9/11: He Saw It Coming

Paul Bremer, the American viceroy in Baghdad, was asked the other day by Meet the Press's Tim Russert to whom he'd be turning over the keys to Iraq on June 30. Bremer couldn't say. But that's when Iraq supposedly gets its sovereignty back and Bremer can go home.

Once Bremer's time is his own again, the 9/11 commission should bring him in to testify. The question that haunts the commission today -- what should the U.S. have been doing before September 11, 2001, to prevent a terrorist attack? -- preoccupied him for years.
...

"The new administration seems to be paying no attention to the problem of terrorism. What they will do is stagger along until there's a major incident and then suddenly say, 'Oh, my God, shouldn't we be organized to deal with this?' That's too bad. They've been given a window of opportunity with very little terrorism now, and they're not taking advantage of it. Maybe the folks in the press ought to be pushing a little bit."

Lets read that paragraph again, and note that Bremer said these words on February 26, 2001.

"The new administration seems to be paying no attention to the problem of terrorism. What they will do is stagger along until there's a major incident and then suddenly say, 'Oh, my God, shouldn't we be organized to deal with this?' That's too bad. They've been given a window of opportunity with very little terrorism now, and they're not taking advantage of it. Maybe the folks in the press ought to be pushing a little bit."

- rob 5:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

JohnKerryIsADoucheBagButImVotingForHimAnyway.com

Wow, how can Kerry lose with support like that.

(thanks to jer)

- rob 5:18 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Full Disclosure

a post on the Roger Ailes site I thought you all would enjoy:

Remember the hue and cry when 60 Minutes aired the interview with counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke, but failed to disclose that Clarke's book was published by another subsidiary of CBS parent Viacom?

Good.

Remember the hue and cry every time NBC fails to disclose in its numerous reports on the invasion of Iraq that its parent, General Electric, has multimillon dollar government contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq? Not to mention the untold millions it made on building the arsenal for the destruction of Iraq.

Didn't think so.

- rob 12:53 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Yes, I know, its been up since Monday

The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 152

5. John Ashcroft
The Crisco Kid himself appeared before the 9/11 Commission last week to explain why everything that the Bush administration did leading up to September 11 was in fact the fault of the Clinton administration. According to Ashcroft's version of the story, he "moved quickly" to focus the nation on fighting terrorism as soon as he got into office, which I guess would explain why former interim FBI director Thomas J. Pickard testified before the Commission that Ashcroft specifically asked not to be briefed about terrorism. I guess it would also explain why Ashcroft testified that "We did not know an attack was coming, because for nearly a decade our government had blinded itself to its enemies," despite the fact that Condoleezza Rice already testified that the Clinton plan was a good one, which is why she chose to keep it in place and retain Richard Clarke. And I guess that it would also explain why, according to the UK Guardian, on September 10, 2001 Ashcroft "sent a request for budget increases to the White House. It covered 68 programs, none of them related to counter-terrorism." Oh, and he "also sent a memorandum to his heads of departments, stating his seven priorities. Counter-terrorism was not on the list." Oh yeah, and let's not forget that he "turned down an FBI request for hundreds more agents to be assigned to tracking terrorist threats." Damn you, Bill Clinton and your terrorist-loving penis! Look what you made John Ashcroft do!
...

10. The U.S. Forest Service
And finally, the U.S. Forest Service recently put out a brochure which insists that more logging is imperative to prevent wildfires in the Sierra Nevada. Want proof? The brochure contains six photos which demonstrate how the "forests of the past" were in fact much sparser than the forests of today. The photos - taken in 1909, 1948, 1958, 1968, 1979 and 1989 - show an open area of forest which, in each picture, becomes filled with more and more trees and underbrush. The pamphlet says, "Today's forests, dense with green, may seem beautiful, but in fact are deadly... Our old-growth forests are choking with brush, tinder-dry debris and dead trees which make the risk of catastrophic fire high." There's just one tiny problem - it was recently revealed that the 1909 photo used in the brochure was taken after the area had been logged, so that would explain the large, open area with hardly any trees or underbrush. Oh yes, and there's one other minor detail they left out of the brochure - the 1909 photo was taken in Montana, which is nowhere near the Sierra Nevada. In fact, the photo originally appeared in a 1983 Forest Service research report and was captioned "cleanup operations on the Lick Creek timber sale." A Forest Service spokesperson said "Our goal here was to... increase the clarity and understandability of our message. We needed to be accurate but not necessarily precise to the 99th degree." Well all I can say is thank goodness the Bush administration has made blatant manipulation and outright distortion acceptable in today's society, or someone would probably get into trouble for this. See you next week!

- rob 12:34 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

New York Republican Convention

- rob 12:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Diebold apologizes for device flaws

It is an uncommon day when the nation's second-largest provider of voting systems concedes that its flagship products in California have significant security flaws and that it supplied hundreds of poorly designed electronic-voting devices that disenfranchised voters in the March presidential primary.

Diebold Election Services Inc. president Bob Urosevich admitted this and more, and apologized "for any embarrassment."

"We were caught. We apologize for that," Urosevich said of the mass failures of devices needed to call up digital ballots. Emphasis Mine.

"Weren't they actually disenfranchised?" asked Tony Miller, chief counsel to the state's elections division.

After a moment, Urosevich agreed: "Yes, sir."

Hey Maryland! After spending millions of dollars you too will disenfranchise voters.

- rob 12:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Chalabi Compares U.S. Policy on Baathists with Nazis

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. policy shift that may allow former Baathists join a new Iraqi government was akin to putting back Nazis in charge of Germany, Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi said on Friday.

"This policy will create major problems in the transition to democracy, endanger any government put together by U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and cause it to fall after June 30," Chalabi told Reuters.

Yeah, because before this decision was made all was going well. You want to have stability in the region? One thing of many things to do would be to get rid of Chalabi and his ilk.

- rob 12:23 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Diebold Machine May Get Boot

SACRAMENTO, California -- A California voting systems panel recommended Thursday that the secretary of state decertify an electronic voting machine made by Diebold Election Systems, making it likely that four counties that used the machines will have to find others for the November election.

The panel said the state should decertify the Diebold TSx. The TSx was used for the first time in California during the March primary in Kern, San Joaquin, Solano and San Diego counties. Kevin Shelley, California's secretary of state, has until April 30 to decide whether to act on the panel's recommendation. The state must give counties a six-month notice to take machines out of commission before an election.

The panel discovered last November that Diebold had installed uncertified software on the machines.

The voting panel also recommended to Shelley that he ask the state attorney general to examine the possibility of bringing civil and criminal charges against Diebold for violating California election codes, which state that vendors cannot change software without notifying the secretary of state's office. The codes also say that no vendor can install uncertified software on voting systems.

Georgia had an election with questionable results in 2002 on machines that were runny uncertified "patches." But Georgia seems cool with that (maybe because the Republican won). And Maryland doesn't seem to care either.

- rob 5:15 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

An excellent post by no more mister nice blog

Rewriting Alternate History

Hey you Neo-cons: leave alternate realties to the pro: Phillip K. Dick

- rob 5:13 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

The Religious Right Remaking America (into Afganistan)

Michigan Preparing To Let Doctors Refuse To Treat Gays

(Lansing, Michigan) Doctors or other health care providers could not be disciplined or sued if they refuse to treat gay patients under legislation passed Wednesday by the Michigan House.

The bill allows health care workers to refuse service to anyone on moral, ethical or religious grounds.

The Republican dominated House passed the measure as dozens of Catholics looked on from the gallery. The Michigan Catholic Conference, which pushed for the bills, hosted a legislative day for Catholics on Wednesday at the state Capitol.

The bills now go the Senate, which also is controlled by Republicans.

The Conscientious Objector Policy Act would allow health care providers to assert their objection within 24 hours of when they receive notice of a patient or procedure with which they don't agree. However, it would prohibit emergency treatment to be refused.

Okay, so at least there sane enough to prevent emergency treatment refusal, but otherwise: Are they insane?

So the Michigan Catholic Conference is okay with a heart surgeon refusing to do a by-pass on a Catholic because as a Nazi he has problems with Catholics? Seriously, I've got moral problems with bigots, so its a good think I'm not their doctor. Well, its also a good thing because I don't know anything about medicine and I'd probably hurt them, but that besides the point.

Thanks to Atrios for the link.

- rob 4:43 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

How Dare Congress (try to) Fullfill Their Constitutional Duty

Lawmakers Seek Details on Iraq Strategy

"What we've been given is a series of just glossy overstatements ... and how bad Saddam Hussein is ... really, really bad," Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton of Minnesota said sarcastically some three hours into a four-hour hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites). "We have a right to know, and we should be told, what is going on over there, in factual terms, in military terms."

On Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee, Wolfowitz focused more on answering questions that have been raised, though he gave few new details.

"Some say we have no plan. We have a plan," he said referring to U.N. suggestions for forming an interim government to take over from occupation authorities. Senators want to know more — exactly who those people will be, how they will be picked, what happens if fractious Iraqis cannot agree on their selection before the handover?

We have a plan, but we can't tell you, and besides why complain, Saddam was a bad bad man after all.

- rob 12:09 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

uh oh

Vermont nuclear plant searching for missing fuel rods

Maybe they should ask Bush to help with the search, he could try searching under his couch, or maybe he could search every turkey farm in america.

- rob 10:52 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Fellow vet?blasts Kerry's antiwar comments

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A man who served in the same Navy unit as Sen. John Kerry denounced on Tuesday charges the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee made as an antiwar protester that he and other U.S. troops committed atrocities in Vietnam.

"I saw some war heroes ... John Kerry is not a war hero," said John O'Neill, a Houston lawyer who joined the Navy's Coastal Division 11 two months after the future senator left Vietnam.

Take it from Mr. O'Neill Kerry's no hero, why, he should know, he was in the same unit (2 months after Kerry left Vietnam).

Let's learn more about O'Neill, a hero for speaking out against Kerry's Vietnam experiences, though he had different experiences later.

Kos, over at the Daily Kos, has been following up on O'Neill, and look what he's found:

We found out earlier today that John O'Neill, the guy Bush trotted out to attack Kerry's military service, also did Nixon's dirty anti-Kerry work (in addition to clerking for Rehnquist). A partisan hack spanning multiple administrations.
We also found out that he's a partner at the Houston firm of Clements, O'Neill, Pierce, Wilson and Fulkerson. One of his co-partners is Margaret Wilson, who was George Bush's general counsel 1998-2000.

Well, there's more about good ol' Margaret. She was a lawyer at Vinson & Elkins before she worked for Bush. Vinson & Elkins was Enron's main law firm -- the very firm that facilitated Enron's frauds. Vinson & Elkins was also the firm that spawned Al Gonzales -- Bush's current general counsel.

- rob 10:44 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Pentagon Admits to Using Secret Funding for Iraq War, WSJ Says

April 22 (Bloomberg) -- The Pentagon admitted to secretly funding 21 military-related projects linked to the invasion of Iraq before President George W. Bush asked Congress to approve an attack, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an administration statement.
...

Some lawmakers, including Pennsylvania Republican John Murtha, a senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said the Defense Department exceeded its authority and concealed information that should have been shared with Congress, the newspaper reported.

Wow, either Bloomberg or the Wall Street Journal has never hear of proof-reading. I mean, I admit this site's never heard of it either, but, come one, we're called This Century Sucks, what do you expect. But really, I am interested in Republican John Murtha a senior Democrat. Must get confusing. (he's really just a democrat, not a republican-democrat, which is a party that hasn't existed in over a hundred years.)

- rob 10:05 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Because the New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, etc. have decided informing the public is somehow beneath them, we have to turn to blogs to realize that this week it became official: The Bush Administration Broke The Law Again.

Primer: Why Bush Secretly Moving $700 Million Violates The Law

Since Bob Woodward disclosed that President Bush in July of 2002 diverted $700 million into Iraq invasion planning without informing Congress, the Bush Administration has failed to provide one shred of evidence to rebuff the charge. According to Woodward, Bush kept Congress "totally in the dark on this” leaving lawmakers with "no real knowledge or involvement." Not only does the Constitution vest the power of the purse with Congress, but whichever of the two supplemental bills the President drew the money from had explicit language obligating him to inform key congressional leaders. Instead of opening an investigation, White House allies on Capitol Hill actually told USA Today that the move was acceptable because "the $700 million was small compared" with the overall spending bills.

- rob 1:24 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Ashcroft is a religious man

How the Religious Right Pushed for Ashcroft's Nomination

The son of an Assemblies of God minister and educator, Ashcroft has woven his private faith into his public life. In his 1998 book, "Lessons From a Father to His Son," he wrote that he held voluntary daily prayers with his staff and anointed himself prior to each of his two terms as Missouri's governor. He did so again, using a bowl of Crisco oil, before being sworn in 1995 as senator.

But he has no problem bearing false witness

Mr. Ashcroft's Smear

IN HIS TESTIMONY last week before the Sept. 11 commission, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft loosed a remarkable attack on Jamie S. Gorelick, a commission member who served as deputy attorney general during part of the Clinton administration. The "single greatest structural cause for the September 11th problem," Ashcroft said, "was the wall that segregated or separated criminal investigators and intelligence agents," and the "basic architecture for the wall . . . was contained in a classified memorandum" from 1995 -- which Mr. Ashcroft had conveniently declassified for the hearing. "Full disclosure," he said, "compels me to inform you that the author of this memorandum is a member of the commission" -- that is, Ms. Gorelick. Mr. Ashcroft's allegations, which triggered criticism and demands for her resignation from prominent Republicans, are grossly unfair.
...

...blaming her for the "wall" is absurd in any event. The memo by Ms. Gorelick that Mr. Ashcroft branded as the culprit is not even mentioned in the history of impaired information-sharing that Mr. Ashcroft's department gave to the special court that finally lifted the barriers after Sept. 11, 2001. That court described the wall's origin as "sometime in the 1980s -- the exact moment is shrouded in historical mist." A set of procedures promulgated in 1995 codified the policy of keeping intelligence and law enforcement separate and significantly fortified the wall. But as the Justice Department's brief itself acknowledged, prosecutors knew long before those procedures were announced that they were not to direct intelligence activities or to use intelligence surveillance to develop criminal cases. And the Bush administration explicitly maintained the 1995 procedures before the Sept. 11 attacks. The wall was no individual's fault but a product of years of department practice, judicial opinions and supervision of intelligence surveillance by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

In fact, Ms. Gorelick was an advocate of increased collaboration between spies and cops, not greater separation. She pushed to give the court power to authorize physical searches as well as electronic monitoring, and surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act more than doubled during the Clinton administration. The department was criticized by civil libertarians and others on the left and right alike -- us included -- for the changes that she advanced.
...

Pretending that such a deep-seated institutional problem was Ms. Gorelick's single-handed creation should have been beneath the attorney general.

It may beneath A attorney general, but not The Present attorney general. The Crisco Kid struck again!

- rob 1:21 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

The Onion (the newspaper that admits it lies for money... [its a satire site]) gets it right again:

Iraqis Arming Selves For Independence

BAGHDAD—With little more than two months remaining until the American-led occupation force hands sovereignty to an interim government, Iraqi citizens are joyfully arming themselves in anticipation of independence.

"Saddam is overthrown! Praise Allah! Iraq is ours once more!" Baghdad native Alaa al-Khawaja said, as he busily shoved boxes of 7.62mm ammunition beneath the bed in his two-room home on the outskirts of Baghdad. "Now is the time for all citizens to prepare for our nation's glorious future—a future certain to contain wave after bloody wave of sectarian violence."

"Excuse me, now," al-Khawaja added. "I must barricade these doors and windows with sheet metal before the wonderful day of freedom arrives."

- rob 10:50 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Sad. And a sign things are not going so well in Afganistan either

Afghans dump team after asylum bid

KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- Afghanistan has disbanded its national soccer team after nine players disappeared from a training camp in Italy last week, an official said on Tuesday.

Six were arrested in Germany after seeking asylum and will be returned to Kabul where they can expect to be punished for "damaging Afghans' honour."

- rob 10:38 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

- rob 10:37 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Found this via Atrios

Spoils of War

The spoils of war add up to more than capturing expansive palaces and luxury cars. As Marketplace reporters have discovered, not all of the $22 billion being spent to rebuild Iraq is going where it should. Who's watching the money as it streams through Baghdad? Just about no one, and bribes and black marketeering are rampant, witnesses say. A leading anti-corruption group claims as much as 90 percent of U.S. money spent in Iraq is being lost to corruption. From Halliburton subsidiaries charging double for gas, Iraqi officials and Arabic translators unrestrained from pocketing millions of dollars, or even members of the interim governing Council accusing each other of taking tens of millions in bribes. Trouble is, the root of the problem can't be found anywhere near the Green Zone. Try the White House, and Capitol Hill, where oversight of Iraqi construction crews and U.S. contractors like Halliburton has only just begun to be assigned… more than a year after the war began.

Make sure to tune in to Marketplace for more.

- rob 10:16 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Iraq is a family business, and the family is Ahmed Chalabi's

Onward and upward with the rule of law

Following up on our post of two weeks ago, Ahmed Chalabi's nephew Salem has now been appointed "general director" of the Iraqi war crimes tribunal which will try, among others, Saddam Hussein.

Salem, you'll remember, earlier went into the war contracting and lobbying business with the law partner of Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith, a prime architect of the war, and the Pentagon official in charge of the contracting process.

And, no, I'm not making any of this up.

From this article, it seems that the spokesman of Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, Entefadh Qanbar, is also acting as the spokesman for the Tribunal.

- rob 10:11 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Like Bush says, "it's your money."

And I'm sure you wanted it spent to support Bush:

Taxpayers unwittingly paying for Republican National Committee's propaganda

- rob 9:46 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Rep. Hostettler (R-Ind.) Carries Gun to Airport

LOUISVILLE, Ky. Ã?— U.S. Rep. John Hostettler was briefly detained Tuesday when airport security personnel found a handgun in his briefcase as he was going through a screening checkpoint, Hostettler's office said.

Hostettler, R-Ind., was preparing to board a US Airways flight at Louisville International Airport about 11 a.m. EDT when the handgun was found, said his press secretary Michael Jahr.

"Apparently the congressman had left a handgun in his briefcase and forgot it was in there and took it to the security checkpoint, where it was detected and they detained him briefly to make sure he had no ill intent as they should do," Jahr said.

Tonight Hostettler prays "and thank you lawd for making me white and not named Mohammad... are else my brief holding would have been a permanent trip to Gitmo.'

Forgetting where you put the gun. Another privilege reserved for the ruling class/party.

- rob 2:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

An article not available on CNN, Fox News, CBS News, etc.

Fables of the Reconstruction
A Coalition memo reveals that even true believers see the seeds of civil war in the occupation of Iraq

But according to a closely held Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) memo written in early March, the reality isn't so rosy. Iraq's chances of seeing democracy succeed, according to the memo's author—a U.S. government official detailed to the CPA, who wrote this summation of observations he'd made in the field for a senior CPA director—have been severely imperiled by a year's worth of serious errors on the part of the Pentagon and the CPA, the U.S.-led multinational agency administering Iraq. Far from facilitating democracy and security, the memo's author fears, U.S. efforts have created an environment rife with corruption and sectarianism likely to result in civil war.

- rob 1:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Excerpt from Woodward's book (in the washington post - shock!)

Cheney Was Unwavering in Desire to Go to War
Tension Between Vice President and Powell Grew Deeper as Both Tried to Guide Bush's Decision

Adelman said he had worried to death that there would be no war as time went on and support seemed to wane.

After Sept. 11, 2001, Cheney said, the president understood what had to be done. He had to do Afghanistan first, sequence the attacks, but after Afghanistan -- "soon thereafter" -- the president knew he had to do Iraq. Cheney said he was confident after Sept. 11 that it would come out okay.

Gee, wasn't it great the Sept. 11 made all of Cheney's dreams possible?

Adelman said it was still a gutsy move. When John F. Kennedy was elected by the narrowest of margins, Adelman said, he told everyone in his administration that the big agenda items such as civil rights would have to wait for a second term. Certainly it was the opposite for Bush.

Yes, Cheney said. And it began the first minutes of the presidency, when Bush said they were going to go full steam ahead. There is such a tendency, Cheney said, to hold back when there is a close election, to do what the New York Times and other pundits suggest and predict. "This guy was just totally different," Cheney said. "He just decided here's what I want to do, and I'm going to do it. He's very directed. He's very focused."

"I want you three guys to shut up," Lynne Cheney said, pointing at Cheney, Wolfowitz and Adelman. "Let's hear what Scooter thinks."

Libby, smiling, just said he thought what had happened was "wonderful."

It was a pretty amazing accomplishment, they all agreed, particularly given the opposition to war. Here was Scowcroft, the pillar of establishment foreign policy, vocally on the other side, widely seen as a surrogate for the president's father. There had been James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state, insisting on a larger coalition of nations. And Lawrence Eagleburger, Baker's successor in the last half year of the first Bush administration, on television all the time saying war was justified only if there was evidence that Hussein was about to attack us. Eagleburger had accused Cheney of "chest thumping."

They turned to the current secretary of state, Colin L. Powell, and there were chuckles around the table.

Cheney and Wolfowitz remarked that Powell was someone who followed his poll ratings and bragged about his popularity. Several weeks earlier in a National Public Radio interview, Powell had said, "If you would consult any recent Gallup poll, the American people seem to be quite satisfied with the job I'm doing as secretary of state."

He sure likes to be popular, Cheney said.

Wolfowitz said that Powell did bring credibility and that his presentation to the United Nations on weapons of mass destruction intelligence had been important. As soon as Powell had understood what the president wanted, Wolfowitz said, he became a good, loyal member of the team.

- rob 12:58 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

More from Woodwar'd book

Woodward Shares War Secrets

Woodward says that many of the quotes came directly from the president: “When I interviewed him for the first time several months ago up in the residence of the White House, he just kind of out of the blue said, ‘It's the story of the 21st Century,’ his decision to undertake this war and start a preemptive attack on another country."

Woodward reports that just five days after Sept. 11, President Bush indicated to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice that while he had to do Afghanistan first, he was also determined to do something about Saddam Hussein.

”There's some pressure to go after Saddam Hussein. Don Rumsfeld has said, ‘This is an opportunity to take out Saddam Hussein, perhaps. We should consider it.’ And the president says to Condi Rice meeting head to head, ‘We won't do Iraq now.’ But it is a question we're gonna have to return to,’” says Woodward.

“And there's this low boil on Iraq until the day before Thanksgiving, Nov. 21, 2001. This is 72 days after 9/11. This is part of this secret history. President Bush, after a National Security Council meeting, takes Don Rumsfeld aside, collars him physically, and takes him into a little cubbyhole room and closes the door and says, ‘What have you got in terms of plans for Iraq? What is the status of the war plan? I want you to get on it. I want you to keep it secret.’"

Woodward says immediately after that, Rumsfeld told Gen. Tommy Franks to develop a war plan to invade Iraq and remove Saddam - and that Rumsfeld gave Franks a blank check.

- rob 12:50 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

The enemies of American ain't got that swing

President Bush Calls for Renewing the USA PATRIOT Act

And there's only one path to safety and that's the path of action. Congress must act with the Patriot Act. We must continue to stay on the offense when it comes to chasing these killers down and bringing them to justice -- and we will. We've got to be strong and resolute and determined. We will never show weakness in the face of these people who have no soul, who have no conscience, who care less about the life of a man or a woman or a child. We've got to do everything we can here at home. And there's no doubt in my mind that, with the Almighty's blessings and hard work, that we will succeed in our mission. (emphasis mine)

Well, there you go, we need to weaken the constitution so we can have the PATRIOT Act protect us against vampires and other creatures of the night that have no soul. Rev. Bush knows soul, brother. And he knows the enemy ain't got no soul.

This is the same Rev. Bush who knows Putin is a good man because he peered into Putin's soul.

- rob 12:44 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Dear Mr and Mrs Blair - One for the Monty Python fans

Terry Jones channel's Tony Blair's teacher.

Tony really must try harder
His essay on Iraq shows he has little grasp of his subject, world politics

I have just had to mark Tony's essay, Why We Must Never Abandon This Historic Struggle in Iraq, and I am extremely worried.

Your son has been in the sixth form now for several years, studying world politics, and yet his recent essay shows so little grasp of the subject that I can only conclude he has spent most of that time staring out of the window.

His essay, of course, is written with his usual passion and conviction, but, in the real world, passion and conviction do not count for many marks.

Crucially, Tony does not seem to have read any of the first-hand accounts that are easily available and describe what is really going on in Iraq. On the recent escalation in violence, for example, he writes: "The insurgents are former Saddam sympathisers ... terrorist groups linked to al-Qaida and, most recently, followers of ... Moqtada al-Sadr." This is simply not good enough. Tony ignores the multitude of reports indicating that revulsion against the occupation is now widespread among ordinary people.
...

In fact, I begin to wonder what goes on in the boy's head? Does he really believe that the 600 Iraqis whom the US has now killed in revenge for the four "civilian contractors", were all "terrorists" or Ba'athist supporters - despite the fact that those manning the hospitals report that most of the casualties are women, children or old men?

Tony's uncritical acceptance of information supplied by the US reveals a naivety that would be surprising in any sixth-form pupil, let alone one who has hopes of going on to university and then government, as I know Tony does.

He writes: "On the one side, outside terrorists, an extremist who has created his own militia, and remnants of a brutal dictatorship ... On the other side, people of immense courage and humanity ..." This might do in the infants, but I'm afraid by the sixth form we expect something a little more sophisticated.
...

I can only give Tony three out of 10 for this current effort and must warn him to pull up his socks if he wishes to carry on in this subject.

To be quite candid, Mr and Mrs Blair, it's lucky that your son is not in a position of power, otherwise his lack of insight and his crass ignorance would place us all in appalling peril.

I hope United States continues its policy of inviting England on all its misguided misadventures, if only for the chance of reading such essays as above.

- rob 12:31 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Words

I keep hearing a refrain, "disheartening ... blood and treasure"

Vietnam. I know, politics are different. If you lived through Vietnam, though, you remember this same goddamn shit.

- Michael 5:19 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

CLASS WARFARE

The GOP love to cry "They're practicing Class Warfare" whenever anyone mentions that the tax cuts benefit the rich. They love that term, mostly because they are actively engaged in Class Warfare right now. Its not that the rich doesn't want to do their fare share. They don't want to help out at all.

Class Warfare is happening and the rich are winning, and most people didn't even know we were at war.

Why your tax cut doesn't add up

If Bush gets what he wants, the income tax will become a misnomer—it will really be a salary tax. Almost all income taxes would come from paychecks—80 percent of income for most families, less than half for the top 1 percent. Meanwhile taxpayers receiving dividends, interest and capital gains, known collectively as investment income, would have a much lighter burden than salary earners—or maybe none at all. And here's the topper. In the name of preserving family farms and keeping small businesses in the family, Bush would eliminate the estate tax and create a new class of landed aristocrats who could inherit billions tax-free, invest the money, watch it compound tax-free and hand it down tax-free to their heirs.

By drastically favoring investment income over salary, fees and other "earned income," Bush would make it harder for people who start out with nothing to earn their way up the economic ladder, because they'd pay full taxes on almost everything they make, but he'd shower rewards on people who have already made it to the top rungs.

With the current rate of spending and tax-cutting, there's no way the government can even remotely balance its books without huge spending cutbacks, which are unlikely, or new sources of revenue. Bush people talk about growing our way out of budget problems, but that just doesn't seem possible—especially if Bush's two big new proposed tax cuts are adopted. Private whispering among experts from right to left is that some sort of national sales tax is inevitable if we continue current spending patterns, exempt investment income from taxation and try to fix the AMT. Who would be affected the most by such a "consumption tax"? People who live from paycheck to paycheck, spending virtually every dollar that comes in the door.

Greg Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, argues that lowering taxes on investment income doesn't reward just the well-off, even though they get the bulk of that income. "When you reduce the taxes [on capital], you get higher investment," says Mankiw, chosen by the White House as its spokesman for this article. "And when you get higher investment, workers are more productive and get higher wages." Over time, he argues, more and more of the benefit goes to workers. It sure sounds great—but it's not provable, at least not to me. This isn't trickle-down economics, it's seep-down economics. When I paid lower taxes on the dividends I got from Lee Enterprises, an Iowa-based newspaper chain, did Lee run out and give raises to reporters and buy more presses? I think not.

- rob 5:04 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Bush told public that important Iraq meeting with war commander was about Afghanistan

One problem with that: The meeting was about planning a war against Iraq.

WASHINGTON (AP) Following an important meeting on Iraq war planning in late 2001, President Bush told the public that the discussions were about Afghanistan. He made no mention afterward about Iraq even though that was the real focus of the session at his ranch.

''I'm right now focused on the military operations in Afghanistan,'' Bush told reporters after talks on Dec. 28, 2001, with top aides and generals.

A ''war update'' was the White House description of the news conference Bush held with Gen. Tommy Franks, who was in charge of the Afghan war as head of U.S. Central Command.

You know bin laden would probably be captured by now if he was actually focused on the miltary operations in Afghanistan, but he had to drag the entire nation in to some weird ass family fued with Saddam.

- rob 2:02 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

NORAD had drills of jets as weapons

WASHINGTON — In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command conducted exercises simulating what the White House says was unimaginable at the time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets and cause mass casualties.

In a third scenario, the target was the Pentagon — but that drill was not run after Defense officials said it was unrealistic, NORAD and Defense officials say.

Bush was also told that the war in Iraq and his tax cuts were largerly responsible for the massive federal debt created under his "leadership." Bush was shocked, "If someone had told me ahead of time that massive increases in spending coupled with huge tax cuts for the rich would increase the federal deficit, I would have moved mountains to stop that from happening, but such a scenario was simply unimaginable, and besides we received no such warnings this could happen."

- rob 1:18 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

just asking

WHAT WERE THE SOURCES OF WARNINGS TO SELECTED PEOPLE BEFORE SEPT. 11? WHAT ABOUT THE MANY STORIES OF SPECIFIC FOREKNOWLEDGE BY INDIVIDUALS? WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO SUPPOSEDLY PROFITED FROM THEIR FOREKNOWLEDGE OF THE ATTACKS?

After receiving an unspecified warning from the FBI, Attorney General John Ashcroft stopped flying by commercial plane, as is usual among cabinet members, and started hiring private jets (CBS, July 26th, 2001). A warning received on Sept. 10 caused "top Pentagon brass" to cancel their travel plans for the next day (Newsweek, Sept. 13, 2001 and Newsweek, Sept. 17, 2001). The night before the attacks, the Mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, received a warning from his "airport security" contacts not to fly to New York for a mayor's conference on Sept. 11 (San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 12, 2001). Writer Salman Rushdie, considered a primary target of Islamist terror, was barred from domestic flights already a week before Sept. 11.

- rob 1:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Rice Denies Book's Claim on Iraq Decision

Oh, well if Rice says something was a lie, then that's okay with me. I mean she went on TV over and over to talk about Clarke's book being a lie, and that book was a, well, um, it was the truth. Oh.

- rob 12:53 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Airing of Powell's Misgivings Tests Ties in the Cabinet

See below one of the reasons why Powell might not be too happy with the Bush administration. But that leads me to ask if Prince Bandar is informed about war with Iraq before Powell is then what ties remain in the cabinet left to test?

- rob 12:50 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Saudi Envoy Promised Lower Oil Price

April 19 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S. has promised President George W. Bush the Saudis will reduce oil prices before this November's election to help the U.S. economy, according to Bob Woodward, author of a new book about the Iraq war.

Oil prices are ``high, and they could go down very quickly,'' Woodward said last night in an interview on CBS's ``60 Minutes.''

``That's the Saudi pledge,'' said Woodward. ``Certainly over the summer or as we get closer to the election they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly.''
...

Bandar learned of the attack plans on Jan. 11, 2003, two days before U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was told of the decision, according to Woodward.

In a meeting on Jan. 11 with Cheney, Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bandar was shown a map laying out plans for attacking Iraq, Woodward writes in the book. The map was marked TOP SECRET NOFORN, meaning the classified material wasn't to be shown to non-U.S. officials, according to Woodward.

At the meeting Bandar asked for assurances that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein wouldn't survive the war as he did the 1991 Persian Gulf War led by Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush. Cheney responded, ``Prince Bandar, once we start, Saddam is toast,'' according to Woodward.

Bandar said he would take the message to the Saudi leadership if he got the same information he had just received directly from Bush. On Jan. 13 Bandar was called to meet with Bush, who said: ``Their message is my message,'' said Woodward. Powell was told of Bush's decision the same day.

See, I'm confused. I realize Americans didn't vote Bush into office, but I didn't realize the Saudi Royal family did.

- rob 12:45 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

U.S. bracing for terror before election

Its a great set up:

If no one attacks, it proves how strong Bush has been in his fight against terrorism, and thus you should vote for him.

If someone attacks, it proves that the terrorists want to change the outcome of the election and that if you don't vote for Bush it is appeasement. Thus you have to vote for him.

The opportunity for terrorists to try to influence the election, as was the case last month in Spain, appears to be an opportunity that would "be too good to pass up for them," Rice said.

"I think that we do have to take very seriously the thought that the terrorists might have learned, we hope, the wrong lesson from Spain," Rice told "Fox News Sunday."

We Hope they learned the wrong lesson? And what lesson is that, that democracy works? The party that failed to protect Spanish citizens and that tried to manipulate the bombing investigation for political lost, I guess the message that was sent to terrorists is that democracy works and that the right party one.

Rice is not a national security advisor. She is an agent of Rove.

- rob 12:41 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

The Cost of 'Arrogant Daydreams'

The view in the region, from which I have just returned, is that by destroying the Iraqi state the U.S. made it almost impossible to accomplish regime change, as opposed to regime removal, in Baghdad. No one regrets the end of Saddam's tyranny, but Iraq over the past year is viewed as an Arab zone of anarchy under foreign occupation. No one believes that what will be transferred to the Iraqi Governing Council on July 1 is "sovereignty."
...

Many believe that the only thing now saving Iraq from civil war is the increasing unity of ordinary Iraqis against the occupation. This unity increasingly transcends religious schisms. It is drawing religious fanatics into alliance with secular nationalists. ("My brother and I against my cousin; my cousin and I against a stranger.") A new crop of home-grown Iraqi jihadis is, many fear, forging anti-American alliances with trans-regional and possibly global reach. (Shia with Hezbollah; Sunnis with Hamas; both, somewhat warily, with al Qaeda and its affiliates.)

The most charitable characterization of the Iraqi Governing Council (widely known as "Ahmed Chalabi and the Twenty Thieves") is that they are opportunists. Most observers believe that, once cut loose from direct association with the U.S., such men will find the temptation to engage in demagoguery against the U.S. occupation irresistible. The forecast in the region is an escalating guerrilla war against U.S. forces, coupled with the progressive collapse of the successor regime to the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority], and conjoined with jockeying for position in the civil war to follow U.S. military withdrawal.

- rob 12:31 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Subscribe to the TCS Feed

Having trouble with some of the poor English on this site?
Imagine what it looks like when translated by a machine:

Search TCS

Archive

Archive Index Page

What is this?

This is a "team" blog.  We are a bunch of Americans, whose rising distress in our leader's decisions brought us together to make this site.  As Bush said, he's a "uniter."  Many of us have never even met.
That's the internet for you.

This Century Sucks Store

Buy our cool stuff.
And tell everyone what you feel.  

We have a little Store you can visit.  

Our store's selection of items is constantly growing. Come see what we have.

 

We're also Amazon Associates, so if you want to buy something from Amazon, please search for it below, and we will get a few bucks from the sale.

Search Now:

Sites we often like:

Tin Foil Caps

The Free Speech Zone

The office of the independent blogger

Buzzflash

Tom The Dancing Bug

VerifiedVoting.org

Get Your War On

This Modern World

Eschaton / Atrios

Daily Kos

Contribute to America's Future

It is now more important then ever.

Donate to the Democractic Congressional Campaign Committee

Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

Some More Site Mottos

"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



"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make fitting response."
 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt



"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson



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

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree."
- James Madison



"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy



"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

More Sites we often like:

more coming...

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