skippy the bush kangaroo

Labels: holiday, pirates, politicians, politics

or, if you prefer (or are Rich Lowry):

Labels: Balloon Juice, John Cole, music, politics

owners of the iowa egg production company that has voluntarily recalled millions of eggs linked to salmonella outbreaks were significant donors in opposition to a 2008 california ballot measure that restricted cage confinement of poultry.

california’s proposition 2, which was overwhelmingly passed by that states voters but doesn’t go fully into effect until 2015, required that “calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens and pregnant sows be confined only in ways that allow the animals to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely.” advocates of the measure took special exception to treatment of hens, which they described as being “crowded into small wire cages” that were “stacked to the ceiling in the name of efficiency and profits.” the egg industry countered that the cages protect hens from disease and from their tendency for flight.

each side spent millions to sway california voters, and at least 13 iowa companies with ties to the egg industry donated in an effort to defeat the new confinement regulations. the largest donation from iowa — $100,000 in september 2008 — came from a tiny real estate company called galt real estate. according to filings with the iowa secretary of state’s office, the company maintains a business address in galt that is also home to at least 15 additional businesses, some active and others inactive, but all with ties to the decoster family. - iowa independent

Labels: california, election, food recalls, food safety, iowa, politics

in 2006, former democratic alabama governor don siegelman was sentenced to serve seven years in a bribery case. siegelman charges that he was the victim of political persecution by former bush official karl rove, and his case has been plagued by improper conduct by the prosecution. in 2008, a “bipartisan group of 54 former state attorneys general from across the country” supported siegelman’s bid to overturn his conviction, but a year later, the 11th u.s. circuit court of appeals in atlanta upheld five of the seven charges. today, however, the supreme court gave siegelman a second chance, ordering the court to look at his case again - think progress

Labels: politicians, politics, rove, supreme court

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in an unusually strong attack on politically powerful deniers of global warming, 255 members of the national academy of sciences, including 32 from northern california, have charged that opponents are using "mccarthy-like tactics" against legitimate climate scientists.

...members of the academy of sciences, who are frequently called upon to advise the federal government and its agencies on scientific questions, normally debate controversial issues sedately. but with the global warming debate becoming increasingly politically charged, the scientists struck back.

"we are deeply disturbed by the recent escalation of political assaults on scientists in general and on climate scientists in particular," they said in their letter. "we call for an end to mccarthy-like threats of criminal prosecution against our colleagues based on innuendo and guilt by association, the harassment of scientists by politicians seeking distractions to avoid taking action and the outright lies being spread about them." - sfgate

Labels: climate change, global warming, mccarthy, politics, science

It’s official, "Visteon retirees have lost their health care benefits due to corporate greed." In wake of that announcement, we had Rep. Mike Pence and senatorial candidate John Hostettler make a visit to our nice community. What was the one thing they both had in common? They both believe the new health care reform bill should be repealed if the GOP is able to regain control of Congress.

Labels: healthcare, politics, prez campaign, republicans

kinda ironic that the "pro-life" people don't care that 44,000 uninsured americans die each year. if only they were fetuses, then they would care about you. sorry, pro-lifers stop caring once you leave the delivery room.

Labels: healthcare, politics, womens issues

newt gingrich, who toyed with running for the wh in '96 and seriously engaged the idea of running in '08, but ultimately did not, said today, "'12 is different."

in an interview with national journal reporters and editors this morning, gingrich said he and his wife callista were "trying to organize our activities to be in a position to make a decision [about running for president] in february or march [of '11]...

Labels: politics

tamyra d'ippolito, a cafe owner who has been seeking the democratic nomination for the senate seat currently held by evan bayh, just told tpmdc that she does have the minimum number of ballot-petition signatures need to get on the ballot for the democratic primary.- talkingpointsmemo

d’ippolito told me she is the first woman to ever run for the us senate in indiana. her impression from working on prior campaigns and from this one is that indiana political culture is a “tight old boys school, it borders on sexism.” in a state where the population is 52% women, d’ippolito says “in the future, we women of indiana are not going to tolerate” the chummy, insider culture. - fdl

Labels: ballots, democrats, food, politics, senate

sen. richard shelby (r-al) has put an extraordinary "blanket hold" on at least 70 nominations president obama has sent to the senate, according to multiple reports this evening. the hold means no nominations can move forward unless senate democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until shelby lifts the hold.

..according to the report, shelby is holding obama's nominees hostage until a pair of lucrative programs that would send billions in taxpayer dollars to his home state get back on track. - tpm

democrats are accusing republicans of threatening natl. security by blocking votes on nominees to be the top intelligence officers at the state department and the department of homeland security as well as the number three civilian at the pentagon. - the note

“we’ve got a huge backlog of folks who are unanimously viewed as well qualified — nobody has a specific objection to them — but end up having a hold on them because of some completely unrelated piece of business,” said president obama on wednesday. “that’s an example…of the kind of stuff that americans just don’t understand.” - think progress

Labels: earmarks, flip flip, liars, politics, republicans

the iraq inquiry is britain’s latest of four investigations into the fateful 2003 decision to go to war. it may be the most wide-ranging yet, as its mission is to explore the "lessons learned" from the run-up to the invasion through the aftermath and subsequent occupation. the investigation, also known as "the chilcot inquiry" after chairman sir john chilcot, began hearing publicly from witnesses in november, with blair (the 69th witness), the biggest cheese on the platter. - antiwar.com

giving evidence before the chilcot committee into the war, she (clare short) repeatedly accused the former prime minister of personally “misleading” and “conning” her, and of being “deceitful” with cabinet, parliament, and the public. - the
telegraph

...this is a weird form of liberal ­exceptionalism. because enthusiasm for politics has declined, she argues, there should be no limits to state power, except those ordained by the state. it is precisely because we no longer believe that the government can be held to account that we have become so disillusioned with politics. in a country like the united kingdom – where executive power is constitutionally unlimited; the prime minister can bully, mislead and lie to parliament; the attorney general is both overseer of the legal system and a minister of the crown; media scrutiny is feeble and partisan; and citizens have come to expect nothing better – judicial review is even more important than it is elsewhere. but in any nation, equality before the law is fundamental to democracy. its absence leaves the door wide open to elective dictatorship. except in italy, this is the first time i have seen anyone in a democratic
country argue that judges should not be able either to review the decisions of government or to try its ministers. - the guardian

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All but one of the Washington staffers for Rep. Parker Griffith resigned on Monday in protest of the Alabama congressman's decision to switch from the Democratic to the Republican Party.

In a sharply worded statement, Griffith's former chief of staff, Sharon Wheeler, called the freshman congressman's switch a "mistake" that goes against the interests of his district, which relies heavily on federal funding for defense and aerospace jobs....

Griffith's legislative aides, interns and other junior staffers also quit, joining his former spokesman, Sean Magers, who had already announced he was leaving. The resignations left Griffith with just one staffer in his Washington office, a scheduler.

Labels: music, politics

Labels: healthcare, house of representatives, politics, senate