...it is being reported that Sarah Palin is abruptly leaving her post as Alaska's Governor before the end of this month, presumably to begin preparing to run as the Republican nominee for President in 2012.
Mountaintop removal coal mining is the worst environmental tragedy in American history. When will the Obama administration finally stop this Appalachian apocalypse?
My father visited Appalachia in 1966 and was so horrified by strip mining -- then in its infancy -- that he made it a key priority of his political agenda. He complained that Appalachia, with our nation's richest natural resources, was home to America's poorest populations, its worst education system, and its highest illiteracy and unemployment rates. These statistics are even grimmer today as mining saps state wealth.
He bears his father's name.
And if you do nothing else this morning, please stop and read the op ed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Update: Politico just reported that the Washington Post had canceled the pay-to-play events. Check it out here.
The Guardian UK found here that The Washington Post (WAPO), our region's paper of record, has apparently descended into the abyss. An article today from the Guardian shows that WAPO has apparently planned events for industry organizations to have exclusive access to Obama administration insiders. Apparently, WAPO publisher Katherine Weymouth plans to host and sell access to these event/dinners at her home.
The Guardian article also reveals "the whole thing came to light in a flier aimed at health care companies at a time when the White House is planning a major reform of the industry." So, here's WAPO at the ready to help you or your company gut health care reform and no one will be the wiser! Guess they shouldn't have made up those fliers. OR were the citizens the only folks who weren't in on the joke?
I am putting this directly on front page, given breaking nature of this news. It is a press release from Tom Perriello's office:
Roanoke TV Station Refuses to Air False NRCC Attack on Perriello
WDBJ-TV, a Roanoke television station, refused to air a false National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) attack ad on Congressman Tom Perriello (VA-05). The false NRCC ad used information about the clean energy jobs bill that the independent, nonpartisan organization FackCheck.org called "wrong."
"The NRCC has a track record of running ads so deceptive and misleading that local TV stations refuse to air them or have to remove from the airwaves," said Jessica Santillo, Southern Regional Press Secretary. "Clearly, Washington Republicans realize that the truth is not on their side so they resort to deceptive and false attack ads. Virginians deserve to hear the facts about how this bill will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, not be subject to scare tactics."
It's broken record time. And I won't stop until we win this fight against special interests. Things have changed little since I posted on the subject a week ago. Distraction predominates. The media is abuzz with tales of Mark Sanford's escapade and pitiful talk of "soul mates" (as if his romps had anything to do with "soul mates)." In addition, media outlets give up-to-the-minute updates on Michael Jackson, even though his very sad demise was last week. Time is not of the essence on the Michael Jackson story, but it is on health care. You would think that no one is threatening to flush health care reform into the bowels of the Senate. We don't need specials on MSNBC on "the will," as MSNBC is giving us (instead of Rachel Maddow) as I write this.
The 70-year old Mr. Madoff is being put away for two lifetimes as punishment for illegally looting his fellow-travelers on life's journey. Now begins the fruitless analyses, the breathless gossip, even the spiteful but all-too-typical blame-the-victims-not-the-perpetrator orgy. When you think about it, how could anyone fall for hot tips from a guy named made-off (like a thief in the night)? Wouldn't the very name give one a subliminal message to be wary? As for me, I'm not into that. I wonder, did Mr. Madoff get nervous once he'd embarked on his accumulating scam? Did his doctor worry about Bernie's blood pressure? Did he get an addictive adrenaline jolt as he inched out further and further along the high wire of deception? Did he, say, enjoy what he was doing (just didn't enjoy getting caught, so now he blubbers contrition)?
What I am is, well, curious, like going to an aquarium and descending to the far bottom level to stare at the exotic deep sea creatures with their fantastical shapes, weird color patterns, under-shot jaws with jutting sabre-teeth, a tiny light dangling from their foreheads, alien, frightening, uglier than sin. Then I realize that these strange creatures and I share some of the same DNA because we both spring from the same long-ago speck of replicating life here on Earth. We are cousins. So, too, are Bernie and I, you and I and Bernie, even closer cousins.
No one seems to know how old Mohammed Jawad was when he was seized by Afghan forces in Kabul six and a half years ago and turned over to American custody. Some reports say he was 14. Some say 16. The Afghan government believes he was 12.
The penultimate paragraph
There is no credible evidence against Jawad, and his torture-induced confession has rightly been ruled inadmissible by a military judge. But the Obama administration does not feel that he has suffered enough. Not only have administration lawyers opposed defense efforts to secure Jawad's freedom, but they are using, as the primary basis for their opposition, the fruits of the confession that was obtained through torture and has already been deemed inadmissible - without merit, of no value.
Read the column. I have words to offer below, but they will not matter if you read the column
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