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Late Late Night FDL: Cowboy Time
Cowboy Time from The Muppet Show, Season One, Episode 101 (the pilot).

Cowboy Time from The Muppet Show, Season One, Episode 101 (the pilot).

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Tea Party in Charge

By Bob Englehart, Cagle Cartoons, The Hartford Courant

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Aung San Suu Kyi to Be Freed
Reports are streaming in that suggest Burmese military authorities have authorized the release of pro-democracy superstar Aung San Suu Kyi after a national election in the junta-led country. Suu Kyi has lived the past seven years under house arrest and 15 of the past 21 years in state-sponsored detention. However, the 65-year-old Suu Kyi has made it clear that she would reject any release that would exclude her from political activity. —JCL The BBC: Reports are coming out of Burma saying the military authorities have signed an order authorising the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But hopes that the Nobel laureate would be freed on Friday appear to be fading. A leader of her National League for Democracy told 2,000 supporters gathered at the party headquarters to go home and return on Saturday. Read more

Reports are streaming in that suggest Burmese military authorities have authorized the release of pro-democracy superstar Aung San Suu Kyi after a national election in the junta-led country. Suu Kyi has lived the past seven years under house arrest and 15 of the past 21 years in state-sponsored detention.

However, the 65-year-old Suu Kyi has made it clear that she would reject any release that would exclude her from political activity. —JCL

The BBC:

Reports are coming out of Burma saying the military authorities have signed an order authorising the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But hopes that the Nobel laureate would be freed on Friday appear to be fading.

A leader of her National League for Democracy told 2,000 supporters gathered at the party headquarters to go home and return on Saturday.

Read more

Related Entries

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• November 1, 2010 Give Us This Day Our ‘Daily Show’

Jim Parry: Banana Republic — A Rhyming Rant
As the rich get more wealth And the rest just get whacked And good middle class jobs Simply aren’t coming back, Oh America’s bound On…

DNA Tests Undermine Evidence In Texas’ Last Execution Under Bush
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Key Democrat Who Pushed Compromise On Health Care: ‘I Was Right’
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Pot Measure Pulls Ahead In Tight Vote Count Out West
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Obama’s Ex-Intel Chief Talks Torture, Terror, Reform And More
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Glenn Beck lashes out at the Anti-Defamation League

Glenn Beck lashed out at the Anti-Defamation League over its condemnation of his outrageous smear of George Soros as a Nazi collaborator. Beck said that the criticism of his comments was part of a “Soros-started” “smear campaign” and directed his staff to find out “if there’s any George Soros money that has gone to ADL.”

ADL director calls Beck’s smears of Soros as a collaborator “over the top” and “horrific”

Foxman calls Beck’s attack “repugnant.” On November 11, ADL national director Abraham Foxman released a statement condemning Beck for claiming, during his falsehood–laden three–part series on Soros, that Soros collaborated with the Nazis during the Holocaust. Foxman’s statement said, in part, “Glenn Beck’s description of George Soros’ actions during the Holocaust is completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top. For a political commentator or entertainer to have the audacity to say — inaccurately — that there’s a Jewish boy sending Jews to death camps, as part of a broader assault on Mr. Soros, that’s horrific. While I, too, may disagree with many of Soros’ views and analysis on the issues, to bring in this kind of innuendo about his past is unacceptable. To hold a young boy responsible for what was going on around him during the Holocaust as part of a larger effort to denigrate the man is repugnant.”

Beck responds to criticism by attacking ADL

Beck on NY Times report about ADL criticism: “They will destroy themselves.” On the November 12 edition of Premiere Radio Networks’ The Glenn Beck Program, Beck responded to the criticism from the ADL, saying:

After the program last night, some of the executives came down on the floor. And they said, “The New York Times is writing a story on you tomorrow.” And I said, “OK. What a surprise that is.” And they said, “And so it begins.” And I said, “What is the angle?” They said, “Well, The New York Times is writing a story that you are an anti-Semite because the ADL, the Anti-Defamation League, has come out and made a statement against you that you are doing this and what you’re saying is anti-Semitic about George Soros.”

And they started planning on different things — that how they should respond and everything else, and I said, “It’s not worth it, guys. It’s just not worth it. They will destroy themselves. Anybody who watches the show knows the truth.”

And I know the point is that a lot of people don’t watch the show, and the disinformation campaign is phenomenal. There’s a story this morning in the London Guardian, and the source that they use to quote that I’m anti-Semitic is Media Matters. You mean the one that got the million-dollar check from George Soros to make sure that they got me off the air?

Beck claims letter shows Foxman contradicted himself. On his November 12 radio show, Beck cited an October 22 letter from Foxman that called Beck “a friend of the Jewish people, and a friend of Israel” as evidence that Foxman had contradicted himself. Similarly, Beck wrote in his November 12 subscriber newsletter:

ADL’s massive flip flop on Beck

The Anti-Defamation League has launched an attack on Glenn, claiming that the special on George Soros was somehow anti-semitic. No one has been a bigger friend to the Jewish people and to Israel than Glenn. You’d think the ADL knew that – oh wait, they did! And they made that especially clear in a letter PRAISING Glenn for his support of Jewish people and of Israel. That letter of praise, from ADL’s National Director Abe Foxman, was written waaaaay back on October 22nd – OF THIS YEAR! Looks like the ADL was for Glenn Beck before they were against him. Glenn explains more on the flip flop on radio today.

Beck claims ADL’s condemnation is part of a “Soros-started” “smear campaign.” Discussing a November 11 New York Times story on the ADL’s criticism of him, Beck said on his November 12 show that Foxman came “out against me in The New York Times today, saying that I’m an anti-Semite and that anti-Semitic things were said on my show this week. And now they are starting a smear campaign — this is all Soros-started — starting a smear campaign against me because I’m anti-Semitic. I’m sorry, but I think I have a pretty darn clear record on being a friend to the Jews.”

Beck directs staff to find out “if there’s any George Soros money that has gone to ADL.” Later in the show, Beck said to his staff, “You know what? Could you do me a favor? Just check on the amount of money Open Society” — a reference to Soros’ philanthropic foundations — “has given ADL. See if there’s any money exchanging hands here. See if there’s any George Soros money that has gone to ADL.”

Beck again repeats smears and falsehoods about Soros

Beck repeats the falsehood that Soros “confiscat[ed] the goods and lands of Jews.” On his November 12 radio show, Beck again made the false accusation that Soros “confiscat[ed] the goods and the lands of Jews as a 14-year-old boy as they went to their death.”

Beck on Soros: “Jews in Israel don’t consider him Jewish.” Beck also claimed on his radio show that he does not believe that “Jews control both the elites and the masses” or that they are “responsible” for “the speculative excesses of capitalism.” Beck said the fact that Soros is Jewish is “irrelevant” and went on to state that the “Jews in Israel don’t consider him Jewish. He may have been born Jewish, but that’s it. That’s it. That’s it. It’s irrelevant. He is anti-Israel. Period.” Co-host Pat Gray added, “He’s probably anti-Jewish.”

Sarah Palin’s Foreign Policy Adviser Randy Scheunemann Consults For George Soros
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DOJ Prosecutors On Ted Stevens Case Appeal Civil Contempt Finding
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Nadler: ‘Shameful’ For Holder To Ignore Bush Waterboarding Admission (VIDEO)
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Gingrey Ignores Promise To Reduce Government Waste By Fighting For Defense Program The DoD Doesn?t Want
In the war on Democrats this year, Republicans united behind the pitch for a universal “spending freeze” and “across the board” budget cuts in their promise to reign in the deficit. Falling in line, Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey (GA) assured Americans that he is “committed to finding ways to reduce” government programs that are “bloated” […]

In the war on Democrats this year, Republicans united behind the pitch for a universal “spending freeze” and “across the board” budget cuts in their promise to reign in the deficit. Falling in line, Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey (GA) assured Americans that he is “committed to finding ways to reduce” government programs that are “bloated” and “riddled with waste.” “With each new appropriations bill Congress considers, I have to ask myself, ‘Is this a good way to spend tax payer dollars,’” he says.

Given his rhetoric, it would be reasonable to assume that Gingrey also opposes unnecessary defense spending. The F-22 stealth fighter jet, for example, is a weapon designed to address threats last faced during the Cold War. It “has not performed a single mission” in Iraq or Afghanistan, and comes with a $120 million price tag per plane. Coupled with the $8 billion it would cost the Pentagon to upgrade the 100 F-22s already in use, the F-22 landed on Defense Secretary Gates’s chopping block last year. After consulting with other Defense officials, Gates concluded, “there is no military requirement” for creating more F-22s.

Yet despite that, and the overwhelming bipartisan agreement that the plane qualifies as taxpayer waste, and in spite of own his commitment to cutting spending, Gingrey now thinks he knows better than the Pentagon and is calling for resuming production of more F-22s. Not only is Gingrey willing to waste taxpayer dollars on an unnecessary and unwanted weapon, he’s willing to fight his own party to do it, because the planes are built in his state:

“The takeover of the U.S. House by Republicans could prompt a revival of the fight for additional funding for the Marietta-built F-22 stealth fighter, U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey said Friday. This isn’t just for the sake of home-cooking, but also for the sake of the country,” Gingrey said in a telephone interview.

But Gingrey conceded that concerns over spending and the federal deficit could make the funding battle a difficult one. The planes have a price tag of $120 million each. “We would have to look at it with a very, very sharp pencil,” he said. “It would take some negotiating.”[…]

Gringrey says he has not consulted yet with Chambliss on the issue of reviving the F-22. Right now, Gingrey said, he and the rest of the Georgia delegation were focusing their efforts on getting Republican Austin Scott of Tifton, who beat Democrat Jim Marshall of Macon, a seat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Scott, as the only Georgia Republican on the committee, would become the point man for any discussion of the F-22, Gingrey said.

Gingrey’s soft-spot for this boondoggle may have to do with the fact that he owns tens of thousands of dollars worth of stock in Boeing — Lockheed Martin’s partner in building the F-22. And if he hopes to slip funding for the fighter into this year’s defense authorization bill, he’s making a shrewd move in recruiting Scott for the House Armed Services Committee. Scott represents Georgia’s 8th District, which “has a strong military presence and includes the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, a testing and repair site for the F-22 Raptor.”

But Gingrey is not alone in falling out of step with the GOP’s posturing on spending cuts. Along with the current battle over earmarks, there is an internal “civil war” between “hard-core deficit hawks” like Senators-elect Pat Toomey (R-PA), Rand Paul (R-KY), Mark Kirk (R-IL), and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) who want to cut military spending, and members like Gingrey and Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) “who view military spending as sacrosanct.” Even GOP leadership seems to be sacrificing the principle for pet projects. Both presumptive-House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and former GOP House Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) are also ignoring Gates’s advice to cut the “costly and unnecessary” extra engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in the name of “parochial interests.”

Supreme Court declines to end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’
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Nancy Pelosi creates new leadership post for Clyburn in bid to settle Democratic fight
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Democratic activists criticize possible compromise by Obama on tax cuts
Democratic activists Thursday sharply criticized White House officials after a published report indicated that President Obama is likely to back a temporary extension of tax cuts for households with income over $250,000 a year.