ThinkFast: March 7, 2006
ThinkFast: March 7, 2006
Wal-Mart is caught planting articles with right-wing bloggers. Many of the bloggers posted Wal-Mart’s information word for word, without revealing their source.
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and her husband “took an all-expenses paid trip to Santa Barbara, Calif., in January for the official business purpose of ‘spiritual self-reflection.’” The $1,100 trip was paid for by the Fetzer Institute, whose stated mission is “to foster awareness of the power of love and forgiveness.”
2,154: The number of flights on chartered corporate jets taken by federal officials over the last five years, at a cost of $3.7 million.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ written answers to questions about the Bush administration’s eavesdropping program may require him to testify a second time before the Senate Judiciary Committee because Chairman Arlen Specter contends there is a suggestion that “there are other classified intelligence programs that are currently under way.â€
A powerful, well-connected food industry lobby is attempting to eradicate over 200 state food-safety laws. Among the lobbyists are Abigail Blunt, wife of Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO); Brad Card, brother of White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card; and former staffers of Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). Speak out here.
The Coalition of Mayors and County Executives for Immigration Reform, a group of 100 local officials from 30 states, have found bipartisan unity on one key thing: President Bush has failed on immigration reform.
Medicare’s process for investigating complaints about bad care is “broken.” The Senate Finance Committee found that in 2004, the contractors investigated only 3,100 complaints for 43 million Medicare patients.
Lieutenant General Nick Houghton, Britain’s most senior officer in Iraq, has established a timetable for the phased withdrawal of British troops from Iraq. “The process will involve a four-stage disengagement that is scheduled to begin this spring, or at the latest by the end of the summer.”
Author Natan Sharansky — whose book on democracy President Bush publicly recommended — becomes a critic: “Despite what I believe to be the president’s genuine commitment to promote sweeping change, the policy shift hasn’t matched the rhetoric.”
And finally: “In what is surely a first for the federal judiciary, a Texas bankruptcy judge has quoted from the Adam Sandler film canon in a recent opinion.” Dismissing a motion, the judge cited 1995’s “Billy Madison“: “At no point in your incoherent, rambling response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it.”
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wal mart and right wing bloggers: a match made in heaven. but honestly, i say: more power to ‘em. as time passes, it becomes more and more obvious that blogs like time’s ‘blog of the year’ have little value. even to the brain dead. let them all repeat the same thing over and over, it just means more actually curious readers for me.
OT: kerry says, ‘let’s make bush a king!’
March 7th, 2006 at 9:05 amwow, I’m in the wrong blogg, I could be making $ spewing wal-mart BS. on right wing bloggs!……but then dummy me, I can’t BE BOUGHT.
March 7th, 2006 at 9:16 amNow that’s not fair. Now that all of our jobs have been outsourced how else can a unethical computer hack make a living?
March 7th, 2006 at 9:24 amLet’s abandon food safety laws. What good are they? In fact, I’ve seen a maggot crawl out of my packaged bologna after cutting a slice from it. You just never know what you’re eating anymore.
While they’re at it, let’s abandon the war in Iraq before the sabotage begins.
March 7th, 2006 at 9:26 amThe food “industry” is nearly as crooked and controlled as big oil. Food, however, is obviously much harder to control. Anybody with land can produce food. Don’t think small farmers have been driven out of business for no reason. They have been replaced with coporate controlled mega-farms.
The big players are losing serious ground to the organic “hippies”. Far easier to change the rules than to “fairly” compete. Big money in crop chemicals and genetics. (Franken-foods?)
March 7th, 2006 at 9:34 amI love how politico rationalizes it-
The anti-Walmart sites are paid by unions (fully disclosed), so that is exactly the same as a blogger opining that Walmart is great (with no disclosure) while masquerading as an opinion journal.
Stupid whore.
March 7th, 2006 at 9:46 amI think what we all need is a vacation to learn how to love and forgive this administration. I think the government will pay for it too because they are all about fairness!
March 7th, 2006 at 9:51 amWhy didnt TP pick up these two jewels?
1. C&L is reporting that the Marine Corps is blocking the web sits of several liberal blogs such as Wonkette and Al Franken, but they can still get Limburger and others.
2. They are also reporting that there have been over 8,000 desertions from the military since Iraq was invaded.
Think either one of these will make the main stream media?
March 7th, 2006 at 9:54 amThe threat from “franken-foods” is far less real than the threat from the elemination of food safety laws. A genetically altered strawberry may be wierd, but a mercury-laced swordfish has tested and predictible side effects.
Eleminating food safety laws should raise not only a red flag with Dems but with everyone. We all eat, and unless you just discount all the research that shows the hazards of tainted food, you and /or your children will suffer.
Oh, I guess in the Neo-cons “reality” they are imune to these problems because of their wealth and virtue?
March 7th, 2006 at 9:55 amPaul:
The comment section is for you to add what we miss. We’ll never get everything. Feel free to add links, etc.
March 7th, 2006 at 10:09 amI think it’s time for a TP editorial cartoon of the day. Can you guys afford Mike Lukovich? What about new talent out there willing to open mike it?
March 7th, 2006 at 10:11 amI second that Judd, Paul is a good poster and there is so much crime out there, we all must keep tabs 24/7. Now about food safety….ARE YOU CRAZY!..messing with food safety!…if you posion your customers, they CAN’T BUY FOOD..YOU DUMMYS!!! …sorry to yell..lol.
March 7th, 2006 at 10:15 amI agree #9- But I think if this “bill” is dissected you would find that genetically altered foods are a huge issue here. Nobody wants them (including Europe)- but the industry has invested billions developing them. The way it is now- a manufacturer has to inform the consumer about GMO’s through labeling. They know most folks won’t buy them. If they don’t have to tell them…what happens?
March 7th, 2006 at 10:15 amRegarding Specter and Gonzales, JABBS has a post about how illogical the entire situation is. The administration is arguing that it has inherent authority and as a result warrantless surveillance is legal, but simultaneously is backing legislation to make warrantless surveillance legal.
Meanwhile, Specter is running a hearing to determine if warrantless surveillance is legal, while simultaneously proposing legislation to make warrantless surveillance legal.
Does anyone else think this is ridiculous? Why hasn’t the MSM picked up on this theme?
March 7th, 2006 at 10:23 amWalMart is a parasitic canabalistic corporation that destroys mom and pop businesses in rural America like a plague! Anyone who shops at a WalMart contributes to the demise of our small towns “Main Streets” too! Eventually our nation will be gutted and only tacky WalMarts will remain! Then they will jack up the prices and screw everyone!
March 7th, 2006 at 10:27 amI agree with #11! Editorial cartoons!
March 7th, 2006 at 10:29 amYa know, It must be getting hard to be a Republican these days.
Goper’s Lament
March 7th, 2006 at 10:34 amEat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you may die of the food you ate.
March 7th, 2006 at 10:42 amI would allow 5,000 trips on chartered corporate jets if only this Administration were more competent. The cost itself isn’t even particularly staggering; it seems a rather routine cost of doing business in a very large country with so many different bureaus overseeing so many different facets of national life. Corporate jets are a given, considering the lack of a federal fleet, which would be an even greater feat of largesse. Now if these crony-appointed cronies were actually doing something worthwhile and good for the nation, I’d say more power to them; but of course they’re probably using the jets to go on prayer retreats and golf trips.
March 7th, 2006 at 10:49 am$1700 per corporate jet flight sounds pretty low.
Christ – it costs me $5000 to get my family to Southeast Asia and back every summer. If I could hire a jet for $1700 I’d be all set.
I don’t think those numbers are wholly accurate.
March 7th, 2006 at 11:26 amI should have said, “If I could hire a jet for $1700 I’d have $3300 extra for hookers, booze and heroin when I get to Bangkok!”
March 7th, 2006 at 11:27 amThink either one of these will make the main stream media?
I’d have to put over/under at about… Never. Of course, on Limbannity’s site, they’re still winning the war and bad things never happen in Iraq.
March 7th, 2006 at 11:38 amRe: Jo Ann Emerson’s trip: I think that love and forgiveness are really central to solving many of our political and social ills. Fear, the need for vengeance and “us against them” attitudes have led to the current devastating war in Iraq, and a looming ecological disaster. The path of love and forgiveness leads to a sense of common humanity and peace. The path of hatred and revenge leads to an endless cycle of war.
March 7th, 2006 at 11:40 am12- I’ts about state level food labeling laws, especially disclosure of things like GMO’s and irradiation. Agribiz doesn’t like them, and has a lot of disposable income, and willing recipients, to eliminate them.
March 7th, 2006 at 11:44 am“At no point in your incoherent, rambling response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it.â€
Are you sure that Texas Judge wasn’t quoting from the Official Biography of Queen George the Dumb, the Duchess of Saudi? It sure sounds accurate to me!
March 7th, 2006 at 11:53 am[...] (via thinkprogress.org) Wal-Mart is caught planting articles with right-wing bloggers. Many of the bloggers posted Wal-Mart’s information word for word, without revealing their source. [...]
March 7th, 2006 at 11:56 amHas anyone noticed that the American casualty count in Iraq is now 2302?
March 7th, 2006 at 12:02 pmI suddenly perceive the Dubai debacle as a Red Herring, (and this administration has a fish farm full of them);and when I heard today
that two thirds of the country isn’t happy about the idea; though nobody seems to know fuck about it really, it winds up being an excellent poll on how many of our citizens have been bamboozled into becoming Arab hating bigots, and bound to vote that way.
I don’t like to give this administration credit for such subtle thinking, but the result of our knee-jerk response, logical at its base at the obvious irony of putting the most vulnerable gate to our country in the fox’s hands; but reactionary at its base. It’s as though they’ve made us by dangling this clearly questionable decision so blatantly before the public, made us dance with them to their tune at their rhythm; in spite of everything we know to be true.
Of course it’s the supposed rebels and out of the box thinkers like Hillary who are unwittingly leading the charge to greater paranoia, not less. Two thirds of us would avoid and fear any Arab owned anything at this point and that that was the idea; once we stopped demonizing Germans then Russians then Vietnamese there was this vacuum so now Arabs in my lifetime alone have become the new catalyst we apparently need ; and this very separatist administration , not afraid to create distinctions that are painfully clear, with axes of evil and to profile and throw innocent Arabs in jail because Patriots have an Act that makes human rights a joke; and if they can keep up this turmoil; far away with vengeance hidden in its righteousness (even though it’s been made clear there was no connection with Saddam Hussein and the Taliban, or al Qaeda;) still two thirds of us have fallen for it.
We’ve identified ourselves by contributing to voluntary news polls online and phone ins etc. and inadvertently we have revealed our selves as potential supporters of future fear based platforms extended by Republican Presidents . They well feed this paranoia to create sideshows while they walk the crowd picking pockets. When they’ve pretty much sucked the treasury dry and can’t crank the deficit up any more they leave and the Democrats come in the fix it. A balanced budget makes Republican Politicians drool. My guess is they won’t put up a fight next election because it’s time for the big switch and it’s dull and unprofitable. They’ll wait for the next crisis; my guess it will be energy based, to sidle in again.
March 7th, 2006 at 12:37 pmI was well-informed about the levee problem in early 2005, even though I live in California. The April issue of Popular Science had a detailed article about the levees of New Orleans and what could happen when a hurricane strikes. You can read about it here:
In the article, it talks about the ambitious plan to improve the levees. Where is the talk about that?
Of course, “no one could have imagined” this type of devastation, just like “no one could have imagined” terrorists using a jet airplane as a missile even though Tom Clancy wrote almost a decade earlier in “Debt of Honor”.
March 7th, 2006 at 1:17 pmAh, I missed the link somehow. Let me try again
March 7th, 2006 at 1:17 pmPlease follow-up the story on the Missouri legislation that proposes to name Missouri a “Christian state.” You had this as a sidebar that linked to the site of KMOV, a Missouri radio station (http://www.kmov.com/topstories/stories/030206ccklrKmovreligionbill.7d361c3f.html) and the issue is so extreme as to require a more detailed story and greater publicity. We seem to be on the brink of acknowledging the end of the “noble experiment” created by the Founders, and that members of minority religious groups are no longer welcome. While the article indicatges that Anti-
March 7th, 2006 at 1:34 pmDefamation League and other watchdog groups are already looking at the bill and planning protests, the liberal blogosphere should also become involved in this very seminal issue. Follow-up should include investigation of the bill’s original sponsors(do we smell the scent of Dr. Dobson here), particularly the sponsoring legislator, David Sater who represents Cassville in southwestern Missouri, but who refuses to discuss his bill with interested interviewers. Here is a major story that needs to be publicized and discussed and brought to public attention.
Where is the response to my question and suggestions.
March 7th, 2006 at 3:21 pm