Headlines - Sunday

Grayson/Franken 2012.

 

 

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Well this is just freaking awesome! Thanks Dick and George: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO6vcsTyfqg&feature=player_embedded

 

I hope Lakhdar Boumediene sues the shit out of this country.

 

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Dan Froomkin: Why journalists shouldn't be defending Fox news

 

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From the patriots at Free Republic: 

In brief, the Baucus bill which passed out of committee will hurt you in several ways:

* You will have less money for buying firearms and ammunition...

* Anti-gun medical database that can be used to deny your right to purchase firearms...The federal government has already used medical diagnoses (such as PTSD) to deny more than 150,000 military veterans the right to own guns...

* Discrimination against gun owners. ObamaCare legislation in Congress will very likely empower anti-gun bureaucrats to deny medical reimbursements to individuals who engage in supposedly "dangerous" activities, like hunting or keeping loaded weapons for self-defense...  

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No racism to see here, just move along.

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Wingnuts freaking out over hate crimes act

Under the predictable headline Pedophile Protection Act Passes, Christianist news site WorldNetDaily is continuing to lie about the hate crimes act.

Commenters on Free Republic see more fuel for the coming second Civil War:

 

"This is an attempt to silence Christianity. They have no idea what a hornets nest they've opened up. I can't wait until the first pink tutu wearing gay opens fire on a Pastor's sermon. It WILL go to court and the 1st amendment WILL be used in defense. Going to come down one of 2 ways 1) the 1st amendment will be upheld and this 'law' will be declared unconstitutional or 2) the 1st amendment will become toilet paper and then CWII opens up as something a mite hotter than rhetoric in forums and chatrooms." 

 

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Privatizing death row?

 

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Frank Rich: In defense of the 'balloon boy' dad.

 

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Looks like trying to win hearts and minds has led to another "unfortunate incident."

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Four Afghans, including a child and two women, were killed Saturday when U.S. forces opened fire on a car in southern Kandahar city, police said.

A man in the car also was killed when a U.S. military convoy opened fire on the civilian vehicle, Kandahar police official Shah Agha told Reuters. He said a U.S. Special Forces convoy appeared to be involved. [...]

U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal, the new U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, issued a directive in July stressing the importance of avoiding civilian casualties, which have undermined support for the war against the Taliban.

Of course they could have been suicide bombers, even that kid. They are only Muslims after all, and we all know "those people" don't respect human life as much as we do here in America.

Seriously, though, what is our continued presence in Afghanistan gaining for us? I'd like to know that all the billions of dollars we are spending to keep troops over there are accomplishing something that will benefit Afghanis and Americans. Yet, as the years of our military occupation continue to trundle by without any sign of progress on any front, civilian or military, I find it harder and harder to justify our presence there. I'm sure the Russians could remind us how wonderful their adventure in nation building in Afghanistan went, but I suspect their leaders are taking too much glee in seeing us make the same mistakes that they did, only with more expensive toys.

Well, I'm sure there are tons of reasons for American forces to stay "over there" for the indefinite future. I'm just not convinced anymore that those reasons are good ones. Are you?

...... 

886 soldiers killed in Afghanistan. No estimate on how many Afghans are dead.

Meanwhile, this guy makes a surprise visit to NATO minister's meeting to lobby for escalation of the killing....

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And with victory just around the corner in Iraq....

twin Baghdad car bomb kills at least 90.

4,351 soldiers killed in Iraq.

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US drone kills another 27 in Pakistan.

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It's been 30 years...just how long does it take for prosperity to "trickle down"? http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-been-30-yearsjust-how-long-does-it.html 

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IF Obama doesn't manage to kill the public option, it's going to be administered by one or more private companies. A bad plan is worse than none at all, and if Cigna or UHC administer the public option, that's about as bad as it can possibly be.

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John McCain - 'tech troglodyte' and top recipient of telecom cash - unveils bill to block net neutrality. 

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/24/mccain-internet-freedom/

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An environmental albatross

Will Sherman writes:

Visiting the Midway Atoll, at the center of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, [Chris] Jordan took these disturbing photos of dead albatross chicks raised on a steady diet of plastic debris floating in the water: lighters, bottle caps and other colorful trash. He writes:

To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.

The rest of his fascinating, heartbreaking series here.

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Is Obama keeping his promises? http://www.newsweek.com/id/219371