FOX News Has the Story - Part XVII

Part I: Sex Robots
Part II: Sex Teachers
Part III: Lingerie Bowl
Part IV: Panty Bandits
Part V: Hooters Haircuts
Part VI: Sexy Stripper Scam
Part VII: Stripper Fitness
Part VIII: Exotic Erotic Ball
Bonus: FOX Attacks
Part IX: Drunk Upskirt Pictures
Bonus: FOX Porn
Part X: Bunny Bar
Part XI: Teens Seen Grinding
Part XII: Porno-Tax!
Part XIII: Sexy Teacher
Part XIV: Sugar Mamas and Boy Toys
Part XV: Sexy Part-Time Job
Part XVI: Hot Cops

Paul Roberts on Biofuels

Journalism: FOX News Style

Supreme Court Rules Death Penalty Is 'Totally Badass'

Supreme Court Rules Death Penalty Is 'Totally Badass'

Study: Most Children Strongly Opposed To Children’s Healthcare

Study: Most Children Strongly Opposed To Children�s Healthcare

Amory Lovins: Winning the Oil Endgame

FOX News Has the Story - Part XVI

Part I: Sex Robots
Part II: Sex Teachers
Part III: Lingerie Bowl
Part IV: Panty Bandits
Part V: Hooters Haircuts
Part VI: Sexy Stripper Scam
Part VII: Stripper Fitness
Part VIII: Exotic Erotic Ball
Bonus: FOX Attacks
Part IX: Drunk Upskirt Pictures
Bonus: FOX Porn
Part X: Bunny Bar
Part XI: Teens Seen Grinding
Part XII: Porno-Tax!
Part XIII: Sexy Teacher
Part XIV: Sugar Mamas and Boy Toys
Part XV: Sexy Part-Time Job

Barack Obama on FISA

This is pretty disappointing.

Just this past October, Obama spokesperson Bill Burton had this to say about Obama and FISA:

"To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies."

Even more recently, in January 2008, Obama himself had this to say:

"I strongly oppose retroactive immunity in the FISA bill."

However, Obama came out in support of a "compromise" on FISA that includes retroactive immunity. Within his statement, he said this:

"[The bill] does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses."

Despite this language, it appears that Obama will support the bill even if he cannot remove the provisions relating to retroactive immunity. I'm doubtful that he will make a big issue over this, and I'm doubtful that he will remove anything. But even besides the retroactive immunity provision, there are some troubling aspects in this bill that would give a future President Obama some pretty broad powers to spy domestically without a warrant, and without cause.

Although this may be the politically expedient thing to do, it's not the right thing to do.

UPDATE: I've been a little too busy to write regularly here lately, but I'm also skeptical of the "windfall profits tax." Does anybody have some good reading material on the topic?

UPDATE II: On the other side of the aisle, John McCain has made very clear his total support for retroactive immunity, and has actually already voted in favor of it.

Political Ads: Norm Coleman

Graph: ANWR Drilling

Graph: Vehicle Miles Traveled

(via Department of Transportation)

Charlie Rose: Amory Lovins

Graph: National Deficit

(via Perot Charts)

Graph: National Debt

John McCain Flip-Flops - Part II

August, 1999:

"But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations."

Now:

"I don’t think a constitutional amendment is probably going to take place, but I do believe that it’s very likely or possible that the Supreme Court should — could overturn Roe v. Wade, which would then return these decisions to the states, which I support."

Part I: The Estate Tax

Straight Talk - Part VI

October 10, 2002:

"Saddam Hussein is on a crash course to construct a nuclear weapon."

As we know by now, this one just plain wasn't true. Yet McCain asserted it as fact.

Part I: "I'm the only one the special interests don't give money to." False.
Part II: "Every time in history we have raised taxes it has cut revenues." False.
Part III: "Romney provided taxpayer-funded abortions." Highly misleading.
Part IV: "Iran[] taking Al Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back." Unsupported.
Part V: "We have drawn down to pre-surge levels" False.

John McCain Flip-Flops: Part I

September 2005:

I follow the course of a great Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, who talked about the malefactors of great wealth and gave us the estate tax. I oppose the rich passing on fortunes.

Today:

The estate tax is one of the most unfair tax laws on the books.

"Terrorist Fist Jab"

First of all, "terrorist fist jab"? Really? Second, why is a major news channel chatting with a body language expert instead of covering real news?

UPDATE: E.D. Hill sorta apologizes.


UPDATE II: E.D. Hill loses her show:

"America's Pulse anchored by E.D. Hill goes away, but Hill stays with the network in a capacity to be determined. Hill has been with FNC since 1998."

Bill Moyers Addresses NCMR 2008

John McCain's Confusion on Oil and Energy

Sen. McCain (R-AZ) talks a lot about our dependence on foreign oil, yet he consistently gives me the impression that he doesn't know what he's talking about. Whenever the issue comes up, McCain will say something about how we can use nuclear power to help accomplish that goal. While nuclear power might be able to help offset our use of coal, it won't really do anything to offset our use of oil.

The problem here is that only 1.6% of our electricity in the United States comes from fuel oil. Our dependence on foreign oil comes pretty much entirely from our auto fleet. Unless McCain is proposing nuclear powered cars, nuclear power won't really do much of anything to our dependence on foreign oil.

But it's not just that. When you look at his policy proposals, they really don't seem to do much of anything to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. In fact, they really look like they will do the opposite. First, he proposed a "gas tax holiday," which pretty much all economists agreed was a bad idea, and which would have increased our dependence on foreign oil. Now McCain is talking about public transportation, and his position is becoming pretty clear:

Sen. McCain doesn't have too much to say when it comes to national transit objectives (we suppose it's a case of 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all'). But if there's one thing that we do know, it's that McCain hates Amtrak - at least in its current state. The Arizona Senator has been attempting for years to dissolve Amtrak and create small, privately owned rail companies. In fact, McCain has sworn that if elected, the shuttering of Amtrak would be a "a non-negotiable issue."

If you want to be serious about reducing our dependence on foreign oil, public transportation is really key. Yet Sen. McCain leaves it entirely out of his website's energy section. Nonetheless, his proposed gas tax holiday would have "eliminate[d] $1.4 billion of federal funding for public transportation."

I'll give McCain credit for saying that he is open to "improved" and "increased" CAFE standards (although his top economic adviser says McCain might want to scrap CAFE standards altogether once a cap-and-trade policy is implemented). But he often leaves me just shaking my head. Particularly when he said that "we will in five years become oil independent" (which is totally ridiculous).

UPDATE: Here is an example of McCain suggesting that nuclear energy is good because Iran has lots of oil. Incidentally, we don't buy any oil from Iran, and haven't done so for years.


UPDATE II: Here is McCain's position on dehydrated babies.


UPDATE III: From FactCheck.org:

McCain has voted against increases in corporate average fuel economy (CAFE)
standards on two occasions, in 2003 and 2005, even
though he teamed with Democratic Sen. John Kerry back in 2002 on a bill to raise the
standards to 36 mpg by 2015. McCain's Web site proposes enforcing existing
CAFE standards, not tightening them, as Obama would do.

This guy is awful and his energy policy is a disaster. Please don't vote for him.

UPDATE IV: Jesus Christ, now he's arguing that domestic offshore drilling will reduce the price at the pump. This is what happens when you surround yourself with lobbyists as adviser. . . you start saying things that are plainly contradicted by the Department of Energy itself. Either McCain is lying or he has been duped by his advisers. Either way, he doesn't have a handle on reality.

Hillary Clinton: Out of the Race