Faux News: The Parade of Ignorance
Labels: fox news sucks
Today, the Senate brought the Intelligence Authorization Bill to the floor, which contained a provision from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) establishing one interrogation standard across the government. The bill requires the intelligence community to abide by the same standards as articulated in the Army Field Manual and bans waterboarding.
Just hours ago, the Senate voted in favor of the bill, 51-45.
Earlier today, ThinkProgress noted that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a former prisoner of war, has spoken strongly in favor of implementing the Army Field Manual standard. When confronted today with the decision of whether to stick with his conscience or cave to the right wing, McCain chose to ditch his principles and instead vote to preserve waterboarding:
Mr. McCain, a former prisoner of war, has consistently voiced opposition to waterboarding and other methods that critics say is a form torture. But the Republicans, confident of a White House veto, did not mount the challenge. Mr. McCain voted “no” on Wednesday afternoon.
Labels: john mccain sells out.
Roger Clemens struggled to find the right words under questioning during a congressional hearing Wednesday and denied new accounts of drug use made against him by former teammate and close friend Andy Pettitte.
Using words like “misremembered” and mispronouncing the last name of his chief accuser, Brian McNamee, Clemens rambled and stumbled during his early remarks on Capitol Hill.
Clemens’ reputation and legacy were on the line, and there was the possibility that criminal charges could follow after the seven-time Cy Young winner testified.
Labels: congressional hearing, liar, mitchell report, roger clemens
Roger Clemens will be confronted with a new and damaging affidavit from Andy Pettitte when he appears before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday to testify about allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs, two lawyers familiar with the matter said late Tuesday.
Clemens made final preparations Tuesday to testify that he never took performance-enhancing drugs.
Clemens will also be asked about corroborating information that committee staff members developed on their own that ties Clemens to such drugs, the lawyers said. That information, they said, stands separate and apart from the assertions made about Clemens by his former personal trainer, Brian McNamee, who contends that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone from 1998 to 2001.
The two lawyers familiar with what may be confronting Clemens at the hearing spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. They would not reveal details of the new Pettitte affidavit or of the new information obtained apart from McNamee’s assertions.
“The committee is not messing around and has other damaging evidence against Roger,” one of the lawyers said.
The other lawyer said, “Andy said enough to really hurt Roger.”
Labels: fox news sucks, lamar alexander a democrat, mark foley as a democrat, mccain labeled as democrat
The state's largest for-profit health insurer is asking California physicians to look for conditions it can use to cancel their new patients' medical coverage.
Blue Cross of California is sending physicians copies of health insurance applications filled out by new patients, along with a letter advising them that the company has a right to drop members who fail to disclose "material medical history," including "pre-existing pregnancies."
"Any condition not listed on the application that is discovered to be pre-existing should be reported to Blue Cross immediately," the letters say. The Times obtained a copy of a letter that was aimed at physicians in large medical groups.
The letter wasn't going down well with physicians.
"We're outraged that they are asking doctors to violate the sacred trust of patients to rat them out for medical information that patients would expect their doctors to handle with the utmost secrecy and confidentiality," said Dr. Richard Frankenstein, president of the California Medical Assn.
Patients "will stop telling their doctors anything they think might be a problem for their insurance and they don't think matters for their current health situation," he said. "But they didn't go to medical school, and there are all kinds of obscure things that could be very helpful to a doctor."
WellPoint Inc., the Indianapolis-based company that operates Blue Cross of California, said Monday that it was sending out the letters in an effort to hold down costs.
Labels: Blue Cross of California, healthcare reform, WellPoint Inc
"Don't you Fox on me," anchor Shepard Smith snapped at a guest after what seemed a fairly innocuous barb about Fox News fired him up.
Afternoon anchor Smith briefly lost his cool Wednesday during an interview with Naomi Wolf, author of The End of America. A Republican talking head also appeared on Smith's show.
Wolf observed that Democrats didn't have to "hold our nose and walk into the [voting] booth," and as she tried to finish her answer Smith jumped in.
"So you were holding your nose walking into the booth with John Kerry, the last time? You were holding your nose walking into the booth with Bill Clinton?" he asked, as GOP strategist Kellyanne Conway laughed in the background. "When was the nose-holding exactly, if you could pin it down for me?"
Wolf began to explain, without explicitly bad-mouthing Clinton or Kerry, and Smith returned to the subject at hand. "You said, the nose-holding; I just want to know when the nose-holding was."
"This is why I love Fox News," Wolf said sarcastically.
That, apparently was too much for Smith.
"No, no, no. That is unfair. You said it, I didn’t say it! You said you were holding your nose when you went in the booth, and I asked you when," Smith said, wagging his finger at the camera. "That’s fair. And anybody who doesn’t ask you that is not being fair. I’d like an answer please. You did it. Don’t you ‘Fox’ on me. Ever."
Wolf explained that she was glad about the historic prospects in this election, where for the first time the Democratic nominee will be a woman or a black man.
Later in the program, Smith apologized for his outburst.
"I want to apologize to you for pointing my finger at you. I just get tired of people like you saying every time you're challenged on something that you say that it's something about Fox," he said. "It's not something about Fox. I don't have a horse in this race and for you to suggest such a thing is both inaccurate and insulting."
Labels: Don't you Fox on me, fox news anchor, shepard smith meltdown
With rapidly advancing technology spreading across the globe, US spies are shifting their focus from surreptitiously photographing secret Soviet documents to trolling the Internet for what could be the next key nugget of foreign intelligence.
Among the most valuable sources, one top spook says, are blogs, MySpace and other Web 2.0 hallmarks.
"We're looking now at YouTube, which carries some unique and honest-to-goodness intelligence," Doug Naquin, director of the CIA's Open Source Center said in a recent speech to CIA retirees.
The speech was posted this week on SecrecyNews, the blog of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy.
President Bush strongly defended U.S. interrogation practices for detainees held in the war on terrorism Monday, insisting, We do not torture."
The Bush administration has proposed exempting employees of the Central Intelligence Agency from a legislative measure endorsed earlier this month by 90 members of the Senate that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoners in U.S. custody.
The proposal, which two sources said Vice President Cheney handed last Thursday to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the company of CIA Director Porter J. Goss, states that the measure barring inhumane treatment shall not apply to counterterrorism operations conducted abroad or to operations conducted by "an element of the United States government" other than the Defense Department.
The CIA has for the first time publicly admitted using the controversial method of "waterboarding" on terror suspects.
CIA head Michael Hayden told Congress it had only been used on three people, and not for the past five years.
He said the technique had been used on high-profile al-Qaeda detainees including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Waterboarding, condemned as torture by rights groups and many governments, is an interrogation method that puts the the detainee in fear of drowning.
Cheney said that he supported President Bush's national security decisions, which included the approval of waterboarding along with other harsh interrogation tactics. "I've been proud to stand by [Bush], by the decisions he's made," said Cheney, who then asked aloud, "Would I support those decisions today?"
"You're damn right I would," he answered.
Waterboarding is necessary though probably not legal, CIA Director Michael Hayden told Congress Thursday as Attorney General Michael Mukasey said he would not open a criminal investigation into the CIA's use of the technique.
Strapping a person to a surface, covering their face with cloth and pouring water on their face to imitate the sensation of drowning could be used if "an unlawful combatant is possessing information that would help us prevent catastrophic loss of life of Americans or their allies," said Hayden.
"In my own view, the view of my lawyers and the Department of Justice, it is not certain that that technique would be considered lawful under current statute," he told the House Intelligence Committee after publicly disclosing that the CIA had used waterboarding on three of the enemy combatants.
Labels: bush, cheney, CIA director Michael Hayden, geneva convention, torture
Labels: chuck norris, gop nomination, john mccain, mike huckabee
Labels: mitt romney quits
Colorado Springs Gazette:
New Life Church said Tuesday that former pastor Ted Haggard has prematurely ended a “spiritual restoration” process begun when he was fired for sexual misconduct.
Haggard was fired from New Life Church and resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals in November 2006 after a former male prostitute alleged they had a cash-for-sex relationship. The man also said he saw Haggard use methamphetamine.
Haggard confessed to undisclosed “sexual immorality” and said he bought meth but didn’t use it.
New Life said in a written statement that “the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete and (New Life) maintains its original stance that he should not return to vocational ministry.”
Labels: homosexual, methamphetamine user, National Association of Evangelicals, New Life Church, Ted Haggard
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) — A woman pulled over for allegedly running a red light had a 24-pack of beer strapped in with a seat belt but had a 16-month-old girl unrestrained in the back seat of her car with the toddler's mother, authorities said.
Tina D. Williams, 46, was arrested Sunday after she was pulled over in St. Augustine. She was charged with driving under the influence, child abuse, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving without a valid license, a jail official said. Williams remained in the St. Johns County jail Tuesday after bail was set at $31,000. The jail did not have the name of her attorney.
A 24-pack of Busch beer was strapped in the passenger-side seat belt, according to an arrest report.
Labels: 24 pack of beer in seat belt, Fla., St. Augustine, Tina D. Williams
BUFFALO, N.Y. - A collection agency tried to collect a $16.96 debt with an letter that addressed its recipient with a four-letter word for excrement. "Dear S---," began the letter, attempting to collect from an old record club membership. The word was spelled out in the letter, which arrived in an envelope addressed to "S--- Face."
"I've never seen anything quite so brazen," said attorney Kenneth Hiller.
He said his client plans to sue Nationwide Collections Inc. of Fort Pierce, Florida, next week.
Under U.S. law, debt collectors are not allowed to use profanity to collect a debt, Hiller said, nor are they supposed to threaten legal action over such a small amount.
Nationwide President Phillip McGarvey said the October 2007 letter was automatically generated after his company bought about 350,000 Columbia House accounts. "S--- Face" is the name under which the account was opened and the way the coupon to start the club was filled out, he said.
Labels: $16.96, columbia house, nationwide collections, s face