The Hollywood Liberal

HLs RSS Feed, and Atom Feed are Moving.

2006-06-25T14:44:00.000-07:00

Hi, If you are picking this up on The RSS Feed, or Atom Feed, We are switching Blog formats and these feeds will no longer be updated. Starting Monday Morning The Hollywood Liberal will be on Wordpress which automatically updates feeds in various categories. We will have seperate feeds for News, Videos, Comics, as well as a general feed which will contain everything. Our web address will be the same So check back on Monday, you will see the sight looks different. There will be a link to RSS Feeds at the top click on the link which will open a page that will have all the information of the various feeds we will offer, there will also be links to set up the feeds on MY Yahoo, and MY MSN.]
See you over there.
H.L.

War News: Bush Kills 5 More Soldiers in Iraq. Senate Refuses to Even Consider Getting Out Someday.

2006-06-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

AP
5 More U.S. Troops Killed In Iraq.

Excerpt:
Five U.S. troops — including four Marines — were killed in operations south and west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said, and an explosion of sectarian and revenge killings in Iraq's third-largest city in the past three days claimed 24 lives.

AP
Senate rejects calls on Iraq troop pullout

Excerpt
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, in turn, portrayed Republican leaders as blindly following President Bush's "failed" stay-the-course strategy. "It is long past time to change course in Iraq and start to end the president's open-ended commitment," he said.
In an 86-13 vote, the Senate turned back a proposal from some Democrats that would require the administration to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by July 1, 2007, with redeployments beginning this year. No Republicans voted in favor of the plan.
Minutes later, the Senate rejected by 60-39 the proposal more popular with Democrats, a nonbinding resolution that would call for the administration to begin withdrawing troops, but with no timetable for the war's end.

H.L.s Take:
Here is a list of the brave 13 Democratic Senators who voted to get the troops out of Bush's Bloodbath. To them I say Thank You. Of course both my boys are on this list.
H.L. With John Kerry
H.L. with Russ Feingold

Akaka (HI)
Boxer (CA)
Durbin (IL)
Feingold (WI)
Harkin (IA)
Inouye (HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (MA)
Kerry (MA)
Lautenberg (NJ)
Leahy (VT)
Menendez (NJ)
Wyden (OR)

Now here is a list of The Cowardly 6 that would not even vote yes on the second vote which said that at some point, at some time in the near or distant future, that we would eventually begin to pull the troops out. (I guess these 6 want to leave the troops in Iraq forever.) Of course the usual suspects are on this list. These people need to be voted out now.

Dayton (D-MN)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (D-CT
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)

NY Times
On Iraq, Kerry Again Leaves Democrats Fuming

Excerpt:
Democrats who wished Senator John Kerry would take a firm stand in 2004 now oppose his call for a fixed date for the withdrawal of troops.
Mr. Kerry now describes the war in Iraq as a mistake, even though he once supported it. His critics say they believe the new stand reflects more politics than principle, and ignores other Democrats' concern that setting a fixed date will leave those in tough re-election fights open to Republican taunts that they are "cutting and running" in Iraq.

The Democrats' exasperation has increased in the last week, as they postponed a vote on Mr. Kerry's amendment to try to fashion a broader consensus among themselves. Democrats up for re-election asked him not to propose a fixed date. But Mr. Kerry, several Democrats said, was unwilling to budge from that idea, even though his co-sponsor, Senator Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, seemed willing to compromise for the sake of consensus. In the end, Mr. Kerry agreed only to extend his deadline, from Dec. 31 of this year to July 2007.

H.L.s Take:
All right John and Russ, way to make a stand. Make the rest of the Democrats realize that either they stop licking Bush's sack and vote to end the war, or else. Its time the Democrats started bowing to the will of the people (who want this bulls**t stopped) or else.

Videos: Fox News: Bush Hid WMD Evidence. Santorum Debunked. Lou Dobbs.

2006-06-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

Fox News Analyst: Administration Hid Evidence of WMD To Protect China, Russia and France
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) are hyping a document that describes degraded, pre-1991 munitions that were already acknowledged by the White House’s Iraq Survey Group and dismissed.
The Defense Department has already knocked the story down. But on Fox this is big news, proving that Saddam Hussein had WMD, just as the administration claimed.
The question is, if this information is so significant, why would the administration keep it under wraps? Alan Colmes asked Fox News Military Analyst Thomas McInerery that question last night. McInerery explained that the administration was complicit in a multinational cover-up intended to protect Russia, China and France. Watch it:

Brad Blog

Lou Dobbs Continues His Series on Electronic Voting.
Lou Dobbs continues his series on Diebold, Electronic Voting, and how it is enabling Republicans to steal elections.

Crooks and Liars.
Santorum debunked over WMD's by FOX NEWS

Rick Santorum went on Fox News, and even they didn't believe what he had to say.
The Debunked him right on the air. Check it out. Copy and paste this link.

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/H-C-Santorum-Classified-WMD.wmv

More News: Coulter Vs. Hitler quiz. Skilling Wants Enron Verdict Tossed. (and more)

2006-06-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

People.Virginia.Edu.
Hitler Vs. Coulter Quiz. Who Said it Adolf, or Ann?

Excerpt:
"Hence it is that at the present time the liberal is the great agitator for the complete destruction of America. Whenever we read of attacks against America taking place in any part of the world the liberal is always the instigator."

Who said it?? Hitler or Coulter?

AP
China pleased after watching U.S. wargames .

Excerpt:
SHANGHAI, China - Chinese military observers said Thursday that observing U.S. military exercises in the Pacific this week gave them a better understanding of U.S. weapons and tactics.
Delegation leader Rear Adm. Zhang Leiyu called the visit to the war games near Guam "a positive step in China-U.S. military ties," the official Xinhua News agency reported.

H.L.s Take:
Thats great, now if they ever want to attack us. They will know our secrets.

Editor & Publisher
Polls, Pundits and Pols

Excerpt:
You'd never know it from some of the reporting and bloviating on the debate over an Iraq withdrawal, but all major polls show that the public favors withdrawals, with strong support for a timeline or total pullout within a year.

Democratic Daily
Rick Santorum’s WMD Tall Tale

Excerpt
Rick Santorum told a tall tale during the debate on the Kerry-Feingold Iraq amendment and in a press conference on Wednesday.
We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons,” Santorum claimed, smug and lying like a rug on the floor. He cited report by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit, that he had heard about a month or so ago, but “no one had seen before”. Oh, so very convenient, that Ricky pulled that one out of the air just in time for the debate on the Kerry-Feingold amendment

Brad Blog
Poll Workers Indicted in Tennessee, GOP 'Sore Losers' Continue Fight to Overturn Election

Excerpt:
Apparently, it's neither a case of "sour grapes" nor "sore losers" when Republicans challenge elections that they reportedly lost. That's only the case when Democrats charge irregularities or illegalities in an election. And, of course, when it's a Republican whose ox has been gored, the GOP uses every available means to fight the results of the election, and the courts and the legislatures usually play along. And nobody bothers to call them "tin-foil hat conspiracy theorists." Go figure.

Thank You Lt.org
Lt. Watada Refused Deployment today

Excerpt:
BREAKING NEWS (June 22, 2006) - At approx 0230 hours this morning, June 22, U.S. Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada refused written orders to board a bus bound for an adjacent airstrip, and Iraq War deployment - as he has pledged to do since first speaking out against the illegal Iraq War. At this time Lt. Watada has been restricted to base, possibly confined to quarters, and has been ordered to have no contact with any non-military personnel, with the exception of his civilian lawyer. More information is coming soon.

SF Gate
AT&T rewrites rules: Your data isn't yours

Excerpt:
AT&T has issued an updated privacy policy that takes effect Friday. The changes are significant because they appear to give the telecom giant more latitude when it comes to sharing customers' personal data with government officials.
The new policy says that AT&T -- not customers -- owns customers' confidential info and can use it "to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."

BBC News
Enron boss wants verdict quashed

Excerpt
Former Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling is asking a judge to overturn last month's court verdict that found him guilty of fraud and conspiracy at the firm.

AP
New jobless claims up 11,000 last week

Excerpt:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers claiming an initial week of jobless aid rose 11,000 last week...

Troops Cheer Murtha, Haditha No My Lai, Soldiers Charged With Murder

2006-06-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

AP
Murtha Cheered by Troops Returning Home.

Excerpt:
congressman was calling the war a lost cause.
Sixteen-term Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), a decorated Vietnam veteran and military hawk, has become the face of the Democrats' anti-war movement since he called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops last fall. His oft-repeated criticism of the Bush administration's war policies also has earned him the wrath of Republicans.
In Murtha's southwest Pennsylvania district, however, many share the war critic's views.
At a welcome home ceremony this week for Myers and other troops from the Johnstown, Pa.-based 876th Engineer Battalion, the crowd cheered when a Murtha aide welcomed the troops on the congressman's behalf.
Myers said he backs Murtha, an opinion echoed by a number of other troops and their families. Several share his frustration with the conflict.
"I'm not sure we're doing a whole lot of good," Myers, 46, said of the U.S. presence in Iraq.

AP
Frist: Surrender in Iraq 'not a solution'

Excerpt:
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Some Democrats are having second thoughts about Hillary Clinton as their 2008 presidential candidate, wracked by doubts about her cross-party appeal, and disappointed by her position on US troops in Iraq.
Those reservations were given expression last week at a forum in Washington of liberal Democrats, where the New York senator was roundly booed when she expressed her opposition to setting a date for withdrawing US troops from Iraq.

Truthdig
Robert Scheer: Hillary's Shameful Straddling on Iraq

Excerpt
How do you triangulate among death, hypocrisy and stupidity? Not at all logically, which is why Hillary Clinton’s dissembling on Iraq has become a fatal embarrassment not only for her but for anyone who hopes she can provide progressive leadership for the nation. If she has still not found the courage to reverse course on this disastrous war, why assume that as president she would behave any differently?
It is unconscionable that those who can accurately measure the true cost of the Iraq folly in wasted lives and resources — more than 2,500 Americans, tens of thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of billions of dollars — dare prefer her to potential 2008 presidential election rivals John Kerry, Al Gore, Russ Feingold and John Edwards, who have all come to speak honestly of this quagmire and our need to extricate ourselves from it.

Soldiers For The Truth
Haditha And My Lai - No Comparison

Excerpt:
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE HORRORS OF IRAQ BECOME TOO MUCH FOR A SOLDIER TO BEAR? BY NEIL MACKAY

When the news broke on allegations of Marine misconduct at the Iraqi village of Haditha, It did not take today's generation of mass media morons even half a news cycle to vaguely recall that something bad had happened at a Vietnamese village called My Lai….
It is in this current PR campaign being waged by the political factions -- those for and those against the current policies -- that My Lai and Haditha most closely resemble each other.
"Pro-war" and "Anti-war" faced off over My Lai, and the same is happening today. What is best and fairest, i.e., justice for the troops involved, does not seem to be a factor…. To save Defense Watch readers from having to do their own research on My Lai, although it is strongly encouraged, here's some of the most pertinent data to keep in mind as the Haditha case slowly plays itself out…
On March 16, 1968, an infantry company under the immediate command of Task Force Barker (named after Lt, Col Frank Barker, the TF commander) of the American Division's 11th Light Infantry Brigade entered an undefended hamlet in central Vietnam near the South China Sea. In the space of four hours, members of the company murdered around 500 Vietnamese non-combatants -- old men, women and children. At the time the actual butchery was underway, there was no pretense that these victims were collateral casualties who were dying as the consequence of legitimate military actions....
The company commander, Captain Ernest Medina, knew, or should have known, that mass murder was erupting all around him....
The principal subordinate "executioner," Lieutenant William Calley not only knew full well that mass murder was occurring, but actively participated in the slaughter. As one book put it, "It was Calley who, seeing a baby at My Lai crawling away from a ditch already filled with dead and dying villagers, seized the child by the leg, threw it back in the pit, and shot it." (From an excellent book, "Four Hours in My Lai," by two British authors who also did a riveting television documentary that aired in the UK and on PBS here.)
In an aspect little noted until decades later, the misconduct at My Lai included numerous sexual assaults, both rape and sodomy.
Additionally, mutilations and other barbaric acts bespoke a unit totally without appropriate leadership. Good order and discipline, such as it existed, focused on ensuring that the innocents died.

Washington Post
New Book Reveals Inner Workings of Bush Administration.

Excerpt:
Here's another telling tale: "The book's opening anecdote tells of an unnamed CIA briefer who flew to Bush's Texas ranch during the scary summer of 2001, amid a flurry of reports of a pending al-Qaeda attack, to call the president's attention personally to the now-famous Aug. 6, 2001, memo titled 'Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US.' Bush reportedly heard the briefer out and replied: 'All right. You've covered your ass, now.'

MSNBC
7 Marines, 1 sailor charged with murder

Excerpt:
The case is separate from the alleged killing by other Marines of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha last November. A pair of investigations related to that case are still under way and no criminal charges have been filed.

Video: Cheney, No one anticipated Insurgency Strength

2006-06-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here’s a Dick Cheney Video where he says that No one anticipated Insurgency Strength, but he also says that he still believes the insurgency is in its final throes. So which is it Dick-boy. Typical lying as usual from The Prince of Darkness

Dick Cheney Speaks

Progressive Revolt

2006-06-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

Bill Clinton in "The Fixer"

2006-06-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

News Items: Bill: If Hilary is Elected Pres. I'll "do anything she wants"

This is a 11 part comic

See The Rest of The Strip Here

Free Road to Guantanamo Tix and Posters.

2006-06-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

H.L. in Association with Special Ops. Media is giving away 4 Road to Guantanamo Prize Packs. You get 2 Tickets to the movie which opens on June 23rd, you also get a Road to Guantanamo Poster, like the one you see here.
Check out my review of the film Which got the entire Right Wing Spin Machine in a Tizzy. I also did an Audio Interview with Director Mat Whitecross You have to live in a city that is showing the film to get the prizes, or be willing to go to one. (They are N.Y., L.A., S.F, Washington D.C., and Boston) This is a very important movie you don't want to miss, and thanks to The H.L. you don't even have to pay. email me at mail@thehollywoodliberal.com if you would like to go. First 4 that write in get the Tix.

Video Tony Snow. Too Much Focus on Kidnapped Soldiers.

2006-06-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

Think Progress.org

Snow: There Is Too Much Focus on Kidnapped U.S. Soldiers
On Friday, two U.S. troops were kidnapped at a checkpoint in Iraq. They remain missing. This morning on Fox News Sunday, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow criticized the press for spending too much time covering their plight. Watch it:

Last week at a White House press briefing, Snow was asked for a reaction to the death toll for U.S. troops in Iraq reaching 2,500. Snow responded: “It’s a number.”

Video: Murtha Goes On The Attack Against Rove, War.

2006-06-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rummy Hate him because he spent 37 Years in The Military. They spent a combined total of 0.
Another One from Think Progress.
Murtha on Rove: ‘He’s Sitting in His Air-Conditioned Office on His Big, Fat Backside, Saying Stay the Course’
Karl Rove attacked Rep. John Murtha during a speech last week in New Hampshire. Rove described Murtha’s Iraq plan as “cutting and running,” and suggested that the 37-year Marine combat veteran would “be with you at the first shots” but not “for the last, tough battles.”
Murtha defended himself this morning on Meet the Press:

Watch it

MURTHA: He’s in New Hampshire. He’s making a political speech. He’s sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside, saying stay the course. That’s not a plan. … We’ve got to change direction. You can’t sit there in the air-conditioned office and tell troops carrying 70 pounds on their backs, inside these armored vessels hit with IEDs every day, seeing their friends blown up, their buddies blown up — and he says stay the course? Easy to say that from Washington, DC.

Check Out Liberation Video

2006-06-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

Will LIbby be Pardoned? FBI Has no Evidence LInking Bin Laden to 9/11

2006-06-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Newsday
Pardon talk for Libby begins

Excerpt:
WASHINGTON -- Now that top White House aide Karl Rove is off the hook in the CIA leak probe, President George W. Bush must weigh whether to pardon former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the only one indicted in the three-year investigation.
Speculation about a pardon began in late October, soon after Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald unsealed the perjury indictment of Libby, and it continued last week after Fitzgerald chose not to charge Rove.

The Information Clearinghouse
FBI says, it has “No hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11”

Excerpt:
In the e-mail, the question is asked, “Why doesn’t Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted poster make any direct connection with the events of September 11, 2001?” The FBI says on its Bin Laden web page that Usama Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998 bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. According to the FBI, these attacks killed over 200 people. The FBI concludes its reason for “wanting” Bin Laden by saying, “In addition, Bin Laden is a suspect in other terrorists attacks throughout the world.”
On June 5, 2006, the Muckraker Report contacted the FBI Headquarters, (202) 324-3000, to learn why Bin Laden’s Most Wanted poster did not indicate that Usama was also wanted in connection with 9/11. The Muckraker Report spoke with Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI. When asked why there is no mention of 9/11 on Bin Laden’s Most Wanted web page, Tomb said, “The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.”
Surprised by the ease in which this FBI spokesman made such an astonishing statement, I asked, “How this was possible?” Tomb continued, “Bin Laden has not been formally charged in connection to 9/11.”

Observer U.K.
How US hid the suicide secrets of Guantanamo

Excerpt
After three inmates killed themselves, the Pentagon declared the suicides an act of 'asymmetric warfare', banned the media and went on a PR offensive. But as despair grows within the camp, so too does outrage mount at its brutal and secretive regime

Think Progress
Snow Declares Resurgence of Taliban ‘Predictable,’ Bush Previously Said It Was ‘No Longer…In Existence’

Excerpt:
BLITZER: Let’s move on and talk about some other issues. I know your time is limited. Afghanistan. Is the Taliban making a serious comeback right now?

SNOW: I think what the Taliban is doing — and it’s predictable — is that they are trying to test in the south, where the U.S. forces are handing over to NATO…But A, it’s predictable, and B, in the encounters, as you know, the Taliban fighters have overwhelmingly been losing. Now, I think it is predictable…you can expect there to be pushback by the Taliban.

USA Today
Bill Clinton decries 'divisive' politics

Excerpt:
LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton said Saturday that, if he returns to the White House in 2008 because his wife becomes president, his role would be to "do whatever she wants" because that's what a good citizen would do.
Clinton said he didn't know if U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat from New York seeking re-election this year, would run for president in two years as some have speculated, but he predicted a woman could win the most powerful office in the world.

Washington Post
Relative of Republican Hill Panel Chairman Scrutinized.

Excerpt:
A stepdaughter of Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has a second Washington job, working for a lobbyist who has business before the committee.
Julia Willis-Leon, who lives in Las Vegas, is a "strategic partner" in Potomac Partners DC LLC, President Richard Alcalde said in a recent interview. Alcalde said he has paid Willis-Leon $40,000 to $50,000 over the last year for advice on several clients.

Washington Post
The world's most powerful military failed to provide the armor that would have saved scores of American lives. One father wouldlike to know why

Excerpt
Now, talking on the phone with his young warrior, Brian tried to understand what he was hearing. Don't believe spinmeisters on TV, Brian recalls his son saying; the Iraqi insurgency is real and building. John and his buddies in Charlie Company of the 508th Infantry Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade were patrolling ever longer distances in thin-skinned Humvees suited for hauling cargo, not for carrying soldiers under fire.
This was not the first time John had confided that the U.S. military was failing to provide him with essential equipment. In previous calls home, Brian recalls, John recounted a bewildering array of shortages and snafus. Before landing in Iraq that scorching July, John told his father, he'd been issued a winter-weight camouflage suit, body armor with protective plates too small to shield his broad chest, and a broken rifle. An expert marksman and former co-captain of the Bedford High School shooting team, John had been told to conserve scarce bullets by not taking practice shots to sight his weapon, he said. Summertime water rations were so inadequate that guys were passing out in the Iraqi heat.

Brad Blog
Declare 'NO CONFIDENCE' in Reported Busby/Bilbray Election Results!

Excerpt:
Join PDA, The BRAD BLOG, Tribune Media's Bob Koehler, VelvetRevolution.us and thousands of Americans so far, in declaring NO CONFIDENCE in the reported results of the Busby/Bilbray special U.S. House of Representative run-off election last week in California's 50th congressional district!
See how poll workers taking the voting machines home for overnights days before the election rendered them uncertifed and illegal for use by both State and Federal standards, leaving the announced results wholly unverifiable at this time.

A Bush Lover Writes In.

2006-06-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

From a Bush Fan.

""Do we really need 6 multi million dollar F16 Attack Hornets"" What the hell is this? If u want F-16 that's called Falcon, Hornets are F/A
18 u moron.
So I sugest u check what a hell u talking about u bitch before u start
publishing that crap.
By the way do u know that I hate liberals. U f**king b*****s thing that u
are the best and u can do whatever u want? what a fuck? U suckers are just
complaining about mr president George W. Bush, but I'll tell u something u
are NOt even from one hundreth as good as he u f**kg assholes. Liberalism
is just selfdestructive crap, which causes more dmage than good. And u
should know it u liberal idiots. Do u know that even newborn is capable of
better sugestions than u are.
Why don't u all pack ur f***ing asses ang go to russia, thats where u belong
u f***ing morons, U still think that u can cause problems to America, go to
hell u f****ing bastards. Even a diarrhea is more pleasant than u f****ing
liberals.
I'll tell u something just go to hell u f***ing bastards, U are nothing but
just a bunch of lousy assholes.
I would like to tell u to kiss my ass but I'm not gonna do that because,
detest u, f***ers

H.L. Responds
In the first place, the first sentence about Attack Helicopters, I have no idea what you are talking about. How about specifying what it is you think I said. I don't remember ever talking about Attack Hornets; I wouldn't know what they are anyway. As for the rest of your note, I hate you and all Bush lickers just as much as you hate me. You people are the reason this country is so screwed up. I can tell by your writing that you are an educated man. Why is it that everyone that loves Bush writes like a 5 year old. You obviously are a clueless moron, so of course I am going to take what you say to Heart.
Oh, and I love America, that is why I fight to save if from you people who wouldn't know an original idea if it bit you in your fat ass. If you don't like it, why don't you move to Iraq? By the way if you love Bush so much why aren't you over there fighting his war for him you chickenhawk. I guess you don't mind that 2,500 soldiers are dead, as long as it isn't you. Liberals are here to stay, better get used to it. Now go watch Fox news so you can get more of your Scholarly Education

New Advertiser on The H.L.

2006-06-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

H.L. Is proud to welcome a new advertiser is is
Birdshot Mountain

Its a new movie starring Dick Cheney. Its damn funny. You can download the movie here H.L.s advertisers keep us going, so do me a favor and Check out the site
Thanks.

Bush's Shady Fish Story

2006-06-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

News Items: Bush to create largest marine sanctuary
Bush apologizes to L.A. Times reporter

This is a 16 part comic

See the Rest of The Strip Here

Bush on Elections, Republicans Will Win.

2006-06-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

AP
Bush on Elections, Republicans Will Win.

Excerpt:
WASHINGTON - President Bush predicted on Wednesday that Republicans will maintain majority control of the House and Senate this November despite polls showing voters favor putting Democrats in charge.
"I believe we're going to hold the House and the Senate because our philosophy is one that is forward-looking and optimistic and has worked," Bush told reporters at a White House news conference.

H.L.s Take
As much as I hate to admit it. I think he is absolutely goddamn right. He knows the fix is in, just like he knew it in 2000, when he guaranteed his win, even after one of the networds gave the election to Gore. Just like he knew it 2004, in Ohio. As of now I see Arnold being re-elected in California. Republicans increasing their leads in the house and senate, and Jeb Bush (or whoever the Republicans run) being sworn in in January '09. Democrats are still doing NOTHING about Diebold, John Kerry was right, they still don't get it. But Kerry is just as much a part of the problem as anyone else. The Democrats refuse to fight, and I am pretty goddamn sure that they are losing on purpose. We just had another election possibly stolen, If you read the Brad Blog story below you can see what I mean. Also despite record low approval ratings, the Republicans are still getting their way on EVERYTHING. Rove not being charged, Nothing being done about Iraq and Guantanamo. Yet despite all this the house just voted itself another raise.
As I have said before, its not so much Republicans vs. Democrats. Its the Super Rich (and the Super Stupid) vs. everyone else (Us) Its class warfare, and we are getting slaughtered.

Independent Media Ordered Off Guantanamo. House Votes Itself a Raise, Bush Wants Gitmo Closed???

2006-06-14T08:28:00.001-07:00

AP BS Story of The Day
Afghans declare Gitmo conditions 'humane'

Excerpt:
KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan delegation returning from a 10-day visit to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay said Wednesday that prison conditions there were "humane."
The head of the delegation, Abdul Jabar Sabhet of the Interior Ministry, said the delegation was given the chance to speak freely with all 96 Afghan prisoners about their living conditions. Sabhet said there were "only one or two" complaints.
"Conditions of the jail was humane. There were rumors in this country about that. It was wrong. What we have seen was OK," he said.

H.L.s Take Yeah they are humane, thats why people are committing suicide. Go see the movie The Road to Guantanamo, and tell me how humane it is over there

AP BS Story of The Day Part 2
Bush: Would like Guantanamo closed

Excerpt:
"I'd like to close Guantanamo, but I also recognize that we're holding some people there that are darn dangerous and that we better have a plan to deal with them in our courts," Bush told a news conference in the White House Rose Garden.

H.L.s Take Bush would "like" to close Guantanamo, and I would "like"
1 Million Dollars, don't look for either to happen to soon.

Miami Herald
Military Orderes All Independent Media Off Guantanamo.

Excerpt:
Also Tuesday, the military ordered all independent news media off the base by 10 a.m. Wednesday, and had arranged a flight to Miami to expedite their departure.
A two-sentence email to reporters for The Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times, citing a directive from the Office of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, stated: ``Media currently on the island will depart on Wednesday, 14 June 2006 at 10:00 a.m. Please be prepared to depart the CBQ [quarters] at 8:00 a.m.''
The correspondents came down to the base on Saturday to cover the aftermath of the suicides, at the invitation of the admiral in charge of the prison. The Pentagon canceled the invitation Tuesday night, despite protests from the newspapers

Seattle Times
Despite Record Low Approval, House Votes Itself Another $3,300 raise

Excerpt
Despite record low approval ratings, House lawmakers Tuesday embraced a $3,300 pay raise that would increase their salaries to $168,500.
The 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) would be the seventh straight for members of the House and Senate. Lawmakers easily squelched an attempt by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to get a direct vote to block the increase, which is automatically awarded unless lawmakers vote to block it.
In the early days of GOP control of Congress, lawmakers routinely denied themselves the annual COLA.

AP
Gas prices push consumer inflation higher

Excerpt:
Excluding energy and food, core inflation rose by a larger-than-expected 0.3 percent. That increase was certain to get attention at the Federal Reserve, where Chairman Ben Bernanke last week said a recent uptick in core inflation has Fed officials concerned.
President Bush, who has seen voter unhappiness over soaring gas prices help send his approval ratings to record lows, told reporters at the White House that he had confidence the Fed would do its job to keep inflation from becoming a problem

H.L.s Take Bush is confident in the fed, he is confident that Iraq will be able to take care of himself, he is confident in Rummy, Lots of confidence for a guy who is such a complete and miserable failure at everything he touches. Sounds more like hubris to me.

Pensito Review
Behind the Scenes of Bush’s Iraq Travel Decision

Excerpt:
In what can only be a tiresome attempt to spin, spin, spin Bush is working harder to rehabilitate his image than he ever has at being president. Here’s the scenario:
Airstrike takes out al-Zarqawi, who is then elevated to the status of The Entire Problem. Now The Problem is solved.
Bush summons the usual suspects plus the cabinet for a pow wow to discuss what to do next.
Someone comes up with the brilliant idea to — wait, wait, I know this is crazy but just follow me here — ask critics of the administration what they think. Bush can look less thin-skinned and isolated and more statesman-like.

My Congressman Henry Waxman
Rep. Waxman Calls for Public Accounting of Rove’s Actions in CIA Leak Case

Excerpt
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 -- In light of reports that Special Counsel Fitzgerald will not pursue criminal charges against Karl Rove -- and does not appear likely to file a report or make other public statements about findings -- Rep. Waxman renews his request to Chairman Davis for a congressional investigation that would provide public accountability and address unanswered questions.

L.A. Times
In Kansas, 3rd Republican goes Dem.

Excerpt:
TOPEKA, Kan. — Mark Parkinson got his start in Republican politics at age 19, as a precinct committeeman. He served six years as a Republican state legislator, eventually becoming state Republican chairman.
But two weeks ago, Parkinson announced he was running for lieutenant governor — as a Democrat. He said he no longer felt welcome in the increasingly conservative Kansas Republican Party.
Parkinson became the third Republican politician in the last nine months to startle this red state by switching to the minority party. The other two are targeting GOP incumbents in the attorney general's office and in the state House of Representatives.

Gainsville.com
State hears objections to proposal to curb supervisors authority on voting equipment

Excerpt:
Florida elections supervisors opposed a state proposal Monday that would require them to get approval before testing voting equipment.

The issue, in part, resulted from a secret test several months ago when elections office workers hacked into a Diebold optical-scan voting system in Leon County to show that it could be made to produce false results.

"The action by the Division of Elections to limit how I can do these tests, I find an imposition on my statutory authority,

Brad Blog
VoteTrustUSA on Busby/Bilbray Election: 'No Reason to Believe the Official Results are Accurate'

Excerpt:
Warren Stewart, Director of Legislative Issues and Policy for VoteTrustUSA calls the Busby/Bilbray election into doubt in his article yesterday, headlined, "Vendor Failures and Lax Security Procedures Call Election Results Into Question In States Across The Country":

The Advocate
Mary Cheney Got $1 Million To Write a Book That Sold Only 6,000 Copies

Excerpt
Despite saturation media coverage when it was published a month ago, Mary Cheney's book Now It's My Turn has tanked at bookstores. Published by a conservative imprint of Simon & Schuster, the memoir has sold fewer than 6,000 copies to date, according to Nielsen Bookscan

Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven by Joe Bageant

2006-06-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

Heres a new story from my good friend Joe Bageant

Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven
---Democracy rots from the inside out as a nation of telemarketers and war criminals parties on amid the stench.

By Joe Bageant
A spring Sunday morning and I am at the politically incorrect Seven-Eleven buying my cholesterol loaded half and half for my peasant slave labor grown coffee. In the parking lot car speakers blare out Bob Marley from a grungy 1987 Olds Cutlass (the last year GM made’em), while the owner, a Haitian guy, sits on the curb eating his Smokey Big Bite hot dog, sunshine pouring over the whole world sweet as that quart of chocolate milk he is going to wash it all down with. Bob Marley is singing One Love and that Smokey smells so damned good I order one for myself and settle in next to that Haitian dude. And I think, “Is this a great fucking country or what? Yessiree, the world’s best hope.”
And it is. Or was. Or something. Ask any poor suffering bastard in the garbage dumps of Mumbai or Caracas to name the best place in the world to live and most will answer “The United States.” Maybe it’s for all the wrong reasons. And surely the image is driven by the global hype and bullshit of an America that cannot get over itself…cannot pause from its huckstering long enough to see that the America of both John Wayne and FDR quit circling the drain thirty years ago. It has since been pulled asunder by spectacular greed and the learned helplessness of the consumer state. And denial. The kind that allows us to sanctify the young men starring in that horrific snuff flick over In Iraq “heroes.” But we were talking about the third world weren’t we? Where if you are eating spoiled cat meat and getting raped nightly in a Bangkok slum, things like a Cutlass gunboat with busted springs and a Smokey Big Bite on a Sunday morning look good. Damned good. There is not much that cannot be explained by population geography and proximity to basic goods and services. This is not wasted upon the predatory few among us concerned with capturing, holding and blackmailing others for access to them under our free market system. It’s a brutal process, one we can only coexist with through ironclad denial. Did free people make your clothes? Mine neither.
My Dutch friend Bram, is mystified at our denial, which he says “is spooky.” How can anyone sustain such a thing?” Well, it’s when you are born numb. Most of us born under American extremist capitalism are inured to its sheer brutality. To Americans, it’s just the way things are. The world is a tough place. We agree that god has blessed us; we deserve what we have and let it go at that. Citizens born under the Third Reich felt the same way about their consensual reality. Not many of us can grasp the national hubris involved, thanks to the heady patrio-religious mythology of American exceptionalism in which we were spawned and educated in preparation for adulthood as citizens of the consumer state. Collectively, we feel exempt from human folly because our particular god, the Christian God, the Jewish God, The Mormon God, the Seventh Day Adventist God, Muslim God or whatever one’s cult deems divine, has chosen us. Whatever we think we are as liberals, your nation and mine, the government we are responsible for has always acted on these beliefs, destroying whole nations, peoples and the planet under that exceptionalist banner. At some point, liberals and neocons and the apolitical alike, are going to have to own all of America’s history, not just the parts we prefer. For instance, it was FDR who packed off all those decent Japanese families off to interment camps. Abraham Lincoln loved his nigger jokes. Bram remains mystified.

Mercifully enough, the same predatory American capitalism that generates so much of the world’s misery renders its own citizens irrelevant save for their purchasing power, to the entire process and therefore guiltless---in their own minds at least--- of the empire’s crimes. Such is the unburdened material happiness granted us. It is not hard for Americans to conclude that we are outside of, and therefore irrelevant to global events or changes. We are waaaaay over here on this vast continent with only a vast media generated holograph to tell us who we are as a people and as individuals. And it tells us we foremost are citizens of a state which suffers no diversion from profitability. The vast majority of Americans don't even know there is a global reality, except in the sense that the price of gasoline is affected by some swarthy peoples living in a sandy place full of terrorists somewhere else on the globe. We know the price of gas and we know what we are are going to rent at the video store on Friday. We know what we will eat at the restaurant on Saturday and when the game is televised on Sunday. Personally, I also know that four blocks from where I sit writing this an old man named Virgil who pulled one of his own teeth last week because he cannot afford a dentist. Rather than kick out a little dough Virgil’s way, I poured a shot of Woodford Reserve and was grateful I have dental insurance. Being “grateful for what we have” is the time honored American mantra used to mask denial.

Thus we express gratitude for what the corpocracy bestows us, convinced that we are flourishing in those big box store isles of Kansas or in the soft leather booths of the martini bar off Central Park, depending upon one’s class. It only took a couple of generations to accept and then enjoy the reduced humanity but increased flood of material stuff as a bona fide life experience. Beat off to internet porn and NFL football while the wife sleeps alone. The state generated hologram IS reality. Reality IS the image, not the flesh. It’s true of all of us. I have done it and still do it. I know. And you more than likely do too. Let’s not kid ourselves here. Just this once.

Even as the empire is coming down around us all very few can possibly believe it. Why should they? Nothing seems to have changed their particular religious or political camps. Literate and thoughtful liberals can still watch Brit coms and send their kids to Shakespeare camp. Less than literate Fox Network watching worker bee Republicans can still sup on the easy piety of cross and flag…ogle Anne Coulter’s boney ass. And Joe Six-pack still scratches his belly in irrelevance as the elites of two political priesthoods struggle, one to get their mitts deeper into the national treasury, the other to convince us that Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden actually have blood in their veins. The next elections, both parties tell us, will determine the fate of our nation. Really? Regardless of who wins, Joe Six-pack will lose. Virgil will lose. The rest of us will continue being carried along by the media hologram of political lies and profitable illusions that holds it all together. Today I read a news story about how the massacre of Iraqi families in Hidatha "traumatized” our heroes. What do you call a republic that dishes up such shit up to its citizens? What do you call the citizens who mindlessly swallow it? What do you call people who do not march in the streets and start fires in protest of a horrific regime that guts small democracies, slaughters whole families and villages abroad and rigs the ballot boxes at home? What do you call such deniers of the obvious? Of course we can safely call the latter modern Democrats, but that is another story.

In any case, most liberals/leftists/progressives, whatever the hell one calls such an ineffectual bunch of twits, refuse to even consider open resistance. They exist in the same prison of learned helplessness and planet devouring gluttony as conservatives, but with New Age or pseudo-leftist wallpaper. I have an awful suspicion they will never be brave again in their lives, assuming they ever were.

There seems to be no warning people of the lie they have swallowed, the black thing they have eaten and which now devours them from within. The “American lifestyle,” the “good life,” was such a comfortable lie to swallow. And because the material world trumps the mind and therefore trumps less quantifiable stuff such as freedom and insight quite easily, the black thing is now chewing at the Constitution which, being essentially a property document, was never all that strong to begin with. But it’s all we have. As resident bully of human consciousness, the reptilian brain so easily slashes and chaws through the limbic one, announcing the supremacy of the fist and the gullet over the higher self. "I can eat these tortilla chips (or perhaps nine dollar a pound organically pastured chicken breast, or whatever it is that socially responsible rich people eat) and watch plasma TV right now. But I would have to go to the library to get On Walden Pond, which I never heard of anyway. Take to the streets? What for? Pass me the salsa, honey." I do this myself almost nightly. There may be no saving me the world, or mankind in the world from itself. Learning will come the hard way, which is how humanity learns. Too late and at a terrible cost.

Meanwhile, we remain obedient, not disturbing of our comfort, save maybe once a year for a rote “demonstration” downtown for something or other, the school bond or the war in Iraq, during which we are flushed with joy at the site of so many of our own kind, but having demonstrated only that such displays are just that---displays. Toothless displays in a predatory system that respects only the fang and the claw. The newspapers print a photo next day, we dispute their estimated number of demonstrators, and then we settle back into obedience.

Americans have always been an obedient people, proud to be answerable and obedient to the nation’s law and god, with one reinforcing the other somehow in the national mind. Obedient people do not look up from their assigned cubicles; do not ask if their work is meaningful or contributory to mankind. Never question the way things are. Not in church, nor in daily life. And if the air reeks of a republic rotting from the inside out, you just hold your nose.

Consequently, we are we forced to acknowledge the fiction of self governance, of voting power ever getting in the way of elite agendas such as tax breaks and war profits (though it may slow them down at times, giving the illusion of voting power to a nation with no memory whatsoever.) The pretense reaches its most absurd levels during national elections, where self governance is put to the test. For instance, no matter who won in the 2004 presidential elections, this country would still have been lead by a member of the Skull and Bones Society. What are the odds of that happening? In a nation of 295 million people our choice came down to two members of one of the most exclusive and secretive clubs on the planet. Do you really believe in coincidences like that? I don’t. Nobody does. But we pretend to because the truth is just too awful for anyone with more than an inch of forehead to contemplate.

Yet, unimaginable as it may seem, there are even worse things afoot to contemplate. Forces such as the emerging Christian militia, the Joshua generation, a runaway military establishment, to name a few, working fanatically to make our obedience ever more lethal. Yesterday I saw a picture of 25,000 young fundamentalist Americans marching in Philadelphia and San Francisco in support of a theocratic state. I can honestly say I was completely unnerved by it. Those little electrical nerve waves went through my entire body. I live around fundamentalist Christians, my whole family is fundamentalist Christian and I know what they are capable of and indeed are planning to do given the chance. They are being led by the same types who formed the old white militia movements in the Seventies and Eighties before Timothy McVeigh rendered their public position untenable. I couldn’t shut up about it and friends. But even the most “informed” ones looked at me like I was crazy, or at the very least, weirdly obsessive. These are not stupid people. They are simply Americans. And because we are friends, we moved on to another topic. This is the sort of strange national disconnect that has so many folks like myself silently screaming inside our heads.
And that is when we must do something utterly mundane, completely oblivious to break free of the hysterical grimness of it all. Something to stop the screaming. Like sit in the sun with a Smokey Big Bite and let Bob Marley Stir it Up right there in the parking lot. Grin along with some Haitian dude and watch a white trash mama in ridiculously tight shorts step around you, inches from your face on that curb by the Seven Eleven door, an ankle tattooed, cheap perfumed angel of god sent to remind us that, “Politics ain’t everything Buster, and the world ain’t all bad. Not by a long shot! Now finish that chowing down dog, get off your ass and go do the right thing.”
Yo mama.

Joe Bageant is the author of a forthcoming book from Random House Crown about working class America, scheduled for Spring 2007 release. A complete archive of his online work, along with the thoughts of many working Americans on the subject of class may be found at www.joebageant.com. Feel free to contact him at: joebageant@joebageant.com. Copyright © 2006 by Joe Bageant

H.L. Welcomes Back....

2006-06-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

The Freedom Toast

H.L is proud to welcome back The Freedom Toast as our number 1 feature advertiser. The Freedom Toast is a Politcal Comedy, and Music Parody site. Check out their song Blame-o, which none other then Bill Clinton called Priceless.
What does one do with a $400,000 a year job with a five week vacation? (Go for six!). George Bush sings I've Been Working On Vacation
Their's lots more Funny Songs for you to hear.
There's lots more fun stuff at The Freedom Toast So go on over and check them out. H.L.s Advertisers keep the sight going, and Marc from TFT was nice enough to reserve our #1 Slot, so go on over and buy somehting. Makes a great gift for your favorite republican.

Court Story Conclusion

2006-06-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

If anyone is interested in my court story from yesterday. I drove all the way up there, 225 Miles, and the damn cop showed up. Not only that but I was the only one he was there for. I should have just take the damn traffic school, because now thats what I am doing anyway. I drove up there for nothing. I hate getting tickets.

On my way to Court.

2006-06-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

Whats happening, we're going to have an abbrievated posting today because I am about to leave on a road trip to Independence California to fight a speeding ticket.
Independence is about 4 hours from Hollywood, but I'm going up there anyway. Actually the cop has an even further drive to get to the courthouse then I do.
It all started a couple months back when I was on my way from L.A. to Pahrump Nv. where I have relatives. Pahrump is about 50 miles west of Vegas, out in the desert, when you go there from L.A. you get off the I-15 at Baker, and go on an 80 mile deserted 2 lane road making one turn along the way. Half way up that deserted road I got pulled over and go a ticket for going 80 in a 60, (good thing he hadn't have caught me a few minutes earlier when I was going over 100mph, did I mention the road was empty?) When the cop handed me the ticket I asked where Independence was as I have never heard of it, the cop groaned and said, "Its about 5 hours from here", when I got home and looked at a map I saw that he was correct. Actually its not nearly as far away as the crow flies but there is a big undriveable space in the middle: Death Valley.

The red dot is where I got the ticket, the star is the courthouse.
Right after I got the ticket I saw one of those Highway cleanup signs where they put the name of the person who sponsored the cleanup on that stretch of road, and the name on the sign is Tim Huldermann, the same guy who gave me the ticket. Now I'm figuring that he must live right in that little town of Shoshone, and is he really going to drive 5 hours to fight a speeding ticket with me? The fine on the ticket is $300, which I had to post in advance, they offered me traffic school, but thats another $50. So if I drive up there and the cop doesn't show up, I get the 300 back and I'm out the gas money. If the cop does show up I can still go to traffic school and keep the ticket off my record so figuring $50 in gas, I'm risking 50 to save 350, I'll be damned if I'm not going to make that cop drive the 5 hours to get my money, Look at the route we both have to take.

Lt. Blue= H.L.s Route, Purple= Cops Route.
Usually in L.A. the cops don't show up to court even though its only a few miles away. The Hearing is at 2:00, Its 7:30 now, so I will have plenty of time, and I get to take an nice leisurly drive out in the desert, I won't be home until tonight. The outcome in tomorrows edition. Talk to you then.

Say Goodnight To Da Bad Guy.

2006-06-10T12:16:00.000-07:00

News Items Bush trumpets Iraq terror leader's death

This is a 14 Part Comic.

See The Rest of The Strip Here

Video: Delay Slams Liberals Before He Heads Off To Prison

2006-06-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

Think Progress.org
VIDEO: In Goodbye Speech, DeLay Bitterly Attacks Liberals

Today Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) gave his parting speech on the floor of the House. DeLay broke with tradition and bitterly attacked his liberal colleagues, many of whom walked out.
Watch an excerpt:

We will miss you too, Tom DeLay.

News: Bush Sr. Tried to Remove Rumsfeld, Poll Workers in CA-50 Took Diebold Machines Home.

2006-06-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

AP
Report: Abramoff ex-partner knew of slaying

Excerpt:
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A man who purchased SunCruz Casinos with lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2000 has told authorities he knows who killed the casino's founder the following year, according to a report published Friday.
Adam Kidan told authorities in a 2 1/2-hour interview last month that John Gurino, who was later killed by a business partner, shot SunCruz founder Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis in 2001, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. The paper did not say how it obtained the taped interview.

Salon
George Bush Sr. asked retired general to replace Rumsfeld

Excerpt:
Former President George H.W. Bush waged a secret campaign over several months early this year to remove Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The elder Bush went so far as to recruit Rumsfeld's potential replacement, personally asking a retired four-star general if he would accept the position, a reliable source close to the general told me. But the former president's effort failed, apparently rebuffed by the current president. When seven retired generals who had been commanders in Iraq demanded Rumsfeld's resignation in April, the younger Bush leapt to his defense. "I'm the decider and I decide what's best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain," he said. His endorsement of Rumsfeld was a rebuke not only to the generals but also to his father.

Editor & Publisher
'Boston Globe' Reveals: U.S. Payoffs to Families of Dead Iraqi Civilians Has 'Skyrocketed'

Excerpt:
NEW YORK The local custom is known as "solatia" --it means families in Iraq receive financial compensation for physical damage or a loss of life. The practice has earned more attention in recent weeks, with news that the U.S. military paid about $2500 per victim to families in Haditha following the alleged massacre there last November.
But how common is the practice? And how many deaths do the numbers seem to suggest?
A chilling report from the Boston Globe on Thursday reveals that the amount of cash the U.S. military has paid to families of Iraqi civilians killed or badly injured operations involving American troops "skyrocketed from just under $5 million in 2004 to almost $20 million last year, according to Pentagon financial data." The payments can range from several hundred dollars for a severed limb to a standard of $2500 for loss of life.

Consortium News
Overselling Terror

Excerpt:
But the recent developments in Iraq and Canada have obscured other new evidence that points toward a very different reality: that the Islamic terror threat was never as severe as Bush made it out to be after the 9/11 attacks and that it has been fading ever since.
While Bush has sought to frighten the American people with apocalyptic visions of Islamic terrorists establishing an empire that “spans from Spain to Indonesia,” the new intelligence data actually reveals al-Qaeda as a largely dissipated force that now exists more as an inspiration to violence than as an organized movement.

Brad Blog
BUSBY/BILBRAY ELECTION IN DOUBT: The Diebold Machine Sleepovers at Poll Workers Houses...

Excerpt
Given what we know about Diebold voting machines (both optical-scan and touch-screen), several folks have written to ask: "Are you sure they actually allowed poll workers to take these machines home with them" prior to the Busby/Bilbray U.S. House special election in CA-50th?
Yes. I'm sure. And yes, I confirmed it with someone in the media office at the San Diego County Registrar of Voting before I wrote my initial story on all of this. She asked me to keep her name off record, and so I'm doing so. Feel free to call and ask them yourself however: (858) 565-5800

Prison Planet
Alex Jones Detained On Orders Of Bilderberg Group

Excerpt:
Customs openly told Alex as soon as they brought him into custody that the Bilderberg Group was aware of his arrival and that this was the reason for his detainment. All three members of the team were instantly detained despite going through different immigration desks.
Officials knew everything about Alex, even the fact that George W. Bush had once had him arrested in 1998.

Washington Post
No Tolls on The Internet

Excerpt:
Congress is about to cast a historic vote on the future of the Internet. It will decide whether the Internet remains a free and open technology fostering innovation, economic growth and democratic communication, or instead becomes the property of cable and phone companies that can put toll booths at every on-ramp and exit on the information superhighway.
At the center of the debate is the most important public policy you've probably never heard of: "network neutrality." Net neutrality means simply that all like Internet content must be treated alike and move at the same speed over the network. The owners of the Internet's wires cannot discriminate. This is the simple but brilliant "end-to-end" design of the Internet that has made it such a powerful force for economic and social good: All of the intelligence and control is held by producers and users, not the networks that connect them.

N.H. Union Leader
Granite Status: Democrats call for Bush impeachment

Excerpt:
STATE DEMOCRATS did more than listen to rousing speeches at their convention last Saturday at St. Anselm College.
They passed several resolutions — chief among them a call for the impeachment of President George W. Bush because he “has committed high crimes and misdemeanors as he has repeatedly and intentionally violated the United States Constitution and other laws of the United States.”
Is that all? No.
Before voting overwhelmingly by a show of hands on that one, there was a strong voice vote to censure the President — a resolution submitted on behalf of one of the keynote speakers, “red meat” Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold.

UPI
Army Has to Turn Over Halliburton Docs.

Excerpt:
WASHINGTON, June 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. district court judge has ordered the Army to release 14 documents, including six emails, dealing with the Halliburton oil contract in Iraq.
U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo M. Urbina also ordered the Army to give to the court an additional six documents for the court to review to make a further determination.
At issue is a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, an anti-corruption public interest group. Judicial Watch believes the award of a multi-billion contract to Halliburton subsidiary KBR for the restoration of Iraq's oil fields may have been unduly influenced by Vice President Dick Cheney, who headed Halliburton for five years prior to joining President George. W. Bush's campaign.

Reuters

Excerpt
NEW YORK - Energy services company Halliburton Co. expects net income and earnings per share to double over the next three to five years, Chief Financial Officer Cris Gaut said on Thursday.
In a presentation to investors, Gaut also forecast revenue growth for the energy services group of the company of 20 percent per year or more over the next three to five years.

W.F.Y.S.
Marines in Haditha “totally tweaked out on speed”

Excerpt
The wife of a marine admitted that the unit involved in Haditha was out of controlThe wife of the unnamed staff sergeant claimed there had been a "total breakdown" in the unit's discipline after it was pulled out of Falluja in early 2005"There were problems in Kilo company with drugs, alcohol, hazing [violent initiation games], you name it," she said. "I think it's more than possible that these guys were totally tweaked out on speed or something when they shot those civilians in Haditha."

Prison Planet
Toronto Terrorist Ringleader Has Military Connections

Excerpt:
The much vaunted Toronto terrorist plot sank deeper into the abyss of absurdity late Wednesday when it was revealed that the alleged ringleader of the cell, Steven Vikash Chand, was a former Canadian soldier.

Counterpunch
The Case of the Missing $21 BillionWho's Following the Iraq Money?

Excerpt
My bet for the place that needs the most following is the more than $9 billion that has gone missing without a trace in Iraq--as well as $12 billion in cash that the Pentagon flew into Iraq straight from Federal Reserve vaults via military transports, and for which there has been little or no accounting.
When word of the missing money first surfaced in 2004, Congress passed legislation creating an office of Special Inspector General, assuming that this new agency would root out the problem and figure why all that taxpayer money had disappeared, and why only minimal reconstruction was going on in destroyed Iraq, instead of a massive rebuilding program as intended.