"Bring 'em on." -- George W. Bush

Tell it to the soldiers' wives. (This article is worth reading.)

- Michael 10:56 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Celebrate Freedom!

"It is the first responsiblity of every citizen to question authority"
Ben Franklin

"If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
George Washington

"Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to persue it."
"War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses."
Thomas Jefferson

"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
James Madison

- rob 1:35 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Happy Fourth of JULY!!! (i know it is the 3rd, but I won't post again until the 7th or so).

The decleration of independence is a document to be very proud of, and worthy of celebrating:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

This is what we are celebrating folks. Not military incursions, not Bush's ratings. We are celebrating the right and ability to live free, save, and happy. And remember if the government becomes destructive of those rights, it is your right to remove that government. Voting is generally the best way. Reading and posting blogs is way down on the list.

- rob 1:24 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Well what do you know? What goes around comes around.

The trainer's equipment includes a fermenter, a centrifuge and a mill for grinding clumps of anthrax into the best size for penetrating human lungs, these experts said.

The mobile unit is part of the government's secretive effort to develop germ defenses.

Military officials said that the effort was financed by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, an arm of the Pentagon that works to counter biological, radiological and chemical weapons.

"It's all the ordering of equipment that in hindsight looks suspicious," said a third expert, who is familiar with the secret federal projects that Dr. Hatfill worked on.

After tense discussions, the Pentagon kept the Delta trailer, which was set up at Fort Bragg last fall in preparation for the war with Iraq. Experts said many troops used it in training sessions run at times by Dr. Hatfill and at other times by Mr. Patrick.

"We are not growing anthrax or botulinum toxin," Colonel Darley said. "None of this equipment is functional. It looks like — it is — the real stuff, but it's nonfunctional."

Whew, that's a relief. Looking for Strangelove, in all the wrong places.

- Michael 12:42 AM - [PermaLink] -

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well i thought it was funny.

- rob 2:57 PM - [PermaLink] -

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They call it "supporting our troops"

Excellent piece from This Modern World, quoting from an Army Times editorial (yes, the Army Times):

In recent months, President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have missed no opportunity to heap richly deserved praise on the military. But talk is cheap — and getting cheaper by the day, judging from the nickel-and-dime treatment the troops are getting lately.

For example, the White House griped that various pay-and-benefits incentives added to the 2004 defense budget by Congress are wasteful and unnecessary — including a modest proposal to double the $6,000 gratuity paid to families of troops who die on active duty. This comes at a time when Americans continue to die in Iraq at a rate of about one a day.

Similarly, the administration announced that on Oct. 1 it wants to roll back recent modest increases in monthly imminent-danger pay (from $225 to $150) and family-separation allowance (from $250 to $100) for troops getting shot at in combat zones.

Says the person who posted the above to This Modern World: Doing the math... Bush thinks not seeing your kids for a year and getting your ass shot at halfway around the world isn't worth an extra $7.50 a day.

Let that sink in. The AWOL Lieutenant can dress up in a flight suit to Support Our Troops, but the guys wearing 35-pound packs in 100-degree heat aren't worth an extra seven and a half dollars a day. And while billion-dollar contracts go to administration cronies, their deaths -- their deaths -- aren't worth an extra six grand for the families they leave behind.

- rob 2:05 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Excellent read on Buzzflash:

The Attack Has Been Spectacular

Lots of stuff there, like this:

"President Bush and his top advisers were informed by the CIA early last August that terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden had discussed the possibility of hijacking airplanes." - The Washington Post, May 16, 2002

- rob 2:02 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Microsoft Word bytes Tony Blair in the butt

What I find most interesting is that it reallys does look like a lot of the more intriquing editing on the famous British Iraqi dossier was done by some guy named Pratt. Figures.

- rob 2:00 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Well thanks to this:

Bloggers Gain Libel Protection

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday that Web loggers, website operators and e-mail list editors can't be held responsible for libel for information they republish, extending crucial First Amendment protections to do-it-yourself online publishers.

Online free speech advocates praised the decision as a victory. The ruling effectively differentiates conventional news media, which can be sued relatively easily for libel, from certain forms of online communication such as moderated e-mail lists. One implication is that DIY publishers like bloggers cannot be sued as easily.

I can, with less fear, link to articles like this:

Exposing Reptilians

Notable Reptilians: George Bush Sr., George Bush Jr., Richard Cheney, Al Gore, Colin Powell, Queen Elizabeth and all 4 sons including Prince Charles and Prince Andrew

President Bush's Cabinet

Attorney General John Ashcroft -- High order Reptilian
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- High Order Reptilian
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson-High Order Reptilian
Interior Secretary Gale Norton -- Alien controlled
Secretary of State Colin Powell --Reptilian of the Highest Order
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill -- Reptilian

But I won't. Not that revealing Bush is an evil alien agent doesn't amuse me, I just don't think it is an effective means of communicating the need for having him removed from office. His actions should be enough, and I don't want to belittle him because he might be a reptilian alien. No one can choose their ancestory you know.

- rob 1:43 PM - [PermaLink] -

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We went to war with Iraq because of:

Weapons of Mass Distruction!
umm... well... no... it was because we:

Wanted to restore Democracy and Freedom!
umm... well... no... not that either:

Occupation Forces Halt Elections Throughout Iraq

SAMARRA, Iraq -- U.S. military commanders have ordered a halt to local elections and self-rule in provincial cities and towns across Iraq, choosing instead to install their own handpicked mayors and administrators, many of whom are former Iraqi military leaders.

The decision to deny Iraqis a direct role in selecting municipal governments is creating anger and resentment among aspiring leaders and ordinary citizens, who say the U.S.-led occupation forces are not making good on their promise to bring greater freedom and democracy to a country dominated for three decades by Saddam Hussein.

We all really do want America to be good and look good, but this is getting harder and harder to justify isn't it?

- rob 2:36 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Remember, even old fashioned and frightening Paleo-Cons think the Neo-Con rulers of this nation are setting us up for some bad mojo.

Why are we still here?
by Patrick J. Buchanan

For less than three months after the fall of Baghdad, we have lost almost as many men in Iraq as we did in three weeks of war. One U.S. soldier is now dying there every day.

"Mission Accomplished," read the banner behind President Bush as he spoke from the carrier deck of the Lincoln. But if the original mission – to oust Saddam and end the mortal threat of his weapons of mass destruction – is "accomplished," why are we still there?

What is our new mission? What are the standards by which we may measure success? What will be the cost in blood and treasure? When can we expect to turn Iraq back over to the Iraqis? Or is ours to be a permanent presence, as in postwar Germany and Japan?

If that sergeant does not know what he is doing there, it is because his commander in chief has left him, and us, in the dark.

- rob 2:32 PM - [PermaLink] -

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When Senate Majority leader Bill Frist isn't busy skinning cats, he's horribly worried about frenzied homosexual activities happening everywhere.

Frist Rallies Support For Constitutional Gay Marriage Ban

Frist called last week's Supreme Court decision striking down the Texas sodomy law a line in the sand, saying the ruling threatens to make the American home a place where criminality is condoned.

We've got a bunch of sad high school bullies and wannabe's running the country. You realized the homophobes were gay then, you realize they still are. You should read about the sweaty one on one basketball games between Scalia and Thomas.

- rob 2:28 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Read this:

Study: Emergency Responders Unprepared

Nearly two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States remains "dangerously unprepared" to handle another catastrophic attack, according to a study by the Council on Foreign Relations.
...

The report said the main problem is that emergency responders on the front lines — police, fire, public health and other officials — are drastically underfinanced and lack the equipment or training they need.

The council, a New York-based private world affairs advocacy organization, recommended spending $98 billion beyond the $27 billion it said the federal government planned to spend on first responders over the next five years.

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said Sunday that the conclusion that an additional $98 billion is needed for first responders is "grossly inflated."

Mind you that'll be less then we spend in Iraq this year, but don't mind me.

And then read this:

Oblivious in D.C.

Taxes have been raised. Services have been cut. And the rainy day funds accumulated in the 1990's have been consumed. If help does not materialize soon — in the form of assistance from the federal government or a sharp turnaround in the economy — some states will fall into a fiscal abyss.

That already seems to be happening in places like California, which has been driven to its knees by a two-year $38.8 billion budget gap, and Oregon, which has seen drastic cuts in public school services and the withholding of potentially life-saving medicine from seriously ill patients.

Most states have been unable to protect even the most fundamental services from damaging budget cuts.

Washington refuses to admit that securing costs money at hame, rather than tossed into the wind in desserts far away. Soon you'll be hearing about cut backs with your local police force, and you'll be thinking "ha, that's for my speeding ticket," and then you'll wonder how someone snuck that bomb in there.... It is scary isn't it. I'm thinking we should sell Orange Alert pillow cases to help us sleep at night.

- rob 2:23 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Top 10 Conservative Idiots (and I'm linking it on Monday no less):

Here's some of this week's listing:

3. Sonny Perdue
Maynard Jackson, the first black mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, died last Monday at the age of 65. And to recognize the great work of this civil rights pioneer, Gov. Sonny Perdue did... absolutely nothing. Despite pleas from the public to commemorate Jackson's passing by lowering the state flags to half staff, Perdue announced that he would only lower the flags on the following Saturday, for the funeral service. But the very next day, Perdue couldn't get those flags down to half staff fast enough. A sudden change of heart? Hardly. Perdue was memorializing Lester Maddox, a former governor of Georgia who died two days after Maynard Jackson. Maddox is fondly remembered as a die-hard segregationist who chased black people away from his restaurant with a hand gun and a mob armed with axe handles the day after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law (he later sold the restaurant rather than serve blacks.) So thanks, Sonny Perdue, for demonstrating where your priorities lie.
...

5. Tom Scully
Let's just take a look at this quote from last week's UK Guardian, shall we: "The Bush administration's top Medicare accountant has calculated how millions of senior citizens would be affected by bringing private managed care into the program, but the administration won't release the information." Hmm. And why is that? Because "an earlier analysis suggested that a Republican plan to inject market forces into Medicare could increase premiums for those who stay in traditional programs by as much as 25 percent." Not only that, but Medicare chief Tom Scully threatened to fire anyone who released the calculations, and said that he would release the report "if I feel like it." See, the next time someone tells you that George W. Bush is taking such traditional Democratic issues as education and medicare and making them his own, tell them that he's not making them his own, he's flushing them down the toilet behind our backs. I mean, commissioning a study on the impact of Medicare changes and then not releasing it because you don't like the results? Must this admistration do EVERYTHING in secret? I guess so - otherwise the public might actually realize just how badly they're going to get screwed.

6. Donald Rumsfeld
An astute observation by the Defense Secretary last week shed some light on the way the Bush administration views the electoral process and democracy in general. Referring to the transition to a democratic government in Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld said "If you think about it, Adolf Hitler was elected. So elections are not the certain judge." Well, that makes sense. Iraq should probably give up on the idea of fair elections altogether, just like we have here in the United States. Rumsfeld was, of course, referring to the difficulty of establishing a government in Iraq that wouldn't immediately a) turn into a fundamentalist nightmare, and b) get in the way of us walking off with their oil. Which begs the question... shouldn't the administration have thought about this before they went in and took Saddam out? Oh well, too late now.

- rob 2:15 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Where Are the WMD? The Winners Are . . .

Because making up a reason to go to war is kind of funny.

• "He changed the invoices and had them shipped to, and stored at, the National Records Center in Suitland, Md. All we need to find them is the right reference number. I believe they are next to the box which has the Ark of the Covenant." -- Alfred H. Novotne, an attorney with the Army at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.

• "At the Lost and Found/Bell Captain's Desk of the hotel in Baghdad where Donald Rumsfeld stayed in Dec. 1983." -- Byron Sigel, director, Japan Program, the Nature Conservancy, Tokyo.

• "Saddam lost them to Bill Bennett in a high-stakes game of Caribbean Poker." -- Notre Dame student John T. Long of Daytona Beach, Fla.

- rob 2:10 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Who Lost the WMD?

Meeting last month at a sweltering U.S. base outside Doha, Qatar, with his top Iraq commanders, President Bush skipped quickly past the niceties and went straight to his chief political obsession: Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Turning to his Baghdad proconsul, Paul Bremer, Bush asked, "Are you in charge of finding WMD?" Bremer said no, he was not. Bush then put the same question to his military commander, General Tommy Franks. But Franks said it wasn't his job either. A little exasperated, Bush asked, So who is in charge of finding WMD? After aides conferred for a moment, someone volunteered the name of Stephen Cambone, a little-known deputy to Donald Rumsfeld, back in Washington. Pause. "Who?" Bush asked.

I just heard that Mr. Cambone just read this and spit out his donut while shouting "Damn! So that's what that email was talking about!" He then looked over to his cubicle mate and said, "Hey Johnny, guess what we're supposed to be doing."

- rob 2:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people."
- Teddy Roosevelt



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"There's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America." - Bill Clinton.