Think Progress

ThinkFast: June 8, 2009

By Think Progress on Jun 8th, 2009 at 9:00 am

ThinkFast: June 8, 2009


Lebanese voter

After a “nearly unprecedented turnout” by Lebanese voters, the ” American-backed alliance appeared to retain control of the Lebanese Parliament on Sunday,” representing “a significant and unexpected defeat for Hezbollah and its allies, Iran and Syria.” Iran follows with its own presidential election this Friday.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) “admonished the Obama administration on Saturday for proposing cuts to Alaska’s missile defense network,” giving her “strongest public remarks to date on the matter.” “Reducing Alaska’s defense readiness in these perilous times is a show of weakness, it is not a sign of strength,” Palin said at a speech in upstate New York.

A Gallup poll released late last week found that conservatives are now in favor of allowing gay Americans serve openly in the military. Majorities of “weekly churchgoers (60%), conservatives (58%), and Republicans (58%) now favor what essentially equates to repealing the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.”

North Korea sentenced American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years of hard labor today for “committing hostilities against the Korean nation and illegal entry,” charges that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called “baseless.” White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton released a statement saying that the Obama administration is “engaged through all possible channels to secure their release.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday on ABC’s This Week that the U.S. “will consider reinstating North Korea to a list of state sponsors of terrorism.” At the same time, however, she acknowledged that there was a legal process for the move. “Obviously we would want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism,” Clinton said.

President Obama promised today “to deliver more than 600,000 jobs through his $787 billion stimulus plan this summer, with federal agencies pumping billions into public works projects, schools and summer youth programs.” The administration “had always viewed the summer as a peak for stimulus spending,” but “Obama now promises an accelerated pace of federal spending over the next few months to boost the economy and produce jobs.”

Former Sens. Bob Graham (D-FL) and Jim Talent (R-MO), who currently head a “bipartisan commission on weapons of mass destruction,” sent a letter to OMB Director Peter Orszag yesterday saying that Obama’s plan to finance swine flu vaccine production using the BioSheild Reserve Fund would “severely diminish the nation’s efforts to prepare for WMD events and will leave the nation less, not more, prepared.”

In its first report to Congress, the Wartime Contracting Commission found that “the Defense Department has failed to provide adequate oversight over tens of billions of dollars in contracts to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The report, which will be released publicly on Wednesday, says that U.S. reliance on private sector employees has grown to “unprecedented proportions.”

In what amounts to an “end-run” around campaign finance laws, lobbyists in 2008 made $35.8 million in payments to charities affiliated with lawmakers and to “honor” lawmakers and other federal officials. The USA Today analysis found that “[m]ost of the money — about $28 million — went to non-profit groups, some with direct ties to members of Congress.” Twice, the donations “came in response to a personal appeal for funds from the lawmaker.”

And finally: Stephen Colbert yesterday taped the first of the four shows he will be doing in Iraq this week, “wearing a business suit made of the same camouflaged material used for soldiers’ desert uniforms.” “It must be nice in Iraq, because some of you keep coming back again and again,” Colbert joked, referring to the multiple tours many soldiers have gone through. During the show, Colbert also received a regulation military haircut, called Gen. Ray Odierno “Shrek,” and “declared himself the only person man enough finally to declare victory in Iraq.”

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93 Responses to “ThinkFast: June 8, 2009”

  1. MCMetal says:

    Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) “admonished the Obama adminstration on Saturday for proposing cuts to Alaska’s missile defense network,” giving her “strongest public remarks to date on the matter.” “Reducing Alaska’s defense readiness in these perilous times is a show of weakness, it is not a sign of strength,” Palin said at a speech in upstate New York.

    You , Bible Spice Palin , being a military readiness expert and all ………


  2. katy says:

    wow – i just heard an AP radio report that during a COLBERT show in iraq that, during a phone call with president obama, general ordinero (SP?) was ordered to shave stephen’s head –
    which he promptly DID!!!

    weird! stephen’s beautiful hair! GONE!!!


  3. angels81 says:

    This coming from the women who says she can see Russia from her kitchen window.


  4. MCMetal says:

    katy Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    wow – i just heard an AP radio report that during a COLBERT show in iraq that, during a phone call with president obama, general ordinero (SP?) was ordered to shave stephen’s head -
    which he promptly DID!!!

    weird! stephen’s beautiful hair! GONE!!!

    June 8th, 2009 at 9:06 am

    Here’s a photo of it……….

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/arts/television/08colb.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=colbert&st=cse


  5. misscoleopteramolly says:

    Why does Sarah Palin consider Alaska to be a separate country, with a separate missile defense network? I’ve never heard of any other state claim their state’s defense was weakened as a result of military bases closing or other defense cuts that affected their state.

    States often have objections to defense cuts happening in their back yard, but they mostly have to do with fairly legitimate reasons, such as job losses. The “you’re leaving us defenseless” complaint is generally only heard from foreign countries dependent on our aid.


  6. Briseadh na Firefly says:


    Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) “admonished the Obama adminstration

    But I thought Palin wanted to secede from the Union, which would mean she’d have to provide her own missile defense network anyway. What about all her experience as Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard? She can’t keep Alaska safe in case ol’ Putin raises his head?


  7. hanshiro the antlion says:

    A Gallup poll released late last week found that conservatives are now in favor of allowing gay Americans serve openly in the military. Majorities of “weekly churchgoers (60%), conservatives (58%), and Republicans (58%) now favor what essentially equates to repealing the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.”

    Conservatives: Always keeping at least one entire demographic between them and military service.

    Next up: Illegal aliens…then real aliens…


  8. Zimzone says:

    Should be an interesting election in Iran Friday.

    This morning’s NYT, as well as last night’s ‘Dateline’, focus on Iran’s youth and how they’re as fed up with present ‘leadership’ as we were with Bush.

    If Iranians oust their President this election, perhaps the grown ups can begin a dialogue the moves diplomacy and logic forward.


  9. RantingTommy says:

    Sarah was feeling lonely since she doesn’t get as many opportunities to share her idiocy with the rest of the country as much anymore since the election.


  10. Zimzone says:

    Regarding Colbert…

    Can you imagine Billdo taking his show to a war zone? I believe the soldiers themselves find him obnoxious and self serving.

    ‘Laughter is the best Medicine’ was always on the last page of Reader’s Digest. How true. Our soldiers need to laugh; even if it’s about their own situation or the politicians sending them there.

    Thank you, Colbert, for giving our troops a brief moment to release all that negative energy and laugh.

    And thank you for protecting our 2nd Amendment right to ‘arm bears’!


  11. vinylspear says:

    misscoleopteramolly Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    Why does Sarah Palin consider Alaska to be a separate country

    Very well put. Perhaps it is because she is from another planet, not in our solar system.


  12. katy says:

    oh! NOW i read the story about colbert here… ha!


  13. Zimzone says:

    Speaking of Palin, how ironic that she’s worried about President Obama making the USA a Socialist country…

    …while she writes $3,000 checks for each Alaskan.


  14. ralph the wonder locust says:

    Hey, I’ll probably be working a lot today, so if you guys see a$$wipe$, could you do me a favor and point him to the smack-down I just laid on him in the Burger King thread?

    Thanks.


  15. ralph the wonder locust says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:

    This may be a sign of things to come in the US 2010 Republican Revolution.

    You keep hoping that, C4Pee.

    You keep pinning your hopes on all the false equivalencies you can construct. We’ll be here for you when you’re left beaten and despairing once again.


  16. PatrioticLiberalChristianMantisReligiosa says:

    Hey, Palin, pay for your own damn defense. None of that socialist federal military for you Alaskans. You betcha.


  17. ralph the wonder locust says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:

    Giving each Alaskan a share of the money made from their natural resources is quite a bit differnt from “redistributing the wealth” through punitive taxation of the financially successful.

    Oh… NOW C4Pee grasps a little bit of nuance in the term “socialism”.

    Sad thing is, in an hour he’ll be back to claiming that raising the top marginal rate from 36% to 39% is the very definition of it.


  18. MCMetal says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    Zimzone Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    Speaking of Palin, how ironic that she’s worried about President Obama making the USA a Socialist country…

    …while she writes $3,000 checks for each Alaskan.

    June 8th, 2009 at 9:32 am
    _____________________________________________

    Giving each Alaskan a share of the money made from their natural resources is quite a bit differnt from “redistributing the wealth” through punitive taxation of the financially successful.

    June 8th, 2009 at 9:37 am

    As opposed to making perfect sense by rewarding those that are financially successful with unnecessary and undeserved tax breaks for no reason other than being wealthy to begin with ?

    Yeah , that Reaganomics thing sure has worked real well 21 of the past 28 or so years it was used , hasn’t it , stooge ?


  19. The Republic of Hymenoptera Stupidity says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:

    This may be a sign of things to come in the US 2010 Republican Revolution.
    _______________

    Oh yeah… Teabaggers 2010!!!


  20. The Republic of Hymenoptera Stupidity says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:

    Giving each Alaskan a share of the money made from their natural resources is quite a bit differnt from “redistributing the wealth” through punitive taxation of the financially successful.
    ______________

    “Financially successful”???

    You mean “those lucky enough to have been born rich”???


  21. Pachydiplax de St. Augustine says:

    I wonder how much of the infrastructure of Alaska, like roads and utilities have been paid by the Federal government to build and maintain the military installations?

    The DoD could probably save a lot of money by outsourcing Alaska’s defense jobs to China.


  22. spencers mom says:

    Colbert was troll-bashed here over the weekend for hating the troops, but…

    On the other hand he is unquestionably a real supporter of the troops, raising money through donorschoose.org for school supplies for children of soldiers, through his WristStrong bracelets for the Yellow Ribbon Fund, which helps injured veterans, and by donating to the U.S.O. proceeds from iTunes downloads of this week’s episodes.

    Of course, the facts have always had a very liberal bias.

    PEACE


  23. katy says:

    thank you, MCMetal, for that photo!

    HIlarious! a camo SUIT! only colbert!

    he looks good! glad his head wasn’t shaved!


  24. The Republic of Hymenoptera Stupidity says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:

    ” through punitive taxation of the financially successful”.
    ______________

    While you’re at it, please qualify the use of the word “punitive” in that statement.


  25. RUCeriousMaggot! says:

    Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) “admonished the Obama adminstration on Saturday for proposing cuts to Alaska’s missile defense network,” giving her “strongest public remarks to date on the matter.” “Reducing Alaska’s defense readiness in these perilous times is a show of weakness, it is not a sign of strength,” Palin said at a speech in upstate New York.

    Whoa, I thought Alaska wanted to secede? They don’t get enough federal welfare dollars?

    Build your own defense system, governor. Use the oil money.


  26. MCMetal says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    June 8th, 2009 at 9:35 am

    Funny how you purposely overlooked the election results in Lebanon , where Hezbollah has been voted out , so soon after Bush the Clueless Wonder left office here………


  27. DRxJapanese Beetle says:

    ConstipatedForProgress Says (in bold, no less):
    This may be a sign of things to come for in the US 2010 Republican Revolution.

    OR NOT!


  28. RUCeriousMaggot! says:

    In its first report to Congress, the Wartime Contracting Commission found that “the Defense Department has failed to provide adequate oversight over tens of billions of dollars in contracts to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The report, which will be released publicly on Wednesday, says that U.S. reliance on private sector employees has grown to “unprecedented proportions.”

    Note to President Obama:

    In your second term, please get us back to the self sufficient military I served in.
    Thanks.


  29. stateofthedivision says:

    The Obama administration appointed Fran Townsend to the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

    http://stateofthedivision.blogspot.com/2009/06/barack-hack-obama-appoints-covergirl.html

    A year ago this was concerning to progressives:

    http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/04/townsend-intelligence/

    Since then, we had change.


  30. RUCeriousMaggot! says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:
    On this day in 1864, …

    Yes, the Republican party originally stood for good stuff.
    Not the corporatist fascist party of today.


  31. spencers mom says:

    C4Pee, the Republican Party of the 1860s forward bears no resemblence to the racist wingnuttery that calls itself Republican today. Lincoln would be tagged “empathetic”, Teddy Roosevelt would be considered a tree hugger, hell, even Nixon would be considered an appeaser for talking with communist China.

    But nice try.

    PEACE


  32. MCMetal says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    On this day in 1864, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Senator Edwin Morgan inspired the delegates to made abolishing slavery part of the platform. And so, Republicans entered the 1864 presidential campaign determined to defeat the Democrats’ pro-slavery policies once and for all. The 13th Amendment was passed by congressional Republicans seven months later and ratified within the year.

    June 8th, 2009 at 9:45 am

    Those “Democrats” , that were known as “Dixiecrats” , eventually became members of the Republican party that we know today , tool………


  33. hanshiro the antlion says:

    14. ConservativeForProgress Says: This may be a sign of things to come in the US 2010 Republican Revolution.

    I think you mean 2010 Republican Revulsion…

    It’ll be like 2006 & 2008 deja vu all over again.


  34. ralph the wonder locust says:

    Ah, yes, C4Pee, utterly bereft of anything more recent to use to bolster his own sense of self-worth as Republican, reaches back only 165 years.

    Excellent work, Pee. Michael Steele surely has you on his radar.


  35. The Republic of Hymenoptera Stupidity says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:

    On this day in 1864, [...] seven months later and ratified within the year.
    __________

    Gee…

    ***thoughtful pause…***

    That was ONLY 145 years ago…

    So… which members of the Republican Party that did that are still active in party politics today? And would Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh approve?


  36. RUCeriousMaggot! says:

    Giving each Alaskan a share of the money made from their natural resources is quite a bit differnt from

    remunerating those Alaskans whose livelihood was permanently taken from them by the Exxon Valdez incident.
    After years of court battling, the victims of that corporate greed/irresponsibility got virtual squat.


  37. ralph the wonder locust says:

    TRoHS! You missed a hell of a troll hunt this weekend. It was like TP stocked the compound with trolls incapable of flying above our knees.

    How’s the shoot going?


  38. ralph the wonder locust says:

    OOPs. It’s a little early to do math, apparently. Pee only reached back 145 years as TRoHS correctly notes.

    My apologies, Pee. 145 years is much less pathetic than 165 years.


  39. CageyCretin says:

    The Republic of Hymenoptera Stupidity Says:
    ConservativeForProgress Says:
    ” through punitive taxation of the financially successful”.
    While you’re at it, please qualify the use of the word “punitive” in that statement.

    That would be nice. I don’t know of anyone wanting “punitive” taxes — just that everyone pays their fair share.

    Remove the excessive “tax breaks”, eliminate the abused “tax shelters”, and definetley tax all monies sent into overseas accounts. For starters.

    Not “punitive” — rather, “fair”.


  40. hanshiro the antlion says:

    24.ConservativeForProgress Says: And so, Republicans entered the 1864 presidential campaign determined to defeat the Democrats’ pro-slavery policies once and for all. The 13th Amendment was passed by congressional Republicans seven months later and ratified within the year.

    And to celebrate, let’s toast the current black republican members of congress….

    *crickets…chirping* (’cuz there are none…)


  41. DRxJapanese Beetle says:

    I’m sorry, but my history is a little fuzzy.
    Which party did the “Dixie-crats” become?
    And of those descendants, whom do they normally vote for?

    Thanks.


  42. Zimzone says:

    C4Pee,
    President Obama is much more like Lincoln than any Republic President since then.

    How’s that working for you?…


  43. MCMetal says:

    DRxJapanese Beetle Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    I’m sorry, but my history is a little fuzzy.
    Which party did the “Dixie-crats” become?
    And of those descendants, whom do they normally vote for?

    Thanks.

    June 8th, 2009 at 9:56 am

    The Republican party ……..
    +
    Complete assh0les


  44. spencers mom says:

    Do you suppose C4Pee posted his daily talking points about the Repubs in 1864 then realized what a complete and total idiot he made of himself and left?

    Me neither.

    PEACE


  45. RantingTommy says:

    spencers mom Says:

    Do you suppose C4Pee posted his daily talking points about the Repubs in 1864 then realized what a complete and total idiot he made of himself and left?

    Me neither.

    PEACE

    he never realizes what a complete and total idiot he is


  46. CageyCretin says:

    hanshiro the antlion Says:

    But…. isn’t that Steele guy in charge of something or other? I mean, with Limbaugh’s approval, of course. And that Steele fellow, why he’s extremely interested in protecting the white males who might come before the SCOTUS…..

    hmmmm………? …… ??


  47. Chocolate Jesus says:

    > This may be a sign of things to come in the
    > US 2010 Republican Revolution.

    Bwhahahah. Most “Right wing” europeans would fit in well to the left of the democratic party of this country…I think its hilarious you have to look to foreign shores to see any hope for your pathethic party of religious kooks and corporate wh@res…you guys love to oursource jobs and now you have to outsource your hope to “right wing” europeans..
    good luck with that, if you want some indicia of things to come, look at demographics..the 2012 youth vote is not getting any smaller and its not tending republican..


  48. Chocolate Jesus says:

    >And to celebrate, let’s toast the
    >current black republican members
    > of congress….

    Here here,,a toast to Senator Ruckus (R) from the great state of Denial


  49. SJU90 says:

    Palin likes federal money that is “free”, no obligations – no responsibilities. I can handle that hypocrisy. Its typical of a state GOP official.

    However, the sanctimonious “this weakens us” crap is too much. Hey Sarah, last time I checked the possibility of Bin Laden launching an ICBM attack was pretty slim. Probably the same odds of Bin Laden executing a naval / land invasion of the lower 48. In your eyes, all war is conventional war. You are such a putz!


  50. ralph the wonder locust says:

    Pee is biologically determined to see taxes as “punitive”.

    That’s how wingnuts frame everything in public life — as a moral choice between punishment and reward.

    And they tend to favor punishment as a means of achieving their goals. They want to get Iran or North Korea to do their bidding? Their approach is to bomb the shit out of them.

    They want to eliminate abortions? their approach is to “punish” women who get pregnant by forcing them to have children they may be ill-equipped to raise.

    They want to combat the drug trade? Their response is to punish the small-time users by filling up our prisons with them, meanwhile raising the stakes for the traffickers, making the trade more lucrative and attracting the most dangerous characters to it.

    They want to combat poverty? Their response is to cut social programs to “force” people to find menial minimum-wage jobs to feed and house their families. That’ll teach ‘em.

    The only ones the want to reward are rich Republicans.

    Go figure.


  51. katy says:

    RUCeriousMaggot! Says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:
    On this day in 1864, …

    Yes, the Republican party originally stood for good stuff.
    Not the corporatist fascist party of today.

    well… until the Democratic Party / Johnson actually DID something about Equal Rights… then the ’southern democrats’ turned tail and ran to the republican party…

    history is complicated… even nuanced, at times…


  52. Chocolate Jesus says:

    >Giving each Alaskan a share of the money made
    >from their
    >natural resources is quite a bit differnt

    So you wouldnt be against giving ALL americans a share of money made from their natural resources? That wouldnt be welfare, right? Only if it comes in the form of healthcare?


  53. Chocolate Jesus says:

    I wonder if us texans could get some of that neato “non-welfare” type money from our share of the natural resources..its kinda weird that the only texan getting money from the federal government to fix his house is the successionist governor..


  54. Lora says:

    To spencers mom,

    As much as I hated Nixon, his administration also initiated some environmental measures that were fairly advanced for their times–so advanced that Dumbya tried some 30 years later to reverse or do away with them. He also almost accurately predicted that same sex marriage would be an issue for around 2000.
    You’re too kind to CfP, whose only recourse for praising the
    G(ang)O(f)P(erverts) is to use a fact dating back 145 years ago. Pathetic.

    spencers mom Says
    C4Pee, the Republican Party of the 1860s forward bears no resemblence to the racist wingnuttery that calls itself Republican today. Lincoln would be tagged “empathetic”, Teddy Roosevelt would be considered a tree hugger, hell, even Nixon would be considered an appeaser for talking with communist China.
    But nice try.
    PEACE


  55. RantingTommy says:

    CFP continues to display his ignorance

    One wonders if his ignorance is a result of his fear of research or is his cowardice a result of his ignorance


  56. Lora says:

    Hanshiro,
    Thanks for my second laugh of the day. (The first has nothing to do with politics or this site.)

    Hanshiro the antlion says:
    And to celebrate, let’s toast the current black republican members of congress….
    *crickets…chirping* (’cuz there are none…)


  57. ralph the wonder locust says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:

    That is an often repeated lie, MCMental. Almost all of the Dixiecrat politicians remained with the Democratic party. Of 17 Dixiecrat Senators, for example, only one switched to the Republican party. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixicrats

    And this is an often-repeated obfuscation.

    The “Dixiecrats” referred to were not restricted to politicians, as you’d like to do. It essentially refers to the voting populace.

    In order to claim that the vast majority of Dixiecrats remained in the Democratic Party, you would have to either

    a) claim they all moved to the Northeast or the Pacific Coast

    or

    b) claim that the Republicans don’t OWN the South.

    Truth is, Pee, the Dixiecrats were CONSERVATIVE Democrats. Always were. Once LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, they all started abandoning the Democratic Party, a shift that Nixon strategist Kevin Phillips made great use of in 1968 and 1972.

    Incidentally, there used to be liberal Republicans, too, back then.

    Those days are over.


  58. angels81 says:

    cfpee, is now a music critic. Wow! you really are talented. I’m sure RantingTommy is really impressed…NOT.


  59. RantingTommy says:

    lol, CFP must have been offended because he thought the song was about him

    park that SUV and learn how to drive, you silly redneck


  60. MCMetal says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    June 8th, 2009 at 10:07 am

    You’re going to claim Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond were always stupid Republicans , ConservativeExceptInMen’sRooms ?


  61. RantingTommy says:

    it’s ok angel, if my song offends people like CFP, I must be doing it right

    it’s kind of like a country “musician” complaining about the 9th Symphony having too many notes


  62. RantingTommy says:

    just like when CFP posts his nonsense here, we get to point and laugh at him


  63. angels81 says:

    Well CFPee, you really know your racists, seeing as you are one. I hope your party like’s being only a southeren states party. Have fun.


  64. RantingTommy says:

    hey CFP, just checked the album sales for last week

    sold 106 copies of the album with You Drive Too Slow on it

    how many copies did your latest album sell?


  65. MCMetal says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    We are all music critics, angels. When he posts his music site as his link, he volunteers himself for such criticism.

    June 8th, 2009 at 10:29 am

    And what exactly is it that you “play” ?

    The lottery ? The radio ?


  66. RantingTommy says:

    btw, that album is called “Seriously”

    it’s a bit of snark that is obviously over the head of small thinkers like CFP


  67. angels81 says:

    CFPee, but you have no talent for it. You know, tin ear, tin head.


  68. RantingTommy says:

    MCMetal Says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    We are all music critics, angels. When he posts his music site as his link, he volunteers himself for such criticism.

    June 8th, 2009 at 10:29 am

    And what exactly is it that you “play” ?

    The lottery ? The radio ?

    he’s a right winger, the radio plays him


  69. ralph the wonder locust says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:

    If you do your research, instead of listening to the same old often repeated lies, you will see that it was the Republican party that supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and that many Democrats tried to block it. In the House, Republicans stronly favored the bill 138 to 34; Democrats barely supported it 152-96. Republicans supported it in higher proportions than Democrats.

    If you had any intellectual integrity you would recognize that the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 was opposed by CONSERVATIVES, many of whom were Democrats, and supported by LIBERALS, many of whom at that time (until Reagan began the successful campaign to demonize them and Newtie finished it off).

    The Civl Rights struggle was a defining moment in American politics, and it split the parties even further down ideological lines — liberals to the Democrats and conservatives to the Republicans.

    You’re certainly welcome to celebrate the historical stands taken by your party’s once-liberal wing. Just be sure you know what point you’re making.


  70. RantingTommy says:

    notice how CFP skips right over the jazz link (the ACTUAL link to my main music) and cherry picks a song I did as a novelty

    typical of his dishonest style

    and STILL the song went over his head


  71. ralph the wonder locust says:

    ON Pee’s advice (when Pee states an opinion, one can reliably assume it’s wrong) I checked out Tommy’s site. I didn’t hear the track that Pee disparaged (and so, in a right-thinking world, praised) but I checked out some other stuff. Really good work, Tommy. Congrats.

    Thank Pee for creating another fan for ya.


  72. ralph the wonder locust says:

    RantingTommy Says:
    notice how CFP skips right over the jazz link (the ACTUAL link to my main music) and cherry picks a song I did as a novelty

    Much like Pee skips right over the arguments we post refuting his lame talking points and cherry picks his next lame talking point.


  73. RantingTommy says:

    thanks ralph

    if people like CFP start liking my music, I’ll have to change it

    of course, I don’t play country & western, so it may never happen


  74. ElBruce says:

    Apparently Palin cribbed much of her speech from an old one by Newt.

    .

    ConservativeForProgress Says:

    Giving each Alaskan a share of the money made from their natural resources is quite a bit differnt from “redistributing the wealth” through punitive taxation of the financially successful.

    Conservatives hate it just about as much, and in many economists eyes it’s the same thing.

    What do you think is the one real, substantive reason y’all hate Hugo Chavez so much? Because he claimed the oil and gas reserves instead of letting Exxon having it all, and socialized the profits from those natural resources. In short, he took them from being an exploited imperial subjugated state to working like Alaska does.

    In nearly every place where there are lots of natural resources, the “free market” method is to allow corporations to just take the resources away and make as much profit on them as they want; although the state might make a fee or tax revenue, it does not have ownership of the contents of its own land. In the capitalist mindset, this is the only right and just approach to it. To assume that the state owns its own resources is a socialist tenet: “control of the means of production.”

    Resources = profit. Profit to the people is exactly what you’re against.

    .

    ConservativeForProgress Says:

    I just listened to the worst song I have ever heard in my life.

    Since you’ve led us to respect your opinions so much, I’m sure your word as a music critic will carry just as much weight…


  75. MCMetal says:

    ConservativeForProgress Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    If they played that song at Gitmo, it would be considered torture.

    June 8th, 2009 at 10:39 am

    If you were allowed to speak there , everyone would be in absolute agony …….


  76. The Republic of Hymenoptera Stupidity says:

    ralph the wonder locust Says:

    TRoHS! You missed a hell of a troll hunt this weekend. It was like TP stocked the compound with trolls incapable of flying above our knees.

    How’s the shoot going?
    _____________

    I peeked in a couple of times, ralphie… pretty impressive.

    Ever hear of “The Marianas Turkey Shoot” from WW II?

    Shoot’s going well. We’re in Day 5 now (of the actual shooting…).


  77. RantingTommy says:

    wow, I guess I should thank CFP for getting more people to hear my music, in his attempt to put it down

    just another right wing plan that backfired


  78. angels81 says:

    CFPee, you know you really are a pig. You come on a political site and attack a poster for the music he makes and his talent. What the f**k have you ever done? I wish I had the mans talent, but a sorry peice of sh*t like you would never understand what its like to be a person with talent.


  79. RantingTommy says:

    If CFP would stay out of the left lane, he wouldn’t have so many people behind him singing “You Drive Too Slow”

    he thinks “Slower Traffic Keep Right” is a political instruction, so, being slower traffic, he veers to the right politically

    why are right wingers so slow?


  80. The Republic of Hymenoptera Stupidity says:

    ralph the wonder locust Says:

    You’re certainly welcome to celebrate the historical stands taken by your party’s once-liberal wing. Just be sure you know what point you’re making.
    ____________

    One could also ask him what DID happen to the GOOP… how did they ever morph into a bunch of clown like Mike Steele, Newt Gingrich, Twitterin’ Chucky Grassly, and perhaps the biggest… no, literally the BIGGEST of ‘em all… Rush Limbaugh.

    What does the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt have in common w THAT pathetic mob?


  81. RantingTommy says:

    CFP must have left to finish writing his latest symphony


  82. DNFP says:

    Republicans entered the 1864 presidential campaign determined to defeat the Democrats’

    And thus began a the party of hypocrisy.

    Anything to win an election.

    Going against your “core” principals for solely partisan reasons.

    Yea, we know your party better than you do, dum-bass.


  83. The Republic of Hymenoptera Stupidity says:

    Later all!!!

    Love to stick around and play Whack-A-Troll™ w/ ya, but got to get to work…


  84. DNFP says:

    just another right wing plan that backfired

    No! According the conprog, the right-wing is full of blacks, cuz everybody knows the regressives FREED the slaves, therefore their party is supported by a majority of them.

    R I G H T . . .


  85. DNFP says:

    Commentary: World’s biggest fish are dying

    By Ted Danson

    (CNN) — Today, Monday, June 8, we recognize the first U.N.-sanctioned World Oceans Day. The event comes after years of pressure from conservation groups and thousands of activists who clamored for everyone to know and understand what’s happening in our oceans.

    I became an ocean activist in 1987. It was the fifth year of “Cheers” and my family moved into a neighborhood that was on the water, in Santa Monica, California. One day I took my daughters to the beach to go swimming, but it was “closed” and I couldn’t answer my daughter’s question why.

    That’s really how it started. That and “Cheers” was paying me a lot of money and I felt I had better be responsible with it. So, I started to get involved.

    It turned out in our new neighborhood there was a fight to keep Occidental Petroleum from drilling 60 oil wells on Will Rogers State Beach in Los Angeles. They wanted to slant drill into the Santa Monica Bay. The fight was led by a man named Robert Sulnick and we became great friends and found a way to beat them.

    LINK


  86. NativeSon says:

    I think if more people read the first few pages of the book Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag that we would see a prompt end to the trouble in North Korea. How we can sit idly by and let these people continue to suffer is beyond me!


  87. stateofthedivision says:

    From an AP article:

    The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a challenge to the Pentagon policy forbidding gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, granting a request by the Obama administration.


  88. CZ-1 says:

    angels81 Says:

    This coming from the women who says she can see Russia from her kitchen window.
    June 8th, 2009 at 9:07 am

    Just to set the record straight, I don’t think Palin ever phrased it that way. I think that was how SNL Tina Fey phrased it. Palin said something about how from some parts of Alaska one can see Russia. But that is only true of the two isolated Diomede islands in the middle of the Bering Strait, far from mainland Alaska.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diomede_Islands


  89. ElBruce says:

    Hey, you guys gotta read this article on the Iranian election. Interesting stuff going on there.


  90. FOIA Gras says:

    “Reducing Alaska’s defense readiness in these perilous times is a show of weakness, it is not a sign of strength.”

    Actually, the real “show of weakness” is the outward expression of fear being issued by Alaska’s state Executive office. We may live in “perilous times” but let’s be realistic about for whom these times are perilous. Not included in those persons are citizens of a country whose government spends more on defense than all other nations combined.

    Alaskan upper lips should be quivering only because of the cold weather. Perhaps those of its leaders also have just cause for lack of a substantive policy for their constituents in lieu of abject fearmongering.


  91. stateofthedivision says:

    Rahm Emanuel had dinner with Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein last week. Did Rahm share President Obama’s penchant for private equity underwriters? Or did they talk about the good ole days, before Carlyle purchased LifeCare Hospitals from Rahm’s old client, GTCR Golder Rauner?

    http://peureport.blogspot.com/2009/06/rahm-rubenstein-break-bread.html

    http://stateofthedivision.blogspot.com/2008/12/political-links-to-hurricane-katrinas.html


  92. MapleStreet says:

    Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) “admonished the Obama administration on Saturday for proposing cuts to Alaska’s missile defense network….

    But wasn’t the missle defense network spurred on by the Cold War with Russia (and Russia since collapsed) ?

    Not to mention, look at how unprotected the North Dakota border is from Canadian missle attacks.

    Admittedly there are countries working on having better missles. The question is, is the Alaskan defense shield the best defense for the current situation !


  93. MapleStreet says:

    And let us not forget that the current Alaskan missle shield isn’t so much there to protect Alaska.

    Instead, it is there to intercept missles aimed at the more populated targets in the lower 48.



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