Think Progress

ThinkFast PM: June 19, 2006

By Think Progress on Jun 19th, 2006 at 7:22 pm

ThinkFast PM: June 19, 2006


CBS News contributor Gloria Borger on the media’s coverage of President Bush’s surprise June 13 trip to Iraq: “I think we are suckers. .. [Y]ou know you’re being used, but in a way you kind of like it because it’s good pictures.”

The Bush administration increased federal contracts to Halliburton by 600 percent from 2000-2005, according to a new government report.

Juan Cole refutes Tony Snow’s comparison of the Battle of the Bulge to the current situation in Iraq. Cole asks: “Is the only way this tawdry administration can make itself feel good to defame the Greatest Generation?”

“A senior aide to Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) pulled the financial disclosure forms of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and at least three other Republican Senators late last month, Senate records show.” Why?

Senate conservatives are expected to introduce a “poison pill” minimum wage bill to counter the $2.10 wage increase being advanced by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA). The conservative version will likely increase the federal minimum slightly while reducing overtime pay and actually lowering wages for millions of workers who earn tips.

Wash Post blogger Andrew Cohen says to forget about the talk of a unified Supreme Court. “The Justices are just as fractious now as they have been in the past when it comes to the truly contentious issues of our day.”

And finally: Can you hear it now? Last week, there were reports of students downloading a cell phone ring-tone off the Internet “that is too high-pitched to be heard by most adults.” Via AmericaBlog, “a rather smart Web site came up with idea of posting a sliding scale of high pitched tones so you can see where your hearing kicks in.” Find out if you have aging ear.

What did we miss on the blogs? Let us know in the comments section.



40 Responses to “ThinkFast PM: June 19, 2006”

  1. OxyCon says:

    Gloria Borger is a prestitute.
    Shw knows she is being used and she’s lovin’ it!


  2. Ho Chi Minh says:

    What if Bush went to Iraq, and nobody noticed? Or give a damn? Better still, never came back?


  3. Rebel With A Cause says:

    Lou Dobbs at CNN jusst reported that the house and the senagte both have “pulled” the legislation they passed banning the Dubai Ports Deal.

    According to Dobbs the law restricting this deal has been canceled, probably at the behest of our great decider, who everyhone agreed in the first place, got very bad advice.

    I wonder if there will be an uprising over this? I sure in hell hope so. It is about time for the citizens of the United States to rise up and take back their government. This may be the last chance you have.

    If the pukes lose the house in November Bush is poised to declare martial law, and the elections invalid. He is afraid the dem house would impeach him. I think he is right in the latter.


  4. katy says:

    WE SHOULD ALL BE SO ELOQUENT…AND ENLIGHTENED:

    Ava Lowery on CNN

    The fifteen year old girl from Alabama that has received almost as many death threats as I have for making “this video” was on CNN last night. (Here’s some information about Ava.)

    The interviewer was pretty jerky, but please focus on her courage in the face of the insane ridicule this young girl has endured since she spoke out against the war.


  5. katy says:

    MORE FROM AVA:

    http://www.yearlykos.org/node/493

    btw – TURN IT UP! this is great!


  6. katy says:

    Light ‘Em Up on Net Neutrality
    By Christy Hardin Smith

    The net neutrality fight moves to the Senate this week, with Ted Steven’s Senate Commerce Committee set to vote on the bill on Thursday. Time to pick up the phones again, boys and girls, because this is crunch time.

    GREAT CONTACT INFO!


  7. dogeatdogi says:

    Re: Hastert aide pulling financial diclosures of other members of congerss. Does this mean that they are no longer a matter of public record? Are they “gone”?


  8. Matt says:

    Funny, minimum wage is worth less now than it has been in 50 years, yet republicans are trying to depress it further. check out this site for a bit of eactivism.

    also check out the EPI’s wage research. prepare to be depressed.


  9. Cloak & Swagger says:

    Federal Contracts to Hallibrutal by 600%…yeah, quite the conservative move.
    You know Cheney choked up a black demon in a fit of rage for not getting 900% he specifically requested. Gosh darn America, always getting in Cheney’s way.


  10. Ron says:

    don’t miss this one


  11. Zookeeper says:

    Juan Cole refutes Tony Snow’s comparison of the Battle of the Bulge to the current situation in Iraq. Cole asks: “Is the only way this tawdry administration can make itself feel good to defame the Greatest Generation?”

    Um, yes…and as many others as possible.


  12. Zookeeper says:

    “A senior aide to Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) pulled the financial disclosure forms of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and at least three other Republican Senators late last month, Senate records show.” Why?

    Hmmm, this is interesting. I agree with the guy at TNR, that Hastert may be studying up on how those Senators handled their own financial problems. I hope TP follows up on this.


  13. Zookeeper says:

    Can you hear it now? Last week, there were reports of students downloading a cell phone ring-tone off the Internet “that is too high-pitched to be heard by most adults.”

    I can hear it fine. But I really don’t see why it would be so cool for the kids to have a ring their parents or teachers can’t hear. Parents & teachers may not be able to hear the ring, but they can hear the sound of the teen’s voice. Smart adults would just pretend a couple of times not to be able to hear the ring, and lull their teen into a false sense of security. Yeah, I remember what it was like to be a teenager. ;)


  14. Zookeeper says:

    #10 – His voice faltered and his eyes filled with tears as he recounted the agony of a woman in black who discovered the bodies of her four sons that day.

    “I have never heard screams of pain like that,” he said. The woman collapsed on the floor, throwing dirt over her head — a gesture of grief and helplessness that has become tragically commonplace in Iraq.

    Horrifying, just horrifying. I don’t know how she stayed alive…


  15. Just plain mad says:

    Greatest generation my fanny. Just who is responsible for all of the wars for regime change, covert activities and death squads since WW II. They killed democracy everywhere they went and have led the way to eliminate the Constitution and Bill of Rights in the USA. The WW II generation has voted this country into the position it is in today. Most are closer to war pigs than heros and have more in common with fascism (corporate plutocracy) than the generations before them or after them.


  16. katy says:

    Yeah, I remember what it was like to be a teenager. ;)
    Comment by Zookeeper — June 19, 2006 @ 10:16 pm

    yep! another at the top of the list of Rules of Parenting!
    for 2 big reasons: to remember the tricks and to remember not to get too self-righteous…

    time for jon and stephen!


  17. Zookeeper says:

    Lawmaker wants to ban marshmallow fluff:

    http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/06/19/can_this_spread_be_stopped/

    Admittedly, marshmallow fluff is a beyond disgusting substance, but really, do we need a law?


  18. Zookeeper says:

    for 2 big reasons: to remember the tricks and to remember not to get too self-righteous…
    Comment by katy

    Also, if your little darling hands you a frog, snake, beetle, or some such other delight, never flinch, because you’ll be finding them in your bed until the end of time. Trust me…

    Revenge is sweet, parents! Zoo Jr hates spiders, and I’ve come to think they’re just adorable — the bigger, the better. Again, trust me…


  19. Marie says:

    Exchanged a few words with John Laesch tonight, running against Hastert here in Illinois. People were interested in Laesch before this week, but since Hastert’s land corruption deal has surfaced, John’s web site has been inundated. People want to know about the Iraqi war veteran.
    Wish him luck. Hope that the local DuPage election commission is not successful with their voting manipulation of Diebold machines recently purchased for the county.


  20. Jay Randal says:

    Just another typical day of corruption in Washington, DC, today and tomorrow just looks like more of the same unfortunately!

    Everybody ignore the Guy from Norway (Seixon)! He is just a trouble maker troll, who gets the threads off on meaningless tangents! If nobody responds to him, then he will get bored, and move his Rovian operation to another blog site!


  21. SuperEdo says:

    Interesting perspective, Just plain mad. I wonder sometimes if the problem is the elderly. Wisdom, my ass. Seems senility and ignorance comes into play more often than wisdom.


  22. SKdeA says:

    22 comments and troll-free?


  23. Jay Randal says:

    Post 22 till Norway Guy wakes up from his drunken stupor > lol.


  24. katy says:

    jay, c’mon – your references to gays and drinking are obnoxious and embarrassing and immature…
    i hope you remember your advice to ignore when any troll shows up…


  25. dom juan says:

    Jay did you FINISH your study of islamic masturbation from an earlier thread? hope it had a HAPPY ENDING for you.


  26. beavercleaver says:

    CBS News contributor Gloria Borger on the media’s coverage of President Bush’s surprise June 13 trip to Iraq: “I think we are suckers. .. [Y]ou know you’re being used, but in a way you kind of like it because it’s good pictures.”

    Would someone PLEASE explain to me how these gas bag apologists get away with quoting themselves, as if anybody cared what a lapdog with a tin foil hat thought! Give it a break bitch…try reporting the hard facts on Iraq, otherwise STFU!


  27. Mash says:

    So, if you haven’t heard yet, the Iraqi Government just asked us to leave by end of 2007! Here’s my take on this latest humiliation.


  28. [Deleted by admin] says:

    [Deleted by admin]


  29. Tobey Tall says:

    In a vote of the Disarmament Committee of the United Nations (UN), one and only one nation voted against ElBaradei’s proposal – George Bush’s America. In that same vote, Israel abstained, apparently fearing international interference with their own outlaw nuclear weapons program, and Britain abstained in an act of diplomatic fealty to the “special relationship” between Tony Blair and George Bush. The final tally was 147 nations to one with the two abstentions. In a later vote of the entire UN General Assembly, Israel and Britain abstained, while America and Palau voted against ElBaradei’s verifiable ban on fission, and 179 nations voted in favor of his proposal. The final vote on that occasion was 179 in favor, two opposed (U.S. and Palau), and two abstentions (Israel and Britain).

    DONT USE THE UN AS A PRETEXT FOR IRAN IF YOU VOTE AGAIST A NUKE FREE WORLD

    SOURCE


  30. Tobey Tall says:

    READ THIS EVERYBODY

    Who’s Against a Ban on
    Fissile Material?
    In 2005, Mohamed ElBaradei was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his outstanding work in the international control of nuclear weapons. In 2003, ElBaradei had proposed a verifiable ban on the production of weapons-grade fissile material – a positive move that would severely limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

    In a vote of the Disarmament Committee of the United Nations (UN), one and only one nation voted against ElBaradei’s proposal – George Bush’s America. In that same vote, Israel abstained, apparently fearing international interference with their own outlaw nuclear weapons program, and Britain abstained in an act of diplomatic fealty to the “special relationship” between Tony Blair and George Bush. The final tally was 147 nations to one with the two abstentions. In a later vote of the entire UN General Assembly, Israel and Britain abstained, while America and Palau voted against ElBaradei’s verifiable ban on fission, and 179 nations voted in favor of his proposal. The final vote on that occasion was 179 in favor, two opposed (U.S. and Palau), and two abstentions (Israel and Britain).

    ElBaradei’s proposal would monitor all nuclear fission and guarantee that non-nuclear weapons states would be able to obtain adequate supplies for their nonmilitary usage of enriched plutonium.

    One nation has publicly accepted ElBaradei’s proposal: Iran.

    In light of this important backstory, it is now perfectly obvious that the so-called “negotiations” among America, its intermediaries, and Iran have been designed to camouflage, distort, and erase the historical record. America and Israel are opposed to ElBaradei’s proposal for a verifiable ban on nuclear fission (Fissban) apparently to prevent the intrusion of international inspectors into the Israeli nuclear industry.

    Given the facts of the highly publicized “Iran Plans” for a massive American military intervention against the Iranian nuclear industry and the constant threat of bombing Iran leveled by American authorities from George Bush and Condoleezza Rice to Richard Perle and John Bolton, it is equally clear that American policy is being driven by a Machiavellian political calculus.

    Over the past two weeks, there has been a chain of interlocked events: the execution of Zarqawi; the Camp David summit on Iraq; Bush’s secret flight to Baghdad; and the narrow escape of Karl Rove from federal indictment in the Valerie Plame case. These events are fitting into a discernible pattern designed to resuscitate the dying political corpse of the Bush administration in time for the midterm elections this November.

    The continuing weakness of the Bush administration, as measured by the president’s approval rating, will embolden those proponents of the unilateral bombardment of Iran as a measure that could precipitate the president’s resurgence. With so little left to lose, Bush may press the button for war in hopes of gaining approval in red-state America, where his political fate will be decided on the Nov. 6.

    Darker plans may even be afoot, or so we are led to believe by scholars of the U.S. intelligence industry. The former CIA official Ray McGovern has warned of “staged” atrocities as part of a covert U.S. program for the manufacture of “’synthetic terror.” Robert Woodward warned an academic audience in Texas that the next major atrocity on U.S. soil would reduce 9/11 to a footnote in world history. There are persistent back-channel rumors of Republican Party officials circulating memoranda longing for a return to the heady days after 9/11 to revive the ailing Bush presidency – even at the cost of a new 9/11.

    Neither America’s people nor the peoples of other nations are being adequately informed about the history of international planning for the control of fissionable materials, which are the essential ingredients for nuclear weapons. The global media is complicit in the increasing threats to peace by a deeply unpopular American president and his loyal cadre of neoconservative apparatchiks, who now threaten the future of the planet with a holocaust of gigantic proportions.


  31. beep52 says:

    CNN reporting bodies of 2 missing American soldiers were found


  32. Jay Randal says:

    Post 28 was NOT posted by me on here so NOW the trolls are hacking the screennames on here, when we are not on TP! Post 28 is not my style of language or use of words either! The GOP and Karl Rove wants this site taken down by any means apparently!

    katy and dom juan are playing weird games on here, so they should be embarrassed!


  33. Bluestocking says:

    The 600% percent jump in contracts to Halliburton since President Bush took office has absolutely nothing to do with Cheney???

    Yeah…RIGHT. If you believe that, I just happen to know of this lovely bridge over the East River which just happens to have been put on the market for a very reasonable price…


  34. Keith H. says:

    The time to organize the appropriate response is now.

    The endless lieing to set the stage for November has begun.


  35. a brief viset says:

    Keith, I’m not knocking your post when I say this administration has been doing their propaganda, run for office continuely for 5 years. It’s all they do, spread lies and run for office all year every year. One continuious campaign after another and use everything for photo opps…..You are right we need to get with the program, maybe massive organized marches would work…….What ever, we need to cause a huge blip on their screen…..


  36. flash says:

    how bout a good idea?


  37. katy says:

    sorry to disappoint, jay – no games with me…
    just tired of your unsubstantiated accusations and sophomor-on-ic rants…
    just take the advice and we’ll all be the better for it…


  38. Jay Randal says:

    katy > you are not the queen of Sheba on TP, so ignore me and I will do the same for you!

    Nothing you say on TP threads is worth my time or comment!


  39. katy says:

    oh wow! ah ha ha! “queen of Sheba”…
    that’s so cute, jay…


  40. queen of Sheba says:

    ”Happy are thy men,happy are these thy servants,
    which stand continually before thee,and that hear
    thy wisdom.”



Jump to Top

About Think Progress | Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy (off-site) | RSS | Donate
© 2005-2009 Center for American Progress Action Fund
View Most Popular

Advertisement

What We're About

Featured

image
Subscribe to the Progress Report



imageTopic Cloud


Visit Our Affiliated Sites

image image
Reports


Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.

Name:
Email:
Tip:
(required)


imageArchives


imageBlog Roll