Criminal Inquiry Opens Into Spying Leak - New York Times

Criminal Inquiry Opens Into Spying Leak - New York Times: "President Bush broke the law and lied to the American people when he unilaterally authorized secret wiretaps of U.S. citizens,' said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. 'But rather than focus on this constitutional crisis, Attorney General Gonzales is cracking down on critics of his friend and boss. Our nation is strengthened, not weakened, by those whistle-blowers who are courageous enough to speak out on violations of the law.'"

The Hidden State Steps Forward

There is a name for a system of government that wages aggressive war, deceives its citizens, violates their rights, abuses power and breaks the law, rejects judicial and legislative checks on itself, claims power without limit, tortures prisoners and acts in secret. It is dictatorship.
The Hidden State Steps Forward: "The Administration of George W. Bush is not a dictatorship, but it does manifest the characteristics of one in embryonic form. "

Intelligence abuse dj vu - Los Angeles Times

Intelligence abuse dj vu - Los Angeles Times: "So what goes around, comes around. Here we are again, 30 years later, in yet another unwise war, no wiser and once again willing to sacrifice constitutional liberties for security expediency. If there was one lesson all of us who served on the Church Committee learned, it was that there are no secrets, that everything comes out and that the sacrifice of liberty is almost never justified by improved security."

Unauthorized Snooping

Unauthorized Snooping: "It is impossible to believe that Congress, in authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda, understood itself to be making compliance with FISA optional -- particularly because it was, in that same period, relaxing certain provisions of the surveillance statute in the USA Patriot Act. If the authorization of force implied a repeal of a decades-old law that comprehensively regulates domestic surveillance, what other laws does the administration think were repealed?"

TomPaine.com - No Room To Spin

How bush/cheney can continue to spin their lies in the face of the American people is beyond comprehension. When oh when will the democrats start standing together as an opposition party and start speaking out against these criminals.
TomPaine.com - No Room To Spin: "John Prados is a senior fellow of the National Security Archive in Washington, DC, and author of Hoodwinked: The Documents that Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War (The New Press). "

Bush Acknowledges Approving Eavesdropping after lying about it yesterday

The only Senator to vote against the Iraq war and the only Senator with balls enough to tell it like it is.
Bush Acknowledges Approving Eavesdropping - New York Times: "''If that's true, he doesn't need the Patriot Act because he can just make it up as he goes along. I tell you, he's President George Bush, not King George Bush. This is not the system of government we have and that we fought for,'' "

Bush Acknowledges Approving Eavesdropping

BULLSHIT! When will the House start impeachment proceedings?
Bush Acknowledges Approving Eavesdropping - Yahoo! News

New tests fuel doubts about vote machines

A political operative with hacking skills could alter the results of any election on Diebold-made voting machines -- and possibly other new voting systems in Florida -- according to the state capital's election supervisor, who said Diebold software has failed repeated tests.
Herald.com | 12/15/2005 | New tests fuel doubts about vote machines: "A top election official and computer experts say computer hackers could easily change election results, after they found numerous flaws with a state-approved voting-machine in Tallahassee."

Bob Novak Says President Knows Leak Source

Novak said that "I'd be amazed" if the president didn't know the source's identity and that the public should "bug the president as to whether he should reveal who the source is."
Bob Novak Says President Knows Leak Source - Yahoo! News: " Columnist Bob Novak, who first published the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, says he is confident that President Bush knows who leaked Plame's name. "

Death of an American City

President Bush said it wouldn't happen. He stood in Jackson Square and said, "There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans." But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck and the city is in complete shambles.
Death of an American City - New York Times: "At this moment the reconstruction is a rudderless ship. There is no effective leadership that we can identify. How many people could even name the president's liaison for the reconstruction effort, Donald Powell? Lawmakers need to understand that for New Orleans the words 'pending in Congress' are a death warrant requiring no signature."

Military Misleads Press, Families, About How 10 Marines Died Last Week in Iraq

Why is it the first stories out are always a complete fabrication and never the REAL information? No wonder the public turns to the comedy channel rather than listening to any of the so called media when announcing pentagon propaganda.
Military Misleads Press, Families, About How 10 Marines Died Last Week in Iraq: "NEW YORK Why did the U.S. military mislead the media and the families of ten Marines killed near the Iraqi city of Falluja while 'on patrol' last week about how they were killed? The military announced on Tuesday that it actually happened at a 'promotion' ceremony and they were not on foot patrol as initially reported"

The incompetence of this administration

continues to boggle the mind.  One has to wonder if the whole whitehouse staff isn't in the oval with bush snorting a line or two.  Their casual attitude toward the country's worst natural disaster is without precedent.

KATRINA -- DOCUMENTS REVEAL WHITE HOUSE'S FAILURE TO ACT: Despite the White House's efforts during Hurricane Katrina to blame state and local officials for not requesting federal assistance early enough, recently-revealed documents include a letter Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D) sent to President Bush a day before the Hurricane hit. "I have determined that this incident will be of such severity and magnitude that effective response will be beyond the capabilities of the state and the affected local governments and that supplementary federal assistance will be necessary," Blanco wrote. Five days later, Bush assistant Maggie Grant e-mailed Blanco aide Paine Gowen to say that the White House did not receive the letter. "We found it on the governor's website but we need 'an original,' for our staff secretary to formally process the requests she is making," Grant wrote. "We are on the job but appreciate your help with a technical request. Tnx!" Earlier document releases showed former FEMA director Michael Brown failed to act on information he was receiving about the hurricane's devastation.

 

IS GEORGE BUSH THE WORST PRESIDENT -- EVER?

IS GEORGE BUSH THE WORST PRESIDENT -- EVER? - Yahoo! News: " The History News Network at George Mason University has just polled historians informally on the Bush record. Four hundred and fifteen, about a third of those contacted, answered -- maybe they were all crazed liberals -- making the project as unofficial as it was interesting. These were the results: 338 said they believed Bush was failing, while 77 said he was succeeding. Fifty said they thought he was the worst president ever. Worse than Buchanan.
This is what those historians said -- and it should be noted that some of the criticism about deficit spending and misuse of the military came from self-identified conservatives -- about the Bush record:"

Obama Mouths Mush on War

U.S. Senator Barack Obama has planted his feet deeply inside the Iraq war-prolongation camp of the Democratic Party, the great swamp that, if not drained, will swallow up any hope of victory over the GOP in next year's congressional elections
The Black Commentator - Cover Story: Obama Mouths Mush on War: "It is truly pitiful that the Bush men and DLC-centered Democrats cling to the hope that their Iraqi clients will rescue them from the debacle that was foreordained in March, 2003. Barack Obama has definitively joined the ranks of those who seek to prolong the agony. However, BC's critique is not 'idealistic,' as Sen. Obama might seek to paint it, but practical - 'pragmatic,' if you will. By late summer of 2006, when voters are deciding what they want their Senate and House to look like, if the Democrats have not caught up to public opinion to offer a tangible and quick exit from Iraq, the Republicans will retain control of both chambers of congress. "

AllAroundPhilly

One by one these criminals will go to jail. Isn't it strange , they all start crying when they're finally convicted and brought to justice. I wonder when bush, cheney and the rest of the war mongers will get their day in the Hague.
AllAroundPhilly: "Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and tax charges and tearfully resigned from office, admitting he took $2.4 million in bribes to steer defense contracts to conspirators."

Alito Distancing Himself From Views on Abortion in '85 Letter

Alito Distancing Himself From Views on Abortion in '85 Letter: "Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. sought to distance himself yesterday from staunchly conservative views he expressed 20 years ago, but some liberals and conservatives said they see the comments as the best indication yet of judicial philosophies he would bring to the bench. One liberal group said it will use the remarks in ads opposing Alito's confirmation."

MURTHA SPEAKS TRUTH TO BUSH'S LIES

A great article by Bill Gallagher for the Niagara Falls Reporter cuts to the chase and tells it like it is. Too bad some of the NYT and WaPo journalists don't do the same.
Niagara Falls Reporter Opinion: "MURTHA SPEAKS TRUTH TO BUSH'S LIES"
Privately, President George W. Bush is having a political panic attack as he retreats to his cocoon, seeking comfort from his nannies. Babs, his mommy, wife Laura, Condi Rice and Karen Hughes serve as his ladies in waiting, assuring our courageous leader that the boo-boos he gets on his head will get better and those bad boys criticizing his war are just meanies who don't like him.
Vice President Dick Cheney, whose bum advice has cost him his male-nanny status, still is called upon for political valet duties. He made a pitiful attempt to quiet Iraq war critics and rewrite history. Cheney, the Lord of the Lies, still sticks to the bogus script he, more than anyone else, crafted: that Saddam Hussein was a dangerous threat to our security and war was the only way to save the republic.

Civility in Congress

Just minutes after she was sworn in Sept. 6 to represent the Cincinnati-based 2nd Congressional District, Jean Schmidt promised that she would never resort to name calling.
In that inaugural speech in the House floor, Schmidt declared, "It is easy to quickly sink to the lowest form of political debate. Harsh words often lead to headlines, but walking this path is not a victimless crime.''
It took Schmidt less than three months to expose herself as a hypocrite.
The Cincinnati Post - Civility in Congress: "We've arrived at a point in our politics where a 31-year veteran of Congress - a former Marine colonel who served in Korea and Vietnam, who holds a Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry - cannot stand up and say what many Americans believe without being called a coward by someone who hasn't served a day in uniform and not even three months in Congress. Where anyone who tries to bring up a principled debate on a withdrawal strategy risks being branded by the likes of Geoff Davis as a feckless traitor giving aid and comfort to the enemy."

Life in the 1500's

LIFE IN THE 1500'S
 The next time you are washing your hands don't complain because  the
water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things
used tobe. Here are some facts about the 1500s:

 These are interesting...

 Most people got married in June because they took their yearlybath in
May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to
smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to
hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet
when getting married.

 Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man ofthe
house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other
sons and men, then the women and finally the children Last of all the babies. By
then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the
saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

 Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood
underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the
cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained
it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and off the roof.
Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This
posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings
could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet

 hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds
came into existence.

 The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than
dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would
get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor
to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh
until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside A piece of
wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a
"thresh hold."
 

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

 In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle
that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things
to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat.
They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold
overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in
it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge
hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

 Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite
special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It
wasa sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would
cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the
fat."

 Thosewith money had plates made of pewter Food with high acid
content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning
death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400
yearsorso, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt
bottom ofthe loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper
crust."
 Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would
sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking
along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They
were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would
gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake
up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."
England is old and small and the local
folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would
digup coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the
grave.
When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to havescratch
marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people
alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through
 the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone
would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard
shift") tolisten for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was
considered a "dead ringer."

 And that's the truth... Now, whoever said that History was borin! !


 Educatesomeone...Share these facts with a friend
 

 Imagination is more important than knowledge...
                        Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Democrats Provided Edge on Detainee Vote - New York Times

I wonder what the reaction would be from these DINO's if an American were imprisoned in an Iraqi or any foreign jail without access to due process. Would they feel that a military tribunal is good enough. I don't think so.
Democrats Provided Edge on Detainee Vote - New York Times

People For the American Way - Right-Wing Outrage

Jack Cafferty thinks pat ought to get on geritol. I think the mother fucker needs to mind his own business and somebody should pull the plug on his 700 club bullshit.
People For the American Way - Right-Wing Outrage

Would Laura doing him in the oval office count? Or maybe Harriet or Condi would volunteer. 

President Bush's Walkabout - New York Times

The New York Times is finally 'getting it'. It's a shame they didn't start printing editorials like this about three years ago. We wouldn't be in the mess we are now.
President Bush's Walkabout - New York Times

On the Wal-Mart Money Trail

"One item in the Walton Family Foundation's most recent IRS filing shows how uninterested this family is in true social responsibility: a measly $6,000 to something called the Wal-Mart Associates in Need Fund. Contrast that with the millions the family spends promoting right-wing causes, and it becomes painfully clear that the Waltons value conservative ideology far more than they value the human beings who have made them the richest family on earth. Told about these figures, Kathleen MacDonald, a Wal-Mart candy department clerk in Aiken, South Carolina, responded bluntly, "All I have to say about that is, it doesn't surprise me. Like Bush, they don't have a clue what working families go through." MacDonald would like to see The Simple Life do a show about working at Wal-Mart. "I could see Paris Hilton on a register at Christmastime, or stocking shelves," she says. Or perhaps Alice Walton as a greeter, on her feet all day, thanking us for shopping at Wal-Mart."
On the Wal-Mart Money Trail

When swimming in the river

http://www.drlaniac.com/Headlines/default.asp?mode=results&stype=item&sparam=2682
one is bound to encounter and occasional turd; the big ones sink to the bottom quickly while the small ones may float on out to the sea and eventually sink to the bottom also. In the end they all just return to the earth as organic matter but never the less are nothing more than pieces of shit who have returned to the food chain. And so there goes David Corn...one of the big ones.

Young Alito defended privacy, gay rights

Young Alito defended privacy, gay rights: "In college, Samuel Alito led a student conference that urged legalization of sodomy and curbs on domestic intelligence, a sweeping defense of privacy rights he said were under threat by the government and the dawning computer age."

Our 27 months of hell -Joseph C. Wilson IV

Our 27 months of hell - Los Angeles Times: "It has been, as Gen. William Odom suggested, the greatest strategic blunder in the history of our country.

We anticipate no mea culpa from the president for what his senior aides have done to us. But he owes the nation both an explanation and an apology. "

The White House cabal - Lawrence B. Wilkerson

"Today, we have a president whose approval rating is 38% and a vice president who speaks only to Rush Limbaugh and assembled military forces. We have a secretary of Defense presiding over the death-by-a-thousand-cuts of our overstretched armed forces (no surprise to ignored dissenters such as former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki or former Army Secretary Thomas White)."
The White House cabal - Los Angeles Times:

The week we've been waiting for

Talk about a waste of taxpayers dollars! This dumb bitch is about as ignorant as they come and a complete waste of Meet the Press air time. I have yet to hear an intelligent statement out of her mouth.
Republicans Testing Ways to Blunt Leak Charges - New York Times: "Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, speaking on the NBC news program 'Meet the Press,' compared the leak investigation with the case of Martha Stewart and her stock sale, 'where they couldn't find a crime and they indict on something that she said about something that wasn't a crime.'
Ms. Hutchison said she hoped 'that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars.'"

t r u t h o u t - Ray McGovern | Chickens Come Home to Roost on Cheney

Will cheney, rove and libby all be frog marched out of the Whitehouse? I'm rushing out to purchase my ticket to DC so I can video tape this long awaited event. Oh happy days!!
t r u t h o u t - Ray McGovern | Chickens Come Home to Roost on Cheney

Cheney cabal hijacked US foreign policy�

FT.com / World / US - Cheney cabal hijacked US foreign policy: "Vice-President Dick Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the government's foreign policy apparatus, deciding in secret to carry out policies that had left the US weaker and more isolated in the world, the top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed on Wednesday."

News from Dr. Laniac's News Blog

Dr. Laniac's News Blog

Armed Forces Radio Tunes Out Liberal Show Host

The pentagon doesn't give our troops much credit for having any intelligence when they attempt to censor free speech. They must think that Armed Forces Radio is their only link to the outside world. This sham is obvious the result of being caught red handed in coaching a group of U.S. soldiers in Iraq before a teleconference with President Bush.
Armed Forces Radio Tunes Out Liberal Show Host: "'It kind of floored us,' Schultz said from his studio in North Dakota. 'The fact is, they don't want dissenting voices or any other kind of speech unless it's going to be promotional for them. Obviously, these people are making sure they're not going to have any opinion other than the Rush Limbaughs of the world.'"

Government's Disgrace

Government's Disgrace: "Defined-benefit pension plans in companies nationwide are underfunded to the tune of $450 billion, and ultimately taxpayers may be on the hook for some of that. It's obvious that globalization is putting huge competitive pressure on old-line corporations -- the type most likely to have defined-benefit plans -- and that many of these may go bankrupt. It's also obvious that, with the coming baby bust, past pension promises can't be swept under the carpet anymore. And yet, however obvious, politicians are too corrupt and cowardly to tackle the problem."

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt says Preventing Pandemic Impossible

The United States' top health official has come to a grim conclusion: Preventing the start of a global flu outbreak is just about impossible. Instead of emphasizing maximum production of the vaccine Tamiflu, he'll fix the health problem like FEMA fixed the evacuation of NOLA. So what's a few million lives to this administration. Unbelievable!
Official: Preventing Pandemic Impossible - Yahoo! News

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | US troops 'starve Iraqi citizens'

Having had such great success at starving masses of people after Katrina it appears that this administration wishes to fine tune the process.
BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | US troops 'starve Iraqi citizens'
A senior United Nations official has accused US-led coalition troops of depriving Iraqi civilians of food and water in breach of humanitarian law.

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Libby Did Not Tell Grand Jury About Key Conversation

In two appearances before the federal grand jury investigating the leak of a covert CIA operative's name, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, did not disclose a crucial conversation that he had with New York Times reporter Judith Miller in June 2003 about the operative, Valerie Plame, according to sources with firsthand knowledge of his sworn testimony.
NATIONAL JOURNAL: Libby Did Not Tell Grand Jury About Key Conversation (10/11/05)

Iraq orders 'corruption' arrests

"Iraq has issued arrest warrants for 27 senior officials from the US-backed interim government over suspected embezzlement of more than $1bn. "
BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Iraq orders 'corruption' arrests:

t r u t h o u t - Bob Herbert | Who Isn't against Torture?

t r u t h o u t - Bob Herbert | Who Isn't against Torture?: "Some people get it. Some don't.
So who would you expect to remain out of step with this important march toward sanity, the rule of law and the continuation of a longstanding American commitment to humane values?
Did you say President Bush? Well, that would be correct.
The president, who has trouble getting anything right, is trying to block this effort to outlaw the abusive treatment of prisoners."

Dobson empire deserves a Katrina

In one lightning-rod example, Dobson used a radio broadcast in August to compare the ethics of embryonic stem-cell research to Nazi medical experiments on prisoners.
In his view, Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, has caused the ''biggest holocaust in world history"; the Supreme Court is guilty of ''judicial tyranny" that threatens religious liberties; wide approval for gay marriage would send the nation ''hurtling toward Gomorrah"; and the federal judiciary is a despotic oligarchy that represents ''the last playground of the liberal left."
His influence is so considerable among conservatives that, before President Bush nominated Harriet E. Miers for the Supreme Court, White House adviser Karl Rove reportedly called Dobson with private assurances about Miers's judicial philosophy.
Dobson spiritual empire wields political clout - The Boston Globe: "Following Bush's reelection, Dobson made clear that the religious right expected payback. If not, Republicans could expect to be punished at the ballot box. The Senate agreement on judicial filibusters, for example, was described by Dobson as ''a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans,' seven of whom brokered a deal with Democratic moderates to avoid a vote on whether to ban filibusters in judicial appointments.
''This 'compromise' didn't fix what was broken -- nothing of significance has changed, and 214 years of Senate tradition and basic fairness have been trampled,' Dobson said via e-mail."

Survivor Story: 6-Year-Old Leads Five Toddlers, Baby To Safety

Here's a story that will make you feel warm and fuzzy and more than likely will make you shed a tear and make you realize that there's still a few good things happening in the world.
Survivor Story: 6-Year-Old Leads Five Toddlers, Baby To Safety - News - MSNBC.com: "Survivor Story: 6-Year-Old Leads Five Toddlers, Baby To Safety"

A Mess of George Bush's Own Making

The Online Beat--John Nichols, The Nation
A Mess of George Bush's Own Making: "It is fair to say that a good many Americans perceive George W. Bush to be a doltish incompetent who does not know the first thing about fighting terrorism. "

The Whistleblower and Harriet Miers

Sooner or later, senators pondering Harriet Miers's qualifications to be a Supreme Court judge will want to inquire into the byzantine dealings of the Texas Lottery Commission in the late 1990s, when she was its chair.
village voice > news > Mondo Washington by James Ridgeway, with Isabel Huacuja: "The Whistleblower and Harriet Miers
Questions linger about Court nominee's time with Texas Lottery"

Is Bush Directly involved in Leak Scandal?

Sources Say Bush Directly Involved In Leak Scandal

In September 2003, White House spokesman Scott McClellan had this to say about the CIA leak scandal: "The President has set high standards, the highest of standards for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration." (McClellan added, "[T]here's been nothing, absolutely nothing, brought to our attention to suggest any White House involvement, and that includes the Vice President's office.") Since July, we've known that top administration officials -- including Karl Rove and Scooter Libby -- were involved, speaking to reporters about Joe Wilson's wife and her role at the CIA. Over the weekend, startling new evidence emerged that suggested direct involvement in the scandal by Vice President Cheney and President Bush.

SOURCE -- BUSH DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN LEAK SCANDAL: On ABC's This Week, George Stephanopolous said the leak scandal could become unmanageable for the White House if "as a source close to this told me this week, President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions." This would help explain why Bush spent more than an hour answering questions about the leak with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. But it would also explode the notion, carefully maintained by the White House, that Bush is merely a bystander who wants to “get to the bottom” of what happened. SOURCE -- CHENEY DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN LEAK SCANDAL: The New York Times reported Saturday that "a lawyer who knows Mr. Libby’s account said the administration efforts to limit the damage from Mr. Wilson’s criticism extended as high as Mr. Cheney." Specifically, on July 12, 2003, "Mr. Libby consulted with Mr. Cheney about how to handle inquiries from journalists about the vice president’s role in sending Mr. Wilson to Africa in early 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq was trying to acquire nuclear material there for its weapons program." The leaking of Cheney's role by a source who appears sympathetic to the White House may be an effort to manage the story. Similarly, the first details about Karl Rove’s role were released by his own lawyer.TOP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS MAY BE INDICTED FOR CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY: The public defense of both Karl Rove and Scooter Libby in the CIA leak scandal have focused on the specific claim they they didn’t know Valerie Plame’s name. But even if Patrick Fitzgerald is unable to prove a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, Rove, Libby and others could still be charged with perjury if they lied to investigators. The Washington Post reports another possibility: "Fitzgerald is considering whether he can bring charges of a criminal conspiracy perpetrated by a group of senior Bush administration officials." Significantly, "To prove a criminal conspiracy, the actions need not have been criminal, but conspirators must have had a criminal purpose."

Letter may shed light on ouster of pastor - The Boston Globe

Mullah Sean P. O'Malley should join the bigot club of mullah Jerry Falwell and mullah Pat Robertson.
Letter may shed light on ouster of pastor - The Boston Globe: "Sean P. O'Malley "

TomPaine.com - What Baker-Carter Got Right

The commission’s greatest flaw is calling on states to lead what should be a national system. There is no doubt that some states will abuse these recommendations, jumping to require photo IDs while not acting to register all eligible voters. The current leadership in Congress and many states certainly has put pro-democracy advocates on the defensive, struggling simply to maintain access to the polls for racial minorities and the poor.
TomPaine.com - What Baker-Carter Got Right: "But Republican and Democratic leaders are both now unpopular among most Americans, and ignore reasonable steps toward free and fair elections at their political peril. "

Rep. Waxman and Leader Pelosi introduce Anti-Cronyism Bill

Unfortunately, this bill will probably never see the light of day since if it ever passed it would put so many political hack cronys out of work that the mass exodus from DC would put the Houston evacuation to shame. It's nice wishful thinking though.
Committee on Government Reform Minority Office

Bush Calls for Less Driving to Conserve Gas

I would like to suggest that bush leave AF-1 parked on the tarmac instead of flying all over the country for worthless photo-ops. And if enough of us move into the astrodome this winter body heat will keep us from freezing and maybe ma bush will come over and say how lucky we must feel to survive the bitter cold.
President Calls for Less Driving to Conserve Gas - New York Times: "Households that use natural gas will pay an average $1,130 to heat their homes this winter, an increase of almost $400, according to federal government estimates. The price of natural gas in futures markets has more than doubled since 2000 and is six times what it was throughout the 1990's."

Leader of the F.D.A. Steps Down After a Short, Turbulent Tenure - New York Times

It seems the bush Whitehouse hasn't had time to decide which spin to put on Dr. Crawford's abrupt resignation. Let's see, we have the 'getting a little strange on the side', some possible financial hanky panky, and oh yes, the too-cozy relationship with the pharmaceutical industry and an attitude of shielding rather than disclosing information. Could it be that Dr. Crawford is another political hack like the totally unqualified Michael Brown of FEMA? Or has mullah Pat Robertson been giving his expert advice from the RR crowd. My bet is on 'all of the above'.
Leader of the F.D.A. Steps Down After a Short, Turbulent Tenure - New York Times: "In recent weeks, consumer advocates and scientists inside and outside the agency had said scientific decisions were being warped by politics.
On Thursday, a commentary in The New England Journal of Medicine titled 'A Sad Day for Science at the F.D.A.' said that 'recent actions of the F.D.A. leadership have made a mockery of the process of evaluating scientific evidence,' disillusioned many scientists, 'squandered the public trust and tarnished the agency's image.'"

The safe vote for Democrats is no.

One has to wonder if those Democrats who are up for re-election in 2006 and those who think they are Presidential contenders are willing to roll the dice with their bets on Roberts or play it safe. The idea that "we'll show some balls on the next one that bush nominates" will save their ass is very, very risky.
Chief Justice Vote Splits Top Democrats - Los Angeles Times:

Senator Baucus Caving on Roberts?

It seems Senator Baucus talks out of both sides of his mouth. Why would he vote yes on an amendment supporting women's health issues and then flip-flop in the support of John Roberts to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who doesn't wish to comment on these issues.

Key Vote
Unintended Pregnancy Amendment
Bill Number: S Con Res 18Issue: Abortion IssuesDate: 03/17/2005 Sponsor:Amendment: Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY]; Original Bill: Sen. Gregg Judd [NH]-->Sponsor:Amendment: Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY]; Original Bill: Sen. Gregg Judd [NH]
Roll Call Number: 0075Amendment Rejected (Senate)How members voted
Senator Max S. Baucus voted YES.
Read statements Senator Baucus made in this general time period.
Official Title of Legislation:S AMDT 244 to S Con Res 18: To expand access to preventive health care services that reduce unintended pregnancy (including teen pregnancy), reduce the number of abortions, and improve access to women's health care. Project Vote Smart's Synopsis:Vote to adopt an amendment to the Senate's 2006 Fiscal Year Budget that allocates $100 million for the prevention of unintended pregnancies.Highlights:- Increases funding and access to family planning services- Funds legislation that requires equitable prescription coverage for contraceptives under health plans- Funds legislation that would create and expand teen pregnancy prevention programs and education programs concerning emergency contraceptives

This is my current smiley face Mr. or Ms. Congressperson. You don't want to entertain me as a constituent when I REALLY GET PISSED. You serve at our pleasure, the people in your district and your vote to sustain the funding for this illegal war when those funds are so sorely needed at home will be looked upon with GREAT DISPLEASURE. BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!!  

TomPaine.com - U.N. Reform: Bolton The Spoiler

More incompetence of the people this administration has endorsed, promoted and yes, Bolton will probably get a Freedom Medal along with the rest of the ignorant, incompetent morally corrupt people in the bush circle of cronies.
TomPaine.com - U.N. Reform: Bolton The Spoiler

Message: I Care About the Black Folks

Message: I Care About the Black Folks - New York Times: "The worst storm in our history proved perfect for exposing this president because in one big blast it illuminated all his failings: the rampant cronyism, the empty sloganeering of 'compassionate conservatism,' the lack of concern for the 'underprivileged' his mother condescended to at the Astrodome, the reckless lack of planning for all government operations except tax cuts, the use of spin and photo-ops to camouflage failure and to substitute for action."

Clinton launches withering attack on Bush on Iraq, Katrina, budget

Clinton launches withering attack on Bush on Iraq, Katrina, budget - Yahoo! News: "'We depend on Japan, China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Korea primarily to basically loan us money every day of the year to cover my tax cut and these conflicts and Katrina. I don't think it makes any sense.'"

U.S. Claims Success in Iraq Despite Onslaught

Is bush going to call this success? Mission Accomplished? With 140,000 US (uh, COALITION) troops, 190,000 Iraqi troops and 22% of the country under insurgent Abu Musab Zarqawi's "foreign-led" alQaeda fighters control, with two suicide bombers stepping up for every one blown up is there any reason to call this bush mess anything but QUAGMIRE?
U.S. Claims Success in Iraq Despite Onslaught

After Katrina fiasco, time for Bush to go - baltimoresun.com

The disastrous federal response to Katrina exposes a record of incompetence, misjudgment and ideological blinders that should lead to serious doubts that the Bush administration should be allowed to continue in office.
After Katrina fiasco, time for Bush to go - baltimoresun.com

Stirling Newberry | Will FEBAR Bring Down the House?

t r u t h o u t - Stirling Newberry | Will FEBAR Bring Down the House?: "The Katrina catastrophe and the failure of response - FEBAR - have primed the pump of a deep well, that of liberal and Democratic anger. It isn't just that traffic on liberal blogs has spiked. It isn't just that the images have been so shocking, the reality of a nation unprepared for disaster so outrageous. It is that it cuts in sharp relief how out of power the Democrats are, and what that really means."

The world press weighs in on Katrina and its aftermath

What foreign observers witnessed from afar, with a combination of shock and awe: "sheer, maddening incompetence".
WORLD VIEWS: The world press weighs in on Katrina and its aftermath: "Don't think the rest of the world -- not just stunned Americans and even some conservative American reporters and commentators who have long served as George W. Bush's loyal mouthpieces -- failed to notice the president's inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina's devastation."

New Orleans: A Geopolitical Prize -Katrina's Harvest

Bush's Second Gulf Disaster
New Orleans: A Geopolitical
Prize - News Archive - Stratfor: "The displacement of population is the crisis that New Orleans faces. It is also a national crisis, because the largest port in the United States cannot function without a city around it. The physical and business processes of a port cannot occur in a ghost town, and right now, that is what New Orleans is. It is not about the facilities, and it is not about the oil. It is about the loss of a city's population and the paralysis of the largest port in the United States. "

From The Roots :: Pulling the Bush Out

One has to wonder how many people in the bush entourage it must require to prepare the stage for photo ops. Its been reported also that search and rescue helicopters have been shut down while bush has toured in his helicopter. How many more people have to die because of this monster?
From The Roots :: Pulling the Bush Out:Senator Landrieu-"But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast black and white, rich and poor, young and old deserve far better from their national government. "

Values-Bush Asks Not

VALUES
Bush Asks Not

Speaking to a nation that was in the midst of confronting monumental challenges such as poverty and war, President John F. Kennedy said in his 1961 inaugural address, "My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country ... ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you." Speaking from the Rose Garden to a nation that is simultaneously fighting a war and dealing with perhaps the greatest natural disaster in U.S. history, President George W. Bush failed to issue any such call for sacrifice. The New York Times writes in an editorial, "Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice."

BUSH COULD SACRIFICE TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY: Marshall Loeb, editor of Money and Fortune magazines, writes, "The President could show that he, too, is prepared to sacrifice for Katrina's victims, perhaps by rolling back some of his planned tax cuts. The nation can ill afford to pay for a war, tax reductions and this disaster recovery at the same time." But Bush has given no indications he will back off his ideological agenda of more tax cuts which primarily benefit the wealthy. Pete Peterson, former secretary of Commerce under Nixon, wrote, "After 9/11, [the administration] faced a choice between tax cuts and getting serious about the extensive measures needed to protect this nation against further terrorist attacks. They chose tax cuts." And again, as the Iraq war commenced, Bush faced a similar choice. But catering to the arguments of conservative ideologues like Tom DeLay, who argued, "Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes," Bush again failed to call for sacrifice and instead chose tax cuts. Despite the devastating economic impact of Katrina, conservatives are already positioning themselves for a vote next Tuesday on the next priority item: repealing the estate tax -- a tax paid by the wealthiest one percent of Americans who inherit at least $1.5 million. 

BUSH COULD CALL FOR CONSERVATION:  The president of American Petroleum Institute, Red Cavaney, said, "The impact of this devastating storm on oil and natural gas operations will be significant and protracted.... Let us understand: This is not an easy thing." His solution? "Right now would be a good time for everybody to sort of ramp up your energy conservation," Cavaney said, even offering energy-saving tips which could help increase fuel efficiency. AAA is also urging motorists to drive less and conserve fuel. President Bush had an opportunity yesterday to publicly elevate the need for energy conservation, but failed to make the call for sacrifice. Bush implored citizens to "understand this storm has disrupted the capacity to make gasoline and distribute gasoline" but offered no suggestions as to how Americans should cope with the crisis.  He should take his cue from Gov. Mike Easley of North Carolina, who said recently, "I am asking all North Carolinians to conserve gas."

IF YOU ASK, THEY WILL RESPOND: Shortly after the attacks of 9/11, Sen. John McCain complained, "After 9/11, people wanted to serve and they were told to go shopping or get on an airplane.... That's not the answer they wanted to hear. This is an opportunity to serve." Americans have demonstrated time and again that, in the face of tragedy, they will respond with true compassion. Already, the Red Cross has announced that it has collected $21 million in donations for the victims of Katrina, "a figure comparable to the response for tsunami victims following the devastation in Asia earlier this year." "The outpouring of support has been amazing," said Kara Bunte, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross. "People are now starting to see the images on TV and want to help." Americans also responded with amazing compassion in the two months following 9/11, providing approximately 1.6 million blood donations and contributing over $1.3 million to charities and relief agencies. Americans can and will do more to sacrifice; they simply need a president who will ask.

Life in the Bottom 80 Percent

The rich get richer, the poor and middle class get poorer and when congress resumes they will work on making the rich richer by more tax cuts by eliminating the estate tax.
Life in the Bottom 80 Percent - New York Times: "Income inequality is an economic and social ill, but the administration and the Congressional majority don't seem to recognize that."

Still Waiting for a Leader

Waiting for a Leader - New York Times: "Nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis."

A Can't-Do Government -Paul Krugman

A Can't-Do Government - New York Times: "At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.
Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk.
So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can't-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job. And while it makes those excuses, Americans are dying. "

Bush gives new reason for Iraq war - OIL

''If Zarqawi and [Osama] bin Laden gain control of Iraq, they would create a new training ground for future terrorist attacks," Bush said. ''They'd seize oil fields to fund their ambitions. They could recruit more terrorists by claiming a historic victory over the United States and our coalition."
Bush gives new reason for Iraq war - The Boston Globe

Hurricane Katrina-The Human Catastrophe in Louisiana and Mississippi

 

The Human Catastrophe
in Louisiana and Mississippi

The human catastrophe and widespread devastation in Louisiana, Mississippi, and elsewhere, as a result of Hurricane Katrina, is eliciting the sympathy and action of people all over the country. The extent of the suffering is almost beyond imagination. Many people in the antiwar movement, in the South, and elsewhere are volunteering and showing other expressions of support for those in need. The possible outbreak of disease caused by sewage contamination of drinking water is just one of the myriad problems facing the population.

While the Pentagon is seeking to occupy the position of coordinator for the relief efforts, it is worth noting where the government, and the Pentagon specifically, has really distributed its resources. Large numbers of the National Guard from Louisiana and Mississippi have been sent to occupy Iraq, and are unable to help in the needed rescue operations. 6,000 members of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard are watching the catastrophe unfold from 7,000 miles away. 40 percent of Mississippi's National Guard force, and 35 percent of Louisiana's is in Iraq. Conditions are likely to worsen in the next few days as rainfall from the hurricane flows into Lake Pontchartrain. Due to collapsed levees, the water is expected to continue to increase in the city of New Orleans until it reaches the same level as the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain.

It's impossible to ignore the class issues associated with this natural disaster. Before the hurricane struck, the government issued a mandatory evacuation order with a "free-market approach." In other words, people were ordered to leave, but the means for evacuation were not provided. More than 300,000 people in the New Orleans metropolitan area could not leave. Who were they? It is the working class and in particular, the African American community in the region that is enduring the worst of the storm. Governor Haley Barbour declared martial law, and announced that looters would be dealt with "ruthlessly." What are poor people stranded in New Orleans supposed to do - wait without food, clothing, or shelter until stores reopen? Again, the Bush administration is spending $200 million a day to occupy, bomb, and wreak havoc on Iraq. It is not only the National Guard members who are in Iraq, but much of the needed emergency equipment for natural disasters. Likewise, the war and occupation is imposing a human catastrophe on the Iraqi people that few in the United States can fathom, given that the big business media largely conceals the depth of suffering caused by U.S. government actions there.

Pat Buchanan says "Impeach bush".

Twice, Bush has taken an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Article IV, Section 4 of that Constitution reads, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion.”

Well, we are being invaded, and the president of the United States is not doing his duty to protect the states against that invasion.

Some courageous Republican, to get the attention of this White House, should drop into the hopper a bill of impeachment, charging Bush with a conscious refusal to uphold his oath and defend the states of the Union against “invasion.”

2005-08-29-buchanan:

Mark Green: We Owe Pat Robertson and Ann Coulter a Big Thank you

The Blog | Mark Green: We Owe Pat Robertson and Ann Coulter a Big Thank You | The Huffington Post: "We owe Pat Robertson and Ann Coulter a big thank you. These two American mullahs of the far (f)right are helping to expose how The Bush Team is in the extreme and we who question this war most prominently Cindy Sheehan � are in the mainstream. "

A CIA Cover Blown, a White House Exposed

A CIA Cover Blown, a White House Exposed - Los Angeles Times

Peace Action

An open letter to members of Congress.
Peace Action: "We have waited too long. Peace talks now. Bring them home safely and soon.
A People's Petition for an Iraq Peace Process"

The Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan -Frank Rich

The American public is finally seeing Iraq as that cancer that is draining our military forces and the nations economy and resources. Only when the public demands that the cash flow to this ill conceived adventure will it finally be over. I think that time is drawing near. As always, Frank Rich hits the nail on the head with his articles.
The Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan - New York Times: "THIS summer in Crawford, the White House went to this playbook once too often. When Mr. Bush's motorcade left a grieving mother in the dust to speed on to a fund-raiser, that was one fat-cat party too far. The strategy of fighting a war without shared national sacrifice has at last backfired, just as the strategy of Swift Boating the war's critics has reached its Waterloo before Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury in Washington. The 24/7 cable and Web attack dogs can keep on sliming Cindy Sheehan. The president can keep trying to ration the photos of flag-draped caskets. But this White House no longer has any more control over the insurgency at home than it does over the one in Iraq."

Blood Runs Red, Not Blue - Bob Herbert

If the war in Iraq is worth fighting - if it's a noble venture, as the hawks insist it is - then it's worth fighting with the children of the privileged classes. They should be added to the combat mix. If it's not worth their blood, then we should bring the other troops home.
If Mr. Bush's war in Iraq is worth dying for, then the children of the privileged should be doing some of the dying.
Blood Runs Red, Not Blue - New York Times:

Justice Sunday Reloaded - New York Times

When these motherfuckers start paying their share of taxes they wont have near so much time to wail against judges.
Justice Sunday Reloaded - New York Times: "As if the first Justice Sunday weren't disturbing enough, the extreme right produced an angry sequel last Sunday - another church-based rally railing against judges. It was offensive on many levels, from the inflammatory and inaccurate attacks on 'activist' judges to the fact that it was held in a tax-exempt church. If the event's speakers ever got control of the legal system, the nation would be in real trouble."

Someone Tell the President the War Is Over - Frank Rich

The next step? Bring the troops home so bush can claim "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"! After all, how many nations can one president destroy in 8 years.
Someone Tell the President the War Is Over - New York Times: "LIKE the Japanese soldier marooned on an island for years after V-J Day, President Bush may be the last person in the country to learn that for Americans, if not Iraqis, the war in Iraq is over. 'We will stay the course,' he insistently tells us from his Texas ranch. What do you mean we, white man? "

21 Administration Officials Involved In Plame Leak

Bigger than Watergate. The cast of characters according to Think Progress.
Think Progress - 21 Administration Officials Involved In Plame Leak

TomPaine.com - The Birthday Bush Wants To Ignore

Happy Birthday to Social Security which becomes 70 on Sunday August 14th.
TomPaine.com - The Birthday Bush Wants To Ignore

t r u t h o u t - William Rivers Pitt | Bush Is No Nixon

"No mother who lost her son to this Iraq war should be made to stand in a ditch, and yet that is exactly where Cindy Sheehan stands today, by the side of the road in Crawford, Texas. She has been standing there since she heard about the 20 Marines who were killed in Iraq last week, since she heard George W. Bush describe from his vacation home the noble cause for which those Marines died."
t r u t h o u t - William Rivers Pitt | Bush Is No Nixon
As always, William Rivers Pitt makes more sense than all the cable TV pundits combined. All they seem to consider as news is Aruba and other murder mysteries and reruns of the Michael Jackson trial and its greedy jurors.

Americans Have a Right to Know Where John Roberts Stands on Critical Issues

John Roberts’ record raises serious concerns about whether he will be fair, independent and will protect the rights and freedoms of all Americans. The American people must know the whole truth before the Senate decides whether Judge Roberts should sit on our nation’s highest court for life.
http://independentcourt.org/Kind.wmv
Independent Court.org

TomPaine.com - More Hackett Jobs

Rural America is not sold on the socially extremist agenda of Republicans to outlaw abortion, intimidate the teaching of science and allow the government to intrude into the personal lives of its citizens. If they were, then the president of the Greater Cincinnati "Right to Life" group, Republican Jean Schmidt, would have swept these rural Ohio counties. Rural America is ready to become Democratic again. For Democrats, going after this weakest link of the Republican majority is the path to the congressional majority in 2006 and the presidency in 2008.


TomPaine.com - More Hackett Jobs

Think Progress VIDEO: Bush I Calls Leakers "Most Insidious of Traitors"

Think Progress VIDEO: Bush I Calls Leakers "Most Insidious of Traitors": "GEORGE H.W. BUSH: "I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors.[Speech at CIA, 4/26/99]"
(Exceptions of course, if you're a republican).

Uzbekians BEWARE! bush will bomb the crap out of you!

Uzbekistan evicts United States from air base - Yahoo! News: "Uzbeki"

Oil and Blood

As usual, Bob Herbert gets it exactly right. No clearer explanation could come closer to the truth.
Oil and Blood - New York Times: "Many high-level government figures believe that U.S. troops will be in Iraq for a minimum of 5 more years, and perhaps 10.
That should be understood by the people who think that the formation of a permanent Iraqi government will lead to the withdrawal of American troops. There is no real withdrawal plan. The fighting and the dying will continue indefinitely. "

Spoof of Bush Wins Faux Faulkner Contest

"'Go and get him Saddam's gun,' Condi said. 'You know how he likes to hold it.'

"Dick went to my desk drawer and took out Saddam's gun. He gave it to me, and it was hot in my hands. Rummy pulled the gun away.

"'Do you want him carrying a gun into the press conference?' Rummy said. 'Cant you think any better than he can?'"


Spoof of Bush Wins Faux Faulkner Contest - ENTERTAINMENT - Comcast.net

Blair's Bombs

Blair's bunker-mantra is that there was terrorism long before the invasion, notably 11 September 2001. Anyone with an understanding of the painful history of the Middle East would not have been surprised by 11 September or by the bombings of Madrid and London, only that they had not happened earlier.
New Statesman: "The hand-wringing over 'whither Islam's soul' is another distraction. As an industrial killer, Christianity leaves Islam for dead. The cause of the current terrorism is neither religion nor hatred for 'our way of life': it is political, requiring a political solution. It is injustice and double standards, which plant the deepest grievances. That, and the culpability of our leaders, and the 'cameras that point the other way', are the core of it."

America's Big Malignant Tumor / Libs are salivating that Karl Rove might go down. But hasn't the worst cancer already spread?

And perhaps most deviously, Rove handed the GOP the double-edged prize of the spiteful Christian right; he galvanized an entire throng of terrified Christians and hard-core homophobic evangelicals from the flyover states to get out there and vote lest those icky liberal gay people swoop in and eat their babies and steal their sons and have sex with their pastors and tastefully redesign their kitchens.
America's Big Malignant Tumor / Libs are salivating that Karl Rove might go down. But hasn't the worst cancer already spread?: "Here's the bottom line: Scandal notwithstanding, Rove's nastiest and most valuable work for this lame-duck president is now complete. And Bush is flopping all over the place: Social Security reform is a disaster and Iraq is an appalling catastrophe and the economy is running on fumes and this nation is an international punch line and Bush's poll ratings are sinking faster than Jenna Bush can slam down a Bud Light. All things over which even Rove himself has little control. "

Iraq's dangerous new friend

Somewhere a guy named Osama bin Laden must be laughing.
Iraq's dangerous new friend: "Now, thanks to the U.S. invasion, a new alliance is being formed between Iran and Iraq that threatens to further destabilize the politics of the Mideast. It wasn't supposed to work out this way. "

TREASONGATE: IT'S NOT JUST KARL ROVE

Since Karl Rove surfaced last week as the White House official who probably unmasked a covert CIA agent, new developments appear to confirm that the deputy chief of staff and chief Bush political strategist has committed treason.
TREASONGATE: IT'S NOT JUST KARL ROVE - Yahoo! News: "Karl Rove has already been found out as a likely traitor to the United States. Now we must work backwards. Does his exposure help to explain some of the Administration's most baffling foreign policy blunders?"

Whitehouse Still Silent on Rove Evidence

Who's running the show up there? These motherfuckers have finally got their tit in a wringer and do I ever love to see them squirm!
ABC 7 News: " The White House is suddenly facing damaging evidence that it misled the public by insisting for two years that presidential adviser Karl Rove wasn't involved in leaking the identity of a female CIA officer. President Bush, at an Oval Office photo opportunity Tuesday, was asked directly whether he would fire Rove - in keeping with a pledge in June, 2004, to dismiss any leakers in the case. The president did not respond."

Bush Fiddles While The World Warms

When it came to actual action—to following the near-universally supported strategy of lowering carbon dioxide emissions—the president remained myopically opposed.
TomPaine.com - Bush Fiddles While The World Warms: "One would have excused Prime Minister Tony Blair if he had refocused the G8 Summit on the issue of terrorism following Thursday's tragic bombings in London. But the fact that he didn't is as significant as any agreement that came out of the meetings."

We're Not in Watergate Anymore

If this Karl Rove affair does not open up a congressional investigation and the main stream media does not jump on this story as in the Watergate scandal then all hope is lost for the survival of the America we all love.
We're Not in Watergate Anymore - New York Times: "Mr. Fitzgerald made his bones prosecuting the mob,' intoned the pro-Bush editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, 'and doesn't seem to realize that this case isn't about organized crime.' But that may be exactly what it is about to an ambitious prosecutor with his own career on the line. That the Bush administration would risk breaking the law with an act as self-destructive to American interests as revealing a C.I.A. officer's identity smacks of desperation. It makes you wonder just what else might have been done to suppress embarrassing election-season questions about the war that has mired us in Iraq even as the true perpetrators of 9/11 resurface in Madrid, London and who knows where else."

It's Here! Newsweek Does Nail Rove

David Corn: "There now is clear-cut evidence that Rove was involved in--if not the chief architect of--the actions that led to the outing of Plame/Wilson."

IT'S TIME FOR KARL ROVE TO BE INDICTED FOR PERJURY AND OUTING AN UNDERCOVER CIA AGENT. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE IN THE MSM? 

MSNBC Analyst Says Cooper Documents Reveal Karl Rove as Source in Plame Case

In August 2003, Ambassador Joeseph Wilson said:
"It's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frogmarched out of the White House in handcuffs. And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words."
We can only hope he is indicted with a perjury rap at the very least. Maybe this is the beginning of the chickens coming home to roost. OH HAPPY DAY!!!
MSNBC Analyst Says Cooper Documents Reveal Karl Rove as Source in Plame Case

Burn, Canada And Spain, Burn! / Look to the skies, see the wrath of God rain down on married gays! Will hockey and tapas survive?

This is what they sincerely believe, even though no one, not any Canadian, Spaniard or church leader, nor any homophobic U.S. senator, can exactly say how kids will be harmed. Just, of course, that they will. Will kids become premature alcoholics? Sexual deviants? Godless heathens? Wiccans and porn addicts and Danielle Steele fans? Will they get tattoos and pierce their labias and vote Green? Or will they merely suffer a ridiculously high divorce rate, 29 percent higher than the U.S. average, like they already do in the "morally virtuous" red states?
Burn, Canada And Spain, Burn! / Look to the skies, see the wrath of God rain down on married gays! Will hockey and tapas survive?: "Children are going to be horribly affected by legal gay marriage, somehow. This is what the ideologues wail. Children are going to be psychologically damaged and morally mauled and sexually preyed upon by those deviant homos with their crazy beliefs and bizarre sexual practices and their whips and chains and weird paraphernalia and gay agitprop literature and creepy homosexual hand puppets. "

Protesters To Disrupt Soldier's Funeral

UNBELIEVABLE!! And the police plan to assist these criminals.!
Protesters To Disrupt Soldier's Funeral - Yahoo! News: "There were no serious problems. Police plan to escort the Kansas group to the funeral services at 9:30 a.m., and will escort them away again. The police said they are protecting the group's free speech rights."

The US war with Iran has already begun

Aljazeera.Net - The US war with Iran has already begun: "The reality is that the US war with Iran has already begun. As we speak, American over flights of Iranian soil are taking place, using pilotless drones and other, more sophisticated, capabilities.
The violation of a sovereign nation's airspace is an act of war in and of itself. But the war with Iran has gone far beyond the intelligence-gathering phase. "

Ex-Klansman Gets 60 Years for 1964 Murders

Killen, a sawmill operator and part-time Baptist minister, has been held in Neshoba County Jail since his conviction.
Ex-Klansman Gets 60 Years for 1964 Murders - NEWS - Comcast.net: "One-time Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to the maximum 60 years in prison Thursday for masterminding the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers."

Ohio Gov. Taft should resign

As a widening scandal at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation threatens his administration, Gov. Bob Taft last night admitted that he had failed to include golf outings on his annual financial disclosure statements filed with the Ohio Ethics Commission.
"There is no provision in state law for an amended ethics form."

Downing Street Is For Liars / Why isn't the media screaming about the latest proofs of Bush's war scams? Don't you know?

Downing Street Is For Liars / Why isn't the media screaming about the latest proofs of Bush's war scams? Don't you know?: "We are now, instead, focused on endurance. On gritting teeth and getting through and getting the hell out of this new Vietnam Bush has imbecilically driven us into, all while surviving 3.5 more years of one of the most abusive, secretive cadres of warmongering leadership in American history. "

Dean raises cash, party spirits

Dean raises cash, party spirits - The Boston Globe - Boston.com - Local - News: "''I think it's great that Dick Cheney went after me. At least they know there's a Democratic Party that's not going to put up with this stuff anymore."

bush's WMD 'Joke': Is the Media Still Laughing?

Bush's WMD 'Joke': Is the Media Still Laughing?: "Bush's WMD 'Joke': Is the Media Still Laughing?
A brief comment at a forum in Washington this week resurrects one of the most shameful episodes in recent media history: The night a roomful of journalists laughed along with a president making fun of the bogus threat that led to a costly war.

By Greg Mitchell

(June 18, 2005) -- Dana Milbank of The Washington Post, in a column on Friday, suggested that the congressional forum the previous day on the Downing Street memos was something of a joke. In his opening sentence he declared that House Democrats took a trip to the land of make-believe in pretending that the basement conference room was actually a real hearing room, even importing a few American flags to make it look more official."

Army says VX spill is no big deal

So what's a little spill like 30 gallons of VX when a single drop is "so lethal a single drop could kill a person in minutes ". I wonder how big a deal it would have been if it had taken place in Washington, D.C. Being out here in jesusland and about 60 miles downwind makes it A GODDAMN BIG DEAL TO ME.
Army says VX spill was contained, neutralized: "so lethal a single drop could kill a person in minutes "

Don't Follow the Money - Frank Rich

Don't Follow the Money - New York Times: "Only once during the Deep Throat rollout did I see a palpable, if perhaps unconscious, effort to link the White House of 1972 with that of 2005. It occurred at the start, when ABC News, with the first comprehensive report on Vanity Fair's scoop, interrupted President Bush's post-Memorial Day Rose Garden news conference to break the story. Suddenly the image of the current president blathering on about how hunky-dory everything is in Iraq was usurped by repeated showings of the scene in which the newly resigned Nixon walked across the adjacent White House lawn to the helicopter that would carry him into exile. "

They Won't Go - New York Times

It's time for those in the Congress to start offering up their sons and daughters as cannon fodder for the bush preemptive war. Perhaps then there would be a quick withdrawal from Iraq and and the focus put on impeachment proceedings of the monsters who started it.
They Won't Go - New York Times: "There's something frankly embarrassing about a government offering trinkets to children to persuade them to go off and fight - and perhaps die - in a war that their nation should never have started in the first place."

I'M IN CHARGE, even if I have to hammer the gavel, walk out, and turn off the mikes. What pieces of shit we have running this country!!  

t r u t h o u t - William Rivers Pitt | Dean Was Right

These Dean statements also, coincidentally, whip the Democratic base into a roaring frenzy as they hear an actual Democratic leader speak their beliefs out loud and in public.
t r u t h o u t - William Rivers Pitt | Dean Was Right: "The answer is straightforward, and appropriately bold after several years of ineffective limp-noodle Democratic leadership. Every time Dean fires off one of his salvos, reporters flip open their notebooks. Headlines get made, discussion begins, and a whole lot of people start debating the facts and merits of his statements. Is the Republican leadership run by right-wing yahoos? Is DeLay going to jail? Controversy begets press. Dean can see, as well as anyone else, how effective the moderate, soft-touch, treading-lightly approach has been working lately for the Democrats. "

Panel Chairman Leaves Hearing

OUTRAGEOUS!! And truth DOES matter.
Panel Chairman Leaves Hearing: "After repeated criticism of the Bush administration, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee yesterday gaveled a hearing to a close and walked out while Democrats continued to testify -- but with their microphones shut off."

Global Warmin' Is Fer Idjuts / Exxon writes America's energy policy, BushCo chops up emissions reports. Is there any hope at all?

Global Warmin' Is Fer Idjuts / Exxon writes America's energy policy, BushCo chops up emissions reports. Is there any hope at all?: "This, as we all now know, is the BushCo way. They lie about environmental devastation, going so far as to hire known skeptics of global warming to testify in court against piles of data compiled by thousands of world-class scientists the world over that prove the obvious direness of the threat. "

The Mobility Myth

Sadly no such ingredients are evident in the new amerikan proletariat. They are a burger-bloated, pepsi-swilling, chat-show-watching, scratch-card-scratching mob of losers and suckers who actually think that the rich standing on their shoulders got there through that mythical "amerikan dream" avenue.
The Mobility Myth - New York Times: "The privileged classes, with the Bush administration's iron cloak of protection, avoid their fair share of taxes, are reluctant to pay an honest dollar for an honest day's work (the federal minimum wage is still a scandalous $5.15 an hour), refuse to fight in their nation's wars, and laugh all the way to their yachts."

Bush's Optimism On Iraq Debated

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/iraq/casualties/usfatalities_228.jpg

While Bush and Vice President Cheney offer optimistic assessments of the situation, a fresh wave of car bombings and other attacks killed 80 U.S. soldiers and more than 700 Iraqis last month alone and prompted Iraqi leaders to appeal to the administration for greater help.
Bush's Optimism On Iraq Debated

U.S. Faults 4 Allies Over Forced Labor

While the administration runs their own gulags around the world and systematically enslaves the poor in Amerika we must now shift focus and hope that the rest of the world doesn't notice what's happening here.
U.S. Faults 4 Allies Over Forced Labor - New York Times: " The United States criticized four of its closest allies in the Middle East on Friday, saying Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are doing little if anything to stop forced labor and other forms of 'modern slavery' within their borders."

AlterNet: Turning Up the Heat on Wal-Mart

AlterNet: Turning Up the Heat on Wal-Mart: "Much to the consternation of progressives, working-class voters have given conservatives their votes and, in the minds of many, not voted their economic interests."

Truth and Deceit

Now, with George W. Bush in charge, the nation is mired in yet another tragic period marked by incompetence, duplicity, bad faith and outright lies coming once again from the very top of the government. Just last month we had the disclosure of a previously secret British government memorandum that offered further confirmation that the American public and the world were spoon-fed bogus information by the Bush administration in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.


Truth and Deceit - New York Times: "Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, drunk with power and insufficiently restrained, took the nation on hair-raising journeys that were as unnecessary as they were destructive. Now, in the first years of the 21st century, George W. Bush is doing the same."

Day 141 of Bush's Silence

Today marks Day 141 of Mr. Bush's silence on the genocide, for he hasn't let the word Darfur slip past his lips publicly since Jan. 10 (even that was a passing reference with no condemnation).
Day 141 of Bush's Silence - New York Times: "Mr. Bush even killed the Senate-passed Darfur Accountability Act, which would have condemned the genocide."

William Rivers Pitt | Exploit the Rift

This very excellent article by William Rivers Pitt outlines the the widening cracks in the GOP agenda and how these rifts should be exploited.
t r u t h o u t - William Rivers Pitt | Exploit the Rift: "Members of the Republican Party's political action corps pride themselves on discipline and adherence to the line. Most of the time they are very good at this, which explains to a degree their ascendancy of late. All of a sudden, however, that discipline has started to crack, and the outlines of a full-fledged civil war within the ranks of the GOP are beginning to become manifestly clear. "

It's All Newsweek's Fault

It's All Newsweek's Fault - New York Times: "Just since the election, we've witnessed the unmasking of Armstrong Williams and Jeff Gannon. We've learned - thanks to Newsweek's parent publication, The Washington Post - that the Pentagon went so far as to deliberately hide the circumstances of Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death from his own family for weeks, lest the truth mar the P.R. advantages to be reaped from his memorial service. Even as Scott McClellan instructs Newsweek on just what stories it should write to atone for its sins, a professional propagandist sits as chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting: Kenneth Tomlinson, who also runs the board supervising Voice of America and other government-run media outlets. He's been hard at work meddling in the journalism on NPR and PBS.
This steady drip of subterfuge and news manipulation increasingly tells a more compelling story than the old news that Newsweek so egregiously botched. "

Wal-Mart Wins, Workers Lose

TomPaine.com - Wal-Mart Wins, Workers Lose: "Wal-Mart is one of only two employers in Maryland that would have been affected by the law. The other, John Hopkins University, already exceeds the health benefits the law required. The Fair Share Health Care Act would have required Wal-Mart to spend at least 8 percent of its payroll on health benefits. In the course of opposing the bill, Wal-Mart claimed the bill was being pushed solely to benefit one of its competitors in the state, Giant Food. The thing that's interesting about Wal-Mart fingering Giant�which, not surprisingly, endorsed the bill� is that the company now devotes 20 percent of its payroll expenses to health care. Does Wal-Mart really want to beg comparisons with that kind of good corporate behavior?"

Dr. Hager's Family Values

Davis alleges that between 1995 and their divorce in 2002, Hager repeatedly sodomized her without her consent
The Nation | Article | Dr. Hager's Family Values | Ayelish McGarvey

Are you ready for your computer RFID microchip?

They Really Are Watching You / Ready for your own all-new, sinister ID card, courtesy of Homeland Security? Shudder: "They Really Are Watching You
Ready for your own all-new, sinister ID card, courtesy of Homeland Security? Shudder"

Fucking Outrageous!! Now the Whitehouse blames Newsweek for the United States image.

After killing thousands of Iraqis, Afghans and American service men and women over a war based on lies and fake information it is truly amazing that these criminals can now blame Newsweek for the United States image.
White House Presses Newsweek in Wake of Koran Report - New York Times: "The White House pressed Newsweek on Tuesday to go beyond a retraction and 'help repair the damage' to the image of the United States in the Muslim world after the magazine mistakenly reported that a Pentagon investigation had found that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, tried to flush a Koran down a toilet."

Religious Right to boycott Microsoft over support for gay rights

Telegraph | News | Religious Right to boycott Microsoft over support for gay rights: "Microsoft is being threatened with organised boycotts by the religious Right after twice reversing its policy on homosexual rights legislation in recent weeks.
Buckling under pressure from rival powerful interest groups, the software giant - which offers generous domestic partner rights for gay employees - performed an embarrassing U-turn over a bill in its home state of Washington that would outlaw discrimination against homosexuals at work."

Bad, Bad Janice Brown is Back

Brown's record shows her to be 'to the right of Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia.'
The Black Commentator - Cover Story: Bad, Bad Janice Brown is Back - Issue 137: "'She's cut from the same cloth as Clarence Thomas,' said Washington, DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Rep. Diane Watson (CA) went further, declaring Brown �has such an atrocious civil rights record she makes Clarence Thomas look like Thurgood Marshall.� Los Angeles Rep. Maxine Waters, who championed affirmative action in her state, bitterly recalled, �All the work that I did�was undermined by that judge.�"

The Republican Party Loyalty Oath, Courtesy of Kim Jong Il of North Korea

Buzzflash hit the nail on the head with this editorial. When will the people of this country wake up to what's going on. Will it be in November 2006?
The Republican Party Loyalty Oath, Courtesy of Kim Jong Il of North Korea: "Here is what BuzzFlash believes Republicans at the highest levels must swear to:
All Republican Party members have to:
1. Dedicate ourselves to struggle to arouse the whole society in pursuing the theocracy implemented by the great President chosen by God, George W. Bush.
2. To offer our highest loyalty to the anointed President, George W. Bush.
3. To make absolute the authority of the wartime leader, George W. Bush.
4. To believe in the Biblical one-party state thought of the great President, George W. Bush, and to maintain the uniformity of the messages of the President.
Each Republican Party member must also observe the following principles:
5. A Party member only recognizes the authority of President George W. Bush and the Republican Congress -- and Judicial appointees handpicked to carry out the orders of the great President.
6. A Party member accepts unconditionally the teachings of the President and regards them as a yardstick for making all decisions.
7. When making reports, discussing a topic, giving a lecture, or quoting from documents, one has to refer to the President's message of the day and Biblical worldview and never speak or write about something inconsistent with the President's views."

My Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder 

A High-Tech Lynching in Prime Time

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: A High-Tech Lynching in Prime Time: "Once upon a time you might have wondered what Senator Frist is doing lighting matches in this tinderbox. As he never ceases to remind us, he is a doctor - an M.D., not some mere Ph.D. like Dr. Dobson - with an admirable history of combating AIDS in Africa. But this guy signed his pact with the devil even before he decided to grandstand in the Schiavo case by besmirching the diagnoses of neurologists who, unlike him, had actually examined the patient. "

New pope intervened against Kerry in US 2004 election campaign

Yahoo! News - New pope intervened against Kerry in US 2004 election campaign: "WASHINGTON (AFP) - German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican theologian who was elected Pope Benedict XVI, intervened in the 2004 US election campaign ordering bishops to deny communion to abortion rights supporters including presidential candidate John Kerry. "

Who's selling Social INsecurity?

Who's sellin Social INsecurity

Beetles get politically prominent names

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP: Beetles get politically prominent names: "Slime-mold beetles are named for the fungilike molds on which they feed. The entomologists collected and borrowed thousands of specimens of slime-mold beetles in order to study their evolution and classification. In so doing, they found more than five dozen new species never before described."

Huge Tax Savings-For those who need it least--at the expense of those who need it most

nuvo.net / Huge Tax Savings: "Corporate taxes now account for about 7.5 percent of overall federal tax receipts, down from a high of 40 percent during World War II. Despite one of the highest ostensible corporate tax rates in the industrialized world, American companies are in fact among the least taxed.
From 2001 to 2003, more than half of all Fortune 500 companies obtained approximately $200 billion in tax savings, nearly double the amount of the previous three years. In addition, more than 25 percent of the 500 corporations paid no taxes at all during the period, despite having profits of nearly $45 billion."

Let them eat bombs

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Let them eat bombs: "A report to the UN human rights commission in Geneva has concluded that Iraqi children were actually better off under Saddam Hussein than they are now.
This, of course, comes as a bitter blow for all those of us who, like George Bush and Tony Blair, honestly believe that children thrive best when we drop bombs on them from a great height, destroy their cities and blow up hospitals, schools and power stations. "

It's All About Assholes

The opinion written by Kennedy in Lawrence and Garner v. Texas striking down anti-sodomy laws is still bugging these mother fuckers.
Conservative leaders meeting in Washington yesterday for a discussion of "Remedies to Judicial Tyranny" decided that Kennedy, a Ronald Reagan appointee, should be impeached, or worse.
And the Verdict on Justice Kennedy Is: Guilty

DLC Misleadership

Patrick C. Doherty, senior editor at TomPaine.com, returns to examine America's strategic dilemma after taking March off from writing to enjoy his honeymoon. His column, Quo Vadis, focuses on America's big picture: where we are, where we're going and how to get there.
TomPaine.com - DLC Misleadership: "The first piece of staggering news popped out of the United Nations' Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. The report states the problem plainly: the world has over-consumed two-thirds of the world's natural resources"

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/thedailyshowwithjonstewart/videos.jhtml
COMEDY CENTRAL TV Shows: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: "Jon decrees that the Schiavo feeding tube will soon be removed from the cable media networks."