Hi

Christy!!

Link City!

Warmest wishes for your hair today Christy.

In the category of under-reported news:

One of [Iranian General] Suleimani’s first major victories against the United States in Iraq, however, was the product of political shrewdness, not military force. It came in January 2005, when Iraqis voted for the first time since Saddam’s ouster nearly two years earlier.

The Bush administration pulled out all the stops to keep secular, pro-Western interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in office, aiding him with broadcast airtime, slick campaign ads and veteran advisers.

Suleimani countered with a covert PR campaign on behalf of a bloc of conservative pro-Iran Shiites that he helped assemble, and he sent printing presses, consultants and broadcasting equipment, said a senior Iraqi official who’s known Suleimani for years. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive relationship between Iraq and Iran.

When the ballots were counted, Bush pointed to the purple-dyed fingers of Iraqi voters as a triumph for democracy — but Allawi and his bloc were out and Iran’s allies were in.

So, we’ve been militarily and diplomatically propping up an Iran-sponsored puppet government in Iraq. That’s what we are spending $600B/yr on and American troops are dying to accomplish.

It is generally considered TREASON to give aid and comfort to the enemy, but that is exactly what the Bush administration has been doing in Iraq.

And we’ve been fighting to suppress the one person who might be able to keep the Iranians out, namely Moqtada Al Sadr.

That was weird. I’ve never been unFristed before! ;)

CHS:

You might want to include a link to the O’Reilly-Clinton “interview”, if that’s the right word for this scripted spectacle.

I caught bit of it and the conspiratorial joshing, jeering and mugging of the two was nauseating. I was displeased when Obama honored FOX with an interview, but at least there is no question the tone and questions were adversarial. This, on the other hand, was a Murdoch endorsement of Clinton under the barely maintained pretense of journalism, the continuation of a pattern after Scaife.

I had a cold contempt for Clinton before, with her votes for war, her fondness for McCain, her corporate credentials, but she is just viscerally repellent when you see her here.

Was sure you’d enjoy that one; I found it over at Josh’s. Btw, your post on same was rather high up on teh google list. *extra big G*

Oil, commodities futures are the source of expanding costs..high taxes on these trades would put the kibosch on food and gas prices. Why is this so hard for economists to understand? I know Republicans would reject taxes without thought but there are Dems in Congress, I think…we are told so.
The Republican media reports that food and oil is scarce and that’s what’s driving prices…wrong, it only amounts to a minor influence.

Caught the CSPAN re-run of the secret government hearing.

Rivkin certainly sounded worried about war crimes.

The rough transcript yesterday made listening to brownback more tolerable.

Feingold, Whitehouse, Leonard, Aftergood, Johnsen and Kitrosser did an excellent job of voicing democratic concerns in the hearing. I wonder how many years it will take for the US to acculturate to our new form of government.

Morning Christy,
Special fun video and a linkfest?! yum

And thanks for the spew alert for the classic performance video, I was on the floor lmao by the end.
I had no idea that ever happened.
*still lmao*

What happened to “Show Text”? I was really liking that feature.

Great post, Christy!

Must See video at Crooks & Liars

just in case you didn’t have enough links to click through.

That is a good one. Went to teh youtoobz and give it a 5 star rating too.

“Show text” is working just fine for me…

Where is “show text”…….have I gone blind?

If it’d been a ssssssssssnake, I’d be dead by now.

That Raw Story Perino clip is disgusting. It’s reminiscent of Alberto Gonzales and Condoleeza Rice testimony in it’s defensiveness,hositlity,and evasiveness.

You’re not blind or dead.
My show text vanished and then came back after a refresh.
That, or I’m blind and dead too.

now that is OUTSTANDING…..and the move-on GRASSROOTS GUY….Obama…needs our help guys…the medias non stop smear of him,istaking its toll

my 20 was to you…”g”

Remember, these guys don’t WANT to talk to anyone except people who they know won’t ask them hard questions. They just want fawning puppydogs.

Just teh blind on my part; it was there all along. One of “them newfangled” inventions that’s cropped up in the past month. But, oh, I do miss “delete”……just for cases like that!

With the resignation of Fisher, seems DOJ institutional memory re: Abramoff becomes almost non-existent, mostly because the Public Integrity Section was gutted.

First Noel Hillman, section head, was appointed to the bench. Then both #1 & #2 slots in the section were left vacant for over one year, though ultimately filled by existing employees. Now Fisher resigns.

Good luck trying to get any reliable info. Will be interesting to see where Fisher goes.

OOPS. Weird morning. Now a post in my RSS feed “Electrocuted at Age 22″ isn’t on the site and I get a 404 error. I assume it went up too early and was yanked. But “show text” is back.

I’m dizzy.

Good Morning Christy and Firedogs – y’all seen this ?!?!?

Kevin Ring was exuberant. It was Feb. 4, 2002, and Ring, a young member of Jack Abramoff’s lobbying team at Greenberg Traurig, was laying plans to attend a Dave Matthews Band concert at the MCI Center. It was to be a celebration.

“I have the suite filling up with DOJ staffers that just got our clients $16 million,” he gushed in an e-mail to his colleague, Padgett Wilson. “Come to the show, baby.”

“Are there any tickets left?” asked Wilson, now director of governmental affairs for Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. He then submitted: “And as for those DOJ staffers, those guys should get anything they want for the rest of the time they are in office — opening day tickets, Skins v. Giants, oriental massages, hookers, whatever.”

sweet jeebus

law.com link

Speaking of gun control, view congressional witness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvV3gr_vinE

Hi Christy and Pups.

Whoosh. Fantastic links. Been reading for a half hr., stunned but not silent, heh. Bravo!

Love this place!

back to read s’more….

T’would be nice if we all live long enough to see stevens (AK) behind bars for bloody SOMETHING!

Apologies – permalink not working….it’s over at Kos.

Ok, odd.. is Kkkarl stirring??
Barak is fighting the media, repugs, Hill, and is black.
HilI is self-destructing, has real baggage, repugs DON’T like her and she’s is a woman.
McCain is old scaring repugs and others away.
I still think Kkarls got a Repug candidate waiting up his sleeve..you know one who’ll save the ‘day’..

‘The mysteries keep piling up around the Sequoia voting machines used in New Jersey. This time Princeton University computer scientist Ed Felten has uncovered a phantom vote for Obama in summary tapes from three voting machines used in the state’s February 5th primary in Pennsauken District 6.’
http://blog.wired.com/27bstrok…..ama-v.html

I forget who’s on the short list of Repub candidates who can save the day.

YEa,masters of the universe………………….not

mebbe this handsome guy…even older and wiser/

http://static1.firedoglake.com…..mbnail.jpg

Ding, ding, ding…we have a winner!!

So! Froomkin finally has the answer(s) to why our overesteamed leader constantly burps in public.

goodgawd, what is he talking about?

Nevermind. I don’t need, nor want to know.

That link should come with a paper bag.

I’d love to see him finally come/dragged out of the shadows, but being he is the puppet-master, probably not going to happen..:)

Wow, just wow.

So, when do we get to see the e-mails McCain withheld at his hearing?

That is awesome. Bush and Co are in for another long week….

bom dia, pups

Popped in to say hello, read a few comments before doing some phone banking.

How is everyone today?

Maybe this has already been said.

But remember last Fall when bush gave us “Constitutional Awareness Week?”

Well, now he’s given us “Law Day, USA!” (via tpm)

Words fail!

Christy, I love all the links..:)

Wow, just wow.

make that a double.

Hi back at ya.

Thanks for your involvement. Dare I ask candidate preference?

Hey demi. You’ll be in our thots and hearts next week. You go gal!

FWIW, Law Day is a creation of the Eisenhower era. As I believe Tula may have pointed out, it was an attempt to co-opt the May 1 from the International Workers Day and Labor. After all, how dare folks in the US show solidarity with the rest of the workers in the world.

I expected the polls concerning Obama/Clinton to be in flux this week, but the degree of the shift is a bit surprising.

http://rasmussenreports.com/pu…..ng_history

O/T- Tired of high fuel prices? Check this out:

“…With the fuel prices increasing so high, it makes you notice how much you’re spending on fuel,” UCF student Chad Heinrich said.

They needed an idea. The mechanical engineering students cooked up a recipe by looking no farther than the University of Central Florida Chick-fil-A.

They have been draining smelly fryer grease and feeding it to their bio-diesel reactor — a fancy name for a water heater, some pipes, valves, hoses, and filters that turn grease and two household chemicals into fuel. The newly formed fuel powers their diesel engine cars.

“To make a gallon of bio-diesel, it’s about 80 cents,” UCF student Michael Schulist said…

LOL!

well pupeeps…another day…record profits for OIL

Exxon Mobil Profits Soar: Grow 17 Percent
JOHN PORRETTO | May 1, 2008 10:46 AM EST |

——————————————————————————–

Read More: Exxon Mobil, Exxon Mobil Profits, Breaking Business News Show your support.
Buzz this article up. Buzz up! In this Jan. 27, 2007 file photo, a gasoline tanker delivers fuel to an Exxon station in Keller, Texas. Exxon Mobil said Thursday, May 1, 2008, its earnings for the first three months of the year rose to $10.9 billion, or $2.03 per share, up from $9.3 billion, or $1.62 per share, a year ago. But the latest results fell short of the record $11.7 billion profit Exxon Mobil earned in the final quarter of 2007. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam, file)

HOUSTON — Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said Thursday record crude prices helped its first-quarter profit climb 17 percent to $10.9 billion _ the second biggest U.S. quarterly corporate profit ever.

i dont trust RassRepuklican…just sayin

the NEW pumps …get this…beep when you hit 50 bux

heydare!

just a reminder – rasmussen slants right.

one of the really smart kidz (Big Orange ?) had a piece maintaining they get even more so as marquee contests approach :D

LOL. Yeah, these days I’m throwin’ around $60 in every time I gas up.

BTW, check my new rant on energy stuff here.

is RevDeb,still here?

“Hillary vs. the Coffee Maker” is #1 on YouTube, top of Drudge, over 300,000 views in 18 hours

Yes, you can *g*

This could be significant:

“Joe Andrew, who was Democratic National Committee chairman from 1999-2001, at a news conference Thursday in his hometown of Indianapolis urged other Hoosiers to support Obama in Tuesday’s primary, perhaps the most important contest left in the White House race.

(snip)

Andrew said the Obama campaign never asked him to switch his support, but he decided to do so after watching Obama’s handling of two issues in recent days. He said Obama took the principled stand in opposing a summer gas tax holiday that both Clinton and McCain supported, even though it would have been easier politically to back it. And he said he was impressed with Obama’s handling of the controversy surrounding his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/s…..d=90076807

Not really on any of the above topics, but while I was at the Doctor’s yesterday, I came across the most plausible explanation of Yoo’s memos yet:

I just plain don’t trust “burps” in polls at times like this.

To repeat from yestidie: strongly suspect many many ordinary citizens are fed up and not responding to pollsters. betcha.

Don’t give up whatever yer doin’. Just keep workin’ at what turns yer clock.

Stubborn, with a generous side of savvy, often makes pollsters blush in the end….

Oh no, I just can’t do links.

http://www.cartoonbank.com/item/121638

i dont let my tank go under 3/4 full,just in case DARTH gets his NEXT war on….gawd knows he and his family DONT PAY FOR GAS

oops, forgot to add Obama

You’re GAMING the system!?! Oh the humanity! *g*

i wuvvvvvvvvvvvve him muchly

i fear fo my many rescues,if i cant afford gas

The profits are impressive until you remember that these numbers are in Bush dollars, not real dollars.

right now i figure i use 10 $ a day,when im out working

that is why THEY ARE INSAITABLE imo

I hope to knock out about three lists today. Two to North Carolina and one to Indiana.

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{WOBBS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

did anyboddy see ARIANA today being interviewed,by BRAHMAN Charles Gibson on GMA?

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind.” – Bob Marley

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=25169

Brainwashing: How The Ruling Class Use The Media for Mass Psychological Warfare
by L. Wolfe, The American Almanac, May 5, 1997.

i think i need a pancake

No, I have sworn off tv (exception basketball) for a few weeks. this primary stuff has been really disappointing

curiouser and curiouser . . . what year is it again ?

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA – In two states where US attorneys are already under fire for serious allegations of political prosecutions, seven people associated with three federal cases have experienced 10 suspicious incidents including break-ins and arson.

link

For comparative purposes here is the Gallup Tracking Poll thru April 30.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/106…..-Race.aspx

absolutely MUST SEE TEEEVEE…from the BEEB

http://informationclearinghous…..e12669.htm

WOO HOO! Thanks. I was just trying to figure out how I was supposed to respond. Thot u were teasin’ me, which also would be fine.

Our whole family voted for him.

Our dear friends a-x the road SWORE they’d NEVER NEVER NEVER vote for “such a person.” That was a few months ago. Relevant: they’re 50+yr old WV coal-miners’ kids, born & raised, and their extended family is overrun with Rush-fans who harass them with his schmear-schtick on a regular basis , oogh!

Anyway, cutting to the chase, I asked her just a few days ago if they’d be upset when we put our Obama sign up. She grinned and said, “Not the slightest bit!” High-school educated doesn’t translate to stoopid. They’ve obviously been doing their own research over there. I love those people. I also know they’d never respond to a pollster, but the Mrs., especially, is strong enough to tune up in family discussions, bless her heart. So, there’s at least 2 more, and they have grown kids who, I presume, also vote regularly, and are close to the parents.

Just a little taste of why I refuse to be discouraged until I just have to.

Thanks again for your activism. ;->

Great link, sunny, chilling stuff, already accomplished.

Lipman is a ’spiritual’ godfather of Neo Con sensibilities, and has yet to be adequately praised as such …

On the FISA front, I note this interesting post over at Orange, which discusses the now-coming-out information on the coordination of the telcos and the Admin in seeking the retroactive immunity.

Apparently, the telcos aren’t so sure that they weren’t violating the law, and started pushing really, really hard to get the retroactive immunity.

That the admin is coordinating helping the Telcos get immunity for their lawbreaking is something I was taught in law school is called “being an accessory after the fact.”

Just saying.

LAWS,laws dont matter…just for us little people,they HAVE to answer supboenas

one of my favorite versions

That is a great story! Every person counts and I really think that people are tuning into their wallets, not what some millionaire nitwit on tv says their concerns should be.

I enjoy phone banking to he honest. Folks tell me that they can hear my smile (nice, huh?) I don’t hit them over the head, I simply tell them how I came to my own personal decision and then talk about what their concerns are. They are usually surprised when I tell them about how Obama shares that concern and what his plans are to deal with it. Even if they aren’t for my candidate, they have been very nice. But I have flipped a few folks who in turn are talking to people in their family.

read bmaz at emptywheel’s today, and see what you think
Jello Jay And Hoyer Slither Back Into The FISA Limelight

This immunity push is now, and always has been, solely about protecting the dirty rear ends of Bush, Cheney and their slacker lackeys, and covering up the evidence of their blatant systematic and systemic criminal conduct. Never forget that.

Good Newsweek story on FISA is worth reading we must not let the Telecoms to get immunity for engaging in illegal wire tapping!

I fear for lots of things. I know many young professional musicians who MUST travel considerable distances on a regular basis, playing in multiple orchestras just to put together a poverty level wage. We’re talking incredibly talented people with a bright future ahead, if they can just survive till that “turning-point” audition occurs. They already carpool, and sometimes bundle to share a motel once in awhile when necessary. They have to pay separate union dues for every locality where they perform. When they get a chance at an audition, it’s not like business and academia. In the classical music world, auditioning for nonprofits, the AUDITIONER pays all expenses, sometimes even an extra fee for “taking up the time” of the people judging auditions. Many also, of course, have horrendous student loans to pay off.

Please folks, next time your local part-time professional symphony has a concert, try living on the edge, buy a ticket or 2, and go hear these “kids” play.

The Arts are an endangered species in today’s world.

The Arts are an endangered species in today’s world.

will do…”g”

“I know many young professional musicians who MUST travel considerable distances on a regular basis, playing in multiple orchestras just to put together a poverty level wage. We’re talking incredibly talented people with a bright future ahead, if they can just survive till that “turning-point” audition occurs. They already carpool, and sometimes bundle to share a motel once in awhile when necessary. They have to pay separate union dues for every locality where they perform. When they get a chance at an audition, it’s not like business and academia. In the classical music world, auditioning for nonprofits, the AUDITIONER pays all expenses, sometimes even an extra fee for “taking up the time” of the people judging auditions. Many also, of course, have horrendous student loans to pay off.”
_______________

Musicians (artists in general) live in “Extremistan.”

The backstage folks at FDL must agree with you since it’s in the News Box right now.

Yes. Hang in there.

(((((BobbyG)))))

Late to the party as usual, just skimming by – but I took the time to watch the “Supreme Court argument” clip. Dayum. Every lawyer who reads that is sighing, “if only.”
Especially loved the part where the justice says “actual innocence is not relevant.”
I’ll have to come back to the rest as the day and its necessary tasks is slipping away. Christy always rounds up great stuff, so I know I need to check it all out.

How ’bout a Belgian waffle with strawberries?