http://www.drudge.com/user/skizziks New links and comments. en-us http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Wordzilla/0.58 10 http://www.drudge.com/news/113459/rfk-palin-should-explain-husbands http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/alaskan-independence-part_b_133261.html Robert Kennedy Jr: If Sarah Palin wants to play guilt-by-association, the media should discuss her husband Todd's ties to a secessionist party. But if McCarthy-era guilt-by-association is once again a valid political consideration, Palin, it would seem, has more to lose than Obama. Palin, it could be argued, following her own logic, thinks so little of America's perfection that she continues to "pal around" with a man -- her husband, actually -- who only recently terminated his seven-year membership in the Alaskan Independence Party. Putting plunder above patriotism, the members of this treasonous cabal aim to break our country into pieces and walk away with Alaska's rich federal oil fields and one-fifth of America's land base -- an area three-fourths the size of the Civil War Confederacy. Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:32:21 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/113459/rfk-palin-should-explain-husbands#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.113459 news, 113459 http://www.drudge.com/news/113456/gop-stalwarts-prepare-tsunami http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ Democrat Al Franken went from 9 points behind to 4 points ahead of Republican incumbent Norm Coleman after the approval of the bailout.Senate leader Mitch McConnell's double-digit lead over challenger Bruce Lunsford has shrunk to one point, as Republicans prepare to be washed away in a tsunami of rage at their mismanagement of America. Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:51:33 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/113456/gop-stalwarts-prepare-tsunami#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.113456 discussion, 113456 http://www.drudge.com/news/113369/aig-execs-took-440000-luxury-retreat http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5973452&page=1 Less than a week after the federal government committed $85 billion to bail out AIG, executives of the giant AIG insurance company spent $440,000 for a week-long retreat at a $1,000-a-night luxury resort and spa, the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California, Congressional investigators revealed today. Thanks for the Billions - Suckers.. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:54:23 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/113369/aig-execs-took-440000-luxury-retreat#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.113369 news, 113369 http://www.drudge.com/news/113194/its-over http://www.drudge.com/news/113194/its-over Palin was wooden. Unpresidential. Unelectable. It was clear during the debate, that Palin has nothing to offer the country but slogans, jingles, and tired talking points. The bloom is off the rose. Mercifully, McCain can retire to the French Riviara with his billionaire friends, secure in their gratitude that he gave all for their welfare. Palin can return to Alaska to start answering the legal questions brought up by Troopergate, and to slide into semi-oblivion as a freak statistic in the Guiness Book of Records, a foot-note in history, a trivia question to stump gamers in the 2020 edition of trivial pursuit. Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:47:11 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/113194/its-over#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.113194 discussion, 113194 http://www.drudge.com/news/113058/palin-only-can-name-one-supreme-court-case http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0908/In_reintroduction_Palin_to_do_more_interviews_and_tell_her_story.html There's more embarrassing footage yet to air from Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin that involves a discussion of the Supreme Court. "After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases," Politico reports. "There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather silence." <p align="center"><object width="425" height="344"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0rXmuhWrlj4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></p> Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:44:47 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/113058/palin-only-can-name-one-supreme-court-case#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.113058 news, 113058 http://www.drudge.com/news/113068/republicans-palin-not-up-job http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/us/politics/30palin.html?hp Republican heavyweights David Frum, George Will, Kathleen Parker, David Brooks, Mike Murphy : Palin is not up to the job. "I think she has pretty thoroughly and probably irretrievably proven that she is not up to the job of being president of the United States," David Frum, a former speechwriter for President Bush who is now a conservative columnist, said in an interview. "If she doesn't perform well, then people see it. Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:13:37 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/113068/republicans-palin-not-up-job#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.113068 discussion, 113068 http://www.drudge.com/news/112889/white-house-mccain-plays-bailout-spoiler http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/25/at-white-house-mccain-pla_n_129438.html Inside an intense White House meeting over the financial crisis on Thursday, where nearly every key player came to an agreement on the outlines of the bailout package, Sen. John McCain stuck out. The Republican candidate, according to sources with direct knowledge, sat quiet through most of the meeting, never offered specifics, and spoke only at the end to raise doubts about the compromise. McCain's reluctance to jump on board the bailout agreement could throw the entire week-long negotiation into a tailspin. Sen. Chris Dodd, after leaving the White House, suggested on CNN that the tenuous process could be derailed by what he viewed as McCain's political motives. "What happened here, basically, if you want an honest appraisal of the thing, we have been spending a lot of time and I am tired. I have spent almost seven straight days at this in trying to come out with a workout plan for our economy a rescue plan," said Dodd. "What this looked like to me was a rescue plan for John McCain for two hours and took us away from the work we are trying to do today. Serious people trying to do serious work to come up with an answer." According to the source with knowledge of the White House gathering -- which featured both presidential candidates, congressional leaders and the President -- virtually ever key figure in the room, save McCain and GOP Sen. Richard Shelby, were in agreement over a revised version of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's plan. Towards the end, McCain finally spoke up, mentioning a counter-proposal that had been offered by some conservative House Republicans, which would suspend the capital gains tax for two years and provide tax incentives to encourage firms that buy up bad debt. McCain did not discuss specifics of the plan, though, and was non-committal about supporting it. Paulson, however, argued directly against the conservative proposal. "He said that he did not think it would work," according to the source. At another point in the meeting, President Bush chimed in, "If money isn't loosened, this sucker could go down" -- and by sucker he meant economy. ABC News reported that, following the meeting, Paulson "walked into the room where Democrats were caucusing...at the White House and pleaded with them 'please don't blow this up.'" But this story isn't incomplete, according to sources. Democrats stayed talking in the Roosevelt room and Paulson approached them. After his comment, Speaker Pelosi and Rep. Barney Frank shot back that the real problem was with House Republicans. Paulson replied, "I know, I know," as he got down on one knee to lighten the mood. Pelosi joked back, "I didn't know you were a Catholic." <p> Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:03:44 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/112889/white-house-mccain-plays-bailout-spoiler#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.112889 discussion, 112889 http://www.drudge.com/news/112818/wanda-sykes-video-very-funny http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/24/wanda-sykes-tears-into-go_n_128902.html Link and enjoy a fun video. Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:10:21 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/112818/wanda-sykes-video-very-funny#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.112818 discussion, 112818 http://www.drudge.com/news/112745/ice-age-footprints-reveal-life-20000-years http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10566347/ CANBERRA, Australia - Children meandered around their parents' ankles. A man, likely a hunter, dashed through the mud. Somebody dragged a dead animal along the shores of a lake.Now the footprints they left some 20,000 years ago are giving a fresh perspective on the lives of Australian Aborigines. The prints were laid in wet clay containing calcium carbonate that hardened like concrete when it dried. They were eventually covered by a protective clay crust and sand before being exposed recently by wind erosion at the remote national park. The prints were dated by determining how long quartz sand grains had been buried in sediments above and below them, Webb said. He estimated that fewer than a third of the prints had been uncovered in the clay pan beneath the dunes. Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:06:56 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/112745/ice-age-footprints-reveal-life-20000-years#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.112745 discussion, 112745 http://www.drudge.com/news/112742/100-donation-charity-every-palin-lie http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/20/olbermann-gives-100-to-ch_n_127977.html On Friday, Keith Olbermann announced he had made good on his promise to pay $100 to charity every time Sarah Palin "lies or repeats a lie in the course of campaigning." This week Keith donated $3,700 to the Alaskan Special Olympics Fund, and one lucky Countdown viewer "will win a can of Aunt Sarah's Moose Stew." Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:41:02 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/112742/100-donation-charity-every-palin-lie#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.112742 discussion, 112742 http://www.drudge.com/news/112675/judge-cheney-dont-destroy-your-records http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/20/judge-to-cheney-dont-dest_n_127994.html WASHINGTON A federal judge on Saturday ordered Dick Cheney to preserve a wide range of the records from his time as vice president.The decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is a setback for the Bush administration in its effort to promote a narrow definition of materials that must be safeguarded under by the Presidential Records Act. In a 22-page opinion, the judge revealed that in recent days, lawyers for the Bush administration balked at a proposed agreement between the two sides on how to proceed with the case. Cheney and the other defendants in the case "were only willing to agree to a preservation order that tracked their narrowed interpretation" of the Presidential Records Act, wrote Kollar-Kotelly. The administration, said the judge, wanted any court order on what records are at issue in the suit to cover only the office of the vice president, not Cheney or the other defendants in the lawsuit. The other defendants include the National Archives and the archivist of the United States. In response to the ruling, Cheney spokesman James R. Hennigan said that "we will not have any comment on pending litigation." The lawsuit stems from Cheney's position that his office is not part of the executive branch of government. This summer, Cheney chief of staff David Addington told Congress the vice president belongs to neither the executive nor legislative branch of government, but rather is attached by the Constitution to Congress. The vice president presides over the Senate. The lawsuit alleges that the Bush administration's actions over the past 7 1/2 years raise questions over whether the White House will turn over records created by Cheney and his staff to the National Archives in January. <p> Sun, 21 Sep 2008 13:43:04 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/112675/judge-cheney-dont-destroy-your-records#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.112675 discussion, 112675 http://www.drudge.com/news/112506/does-anyone-still-think-we-should-privatize http://www.drudge.com/news/112506/does-anyone-still-think-we-should-privatize While Capitalism is a wonderful mechanism for enriching a culture, without civilizing regulations, in its most base manifestation, capitalism can become a terrifying creature. Unbridled Capitalism, in its purest form, exists in countries that have no safety laws, no labor laws and no environmental standards. China, Pakistan, India, Mexico, Bangladesh, Viet-Nam, are all more capitalist than America. .But. <p>Do we want to live like them.?. <p>Without regulations that put limits on the structure of mortgages, workplace safety, product safety, banking regulations, minimum wage, unemployment insurance, social security, Medicare.....we could live in the same type of society as those countries. <p>And there are those amongst us, who are working to achieve just such a state. Choose wisely. Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:36:24 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/112506/does-anyone-still-think-we-should-privatize#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.112506 discussion, 112506 http://www.drudge.com/news/112408/mccain-adviser-gramm-linked-lehman-mess http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/09/9718_mccain_lehman_crisis_gramm.html Mother Jones: If McCain wants to hold someone accountable for the failure in transparency and accountability that led to the current calamity on Wall Street, he should turn to his good friend and adviser, Phil Gramm. Thanks to legislation drafted eight years ago by Gramm with the help of financial industry lobbyists, the Lehman Brothers collapse threatens the financial markets. As the news broke of the Lehman Brothers meltdown and the rest of the latest financial crisis, John McCain, speaking at a campaign rally in Florida on Monday, angrily declared, "We will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. This is a failure." <p>And in a statement released by his campaign, McCain called for greater "transparency and accountability" on Wall Street. <p>Gramm, then a Republican senator chairing the Senate banking committee, slipped a 262-page bill into a gargantuan, must-pass spending measure. Gramm's legislation, written with the help of financial industry lobbyists, essentially removed newfangled financial products called swaps from any regulation. Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:22:10 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/112408/mccain-adviser-gramm-linked-lehman-mess#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.112408 news, 112408 http://www.drudge.com/news/112352/does-bristols-baby-have-obama-like-features http://the4thquarter.net/2008/09/08/bristol-palins-babys-father-is-black/ Ok, Ill admit that I am VERY skeptical about this video. His myspace address flashes on the screen at least 3 times, so it could be a clever marketing ploy. But IF this happens to be true, I wouldnt say that the story is too far-fetched. While it might be politically incorrect to say, my honest opinion is that if the father of Sarah Palins grandchild happened to be black, many convservative supporters would be inclined to not support her for that very reason. Ever since Birth of a Nation there has been this underlying fear of Black men with White women, and by putting that on a worldwide political stage, that would be too much for any candidate to endure. But as far as this dude, whether the story is true or not, people are talking about it, so hes a genius. Sun, 14 Sep 2008 08:15:43 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/112352/does-bristols-baby-have-obama-like-features#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.112352 112352 http://www.drudge.com/news/112142/kinsley-alaska-no-1-tax-and-spend-state http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1839724,00.html Michael Kinsley: Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 2 1/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska's government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it Alaska is, in essence, an adjunct member of OPEC. It has four different taxes on oil, which produce more than 89% of the state's unrestricted revenue. On average, three-quarters of the value of a barrel of oil is taken by the state government before that oil is permitted to leave the state. Alaska residents each get a yearly check for about $2,000 from oil revenues, plus an additional $1,200 pushed through by Palin last year to take advantage of rising oil prices. Any sympathy the governor of Alaska expresses for folks in the lower 48 who are suffering from high gas prices or can't afford to heat their homes is strictly crocodile tears. Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:28:29 -0400 skizziks http://www.drudge.com/news/112142/kinsley-alaska-no-1-tax-and-spend-state#discuss tag:drudge.com,2005:weblog.112142 news, 112142