From the New York Times: For years, the American military has believed that public anger over government-linked corruption has helped swell the Taliban’s ranks, and that Ahmed Wali Karzai played a central role in that corruption. He has repeatedly denied any links to Afghan drug trafficking. According to three American military officials, in April 2009 [...]
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’1776′ John Adams: One Useless Man is Called a Disgrace; Two are Called a Law Firm; Three or More Become a Congress
… Lincoln saw an unresolvable tension between the Constitution of a democratic republic and the policies of aggrandizement and intemperate self-interest that lead from the manners of freedom to the slavish love of power. He spoke of the difference between the work of establishing a constitutional republic and the longer task of maintaining it. But [...]

E. J. Dionne’s Nostalgia for Bush Meets Enemies List
A former senior C.I.A. official says that officials in the Bush White House sought damaging personal information on a prominent American critic of the Iraq war in order to discredit him. Glenn L. Carle, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who was a top counterterrorism official during the administration of President George W. Bush, said [...]

TIME: Grand Jury Investigating CIA Abu Ghraib Torture for War Crimes
The ghosts of Bush-Cheney-Rummy torture still hangs over the C.I.A., no matter what Leon Panetta has done to infuse the agency with honor. From TIME magazine: It has been nearly a decade since Manadel al-Jamadi, an Iraqi prisoner known as “the Iceman” — for the bungled attempt to cool his body and make him look [...]

Assad’s Evil Regime, No One is Safe
Hamza al-Khateeb was 13 years-old. The details are horrifyingly shocking. From Al Jazeera and be prepared if you’re going to read on: Arrested during a protest in Saida, 10km east of Daraa, on April 29, Hamza’s body was returned to his family on Tuesday 24th May, horribly mutilated. The child had spent nearly a month [...]
Tax Increases Mixed with Death Blow for Progressives
Coming off a scene reminiscent of Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday (see video above), Pres. Obama has made some momentous decisions that will take us where we’ve never gone before. Inspired by the traditional media fanfare of Paul Ryan’s “brave” budget proposal, Pres. Obama has accepted the challenge to step out [...]

Obama’s ‘Are You In?’ Question
The biggest issue facing Obama’s reelection team is whether Obama’s base will show up and if they do in what numbers and with what level of enthusiasm. This is the story and why Obama embarrassingly asked “Are you in?” when he launched his reelection campaign. Not even the President and his team are quite sure [...]
What Obama Caving on KSM Trial Says About Us All
In reversing one of its last principled positions—that American courts are sufficiently nimble, fair, and transparent to try Mohammed and his confederates—the administration surrendered to the bullying, fear-mongering, and demagoguery of those seeking to create two separate kinds of American law. This isn’t just about the administration allowing itself to be bullied out of its [...]
Stepping on Your Message, Blowing Off Your Base
Morning headline and story: Obama launches reelection campaign. Afternoon headline headline and story: In a Reversal, Military Trials for 9/11 Case: The Obama administration, ending more than a year of indecision with a major policy reversal, will prosecute Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other people accused of plotting the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks before a [...]

Khalid Sheikh Mohammad to Get Military Commission
Oh, the irony. Few things are more representative of the Obama presidency than on the same day Obama announces his reelection campaign Attorney General Eric Holder is reportedly going to also announce the Administration’s wholesale cave on civil liberties, as well as their pledge to try KSM in civilian court. From CBS: Attorney General Eric [...]
OBAMA CENSORS STATE – PJ CROWLEY OUT
P.J. Crowley, spokesperson for the State Dept., has been shit-canned by the White House after honestly stating that PFC Bradley Manning’s treatment “is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.” Oh ri-ight, Crowley resigned. Got it? From CNN: P.J. Crowley is abruptly stepping down as State Department spokesman under pressure from the White House, according to senior [...]

Rep. Peter King Praises Obama on Gitmo Order
“I commend the Obama Administration for issuing this Executive Order. The bottom line is that it affirms the Bush Administration policy that our government has the right to detain dangerous terrorists until the cessation of hostilities. This is clearly another step in the right direction.” – Rep. Peter King Pres. Obama and his Administration must [...]

Barack Obama Stumps on Education with Jeb Bush
Sounding like a man on his 2012 reelection tour, Pres. Obama is in Florida talking about education. I’ve been out all day, so below is some of what’s going on, but feel free to jump in on anything that’s catching your attention. What’s going on with Charlie Sheen today? …besides for the Piers Morgan interview [...]
Pres. Obama: ‘I think history will end up… in the situation in Egypt we were on the right side of history.’
NBC’s Chuck Todd got under Pres. Obama’s skin when he asked “What was the point of the fiscal commission…?” Obama was visibly annoyed: “Still provides a framework for a conversation… You guys are pretty impatient.” “I definitely feel folks pain,” Obama said in response to tough budget cuts. “It’s frustrating.” On Egypt: “… I think [...]
Cheney Called ‘War Criminal’ at CPAC
Amidst wild applause, Ron Paul supporters got rowdy. When it got quiet, a shout of “war criminal” could be heard. When Donald Rumsfeld started speaking, as recipient of the “Defender of the Constitution” award, a laughable honor to bestow on this man, according TPMDC and other reports, some in the Paul contingent walked out. “Uh, [...]
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TM Must Reads
THE 21st century world offers ways to tweak your appearance, or alter it altogether, with women finally able to combat directly the comparison that’s always been around. Men look distinguished as they age, while women look old, unattractive, or to use Rush Limbaugh’s favorite comment, who wants to look at a woman with wrinkles? The 2012 plastic surgery statistics are out and the American Society of Plastic Surgery tells the story.
The real question about Hillary is this: When people take a new look at her in the coming years, will they see the past or the future — Mrs. Clinton or Madam President? – Maureen Dowd IT’S A classic front page from Huffington Post, coupled with a post by Jason Linkins, which details what’s been going on.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy “Here’s what nobody is telling you: Find a husband on campus before you graduate. Yes, I went there.
“Norma Rae is a survivor and for the first time in her life she’s got a chance to become something more… a winner.” – Promo for “Norma Rae” CRITICS like Anne-Marie Slaughter, but especially Maureen I-Love-My-Pearls Dowd, and others [most of whom didn't read the book or do their homework] who are blaming Sheryl Sandberg for being a billionaire Ivy League graduate, while accusing her of letting corporations and government off the hook, are missing a major point.
Great sex doesn’t always just happen. Sometimes, it takes a little planning, especially if — like many Americans — you’ve been in a bit of a sex rut. Do some prep work by turning your bedroom into a love nest: Make the bed (with new, or at least clean, sheets), tidy up, light a candle or two, and queue up a sexy playlist on your iPod.
“You Don’t Own Me” PSA -Official from You Don't Own Me on Vimeo. WHO DOESN’T know the song “You Don’t Own Me,” sung by Leslie Gore? The movie First Wives Club helped to reignite the relevancy of the song.
“Last night I interviewed Jill Stein the presidential candidate for the Green Party on this show. And I confess right now, I should have asked her to just get out of the race.” – Jennifer Granholm, “The War Room” [Current TV] THE ARGUMENT Jennifer Granholm makes above is a tactic that no longer fits the times.
“With that drum magazine, he could have gotten off 50, 60 rounds, even if it was semiautomatic, within one minute,” Chief Oates said. [New York Times] IN THE GAPING MAW of our leadership vacuum stands Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates, whose resolve, vulnerability and humility inside the vortex of a man made hell revealed what nobody in Congress or either political party has shown in decades. Leadership without regard to anything but his own duty to the people, which included the cops in the eye of volcanic carnage.
“Rick Doblin has done a lot for the field, but he is more of a populist,” Grob says. “We need careful and controlled scientific studies showing the efficacy of these drugs so funding can continue.” Broader awareness of these sorts of end-of-life psychedelic studies could be good for everyone, the researchers say.
*updated below* So much for keep calm and carry on, what Joe Scarborough proclaims to be his motto. It was the weirdest one-on-one back and forth with a high profile talking head imaginable. It makes high school look mature.
**UPDATED** Would we be any worse off with Stephen Colbert as president? I doubt it. Politifact has watched the video “(repeatedly!
Despite rising public concern about the federal budget deficit, Americans favor keeping Social Security and Medicare benefits as they are rather than taking steps to reduce the budget deficit (by 60% vs. 32%). – Public Wants Changes in Entitlements, Not Changes in Benefits This is starting early, so it’s time to revisit the facts.
“If we can prove that a biological attack originated in a country that attacked us, then all bets are off.” – Sect. Hillary Clinton Women can do it, too.
The interview with Obama by George Stephanopoulos wasn’t nearly as contentious as the interview with the Edwardses. No Republican talking points from Stephanopoulos yesterday, like when he accused Edwards of abandoning the troops with this beauty: “Do you think the Democrats should be saddled with the idea of completely cutting off funding for the troops?” Or this one: “You know, a lot of Democrats still in the Senate think that your position here is cynical political theater.





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