"In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law (1). It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President's ability to deploy troops within the
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Rewriting the Constitution in the dead of night.
Via Fallenmonk: "...we discover that that there was a whole lot more to Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" than we were told.
"In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law (1). It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President's ability to deploy troops within theUnited States
"In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law (1). It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President's ability to deploy troops within the
Meester Bush spleaks to Hannity.
We owe much to Holden's obsession with all things spoken from the White House, to brave bleeding ears and imminent brain rot to bring us these pearls of wisdom:
"In the meantime, there are societies where people are so hopeless that they're desperate for, you know, something. In other words, imagine the type of society in which a 16-year-old kid agrees that maybe the best thing for him is to listen to an elder and strap a suicide — you know, conduct a suicide operation."
And
"Right now, there's an ideological conflict going on and — but freedom will end up doing is preventing the totalitarian point of view from gaining even more traction than it has."
Read the link, there's more!
"In the meantime, there are societies where people are so hopeless that they're desperate for, you know, something. In other words, imagine the type of society in which a 16-year-old kid agrees that maybe the best thing for him is to listen to an elder and strap a suicide — you know, conduct a suicide operation."
And
"Right now, there's an ideological conflict going on and — but freedom will end up doing is preventing the totalitarian point of view from gaining even more traction than it has."
Read the link, there's more!
I thought it was against the law for our soldiers to take orders from foreign countries.
So when did al-Maliki get to be commander of our troops?
Update: sockeye over at DailyKos takes it further.
Update: Steve Bates finds more evidence at Needlenose of the complications and tangles of meaning this has:
(from WaPo) "U.S. forces ended a five-day-old military blockade of Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City section Tuesday, meeting a deadline set by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki amid tensions between U.S. and Iraqi officials and pressure from the anti-American cleric whose militia controls the sprawling Shiite slum.
"Maliki ordered that the security cordon be lifted hours after cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a civil disobedience campaign in Sadr City to protest the blockade, which the U.S. military launched Wednesday in an effort to find an abducted U.S. soldier and capture a purported Iraqi death squad leader.
"It was the Maliki government's greatest demonstration of independence from the occupying U.S. military forces, following two weeks of increasingly pointed exchanges between Iraqi and U.S. officials. But it was also a reminder of the degree to which Maliki must cooperate with Sadr, who leads the political party that comprises one of the biggest blocs in the governing alliance and who effectively runs the Shiite Muslim stronghold named for his deceased father."
Take a look at the sea of outrage in the photos Needlenose has posted. This is more than complicated, it is impossible.
Update: sockeye over at DailyKos takes it further.
Update: Steve Bates finds more evidence at Needlenose of the complications and tangles of meaning this has:
(from WaPo) "U.S. forces ended a five-day-old military blockade of Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City section Tuesday, meeting a deadline set by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki amid tensions between U.S. and Iraqi officials and pressure from the anti-American cleric whose militia controls the sprawling Shiite slum.
"Maliki ordered that the security cordon be lifted hours after cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a civil disobedience campaign in Sadr City to protest the blockade, which the U.S. military launched Wednesday in an effort to find an abducted U.S. soldier and capture a purported Iraqi death squad leader.
"It was the Maliki government's greatest demonstration of independence from the occupying U.S. military forces, following two weeks of increasingly pointed exchanges between Iraqi and U.S. officials. But it was also a reminder of the degree to which Maliki must cooperate with Sadr, who leads the political party that comprises one of the biggest blocs in the governing alliance and who effectively runs the Shiite Muslim stronghold named for his deceased father."
Take a look at the sea of outrage in the photos Needlenose has posted. This is more than complicated, it is impossible.
MineTube.
Interesting, this WaPo article about YouTube "To the Media, YouTube Is a Threat and a Tool"
only addresses the copyright issues with entertainment.
It does not address the fantastic capabilities in the political arena. More than downloaded movies and tv shows, look at the immediate archive searching of Bush's speeches for the phrase "stay the course", the experiences of the US soldiers in Iraq, or like today, the beating up of an aggressive reporter trying to address George Allen. A politician's blunders are now immediate and irretrievable.
The 'common man' now has the ability to circumvent the mainstream media to get news, see it up close and personal, and relay it to others.
No wonder it is a threat.
only addresses the copyright issues with entertainment.
It does not address the fantastic capabilities in the political arena. More than downloaded movies and tv shows, look at the immediate archive searching of Bush's speeches for the phrase "stay the course", the experiences of the US soldiers in Iraq, or like today, the beating up of an aggressive reporter trying to address George Allen. A politician's blunders are now immediate and irretrievable.
The 'common man' now has the ability to circumvent the mainstream media to get news, see it up close and personal, and relay it to others.
No wonder it is a threat.
Dick Armey points out where the Republican party train left the tracks.
Via Mustang Bobby, Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey shows the Republicans where they went wrong: leaving the Reagan roots:
"Somewhere along the road to a "permanent majority," the Republican Revolution of 1994 went off track. For several years, we had confidence in our convictions and trusted that the American people would reward our efforts. And they did.
But today, my Republican friends in Congress stand on the precipice of an electoral rout. Even the best-case scenarios suggest wafer-thin majorities and a legislative agenda in disarray. With eight days before the election, House speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi has already begun her transition planning.
Where did the revolution go astray? How did we go from the big ideas and vision of 1994 to the cheap political point-scoring on meaningless wedge issues of today -- from passing welfare reform and limited government to banning horsemeat and same-sex marriage?
The answer is simple: Republican lawmakers forgot the party's principles, became enamored with power and position, and began putting politics over policy. Now, the Democrats are reaping the rewards of our neglect -- and we have no one to blame but ourselves."
"Somewhere along the road to a "permanent majority," the Republican Revolution of 1994 went off track. For several years, we had confidence in our convictions and trusted that the American people would reward our efforts. And they did.
But today, my Republican friends in Congress stand on the precipice of an electoral rout. Even the best-case scenarios suggest wafer-thin majorities and a legislative agenda in disarray. With eight days before the election, House speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi has already begun her transition planning.
Where did the revolution go astray? How did we go from the big ideas and vision of 1994 to the cheap political point-scoring on meaningless wedge issues of today -- from passing welfare reform and limited government to banning horsemeat and same-sex marriage?
The answer is simple: Republican lawmakers forgot the party's principles, became enamored with power and position, and began putting politics over policy. Now, the Democrats are reaping the rewards of our neglect -- and we have no one to blame but ourselves."
Monday, October 30, 2006
The war of ideas.
Ah. So, the way to win the Quagmire of the Sands is to not
1) fire Rumsfeld
2) think of an actual ... you know... plan
3) fire Cheney
4) think of doing something different than stay the course until the military is absolutely broken or driven insane and you have no more options
5) fire Bush
but is to think of better and faster ways to spread propaganda .... on the war we cannot win in a place we shouldn't be with the leaders that cannot lead.
Propaganda. No plan, no work ... just cheap words.
The Bush administration: Can't govern, can't protect.
1) fire Rumsfeld
2) think of an actual ... you know... plan
3) fire Cheney
4) think of doing something different than stay the course until the military is absolutely broken or driven insane and you have no more options
5) fire Bush
but is to think of better and faster ways to spread propaganda .... on the war we cannot win in a place we shouldn't be with the leaders that cannot lead.
Propaganda. No plan, no work ... just cheap words.
The Bush administration: Can't govern, can't protect.
Ah'm a doer not a thinker.
Shorter Bush: Ah do stuff cuz I'm a doer-kinda guy. Those other guys are thinkers and they don't do stuff like Ah do.
Theoconservatives used Jesus to support the war in Iraq.
In the drumbeat for war before March of 2003, "The theocons contributed to this atmosphere of pro-war hysteria in several ways. Neuhaus established himself as the rare priest who would grant interviews to National Public Radio in order to defend the justice of invading Iraq. Weigel spoke on college campuses about the administration's firm grasp of the just war tradition. And Novak traveled to Rome to lecture Vatican bureaucrats on the importance of deposing Saddam Hussein and transforming Iraq into a democratic oasis in Middle East."
Stephanie Miller confronts a writer of a death threat letter.
"The BRAD BLOG has obtained a copy of the profanity-laced letter from Sokolowski which includes a closing salutation claiming that he is "From the right 'Right". The letter is posted, unredacted in full at the end of this article.
On her popular Stephanie Miller Show this morning, the radio host telephoned "Sock" — who included his address and phone number with the letter — to confront him live and on air about the letter.
UPDATE:
– You can now listen to this morning's phone call here [MP3].
– The video of Miller's H&C appearance that began the whole "kerfuffle" as producer Chris Lavoie just described it to us is here via Youtube. BTW, in this appearance Miller brilliantly says to Colmes: "It's called journalism, Fox News should try it sometime.""
Why ARE roads bad?
Why does the Bush administration hate nature?
"A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has rejected staff scientists' recommendations to protect imperiled animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act at least six times in the past three years, documents show.
"In addition, staff complaints that their scientific findings were frequently overruled or disparaged at the behest of landowners or industry have led the agency's inspector general to look into the role of Julie MacDonald, who has been deputy assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks since 2004, in decisions on protecting endangered species.
"…In several instances, MacDonald wrote sarcastic comments in the margins of the documents, questioning why scientists were portraying a species' condition as so bleak. When scientists raised the possibility that a proposed road might degrade the greater sage grouse's habitat, which is scattered through 11 Western states, MacDonald wrote: "Has nothing to do with sage grouse. This belongs in a treatise on 'Why roads are bad'?""
"A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has rejected staff scientists' recommendations to protect imperiled animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act at least six times in the past three years, documents show.
"In addition, staff complaints that their scientific findings were frequently overruled or disparaged at the behest of landowners or industry have led the agency's inspector general to look into the role of Julie MacDonald, who has been deputy assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks since 2004, in decisions on protecting endangered species.
"…In several instances, MacDonald wrote sarcastic comments in the margins of the documents, questioning why scientists were portraying a species' condition as so bleak. When scientists raised the possibility that a proposed road might degrade the greater sage grouse's habitat, which is scattered through 11 Western states, MacDonald wrote: "Has nothing to do with sage grouse. This belongs in a treatise on 'Why roads are bad'?""
Vote: Lives are in the balance.
Vote with the nuking of Iran in mind.
What the PNAC wants to do by using nukes:
"There have been many voices across the political spectrum calling for Rumsfeld's resignation for the botched Iraq war [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], yet he "retains the full confidence" of Bush. Why? Because Rumsfeld cannot be fired until he demolishes the "nuclear taboo" barrier, by detonating a small tactical nuclear weapon against a US enemy. The US military is reluctant to even consider the use of nuclear weapons against Iran, because it would provoke "an outcry over what would be the first use of a nuclear weapon in a conflict since Nagasaki". Only after a small tactical nuclear weapons strike against Natanz or another Iranian facility will such a barrier no longer exist for future US nuclear threats and uses, and Rumsfeld's transformation will be a fait accompli. Why is "downsizing" the military so important to the PNAC crowd? Because the American public has no stomach for a draft nor large losses of American military personnel. If it becomes possible to wage war "on the cheap", without loss of American life, and in the process we can lower the price of oil and spread "liberty" across the world, opposition will be muted. Public opinion on the Iraq war was not turned by the enormous number of Iraqi lives lost (of which there isn't even an effort to keep a count), it is only affected by the number of American lives lost"
What the PNAC wants to do by using nukes:
"There have been many voices across the political spectrum calling for Rumsfeld's resignation for the botched Iraq war [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], yet he "retains the full confidence" of Bush. Why? Because Rumsfeld cannot be fired until he demolishes the "nuclear taboo" barrier, by detonating a small tactical nuclear weapon against a US enemy. The US military is reluctant to even consider the use of nuclear weapons against Iran, because it would provoke "an outcry over what would be the first use of a nuclear weapon in a conflict since Nagasaki". Only after a small tactical nuclear weapons strike against Natanz or another Iranian facility will such a barrier no longer exist for future US nuclear threats and uses, and Rumsfeld's transformation will be a fait accompli. Why is "downsizing" the military so important to the PNAC crowd? Because the American public has no stomach for a draft nor large losses of American military personnel. If it becomes possible to wage war "on the cheap", without loss of American life, and in the process we can lower the price of oil and spread "liberty" across the world, opposition will be muted. Public opinion on the Iraq war was not turned by the enormous number of Iraqi lives lost (of which there isn't even an effort to keep a count), it is only affected by the number of American lives lost"
Keith Olbermann's book.
Keith Olbermann's book is being discussed over at Firedoglake: "His new book The Worst Person in the World: And 202 Strong Contenders is a chronicle of the series he began as a catalog of bemusement more than outrage at the antics of the lunatics among us."
The U.S. military is turning against the war.
"Yesterday on CBS’s Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer said, “We keep hearing from people who say the American military is turning against the war.” Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) responded, “There is no question about it.”
Should we be surprised?
"The Halliburton subsidiary that provides food, shelter and other logistics to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan exploited federal regulations to hide details on its contract performance, according to a report released Friday.
"The special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction found that Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown & Root Services routinely marked all information it gave to the government as proprietary, whether it actually was or not....
"In effect, Kellogg, Brown & Root turned the regulations "into a mechanism to prevent the government from releasing normally transparent information, thus potentially hindering competition and oversight." ..."
"The special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction found that Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown & Root Services routinely marked all information it gave to the government as proprietary, whether it actually was or not....
"In effect, Kellogg, Brown & Root turned the regulations "into a mechanism to prevent the government from releasing normally transparent information, thus potentially hindering competition and oversight." ..."
Don't demand back taxes from Katrina victims until AFTER the elections, you fool!
Via Eli at Multi Medium, The New York Times reports:
"The commissioner of internal revenue has ordered his agency to delay collecting back taxes from Hurricane Katrina victims until after the Nov. 7 elections and the holiday season, saying he did so in part to avoid negative publicity.
"The commissioner, Mark W. Everson, who has close ties to the White House, said in an interview that postponing collections until after the midterm elections, along with postponing notices to people who failed to file tax returns, was a routine effort to avoid casting the Internal Revenue Service in a bad light."
"The commissioner of internal revenue has ordered his agency to delay collecting back taxes from Hurricane Katrina victims until after the Nov. 7 elections and the holiday season, saying he did so in part to avoid negative publicity.
"The commissioner, Mark W. Everson, who has close ties to the White House, said in an interview that postponing collections until after the midterm elections, along with postponing notices to people who failed to file tax returns, was a routine effort to avoid casting the Internal Revenue Service in a bad light."
Afghan National Army troops train in the U.S.
The Taliban were beaten by the Northern Alliance and the coalition by melting into the civilian population and denying they were ever supporters yet now are on the rise because we do not have enough troops to keep our promises nor to control the warlords.
I hope we know exactly who we are training:
"Members of the Afghan National Army and Police arrived at the Joint Readiness Training Center, at Fort Polk, La., Oct. 23. The 42 soldiers and policemen have been working side by side with the newest edition to the 82nd Airborne Division family, the 4th Brigade Combat Team, from Fort Bragg, N.C. They have been conducting combat patrols and convoys as part of a training exercise. The exercises allow them to rehearse their mission in a simulated combat environment by test their skills under stressful conditions. The Afghan soldiers and police officers have been doing this training by embedding in groups of 10 with each of the brigade’s battalions. "
I hope we know exactly who we are training:
"Members of the Afghan National Army and Police arrived at the Joint Readiness Training Center, at Fort Polk, La., Oct. 23. The 42 soldiers and policemen have been working side by side with the newest edition to the 82nd Airborne Division family, the 4th Brigade Combat Team, from Fort Bragg, N.C. They have been conducting combat patrols and convoys as part of a training exercise. The exercises allow them to rehearse their mission in a simulated combat environment by test their skills under stressful conditions. The Afghan soldiers and police officers have been doing this training by embedding in groups of 10 with each of the brigade’s battalions. "
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Hugo Chavez: Hacker.
So, if the Democrats win, it will be because Hugo Chavez hacked the vote?
This bizarre claim exposes the fact that Diebold electronic voting machines are not safe. Gee. Who'd a thunk?
Update 10/30: the company Smartmatic Corp denies the connection. "'We are definitely concerned about the allegations that have been published, which are utterly false,'' Antonio Mugica, one of the company's founders and a Venezuelan-Spanish citizen, told a news conference.
This bizarre claim exposes the fact that Diebold electronic voting machines are not safe. Gee. Who'd a thunk?
Update 10/30: the company Smartmatic Corp denies the connection. "'We are definitely concerned about the allegations that have been published, which are utterly false,'' Antonio Mugica, one of the company's founders and a Venezuelan-Spanish citizen, told a news conference.
Mugica and other company officers offered information on the Boca Raton-based firm to dispute any notion that the left-wing Chávez government is linked to Smartmatic, which in 2005 purchased Sequoia Voting Systems Co."
Joe Galloway lets 'em have it.
"This unseemly circus and its clowns in Congress can't go away fast enough and with enough dishonor and disgrace to suit the circumstances. Their place in America's history is secure: They will go down as the worst administration and the worst Congress we've ever had. Period.
(my bold)
They deserve to lose both the House and the Senate on Nov. 7, and the White House in 2008. They bullied their way into a war that they thought would be a slam-dunk and then so bungled things that the only superpower left in the world has been humbled and hobbled in a world that they've made more dangerous for us.
Thanks, guys. You've done a heckuva job. We won't forget it."
(my bold)
Purple fingers mean only what we tell them they mean
The Bush administration cannot control the Iraqi puppet government. Does al-Maliki think he was actually voted into office like a real democracy?
Preparing the orcosphere for the bad news.
From the Los Angeles Times via Taegan Goddard:
"Rove is giving a virtuoso performance designed to prevent the Democrats from taking control of the House and Senate or, if that is no longer possible, to hold down the size of the Democratic victory to make it easier for the GOP to come back in 2008. His plan is three-pronged: to reenergize any conservatives who may be flagging; to make sure the GOP's carefully constructed campaign apparatus is functioning at peak efficiency; and to put the resources of the federal government to use for political gain."
"Rove is giving a virtuoso performance designed to prevent the Democrats from taking control of the House and Senate or, if that is no longer possible, to hold down the size of the Democratic victory to make it easier for the GOP to come back in 2008. His plan is three-pronged: to reenergize any conservatives who may be flagging; to make sure the GOP's carefully constructed campaign apparatus is functioning at peak efficiency; and to put the resources of the federal government to use for political gain."
Some people can't get their heads around the idea...
that our soldiers actually might be ... Democrats! Some higher-up is blocking left-leaning sites that might cause intelligence and logic to break out in the military over in Iraq.
Maybe even making some to ask for what noble cause we are fighting and dying in Iraq.
Update: Yahoo News: "A Virginia-based operation, the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell, monitors official and unofficial blogs and other Web sites for anything that may compromise security. The team scans for official documents, personal contact information and pictures of weapons or entrances to camps."
Maybe even making some to ask for what noble cause we are fighting and dying in Iraq.
Update: Yahoo News: "A Virginia-based operation, the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell, monitors official and unofficial blogs and other Web sites for anything that may compromise security. The team scans for official documents, personal contact information and pictures of weapons or entrances to camps."
New science: Formaldehyde is good for you!
Via Tom Legg, The Los Angeles Times reported "Last year alone, China exported to the United States more than half a billion dollars' worth of hardwood plywood — enough to build cabinets for 2 million kitchens, a sixfold increase since 2002. Though China sends low-formaldehyde timber to Japan and Europe, Americans are getting wood that emits substantially higher levels of the chemical.
"One birch plank from China, bought at a Home Depot store in Portland, gave off 100 times more formaldehyde than legal in Japan and 30 times more than allowed in Europe and China, according to July tests conducted by a lab hired by an Oregon-based wood products manufacturer. Formaldehyde exposure has been shown in human studies to cause nose and throat cancer and possibly leukemia, as well as allergic reactions, asthma attacks, headaches and sore throats
Godwin's Law.
"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials
Imagine Bush as the captain of the Titanic. And there's this iceberg...
but Bush and his cronies are in the purser's office stealing all the money.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
The very last last word on stay the course...by Keith Olbermann.
It seems that it all started with Poppy 41....
What DID happen October 10th in Forward Base Falcon?
Continuing from this post, more information is leaking out. Is this fake?
Sarah Meyers did the research:
The Guardian has this: "``With the help of God, the mortar and rocket squads of the Islamic Army have shelled a U.S. Army base with two rockets and three mortar shells,'' the group said in a statement posted on a Web site known to be used by insurgents. ``The rockets and shells fell on ammunition dumps causing them to explode. Sounds of explosions were heard in Baghdad.''
Sarah Meyers did the research:
The Guardian has this: "``With the help of God, the mortar and rocket squads of the Islamic Army have shelled a U.S. Army base with two rockets and three mortar shells,'' the group said in a statement posted on a Web site known to be used by insurgents. ``The rockets and shells fell on ammunition dumps causing them to explode. Sounds of explosions were heard in Baghdad.''
The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately verified, but the U.S. military did confirm that the base's ammunition depot had been hit at 10:40 p.m. Tuesday by an 82mm mortar round fired by insurgents from a nearby residential area.
``Intelligence indicates that civilians aligned with a militia organization were responsible for last night's mortar attack,'' base spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington said.
There were no injuries reported, and Withington said the attack had no strategic effect."
The BBC has this: "The US military has said that a huge fire at an army base's ammunitions store in the Iraqi capital was caused by a mortar fired by insurgents.
The fire, which set off a series of blasts and explosions at the base, caused no casualties or injuries."
Buttering both sides of the bread.
Corporations start giving donations to Democrats and try to figure out how to do business if the Democrats if they take back Congress. (Via Americablog.)
But Bush said the economy is doing great!
Housing slump.
"The economy has slowed to a snail's pace, growing in the just-finished quarter at the slowest rate in more than three years and stirring fresh debate about the country's financial health heading into the elections.
"The Commerce Department reported Friday that economic growth during the July-to-September period clocked in at an annual rate of just 1.6 percent — a subpar performance that mostly reflected the deepening housing slump. Investment in homebuilding was cut by the largest amount in 15 years."
"The economy has slowed to a snail's pace, growing in the just-finished quarter at the slowest rate in more than three years and stirring fresh debate about the country's financial health heading into the elections.
"The Commerce Department reported Friday that economic growth during the July-to-September period clocked in at an annual rate of just 1.6 percent — a subpar performance that mostly reflected the deepening housing slump. Investment in homebuilding was cut by the largest amount in 15 years."
Friday, October 27, 2006
Dear God! They're attacking from the drainage ditches!
"Five pound snail emerges from Bayou Blue pond."
"From a distance, it looked like a football-like object hanging from a shrub near the pond’s edge. Once she got closer, Arnold realized that what was hanging from the branch was one of the snails she purchased three years ago.
"It was gigantic," she said. "I thought it was a wasp’s nest when I saw it.""
( Toni Arnold of Bayou Blue snapped a shot of Moses the 5-pound snail as it hung from a shrub in her pond Tuesday.)"
Pure failure.
"Hans Blix is back in the news again, this time saying the war in Iraq is a "pure failure" and Iraqis are in a worse state than they were under Saddam Hussein."
You should have thought about that before you started your other messes.
Bush "said it was unacceptable for Tehran to have a nuclear weapon."
Gitting a bit tetchy, ain't we?
My, my.
What an amazing coincidence! Saddam's verdict is scheduled for .... wait for it .... November 5th!
The definition of insanity:
"In yet another egregious executive-power grab, President Bush asserted his right last week via signing statement to ignore a Congressional mandate that the next FEMA Director have at least five years of disaster response experience".
Yep. That last disaster worked out real well.
Yep. That last disaster worked out real well.
Ah am not think as you drunk Ah am.
Asked about Cheney's 'no-brainer' statement about torture, "Bush on Friday again denied that the US mistreats detainees.
"This country doesn't torture. We're not going to torture," he told reporters at the White House.
"The CIA programme began after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, but Bush acknowledged its existence only last month. He says the questioning yielded valuable intelligence and prevented terror strikes after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.
"But initial media reports last year that the US intelligence agency had kept and interrogated captured terrorist suspects at secret sites abroad caused an international outcry and investigations in Europe."
Update: A reminder of what waterboarding actually entails. No coward in this administration could take 5 minutes of this and not agree this is torture.
"This country doesn't torture. We're not going to torture," he told reporters at the White House.
"The CIA programme began after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, but Bush acknowledged its existence only last month. He says the questioning yielded valuable intelligence and prevented terror strikes after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.
"But initial media reports last year that the US intelligence agency had kept and interrogated captured terrorist suspects at secret sites abroad caused an international outcry and investigations in Europe."
Update: A reminder of what waterboarding actually entails. No coward in this administration could take 5 minutes of this and not agree this is torture.
Supporting our troops by using them up and throwing them out.
Soldiers with stress disorders are deemed fit for duty.
Update: General Casey is part of the problem.
"Casey foolishly and ignorantly takes comfort in the fact that most of the provinces do not have daily sectarian strife. Shows how little this crazy General knows about Iraq. The majority of the Iraqi population lives in the provinces that are wracked by sectarian violence.
Update: General Casey is part of the problem.
"Casey foolishly and ignorantly takes comfort in the fact that most of the provinces do not have daily sectarian strife. Shows how little this crazy General knows about Iraq. The majority of the Iraqi population lives in the provinces that are wracked by sectarian violence.
So, here's the bottomline--since U.S. troops beefed up their presence in Baghdad Iraqis are dying in greater numbers. But Iraqis are not the only ones paying a terrible price. U.S. troops are dying at escalating rates, with October marking the largest loss of life by U.S. soldiers and Marines in 2006.
This kind of rah-rah bullshit from a ground commander is criminal. Unfortunately, he is gladly carrying water for a Commander-in-Chief who insists we must stay the course but denies saying that we must stay the course. I guess Casey believes he must behave like President Bush and endorse deception, delusion, and lies. But in making this Faustian bargain, Casey seems oblivious to the price being paid in blood by our men and women serving in Iraq. This may explain in part why some U.S. soldiers and Marines are petitioning their members of Congress to end the war in Iraq."
To win in Iraq is not to leave.
"With the body counts soaring, [Iraq] descending deeper into civil war and the central government consistently unable to assert itself, how can [Bush] call this winning?
The answer: It's becoming increasingly clear that Bush sees the war in Iraq in very simple terms. As he himself said, he believes that the only way to lose is to leave. Therefore anything else is winning -- anything else at all.
I'm getting my leg over this benchmark hurdle thing, so just back off!
"Rumsfeld was asked what would happen if the Iraqi government failed to meet the “benchmarks.” Rumsfeld first responded that “it is not complicated,” but just seconds later said, “This is complicated stuff. It’s difficult. We’re looking out into the future. No one can predict the future with absolute certainty.” He added, “So you ought to just back off, take a look at it, relax, understand that it’s complicated, it’s difficult.”"
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Bush: “I thought the Iraqis were Muslims!”
Keeping track of all the different factions in the Iraq civil war.
Why are the divorce records sealed, Mr. Allen?
Senator Macaca searches for something...anything with which to attack his opponent, Jim Webb. How about a novel?
Bush may have The Google, but Rove has The Math.
And he knows what is going on because he has the special super duper polls.:
""You may end up with a different math, but you're entitled to your math," Rove said. "I'm entitled to 'the' math.""
""You may end up with a different math, but you're entitled to your math," Rove said. "I'm entitled to 'the' math.""
The Mighty Fence Act which will shield the U.S. from illegal aliens....
We're 53rd!!
"The USofA, ranked 17th in the first survey in 2002 (and, not incidentally, the country which more or less invented the idea of a 'free press'), now ranks 53rd--tied with Botswana, Croatia, and Tonga; Northern European countries top the index, with no reported censorship, threats, intimidation or physical reprisals, either by officials or the public, in Finland, Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands. All of those countries were ranked in first place."
Pogo, a good site.
Pogo: The Project On Government Oversight follows a rich tradition of assuring that the government continues to work for the people it represents. Our nation was founded on the very principle that representation and accountability are fundamental to maintaining a strong and functioning democracy. Today, these principles espoused by our founding fathers are under attack as our federal government is more vulnerable than ever to the influence of money in politics and powerful special interests.
In the beginning, POGO (which was then known as Project on Military Procurement) worked to expose outrageously overpriced military spending such as the $7,600 coffee maker and the $436 hammer. After many successes reforming the military, POGO expanded its mandate to investigate systemic waste, fraud, and abuse in all federal agencies.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Cheney confirms that he is a flesh-eating zombie.
"Braaaaaains,"Cheney was heard to groan.
Oh, sorry.. I misheard. "Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn't regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. "It's a no-brainer for me," Cheney said at one point in an interview."
So...did Cheney just give away torture techniques that will help the terrorists prepare? Bush said he wouldn't tell, now Cheney just did. Isn't that treason? And what do we now get to do with treasonisters? Gitmo! Waterboarding! Wheeee!
Oh, sorry.. I misheard. "Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn't regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. "It's a no-brainer for me," Cheney said at one point in an interview."
So...did Cheney just give away torture techniques that will help the terrorists prepare? Bush said he wouldn't tell, now Cheney just did. Isn't that treason? And what do we now get to do with treasonisters? Gitmo! Waterboarding! Wheeee!
Pressure from the Israelis to attack Iran?
Lenin from Lenin's Tomb blog gathers the evidence:
"An IDF spokesman said after the meeting that the security establishment assessment was grim. “Only a military strike by the U.S. and its allies will stop Iran attaining nuclear weapons,” said the spokesman."
and here:
"The Washington Post reports that despite fact U.S. intelligence sources believe that Iran needs another 10 years before having nuclear weapons, Israel believes critical breakthrough will happen within months, and is therefore pressuring the Americans"
and here:
William Polk: "After careful study of recent moves and statements by the Bush Administration, I have concluded that there is at least a 10% chance of an American attack on Iran before the November 7 Congressional elections and about a 90% chance before the administration’s end in 2008."
William Polk, part 2.
"An IDF spokesman said after the meeting that the security establishment assessment was grim. “Only a military strike by the U.S. and its allies will stop Iran attaining nuclear weapons,” said the spokesman."
and here:
"The Washington Post reports that despite fact U.S. intelligence sources believe that Iran needs another 10 years before having nuclear weapons, Israel believes critical breakthrough will happen within months, and is therefore pressuring the Americans"
and here:
William Polk: "After careful study of recent moves and statements by the Bush Administration, I have concluded that there is at least a 10% chance of an American attack on Iran before the November 7 Congressional elections and about a 90% chance before the administration’s end in 2008."
William Polk, part 2.
Don't look at it, don't think about it!
Santorum deals with the problem of the Iraq war before the elections.
U.S. generals call for Democratic takeover
Two retired senior Army generals, who served in Iraq and previously voted Republican, are now openly endorsing a Democratic takeover of Congress.
Using Bush's cut and run from his 'stay the course' in a brilliant ad.
Of course Bush said stay the course.
The difference between a bloated bully and a courageous actor.
Rush Limbaugh scoffs at Michael Fox's ad and says Michael was just acting. Michael knows how to respond to a bully.
And Rush does NOT apologize, even though the media was saying so.
Update: Crooks and Liars has the video of Rush which has got to be seen. Olbermann and Sam Seder talk about it.
And Rush does NOT apologize, even though the media was saying so.
Update: Crooks and Liars has the video of Rush which has got to be seen. Olbermann and Sam Seder talk about it.
Descent into hell.
The U.S. Institute of Peace's predictions:
1. “The Long Shot to Overcome Ethnic and Sectarian Politics” (most optimistic scenario): “This is an Iraq that slowly, in fits and starts, trudges down the difficult road of creating a functioning state.”
2. “Lebanonization” (militias wage a civil war in the capital): “Unable to maintain control, the United States is itself a target when it becomes involved. … U.S. troops largely retreat behind fortifications, distant from population centers, and head north to Kurdistan.”
3. “Descent Into Hell” (worst-case scenario): Most of Iraq’s neighbors are drawn into open regional warfare, and it ends with Iran conducting strikes against Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Voting weirdness continues.
"U.S. Senate candidate James Webb's last name has been cut off on part of the electronic ballot used by voters in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville because of a computer glitch that also affects other candidates with long names, city officials said yesterday.
Although the problem creates some voter confusion, it will not cause votes to be cast incorrectly, election officials emphasized. The error shows up only on the summary page, where voters are asked to review their selections before hitting the button to cast their votes. Webb's full name appears on the page where voters choose for whom to vote."
Google bombing with the truth.
--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
--AZ-01: Rick Renzi
--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
--CA-04: John Doolittle
--CA-11: Richard Pombo
--CA-50: Brian Bilbray
--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave
--CO-05: Doug Lamborn
--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell
--CT-04: Christopher Shays
--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
--FL-16: Joe Negron
--FL-22: Clay Shaw
--ID-01: Bill Sali
--IL-06: Peter Roskam
--IL-10: Mark Kirk
--IL-14: Dennis Hastert
--IN-02: Chris Chocola
--IN-08: John Hostettler
--IA-01: Mike Whalen
--KS-02: Jim Ryun
--KY-03: Anne Northup
--KY-04: Geoff Davis
--MD-Sen: Michael Steele
--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
--MN-06: Michele Bachmann
--MO-Sen: Jim Talent
--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
--NV-03: Jon Porter
--NH-02: Charlie Bass
--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
--NM-01: Heather Wilson
--NY-03: Peter King
--NY-20: John Sweeney
--NY-26: Tom Reynolds
--NY-29: Randy Kuhl
--NC-08: Robin Hayes
--NC-11: Charles Taylor
--OH-01: Steve Chabot
--OH-02: Jean Schmidt
--OH-15: Deborah Pryce
--OH-18: Joy Padgett
--PA-04: Melissa Hart
--PA-07: Curt Weldon
--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
--PA-10: Don Sherwood
--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
--TN-Sen: Bob Corker
--VA-Sen: George Allen
--VA-10: Frank Wolf
--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
--WA-08: Dave Reichert
From MyDD.
--AZ-01: Rick Renzi
--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
--CA-04: John Doolittle
--CA-11: Richard Pombo
--CA-50: Brian Bilbray
--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave
--CO-05: Doug Lamborn
--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell
--CT-04: Christopher Shays
--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
--FL-16: Joe Negron
--FL-22: Clay Shaw
--ID-01: Bill Sali
--IL-06: Peter Roskam
--IL-10: Mark Kirk
--IL-14: Dennis Hastert
--IN-02: Chris Chocola
--IN-08: John Hostettler
--IA-01: Mike Whalen
--KS-02: Jim Ryun
--KY-03: Anne Northup
--KY-04: Geoff Davis
--MD-Sen: Michael Steele
--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
--MN-06: Michele Bachmann
--MO-Sen: Jim Talent
--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
--NV-03: Jon Porter
--NH-02: Charlie Bass
--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
--NM-01: Heather Wilson
--NY-03: Peter King
--NY-20: John Sweeney
--NY-26: Tom Reynolds
--NY-29: Randy Kuhl
--NC-08: Robin Hayes
--NC-11: Charles Taylor
--OH-01: Steve Chabot
--OH-02: Jean Schmidt
--OH-15: Deborah Pryce
--OH-18: Joy Padgett
--PA-04: Melissa Hart
--PA-07: Curt Weldon
--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
--PA-10: Don Sherwood
--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
--TN-Sen: Bob Corker
--VA-Sen: George Allen
--VA-10: Frank Wolf
--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
--WA-08: Dave Reichert
From MyDD.
Abstinence-only education full of misinformation and lies.
It's not really sex education to tell kids not to think about it and not to do it when you don't tell them what it is.
Emboldening terrorists by not staying the course without dawdling over non-existent benchmarks and timetables.
Tony Snow digs a pit.
Dan Bartlett says no to a timeline but yes to benchmarks and milestones.
Rumsfeld thinks it's nonsense. Who knew?
Bush's stratergery apparently is now to stay the course while talking about extraneous shit like timetables while actually doing absolutely nothing different because by changing course he is admitting he's wrong which is against the will of God because God said stay the course although God's voice sounded suspiciously like Cheney's voice in an empty gift wrapping tube....
Dan Bartlett says no to a timeline but yes to benchmarks and milestones.
Rumsfeld thinks it's nonsense. Who knew?
Bush's stratergery apparently is now to stay the course while talking about extraneous shit like timetables while actually doing absolutely nothing different because by changing course he is admitting he's wrong which is against the will of God because God said stay the course although God's voice sounded suspiciously like Cheney's voice in an empty gift wrapping tube....
300+ soldiers dead in an attack on Oct. 10?
Via Rook's Rant, is the horrific death toll of 300 troops and personnel in an attack on Oct 1o being covered up? The media has been silent on this if this is true.
"Late on the evening of October 10, 2006, Iraqi resistance groups lobbed mortar and rocket rounds into the immense ‘Forward Base Falcon,’ the largest American military base in Iraq, located 13 km south of the Green Zone in Baghdad. In addition to accurate mortar fire, Grad and Katyusha rockets were also used."
[snip]
"
Update: I notice this post getting a lot of activity. Here is more information.
"Late on the evening of October 10, 2006, Iraqi resistance groups lobbed mortar and rocket rounds into the immense ‘Forward Base Falcon,’ the largest American military base in Iraq, located 13 km south of the Green Zone in Baghdad. In addition to accurate mortar fire, Grad and Katyusha rockets were also used."
[snip]
"
Over 300 American troops, including U.S. Army and Marines, CIA agents and U.S. translators were casualties and there also were 165 seriously injured requiring major medical attention and 39 suffering lesser injuries 122 members of the Iraqi armed forces were killed and 90 seriously injured members of same, were also evacuated to the U.S. military hospital at al-Habbaniyah located some 70km west of Baghdad.
Satellite pictures and aerial photographs from neutral sources showed that Camp Falcon suffered major structural damage and almost all the U.S. military’s supply of small arms ammunition, artillery and rocket rounds, tons of fuel, six Apache helicopters, an uncounted but large number of soft-skinned vehicles such as Humvees and supply trucks were damaged or totally destroyed. Foreign press observers noted “an endless parade” of military vehicle recovery units dragging burnt-out heavy tanks and armored personnel carriers to another base outside Baghdad.
Many of the walls and towers of the camp were damaged or leveled as were many of the barracks, maintenance depots, and there was considerable damage to the huge mess halls that could hold 3000 soldiers, the huge recreation center with its basketball courts and indoor swimming pools and all the administration buildings
Although official U.S. DoD statements indicated that there were no deaths; that only a hundred men were inside the base guarding billions of dollars of vital military equipment and that there were “only two minor injuries to personnel,” passes belief and certainly reality is more painful than propaganda.
Not only has the U.S. military machine lost much of its armor and transport, and its entire reserves of ammunition and special fuel, but the casualty list for only the first day is over 300.."
Update: I notice this post getting a lot of activity. Here is more information.
Keith mocks the administration for fear-mongering.
FDR: All we have to fear is fear itself.
Bush: All we have is fear. Vote Republican because you can't be afraid enough!
Bush: All we have is fear. Vote Republican because you can't be afraid enough!
Ich bin Gott.
Herr Schröder on Bush's invoking God:
"THE war in Iraq is unlikely to be resolved by a US Administration committed to a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint, according to Gerhard Schröder, the former German Chancellor, whose newly published memoirs stoke his four-year feud with President Bush.
"“We rightly criticise that in most Islamic states there is no clear separation between religion and the rule of law,” he says. “But we fail to recognise that, in the US, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies.
“If both sides claim to be in possession of the only valid truth, then there is no room for manoeuvre.”"
"THE war in Iraq is unlikely to be resolved by a US Administration committed to a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint, according to Gerhard Schröder, the former German Chancellor, whose newly published memoirs stoke his four-year feud with President Bush.
"“We rightly criticise that in most Islamic states there is no clear separation between religion and the rule of law,” he says. “But we fail to recognise that, in the US, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies.
“If both sides claim to be in possession of the only valid truth, then there is no room for manoeuvre.”"
Monday, October 23, 2006
Bush officials hoping that North Korea would actually set off a nuke.
"Senior Bush administration officials wanted North Korea to test a nuclear weapon because it would prove their point that the regime must be overthrown."
[snip]
"The revelation that some officials secretly wanted North Korea to test their nuclear weapons is evidence of how the administration’s national security policy has become completely divorced from reality."
But Kim Jong-il has said he was sorry and won't do it again. Condi Rice casts doubt on the apology: "
[snip]
"The revelation that some officials secretly wanted North Korea to test their nuclear weapons is evidence of how the administration’s national security policy has become completely divorced from reality."
But Kim Jong-il has said he was sorry and won't do it again. Condi Rice casts doubt on the apology: "
Rice looked clearly exasperated over repeated questions about the reports, which overshadowed her tour of Asia aimed at rallying support for strong UN sanctions against Pyongyang.
She accused North Korea of seeking to "escalate" the crisis."
Shorter Condi: L'il Kimmie, just shut up and be the bad guy, okay? You're gonna help us win this next election!
The Googleator.
Bush uses 'the Google' to look longingly at his ranch because prezniting is such hard work and he gets away from all this homework and reading and stuff when he's at the ranch....
By condoning torture, we all become torturers.
Via Crooks and Liars, Arthur Silber shows us there is NO ticking bomb scenario that torture will fix. There is NO need for torture.
"Make no mistake: the advocacy of torture, no matter how "limited" or how narrowly drawn, is the advocacy of evil."
"Make no mistake: the advocacy of torture, no matter how "limited" or how narrowly drawn, is the advocacy of evil."
'Sinking ships can have only one course-- straight down'
Billmon on the strange shifting of the policy on Iraq and the fantasy discussions about 'Redeploy and Contain' or 'Stability First'; partioning Iraq into three parts; getting Iran and Syria to come to the table:
"Part of me thinks it's all being driven by the need of beltway journalists and think tankers alike to have something new to say about Iraq, something that isn't a variation on: "Yep. We're still fucked." But there's obviously a hard edge of real desperation -- if not despair -- behind this. America's ruling elites have had things largely their own way for the past couple of decades. But now they're looking at a bottomless quagimire that may have a much bigger disaster (like loss of access to Persian Gulf oil) hidden somewhere in the mud. And they don't have a clue about what to do. They've lost control, which is the last thing any ruling elite can afford to admit.
"Part of me thinks it's all being driven by the need of beltway journalists and think tankers alike to have something new to say about Iraq, something that isn't a variation on: "Yep. We're still fucked." But there's obviously a hard edge of real desperation -- if not despair -- behind this. America's ruling elites have had things largely their own way for the past couple of decades. But now they're looking at a bottomless quagimire that may have a much bigger disaster (like loss of access to Persian Gulf oil) hidden somewhere in the mud. And they don't have a clue about what to do. They've lost control, which is the last thing any ruling elite can afford to admit.
Small wonder then, that the policy "debate" has now crossed the line into complete fantasy -- like a long piece of dialogue pulled from Waiting for Godot. The realists have turned into surrealists. Baker now sounds almost as naive and deluded as Bush."
Gay Republicans are hypocrites.
"The right to privacy should not be the right to hypocrisy. These people who want to demonize other people shouldn't be able to go home, close the door, and do it themselves." Barney Frank.
Author Joe Maguire talks about his book on Ann Coulter.
From Firedoglake, an interview with Joe Maguire who was fired from Reuters for writing Brainless: The Lies and Lunacy of Ann Coulter.
Sibel Edmonds wins PEN Newman Award.
Paul Newman explains at the end of the video that Sibel is being honored for standing up for her First Amendment rights in spite of losing her job and being threatened by the FBI.
Remember that time in Tora Bora?
Joe at Americablog:
"I'm trying to understand their message on national security. They want to scare Americans by showing pictures of the terrorists who attacked America. But, those are the terrorists still on the loose because Bush never captured them. Instead, he went to war in Iraq. According to the National Intelligence Estimate, that war in Iraq has strengthened the terrorists. Every time the GOP focuses on Bin Laden, they are highlighting their failures."
"I'm trying to understand their message on national security. They want to scare Americans by showing pictures of the terrorists who attacked America. But, those are the terrorists still on the loose because Bush never captured them. Instead, he went to war in Iraq. According to the National Intelligence Estimate, that war in Iraq has strengthened the terrorists. Every time the GOP focuses on Bin Laden, they are highlighting their failures."
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Finding our way through the blizzard of lies about Iraq.
The Left Coaster: "We lost our way in a blizzard of lying and laziness, Riverbend, it’s the best way I know how to explain it. With the corporate media frantically lying and hiding the truth every day it’s hard for America to be honest, but at least the blogosphere is trying to change that. We won’t stop trying."
An utter failure.
Via Attaturk, Steve Gilliard explains the atmosphere surrounding Bush as similar to Hitler in the last days of WWII: "A world where fantasy trumped reality and the impossible expected. Kind of like the White House today, one where they expect the Iraqi "government", one where most of the parliment lives in London, to actually lead a country controlled by guerrillas and militias."
[snip]
"Bush is a bully and a coward at heart. Iraq was chosen because Iraq would be easy, and then the rest of the Middle East would follow. It was the easy way to solve our problems, not our real problems, but our emotional pain, the unresolved conflict over being attacked. And Bush would resolve his lifelong lack of success.
Bush will not leave Iraq, not because he thinks we can win, or he thinks it's part of the war on terror. But because he cannot face another failure. Which is why Scowcroft and Baker have had no influence on him. They are his father's men, veterans, despite their politics, realists. Bush is not and never has been. When he wasn't hiding from his failure with booze and coke, he hid from it with Jesus. Now he has Henry Kissinger whispering in his ear, telling him what he wants to hear. He doesn't want advice, he wants support and only support. Those who do not support him, are diminished, then banished.
This is a man who has never honestly looked himself in the face and said I have failed. He has always been protected from failure."
[snip]
"Bush is a bully and a coward at heart. Iraq was chosen because Iraq would be easy, and then the rest of the Middle East would follow. It was the easy way to solve our problems, not our real problems, but our emotional pain, the unresolved conflict over being attacked. And Bush would resolve his lifelong lack of success.
Bush will not leave Iraq, not because he thinks we can win, or he thinks it's part of the war on terror. But because he cannot face another failure. Which is why Scowcroft and Baker have had no influence on him. They are his father's men, veterans, despite their politics, realists. Bush is not and never has been. When he wasn't hiding from his failure with booze and coke, he hid from it with Jesus. Now he has Henry Kissinger whispering in his ear, telling him what he wants to hear. He doesn't want advice, he wants support and only support. Those who do not support him, are diminished, then banished.
This is a man who has never honestly looked himself in the face and said I have failed. He has always been protected from failure."
George Will
"Today the policy of "staying the course" means Americans dying to prevent Shiites and Sunnis from killing each other. "
Bush says he's not been saying "stay the course".
Except for when he actually said 'stay the course'. So it's all in whether Bush actually SAID something in the exact phrasing like ...Saddam is responsible for 9/11... or just implied it because then it is our fault for misunderstanding him.
See who in Washington D.C. really supports our troops.
Via TPM Cafe, you can find out.
Update: Via Mustang Bobby, Doonesbury's Garry Trudeau shows how to show real support.
Update: And Tammy Duckworth.
Update: Via Mustang Bobby, Doonesbury's Garry Trudeau shows how to show real support.
Update: And Tammy Duckworth.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Remember all those stories of voting fraud?
Via Crooks and Liars, the People for the American Way:
"Right-wing members of Congress and state legislators have been passing onerous laws that make it harder for citizens to vote. Despite erecting barriers to the ballot box and disenfranchising voters, they've claimed these laws are necessary to stop rampant voter fraud.
Thanks to a press leak, it is now public that the US Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) commissioned a report to find out about voter fraud. According to USA Today, the EAC's report shows that there is no evidence that significant numbers of voters are lying about their identity at the polls, voting twice, or voting in the name of dead people. Let me repeat that: NO EVIDENCE."
Demand they release the report.
"Right-wing members of Congress and state legislators have been passing onerous laws that make it harder for citizens to vote. Despite erecting barriers to the ballot box and disenfranchising voters, they've claimed these laws are necessary to stop rampant voter fraud.
Thanks to a press leak, it is now public that the US Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) commissioned a report to find out about voter fraud. According to USA Today, the EAC's report shows that there is no evidence that significant numbers of voters are lying about their identity at the polls, voting twice, or voting in the name of dead people. Let me repeat that: NO EVIDENCE."
Demand they release the report.
Pat Tillman's brother writes a letter.
Kevin Tillman:
"Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.
"Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.
"Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.
" Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes."
Read more.
"Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.
"Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.
"Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.
" Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes."
Read more.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Losing the retaken city that we retook because it was taken....
How many times do we get to experience this until we change our strat .. our stratergeries ... our strater ... course?
O brave new world, That has such people in't!
The Bush administration did not waste any time once the Torture and Cover Bush's Ass bill was signed into law.
Steve Bates quotes an NY Times editorial:
"Once President Bush signed the new law on military tribunals, administration officials and Republican leaders in Congress wasted no time giving Americans a taste of the new order created by this unconstitutional act.
Steve Bates quotes an NY Times editorial:
"Once President Bush signed the new law on military tribunals, administration officials and Republican leaders in Congress wasted no time giving Americans a taste of the new order created by this unconstitutional act.
"Within hours, Justice Department lawyers notified the federal courts that they no longer had the authority to hear pending lawsuits filed by attorneys on behalf of inmates of the penal camp at Guantánamo Bay. They cited passages in the bill that suspend the fundamental principle of habeas corpus, making Mr. Bush the first president since the Civil War to take that undemocratic step.
Not satisfied with having won the vote, Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, quickly issued a statement accusing Democrats who opposed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 of putting “their liberal agenda ahead of the security of America.” He said the Democrats “would gingerly pamper the terrorists who plan to destroy innocent Americans’ lives” and create “new rights for terrorists.”
Troops having to pay in more ways than blood.
Predatory lenders stalk the troops over here:
"Thousands of U.S. troops are being barred from overseas duty because they are so deep in debt they are considered security risks, according to an Associated Press review of military record."
"Thousands of U.S. troops are being barred from overseas duty because they are so deep in debt they are considered security risks, according to an Associated Press review of military record."
Thursday, October 19, 2006
53 year old US soldier dies in Iraq.
My own father fought in WWII and told us of examples of this type of military unraveling. The Allied soldiers could tell the war was close to ending by the age of soldiers they were coming up against and the terrible quality of equipment the Germans were having to use.
Via First Draft, slim of No Fish No Nuts makes an excellent comparison. Look at the loss of this 53 year old US soldier in Iraq and then compare to the ending of WWII and then to the Civil War:
History of Germany during World War II:
Conscription by the Confederacy:
Via First Draft, slim of No Fish No Nuts makes an excellent comparison. Look at the loss of this 53 year old US soldier in Iraq and then compare to the ending of WWII and then to the Civil War:
History of Germany during World War II:
[A]fter over five and a half years of conflict, the German Army was a shadow of its former self. Overwhelmed on all sides and suffering from severe shortages, the casualty had grown tremendously. In the final years of the war, the Nazi forces had to resort to old men and boys.
Conscription by the Confederacy:
The first Confederate conscription law also applied to men between 18 and 35, providing for substitution (repealed Dec. 1863) and exemptions. A revision, approved 27 Sept. 1862, raised the age to 45; 5 days later the legislators passed the expanded Exemption Act. The Conscription Act of Feb. 1864 called all men between 17 and 50.
Pick your October Surprise.
Steve Bates compiles a list. Pick one! Pick two! It might even be Mix and Match!
Update: They may even eat their own to stay in power.
Oops: forgot this one.
Update: They may even eat their own to stay in power.
Oops: forgot this one.
More on The Military Commissions Act of 2006
Marjorie Cohn:
"Because the bill was adopted with lightning speed, barely anyone noticed that it empowers Bush to declare not just aliens, but also U.S. citizens, "unlawful enemy combatants."
[snip]
"Anyone who donates money to a charity that turns up on Bush's list of "terrorist" organizations, or who speaks out against the government's policies could be declared an "unlawful enemy combatant" and imprisoned indefinitely. That includes American citizens.
"The bill also strips habeas corpus rights from detained aliens who have been declared enemy combatants. Congress has the constitutional power to suspend habeas corpus only in times of rebellion or invasion. The habeas-stripping provision in the new bill is unconstitutional and the Supreme Court will likely say so when the issue comes before it.
"Although more insidious, this law follows in the footsteps of other unnecessarily repressive legislation. In times of war and national crisis, the government has targeted immigrants and dissidents."
"Because the bill was adopted with lightning speed, barely anyone noticed that it empowers Bush to declare not just aliens, but also U.S. citizens, "unlawful enemy combatants."
[snip]
"Anyone who donates money to a charity that turns up on Bush's list of "terrorist" organizations, or who speaks out against the government's policies could be declared an "unlawful enemy combatant" and imprisoned indefinitely. That includes American citizens.
"The bill also strips habeas corpus rights from detained aliens who have been declared enemy combatants. Congress has the constitutional power to suspend habeas corpus only in times of rebellion or invasion. The habeas-stripping provision in the new bill is unconstitutional and the Supreme Court will likely say so when the issue comes before it.
"Although more insidious, this law follows in the footsteps of other unnecessarily repressive legislation. In times of war and national crisis, the government has targeted immigrants and dissidents."
If nobody hears about it, it didn't happen.
Congressman carries out mass firing of investigative staff. Powerful House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA), who is currently under federal investigation for corruption charges, has “fired 60 investigators who had worked for his committee rooting out fraud, waste and abuse, effective immediately.” According to Congressional Quarterly, “The investigators were contract workers, brought on to handle the extraordinary level of fraud investigations facing the panel.”
Extraordinary level of fraud....Take a good look. That's the Republicans let loose in the trough for six years.
Extraordinary level of fraud....Take a good look. That's the Republicans let loose in the trough for six years.
Oh Dear!! We must vote Republican to prevent al Qaeda from attacking!
Oh! Oh! Quick!! Hit the early vote button before the sense of helplessness and fear fade!
Election Day chaos predicted.
The New York Times mentions California, Maryland, Mississippi, Ohio and Pennsylvania and there'll be more on the list, I'm sure.
Basic requirements for a democracy.
Cannablog's whig cites Debra Bowen who is running for California's secretary of the state:
- The right to register to vote.
- The right to vote.
- The right to vote in a tamper-proof election.
- The right to vote on paper.
- The right to have each vote counted accurately.
- The right to have election results properly audited.
- The right to an open, transparent, public process.
- The right to elections officials who operate free of partisan influence.
- The right to know that elected officials are free from the influence of campaign contributions from voting machine vendors.
- The right to find out how money is being raised and spent in the political process.
Dubya, King of Paraguay?
Wonkette gives us all the links to this weird story of a secret military base, Moonie connections, and enormous acreage. Is Bush planning to run away after he bombs Iran? Or does he have a bunch of disappeared people he gets to torture in his little personal dungeons?
(Via Watertiger)
(Via Watertiger)
If a person is disappeared, does he still have rights?
The answer is no.
Via Watertiger, Attaturk warns us what the loss of Habeas Corpus does to our civil rights.
Via Watertiger, Attaturk warns us what the loss of Habeas Corpus does to our civil rights.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Baghdad Burning blog is back!
Via First Draft, Riverbend the Baghdad blogger has finally written another post. So good to know she is alive.
CHECK YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION
Looks like the October surprise could be a voter purge by Diebold in several states.
Bush has a secret plan
And apparently will have to kill us if we find out what it is.
But it does involve winning....if we can define it for him.
But it does involve winning....if we can define it for him.
The illusionist.
Josh Marshall: Indeed, there is almost no misfortune the Republicans can suffer that a non-trivial number of Democrats won't be able to convince themselves was actually a fiendishly brilliant Rove plot.
NTodd: The GOP strategery must be to let the Dems win this November, take the blame for all the shit single-party rule is responsible for, then gloriously take back Congress and put Jeb in the WH in 2008, ushering in a grand new era of GOP dominance for a thousand years. Crepes suzette, that's sheer genius. We're doomed.
NTodd: The GOP strategery must be to let the Dems win this November, take the blame for all the shit single-party rule is responsible for, then gloriously take back Congress and put Jeb in the WH in 2008, ushering in a grand new era of GOP dominance for a thousand years. Crepes suzette, that's sheer genius. We're doomed.
Did anyone check inside the coffin?
Kenny-boy's record is now clean. What happens to all that money he owed California?
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Cindy Sheehan swiftboated by harpies.
Ugly women attempt to bring down a woman who lost a son to a vanity war and has the audacity to question it.
Schwarzenegger has got you fooled.
"And the similiarities -- the fake populism, the Big Lies, the Big Money donors, the attacking and coopting the opponent on their strength strategies (nobody's done more for CalPERS divestment from companies doing business in the Sudan than Phil Angelides) -- are no surprise, because it's the same damned "power team" that sold the American people a bill of goods in 2004.
[snip]
"Schwarzenegger is a George Bush Republican, in that he puts Big Money interests first, whether the policies those Big Money interests want are good for everyday people or good for the country as a whole."
Schwarzenegger campaign manager Steve Schmidt is known as "Karl Rove's lieutenant," he's a White House aide to Dick Cheney, and ran George W. Bush's reelection "war room" in 2004. He was also "point man" for Bush on Judge Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court
Then there's Communications Director Adam Mendelsohn, from DCI Group, elite GOP lobbyists who do global warming denial for EXXON and "tobacco doesn't cause cancer" work for JR Reynolds. In the PR world, they're particularly known for setting up fake, bought-and-paid-for citizens groups to undermine workplace smoking bans in the name of "Citizens for Freedom to Smoke" or whatever. via astroturf letters to the editor and press conferences, etc.[snip]
"Schwarzenegger is a George Bush Republican, in that he puts Big Money interests first, whether the policies those Big Money interests want are good for everyday people or good for the country as a whole."
15 workers die in accidents every day in the United States
Jordan Barab over at Firedoglake gives us the statistics.
Fifth lesson on why habeas corpus is important.
They can keep you forever and throw away the key. You have NO rights.
Habeas Corpus is no more.
Observe the quiet death of the Constitution not with a bang but a whimper.
The bastards who stood by as Bush signed.
Update: Watertiger has the appropriate picture.
Update II: Crooks and Liars has an excellent take and links to the outrage real Americans feel.
The bastards who stood by as Bush signed.
Update: Watertiger has the appropriate picture.
Update II: Crooks and Liars has an excellent take and links to the outrage real Americans feel.
Why is it acceptable women are considered prey?
Via NTodd, Bob Herbert shows how accustomed we have become to women as victims.
A silent exodus.
From the land of purple fingers and explosive sands, across the stunted plains, Iraqis are fleeing the country. Democracy is hard work if they won't stay put and tolerate violence!
Monday, October 16, 2006
How can they kill you again if they're dead?
P'ONeill catches Christopher Hitchens of Slate making a weird computation. Hitchens "comes up with an argument against the 655,000 excess deaths estimate in Iraq since 2003: that the study forgot to deduct the number of people who would otherwise have been killed by dead insurgents among those 655,000."
So, by blowing themselves up to kill masses of people or being bombed flat by us, the terrorists are saving others from dying.. because by being blown up they can't kill anybody else by ... blowing themselves up again.
I think I've got it! So with that logic, think of all the bombs that we didn't drop that didn't explode in school yards thereby saving innocent children! Think of the countries we haven't invaded thereby saving our soldiers' lives!
Actually, Bush and Cheney could actually go completely around the bend and declare war on Iran and then start WWIII by pushing all those little red buttons! But they haven't! So that's a whole world saved!
So, in reality, we have saved Iraq from itself by killing all the inhabitants to make it safe for the Iraqis to live in peace and democracy and purple fingers and voting and selling all the oil to Halliburton.....
Update 10/17: Via Atrios, Robert Farley passes judgement on Hitchens.
So, by blowing themselves up to kill masses of people or being bombed flat by us, the terrorists are saving others from dying.. because by being blown up they can't kill anybody else by ... blowing themselves up again.
I think I've got it! So with that logic, think of all the bombs that we didn't drop that didn't explode in school yards thereby saving innocent children! Think of the countries we haven't invaded thereby saving our soldiers' lives!
Actually, Bush and Cheney could actually go completely around the bend and declare war on Iran and then start WWIII by pushing all those little red buttons! But they haven't! So that's a whole world saved!
So, in reality, we have saved Iraq from itself by killing all the inhabitants to make it safe for the Iraqis to live in peace and democracy and purple fingers and voting and selling all the oil to Halliburton.....
Update 10/17: Via Atrios, Robert Farley passes judgement on Hitchens.
Why we need that divide between church and state.
Digby, having read David Kuo's book, quotes a section where Kuo meets a woman who had served on the peer-review panel for the first Compassion Capital Fund. In comparing notes, she says she rated all non-Christian applications as a zero. The rating was supposed to be faith-neutral but everyone was rating the Christian applications higher.
Digby points out: "This is not to say that only a rightwing Christian would do such a thing. It could be anyone who had a vested interest in the outcome --- which is exactly why people like this woman should not have been making such decisions. But how can you say that committed religious people should not be involved in such things? You can't even ask the question. The only way to deal with this is for religion not to be involved in such things.
Kuo's message is actually very interesting in this regard. He's seen the intersection of politics and Christianity up close and he came away believing that his religion was becoming tainted by politics."
(My bold).
Digby points out: "This is not to say that only a rightwing Christian would do such a thing. It could be anyone who had a vested interest in the outcome --- which is exactly why people like this woman should not have been making such decisions. But how can you say that committed religious people should not be involved in such things? You can't even ask the question. The only way to deal with this is for religion not to be involved in such things.
Kuo's message is actually very interesting in this regard. He's seen the intersection of politics and Christianity up close and he came away believing that his religion was becoming tainted by politics."
(My bold).
Harry Reid isn't playing fair....he's telling the truth.
Harry Reid exposes the Republican smear campaign against him...and then goes for the jugular."When the campaign first donated to the holiday fund, its experienced lawyer William Oldaker advised us that such donations were permissible. The campaign's current lawyer, Marc Elias, says the same thing. Nonetheless, I am reimbursing the campaign from my own pocket to prevent this issue from being used in the current campaign season to deflect attention from Republican failures."
Leaving Iraq sometime soon?
British soldiers support General Sir Richard Dannatt's call to leave Iraq "sometime soon". Politicians don't agree. Let the swiftboating begin.
How do US soldiers feel?
US politicians?
The US citizens?
How do US soldiers feel?
US politicians?
The US citizens?
Ken Mehlman is a liar.
Talking Points Memo explains it this way:
"Mehlman was asked about the LAT story in his appearance today on CNN. It is a model of saying nothing while seeming to deny everything, yet still managing to stick a few shivs in your opponents, so I'm going to post the entire exchange".
...and how Mehlman makes shit up.
...and via the Daily Muck, how Mehlman fires people because Abramoff says so.
"Mehlman was asked about the LAT story in his appearance today on CNN. It is a model of saying nothing while seeming to deny everything, yet still managing to stick a few shivs in your opponents, so I'm going to post the entire exchange".
...and how Mehlman makes shit up.
...and via the Daily Muck, how Mehlman fires people because Abramoff says so.
It was a small one but a nuke none the less.
Air samples say North Korea did explode a nuclear bomb.
Hatred poisons the hater, anger changes the world.
Mustang Bobby notes the difference between hatred and anger. What 60+% of the voters in America feel is good anger.
Glenn Greenwald goes in depth.
Glenn Greenwald goes in depth.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Going Democratic might not deliver anything but more of the same.
Tristero muses over what could happen...or not happen if the Congress goes Democratic.
Recounts in several races by ousted Republicans, costing time and money.
Any attempt at investigations into anything will be met with cries about misplaced revenge and payback time.
Bush could actively ignore or defy laws passed by the new Congress.
So:
"Congress wouldn't dare to substantively repeal the "Patriot" Act or the Torture Act or anything else that central to Bushism. I believe that Bush will, as he has done since the beginning, continue to play chicken with the US Constitution, daring Congress to force the constitutional crisis he's created, which has been going on since before he took office, into a full-blown public meltdown. And I believe, just as they did with the filibuster, that Congress will back down to prevent a public meltdown from happening. Congress, either Dem-controlled or not, will prefer to avoid a very frightening confrontation with a rogue presidency - that could lead who knows where - in the hopes that Bush's insane challenge to the very structure of the US government simply will end when Bush leaves office in 2009."
This scenario conjectures that we are just going to hang on and try to survive the last two years. Even if Bush goes batshit crazy. Even if we attack Iran. Even if we turn into the rogue superpower that uses nukes in preemptive strikes.
Even when we become a terrorist nation.
Even though all recent actions taken by Congress fit nicely into this hypothesis, I do hope he is wrong.
Recounts in several races by ousted Republicans, costing time and money.
Any attempt at investigations into anything will be met with cries about misplaced revenge and payback time.
Bush could actively ignore or defy laws passed by the new Congress.
So:
"Congress wouldn't dare to substantively repeal the "Patriot" Act or the Torture Act or anything else that central to Bushism. I believe that Bush will, as he has done since the beginning, continue to play chicken with the US Constitution, daring Congress to force the constitutional crisis he's created, which has been going on since before he took office, into a full-blown public meltdown. And I believe, just as they did with the filibuster, that Congress will back down to prevent a public meltdown from happening. Congress, either Dem-controlled or not, will prefer to avoid a very frightening confrontation with a rogue presidency - that could lead who knows where - in the hopes that Bush's insane challenge to the very structure of the US government simply will end when Bush leaves office in 2009."
This scenario conjectures that we are just going to hang on and try to survive the last two years. Even if Bush goes batshit crazy. Even if we attack Iran. Even if we turn into the rogue superpower that uses nukes in preemptive strikes.
Even when we become a terrorist nation.
Even though all recent actions taken by Congress fit nicely into this hypothesis, I do hope he is wrong.
How very odd.
Chris Wallace ignores 20,000 emails to ask Condi about the non-response to the attack on the USS Cole.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Semper Fie!
Marines scramble to shut up lawyer Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey and paralegal Sgt. Heather Cerven about what they know about Gitmo:
"A paralegal and a military lawyer who brought forward allegations about prisoner abuse at the Guantanamo Bay detention center have been ordered not to speak with the press, lawyers and a military spokeswoman said Saturday."
But the truth will out.
"A paralegal and a military lawyer who brought forward allegations about prisoner abuse at the Guantanamo Bay detention center have been ordered not to speak with the press, lawyers and a military spokeswoman said Saturday."
But the truth will out.
To prevent another 9/11,
let us know the truth.
Here is a petition:
"We, the undersigned, demand the immediate declassification and release of all transcripts and documents relating to the July 10, 2001 meeting that took place between former CIA Director George Tenet and then National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice. It has been alleged that this urgent and out-of-the-ordinary meeting was called to discuss the increasingly dire warnings of an imminent al Qaeda attack within the U.S.
Given that much of the July 10, 2001 meeting has already been made public in Bob Woodward’s newly released book, “State of Denial”, it is unacceptable to continue to keep these documents and transcripts hidden from the American public’s view.
In addition, we again call for the declassification and release of both the redacted 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry Into The Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 (JICI) and the CIA Inspector General’s report, “CIA Accountability With Respect To The 9/11 Attacks”.
The disastrous nature of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks warrant the release of all of this information so that the American public may learn what its government did or did not do to protect them. Had this nation been properly warned of the looming and imminent terrorist threat, life saving choices could have been made that day."
Here is a petition:
"We, the undersigned, demand the immediate declassification and release of all transcripts and documents relating to the July 10, 2001 meeting that took place between former CIA Director George Tenet and then National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice. It has been alleged that this urgent and out-of-the-ordinary meeting was called to discuss the increasingly dire warnings of an imminent al Qaeda attack within the U.S.
Given that much of the July 10, 2001 meeting has already been made public in Bob Woodward’s newly released book, “State of Denial”, it is unacceptable to continue to keep these documents and transcripts hidden from the American public’s view.
In addition, we again call for the declassification and release of both the redacted 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry Into The Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 (JICI) and the CIA Inspector General’s report, “CIA Accountability With Respect To The 9/11 Attacks”.
The disastrous nature of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks warrant the release of all of this information so that the American public may learn what its government did or did not do to protect them. Had this nation been properly warned of the looming and imminent terrorist threat, life saving choices could have been made that day."
National What Now?
National Character Counts Week. Who the hell thinks up these moronic titles? So the rest of the time character doesn't count? The Republicans will all behave for one week out of the year? This week all the pages are sent home? We stop invading countries?
I don't think sticking a label on a week does shit, Mr. President.
I don't think sticking a label on a week does shit, Mr. President.
What does the Republican party actually stand for nowadays?
John Aravosis reminds us what they used to be for: Limited government, tax cuts, strong defense. and family values.
So what do they stand for now?
Bloated government, deficit spending and tax cuts for corporations and the rich, misuse of the military in a vanity war and to threaten other countries while stretching it too thin, and indifference to religion, the poor, the gays, humanity in general unless it can be manipulated to gain votes.
How on earth could anyone vote Republican now that the truth is so obvious?
So what do they stand for now?
Bloated government, deficit spending and tax cuts for corporations and the rich, misuse of the military in a vanity war and to threaten other countries while stretching it too thin, and indifference to religion, the poor, the gays, humanity in general unless it can be manipulated to gain votes.
How on earth could anyone vote Republican now that the truth is so obvious?
Billmon's paranoia.
Billmon puts two and two together and is betting Karl Rove's surprise is an attack on Iran. That should win hearts and minds and the election!
Friday, October 13, 2006
To Republican Chris Shays, Abu Ghraib was just a liberal sex ring.
So sex to them doesn't involve consenting adults? It's all about humilation and power?
Wolcott passes judgement.
Via Atrios, Digby:
"What in the hell is wrong with these people? That's not torture? That stuff is over and above the things we've all seen with the forced masturbation, simulated fellatio, smearing feces on prisoners and forcing them to wear women's underwear while chained in stress positions to their cells or beds.
Characterizing what happened at Abu Ghraib as a "sex ring" is bizarre enough but he defends his comment the next day which means it wasn't a slip of the tongue or a badly worded phrase. He's thought about this and he believes it.
He said he looked at all those pictures and saw sex. Did you? I sure didn't. But then we libertine lefties base our belief that people should be able to do whatever they like in their private lives on the bedrock principle of individual freedom, agency and rights. It's the coercion that makes all this stuff so wrong. When somebody is coerced or forced into doing "sexual" things against their will, it can most certainly be torture. (I can't believe I even have to make that argument.)"
Chris Shays tries to explain and makes it worse.
Wolcott passes judgement.
Via Atrios, Digby:
"What in the hell is wrong with these people? That's not torture? That stuff is over and above the things we've all seen with the forced masturbation, simulated fellatio, smearing feces on prisoners and forcing them to wear women's underwear while chained in stress positions to their cells or beds.
Characterizing what happened at Abu Ghraib as a "sex ring" is bizarre enough but he defends his comment the next day which means it wasn't a slip of the tongue or a badly worded phrase. He's thought about this and he believes it.
He said he looked at all those pictures and saw sex. Did you? I sure didn't. But then we libertine lefties base our belief that people should be able to do whatever they like in their private lives on the bedrock principle of individual freedom, agency and rights. It's the coercion that makes all this stuff so wrong. When somebody is coerced or forced into doing "sexual" things against their will, it can most certainly be torture. (I can't believe I even have to make that argument.)"
Chris Shays tries to explain and makes it worse.
Was the ball glowing?
Rachel's story.
A woman who survived a horrific rape writes about her experience surviving the London subway bombing. A true definition of resilience.
Update: her blog.
Update: her blog.
Help Chris Wallace.
Chris Wallace asked Clinton why he hadn't taken care of al Qaeda and Osama when he could, apparently asking because he had received so many emails from viewers. When challenged, Wallace said he had asked the same questions of the Bush administration. He hadn't.
Chris Wallace is interviewing Condi for Fox News Sunday.
Email Wallace and ask him to ask Condi why they didn't respond to the USS Cole attack pre-9/11. They had eight months where they could have done it.
Email is here.
Chris Wallace is interviewing Condi for Fox News Sunday.
Email Wallace and ask him to ask Condi why they didn't respond to the USS Cole attack pre-9/11. They had eight months where they could have done it.
Email is here.
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