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Hundreds of thousands of Iranians ask: 'Where is my vote?'
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 6: Politix
14 00:00 tipover [3] 
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7 00:00 Rambler in Virginia [] 
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3 00:00 M. Murcek [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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7 00:00 Mizzou Mafia [6]
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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3 00:00 Richard of Oregon [1]
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4 00:00 GirlThursday [3]
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Page 4: Opinion
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2 00:00 g(r)omgoru [3]
5 00:00 Besoeker [3]
3 00:00 JosephMendiola [8]
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Biden his time
The LA Times blog watches Sheriff Joe's schedule - so we don't have to.
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  that's some good snark. Nice catch, Sea:

After breaking ground at groundbreaking ceremonies in three states in two days last week and mis-speaking about the new $7-billion tunnel between New Jersey and New York, Vice President Joe Biden has decided to stay home in Wilmington, Del., today for what the White House describes as "private meetings." (See photo above.)

Now that the official ceremonial swearing-in season has slowed down, Biden apparently can do much of what his work is from home.

But as The Ticket reported urgently Saturday, Biden also took the entire weekend off in Wilmington, where economic stimulus funds are helping to remodel the railroad station that Biden used for all those decades he was in Congress, which regularly also works a grueling Tuesday-Thursday schedule.

On the other hand, President Obama, who was only 11 when Biden entered the Senate, put in a full day of golf Sunday. The media was kept away, however, so no photos of the lefty's swing.

Here's the official Monday schedule for Biden from the White House: "The Vice President is in Wilmington, DE. He has private meetings throughout the day."

That's actually a pretty good line to use with your boss, especially if you've run out of sick days: 'I've scheduled a full day of private meetings at home.' Anyway, in Joe's public absence, it's up to the rest of us today to pick up the slack.

-- Andrew Malcolm
Posted by: Frank G || 06/16/2009 7:46 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Drudge: ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE
On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Highlights on the agenda:

ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.

The network plans a primetime special -- 'Prescription for America' -- originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.

The Director of Communications at the White House Office of Health Reform is Linda Douglass, who worked as a reporter for ABC News from 1998-2006.

Late Monday night, Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Ken McKay fired off a complaint to the head of ABCNEWS:
Link will change.
Posted by: ed || 06/16/2009 17:56 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time to boycott ABC advertising. I haven't listened to ABC in years anyway. Time to Recall O as well. Like Europe a power change is in order for many reasons too numerous to mention.
Posted by: Dale || 06/16/2009 18:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Disgusting!

Note that ABC isn't even pretending to be fair and balanced anymore. All questions will be screened by ABC (and the Obama Administration) for content before being asked. No opposing questions or points will be made. When the GOP protested ABC answered basically: "Too bad".

You can bet that each and every 'question' will simply be a prop for Zero (and the TOTUS) to go on a 10-miniute speech about a subject making all sort of vague promises.

ABC will be Obama's 'Pravda' on steroids. And Charles Gibson probably won't even bother to wipe off his mouth afterwards.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/16/2009 18:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Just playing catch-up with MSNBC. Clinton had Monica, Obama has the mainstream media.
Posted by: DMFD || 06/16/2009 18:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Our constitution is written for free press as if the big government was going to crush free speech, a sound philosophy. I bet the authors of the constitution never dreamed the press would conspire control the government like this. This is more dangerous than a dictator!!
Posted by: 49 Pan || 06/16/2009 18:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Already they are being called ABC-DNC, and the irony is that they don't care. Indifferent to their lack of credibility, their only concern is that the FEC doesn't declare that they are in violation of election laws by providing free advertisement to one party and not the other.

Clearly, when the Republicans are back in power, one of their first acts should be busting up the major media cabal with antitrust law. If the market hasn't put them out of business already.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/16/2009 19:06 Comments || Top||

#6  I'd love to see the RNC buy time on another network to make their own "equal time". At the end, the trunks could remind their audience that Obama got a big contribution from ABC of free air time, but the Republicans pay their own way. Let's have the dualing infomercials.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 06/16/2009 19:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Time to stop calling it MSM, call it what it is: State-run Media.
Posted by: DMFD || 06/16/2009 19:25 Comments || Top||

#8  Our constitution is written for free press as if the big government was going to crush free speech, a sound philosophy. I bet the authors of the constitution never dreamed the press would conspire control the government like this. This is more dangerous than a dictator!! Pan

But you guys elected a Kenyan dictator. What the hell did you expect?

Bishop Ron McRae: Amen. I am so thankful. Could I ask her (Sarah Obama, Barak's paternal Grandmother), uh, about this, uh, his actual birthplace? I would like to see his actual birthplace when I come to Kenya in December. Uh, was she present when he was, when he was born in Kenya?

Kweli Shububia: He is asking her, he wants to know something was she present when he was born?

Translator: Yes. She says, “Yes she was! She was present when Obama was born.”

Bishop Ron McRae: Okay.
Posted by: Gomez Clomble9826 || 06/16/2009 19:38 Comments || Top||

#9  Agenda
Before
Credibility
Posted by: badanov || 06/16/2009 19:42 Comments || Top||

#10  ABC will be Obama's 'Pravda' on steroids.

More like TASS. The Noo Yawk Slimes is their "Pravda".
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 06/16/2009 19:58 Comments || Top||

#11  I really don't need to read nirther nonsense here.

U.S. Republicans better get their shit together, find a real leader and a real agenda.
Posted by: European Conservative || 06/16/2009 20:02 Comments || Top||

#12  We all knew the MSM was in bed with the communists. Now it is just the last chapter before the final act.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/16/2009 21:20 Comments || Top||

#13  Time to move to the next level of understanding: It is not "state-run media," it is a media-run state. Many on the right are fond of claiming that the mainstream media are the propaganda arm of the political left. It is really the other way 'round: the "left" as we know it today is the political arm of the Media-Industrial Complex.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 06/16/2009 21:58 Comments || Top||

#14  AC; I hadn't heard it put that way before but it rings true.
Posted by: tipover || 06/16/2009 22:47 Comments || Top||


People ticketed for parking in own driveways in Toledo
Time to play "Guess that party"...
TOLEDO, Ohio – Residents of Toledo, Ohio, are complaining that they received $25 tickets for parking their vehicles in their own driveways.

Mayor Carty Finkbeiner says he stands by the citations handed out last week by the Division of Streets, Bridges and Harbor.
Click on the link for Carty's previous apperances here. I mean, who could forget a goofy name like Carty Finkbeiner?
He says the tickets were issued under a city law against parking on unpaved surfaces, including gravel driveways.
...and it's "for the children".
During a news conference Monday, Finkbeiner ignored a reporter's question of whether the crackdown and fines were related to the city's budget crisis. The three-term mayor faces a recall vote in November. Critics have claimed he's wasted city money.

City Councilman D. Michael Collins calls the ticketing "Mickey Mouse nonsense." He has told residents he'll try to have the citations rescinded.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/16/2009 09:38 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There's one mayor who doesn't need to bother runnung again.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 06/16/2009 10:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Either that, or someone got their knickers in a twist over someone who lives there, and decided to "spread the joy" to everyone else in a lame attempt to CYA.

Hope they all get challenged in court.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 06/16/2009 13:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Councilman D. Michael Collins, whose district includes the homes where the tickets were issued, said he would make certain that the homeowners do not have to pay the $25 fine.

"I would hope the city would realize this was an exercise in insanity and rescind the tickets," Mr. Collins said. "Those who work for the mayor, it is like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, where those who are all insane flock together."

Mr. Collins said Ms. Frederick went on to private property and wrote the tickets without any authority. "The people ticketed would have to pay $50 to appeal a $25 ticket to a board that does not exist," Mr. Collins said.

He promised to pay the fines himself if they are not rescinded.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/16/2009 14:15 Comments || Top||

#4  OTOH, cities in SoCal have similar ordinances designed to prevent multiple families (read illegal aliens) living in one house. I suspect the problem in Ohio is more with poor white trash than illegal aliens and there might be some dispute about the definition of driveway but when they start parking on lawns it really does affect the property values of neighboring houses.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 06/16/2009 19:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Property values?

Sounds like a civil tort to me. Why's the city getting involved? Do they own property nearby?
Posted by: mojo || 06/16/2009 21:34 Comments || Top||

#6  This Mayor and ineffectual Council have made news before. It's clearly a case of Carty Finkbeiner syndrome. Beatings are in order
Posted by: Frank G || 06/16/2009 21:38 Comments || Top||

#7  So why doesn't the council just repeal the law? If they are united, they should be able to override the mayor's veto (assuming they have a veto/override in Toledo.)
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 06/16/2009 21:43 Comments || Top||


Full text of Obama's speech to the AMA conference
I am posting the link only - I have not read the speech and don't dare excerpt for fear of missing something important. Please RTFA before commenting - the comments here are to be ONLY for reaction to the contents of this speech. Thanks to the LA Times blog for supplying the transcript.
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'll restrict my comments to the central medical data base. It seems a sure thing that it will be cracked. Perhaps then we'll get a full medical history of our president. I'm also looking forward to medical files for David Letterman, John Murtha, Michael Moore... oh the list goes on and on! It's a veritible bottomless smut mine. Thank you, Mr. President for this new level of transparency.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 06/16/2009 10:39 Comments || Top||

#2  "Now, there are already voices saying the numbers don't add up. They're wrong."

First, lets all agree where the real money will come from. That 630 Billion in his “medical reserve fund” is from the Stimulus Boondoggle. You know…that borrowed money that America will be paying back for generations. Then there are the additional “revenue streams”. In other words…raise taxes. Tax the rich has a nice populist ring but even the rubes are catching on that this will effect every taxpayer.
But how about that nebulous-kinda confusing-never really defined-always changing-the dog didn’t bark-moving target called “Savings”. To help understand how this accounting works one may want to view how the Stimulus “saved” 150 thousand jobs as the total workforce lost about 1.6 million.
Now, three sources of cost containment that the CBO actually can score come from Health care providers, Health insurance, and Pharmaceutical companies. Obama likes to tell us how, when it comes to health care, “Quantity doesn’t equal quality”. And how “competition will keep insurance companies honest”. As well as, how the “drug makers need to pay their fair share”. That’s his folksy way of strong arming private business into limiting options, benefit reductions, and price controls. But don’t call this “Socialized Medicine”!
Posted by: DepotGuy || 06/16/2009 11:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Two words: black market...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/16/2009 16:36 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
CIA: What Leon said is not what Leon said
Nuthin to see here. Move it along...
(CNN) – A CIA spokesman is sharply downplaying Director Leon Panetta 's recent comments that appear to question whether former Vice President Dick Cheney is hoping for another terrorist attack against the United States. "The Director does not believe the former Vice President wants an attack," CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said in a statement to CNN. "He did not say that. He was simply expressing his profound disagreement with the assertion that President Obama's security policies have made our country less safe. Nor did he question anyone's motives."

The statement comes days after the New Yorker published an interview with Panetta during which he said Cheney's recent criticism of Obama – including the decision to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba – show the ex-vice president "smells some blood in the water on the national security issue. It's almost, a little bit, gallows politics," said Panetta. "When you read behind it, it's almost as if he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point."
See. He didn't say that.
Cheney's office released a terse statement from the vice president Monday responding to the comments, saying "I hope my old friend Leon was misquoted. The important thing is whether or not the Obama Administration will continue the policies that have kept us safe for the last 8 years," Cheney said.

Vice President Joe Biden also appeared to distance himself from Panetta's comments Sunday, telling NBC "I don't question [Cheney's] motive."
Joe's probably just glad someone else is on the hook for once...
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/16/2009 10:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "These are not the Panettas you are looking for."
/waves hand
Posted by: SteveS || 06/16/2009 12:26 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder if Obama knew that Panetta and Cheney were "old friends" when he nominated him?
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 06/16/2009 13:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Would the real Panetta please stand up and explain what he had said and what he had meant by it? I'm tired of the habit that this administration has of having someone else explain what the speaker of something controversial actualyy said and meant. Leon is a big boy. He can do a much more credible job of explaining himself than any mouthpiece can. I suspect that his mouth ran a couple of steps ahead of his brain. He knows better than to say that any former VP wants the US to be attacked. I can forgive him a misstatement, but it's hard to swallow a cop out like this.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 06/16/2009 15:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Talk to me about mirandising detainees, Panetta?
Posted by: newc || 06/16/2009 18:37 Comments || Top||

#5  guess he lied to them just like the CIA lies to Nancy?

Or did that ever get settled?

Leon?
Leon?
Bueller?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/16/2009 19:24 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2009-06-16
  Hundreds of thousands of Iranians ask: 'Where is my vote?'
Mon 2009-06-15
  Tehran Election Protest Turns Deadly: Unofficial results show Ahmedinejad came in 3rd
Sun 2009-06-14
  Ahmadinejad's victory 'real feast': Khamenei
Sat 2009-06-13
  Mousavi arrested
Fri 2009-06-12
  Iran votes: Not a pretty sight
Thu 2009-06-11
  Gitmo Uighurs in Bermuda
Wed 2009-06-10
  Foopy becomes first Gitmo boy to stand trial in US
Tue 2009-06-09
  Truck bomb and gunnies attack 5-star Peshawar hotel
Mon 2009-06-08
  March 14 Maintains Parliamentary Majority in Record Turnout
Sun 2009-06-07
  30 MILF banged, camp seized
Sat 2009-06-06
  32 dead in mosque Pakaboom
Fri 2009-06-05
  Sufi Muhammad arrested
Thu 2009-06-04
  Three killed in renewed Hamas-PA clashes in Qalqiliya
Wed 2009-06-03
  Hafiz Saeed sprung
Tue 2009-06-02
  NKor names Kimmie's successor


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