ThinkFast: September 15, 2006
Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges related to his dealings with the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Ney is the first member of Congress to admit to criminal charges in the Abramoff case.
Krauthammer’s Iran “calculus”: “An aerial attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities lies just beyond the horizon of diplomacy. With the crisis advancing and the moment of truth approaching, it is important to begin looking now with unflinching honesty at the military option. … The decision is no more than a year away.”
The Bush administration has proposed eliminating funding for two renewable energy sources: hydropower and geothermal power research. Federal studies suggest that the “costs of lost opportunities from dropping such research could be enormous in the long run.”
Yesterday the House approved a “sham” earmark reform bill that critics say is “filled with loopholes that would still permit anonymous projects to be inserted into law without public scrutiny.” Rep. David Obey (D-WI), former chairman of the appropriations committee, called the bill “the death of lobby reform.”
Border-crossing deaths have “more than doubled in the past decade,” according to a GAO report. “More and more, the dead are women,” and “more migrants are dying from exposure in the desert than from other causes.”
In 2004, the FCC “ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage,” the AP reports. StopBigMedia.com has a copy of the study.
Sectarian “killings and violence are surging around Iraq,” “despite a month-old security crackdown in the capital.” “It’s barbaric but sadly we’ve become used to it,” an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said. “Forty bodies, 60 bodies - it’s become a daily routine.”
“Newly formed cities are giving the keys to city hall to private companies that say they can run a government better than bureaucrats.” Critics worry about a “shadow government” that isn’t “subject to the same kind of open-records and open-meetings laws as public employees are.”
And finally: Madonna joins Lance Bass as the celebrities whom the Russian government will not send into space. The Duma rejected a proposal to “send a formal inquiry to the Russian space agency about organizing a space trip for her in 2008.” “Taking into account her good physical preparedness and financial capabilities, the dream of [Madonna] of a space flight could be realized in 2009,” one lawmaker said in support of the trip.
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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Oil prices are predicted to drop to $35-$40 a barrel by spring. The Department of energy is estimating that gas will cost around $1.15 by spring. I am glad they cut federal funding for other types of energy. If these new idea’s are truly good, the free market will pick up the research. If they are simply money drains, they should stay dead. Either way, thank god gas will be cheap again.
September 15th, 2006 at 9:35 amLOL Roger-Roger,
you are such a tool. Sure gas prices are going down, however it will take at least 4 months for prices to go under $2.00/gallon. I think as soon as the election is over we will see a sudden surge in gas prices. Plus if your buddy Bush attacks Iran, expect gas prices to really shoot up then. Funny how the republicans don’t seem to want to move into the future, instead they want to maintain a status-quo that doesn’t exist.
September 15th, 2006 at 9:40 amEliminate funding for two renewable energy sources….
I also heard this morning about how the artic ice has been melting much earlier for the past couple of years, and that experts say the window to turn things around is a decade or less.
And this bozo wants to eliminate funding?
I think this Admin. is doing everything it can to destroy the Earth. They are all pure evil.
Sorry for the rant.
September 15th, 2006 at 9:41 amI have to respectfully disagree with you, Roger_Roger. I believe that it is people like you who are responsible for our continued dependence on foreign oil. You folks like to believe that something is only worth doing if you can make a lot of money doing it. Your value system does not place a high value on human life. It doesn’t seem to matter how many people will die before you guys decide that maybe making money isn’t the most important thing in the world. As a result, energy saving ideas that help us reduce our need for oil are never taken up because making lots of money is more important. Our constant thirst for oil will, in the long run, lead to more deaths, if not from the climatological changes that could make life on Earth all but impossible for humans, then from the inevitable wars that will be fought over the dwindling supplies. No matter what, our survival as a species depends on finding new ways to produce the energy we need. And claiming that it’s not profitable enough is a piss poor excuse to do nothing.
September 15th, 2006 at 9:43 amFrom ‘The Tehran Calculus’:
LIE. Iran is not a candidate, all the war-mongers’ incessant drum-beating notwithstanding. Iran is nowhere near producing even a single nuclear weapon…most generous estimates place them at decades away.
How many more lies? How much longer are we going to let the runaway neocon machine drive our country and the entire world into the ground? If an attack on Iran comes to pass, the worls as we know it will end. Global recession will provide the rationale for martial law here in America, and there won’t be enough soldiers to fight without a draft.
We don’t have until 2008. We have to act now before this cabal of bloodthirsty madmen set the world on fire.
September 15th, 2006 at 9:44 amTP: Get ready. President Bush is expected to deliver an announcement from the Rose Garden at 11:15. I might have misheard them, but I think Fox News said it might have something to do with Zubadayeh (sp?).
As always, we must ask what the ulterior motive for this is. This administration never does anything without some political gain to it. So what are they up to? Thanks.
September 15th, 2006 at 9:53 amThat’s some frightening stuff in here, specifically the Iran stuff and the “death of lobbying reform.”
September 15th, 2006 at 9:54 amStill, good to see that Ney’s going down.
a href=’http://least-wanted.blogspot.com’>America’s Least Wanted
Either way, thank god gas will be cheap again. Comment by Roger_Roger
Ha! Good laugh in the morning is healthy. Keep posting , please.
September 15th, 2006 at 9:56 amForgive me please, for being obtuse, but how are gas prices being predicted to go down? What did I miss? I’m glad it’s dropping, but I feel like there’s a catch…
What was that text message going around? Something like:
“I’ll make you love me, and I’ll go lower on you, and keep going lower, and go down on you, and just when you think it can’t get any better, I’ll come up and F*CK YOU!
Sincerely, Gas Prices.”
September 15th, 2006 at 9:56 amHi, true!!! Its been a while. TP is slow.
September 15th, 2006 at 9:57 amIAEA: US Report “Outrageous and Dishonest.”
Hi Juan,
September 15th, 2006 at 10:03 amThat’s one of the reasons I haven’t been around.
I’ll write.
Can anyone explain exactly why gas prices are going down?
Where is this sudden influx of oil coming from?
Why isn’t our alleged “refining limitations” creating the same bottleneck that it has been… creating an artificial ceiling on supply… and causing inflated prices like in the past?
What has changed?
September 15th, 2006 at 10:10 amney ney wey!
wey wey ney!
one heckuva job GOPigs! ]B@P
September 15th, 2006 at 10:10 amThinkProgress,
Your link on “the death of lobby reform” doesn’t work. It’s trying to find a TP post.
And thanks for fixing the tabbing so we don’t keep bouncing up and down the page. Now, if you can just make it so the plus signs don’t keep appearing in our names…
Keep up the great work.
September 15th, 2006 at 10:14 amIn December the oil price will be back up and continuing its upward trend. The guys who are selling you that oil will continue to fund terrorism, and the enviroment will continue to deteriorate.
This will be despite a Democrat Congress and Senate. The reason is simple, the decisions Bush makes now, will carry forward into next year and it will take time for any Congress or Senate to reclaim America. The next two years will be spent with Bush fighting impeachment and indictments, if the Democrats actually fulfill their obligations in providing good government. If the Democrats don’t, it will mean more of the same, which will be worse.
America’s only hope is to get the impeachment and indictment of the current Republican Whitehouse over with quickly, so as to put a competent person in charge of the country. Anything less and America will go the way of Soviet Russia, thereby proving once and for all that America lost the argument (Because there is still 1 communist superpower left, whereas there will be not capitalist superpowers left.)
September 15th, 2006 at 10:16 amOh Ford! The GOPIgs are Taser Resistant!!
GOPig Withstands Tasers, Cops on U.S. 41
By UNAssociated Press
September 15, 2006, 8:48 AM EDT
GREEN BAY, Wis. — A GOPig, drunker than Cooter Brown withstood taser shots from police officers and eluded authorities for more than an hour after wandering onto Green Bay’s major highway. The 200-pound GOPig was spotted by a passing driver on U.S. 41 at 6 p.m. Wednesday night, Boss Hogg said.
/satire on
September 15th, 2006 at 10:17 am#12 G.W. Superchrist,
Excellent questions! It does seem like the excuses they gave for higher prices before should still be true today, and yet gas prices are falling. I’m sure Bush didn’t restore the FERC caps that kept the profits on a barrel of oil low.
September 15th, 2006 at 10:19 amThe Kraut sorta forgot the other two big dogs on the block, China and Russia. I don’t think they give a rat’s ass over Iran’s nuclear ambitions but they care DEARLY about anything that could cause finacial pain (ie a oil embargo OR a war-induced one) and they will not take kindly to any nation that would cause this. we may be able to swat Iran cuz they are small and ‘weak’, but mark my works, someone is going to ’swat’ us right back…
September 15th, 2006 at 10:24 amGood Friday morning everyone!
Basically, I got nothin’ this morning, but wanted to say “Hey” before I get started on my day.
Wayne, good call on the “announcement.” I will forever suspect GWB’s motives…
September 15th, 2006 at 10:28 amRe: Bob Ney
Fox News just announced that the government will be recommending 27 months in prison for Ney. Does the Congress have the authority to strip a former member of his pensions and retirement benefits if he has to go to prison for abusing his job as a Member of Congress? In other words, are we taxpayers going to have to pay for Ney’s and Cunningham’s pensions even though they’ll be in prison for being corrupt politicans? Does violating the public trust carry any significant penalty? It should. In fact, I believe that a Member of Congress who does the kinds of things that Ney and Cunningham did should also have their citizenship revoked. That’s how seriously a politician violating the public trust should be taken.
September 15th, 2006 at 10:38 amThanks, Zooey. My car’s in the shop again for another four or five hours, so I have few options today. My last comment posted in just a few seconds (as opposed to the usual several minutes), so maybe things are improving.
September 15th, 2006 at 10:40 am“An aerial attack… …diplomacy.”
2 words inconguous in the same sentence…
is krauthammer another chickenhawk? just wonderin’…
September 15th, 2006 at 10:47 am…has proposed eliminating funding for two renewable energy sources…
who decides? what committee? can we let them know otherwise…
September 15th, 2006 at 10:49 amThis is a test, only a test to see if the post make’s it…Continued problems with TP…Took three hours to get on site this morning, any one else having continued problems. Doe’s you’re computer run slow and act like it is under virus attack like mine.? Has the site gotten so big it is virtualy polluted.? Does TP need to expand something to fix the problem.? Any answers, this poster would like to know.
Head’s up, bull shit bush will be on in a half hour with more propagande and stumping with fear and smear to try and get all dummies to vote for his party faithful in Nov….Listen very carefuly one sentence or one word will be the key to his daily event…….Blessings All, we need them
September 15th, 2006 at 10:54 am#1, what on earth does a God have to do with low gas prices? Does your god run an oil company?
Krazny’s right, you are a tool!
September 15th, 2006 at 11:00 am“Newly formed cities are giving the keys to city hall to private companies…”
sounds like a project for a jasonh type… master of his own universe…
September 15th, 2006 at 11:01 am#25 CaptainVideo,
I respectfully disagree. A solid wall only treats the symptoms, not the cause of the problem. Until the causes of the problem are addressed and dealt with effectively, the border crossings and deaths in the desert will contnue. And no, I admit I don’t have all the answers. But I can tell what won’t work. This is a case where good fences do not necessarily make good neighbors.
September 15th, 2006 at 11:03 amfrom the “with friends like this” department:
Pope a ‘medieval crusader’ in India
NEW DELHI: Pope Benedict XVI’s attack on Islam has stirred anger in India with the head of the National Commission for Minorities saying he sounded like a medieval crusader.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1995450.cms
Muslims link Pope to ‘racists and bigots’ over Islam speech
September 15th, 2006 at 11:07 amBRITISH Muslims joined today in fierce criticism of remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI about Islam.
The pontiff was accused of falling into “the trap of bigots and racists” with the comments he made on a visit to Germany.
Pakistan’s parliament condemned the “derogatory” remarks today and demanded an apology.
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1366652006
…
# 17 Wayne - It does seem very suspicious!
I have heard many touting the fact that gas prices are going down - but none attempting to explain why.
If there is no demonstrable catalyst for these changes… people should not be celebrating the falling prices… but instead should be vigorously protesting the fact that prices rose to record levels with no discernable reason.
September 15th, 2006 at 11:10 amDennis Hastert was wrong (as usual)…
…Democrats DO know who the enmy is…
…the REPULSIVESCAM PARTY and their cowardly, mindless, racist, mass murdering supporters…
…Krauthammer, Kristol, ‘n’ Karl (KKK)…
…these are your “conservative” family members, friends, and acquaintences…
September 15th, 2006 at 11:15 amA solid fence may not be the only answer but it is a really good start. Just ask the residents of San Diego where the fence there brought rampant border crossing to a screeching halt.
September 15th, 2006 at 11:34 amMore problem’s posting, last post just dissapeared…Regarding border…..Enough for me….Bye….Blessings
September 15th, 2006 at 11:40 amUS Iran report branded dishonest - The BBC
US Slammed Over Iran Nuclear Claims - SKY
UN attacks US nuclear report on Iran - The Gaurdian
IAEA: US report on Iran ‘outrageous’ - Aljazeera
IAEA protests “erroneous” U.S. report on Iran - Yahoo News
YOUR A JOKE AMERICA
September 15th, 2006 at 11:41 amTested, not working, I’m outta here….Blessings all
September 15th, 2006 at 11:45 amI recon the post is being stored in a temp database , being read then submitted manually,
Shame really it well spoils the flow
September 15th, 2006 at 11:48 amA solid fence may not be the only answer but it is a really good start. Just ask the residents of San Diego where the fence there brought rampant border crossing to a screeching halt.
Comment by Retired+Republican+Soldier
In San Diego, maybe. That doesn’t mean the problem ws solved. It just means it was moved elsewhere and will now be some other Americans’ problem. It also doesn’t prove it would end all illegal crossings everywhere. Because it does nothing to address the causes of the problem. Perhaps you are one of those who believe that if you can’t personally see the problem, it doesn’t exist.
September 15th, 2006 at 11:52 am#34 Tobey Tall,
As always the information is appreciated. But just as it would be unfair for us to blame you personally for what Prime Minister Blair has done, so, too, would it be improper to lay the actions of the Bush Administration at the feet of all Americans. I mean, it’s not like the Bush people asked us what we thought, or even cared, for that matter.
Besides, we have a history of peaceful transfers of power (meaning no military coups or bloody revolutions). Sure, several of our presidents have been assassinated, but it’s not like the people who did the killing moved in and took over. Now, if Bush were to try to remain in power after Jan 20, 2009, that might change. With luck and a few million more pairs of eyes getting opened, we might be able to give ourselves a Congress that will stop the abuse of power by the Executive Branch.
September 15th, 2006 at 11:59 amGod Roger stop embarrassing yourself. Gas is going down to get votes, do you really think your government is not capable of doing that?
Are we taking bets as to how gas will climb right after the elections?
Now it the time more than ever to develop alternative energies, just because gas prices go down does not mean blow it all off.
The only thing constant is change Roger.
September 15th, 2006 at 12:05 pmthis looked interesting:
Calling All Atheists/Agnotics
Most atheist blogs have some sort of deconversion narrative. The vast majority of us started off in a theistic household and through some sequence of events became an atheist/agnostic.
I’d like to compile all those narratives into one post. It will be a kind of one-time Carnival of Deconversion…or maybe Tales of Deconversion…something like that.
September 15th, 2006 at 12:10 pm…
http://franksatheisticramblings.blogspot.com/ 2006/ 09/ calling-all-atheistsagnotics.html
Gas prices are also going down because it’s the end of the summer driving season. And just because the prices are going down does NOT mean that there’s now an unlimited supply, so why not invest in alternative fuels/energy? Not to do so would be idiotic.
September 15th, 2006 at 12:13 pmWayne,
Threaded discussion would be fantastic….would really revitalize this site and promote more discussion.
Seeing as how the current comment system is plainly broken, this would be a great time to pursue this.
September 15th, 2006 at 12:28 pmInteresting….i just replied to a post by Wayne that was deleted while I was composing my reply…
September 15th, 2006 at 12:30 pmKaty, thanks for the atheist/agnostic link, looks interesting. I’ll stop by there later to check it out.
September 15th, 2006 at 12:38 pmTP - I don’t know if the recent technical difficulties are temporary or not but they certainly are frustrating… and if not fixed soon will cause me end my patronage of this site.
September 15th, 2006 at 12:40 pmG.W.SuperChrist sez:
Second.
September 15th, 2006 at 12:46 pmIf Election Is Fair: Democrats Win!
15th of September 2006
by Jay Randal
The biggest unknown this November election is how much GOP vote fraud, and cheating might take place, which could alter key Congressional races for GOP?
Several States have NOT replaced the Diebold voting machines, or other nefarious voting equipment which have NO verifiable paper trail, so outcomes in doubt!
Florida and Georgia in particular are very notorious, for suspicious voting irregularities, especially smelly defeat of Sen. Max Cleland by Chambliss in Georgia!
The Senate race between Lieberman and Lamont, in Connecticut, needs to be watched closely to prevent any suspicious vote manipulations favoring old Joe!
Ohio has a bad track record on holding fair elections, especially since the 2004 presidential contest favored Bush over Kerry, as thousands of votes discarded too!
California and New Mexico have had some nefarious vote tampering, in past elections, so all poll watchers must be extra vigilant to sniff out any possible fraud!
( Jay Randal, political activist and writer in Stone Mountain, Georgia.)
PS: Make sure to boycott purchasing any Disney Corp. products this upcoming Christmas season and do NOT watch any ABC programs.
September 15th, 2006 at 12:57 pmPS: Make sure to boycott purchasing any Disney Corp. products this upcoming Christmas season and do NOT watch any ABC programs.
Comment by Jay Randal — September 15, 2006 @ 12:57 pm
Jay - If you boycott a television channel and there is no Neilson Box there to record it… do you make a sound?
September 15th, 2006 at 1:05 pmWoW an instant post!!!
September 15th, 2006 at 1:06 pmI guess I spoke too soon… my instant post comment did not post instantly… nor am I guessing that this one will either.
TP - What is up lately?
September 15th, 2006 at 1:09 pm[…] ThinkProgress has latest on earmark “reform”… Think Progress » ThinkFast: September 15, 2006 […]
September 15th, 2006 at 1:34 pmIf you apply Krauthammer’s Iran “calculusâ€to the US then you would have to join Al Qa’ida. :)
September 15th, 2006 at 1:39 pmAll those who enable or encourage illegal immigration encourage people to try to cross the desert, and some die.
If American leaders were opposed to illegal immigration, many fewer people would try to cross.
It’s those who enable or encourage illegal immigration who are partly responsible for all those deaths. That doesn’t just include Bush and his backers, it also includes “humanitarians” such as CardinalMahoney, as well as all the Dem leaders (like HarryReid) who support illegal immigration.
(Remove the underscores to learn more about this subject: lon___ewacko.com)
September 15th, 2006 at 1:58 pmPost 48 GW > Refusing to watch ABC and boycotting their sponsors is all that we can do to punish them for foisting GOP funded propaganda down our throats > I hope some Neilson homes drop ABC programs, but who knows they may get paid to watch ABC now?!
September 15th, 2006 at 3:31 pmEither way, thank god gas will be cheap again.
Comment by Roger_Roger
One might thank god for your health, your children, peace on earth, surviving a disaster, etc., but no, Roger thanks god for cheap gas.
God will get you for that one, Roger.
September 15th, 2006 at 3:34 pm[…] Think Progress […]
September 15th, 2006 at 5:29 pmyou cant buy gas when youre DEAD!
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December 8th, 2006 at 3:55 am