The energy bill is on hold until next year’s session. Nice work, Democrats.

Read Full Post »

The New York Times got it right: this Medicare bill is a victory for the drug companies. At least, for now.

Read Full Post »

I saw the Democratic debate, and I think Wesley Clark made the best point: Instead of attacking terrorists, Bush chose to attack states.
Which is how we got into this mess.

Read Full Post »

Consumers Union predicts the new Medicare bill will threaten the program’s viability.
An indepth analysis performed by Consumers Union of the proposed Medicare prescription drug benefit reveals a plan that not only falls embarrassingly short of giving seniors a real drug benefit, it likely will threaten Medicare’s viability.
The analysis of the conference committee proposal found:
∙ The [...]

Read Full Post »

Go read South Knox Bubba on GOP Bizarro World. Via TBOGG.

Read Full Post »

This is interesting.
Boeing (BA) dismissed chief financial officer Mike Sears “for cause” effective immediately. The dismissal is related to the hiring of a former U.S. government official, Darleen Druyun, who has also been dismissed for cause. Sears violated company policy by communicating with Druyan about future employment before she had disqualified herself from acting in [...]

Read Full Post »

Well, now Chimpy’s pissed off the garden clubs. So much for his British support:
The rotors of the President’s Marine Force One helicopter and two support Black Hawks damaged trees and shrubs that had survived since Queen Victoria’s reign.
And Bush’s army of clod-hopping security service men trampled more precious and exotic plants.
The Queen’s own flock of [...]

Read Full Post »

Via Atrios: censored stories from the Iraq war, from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Read Full Post »

Those poor, noble drug companies. How dare anyone try to interfere with their profit margins?
With Congress poised for final action on a major Medicare bill this week, some of the fiercest debate is focused on a section of the bill that prohibits the government from negotiating lower drug prices for the 40 million people on [...]

Read Full Post »

Shorter Bill Safire:
Although my doctors tell me they’re not real, I can’t stop these thoughts that keep running through my head.

Read Full Post »

Finally home - and exhausted. Check these out until I get back on blogging track tomorrow: A Viet Nam vet and Congressional Medal of Honor winner talks about this war; Al Hunt pins the Medicare bill on Max Baucus; a columnist lists the basic tenets of Republicon logic; an excellent piece on defeating terrorism [...]

Read Full Post »

‘WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE, YOU HIDE NOTHING.’ - DR. PHIL
In sum:
The Republican-controlled House approved a bitterly contested Medicare prescription drug bill early Saturday in an epic struggle settled near dawn. The vote was 220-215.
Passage of the measure capped an extraordinary roll call that began at 3 a.m. and consumed nearly three hours [...]

Read Full Post »

WE HAVE THEM BY THE NUTS. IT’S TIME TO SQUEEZE - HARDER.
I was reading about this yesterday, and Kos makes some damn fine points: What would happen if the situation was reversed?
Basically, because the Republicons moved their convention to September (in order to exploit the 9/11 commemorations in NYC, they will not be able to [...]

Read Full Post »

Go read this Howler about Bernie Goldberg, icon of journalistic integrity. (Not.)

Read Full Post »

Oh my God, this is the greatest thing. Who says academic research is pointless? Finally, something that proves all those people who don’t live here in Philadelphia talk funny. Via Madjayhawk, a right-wing blog.

Read Full Post »

Atrios makes an important point:
Krugman mostly gave his standard talk which you would have seen on C-Span, and answered questions.
One interesting point he made has to do with why the markets have yet to go into panic mode. He said he gets various letters from hedge funds, etc…, and all of them contain some version [...]

Read Full Post »

I guess it all depends on what you mean by “progress.”
The recent surge in terrorist strikes on “soft targets” like consulates, banks and synagogues in places like Turkey and Saudi Arabia is worrying, but paradoxically reflects progress by the United States and Europe in disrupting Al Qaeda, especially its leadership structure, American and European intelligence [...]

Read Full Post »

Via Josh Marshall, the TNR article on Cheney that has everyone buzzing.
In mid-2002, Cheney made at least two visits to the CIA’s Langley headquarters to talk with the analysts on the intelligence assembly line, who warned that they had no evidence showing that Saddam was reconstituting his nuclear program. These visits have been chewed over [...]

Read Full Post »

So Sen. Arlen Specter has dropped his opposition to the Bush changes in overtime rules.
Foes of the Bush administration’s proposed rules changing which workers would qualify for overtime pay abandoned their fight on Friday in the face of unrelenting pressure from the White House and the House.
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who had been [...]

Read Full Post »

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I’m not saying that this bill won’t generate some energy. It will certainly fuel the coffers of big oil and gas corporations. It will propel the wealthy special interests. And it will boost the deficit into the stratosphere. Indeed, this legislation can be fairly called the Leave no Lobbyist Behind Act of [...]

Read Full Post »

DANCING WITH THEM WHAT BRUNG YA
What a coinky-dink! Kevin Drum points out that the Medicare and energy boondoggles - er, bills - just happen to benefit some top Bush fundraisers and contributors. Go read all the gory details:
Perhaps the single biggest winner in the energy bill, according to lobbyists and critics, is the Southern Co. [...]

Read Full Post »

Via Atrios: Who’s your daddy?

Read Full Post »

The amazing Miss Molly:
Now, being of the liberal persuasion, I believe the ways to stop corporate rip-offs and harm caused to the public by greed is government regulation and suing the bastards. But let’s suppose for a moment here that we try The Wall Street Journal’s preferred methods for fixing all this — transparency, accountability [...]

Read Full Post »

This is supposed to be a joke, right? Because if they were serious, I’d have to believe that the Washington Post doesn’t know the starring role Richard Scaife Mellon has played in financing the right wing. I mean, if I know that, they must know it, too.
Right?
Right?

Read Full Post »

A new coalition of computer scientists are asking presidential candidates to take a stance on electronic voting.

Read Full Post »

Via Altercation, a good piece on working the media refs re: Iraq.
To me, what’s consistently stunning about the Iraq coverage is how hard journalists are trying, even in the face of such disasters, to capture the rays of sunshine in postwar Iraq. This was happening before Bush had his “filter” moment, and it’s happening still. [...]

Read Full Post »

The energy bill was blocked, 57-40.
Opponents of a massive energy bill on Friday blocked the Senate from taking a final vote and sending the measure to President Bush.
On a 57-40 vote, supporters failed by three votes to cut off debate on the legislation, which they said would increase and diversify energy production and provide [...]

Read Full Post »

Opposition to the Medicare prescription bill continues to rise:
Once upon a time, lawmakers wanted to add a prescription-drug benefit to Medicare. In year one, they failed. In year two, they failed. Now, in year three, the quest for a drug benefit has ballooned into a plan to change the entire health-care program for 40 million [...]

Read Full Post »

I was just checking my referral log, and I don’t even want to know why someone looking for a link to the Paris Hilton sex video ended up here.

Read Full Post »

From J.S., my London correspondent:
I have just returned from today’s London march. Largely peaceful and somewhere between 110K (police estimate) and 200K (organiser’s estimate) people took part. I do know that is took me nearly 3 hours to do a route of no more than 3 miles so my estimate is smack in the middle [...]

Read Full Post »