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email: newsom101@yahoo.com

Seen on Kos:

Steve Benen:

Cheney thinks it was a sterling success when it came to national security and counter-terrorism. Perhaps there's something to this. After all, except for the catastrophic events of 9/11, and the anthrax attacks against Americans, and terrorist attacks against U.S. allies, and the terrorist attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Bush's inability to capture those responsible for 9/11, and waging an unnecessary war that inspired more terrorists, and the success terrorists had in exploiting Bush's international unpopularity, the Bush/Cheney record on counter-terrorism was awesome.

Isn't that special.

Jonah Goldberg wants to be the Anonymity God.
He shall decide.

Sam Schulman is

GAY

Abortion Control

Thanks for the warning asshole.

Talk To Ya Later......

Lots of email coming in — in all flavors. But I'm signing off for the night and won't be online again until mid-afternoon. I'm flying back to Minnesota for a talk tomorrow night. Details here. I hope Corner readers can make it, as it's a speech I haven't given before and could use some friendly faces in the audience. G'night.

Sometimes I get the feeling that The Pantload needs them a whole lot more than they need him.

Did They Have To Change Their Diapers

after they saw this picture?













I don't understand why more people didn't see their silliness after 9/11 for what it really was. A bunch of scared babies pissing thier pants.

Fucking Liars

Political Animal

January 24, 2009

ABOUT THAT CBO REPORT.... This week, congressional Republicans seized on a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) showing the limited short-term stimulative effects of the Democrats' proposed rescue package. It's also led to widespread media coverage undermining the White House's arguments about the benefits of a stimulus plan.

There is, however, a problem. The CBO report, as it's been described, doesn't exist.

HERE for more.

updated:

Along the same line:

Pentagon's terror 'recidivism' claims blasted as 'propaganda'

Ever wonder how many of President Bush's terror war detainees were released, only to "return to the fight"?

"Their numbers have changed from 20, to 12, to seven, to more than five, to two, to a couple, to a few, 25, 29, 12, and then 24," quoted Keith Olbermann on Thursday's edition of Countdown.

The latest figure, 61, which was carried unchallenged by CNN, the MSNBC host noted, appears to be nothing but "propaganda."

A study published by Seton Hall Law Professor Mark Denbeaux on Jan. 15 finds the Pentagon wrongly altered its figures on terrorist 'recidivism' 43 times, with the latest figure being "the most egregiously so."
Full Story

Eight years of lies.

Again, Juan Cole

Please go HERE to read the whole thing.

By Juan Cole

Jan. 08, 2009 |

The Gaza War of 2009 is a final and eloquent testimony to the complete failure of the neoconservative movement in United States foreign policy. For over a decade, the leading figures in this school of thought saw the violent overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the institution of a parliamentary regime in Iraq as the magic solution to all the problems in the Middle East. They envisioned, in the wake of the fall of Baghdad, the moderation of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the overthrow of the Baath Party in Syria and the Khomeinist regime in Iran, the deepening of the alliance with Turkey, the marginalization of Saudi Arabia, a new era of cheap petroleum, and a final resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on terms favorable to Israel. After eight years in which they strode the globe like colossi, they have left behind a devastated moonscape reminiscent of some post-apocalyptic B movie. As their chief enabler prepares to exit the White House, the only nation they have strengthened is Iran; the only alliance they have deepened is that between Iran and two militant Islamist entities to Israel's north and south, Hezbollah and Hamas.

The neoconservatives first laid out their manifesto in a 1996 paper, "A Clean Break," written for an obscure think tank in Jerusalem and intended for the eyes of far right-wing Israeli politician Binyamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party, who had just been elected prime minister. They advised Israel to renounce the Oslo peace process and reject the principle of trading land for peace, instead dealing with the Palestinians with an iron fist. They urged Israel to uphold the right of hot pursuit of Palestinian guerrillas and to find alternatives to Yasser Arafat's Fatah for the Palestinian leadership. They called forth Israeli airstrikes on targets in Syria and rejection of negotiations with Damascus. They foresaw strengthened ties between Israel and its two regional friends, Turkey and Jordan.

They advocated "removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq," in part as a way of "rolling back" Syria. In place of the secular, republican tyrant, they fantasized about the restoration of the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq, and thought that a Sunni king might help moderate the Shiite Hezbollah in south Lebanon. (Yes.) They barely mentioned Iran, though it appears that their program of expelling Syria from Lebanon and weakening its regime was in part aimed at depriving Iran of its main Arab ally. In a 1999 book called "Tyranny's Ally: America's Failure to Defeat Saddam Hussein," David Wurmser argued that it was false to fear that installing the Iraqi Shiites in power in Baghdad would strengthen Iran regionally.

The signatories to this fantasy of using brute military power to reshape all of West Asia included some figures who would go on to fill key positions in the Bush administration. Richard Perle, a former assistant secretary of defense under Reagan, became chairman of the influential Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, a civilian oversight body for the Pentagon. Douglas J. Feith became the undersecretary of defense for planning. David Wurmser first served in Feith's propaganda shop, the Office of Special Plans, which manufactured the case for an American war on Iraq, and then went on to serve with "Scooter" Libby in the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.

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Andy McCarthy

Get a life you moron.

What's bigger than 338? [Andy McCarthy]

472 ... the number of points the Dow is down at this moment.

What would the media have said if McCain had gotted elected and the Dow tanked about a thousand points?

For someone who doesn't care......

Andy McCarthy: "It takes me much less time to delete than it does for you to write"

Me: "Hey asshole.......if you didn't care, then why did you write a 640 word pussy crybaby rant about it?"

Save It For Someone Who Cares [Andy McCarthy]

To the Obamaniacs sending me outraged emails over the phony assaulted McCain volunteer story: Get a life. It takes me much less time to delete than it does for you to write.

I don't owe you or Sen. Obama an apology. My post noted press reports on an incident that has apparently proved to be without foundation. There was no racial aspect to it as far as I was concerned: I registered only that the assault had allegedly been carried out by Obama supporters — I hadn't focused on the black-on-white aspect of the report until I read your emails. I don't live in a race-conscious cocoon: I grew up in meager circumstances and attended integrated schools in the Bronx, where there were all kinds of black people and all kinds of white people (among all kinds of people of several other backgrounds); all in all, we got along fairly well. I prosecuted white people who preyed on black people and black people who preyed on white people. I'm not a simpleton who assumes all Obama supporters are black, and that if there is a report of an Obama supporter on the giving or receiving end of harrassment (or worse) that that perforce suggests a racial incident.

READ the whole pitiful thing.

Mark Levin wants to know:

Just Asking [Mark R. Levin]

Why does Andrea Mitchell ALWAYS look like she overslept? Just a random thought.

I ask:

Why does Mark Levin ALWAYS look like he lost a fight with my lawnmower?

It's Official

Rich Lowry is gay. (or something)

Projecting through the Screen [Rich Lowry]

A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It's one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O'Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it.

On cnn.com now:

Look at the 'Quick Vote'.



Whoever is in charge of dreaming up these questions is one sick fuck with way too much time on his hands.

But That's OK2!!!

It's all good Sarah.

Killing ends a lifetime of spouse abuse.

This is very sad.

A Miami-Dade woman who killed her first abusive husband in 1993 was murdered by her second husband this month, police say.

Bullied and threatened for years to the point of near-suicide, Cassandra Johnson pulled a gun and shot her estranged husband in the head at a Liberty City strip mall in 1993.

She escaped a murder charge.

For the next 16 years, she rebuilt her life, undergoing intense counseling, cleaning condos for work and doting over two-dozen grandchildren -- until her next husband killed her, police say.

Randy Lipkins, father of her first child, stabbed her 22 times and pummeled her face with a hammer earlier this month, Miami-Dade police say. Lipkins surrendered to police Sept. 12 -- only after leaving her body to rot in his apartment for four days.

MORE

Palin Witchcraft

Oy!

John McCain's Keating Five Problem In 97 Seconds

Share This.

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While the Bush administration jack each other off........

Lebanon rivals agree crisis deal

Rival Lebanese leaders have agreed on steps to end the political deadlock that has led to the country's worst violence since the 1975-90 civil war.

The Western-backed government and the pro-Syrian opposition arrived at the deal after days of talks in Qatar.

Talks? What the fuck is that?

Israel-Syria confirm peace talks

Israel and Syria have said they are holding indirect talks to reach a comprehensive peace agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said both sides were talking "in good faith and openly".

What the fuck? They're going to talk too?

at-Largely

All the President's Nazis (real and imagined): An Open Letter to Bush

Dear Mr. Bush,

Your speech on the Knesset floor today was not only a disgrace; it was nothing short of treachery. Worse still, your exploitation of the Holocaust in a country carved out of the wounds of that very crime, in order to strike a low blow at American citizens whose politics differs from your own is unforgivable and unpardonable. Let me remind you, Mr. Bush, of your words today:

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush said at Israel's 60th anniversary celebration in Jerusalem.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to Israel's parliament, the Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Well Mr. Bush, the only thing this comment lacked was a mirror and some historical facts. You want to discuss the crimes of Nazis against my family and millions of other families in Europe during World War II? Let me revive a favorite phrase of yours: Bring. It. On!

There's lots more.

AmericaBlog

A few months ago this was one of my favorite blogs.

Aravosis:
IT'S NOT CLOSE. YOU FREAKING LOST THE NOMINATION, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?...
The Clintons don't give a damn about our party. Their party, their church, is themselves. To hell with everyone else. I actually liked Hillary up until a few months ago.

Now I don't even waste my time.

Old Bones Clothing
Let The Good Times Roll

Update:
On another matter, it looks like I'm not the only one who has had their comments deleted from AmericaBlog. Main St. USA has an interesting post about that.

What debate?

Since diagnosed with acute laziness, I've pretty much stopped blogging except in what I consider extreme cases. This is definitely one of those cases.
I'm quite a Clinton fan (Bill and Hillary) but you wouldn't really know it from my post's here. I've seen what happens to Obama descenters and I want nothing to do with that ball of wax. Chances are you stumbled onto this blog by accident anyway, so it's neither here nor there.

Last nights debate was disgusting in so many ways to say the least. My two biggest complaints: 1) I don't really like Obama that much, but if one more person brings up that flag pin bullshit one more time I'm going to vote for him in protest. Were there not any lamer questions to ask? 2) Why all the fucking commercials? (One just four minutes in) Apparently making a buck is more important than providing a public service. But judging by the questions, ratings is everything, hence the Fox style questions in the first place. If I was running the show it would have been two solid hours, no commercials and real questions.

That's all I have.

Old Bones Clothing

Firedoglake found Curveball,,,,kind of.

I agree. Why isn't this front page news?

"Curveball" Revealed:

Phoenix woman:

Lost in last week's hubbub was the news that "Curveball" -- the mysterious Iraqi engineer whose bogus claims on Saddam's weapons capabilities were used by Team Bush to justify invading Iraq -- has been outed:

An Iraqi engineer who provided the information that became one of the key planks in the Bush administration's case justifying the invasion of Iraq has been tracked down by undercover reporters to a drab residential block in southern Germany.

Rafid Ahmed Alwan, code-named Curveball (a baseball term for deception), has been in hiding since the invasion five years ago, and lives under an assumed name.

Read more here.

What the.............

You've got to be shitting me:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Iraqi military push into the southern city of Basra is not going as well as American officials had hoped, despite President Bush's high praise for the operation, several U.S. officials said Friday.

What are we.....a bunch of fucking monkeys?
Did anyone really think that Clusterfuck's "high praise" was going to help?
I mean, I know a lot of people that would. But I'm talking about normal people here.

Hello.

JAMISON FOSER

Via Eschaton

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I have a question for you.

Which would you rather your young child see.....

This:
"adult female nudity," specifically a "small portion of one side of her breasts"
on your television.....


Or this, headlined on a CNN website:
Girls gang-raped, forced to be sex slaves.

Mike Cox

Attorney general from Michigan on C-SPAN now.
What a schlep. Get a haircut. and a new suit.
He can barely put two words together.
And he doesn't speak for me in trying to make excuses for EPA blocking California law in regulating greenhouse gases. His argument isn't very convincing at all.

Not going to help Detroit

In a way I feel sorry for Detroit in so many ways and for so many reasons. but they really should have seen this coming before the last election.

Mayor shamed by text messages.
They raise questions about trial testimony.

DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said Wednesday night that text messages indicating he had a sexual affair with his chief of staff in 2002 and 2003 were "profoundly embarrassing" and "reflect a very difficult period in my personal life."

The mayor's prepared statement was released by his office after a report surfaced that text messages show he had an intimate relationship with Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, 37, who has been Kilpatrick's friend since they were classmates at Cass Tech.

In some of those more than 14,000 messages, Kilpatrick, 37, and Beatty -- both were married at the time -- exchanged sexual banter, declared their love and arranged trysts in motels in Metro Detroit and on out-of-town business trips.

But under oath last summer in a whistleblowers suit filed against the city by two former cops, they both denied a romantic or intimate relationship. They also testified that they didn't plot to fire Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown, but the text messages include exchanges about dismissing him.
.................

Kilpatrick, who has characterized himself as a strong family man dedicated to his wife and three young sons, had repeatedly and vehemently denied an affair with Beatty. Kilpatrick consistently called the officers in the whistleblowers case liars. On the witness stand, he answered with a curt "no" when asked if he had had an intimate relationship with Beatty. Those allegations of infidelity had dogged the mayor since they began to surface in late 2002 and led to the drawn-out court case that was filed in 2003. Detroit News

North Adams, MI....(welcome)

Cheney..........

Cheney Wants Surveillance Law Expanded.
Found on HuffPost:

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney prodded Congress on Wednesday to extend and broaden an expiring surveillance law, saying "fighting the war on terror is a long-term enterprise" that should not come with an expiration date.

"We're reminding Congress that they must act now," Cheney told the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. The law, which authorizes the administration to eavesdrop on phone calls and see the e-mail to and from suspected terrorists, expires on Feb. 1. Congress is bickering over terms of its extension.

On Tuesday, Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to extend the stopgap Protect America Act without expanding it, raising stakes for an expected showdown in the Senate later this week on a new version of the law.

More

Juan Cole

Informed Comment:

Andrew Bacevich eviscerates the Iraq War party with this passionate and clear-sighted essay on 'the Surge to Nowhere' in WaPo. He points out that the real motivation behind last year's troop escalation was to avoid popular outrage building in the US electorate to the point where the troops were pulled out. He observes that the argument for the 'success' of the 'surge' is purely a tactical one. When viewed from the vantage point of grand strategy, the Iraq War is as much a failure as it has always been.

If someone came to you six years ago and said that for only $2 trillion, you could have for your colony a burned out country, a failed state, and a semi-permanent incubator of terrorism and hatred against the US, would you have ponied up the money? That's what you've got, and that is what it cost you. Detroit could have used some of that money. New Orleans could have used some of that money. Appalachia has lots of schools that need to be painted.

More here, and here

Is Joe Lieberman the new Zell Miller?

Watch him show up at the 2008 Republican National Convention.
Oh, and by the way........we've all been put on alert:

Lieberman, GOP seek out Jewish vote:

BOCA RATON --

Joe Lieberman, the one-time Democrat who narrowly lost the vice presidency, stumped in South Florida for a Republican presidential candidate Wednesday evening, putting his former party on alert: The GOP is after the Jewish vote.

Lieberman told about 200 Republican Jewish activists that he's backing John McCain because his fellow senator and Iraq war hawk best understands the nature of the radical Islamic threat faced by ''our ally Israel'' -- while much of the Democratic Party has forsaken it.

''The Democratic Party, I believe, respectfully, has left the strongest roots of its foreign policy and national security,'' Lieberman said, adding that McCain ``has always believed that Israel is our natural ally, from the beginning of its modern existence to this day in the war against Islamic extremists and terrorists.''

...........

While Jews overwhelmingly vote Democratic on social issues year after year, the Republican presidential candidates this year have gone to great lengths to out-Israel each other -- from using Israeli newspaper email lists to traveling to Israel to addressing myriad Jewish groups.

That Liberal CNN........

Guess they didn't have room for Republican terrorists today.
Just something about "Cuckoo's Nest" and UFO's.

This should be interesting:

Kos is encouraging Democratic Michigan bloggers to vote for Mitt Romney on Tuesday to keep McCain from winning, therefore creating a dog race for the Republican party leading up to Super Tuesday.
Now John Bambenek over at Illinois Review is claiming that Markos may be encouraging voter fraud.


But according to Taylor Marsh, the Obama campaign seems to be doing something just as sneaky by encouraging Republicans to vote for Obama in the Nevada primaries. (Albeit for a totally different reason of course.) Here's a flier they're passing out:

Is the Obama campaign encouraging voter fraud too?

Google: I Hate Chris Matthews.

Go to the bottom of this page and click on the SiteMeter. Then click on 'By Referrals' at the left.
More than half my referrals (which aren't many, I'll admit) are from people who Google 'I Hate Chris Matthews', or something to that effect.
That fucking asshole is wading into deep shit, and it's not going to look very pretty when he finally goes down.
But go down he will. And I'll be one happy camper when it happens.

Jamison Foser at Media Matters has the best rundown I've seen on Tweety. That guy is doing his homework, and I love him for that.

...............

Matthews has referred to Clinton as "She devil." He has repeatedly likened Clinton to "Nurse Ratched," referring to the "scheming, manipulative" character in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest who "asserts arbitrary control simply because she can." He has called her "Madame Defarge." And he has described male politicians who have endorsed Clinton as "castratos in the eunuch chorus."

Matthews has compared Clinton to a "strip-teaser" and questioned whether she is "a convincing mom." He refers to Clinton's "cold eyes" and the "cold look" she supposedly gives people; he says she speaks in a "scolding manner" and is "going to tell us what to do."

...............

Matthews periodically gets it into his head that the most important question in the world is whether Bill Clinton will be a "distraction" or whether he will "behave himself." He badgers Clinton aides about the question and warns that Bill Clinton "better watch it." He asks if Clinton will be a "good boy" or be guilty of "misbehavior." Matthews is not so subtly referring to Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. But curiously, he doesn't have the same concerns about McCain or about Rudy Giuliani, as I wrote nearly a year ago.

Matthews has repeatedly focused on the physical characteristics of his female guests. He recently began an interview with conservative radio host and author Laura Ingraham by telling her, "I'm not allowed to say this, but I'll say it -- you're beautiful and you're smart." He ended the interview by saying: "I get in trouble for this, but you're great looking, obviously. You're one of the gods' gifts to men in this country. But also, you are a hell of a writer." Note that Matthews said Ingraham is also a good writer -- apparently, to Chris Matthews, there is no reason for men to care about whether a woman can write, only about how she looks.
...............

Chris Matthews has been treating female guests as sexual objects for years. He has been judging women -- senators, presidential candidates, the speaker of the House -- on their clothes and their voices and their appearance for years. He has been referring to women as "castrating" for years. He has been applying double standards to male and female candidates for years.

This is who Chris Matthews is. He is a man who thinks that men who support women politicians are "eunuchs."

He isn't going to stop unless you make him stop. Chris Matthews uses his voice to marginalize women. Use yours to tell MSNBC you've had enough.

I hate to see anybody fail. But Matthews is just plain asking for it. He belongs on Fox News, but I don't think even they have room for this garbage.
Please read the whole post, and then follow the links at the bottom to sound off to MSNBC.

Andrew made a funny.

Way to go Andrew.

Commenting on Thursday's Republican debate:

Please Shoot Me [Andy McCarthy]

Another Frank Luntz focus group? You don't need to waterboard me — I'll tell you whatever you want to know ...

LINK

I'm sure you made your mother proud with that one.

Suckit Tweety (and Tucker)

Both a couple of low life wannabe's.
Found on Atrios. Jamison Foser on Media Matters tears these assholes a new asshole.

It's fascinating to see Chris Matthews and Tucker Carlson so angry about Kerrey's comments, because as far as I can tell, Chris Matthews was the very first person to introduce Barack Obama's middle name into the national political discussion -- and Tucker Carlson was right behind him.
................
What's happening here isn't really very subtle at all. Tucker Carlson and Chris Matthews have, going back more than a year, gone out of their way to bring up Obama's middle name and his long-ago drug use. After they (and their colleagues) played a key role in bringing these matters into the national dialogue, they brutally attacked Clinton when people connected with her campaign made reference to the very things Carlson and Matthews have been talking about all along.
.............
And it isn't merely that Matthews and Carlson are blasting Clinton for things they did first; they're blasting Clinton for things they continue to do every night. Mark Penn used the word "cocaine" twice, a week ago -- in response to Matthews' prodding. Tucker Carlson has used it on his show nine times since then; Matthews has used it 12 times on Hardball. And the two have used the name "Hussein" in connection with Obama 11 times this week.
.............
It's a hell of a scam Matthews and Carlson have going -- undermining both candidates, while getting their campaigns and their supporters angry at one another.
More

You two assholes are nothing but a couple of fakes. And the people are finally starting to catch on. You're worse than George bush.

TWEETY

Chris Matthews is a fucking idiot.

Media Matters

This could be trouble:

Supermodel 'rejects dollar pay'

The world's richest model has reportedly reacted in her own way to the sliding value of the US dollar - by refusing to be paid in the currency.

Gisele Bündchen is said to be keen to avoid the US currency because of uncertainty over its strength.

The Brazilian, thought to have earned about $30m in the year to June, prefers to be paid in euros, her sister and manager told the Bloomberg news agency.

However, Ms Bündchen, 27, declined to comment on her pay arrangements.

Last week the dollar hit long-term lows against the euro, the British pound and the Canadian dollar.

According to Brazil's weekly magazine Veja, when Ms Bündchen signed a deal to represent Pantene hair products, she demanded that the brand owner, Procter & Gamble (P&G), paid her in euros.

P&G was reported as saying that it could not comment on details of the contract.

There are also reports that she will be paid in euros for a deal with Dolce & Gabanna to promote its The One fragrance.

"Contracts starting now are more attractive in euros because we don't know what will happen to the dollar," Patricia Bündchen told Bloomberg.

MORE

Chris Matthews Asshole

The reason I named this post 'Chris Matthews Asshole' is because I noticed a lot of people Google this a lot. I'll do anything for a little traffic.

But the reason for the post is to renew my feelings of how much of an asshole I think Chris Matthews really is.

His infatuation with the Clinton's is hitting an all time high this week, devoting almost the whole time of both his pathetic shows to basing Bill and Hillary the last few days.

But every time he gets Rudy Giuliani on his show you practically have to hold him back from giving him a blow job right there on the set.

Let's see if Matthews can grow some nuts and bring this subject up any time soon:

Paul Krugman.
Prostates and Prejudices:

“My chance of surviving prostate cancer — and thank God I was cured of it — in the United States? Eighty-two percent,” says Rudy Giuliani in a new radio ad attacking Democratic plans for universal health care. “My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England? Only 44 percent, under socialized medicine.”

It would be a stunning comparison if it were true. But it isn’t. And thereby hangs a tale — one of scare tactics, of the character of a man who would be president and, I’m sorry to say, about what’s wrong with political news coverage.

Let’s start with the facts: Mr. Giuliani’s claim is wrong on multiple levels — bogus numbers wrapped in an invalid comparison embedded in a smear.

Mr. Giuliani got his numbers from a recent article in City Journal, a publication of the conservative Manhattan Institute. The author gave no source for his numbers on five-year survival rates — the probability that someone diagnosed with prostate cancer would still be alive five years after the diagnosis. And they’re just wrong.

Here's the whole thing.

Don't hold your breath.

Thanks to Horses Mouth.

Update: Digby with more on how Matthews is one of the biggest assholes on cable.

"It's a sad day to be a Republican."

ABCnews.com

Sen. Larry Craig has been chosen for induction into the Idaho Hall of Fame, despite his well-publicized arrest and guilty plea in an airport sex sting, officials said.

The nonprofit Idaho Hall of Fame Association picked Craig in March, months before he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after a Minneapolis airport police officer accused him of soliciting sex in the men's restroom, the organization's board chairman said.

"Larry Craig has made a great contribution to Idaho over the period of 20-some years. At the time it was considered, this other matter had not come up," Harry Magnuson told The Spokesman-Review newspaper Saturday.

But some Republicans said the honor is inappropriate now. Kootenai County Republican precinct committeeman Phil Thompson said Idaho Hall of Fame officials should consider at least postponing the induction.

"Maybe in 10 or 15 years we can think of this hall of fame stuff. Now is not the time," he said. "It's a sad day to be a Republican."

Balls

I just wanted to see if I could touch my balls with my tail.

All I Can Say Is............

Sucks to be a republican.

Will Chris Matthews ever grow up?

Digby

The Daily Howler

Eschaton

Media Matters

mcjoan (kos)

DealBreaker

Crooks And Liars

Check your compassion at the door.

NRO

Lee Ermey -- The GOP's Secret Weapon? [Laura Ingraham]

After listening to the Lee Ermey video message to the crowd here, I had an idea. How about Sgt. Hartman for SecDef? Or better yet for White House press secretary! Imagine the names for Helen Thomas and David Gregory he'd spit out! "Private Thomas, is it? Think you're smart, don't you? Well, get used to this—you do what I say or you will be crying for your binky by the end of the day! You, stupid, worthless, treasonous, Commie-sympathizing barnacle on a ship of fools!"

08/11 04:38 PM

When all they have left is dreams of roughing up Helen Thomas, I'd say they're very desperate. Even if it's all in fun it really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

By the way Laura....I noticed you were brave enough to slam Helen Thomas (who is loved and adored by millions upon millions around the world) with the 'Private Thomas' jab but stopped short when it came to David Gregory. Where are your balls bitch?

My sister has a website.

Chris Mathews

Think Progress catches Tweety giving Shrub some man love:

In A Three Minute Monologue, Matthews Gushes Over Bush’s ‘Great Neo-Conservative Mind’

Immediately following President Bush’s press conference today, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews spent three unbroken minutes fawning over the president’s “powerful rendition” of his “philosophy” without uttering a single critical word. “I thought in listening to the president, I was listening to one of the great neoconservative minds,” gushed Matthews.

Calling Bush “powerful” on three separate occasions, Matthews marveled at the president’s defense of his foreign policy:

We were given a rare opportunity to hear the real philosophy of this administration with regard to the war in Iraq. A powerful rendition by the president of why we’re there. When he talked about the fact that we can support emerging democracies in the Middle East, and that’s the only way we can prevent future 9/11’s, you’re getting to the heart of why this administration is fighting that war in Iraq.

“This president is ready to fight like a rock through the rest of his term,” Matthews proclaimed. “He made it clear that he’s going to fight as long as it takes to develop a democracy in Iraq. There’s not going to be any change come September.” Watch it:

Not that there's anything wrong with it......

Is there any question now that Chris Mathews is gay?

MATTHEWS: Yeah, I think you're right. I guess I'm thinking of an Eddie Rendell were in the race -- the governor of Pennsylvania -- or if Al Gore were in the race or someone else who's a good heavyweight to be running. But, you know, I do see a lot of really good second-tier candidates here, but I don't see a big, beefy alternative to Hillary Clinton -- a big guy. You know what I mean? An all -- an every-way big guy. I don't see one out there. I see a lot of slight, skinny, second- and third-rate candidates.

We've been getting more and more insinuations along this line lately. And it's not so much what he says, but the fact that he thinks that he has to say these things at all. Is it even relevant at all just how "big and beefy" a candidate is? Actually, I'm surprised he didn't throw a 'white' into the mix.
Media Matters has a story on this.

Good Old Cut & Paste

Hillary vs. Obama [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

The look on her face now when he talks seems to be "oh, you're so young and naive."

The look on my face now when you talk seems to be "for god's sake, get a life you old windbag."

Oh Bitch, don't tease me.

"Sir, I Will Die For This Post" [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

More blogging from Iraq from Thomas Smith.

Juan Cole

A surge of phony spin on Iraq

Aug. 7, 2007 | As Congress prepared to go on its August recess, Pentagon officials and White House backers were desperately spinning as a success this year's escalation of U.S. troop levels in Iraq. A recent poll shows that there has been a 10 percent uptick in the proportion of Americans who think the so-called surge, first announced by President George W. Bush in January, is having a beneficial effect. But how accurate are the sunny pronouncements coming out of Washington? What would constitute a success for the surge, and how likely is it to be achieved?

The troop escalation was intended to calm down Baghdad and to give the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki breathing room to pursue a political reconciliation, especially with the Sunni Arab population. But the political goals of the surge are simply not being accomplished -- and indeed, the political situation has deteriorated substantially.

Maliki has lost even the few Sunni Arab allies he began with; the Sunni Arab coalition, called the Iraqi Accord Front, that had actually been in his government has now had its cabinet ministers tender their resignations. He has not held further reconciliation talks with dissident Sunni Arab groups. The Sunni Arab guerrilla groups are thinking of forming an opposition political party in hopes of extending their efforts to topple his government into the political sphere. His relations with Sunni Arab neighbors are so bad that Saudi Arabia declined his request to visit Riyadh.

Visit Salon and read the whole story.

Thai cops punished by Hello Kitty

Police chiefs in the Thai capital, Bangkok, have come up with a new way of punishing officers who break the rules - an eye-catching Hello Kitty armband.

The armband is large, bright pink and has a Hello Kitty motif with two hearts embroidered on it.

From today, officers who are late, park in the wrong place or commit other minor transgressions will have to wear it for several days.

The armband is designed to shame the wearer, police officials said.

"This is to help build discipline. We should not let small offences go unnoticed," Police Colonel Pongpat Chayapan told Reuters news agency.

"Guilty officers will be made to wear the armbands in the office for a few days, with instructions not to disclose their offences. Let people guess what they have done," he said.

Further offences would be dealt with using a more traditional disciplinary panel, he said.

The cartoon character Hello Kitty was first introduced by Japanese company Sanrio in 1974.

The cute round-faced cat has become an Asia-wide marketing phenomenon, with Hello Kitty products such as stationery, hair accessories and kitchen appliances available across the region.

JONAH GOLDBERG

Born in a Whore House........

The National Review's cruise ship stops in Canada tomorrow -- for about a minute and a half -- and those passengers with the courage to go ashore should have a wonderful time. We have a tradition of hospitality to draft dodgers.
.....................................
You have to take it in the spirit of fun. Like when I say that Jonah Goldberg fit right in, going to a girls' school, because he was born in a whorehouse. I'm just being provocative. But he really was born in a whorehouse.
..................................

I hope no one in Canada is still sore about something else Jonah Goldberg wrote:

"The Canadians have for a while now taken it upon themselves to be a "moral superpower," not a military superpower. The problem with this -- as is so often the case with groups, institutions, and even nations seeking to be the conscience of the world -- is that it leads to knee-jerk and cost-free preachiness rather than any attempt at real sacrifices... Its military, which used to punch well above its weight, is quite literally rusting through, and there are no plans to remedy that. In short, Canada has willfully forgotten that a nation which wants to be a moral superpower doesn't just say nice things, it does right things even at great cost..."

They have to understand he's just kidding around. (And that he doesn't know what the words "literally" or "rusting" mean, or he wouldn't apply them to an organization.) Even if he wasn't kidding, you'd still have to take your medicine, on the "real sacrifice" stuff, when it's coming from a man like Jonah Goldberg, who, although he didn't serve himself -- ever, anywhere, at any time -- did grow up in a broken home with a chain smoker.

In a whorehouse.

THE WHOLE STORY IS HERE

Iraq Power Grid Said to Be Near Collapse

AP

BAGHDAD -

Iraq's power grid is on the brink of collapse because of insurgent sabotage of infrastructure, rising demand, fuel shortages and provinces that are unplugging local power stations from the national grid, officials said Saturday.

Electricity Ministry spokesman Aziz al-Shimari said power generation nationally is only meeting half the demand, and there had been four nationwide blackouts over the past two days. The shortages across the country are the worst since the summer of 2003, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, he said.

Power supplies in Baghdad have been sporadic all summer and now are down to just a few hours a day, if that. The water supply in the capital has also been severely curtailed by power blackouts and cuts that have affected pumping and filtration stations.

Karbala province south of Baghdad has been without power for three days, causing water mains to go dry in the provincial capital, the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

"We no longer need television documentaries about the Stone Age. We are actually living in it. We are in constant danger because of the filthy water and rotten food we are having," said Hazim Obeid, who sells clothing at a stall in the Karbala market.

Electricity shortages are a perennial problem in Iraq, even though it sits atop one of the world's largest crude oil reserves. The national power grid became decrepit under Saddam Hussein because his regime was under U.N. sanctions after the Gulf War and had trouble buying spare parts or equipment to upgrade the system.

The power problems are only adding to the misery of Iraqis, already suffering from the effects of more than four years of war and sectarian violence. Outages make life almost unbearable in the summer months, when average daily temperatures reach between 110 and 120 degrees.

One of the biggest problems facing the national grid is the move by provinces to disconnect their power plants from the system, reducing the amount of electricity being generated across the country. Provinces say they have no choice because they are not getting as much electricity in return for what they produce, mainly because the capital requires so much power.

"Many southern provinces such as Basra, Diwaniyah, Nassiriyah, Babil have disconnected their power plants from the national grid. Northern provinces, including Kurdistan, are doing the same," al-Shimari said. "We have absolutely no control over some areas in the south," he added.

"The national grid will collapse if the provinces do not abide by rules regarding their share of electricity. Everybody will lose and there will be no electricity winner," al-Shimari said.

He complained that the central government was unable to do anything about provincial power stations pulling out of the national system, or the fact some provinces were failing to take themselves off the supply grid once they had consumed their daily ration of electricity.

Najaf provincial spokesman Ahmed Deibel confirmed to The Associated Press Sunday that the gas turbine generator there had been removed from the national grid. He said the plant produced 50 megawatts while the province needed at least 200 megawatts.

"What we produce is not enough even for us. We disconnected it from the national grid three days ago because the people in Baghdad were getting too much, leaving little electricity for Najaf," he said.

Compounding the problem, al-Shimari said there are 17 high-tension lines running into Baghdad but only two were operational. The rest had been sabotaged.

"What makes Baghdad the worst place in the country is that most of the lines leading into the capital have been destroyed. That is compounded by the fact that Baghdad has limited generating capacity," al-Shimari said.

"When we fix a line, the insurgents attack it the next day," he added.

Fuel shortages are also a major problem. In Karbala, provincial spokesman Ghalib al-Daami said a 50-megawatt power station had been shut down because of a lack of fuel, causing the entire province to be without water and electricity for the past three days.

He said sewage was seeping above ground in nearly half the provincial capital because pump trucks used to clean septic tanks have been unable to operate due to gasoline shortages. The sewage was causing a health threat to citizens and contaminating crops in the region.

Many people who normally would rely on small home generators for electricity can't afford to buy fuel. Gasoline prices have shot up to nearly $5 a gallon, Karbala residents say, a price that puts the fuel out of range for all but the wealthy.

"We wait for the sunset to enjoy some coolness," said Qassim Hussein, a 31-year-old day laborer in Karbala. "The people are fed-up. There is no water, no electricity, there is nothing, but death. I've even had more trouble with my wife these last three days. Everybody is on edge."

Iraq has the world's third-largest proven oil reserves, behind Saudi Arabia and Iran. But oil production has been hampered by insurgent and saboteur attacks, ranging from bombing pipelines to siphoning off oil. The attacks have cost the country billions of dollars since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Dilapidated infrastructure has also hindered refining, forcing Iraq to import large amounts of kerosene and other oil products.

The electricity problems come as leaders are trying to deal with a political crisis that erupted when the country's largest bloc of Sunni political parties withdrew from the government.

President Bush called Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Vice President Adel Abdel-Mahdi to urge them to try to preserve political unity in the country, where the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is under a stiff challenge from rival political forces and insurgents.

Talabani, a Kurd, and Abdel-Mahdi, a Shiite, provided few details of the conversations in statements released by their offices. But both men have been involved in trying to solve the crisis.

Elsewhere, the U.S. military announced the death of a Marine during combat Thursday in Iraq's western Anbar province.

The U.S. military also issued a statement saying its forces killed four suspects and captured 33 others Saturday in raids in northern Iraq and along the Tigris River Valley.

In northern Iraq, a prison riot was brought under control two days after it broke out when Iraqi guards prepared to move inmates into an isolation unit and U.S. soldiers surrounded the facility.

The riot at Badoosh prison outside Mosul, about 220 miles northwest of Baghdad, involved nearly 65 inmates. Iraqi guards killed one inmate who was trying to escape from the prison yard and wounded two others inside the prison, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The U.S. military said American troops did not fire any rounds during the disturbance and no U.S. or Iraqi troops were wounded.

Associated Press Writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report

Juan Cole

Third of Iraqis 'need urgent aid'

Nearly a third of the population of Iraq is in need of immediate emergency aid, according to a new report from Oxfam and a coalition of Iraqi NGOs.
Read the sad news here.

Here too:

NGOs report humanitarian crisis in Iraq

By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press WriterMon Jul 30, 6:27 AM ET

About 8 million Iraqis — nearly a third of the population — need immediate emergency aid because of the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, relief agencies said Monday.

Those Iraqis are in urgent need of water, sanitation, food and shelter, said the report by Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee network in Iraq.

The report said 15 percent of Iraqis cannot regularly afford to eat, and 70 percent are without adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003. It also said 28 percent of children are malnourished, compared with 19 percent before the 2003 invasion.

"Basic services, ruined by years of war and sanctions, cannot meet the needs of the Iraqi people," said Jeremy Hobbs, the director of Oxfam International. "Millions of Iraqis have been forced to flee the violence, either to another part of Iraq or abroad. Many of those are living in dire poverty."

The report said more than 2 million people — mostly women and children — have been displaced within Iraq, and 2 million Iraqis have fled the country as refugees, mostly to neighboring Syria and Jordan.

Hobbs urged Iraq's government, the United Nations and the international community to do more to help Iraqis, despite the risk of the war's widespread violence involving coalition forces and insurgents.

"The Iraqi government must commit to helping Iraq's poorest citizens, including the internally displaced, by extending food parcel distribution and cash payments to the vulnerable. Western donors must work through Iraqi and international aid organizations and develop more flexible systems to ensure these organizations operate effectively and efficiently," Hobbs said.

Oxfam has not operated in Iraq since 2003 for security reasons, but a survey it published in April found that more than 80 percent of aid agencies working in the country could do more if they had more money.

Some humanitarian organizations refuse money from governments with troops in Iraq, on the grounds of security and independence.

"The fighting and weak Iraqi institutions mean there are severe limits on what humanitarian work can be carried out. Nevertheless, more can and should be done to help the Iraqi people," Hobbs said.

George Bush's Army.

Errant Afghan civilian deaths surge

U.S. and NATO troops killed more noncombatants in the last six months than did Taliban insurgents, several tallies indicate.

By Laura King
Times Staff Writer

July 6, 2007

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — After more than five years of increasingly intense warfare, the conflict in Afghanistan reached a grim milestone in the first half of this year: U.S. troops and their NATO allies killed more civilians than insurgents did, according to several independent tallies.

The upsurge in deaths at the hands of Western forces has been driven by Taliban tactics as well as by actions of the American military and its allies.

But the growing toll is causing widespread disillusionment among the Afghan people, eroding support for the government of President Hamid Karzai and exacerbating political rifts among NATO allies about the nature and goals of the mission in Afghanistan.

More than 500 Afghan civilians have been reported killed this year, and the rate has dramatically increased in the last month.

In some instances, it was difficult to determine whether the dead were combatants or noncombatants. But in many other cases, there was no doubt that the person killed was a bystander to war.

Still, Western military leaders argue that any comparison of casualties caused by Western forces and by the Taliban is fundamentally unfair because there is a clear moral distinction to be made between accidental deaths resulting from combat operations and deliberate killings of innocents by militants.

"No [Western] soldier ever wakes up in the morning with the intention of harming any Afghan citizen," said Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. "If that does inadvertently happen, it is deeply, deeply regretted."

Moreover, alliance officials say Taliban fighters are ultimately to blame for many of the fatalities attributed to coalition military operations because the insurgents deliberately place civilians in harm's way, using them as human shields and employing other brutal tactics.

Human rights groups acknowledge that there are mitigating circumstances. But to the families of victims such as Azizullah the salt merchant, such distinctions are lost in a wave of grief and indignation.

At dawn on June 16, Azizullah went to prayers with his older brother, Mohammed Reza. It was the last time Reza saw his younger brother alive.

At midmorning, Reza received a call on his cellphone from Afghan police saying Azizullah had been wounded, then another saying that he had died, shot by North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops as he sipped a cool drink a few steps from his storefront in a rundown district of Kabul.

"Why? Why?" Reza asked. "They are supposed to protect us, not kill us."

In a communal society such as Afghanistan, "no death is isolated," said Hekmat Karzai, who runs a security think tank in Kabul and is a cousin of the president. "When one person dies, it affects a whole village or clan or tribe. Ultimately, it affects everyone, and there's no escaping that."

By late June, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, working with local rights groups, had counted 314 civilian deaths at the hands of Western-led forces and 279 people killed by the Taliban and other militants. But that figure did not include at least 45 civilian deaths reported by local officials last weekend in Helmand province's Gereshk district.

Separate counts by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Associated Press differed slightly, but also indicated that more civilians were killed by Western troops than by militants during the first half of 2007.

On June 23, in response to the deaths of more than 100 noncombatants in a single week that were blamed on Western artillery or airstrikes in southern Afghanistan, President Karzai unleashed an angry call for caution by U.S. and NATO forces.

"Afghan life is not cheap, and it should not be treated as such," the Afghan president told reporters in Kabul.

Aides said Karzai believed that his language, the sharpest to date on the subject, was the only way to get the attention of Western policymakers after repeated appeals had gone unanswered.

Neither NATO nor U.S. forces keep a tally of civilian deaths, but Thomas said the military did not dispute the figures cited by Karzai. All sides, however, acknowledge that counting casualties is an inexact science.

Because Taliban fighters do not wear military uniforms, they can be as difficult to identify in death as in life. Much of the fighting takes place in remote, rugged areas that are difficult for independent investigators to reach.

NATO and U.S. military officials say that when in doubt, human rights groups sometimes count ambiguous cases among the civilian dead, a contention sharply disputed by the investigators.

"There is always a margin of error, but no one is interested in inflating these figures," said Anja de Beer, the director of the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, a consortium of humanitarian groups that also tallies civilian deaths.

"We do not rely only on what people say immediately after a battle. Our investigators follow up afterward, talk to village elders, to families, and look at fresh graves," De Beer said. "When there is any question of identity, we take that into account."

Often, civilians are killed in the aftermath of an attack by insurgents. Azizullah was shot and killed by troops responding to a car bomb that went off about half a mile away.

The NATO-led force said at the time that initial indications were that a soldier's weapon had accidentally discharged. Two weeks later, a spokesman said there had been no further findings.

Azizullah's family, an extended clan of 25 living in a mud-brick compound on the outskirts of the capital, veered between mourning and fury.

"Who will bring my son back to me?" asked his weeping, white-turbaned father, Mohammed Zia. "No one, no one. Not even God."

The family was particularly angered by the fact that the shooting took place more than an hour after the explosion and that there was no report of hostile fire directed at troops.

"We thought the foreign troops, the Americans, would bring peace to this country," said the father. "Now they have killed my son, and I do not want to see their faces ever again."

Political analysts say that despite the increase in civilian deaths, most Afghans still support the presence of international troops.

"It's an obvious truth that the Western forces bring security that we need," said Said Najib Mahmood, a political science professor at Kabul University. "But they are killing a lot of people, and because of that there is a loss of trust and confidence in the government."

Many analysts say the nature of combat tactics employed by both sides makes it very difficult for the military to avoid inflicting civilian casualties, a fact that the Taliban movement exploits to the maximum.

When allied forces come under fire from a walled compound of the kind that dots every Afghan village, the likeliest response is an airstrike — a strategy that exposes Western troops to less danger than moving in on foot.

Sometimes, even hours of painstaking surveillance fail to turn up signs of noncombatants in the line of fire.

"Often we will refrain from making a strike because we suspect there might be civilians present," said Thomas. "But sometimes we're wrong."

If so, the consequences can be devastating.

"We see whole families killed together in their home — mothers, babies, everyone," said Abdul Matim, a parliament member from Helmand province, who has personally investigated many of the civilian deaths in his home district. "It's a terrible sight."

Another common insurgent tactic is suicide car bombings aimed at military convoys. In response, jittery troops sometimes fire on civilians who are merely driving erratically or who accidentally come between military vehicles. Often there are more such shootings when a contingent of troops has recently arrived in Afghanistan.

"It takes time to figure out that not everyone in a turban is a suicide bomber," said Karzai, the analyst, who directs the independent Center for Conflict and Peace Studies in Kabul.

After a suicide bombing last week on the outskirts of Kabul that targeted a U.S. military convoy and killed two Western security officers, Afghan police anxiously waved journalists away.

"Don't go close," they warned. "The Americans might shoot you."

Criticism over civilian casualties frustrates NATO and U.S. officials, who say atrocities by the Taliban expose civilians to far greater dangers.

In one widely cited recent case, insurgents allegedly tried to trick a 6-year-old boy into blowing himself up at an Afghan police checkpoint, fitting him with a suicide vest they told him would eject flowers at the push of a button. Police managed to free the child.

At the same time, Western officials acknowledge that whatever the provocation, they must adhere to international norms of combat.

"We are rightly held to a higher standard of behavior," said Nicholas Lunt, the chief NATO civilian spokesman in Afghanistan.

At the compound of Azizullah's family, his four children, all younger than 5, tussled together on the floor and gazed with bright curiosity at visitors. Their uncle Mohammed Reza explained that they were too young to comprehend that their father was dead.

"I asked them where they think he is, and they say they don't know," he said. "They don't understand yet that he is never coming back."

Happy Birthday Asshole

Silly.

CNN: England smoking ban in effect.

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- England snuffed out smoking in bars, workplaces and public buildings on Sunday in what campaigners said was the biggest boost to public health since the creation of the National Health Service in 1948.
The legislation is designed to protect people from the effects of second-hand smoke at work, which doctors estimate kills more than 600 people a year. The government hopes it will help smokers quit and discourage children from lighting up.

So what's next?
Ban Alcohol in bars too?

This is good.

Egypt 'sets up Mid-East summit'

BBC NEWS

The Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, has invited the Palestinian, Israeli and Jordanian leaders to a summit next week, Palestinian officials have said.

Mr. Bloomberg

Please do the right thing.

Donate the $500,000,000.00 to embryonic stem cell research.

I Need More Fucking Paris Hilton

And I Need It Now.

Meet the New Crazis.......

Daily Kos (LithiumCola)

...............
Dr Mohamed ElBaradei: Well, I disagree. Now. I disgreed with them before, and unfortunately again we have to go through the painful experience of Iraq to show the limit of power. You know. The world has become too complex, too complicated; you cannot impose your will simply by use by force. You really need to understand where people are coming from, you need to understand the root causes, and you need to adopt a pragmatic approach. You need to split the difference. You need to reconcile your differences.

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/2/83341/93866

Cheney Lied, Thousands Died.

Hussein's Prewar Ties To Al-Qaeda Discounted

Today's Washington Post:

Captured Iraqi documents and intelligence interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two former aides "all confirmed" that Hussein's regime was not directly cooperating with al-Qaeda before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, according to a declassified Defense Department report released yesterday.

The declassified version of the report, by acting Inspector General Thomas F. Gimble, also contains new details about the intelligence community's prewar consensus that the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda figures had only limited contacts, and about its judgments that reports of deeper links were based on dubious or unconfirmed information. The report had been released in summary form in February.

The report's release came on the same day that Vice President Cheney, appearing on Rush Limbaugh's radio program, repeated his allegation that al-Qaeda was operating inside Iraq "before we ever launched" the war, under the direction of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist killed last June.

Bitch.

Update: More at TPMmuckraker.

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God Bless Nancy Pelosi.

Let’s Give Up A Moment For Nancy Pelosi

By Welshman at Daily Kos

















Update:

The Independent:

Pelosi: "We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace," Mrs Pelosi said later. She said her delegation "expressed concern about Syria's connections to Hizbollah and Hamas".

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SUNUNU



















Born September 10, 1964 (Age 42)


United States Armed Forces
Military Age......17_49

There You Go Again

Newsweek: US overstates Iran-Iraq link; may be repeating actions that led to 'wrong calls' in Iraq

The Raw Story: A US official briefing news media in Iraq "strayed from script" and overstated the link between Iranian leaders and violence in Iraq, reports Newsweek. The briefing set off a firestorm in the United States, where questions have been raised about the Bush administration's Iran intelligence, and comparisons are being drawn between the buildup to the Iraq war and current rhetoric being bandied about Iran.

"According to several Washington intelligence officials involved in monitoring fallout from the presentation, the Baghdad briefers were supposed to stick closely to a script and slide show about Iranian weapons shipments into Iraq that had been carefully vetted by the National Security Council in Washington," reports Newsweek. The slide show presentation said that Iran and the Quds Force were providing money and weapons to Iraqi militants, but did not mention specific ties to the upper echelons of the Iranian government. At some point in his presentation, says Newsweek, the briefer apparently went off script and said that the Quds Force had been authorized by "senior Iranian officials ... to supply insurgents with weapons designed to kill Americans."

Here's the Newsweek article.

Iraqi Official Fired for Criticizing Maliki in Rape Case

NYT:

BAGHDAD, Feb. 21 — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki fired a top Sunni official today after he criticized the government’s handling of a young Sunni woman’s account of being raped by members of the Shiite-dominated security forces.

Good Ole Maliki. Just another chip off the (Bush administration) block

Iraqi Official Fired for Criticizing Maliki in Rape Case

NYT:

BAGHDAD, Feb. 21 — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki fired a top Sunni official today after he criticized the government’s handling of a young Sunni woman’s account of being raped by members of the Shiite-dominated security forces.

Good Ole Maliki. Just another chip off the (Bush administration) block

George Bush is Gay

Bush Wants To Make Romance In Bin Laden's Butt: Wonkette.









(i stole this pic)

Go To AMERICAblog.

No one ever hits this blog on purpose anymore. It's always the result of a Google/ Blogsearch, random mistake etc. I don't really mind that much.
I'm still going to link to AMERICAblog because they're doing a great, overdue solid, and in many ways 'Public Service' for all the honorable soldiers and Marines coming home form Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places.
They're bringing attention to just one of the major fuck-ups of this criminal administration. Our troops deserve much better.

Novak: House GOP fired Veterans-friendly committee chair in order to "save money"


Military doc weighs in on vets scandal.

Another Walter Reed horror story, from the Army Times

"If Iraq don't kill you, Walter Reed will."


Military amputee uninvited from Bush event because the press would see him with no legs

Bush budget will cut health care for vets

It's time to fire Major General George W. Weightman, now

No gifts for the wounded soldiers, please - it's Christmas

Shame

Why don't these people get a life?

With One Word, Children’s Book Sets Off Uproar

NYT:

The word “scrotum” does not often appear in polite conversation. Or children’s literature, for that matter.

Yet there it is on the first page of “The Higher Power of Lucky,” by Susan Patron, this year’s winner of the Newbery Medal, the most prestigious award in children’s literature. The book’s heroine, a scrappy 10-year-old orphan named Lucky Trimble, hears the word through a hole in a wall when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog, Roy, on the scrotum.

“Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much,” the book continues. “It sounded medical and secret, but also important.”

The inclusion of the word has shocked some school librarians, who have pledged to ban the book from elementary schools, and reopened the debate over what constitutes acceptable content in children’s books. The controversy was first reported by Publishers Weekly, a trade magazine.

I feel sorry for these people's children.

This has Dick Cheney's name written all over it.

Do you believe U.S. foreign policy is fueling a nuclear arms race?

Did Rice have a talk with Bremmer?

Bremmer today:......if the American military had to put 70,000 men back on those buildings, we're talking about a significant augmentation of American forces.

Republicans block Senate debate on Iraq

Smart Move.

Who doesn't hate Chris Matthews?

SWAMPLAND

A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT

Imagine all the people..........

(See post below)












You're twisted Cliff May.
You should get that checked.

Cilff May is a sick fuck.

How long did it take you to think this one Cliff?.
Where's your head at? Do you have kids of your own you sick bastard?

NRO:

A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT [Cliff May]
Imagine that Saddam had not been executed. Imagine that he had been sentenced to life in prison.

Now imagine that a group of pro-Saddam terrorists seizes an elementary school. They say they will kill all the students and teachers if Saddam is not released within 24 hours.

Should Saddam then be released? Or should several dozen innocent children and their teachers be killed?

Is it not better that we have guaranteed that it will never be necessary to make such a choice?

I'll leave it to bloggers with better imagination than me to figure this one out. But I do have one question for you:

Imagine a group of pro-Manson, or pro-Hinckley, or pro-Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold terrorists seizes an elementary school with 3 of your kids in it?

Should Manson be released, or Hinckley, or Harris and Klebold?

Or should several dozen innocent children and their teachers be killed?

Take your pick you little sick fuck.

Oh, and by the way, for a bunch of morons that are too fucking good to do 'hypotheticals', you just broke Boy Wonders golden rule.

If my president doesn't care about the enviorenment, why should I?

CNN:
Drilling might resume in Alaska bay.

I'm counting the days

I won't be happy until I see Nancy Pelosi rubbing knees with Dick Cheney, sitting behind the biggest embarrasment this country has ever known at the State of the Union Address.

This Year......

I'm giving Thanks to Juan Cole.

www.juancole.com

John Podhoretz is a Sick Fuck.

NRO:

Very Petty, But Still Something to Be Thankful For [John Podhoretz]
I can't help but have a joyous feeling in my heart on Thanksgiving days when it rains cats and dogs on the Macy's parade. Why? I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I was taken to the parade as a small child and forced to stand in the cold seven deep unable to see a thing. In any case, when you're in your warm house and you turn it on and see the balloons waving and people shivering, you have to admit you feel a small thrill...

That's just sick.

IMPEACH BUSH

Then impeach Cheney.

Madam President.

Hey, I'm all for same sex marriages, but.........

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Should Marijuana be legal in Michigan:

A: YES

B: no

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I dare those ChickenHawk NeoCons to put that on the next ballot.

I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

Welcome

It's no surprise to me that more and more reports are coming out to suggest that going to church makes people more happy, more prosperous, and more successful in every way. Church improves lives for many reasons, but the main reason is that it brings people together. Healthy, warm, long-term relationships make life work well. Being part of a network of good friends provides us with strength, confidence, and joy. Nothing else short of faith in Jesus gives us such incredible, life-altering blessings as being deeply and positively connected with other people.

Small Groups at New Life Church have helped thousands of people find that strength, confidence, and joy. Over the years, we've heard countless stories about how joining a small group changed lives. Marriages have been rescued. Children have been saved. Businesses have prospered. Year after year, people who connect through small groups experience incredible growth.

I want all New Lifers to be a part of a small group, because I want all New Lifers to experience the blessings that come by connecting with others. Do it today, and get started on the rest of your life.

God bless you,
Ted Haggard
Senior Pastor

Tweety

It's funny how Chris Matthews suddenly panders to the Dem's now that they're becoming important.

Isn't this the point when people start pulling the trigger........on themselves?

update: Stage One.

BOOM

Looks like someone's going to have another Temper Tantram soon.


U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Guide:

NYT:

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war......
.........
But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.........
.........
The documents, roughly a dozen in number, contain charts, diagrams, equations and lengthy narratives about bomb building that nuclear experts who have viewed them say go beyond what is available elsewhere on the Internet and in other public forums. For instance, the papers give detailed information on how to build nuclear firing circuits and triggering explosives, as well as the radioactive cores of atom bombs........
.........
European diplomats said this week that some of those nuclear documents on the Web site were identical to the ones presented to the United Nations Security Council in late 2002, as America got ready to invade Iraq. But unlike those on the Web site, the papers given to the Security Council had been extensively edited, to remove sensitive information on unconventional arms.
.........
The campaign for the Web site was led by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan........
.........
Some of the first posted documents dealt with Iraq’s program to make germ weapons, followed by a wave of papers on chemical arms.
.........
On Sept. 20, the site posted a much larger document, “Summary of technical achievements of Iraq’s former nuclear program.” It runs to 51 pages, 18 focusing on the development of Iraq’s bomb design. Topics included physical theory, the atomic core and high-explosive experiments.

Domain Names For Sale

TheFilibuster.com

Plan4Victory.com

BlameItOnBush.com

AllThingsLiberal.com

Email me at: newsom101@yahoo.com

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Domain Names For Sale

TheFilibuster.com

Plan4Victory.com

BlameItOnBush.com

Email me at: newsom101@yahoo.com

Juan Cole For President.

Juan Cole

This should be fun.

Iraqi premier expect to press Bush to change policies.

According to a story to run in tomorrow's New York Times, when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki visits the White House on Tuesday, he is expected to make requests that clash sharply with President Bush's foreign policy, RAW STORY has learned.

These requests mark a widening gap between Iraq and the United States on crucial issues. They will include asking for American-led troops in Iraq to be tried under Iraqi law and asking Bush to call for a halt in Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

According to Iraqi politicans, academics, and clerics, Iraq's leaders as well as ordinary citizens have become increasingly disenchanted with the American presence. American forces have been unable to prevent sectarian violence and stories of Americans killing civilians or raping Iraqi women have infuriated the Iraqi public.

U.S. administrative officials say they are pleased by al-Maliki's differences with the White House because they show he is his own man. However, they also state that even if he raises the issue of ending legal immunity for American troops in Iraq, there is little chance the administration will agree.

This cracks me up.

Report: Iraqi Shi'ite militia ready head to Lebanon to fight.

According to a report in today's Washington Times, a squadron is being formed among Iraqi Shi'ite militia members to go to Lebanon. The forces plan to support the Hezbollah insurgents in their ongoing incursions with Israel. As many as 1,500 are expected to join the squadron.

RAW STORY has it.

Rice: Conditions must be right for cease-fire

What the fuck?

In other words, learn how to lie better.

NRO

JOSH BOLTON ON MTP [Cliff May]
Boy, does he need media training.

I’m guessing he has been too busy up till now. Maybe now he’ll make the time.

Watch this clip at C&L and you'll see what he's talking about. Maybe 'Lying 101' doesn't start till fall term?

Andrew McCarthy.

Someone at NRO is making sense:

How's That Democracy Project Going? [Andy McCarthy]
We've been told for some time now — against common sense and the weight of our own national experience — that the way to defeat international jihadism is to spread democracy.

So now the Lebanese democracy can't control Hezbollah (which has been freely elected and controls about a fifth of its legislature), while the Palestinian Authority IS Hamas (the Palestinian people having democratically put them in power).

How much do we figure that Israel is hoping democracy breaks out in Egypt, with the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Jihad waiting in the wings? All it needs right about now is yet another democratic neighbor.

Democracy has many enduring benefits, but it doesn't stop terrorists from operating — and in many ways, it makes life easier for them. When are we going to stop talking about it as a national security cure-all?

We have to kill al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas and the rest. This is harder work than the administration's rhetoric is preparing the nation for. We are not going to democratize these savages into submission.

It's unfortunate he thinks that the only solution is to kill everyone that might mean us harm, but I agree with his view on the "Deciderer spreading all that democracy" as a U.S. policy.

I'll let John say it for me.

From Americablog:

Evangelicals support torture:

If that isn't the biggest bunch of garbage you've ever heard, well... It never ceases to amaze me how un-Christian and fringe America's religious right leadership truly is.

Their latest target? They're upset about a religious effort to oppose torture. And apparently, even more bizarre, their argument goes something along the lines of: There is torture in Saudi Arabia and China and North Korea so why should we be upset about it in America?
--------
Go read the rest.

Juan Cole for President.

Informed Comment:

(Juans comments section makes many MSM papers seem trivial.)

White House: Detainees entitled to Geneva Convention protections

What took them so long? From CNN:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration, called to account by Congress after the Supreme Court blocked military tribunals, said Tuesday that all detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in all other U.S. military custody around the world are entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions.

Update: Even more from WaPo:

Five years after the attacks on the United States, the Bush administration faces the prospect of reworking key elements of its anti-terrorism effort in light of challenges from the courts, Congress and European allies crucial to counterterrorism operations.

The Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee and other members of Congress have complained about not being briefed on classified surveillance programs and huge unprecedented databases used to monitor domestic and international phone calls, faxes, e-mails and bank transfers.

European governments and three international bodies are investigating secret prisons run by the CIA, and some countries have pledged not to allow the transport of terrorism suspects through their airports.

Six European allies have demanded that President Bush shut down the prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, citing violations of international law and mistreatment of detainees.

And the Supreme Court recently issued a rebuke of the military commissions created by the administration to try detainees, declaring that they violated the Geneva Conventions and were never properly authorized by Congress.

Had Enough?

Hey Podhoretz, did you read Josh Marshall today?

Talking Pionts Memo:

Let me have your attention for a moment.

There's a brutal, astonishing and final dispatch today from Lawrence Kaplan at the New Republic blog, The Plank. Let me reprint it in full ...

One international official told me of reports among his staff that a 15-year-old girl had been beheaded and a dog's head sewn on her body in its place; and of a young child who had had his hands drilled and bolted together before being killed.

This is something.

Did anyone see this video over at Rising Hegemon?

Juan Cole has some more bad news.

Informed Comment:

At least 80 Dead in Civil War Bloodbath
Government Forced to Depend on Local Gunmen

Children are dying in the dozens in southern Iraq because of lack of basic medical care and medicines. Reuters reports,....(More here)

It must be hard to report any good news when it's almost impossible to find any. And it seems the closer we get to voting day, the conversation shifts more towards 'who got us into this and why', and less towards 'now that we're there, how can we make things better'.

Grow up Podhoretz.

World Cup Observation [John Podhoretz]
Instead of playing the match and losing, why didn't France simply surrender the way it always does?



More World Cup Observations [John Podhoretz]
This is astounding: A French player assaulting an Italian player during the finals match. I gather that the incident began when the Italian player said, "You know what? I like Jews."

Thank god not everyone has the narrow minded, kindergarten view of the world that NRO loves.

Failure.

Go to Google.
Type in 'Failure'.
Now click on the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button.

Isn't George Quaint?

First read This.

Then read This, and This.

Then click 'comments' at the bottom (register if necessary), and tell me what you think.

Thanks.

Please read Juan Cole

Informed Comment:

Bringing the United Nations Back In

There will be anti-War protests in the coming month, as the 3-year anniversary of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq approaches.

I think it is time to demand a timetable for US withdrawal from Iraq. I suspect a majority of Iraqi parliamentarians want that. The Sunni Arabs demand it. The Sadrists demand it. It is time. Saying that the guerrillas would take advantage of a timetable, given the carnage we saw on Monday (see below) is frankly silly. They are taking advantage of the current situation. We have to create a new situation, with which they might be happier so that they stop blowing things up. Staying this course is untenable.

Informed Comment:

If among my loyal readers there are any attorneys with expertise in libel law, in the US or UK, who might be willing to consult on a possible series of lawsuits for reckless defamation of character resulting in professional harm--done on a contingency basis-- I'd much appreciate hearing from you.

Informed Comment:

Informed Comment:

Assholes. Every damn one of them.

REUTERS:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has asked the Palestinian Authority to return $50 million in U.S. aid because Washington does not want a Hamas-led government to have the funds, the State Department said on Friday.
----------
InterAction, an umbrella group representing about 160 aid groups, said there was concern any sharp cut in foreign assistance would create more unrest and hurt the weakest.

I have one word for Bush: pantywaist.

Juan Cole

Informed Comment:
Informed Comment:
Lots of information today.

Cheney Was Drunk

Whittington's doctors won't comment on or release the blood alcohol test results.
So now we know that Whittington was drunk, because if he wasn't, this administration would MAKE them release the results, just to help make a case that Cheney wasn't drunk also.
Not only that, if Cheney was sober he would have made the Sheriff's test his blood alcohol Saturday night just to prove he was sober. I know I would have.

That bitch was drunk as a skunk.

Sweet Helen Thomas

Ramar at Daily Kos has this post.
Listen to Hugh Hewitt make an ass of himself.
Click on the link to listen to the whole thing.

Nice catch

Makes Sense To Me

Needlenose:

As much as I am an admirer of Howard Dean, I think he's seriously misguided in his call for Cheney to resign:
----------
To mix metaphors, he's a radioactive boat-anchor attached to a lame-duck President dragging down the Republican party. Let's keep him there.

UN calls for Guantanamo closure

BBC NEWS:

The United Nations has called for the immediate closure of the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba.

In a report on conditions there, the UN says the US should try all detainees or release them "without further delay".

The UN investigators allege that some aspects of the inmates' treatment amount to torture.

Bush, Cheney and the NeoCons have ruined this country in just five short years. With three more to go there's still a lot of damage that can be done.
I'm 46 years old and always wanted children. But now I don't regret being childless very much.

Juan Cole

Informed Comment:

Paul Rogers argues that Iraq is a great gift to al-Qaeda, providing jihadis with a perfect urban training ground.

Informed Comment:

sweet

Guardian Unlimited:

----------
According to some researchers, the slow but steady influx of bioethanol is the beginning of the end for petrol. They want to see bioethanol all but replace petrol, with vehicles running on an 85% bioethanol mix. But the hurdles are immense. Could we farm enough crops to power the country's cars on alcohol? Is it technologically possible? And what do the oil companies make of it?

There's only one way to find out.

Brit Hume The Moron

From his Cheney interview:

CHENEY: .....The other hunter and I then turned and walked about a hundred yards in another direction...

HUME: Away from him?

CHENEY: Away from him .....

DUH

Cheney Was Drunk

firedoglake:

Is Chief Wiggum running the sheriff's department in Kenedy County?

Cheney Was Drunk

First it was no beer.
Now it's one beer.

Cheney was drunk.

Cheney Was Drunk

Or he shot the guy on purpose.
I can't think of any other reason why he would respond the way he did.

Think about it.

Juan Cole

Informed Comment:

Top Ten Ways Iraq Is Like Harry Whittington

Informed Comment:

Basra Province Boycotts British, demands Danish Withdrawal
Thousands of Islamist Kurds demonstrate against Caricatures

Juan Cole

Informed Comment:

Valerie Plame Wilson and her team at the CIA were working on Iran counter-prolifetation efforts, according to Larisa Alexandrovna of Raw Story. It has been known for some time that she was involved in anti-proliferation activities, but that her main concern was Iran is new.

Plame Wilson was outed to the US press by Vice President Richard Bruce Cheney, his staffer Irving Lewis Libby, and George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove.
----------

We know that someone among the Neoconservatives also let Ahmad Chalabi know that the US had broken Iranian codes and could read that country's secret diplomatic correspondence. As anyone could have expected, Chalabi immediately told the Iranians about the US spying. The Iranians will have immediately changed their codes.
There's more.

More Informed Comment here

Jonah Goldberg, Meet Ann Coulter

Yeah, I walk to The Corner on occasion just to remind myself why I'm not a Republican.
So I'm reading about why (besides being a pussy) Jonah won't weigh in on the walking bean pole Ann Coulter's love for making death threats.


ANN'S SCHTICK [Jonah Goldberg]

Media Matters and other leftwing blogs have played to type and gone balistic about Ann Coulter playing to type..... In response, I'm getting dozens of emails from people...... They demand to know why I won't denounce Ann's remarks etc, etc, when I'm eager to condemn liberals who uses similar -- or equally offensive -- rhetoric (I don't think many liberals describe Muslims as "ragheads").

My "reluctance" to discuss Ann has very little to do with any double standard and more to do with a more general unwillingness to talk about her routine at all.
..........

Regardless, if anyone thinks Ann is going to stop her act simply because she gets heat from the likes of me, they're crazy.

So Jonah, if the vile Ann Coulter won't stop her her act after getting heat from the likes of you, why do you waste your time condemning the liberals? (Precious time that could be used for more important things, like GOING TO IRAQ maybe?)

And another thing. I see you didn't have the balls to mention the names of the "liberals who uses similar -- or equally offensive -- rhetoric" in your post.(did someone say pussy?). And is your opinion stopping their act?

And while we're on the subject of shooting people, did you maybe want to explain this post just 6 hours later?

Three jokes to be on the look out for
• "I thought it was Pat Leahy."

So you think it's funny to joke about Dick Cheney shooting Pat Leahy? I guess "Go Fuck Yourself" isn't quite enough for you.

You're a pussy, asshole, and a sick son of a bitch.

Juan Cole

Informed Comment:

Hunting accidents.

Informed comment:

Jaafari Wins on Basis of Dawa, Sadrist Vote
Some Question Stability of United Iraqi Alliance in Aftermath

This blog is on hold.

Keep checking back.

Bush Environmental News

AMERICAblog has this post up:

Americans Don't Trust Bush

ATTATURK:
Bush is neither bright, nor quick on his feet when challenged. I am not convinced he actually understands half his policies, and the half he does understand he cannot justify as beneficial to the nation beyond tired bromides.
----------
If the press insisted on follow up from Bush, if they stopped feeling sorry for him and thinking he is so badly outmatched that they are picking on him if they challenge him a tad that would be great (and if their editors would shut the #### up that would be great too).

I Love Jimmy Carter

The Daily Kos:

Jimmy Carter: But, what I believe is that there are people in Washington now, some of our top leaders, who never intend to withdraw military forces from Iraq and they're looking for ten, 20, 50 years in the future...

President Creates Cabinet-Level Position To Coordinate Scandals

The Onion:

WASHINGTON, DC—In his State of the Union address to the nation last night, President Bush announced a new cabinet-level position to coordinate all current and future scandals facing his party.
"Tonight, by executive order, I am creating a permanent department with a vital mission: to ensure that the political scandals, underhanded dealings, and outright criminal activities of this administration are handled in a professional and orderly fashion," Bush said.

The centerpiece of Bush's plan is the Department Of Corruption, Bribery, And Incompetence, which will centralize duties now dispersed throughout the entire D.C.-area political establishment.

The Scandal Secretary will log all wiretaps and complaints of prisoner abuse, coordinate paid-propaganda efforts, eliminate redundant payoffs and bribes, oversee the appointment of unqualified political donors to head watchdog agencies, control all leaks and other high-level security breaches, and oversee the disappearance of Iraq reconstruction funds. He will also be responsible for issuing all official denials that laws have been broken.
More.

Found on Kos.

Juan Cole

Informed Comment:

Things are looking terrible.

Arianna Huffington

Bush: Addicted to Empty Rhetoric

Hearing this presidential diagnosis from an oilman starting the sixth year of an administration that has unwaveringly turned the White House into a veritable full-service fueling station for Big Oil -- allowing oil refinery merger after oil refinery merger, doling out billions in tax breaks to energy interests, deriding conservation, and steadfastly refusing to increase fuel-efficiency standards for cars -- was like hearing the makers of the "Girls Gone Wild" videos denounce the coarsening of our culture.
----------
His words say break the oil addiction, but his policies keep mainlining the stuff into the body politic.

If the president were really serious about helping us break the habit, his headline-grabbing rhetoric would have been accompanied by concrete proposals that would have an immediate effect on reducing our reliance on foreign oil.
More.

Crooks

Atrios;

Your Bush Administration

WASHINGTON - A former U.S. occupation official in Iraq pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to steal more than $2 million and rigging bids on $8.6 million in reconstruction contracts.

Robert J. Stein, 50, of Fayetteville, N.C., admitted that he and his coconspirators smuggled millions of dollars out of Iraq into the United States aboard commercial airliners and laundered cash through multiple bank accounts in Switzerland, Amsterdam and Romania.

Remember that when the Crooks ask for THIS:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration said Thursday it will ask Congress for $120 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and $18 billion more this year for hurricane relief.

Bush Busted

By Firedoglake:

You didn't expect them to pick a Woman did you?

This is the headline at CNNnews:

Send in the clowns

Daily Kos:

House Republicans are taking a mulligan on the first ballot for Majority Leader. The first count showed more votes cast than Republicans present at the Conference meeting.

Patriots Read

ReddHedd at FDL:

----------
Here's a thought for Arlen Specter and Republicans on the Committee: step up to the plate, find out whether you do or don't have the cojones to do your job, and subpoena the documents. If the WH refuses to comply with the subpoena, hold them in contempt of Congress and throw someone's butt in jail until you get what you have requested.

I mean, really, enough is enough. Being a rubber stamp only gets you so far in life -- if Republican members of Congress want to do more than just draw their paycheck, take bribes from lobbyists and raise campaign funds, then they should start acting like members of Congress. More.

Thank you Sam Alito

CNNnews:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In his first day on the job, Justice Samuel Alito broke ranks Wednesday night with the Supreme Court's conservatives by refusing to allow Missouri to execute death-row inmate Michael Taylor.

House passes cuts to Medicaid, student loans

CNNnews:

The House on Wednesday sent Bush a major bill cutting benefit programs like Medicaid and student loan subsidies. The president is ready to sign the bill and move on to next year's budget cycle.

Thanks for all that hard work Mr. Bush.
And thanks to all the people who voted for you.


Someone else would like to thank you too.

Juan Cole

Informed Comment.

Bend Over America

The Raw Story

Multimillion dollar Abramoff client gave $50,000 to GOP after meeting with Bush, DeLay, Hastert and Lott

Eleven million dollars can buy a lot of access in Washington. Especially if your lobbyist is Jack Abramoff.

In January 2001, Fitial (the current governor of the Northern Marianas Islands) enjoyed the inauguration of President George W. Bush.

Three months later, in April, Fitial met Bush a second time. He also met then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS). Then he stopped in for visit with Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL).

In other words—Abramoff seems to have arranged for a non-head of state for a tiny island in the Pacific to meet with the three most powerful men in the United States of America. But that’s not all: Fitial also met with then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX) and Senate Interior Department Appropriations Chairman Conrad Burns (R-MT).

More Lies

So this asshole can't even tell the truth at a State of the Union address? Kind of tells you what state our Union is in, doesn't it.
Knight Ridder:

Administration backs off Bush's vow to reduce Mideast oil imports
WASHINGTON - One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America's dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally.

Worse President Ever. And getting worse by the day.

Burn Baby Burn

Daily Kos has this juicy story:

It's only February 1st, but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is already having a bad month. First, he has Feingold breathing down his neck about his apparent perjury at his confirmation hearing. Then, Senator Leahy sends him a letter challenging him to explain why the Patriot Act should be reauthorized if the President claims he already has the authority to act unilaterally in the War on Terrorism. Then, Google still refuses to hand over American's porn data. And just when poor Alberto thought it couldn't get any worse, Patrick Fitzgerald resurfaces with a startling revelation: someone's been having fun with the delete button at the White House.

Crooks And Liars

Not the Bush administration this time.
The website.
Crook And Liars has a good Murtha video up.

They Lie

About everything. WaPo.

Sue them Cindy

I would. Charges dropped.

Free Speech Out The Window

We are losing our freedom under Bush. Why are we in Iraq?
AMERICAblog has the story.
And here's the proof. (pdf)

WAR

Bush loves to talk about this big War on Terror we're having these days. I mean, not counting Iraq, isn't it only a War because we say it is? It's surprising when you look at it, that when you compare the number of terrorist's to the number of people fighting against them, it's a staggering imbalance. By today’s population, if there's a million terrorists, that makes a 6,600/1 ratio. Don't be fooled. The very large majority of the insurgents in Iraq are Iraqi citizens protecting their country against occupiers (meaning us). And the real terrorists? They're only there because we're there. We caused the conditions, created the breeding grounds for terrorism. It wasn't like that before we went over there. It wasn't Mayberry RFD by a long shot. But it was nothing at all like it is now.

Is starting a war the only way to spread freedom or create a democracy? I hope not.

This crock of bullshit "We're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here", is exactly that. A great big crock of bullshit. I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me why creating a 'Hell hole' (Christiane Amanpour's words) in Iraq makes us any safer here? 136,000 armed soldiers over there makes our borders safer over here? Wouldn't we be safer with those soldiers over here? Doesn't that phrase make it sound like we're using innocent Iraqi citizens as a shield to protect us? I'm afraid that this is how it looks to other people around the world. It sounds like we are taking our problems here and giving it to the Iraqis. But of course now we went there to spread freedom. Does this imply that if there were terrorists here, then we wouldn't have to fight them, because we're fighting them over there?

Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda didn't have their training grounds here. He didn't recruit his soldiers here. They did all that half way around the world. All they had to do then was sneak a few in here and board a few planes while George Bush was on vacation. How is fighting wars over there preventing the same thing from happening again? Wouldn't the smart thing have been to kill bin Laden first? Instead, he has a lot bigger training ground, and a lot more eager soldiers to recruit.

You took your eye off the ball Mr. President. You should never have left Afghanistan to the Warlords.

"Their aim is to seize power in Iraq, and use it as a safe haven to launch attacks against America and the world."

They didn't need Iraq Mr. Bush, They already had Afghanistan and Pakistan and any number of safe havens to work with. We handed them Iraq on a silver platter. Iraq is a bonus.

"Lacking the military strength to challenge us directly, the terrorists have chosen the weapon of fear."

Did they learn this from the Republicans, or did the Republicans learn this from the terrorists?

The word ‘terror’ or some form of it was used 22 times last night.

"As we make progress on the ground, and Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead, we should be able to further decrease our troop levels -- but those decisions will be made by our military commanders, not by politicians in Washington, D.C."

We hear otherwise.

"Our offensive against terror involves more than military action. Ultimately, the only way to defeat the terrorists is to defeat their dark vision of hatred and fear by offering the hopeful alternative of political freedom and peaceful change."

Shouldn't we offer the hopeful alternative of political freedom and peace first, and use war as a last resort instead of the other way around?

"The same is true of Iran, a nation now held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people."

Again, did they learn this from the Republicans, or did the Republicans learn this from Iran? And by the way, didn't Iran just have elections? Why are elections so great for Iraq, but not so great for Iran?

"So tonight, I announce the Advanced Energy Initiative -- a 22-percent increase in clean-energy research -- at the Department of Energy,..."

Ahh. More money for research. This will save tons of energy. Someone should tell Mr. Bush that there's a lot of energy saving technology already out there that we could be using already. Too many to begin to list here.

"We must also change how we power our automobiles. We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars, and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen."

Yes. More research. We're tired of hearing how you are going to change things Mr. Bush. We want to hear about the things that you have already changed.

"We'll also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn, but from wood chips and stalks, or switch grass. Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years."

Why don't we fund some research on funding research?

"First, I propose to double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years."

Research.

"Second, I propose to make permanent the research and development tax credit......"

More research. But this comes with a tax cut.

"Third, we need to encourage children to take more math and science, and to make sure those courses are rigorous enough to compete with other nations."

Instead of encouraging them to do it, why don't we make them do it. That's what the other nations do.

Bush used the word 'sacrifice' twice in his speech last night. Both times he was referring to our brave soldiers in harms way.

"Together, let us protect our country, support the men and women who defend us, and lead this world toward freedom."

"Others say that the government needs to take a larger role in directing the economy, centralizing more power in Washington and increasing taxes.
----------
All these are forms of economic retreat....."

There's something odd about a leader not asking for any kind of real sacrifice at all during a time of so called 'war'.

If I say "Mr. Bush, you can raise my taxes as long as it's necessary, and you spend the money wisely", this is retreat? I don't call this retreat, I call it sacrifice. I'm saying "I can live on a little less money as long as the hungry are getting fed. As long as the sick are getting the health care they need. As long as our troops are getting the body armor they need to be safe from harm."

What do you think?

Take the Quickvote Here: (Sorry. This one changed)
Fill out the Scorecard Here.

Juan Cole is right

Especially this:

Or Bush could rescind some of his tax cuts for the super-rich and use the money as incentive for green energy.

Poll all the people that this tax change would effect, and I'll bet that most would approve.

Juan Cole

Informed Comment:

How to Tell if Bush is Serious about Ending US Dependence on Foreign Petroleum

Informed Comment:

Altogether 14 dead bodies showed up in the capital of Baghdad on Tuesday, all shot in what were probably sectarian reprisals. Four Iraqi troops were killed in a clash with guerrillas. A British soldier was killed.

A new poll shows that nearly half of Iraqis approve of attacks on US troops, and almost all Sunni Arabs do.

HaHa. HaHaHa. HaHaHaHa.........

Josh Marshall.

Talking Points Memo.

Attaturk

This post at Rising Hegemon.

Juan Cole

Informed Comment:

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Top Ten things Bush won't Tell you About the State of the Nation

Juan Cole

Informed Comment:

Bush and Blair plotted to go to war against Iraq even if the UN Security Council declined to authorize it.

Guerrillas set off car bombs outside churches in Baghdad and Kirkuk on Sunday, and also targeted a Vatican office.

Iraq's oil ministry is again leaderless and in turmoil, at a time when the industry can afford neither. Despite engineering feats accomplished by American teams, the Iraqi petroleum industry is a mess.

Number of US military personnel just forced to serve extended duty: 50,000.

Number by which junior enlisted soldiers have declined in the US military since 2001: 19,000.

New cap on interest rate on government student loans, which Republicans are raising in order to pay for the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina: 6.9%

The US military's practice of taking suspected guerrilla leaders' wives hostage will backfire, according to expert observers.


Here's hoping Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt pull through. We talk about people getting blown up every day in Iraq, but when it is someone you feel you know and admire through television, it is personal.

More Informed Comment:

Beeman Guest Editorial: US to Blame for Iranian Nuclear Program

Firedoglake and the Filibuster

firedoglake

This cracks me up

All the huffing and puffing about 'War on Terror', Democrats have a 'pre 9/11 mantality', and 'we will do anything to keep you safe', then comes this from the WaPo:

RABAT, Morocco -- For more than a decade, Osama bin Laden had few soldiers more devoted than Abdallah Tabarak.
----------
Tabarak was captured and taken to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was classified as such a high-value prisoner that the Pentagon repeatedly denied requests by the International Committee of the Red Cross to see him. Then, after spending almost three years at the base, he was suddenly released.

Feel safer yet?

Exxon Mobil (Cheney) Sees Record Profit for U.S. Co.

From AP:

IRVING, Texas - Exxon Mobil Corp. posted record profits for any U.S. company on Monday — $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter and $36.13 billion for the year — as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from high oil and gas prices and demand for refined products. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations and Exxon shares rose nearly 3 percent on premarket trading.

US All Grades Convential Gasoline Prices:
December 1994: $1.12
December 1995: 1.10
December 1996: 1.27
December 1997: 1.15
December 1998: 0.96
December 1999: 1.30
December 2000: 1.45
December 2001: 1.11
December 2002: 1.46
December 2003: 1.48
December 2004: 1.85
December 2005: 2.21
Jan. 23, 2006: 2.36
Chart found Here.
I'm no rocket surgeon, I'm just sayin.........

Morons

WaPo:

More than a dozen states are considering new laws to protect health workers who do not want to provide care that conflicts with their personal beliefs, a surge of legislation that reflects the intensifying tension between asserting individual religious values and defending patients' rights.

About half of the proposals would shield pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control and "morning-after" pills because they believe the drugs cause abortions. But many are far broader measures that would shelter a doctor, nurse, aide, technician or other employee who objects to any therapy. That might include in-vitro fertilization, physician-assisted suicide, embryonic stem cells and perhaps even providing treatment to gays and lesbians.

Rice is right

I agree with Condoleezza Rice about taking a hard line in dealing with Hamas, but to a certain point. The United States and European Union officials should demand that all terrorist activities and any support for terrorists be stopped before more money is handed over.

CNN:

"The onus is now on Hamas to renounce violence, to accept that the fundamental democratic principle is that matters are pursued by arguments and peacefully and not by violence," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.

From a different CNN story:

----------
She indicated that the administration would follow through on aid promised to the current, U.S.-backed Palestinian government led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

"The United States is not prepared to fund an organization that advocates the destruction of Israel, that advocates violence and that refuses its obligations," under an international framework for eventual Mideast peace, Rice said.

Their demand for Hamas to recognize the state of Israel is a different thing all together. Let's tackle the peace issue before anything else. Then everything else will be much easier to deal with. More from AP.

Our Turn

Here's an excerpt from a CNN story about the failed Harriet Miers nomination:

In a blunt assessment, Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, Miers' main advocate in the Senate, told high-level White House aides that the nominee faced stiff opposition from conservatives, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist called White House Chief of Staff Andy Card to tell him that Miers did not have the votes to be confirmed, sources told Henry.

And this from WaPo:

The Bush administration withdrew the Supreme Court nomination of White House Counsel Harriet Miers yesterday, bowing to intensifying attacks from right-leaning activists challenging the depth of her conservative credentials and the strength of her judicial qualifications.

The debacle of Miers's nomination comes amid the possible indictments of senior White House advisers in the CIA leak investigation and growing public restiveness over the war in Iraq.

Oh, here's USATODAY:

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a striking defeat for President Bush, White House counsel Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to the Supreme Court on Thursday after three weeks of brutal criticism from fellow conservatives. The Senate's top Republican predicted a replacement candidate within days.

So let me get this straight. It's OK for Republicans to shitcan one of Bush's Supreme Court nominations, but not Democrats? I don't think so. It's out turn to fight.

Go here here here here here

Watch this video

Go to Crooks and Liars and download this video of Sen. Bill Frist on Meet the Press.
I'll have more on this later.
Video.

Pick Of The Day

The Hunger Site

The Hunger Site is owned and operated by Tim Kunin and Greg Hesterberg, co-owners of CharityUSA.com. Long-time friends and activists, they bought The Hunger Site in mid-August of 2001. Greg and Tim are dedicated to maintaining the site's position as a leader in online activism and a dynamic force in the fight to end world hunger.

Originally launched in June 1999, The Hunger Site focuses the power of the Internet on a specific humanitarian need; the eradication of world hunger. On average, over 220,000 individuals from around the world visit the site each day to click the "give free food" button and help feed the hungry.

The Hunger Site was the first online activism site on the Web. To date more that 200 million visitors have given more than 300 million cups of staple food.
More.

The Crooks: drip drip drip........

They were loyal conservatives, and Bush appointees. They fought a quiet battle to rein in the president's power in the war on terror. And they paid a price for it. A NEWSWEEK investigation.

----------
These Justice Department lawyers, backed by their intrepid boss Comey, had stood up to the hard-liners, centered in the office of the vice president, who wanted to give the president virtually unlimited powers in the war on terror. Demanding that the White House stop using what they saw as farfetched rationales for riding rough-shod over the law and the Constitution, Goldsmith and the others fought to bring government spying and interrogation methods within the law. They did so at their peril; ostracized, some were denied promotions, while others left for more comfortable climes in private law firms and academia. Some went so far as to line up private lawyers in 2004, anticipating that the president's eavesdropping program would draw scrutiny from Congress, if not prosecutors. These government attorneys did not always succeed, but their efforts went a long way toward vindicating the principle of a nation of laws and not men.
----------

An August 2002 OLC memo, signed by the then head of the OLC—Jay Bybee—but drafted by Yoo, gave the agency what it needed. The controversial document, which became famous as the "torture memo" when it leaked two years later, defined torture so narrowly that, short of maiming or killing a prisoner, interrogators had a free hand. What's more, the memo claimed license for the president to order methods that would be torture by anyone's definition—and to do it wholesale, and not just in specific cases. Read the whole story.

Three More years.

Our Hearts go out to Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt

ABC News:

Jan. 29, 2006 — - "World News Tonight" anchor, Bob Woodruff and his camera man, Doug Vogt, are both in serious condition after they were hit by an improvised explosive device in Taji, Iraq, today.

Woodruff is undergoing surgery at the U.S. military hospital in Balad, where Vogt also is being treated.

Woodruff, Vogt and their four-man team were traveling in a convoy with the Iraqi army. They were in a mechanized vehicle when the explosive went off. The exposion was followed by small arms fire.

Both men suffered head injuries. Woodruff sustained shrapnel wounds and Vogt was hit by shrapnel in the head and suffered a broken shoulder.
----------
Woodruff has been on assignment in Iraq and planned to broadcast from the war-torn country this week for the State of the Union address.

The father of four children, he was one of the first reporters in Pakistan following the Sept. 11 attacks.
----------
Vogt, the father of three daughters, was sitting next to ABC News producer David Kaplan when the producer was shot and killed in Bosnia, and has considerable experience documenting war.

Earlier this month, Vogt, who has been with ABC News for more than 15 years, was with Woodruff in Iran. He was recently in another convoy in which someone was killed by an IED.

"They've covered all the wars, the hot spots," said ABC New's Jim Sciutto, who is covering the war in Iraq. "The best we have with Doug. He's the cameraman we all request when we go to the field because he's so good, a fantastic eye. He's won so many awards for ABC."

Alternative Energy

Sea energy to power Britain:

Waves and tides could generate 20 per cent of electricity and replace nuclear fuel, report says

Surrounded by some of the world's roughest seas, Britain could generate a fifth of its electricity by harnessing the power of tides and waves.

The potential of marine energy is revealed in a report by the government's energy advisers. Wave and tidal power could replace the electricity that is currently produced by UK nuclear power stations, they state, and could prevent the need for Britain to rely on increased Russian gas imports.
----------
'The UK leads the world in marine renewables technology,' he said. 'Given our superb natural resources and long-standing experience in off-shore oil and gas, ship-building and power generation, the UK is in a prime position to accelerate commercial progress in the marine energy sector.'
----------
There are concerns that power generators at sea would be expensive to connect to the electricity grid, could not always provide power when it was needed, and may pose problems for sea life.

There's bound to be problems, but this can be worked out as we go along. Our sun and moon (which control the waves and currents in most respects) is the largest source of energy this planet has.
This must really steam Dick Cheney.

Juan Cole

Informed Comment:

Over 30 Killed in Guerrilla Violence.
Sadrists Demand any Prime Minister Call for US Troop Withdrawal.

A third of US veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, some 40,000 persons, exhibit at least some signs of mental health disorders. Some 14,000 were treated for drug dependencies, and 11,000 for depression. Societies that think that aggressive war is some macho game and that the price is well worth it just have a lot of homeless and limbless people after a while.

The deteriorating security situation in Iraq is driving the country's physicians, lawyers and businessmen out of the country. There's a metric for Mr. Rumsfeld-- when the white collar professionals flee, it isn't a good situation.

Sunday talk shows

Meet the Press: Tim Russert. Also Bill Frist.
Fair And Balanced My Ass: Sen. John Thune, Rep. Mike Pence, Howard Dean, Donald Evans.
Face The Nation: George Bush.
This Week: Barack Obama, Chuck Hage., Dominique Dawes.
Late Edition: Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, President Jimmy Carter, Biden, Pat Roberts, Dan Bartlett, former pakistane prime minister Benazir Bdutto.

George Bush puts Muzzle on Climate Expert

Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him

NYT: The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

The scientist, James E. Hansen, longtime director of the agency's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said in an interview that officials at NASA headquarters had ordered the public affairs staff to review his coming lectures, papers, postings on the Goddard Web site and requests for interviews from journalists.

Dr. Hansen said he would ignore the restrictions. "They feel their job is to be this censor of information going out to the public," he said.

Good for Dr. Hansen.

----------
Dr. Hansen, 63, a physicist who joined the space agency in 1967, is a leading authority on the earth's climate system. He directs efforts to simulate the global climate on computers at the Goddard Institute on Morningside Heights in Manhattan.

Since 1988, he has been issuing public warnings about the long-term threat from heat-trapping emissions, dominated by carbon dioxide, that are an unavoidable byproduct of burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels. He has had run-ins with politicians or their appointees in various administrations, including budget watchers in the first Bush administration and Vice President Al Gore.
----------
He fell out of favor with the White House in 2004 after giving a speech at the University of Iowa before the presidential election, in which he complained that government climate scientists were being muzzled, and said he planned to vote for Senator John Kerry.

But Dr. Hansen said that nothing in 30 years equaled the push made since early December to keep him from publicly discussing what he says are clear-cut dangers from further delay in curbing carbon dioxide. Much more.

This is just amazing. A bunch of low life crooks destroying planet earth for the whole world to see. This is one of the many things this administration does that gives the USA a bad name. I hate Dick Cheney with a passion, and I hope this kind of information dribbles out slow and nonstop for the next 3 years just to see what it does to his health. I hate to talk like this, but screw him.......I hope he has one heart attack for every .......ahhhh, what's the use.
Worse President Ever.
Worse Vice President Ever.

Jane Hamsher: Filibuster picking up steam

Jane Hamsher at firedoglake has more Filibuster news. Jane and ReddHedd are the '60 Minutes' of progressive bloggery these days. Go there to find out how to help out in this fight.

Attaturk

Rising Hegemon:

Bigotry
It needs to be said more often, and to their credit Wampum has been shouting this for weeks now, but there is a massive amount of bigotry in the way in which the major media has been covering the Abramoff scandal.

No, not bigotry towards Democrats, though the shoddy reporting tying Democrats into the scandal is a result of it.

It is bigotry toward Native Americans. It is bad enough that Abramoff duped many of these tribes and then in private emails back and forth gloated about it in language that is virtually out of the 19th century "they're savages" handbook, but the media has treated the tribal donations as if they are per se sleazy.

In other words, all tribal money is tainted -- for no other reason than it comes from Native American tribes. It's not outright sleazy, but it sure is not buried too far under the message. More.

Filibuster Support Grows

at TalkLeft:

Sen. Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Dick Durbin, Russ Feingold, Debbie Stabenow, Ted Kennedy all have come out in support of John Kerry's filibuster plan.

E-mail them your appreciation. And keep working on those who resist. Sen. Feinstein said last week she'd oppose a filibuster and yet changed her mind. Others can as well.

They need your help. Go HERE to find out how.

Is Bush a Crook?

Washington Post wants to know.

EDITORIAL
----------
It is no answer to this question to say, as Mr. Bush did, that "there is a serious investigation going on by federal prosecutors" and "if they believe something was done inappropriately in the White House, they'll come and look, and they're welcome to do so."
----------
There are any number of matters of legitimate inquiry and public concern involving Mr. Abramoff and his White House dealings that might not rise to the level of a criminal prosecution. Mr. Abramoff has admitted bribing public officials. He collected at least $100,000 for Mr. Bush's reelection. He took David H. Safavian, then the chief of staff at the General Services Administration and later the administration's top procurement official, on a luxury golfing trip to Scotland; it was, as Mr. Abramoff said in an e-mail, a "total business angle."

The president himself attended a White House meeting with some of Mr. Abramoff's clients. How did that get set up? The White House acknowledges that Mr. Abramoff had some "staff-level meetings" there. With whom, and about what?

Republicans didn't tolerate this kind of behavior from the Clinton White House in the midst of its fundraising scandal.
----------
Such obstructionism is no more acceptable now. The public understands this: Three-fourths of those surveyed in a new Washington Post/ABC poll said the White House should disclose the contacts. "This needs to be cleared up so the people have confidence in the system," Mr. Bush said. Our point exactly.

Crook.

The Iraq War is Bushes Monica Lewinsky and Katrina is the Blue Dress

The Medicare fiasco is just baggage.

Post-Katrina Promises Unfulfilled

WaPo: Nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans, President Bush's lofty promises to rebuild the Gulf Coast have been frustrated by bureaucratic failures and competing priorities, a review of events since the hurricane shows.

While the administration can claim some clear progress, Bush's ringing call from New Orleans's Jackson Square on Sept. 15 to "do what it takes" to make the city rise from the waters has not been matched by action, critics at multiple levels of government say, resulting in a record that is largely incomplete as Bush heads into next week's State of the Union address.
----------
As of Jan. 16, 18,943 applications for rental help had yet to be processed. As of this week, the SBA said that 190,000 of 363,000 applications for disaster loans to homeowners and businesses are still pending.

"It just doesn't seem to be well organized," said Ronald D. Utt, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation who has written about disaster housing policy. "Things in some respects have gotten more confused than they were a couple weeks after the storm."
----------
"This great city will rise again," said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.). "The question is whether the city and the region will be doing it alone, dragging the federal government with us every step of the way, or will this administration get in gear and put their mind to the task at hand."

Bush is a complete failure. The writing is on the wall. It's going to be a long three years.

Republicans Weak On Defence

Bush to Propose Trimming Army Reserve

WHAT?

Bush to Propose Trimming Army Reserve

You're Kidding!!

WASHINGTON -
President Bush will use his new budget to propose cutting the size of the Army Reserve to its lowest level in three decades and stripping up to $4 billion from two fighter aircraft programs.

Wait a minute. Last week Osama bin Laden sends us a tape saying he's going to attack America, and this week George Bush cuts funding for Army and National Guards by 4 billion dollars? Bin Laden's exact words (in translation of course), "al Qaeda remains motivated to strike the U.S. again.
You've got to be kidding me!
Last time bin Laden threatened to attack us, George Bush went on vacation for a month. We all remember how that turned out.

The proposed Army Reserve cut is part of a broader plan to achieve a new balance of troop strength and combat power among the active Army, the National Guard and reserves to fight the global war on terrorism and to defend the homeland.

New balance?
Let me get this straight. We can cut $4 Billion, 17,000 Army reserve, 17,000 National Guard troops, and some fighter jets from our Defence base, and at the same time make all the 'Tax Cuts for the Rich' permament, fight a war, and God help us if we have another Katrina before we finally get some adults in the Whitehouse. This is what they call balance?
Tuesday is Bush's State Of The Union address to the nation. I'll be counting how many times he mentions 'make the tax cuts permanent', and 'cut funding for homeland security'. I'm guessing the latter won't come up much.
Worse President Ever.