We should just give that $2 billion directly to Osama bin Laden and cut out the middleman. "The US has announced a $2bn (£1.3bn) package of military and security aid to Pakistan over five years on the final day of US-Pakistan strategic talks. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled the deal, which is subject to Congressional approval. But the Obama administration will make clear it expects Islamabad to do more in the fight against Islamic militants. The US has given Pakistan more than $1bn of military aid a year since 2005; last fiscal year, it gave nearly $2bn."
What we need is more conservative economic policies. Because they've worked out so well for the middle class. This via Ezra Klein:
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"The option is on the table. I don't think that we should remove anything from the table as it relates to our liberties and our freedoms," Broden said, without elaborating. "However, it is not the first option."
The GOP really is the modern confederate party: If those rotten retarded children don't get their way, they claim that they will try to burn the country down.
Those confederate states get more back from the Federal government than they pay in taxes. The Northern industrial and the west coast states pay more in taxes than they get and all those inbred douches can do is whine, whine, whine about government and how they want nothing from government. Except when a disaster hits their states, and then they whine, whine, whine about how the Federal government is not doing enough for them. Oh, and let's not forget all of the pork and construction projects that they are happy to get from the Federal government.
Fuck them. And their horses.
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In case you were out drinking last night and missed it, the Wikileaks Wikileaks Iraq document dump was released last night. Here's the Times coverage, and here's the Guardian's. One thing that jumps out is the Guardian's story of how the US ignored torture, or what the Times calls "detainee abuse".
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This is absolutely inexcusable. Every one of these deaths is the direct fault of nations like the U.S. who have failed to fund recovery and rebuilding. And buckets of blood are dripping from the hands of Senator Tom Coburn, who is single-handedly blocking federal funding for Haiti. "A cholera outbreak has killed scores of people in central Haiti, President Rene Preval has confirmed. At least 140 people have died and 1,000 have been hospitalised by the illness, which causes diarrhoea, acute fever, vomiting and severe dehydration. Mr Preval said his government was taking steps to ensure the disease did not spread further. Officials fear a higher death toll if the outbreak reaches camps for the survivors of January's earthquake. The quake killed some 250,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless around the capital Port-au-Prince. Tens of thousands of people are still living in crowded tent cities with poor sanitation and little access to clean drinking water."
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Jill: Who says there's no American Taliban?
Jill: American Teabagger Terrorists
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Ginni has issues because she's married to a freak she's driven herself crazy trying to measure up "Lillian McEwan just broke her silence of 19 years to talk about Clarence Thomas' obsession with large breasts and pornography. Lillian McEwan might want to consider changing her phone number. ... The 65-year-old was romantically involved with the justice at the time of his contentious confirmation hearing and was used as an alibi of sorts. Why would Thomas harass Anita Hill when he already had a girlfriend? But, thanks to Ginni Thomas' recent headline-making behavior, the ex-girlfriend has decided to set the record straight -- and shop around her memoir, naturally. McEwan tells the Washington Post, "He was obsessed with porn. He would talk about what he had seen in magazines and films, if there was something worth noting." Hilariously, McEwan says that Thomas' obsession didn't bother her any -- she just found pornography "boring." ... As for his behavior in the workplace, she says, "He was always actively watching the women he worked with to see if they could be potential partners. It was a hobby of his." And he tried to involve McEwan in that hobby: "Thomas would also tell her about women he encountered at work," the Post reports. "He was partial to women with large breasts, she said."
Speaking of Crazy Ginni... "Justice Clarence Thomas's wife, Virginia, asked to have her name removed from a memorandum that called President Obama's health care overhaul unconstitutional, as she distanced herself from an issue that may come before the Supreme Court. ... Ms. Thomas's name appeared on the memorandum by mistake, according to Liberty Central, the nonprofit group she founded to support the Tea Party. The group that issued the memorandum has removed Ms. Thomas's name, said Sarah Field, Liberty Central's chief operating officer."
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Repiglicans love that failed stimulus.
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Dumb British Submarine stuck in mud
Our former colonial masters, the British, used to be renowned for their terrifying navy, which would obliterate rival fleets and bombard barbarian cities from the sea in order to pave the way for colonial conquest. Unfortunately, the Brits are stone cold broke now, having spent all their Pounds Sterling on booze, and so their navy sucks. CASE IN POINT: the HMS Astute, a fancy new submarine that is supposed to be invisible to sonar because of fancy British technology, not-so-astutely got itself stuck in the mud off the coast of Scotland. Is there video? Oh, you bet there's video. Was this video shot by someone who works for some kind of otter rescue group? BELIEVE IT. READ MORE »
