The Debate Last Night

An example of art imitating life...

Planet McCain

One of the better videos that I have seen on McSame lately.

McCain on Obama- 'That One'

Here is McCain's 'Dean Scream' moment last night

Bush Takes up Sword Dancing

While we pay, they play...

Obama Girl Returns for Iowa

She's back and ready to fight...

Benazir Bhutto on David Frost

An chilling interview that took place right after the first assassination attempt on her life. Here she talks about those who would like to see her dead. Play close attention to what she has to say.

John Edwards at the Heartland Presidential Forum

A clip of John Edwards at the recent Heartland Presidential Forum. He seems to be the only candidate that dares speak out about the out of control corporations and the many unfair business practices that have become commonplace today. Take a look...

I-35 Can Stop Homosexuality

Is this what the Christian Right has become today? Watch this video, starring Pat 'Diamond Mines' Robertson.

John Edwards- Born TV Ad

A great ad running in South Carolina.

Gap Profits Rise in Third Quarter

The AP reports that GAP 3rd Quarter Earnings rose 26% as marketing prices fell. According to the article:

Gap, which also operates Banana Republic stores, said it cut marketing expenses by about $75 million in the quarter, as planned.

On the sales side, one of the few bright spots came from online sales, which surged 36 percent to $247 million, from $182 million in the third quarter of last year. Gap operates online shoe store Piperlime, gap.com and other e-commerce sites.

The company ended the quarter with $1.7 billion in cash and investments. It repurchased 48 million shares during the quarter for $887 million -- part of a $1.5 billion share repurchase program announced in August.

Aggressive cost-cutting has reduced in 1,500 job cuts this year, and the company is reorganizing its North American real-estate holdings -- selling underperforming, older stores in aging markets and buying property in hot growth suburbs and urban retail centers.

The company opened 187 new stores this year and closed 127 stores, including closure or conversion of all Old Navy outlet stores, and the closure of all Forth & Towne stores, which targeted older women. Overall, the company increased store square footage by 2 percent.

Analysts peppered executives about the seemingly slow pace of the turnaround. Reorganizing the company's retail holdings could take years, but Murphy emphasized that the turnaround has already begun.

"Round one is just identifying what we're going to do, and then we focus on executing," he said.

The piece, of course, credits lower marketing costs, increased online sales and cost-cutting measures as being the driving forces behind this surge in profits. I wonder if one of these 'cost-cutting' measures was the cheap labor costs that Gap enjoyed from their use of child labor in sweatshops.

The Poor in Mississippi Lag Behind in Hurricane Aid

This story is a national disgrace. How can it be that after two years, citizens affected by the ravages of Katrina are still suffering and not receiving the help that they so desperately need?

Like the other Gulf Coast states battered by Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi was required by Congress to spend half of its billions in federal grant money to help low-income citizens trying to recover from the storm.

But so far, the state has spent $1.7 billion in federal money on programs that have mostly benefited relatively affluent residents and big businesses. The money has gone to compensate many middle- and upper-income homeowners, to aid utility companies whose equipment was damaged and to prop up the state’s insurance system.

Just $167 million, or about 10 percent of the federal money, has been spent on programs dedicated to helping the poor, mostly through a smaller grant program for lower-income homeowners.

And while that total will certainly increase, Mississippi has set aside just 23 percent of its $5.5 billion grant money — $1.25 billion — for these programs. About 37 percent of the residents of the state’s coast are low income, according to federal figures.

Mississippi is the only state for which the Bush administration has waived the rule that 50 percent of its Community Development Block Grants be spent on low-income programs, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the program. It is also the only state to ask for such waivers.

State officials, from Gov. Haley Barbour on down, insist that the state does not discriminate by race or income when it hands out aid to storm victims.

“We feel like we have programs in place to address all walks of life,” said Gray Swoope, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, which administers the federally financed grant programs.

Any delays in spending money on low-income projects have been caused by the complexity of creating the projects, said Donna Sanford, director of the disaster recovery program for the development authority. The state, Ms. Sanford said, “has done everything that we can to keep it on track and moving as fast as possible to meet the needs of everyone.”

They go on report the latest 'progress' being made

Because fewer applicants than expected applied for Mississippi’s assistance program, the state still has almost $2 billion left, some of which it plans to use for community development projects and for the port expansion.

The port, at the foot of Gulfport’s main street, flies a Chiquita banner under its American flag; fruit imports remain down but are bouncing back, though exports of frozen poultry have stopped since the storm destroyed the port’s refrigerated warehouses. The state says that the expansion will add about 1,000 jobs over the next five years, and that many of those will be reserved for low-income residents.

But some community advocates are dubious, noting that before the storm only 10 percent of the port jobs went to low-income residents. They also think the cost per job will be too high.

And they note that the port’s own master plan envisions a new tourist and casino development. “It’s not all about bananas,” said Reilly Morse, a lawyer for the Mississippi Center for Justice.

Mr. Morse and many others who oppose the port plan say the state should first ensure that all the families now living in more than 10,000 government trailers have a permanent place to live, that rental housing gets built and that all homeowners can repair their houses.

“I don’t have any problem with economic development and expanding the port, but not at the cost of people,” said James W. Crowell, president of the N.A.A.C.P. branch in Biloxi, just down the beach from Gulfport.

Hmmm...fewer applicants than expected filed for assistance and the state just happens to have a $2 billion dollar surplus. Wow. Tell that to the people still living in their toxic FEMA trailers.

Las Vegas CNN Democratic Debate

A clip of the opening of tonight's debate in Las Vegas...

Fox News Smears Daily Kos

First of all, I think it was a great move by Newsweek to add Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas to do commentary on the upcoming election. Of course, the right wing bobble heads were in a tizzy and wasted no time in denouncing this decision. Take a look at last night's Hannity and Colmes segment where even 'liberal' Juan Williams joined in on the fun.

Oh, and the usual hit words were there...Code Pink...MoveOn.org...'Far Left' Daily Kos...Even Monica Lewinsky comes out!




On a side note, Code Pink and MoveOn.org must be thrilled to be getting such much free publicity from these right wing shows.

Keith Olbermann- Bush and the Cost of War

This excellent commentary by Keith Olbermann on the outright hypocrisy of George Bush on the issue of 'fiscal responsibility' highlights one of the reasons that Olbermann's show has skyrocketed in the ratings.

As a side, how in the hell can 'conservatives' that care so much about taxpayer money and government waste lie silent while the country is being bankrupted by this crew?

Tom Tancredo- Be Afraid...Very Afraid

What ever happened to the politics of hope and a brighter future? Well, for the GOP, fear seems to be the only card that they ever play anymore. This ad by Tom Tancredo is perhaps the worst that I have seen in a long time. And note the explosion at the end...

Happy Christmas shopping!

John Edwards on Health Care

At least he calls out the hypocrisy of those in Congress who say that universal health is too expensive for us 'little people' but OK for them...

Republic of Georgia- Just Another Emergency

Much has been reported on the crisis and subsequent martial law emergency rule imposed in Pakistan, but not much has been reported on the latest imposition of martial law emergency rule in the Republic of Georgia. Troops on the streets, media shutdowns, ban on protests. Sadly, the common link in both of these cases is the fact the the United States has publicly backed both of these repressive measures. As Reuters reports,

The top U.S. official for the Caucasus praised Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on Sunday for his leadership over the last 4 years, but suggested he lift a state of emergency and restore an independent media.

In contrast some Western countries have criticised Saakashvili for a violent crackdown on opposition protests and the muzzling critical media last week.

"The president of Georgia has shown remarkable leadership," said Matt Bryza, assistant secretary of state for European affairs.

"For democracy to move forward and for the people of Georgia to restore their faith in the process, obviously these steps (lifting the state of emergency and restoring freedom of the press) need to be taken," he told Reuters.

"We trust in Georgia, the people of Georgia, the leadership of Georgia."

Of course, this one small detail regarding the Republic of Georgia could have something to do with all of the happy talk: the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. According to Wikipedia:

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (sometimes abbreviated as BTC pipeline) transports crude petroleum 1,768 kilometres (1,099 mi) from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It passes through Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia; and Ceyhan, a port on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, hence its name. It is the second longest oil pipeline in the world (the longest being the Druzhba pipeline from Russia to central Europe). The first oil that was pumped from the Baku end of the pipeline on May 10, 2005 reached Ceyhan on May 28, 2006.

The construction of the BTC pipeline was one of the biggest engineering projects of the decade, and certainly one of the biggest to have occurred anywhere in western Asia since the fall of the Soviet Union. The construction was largely overseen by David Woodward, BP Azerbaijan Associate President and his understudy Michael Townshend, Executive Director of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project.

The Caspian Sea lies above one of the world's largest group of oil and gas fields , but its full potential was not exploited under the Soviet Union due to a lack of investment and modern technology. This changed with the independence in 1991 of the countries around the Caspian Sea, when the Western oil companies were able to begin investing in the local oil industry. Caspian Sea oil production is forecast to rise rapidly to a maximum of about 1.5 million barrels (240 000 m³) per day, roughly equivalent to the petroleum output of Mexico, with reserves in the region estimated at around 220 billion barrels (35 km³) of oil – enough to meet the entire world demand for oil for eight years. (It should be noted, though, that it has been suggested that this is a gross overestimate, with Azerbaijan's oil reserves estimated by some to be a mere 32 billion barrels—5.1 billion m³.)

Funny how when you scratch the surface of just about anything these days, oil and pipelines seem to be peeking out from under the ground.


Take a look at what is going on in Georgia today. Imagine waking up one day and finding this going on around you...

Fox News- Let's Support Car Bombs!

Is this what passes for 'news' now?

Fox News- Bastion of Decency

Family values, moral values, blah..blah..blah..

John Edwards- Building in New Orleans

As a former resident of New Orleans, it has been sad to watch the Katrina saga go down the memory hole of most Americans. Some people are still living in deadly formaldehyde-laced FEMA trailers, others still displaced around the country while the government does nothing meaningful to help the situation. It has been astounding to see the silence that this issue has seen with the current Presidential hopefuls. That is, with the exception of John Edwards. Here is a recent clip of him in the Big Easy...