Hard working young men shot in Maryland-can you donate?

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Tuesday May 27, 2014 · 8:25 PM PDT

2014/05/27 · 20:25

Thanks to Just Up the Pike blog (Facebook link), I learned that family members who work at Silver Spring's Fenton Street Market were shot over the Memorial Day weekend in Baltimore, MD. One is struggling to survive. Co-workers are raising money to help the family deal with the following costs:

-returning Oscar's body to his home country of Mexico
-medical expenses for David (who is in critical condition)
-travel for David's family (his wife and young daughter were in Chicago at the time of the shooting)

Can you donate any amount to help their family? Click here. Even $5 will help. Read More

Ultrasound: Not just "jelly on the belly" but untested, unapproved

achamblee

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Friday March 16, 2012 · 12:01 PM PDT

2012/03/16 · 12:01

The supporters of ultrasound bills sweeping the Red States started out ignorant of the the fact that intra-vaginal is the only effective way to perform an ultrasound in early pregnancies. They also ignore another important fact that its detractors have failed to notice: ultrasound is a complicated piece of medical machinery with risks inseparable from benefits. FDA says these "baby pictures," taken for no medical reason, are an untested, unapproved, risky use of ultrasound equipment which should not be used.

In testimony by FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) just last March, FDA’s Center Director Jeffrey Shuren said: in his testimony (page 47-48):

There are literally many chances to cause harm with ultrasound. You wouldn't think that but it is possible... It's not just simply, "put some gel on the stomach, put a wand, and [create] a photograph."

achamblee

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Monday October 05, 2009 · 12:37 PM PDT

2009/10/05 · 12:37

Bob McDonnell's latest ads against Creigh Deeds includes a parade of female state employees who claim he must not be a sexist boss because he didn't fire them for being female. Well, he didn't hire them, either.

Poll

23 votes Show Results

Will you call the ethics hotline about this abuse of power?

23 votes Vote Now!

Will you call the ethics hotline about this abuse of power?

800-723-1615 is on my speed dial

10 votes

Sorry, my finger's broken

13 votes

My plea to Barack Obama: passion and controlled anger to combat Swiftboating

achamblee

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Monday October 06, 2008 · 6:13 AM PDT

2008/10/06 · 06:13

WaPo Saturday surprised no one when they admitted that "Sen. John McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat's judgment, honesty and personal associations, several top Republicans said."

With John Kerry in 2004, they had counted on Kerry's reputation for talking issues to death to assure success of the smears from the Swiftboaters. When the same operatives had smeared McCain in 2000, they counted on McCain having no time to correct the lies about McCain's own middle-school age daughter. With Obama, I believe they depend on the public's fear of angry black men to push Obama between a rock and a hard place, making an effective, passionate response difficult and even impossible. At the risk of self-importance, I propose a quick, effective and resonant response for these expected smears:

Poll

38 votes Show Results

Smear mongers targeting children should be followed to the gates of hell: Will it work?

38 votes Vote Now!

Smear mongers targeting children should be followed to the gates of hell: Will it work?

I like it! Tell the campaign!

18 votes

No, stick to the issues and let McCains smears speak for themselves.

13 votes

Let's talk about pie!

7 votes

Scooter Libby vs the Republican Sentencing Guidelines

achamblee

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Thursday July 05, 2007 · 6:56 PM PDT

2007/07/05 · 18:56

Bush claims Libby's sentence is mean.

You'll remember that Libby, Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff was involved in the treasonous act of naming Valarie Plame and the cover up that followed. The act meant not only that Plame, an expert on Iraq and national security, was unable to continue her work that was critical to national security, but compromised the lives and work of all the undercover resources using the cover of Brewster Jennings & Associates.

He says
(1) Libby wasn't convicted of the underlying offense related to the violation of Executive Order 12958, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the Espionage Act, but was "only" convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice,
(2) it's hard on his family,
(3) he has been involved in public service throughout his life,
(4) he's already suffered enough.

How do these factors stack up against the Sentencing Guidelines, one of the Republican cornerstones proving they're "tough on crime"?

Poll

62 votes Show Results

What do YOU think of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines?

62 votes Vote Now!

What do YOU think of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines?

They should be abandoned as unequal treatment that violates the Constitution.

16 votes

They should be abandoned as Congressional interference with the judicial branch.

14 votes

They should be applied equally to the poor and the rich.

22 votes

They should be modified to include other factors.

5 votes

They should be modified to give everyone beer and pie.

5 votes

In Praise of Mike: Love the Soldier, Hate the war

achamblee

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday July 02, 2007 · 8:26 PM PDT

2007/07/02 · 20:26

The Army has a new ad aimed at parents of young men, telling them to listen to their kids rather than discourage them from enlisting to go to the Middle East. In this diary I challenge them – and you – to listen to Mike’s story in honor of Independence Day.

You’d think living between Walter Reed, Fort Belvoir and Fort Meade, I’d have met more returned vets. I have met only a few. Mike has a compelling story to tell, if only the right people would only listen to him.

Mike was seated on a stool in my favorite Irish pub. A pint of Harp and a shotglass of Rumplemintz were in front of him, and the only two other empty barstools were on his right. As soon as we pulled up to the chairs, and he leaned over to introduce himself, smile, and shake our hands.

achamblee

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Wednesday June 20, 2007 · 10:44 AM PDT

2007/06/20 · 10:44

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has a report on unethical family payments by members of Congress that shines the light on Tom Davis.

The totals found by the report (over $25,000 plus a $78,000/year part-time job) do not include the tens of thousands of dollars that Davis had directed to his wife's campaign when donors reached the federal limit for his own campaign.

Davis's latest pet project, one which helps no honest Virginian constituent, is defending Lurita Doan. CREW calls her one of the most corrupt in Washington with details here (pdf).

achamblee

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Monday June 18, 2007 · 6:50 AM PDT

2007/06/18 · 06:50

Tom Davis defends Alberto Gonzales? Actually, he is defending the Alberto Gonzales of the GSA, Lurita Doan.

This is much smarter: not only is the spotlight less bright on GSA as it is on Justice, but GSA contractors pay politicians for access to contracts. Davis worked with Jack Abramoff to collect this money from them, which he wouldn't get if he were defending Gonzales.

The prize contract is Networx, the biggest GSA contract ever at $20 billion. For this contract alone, bidders on Networx have contributed to Davis, and his wife, of over half a million dollars.

Davis is slowing down the GSA hearing defending Doan and posing softball questions to the Bush donor.

There are many similarities between the Alberto Gonzales scandal at Justice and the Doan scandal at GSA:

achamblee

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday June 05, 2007 · 6:14 PM PDT

2007/06/05 · 18:14

Updated with requested summary.

NYT, June 5: Scooter Libby, once one of the most powerful men in government as [V.P.] Dick Cheney's chief of staff, was sentenced today to two and a half years in prison for lying to a grand jury and F.B.I. agents who were investigating the unmasking of a C.I.A. operative during a fierce debate over the war in Iraq.

The testimony in the Libby trial disclosed the sordid press workings that allow this administration's media dis-information campaign: controlling the timing of news reports. When the administration can't stop a story before it publishes, it sends henchmen to control when a story publishes.

"News is what someone wants to suppress," former NBC News president Reuven Frank once said. "Everything else is advertising."

At WaPo, politicians don't have to schedule a "Saturday night Massacre." The Post does it for them. Here's what they've done for their own local favorite corrupt pol, who is running for Senate hoping to join Jim Webb.

achamblee

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday May 08, 2007 · 12:35 PM PDT

2007/05/08 · 12:35

The Senate is voting on whether to allow Canadian imports. Buying the same thing cheaper, who could object? You should. Here's why:

Canada can't supply us with drugs, they don't have the quantity or the laws to do it.
Drug companies can stop imports without a law, so we're back where we started.

Most importantly, if the pet food from a foreign country kills living things, why would you buy your drugs there?

The answer is at home, for the industry to heed the words in a video speech by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in which he urged attendees to "lead in compassion as we have led in innovation."

achamblee

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday April 08, 2007 · 8:48 PM PDT

2007/04/08 · 20:48

When Henry Waxman was in the minority on the House Oversight Committee, he wrote to Chair Tom Davis (R-VA) several times a year asking for oversight of the debacle in Iraq before all hope was lost.

Davis held a window dressing of a hearing in 2003 that he called "Winning the Peace: Coalition Efforts to Restore Iraq." When Democrats controlled the investigations in 2006, Davis complained:

Self-righteous finger-wagging and political scapegoating won't make Iraq any more secure; it won't rebuild that ravaged nation; and it won't bring the U.S. troops home any sooner.

A new book by an Iraqiacademic and world traveler explains that it was the unending fraud, errors, and arrogance that doomed the US effort: fraud, errors and arrogance that could have been remedied by effective oversight.

achamblee

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday March 30, 2007 · 10:25 PM PDT

2007/03/30 · 22:25

Crossposted at Beltway Progressive

<div>Karl Rove deputy J. Scott Jennings directed Lurita Doan, the chief of the GSA, and as many as 40 agency officials to help in the re-election of embattled Republicans in the 2006 election. The presentation was made by the White House aide given at the General Services Administration and discussed targeting 20 Democratic congressional candidates in the next election.

Jennings' 28-page presentation included 2006 election results and listed the names of Democratic candidates considered beatable and Republican lawmakers thought to need their help in 2008. The 2008 list includes the following local pols: Thelma Drake (VA-02), Roscoe Bartlett (MD-06) and Tom Davis (VA-11).

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Hard working young men shot in Maryland-can you donate?

Ultrasound: Not just "jelly on the belly" but untested, unapproved

McDonnell ads in Virginia-untrue and illegal?

My plea to Barack Obama: passion and controlled anger to combat Swiftboating

Scooter Libby vs the Republican Sentencing Guidelines

In Praise of Mike: Love the Soldier, Hate the war

Tom Davis and today's "Family Affair"

Tom Davis and Alberto Gonzales

Scooter Libby sentenced for manipulating news -- and WaPo still protects Tom Davis

Look home to solve Rx drug prices, not Canada

Davis: Iraq is on the right track. Allawi: Corroded and corrupt

Karl Rove staff and Lurita Doan offer your help to local corrupt Republicans