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."