Too Progressive

Not like it’s a big surprise or anything.  David Donnelly, Director of Campaign Money Watch does make an excellent point, though:

According to the group’s analysis, 124 fundraisers have raised money for both Bush and McCain. These former Pioneers and Rangers have raised a minimum of $25.95 million for McCain’s presidential campaign, the analysis found.

“Senator McCain has been working hard to distance himself from an unpopular president, but he is relying on the same network of big money donors and fundraisers in his run for the White House,” said David Donnelly, Director of Campaign Money Watch. “Given that McCain and Bush have both pulled water from the same well, it’s hard to see how he would pursue policies other than those that have handsomely rewarded Bush’s donors over the past eight years.”

“I am an illiterate that has to rely on my wife.” - John McCain

It’s supposed to be funny.  It’s supposed to be witty.  It sometimes plays on the dimwitted people it’s making fun of.  That having been said, can everyone (especially Democrats, because we’re smarter than this) please cease with the calls for boycotts and chemical warfare against The New Yorker over a satirical image (pictured right) that appears on the cover of the magazine’s current issue.  Please?  Seriously, when I first heard about the “mass outrage” over this, the first thing I thought of was the woman (seen below) who stood in front of McPherson Square metro last Summer protesting after an article in The Onion claimed that the U.S. planned to re-hang Saddam Hussein.  Are you all really that dimwitted?

Let’s at least call it what it is, shall we? For the third straight month the nation saw a net-loss of jobs (a quarter million since the beginning of the year, to be exact) bringing the national unemployment rate to 5.1 percent.

Nearly a quarter-million jobs have been lost nationwide since the beginning of the year, the Labor Department reported yesterday, reflecting the deepening recession in manufacturing and construction and a pullback and cost-cutting by retailers, temporary agencies and other businesses.

Average wage growth of 3.6 percent in the past year continued to fall behind the 4.3 percent inflation rate, setting workers further back as they grapple to pay for food, fuel and other necessities.

Ugh! Bushenomics continue to run America right into the ground.

Governor Kaine has put a moratorium on all executions in Virginia pending a supreme court ruling on the constitutionality of lethal injections. It’s time for Conservatives to pick a side. They cry and holler over stem cell research and a women’s right to choose but they’re all for murder and “playing God” when it comes to the death penalty. So which is it?

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine ordered the moratorium on Tuesday in delaying the scheduled April 8 execution of Edward Nathaniel Bell until July 24.

It is the 30th such stay of execution nationally since September, when the Supreme Court agreed to hear a Kentucky case that challenged the constitutionality of lethal injections. Other executions are not being scheduled pending the ruling, expected in late June.

“That’s the pattern all over the country–dates are not being set,” Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said Wednesday.

Since the Supreme Court allowed states to reinstate capital punishment in 1976, 1,099 executions have been carried out in the United States, including 98 in Virginia, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Only Texas has carried out more executions, at 405.

Not like he’ll listen, but they tried again anyway:

Behind the Pentagon’s closed doors, U.S. military leaders told President Bush Wednesday they are worried about the Iraq war’s mounting strain on troops and their families. But they indicated they’d go along with a brief halt in pulling out troops this summer.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff did say senior commanders in Iraq should make more frequent assessments of security conditions, an idea that appeared aimed at increasing pressure for more rapid troop reductions.

The chiefs’ concern is that U.S. forces are being worn thin, compromising the Pentagon’s ability to handle crises elsewhere in the world.

Oh this is rich. In a speech earlier today outlining his foreign policy positions John “INSANE” McCain is calling for a new “League of Democracies” to advance so called “western values” (bigotry, hatred, 100 to 10,000 years of glorious war in Iraq, etc. etc.) and also said he wants to explore a new free-trade agreement with the EU.

“We have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new global compact — a League of Democracies — that can harness the vast influence of the more than 100 democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests,” McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

I realize this story is a few days old, but in light of Hillary Clinton speaking out against Barack Obama’s pastor recently, I think it’s definitely worth reading, rereading and passing around.

There’s a reason why Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she’s a lot more vulnerable than Obama.

You can find all about it in a widely under-read article in the September 2007 issue of Mother Jones, in which Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet reported that “through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the “Fellowship,” aka the Family. But it won’t be a secret much longer. Jeff Sharlet’s shocking exposé, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May.

A great video from Ben at NLS in support of WakeUp Wal Mart:

[Earlier: How Wal Mart is short changing Virginia & Look what Wal Mart and the Bush administration are doing for America]

Uhh, this is a little strange, to say the least:

Older White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to 2005.

The White House revealed new information about how it handles its computers in an effort to persuade a federal magistrate it would be fruitless to undertake an e-mail recovery plan that the court proposed.

“When workstations are at the end of their lifecycle and retired … the hard drives are generally sent offsite to another government entity for physical destruction,” the White House said in a sworn declaration filed with U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola.

The White House claims it does not know of any missing emails and that they are “looking into the matter” (I guess that’s kinda like when Scott Peterson was out looking for his missing wife that he had already murdered, huh? Just put on a show to try and maintain your innocence?). Since it has been widely reported that the Bush administration has done a terrible job of keeping records and archiving these type of materials, it’s time we stop giving them the benefit of the doubt and start asking some tough questions.

I’ve seen a lot of talk (and confusion) about this in the blogosphere over the past couple of months, and I think I have a pretty good handle on what exactly will happen and what you have to do to receive your check so I wanted to post a bit of information, including how to find out exactly how much you will receive! According to a Reuters news report from yesterday the IRS will begin issuing payments on May 2 and expected to complete the first round on July 2. Payments will be issued based on the last two digit’s of the taxpayer’s social security number and you must file a 2007 tax return to receive a payment.

More information after the jump, including where to go to determine how much you qualify for!

Senator Jim Webb is “profoundly concerned” about the resignation of Admiral William Fallon and says the sudden resignation raises concerns about whether or not the Bush administration considers or even tolerates dissenting views.

“I know a little something about resigning,” said Webb, who resigned as Navy secretary in the 1980s to protest cuts in shipbuilding. “Those are not easy decisions to make. And I would also point out that this administration is not an administration that has tolerated dissent from our military leaders.”

Webb took to the Senate floor to speak about the resignation and pointed out that Fallon was the third Middle East region commander to express concern with the Bush administration’s Mid East policies.

“This is a region that is in chaos all the way from Lebanon to Pakistan, as we well know,” said Webb, a freshman Democrat. “And we need the advice and the contributions of global thinkers. Adm. Fallon is one of them … . So I am profoundly concerned that Adm. Fallon has decided to take this measure, and I’m hoping that we can hear from him in a more specific way in the future.”

The U.S. Supreme Court will begin to hear arguments in arguably one of the most important cases the U.S. has seen in awhile because of it’s potential to set precedent for the entire country when it comes to hand gun laws. The current hand gun ban in DC has been in effect for 32 years but is being challenged after a special police officer failed in an effort to register a handgun back in 2002.

“Regardless of who wins and loses, the crucial thing is really going to be what [the justices] are going to say about the Second Amendment,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Combat Gun Violence. “It will set the ground rules for analyzing almost every gun law in the country for years to come.”

Alan Gura, an attorney for Mr. Heller who will argue before the Supreme Court, said a ruling in his favor could put gun prohibition “off the table.”

“Basically, gun laws that make sense, gun laws that are designed to help police solve crime … are not going to be affected,” said Mr. Gura, who will argue against the District’s lead counsel in the case, former acting U.S. Solicitor General Walter E. Dellinger III.

The Supreme Court is set to begin hearing arguments on Tuesday morning and it will be the first time in 70 years that the court has examined the Second Amendment which states the following:

“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

So what is your opinion? Most people seem to think that opinions on this issue, like many others, are split along party lines with Democrats being pro-gun control and Republicans being against it. However, that has not always been the case with many people I know or have spoken to about this issue. I know many otherwise very progressive Democrats who favor moderate gun control laws and some who oppose them all together, and on the flip side some Republicans who favor stricter gun control laws than most states currently have. So, what is your political affiliation and where do you stand on this issue?

[For more information on responsible hand gun control check out The Brady Campaign’s website]

IS JOSEPH LIEBERMAN ON McCAIN’S LIST OF POTENTIAL VP CANDIDATES!?!?!?

Okay, so maybe that’s a bit of a rhetorical question, but according to an article in today’s Washington Times, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain is going on a trip! England, France, Iraq, Jordan and Israel are all on the list of countries McCain will visit on the six day trip next week along with Independent Republican Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Oh, and guess who’s footing the bill (that is, if you haven’t already figured it out by now). Find out after the jump! And no, it’s not Senator McCain’s campaign.

Earlier today Barack Obama posted a blog on The Huffinton Post regarding his faith, church and controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Most importantly, Rev. Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life. In other words, he has never been my political advisor; he’s been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn.

The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.

Let me repeat what I’ve said earlier. All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn. They in no way reflect my attitudes and directly contradict my profound love for this country.

Read the entire blog post here.

7:40pm UPDATE:  Obama will also be appearing on Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann tonight at 8pm on MSNBC.

By now we’re all familiar with Geraldine Ferraro’s comments regarding Barack Obama’s success in politics:

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position, and if he was a woman of any color he would not be in this position. He happens to be very luck to be who he is and the country is caught up n the concept.”

But what some may not be familiar with (especially those of us who weren’t nearly old enough to vote in the 1988 presidential election - when I, for the record was three years old) is that Ferraro has a history of racist remarks. In 1988 Ferraro was quoted in the Washington Post as saying:

“If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn’t be in the race”

regarding Jackson running for the Democratic presidential nomination that year.

While Ferraro and both of the Clinton’s may “have a record that is anything but racist” (to quote Ferraro herself) that does not entitle them to use bigoted and racist language. I’d also like to ask Ferraro so what if Obama is getting more attention because he’s black? So what if the African American community has proudly stood behind him? Even if it’s true, and I certainly give the black community more credit than that since I believe they back who they deem to have the best merits for the job and not simply by what race or gender the person is, why do you, Geraldine Ferraro, attack him over it? Why not attack Christian Conservatives because they support white males simply because they pretend to be bible-thumping bigots? Ferraro and the Clinton’s, as Keith Olbermann said the other night, are single-handedly jeopardizing the chances of any Democrat to win the White House in November and they should be ashamed.

I agree with Jaime. Please take this and help spread it around:

Subject: The Real Truth About Barack Obama!

As enthusiastic volunteers in the Barack Obama campaign for the Presidency,
we have put together a list of facts about Barack so that you will know the
truth about him. Please follow the links we have included for documentation
of these facts. If you value the truth as we do, please spread this information
via email, blog, or any other means, to everyone you know.

1. Did you know that Barack Obama is a devout Christian? He has been a member of the same United Church of Christ congregation for 20 years, and was married there to his wife Michelle in 1992.
2. Did you know that Barack Obama often leads the US Senate in the Pledge of Allegiance?

“The President is wrong and he knows it!”

“Your own advisers are slowly killing your chances to become President. Senator their words and your own are slowly killing the chances for any Democrat to become President.”

“You are now campaigning as if Barack Obama were the Democrat, and you were the Republican.” Wow… Just wow!

My stomach nearly turned when I saw this video earlier tonight on Countdown, especially knowing that people all along the Gulf Coast are still suffering enormously from Hurricane Katrina and the lack of attention and care they have received from George Bush and his cronies.