I think we all can agree that today’s journalists are about as useless as tits on a boar hog. Not a day goes by that people aren’t dying in Iraq. Not a day goes by that the Bush administration doesn’t lie to us. Not a day goes by…. etc.

But many a day goes by that stories like the above go ignored. Instead, we get to hear all about the big barbecue at McCain’s ranch.

So you can see how I’d be upset about the following ego stroke:

At Sparkly Newseum, The Glory Of the Story Goes Above the Fold

The new incarnation of the Newseum is dazzling, innovative and absorbing, a first-class addition to the capital’s cultural institutions.

It is also, in some respects, an overpriced monument to journalistic self-glorification. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

There’s plenty wrong with that!

There are, however, some bright spots though… sorta:

In a corner of one narrow exhibit case are panels devoted to out-and-out liars: Janet Cooke of The Washington Post, Stephen Glass of the New Republic, Jayson Blair of the New York Times and Jack Kelley of USA Today. Each gets a paragraph or so. So does Judith Miller, whose badly flawed Times reports on Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction are briefly described under the headline “When Anonymous Sources Are Wrong.” Media critic Bernard Goldberg’s book “Bias” graces another case, along with a picture of a protesters’ banner: “No More Media Lies!” And there are a series of mistaken headlines, from newspapers prematurely awarding the 2000 election to George W. Bush to the botched New York Post scoop that John Kerry had picked Dick Gephardt as his running mate.

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Bobby Hackett, Jack Teagarden

From IBOFilms:
I could not resist to post another audio clip from this wonderful recording session from California in October 1955.
Many musicians have played and recorded Hoagy Carmichael’s “New Orleans” and all these musicians had this 1955 recording in their mind while playing it. It is the ultimate melody phrasing of Bobby Hackett that has become a challenge to every serious jazz cornet or trumpet player.However, none has even come close to the Hackett standard.This made Hackett the ultimate jazz master in playing his sweet style of jazz.
Even today on the musac channels and even in supermakets one often hears a melody been played by strings intertwined with the intriguing brilliant improvisations of Bobby Hackett.
In this recording: Jack Teagarden trombone, Abe Lincoln trombone, Matty Matlock clarinet, Nappy Lamare guitar, Don Owens piano, Phil Stephens bass and Nick Fatool drums.

Leaves me wanting more……..

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Oh, really?

When it seems that everybody, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, are signing onto legislation that would help out our hard working military, one would think the man being the most vocal about supporting the troops would be leading the charge.

But nope. Rat-bastard, John McCain, can’t even be found!

It would seem like a no-brainer for any presidential candidate: a bill, introduced by two veterans, with the support of veterans associations around the country, that increases the opportunity for vets to go to college.

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have co’sponsored a bill put forth last fall by Jim Webb of Virginia and Chuck Hagel, Republican from Nebraska, called the “Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational Act,” that is a return to the spirit of the World War II GI Bill, with enough funding such that every returning veteran is guaranteed a quality education. [...]

So where’s McCain on this, who has made “support the troops” his campaign mantra? When asked in March by a representative of Student Veterans of America why he wouldn’t co’sponsor the bill, McCain wavered and mumbled, saying, “Uh, I haven’t had the chance to examine the bill.” Several weeks later, it seems he still hasn’t had a chance to, and needless to say, many aren’t happy.

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About time…….. this took way too long.

Mark Penn, the architect of much of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign, has stepped aside as chief strategist in the wake of revelations that he lobbied on behalf of a trade treaty with Colombia that Mrs. Clinton opposes.

Mr. Penn, who has been associated with Mrs. Clinton and former President Bill Clinton for a dozen years, has come under withering criticism for continuing to consult with clients as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller, the international lobbying and public relations firm.

More at the NYT

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Republican stupidity will never cease to amaze me!

Communists in the Schools: Controversy in California

The California legislature is considering a bill to repeal the law, passed in the heyday of McCarthyism, that permits the firing of Communist Party members who teach in public schools and community colleges. The mainstream media hasn’t noticed, but Fox News, conservative think tanks and the right-wing New York Sun have complained loudly that the repeal “will promote communism in the public schools” (from the Fox News report).

The bill, proposed by a Democratic state Senator from Long Beach, Alan Lowenthal, would also eliminate the state’s loyalty oath. Currently public employees are required to swear that they do not belong to any organization “advocating the forceful or violent overthrow of the government of the US” or of the state of California.

With support from both of California’s big teachers’ unions, the California Federation of Teachers and the California Teachers Association, the bill passed its first committee vote, 5-3, on April 2. The Democrats control the both houses of the state legislature, so the chances for passage seem good.

There is an upswing though. If this story gets enough bite to it, it will keep the warmongering republicans so busy, they’ll soon forget all about Iraq, Afghanistan, flag-burning during the war on Christmas, pregnant fags trying to obtain that much sought-after dual abortion/marriage license,.. etc.

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Avi Lewis examines the powerful Israeli lobby and its affects on Capitol Hill.

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What the hell kind of logic is this? This woman has totally lost it. Time to march back to the drawing board Hillary. This is another loser.

In Eugene, Ore., Saturday. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., attempted to change the measure by which anyone might assess who criticized the Iraq war first, her or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., by saying those keeping records should start in January 2005, when Obama joined the Senate. (A measure that conveniently avoids her October 2002 vote to authorize use of force against Iraq at a time that Obama was speaking out against the war.) She claimed that using that measure, she criticized the war in Iraq before Obama did.

But Clinton’s claim was false.

Clinton on Saturday told Oregonians, “when Sen. Obama came to the Senate he and I have voted exactly the same except for one vote. And that happens to be the facts. We both voted against early deadlines. I actually starting criticizing the war in Iraq before he did.”

It’s an odd way to measure opposition to the war — comparing who gave the first criticism of the war in Iraq starting in January 2005, ignoring Obama’s opposition to the war throughout 2003 and 2004. (And Clinton’s vote for it.)

But even if one were to employ this “Start Counting in January 2005″ measurement, Clinton did not criticize the war in Iraq first.

More at ABC

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and the veterans get fucked…….. go figure.

Veterans Affairs employees last year racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image and Franklin Covey - and government auditors are investigating, citing past spending abuses.

All told, VA staff charged $2.6 billion to their government credit cards.

The Associated Press, through a Freedom of Information request, obtained the VA list of 3.1 million purchases made in the 2007 budget year. The list offers a detailed look into the everyday spending at the government’s second largest department.

By and large, it reveals few outward signs of questionable spending, with hundreds of purchases at prosthetic, orthopedic and other medical supply stores.

But there are multiple charges that have caught the eye of government investigators.

More at AOL News

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Now that many of it’s borrowers have found themselves in a credit crunch, the Mortgage Bankers Association is finding it impossible to pay it’s own mortgage.

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Frank Rich at the NYT has a good piece today regarding McCain and his delusions that we are succeeding in Iraq, and that the battle in Basra last week was a sign of it. From the piece:

“We-re succeeding,” Mr. McCain said after his last trip to Iraq. “I don-t care what anybody says.” Again, it’s the last sentence that’s accurate. When General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker testify before Congress again this week - against the backdrop of a million-Iraqi, anti-American protest called by Mr. Sadr - Mr. McCain will ram home all this “success” no matter the facts.

And the fact that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with the battle in Basra:

Perhaps all these mistaken judgments can be attributed to the fog of war. But Mr. McCain’s bigger strategic picture, immutable no matter what happens on the ground, is foggier still. Like Mr. Bush, he keeps selling Iraq as the central front in the war on Al Qaeda. But Al Qaeda was not even a participant in the Basra battle, which was an eruption of a Shiite-vs.-Shiite civil war. (Al Qaeda is busy enough in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the actual central front in the war on terror.)

Good read! Full article here

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This is where the “spineless” part comes in. Taking the high road does not work with this crowd.

How we play:

Obama Campaign: McCain Not a ‘Warmonger’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama’s presidential campaign on Saturday repudiated a liberal talk show host’s description of Sen. John McCain as a warmonger, a comment made to an audience that Obama later addressed.

Ed Shulz on McCain: “He voted for this war. He’s a perpetrator of the war. He’s an advocate of the war. In my personal definition, that’s a warmonger.”

That’s a pretty convincing argument to me! So why the hell did Obama feel the need to apologize?

How they play:

McCain Calls for Respectful Campaign

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) — Sen. John McCain called Saturday for a presidential campaign that is more like a respectful argument among friends than a bitter clash of enemies, and said he is better able than either of his Democratic rivals to govern across party lines.

And this from the party that brought us swiftboating.

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SUNDAY TALK LINE UP 4/6/08

Meet The Press: Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) will debate Clinton supporter Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) and then Tom Brokaw, Michael Eric Dyson and Amb. Andrew Young discuss Martin Luther King

Fox News Sunday: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) followed by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)

ABC’s This Week: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) & Sen. James Webb (D-VA), then Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, and closing with Katrina vanden Heuvel, Dan Senor, Cokie Roberts and George Will

Face the Nation: Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, then the Washington Post’s Rajiv Chandrasekaran, McClachty’s Nancy Youssef and CBS News- Lara Logan

Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer: Rep. John Murtha, (D) Pennsylvania; Clinton Supporter, Sen. Christopher Dodd, (D) Connecticut; Obama Supporter, Sen. Dick Durbin, (D) Illinois,
Sen. John Cornyn, (R) Texas, Rev. David O’Connell, Catholic University President

C-Span Campaign 08 Road to the White House: (6:30 p.m.) Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) & Chelsea Clinton speak at the Montgomery County Democratic Committee Spring Reception in Pennsylvania. Kennedy speaks on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and later Chelsea Clinton speaks on behalf of her mother, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

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