Families of US Hikers Observe More Sad Milestones

By The River Wanders

Families of three American hikers detained in Iran – Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal – watched several frustrating milestones go by in recent days. Held since July 31, 2009, the friends may have crossed an unmarked border while hiking in Iraq; the trio remains in Evin Prison on suspicions of espionage.

Mothers of the hikers spent a lonely Mother’s Day without their children; shortly after, the Iranian government issued visas granting them permission to visit Sarah, Shane, and Josh. Hopes were high that Iran might allow the hikers to leave at the end of …

To Obama Haters, He Went To the Wrong Cemetery, And It’s His Fault Memorial Day Speech Got Rained Out

Somehow, according to those who have intense, visceral hatred for President Obama, appearing at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery shows that he hates the troops at worst, or, at best, is tone deaf because he wasn’t at Arlington, and the fact that it rained shows how terrible everything is for Obama. (h/t Eric Boehlert)

“Terrible week for Obama somehow turns worse.” On any other occasion this would be amusing, but Memorial Day without an address from the C-in-C is a bummer through and through. …caught in the middle of a downpour to rival Noah’s flood….his weekend YouTube address on …

On Monday’s Radio Show…

In a LIVE Memorial Day show, guest host Ellis Henican fills in for Alan.…

Video Of IDF Raiding Aid Flotilla

Juan Cole offers two possible reasons for the IDF raid on an aid flotilla:

One is that the Israeli troops boarding the vessels met some sort of resistance and over-reacted. Aid volunteers are unlikely, however, to have posed much real challenge to trained special forces operatives.

The other possible reason is that the far rightwing government of Binyamin Netanyahu and his foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman gave a green light to the commandos to respond with excessive force. That is, the deaths and woundings may have been a brutally frank warning to any future Gaza aid activists that they are taking …

Republicans And Policy Formation: They’ve Got Their Ears To The Tubes!

by The Professor

It’s hard not to love modern day Republicans in the same way I love old Marx Brothers movies.  They’re scheming, manipulating, devoid of serious ideas, but always in motion and lately consistently entertaining in the way politics is when sex scandals and bizarre things like The Family eclipse the boring stuff.  Why bog a governor down with policy and governance when there’s an Appalachian trail to hike?

Say what you will about the Democrats, but they got health care reform through and they’re getting financial regulation reform, too.  Yes, it’s slow and tedious, but it’s supposed to …

World Outrage At Iraeli Attack On Aid Flotilla

A predawn raid by Israel on a Gaza aid convoy, leaving at least 10 killed and 30 wounded, has outraged the world.

Robert Serry, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, and Filippo Grandi, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), condemned in a joint statement the Israeli attack on Gaza Flotilla.

“We are shocked by reports of killings and injuries of people on board the convoy carrying supplies to Gaza, apparently in international waters. We condemn the violence and call for it to stop. The situation is still ongoing and we are awaiting confirmation …

Kentucky Passes Civil Rights Legislation In Reaction To Rand Paul

Remarks by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul of Kentucky have led that state’s legislature to pass civil rights legislation.

Louisville Democratic Sen. Gerald Neal introduced the resolution Friday during a special session on the state budget. It was adopted without objection in the predominantly Republican chamber.

Neal, Kentucky’s only black state senator, said he took personal offense at the comment made last week by Paul, a U.S. Senate candidate, who was criticizing the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Neal believes Paul’s comments render Kentucky a “laughingstock.”…

We Honor The Fallen

“We honor, not just those who’ve worn this country’s uniform,” said President Obama in this week’s radio address, “but the men and women who’ve died in its service; who’ve laid down their lives in defense of their fellow citizens; who’ve given their last full measure of devotion to protect the United States of America.”

Obama asked Americans to honor the holiday “with more than words.”

“We are called to honor them with deeds,” he said. “So this weekend, as we commemorate Memorial Day, I ask you to hold all our fallen heroes in your hearts, and if you can, to …

J.D. Hayworth: For A Pathway To Citizenship Before He Was Against It

Arizona candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, J.D. Hayworth, has run his campaign on criticism of opponent John McCain for McCain’s election year conversion on immigration reform. But Hayworth was also for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants before he was against it.  Asked to explain this on “Meet the Press”, Hayworth says that 9/11 “helped the scales fall from my eyes.” (via Think Progress)

[David] GREGORY: Going back to 2001, you actually believed in a guest worker program. You believed in a path towards citizenship which you now call amnesty. Sen. McCain was a …

California Bill Ensures Texas Doesn’t Mess With Its Students

California State Senator Leland Yee authored a bill passed by the California legislature ensuring that the rewritten, conservative version of history put forth by the Texas board of education, doesn’t inflict itself on that state. (h/t Raw Story)

“My bill begins the process of ensuring that California students will not end up being taught with Texas standards,” State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), who authored and sponsored the legislation, told Raw Story in an interview. Texas standards had better not “creep into our textbooks,” he said.

The S.B. 1451 measure – approved on a bipartisan vote of 25-5 – …

Media Had Field Day With Blumenthal, Little About Kirk

The so-called “liberal media” went to town about Connecticut Attorney General and Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal’s error in stating he served in in Vietnam, including calls for him to “step aside”. But little has been made about Rep. Mark Kirk’s exaggeration as Kirk seeks to be the next Senator from Illinois. Kirk’s official biography stated that he received the U.S. Navy’ Intelligence Officer of the Year award during the Serbian conflict in the late 1990′s. However, only after The Washington Post investigated and discovered otherwise did Kirk acknowledge that he “misidentified” the award.

Kirk, an Appropriations Committee member, changed …