U.S. Deports Lou Dobbs

CNN Host Had Been Living Illegally In Country Since 1961

WANTAGE, NJ—Acting on anonymous tips from within the Hispanic-American community, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on Wednesday deported Luis Miguel Salvador Aguila Dominguez, who for the last 48 years had been living illegally in the United States under the name Lou Dobbs.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, federal agents stormed the undocumented immigrant's home in an evening raid just hours after the 64-year-old newscaster suddenly announced that he was resigning from CNN, and immediately placed him on an Aeromexico flight departing from Newark Liberty Airport.

"Mr. Dominguez did not come quietly, but in the end he came," said Sam Whitlock of the U.S. Border Patrol, who was injured during the arrest. "He pulled a knife on me, like they will, and swore a bunch in Spanish and spit on us when we finally managed to grab him by the serape and throw him against a wall. But the important thing is that he's now back where he belongs."

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_d...

It's all due to the "loudness war":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

Essentially, mastering engineers compress (or 'limit') all the sound on each song so that there are few quiet spots, and very little dynamic range. Often times, they clip the hell out of it too, so all the louder high/low frequencies are chopped right off. The result sounds mashed together, causing listener fatigue and, in the longterm, sheer boredom. But it's all done to make a particular song as 'loud' as the previous one on the radio, mp3 player, etc. All it really does is make the music sound just plain awful.

Music doesn't have to be so 'loud'. The recently-released Beatles remasters sound amazing. The engineers used very little limiting/compression, to give it a very natural, organic sound. In addition, Apple Corps. and EMI packaged them in very attractive CD digipack sleeves (to make them look more like tiny LPs), and packed the booklets with rare photos and complete liner notes. The result? Millions of copies sold, when everyone is crying that nobody is buying music anymore.

Other artists, such as Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and Donald Fagan, have come out against the use of excessive limiting.

There are many, many reasons why music is in a slump right now, and 'piracy' is not even one of the main reasons (how does one explain how Radiohead started selling even more CDs after their stuff was leaked/given away on the internet?). The 'loudness war', though, is a very big reason.

Here's a link that explains more:

http://turnmeup.org /

It explains why most music sucks these days.

Sarah Palin has joined LinkedIn. And guess what? She's interested in "job inquiries."

The former Alaska governor has posted her resume on the professional social-networking web site LinkedIn. The service boasts over 45 million users who connect and refer colleagues. Instead of using the Facebook term "friends," LinkedIn users have "connections." Palin had over 500 connections as of Saturday evening.

The URL for Palin's LinkedIn profile uses "/governorpalin" despite the fact that Palin resigned from her job as Alaska's governor in July 2009.

The University of Idaho is the sole education entry on Palin's LinkedIn profile. She does not list the four other institutions she attended before earning her degree.


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18/s...


http://www.linkedin.com/in/governorsarahpa...

Backstory:

Savvy coders exploited the RNC’s failure to lock down aspects of their code and created a platform where you can add Michael Steele to any web site.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/brand-hack-... /

He does a walk-on at my blog:

http://hammerandsteele.com/?u=http://ltrad... /

Added to DU:

http://hammerandsteele.com/?u=http://www.d...

Or do it to your favorite site:

http://hammerandsteele.com /

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and John Malone's Liberty Media Corp are interested in NBC Universal, according to a report by CNBC, citing sources.

Cable company Comcast Corp has been widely reported to be in talks with NBC Universal parent General Electric Co to buy a controlling stake in the broadcast, cable and movie company.

(snip)

News Corp, which owns the Fox TV network and the Wall Street Journal, had been seen as a less likely bidder, analysts have said, because taking a stake in NBC might raise antitrust concerns with the U.S. government.

Liberty Media has been seen as possible bidder for a minority stake in NBC Universal because of its history of taking minority stakes in big media companies.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNew...

---

Will. Never. Happen.

I just checked in to my Twitter account, and I follow a few token cons, along with the usual likeminded people.

One of those is Glenn Beck, along with StopBeck:

http://twitter.com/stopbeck

And I noticed him carrying on and on about Chachi being a fan of his, as if his cred goes up when some has-been actor admits to being a fan.

Curious, I checked out Chachi's page:

http://twitter.com/thescottbaio

And needless to say, he's gone Beck-style crazy. Totally off the reservation. Not to mention a total douchebag:



2. @blakeshelton, Now I know why my wife & step-daughter likes you. You are also a tell it like it is guy. Love thatabout 2 hours ago from web

3. http://twitpic.com/l2gd7 - thescottbaio is real. "Is this car green enough"? lolabout 4 hours ago from TwitPic


7. People say that "I'm going against the Grain" Growing up I was taught the Conservative way WAS "The Grain" People w/ huge values was THE WAYabout 8 hours ago from web

8. @stopbeck, yes, I am Scott Baio. I also LOVE Glen Beck, so you prob. shouldn't follow me. Take careabout 8 hours ago from web

9. Then tomorrow I'm sending out packages to our spec. needs families. (winter coats 4 kids) But I bet you won't blog about that, huh????about 8 hours ago from web

10. Hey peeps, I'm going to dinner. You wanna blog about that too.about 8 hours ago from web

11. P.S. AND if you have to engage "this D list actor" YOUR WORDS, you are more pathetic than you realize. Life is great, well mine is anyway.about 9 hours ago from web

12. Funny how liberals are all free and open to shit UNTIL Conservatives say something THEY don't like. Suggestion to libs, DON'T Follow meabout 9 hours ago from web

13. Awe I'd love for Ren to be on Meet the Press, She is sharp.about 9 hours ago from web

14. Scott Baio is NOT a Republican, Scott Baio IS a Conservative. RT that.about 15 hours ago from web

15. She is a true southern girl (also 1/2 American Indian) and can def. square off with any lib. You guys called Bush far worse, so just chill.about 15 hours ago from web

16. Also my wife has the same freedoms as you and I, so therefore she CAN call whomever she wants a "Shitfuck" you don't have to like it.about 15 hours ago from web

17. Only to have these libs try to go public with MY REPLY TO THEIR NASTINESS.... That's okay because every dog will have their day. unfollow meabout 15 hours ago from web

18. So funny how I tweet MY thoughts and libs jump all over me after they disrespect ME, then I DM them in private them to be a good guy.about 15 hours ago from web

19. Hey people last time I checked I have the right to freedom of speech, Libs may hate that but I DO HAVE MY RIGHTS TOO, Now go Blog that!!!!about 15 hours ago from web

20. @gwenhayes, yeah and Michael Vick still plays football. What's ur point? They both are losers.6:38 PM Oct 9th from web

21. Someone said that the best thing about the cash for clunkers is, now most of the obama stickers are GONE!!!!! YES YES YES!!!!!!!6:27 PM Oct 9th from web

22. Wife calls Obama a "Shitfuck" and I believe she's right.12:22 PM Oct 9th from web

23. Rush is going off on Obama for winning the "Dumbbell" Prize. The is a sad day for Americans.11:34 AM Oct 9th from web

24. @blakeshelton you were on same flight awhile back w/ my wife & step daughter from Nashville. My step daughter was peeing her pants over you12:46 AM Oct 9th from web

25. Getting ready to have dinner with Chris, yes the blue lagoon guy.5:46 PM Oct 8th from web

26. I have BB most of the day while Ren works on her foundation stuff. We will take a walk and maybe play tennis.11:21 AM Oct 8th from web

27. Finally I can hit the hay, long day.12:38 AM Oct 8th from web

28. Getting ready to make dinner for the fam. Pork chops, greens, red potatoes.7:26 PM Oct 7th from web

29. I actually went grocery shopping after golf. I'm bringing home flowers to Ren. I never do that, she's not feeling well today.5:15 PM Oct 7th from web

30. I have almost 1800 followers and still not verified?????? How long does it take? Geesh3:29 PM Oct 7th from web

31. It's Wed. I guess I will play golf. Life is Good.11:51 AM Oct 7th from web

32. http://twitpic.com/kjtlv - Bailey fell asleep watching Snow White IMG00658.jpg8:44 PM Oct 6th from TwitPic

33. Brett Farve is a Genius.8:41 PM Oct 6th from web

34. Ren is sending me out 1st thing in the morning to buy BB Snow White on DVD. And maybe I won't have to watch that mermaid for a day or so.1:00 AM Oct 6th from web

35. http://twitpic.com/kecnv - Bailey with My hat2:50 PM Oct 5th from TwitPic

36. http://twitpic.com/kdynh - Scott Baio & Dr. Phil1:09 PM Oct 5th from TwitPic

37. Great night with Dr. Phil hosting the Iraq Star event. Great cause for our wounded troops.12:01 AM Oct 5th from web

38. Came home from the car show to the smell of pumpkins. Candles, it's that time of the year that Ren will burn those things until Christmas.4:40 PM Oct 4th from web

39. http://twitpic.com/k73q1 - Daddy's Girl IMG00647.jpg10:58 PM Oct 3rd from TwitPic

40. Yes, I'm a little giddy tonight as I holed out on the golf course today from about 165 yards.(non golfers, I put it in the hole from 165yds)10:05 PM Oct 3rd from web

The Michigan Democratic Party is all up in arms over reports of their rivals giving away alcohol to underage students in exchange for campaigning during a weekend conference on Mackinac Island. But let's be real; how else did they pink elephantexpect the GOP to get gaggles of college kids to stump for their candidates?

The event occurred over the last weekend in September, just as a contentious budget battle raged in the state's capital. At the time, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer put out a video statement blasting the GOP's choice to put on the conference when a budget needed passing in Lansing within a few days of that weekend:

While they're partying on Mackinac Island this weekend, the fate of our school kids, our police and firefighters, our unemployed, our college students who are looking forward to the promised scholarship, is hanging in the balance. But do the Republicans care about that?

(more)

http://blog.buzzflash.com/analysis/921

Source: Politico

During the Bush era, Republicans from Karl Rove to Joe Wilson questioned — in ways both veiled and overt — the patriotism of Democrats who challenged the administration’s Iraq policy, pre-war intelligence and surveillance programs.

But the joyous reaction in some GOP quarters to the International Olympics Committee's snub of Chicago — coupled with the party’s rapid-fire reaction to bad economic data – has some Democrats turning the tables and asking if Republicans are the ones cheering against America now.

Many Democrats saw the outbursts following the IOC decision – the merry Tweets, videos of cheering conservatives and chest-thumping by party leaders like Newt Gingrich — as part of larger pattern that includes the flirtation of right-wing Texans like Gov. Rick Perry with secession and the caustic tone of right-wing talk radio, embodied by Rush Limbaugh’s “I want him to fail” comment about Obama in January.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/...

“I am not a member of any organized party,” Will Rogers famously quipped. “I am a Democrat.” Then there were those old jokes about Democrats forming “circular firing squads.”

But these days, it seems like Republicans are the ones duking it out with each other … or at least examining where they are and where they should be headed after recent electoral drubbings.

Mainstream Republicans are looking at the loudest of the conservative voices — Sarah Palin and the most prominent of the talk-show types (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, et al) — and concluding that the GOP needs to do something different if it’s to succeed.

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/200...

While direct comparisons between Rep. Alan Grayson’s (D-FL) now-infamous “Die Quickly!” screed and Joe Wilson’s “You lie!” don’t hold much water, the two incidents do share one thing in common. They have both given new meaning to the phrase “money quote.”

Grayson wasted no time in putting up a fundraising plea at Daily Kos, one that has raised over $70,000 so far. He has also spent the hours since then doubling, tripling, and googlpling down on his remarks to anyone who will have him on. The phone at Grayson’s office is ringing off the hook, and when I reached them, they declined to give an updated estimate.

(snip)

The Republican National Congressional Campaign Committee is hoping they can surpass the Democrats’ oppo-fundraising feat, and have set up an anti-Grayson website called “AlanDisgrayson.com” to raise money for his eventual opponent. A source within the NRCC ballparks the amount raised from the site at a couple hundred dollars, but sats that the site went live late yesterday, and he expects it to get much more promotion today

http://www.mediaite.com/online/money-quote... /

A couple hundred dollars?!? The GOP's really raking in the loot!



(Edit to change headline, so people will actually read and comment)

Source: Huffington Post

Republicans are calling on freshman Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) to apologize for denigrating their party's health care plan on the House floor, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) thinks they ought to look in the mirror instead.

"Apparently Republicans hold Democrats to a higher standard than they hold members of their own party," Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference on Thursday. "There's no reason for Mr. Grayson to apologize. If anyone should apologize, everyone should apologize."

(snip)

Pelosi said she holds everyone in Congress to a high standard of discourse, but she argued that health reform is too important to be "distracted" by Republican efforts to force an apology from Grayson.

"Points have been made. Now it's time to take the debate to health care," Pelosi said. "This is urgent and we won't be distracted from our course of action."


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/01/p...

---

Wow, Pelosi is indeed growing a spine. Good for her.

Nobody likes to bring this up, but McCain went against regulations and cooperated with the NVA. He also denounced the U.S. to better his own situation.

Of course, the Democrats are too polite to bring this up. But if this were Kerry four years ago, well...

From my blog:

The knocked-up, blown-out Labor Day weekend (or "Juno" comes to Juneau)

(snip)

Meanwhile, another storm ramped up thousands of miles to the north, in Juneau, the capitol of Alaska, where Hurricane Bristol blew through the political landscape this weekend. Okay, Bristol isn't really a hurricane. But it could prove to be quite embarassing to the Republican Party, their presidential nominee John McCain and his newly anointed running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. You see, the storm we're talking about concerns 17 year-old Bristol Palin, daughter of the budding vice presidential nominee. See, Bristol got knocked up five months ago. Ouch!

(snip)

Ordinarily, this whole ordeal would and should only cause a minor ripple rather than a tidal wave, especially since so many high school children, sadly, are finding themselves expectant parents these days. Absurdly, right-wing pundits, bloggers and broadcast squawkers are currently trying to acheive a loftier plain by chastising their liberal counterparts who are ripping Palin apart over this, as if they are always the ones who wear the white hats and we're all just a bunch of cruel black-hatted bastards.

Likely, many of these same 'my shit don't stink' crybaby conservatives looked the other way in 1998 when McCain cracked a rather cruel joke about 'how ugly' the teenage Chelsea Clinton was. Rush Limbaugh once called 12 year-old Chelsea 'the White House dog,' but there was no outcry from anyone in that camp. Only guffaws from his right-wing lemmings. Remember when these holier-than-thoughs cracked jokes about Elizabeth Edwards' weight? Now, they're singing a different tune. The people that condoned or participated in any of this have no firm ground on which to take the high road.

To his credit, Obama has called for backing off of candidates' families, as he should. His objective has long been to concentrate on fighting McBush's politics, and digging in the dirt does him no good. His mother gave birth to him when she was 18, and he has two young daughters that will no doubt give him migraines a few years down the road. But I don't work for the Obama campaign, and while I respect that Bristol Palin didn't ask to be put in the spotlight, I do have some concerns about her predicament. Like it or not, this is a campaign issue for the GOP. Because the problem is, in their desperate attempts to suck up to the fundamentalist crowd and their stuffy, outdated and unrealistic views about sexuality, the official Republican Party platform for the 2008 election puts bedroom politics, particularly abortion and gay rights, near the top of the agenda. Part of this year's policy slate calls not for increased access to birth control and sex education, which would make sense but which they widely discourage, but rather for pre-marital abstinence.

Abstinence? No sex before marriage? Ha! Easier said than done.

The very fact that the teenage daughter of an up-and-coming ultra-conservative red state governor obviously did not take this long-standing GOP mantra seriously shows that a demand for all-out abstinence is just not part of everyday reality. It's just a plain stupid concept, and one that simply does not work. Shagging is part of human nature. In blunt English, we as people love to get laid.

Somehow, I'm not surprised by all of this. Right-wingers have long had no qualms about pointing fingers and telling others how to live their lives. Judging by the recent sexual antics of right-wing politicians and bloviators like Mark Foley, David Vitter, Larry Craig and Ted Haggard, this is yet another case of 'do as we say, not as we do.' Vice President Dick Cheney, perhaps the most conservative politician in Washington, has a lesbian daughter who married her partner a few years ago. There's absolutely nothing at all wrong with that. We should all be so fortunate to find the ideal person to settle down with. But did that change his stance on tolerance of the GLBT community? Not one bit. Is it too much to ask that right-wingers lead by the warped example they want to inflict on the rest of us, or at least be flexible in adjusting their narrow-minded pseudo-puritanical views to reflect the actual world that they live in? Let's face it, many of the very people who demand we conform to their idea of morality no doubt party like rock stars, fuck like rabbits and have done things in their lives worthy of bags of mail to Penthouse Magazine.

See, in right-wing America, you can't screw your girlfriend/boyfriend, but you can screw the working class. Taking a morning-after pill to get rid of an embryo smaller than the tip of a needle is wrong, but sending a mentally-retarded felon to the gas chamber is okay. Buying a box of condoms is a sin, but denying a young unwed mother and her child affordable health care is acceptable. Defiling your mind with pornography is frowned upon by the tighty-righties, but corporations defiling the earth and its atmosphere with pollution in order to make a quick buck is quite all right. See what I'm getting at?

(snip)

Needless to say, it's all about walking the talk. And a political party or movement calling for absinence, when they are unwilling to practice it themselves or expect even their own family members to effectively follow suit, is just plain asinine.

Now, I will say that Governor Palin should be commended for positively supporting her daughter in this ordeal (though none of us have been privy to what family discussions have transpirerd behind closed doors and that's none of our business). Teenage pregnancy is obviously not a fun scenario for anyone involved. It's pretty difficult. This is really not about the Palin family, but rather the continued hawking of ridiculous laws to appease uptight prudes. And this is yet one more indicator that the Republicans should collectively grow a set and stop trying to legislate their own warped version of morality for America. If they want to discourage and stop people from obtaining abortions (and who doesn't?), they should advocate making birth control more widely available. They should encourage sex education and family planning education in schools. And they should also explain the consequences of pregnancy at a young age. Furthermore, a strong economy, as we've seen during the Clinton years, actually results in a lower abortion and teen pregnancy rate. But they'll never admit that. To them, controlling sex is an effective way of controlling the masses.

The McCain campaign should especially back off their mysoginistic idea of discouraging insurance companies from offering coverage on contraception, particularly birth control pills. Obviously, they're too out of touch to realize that this medication is often prescribed for non-birth control purposes, such as hormone imbalances, and are actually quite vital to the health of many women. But it's all about sex with these people, right?

All in all, the waging of bedroom politics and making mountanous wedge issues out of mole hills should stop once and for all. Prohibition in the 1920s has shown us that using the Constitution to take rights away, rather than affirm them, simply does not work. A party that proclaims itself to be all about 'small government' should practice what they preach. Get out of our private lives.

At the very least, let's hope that this Bristol Palin predicament will cause 'the loftier plain' folks to pull their collective heads out of their asses and learn what life is really like in ordinary America. At least we hope that Gov. Palin will see the forest for the trees.

http://ltradio.blogspot.com/2008/09/knocke...

By GOP definition of Obama's surrogates, Savage is obviously part of the McCain camp.

http://politicalbyline.blogspot.com/2008/0...

The "Swift Boaters" from 2004 are back at it.

A group of top Republican contributors who financially fueled the famous "Swift Boat" campaign ads that helped sink Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign back in 2004 are starting to regroup.

A story in today's Wall Street Journal reports on new Republican efforts to circumvent the landmark campaign finance laws named after their top candidate -- the McCain-Feingold Act of 2002.

The GOP is raising tons of cash for the Republican Governors Association, which is a so-called 527 group and permits donors to exceed the $2,300 individual cap that applies to presidential campaigns. Although these groups are barred from soliciting money for presidential candidates, the association is telling prospective contributors that money for the association will ultimately help out McCain at the top of the ticket.

Of course the association's fund is getting cash from big corporations like Pfizer, Bank of America Corp. and Travelers, which have given $150,000 or more. But that's not the main target of this fundraising effort.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/...