to WaPo sources on Capitol Hill, and in the state of Virginia, Mark Warner is very seriously considering it!!!

Mark Warner had dinner with Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) last month, and the two have since talked regularly about the contest, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because a final decision has not been made.

If both Warners run, it would pit two of the commonwealth’s most popular political figures against each other in a rematch of their 1996 U.S. Senate race.

“Governor Warner plans to stay engaged in the public policy debate and has not ruled out running for elected office again, either for the U.S. Senate or for governor,” said Monica Dixon, executive director of Warner’s Forward Together political action committee. Warner was out of the country and unreachable for comment.

RUN MARK, RUN!!!!!!!!

I reported earlier last week that the Republican party had been given thousands of dollars from a suspected terrorist:

My, my, you’ve got to love the irony of this - Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari is accused of trying to help terrorists in Afghanistan, and pleaded not guilty on Friday in a United States District Court in Manhattan to charges including terrorism financing, material support of terrorism, and money laundering.
The kicker? He’s also donated at least $15,000 to the House Republicans’ Campaign Committee (HRCC) over the past three years!

Not only was he a donor, but according to a resume Alishtari has posted online, he was named a National Republican Senatorial Committee “Inner Circle Member for Life,” even appointed to the NRCC’s “White House Business Advisory Committee,” and was the NRCC’s NY state businessman of the year in both 2002, and 2003.

Given that he’s been brought forward on charges of terrorism, you’d think the Republican party would, ya know, actually put some distance between themselves and this guy - WRONG!

The National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) and the Republican Congressmen they’ve helped to elect are still resisting calls to give back or donate to charity the money they received from an alleged terrorist financier.

Their decision to hold onto money linked to terrorism is all the more baffling considering the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has already donated the money they took from the indicted donor to charity.

So the GOP accepts donations from terrorists, while claiming that the Democratic party is the one who’s “weak on terrorism.” Right!!

BREAKING: Following a major drop in the Chinese stock market today, the DJIA is currently down about 500 points.

UPDATE: Via Reuters:

Stocks tumbled on Tuesday, sending the benchmark S&P 500 index to its biggest one-day slide in more than 3-1/2 years as China’s equity market sell-off fanned worries that stock valuations there are too high and some data indicated U.S. economic growth may slow.

During the session, the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 3 percent as investors dumped technology shares and the stocks of other companies that rely heavily on Chinese demand.

“Fear has infected the financial markets,” said Frederic Ruffy, an options analyst at Optionetics, an options education company in Redwood City, California.

UPDATE #2: Perhaps the ‘progress’ in Afghanistan or the ‘progress’ in Iraq has something to do with it.

Developing…

Gee, ya think?

Several governors told a top National Guard official Sunday they are concerned about the toll the Iraq war is taking on their state forces.

The governors said they were closely monitoring deployment of their troops, worn-out equipment and how ready they would be for domestic emergencies.

Governors also hoped to persuade Congress to reverse a step taken last year in response to Hurricane Katrina that gave the president greater power to deploy troops for problems at home, a power previously reserved for the states’ top leaders.

“There’s a lot of concern about the resources already employed, manpower and equipment,” said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat. “How much equipment have we sent abroad, how much has returned, how much is usable?”

In Virginia, many of the 5,500 Guard members have been deployed more than once since September 11, 2001, said Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat. “Obviously, that’s a problem.”

Well, I guess it’s better late than never, right?

Governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington agreed today to work together to develop a regional target to lower greenhouse gases. The five said that their region was suffering from some of the worst of global warming with droughts and severe wildfires. They planned to create programs to help businesses reach “still-undecided goals.”

“In the absence of meaningful federal action, it is up to the states to take action to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this country,” said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat. “Western states are being particularly hard-hit by the effects of climate change.”

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said a so-called cap-and-trade program, which lets companies that can’t meet their emission reduction targets buy credits from those that reduce carbon dioxide, would provide “a powerful framework for developing a national cap-and-trade program. … This agreement shows the power of states to lead our nation addressing climate change.”

The initiative will be known as the “Western Regional Climate Action Initiative.”

In the midst of their know-nothing rants about how “bad” the Clinton administration was for America, coupled with the occasional “Democrats love taxes - and they love to support dead beats who don’t work” - Republicans seem to forget that it was the Clinton administration that imposed time limits on government welfare. The number of families receiving the benefits of welfare has dropped dramatically since the government (lead by President Clinton) imposed time limits on welfare payments about a decade ago. So naturally you’d think that the Bush administration must be doing it’s part as well - but then of course, be wrong.

Other programs for the poor, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits, are bursting with new enrollees.

The result, according to an Associated Press analysis: Nearly one in six people rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago.

Critics of the welfare overhaul say the numbers offer fresh evidence that few former recipients have become self-sufficient, even though millions have moved from welfare to work. They say the vast majority have been forced into low-paying jobs without benefits and few opportunities to advance.

About 44 million people - nearly one in six in the country - relied on government services for the poor in 2003, according to the most recent statistics compiled by the Census Bureau. That compares with about 39 million in 1996.

Also, the number of people getting government aid continues to increase, according to more recent enrollment figures from individual programs.

Medicaid rolls alone topped 45 million people in 2005, pushed up in part by rising health care costs and fewer employers offering benefits. Nearly 26 million people a month received food stamps that year.

Wow!!!! With the list of those relying on government help continuing to grow under his watch, George Bush continues to cut the amount of money going to Medicaid, while spending more money on the war in Iraq (click here for more info on that).

See, while the administration continues to “tout” it’s “grand” economic policy, and the millions of jobs it’s reportedly created, most media outlets, and of course the Bush administration itself fail to report that those same jobs are not exactly paying “reasonable” wages, or anything close to reasonable for that matter. In fact, the Nation’s top employer - Hell Wal Mart, reportedly encourages employees to apply for Welfare, Medicaid, and other government programs because it simply doesn’t pay it’s employees enough to support themselves or their families.

Another argument from Wal-Mart’s critics is that the company encourages its employees to apply for public assistance programs. Jon Lehman, a former Wal-Mart manager now working to unionize Wal-Mart stores, tells FRONTLINE that he actively encouraged and assisted his staff with applying for public assistance. “I thought I was doing a good thing at the time, he said. “Now, when I look back, I think, ‘Wow, that’s incredibly poor that the company doesn’t care enough about its workers to pay them a living wage and to help them with their medical costs, to pay their medical expenses and things like that’.”

For those of you thinking “well I don’t work there, why should I care?” Keep in mind that your tax money is what pays for Wal Mart employees to be able to survive, because the company simply refuses to pay them enough.

For more information on the crap-shoot that is “employment at Wal Mart,” I encourage all of you to rent this movie that will explain in detail what a complete joke the entire company is.

The Bush administration needs to read between the lines a tad before they start touting either the national unemployment rate, or their economic policies ever again.

Via The Richmond Times Dispatch:

Warner’s endorsement — should McCain decide to seek the presidency — was in a statement dated today from McCain’s exploratory campaign, obtained by The Times-Dispatch.

The Virginian’s move brings McCain support from a respected Southern Republican who has allied with McCain on a number of defense issues but differed with him on President Bush’s Iraq troop buildup. Warner drafted a bipartisan resolution opposing the buildup. McCain supports the added troops.

“The endorsement helps McCain because of Warner’s stature on military issues, and McCain is struggling to regain his credibility for leadership on the Iraq war,” said political scientist Mark Rozell of George Mason University.

“That Warner has moved in a different direction on the military buildup actually may be an asset since observers may conclude that he sees enough value overall in a McCain candidacy to put aside that very important difference,” Rozell said.

While it may come as a bit of a surprise that Warner is A) endorsing so early, and B) passing over former Virginia Governor Jim ‘fiscal disaster’ Gilmore - I’m going to speculate that he may have chosen McCain over Gilmore because Gilmore has almost no shot of getting the Republican nomination. On top of that - Warner and McCain have had a long-standing friendship, and are arguably two of the most two-faced, flip flopping Senators serving today - so other than the fact that Warner may have overlooked Gilmore, this really doesn’t come as that much of a shock.

Thoughts?

Gee, ya think?

Several governors told a top National Guard official Sunday they are concerned about the toll the Iraq war is taking on their state forces.

The governors said they were closely monitoring deployment of their troops, worn-out equipment and how ready they would be for domestic emergencies.

Governors also hoped to persuade Congress to reverse a step taken last year in response to Hurricane Katrina that gave the president greater power to deploy troops for problems at home, a power previously reserved for the states’ top leaders.

“There’s a lot of concern about the resources already employed, manpower and equipment,” said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat. “How much equipment have we sent abroad, how much has returned, how much is usable?”

In Virginia, many of the 5,500 Guard members have been deployed more than once since September 11, 2001, said Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat. “Obviously, that’s a problem.”

Well, I guess it’s better late than never, right?

In the morning I’ll have more information on a story developing late tonight - one of Virginia’s Senator’s is ready to endorse John McCain (R-AZ) to be America’s next President. I’ll also have a very disturbing entry regarding what a complete joke Bush’s economic policies are - despite media reports which claim otherwise. Coupled with that some grossly chilling facts about how your tax money is paying for Wal Mart employees to barely make ends-meat.

I admit, I’m not watching it (award shows usually bore me to tears), but Reuters is reporting that Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” has won an Oscar at tonight’s Academy Awards.

“An Inconvenient Truth,” the big-screen adaptation of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s slide-show lecture about the perils of global warming, won the Academy Award on Sunday for documentary feature.

The award went to director Davis Guggenheim and producers Lawrence Bender (”Pulp Fiction”) and Laurie David, the environmentalist wife of “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David.

Surely Fox News and other Conservatives and Conservative Media outlets will scream that he only won because Hollywood and the rest of the Entertainment business is only made up of “Liberals” and “Democratic activists.”

Thoughts??

“The new way forward” in Iraq? Bomber strikes Baghdad college; 41 dead.

A suicide bomber triggered a ball bearing-packed charge Sunday, killing at least 41 people at a mostly Shiite college whose main gate was left littered with blood-soaked student notebooks and papers amid the bodies.

Witnesses said a woman carried out the attack at the business school annex to Mustansiriyah University, but Interior Ministry officials said they were still investigating those reports. The school’s main campus was hit by a string of bombings last month that killed 70 people.

This must also fall under President Bush’s definition of Progress in Iraq. So much the “sign of success” theory as to the reason the Brits are leaving, eh?

My apologies, I meant to post this sooner but I’ve been plagued by the flu the past few days, and currently have one wicked head cold - but I will be a guest on “The More Me Show” sometime between 7:30pm and 8:30pm this evening. It is the show’s one year anniversary, and it airs on Progressive Blend Radio! For more information, and/or to listen to the show, please click here!

Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack ended his Presidential campaign today after struggling to raise enough money when faced against better known rivals such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards.

“It is money and only money that is the reason we are leaving today,” Vilsack told reporters at a news conference, later adding, “We have a debt we’re going to have to work our way through.”

In the most recent financial documents, Vilsack reported raising more than $1.1 million in the last seven weeks of 2006 but only had around $396,000 in the bank. Some campaign finance experts contend candidates will need $20 million by June 2007 to remain viable.

“I came up against something for the first time in my life that hard work and effort couldn’t overcome,” he said. “I just couldn’t work any harder, couldn’t give it enough.”

There is not an announcement yet on Vilsack’s website.

By the way, don’t forget you can donate to any of the eight remaining Democrats in the running for President, the “Draft Gore” campaign, or the presumptive Democratic nominee fund by clicking here!

John Warner simply refuses to take a firm position on ANYTHING, including whether or not he plans to run in 2008. He claims he hasn’t really made up his mind, but the following quote which I blogged on back in December, clearly shows that he has indeed decided to run in 2008:

“I have decided to devote my full time to [national] security responsibilities in the Senate and the demands of a vigorous and challenging reelection campaign.”

He then seemingly “framed” his platform for reelection:

“Such dedication of my time will allow me to continue focusing on Virginia’s and America’s priorities in the area of national security, and to campaign for the Senate.”

Over two months later, he’s still refusing to tell Virginians whether or not he plans to seek another term in the U.S. Senate, but is already planning his first major fundraiser — nearly two years ahead of time.

Sen. John W. Warner has not announced a decision about running for a sixth Senate term, but he’s planning what he calls his “first major fundraiser” in June.

Warner, who turned 80 on Sunday, disclosed Wednesday that he will sponsor his annual golf tournament fundraising event the weekend of June 9 in Williamsburg.

“It would be pretty significant for me,” Warner said about the proceeds.

Planning for the June event allows Warner to begin laying a foundation for campaign fundraising.

Uhh, Senator Warner, we’re all well aware that you’re no straight shooter (also see: flip flopping on Iraq), but at least come clean regarding your 2008 intentions, especially when it’s so crystal clear what you really plan to do.

Aides to Democrats on Capitol Hill have released information this evening saying that the Democratic Senators are planning to propose legislation limiting U.S. troops in Iraq and effectively revoking the broad authority Congress granted in 2002.

While these officials said the precise wording of the measure remains unsettled, one draft would restrict American troops in Iraq to combating al-Qaida, training Iraqi army and police forces, maintaining Iraq’s territorial integrity and otherwise proceeding with the withdrawal of combat forces.

UPDATE: Via The Washington Post:

“We gave the president that power to destroy Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and, if necessary, to depose Saddam Hussein,” Biden said of the 2002 resolution in a speech last week before the Brookings Institution. “The WMD was not there. Saddam Hussein is no longer there. The 2002 authorization is no longer relevant to the situation in Iraq.

Biden and Levin are drafting language to present to their colleagues when the Senate reconvenes on Tuesday, following a week-long recess.

The new framework would set a goal for withdrawing combat brigades by March 31, 2008, the same timetable established by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. Once the combat phase ends, troops would be restricted to assisting Iraqis with training, border security and counterterrorism.

Senior Democratic aides said the proposed resolution would be sent directly to the Senate floor for action, without committee review, possibly as an amendment to a homeland security bill scheduled for debate next week.”

And for those who will undoubtedly say the legislation may “tie the hands” of the President:

More importantly, the legislation may include a waiver that the president or defense secretary could invoke to deploy troops who are not fully combat-ready, Democratic aides said. That way, the commander in chief’s hands would not be tied.

While the Pentagon continues to discharge nearly 1,000 people from the military each year who are “determined to be homosexuals,” they’re granting more and more “waivers” to criminals and putting lethal weapons into the hands of those very same often times dangerous criminals. According to The Washington Note, nearly 125,000 “moral waivers” have been issued to criminals so far allowing them to join the military.

In an editorial article published in today’s New York Times, comes a bit of insight into just how ignorant some of the jackasses running our country truly are.

To keep filling the ranks, the Army has had to keep lowering its expectations. Diluting educational, aptitude and medical standards has not been enough. Nor have larger enlistment bonuses plugged the gap. So the Army has found itself recklessly expanding the granting of “moral waivers,” which let people convicted of serious misdemeanors and even some felonies enlist in its ranks.

Last year, such waivers were granted to 8,129 men and women — or more than one out of every 10 new Army recruits. That number is up 65 percent since 2003, the year President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq. In the last three years, more than 125,000 moral waivers have been granted by America’s four military services.

Most of last year’s Army waivers were for serious misdemeanors, like aggravated assault, robbery, burglary and vehicular homicide. But around 900 — double the number in 2003 — were for felonies. Worse, the Army does no systematic tracking of recruits with waivers once it signs them up, and it does not always pay enough attention to any adjustment problems. Without adequate monitoring and counseling, handing out guns to people who have already committed crimes poses a danger to the other soldiers they serve with and to the innocent civilians they are supposed to protect.

Okay first of all, I’m still clueless as to why Homosexuals aren’t allowed in the military to begin with. I’m especially failing to see the logic in denying Gays positions within the military, but at the same time allowing convicted criminals to sign up no questions asked. I know that logic, and practicing what you preach doesn’t exactly come easy for bigots and right wing nuts, but c’mon.

BREAKING: Word on the street (both CNN, and the BBC reporting) is that British PM Tony Blair will announce the withdraw of 1,500+ British troops from Iraq in the near future.

Looks like Britain is waking up, still waiting on you, President Bush.

UPDATE: Another 1,500+ British troops could pulled from Iraq by Christmas. The total number of British soldiers in Iraq is only about 7,100 - so the total 3,000 expected to be pulled by Christmas would amount to almost half the entire British force in the country.

UPDATE #2: From the BBC:

Mr Blair is expected to say hundreds of troops will return from Basra within weeks with more to follow later.

Some 7,000 UK troops are currently serving in Iraq and about 1,500 are expected to return within weeks.

UPDATE #3: Maybe as many as 1,600 in the first withdraw? Via the Financial Times:

Tony Blair is to announce on Wednesday that Britain will cut the number of UK troops stationed in Iraq by about 1,600 – the first time the UK’s military presence in the country has been cut since the 2003 invasion.

The Financial Times has learnt that Mr Blair will tell MPs that the current UK contingent in Iraq – numbering 7,100 troops – is to come down to 5,500. The reduction in troop numbers will pave the way for Iraqi forces to begin taking control of the city of Basra.

Blair is already trying to “save face” with his master in Washington, DC too it appears:

However, the announcement will be watched with anxiety by politicians across the political divide in the US. Britain’s troop reduction comes as President George W. Bush has started to commit the US to a “surge” of US troop numbers in Iraq, a move contested by the Democrats in Congress.

Mr Blair, who on Tuesday spoke with Mr Bush about Wednesday’s announcement, will insist that there has been no opposition from Washington to the British move.

Just as a side note, and I really shouldn’t even mention this, but perhaps some of you will find the comedy in it as I did, but Fox News is the only one of the three major cable news networks that has yet to cover this development out of the UK this evening. Just what are they reporting on, you ask? Britney Spears, of course!

UPDATE #4: NBC News confirms it:

NBC News’ David Gregory reported Tuesday that the White House confirmed Blair’s intention to withdraw troops. Blair and Bush spoke about it Tuesday morning, according to NBC.

Between September 11, 2001 and 2005, nearly every single terrorism related statistic reported by the Justice Department and the FBI had at least some inaccuracies, according to the department’s inspector general.

Democratic Senators said the report “raised doubts” as to how effectively the Bush administration was handling the fight against terrorism.

“If the Department of Justice can’t even get their own books in order, how are we supposed to have any confidence they are doing the job they should be?,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat.

“Whether this is just an accounting error or an attempt to pad terror prosecution statistics for some other reason, the Department of Justice of all places should be classifying cases for what they are, not what they want us to think them to be,” Schumer said.

Hmm, I’m going to go with the “padding the stats” theory, especially given the following:

The report found that only two out of 26 statistics were accurate after reviewing the number of terrorism convictions in the 2003 and 2004 financial years, the number of convictions or guilty pleas from September 11, 2001, through February 3, 2005, and the number of terrorist threats tracked by the FBI in 2003 and 2004.

“We found many cases involving offenses such as immigration violations, marriage fraud, or drug trafficking where department officials provided no evidence to link the subject of the case to terrorist activity,” the report said.

So essentially the plan was to prosecute just any random case, and on occasion mark it down as “terror” related, so it would seem as though the Department was successfully prosecuting many more terrorists than it actually was.

Oh, and once again, the Republicans love the terrorists as long as they’re contributing money to the GOP.

[Original thread located here!]

BREAKING: Word on the street (both CNN, and the BBC reporting) is that British PM Tony Blair will announce the withdraw of 1,500+ British troops from Iraq in the near future.

Looks like Britain is waking up, still waiting on you, President Bush.

UPDATE: Another 1,500+ British troops could pulled from Iraq by Christmas. The total number of British soldiers in Iraq is only about 7,100 - so the total 3,000 expected to be pulled by Christmas would amount to almost half the entire British force in the country.

UPDATE #2: From the BBC:

Mr Blair is expected to say hundreds of troops will return from Basra within weeks with more to follow later.

Some 7,000 UK troops are currently serving in Iraq and about 1,500 are expected to return within weeks.

UPDATE #3: Maybe as many as 1,600 in the first withdraw? Via the Financial Times:

Tony Blair is to announce on Wednesday that Britain will cut the number of UK troops stationed in Iraq by about 1,600 – the first time the UK’s military presence in the country has been cut since the 2003 invasion.

The Financial Times has learnt that Mr Blair will tell MPs that the current UK contingent in Iraq – numbering 7,100 troops – is to come down to 5,500. The reduction in troop numbers will pave the way for Iraqi forces to begin taking control of the city of Basra.

Blair is already trying to “save face” with his master in Washington, DC too it appears:

However, the announcement will be watched with anxiety by politicians across the political divide in the US. Britain’s troop reduction comes as President George W. Bush has started to commit the US to a “surge” of US troop numbers in Iraq, a move contested by the Democrats in Congress.

Mr Blair, who on Tuesday spoke with Mr Bush about Wednesday’s announcement, will insist that there has been no opposition from Washington to the British move.

Just as a side note, and I really shouldn’t even mention this, but perhaps some of you will find the comedy in it as I did, but Fox News is the only one of the three major cable news networks that has yet to cover this development out of the UK this evening. Just what are they reporting on, you ask? Britney Spears, of course!

UPDATE #4: NBC News confirms it:

NBC News’ David Gregory reported Tuesday that the White House confirmed Blair’s intention to withdraw troops. Blair and Bush spoke about it Tuesday morning, according to NBC.

UPDATE #5: In a conversation he had with President Bush this morning via video link, Blair declared that the British troop withdraw was “a sign of success.”

Blair and Bush talked by secure video link Tuesday morning, and Bush said Britain’s troop cutbacks were “a sign of success” in Iraq.

“The president is grateful for the support of the British Forces in the past and into the future,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Washington. “While the United Kingdom is maintaining a robust force in southern Iraq, we’re pleased that conditions in Basra have improved sufficiently that they are able to transition more control to the Iraqis.

Seriously, are these guys dropping acid, or some other form of hallucinogen? WHAT PART OF FAILURE do these fools not understand? What part of over 3,100 American soldiers dead (and the monthly death tolls getting worse and worse over time), and God knows how many Iraqi’s dead or maimed for life. Unless you consider this, this, this, this, or this a “success,” then we’re by no means seeing “success” or “progress” in Iraq, in fact, we’re not even getting anything CLOSE.

Developing…

My, my, you’ve got to love the irony of this - Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari is accused of trying to help terrorists in Afghanistan, and pleaded not guilty on Friday in a United States District Court in Manhattan to charges including terrorism financing, material support of terrorism, and money laundering.

The kicker? He’s also donated at least $15,000 to the House Republicans’ Campaign Committee (HRCC) over the past three years!

The NRCC did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday about whether it would return the donations.

In the federal indictment, the government said Alishtari, 53, of Ardsley, N.Y., also known as Mixon accepted an unspecified amount of money to transfer $152,000 to Pakistan and Afghanistan to support an Afghanistan terrorist training camp. He also stands accused of causing the transfer of about $25,000 from a bank account in New York to an account in Montreal, money the government says was to be used to provide material support to terrorists.

Not only was he a donor, but according to a resume Alishtari has posted online, he was named a National Republican Senatorial Committee “Inner Circle Member for Life” and was even appointed to the NRCC’s “White House Business Advisory Committee,” and, according to the Associated Press was the NRCC’s NY state businessman of the year in both 2002, and 2003.

So to be clear, they accuse Democrats of “sponsoring terrorism” when we disagree with the myriad of failed Bush policies, meanwhile they’re accepting campaign donations, and affiliating themselves with accused terror suspects. Nice!

[Cross posted at Daily Kos!]