ABC News: White House Blocks Search for Bin Laden

... secret plan that would send U.S. special forces into the wild tribal regions of Pakistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, but the White House has balked at giving the mission a green light....

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Scientist: There is No Ice at the North Pole this Summer

It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic examples of the impact of global warming on the planet

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Scientist: There is No Ice at the North Pole this Summer

It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic examples of the impact of global warming on the planet

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Obama vs McBush

The Washington Monthly: "Bottom line: If you're really rich and think that George Bush's tax cuts for the rich didn't go nearly far enough, John McCain is your man."

Firedoglake » FISA: Dodd And Feingold Need Your Help

Firedoglake » FISA: Dodd And Feingold Need Your Help: "Let's give Senators Dodd and Feingold a hand. Call your members of Congress today and tell them no telecom immunity, no violation of the Fourth Amendment -- and no deal with the Bush Administration on this unless the rule of law is fully and completely upheld. Let's get to work."

Bush doesn't rule out military strike in Iran

My Way News - Bush doesn't rule out military strike in Iran: "President Bush on Wednesday raised unprompted the possibility of a military strike against Tehran's presumed nuclear weapons ambitions, speaking bullishly on Iran even as he admitted having been unwise to do so previously about Iraq."

Gitmo interrogators told to trash notes

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- A military defense lawyer says the Pentagon urged interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to destroy handwritten notes in case they were called to testify about potentially harsh treatment of detainees.

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He Took a Polaroid Every Day, Until the Day He Died

Yesterday I came across a slightly mysterious website — a collection of Polaroids, one per day, from March 31, 1979 through October 25, 1997. There’s no author listed, no contact info, and no other indication as to where these came from. So, naturally, I started looking through the photos. I was stunned by what I found...

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Artificial Sweeteners Confound the Brain

Using MRI on subjects who ate and drank foods sweetened either with sugar or Splenda, scientists found that both elicit similar activity in the brain, but the artificial sweetener did not reach the same level of activity in the pleasure and satiation centers. Artificial sweeteners may undermine the brains ability to "count" calories....

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World's First Production Hydrogen Hybrid Available This Fall

A company has finally gone and built the controversial hydrogen hybrid system into what appears to be a true production car. Not only that, the car looks, well, stunning… to put it mildly. Stats: 40 mpg, 0-60 mph in 3.5 sec. If the hydrogen hybrid system has truly been built into a production car, it would kind of put the kibosh on any naysayers.

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Buffett Sees "Long, Deep" U.S. Recession

Dah ... And I think a "long, deep U.S. recession" would be called a "Depression!" All brought to you by Bu$hCo and his buddies!

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15 Billion In US Iraq Spending Unaccounted For

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Pentagon cannot account for nearly 15 billion dollars in payments for goods and services in Iraq, according to an internal audit which members of Congress blasted Friday as a "shocking" accountability failure. Of course, our government isn't corrupt or anything.

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FBI Compiled "War Crimes" Dossier on Prisoner Abuse

According to an explosive 437-page report released Monday by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), FBI agents assigned to the U.S. prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, compiled what they dubbed a “war crimes” file documenting prisoner abuse and torture by U.S. military and intelligence personnelintelligence personnel

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Media Outrage

After watching the "interview" with Geraldine Ferraro and Rachel Maddow on the Today Show yesterday, I was moved to write in and give them a piece of my mind. Here is the e-mail:

Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 1:13 PM
To: 'today@nbc.com'
Subject: Gender Bias Discussion on Today 5/20/2008

Dear Today Show,

I was disappointed this morning while watching the discussion on gender bias in the Democratic Party Nomination race featuring Rachel Maddow and Geraldine Ferraro. In fact, I was furious and affected enough to actually write in about it.

You had one of the most insightful and thought provoking political commentators on set in Ms. Maddow. I was looking forward to hearing her views on the subject, yet you let the airtime be consumed by the hate-speech of Ms. Ferraro instead of allowing for an intelligent conversation on the topic. Ferraro hogged the spotlight and spewed her venom about Hillary Clinton's inevitable loss to Barack Obama while she blamed everybody for the loss except the people responsible, including herself.

Mr. Obama would be winning this nomination whether he was black, white or yellow and whether he was male, female or neuter. He is winning because he has an as-yet unspoiled and uncompromised view of this nation and its people, because he ran a thorough and well planned campaign, because he refused to take cheap shots at his opponents, and because he is an inspired and inspiring leader. Mrs. Clinton is losing because she ran a poorly planned and ill-advised campaign, she tried to use vicious attacks on her opponents' integrity to turn the tide in her favor, she appealed to the baser instincts of the electorate by insinuating race and gender into the nomination process when it appeared she was losing on the issues and in the hearts and minds of the public, and because she tried to ride her husband's coat-tails into the White House instead of taking the helm herself. She would be losing if she were black or white, male or female, Christian or Pagan, rich or poor.

I suppose I will have to get Rachel Maddow's take on the topic, and the "interview" this morning, from her own radio show/pod cast, since I could not hear her comments over the sour and shrill tirade of the bigot to her right on the couch this morning.

In the future, if you are going to try to appear balanced and fair on the issues we the people so desperately need to have intelligently discussed in the media, I suggest you give equal time to the polite and reasonable guests on your set and tell the impolite and irrational ones to take their turn or simply shut the hell up!

Sincerely,

Gerard Coleman

If I hear any more whining about Hillary being the victim of sexism while she discusses Barack's "electability" (code for "But he's black!"), I will barf all over her shoes the next time she makes an appearance in Albany.

Bitter Voters For Obama

One of the most refreshing things about Barack Obama is his fearlessness when it comes to voicing a hard truth. It's an ice cold glass of unsweetened lemonade: hard to swallow, but unmistakably pure. The truth is, if you aren't bitter, you're probably voting for someone who is going to give us more of what we've been getting all along. And all Clinton and McCain seem to be saying is "Let them eat Lemons."

Bitter Voters For Obama

This is wonderful. After the media's transparent attempt to paint Obama with the "elitist" label, thereby tipping their hand as shills for McCain and Clinton, this response comes to the fray with a refreshing and totally honest attitude. You go, Bitters!

Shawn Christensen: Don't Be Fooled: Obama Is Actually Leading Hillary By 1-2 Million Votes

Shawn Christensen: Don't Be Fooled: Obama Is Actually Leading Hillary By 1-2 Million Votes - Politics on The Huffington Post:
"...the fact remains, these caucus tallies are not accurate depictions of the popular vote, nor are they representative of any singular person or voter. Multiplying these figures by 10 gives a far more telling story towards the truth. And when the Clinton Campaign makes blind claims that they may somehow trump Obama on the popular vote, they may not clearly realize how far behind they actually are in the count."

Quinnipiac: Obama Closing in on Clinton in Pennsylvania -- Political Wire

Quinnipiac: Obama Closing in on Clinton in Pennsylvania -- Political Wire: "'With two weeks to go, Sen. Barack Obama is knocking on the door of a major political upset in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. Obama is not only building on his own constituencies, but is taking away voters in Sen. Hillary Clinton's strongest areas - whites including white women, voters in the key swing Philadelphia suburbs and those who say the economy is the most important issue in the campaign.'"

Top Clinton Aide Leaving His Post Under Pressure - New York Times

Top Clinton Aide Leaving His Post Under Pressure - New York Times:
"Mr. Penn met with the Colombians in his role as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations firm. He has refused to sever his ties to the company, which also represented Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, and through a subsidiary represented Blackwater Worldwide, the military contractor blamed for numerous civilian deaths in Iraq."

It would seem that people were all too aware of the conflicts of interest Mr. Penn's presence made apparent. Whatever, it's too little, too late.

The Experience Project Blog: Barack Obama won the Texas Primary, Right?

23,918 OBAMA 56%
18,620 CLINTON 45%
with 41% (or 3377/8224) precints reporting.

If this trend holds up, and there's no reason to think it won't, then Obama gets 38 delegates to Hillary's 30, yielding a total result from Texas of:

Hillary Clinton: 65+30 = 95 Delegates
Barack Obama: 61+38 = 99 Delegates

The Experience Project Blog: Barack Obama won the Texas Primary, Right?

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The G Spot: Inequality: it's the politics, stupid

The G Spot: Inequality: it's the politics, stupid: "When a Republican president is in power, people at the top of the income distribution experience much larger real income gains than those at the bottom--a difference of 1.5 percent per year going from the bottom to the top quintile in the income distribution. The situation is reversed when a Democrat is in power: those who benefit the most are the lower income groups. If you are in the bottom quintile, the difference between having a Democratic or a Republican president in office is an income gain (or loss) of more than 2 percent per year!"

Another American War Crime in the Making by Paul Craig Roberts

Another American War Crime in the Making by Paul Craig Roberts: "Iran is a beautiful and developed country. It is an ancient civilization. It has attacked no one. Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Iran is permitted by the treaty to have a nuclear energy program. The Bush Regime’s case against Iran is based on the Bush Regime’s desire to deny Iran its rights under the treaty.

The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have repeatedly reported that they have found no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Despite all the disinformation from US Gen. Petraeus and other Bush Regime military lackeys, Iran is not arming the Iraqis who are resisting the American occupation."

Limbaugh's Dem primary 'dirty tricks' being investigated

Conservative talker Rush Limbaugh is taking credit for Clinton's continued presence in the race after encouraging GOP voters to switch parties before Ohio and Texas voted, and he has called on Pennsylvania Republicans to do the same thing. Limbaugh's listeners are worried about an election fraud investigation in one Ohio county.

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McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam

Televangelist Rod Parsley, a key McCain ally in Ohio, has called for eradicating the "false religion" of Islam. Will the GOP presidential candidate renounce him?

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Hillary's Ad: Debate Footage Doctored To Make Obama Blacker

In case you needed yet another reason to despise Hillary Clinton and her vermin strategists, she's now running an ad blatantly lying about Obama's subcommittee. Her ad includes debate footage heavily doctored to make Obama blacker.

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Clinton PAYING black people to hold her signs in Texas

The Clinton campaign paid a group of people, all African-American, to hold her campaign signs on a Dallas street corner.

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Kinsley: Surge Is Not a Succes

Why is the media underreporting the surge's failure?

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Lobbyists Give Clinton Most Money, McCain Has Most on Staff

Democrat Hillary Clinton has raised more money from lobbyists than any other presidential candidate while Republican John McCain has more of them assisting his campaign.

Lobbyists Give Clinton Most Money, McCain Has Most on Staff - Yahoo! News

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Really Proud for the First Time? Me Too

Really Proud for the First Time? Me Too: "For the first time in my adult life there is a candidate talking about hope and real visceral change rather than the politics of assassination. For the first time in my adult life (and ever) my Party has an African-American, the son of an immigrant and a woman as its primary candidates for the Presidency of this great nation. For the first time in my adult life, I can look to a candidate who isn't talking about how HE is going to fix everything, but how we have to do it together. For the first time in my adult life, it looks like we may have a President who can draw the nation together behind the banner of real change and help give the country back to the sovereign People. Am I really proud of that? You bet I am."

Yes We Can!

Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? Celebrities Pick Their Choice

Ross "The Intern" Matthews interviews the celebs on which Democrat they would elect in the Democratic Primary. Check out the video for what they said and then vote now for who you'd elect!

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Guards 'killed Afghan civilians'

Many people reported dead in a recent bombing in Afghanistan were actually shot dead by security guards after the blast, an internal UN document says.

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Why Isn't Kucinich Taken Seriously?

Tucker Carlson, who hosts the MSNBC Political show 'Tucker', had a segment on tonight's show asking why Dennis Kucinich isn't taken seriously despite being the only "true" Democrat in the field.

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In Defense of Voting Rights

In Defense of Voting Rights - New York Times:

"A House Judiciary subcommittee was the site of a sad spectacle the other day: John Tanner, who heads the Justice Department’s voting section, trying to explain offensive, bigoted comments he made about minority voters. It was a shameful moment that crystallized the need for immediate steps to fight for the rights that Mr. Tanner has been working so hard to undermine."

No Wonder He Fell In Love

YouTube - Elizabeth Kucinich: Delivering Peace

Dennis Kucinich's wife is the closest thing to a faery queen this planet has ever produced. I would dearly love to see her as First Lady of America. Her spirit is a bright light in the dark forest of American politics.

Continued Updated Scandal List

While not every scandal is listed, here is a growing list of some of the reasons why this administration needs to be impeached.

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Apathy Is Doom

"If present trends continue, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity by 2025, and two-thirds of the world population could be subject to water stress."

42 Reasons And Counting

With thanks to jurassicpork at Welcome to Pottersville, here is a video not for the weak at heart (keep the sound down because it's NSFW!):



Pass it around!

"The Real Iraq We Knew" by 12 former Army captains

Five years on, the Iraq war is as undermanned and under-resourced as it was from the start. And, five years on, Iraq is in shambles. As Army captains who served in Baghdad and beyond, we've seen the corruption and the sectarian division. We understand what it's like to be stretched too thin. And we know when it's time to get out.

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Marine Chief Worries Force Growing Heavy

More on the status of the war in Iraq from someone in the military.

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By Their Own Standards, Bush Adm is ‘Treasonous’ for Leaking Bin Laden Tape

A private intelligence company is claiming that intel officials within the Bush admin jeopardized national security by leaking a classified bin Laden tape to Fox News. Ironically, Bush admin officials and conservative commentators harshly denounced the NYT in 2006 for running a story about a secret program designed to monitor terrorist finances.

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It's the "Who's Your Daddy" Nation

The American corporatist system has become antithetical to the concept of individual liberty. How many times do we have to go around on this queasy-making merry-go-round of propaganda and militarism before we shout - enough! - then shutdown the whole cut-rate carnival and run the scheming carnies who operate it out of town?

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Earth already past 'global warming tipping point,' new study

'We thought we'd be at that threshold within about a decade,'' said Australian of the Year and scientists Tim Flannery.''We thought we had that much time, but the new data indicates that in about mid-2005, we crossed that threshold.''

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82 women dead in first year of anti-abortion law in Nicaragua

For the Nicaraguan rich, a problematic pregnancy need not be a death sentence. You can fly to Miami or bribe a discreet private clinic in Managua. But in this wretchedly poor country most young women do not have money. Their choice is to go through with a pregnancy that may kill them, or attempt a DIY termination that may kill them.

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Al-Qaida Now Stronger Than Pre-9/11

How safe is the Bush administration keeping its citizenry? According to the AP, Al-Qaida is now STRONGER and more well-funded than it was before the September 11th attacks. So much for fighting them "over there" so we don't have to fight them "here".

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MotherJones.com | MoJoBlog - Social Issues and Political Commentary: Afghanistan Seeing Most Violent Year Since 2001: Does Anyone Care?

MotherJones.com | MoJoBlog - Social Issues and Political Commentary: Afghanistan Seeing Most Violent Year Since 2001: Does Anyone Care?:

"Afghanistan is currently enduring its most violent year since the 2001 intervention, according to the U.N. Department of Safety and Security, and few members of the American press seem to care."

Judge rules: Bush can't hide Presidential records indefinitely.

Bush is not going to be allowed to write the history of the worst President in our History. The courts have ruled that his records are going to be public.

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Firedoglake - Firedoglake weblog » Our Media’s Failure to Report the Real Blackwater Story

Firedoglake - Firedoglake weblog » Our Media’s Failure to Report the Real Blackwater Story:
"Homicides are crimes, even if the victims are Iraqis. Do the media not see that those who help the suspects escape may also be criminally implicated? Or if the law is unclear, is not someone in the US government responsible for allowing this dangerous legal black hole to persist?"

Maliki faulted Republican urges troop cut

double set back For G.W.B.

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Waxman Confirms Existence Of Rove’s Politicization ‘Teams’

As part of our investigation, the Committee has received documents that confirm the existence of this “asset deployment team.”

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Typical Fixed News Propaganda Campaign

Fox News Changes Wikipedia To Smear Rivals; Comprehensive List of Changes | [Geeks Are Sexy] Technology News