Michael Moore Today
www.michaelmoore.com
January 12th, 2008 7:00 pm
Romney and McCain debate economy
By Jeremy Pelofsky / Reuters
YPSILANTI, Michigan - Republican rivals Mitt Romney and John McCain clashed on Saturday over how to revive the depressed economy of Michigan, the former manufacturing powerhouse that hosts the next contest in the presidential race that still has no clear front-runner.
Michigan-born Romney, needing to win here on Tuesday after losing Iowa to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and New Hampshire to Arizona Sen. McCain, went to a General Motors Corp. plant that just announced it was laying off 200 workers.
"It's inexcusable to me to see these jobs going away again and again and again," Romney said outside the plant, arguing for more investment in science and technology research.
While Republicans battled in Michigan, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigned for votes in Nevada, which holds presidential caucuses next Saturday, the next big test in her battle with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10709
Let's have some fun in Michigan
by kos
Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 01:31:01 PM PST
In 1972, Republican voters in Michigan decided to make a little mischief, crossing over to vote in the open Democratic primary and voting for segregationist Democrat George Wallace, seriously embarrassing the state's Democrats. In fact, a third of the voters (PDF) in the Democratic primary were Republican crossover votes. In 1988, Republican voters again crossed over, helping Jesse Jackson win the Democratic primary, helping rack up big margins for Jackson in Republican precincts. (Michigan Republicans can clearly be counted on to practice the worst of racial politics.) In 1998, Republicans helped Jack Kevorkian's lawyer -- quack Geoffrey Feiger -- win his Democratic primary, thus guaranteeing their hold on the governor's mansion that year.
With a history of meddling in our primaries, why don't we try and return the favor. Next Tuesday, January 15th, Michigan will hold its primary. Michigan Democrats should vote for Mitt Romney, because if Mitt wins, Democrats win. How so?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/10/2713/87225/55/434206
January 13th, 2008 6:05 pm
Shoppers: It's BYO bag in China
By Christopher Bodeen / Associated Press
BEIJING - Declaring war on the "white pollution" choking its cities, farms and waterways, China is banning free plastic shopping bags and calling for a return to the cloth bags of old — steps largely welcomed by merchants and shoppers on Wednesday.
The measure eliminates the flimsiest bags and forces stores to charge for others, making China the latest nation to target plastic bags in a bid to cut waste and conserve resources.
Beijing residents appeared to take the ban in stride, reflecting rising environmental consciousness and concern over skyrocketing oil prices.
Pasted from <http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10716>
January 12th, 2008 9:01 pm
Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles
By Deborah Sontag and Lizette Alvarez / New York Times
Late one night in the summer of 2005, Matthew Sepi, a 20-year-old Iraq combat veteran, headed out to a 7-Eleven in the seedy Las Vegas neighborhood where he had settled after leaving the Army.
This particular 7-Eleven sits in the shadow of the Stratosphere casino-hotel in a section of town called the Naked City. By day, the area, littered with malt liquor cans, looks depressed but not menacing. By night, it becomes, in the words of a local homicide detective, “like Falluja.”
Mr. Sepi did not like to venture outside too late. But, plagued by nightmares about an Iraqi civilian killed by his unit, he often needed alcohol to fall asleep. And so it was that night, when, seized by a gut feeling of lurking danger, he slid a trench coat over his slight frame — and tucked an assault rifle inside it.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10713
Spy Chief Speaks for Himself:
'If I Were Waterboarded, That Would be Torture"
"...oh God, I just can't imagine how painful!"
-- U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell
January 13th, 2008 2:28 pm
U.S. spy chief: waterboarding would be torture to him
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell said in a magazine interview that waterboarding would be torture if it was used against him personally, but stopped short of condemning the controversial interrogation technique.
McConnell, the director of National Intelligence, was quoted in The New Yorker edition released on Sunday as defining torture as "something that would cause excruciating pain."
Asked if waterboarding -- the practice of covering a person's face with a cloth and then dripping water on it to bring on a feeling of drowning -- fit that definition, McConnell said that for him personally, it would.
"If I had water draining into my nose, oh God, I just can't imagine how painful!" McConnell said in the article. "Whether it's torture by anybody else's definition, for me it would be torture."
But he rejected a suggestion that he personally condemned the practice.
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has declined to rule on whether waterboarding is torture.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10714
Hodding Carter III to moderate historic impeachment debate between Bruce Fein and Michael Tomasky
Conservative Republican and Progressive Journalist will debate Impeachment at the Carrboro Century Center on January 15, 2008 at 7pm. Guess who’s arguing for Impeachment?
CARRBORO , N.C. : In the tradition of the Lincoln/Douglas Debates, Coalition for the Constitution will host a Debate on Impeachment between Republican Bruce Fein (pro-impeachment) and Democrat Michael Tomasky (anti-impeachment). The Debate will be held on January 15, 2008 at 7pm, at the Carrboro Century Center and will be moderated by UNC Professor of Leadership and Public Policy, W. Hodding Carter III, and hosted by Orange County Commissioner Moses Carey. Seats are limited so preregistration is suggested at http://coalitionfortheconstitution.com/registration/. The debate will also be webcast on the Coalition for the Constitution web site at http://coalitionfortheconstitution.com.
Impeachment is mentioned six times in the United States Constitution, including most clearly in Article II, section 3 which reads:
“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
http://www.coalitionfortheconstitution.com/
Sunday, January 13th, 2008
Impeachment Marcher Reaches Washington – “Hello Madame Speaker” ...by Dan DeWalt
John Nirenberg, who has spent the last forty days and nights walking south on Route 1 from Boston to Washington D.C., has reached the outskirts of his goal, Nancy Pelosi’s office. And rather than the last stumbling steps of exhaustion, or steps glad to be finishing up and moving on, the final leg of John’s journey is rather more a river of energy that has been fed by the response that he has received along his route.
During his trek, John has been invited (and thrown out of) high schools and bolstered by vigils and events in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York City, Jersey City, Philadelphia, and now Washington. His web site www.marchinmyname.org tells the tales of many a spirit touched, moved and even changed by learning about John and his dedication to actively protecting the Constitution.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=958
January 12th, 2008 8:14 pm
It seems Fred's S.C. campaign is a little short of cash
By Andrew Malcolm / Los Angeles Times
Quietly, deep within an e-mail to supporters from Fred Thompson's campaign manager touting the former senator's South Carolina game plan, William Lacy describes the long days the candidate is putting in on the Palmetto State's campaign trail. He said they needed more advertising to give Thompson the best chance to do well in the upcoming Republican primary there.
Then there's one line we almost overlooked where Lacy makes a possibly revealing admission about the Tennessean's campaign financial condition with ramifications for his political finish.
"Right now," he says, "my budget is a little short of where it needs to be to get that done."
He adds, "Even a donation of $10, $20 or $25 would help Fred get where he needs to be."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10711
January 12th, 2008 8:18 pm
Thompson says radio natural fit for him
By Jim Davenport / Associated Press
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Fred Thompson is relying on his radio roots for a rally in South Carolina's GOP presidential primary.
Thompson has sat behind microphones in a series of town-hall meetings as talk radio hosts question him for a few minutes before opening it up to audiences. On Wednesday, it was at a diner in Sumter. On Saturday, it was much the same at an overflowing pancake house in North Charleston.
Thompson says the radio is a natural fit for someone who grew up listening to AM broadcasts, including the well-known commentator Paul Harvey. In fact, the former Tennessee senator is quick to point out he filled in for Harvey for a while.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10712
January 12th, 2008 5:31 pm
Yemenis caught in Gitmo stalemate
Detainees can't be freed because of homeland's impasse with U.S.
By Michael Melia / Associated Press
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — The number of men held at Guantanamo Bay is declining rapidly, but there is no way out for most of the Yemeni detainees because their homeland's government and Washington are mired in a diplomatic impasse over security concerns.
The jail at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba entered its seventh year Friday, with Yemenis now making up the biggest group of prisoners. Only one Yemeni was among a record 100 detainees sent away over the past six months, according to an Associated Press count.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10707
January 11th, 2008 9:09 pm
US Appeals Court Dismisses Guantanamo Torture Suit
The suit sought $10 million in damages and named then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and 10 military commanders.
Reuters
A U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that four former Guantanamo prisoners, all British citizens, have no right to sue top Pentagon officials and military officers for torture, abuse and violations of their religious rights.
The decision by a three-judge panel to dismiss the lawsuit came exactly six years after the first detainees arrived at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The prison, which has been widely criticized by human rights advocates, now holds about 275 prisoners. President George W. Bush has acknowledged the prison's damage to the U.S. image and has said he would like to see it closed eventually.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10701
January 11th, 2008 8:50 pm
Prison camps to get new commander
Miami Herald
The Pentagon announced Friday that it will post a third one-star Navy admiral in a row to run the prison camps at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, replacing the commander who has been there only seven months.
A short Defense Department announcement said Rear Adm. David M. Thomas will replace Rear Adm. Mark Buzby as the officer in charge of the detention and interrogation center that today holds 275 foreign captives at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.
There was no immediate word on when Thomas would take charge.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10699
‘Filipino Monkey’ behind threats?
By Andrew Scutro and David Brown - Staff writers
Posted : Sunday Jan 13, 2008 15:38:29 EST
The threatening radio transmission heard at the end of a video showing harassing maneuvers by Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz may have come from a locally famous heckler known among ship drivers as the “Filipino Monkey.”
Since the Jan. 6 incident was announced to the public a day later, the U.S. Navy has said it’s unclear where the voice came from. In the videotape released by the Pentagon on Jan. 8, the screen goes black at the very end and the voice can be heard, distancing it from the scenes on the water.
“We don’t know for sure where they came from,” said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for 5th Fleet in Bahrain. “It could have been a shore station.”
While the threat — “I am coming to you. You will explode in a few minutes” — was picked up during the incident, further jacking up the tension, there’s no proof yet of its origin. And several Navy officials have said it’s difficult to figure out who’s talking.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/navy_hormuz_iran_radio_080111/
January 12th, 2008 4:14 am
Pentagon releases video of Iran clash
By Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Recent clashes between Iranian and U.S. Navy forces in the Persian Gulf reflect Iran's shifted military strategy to use its Revolutionary Guard's fast boats more aggressively in the region, the top U.S. military officer said Friday.
In a confrontation Sunday — captured on a 36-minute video the Pentagon made public Friday — military officials said boxes were thrown into the water by the Iranians, triggering concerns about potential mine threats. And in an incident last month, a U.S. ship fired warning shots at a rapidly approaching Iranian boat.
While there are lingering questions about the origin of menacing verbal threats heard during the confrontation Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday that the clash was the most "provocative and dramatic" he has seen.
"The incident ought to remind us all just how real is the threat posed by Iran and just how ready we are to meet that threat if it comes to it," Mullen said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10705
Messages From Rogue Radio Operator Could Provoke Attack Filipino Monkey: On Backs of Many in Tense Gulf
[Home Edition]
Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Los Angeles, Calif.
Author:
MICHAEL ROSS
Date:
Nov 12, 1987
Start Page:
19
Section:
1; Foreign Desk
Text Word Count:
800
Abstract (Document Summary)
Since the arrival of U.S. warships and an increase in Iranian challenges to shipping at the southern end of the gulf, the Monkey's mischief has assumed a darker side.
One case in point is another recent encounter between an Iranian gunboat and a merchant vessel near the Strait of Hormuz last month. When the gunboat challenged the vessel, demanding to know its destination, the Filipino Monkey broke in and replied: "I go to your mother's house. . . . "
The Iranian ship had locked its weapons radar onto the U.S. warship, which was warning it in no uncertain terms to stand down. The warning was repeated three times until the Filipino Monkey added his own.
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/58746546.html?dids=58746546:58746546&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+12,+1987&author=MICHAEL+ROSS&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Messages+From+Rogue+Radio+Operator+Could+Provoke+Attack+Filipino+Monkey%3A+On+Backs+of+Many+in+Tense+Gulf&pqatl=google
Sign our online petition for "CheneyCare" here!
Unlike the average American, the president, vice president and members of Congress all enjoy government-financed healthcare with few restrictions or prohibitive fees. They are never turned away for pre-existing conditions or denied care for what an insurance company labels "experimental treatments."
DOESN'T EVERYONE DESERVE CheneyCare?
http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/
Tuesday, April 4th, 2006
Be It Resolved: You Can Impeach the President
Official State Impeachment Text
Impeachment Text for Cities & Towns
Impeachment Text for County Democratic Committees
Impeachment Text for State Assemblies and/or Legislatures
Jefferson's Manual, Section LIII, 603
You Can Impeach the President
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=622
If you feel George W. Bush should be impeached, paint a sign that says "Impeach." and post it in a public place.
Send pictures to: freewayblogger@yahoo.com
http://www.freewayblogger.com/impeachment_project2.htm
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