Why the Bush Administration really hates France?

Will the French Indict Cheney?

Yet another sordid chapter in the murky annals of Halliburton might well lead to the indictment of Dick Cheney by a French court on charges of bribery, money-laundering and misuse of corporate assets.

- rob 2:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Happy New Year!

Now only 86 sucky years left....

- rob 2:43 PM - [PermaLink] -

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POL: SKIP TIMES SQUARE

Hi, I'm Christopher Shays and I'm a scared little nervous nelly. I'm terrified, which basically means the terrorists won. I'm a scared little republican hiding my head in constant fear. I'm also chairing a subcommittee that deals with terror issues. Ha, now you're scared too.

Count on one less out-of-towner at tonight's New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square.
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) offered his regrets yesterday, telling The Post that he'd avoid the Times Square crowd because it's a "tempting target" for terrorists.

"I wouldn't go to Times Square. That is my opinion. It is one based on the reality that the government has declared a Code Orange," said Shays.

Air safety also worries Shays - "I wouldn't be flying from Europe to the U.S. in an airplane," he said.

Shays forgets how tempting some of the desserts offered in bistros in little italy are, so perhaps he should avoid the lower part of Manhattan as well. And I won't even go into what method of flying to Europe he is interested in now that airplanes have been ruled out.

I always wondered who the hell believed a word of Ridge's "high alert" seasonal fright dose, well now we know: Rep. Shays.

- rob 2:42 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Right Thing, at Last

We may never know what damage was caused by Mr. Ashcroft's delay of nearly two months in taking the proper action. Further time will now be lost as Mr. Fitzgerald gets up to speed on the investigation. In his announcement, Mr. Comey said that Mr. Ashcroft was displaying "an abundance of caution" in recusing himself from the case. But that sort of care would have mandated the appointment of a special counsel from the start. Yesterday's developments left open the possibility of what we feared all along: that Mr. Ashcroft's extremely tight political bonds with President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, the chief White House strategist, inevitably conflicted with an investigation into whether someone at the White House, perhaps acting with institutional sanction, had revealed the name of a C.I.A. operative for political reasons.

This is still a huge deal, and the candidates should make much of it. The Bush administration is fine with sacrificing America's national security for political purposes, this should not be ignored.

- rob 2:37 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Now added to our store:



Also available as an affordable mini-poster, a small poster, and as hooded and non hooded sweatshirts.

- rob 2:30 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Site notes:

I've removed the link on the right to Kerry's campaign site because Kerry's campaign has turned into a sad desperate joke.

I've also updated Clark's link to go to his actual campaign spot... I was still linking to the Draft site.

- rob 1:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Meatrix: Welcome to the Real World

Have you noticed that all the news coverage of the mad cow disease features nice small family farms and cows out in fields? And yet, that isn't where most of America's meat is coming from.

I'm not saying become a vegetarian, heck I know I could never make it without meat, but I am saying spend a buck or two more each grocery trip (and ten minutes more) and check the labels. Many major chains now do sell "cage free and hormone free and antibiotic free" eggs and milk. Some even sell free range beef and pork. Buy those brands. Support those brands. Capitalism does work if people are informed. People don't want beef that comes from a cow that is pumped up with hormones and antibiotics, and if they knew they were, they'd stop. Support the companies that are doing right and don't the ones that aren't. If enough do it... you will see a better world.

So, no shopping at Walmart, check your food labels, and avoid Parmalat milk.

- rob 1:24 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Be afraid! Be so ridiculously afraid that you become scared of almanacs!

New FBI bulletin: Look for almanacs

WASHINGTON — The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books could be used for terrorist planning.

An FBI intelligence bulletin sent to about 18,000 law-enforcement agencies last week warned that "terrorist operatives may rely on almanacs to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning" because they include detailed information on bridges, tunnels and other U.S. landmarks, officials said.

The FBI also said that anyone visiting this CIA website was also a danger! Heck, anyone tourist who is asking about how a bridge was build should be shot... pre-emptively!

Also, any student in America's schools that seems to be interested in geography should be considered a person of interest, and in a new move to stop assassinations, the FBI will automatically arrest anyone who buys Catcher in the Rye (or checks in out of a library).

- rob 1:07 PM - [PermaLink] -

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But I don't admire either!

Poll: Bush, Hillary Clinton most admired by Americans

- rob 12:55 PM - [PermaLink] -

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EPA Led Mercury Policy Shift (washingtonpost.com)

For nearly 21 months, a government task force steadily moved toward recommending rules that within three years would force every coal-fired power plant in the country to reduce emissions of mercury, which can cause neurological and developmental damage to humans.

The Environmental Protection Agency-sponsored working group had a well-regarded mix of utility industry representatives, state air quality officials and environmentalists. Without settling on specific emission reductions, the panel agreed that all 1,100 of the nation's coal- and oil-fired power plants must use the 'maximum achievable control technology' (MACT) to reduce mercury and other hazardous pollutants.

But in April, the EPA abruptly dismantled the panel. John A. Paul, its co-chairman, said members were given no clue why their work was halted -- that is, until late last month, when the Bush administration revealed it was taking an entirely different approach, using a more flexible portion of the Clean Air Act.

The new approach is actually fairly old for the Bush administration: Do what is best for the energy firms, and to hell with any child (born or unborn), who will suffer from mercury poisoning (and may never know why they have a variety of health and mental developmental issues).

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The terror threat at home, often overlooked

HOUSTON – It began as a misdelivered envelope and developed into the most extensive domestic terrorism investigation since the Oklahoma City bombing.

Last month, an east Texas man pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon of mass destruction. Inside the home and storage facilities of William Krar, investigators found a sodium-cyanide bomb capable of killing thousands, more than a hundred explosives, half a million rounds of ammunition, dozens of illegal weapons, and a mound of white-supremacist and antigovernment literature.

But it isn't big news because, I guess, sodium-cyanide bombs are more dangerous if held by muslims. I mean, we all know that those killed by the Oklahoma City bombing were less dead then those killed in the Pentagon on 9/11.

- rob 12:43 PM - [PermaLink] -

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A reticent Rice prepares to answer 9/11 questions

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's national security adviser is reluctant to testify under oath before the national commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a published report.

Time magazine reported that Condoleezza Rice is negotiating the ground rules for her appearance before the independent commission. It cited unnamed sources saying Rice does not want to give testimony under oath, and is also concerned about testifying in public. Emphasis mine.

How's this for a ground rule: The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

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Bush signs parts of Patriot Act II into law — stealthily

O n December 13, when U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein, President George W. Bush not only celebrated with his national security team, but also pulled out his pen and signed into law a bill that grants the FBI sweeping new powers. A White House spokesperson explained the curious timing of the signing - on a Saturday - as "the President signs bills seven days a week." But the last time Bush signed a bill into law on a Saturday happened more than a year ago - on a spending bill that the President needed to sign, to prevent shuttng down the federal government the following Monday.

By signing the bill on the day of Hussein's capture, Bush effectively consigned a dramatic expansion of the USA Patriot Act to a mere footnote. Consequently, while most Americans watched as Hussein was probed for head lice, few were aware that the FBI had just obtained the power to probe their financial records, even if the feds don't suspect their involvement in crime or terrorism. Emphasis mine.

- rob 1:05 PM - [PermaLink] -

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New Year’s Resolutions for reporters.

1. Don't talk about clothes.
   
2. Actually look at the candidates' policy proposals.
   
3. Beware of personal anecdotes.
   
4. Look at the candidates' records.
   
5. Don't fall for political histrionics.
   
6. It's not about you.

- rob 1:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Army Stops Many Soldiers From Quitting

Support our troops... allow them to retire when they were supposed to. The pentagon is stealing american fathers, husbands, wifes, and mothers from their families to hide errant policies and missions.

According to their contracts, expectations and desires, all three soldiers should have been civilians by now. But Fontaine and Costas are currently serving in Iraq, and Eagle has just been deployed. On their Army paychecks, the expiration date of their military service is now listed sometime after 2030 -- the payroll computer's way of saying, "Who knows?"

The three are among thousands of soldiers forbidden to leave military service under the Army's "stop-loss" orders, intended to stanch the seepage of troops, through retirement and discharge, from a military stretched thin by its burgeoning overseas missions.

"It reflects the fact that the military is too small, which nobody wants to admit," said Charles Moskos of Northwestern University, a leading military sociologist.

To the Pentagon, stop-loss orders are a finger in the dike -- a tool to halt the hemorrhage of personnel, and maximize cohesion and experience, for units in the field in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Through a series of stop-loss orders, the Army alone has blocked the possible retirements and departures of more than 40,000 soldiers, about 16,000 of them National Guard and reserve members who were eligible to leave the service this year. Hundreds more in the Air Force, Navy and Marines were briefly blocked from retiring or departing the military at some point this year.

Basically the United States military, to support Bush's ill planned adventures, has "shanghaied" 40,000 Americans. Wow! Bush's America just gets better and better.

- rob 12:57 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The New Republicans

The most striking thing about the new Republicanism is the way it embraces big government. The Bush administration has presided over a $400 billion expansion of Medicare entitlements. The party that once campaigned to abolish the Department of Education has produced an education plan that involves unprecedented federal involvement in local public schools. There is talk from the White House about a grandiose new moon shot. Budgetary watchdogs like the Heritage Foundation echo the Republican Senator John McCain's complaint about "drunken sailor" spending.
...

What has happened to the Republicans does not seem to reflect an actual shift in ideology; indeed, the philosophic center of this administration is hard to pin down. Yet whatever the reason, some formerly reliably Republican doctrines seem to have disappeared. Federalism is a case in point. After decades of extolling state governments as the best laboratory for new ideas, Republicans in Washington have been resisting state experimentation in areas ranging from pollution control to antispam legislation to prescription drugs.

Late-20th-century Republicanism was an uneasy alliance of social conservatives — who were comfortable with government intervention in citizens' lives when it came to morality issues — and libertarians who wanted as little interference as possible. That balancing act ended on 9/11. Since then, the Justice Department has enlarged the intrusive powers of government by, among other things, authorizing "sneak and peek" searches of private homes and suspending traditional civil liberties for certain defendants. The story of the military chaplain who was arrested — apparently mistakenly — as a suspected terrorist and then wound up being publicly humiliated with a public vetting of his sex life seems like a summary of a libertarian's worst fears of an overreaching federal government.

The Republicans' newly acquired activism, however, has very clear limits. The modern party's key allegiance is to corporate America, and its tolerance for intrusive federal government ends when big business is involved. If there is a consistent center to the domestic philosophy of the current administration, it is the idea that business is best left alone. The White House and Congress have chipped away at environmental protections that interfere with business interests on everything from clean air to use of federal lands. The administration is determined to deliver on corporate America's goal of cutting overtime pay for white-collar workers. At the same time, it has been tepid in asserting greater federal vigilance over the developing scandal of workplace safety.

- rob 12:51 PM - [PermaLink] -

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France Says No Proof of Hijack Plot Found

PARIS - French investigators questioned seven men pointed out by U.S. intelligence but found no evidence they planned to use a Los Angeles-bound jet to launch terror attacks against the United States, French authorities said Thursday.

American warnings of a plot had prompted Air France to cancel six flights on Wednesday between Paris and Los Angeles — three in each direction — amid a stepped-up terror alert level in the United States.

You realize this was just because the Bush Administration hates the French... there was nothing goin on.

- rob 12:48 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Fun with Bush Family Values

The Relatively Charmed Life Of Neil Bush (washingtonpost.com)

Just how much fun was revealed in a deposition taken last March, during Bush's very nasty divorce battle. Asked by his wife's attorney whether he'd had any extramarital affairs, Bush told the story of his Asian hotel room escapades.

"Mr. Bush," said the attorney, Marshall Davis Brown, "you have to admit that it's a pretty remarkable thing for a man just to go to a hotel room door and open it and have a woman standing there and have sex with her."

"It was very unusual," Bush replied.

Actually, it wasn't that unusual. It happened at least three or four times during Bush's business trips to Asia, he said: "I don't remember the exact number."

"Were they prostitutes?" asked Brown.

"I don't -- I don't know," Neil replied.

"Did you pay them?"

"No."

Not surprisingly, the revelation made headlines around the world. Equally unsurprisingly, the sex story overshadowed the curious financial revelations that came out in the same deposition.

In 2002, for instance, Bush signed a consulting contract with Grace Semiconductor -- a Shanghai-based company managed in part by the son of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin. Bush's contractual duties consist solely of attending board meetings and discussing "business strategies." For this, he is to be paid $2 million in company stock over five years, plus $10,000 for every board meeting he attends.

"Now, you have absolutely no educational background in semiconductors, do you Mr. Bush?" Brown asked.

"That's correct," Bush responded.

Meanwhile, back home in Texas, Bush serves as co-chairman of a company called Crest Investment. Crest, he revealed in the deposition, pays him $60,000 a year to provide "miscellaneous consulting services."

"Such as?" Brown asked.

"Such as answering phone calls when Jamal Daniel, the other co-chairman, called and asked for advice," Bush replied.

Questions such as "what size shoe does your brother wear?"

- rob 12:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush's Medicare scam

According to Bush and all administration underlings, retired people and others eligible for Medicare are about to get "discounts" on their drug purchases. The price breaks, the president has solemnly assured television cameras, will last between this year and the moment in 2006 when the new law takes full effect. Every person entitled to coverage will be getting a discount card, Bush goes on to note in his standard remarks, and the result of that card will be discounts ranging "from 10 to 25 percent" off the retail price of prescription medicines.

That is the official line.

From the fine print of the law itself, however, it appears to be a lie. When the first batch of regulations under the new law was issued by the Bush administration, the fine print described a system under which "discounts" are a goal, not a requirement. Retired people have a statutory right to "share" in savings that result from bulk purchasing of drugs, but whether that share is puny or substantial is a matter the Republicans and Bush are leaving up to private corporations.

The new legislation gives private firms that will actually run the drug benefits program the business opportunity to distribute these so-called discount cards to beneficiaries. However, any savings in the form of discounts and rebates that these firms are able to achieve in price negotiations with drug manufacturers belong to the private businesses, not to the folks taking the pills.

The idea that these savings off the listed price are passed on to consumers turns out to be something that is encouraged, even favored, but not by any stretch of the law's language required. Instead, whether anything is passed on, and if so how much, is left entirely to the discretion of the businesses that will run the drug benefit.

As Senator Edward M. Kennedy put it after uncovering this latest deception, "Only in this administration would the words Discount Card mean seniors get the card while corporations get the discounts."

- rob 12:43 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Expert Warned That Mad Cow Was Imminent

Then in May, a case of mad cow disease appeared in Canada, and he quickly sought a meeting with Ann M. Veneman, the secretary of agriculture. He was rebuffed, he said in an interview yesterday, until he ran into Karl Rove, senior adviser to President Bush.

So six weeks ago, Dr. Prusiner, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on prions, entered Ms. Veneman's office with a message. "I went to tell her that what happened in Canada was going to happen in the United States," Dr. Prusiner said. "I told her it was just a matter of time."

The department had been willfully blind to the threat, he said. The only reason mad cow disease had not been found here, he said, is that the department's animal inspection agency was testing too few animals. Once more cows are tested, he added, "we'll be able to understand the magnitude of our problem."

This nation should immediately start testing every cow that shows signs of illness and eventually every single cow upon slaughter, he said he told Ms. Veneman. Japan has such a program and is finding the disease in young asymptomatic animals.

Fast, accurate and inexpensive tests are available, Dr. Prusiner said, including one that he has patented through his university.

Ms. Veneman's response (he said she did not share his sense of urgency) left him frustrated. That frustration soared this week after a cow in Washington State was tentatively found to have the disease. If the nation had increased testing and inspections, meat from that cow might never have entered the food chain, he said.

To save a penny this Bush administration will kill our food supply. Science is only of interest to the Bush administration if it proves that condoms cause aids and abortions cause breast cancer... i.e. bad science that serves them politically. Science that reveals dangers that may be costly to fix... bah, who cares. Not the Bush administration.

- rob 12:13 PM - [PermaLink] -

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A Federal Case for a Teenager: Family Sees Tie to Ex-President

Here's the scenario: 14 year old with no record, honor student, commits stupid crime that destroys the boat of the President's dad.

Well in Bush's America that means:30 months incarceration, followed by 27 months of probation. He was then sent to a maximum security juvenile facility in Pennsylvania on the order of the federal Bureau of Prisons. .... There are so few juveniles in the custody of the bureau that it does not even have its own juvenile prison, Mr. Dunne said. Instead, it has contracts with states, like Pennsylvania, where Patrick is being kept at the Cresson Secure Treatment Center in the central part of the state.

Cresson is for the most serious juvenile offenders in Pennsylvania who have proved disruptive in other facilities. Patrick is now housed in a wing where the other inmates are all mentally ill or mentally retarded, his mother said.

Patrick had no previous arrests before the arson, and no record of violence, and was an honors student in high school, so one question his parents have is why is he confined in a maximum security facility with emotionally or mentally troubled youngsters.

To jump back to the beginning...:

KENNEBUNK, Me., Dec. 18 — It was supposed to be simple, breaking into a small boatyard near here and stealing a marine radio to monitor police frequencies.

But when the two intruders, Patrick V., 14, and his accomplice, Christopher Conley, 19, spotted what they thought were video surveillance cameras, they panicked and set fire to the building, burning it down along with several boats and engines. Unknown to them, one of the boat engines belonged to former President George Bush, whose summer house is seven miles away.

Within days of the July 2002 fire, Secret Service and other federal agents were at Patrick's house here. His mother, Denise Collier, said they told her that the young men had "blown up the president's boat" in what might have been "a terrorist act." One federal firearms agent told her, Ms. Collier recalled, that the incident had raised "national security concerns." Emphasis mine.

oh please...

- rob 12:09 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Letterman Visits U.S. Soldiers in Baghdad

I just want to point out that Letterman visits the soldiers and tries to entertain them, with humor he many even help the soldiers. He visits soldiers in hospitals.

Bush visits an airport for two and a half hours and parades around a fake turkey and is hailed as a hero. Hell, Al Franken played Tikrit.

Last Christmas, Letterman visited troops in Afghanistan.

Letterman — who brought along his comedy sidekick Biff Henderson and the show's musician, Paul Schaffer — toured the hospital and stopped at the bed of Pfc. Jacob Dominique, 20, of Archbold, Ohio. "We took his appendix," a nurse said.

Letterman's reply — "I saw it downstairs in the gift shop" — won a roomful of laughs.

- rob 12:04 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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