Blue Note Bloggers

Shays Going Down

2008-09-23T13:11:00.000-05:00

Himes Tied with Shays

Yanked in its entirety from MissLaura at dKos:

How do things look for the last House Republican in New England? Not so good. This may be why he's been leading his ads with an image of Obama -- even as his statement just a couple weeks ago that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" show that he really stands with McCain and the Republicans on the issues.
And as the collapsing financial markets show just how badly out of touch Shays' statement was, an internal poll from his challenger, Orange to Blue candidate Jim Himes show just how endangered Shays is.

The Feldman Group for Himes for Congress, 9/17-18, 500 sample (don't know MoE, sorry)
Shays 45
Himes 45
(Via email)
A tied race at this point bodes well for the challenger, especially with a strong Democratic presidential lead -- the same poll shows Obama leading McCain in the district, 56% to 33%. Himes still faces significant challenges, given the difficulty of advertising in a New York City media market, which is why every dollar counts.
But it's looking good for cleaning House in New England.
On the web:

Jim Himes for Congress

Orange to Blue ActBlue Page

With Obama likely to pull in a lot of extra votes for Democratic party politicians everywhere... Things are looking good for the Himes campaign.

[update] Via Scarce at MLN:

The Himes campaign have released results for CT-04 by Democratic pollster The Feldman Group.
The campaign's tracking poll, fielded September 17th and 18th, shows that Democratic challenger Jim Himes has pulled even with Republican Congressman Christopher Shays. Each candidate has 45 percent support. Additionally, their support is equally strong with 27 percent certain to support Himes and 28 percent certain to support Shays. An even contest six weeks before Election Day means that the contest now favors Himes.
Our last poll, shortly before the Democratic convention in August, showed Shays in the lead. In the interim, however, Democrats have moved decisively toward Himes to give him a 69 percent to 23 percent lead among registered Democrats. Additionally, independents, who remain a plurality in this district, now break almost evenly between the candidates, with 45 percent for Shays and 43 percent for Himes.
In a district notoriously difficult to communicate in due to the dominance of the New York City media market, familiarity with Himes has continued to climb. Now, 60 percent of voters say they are familiar with Himes, compared to 49 percent in August. Meanwhile, 36 percent of voters feel Chris Shays deserves re-election, while 46 percent believe someone else deserves a chance. Only 43 percent of voters believe he is doing a good job in Congress and only a third reject the description that he is too close to unpopular President George W. Bush while 44 percent believe that is at least partly true.

Poll pdf

It's the stupid GOP economy, stupid!

2008-08-20T19:52:00.001-05:00

(h/t Crooks and Liars)

Nothing to add to this Barack Obama campaign ad showing the differences between Barack Obama and John McCain since it is factual and relatively straight forward and to the point:

Nothing to add, except for the fact that many of McCain's huge mistakes are the same ones that Chris Shays has made over and over again...

BTW, if you're the type who skips YouTube clips most of the time, don't this time.
("Psst" this at Brave New Films.)
As New Hampshire Republicans - unsatisfied with their terribly flawed candidates - start to glumly trickle into their voting booths today, a few may recall having seen Connecticut Congressman Chris Shays barnstorming around their state for the past week in support of John McCain.
This sight must have been particularly jarring: the former member of the Peace Corps, proudly displaying a reminder of that episode of his past life, while fighting for a candidate who wants a permanent American troop presence of Iraq:
Up in the McCain headquarters on the third floor of an old mill building, Connecticut's 4th District Rep. Chris Shays is sitting among the troops in a suit and Peace Corps cap, making the same get-out-the-vote telephone calls as everybody else. McCain has been using the Republican congressman as a surrogate at the smaller events he can't reach. Shays takes on the role a bit in headquarters at the lunch break...
Shays tells the workers their candidate is a reformer who can't be intimidated. He's got two things going for him, Shays says. "One is his character. The other is what we all hunger for in this country: straight talk."
Yes, that's right. "Straight talk."
Like this:
Where's the "straight talk" from Shays on Iraq, and his support for a Presidential candidate who would keep us there forever?
It's nowhere to be found :
"He has more positions on Iraq than Mitt Romney has on abortion," says Soltz, a veteran of the Iraq and Kosovo wars. "You never know where he sits on Iraq. He can tell you what he wants, but he is lined up with George Bush on this war."
"He likes to brag about how many times he's been to Iraq," Soltz adds, "but he's never served, and he doesn't really know how the military works...."
Fighting for endless occupation of Iraq... while wearing a Peace Corps cap. That pretty much says it all:

(Ilustration by Danny Hellman for Fairfield County Weekly.)

(Disclosure: Tparty, the author of that, proudly consults for Jim Himes.)

Greenback Limbo

2007-11-07T15:46:00.000-05:00

How low can it go?

The rocket-propelled Canadian dollar flew past $1.07 (U.S.) yesterday, fuelled by strong economic data that have many forecasters wondering whether the economy is decoupling from its troubled southern neighbour.

Canada churned out five times more jobs than expected last month, a stellar showing that sparked a number of forecasts that the loonie is on its way to $1.10, as the greenback continues to dive.

snip

"We had thought that if the U.S. economy slowed down, the global economy would probably slow down, and that doesn't seem to be panning out as much as people thought," said David Watt, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

"If the currency is, to an extent, decoupling from the U.S., then it makes sense to come out with a Canadian dollar forecast which pays less relevance to the U.S. economy."

HOLY BEAVER SHIT! We aren't even relevant to Canadians anymore? Those seem like some pretty harsh words from what little I know about this stuff.

I am no economist, but when Canada - a country with lots of oil that is now talking like the ineluctably superior trading partner of ours in the world, not to mention the fact that they are our largest trading partner in the world - deems us irrelevant economically, we really must be screwed.

The Canadian economy is doing well, but it isn't really that their dollar went up against ours because they are doing so fantasticly compared to everyone else as it is because the American dollar is dropping like a rock everywhere else:

Dollar at fresh low against euro

The euro's value settled at $1.4525, while the dollar also plunged to a new record low against the UK pound, settling at $2.0890.

If you are feeling pretty darn poor right about now, get used to the feeling as long as we continue on this stupid republican path to economic disaster.

Now... I want you to think about this:

Oil is nearly at $100 per barrel, but judging from the tanking dollar some of the price rise must be due to our dollars present lowliness. How long before the world decides that we shouldn't be relevant to the price of Oil anymore because they don't want to price it based on the extremely unstable US dollar?

Like I said: I am no economist... But de-linking oil from our dollar would have to pretty much spell doom for our economy. No?

As a side note... We can't even get our drugs cheaper in Canada anymore because of the roughly 30% increase in costs for American buyers:

Drug-busting loonie?

The loonie's muscle just may have done what U.S. government and law enforcement officials could not.

The strong dollar has "virtually stopped all exports to the United States of cannabis," said Marc Emery, the leader of the B.C. Marijuana Party of Canada.

Five years ago, one pound of Canadian marijuana would cost $1,600 (U.S.). Now it's $2,550 (U.S.) a pound when sold in the United States, he said.

They stemmed the flow of illegal drugs into the country! But they had to bankrupt the nation to do it. I am pretty certain that the price increases will affect all of those people that were crossing the border to buy their cheaper prescription medicines in Canada as well.

We are so fucked...

2007-07-20T23:43:00.000-05:00

'Cause it sure as hell ain't for freedom:

Basra, Iraq – On Monday, hundreds of Iraqis, led by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), took to the streets of Basra to demand that the Iraqi Parliament reject the proposed Oil Law. [1]

Simultaneous demonstrations took place in Amara and Nassiryya. Local governate officials made statements in support of the demonstration and, along with the governor of Basra, have committed to sending letters to the Minister of Oil supporting the Union’s demands.

Hassan Juma’a Awad al Assadi, President of the IFOU, charges that the proposed Oil Law surrenders Iraq’s economic sovereignty to multinational oil companies: “‘We will lose control over Iraqi oil. Therefore, the social progress in Iraq will be curtailed substantially, because the oil companies want huge profits; they are not concerned about the environment, wages, or living conditions…” The IFOU calls for immediate and complete withdrawal of all foreign forces from Iraq. The union represents 26,000 members in 10 state oil and gas companies across four governorates in the south of Iraq.

The Union was moved to public protest after initiating a strike on June 4, 2007 over a range of workplace issues and in opposition to the proposed Oil Law. IFOU leaders have said their members are prepared to strike again in defense of their nationalized oil industry. Iraq’s oil has been in the public sector since the 1970s.

Oh yeah... It is those "Iraq Constitution changes" they keep talking about that have everything to do with stealing their oil, and nothing to do with spreading freedom or Democracy.

Well, unless you are talking about spreading bushies FREEDUMB...

If the Democratic party were serious about ending the occupation of Iraq they could do it. All it would take is 40 Dems to shut down Congress in an ongoing filibuster:

Almost exactly two months ago, I wrote that Democrats need a Mr. Smith - someone, anyone in the Senate to shut the institution down in order to force Congress to respect the will of the American people and start ending the war in Iraq. Now, Democrats don't even need Mr. Smith-style bravery - they need only to force the Republicans to filibuster the effort to end the war.

Yes, that's right - Democrats have the power to make the Republican Party stand up on the floor of the Senate, and shut the government down in order to continue the Iraq War, if that's what the GOP wants to do. Miles Mogulescu at the Huffington Post explains:

In recent decades, there has been a "gentleman's agreement" that old-fashioned filibusters are no longer required: If 41 Senators block a vote, the Majority Leader just moves on to other business. Where once the filibuster was reserved for matters of national importance where a minority stood on principle, now the ease of filibustering has made it routine...Majority Leader Reid has the power, however, to ignore the "gentleman's" agreement and force an old-fashioned filibuster. Republican Minority Leader Bill Frist did this in 2003, forcing the Democrats to stage a real filibuster against the nomination of right-wing judge Miguel Estrada.

So, folks, here we are again, asking whether Democrats are going to use the power the public gave them in the 2006 election specifically to fulfill their election promises to end the war. The country is tired of Democrats' Innocent Bystander Fable (see the video above for what I mean). Nobody outside of Washington, D.C. believes - nor should they believe - that Democrats don't have the power to end the war, or must have 60 votes in order to end the war. Nobody believes those excuses because they are as dishonest and destructive as President Bush telling us Iraq had WMD.

But Iraq is about the oil, and the democratic party is using the occupation as much as bush is. Bush and the GOP uses it to spread fear and divide the nation, BUT the Dems are using it as a means to get control of the White House. And they both use it all as a means to get to the oil.

I stayed up until until about 3 o'clock listening to the debate on the floor.

I just wish the Dems would filibuster EVERYTHING to stop Congress all together until they get the Republicans to stop filibustering votes on pulling out. They may as well. What they are doing hasn't done anything to change things. All it takes is 40 Dems to stop Congress in its tracks and end the war.

If they really wanted to end it, they could.

Bush, Treason, And Commuting Libby's Sentence

2007-07-02T18:35:00.000-05:00

bush pardons a traitor that is trying to cover up a conspiracy to commit treason, and you still don't think these actions are necessary?

Get this Action Banner for your own web page

You are lying to yourselves if you think that anything less will stop these traitorous criminals in the White House.

NSA Employee Caught in the Act

2007-02-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

$770,000.00 worth of conflict of interest.

NSA Employee Pleads Guilty to Conflict of Interest:
"Wayne J. Schepens, 37, of Severna Park, Md., pleaded guilty today to engaging in a conflict of interest by using his official position as a National Security Agency (NSA) employee to cause government contracts to be awarded to companies owned and operated by Schepens or his spouse, announced Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher for the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein for the District of Maryland.

'While he was working for NSA, Wayne Schepens arranged to award government contracts worth over $770,000 to companies in which he and his wife had a financial interest,' said U.S. Attorney Rosenstein. 'It is a crime for government employees to participate in awarding contracts that bring them personal financial benefits.'"

What I find galling is that instead of getting ALL OF THE MONEY back the government only fines these con-artists a fraction of the amount. Maximum of $250,000.00 fine in this case.

And to make matters worse, this guy was stealing from a program that is supposed to train soldiers. And in the meantime soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and even here in the USA don't have all of the equipment they need to do their jobs safely.

The crook has yet to be sentenced and I hope he gets made an example of. Give Halliburton-Cheney something to think about.

George Lakoff on the "100 Hour Agenda" and more

2007-01-11T08:38:00.000-05:00

A conversation with George Lakoff, senior fellow of the Rockridge Institute, introducing Rockridge Nation, Nancy Pelosi's 100 hour agenda, and the concept of framing of progressive values.

The Rockridge Institute introduces the first episode of their new Rockridge Nation Video Series. In this episode, George Lakoff talks with Rockridge Institute Executive Director Bruce Budner on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's 100 hour agenda, MoveOn.org's agenda, and a broader, long-term progressive agenda.

Nothing like Lakoff in a format that even a bushidiot can understand. Just click'n'learn! lol

Charlie Brown Shrubs for Scrubs

2006-12-11T21:44:00.000-05:00

LOL!

Lieberman's Illegal Campaign Tactics

2006-11-04T16:05:00.000-05:00

courant.com | Activist Denies Violating Ban On Ballot Work: "Prenzina Holloway was fined $10,000 in July 2005 and ordered not to distribute absentee ballot applications or to assist voters with the ballots for two years, after the State Elections Enforcement Commission found that she had forged a voter's signature in the 2004 election.

Holloway acknowledges working for Urban Voters and Associates, a company paid $17,550 by the Lieberman campaign since September to do 'field work.' But she said she isn't involved in the company's absentee ballot operations.

'That is just a no-no,' she said. 'And I know it is a no-no.'

But five people at a Vine Street housing complex for the elderly have told The Courant that Holloway and another person came to their doors to give them absentee ballot applications, and a security worker at another complex on Woodland Street said Holloway tried to get into the building to distribute applications there. Holloway was barred from the building after getting into a verbal altercation with the worker after he made supportive comments about Lieberman's main challenger, Ned Lamont.

Other sources at the building said she called back a week later to try to 'sweet talk' her way into the facility."

Joe Lieberman will do anything to win the election, regardless of the law, including hiring people that are barred from collecting absentee ballots and putting them out there to do just precisely that.

And Lieberman still hasn't answered where the money went in the $387,000 Petty Cash Scandal.

Is Our Preznit Learned Yet?

2006-11-03T23:18:00.000-05:00

No further comment neccessary...

Electronic Voting Machines Flipping Votes From Democrat to Republican

2006-11-03T10:36:00.000-05:00

If you have electronic voting machines in your district check your votes carefully before you leave that voting booth:

CHECK YOUR VOTES VERY CAREFULLY!

Dirty Little Secrets: Rell and Johnson

2006-11-02T20:27:00.000-05:00

Nancy Johnson has some dirty little secrets she doesn't want you to know about:

Nothing like screwing over the soldiers for a few extra bucks...

Jodi Rell has a dirty little secret that BOTH she and Nancy Johnson share:

Johnson spoke frequently Monday about her similarities with the popular Rell, and never uttered the word Republican.

"We're both street ladies," Johnson said of herself and Rell. "Street ladies aren't governed by parties. I never ran a problem by a political party to find a solution."

Yep! They are both Republicans... Funny but "Street Ladies" wasn't the term I was thinking of considering they are selling themselves to lobbyists everywhere. The only problem here is that these two "ladies" get the lobbyists' money, the corporations get the lucrative government contracts, and we get screwed out of our tax dollars...

Also another dirty little secret: Johnson and Rell never really have offered any good solutions... They, and their GOP, only create more problems.

Joe Liberman = Defintion Of Insanity

2006-11-02T20:16:00.000-05:00

Ned Lamont drives the point home in a new add:

Vote for Ned Lamont!

Connecticut For Lieberman? Yeah right...

Joe Rakes in the Doh!

2006-10-31T19:44:00.000-05:00

$639,892 on Monday October 23

One day of "Pay To Play" with Joe costs you, the citizens of Connecticut, $639,892 worth of votes against your interests. $639,892 worth of influence to get votes that are only going to be in the interests of the BIG MONEY lobbyists, PACs and corporations that are bankrolling his campaign...

If you aren't outraged,
then you haven't been paying attention!

Ned Lamonts position on influence peddling?

He doesn't take money from Lobbyists or PACs. They can't buy him off and make him vote against our interests.

Ned believes that government must respect its citizens and tell them the truth. He will challenge the culture of “Inside the Beltway” corruption and demand that qualified people are appointed to critical government and public service positions.

The war, and Bush and Lieberman priorities, are cutting funds from programs that invest in our future. Student loans, Social Security, health care that everyone can afford – these are the issues that Ned will fight for, bringing a businessman’s ability to reach consensus without sacrificing the bottom line.

Ned will be a fresh voice in the Senate, working to build coalitions and accomplish change, and speaking out against the destructive Bush administration policies that directly threaten our moral and economic future, our civil liberties, and our nation’s security.

And now we get to the $387,000 question:

What does Lieberman do with all of his cash?

ILLEGAL THINGS, OF COURSE!

Lieberman’s FEC filings list over $387,000 in unexplained expenditures – listed only as “petty cash” – during just 12 days near the August 8th primary. These suspect, and unaccounted for payments, represent one out of every twelve dollars spent during the entire reporting period.

“These questions are critical for the people of Connecticut to know and that is why these laws exist and why we’re taking legal action,” Swan continued. “Only an 18 year career politician could dump almost $400,000 in cash into an election and try to call it petty cash.”

Under FEC regulation 11 CFR 102.11 a log must be kept of all petty cash expenditures. On Sunday, Lieberman Campaign Spokesperson Tammy Sun said she would attempt to locate the log by Monday. [New Haven Register, 10/22/06]

In sharp contrast to Lieberman’s massive, lobbyist funded slush fund, the Lamont Campaign only used $500 of petty cash. Lieberman has raised and spent millions over his career form lobbyists attempting to influence his votes. Lamont does not accept lobbyist, corporate or labor PAC money and has already vowed to disclose all meetings with lobbyists on his Senate web site.

Nuff said...

Why Is There So Much Grassroots Support For Lamont?

2006-10-31T19:31:00.000-05:00

The Democratic establishment in Washington isn't doing much for Ned Lamont:

Ned Lamont got little financial support from congressional Democrats - and none from Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd and key Senate veterans - in the crucial weeks after he won the party's Senate nomination Aug. 8, according to new campaign finance data.

Lamont has alot of money, money that he has ponied up on his own, and money from the grassroots. Lamont doesn't get much from the entrenched establishment because they are afraid of him. But having the largest base of grassroot support in Connecticut is a good thing if you are looking to fix what is broken on Capitol Hill. Lamont hasn't taken anything from corporate lobbyists, and nothing from any PACs.

Ned Lamont's support is people powered.

Joe Lieberman has alot of money. He had a HUGE war che$t. But where does all of that money come from? Lobbyists and PACs and from republican supporters that want to see the Connecticut-bush-clone "Stay the course!"

Joe Lieberman's support is the problem that needs to be fixed.

Face the facts... Influence for votes on Capitol Hill is a bought and sold commodity to the entrenched establishment. Lobbyists for special interests, PACs, and corporations are buying the old guard establishment on a daily basis, and we are the ones that are losing out.

Voting for Ned Lamont is one little step that can help stem the tide of corruption. It can help take back one of those votes in the Senate and make it ours. It can help make that one vote beholden to us Nutmeggers and NOT to the entrenched establishment that is afraid of what the Lamont campaign means to them.

Can we afford to miss this opportunity to take back that one Seanate vote for ourselves? Not if we truely want to fix what is wrong with our government.

Change the course!
Vote for Ned Lamont

Hastert Foolishly Fibs

2006-10-29T15:01:00.000-05:00

Hastert Just can't seem to stop getting caught lying. Tuesday the man behind the Foley cover-up released a statement that was... Well? An outright lie. To put it mildly.

Democrat Leader Pelosi’s plan is to leave our borders open, grant blanket amnesty and provide Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants. Is THAT their plan? Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi has NEVER visited the border. She claims to understand the needs of those on the front lines but has never visited those agents and offers no solutions.

How do we know it was another Hastert lie?

Here is a snippet from the Pelosi response:

“I visited the southern border in March with Congressman Silvestre Reyes, who had a distinguished career of leadership in the Border Patrol. I was able to see firsthand the Republicans’ record of failure on border security.

“This morning, the President plans to sign legislation authorizing a 700-mile border fence that his own Administration does not plan to build and for which the Republican Congress has not provided construction money.

“This fence that will not actually be built is a perfect symbol of the Republicans’ unwillingness to make controlling our borders a priority."

The Texas Congressman Reyes, after confirming Pelosi's visit to the border, had this to say about it all:

Perhaps that is why after six years of controlling the White House, the Senate, and the House, their ‘signature achievement’ on border security is a 700 mile fence along a 2,000 mile border. This fence doesn’t come close to solving our problem.

Unfortunately, no amount of photo-ops or signing ceremonies is going to take the place of real leadership on this vitally important issue.

I am certain the planned 12 foot high fence will increase the sales in Mexico of 13 foot ladders to get over it and shovels to dig under it, but I doubt it will stop many illegal border crossings. I also think that Hastert doesn't understand the real needs concerning securing our borders and hasn't offered any real solution at all.

Now that Hasterts latest lie has been exposed, I wonder how long it will be before he addresses his earlier lies about the Foley cover-up? Brian Ross at ABC news' The Blotter has an update on another Republican being investigated:

A source close to former House Clerk Jeff Trandahl told ABC News that Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) was one of a small number of "problem members"

...snip...

Kolbe was also asked by reporters to respond to reports that the U.S. Attorney in Phoenix has opened a preliminary inquiry into a 1996 camping trip Kolbe took with two high school boys, both former pages, following a report by MSNBC that one adult member of the trip was "creeped out" by "fawning, petting and touching" on the arms, shoulders and back of one of the teenagers by Kolbe.

"I know there are a number of inquiries underway, and we're cooperating fully with all those inquiries, and I'm sure at the end of the time it will show that we acted appropriately and did exactly the right thing," Kolbe said.

"A small number of "problem members""?
"A number of inquiries"?
"All those inquiries"?

IS ANYONE ELSE SEEING A LOT BIGGER PROBLEM HERE?

Just how many Republicans are being investigated? I am starting to think that I will have to keep my kids locked inside my home, at least until the elections are over, just in case a Republican comes to the neighborhood campaigning... Because you never know if they are one of the ones being investigated... Because Hastert and the rest of the GOP leadership covers up for all of them.

How Does The Bush Admin. Confirm Intel Reports on WMDs?

2006-10-26T20:30:00.000-05:00

They wait for things to BLOW UP!

Buried in the bowels of a Washington Post story by Glenn Kessler, while travelling with Condi Rice on a "Junk It" in Moscow, reveals the incompetent Bush administration's strategy for assesing North Korea's advances in developing their nuclear technology:

Before North Korea announced it had detonated a nuclear device, some senior officials even said they were quietly rooting for a test, believing that would finally clarify the debate within the administration.

Yep... Just sit back and wait for the explosions.

Isn't that the same tactic they used to assess the threat when reports that "Al Quaeda determined to attack within US" hit the administrations' desks before 9-11? The same tactic that resulted in a "Goat" eyed president frozen from fear and staring at the bright lights of jets crashing into buildings.

The GOP and their pet neocons still sit and wait for the explosions...

While the rest of America has to watch the American death toll get higher and higher in the biggest military blunder ever in American history. You know? The "Civil War in Iraq". The one that everyone lays much of the blame at the feet of Donald Rumsfeld for his gross incompetence, bordering on negligence when it comes to equiping our soldiers with the needed equipment to do the job. A situation that to this day has yet to be rectified.

And just in case you weren't already worried enough about the Bush administrations' innumerable past failures, whom do they put on the job to protect us from the next attacks?

After 9/11, the United States launched an extensive effort to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The Special Operations Command, which has been directed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to take the lead in planning and leading U.S. counter-terror campaigns, is playing a major role.

SOCOM’s commander, Army Gen. Bryan D. Brown, told the conference that he has given Rumsfeld a 600-page plan to fight a global war, including a strategy to prevent terrorists from using mass-casualty weapons against the U.S. The plan went through six revisions before Rumsfeld accepted it, Brown said.

He revealed few details of the plan. A key concept, however, is in the slogan, “no borders, no boundaries,” he said. “We don’t have geographical boundaries in special operations,” he said. “We have a global defense.”

That slogan also is meant to be taken intellectually, he said. “The borders and boundaries in our minds are those of our own making,” he said. “In fighting this war, we have to think outside the box.”

National Defense Magazine - February 2005

Donald
"The Most Incompetent Neocon Of Them All!"
Rumsfeld...

Apparently, given their actual track record, their idea of "thinking outside the box" is to wait for the "mushroom cloud" here in the USA... Then, and only then, will the Bush administration be able to confirm reports that terrorists wanted to attack us again.

But Bush won't mind if that happens.

In an all-out PR assault, co-ordinated by Rove with the "embeded MSM", Bush will just declare that:

"They are blowing us up over here because we are winning over there!"

And some Americans, the kind that blindly cheered when a similar meek-minded battlecry eminated from the Cheerleader in Chief's office, the kind that blindly follow the incompetent bush and support lying GOP candidates without question as to where the GOPs' real loyalties lay, will hail this as a combination of both foreign & domestic policy genius.

Genius MY ASS!

Those kind of GOP supporters should do themselves a favor. Go and buy themselves a new campaign T-shirt with this self-evident GOP campaign slogan boldly emblazoned upon it:

"I'M WITH STUPID...
VOTE GOP"

Just add a few "Faux-Patriotic" stars and stripes and the picture will be complete. And then those GOP supporters can sit and wait with all of the patience of the ranting and raving lunatics that they are (much like their idiot leader Bush) for the next explosion coming to a city near them if they get their way in the November 7th elections.

Bush and Lieberman in Hot Water

2006-10-26T20:13:00.000-05:00

"Stay the course!"
That is all you will get from both Bush and Lieberman.

Despite President Bush's recent denials that "We've never been stay the course" and the NY Times' FALSE assertions to counter Ned Lamont's caqmpaign charges that Joe Lieberman has been a consistent cheerleader for Bush's failed "Stay the course!" policy, the fact remains that this is a bold face lie that exposes BOTH Bush and Lieberman's penchant for polticizing this war by telling people whatever they have to in order to cover their political asses and get more votes. It also doesn't say much about the researchers and writers at the "Post Judy Miller" NY Times.

In Bush's and Lieberman's own words:

BUSH: We will stay the course. [8/30/06]

LIEBERMAN: We have to stay the course in Iraq now and continue to build a stable, modernizing, democratizing country there. [01/04/04]

BUSH: We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05]

LIEBERMAN: We can do better. I will do better. I will make it international. I will stay the course, and I'll create a stable, democratizing, modernizing Iraq, which would be a tremendous step forward in the Middle East and the Islamic world and in our war against terrorism. [01/11/2004]

BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We’re just going to stay the course. [12/15/03

LIEBERMAN: Well, let's put it this way. What I'm most happy about is that he said that he will stay the course in Iraq until we finish the job, and the Iraqis are in control of their own destiny. [07/28/04]

BUSH: And my message today to those in Iraq is: We’ll stay the course. [4/13/04]

LIEBERMAN: We want to not only stay the course: we want to achieve victory. [04/26/04]

BUSH: And that’s why we’re going to stay the course in Iraq. And that’s why when we say something in Iraq, we’re going to do it. [4/16/04]

LIEBERMAN: "I thought the president gave the strongest case that I can remember him giving about why we went in and why we have to stay the course," Lieberman said, adding, "We've got to adopt a strategy of success. A defeat will create chaos in Iraq, chaos in the Middle East, and will embolden the terrorists in a way that will endanger our future and our children's future." [04/15/04]

Here is over 30 examples of Bush saying we must "Stay the course!" in some form or another. Media Matters has the goods on more of Lieberman's "Bush enabling" statements that mirror Bush administration talking points as perfectly as if they had come straight out of Karl Rove's mouth, even emulating the GOP talking point that defeat will create chaos "and will embolden the terrorists" that we have heard so often from every mouthpiece for the Bush administration.

If defeat will create chaos then we must be losing pretty badly since those terrorists are getting pretty emboldened according to defeatist Republican Senator Lindsey Graham:

"We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an Associated Press interview. U.S. and Iraqi officials should be held accountable for the lack of progress, said Graham, a Republican who is a frequent critic of the administration's policies.

Asked who in particular should be held accountable Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, perhaps, or the generals leading the war Graham said: "All of them. It's their job to come up with a game plan" to end the violence

Bush and Liberman clearly say stay the course over and over. Because you never know who you might embolden in defeat. Now BOTH Bush and Lieberman are trying to hide from their mutual love of staying the course. It's almost like they are freaking flip-flopping clones.

This is why Ned Lamont is correct in attacking Lieberman's support of the failed Bush policy of staying the course. And Lieberman hates that.

And Senator Graham is right in laying alot of blame on Donald Rumsfeld. Here is what Rumsfeld has to say about Bush cutting and running from his "Stay the course!" policy:

Rumsfeld called media reports about Bush’s reversal “nonsense,” and said “of course” Bush is “not backing away from staying the course.”
---CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

The ever-incompetent Rumsfeld says that "Stay the course!" is still the Bush plan, regardless of the Bush "cut and run" posturing.

Lieberman and Bush are both in some hot water over their attempts to hide from their "Stay the course!" whitewash. If you vote for Joe Lieberman you are clearly voting for more of the same CHAOS. And all of the Bush backpeddling and NY Times' lies can't hide Lieberman from his own public record of support for the failed "Stay the course" Bush policy.

Vote For the Democratic candidate Ned Lamont, because he will work to "CHANGE THE COURSE!" of Lieberman's and the Bush administration's failed policies.

testing the blog post feature

2006-10-26T19:30:00.000-05:00

So you can be an informed voter:

Info on Ned Lamont:

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - Official Campaign Website

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - Ned Lamont, the Political Entrepreneur

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "Democrats Back Lamont; Lieberman Files Independent Run" (F0x)

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - Unofficial Ned Lamont Resource

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - Unofficial Lamont Blog

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "The Democrats Mean Business" (WSJ)

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "Ned Lamont vs. Joe Lieberman" (The Nation)

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "Lieberman Loses Debate With Challenger Ned Lamont"

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "Lamont: Lieberman Sounded Like Cheney"

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "Lamont Fires Up Naples" (New Haven Independent)

Info on Joe Lieberman:

Joe Lieberman - "Seasonal Memory Lapses" by Paul Bass (Hartford Courant)

Joe Lieberman - "Truth About Joe"

Joe Lieberman - "Lieberman Wins Republican Friends, Democratic Enemies..." (WaPo)

Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman is a Big Oil Republican" (LamontBlog)

Joe Lieberman - "Kerry Calls Lieberman the New Cheney" (ABC)

Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman Doesn't Care About Handicapped People" (Wonkette)

Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman is Running With a Bad Crowd" (Firedoglake)

Joe Lieberman - "116 Reasons Not to Vote for Joe Lieberman"

Joe Lieberman - "How Joe Lieberman Tried to Kill Rock 'N Roll" (Huffington Post)

Info on Alan Schlesinger:

Alan Schlesinger and Joe Lieberman

Info on races across the nation:

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

--AZ-01: Rick Renzi

--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

--CA-04: John Doolittle

--CA-11: Richard Pombo

--CA-50: Brian Bilbray

--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave

--CO-05: Doug Lamborn

--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell

--CT-04: Christopher Shays

--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

--FL-16: Joe Negron

--FL-22: Clay Shaw

--ID-01: Bill Sali

--IL-06: Peter Roskam

--IL-10: Mark Kirk

--IL-14: Dennis Hastert

--IN-02: Chris Chocola

--IN-08: John Hostettler

--IA-01: Mike Whalen

--KS-02: Jim Ryun

--KY-03: Anne Northup

--KY-04: Geoff Davis

--MD-Sen: Michael Steele

--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

--MN-06: Michele Bachmann

--MO-Sen: Jim Talent

--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

--NV-03: Jon Porter

--NH-02: Charlie Bass

--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

--NM-01: Heather Wilson

--NY-03: Peter King

--NY-20: John Sweeney

--NY-26: Tom Reynolds

--NY-29: Randy Kuhl

--NC-08: Robin Hayes

--NC-11: Charles Taylor

--OH-01: Steve Chabot

--OH-02: Jean Schmidt

--OH-15: Deborah Pryce

--OH-18: Joy Padgett

--PA-04: Melissa Hart

--PA-07: Curt Weldon

--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

--PA-10: Don Sherwood

--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee

--TN-Sen: Bob Corker

--VA-Sen: George Allen

--VA-10: Frank Wolf

--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

--WA-08: Dave Reichert

CT Blogs-

Bye Bye Rob [Simmons]-

Caffeinated Geek Girl-

Drinking Liberally, New Milford-

Hat City Blog- Joe Lieberman's Blog-

Joementum-

Lamont Campaign Blog (official)-

LamontBlog (unofficial)-

Liebermania-

NH Independent-

No More Nancy (CT-05)-

CT Campaigns-

Chris Murphy (CT-05)-

Joe Courtney (CT-02)-

Diane Farrell (CT-04)-

John DeStefano (Gov)-

Dan Malloy (Gov)

CT Sites-

Caucus of CT Dems-

Clean Up CT-

CT Citizen Action Group-

CT For Lieberman-

DeStefano for Gov-

Dump Joe-

Judith Blei Government Relations-

Lamont Resource (unofficial)

Mike Fitzpatrick

Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman Nancy Johnson Chris Shays Rob Simmons Connecticut post Dianne Farell Chris Murphy Joe Courtney CT Races Elections CT-04 CT-05 CT-02 CT-Gov Governor Jodi Rell CT Campaigns Ned Lamont (Sen) Chris Murphy (CT-05) Joe Courtney (CT-02) Diane Farrell (CT-04) John DeStefano (Gov) George W Bush Dick Cheney Mark Foley Denis Hastert GOP republican democrat independent polls local hartord courant danbury new milford town news-times spectrum my left nutmeg stamford advocate washington times WaPo NY Times Greenwhich times

Information on campaigns across Connecticut and the nation

2006-10-24T18:39:00.000-05:00

So you can be an informed voter:

Info on Ned Lamont:

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - Official Campaign Website

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - Ned Lamont, the Political Entrepreneur

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "Democrats Back Lamont; Lieberman Files Independent Run" (F0x)

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - Unofficial Ned Lamont Resource

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - Unofficial Lamont Blog

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "The Democrats Mean Business" (WSJ)

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "Ned Lamont vs. Joe Lieberman" (The Nation)

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "Lieberman Loses Debate With Challenger Ned Lamont"

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "Lamont: Lieberman Sounded Like Cheney"

Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman - "Lamont Fires Up Naples" (New Haven Independent)

Info on Joe Lieberman:

Joe Lieberman - "Seasonal Memory Lapses" by Paul Bass (Hartford Courant)

Joe Lieberman - "Truth About Joe"

Joe Lieberman - "Lieberman Wins Republican Friends, Democratic Enemies..." (WaPo)

Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman is a Big Oil Republican" (LamontBlog)

Joe Lieberman - "Kerry Calls Lieberman the New Cheney" (ABC)

Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman Doesn't Care About Handicapped People" (Wonkette)

Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman is Running With a Bad Crowd" (Firedoglake)

Joe Lieberman - "116 Reasons Not to Vote for Joe Lieberman"

Joe Lieberman - "How Joe Lieberman Tried to Kill Rock 'N Roll" (Huffington Post)

Info on Alan Schlesinger:

Alan Schlesinger and Joe Lieberman

CT Blogs-

Bye Bye Rob [Simmons]-

Caffeinated Geek Girl-

Drinking Liberally, New Milford-

Hat City Blog- Joe Lieberman's Blog-

Joementum-

Lamont Campaign Blog (official)-

LamontBlog (unofficial)-

Liebermania-

NH Independent-

No More Nancy (CT-05)-

CT Campaigns-

Chris Murphy (CT-05)-

Joe Courtney (CT-02)-

Diane Farrell (CT-04)-

John DeStefano (Gov)-

Dan Malloy (Gov)

CT Sites-

Caucus of CT Dems-

Clean Up CT-

CT Citizen Action Group-

CT For Lieberman-

DeStefano for Gov-

Dump Joe-

Judith Blei Government Relations-

Lamont Resource (unofficial)

Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman Nancy Johnson Chris Shays Rob Simmons Connecticut post Dianne Farell Chris Murphy Joe Courtney CT Races Elections CT-04 CT-05 CT-02 CT-Gov Governor Jodi Rell CT Campaigns Ned Lamont (Sen) Chris Murphy (CT-05) Joe Courtney (CT-02) Diane Farrell (CT-04) John DeStefano (Gov) George W Bush Dick Cheney Mark Foley Denis Hastert GOP republican democrat independent polls local hartord courant danbury new milford town news-times spectrum my left nutmeg stamford advocate washington times WaPo NY Times Greenwhich times

Death and the GOP

2006-10-23T19:29:00.000-05:00

If a picture is worth a thousand words...

THAN THIS ONE SPEAKS VOLUMES!

CLICK ON THE PIC!

If you vote for the GOP or for Lieberman
EXPECT MORE OF THE SAME.

More dead US soldiers. More dead Iraqis. And death of the Constitution of the United States of America.

That is exactly what "Stay the course!" means...

Fox News Stinks Up The Airwaves Again

2006-10-21T17:59:00.000-05:00

From Judd at Think Progress:

(Fox News anchor John) Gibson asked Washington Times editor Tony Blankley: “Does the fact that the North Koreans actually tested a nuclear weapon balance out the bad news from this Foley scandal?”

My Question for Gibson:

How far up Rove's GOP Talking Point do you have to have your head before the oxygen runs out?

No wonder Fox news stinks. They think that North Korea getting nukes is "good news for everybody" simply because it might provide political cover for the disgraced GOP leadership in the House.

Big Time Freeway Blogging

2006-10-21T13:22:00.000-05:00

Not your typical "Freeway Bloggers"... Think big!

Think BILLBOARD BIG!

Lifted from a dKos diary by DelicateMonster

"A group of religious activists has purchased a giant billboard on the interstate for a massive ad accusing four Connecticut incumbents of voting for torture. The Associated Press reports that the group, Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice, bought the space to target Senator Joe Lieberman and and GOP Reps. Chris Shays, Nancy Johnson and Rob Simmons. According to the AP piece all four voted for the controversial Military Commissions Act of 2006, which allows the President to "authorize aggressive interrogation methods that might otherwise be seen as illegal by international courts." In other words, torture, as well as the suspension of habeas corpus, of course."

They have a picture of the actual billboard up at the I Wage Peace website, a group that is working with Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice to get this message out, if you want to see it.

More Weird Republican Sex: Shays, Kolbe, Foley

2006-10-15T15:23:00.000-05:00

BranfordBoy at My Left Nutmeg asks about Shays sanity:

"Looks like Chris Shays really, really, really wants to lose. How else can you explain this insanity from the Wednesday debate?"

Shays: Then the next question is, well what has the US done? Well it has been accused of doing torture. That's what it's been accused of. Now I've seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture, it was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from Maryland who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked. And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture.

It's difficult though how the dialogue in the rest of the world about that when you have news media all around the world saying we're torturing people. The bottom line for me is this. We follow the Geneva Convention period. That's what we do.

Matthew Gertz has the video

I think the insanity results because all republicans ever think about is sex.

BUT why do republicans have such freakin' weird ideas of what sex is supposed to be?

Republican Mark Foley is one example, and Republican Kolbe may very well be another example:

From NBC news:

Federal prosecutors in Arizona have opened a preliminary investigation of a camping trip Congressman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., took 10 years ago that included two teenage congressional pages, a Justice Department spokesman told NBC News. NBC News first reported on the camping and rafting trip on Tuesday.

Kolbe's office denies anything "improper" happened.

More NBC:

NBC News interviewed several people who were on the trip, and their accounts vary. One participant, who requested anonymity, said he was uncomfortable with the attention Kolbe paid to one of the former pages. He was "creeped out by it," he said, adding that there was a lot of "fawning, petting and touching" on the teenager's arms, shoulders and back by Kolbe.

--- Joe in DC at AMERICAblog

Is the GOP setting their standard for all of our childrens futures?

If they are, then our kids are truely all fucked if the GOP remains in power.

Info on the CT Senate Race:

2006-10-05T00:44:00.000-05:00

So you can be an informed voter:

Info on Ned Lamont:

Ned Lamont - Official Campaign Website

Ned Lamont - Ned Lamont, the Political Entrepreneur

Ned Lamont - "Democrats Back Lamont; Lieberman Files Independent Run" (F0x)

Ned Lamont - Unofficial Ned Lamont Resource

Ned Lamont - Unofficial Lamont Blog

Ned Lamont - "The Democrats Mean Business" (WSJ)

Ned Lamont - "Ned Lamont vs. Joe Lieberman" (The Nation)

Ned Lamont - "Lieberman Loses Debate With Challenger Ned Lamont"

Ned Lamont - "Lamont: Lieberman Sounded Like Cheney"

Ned Lamont - "Lamont Fires Up Naples" (New Haven Independent)

Info on Joe Lieberman:

Joe Lieberman - "Seasonal Memory Lapses" by Paul Bass (Hartford Courant)

Joe Lieberman - "Truth About Joe"

Joe Lieberman - "Lieberman Wins Republican Friends, Democratic Enemies..." (WaPo)

Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman is a Big Oil Republican" (LamontBlog)

Joe Lieberman - "Kerry Calls Lieberman the New Cheney" (ABC)

Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman Doesn't Care About Handicapped People" (Wonkette)

Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman is Running With a Bad Crowd" (Firedoglake)

Joe Lieberman - "116 Reasons Not to Vote for Joe Lieberman"

Joe Lieberman - "How Joe Lieberman Tried to Kill Rock 'N Roll" (Huffington Post)

Info on Alan who?
Nevermind... heh

12 Days of Justice - Day 5

2005-12-21T10:04:00.000-05:00

So far in the 12 Days of Justice daily series you have learned that:

Judge Samuel Alito does not respect the primary role of the Legislative branch of our government.
By Tampopo

Judge Alito will threaten the fundamental rights and basic legal protections for working Americans of all ages.
By AP

Judge Alito has violated the laws and ethical codes that govern the conduct of federal judges and was a member of the radical and discriminatory group CAP.
By Steven D

Judge Alito's view of discrimination against persons with disability is so restrictive that "few if any...cases would survive summary judgment."
By susanhu

Todays diary for Day 5 will be a short and to the point explanation of Judge Alito's views concerning women and abortion rights. It will deal with his radical and demeaning views from the perspective of his positions revealed in certain abortion cases, memos, applications, and discussions of Roe v Wade.

[Updated]: to reflect many edits! Please check the bottom to cross-post easily.

Join me in the back alley to get a clear view of Alito.

In 1985 Alito made crystal clear his position concerning Roe v Wade.

Alito's name does not appear on any briefs the Reagan Solicitor General's office filed in abortion-related cases. However, just a few months before Alito wrote his DOJ application letter touting his contribution to cases in which the government argued that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion," the Solicitor General's office had filed a brief in Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists on that very subject. The brief urged that "this Court should overrule" Roe v. Wade. The Court rejected the Solicitor General's arguments, with only two justices agreeing that Roe should be overturned.

T. R. Goldman at law.com Offers this opinion of the upcoming battle:

If Alito's jurisprudential views match those on the Thornburgh brief -- and at least in 1985, Alito indicated that they do -- then the job application provides the Judiciary Committee with the type of window into a future justice's thinking that, since the failed nomination of Robert Bork, has become almost nonexistent.

This is a nomination demanding to be "Borked" into nonexistence. But this still does not give a clear picture of his views on women's rights. Please consider taking and using any or all parts of the following letter and using it to contact your Senators concerning this nomination. Feel free to adapt and edit this letter, or you can just say how you feel about this in your own words. All we ask is that you take action before it is too late.

What does Samuel Alito think about women and abortion rights?

In Judge Alito's 1992 dissent in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, Alito argued that a law requiring a woman in certain circumstances to notify her spouse before seeking an abortion did not pose an undue burden on a woman's right to choose. Alito asserted that if parental notification requirements were constitutional, as the Supreme Court had previously held, then spousal notification requirements must be permissible as well. (Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 947 F.2d 682 (3d Cir. 1991), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 505 U.S. 833 (1992).)

Alito's colleagues on the Third Circuit and a 5-4 Supreme Court majority disagreed. Writing for that Supreme Court majority, Sandra Day O'Connor firmly rejected Alito's troubling logic:

"A State may not give to a man the kind of dominion over his wife that parents exercise over their children."

(Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992) at 898.)

Sandra Day O'Connor was correct in rejecting Alito's view of women as subservient to men and less than equal in the eyes of the law.

In a 1985 memo Alito had advised the Reagan Administration that it should attempt to undermine Roe v. Wade. Alito urged the administration to file a friend-of-the-court brief in Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and argued that this brief could promote "the goals of bringing about the eventual overturning of Roe v. Wade, and in the meantime, of mitigating its effects."

Alito wanted the administration to "make clear" that it "disagree[d] with Roe v. Wade," but argued that the most effective long-term strategy of persuading the Supreme Court to overturn this groundbreaking precedent was to chip away at it slowly through extremely restrictive state laws. Overturning Roe v Wade would most certainly result in a return to the days of dangerous "illegal" abortions.

Is this the kind of nomination that sounds like a moderate? This candidate is not representative of my views, nor of mainstream America.

Alito clearly has no problem with forcing his radical ideals on women.

I strongly urge you to vote against this horrible nomination because no woman should be forced by anyone to have to resort to using a coat hanger to perform a back alley abortion. When you consider that Alito's warped views would be replacing the moderate voice of Sandra Day O'Connor there should be no doubt that Alito's nomination must be stopped.

Signed,

Some suggested contacts and petitions:

Your senators

The Judiciary Committee

Your representatives

Congress.org

Campus Progress "Stop Alito's America"

PFAW "Save the Court"

Planned Parenthood Anti-Alito Petition

Naral Anti-Alito Petition

Rolling Justice

Plan B Petition

Sending a FAX via the Web (For those of us that don't have a fax machine at home.)

Again, feel free to copy and paste any and all of the information or images you will see put up over the next couple of weeks by the Anti-Alito Brigade into Blogs and letters as we hold Alito's feet to the fire. Even if you only participate on a few of the days it can help make a difference. There are so many issues where Samuel Alito's views and allegiances are just flat out wrong for a SCOTUS nomination.

Watch for Alice's diaries on the "separation of church and state/religious freedom" for days 6 and 7... On two different days because we want to keep them twice as separated!

Actions for: Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4

12 Days of Justice

2005-12-14T14:42:00.000-05:00

There are many reasons to be wary of the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.

Over the next 12 days the Anti-Alito Brigade will be bringing you many of those reasons, and also some actions that you might consider to help stop this horrible nomination.

The main intention of this nomination is to try and tip the balance of power away from the legislative branch and towards the President.

Alito is an activist judge that will legislate from the bench on many of the issues that all progressives hold dear to their heart.

Our intention is that everyone across the Left Blogosphere participates in this any way that they can. Write a few letters, send Emails, send Faxes, and make some phonecalls to your Senators and Reps. (I know Reps don't vote on this, BUT they can provide more pressure on this issue to those that do vote on Alito! Besides, it is fun to piss them off... lol)

Taken from Tampopo's BooTrib diary:

December 12, 2005

You should be very wary of Judge Samuel Alito. Perhaps afraid is more accurate.

Judge Samuel Alito does not respect the primary role of the Legislative branch of our government. Therefore, he should not be considered acceptable to any member of Congress, particularly true Conservatives, regardless of his opinions on other matters held dear.

Judge Alito is a threat to your role in the structure of our government. You practice the art of politicking, balancing constituents' concerns and needs with those of our society as a whole. Legislation is challenged in court, as it should be when the interpretation of a law is in question. Judge Alito's record suggests he is not a "strict constructionist" of the Constitution.

Norm Ornstein, of the prestigious American Enterprise Institute, has recognized the danger Judge Alito represents. In his article, "Judge Alito Doesn't Show Congress Enough Deference," Ornstein states:
[Supreme Court Justice John] Roberts respects Congress and its constitutional primacy; Alito shows serious signs that he does not...
...Roberts is a very conservative guy, and a strict constructionist -- one who means it. He understands that Congress is the branch the framers set up in Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution. It is not coincidence that Article 1 is twice as long as Article II, which created the executive branch, and almost four times as long as Article III, which established the judiciary. Judges should bend over doubly and triply backward before overturning a Congressional statute, especially if it is clear that Congress acted carefully and deliberatively...

The court case that has Mr. Ornstein turning such a critical eye on Judge Alito is from 1996, "United States v Rybar." This case involved a challenge to Congress's right to regulate the possession or transfer of machine guns.

From Mr. Ornstein,
Congress had passed the law in a reasonable and deliberate fashion. A genuine practitioner of judicial restraint would have allowed them a wide enough berth to do so. Alito's colleagues did just that. But Alito used his own logic to call for its overturn, arguing that the possession of machine guns by private individuals had no economic activity associated with it, and that no real evidence existed that private possession of guns increased crime in a way that affected commerce -- and thus Congress had no right to regulate it. That kind of judicial reasoning often is referred to as reflecting the "Constitution in Exile."
Whatever it is, it's not judicial restraint.

In response to Alito's opinion, the majority said, "Nothing in Lopez (an earlier Supreme Court case) requires either Congress or the Executive to play Show and Tell with the federal courts at the peril of invalidation of a Congressional statute."

Mr. Ornstein's final sentence is a caution to you,
Whatever else it does with Judge Alito at the confirmation hearings, the Senate needs to hold his feet to the fire on this larger issue of deference to the legislative branch.

Don't let Judge Alito's opinions on single issues distract you from the danger he presents to our nation's Constitutional foundation. Reject his nomination and encourage your colleagues to do the same.

Three groups to contact:

Your senators

The Judiciary Committee

And your representatives

Feel free to lift the image here or any of the others over at Booman Tribune, and feel free to copy and paste any and all of the information you will see put up over the next couple of weeks into Blogs and letters as we hold Alito's feet to the fire.

Even if you only participate on a few of the days it can help make a difference. There are so many issues where Samuel Alito's views and allegiances are just flat out wrong for a SCOTUS nomination.

Note: Tommorrow's actions and reason's are still being worked on today. Feel free to check it out at Booman Tribune (Just look for the "Justice" diaries) and any help or participation of any kind you can provide will be greatly appreciated. This is another action brought to you by the group that brought you "Operation Yellow Feather" which was a very successful cross blog protest. These actions are designed to help bring the "Left Blogosphere Think Tank" together on our many shared issues.

X-posted at My Left Wing, Booman Tribune , My Left Nutmeg, Political Cortex

And also Front Paged or posted by Cedwyn at: Dembloggers, ePluribus Media, MyDD, and TPM Cafe reader Blogs as well as by shermanesqe at Street Prophets and C&J

Nancy Johnson's Junk in the Trunk

2005-12-09T12:47:00.000-05:00

It seems that Nancy Johnson's political career has a lot of junk in the trunk...

Deroy Murdock on Medicare on National Review Online:

"This fiscal malpractice has not bought the White House even political dividends. An August 25-26, 2003 Gallup poll found 40 percent of adults approved of the president's handling of Medicare while 48 percent disapproved. After the benefit's adoption, a March 26-28, 2004 Gallup survey saw 35 percent approve of Bush on Medicare, while disapproval climbed to 55 percent. What a bargain: Each one-point drop in Bush's Medicare approval rating cost Americans $44.5 billion.

The GOP Congress should dump the drug benefit. They should spare taxpayers this absurdly expensive new project whose true costs were concealed by an administration that sacrificed integrity and fiscal responsibility on an altar of blind ambition.

Instead, Republicans should develop a modest plan for poor seniors who lack coverage, rather than any American over 65, including multimillionaires and those who already have drug insurance.

The Medicare drug benefit has metastasized from bad policy to bad politics and now to scandal and possible criminality. This law begs to be euthanized. The GOP should pulls its plug. As for the perpetrators of this colossal public fraud, the Justice Department should fit them for orange jumpsuits."

And this is the legislation she was was so proud of and pinning her 2006 re-election hopes on? Well now, If that ain't an elephant passing some serious gas on to the voters?

Careful now!

Never stand behind an elephant that is full of it... You never know when it is going to take its next dump on YOU!

Chris Murphy flushes Johnson's Crap

So... What does Democrat hopeful Chris Murphy have to say about all of this?

Drug Benefit will be a problem for Johnson in 2006

Nancy Johnson's biggest legislative effort in years - the drug benefit bill - seems to be falling drastically short of doing what it promised - helping seniors afford their perscriptions. The NY Times explains why this bill will be an albatross around the necks of Republicans in 2006, Johnson in particular.

Already, many Democratic strategists argue that the new program - because of its complicated structure and gaps in coverage - could be much more of a problem than an asset for Republicans next year. Some Democratic challengers are already using the issue on the campaign trail, like Christopher S. Murphy, who hopes to unseat Representative Nancy L. Johnson of Connecticut, a senior Republican who played an important role in writing the law.

"Seniors, frustrated with the complexity of the drug benefit, are realizing that it was constructed to help the insurance industry and the drug industry," said Mr. Murphy, a state senator, in a common Democratic refrain. "It's more helpful to those industries than to a lot of seniors."

Read the rest of the story here.

Anyone that has tried to wade through Johnson's "signature legislation", either for themselves or a relative in need of medication, understands what a pile of hooey it is, and they are also begining to realize just how much more it is going to cost the people in need as well as all other taxpayers more than Johnson lied, err, said it would.

Johnson's rolling in it...
Dirty money that is!

Not only does she take drug industry money out the ying-yang in order to finance her campaign efforts, but Johnson also takes dirty money from Tom Delay.

You can feel free to stand behind Johnson if you want to... But don't say I didn't warn you.

She is full of it!

Email Bill O'Reilly about his telling the enemy to attack San Francisco!

2005-11-15T17:05:00.000-05:00

I sent an Email to Bill O'Liely concerning his starting an enemy list... You know: The web sites that "smear" O'Liely on a regular basis because they point out his lies and propaganda.

Here is mine:

You can add this US Army Veteran to your enemy list you fuckwad of a falafel boy. With so many proud and informed Americans it is certain to be a long list of people that see right through your twisted far-right-wingnut propaganda.
Drinking Liberally in New Milford
The only Blogger guarenteed to be plastered all over the internet! But I still can't get drunk enough to start thinking Bill O'Liely holds a reasonable or intelligent point of view... Thank God for that!
You can add my friends to your list too:
Booman Tribune
European Trib
Crooks and Liars

I made sure to add recommendations for a few more sites to add to his enemy list. I know C&L has been asking people to reccommend him for that list:

I hope I make it on his list. I encourage everyone to email his site and ask that C&L be included on that list.

I urge you to send your Emails with your own Blogs and websites to make the point. Nothing like letting the Faux news viewers know we are out here! lol

Operation Flying Monkees

2005-11-15T14:37:00.000-05:00

Crooks and Liars has the latest on the presidents speech to rally the flying monkees:

TDS on the Speech

Stewart started Monday off with a look back at President Bush's speech to our troops on V-Day.

Click to see video at C&L...

You knew there had to be a talking head montage thrown in for good measure. Jon offers President Bush a simpler name to call the radicals since he gets so tongue tied. The end clip that TDS uses highlights the fact that Bush really makes about as much sense as Bert Lahr.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2005-11-10T16:14:00.000-05:00

If a picture is worth a thousand words...

THAN THIS ONE SPEAKS VOLUMES!

CLICK ON THE PIC!

Bush's Crash and Burn Policy on Iraq

2005-09-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

Recently the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-faisal, has been heard pushing a message of the imminent failures in Iraq in the hopes that the bush admin. will hear what they are saying. Saudi worries are evidenced by al-faisal's recent quote in the NY Times:

"There is no dynamic now pulling the nation together," he said in a meeting with reporters at the Saudi Embassy here. "All the dynamics are pulling the country apart."

It is pretty darn obvious that the Saudies are concerned with the "seemingly" incompetent actions taken by the bush admin, and the influence that Iran is gaining over Iraq as a result of the incompetence.

But is this not a direct result of the real neocon agenda that is succeeding at ripping apart Iraq through Civil War?

It just happens that some of the parts that may break off are gaining strong Iranian influences.

Taken from the Timesonline:

Tougher language is being heard in the Arab world, where Iran has been a foe from the time of the Persians. Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi Foreign Minister, said: "We fought a war together to keep Iran out of Iraq after Iraq was driven out of Kuwait. Now we are handing the whole country over to Iran without reason."

Snip

Under the provisions of Iraq's federal constitution, which will go before a referendum on October 15, provinces will be allowed to create regional authorities. That has given rise to fears that the Shias in the south, with the support of Iran, will seek to create a mini Shia Islamic state, as Mr al-Hakim has already stated he wants.

I think the reasoning behind their message to the bush admin. becomes pretty darn clear when you read what the Saudi Foreign minister says up there.

They are freaking about Iranian influence that has resulted from the tensions created by the US.

Taken from the Timesonline:

CROSS-BORDER INFLUENCE

Badr Brigades

A Shia militia force of 12,000 trained by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and blamed for a spate of recent killings of Sunni Muslims. Thought to control several cities in southern Iraq

Islamic Dawaa Party

Shia party that has strong links to Iran. Its leader, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the present Prime Minister, has vowed to improve ties between the two neighbours

Mahdi Army

Received arms and volunteers from Iran during its battle against US and British troops last year. Ahmed al-Fartusi, its commander in Basra, was arrested by British forces last weekend

Mujahidin for Islamic Revolution in Iraq

Tehran-backed militia blamed for the murder of six British Royal Military Police soldiers in Majar el-Kabir in 2003

Thar Allah (Vengeance of God)

Iranian-backed terror group blamed for killing former members of the ruling Baath party and enforcing strict Islamic law

Jamaat al-Fudalah (Group of the Virtuous)

Paramilitary group that imposes Islamic rules on Shia areas; attacks shops selling alcohol and music

Al-Fadilah (Morality)

Secret political movement financed by Iran. Thought to have many members among provincial officials

Al-Quawaid al-Islamiya (Islamic Bases)

Iranian-backed Islamic movement that uses force to impose Islamic law

From a Saudi perspective... Things aren't quite what they'd hoped for, huh?

Never mind that it is civil war, and likely what the bushies were trying for.

This only magnifies that point:

AlJazeera

The western media has laboured hard in portraying the "Sunni community" as the major source of delay in the drafting process. The Bush administration has habitually presented events in Iraq as sectarian and ethnically biased; this presentation is not arbitrary or due to "misunderstanding" as some have claimed.

More truthfully, differing visions of Iraq are what delayed and essentially prevented the constitutional process from achieving consensual support. On the one hand we have an American-endorsed vision that proposes dividing Iraq up and we have the view of the opposition, which accepts nothing less than a unified Iraq.

In the autumn of 2004 the RAND Corporation, an American research company, published a research brief for the United States Navy arguing "cleavages within the Muslim world pose challenges and opportunities ... for US interests and strategy".

"I am making an appeal to all Iraqi citizens. Please do not divide yourselves anymore than you already have, and by dividing you empower the occupation and their agendas for your natural resources."

The RAND study highlights current divisions in the Muslim world between the Sunni and Shia, as well as between Arabs and non-Arabs as crucial to US interests.

The ethnic and sectarian federalism that has been proposed in Iraq fits well into this divisive framework. This insight into the strategic thinking of US thinktanks provides a contextual background to any assessment of US involvement in the Arab and Muslim world.

Here is a link to Rand's article U.S. Strategy in the Muslim World After 9/11 (the one refered to in the Al Jazeera article).

In the entire Rand article there is one little sentence that sums up "what might happen?"

Beyond these long-term factors, certain catalytic events have shifted the political environment in the Muslim world toward radicalism. Major events include the Iranian revolution, the Afghan war with the Soviets, the Gulf War of 1991, and the global war on terrorism after September 11. The Iraq war and the removal of Saddam Hussein have surely had an effect on the Muslim world, but the long-term implications remain to be seen. A stable, pluralistic, and democratic Iraq would challenge anti-Western views in the Middle East and would undermine extremist arguments. On the other hand, if Iraq reverts to authoritarianism or fragments into ethnic enclaves, then U.S. credibility would diminish and radical groups would have greater opportunities to take hold.

And, golly gee... Is it ever happening.

But what if that was the bushies intention all along?

You can read almost any of Dahr Jamail's "Iraqi Dispatches" to get the true sense of how they are constantly creating more problems amongst the different Iraqi groups. At times it is almost like they are doing it all on purpose:

The failed siege of Fallujah

Thus, rather than improving security and stability in Fallujah and Iraq, the siege of Fallujah has accomplished nothing more than devastating the city and spreading the Iraqi resistance into other cities, such as Qaim, Beji, Baquba, Mosul, Ramadi, Latifiya and many areas of Baghdad.

It could easily be argued now that the siege of Fallujah accomplished the exact opposite of its stated goals - rather than bringing increased security and stability, it has inflamed tempers, deepened sectarian rifts and spurred the Iraqi resistance into levels of attack rarely seen prior to the siege.

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

U.S. Claims Over Siege Challenged

He said continuing violations by U.S. soldiers had provoked people into confronting the occupying forces. He said troops had been raiding homes, sending women into the streets without their hijabs and entering areas where women sleep.

"The fighters are just local people who refuse to be treated like dogs," he said. "Nobody wants the Americans here."

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

This is our Guernica

Two US attempts were made to destroy this symbol of defiance last year. The first, in April, fizzled out after Iraqi politicians, including many who supported the invasion of their country, condemned the use of air strikes to terrorise an entire city.

snip

One thing is certain: the attack on Falluja has done nothing to still the insurgency against the US-British occupation nor produced the death of al-Zarqawi - any more than the invasion of Afghanistan achieved the capture or death of Osama bin Laden. Thousands of bereaved and homeless Falluja families have a new reason to hate the US and its allies.

snip

This decade's unforgettable monument to brutality and overkill is Falluja, a text-book case of how not to handle an insurgency, and a reminder that unpopular occupations will always degenerate into desperation and atrocity.

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

Sects and Solidarity in Iraq

The spokesman's point is clear: After decades of repression, now is the time for the Shiites to have power, no matter the price. "Most of the Sunnis are accepted by us, but there are those among them who don't want the Shia in the government, nor the Kurds. Some Sunnis will either kill us or make us slaves. We accept these elections now," says Asadi, pulling the abaya close over his shoulders. "But many Shias and Kurds believe dividing the country is the only real solution."

snip

With Shiite domination in the National Assembly, they will have much power in writing Iraq's new constitution. Will this lopsided dynamic provoke a violent reaction from the Sunni-dominated insurgency? If it does, will the Shiite militias, like the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), strike back, igniting a civil war?

snip

When examining the statements of some political and religious leaders from both communities, one gets the sense that civil war is indeed imminent. Sheik Asadi's venom toward the Sunni is matched by that of some of his Sunni counterparts toward the Shiites. But Western media outlets, focusing on the sensational, have played up the potential for civil war, muting the voices of Sunni and Shiite leaders who are skeptical of such predictions and united against partition.

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

Etc., Etc., Etc.! Dahr Jamail has these comments littered throughout many of his reports.

That last part in bold is the kicker... The media is "playing up the potential for civil war" and bushies policies only inflame the situation.

We see this every day as one seemingly incompetent decision follows another.

It makes it all pretty darn clear what the Saudies see as a problem.

The bush admin. wants to divide the country up and, per usual, the media is only helping them along. Neocons want Iraq to descend into civil war which will, theoretically, make each part more manageable for America.

Either that or they are completely incompetent and clueless as to how much the US forces presence there, and their actions based on bush policies, are the cause of most of the problems in Iraq.

We have all seen the resulting chaos from neocon theory thus far. It isn't pretty. It has failed miserably in every aspect and every step of the way.

Just ignore the thousands that had to die to create their chaos. And ignore the fact that it leaves Iranians with more influence in the region.

I have heard suggestions that, perhaps, Saudies are sending a message to their own people that they need to become more involved in this Iranian/Iraqi situation...

Booman Tribune ~ Debunking Katrina: With the Consent of the Governed

2005-09-10T00:08:00.000-05:00

Here is the truth:

Debunking Katrina: With the Consent of the Governed

by DuctapeFatwa
Fri Sep 9th, 2005 at 09:31:11 PM EDT

We must be fair and balanced. The first debunking efforts were undertaken under the most inauspicious conditions. Officials were only accorded one side of a TV screen to explain to Americans that the live feeds taking place on the other side of the screen showed not truth but rumors, reports unconfirmed by authorities.

We must understand that at this time, the only news coming from the theatre came from people on the ground in scratchy breaky phone calls, a handful of bloggers, and reporters operating without benefit of embedding or vetting.

So if there were those who may have believed those rumors regarding conditions and crimes in the shelter pits into which crowded those New Orleanians politically naive enough to believe that they and their families would be safer than on the roof, if there were those who may have lent credence to rumors of slow responses from various government agencies, before they are denounced as un American consider the difficulties under which their leaders were operating at the moment.

Things have turned the corner now, and only a handful of dead enders and the people who survived the experience believe these rumors now.

Loyal Americans understand that while conditions in dome and center may not have been luxurious, nor on the expressway, things were not all that bad, and of course there were no crimes, no one was prevented from escape, people were not really dying of heat stroke or thirst or lack of medicine. Those are just rumors. Like the rumors of the 1927 replay of the canal strategy that flooded the city's poor area to save the fine homes in the Garden District and the historic French Quarter, both seen as keepers by those who are already hard at work planning the new and improved New Orleans. All the old world charm without the pesky poor.

And after a few territorial squabbles, federal, state and local officials are at last on the same page, and working together to craft a reasonable death toll that while tragic, will not prove too disturbing to more sensitive viewers.

One of the most comforting steps taken in recent days is the President's vow to personally oversee an investigation into any possible glitches that may have taken place in the response to the disaster.

His advisors, including the formidable Mr. Rove, wasted no time in developing a strategy to reassure the more skittish segment of the American public that their government had things firmly in hand, and would keep it that way.

That, coming on the heels of not one, but two Presidential flyovers of the area, and even one touchdown visit to console local politicians.

The egalitarian nature of the nation, and the President's concern for the humblest of his subjects cannot be more clearly illustrated than these flyovers. The Presidential aircraft could be seen by those fortunate enough to have successfully made an opening in their roofs, those on the expressways, those outside the shelterpits, and we can only imagine how much the sight must have meant to them, as they sat there, gasping. For many it will have been the last sight they saw.

Is it any wonder that not even Kim Jung Il enjoys deeper affection from his people?

So the corner is turned, but there is still much hard work ahead. Popular pundit Michelle Malkin, thoughtful as usual, expressed the hope that potentially troublesome eyewitnesses would be excluded from any investigation, which should, she declared, be a private affair, unburdened by any media who might not have recovered completely from the rumors and unconfirmed reports they thought they saw.

The survivor diaspora will be most helpful in avoiding such an eventuality, as well as the tragic but inevitable passing of many of them, if not from effects of the original rumors, from the second wave of rumors of West Nile, hepatitis, and the kinder gentler cholera promised by corporate charity mavens.

After having written checks to the Red Cross to help their executives maintain the lifestyle to which they are accustomed, and thus proving their compassion to their poor brethren in need, and a few hours of volunteer work down at the shelter, where too often, Lord and Lady Bountiful are horrified and repulsed to learn that the less fortunate are not sufficiently schooled in the soft skills to demonstrate appropriate gratitude for having been allowed to escape with their lives, if not their health, or all their family members, right thinking Americans will soon be free to return their focus on the positive:

US gunmen continue to occupy and reduce the population in two countries openly, and the public can rest assured that covert operations are also taking place elsewhere, and on the storm front, now that the rumors have been debunked, yes, there was a hurricane, and quite a bit of property damage, but the good news is that both Halliburton and Bechtel, among others, will be putting their expertise to work to make it right, and Halliburton will be raising all its prices in October, good news for investors!

And God, speaking as he does, through Bush, as revealed by Bush himself, has issued an executive order empowering these fine wealth builders to shake off the burden of oppressive laws requiring the paying of prevailing wages, meaning that survivors who are still at large in the area will be able to obtain work which will provide them with dignity, and possibly up to a dollar or two above the minimum wage.

So all in all, yes there was a little wind, and sadly, a few lost their lives. But rumors of devastation and catastrophe, of genocide and slaveship hells, of rape and murder and mutilation, of thousands gasping their last on the asphalt of I-10, were just that- rumors, probably started by a certain element with an agenda.

Just a little wind, but everything is being made right now, with the consent of the governed.

Sad... But true.

National Post

2005-08-23T22:04:00.000-05:00

As you can see here, there is some doubt about bush's honesty amongst the Vets...

National Post:
"Bill Moyer, 73, wears a 'Bullshit Protector' flap over his ear while President George W. Bush addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
(AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)"

Then again... You could have just asked me. As a Vet myself, well, I think that the few soldiers that make it home alive will be lucky if there any benefits left for them the way bush is messing with VA benefits, nevermind the fact that we should never have been in Iraq in the first place, or the fact that since we have been in Iraq bush and his pseudoconservative policy makers have messed it up almost every single way possible.

I know... You said pseudocon what???? If you don't remember McCarthyism and their insisting "there is a commie hiding behind every tree!" well, there is the tie in to the kind of administration we have in the White House right now. The modern day pseudoconservative's (neocon's) "Fear, fear, fear!" campaign is no different than the pseudoconservative driven McCarthy witch hunts...

As an independent, I feel pretty safe saying "Better dead than red!" If you are talking about GOP red that is.

Thank God I live in a blue state where the Dems are moderate liberals, and the GOP are flaming liberals, or at least pretend to be with the way they tax and spend. Needless to say, the budgeting skills of the GOP do show a preference for red ink...

Sad but true...

Does it surprise anyone that polls show bush support has dropped to %36? Talk about an unpopular idiot in the White House...

A nod to the realities of the soldiers plight.

2005-08-14T17:24:00.000-05:00

THE BRAD BLOG:

"In a departure from the norm in Kentucky -- one of the reddest of red states -- some of Comley's relatives, including a few sitting in the front pews, have spoken out strongly against the Bush administration and the war that took the 21-year-old Marine's life.
...
On Friday, Comley's grandmother, 80-year-old Geraldine Comley of Versailles, described herself in an interview as a former Republican stalwart who is "on a rampage" against the president and the war.

She said she would like nothing better than to join Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier who has been holding a peace vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Texas.

"When someone gets up and says 'My son died for our freedom,' or I get a sympathy card that says that, I can hardly bear it," Geraldine Comley said.

She said her view, developed before her grandson's death, is that Bush pushed for war because Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had tried to assassinate the first President Bush, and to get control of Mideast oil.

"And it irritates me no small amount that Dick Cheney, in the Vietnam War, said he had 'other priorities,'" Geraldine Comley said. "He didn't mind sending my grandson over there" to Iraq.""
Written by: Winter Patriot

My deepest and sincerest condolences to the Comley family in the loss of their son, and my thanks to Cindy Sheehan for faithfully representing the many who demand better leadership in this country.

Fearing backlash, Pentagon moves to block new Abu Ghraib photos - Yahoo! News

2005-08-14T13:06:00.000-05:00

Is there even one idiot on this earth that will believe this BS line coming from the pentagon and the White House?

Fearing backlash, Pentagon moves to block new Abu Ghraib photos - Yahoo! News:
Sat Aug 13, 3:50 PM ET

"WASHINGTON (AFP) - The
Pentagon has moved forcefully to block the release of new video evidence of prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, arguing it would help recruit new Islamist insurgents and endanger American lives."

Too late morons... The insurgents already know the truth about the torture the corrupt bush administration and the incompetent Petagon officials sanctioned.

THEY HAD TO SUFFER THROUGH IT!

Just who is it you are trying to protect there?

He further states that should the pictures become public, they will "endanger the lives and physical safety of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines in the United States Armed Forces presently serving in Iraq and
Afghanistan."

Americans aren't that stupid. We already know that the insurgents are quite aware of the torture.

WHEN IDIOTS LIKE BUSH, GONZALES, AND RUMSFELD, ETC., GAVE THE GREEN LIGHT ON TORTURE THEY ENDANGERED EVERY SOLDIER IN THE MILITARY AS WELL AS EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN AND ANY OTHER COUNTRY THAT IS IN IRAQ HELPING THE US.

We already know who you are trying to protect and who is really to blame.

Meanwhile, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero insists the real reason the Pentagon is fighting the release of the new evidence is because it demonstrates "the failure of American leaders who placed our young men and women in compromising situations and are now seeking to blame them for it."

Typical Republican Answer...

2005-08-11T23:40:00.000-05:00

These are exactly the kind of false patriots that wrap themselves in the flag or slap ribbons on their SUVs... And do nothing else to support the troops.

Parent-trap snares recruiters:

"Staff Sgt. Jason Rivera, 26, a Marine recruiter in Pittsburgh, went to the home of a high school student who had expressed interest in joining the Marine Reserve to talk to his parents.

It was a large home in a well-to-do suburb north of the city. Two American flags adorned the yard. The prospect's mom greeted him wearing an American flag T-shirt.

'I want you to know we support you,' she gushed.

Rivera soon reached the limits of her support.

'Military service isn't for our son. It isn't for our kind of people,' she told him"

"IT ISN'T FOR OUR KIND OF PEOPLE"

WTF???

Your kind of people should be bitch slapped all the way to hell. (These days, that would be the average Iraqi neighborhood..)

"Go bush! Go war! See my faded flag? Kill, kill, KILL! But we don't do that sort of lowly job ourselves... That is for the hired help. Our patriotic duty is just to vote for this. Oh yeah! And to slap a bumpersticker on our SUV."

Your kind sickens me.

Typical Republican Answer...

2005-08-11T23:39:00.000-05:00

These are exactly the kind of false patriots that wrap themselves in the flag or slap ribbons on their SUVs... And do nothing else to support the troops.

Parent-trap snares recruiters:

"Staff Sgt. Jason Rivera, 26, a Marine recruiter in Pittsburgh, went to the home of a high school student who had expressed interest in joining the Marine Reserve to talk to his parents.

It was a large home in a well-to-do suburb north of the city. Two American flags adorned the yard. The prospect's mom greeted him wearing an American flag T-shirt.

'I want you to know we support you,' she gushed.

Rivera soon reached the limits of her support.

'Military service isn't for our son. It isn't for our kind of people,' she told him"

"IT ISN'T FOR OUR KIND OF PEOPLE"

WTF???

Your kind of people should be bitch slapped all the way to hell. (These days, that would be the average Iraqi neighborhood..)

"Go bush! Go war! See my faded flag? Kill, kill, KILL! But we don't do that sort of lowly job ourselves... That is for the hired help. Our patriotic duty is just to vote for this. Oh yeah! And to slap a bumpersticker on our SUV."

Your kind sickens me.

Airman suspect in anti-Bush case

2005-08-11T17:07:00.000-05:00

This anti-bush soldier might be in a little bit of trouble, huh?

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Airman suspect in anti-Bush case:

A US air force reserve colonel may face charges of defacing cars bearing bumper stickers in support of President Bush.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexis Fecteau is suspected of painting obscenities on 12 parked cars at Denver International Airport over a six-month period.

Police allege he blacked out the stickers and then spray-painted expletives on the vehicles.

Allegedly, Lieutenant Colonel Fecteau is suspected of vandalising 12 cars at the airport.

Most of the soldiers I talk to don't like or appreciate the fake support of those little ribbons and bumper stickers, but I think this guy may have gone a little bit over the line legally.

Kudos to him for finding some way to vent his frustration on the idiot bumper sticker warriors of the GOP.

Like the stain the sticker leaves on your car will ever compare to the stain of a soldiers blood on the desert sands?

False patriots...
Every stinking hypocritical one of you!

With the disposable way some of you treat soldiers just to fill a tank of gas, can you blame a soldier for getting mad at you?

Rove's Treason, and the GOP Liars...

2005-08-11T12:11:00.000-05:00

For those of you that keep sending me all of those "GOP talking point" lies in my Email (Are you listening Darrel?) and don't even have the decency to reply to my responses that tear up your lies line by line, instead trying to change the subject to another of your losing arguments...Well, here is a little post that deals with some of the BS you send out daily:

CLAIM: White House Can’t Comment While Investigation Is Ongoing
McClellan: “While that investigation is ongoing, the White House is not going to comment on it.”

FACT: White House Has Repeatedly Commented During the Ongoing Investigation
McClellan had previously cited that same investigation and then gone on to answer the questions as they pertained to Rove. For example, on October 1, 2003, he said, “There’s an investigation going on … you brought up Karl’s name. Let’s be very clear. I thought — I said it was a ridiculous suggestion, I said it’s simply not true that he was involved in leaking classified information, and — nor, did he condone that kind of activity.” Similarly, on October 10, 2003, McClellan said, “I think it’s important to keep in mind that this is an ongoing investigation.” But he then added with regard to a question about Rove’s involvement, “I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this.”

CLAIM: Rove Didn’t Leak The Name So He’s Not Guilty
Rove: “I didn’t know her name and didn’t leak her name.” Rove attorney Robert Luskin said “he did not tell any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA.”

FACT: National Security Law Says Identifying Covert Agent Is Illegal
Rove at the very least identified Plame as “Wilson’s wife.” Under section 421 of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the disclosure of “any information identifying [a] covert agent” is illegal.

CLAIM: White House Didn’t Push The Story
Rove’s lawyer Robert Luskin claims Cooper manipulated what Rove said to him “in a pretty ugly fashion to make it seem like people in the White House were affirmatively reaching out to reporters to try to get them to report negative information about Plame.”

FACT: There Was An Organized Campaign To Push Leak Info
First, Robert Novak admitted: “I didn’t dig it out [Plame’s identity], it was given to me…. They [the White House] thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it.” Second, Rove told Chris Matthews that Plame’s identity was “fair game.” Third, Time magazine reported the orchestrated campaign against Wilson in October 2003: “In the days after Wilson’s essay appeared, government officials began to steer reporters away from Wilson’s conclusions.”

CLAIM: Conversation Was About Welfare Reform, So Rove Didn’t Do Anything Wrong
National Review’s Byron York: “According to Luskin, the fact that Rove did not call Cooper; that the original purpose of the call, as Cooper told Rove, was welfare reform.”

FACT: What They Spoke About Was Irrelevant
The original purpose of the conversation between Rove and Cooper is irrelevant. It has no bearing on the fact that Rove did identify a covert agent during that conversation.

CLAIM: Plame Wasn’t An Undercover Agent
Ed Rogers, former official under Reagan/Bush: “I think it is now a matter of established fact that Mrs. Plame was not a protected covert agent, and I don’t think there’s any meaningful investigation about that.”

FACT: Former CIA Officer Who Worked With Plame Verified She Was Undercover
Larry Johnson, former CIA officer: “Valerie Plame was a classmate of mine from the day she started with the CIA. I entered on duty at the CIA in September 1985. All of my classmates were undercover–in other words, we told our family and friends that we were working for other overt U.S. Government agencies. We had official cover.”

CLAIM: Rove Was Trying To Correct A False Story
Rove attorney Luskin added, “What Karl was trying to do … was to warn Time away from publishing things that were going to be established as false.”

FACT: Wilson Was Right, Bush Was Wrong
Bloomberg recently reported, “Two-year old assertions by former ambassador Joseph Wilson regarding Iraq and uranium, which lie at the heart of the controversy over who at the White House identified a covert U.S. operative, have held up in the face of attacks by supporters of presidential adviser Karl Rove.”

CLAIM: Wilson Lied About His Trip To Niger
Former Rove deputy Ken Mehlman: “What Joe Wilson alleged was that the vice president, then he said the CIA director sent him to Niger.” [CNN, 7/12/05]

FACT: Wilson Never Said Cheney Personally Sent Him To Niger
Bloomberg reported, “Wilson never said that Cheney sent him, only that the vice president’s office had questions about an intelligence report that referred to the sale of uranium yellowcake to Iraq from Niger. Wilson, in his New York Times article, said CIA officials were informed of Cheney’s questions. ‘The agency officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president’s office,’ Wilson wrote.”

Posted by Faiz July 14, 2005 6:09 pm
Permalink

Thanks to Faiz over at Think Progress for making this clear and concise post dealing with the BS.

As for you "GOP talking point" liars, well, if you continue to fill my inbox with your stupidity and lies than I will have no choice but to tear them up point-by-point right here on the Blog with your Email attached to your lies so everyone will know just how much of a liar, and just how stupid you truely are.

Anyone that has the nerve to call me "Sir" in an Email (a sign of respect) and fill out the rest of their Email with flat out lies taken straight from the "GOP talking points" hall of shame (showing a complete and utter disrespect to any person of logic) is a hypocrite and deserves all of the disrespect that is returned to them ten times over.

I don't play footsy under the table with the GOP like a Dem does... I am an independent, and for good reason... I will flat out call a spade a spade, and a liar a liar. (Got that Darrel?)

So, in the future, should you decide to send me lies and distorted facts as a response to something I write expect to become totally and completely embarrassed here in public.

I have absolutely no problem with being proven wrong in my opinions, BUT at least I show the proper courtesy of basing my opinions on facts.

Something that the "GOP talking point posters" avoid at all costs:

FACTS!
(OH yeah! And reality...)

Welcome to my world you semi-epsilon-moron-minus GOP talking point idiots. Ignore the khaki brown color of your posts? Why? Did the elephant crap all over you and your logic again?

Rep. Nancy Johnson's Scandal Plagued Legislation

2005-08-10T22:06:00.000-05:00

It seems that Nancy Johnson's political career has a lot of junk in the trunk...

Deroy Murdock on Medicare on National Review Online:
"This fiscal malpractice has not bought the White House even political dividends. An August 25-26, 2003 Gallup poll found 40 percent of adults approved of the president's handling of Medicare while 48 percent disapproved. After the benefit's adoption, a March 26-28, 2004 Gallup survey saw 35 percent approve of Bush on Medicare, while disapproval climbed to 55 percent. What a bargain: Each one-point drop in Bush's Medicare approval rating cost Americans $44.5 billion.

The GOP Congress should dump the drug benefit. They should spare taxpayers this absurdly expensive new project whose true costs were concealed by an administration that sacrificed integrity and fiscal responsibility on an altar of blind ambition.

Instead, Republicans should develop a modest plan for poor seniors who lack coverage, rather than any American over 65, including multimillionaires and those who already have drug insurance.

The Medicare drug benefit has metastasized from bad policy to bad politics and now to scandal and possible criminality. This law begs to be euthanized. The GOP should pulls its plug. As for the perpetrators of this colossal public fraud, the Justice Department should fit them for orange jumpsuits."

And this is the legislation she was was so proud of and pinning her re-election hopes on? Well now, If that ain't an elephant passing some serious gas on to the voters?

Careful now!
Never stand behind an elephant that is full of it...
You never know when it is going to take its next dump on YOU!

Who Trains the Terrorists? Bush does...

2005-08-08T22:41:00.000-05:00

Not only is the corrupt, lying, disastrous bush admin. creating more terrorists around the world because of their illegal invasion of Iraq BUT:

The Rachel Maddow Show:

A group of London politicians has written to the US ambassador in Britain demanding that the US Department of Justice take an al Qaeda training manual off its website. The British police apparently found it, but the US government posted it online. And now the brits are understandably mad about it. The manual includes advice on how to go undetected on crowded public transport, how to communicate and avoid detection by security services, how to transport weapons, and how to stop explosives from deteriorating.

They are also making sure these terrorists have easy access to the training manuals they need... All online!

What a useless bunch of idiots that occupy the White House right now.

Frist's Torturous Decision

2005-07-26T16:04:00.000-05:00

If there was ever any question about who is supporting the soldiers, well, the Army Times had no problems figuring this out. They point out how alarmed Dems are that republicans would rather pander to special interest groups like the NRA instead of making the important decisions while we are supposed to be a nation at war.

Army Times - News - More News: "By Rick Maze
Times staff writer

Senate Republican leaders decided Tuesday that a gun manufacturers’ liability bill is more important than next year’s $441.6 billion defense authorization bill.

With Democrats expressing amazement that there could be any higher legislative priority in a time of war than the annual defense bill that includes money for pay and benefits, operations and maintenance, and weapons’ purchases and research, Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Senate Republican leader, decided Tuesday that a bill protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits over the illegal use of firearms was a higher priority.

The decision came after Republican leaders failed to muster the 60 votes needed to prevent amendments not strictly related to the defense budget from being offered to the defense bill.

In a count of 50-48, seven Republicans joined Democrats in voting not to restrict debate, a move that Democratic leaders said would have prevented consideration of amendments to help veterans and survivors of deceased service members, along with other issues."

It is really important to understand that this effort to push back the bill is less about the funding for the war and more about getting more important rich elitist agendas to the floor quickly:

With Congress planning to leave town Friday for one-month break, debate on S 397, Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, is expected to last two or three days, and then Senate leaders plan to take up an energy bill, an estate tax reform bill and an Interior Department funding bill

A hat tip to QWQ, who had this note about Frist's torturous decision to sidetrack this:

Also, several folks have noted in the comments that pandering to the NRA is not the only reason the Republicans wanted to delay the Defense Authorization bill -- the White House also wanted to avoid showdowns on detainee treatment and military base closings. The new AP story has that angle, as does this CBS edited version of the original AP story.

Oh, yeah... The bushies don't want to give up their right to torture innocent Iraqis that are held along with the few terrorists in captivity... Go figure, huh? Apparently the republican controlled Senate doesn't work any better in making us safer than torture does at getting useful intel.

Ronald Reagan on Outing Spies

2005-07-20T16:30:00.000-05:00

It appears that Ronnie Raygun's words have come back to haunt the traitors that hero worship him:

Remarks on Signing the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982

Excerpt from the speech delivered by Ronald Reagan:

Whether you work in Langley or a faraway nation, whether your tasks are in operations or analysis sections, it is upon your intellect and integrity, your wit and intuition that the fate of freedom rests for millions of your countrymen and for many millions more all around the globe.…

Like those who are part of any silent service, your sacrifices are sometimes unappreciated; your work is sometimes misunderstood. Because you’re professionals, you understand and accept this. But because you’re human and because you deal daily in the dangers that confront this nation, you must sometimes question whether some of your countrymen appreciate the value of your accomplishments, the sacrifices you make, the dangers you confront, the importance of the warnings that you issue.

And that’s why I have come here today; first, to sign an important piece of legislation that bears directly on your work, an act of Congress whose overwhelming passage by the representatives of the American people is a symbol of their support for the job that you do every day. But even more than this, I’ve come here today to say to you what the vast majority of Americans would say if they had this opportunity to stand here before you. We’re grateful to you. We thank you. We’re proud of you.

If you support the treachery of rove and libby than I hold nothing but contempt for you. The potential dangers that these leakers have exposed networks of agents to, and the security risks they have caused for our nation is nothing less than an act of treason.

Yep! Treason...
Reagan is calling y'all on it from his grave there bushies.

But is there more?
Well, yes there is... Here ya go:

The Congress has carefully drafted this bill so that it focuses only on those who would transgress the bounds of decency; not those who would exercise their legitimate right of dissent. This carefully drawn act recognizes that the revelation of the names of secret agents adds nothing to legitimate public debate over intelligence policy. It is also a signal to the world that while we in this democratic nation remain tolerant and flexible, we also retain our good sense and our resolve to protect our own security and that of the brave men and women who serve us in difficult and dangerous intelligence assignments.

During the debate over this bill, some have suggested that our focus should be not on protecting our own intelligence agencies, but on the real or imagined abuses of the past. Well, I'm glad that counsel was rejected, for the days of such abuses are behind us. The Congress now shares the responsibility of guarding against any transgression, and I have named a new Intelligence Oversight Board and Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board to assist me in ensuring that the rule of law is maintained in areas which must remain secret and out of the normal realm of public scrutiny.

Beyond this, I have full confidence that you'll do your job vigorously and imaginatively while making sure that your activity is lawful, constitutional, and in keeping with the traditions of our way of life. And while you're at your job and while I'm President and while these Congressmen stand at watch, we'll work together to see to it that this powerful tool of government is used to advance, not abuse, the rights of free people.

"The Great Accumulator" (you know? All of that debt Reagan ran up, silly!) must have had his astrologer working overtime that day...

Turdblossom is Wilting...

2005-07-18T16:36:00.000-05:00

Why is that mean man scowling? Maybe he just saw the latest post over at Escahaton by Atrios... Looks like turdblossom has willted in America's eyes, and while Atrios got the scoop, well, all bush has left is a heaping pile of poop:

ABC NEWS POLL: THE CIA LEAK INVESTIGATION – 7/17/05 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, July 18, 2005 Many Doubt White House CooperationWith Federal Investigation of CIA LeakJust a quarter of Americans think the White House is fully cooperating in the federal investigation of the leak of a CIA operative's identity, a number that's declined sharply since the investigation began. And three-quarters say that if presidential adviser Karl Rove was responsible for leaking classified information, it should cost him his job.

Careful what you step in as you follow the treason of rove Atrios... You don't want to come out of it smelling like the Benedict Arnold administration in the White House right now... (If your cats are anything like my dog... There is always the chance of finding a bush turd on the living room floor the hard way! lol)

Young Republicans Following in the Footsteps of the Crooks in Power

2005-07-17T18:47:00.000-05:00

Crooks and Liars has a great story on republicans passing the torch of crime on to their youth:

Crooks and Liars: "OYE ALERT: Young Republicans Chairman 'Nathan Taylor' in Hot Water

I kid you not. YR's should have accepted the ad I tried to place. They could have used the extra cash, even if it came from a Frenchman.

Nevada's chapter of the Young Republicans has basically imploded, leaving its chairman with up to $25,000 in personal debt and allegations that he mishandled money. All but three people have resigned from the statewide group, but the fallout could prove increasingly embarrassing to the entire state Republican Party. Today, the chairman of the group, Reno resident Nathan Taylor, plans to hold a press conference attacking three of the state's party leaders -- Sen. John Ensign, Rep. Jim Gibbons and Rep. Jon Porter.

'I've got bills at the hotel I can't pay,' said Taylor, a 29-year-old political science senior at UNR who said he had to quit his food service job and drop classes to plan the convention....read on

Nathan's just doing a job worthy of the CBO. Taylor will probably double his efforts with extra bake sales and some double secret super duper rants. If he enlists, I'm sure he will be able to pay of the bills he ran up with all the extra incentives the Army is offering now. What say you Nathan? Your country needs you.

Also in trouble is a Steve Damion New Jersey College Republicans. Looks like he's out of a job too. "

These criminal republicans are just cut from the same cloth as their national leaders. I agree that they should enlist in the military, if not to support the stupid policies they have so screwed up the nation with so much, than at least to teach tham a little bit about responsibilities and good citizenship.

Maybe after they get out of jail? (snicker)

It's time to fire Karl Rove

2005-07-13T01:11:00.000-05:00

Hello,On Sunday, Newsweek magazine revealed that Karl Rove – as you know, the President's closest political advisor -- was responsible for disclosing the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame.The agent, Valerie Plame, worked on weapons of mass destruction for the agency and by exposing her identity, the leaker could have jeopardized the lives of other covert agents in the field. At best, it was recklessly irresponsible; at worst, it was malicious; and either way, the leaker undermined our national security.President Bush has pledged to fire anyone who helped leak Plame’s name to the press. Now we know that the person responsible was Karl Rove. Please take a moment to sign the petition telling the President to keep his promise now at:http://www.moveonpac.org/firerove/Thanks.

Pigs On the Wing

2005-07-12T13:00:00.000-05:00

While Juan Cole sets the record staright on the real issue of what is at the heart of the terror unleashed on London last week there is one very minor point he may have missed.

Salon.com News | "The time of revenge has come":

Blowback from Bush and Blair's incompetently pursued war on terror has hit London. When will the U.S. figure out how to fight smart?

By Juan Cole

July 8, 2005 | Credit for the horrific bombings of the London Underground and a double-decker bus on Thursday morning was immediately taken on a radical Muslim Web site by a 'secret group' of Qaida al-Jihad in Europe. By Thursday afternoon, as the casualty toll rose above 40 dead and 700 wounded, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw was saying, 'It has the hallmarks of an al-Qaida-related attack.' Although U.S. President George W. Bush maintains that al-Qaida strikes out at the industrialized democracies because of hatred for Western values, the statement said nothing of the sort. The attack, the terrorists proclaimed, was an act of sacred revenge for British 'massacres' in 'Afghanistan and Iraq,' and a punishment of the United Kingdom for its 'Zionism' (i.e., support of Israel). If they really are responsible, who is this group and what do they want?"

Don't you ever wonder where all of these web sites are coming from?

UK-based dissident denies link to website that carried al-Qaida claim

David Pallister - The Guardian
Saturday July 9, 2005

The claim of responsibility for the London attacks was first posted on one of the dozens of Islamic websites that are routinely monitored by western intelligence services.
The statement, under the name of the Secret Organisation of the al-Qaida Jihad in Europe, said: "The heroic mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern and western quarters."

...snip...

...two Israeli groups devoted to exposing the network of jihadist sites claim that it is connected to the London-based Saudi dissident Saad al-Faqih. Mr Faqih, who is based in Willesden, north-west London, and runs the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (Mira), was designated by the US treasury last December as a supporter of al-Qaida. The UK Treasury followed suit by freezing Mr Faqih's assets.

Speaking in December 2004 before the assets were frozen, Mr Faqih ridiculed any idea that "millions of dollars" would be frozen. "I have no assets in the US and all I have in the UK is a current account with a few hundred pounds."

Well? At least someone out there is doing something about all of this by trying to freeze the assets of people that are involved...

But could we do more? Maybe...

It was posted on an Arabic website, al-qal3ah.com, which is registered by Qalaah Qalaah in Abu Dhabi and hosted by a server in Houston, Texas.

One would hope that they will deal with this Houston companies involvement in promoting terror? Maybe freezing all of their assets too...

Maybe?

When pigs can fly!

The server in Houston has intriguing connections. Everyone's Internet was founded by brothers Robert and Roy Marsh in 1998 and by 2002 had an income of more than $30m (now about £17m).

...snip...
Roy Marsh counts among his friends President George Bush's former sister-in-law, Sharon Bush, and the president's navy secretary.

Everyone's Internet, which also hosts a number of pornographic sites, states: "We support the uncensored flow of information and ideas over the internet and do not actively monitor subscriber activity under normal circumstances."

I am sure that investigators will clear Roy of any wrongdoing AFTER they have completely gone through all of the porn on those houston servers owned by another bush family porn pal.

If you didn't care what happened to me,
And I didn't care for you
We would zig zag our way
Through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain
Wondering which of the buggers to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing

Pink Floyd, Animals

Don't let Bush lie & Change the subject

2005-07-10T03:48:00.000-05:00

President Bush tried to rescue his failed Iraq policy in a nationally televised address by connecting the Iraq war to the war on terror. He is trying to change the subject from Iraq to terrorism and September 11, implying that Iraq attacked us in 2001.
Watch the video:

https://www.moveonpac.org/hagel-QT.html

Statement by Prime Minister Paul Martin

2005-07-10T00:11:00.000-05:00

Prime Minister Paul Martin made the following statement: "We have been witness to acts of cowardice and terror. The London bombings are an unspeakable attack on the innocent and on a way of life.” Full Story:

http://www.liberal.ca/news_e.aspx?site=news&news=992

ON VIDEO! Bush's bike crash

2005-07-08T02:28:00.000-05:00

Thanks to:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/mopaul/wfalls.gif
(Via POAC)

Karl Rove's TREASON!

2005-07-02T11:17:00.000-05:00

WTF is the media thinking? OR do they really think at all?

MSNBC Analyst Says Cooper Documents Reveal Karl Rove as Source in Plame Case By E&P Staff

NEW YORK Now that Time Inc. has turned over documents to federal court, presumably revealing who its reporter, Matt Cooper, identified as his source in the Valerie Plame/CIA case, speculation runs rampant on the name of that source, and what might happen to him or her. Tonight,

...Snip...

"And I know I'm going to get pulled into the grand jury for saying this but the source of...for Matt Cooper was Karl Rove, and that will be revealed in this document dump that Time magazine's going to do with the grand jury."

Other panelists then joined in discussing whether, if true, this would suggest a perjury rap for Rove, if he told the grand jury he did not leak to Cooper.

A fucking perjury rap for a god-damned traitor to our country? I think not... A man who plays politics with the lives of people in our intelligence community, endangers potentially important covert contacts at a time of war, and they talk about perjury? This ain't no fucking BJ!!! This is treason! It looks like bush's brain has committed treason and should rot in jail for several lifetimes!
---------------------------

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

The Nation Weeps as the President Lies

2005-07-01T00:37:00.000-05:00

The Nation Weeps as the President Lies; a detailed annotated review of each of the flood of lies Bush told.By Anthony Wade

http://www.opednews.com/wade_062905_bush_lies.htm

The News Network bush Will Hate!

2005-06-26T19:01:00.000-05:00

This needs to be blasted into the Blogosphere!

IWT news
I don't really care if you want to miss out on this chance for truely independent news.

NO corporate backing, NO government funding, and NO commercials.

Just independent WORLD news, supported ONLY by the people.

http://www.iwtnews.com/

Watch the VIDEO, do the SURVEY, then you decide if they merit your support!

Now Click on the link and freep this survey! They desperately want everyone's input (and yes, they wouldn't mind your donation...)

http://www.iwtnews.com/survey

Independent World Television is building the world's first global independent news network. Online and on TV, IWTnews will deliver independent news and real debate from professional and citizen journalists -- without funding from governments, corporations or commercial advertising. Using the web to organize and raise funds across borders, IWTnews is building an international movement for democracy.

Sounds pretty fucking noble, huh?

A message from Jeff Cohen:

"Friends,

This is a project I've been working on since the election -- an effort to build the world's first indepedent global news channel...

independent of corporations and government... Sponsored only by its viewers...an alternative to Fox News and CNN.

Check out the new website

http://www.iwtnews.com/ and new video. Spread the word to your lists.

Let me know what you think.

-- jeff cohen, founder of FAIR"

Do yourself a favor... If you do anything today pass this link along on your Blog, in an email, on a message board. Anywhere!

If there is anyone that is sick of Micheal Jackson reports 24/7 and doesn't believe in what IWT News is doing than everything else they have been doing is a complete fucking waste of time!

You know I am right...

One day (perhaps right here and right now?) a formerly-ignorant person will thank you for this...

I thank you! ;)

Spread the REAL NEWS. IWT News!

Dividers, Not Uniters

2005-06-25T00:19:00.000-05:00

Just hours after learning about an outrageous speech delivered by Karl Rove, President Bush's most senior advisor, I went to the Senate floor -- and I spoke from my heart. I want to share those words with you -- not as a Democrat or Republican, not as a liberal or conservative -- but as an American.
I've attached part of my speech to the end of this email. But, before you read what I said, look again at what Karl Rove said:
(P)erhaps the most important difference between conservatives and liberals can be found in the area of national security. Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.
I hope you will join me right now in signing an open letter to the President urging him to thoroughly reject Karl Rove's purposeful attack on the patriotism of those who dare ask the tough questions that best protect American troops. Sign our open letter to President Bush now:

http://www.johnkerry.com/petition/rove.php

This isn't the first time that Karl Rove and other White House officials have sought to divide America in ways that make it harder to keep our country safe and our democracy strong. But, it should be the last. That's why I ended my speech with a call on President Bush to fire Karl Rove. It is the only way the President can make it clear that he rejects Rove's effort to distort one of the most unified and patriotic moments in American history into a cheap, divisive, political applause line.
That, of course, is what is most outrageous about Karl Rove's claim that President Bush's political opponents offered "therapy and understanding for our attackers." It isn't true. In the days after 9/11, there were no Democrats, no Republicans. We were all Americans, standing together. President Bush acknowledged that unity in a clear and compelling way at the time.
Now, Karl Rove is purposely twisting those days of unity in order to divide us for political gain. I hope you will act right now to join a growing chorus of Americans calling on the President to fire Karl Rove.
http://www.johnkerry.com/petition/rove.php
Please act right now. Sign our open letter to the President and pass it on to others. All Americans have to speak with one powerful voice in response to this outrage. I will continue speaking out and I know I can count on you to stand with me.
Sincerely,
John Kerry
Make America Safe, Not Divided Excerpts of remarks by Senator John Kerry on the Senate floor on Thursday, June 23.
"None of us here will ever forget the hours after September 11... and the remarkable response of the American people as we came together as one to answer the attack on our homeland.... [I]t brought out the best of all of us in America.
That spirit of our country should never be reduced to a cheap, divisive political applause line from anyone who speaks for the President of the United States.
I am proud, as my colleagues on this side are, that after September 11, all of the people of this country rallied to President Bush's call for unity to meet the danger. There were no Democrats, there were no Republicans, there were only Americans. That is why it is really hard to believe that last night in New York... the most senior adviser to the President of the United States [was] purposely twisting those days of unity in order to divide us for political gain.
Rather than focusing attention on Osama bin Laden and finding him or rather than focusing attention on just smashing al-Qaida and uniting our effort, as we have been, he is, instead, challenging the patriotism of every American who is every bit as committed to fighting terror as is he.
Just days after 9/11, the Senate voted 98 to nothing, and the House voted 420 to 1, to authorize President Bush to use all necessary and appropriate force against terror. And after the bipartisan vote, President Bush said: "I'm gratified that the Congress has united so powerfully by taking this action. It sends a clear message. Our people are together and we will prevail."
That is not the message that was sent by Karl Rove in New York City last night. Last night, he said: "No more needs to be said about" their "motives."
I think a lot more needs to be said about Karl Rove's motives because they are not the people's motives... They are not the motives of a nation that found unity in that critical moment--Democrat and Republican alike, all of us as Americans.
If the President really believes his own words, if those words have meaning, he should at the very least expect a public apology from Karl Rove. And frankly, he ought to fire him. If the President of the United States knows the meaning of those words, then he ought to listen to the plea of Kristen Breitweiser, who lost her husband when the Twin Towers came crashing down. She said: "If you are going to use 9/11, use it to make this nation safer than it was on 9/11."
Karl Rove doesn't owe me an apology and he doesn't owe Democrats an apology. He owes the country an apology. He owes Kristen Breitweiser and a lot of people like her, those families, an apology. He owes an apology to every one of those families who paid the ultimate price on 9/11 and expect their government to be doing all possible to keep the unity of their country and to fight an effective war on terror.
The fact is, millions of Americans...are asking Washington for honesty, for results, and for leadership--not for political division. Before Karl Rove delivers another political assault, he ought to stop and think about those families and the unity of 9/11.

The Duke of Hurl

2005-06-24T13:51:00.000-05:00

We have all read the ongoing fish story (it keeps getting bigger and bigger!) of Republican Randy "The Duke" Cunningham getting a nice profit of $700,000 from Mitchell J. Wade, "the defense contractor whose firm, MZM Inc., saw its number of government contracts soar in the months immediately after the home sale."

Cunningham, obviously feeling a little seasick from the accusations, has hurled noxious reasoning at the situation in claiming that he is the most ethical human on the face of the earth:

signonsandiego.com
"My whole life I've lived aboveboard," Cunningham said. "I've never even smoked a marijuana cigarette. I don't cheat. If a contractor buys me lunch and we meet a second time, I buy the lunch. My whole life has been aboveboard and so this doesn't worry me."

Sure you buy them lunch, just like I am buying your story. Now the sharks are circling in a feeding frenzy around a deal that involves the "rental" of a 42 foot yacht, "The Duke-Stir", owned by Wade.

nctimes.com
Cunningham since April 2004 has been living on Wade's yacht in Washington. The congressman said that in lieu of rent, he paid more than $8,000 in dock fees and $5,000 for upkeep on Wade's boat.

We can set aside the dock fees, because Cunningham rented space for his own boat at the Potomac River marina for years before he moved into Wade's boat. According to Cunningham's accounting, that $5,000 over the last 14 months amounts to $357 a month.

Unless we are missing something, this looks like a sweetheart deal, with Cunningham paying far less than market rent, to say nothing of the true maintenance and depreciation costs of a fancy boat.

$357 dollars per month for a luxurious yacht? "Sweetheart deal"? You have got to be kidding right? Why even bother charging at that price? Around here that will get you a cardboard box in a park to live in.

Now, I am in a pretty generous mood today, so I will be nice enough to allow Cunningham the luxury of claiming the docking fees as a "legitimate" part of his rental fee. That would make $13,000 for 14 months of living on the "Duke-Stir". Being in a generous mood I will say that is about $930 per month. ($928.57 per month, to be precise)

Considering my wife and I pay about 2 grand per month on our mortgage that $930 per month seems a little bit skewerd for a luxury yacht charter?

Heck! My friends and I are looking at paying about a grand to charter a fishing boat for a day. It's a nice fishing boat, but it is not a yacht... So my mortgage really seems WAY too generous a comparison.

I found a nice charter service running out of Annapolis, Maryland, to try and do an honest comparison of how much a yacht would typically cost to charter. I chose only the yachts on the list that were within a few feet of the 42 foot Duke-Stir's length.

Name-------------Length---7 Days---14 Days
Llyric--------------------39------2532-----4561
Ray Sea Lady-------39------2745-----4886
Shenandoah----------41------2379-----4235
Engram-----------------43------3111-----5538
Wind Walker---------43------2196-----3909
Carolina----------------43------3111-----5538

To make this comparison as fair as possible I have also chosen the least expensive yacht on this list of comparable yachts, the Wind Walker, to base some (not so) fun calculations on.

At $3909 for a 2 week charter you would have to figure that it would come in at $7818 for 28 days... But continuing to be in a generous mood I will call that the full monthly charter cost. (Man! Am I ever generous today, huh?)

That means that to charter a yacht like the "Duke-Stir" it would cost $109,452 for 14 months, at the minimum by my more-than-generous calculations. Subtract the generous $13,000 that Cunningham claims to have paid in "rent" and you are looking at what is an extremely generous gift to Cunningham from Wade of...

$96,452

Keep in mind that this generously low calculation of Wades "Duke-Stir" gift is just tip of the iceberg when compared to the titanic $700,000 house warming gift that will sink Cunningham.

Kind of makes you want to hurl when Cunningham says, "My whole life I've lived aboveboard," eh? It is time to throw this ethically challenged Republican overboard. Feed him to the circling sharks. I am certainly being more than generous in that thought than he deserves...

Update: This is an excerpt from a signonsandiego.com news story where they do an indepth evaluation of the actual value of Cunningham's home:

Cunningham previously lived in the same slip aboard a 65-foot yacht called the Kelly C. Coast Guard records list Cunningham as the owner of the Kelly C.

In 1998, when Cunningham was living aboard the Kelly C, he used his position on the defense appropriations subcommittee, which oversees the District of Columbia's budget, to earmark $3 million to refurbish the waterfront where the yacht was docked.

Shortly after Congress approved the funding, Cunningham told Copley News Service he was fulfilling his duties as a member of the subcommittee.

It was not, he said then, because the beautification project would benefit an area he calls home when he is working in the nation's capital. It was, he said, because then-Speaker Newt Gingrich "said he wants to make D.C. a shining city, and so I said, 'OK, . . . I want to clean up the waterfront' . . . not for Duke Cunningham," he added. "I haven't got a nickel invested."

As Cunningham's office tries to deal with questions about Wade's yacht, a controversy continues to swirl around the sale of the congressman's Del Mar house. Real estate professionals in San Diego have questioned the sale's circumstances, saying their review of the comparable sales do not support the price that Wade paid Cunningham in November 2003.

Go read the entire story... It has a nice pic of the luxury yacht, Duke-Stir. It also makes a mockery of Cunningham's "aboveboard" life.

If it ain't broke, don't privatize it!

2005-06-24T00:44:00.000-05:00

Just the facts:

http://www.bushin30years.org

Watch the GOP eat their own alive!

2005-06-22T16:42:00.000-05:00

Don't you just love it when the GOP eats it's own children?

If you had any doubts whatsoever about whether or not the GOP is interested in any kind of bi-partisan efforts look no further than the actions of their party when it comes to bi-partisan efforts.

NFRA: Arizona Republican Assembly Votes Unanimously to Censure Senator McCain: "The resolution reads as follows:

WHEREAS, Senator John McCain is presently co-sponsoring, together with his Democrat soul-mate, Senator Teddy Kennedy, a Bill to Reform the Immigration Policy of the United States promoting amnesty for illegal aliens and for their U.S. employers, thus ignoring the opinions of his constituents expressed in numerous polls and personal pleas; and

OMG! The horror! He is doing pretty much what bush has been doing and wanted to do all along... Did you think those little cards bush wanted to give illegal immigrants would have led to anything else?

WHEREAS, Senator McCain deserted the ranks of the Republican Party and the Leadership of the U.S. Senate on the issue of limiting the filibuster of judicial nominations, some of which have been on-hold for several years, thus stalling the President’s agenda for judicial reform; and

OMG! It's unthinkable! Can you believe that he supported a bi-partisan effort to keep the fillibuster in place when most Americans agree with the use of the fillibuster? Maybe most Americans really are not happy with the GOP, huh?

WHEREAS, Senator McCain led the Democrat Party in “reforming” campaign finance, providing for a clear usurpation of 1 st Amendment free speech rights during the last 60 days of an election campaign, and leading to an orgy of spending in the 2004 elections;

OMG! The unspeakable! 60 more days of swift boat lies... Ok, maybe they are right there. lol

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Arizona Republican Assembly (ARA) officially and publicly censures Senator John McCain for dereliction of his duties and responsibilities as a representative of the citizens of Arizona; and "

Yep! The hypocritical GOP... The party that cries about a lack of bi-partisan effort from everyone else, but CENSURES their own members in a cannibalistic manner when they don't like the results of bi-partisan efforts! You are all a bunch of corrupt, lying, sleazy, pornographic, two-faced pieces of CRAP!

CRAP
(Christian Racist Armed Party)

EFF: Homepage

2005-06-20T09:25:00.000-05:00

Not sure if what you are doing is legal? Not certain if you could get harrassed by the long arm of the law for excersizing your right to freedom of speech? Confusled about how all of the new laws may effect you and your Blogging activities?

Have I got a link for you!

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has put together some primo information for you to peruse when you aren't too busy blogging.

EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers:
"EFF Announces its New Legal Guide for Bloggers
We are pleased to release a document that informs bloggers of their legal rights. EFF's 'Legal Guide for Bloggers' is a collection of frequently asked questions (FAQs) designed to educate bloggers about their legal rights in a number of areas, including libel law, copyright law, and political advocacy.
Full story, Legal Guide for Bloggers, More on Blogging
June 13, 2005"

Are you a political Blogger? They have a section just for your Blog, and how the laws will effect you! EFF has been nice enough to put together some simple straight forward answers to many questions that you may have concerning most types of Blogs.

Thanks EFF!

Tom Delay's Corruption

2005-06-18T02:03:00.000-05:00

I am inviting you to take action stop Tom DeLay's corruption. I already sent a message to Tom DeLay's corporate backers and you can too by visiting
http://www.DropTheHammer.org

Americans United to Protect Social Security

2005-06-18T01:54:00.000-05:00

Take a stand for Social Security. The Bush plan would cut benefits, privatize Social Security which would gut a sound program and cost trillions of dollars of debt. Please sign the petition to Congress opposing Social Security privatization. A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to your Senators and Representative when you click the link below.

http://www.moveonpac.org/socialsecurity

****************************************************

For further information about the Social Security plan please also visit this website as well.

http://www.protectyourcheck.org

Downing Street Memo Smoking Gun

2005-06-18T01:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Congressman John Conyers delivered 560,000 petition signatures to the White House—including more than 360,000 from MoveOn members—demanding that President Bush address smoking-gun evidence of deception in the Downing Street Memos.1
After holding nearly four hours of hearings about the Downing Street Memos on Capitol Hill, the Congressman went over to The White House accompanied by a dozen leading Democrats. They marched solemnly towards The White House gate as swarms of media clicked, filmed and shouted questions. As they approached the gate to White House grounds a lone, young Bush staffer met the delegation—he literally trembled when Conyers said they had come to deliver the signatures of 560,000 Americans demanding the truth about Iraq. The White House staff refused Conyers entrance to see the president but accepted the petitions.
MoveOn members made a huge difference here—shooting up the number of petition signers at a critical time in the drive to bring attention to the Downing Street Memos.
And thanks in part to your pressure and Congressman Conyers' high profile hearings andpetition delivery, the media has finally begun to cover the scandalous Downing Street Memos—we counted 1,600 news stories in Google today. The Seattle Times, Denver Post, Boston Globe, CNN, ABC and hundreds of other media outlets have been forced to report on the memos.2
Howard Kurtz, media columnist for The Washington Post, wrote about the surging coverage of the Downing Street Memos, noting that:
A wide range of critics, including the ombudsmen of the NYT and WP, says the press bobbled the ball on the Downing Street Memo. The memo may not be the slam-dunk about the Bush administration fixing intelligence that its supporters believe—the British author cites no specifics as proof—but it was a newsworthy and provocative development, as the press is belatedly realizing.3
Now the press is taking notice because they couldn't ignore it anymore. Check out this petition.

http://www.moveon.org/tellthetruth

Sources:
1. "Bush pressed to answer 'Downing Street Memo' questions," Associated Press, June 16, 2005http://www.moveon.org/r?r=750
2. Google News search for 'Downing Street Memo'http://www.moveon.org/r?r=751
3. "Backlash on the Left," The Washington Post, June 15, 2005http://www.moveon.org/r?r=752

BNB: The Newest "Team Blog"

2005-06-15T12:40:00.000-05:00

I am happy to announce that Blue Note Bloggers is finally going "Team Blog"!

I won't need to tell you much about DemocratKickingAss... I'll just let his posts do the talking.

A big welcome to the first new member of Blue Note Bloggers who should be posting here soon enough. (If he hasn't already? lol) He may be the first to join me on BNB, but he will not be the last. This will be a very active Blog with diverse opinions by the time the BNB Team is filled out. Each member will offer unique expertise, views, and insight into various topics. BNB will not be an echo chamber.

Anyone that knows me knows that I am an unregistered independent, but DemocratKickingAss is a Dem supporter (who would've guessed with that name, huh?) that I have been working with for a while to help get factual information out about political issues and news that gets no, or only GOP biased, play in the GOP owned spin zone called the MSM.

Look for other interesting members to sign on to Blue Note Bloggers soon, but for now it's back to work!

"This is what you did!"

2005-06-09T17:25:00.000-05:00

Pollitical accountability, huh?

If you really want to find out who supported bush and the RNC with their money (A sure sign of who they voted for, right?) in the last election I have a link that will lead you to some of their supporters...

http://www.fundrace.org/neighbors.php

Fundrace Neighbor Search - ignore the lawn signs, see which candidates your neighbors really support

Click on the link, enter your zip, and presto!
A list of some local donors to political campaigns.

The list may not be complete, but it is a good starting point if you want to send a letter of reccomendation that THEY, OR SOMEONE IN THEIR FAMILY SHOULD ENLIST! I found about 8 people in my own town that need to know they have yet been held accountable.

Yes, this is what you call accountability.

Atrios recently had a link a link to an interesting Blog by Driftglass (I think it is a crossposted Blog) in response to a blog on the Downing Street Minutes (OK, so they refered to a memo, but I am fixing that mistake to be kind!)

An excellent read!

"Here's what you said,
and here's what you did.
You were wrong.
Apologize."

Well...
The mantra of this campaign could be:

"This what you did,
and this is what happened.
You were wrong.
ENLIST."

Heck... you could even request an infopack direct from the Army for them! Just fill in their name and address there, the Army will mail it to them. (Make sure you ask about 11x, 11b, 11m, etc., series work because that is Infantry)

Of course... You might want to do a letter in the name of George W. Bush! (Certainly anonomously, at the minimum) Let them know that bush needs THEM! Maybe even bush could get a letter suggesting his daughters enlist?

CBC News: Police investigating Christian activist for hate crimes

2005-06-08T10:38:00.000-05:00

It is nice to know that in Canada they call it what it is:

It's a hate crime, eh!

Should it be made illegal in the US? I don't think so.

Proving that he is just another in a long line of seriously screwed up anti-equality gay bashers, women's rights haters, Whatcott is just typical of where the hate comes from. There have been a lot of these lately. This is what happens when someone is taught to loath themselves by right wing fundementalist christian clerics.

CBC News: Police investigating Christian activist for hate crimes: "Police investigating Christian activist for hate crimes
Last Updated Wed, 08 Jun 2005 09:52:23 EDT
CBC News

Two thousand leaflets attacking gays and lesbians have put a Christian activist in western Canada under investigation by Edmonton police for hate crimes.

The flyers by Bill Whatcott of Regina refer to gay marriage as 'sodomite marriage' and use graphic language to describe the alleged sex practices of homosexuals.

The handouts also used derogatory terms to describe federal Defence Minister Bill Graham.

Whatcott stuffed his pamphlets into mailboxes in the riding of Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, and some recipients complained to police.

'The material is offensive and it's an affront on the basic tenets of our society, which is about multiculturalism, tolerance and peaceful co-existence,' Const. Steve Camp, of the Edmonton police hate crimes unit, said.

The Pride Centre of Edmonton said it would take the case to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission if no criminal charges arise from the police investigation.

Whatcott has led protests across Saskatchewan and Alberta against abortion and gays.

He says he was a gay prostitute until age 18 to pay for a drug habit, then became leader of a small group called the Christian Truth Activists.

You may or may not have noted that I call these radical fundementalist christians with a little "c"...

Why?

Because they are not really Christians at all. They are really just radical right wing hatemongers using Christianity as a tub to thump out hate messages.

Personally, I think freedom of speech helps to expose the public to all of the "who and what" that supports both the good and bad messages.

Given his previous work experience do you think there are any GOP talking point newsletters that would hire him and send him to cover the White House? Karl Rove sure misses the coverage provided by real GOP men like Jeff Gannon now that they have to deal with the Downing Street Minutes...

2005-06-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

The real news about the latest operations in Iraq?

According to Dahr Jamail it is pretty much chaos purposefully caused by the US military with the intent of causing civil war.

60,000 Iraqis 'Disappeared' into US Camps:
by Dahr Jamail, 1 June 2005
The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/JAM506B.html

Go to the article link and listen to what Dahr has to say in the telephone interview filed from Amman.

Independent journalist, Dahr Jamail, citing local humanitarian and other sources says the number of Iraqis detained by occupation forces is now well over 60,000 -far in excess of the commonly quoted official figure of 17,000.

Speaking exclusively to BreakForNews.com from Amman, Jordan on Monday night, Jamail said his sources included many doctors and the director of a humanitarian organization in Fallujah.
Broadcast - 05/30/05"

You have known from the begining that the inept bush regime has been operating this like they want complete and total chaos on the streets of Iraq... Guess what?

You were right. Sad but true...

The complete and total violation of the laws of war. Americans that support this in any way, shape, or form are so guilty of crimes against humanity. This completely disgusts me.

OHIO GOP CRIMINALS say "We're Sorry!"

2005-06-02T11:24:00.000-05:00

The sad truth is that they mean they are sorry they got caught. I know their apologies will make it all better. I think this sets a great example for kids everywhere.

The message the Ohio GOP is sending out about morality to kids across America:

It is Okay to take bribes if you return the money when, and only if, you get caught. (Unless you are the Governtor Arnold in California, then you refuse to return the $10,000)

toledoblade.com:
Ohio GOP leaders vow to return funds given by coin dealer

Republican Sens. Mike DeWine, George Voinovich, and Gov. Bob Taft plan to refund money given to their campaigns by Tom Noe, who is under investigation.

By STEVE EDER, BLADE STAFF WRITER

COLUMBUS - President Bush's political advisers are 'looking into' what to do with more than $100,000 in campaign money raised by Tom Noe after Ohio's governor and U.S. senators announced yesterday that they would refund thousands of dollars contributed to their campaigns by the Toledo-area coin dealer.

'We are in the process of looking into the situation and we will take the appropriate legal action if the situation dictates that's what we need to do,' Brian Jones, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said last night.

The White House has deferred all Noe fund-raising questions to the RNC.

Gov. Bob Taft, as well as U.S. Sens. George Voinovich and Mike DeWine, and a host of top Ohio Republican leaders, including three GOP gubernatorial candidates, yesterday said they would refund contributions from Mr. Noe, who is facing federal and state investigations.

The contributions likely will be donated to charitable organizations, which have not been announced - but the money will not be returned to Mr. Noe.

In a statement, Mr. Taft and Bob Bennett, chairman of the

Ohio Republican Party, said about $50,000 in contributions by Mr. Noe, mostly given to Republican leaders since the coin dealer started doing business with the state in 1998, would be placed in escrow - and then transferred to an 'appropriate entity.'

'We want to send a message loud and clear to the people of Ohio that Mr. Noe's actions will not be tolerated. Ohioans deserve bold and aggressive leadership in cleaning up this abuse of public trust, and we are committed to providing that leadership,' Mr. Taft and Mr. Bennett said.

Hey Taft, Bennet, and Voinovich:
"YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!"
What a great bunch of role model precedents the GOP is developing for our nation. The GOP is sending a message LOUD AND CLEAR that:

The GOP should never take responsibility for their actions.

Bribes and kickbacks are good, unless you get caught, BUT then returning the money is good enough to be forgiven.

War against the weak is good if there is oil involved.

Rich elitists need tax cuts, but the poor... What poor?

Torture is fine, but reporting the facts about it is taboo.

Killing a child is a horrible crime, until the child is old enough to have their parents let them enlist.

Soldiers need a pat on the back, not medical benefits and decent wages.

The list could go on and on...

The GOP sickens me. At every single level of government they are corrupt and have no moral values. I know this for a fact becuase I live in Corrupticut, (AKA: Connecticut), so named because it is the state with the second highest number of corrupt GOP members in the USA, as revealed over the last few years... We would be number one with a bullet except for Texans like Delay and, of course, bush and his oil cartel administration are the worst and most corrupt the USA has ever seen.

Perhaps, rather than vowing to return their corrupt fortunes, they would better serve America by quitting politics and taking a vow of chastity? It would mean, at the very least, one less child could be corrupted by their political schemes.

As a side note: bush gave his $4000 Noe illegal campaign donation to charity last week, but refuses to provide any satisfaction on Noe's $100,000 fund raising efforts. I wonder why?

It's all Viagras fault!

2005-05-29T11:16:00.000-05:00

Recent reports of Viagra's and Cialis' possible blinding side effects has been a hotbed of political conspiracy amongst a very few people with time on their hands for one handed typing.

CNN.com - FDA probes blindness among Viagra users - May 27, 2005: "FDA probes blindness among Viagra users

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal health officials are examining rare reports of blindness among some men using the impotence drugs Viagra and Cialis, a disclosure that comes at a time when the drug industry can ill afford negative publicity about another class of blockbuster medicines.

The Food and Drug Administration still is investigating, but has no evidence yet that the drug is to blame, said spokeswoman Susan Cruzan.

This type of blindness is called NAION, or non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. It can occur in men who are diabetic or have heart disease, the same conditions that can cause impotence and thus lead to Viagra use."

It is expected that Dobson will come out and blame Viagra leading to increased homosexual acts and sex with minors since the users may not be able to see where they are pointing that dangerous object.

Voting groups soon will be seeking injuctions to bar Viagara users from voting since it is already "hard enough for non-users of these powerful drugs to figure out most balloting systems when you aren't blind and horny" according to Bev Harris.

The White House has scheduled a news briefing to announce their support for any drugs that might induce more republican votes as welcome news after comparing staff notes in the Jeff Gannon room (one of the White House hallway closets) and coming to the realization that while they are just small members of the conservative party they certainly needed the support of Viagara to gain re-erection, err, re-election.

While the presidents position on viagra is often referred to as the "doggy style" there is much speculation that both Jeff Gannon and Karl Rove prefer bush on his back and legs in the air. More to come on this "HARD NEWS" story.

Yep, truth can be stranger than fiction...
BUT sometimes fiction is just stranger truth...

bush Oil-for-Food kickbacks to Saddam revealed

2005-05-25T20:37:00.000-05:00

Unlike our President that has turned a blind eye to American evidence in the Oil-for-Food scandal because of the trail of oily fingerprints, a media ignored part of the Dems minority report on the scandal isn't so kind. The Bayoil links to Enron and bush family members are revealed in the last few paragraphs of this article by Wayne Madsen. I encourage you to click on the article title and read it in full. It is a real eye opener for Americans and a black eye for bush.

Galloway tongue-lashes Coleman; committee documents show Bush political friends and family paid Oil-for-Food kickbacks to Saddam Hussein:

"Coleman and Levin wrote a February 8, 2005, letter to Rumsfeld asking about the operations of the Maritime Interdiction Force in the Gulf prior to the war. A similar letter was sent to the State Department inquiring about the illegal Khor al-Amaya oil shipments. To date, the committee has not received an answer from either Rumfeld or Rice.

Minority report documents indicate that one of the largest recipients of Bayoil Iraqi oil shipments was Enron, the bankrupt company that served as a virtual slush fund for the political campaigns of George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

At the same time Enron Chairman Kenneth ('Kenny Boy') Lay was involved in Vice President Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force secret dealings and when he was stuffing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the pockets of George W. Bush and Cheney's political campaign, he also managed to illegally stick $206, 757 into the pockets of Saddam Hussein and his cohorts.

The Iraqi Oil-for-Food scandal also involves one of the Bush children—Dorothy 'Doro' Bush Koch, sister of George W. Bush and married to Bobby Koch, reportedly a cousin in the oil industry Koch family, the owner of Koch Industries, which is also one of Bush's largest political donors. The minority committee report indicates that Koch Industries was also a major recipient of illegal Iraqi oil and a huge source of kickbacks to Saddam Hussein:

The total sum in kickbacks from George W. Bush's cousin-in-laws to Saddam's bank accounts: $1,294,620.

George Galloway was correct when he called the Coleman Committee the "mother of all smoke screens." Major political contributors and friends of Bush not only paid illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein but personally profited from sanctions-busting with Iraq. Those involved in the scheme included individuals who date back to the Reagan/Bush 41 "cluster bombs and biological and chemical weapons-for-oil" scandal of the 1980s. Galloway is correct when he stated that there is enough evidence on Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair and their neocon advisers to park them in prison cells in The Hague for an awfully long time.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based journalist and nationally distributed columnist.

Not only does this article reveal bush family and friends connections to the Oil-for-Food scandal, but it also shows ties to members of the bush sr. Saddam-Iran deals with rummy the dummy, Condi "Chevron" Rice, and Dick Cheney's energy task force.

Galloway was right in his statements directed at Coleman, and at this point there is only one question left to ask: "Are there any of these modern-day pseudoconservatives that were not dipping their hands in the Oil-for-Food barrel?" The trail of oily fingerprints makes a convincing case for Galloway's statements, and the hypocrisy of all of the bleating going on in the bush herd about UN Oil-for-Food scandals.

Why has nobody impeached this idiot in the White House yet? How much evidence of corruption and lying do you need? The Downing Street Memo and all of the supporting minutes of bush admin. meetings with the Blair admin. prove that bush lied to the Senate to start the Iraqi invasion. Now you have evidence that bush and his admin. are tied in to Saddam kickbacks. The media ignores these issues. Too many Americans sit on their hands saying to themselves that they are the little guy and can't do anything about it. These are sad times in our nation when good Americans won't get off their ass and do something about it!

www.impeachbush.org

Consider the Source

2005-05-20T15:04:00.000-05:00

Is Newsweek making fun of Scott McClellan and the White House in their latest headline "Consider the Source"? If they aren't, then I am...

MSNBC - Consider the Source
Consider the Source

The State Department says MEK is a terror group. Human Rights Watch says it’s a cult. For the White House, MEK is a source of intelligence on Iran.

By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Updated: 4:35 p.m. ET May 19, 2005

May 18 - A controversial exile movement cited by President George W. Bush as a source of information on Iran's nuclear ambitions is condemned for psychologically and physically abusing its own members in a new report by Human Rights Watch.

In a document scheduled for public release this week, Human Rights Watch alleges that the Iranian exile group known as Mujahedine Khalq (MEK) has a history of cultlike practices that include forcing members to divorce their spouses and to engage in extended self-criticism sessions.

More dramatically, the report states, former MEK members told Human Rights Watch that when they protested MEK policies or tried to leave the organization, they were arrested, in some cases violently abused and in other instances imprisoned. Two former recruits told the human-rights group that they were held in solitary confinement for years in a camp operated by MEK in Iraq under the protection of Saddam Hussein. MEK representatives in the United States and France, where MEK is headquartered, did not immediately respond to NEWSWEEK phone calls and an e-mail requesting comment.

MEK has long been controversial because of its history of violent attacks in Iran, its relationship with Saddam's regime and its background as a quasi-religious, quasi-Marxist radical resistance group founded in the era of the late Iranian shah. In 1997, the Clinton administration put MEK on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist groups. MEK's U.S. supporters, among whom at one point numbered dozens of members of Congress, charged that the Clinton administration only labeled MEK as a terrorist group as part of an ill-conceived attempt to improve relations with the ayatollahs who currently run Iran. However, the Bush administration added two alleged MEK front organizations to the State Department's terrorist list in 2003.

Despite the group's notoriety, Bush himself cited purported intelligence gathered by MEK as evidence of the Iranian regime's rapidly accelerating nuclear ambitions. At a March 16 press conference, Bush said Iran's hidden nuclear program had been discovered not because of international inspections but "because a dissident group pointed it out to the world." White House aides acknowledged later that the dissident group cited by the president is the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), one of the MEK front groups added to the State Department list two years ago.

In an appearance before a House International Relations Subcommittee a year ago, John Bolton, the controversial State Department undersecretary who Bush has nominated to become US ambassador to the United Nations, was questioned by a Congressman sympathetic to MEK about whether it was appropriate for the U.S. government to pay attention to allegations about Iran supplied by the group. Bolton said he believed that MEK "qualifies as a terrorist organization according to our criteria." But he added that he did not think the official label had "prohibited us from getting information from them. And I certainly don't have any inhibition about getting information about what's going on in Iran from whatever source we can find that we deem reliable."

However, current and former senior U.S. national-security officials, who asked not to be named because they are not supposed to talk about intelligence-gathering activities, say that all the major revelations MEK publicly claims to have made regarding nuclear advances in Iran were reported in classified form—and from other sources—to U.S. policymakers before MEK made them public. A Western diplomat familiar with the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations component that has been monitoring Iran's nuclear program, said that while the MEK has occasionally come up with accurate information about Iran's nukes, the group has come up with a similar number of other tips that have not checked out.

According to Human Rights Watch, several members of Congress, including both Republicans and Democrats, only last month attended a Washington meeting of a legal "MKO-backed" group called the National Convention for a Democratic, Secular Republic in Iran. In February, the group says, a think tank co-chaired by retired U.S. military officers called for MEK to be dropped from the State Department terrorist list and recommended that the U.S. government actively support MEK in its campaign to bring down the Iranian theocracy.

According to administration officials, some Pentagon officials want to recruit former MEK members as U.S. secret agents who would infiltrate Iran on intelligence missions. The Pentagon has emphatically insisted that it has no plans to work with the MEK or any of the group's members.

The new Human Rights Watch report offers no insight into the validity or inaccuracy of MEK information about Iranian's nuclear program but it does allege strange and sometimes brutal behavior by the group’s leaders and internal security apparatus. According to the report, MEK, formed in 1965 by three political activists, originally was an "urban guerilla group" which participated in the struggle against the shah that resulted in the 1979 Iranian revolution and produced the current theocratic regime in Tehran.

In an early schism following the revolution, the MEK and Abolhassan Bani Sadr, briefly Iran's president during the 1980 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis, split away from the main revolutionary movement led by Ayatollah Khomeini and went into exile. Later, Bani Sadr in turn split from MEK after a disagreement with Massoud Rajavi, who, with his wife, Maryam, subsequently became the movement's unchallenged leader. During the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam allowed MEK to set up several military camps in Iraq—with a headquarters encampment near Baghdad known as Camp Ashraf—and the group proceeded to conduct paramilitary operations against the Tehran regime, the largest of which was mounted—unsuccessfully—shortly after Iran agreed to a U.N.-brokered ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War. MEK reportedly lost more than 1,000 fighters in this attack.

According to Human Rights Watch, following this 1988 military defeat, the Rajavi's leadership of MEK became increasingly authoritarian and cultlike. According to an MEK defector's memoir, Rajavi claimed to have a mystical relationship with a prophet known as Imam Zaman, who is Shia Islam's version of the long-awaited Messiah. In order to better cement their relationship with their leader, and hence ultimately their Messiah, Rajavi then instructed his followers to divorce their spouses. The group had already established a practice of "self criticism," under which members were asked to undergo their own personal "ideological revolution" by confessing personal inadequacies in cultlike confession sessions.

Paranoid about defectors and possible infiltrators from the Tehran regime's intelligence apparatus, in the l990s, according to Human Rights Watch, MEK leadership ordered a series of stringent "security clearances" in which "many" members were arrested by group organizers and interrogated and even imprisoned in special buildings inside the boundaries of MEK camps in Saddam-ruled Iraq. Human Rights Watch says the testimony of former MEK prisoners paints "a grim picture of how the organization treated its members, particularly those who held dissenting opinions or expressed an intent to leave the organization."

Witnesses contacted by Human Rights Watch reported two deaths during the course of MEK internal interrogations and other cases of lengthy imprisonment. One MEK detainee interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Mohammad Hussein Sobhani, claimed to have spent eight and a half years in solitary confinement in MEK detention facilities after he started raising questions about the leadership's policies. He said he was beaten on 11 occasions with wooden sticks and leather belts. Another former MEK member interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Farhad Javaheri-Yar, claimed to have been imprisoned in solitary confinement by the group for five years.

Other witnesses told Human Rights Watch claimed it was the practice of MEK interrogators to tie thick ropes around prisoners' necks and drag them along the ground. One witness told investigators: "Sometimes prisoners returned to the cell with extremely swollen necks—their head and neck as big as a pillow." In a statement accompanying its investigative report, Joe Stork, a Human Rights Watch expert on the Middle East, commented: "The Iranian government has a dreadful record on human rights. But it would be a mistake to promote an opposition group that is responsible for serious human rights abuses.”
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

© 2005 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7902719/site/newsweek/

OOPS! Someone forgot to tell the press secretary the news?

2005-05-18T19:55:00.000-05:00

People living in the bush fantasy world try and blame Newsweek for riots caused by the bush regimes policies, but "Bloggerman" Keith Olberman had some interesting remarks about the White House statements that resulted. As for Scott Mclellan, he can sit on this and rotate for a while...

Afghan Riots Not Tied to Report on Quran Handling, General Says, Army investigating allegations of mishandling at Guantanamo Bay facility

By Jacquelyn S. Porth
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff says a report from Afghanistan suggests that rioting in Jalalabad on May 11 was not necessarily connected to press reports that the Quran might have been desecrated in the presence of Muslim prisoners held in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Air Force General Richard Myers told reporters at the Pentagon May 12 that he has been told that the Jalalabad, Afghanistan, rioting was related more to the ongoing political reconciliation process in Afghanistan than anything else.

According to initial reports, the situation in Jalalabad began on May 10 with peaceful student protests reacting to a report in Newsweek magazine that U.S. military interrogators questioning Muslim detainees at the Guantanamo detention center “had placed Quran s on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book.” By the following day the protests in the city had turned violent with reports of several individuals killed, dozens wounded, and widespread looting of government, diplomatic and nongovernmental assets.

However, Myers said an after-action report provided by U.S. Army Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, commander of the Combined Forces in Afghanistan, indicated that the political violence was not, in fact, connected to the magazine report.

Meanwhile, Myers said the U.S. military has assigned Army General Bantz Craddock to investigate allegations about the handling of the Quran at Guantanamo. Craddock brings the full weight of his responsibility as commander of the U.S. Southern Command to this effort.

Myers said the International Committee of the Red Cross has approved the edition of the Quran that has been distributed to Muslim detainees in Guantanamo. Craddock has been investigating the claim that proper respect was not given to the Koran. There are now some 550 enemy combatants at the military installation, which is designed to isolate individuals whom the military has identified as likely to have valuable intelligence about international terrorism.

Craddock and his team have examined the prisoner interrogation logs and Myers said “they cannot confirm yet” that there ever was a case of a U.S. interrogator flushing a Quran down the toilet. He did say there is another unconfirmed log reference to a guard report that a detainee tore pages from the Quran and flushed them in an attempt to flood the holding area as a form of protest.

Myers answered questions about the alleged Quran incident on the same day that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addressed the issue during an appearance before the House International Relations Committee.

She said disrespect for the Quran will never be tolerated by the United States and such disrespect “is abhorrent to us all.” Pakistan has voiced its concerns about the alleged incident, and Rice said the United States understands and shares the concerns of its Muslim friends. She went on to voice this request: “I am asking that all our friends around the world reject incitement to violence by those who would mischaracterize our intentions.” (See related article.)

INSURGENCY SEEKS TO DISCREDIT NEW IRAQI CABINET, MYERS SAYS

At the Pentagon, Myers was also questioned closely about the increase in violence in Iraq in recent weeks. He acknowledged that there has been “a spike in violence in early May,” but he said this is to be expected given the “very violent insurgency” that is under way in that country.

The insurgency’s use of a variety of roadside and car bombs has been difficult to thwart, the general said. He also noted the difficulty of sealing Iraq’s borders against infiltrators. On this “we need cooperation from Iraq’s neighbors” -- an issue that is being pursued vigorously, Myers said.

Most insurgencies have a lifespan of three to nine years, Myers said, and addressing them militarily requires patience. In this case, the insurgents are out to discredit the newly formed Iraqi Cabinet, he said.

Myers made his remarks during an appearance with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and other senior military and civilian officials to talk about the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure recommendations, which will be formally unveiled May 13.

Created:12 May 2005 Updated: 13 May 2005

Scott, where's Jeff Gannon to help you rotate on that when you need him most?

Senate Fishing Expedition... Galloway leaves them all wet.

2005-05-17T19:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I think I will let Galloway's words stand on their own other than adding that if you have read the senate committees report you would already know that they have nothing on Galloway unless they are hiding it, which would make absolutely no sense. If they could contradict him at all they would have right then and there after that onslaught of truth against the bush farce.

"Senator, I am not now, nor have I ever been, an oil trader. and neither has anyone on my behalf. I have never seen a barrel of oil, owned one, bought one, sold one - and neither has anyone on my behalf.

"Now I know that standards have slipped in the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice. I am here today but last week you already found me guilty. You traduced my name around the world without ever having asked me a single question, without ever having contacted me, without ever written to me or telephoned me, without any attempt to contact me whatsoever. And you call that justice.

I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did not have weapons of mass destruction.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies.

"Now I want to deal with the pages that relate to me in this dossier and I want to point out areas where there are - let's be charitable and say errors. Then I want to put this in the context where I believe it ought to be. On the very first page of your document about me you assert that I have had 'many meetings' with Saddam Hussein. This is false.

"I have had two meetings with Saddam Hussein, once in 1994 and once in August of 2002. By no stretch of the English language can that be described as "many meetings" with Saddam Hussein.

"As a matter of fact, I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns. I met him to try and bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war, and on the second of the two occasions, I met him to try and persuade him to let Dr Hans Blix and the United Nations weapons inspectors back into the country - a rather better use of two meetings with Saddam Hussein than your own Secretary of State for Defense made of his.

"I was an opponent of Saddam Hussein when British and Americans governments and businessmen were selling him guns and gas. I used to demonstrate outside the Iraqi embassy when British and American officials were going in and doing commerce.

"You will see from the official parliamentary record, Hansard, from the 15th March 1990 onwards, voluminous evidence that I have a rather better record of opposition to Saddam Hussein than you do and than any other member of the British or American governments do.

"Now you say in this document, you quote a source, you have the gall to quote a source, without ever having asked me whether the allegation from the source is true, that I am 'the owner of a company which has made substantial profits from trading in Iraqi oil'.

"Senator, I do not own any companies, beyond a small company whose entire purpose, whose sole purpose, is to receive the income from my journalistic earnings from my employer, Associated Newspapers, in London. I do not own a company that's been trading in Iraqi oil. And you have no business to carry a quotation, utterly unsubstantiated and false, implying otherwise.

"Now you have nothing on me, Senator, except my name on lists of names from Iraq, many of which have been drawn up after the installation of your puppet government in Baghdad. If you had any of the letters against me that you had against Zhirinovsky, and even Pasqua, they would have been up there in your slideshow for the members of your committee today.

"You have my name on lists provided to you by the Duelfer inquiry, provided to him by the convicted bank robber, and fraudster and conman Ahmed Chalabi who many people to their credit in your country now realize played a decisive role in leading your country into the disaster in Iraq.

"There were 270 names on that list originally. That's somehow been filleted down to the names you chose to deal with in this committee. Some of the names on that committee included the former secretary to his Holiness Pope John Paul II, the former head of the African National Congress Presidential office and many others who had one defining characteristic in common: they all stood against the policy of sanctions and war which you vociferously prosecuted and which has led us to this disaster.

"You quote Mr Dahar Yassein Ramadan. Well, you have something on me, I've never met Mr Dahar Yassein Ramadan. Your sub-committee apparently has. But I do know that he's your prisoner, I believe he's in Abu Ghraib prison. I believe he is facing war crimes charges, punishable by death. In these circumstances, knowing what the world knows about how you treat prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison, in Bagram Airbase, in Guantanamo Bay, including I may say, British citizens being held in those places.

"I'm not sure how much credibility anyone would put on anything you manage to get from a prisoner in those circumstances. But you quote 13 words from Dahar Yassein Ramadan whom I have never met. If he said what he said, then he is wrong.

"And if you had any evidence that I had ever engaged in any actual oil transaction, if you had any evidence that anybody ever gave me any money, it would be before the public and before this committee today because I agreed with your Mr Greenblatt [Mark Greenblatt, legal counsel on the committee].

"Your Mr Greenblatt was absolutely correct. What counts is not the names on the paper, what counts is where's the money. Senator? Who paid me hundreds of thousands of dollars of money? The answer to that is nobody. And if you had anybody who ever paid me a penny, you would have produced them today.

"Now you refer at length to a company names in these documents as Aredio Petroleum. I say to you under oath here today: I have never heard of this company, I have never met anyone from this company. This company has never paid a penny to me and I'll tell you something else: I can assure you that Aredio Petroleum has never paid a single penny to the Mariam Appeal Campaign. Not a thin dime. I don't know who Aredio Petroleum are, but I daresay if you were to ask them they would confirm that they have never met me or ever paid me a penny.

"Whilst I'm on that subject, who is this senior former regime official that you spoke to yesterday? Don't you think I have a right to know? Don't you think the Committee and the public have a right to know who this senior former regime official you were quoting against me interviewed yesterday actually is?

"Now, one of the most serious of the mistakes you have made in this set of documents is, to be frank, such a schoolboy howler as to make a fool of the efforts that you have made. You assert on page 19, not once but twice, that the documents that you are referring to cover a different period in time from the documents covered by The Daily Telegraph which were a subject of a libel action won by me in the High Court in England late last year.

"You state that The Daily Telegraph article cited documents from 1992 and 1993 whilst you are dealing with documents dating from 2001. Senator, The Daily Telegraph's documents date identically to the documents that you were dealing with in your report here. None of The Daily Telegraph's documents dealt with a period of 1992, 1993. I had never set foot in Iraq until late in 1993 - never in my life. There could possibly be no documents relating to Oil-for-Food matters in 1992, 1993, for the Oil-for-Food scheme did not exist at that time.

"And yet you've allocated a full section of this document to claiming that your documents are from a different era to the Daily Telegraph documents when the opposite is true. Your documents and the Daily Telegraph documents deal with exactly the same period.

"But perhaps you were confusing the Daily Telegraph action with the Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor did indeed publish on its front pages a set of allegations against me very similar to the ones that your committee have made. They did indeed rely on documents which started in 1992, 1993. These documents were unmasked by the Christian Science Monitor themselves as forgeries.

"Now, the neo-con websites and newspapers in which you're such a hero, senator, were all absolutely cock-a-hoop at the publication of the Christian Science Monitor documents, they were all absolutely convinced of their authenticity. They were all absolutely convinced that these documents showed me receiving $10 million from the Saddam regime. And they were all lies.

"In the same week as the Daily Telegraph published their documents against me, the Christian Science Monitor published theirs which turned out to be forgeries and the British newspaper, Mail on Sunday, purchased a third set of documents which also upon forensic examination turned out to be forgeries. So there's nothing fanciful about this. Nothing at all fanciful about it.

"The existence of forged documents implicating me in commercial activities with the Iraqi regime is a proven fact. It's a proven fact that these forged documents existed and were being circulated amongst right-wing newspapers in Baghdad and around the world in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Iraqi regime.

"Now, Senator, I gave my heart and soul to oppose the policy that you promoted. I gave my political life's blood to try to stop the mass killing of Iraqis by the sanctions on Iraq which killed one million Iraqis, most of them children, most of them died before they even knew that they were Iraqis, but they died for no other reason other than that they were Iraqis with the misfortune to born at that time. I gave my heart and soul to stop you committing the disaster that you did commit in invading Iraq. And I told the world that your case for the war was a pack of lies.

"I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

"Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies.

If the world had listened to Kofi Annan, whose dismissal you demanded, if the world had listened to President Chirac who you want to paint as some kind of corrupt traitor, if the world had listened to me and the anti-war movement in Britain, we would not be in the disaster that we are in today. Senator, this is the mother of all smokescreens. You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that you supported, from the theft of billions of dollars of Iraq's wealth.

"Have a look at the real Oil-for-Food scandal. Have a look at the 14 months you were in charge of Baghdad, the first 14 months when $8.8 billion of Iraq's wealth went missing on your watch. Have a look at Halliburton and other American corporations that stole not only Iraq's money, but the money of the American taxpayer.

"Have a look at the oil that you didn't even meter, that you were shipping out of the country and selling, the proceeds of which went who knows where? Have a look at the $800 million you gave to American military commanders to hand out around the country without even counting it or weighing it.

"Have a look at the real scandal breaking in the newspapers today, revealed in the earlier testimony in this committee. That the biggest sanctions busters were not me or Russian politicians or French politicians. The real sanctions busters were your own companies with the connivance of your own Government."

Can you say "fishing expedition"? I can't wait to hear the whoppers the GOP will tell tomorrow about "the one that got away!" LMAO

bush's GOP BOBBLE-HEAD DOLLS

2005-05-13T07:36:00.000-05:00

What are Voinovich and the rest of the GOP members of the committee really saying? It is perfectly obvious that they are simply making a scripted and rehearsed statement about the Democrats plan to fillibuster bush's radical activist judges. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Your GOP talking point fillibuster smears just won't jive.

While Americans overwhelmingly support the minority protections provided by the fillibuster, GOP committee members are shirking their responsibilities to the people while sitting there nodding their heads like bobble-head dolls in support of bush's reckless choice of candidates. Why do you think there are committees to look at candidates before they go to the floor for a vote Voinovich? What are you payed to do? By whom were you elected to do your job? The president OR the people?

GOP Senator Breaks Ranks, Attacks Bolton - Yahoo! News:

"'Mr. Chairman,' Voinovich said, 'I am not so arrogant to think that I should impose my judgment and perspective of the U.S. position in the world community on the rest of my colleagues. We owe it to the president to give Mr. Bolton an up-or-down vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate.'

The committee, he said, should move the nomination along — but without a recommendation to approve Bolton. 'Let the Senate work its will,' he said.

At day's end, Voinovich prevailed. By a 10-8 party-line vote, the committee followed his recommendation, and now it will be up to the Senate itself to decide.

Afterward, Voinovich said he would vote against Bolton on the floor, but he declined to predict the outcome in the Senate, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 55 to 44, with one independent.

Voinovich said he plans to lobby fellow senators on the matter, saying he intends to 'share my concerns about him with my colleagues in the Senate, hopefully to convince them to not just rubber-stamp this, but rather give this thoughtful consideration.'"

Sorry there bobble-head Voinovich. What your statement really means to Americans is that you and the GOP failed, yet again, to do your job of representing the people. You shouldn't be on the committee if you are incapable of voting against an incompetent choice, and instead invoke your purposefully scripted, and feigned, discomfort with the choice of Bolton.

You, Voinovich, and the rest of the GOP bobble-head committee members, have failed to do what the people pay you to do by putting one of the worst possible candidates for the job at the UN on to the floor for a vote. Your Job was to stop the Senate from wasting it's time voting on the wrong candidates. It was pretty arrogant of you to assume that you are on the committee just to nod your head like a bobble-head doll. You owe it to Americans to do your job Voinovich. You, and the rest of the GOP bobble-heads, are all complete failures.

bush lied!

2005-05-09T13:30:00.000-05:00

It really pisses me off that this story has been out there since April and the MSM refuses to give it any serious coverage. If there was any doubt about a conservative biased media this is just another marker on the highway to the truth. The "Liberal-biased media" is a figment of the radical right wing's messed up imagination.

KR Washington Bureau | 05/05/2005 | British memo indicates Bush made intelligence fit Iraq policy: "Posted on Thu, May. 05, 2005

British memo indicates Bush made intelligence fit Iraq policy

By Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - A highly classified British memo, leaked in the midst of Britain's just-concluded election campaign, indicates that President Bush decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by summer 2002 and was determined to ensure that U.S. intelligence data supported his policy.

The document, which summarizes a July 23, 2002, meeting of British Prime Minister Tony Blair with his top security advisers, reports on a visit to Washington by the head of Britain's MI-6 intelligence service.

The visit took place while the Bush administration was still declaring to the American public that no decision had been made to go to war.

'There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable,' the MI-6 chief said at the meeting, according to the memo. 'Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD,' weapons of mass destruction.

The memo said 'the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.'

No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.

The White House has repeatedly denied accusations made by several top foreign officials that it manipulated intelligence estimates to justify an invasion of Iraq.

It has instead pointed to the conclusions of two studies, one by the Senate Intelligence Committee and one by a presidentially appointed panel, that cite serious failures by the CIA and other agencies in judging Saddam's weapons programs.

Click on the headline for the rest of the story...

I was going to skip writing on this. Since it was huge news all around the world I figured eventually it would have to saturate the American MSM... But HELL NO! They have chosen to ignore the incontrivertable evidence that bush lied to congress and is guilty of treason. Does that make the MSM as guilty of treason as the bush admin.? I think it does...

Power Line's "Modus Operandi"

2005-05-09T11:54:00.000-05:00

It would be nice once in a while to see someone that claims to be conservative actually think like a conservative for a change. Unfortunately this does not happen too often lately. The reasoning most of the "faux" conservatives always seem to use these days are straight out of their "GOP talking points". If you cannot defend an idea declare the opposition socialist. If you cannot defend your policies declare all naysayers communist. If you cannot defend your behaviour declare your attacker a liberal.

Power Line
There is a familiar modus operandi at work in the accusation by Melody Townsel that John Bolton chased her through the halls of a Moscow hotel throwing objects and screaming threats at her in August 1994. New York Sun reporter Eli Lake has nailed most of the elements of the modus operandi in his article: "New Bolton accuser is a liberal from 'Mothers Opposing Bush.'" Lake reports:

It used to be conservative meant you would stop and think about something before you would speak about it. Now you have these radical right wingnuts that stop to check their "GOP talking points" regardless of how ignorant it makes them look. Instead of addressing the reality that bolton is a whack-job, Power Line chose the ignorant path of the wingnut.

Note to Power Line: Jeff Gannon is NOT the only prostitute that works as a "mouthpiece" for the GOP. (Tough fact to swallow, but this is you Power Line!)

Are you sure you want to read this?

2005-05-04T16:19:00.000-05:00

For the many computer users that never bother to use anti-virus, firewall, or Ad-Aware type softwares to protect their computer from spyware and viruses, here is just another reason for you not to worry.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Bogus blogs snare fresh victims

Cyber criminals are starting to use fake blogs to snare new victims.

The bogus web journals are being used as traps that infect visitor's machines with keylogging software or viruses.

Filtering firm Websense said it had found hundreds of bogus blogs baited with all kinds of malicious software to snare the unwary.

Websense warned that the baited blogs could get past traditional security measures that try to protect people from malicious programs.

Hidden harm

The company said blogs were being used because they inadvertently offered lots of help to computer criminals.

Blogs are free and simple to use, offer users lots of storage space, can be used anonymously and most do not scan stored files for viruses and other malicious programs.

Websense said it had seen examples of some computer criminals creating a legitimate looking weblog, loading it with keylogging software or viral code...

... viruses hosted on weblogs might be a danger because they get round the filtering systems many firms have created to ensure malicious programs do not reach employees.

Users were urged to keep anti-virus and patches up to date, regularly scan machines with anti-spyware products and exercise caution when reading unsolicited messages sent via e-mail or instant messenger.

You have to keep in mind that this is just a phishing scam variation, but instead of hoping you will enter user names and passwords at the site they are looking to take control of your computer. That, of course, can still lead to identity theft once they control your computer. Another important fact to remember is that malicious code has always been hidden everywhere on the web. Hiding it on a blog is no different than websites that hide it in pictures or in links they put on their pages.

There really is not much you can do to avoid "all" spyware and viruses. The best you can do is hope that the people at companies like McAfee, Norton, Spybot destroyer, Ad-Aware, and others that help protect most computers stay on top of these problems as they develop.

If you do not have any of the needed software to protect your computer are you sure you want to read blogs? Of course you do. It is no less safe than any other web page you may visist.

DeLay's Policy Director Jumping Ship?

2005-04-25T20:40:00.000-05:00

A senior member of Tom "the hummer" DeLay's (he really sucks!) team is leaving his side at quite an akward time. Does anyone else see this as a rat scurrying off of a sinking ship?

Yahoo! News - DeLay: She'll Be Missed; Majority Leader's Policy Director Joins K-Street Firm: "Sullivan had been with DeLay for over six years and was elevated to policy director for the Majority Leader at the beginning of 2003. Prior to that, she served as DeLay's senior appropriations adviser, developing and implementing the House leadership's appropriations and budget strategy as well as coalition strategies with grassroots groups and members of Congress. She was a key member of DeLay's leadership team throughout, as the point of contact between House leadership and Senate leadership while policy director and as the leadership contact for Republican members in the appropriations process during her stint as senior appropriations adviser."

You have to figure that things are not looking to good in the DeLay camp. His supporters deserting him, even the shills that used to love him have a hard time not noticing what he is doing, and just as the Department of Justice is stepping into the investigations a senior member of his team jumps ship for a Lawfirm. Maybe Sullivan thinks she and DeLay will need the lawyers help in the near future?

Pig Stains On Their Fat Chins

2005-04-22T10:11:00.000-05:00

Well... It still isn't Democracy. The GOP still seems to think they can DICTATE what the terms of Democracy are. When will these PIGS look up from their coporate troughs long enough to take a breath? This is the second blink in the last little while by these republican thugs led by Hastert, yet they still don't seem to get it. Even those republicans on the the ethics committee are obviously ethically challenged.

Yahoo! News - GOP Ethics Chair Trying to Snap Deadlock
House Ethics Panel to Probe Tom DeLay
AP - 39 minutes ago
Retreating under pressure, Republicans on the House ethics committee said Wednesday they were ready to open an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing against Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

DeLay Continues Attacks on Federal Courts - AP via Yahoo! News (Apr 20, 2005)

News Shredder: Power Line represents a backward, primitive way of looking at the world.

2005-04-22T09:40:00.000-05:00

News Shredder: Power Line represents a backward, primitive way of looking at the world.
Given how these radical right Power Line wingnuts claim that Dems are blocking extremist judges based on their faith, I find it interesting to see the typical hate towards religion, and Catholics in particular, that Power Line exhibits in its latest blog on science.

Power Line: Planet of the Apes:
"It's interesting, though, to contemplate the quest for insight into human nature via the apes in the context of news coverage of the selection of Pope Benedict. The conventional view is that religion in general, and Catholicism in particular, represents a backward, primitive way of looking at the world, and especially at human nature, compared to modern, progressive science."

It is plainly apparent that, aside from being the last ones to consult concerning "progressive science", these ridiculously hypocritical charges being tossed out there by Power Line like Maltov cocktails at all of the moderates that oppose the radical bush policies and tactics will eventully result in more self-destruction A LA Tom "the hummer" DeLay (he really sucks!), John "I support those who kill judges" Cronyn, and Condi "Skirts the Constitution" Rice, Jeff "get a BLOW job" Gannon, and John "Nuke the U.N." Bolton...

There is very little that is going right for the extremist bush lovers right now, even in their own little fantasy world, and it is our job to keep this "reality" ball rolling...