The Hollywood Liberal

       Independent Media Ordered Off Guantanamo. House Votes Itself a Raise, Bush Wants Gitmo Closed???

AP BS Story of The Day
Afghans declare Gitmo conditions 'humane'

Excerpt:
KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan delegation returning from a 10-day visit to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay said Wednesday that prison conditions there were "humane."
The head of the delegation, Abdul Jabar Sabhet of the Interior Ministry, said the delegation was given the chance to speak freely with all 96 Afghan prisoners about their living conditions. Sabhet said there were "only one or two" complaints.
"Conditions of the jail was humane. There were rumors in this country about that. It was wrong. What we have seen was OK," he said.

H.L.s Take Yeah they are humane, thats why people are committing suicide. Go see the movie The Road to Guantanamo, and tell me how humane it is over there



AP BS Story of The Day Part 2
Bush: Would like Guantanamo closed

Excerpt:
"I'd like to close Guantanamo, but I also recognize that we're holding some people there that are darn dangerous and that we better have a plan to deal with them in our courts," Bush told a news conference in the White House Rose Garden.

H.L.s Take Bush would "like" to close Guantanamo, and I would "like"
1 Million Dollars, don't look for either to happen to soon.



Miami Herald
Military Orderes All Independent Media Off Guantanamo.

Excerpt:
Also Tuesday, the military ordered all independent news media off the base by 10 a.m. Wednesday, and had arranged a flight to Miami to expedite their departure.
A two-sentence email to reporters for The Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times, citing a directive from the Office of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, stated: ``Media currently on the island will depart on Wednesday, 14 June 2006 at 10:00 a.m. Please be prepared to depart the CBQ [quarters] at 8:00 a.m.''
The correspondents came down to the base on Saturday to cover the aftermath of the suicides, at the invitation of the admiral in charge of the prison. The Pentagon canceled the invitation Tuesday night, despite protests from the newspapers



Seattle Times
Despite Record Low Approval, House Votes Itself Another $3,300 raise

Excerpt
Despite record low approval ratings, House lawmakers Tuesday embraced a $3,300 pay raise that would increase their salaries to $168,500.
The 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) would be the seventh straight for members of the House and Senate. Lawmakers easily squelched an attempt by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to get a direct vote to block the increase, which is automatically awarded unless lawmakers vote to block it.
In the early days of GOP control of Congress, lawmakers routinely denied themselves the annual COLA.


AP
Gas prices push consumer inflation higher

Excerpt:
Excluding energy and food, core inflation rose by a larger-than-expected 0.3 percent. That increase was certain to get attention at the Federal Reserve, where Chairman Ben Bernanke last week said a recent uptick in core inflation has Fed officials concerned.
President Bush, who has seen voter unhappiness over soaring gas prices help send his approval ratings to record lows, told reporters at the White House that he had confidence the Fed would do its job to keep inflation from becoming a problem

H.L.s Take Bush is confident in the fed, he is confident that Iraq will be able to take care of himself, he is confident in Rummy, Lots of confidence for a guy who is such a complete and miserable failure at everything he touches. Sounds more like hubris to me.



Pensito Review
Behind the Scenes of Bush’s Iraq Travel Decision


Excerpt:
In what can only be a tiresome attempt to spin, spin, spin Bush is working harder to rehabilitate his image than he ever has at being president. Here’s the scenario:
Airstrike takes out al-Zarqawi, who is then elevated to the status of The Entire Problem. Now The Problem is solved.
Bush summons the usual suspects plus the cabinet for a pow wow to discuss what to do next.
Someone comes up with the brilliant idea to — wait, wait, I know this is crazy but just follow me here — ask critics of the administration what they think. Bush can look less thin-skinned and isolated and more statesman-like.



My Congressman Henry Waxman
Rep. Waxman Calls for Public Accounting of Rove’s Actions in CIA Leak Case

Excerpt
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 -- In light of reports that Special Counsel Fitzgerald will not pursue criminal charges against Karl Rove -- and does not appear likely to file a report or make other public statements about findings -- Rep. Waxman renews his request to Chairman Davis for a congressional investigation that would provide public accountability and address unanswered questions.



L.A. Times
In Kansas, 3rd Republican goes Dem.

Excerpt:
TOPEKA, Kan. — Mark Parkinson got his start in Republican politics at age 19, as a precinct committeeman. He served six years as a Republican state legislator, eventually becoming state Republican chairman.
But two weeks ago, Parkinson announced he was running for lieutenant governor — as a Democrat. He said he no longer felt welcome in the increasingly conservative Kansas Republican Party.
Parkinson became the third Republican politician in the last nine months to startle this red state by switching to the minority party. The other two are targeting GOP incumbents in the attorney general's office and in the state House of Representatives.



Gainsville.com
State hears objections to proposal to curb supervisors authority on voting equipment

Excerpt:
Florida elections supervisors opposed a state proposal Monday that would require them to get approval before testing voting equipment.

The issue, in part, resulted from a secret test several months ago when elections office workers hacked into a Diebold optical-scan voting system in Leon County to show that it could be made to produce false results.

"The action by the Division of Elections to limit how I can do these tests, I find an imposition on my statutory authority,



Brad Blog
VoteTrustUSA on Busby/Bilbray Election: 'No Reason to Believe the Official Results are Accurate'


Excerpt:
Warren Stewart, Director of Legislative Issues and Policy for VoteTrustUSA calls the Busby/Bilbray election into doubt in his article yesterday, headlined, "Vendor Failures and Lax Security Procedures Call Election Results Into Question In States Across The Country":



The Advocate
Mary Cheney Got $1 Million To Write a Book That Sold Only 6,000 Copies


Excerpt
Despite saturation media coverage when it was published a month ago, Mary Cheney's book Now It's My Turn has tanked at bookstores. Published by a conservative imprint of Simon & Schuster, the memoir has sold fewer than 6,000 copies to date, according to Nielsen Bookscan

posted by H.L. @ 8:28 AM Permalink