Friday, June 27, 2008

Time Out

Sorry for the lack of posts.  It’s been really busy around here. Trying to figure out my future, Enjoying the new granddaughter, Cleaning closets, etc.  Posts will resume when I’m back on a computer that doesn’t take five minutes to process a simple command! <G>

Friday, June 20, 2008

The 'bama Bounce

Going into the weekend, we have new numbers to play with:

Poll: Obama Vaults To 15-Point Lead Over McCain

Barack Obama might just be getting his post-primary national bounce. A new poll from Newsweek gives him a 51%-36% lead over John McCain, up from a 46%-46% tie a month ago. Obama is helped by some key statistics. Five-five percent [...]

Obama Has Some Studying To Do

Or, there's a really bad communication problem within the campaign. Positions on issues, like this one, really need to be known.

Sounds of Silence

Obama's spokesman still doesn't know his candidate's position on the new FISA bill that passed the House today. The Senate vote is next week [...]

UPDATE:

Obama Backs Bill Giving Immunity To Telecoms

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has released a statement stating that while he opposes amnesty for telecom firms that spied on Americans, he will support the House compromise legislation. The statement in full: [...]

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Big Story Of The Day

Sort of.  It really became more about politics than about ethics and lies.

McClellan Details Bush Administration Credibility Gap

In testimony on Capital Hill, former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan basically painted a portrait of an administration that created its own credibility gap — and a White House response to his testimony further underscored why [...]

Another McCain-ism

Hate to play “gotcha” so frequently with Mr. McCain, but he's certainly giving us ample opportunity to do so.

Can McCain Find A Single Economist To Back His Claim That Offshore Drilling Will Lower Gas Prices?

Our guest blogger is Adam Jentleson, the Communications and Outreach Director for the Hyde Park Project at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The government’s official source for energy statistics says that offshore drilling will not have a “significant impact” on gas prices until 2030. McCain’s own campaign admits that offshore drilling will have [...]

An "Oooops" From The Other Side

Well now!  Another old video.  Another old comment.

John McCain: I Didn’t Really Love America Until…

Dan Abrams has uncovered a video of John McCain saying… “I really didn’t love America until I was deprived of her company.” This has the potential to upend this campaign. Given the criticism of Michelle Obama’s remarks about pride, how can the right still press the patriotism of the Democratic candidate’s wife when the Republican candidate himself [...]

Finally Friday

And, you know, it just couldn't get here fast enough! It's one of those days where the clouds are hanging around, threatening to rain.  A little rain wouldn't hurt around here, unlike for our neighbors to the north where floodwaters continue to be a problem.

And, no surprise here, Americans aren't happy.  Not at all.

Eight in 10 Americans say country is headed in the ‘wrong direction.’

A new AP-Ipsos poll finds that nearly eight in 10 Americans believe “the country is moving in the wrong direction…amid soaring food and gas prices, falling home values and unending war. Just 17 percent say the country is going in the right direction.” This figure is the lowest since the survey began in 2003, and [...]

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

Question Of The Day

Oh, what a great poll! And, of course, it comes from our friends at Fox News.  Surprised?

Fox News asks voters, ‘How much do you think Barack Obama loves America?’

There’s something eminently entertaining about Fox News polls, in large part because the network includes questions in its polls that no other news outlet would even consider. In this case, that’s not a compliment. In the poll (.pdf) released this afternoon, the big question, of course, was about the horserace in the general election. Fox News [...]

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FEMA’s Latest Foible

You just had to know that there would be FEMA issues in the upper midwest. It was only a matter of time.

Midwest flood victims feel misled by feds

Juli Parks didn't worry when water began creeping up the levee that shields this town of about 750 from the Mississippi River _ not even when volunteers began piling on sandbags. After all, FEMA and local officials had assured townspeople in 1999 that the levee was sturdy enough to withstand a historic flood. In fact, some relieved homeowners dropped their flood insurance, and others […]

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Friends In High Places

It’s only natural to take advantage of business and personal relationships. We all do it.  Still, it’s just not right when deals like this one come together.

Iraq, and Big Oil, and no-bid contracts … oh my

Dear Iraq, sorry the war hasn’t gone well. But now that the surge is wrapping up, we hope you won’t mind that we need several dozen permanent bases in your country. Oh, and did we mention that we’ll need you to approve some no-bid contracts for our oil companies, too? After all, what’s a few [...]

Non-Compromise

Here we go again.  Another “compromise” that simply walks back from what the dems were elected to do in Congress.

‘Compromise’ reached on surveillance powers, retroactive immunity gets green light

We knew this “compromise” was in the words, but it doesn’t make today’s announcement any less disappointing. After more than a year of partisan acrimony over government surveillance powers, Democratic and Republican leaders have agreed to a bipartisan deal that would be the most sweeping rewrite of spy powers in three decades. The House is likely [...]

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Digging For The Truth

Just waiting for the next roadblock.

House Oversight Committee Issues Subpoenas to FBI for Bush, Cheney Interviews on Plame

Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee have subpoenaed notes of an FBI interview with George Bush and Dick Cheney in the Oval Office on June 24, 2004, about their role in the unmasking of a CIA anti-WMD [...]

Big Doings, Friday

Make a mental note for Friday.  Scott McClellan spills his political guts before a House committee. And there's some squirming going on already...

GOP Insiders Fret About What Former White House Spokesman Will Say

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's testimony [...]

Drilling For Oil

At first, I was beginning to go along with the President's oil drilling idea, unveiled this morning. I was figuring we really do need to go looking for every little  bit of crude oil we might have hidden away under American soil or water.  I can't avoid looking at the signs at every gas station I drive by, I guess it's the same thing as looking at a car crash or a train wreck.  Who would have thought that we'd be seeing $4 a gallon gas? Somebody, somewhere, should have seen this coming.  And something should have been done to ward it off. But, there was no anticipation, no planning, no changes.   And, here we are, talking about something that, apparently, isn't going to make a bit of a difference.

Bush Disagrees With His Own Energy Dept, Claims Drilling In Arctic Refuge Will ‘Bring Enormous Benefits’

This morning in the White House Rose Garden, President Bush called on Congress to “pass good legislation as soon as possible” that would lift the federal ban on exploring the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and allow states to permit offshore oil drilling. Bush said in order to relieve the “painful level” of gas prices, “our [...]

Not Afraid To Speak Out

It's always refreshing to see a television journalist who's not afraid to buck the establishment and speak out about an issue.  CBS's Lara Logan has always been outspoken about what she perceives as a lack of real reporting out of Iraq. Take a couple of minutes and watch her appearance on The Daily Show last night, via Crooks and Liars:

The Daily Show: Lara Logan on the US media: ‘I’d just blow my brains out because it would drive me nuts.’

Lara Logan is a big C&L favorite because she’s been in a war zone and not backed down from right wing narratives. She joins Jon Stewart and rocks the house down with this astute observation of the American media...Stewart: Do you watch the news that we’re watching? Logan: No Stewart: …in the [...]

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Keeping Up

I've been busy elsewhere, so posts have been a bit sporadic. Here's to trying to get back on track! 

And War Crimes for All...

Read this incredible article by Warren Strobel of McClatchy Newspapers 'The U.S. military hid the locations of suspected terrorist detainees and concealed harsh treatment to avoid the scrutiny of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to documents that a Senate committee released Tuesday. "We may need to curb [...]

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

More Bad Press

I'd been avoiding this story, but it's managed to sneak it's way out to the world.  So, without further ado, please know that I'm with those who think this is simply tragic.  Stupid. Outlandish. We have two dogs, so I'm prejudiced. Still, what is the line of thinking that allows this..

Who let the dogs out?

The entire blogosphere is learning about Helena-West Helena Mayor James Valley. Today's report on Wonkette: "Arkansas, our greatest state, has produced our nation’s favorite fat politicians (Mike Huckabee and Bill Clinton) while not really being part of Western Civilization. Proof? Mayor James Valley, “of Helena-West Helena,” just shut down his town’s animal shelter and set all the dogs loose in [..]

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Monday, June 16, 2008

Monday's Random Thoughts

From a meandering mind:

We're all trying to save money.  I've stumbled on a couple of well-done internet sites that really do seem to help! First of all, check out www.thegrocerygame.com. Also, try www.couponmom.com. Both work on the same principle - you save all the coupons from the Sunday papers, etc and the sites help you use them when the stores already have the items on sale! Both are handy for stockpiling necessities. There's a small charge for thegrocerygame site, but couponmom is free. The first is a bit better organized and easier to use, but the latter incorporates more stores.  Try them both. I've been doing thegrocerygame for a couple of months and have hit savings as high as 57% on a trip to the local supermarket, shopping only for things I know we'll use or for things to stockpile (toothpaste, TP, etc). By the way, I get nothing for sending you to either site. Just trying to help.

Keep my friends in Iowa in your thoughts. The flood waters are going down, but things are still a real mess.  The crew at KCRG continues to do a marvelous job and their live coverage is still on the internet.

And, a bit of politics, as usual.

Buried In A Senate Report, New Revelations About Pre-War Deception

A previously undisclosed CIA report written in the summer of 2002 questioned the "credibility" and "truthfulness" of an Al Qaeda detainee who became a key source for the Bush administration's claims about links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Fathers' Day Winding Down

Nice one around here.  Had a wonderful phone chat with my day, then our kids had us over for a barbecue and now we're home.

Earlier today, I was skimming through some DVD's old old news programs I'd done a couple of years ago.  March of 2006, and was taken aback by the business segments, where our market analyst was commenting on 60 dollar a barrel oil and how it needed to be back down to 50 to make the market happy.  HA! Now, we're looking at 150! Two short years. Memories.  Memories

Ugly Economy Is Back To The 1970s

Not since the 1970s has the U.S. economy faced such an ugly combination of a persistent energy shock, a looming recession threat and menacing inflation that stays stubbornly high -- even in the face of a screeching slowdown in growth. This combination has the Federal Reserve, charged by law with [...]

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Saturday, June 14, 2008

Laugh A Little

We all could use it  Trust me. It's cute.

Dustbuster
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Cross-Posting

I'm going to go back to cross-posting here and at the old blog, over at http://krilefiles.blogspot.com.  Blogger's platform has improved over the past few months and it allows for more flexibility than the wordpress.com platform. So, unless something blows up, I'll probably flip this blog back to the blogspot address next week. So, set your bookmarks, now!  And, of course, if you come in through www.dougkrile.com you'll be in good shape.  The transition will be seamless.

One quick military note this Saturday afternoon/evening:

Denied Vet Benefits Because VoteVets member

Go read this DailyKos diary: Military Declares War On Obama, VoteVets. A veteran was denied PTSD benefits by the VA because he was a VoteVets member.I don't know what's more troubling - that the VA [...]

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