Still dripping but fully awake, the Republican Party, which we thought would live or die as a bull under the flag of deregulation, is now sanctimoniously asserting the importance of the federal government stepping in to save the little big men of corporate America.
Have they suddenly become those traitorous agents of big government they usually dismiss as misleading populists, socialists or those willing to take us almost into the laps of the inept Marxists in Russia or China?
Of course not, says John McCain, who has become one of the most remarkable embodiments of change we have ever seen. But McCain's actual version of change is that he has become a changeling.
McCain is now deserving of the nickname McChange or McChangeling. But there is a bit of tragedy there. It is never a pleasant experience to see a man sell himself out in unimaginable ways because of the enticement of power.
The McChangeling - See him change in this rare behind the scenes McCain campaign footage with his high as a kite campaign entourage:
The McCain campaign has gotta be trippin' if they think we are buying anything they are saying anymore?
The article reports that the McCains had been delinquent in paying taxes until Newsweek inquired about the matter. The McCains then paid off $6,744.42 in back taxes, but still owe more. Newsweek writes:
When you’re poor, it can be hard to pay the bills. When you’re rich, it’s hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying. It’s a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. […]
County officials say the trust still owes an additional $1,742 for this year, an amount that is overdue and will go into default July 1. Told of the outstanding $1,742, the aide said: “The trust has paid all bills shown owing as of today and will pay all other bills due.”
That settles that.
John McCain is the epitome of a modern day "GOP fiscal conservative."
Trust fund babies that can't balance their own checkbooks, nevermind the budget of a country.
Any bets on whether McCains used the unpaid home taxes as writeoffs against their income? Both John and Cindy need to open up all of their books for public scrutiny.
Staffers on Capitol Hill are howling over an e-mail sent from Sen. Larry Craig's office Friday about a watch found -- guess where -- in the men's room!
The e-mail, which is being forwarded pretty much all over the place on Capitol Hill, is from Pat Olsen, the embattled Idaho Republican's administrative director.
The e-mail announced that a watch was found in the men's room on the fifth floor of the Hart Senate Office Building, where Craig's office is located. On its face, the message suggests that a male staffer (possibly even Sen. Craig, the notorious men's room foot tapper) found the watch.
Is there any wonder why their party is in decline? Via Scarce at MLN:
Max Blumenthal's hilarious and thoroughly appalling "unauthorized" College Republican Convention Tour.
On July 13, 2007, I visited Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, where the bodies of American soldiers killed in Iraq were freshly interred. Afterwards, I headed across the street to the Sheraton National Hotel, owned by right-wing Korean cult leader Sun Myung-Moon, to meet some of the war's most fervent supporters at the College Republican National Convention.
In conversations with at least twenty College Republicans about the war in Iraq, I listened as they lip-synched discredited cant about "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here." Many of the young GOP cadres I met described the so-called "war on terror" as nothing less than the cause of their time. Huffington Post
The GOP has done its best to make a scandal over the White House's policy of providing secure transport for the 2nd in line to replace the president, the Speaker of the House, since 9-11. They are trying to blame Pelosi for something she has little to do with.
Barny Frank drives home the fantasy of this non-existant "scandal" manufactured in the right wing MSM and childishly perpetuated by the GOP.
"The plane, Boss! The Plane!"
To make the point even more clear: Pelosi reportedly (on Faux news, of all places?) offered to take commercial flights rather than take the government flights.
They told me the first day that I was supposed to go that I couldn't make it across the country. And I said well, that's fine, I'm going commercial. ... I'm not asking to go on that plane. If you need to take me there for security purposes, you're going to have to get a plane that goes across the country, because I'm going home to my family. ... I'm happy to go commercial. But they want me to go on this plane, so the issue was distance, not size. And again, it's not about having a plane. It's about having transportation. These planes are used for other purposes in between trips, which are, you know, take place once or twice a week, going or coming. So, it isn't about that. But there are probably those in the Department of Defense who are not happy with my criticism of Secretary Rumsfeld, the war in Iraq, other waste, fraud and abuse in the Defense Department and I guess this is their way of making their voices heard. But it has nothing to do, as I say, with the president of the United States. He has encouraged my having the security I need.
Will this be enough to lay the right wingnut lie-fest to rest on this issue?
If the MSM's past record is any indication... I doubt it. They will just assign the propaganda to the next GOP mouthpiece in the GOP talking point echo chamber known as the MSM.
As Joe Lieberman is jumping all over the bush "MORE WAR DOCTRINE" of escalation in Iraq consider the hypocrisy of Joe Lieberman's positions concerning campaign funding, video games, violence, and war.
According to ConnecticutBlog and MLN, this is the kindof people that Lieberman takes his campaign money from.
An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group, found that the Connecticut Democrat, who won re-election last month as an independent, received about $73,000 from a variety of industry sources over the past two years.
Among the donors were Linda McMahon, chief executive officer of Stamford-based WWE Entertainment. McMahon said in an e-mail that she gave money to Lieberman because "I make contributions to a variety of candidates whom I respect.
snip
"If you're going to portray yourself as a champion against sex and violence on TV and in video games, it certainly doesn't look like you're completely serious if one of your big contributors makes its money from sex and violence," said Massie Ritsch, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics. ... Asked why he accepted their money, Lieberman first joked, "I really don't get anything [contributions] from that industry.""
Now if that doesn't beat all? Joe is in the middle of a fight against video game violence and he takes money (and denies it!) from the ultimate in violent TV producers:
The WWE.
If you think it couldn't get any worse here well, YES! it can. Not only do they feature violence BUT violent sexual content as well:(warning!)
That was taken from WWE's Raw. And if that doesn't expose the ultimate in hypocrisy than how's about a video game version of all of this violent content, "WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW", where they tout such features as:
Spanking mini-game - in bra and panties matchups, a female wrestler could enter a "spanking" mini-game. The meter mechanic from the chop battles are retained, but the player must perfectly time the button press three consecutive times to win. If the player does so, a cut scene of the two female wrestlers kissing is played.
Also added to the game was the Clean/Dirty system, which influenced each wrestlers tactics. Players can choose if the wrestler is clean, dirty or neutral. A clean or dirty wrestler has a meter that can be filled up by performing special clean/dirty actions or moves. Clean wrestlers with a full meter can enable a temporary rush of invincibility while dirty wrestlers can perform an illegal move.
[update]More Courtesy of JoeJoeJoe at MLN
More on an hidden feature in WWE similar to the Grand Theft Auto feature that sent Phony Joe into convulsions:
WWE Raw 2 Cheats "Hint: Nude Characters Either create a female character, or edit one of the existing ones and give them all pure black clothes (0,0,0 for all 3 options). Then have a match in any PPV arena and on the Titantron they will appear naked."
Violence, cheating, violence against women, sexual content... These games have it all, mirroring the WWE's television productions.
Lieberman falsely claims to carry the banner in the fight against violent videogames and violence on TV... He is really only a perverted spokesman for hypocrisy in action.
Via Scarce at MLN and talking about video games, and how Joe Lieberman wants to regulate them for their violent content:
But here is one violent video game that Joe is desperate to get your kids to play:
F2C2 Welcome to the battlefield of the future! F2C2 was created by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to help explain the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program to soldiers in an interactive environment. The game depicts the 18 FCS systems, all connected via the FCS System of Systems Common Operating Environment, supporting the 21st century soldier.
Although F2C2 is best experienced when the player has a working knowledge of Army concepts and terminology, anyone can play! F2C2 may seem hard at first if you haven’t had Army training, but there are tutorials available. Prepare to be challenged!
You can download this video game, designed to train soldiers, for free at the official US Army webpage. Take a look at at how realistic this game is:
It's not just that Joe wants your kids to play this realistic game... It is that he also wants your kids to go to Iraq and do this for real.
Report: Top Rell Aide `Misled' Committee: "Gov. M. Jodi Rell's chief of staff, M. Lisa Moody, 'misled' a legislative committee by giving sworn testimony that was 'not credible' regarding a Rell fundraiser last year, according to a draft copy of a new legislative report.
The report, obtained Wednesday by The Courant, also says that state elections enforcement chief Jeffrey Garfield should face 'some form of reprimand or censure' because he deleted important information from an investigative report and released the unedited version only after hearings were completed last spring."
Just in case you follow the FIC line of thought and didn't know, misled is another word for LIED, as for Rell's original reaction to her Moody Period:
Moody was suspended by Rell for two weeks after admitting that she handed out invitations to commissioners on state time. Her actions led to seven days of often-contentious legislative hearings in May. Sixteen of Rell's commissioners or deputies were fined $500 each to settle a case under a state law that prohibits those officials from soliciting campaign contributions from their subordinates.
The 14-page report quotes Moody as telling at least one senior staff member, "I am not twisting your arm, but I am," regarding the fundraiser.
The report also states that Moody told one deputy commissioner that "this meeting isn't happening" and another that "it's after 5" - meaning that the workday was officially over for state employees.
Also, we all know that "she testified at a legislative hearing that she did not fully read an ethics memo that it turned out she had edited." But I am betting there are alot more juicy details in the full unedited report that was released in a redacted (lying) version.
Go over and read it at the courant to see some of the reccommendations to stop this sort of waste of our government employees time. As for now I'll leave you with this last little snippet:
The report calls for Garfield's censure or reprimand because his investigation report deleted certain facts that the committee never knew about until after the hearings were closed. That included deleting the chief state's attorney's "interview notes" from two investigators who had spoken to Rell late last year, and deleting all references to DPUC Commissioner Anne George, "who kiddingly referred to Ms. Moody as `John Rowland.'" [...] Dan Moreland was said to have told investigators that when Moody handed George the fundraiser invitations, George responded, "Are you nuts?" George then told Moody, "OK, John Rowland" - a reference to the former governor who served a federal prison sentence on a corruption-related charge.
Goes to show that even the insiders know that Rowland politics are alive and kicking in the Governor Rell's office. As for Garfield, if he absorbs the bulk of the blame in the cover up of Rell's Moody period, wouldn't that make him the political equivalent of a used tampon? Time to trash him...
courant.com | Activist Denies Violating Ban On Ballot Work: "Prenzina Holloway was fined $10,000 in July 2005 and ordered not to distribute absentee ballot applications or to assist voters with the ballots for two years, after the State Elections Enforcement Commission found that she had forged a voter's signature in the 2004 election.
Holloway acknowledges working for Urban Voters and Associates, a company paid $17,550 by the Lieberman campaign since September to do 'field work.' But she said she isn't involved in the company's absentee ballot operations.
'That is just a no-no,' she said. 'And I know it is a no-no.'
But five people at a Vine Street housing complex for the elderly have told The Courant that Holloway and another person came to their doors to give them absentee ballot applications, and a security worker at another complex on Woodland Street said Holloway tried to get into the building to distribute applications there. Holloway was barred from the building after getting into a verbal altercation with the worker after he made supportive comments about Lieberman's main challenger, Ned Lamont.
Other sources at the building said she called back a week later to try to 'sweet talk' her way into the facility."
Joe Lieberman will do anything to win the election, regardless of the law, including hiring people that are barred from collecting absentee ballots and putting them out there to do just precisely that.
Nancy Johnson has some dirty little secrets she doesn't want you to know about:
Nothing like screwing over the soldiers for a few extra bucks...
Jodi Rell has a dirty little secret that BOTH she and Nancy Johnson share:
Johnson spoke frequently Monday about her similarities with the popular Rell, and never uttered the word Republican.
"We're both street ladies," Johnson said of herself and Rell. "Street ladies aren't governed by parties. I never ran a problem by a political party to find a solution."
Yep! They are both Republicans... Funny but "Street Ladies" wasn't the term I was thinking of considering they are selling themselves to lobbyists everywhere. The only problem here is that these two "ladies" get the lobbyists' money, the corporations get the lucrative government contracts, and we get screwed out of our tax dollars...
Also another dirty little secret: Johnson and Rell never really have offered any good solutions... They, and their GOP, only create more problems.
The war, and Bush and Lieberman priorities, are cutting funds from programs that invest in our future. Student loans, Social Security, health care that everyone can afford – these are the issues that Ned will fight for, bringing a businessman’s ability to reach consensus without sacrificing the bottom line.
Ned will be a fresh voice in the Senate, working to build coalitions and accomplish change, and speaking out against the destructive Bush administration policies that directly threaten our moral and economic future, our civil liberties, and our nation’s security.
And now we get to the $387,000 question:
What does Lieberman do with all of his cash?
ILLEGAL THINGS, OF COURSE!
Lieberman’s FEC filings list over $387,000 in unexplained expenditures – listed only as “petty cash” – during just 12 days near the August 8th primary. These suspect, and unaccounted for payments, represent one out of every twelve dollars spent during the entire reporting period.
“These questions are critical for the people of Connecticut to know and that is why these laws exist and why we’re taking legal action,” Swan continued. “Only an 18 year career politician could dump almost $400,000 in cash into an election and try to call it petty cash.”
Ned Lamont got little financial support from congressional Democrats - and none from Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd and key Senate veterans - in the crucial weeks after he won the party's Senate nomination Aug. 8, according to new campaign finance data.
Lamont has alot of money, money that he has ponied up on his own, and money from the grassroots. Lamont doesn't get much from the entrenched establishment because they are afraid of him. But having the largest base of grassroot support in Connecticut is a good thing if you are looking to fix what is broken on Capitol Hill. Lamont hasn't taken anything from corporate lobbyists, and nothing from any PACs.
Ned Lamont's support is people powered.
Joe Lieberman has alot of money. He had a HUGE war che$t. But where does all of that money come from? Lobbyists and PACs and from republican supporters that want to see the Connecticut-bush-clone "Stay the course!"
Joe Lieberman's support is the problem that needs to be fixed.
Face the facts... Influence for votes on Capitol Hill is a bought and sold commodity to the entrenched establishment. Lobbyists for special interests, PACs, and corporations are buying the old guard establishment on a daily basis, and we are the ones that are losing out.
Voting for Ned Lamont is one little step that can help stem the tide of corruption. It can help take back one of those votes in the Senate and make it ours. It can help make that one vote beholden to us Nutmeggers and NOT to the entrenched establishment that is afraid of what the Lamont campaign means to them.
Can we afford to miss this opportunity to take back that one Seanate vote for ourselves? Not if we truely want to fix what is wrong with our government.
Hastert Just can't seem to stop getting caught lying. Tuesday the man behind the Foley cover-up released a statement that was... Well? An outright lie. To put it mildly.
Democrat Leader Pelosi’s plan is to leave our borders open, grant blanket amnesty and provide Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants. Is THAT their plan? Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi has NEVER visited the border. She claims to understand the needs of those on the front lines but has never visited those agents and offers no solutions.
“This morning, the President plans to sign legislation authorizing a 700-mile border fence that his own Administration does not plan to build and for which the Republican Congress has not provided construction money.
“This fence that will not actually be built is a perfect symbol of the Republicans’ unwillingness to make controlling our borders a priority."
Perhaps that is why after six years of controlling the White House, the Senate, and the House, their ‘signature achievement’ on border security is a 700 mile fence along a 2,000 mile border. This fence doesn’t come close to solving our problem.
Unfortunately, no amount of photo-ops or signing ceremonies is going to take the place of real leadership on this vitally important issue.
I am certain the planned 12 foot high fence will increase the sales in Mexico of 13 foot ladders to get over it and shovels to dig under it, but I doubt it will stop many illegal border crossings. I also think that Hastert doesn't understand the real needs concerning securing our borders and hasn't offered any real solution at all.
Now that Hasterts latest lie has been exposed, I wonder how long it will be before he addresses his earlier lies about the Foley cover-up? Brian Ross at ABC news' The Blotter has an update on another Republican being investigated:
A source close to former House Clerk Jeff Trandahl told ABC News that Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) was one of a small number of "problem members"
...snip...
Kolbe was also asked by reporters to respond to reports that the U.S. Attorney in Phoenix has opened a preliminary inquiry into a 1996 camping trip Kolbe took with two high school boys, both former pages, following a report by MSNBC that one adult member of the trip was "creeped out" by "fawning, petting and touching" on the arms, shoulders and back of one of the teenagers by Kolbe.
"I know there are a number of inquiries underway, and we're cooperating fully with all those inquiries, and I'm sure at the end of the time it will show that we acted appropriately and did exactly the right thing," Kolbe said.
"A small number of "problem members""? "A number of inquiries"? "All those inquiries"?
Just how many Republicans are being investigated? I am starting to think that I will have to keep my kids locked inside my home, at least until the elections are over, just in case a Republican comes to the neighborhood campaigning... Because you never know if they are one of the ones being investigated... Because Hastert and the rest of the GOP leadership covers up for all of them.
Fuzzy Turtle pointed me to an online paper called The Corner Report:
Tuesday was a bad day for Republican Congresswoman Nancy Johnson.
First, the AFL-CIO issued a “report card” on the congresswoman’s record on working family issues during her 24 years as the Republican representative in the state’s Fifth Congressional District – a report card with a failing grade.
Next, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee distributed a list of Johnson’s record on health care, including the $739,000 she’s taken from pharmaceutical companies.
Then, signs began sprouting on trees on Rt. 7 and elsewhere in the Northwest Corner that say “Nancy Johnson is WRONG.” But the word “is” is written in such small letters that drivers passing by see only the words “Nancy Johnson WRONG.”
Apparently there are alot of people that think NANCY JOHNSON is WRONG. Welcome to the club that seems to grow exponentially as the campaign season progresses towards
"NATIONAL KICK THE CORRUPT REPUBLICAN BUMS OUT DAY"
The Corner Report is a pretty good read. It has the look and feel of a typical Blog, but the writing style of a hometown paper. I couldn't help but stop and check out a few of the articles while I was there. Definately worth repeat visits.
The article also reminded me of a little sign problem we have in our town:
There is an empty house for sale a couple of streets over from where I live. I noticed a "Vote Johnson" sign up there a few times but it kept disappearing. There one day, gone the next. A couple of weeks ago I saw the people that used to live there and as I watched they removed the sign and tossed it in the garbage. The sign still keeps popping up on that empty for sale house.
And it keeps *POOF* vanishing.
It is obvious that someone keeps putting the sign there against the owners will in the hopes of "creating" a view of alot more local support for Johnson than there really is.
It's like Joe Lieberman's $387,000 illegal slush fund that was apparently used to pay for out of state people, from NJ and elsewheres, to campaign for him here because he doesn't have that sort of volunteer base in Connecticut like Ned Lamont does. Joe's support is strictly lobbyists' and other Republican money sources funneled through back-channels that pays for campign muscle. Some call them the "Liebergoons". lol
I guess Lieberman and Johnson are both pretty darn pathetic! That is what happens to career politicians when they sell their souls to corporate lobbyists and continue to cling to the failed policies of the Bush administration...
They lose touch with the people, and they lose all of their local support.
Certainly there are still some hardcore right-wing-nuts that will support any republican candidate regardless of their corruption and incompetence. But, thankfully, their numbers are obviously dwindling.
"Stay the course!" That is all you will get from both Bush and Lieberman.
Despite President Bush's recent denials that "We've never been stay the course" and the NY Times' FALSE assertions to counter Ned Lamont's caqmpaign charges that Joe Lieberman has been a consistent cheerleader for Bush's failed "Stay the course!" policy, the fact remains that this is a bold face lie that exposes BOTH Bush and Lieberman's penchant for polticizing this war by telling people whatever they have to in order to cover their political asses and get more votes. It also doesn't say much about the researchers and writers at the "Post Judy Miller" NY Times.
LIEBERMAN: We have to stay the course in Iraq now and continue to build a stable, modernizing, democratizing country there. [01/04/04]
BUSH: We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05]
LIEBERMAN: We can do better. I will do better. I will make it international. I will stay the course, and I'll create a stable, democratizing, modernizing Iraq, which would be a tremendous step forward in the Middle East and the Islamic world and in our war against terrorism. [01/11/2004]
BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We’re just going to stay the course. [12/15/03
LIEBERMAN: Well, let's put it this way. What I'm most happy about is that he said that he will stay the course in Iraq until we finish the job, and the Iraqis are in control of their own destiny. [07/28/04]
BUSH: And my message today to those in Iraq is: We’ll stay the course. [4/13/04]
LIEBERMAN: We want to not only stay the course: we want to achieve victory. [04/26/04]
BUSH: And that’s why we’re going to stay the course in Iraq. And that’s why when we say something in Iraq, we’re going to do it. [4/16/04]
LIEBERMAN: "I thought the president gave the strongest case that I can remember him giving about why we went in and why we have to stay the course," Lieberman said, adding, "We've got to adopt a strategy of success. A defeat will create chaos in Iraq, chaos in the Middle East, and will embolden the terrorists in a way that will endanger our future and our children's future." [04/15/04]
Here is over 30 examples of Bush saying we must "Stay the course!" in some form or another. Media Matters has the goods on more of Lieberman's "Bush enabling" statements that mirror Bush administration talking points as perfectly as if they had come straight out of Karl Rove's mouth, even emulating the GOP talking point that defeat will create chaos "and will embolden the terrorists" that we have heard so often from every mouthpiece for the Bush administration.
If defeat will create chaos then we must be losing pretty badly since those terrorists are getting pretty emboldened according to defeatistRepublican Senator Lindsey Graham:
"We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an Associated Press interview. U.S. and Iraqi officials should be held accountable for the lack of progress, said Graham, a Republican who is a frequent critic of the administration's policies.
Asked who in particular should be held accountable Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, perhaps, or the generals leading the war Graham said: "All of them. It's their job to come up with a game plan" to end the violence
Bush and Liberman clearly say stay the course over and over. Because you never know who you might embolden in defeat. Now BOTH Bush and Lieberman are trying to hide from their mutual love of staying the course. It's almost like they are freaking flip-flopping clones.
This is why Ned Lamont is correct in attacking Lieberman's support of the failed Bush policy of staying the course. And Lieberman hates that.
And Senator Graham is right in laying alot of blame on Donald Rumsfeld. Here is what Rumsfeld has to say about Bush cutting and running from his "Stay the course!" policy:
Rumsfeld called media reports about Bush’s reversal “nonsense,” and said “of course” Bush is “not backing away from staying the course.” ---CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
The ever-incompetent Rumsfeld says that "Stay the course!" is still the Bush plan, regardless of the Bush "cut and run" posturing.
Lieberman and Bush are both in some hot water over their attempts to hide from their "Stay the course!" whitewash. If you vote for Joe Lieberman you are clearly voting for more of the same CHAOS. And all of the Bush backpeddling and NY Times' lies can't hide Lieberman from his own public record of support for the failed "Stay the course" Bush policy.
In the race, Ms. Johnson has used fearmongering commercials that try to paint Mr. Murphy as soft on terrorism and, most curiously of all, a big spender. It is unconvincing. Ms. Johnson is the senior member of an important committee. She has served longer in the House than any other Connecticut representative. Yet she has not been able to change significantly the House GOP leaders' reckless fiscal policy or its radical agenda.
Mr. Murphy, a lawyer, is impressive. He has spent eight years in the Connecticut House and Senate. He pushed for the state to adopt a system of campaign finance reform when he first entered the House, long before this was considered an important issue. He helped pass legislation that made it easier for uninsured to obtain health insurance. He wants to work on the same issue in Congress.
...snip...
Mr. Murphy would be a strong candidate in any race, and even against a seasoned incumbent, is impressive. He would make a superb addition to Congress. We strongly endorse his candidacy.
--- NY Times
OK! So CT PROGRESSIVE just cut and pasted from the NY Times endorsemnet of Murphy. At least the Times can still count, even though they employed Judy Miller at one time and have yet to find one her Iraqi WMDs.
But let us not forget Johnson's signature legislation:
Medicare D(isaster)
Johnson was counting on you to remember that for the election!
It sucks to be anything GOP these days... Even the right wing corporate owned media is "cutting and running" from anything GOP.
