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In honor of the Hillary Clinton American Idol campaign theme song contest finally reaching the final round, and quite frankly, because all of her choices suck, The Colette is having a “contest” of our own! Choose the REAL Hillary campaign theme song from the list below, or leave your own suggestion in the comments! Aaaaand GO!…..
If this is all the “dirt” that Republicans can dig up to try and “smear” Democratic presidential nominee Bill Richardson, then the Republicans have got major problems come 2008.
I just stumbled across the video below while doing random YouTube searches. It shows Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney palling around with Conservative neo-con and Fox News ‘pundit on call’ Anne Coulter at the CPAC 2007 right before Coulter went on stage and used a homophobic slur to describe John Edwards.
COULTER: You know, a photo of you and me together is going to be famous when you do something I don’t like and I viciously attack you.
ROMNEY: Never, that will never happen, never will happen.
As some of you may remember, Anne Coulter has expressed several times that “Canada is lucky we allow them to exist on the same continent as us.” So in essence, Mitt Romney is promising to wipe out Canada, he’s promising to allow for the unquestioned (and unethical) torture of suspected terrorists, he’s promising to ban homosexuality, ban abortion, and force Christianity down the throats of Americans everywhere!
Later in the video….
COULTER: No, they don’t understand! We hate Liberal Atheists! You can’t get these sectarian wars going with us. We’re all Christians.
ROMNEY: There’s no Sunni or Shia here.
Is that supposed to be funny? Poking fun at sectarian violence, and clash of different religious cultures? Not my idea of a joke.
[Cross posted at Daily Kos]
The ACLU is suing a subsidiary of Boeing alleging that the company flew CIA terror suspects overseas to be tortured.
The cases involve allegations of mistreatment of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian citizen, in July 2002 and January 2004; Elkassim Britel, an Italian citizen, in May 2002; and Ahmed Agiza, an Egyptian citizen, in December 2001.
Mohamed is being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Britel in Morocco; and Agiza in Egypt, the ACLU said in a news release.
Mike Pound, a spokesman for Englewood, Colo.-based Jeppesen, said company officials had not seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment. He said Jeppesen, a subsidiary of Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, provides support services, rather than the flights themselves.
“We don’t know the purpose of the trip for which we do a flight plan,” Pound said. “We don’t need to know specific details. It’s the customer’s business, and we do the business that we are contracted for. It’s not our practice to ever inquire about the purpose of a trip.”
ACLU attorney Ben Wizner said Jeppesen could not have been ignorant of the purpose of CIA flights.
“Either they knew or reasonably should have known that they were facilitating a torture program,” he said.
Wizner went on to say that companies “are not allowed to have their head in the sand and take money from the CIA to fly people, hooded and shackled, to foreign countries to be tortured.”
Most of these are pictures I took, some of them aren’t. I used my camera phone for most of them, thus the poor picture quality…
What an amazing weekend! Pictures coming soon….
Yes, it’s only Friday, but I’m off to New Jersey for the weekend, and also going to Whistle music festival tomorrow night in Philly!! So this week’s Week in review comes a day early…
Jerry Falwell was thrown in the ground.
Daily Whackjob continues their complete ownage of the VA blogosphere.
Meanwhile, a Liberty “University” student planned to bomb an anti-gay group of Christians for protesting fellow Christian, and anti-gay hatemonger Falwell’s funeral (WTF LOLZ TONGUETWISTERZ!)
George Bush fell to a new low, while gas prices hit another all time high, and another one!
Federal Government puts MySpace.com in charge of the intrawebnetz.com!
Let’s have fun and blow up the planet too!
Michelle Obama bitch slaps the GOP, Keith Olbermann backhands both parties.
Line up kids, we’re all gonna get raped by Sallie Mae!!
Bill Richardson becomes the 333rd candidate to officially join the Presidential race.
Oh, and, in honor of teh Whistlez muzik festivalz:
And here’s why:
6. Currently, only Massachusetts recognizes equal marriage rights for same sex couples. Do you believe the civil institution of marriage (with absolutely no requirements imposed on religious institutions) should be made legally available to two committed adults of the same sex?
__Support X Oppose
Worth noting: Both Jim Webb, and John Warner voted “yea” as did Harry Reid and 435 term Senator John McCain. Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama both voted against the measure, but only after enough votes were in to secure the bill would pass, and war loving Senator Brownback Mountain of Kansas couldn’t even bother to show up. Another thing I found interesting was the fact that of the six Senators not voting, four were Republican (supposedly the “troop loving party”) while only two were Democratic, one of which was Tim Johnson (D-SD) who I think we can all agree has a legitimate excuse.
Anyway, here’s the full list, sorted by last name:
Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Alexander (R-TN), Yea
Allard (R-CO), Yea
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Yea
Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
Bond (R-MO), Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Nay
Brown (D-OH), Yea
Brownback (R-KS), Not Voting
Bunning (R-KY), Yea
Burr (R-NC), Nay
Byrd (D-WV), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Chambliss (R-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Nay
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Coleman (R-MN), Not Voting
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Corker (R-TN), Yea
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Craig (R-ID), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
DeMint (R-SC), Yea
Dodd (D-CT), Nay
Dole (R-NC), Yea
Domenici (R-NM), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Ensign (R-NV), Yea
Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Feingold (D-WI), Nay
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Hagel (R-NE), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Not Voting
Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Not Voting
Kennedy (D-MA), Nay
Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Levin (D-MI), Yea
Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Lott (R-MS), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Martinez (R-FL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea
McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Obama (D-IL), Nay
Pryor (D-AR), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Not Voting
Sessions (R-AL), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Smith (R-OR), Yea
Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Sununu (R-NH), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Yea
Thomas (R-WY), Not Voting
Thune (R-SD), Yea
Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Webb (D-VA), Yea
Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Love always,
The Democrats
and Co-signed,
The Republicans
Anyway, so we elect them (the Democrats) to Congress and what do they do? Exactly what we told them not to, of course!!!! In case you’re wondering, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both voted against the measure, but only after it was already assured that it would pass. Hm, I wonder if Walnuts! McCain actually voted this time.
Bowing to President Bush, the Democratic-controlled Congress grudgingly approved fresh billions for the Iraq war Thursday night, minus the troop withdrawal timeline that drew his earlier veto.
“The Iraqi government needs to show real progress in return for America’s continued support and sacrifice,” said the commander in chief, and he warned that August could prove to be a bloody month for U.S. troops in Baghdad’s murderous neighborhoods.
Five months in power on Capitol Hill, Democrats in both houses coupled their concession to the president with pledges to challenge his policies anew. “This debate will go on,” vowed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and if anything, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada was more emphatic.
“Senate Democrats will not stop our efforts to change the course of this war until either enough Republicans join with us to reject President Bush’s failed policy or we get a new president,” he said.
Earlier: Keith Olbermann slams Bush, and the Democratic leaders
UPDATE: Looks like crazy McCain did vote, voting “yea” of course. I’ll post the full roll call when it becomes available.
Up until this point in my college career, I’ve been able to pay for school using only the $3,500 in student loans a year I’ve received from the government. However, this year, after switching schools, that $3,500 was not going to be NEAR enough. I took out a $20,000 loan through Sallie Mae which will pay for the remainder year and a half of undergrad I have left, after which I will have two degrees. My credit score currently sits at 711, and for someone my age (I’m 21) that’s pretty damn good. So, in theory, one would think I could qualify for, ya know, a somewhat REASONABLE interest rate on the loan. That however, isn’t the case. I got pre-approved for the loan with an interest rate of a whopping 9.5%, and up until now, had no clue as to why, but, I’d be willing to bet this may have something to do with it.
Staff at student loan company Sallie Mae planned to meet with Bush administration officials to discuss the 2008 federal budget two months before its public release triggered a drop in the company’s share price, according to a company document released by congressional investigators on Thursday.
As part of a probe into an $18-million sale of stock by Sallie Mae’s chairman ahead of the budget proposal’s release in February, House of Representatives Education Committee Chairman George Miller (news, bio, voting record) said he wants more information about the stock sale and the government relations strategy of the company formally known as SLM Corp.
With federal and state investigators probing misconduct across the $85-billion student loan industry, Miller sent a letter to Sallie Mae Chairman Albert Lord seeking certain company records within 10 days.
The California Democrat also released an internal company document entitled “Federal Government Relations Strategy Discussion.” He said the document raises questions about Lord’s early February sale of 400,000 shares of stock in the company.
The sale shortly preceded a sharp drop in Sallie Mae’s share price after Wall Street was surprised on February 5 by a Bush administration fiscal 2008 budget proposal that included slashing subsidies paid to lenders such as Sallie Mae.
Thanks a lot George Bush, and a big FUCK YOU to you and anyone else on Capitol Hill who may have had something to do with this. Hopefully when I’m taking out another loan 18 months down the road to pay for grad school, the Democrats will have grown a backbone and ya know, actually follow through on one of their major campaign promises which was to fix all this student loan BS.
Keith Olbermann’s special comment regarding the “compromise” between George Bush and Democratic party leaders to continue funding the war in Iraq entirely on George Bush’s terms:
PAUL Wolfowitz has really had a bad couple of weeks. He not only lost his job, he lost his girlfriend, too.
Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq war, was pushed out as president of the World Bank over a controversial pay and promotion package he arranged for his brunette girlfriend, Shaha Ali Riza.
Sources say Riza, a brilliant feminist with a promising diplomatic career, was upset by all the publicity and the implication that she was getting ahead with the help of a powerful man. “She was furious about the embarrassment,” said one source.
Damn, well there goes a wealth of immeasurable comedic value for the entire blogosphere.
For the third straight week, gas inventories are up, but guess what! For the eleventh straight day, gas prices in the U.S. are at a record high! Costing American drivers an extra $20 BILLION so far this year.
The jump in U.S. gasoline prices this year has so far drained consumers of an extra $20 billion, or about $146 for each passenger car in the country, the Government Accountability Office told Congress on Tuesday.
The national price for regular unleaded gasoline hit a record $3.22 a gallon this week, and is up $1.05 since the beginning of February, according to the Energy Department.
As mentioned, gasoline inventory is on the rise, according a government report due out later today, and in turn, oil prices are dropping.
Oil prices fell Wednesday on expectations that a weekly U.S. government report to be released later in the day would show the third increase in domestic gasoline stocks in as many weeks.
Gasoline stocks were expected to grow by an average of 800,000 barrels, according to a Dow Jones Newswires poll of analysts. Crude oil supplies were forecast to drop by 200,000 barrels, and distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, were expected to increase by an average of 900,000 barrels.
So why the hell are we continuing to see gas prices climb day, after day?
In a recent interview with ABC News, Michelle Obama verbally assaulted “Rove era Republicans” who have utilized scare tactics, and fear mongering as a key political strategy to win elections.
“I think that we as a country have been a little lax in… our concern for these issues,” she said. “We’ve been nullified by the fear mongers, you know? It’s almost as if people have voted against their best personal issue interests because they’ve been so afraid of what could happen. You know, the terrorists are gonna get us.“
Ha ha! Michelle Obama, FTW!
Why is it that there are still (some) people who believe the U.S. is fighting a true “global war on terror” while the Bush administration arms the entire fucking planet to the teeth? Checkout how our government essentially props up our GDP via A Nation of Firsts Arms the World:
-First in Sales of Surface-to-Air Missiles:
Between 2001 and 2005, the United States delivered 2,099 surface-to-air missiles to nations in the developing world, 20% more than Russia, the next largest supplier.
-First in Sales of Military Ships:
During that same period, the U.S. sent 10 “major surface combatants” like aircraft carriers and destroyers to developing nations. Collectively, the four major European weapons producers shipped thirteen. (And we were first in the anti-ship missiles that go along with such ships, with nearly double (338) the exports of the next largest supplier Russia (180).
First in Military Training:
A thoughtful empire knows that it is not enough to send weapons; you have to teach people how to use them. The Pentagon plans on training the militaries of 138 nations in 2008 at a cost of nearly $90 million. No other nation comes close.
First in Weapons Sales:
Since 2001, U.S. global military sales have normally totaled between $10 and $13 billion. That’s a lot of weapons, but in fiscal year 2006, the Pentagon broke its own recent record, inking arms sales agreements worth $21 billion. It almost goes without saying that this is significantly more than any other nation in the world.
The U.S. also ranks first in oil consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, external debt, military expenditures, private military personnel, and radical Christian extremists!
Thanks a lot George Bush and co.!
[Cross posted at Daily Kos, and Raising Kaine]
A mere 33 percent of Americans approve of President Bush according to the latest Rasmussen poll, and only 14 percent of the misguided “strongly approve.” This from a poll that notoriously puts Bush’s approval numbers higher than the national average.
After three straight days at the lowest level ever recorded by Rasmussen Reports, President Bush’s Job Approval ratings slipped another point to another new low on Tuesday.
Just 33% of American adults now Approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his duties as President. Prior to this past week, the President’s ratings had never slipped below 35% and had only reached that level for a day or two at a time.
The President’s ratings tumble each time immigration reform dominates the news because he loses support among his base—just 66% of Republicans now give him their approval (that matches the lowest level of support he’s ever received from his base). Even as the stock markets set new records, just 36% of investors approve of the President’s performance.
How low can he go!
Because Wonkette says it better than I could ever possibly hope to.
In light of this, concerned citizens across the nation have urged the government to start rounding up Christians and imprisoning them without charges in secret CIA prisons. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is reportedly planning a major bust of extremist Christian sleeper cells across the South.
Earlier: What Jerry Falwell taught his legions of minion followers
Apparently a Liberty University student was arrested in Lynchburg a short while ago carrying “explosives.” Just what was he planning to do with those explosives? Kill protesters, of course!!!!! How Christian-like of him.
UPDATE: If they don’t agree with you, kill them!
Authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several gasoline-based bombs in his car.
The student, 19-year-old Mark Ewell of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service. The devices were made of a combination of gasoline and detergent, a law enforcement official told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas. The devices were “slow burn,” according to the official, and would not have been very destructive.
Three other suspects are being sought, one of whom is a soldier from Fort Benning, Ga., and another is a high school student. No information was available on the third person.
Developing…
Democrats on Capitol Hill today have supposedly reached a compromise with Republicans that would fund (to the tune of $90 billion dollars) the Iraq war through September 30, 2007. The bill would drop any required “time lines,” and would set benchmarks for Iraq that, if not met, would trigger a withholding of funding. None of that really matters though because the bill also gives George Bush the right to waive the requirements whenever he sees fit to do so.
On the flip side, the bill will also raise the national minimum wage from $5.15/hr to $7.25/hr. Funding for other domestic spending programs is still being negotiated.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi will present a plan to House Democrats for a war funding bill that won’t include a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq but will feature benchmarks with consequences, according to Democratic leadership aides.
The bill also would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour from $5.15 per hour, and fund other domestic spending programs, which were still being negotiated.
The maneuvering over the past several weeks has been a Democratic attempt to show their anti-war base that party leaders were trying until the 11th hour to stand up to the president, the source said.
Earlier: Democrats cave to Republicans