In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Happy July 4th!- Friday, July 02, 2004 -
"He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man..."
- Samuel Adams
- rob 5:39 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Happy July 4th!
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
- rob 5:33 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Ashcroft hates freedom
What Freedom of Information Act?
The Bush administration is offering a novel reason for denying a request seeking the Justice Department's database on foreign lobbyists: Copying the information would bring down the computer system.
"Implementing such a request risks a crash that cannot be fixed and could result in a major loss of data, which would be devastating," wrote Thomas J. McIntyre, chief in the Justice Department's office for information requests.
...."This was a new one on us. We weren't aware there were databases that could be destroyed just by copying them," Bob Williams of the Center for Public Integrity said Tuesday.
- rob 3:15 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
"fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again" - Bush the chimp
Making sure we don't get fooled again
Its the 4th of July weekend and folks are fighting for our freedom:
US lawmakers request UN observers for November 2 presidential election
"As lawmakers, we must assure the people of America that our nation will not experience the nightmare of the 2000 presidential election," she said in the letter.
"This is the first step in making sure that history does not repeat itself," she added after requesting that the UN "deploy election observers across the United States" to monitor the November, 2004 election.
The lawmakers said in the letter that in a report released in June 2001, the US Commission on Civil Rights "found that the electoral process in Florida resulted in the denial of the right to vote for countless persons."
The bipartisan commission, they stressed, determined "that the 'disenfranchisement of Florida's voters fell most harshly on the shoulders of black voters' and in poor counties." Both groups vote predominantly Democratic in US elections.
If you live in Florida make sure you check out:
The Potential Felon Match List of the Florida Division Of Elections:
Check It For Yourself!
On July 1, People For the American Way Foundation received from the Florida Division of Elections an electronic copy of a list of more than 47,000 registered Florida voters who the Division thinks may be ineligible to vote because of felony convictions. This list is now a public record available for inspection and copying by anyone as a result of the decision on July 1 by the Leon County Circuit Court in CNN v. Florida Department of State. The Supervisor of Elections in each Florida county has the list, and may use it as part of the basis to purge voters from the registration rolls. The state has admitted, however, that there may very well be errors on the list. For example, the Miami Herald reported on July 2 that there are more than 2100 voter names erroneously on the list because they have received clemency and their rights have been restored. Others erroneously on the list may well never have been convicted of a felony at all.
And an example of the tactics we are up against:
Consultant for GOP admits to jamming lines
The former head a Republican consulting group pleaded guilty yesterday to jamming Democratic telephone lines in several New Hampshire cities during the 2002 general election.
...
According to court papers released yesterday, Raymond plotted with unidentified co-conspirators to jam Democratic Party telephone lines established so voters could call for rides to the polls in Manchester, Nashua, Rochester and Claremont. Manchester firefighters’ union phone lines also were affected.
The jamming involved more than 800 calls and lasted for about 1˝ hours on Nov. 5, 2002, the day New Hampshire voters went to the polls to decide many state and federal races, including the closely watched U.S. Senate race between outgoing Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and then Congressman John Sununu. Sununu, a Republican, won the race.
Tactics like that do not come from a party that believes in the will of the people. Those actions represent people who are afraid of democracy. As George says "they hate us for our freedom."
- rob 1:47 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Iraq
What the fuck are we doing?
On March 16, 2003, three days before the start of the war, The Times reported:
"In recent weeks, officials in the United States, Europe and Africa say they had seen evidence that militants within Muslim communities are seeking to identify and groom a new generation of terrorist operatives. An invasion of Iraq, the officials worry, is almost certain to produce a groundswell of recruitment for groups committed to attacks in the United States, Europe and Israel."
We now have nearly 140,000 troops in Iraq, with more on the way, and we'll be bogged down there for years to come. The tremendous costs in personnel and money have drained resources needed to combat terror groups around the world and shore up defenses against terror here at home.
Now the public is tiring of the war. A majority of the respondents in both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal polls said the war was not worth its cost in American lives.
But there is no sign of the war ending. The so-called hand-off of sovereignty this week was a furtive ritual that was far more symbolic than substantive. Three marines were killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad on Tuesday, a day after the transfer, and another was killed yesterday in Al Anbar, west of Baghdad.
We're holding a terrible hand. There is no exit strategy for American troops in Iraq. There is no plan in our insane tax-cut environment for paying for the war. The situation in Afghanistan, which is part of the real war against terror, has deteriorated. The U.S. military is stretched dangerously thin, lacking sufficient troops to meet its obligations around the world. Homeland security is deeply underfunded. And with the terror networks energized, the feeling among intelligence experts with regard to a strike in the U.S. is not if, but when.
Happy Fourth of July.
- Michael 11:37 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
Krugman: Moore's Public Service
And for all its flaws, "Fahrenheit 9/11" performs an essential service. It would be a better movie if it didn't promote a few unproven conspiracy theories, but those theories aren't the reason why millions of people who aren't die-hard Bush-haters are flocking to see it. These people see the film to learn true stories they should have heard elsewhere, but didn't. Mr. Moore may not be considered respectable, but his film is a hit because the respectable media haven't been doing their job.
For example, audiences are shocked by the now-famous seven minutes, when George Bush knew the nation was under attack but continued reading "My Pet Goat" with a group of children. Nobody had told them that the tales of Mr. Bush's decisiveness and bravery on that day were pure fiction.
Or consider the Bush family's ties to the Saudis. The film suggests that Mr. Bush and his good friend Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the ambassador known to the family as Bandar Bush, have tried to cover up the extent of Saudi involvement in terrorism. This may or may not be true. But what shocks people, I think, is the fact that nobody told them about this side of Mr. Bush's life. Emphasis Mine.
...
"Fahrenheit 9/11" is a tendentious, flawed movie, but it tells essential truths about leaders who exploited a national tragedy for political gain, and the ordinary Americans who paid the price.
- rob 11:11 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
What a recovery!
New jobs can't even keep up with the growing labor force
Bush's recovery is still netting a loss for workers.
Unemployment Rate Holds Steady in June
WASHINGTON (AP) - Employers hired less help in June than economists anticipated - 112,000 new payroll jobs - and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.6 percent for a third straight month.
June's payroll increase, nonetheless, was the 10th straight month of gains, the Labor Department reported Friday. In advance of the report, analysts had forecast a rise of at least 250,000 in payroll employment as another sign of renewed strength in the labor market. Payrolls in April and May also were revised down slightly from the big gains previously reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Emphasis mine.
...
But job growth first must absorb all of the people returning to the pool of available workers. Last month, the labor force grew by 305,000.
112,000 new jobs and 305,000 new workers = 193,00 new unemployed workers. Wow, Bush's tax cuts worked wonders!
- rob 10:56 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
Vietnam- Thursday, July 01, 2004 -
What the fuck did we do? For what?
- Michael 3:21 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
Another Bush Success Story:
Drug Prices Rose After Medicare Law, Group Says
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prices for medicines most used by older Americans rose steadily after the Bush administration enacted the new Medicare law late last year, the nation's largest group representing the elderly said on Wednesday.
AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, said brand-name drug prices have climbed 3.4 percent -- or three times the rate of inflation -- since December.
The jump was one of the sharpest quarterly spikes since 2000, the report said.
The findings follow another AARP report this year that showed prices for drugs used most by the elderly grew 6.9 percent in 2003. But the increase since President Bush signed the Medicare bill into law was even sharper, the AARP said on Wednesday.
- rob 5:59 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
A great post about how Iraq's new Prime Minister for Iraq seems to be getting his talking points from Rove.
- rob 5:32 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
'Boston Phoenix' IDs 'Anonymous' CIA Officer
NEW YORK The active U.S. intelligence officer known only as "Anonymous," who has gained world renown this month as author of an upcoming book called "Imperial Hubris," is actually named Michael Scheuer, according to an article in the Boston Phoenix today by Jason Vest.
Speculation about his identity has run rampant since a June 23 article in The New York Times discussed the book and the background of the author. The book, "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror," asserts, among other things, that Osama bin Laden is not on the run and that the invasion of Iraq has not made the United States safer.
...
Vest in his article notes that "at issue here is not just the book's content, but why Anonymous is anonymous. After all, as the Times and others have reported, his situation is nothing like that of Valerie Plame, a covert operative whose ability to work active overseas cases was undermined when someone in the White House blew her cover to journalist Robert Novak in an apparent payback for an inconvenient weapons-of-mass-destruction intelligence report by her husband, Joseph Wilson. Anonymous, on the other hand, is, by the CIA's own admission, a Langley, Va.-bound analyst whose identity has never required secrecy.
"A Phoenix investigation has discovered that Anonymous does not, in fact, want to be anonymous at all -- and that his anonymity is neither enforced nor voluntarily assumed out of fear for his safety, but rather compelled by an arcane set of classified regulations that are arguably being abused in an attempt to spare the CIA possible political inconvenience.
- rob 5:12 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Ahh The Washington Times. Rev. Moon's gift to the conservatives. A consverative voice in the heart of America's political power base. A paper where you can read thoughtful, intelligent, conservative takes on current events:
Harry Potter and Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton is such a repulsive subject I never thought I would ever write about him again after he was replaced by a man of decency and integrity in the White House. Yet the sight of all those women lining up to buy his book, to get that book autographed by a serial abuser of women, like prostitutes idolizing their abusive pimp, is sadly illustrative of a bizarre truth.
Bill Clinton is a compulsive abuser and user of women. Jerry Seper of The Washington Times has written of "The Missing Clinton Women" — listing a dozen women he exposed himself to, fondled, assaulted or sexually harassed. There are many more victims of Mr. Clinton's predations who have chosen not to publicly reveal themselves, and many more still who willingly participated.
This is not news — it's common knowledge.
...
One reason is that it's too blindingly obvious that Mr. Clinton's book should have been titled "My Lie." All of that stuff about Hillary being mad, making him sleep on the couch, going to marriage counselors for a year, yada yada, is all made up. They have had a pact for decades: He gets to fool around with women, and she gets to fool around with women (plus the occasional man like Vince Foster).
Yes, she's bisexual — I disclosed that in an infamous Strategic Investment column in January 1993, and Dick Morris publicly revealed it a few years ago. You knew that, right?
The good news is that "My Lie" is going to sink without a trace upon the November election. One reason is that women can swoon over Slick Willie but they sure can't over Hanoi John. Mr. Clinton plays the charmingly lovable rogue who can lie through his teeth and get away with it. There is nothing lovable about John Kerry — pompous, arrogant, stentorian, pretentious and so un-handsome he looks like a cross between Herman Munster and Gomer Pyle.
And if you thought you've never read anything so insane... wait for it:
In November, American voters — women as much as men — will choose the moral decency of George Bush.
Bwhhahhahahahahahaaaahaaaa.
- rob 4:04 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
Does Bush need a helping hand when it comes to questions?
This is a discussion about the fact that with the interview with the Irish reporter (visible here in real video - worth it if you have the bandwidth... this is how the world sees Bush deluded and arrogant) the White House required the reporter to submit questions 3 days ahead of time.
Q Is it your policy to ask for questions in advance?
MR. McCLELLAN: No, it is not my policy. In fact, if reporters would give me their questions, this press briefing would be a whole lot easier, I'm sure. But that's not my policy.
Q Sometimes you might answer them. (Laughter.)
Q I'll be glad to give you a question --
Q Just before I get on to my question, what you're saying is, you didn't ask anyone, but someone in the press office might have asked, and you're not sure --
MR. McCLELLAN: Not in my office.
Q But someone in media affairs or communications --
MR. McCLELLAN: These interviews are set up by another office. I'll be glad to take a look into it. But regardless, the reporter can ask
whatever question they want. This interview is past us.
Q So now I'm going to ask the question that I want to ask, which is --
Q -- might not be able to if there's a pre-brief.
MR. McCLELLAN: Helen, you know that that's wrong. Reporters can ask whatever they want when they see the President.
Q Okay, I'd like to ask the President some questions. (Laughter.)
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sure you would.
The Helen who jokes "I'd like to ask the President some questions" is Helen Thomas who is 84 years old or so and who President Bush is terrified of. At least since Bush the elder (maybe even under Reagan), it was she who always asked the first question of the President in any press conference, but under Bush the pathetic she isn't even allowed to ask a question. Why? Because she'd actually ask a real one.
- rob 3:35 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Last night's Letterman anti-bush dig:
Interrogators say that Saddam is arrogant. He’s defiant. He thinks he’s still popular and that people love him and he thinks he’s still president – no, wait that’s Bush.
- rob 9:13 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
Moe- Wednesday, June 30, 2004 -
"Don't be scared ... don't be scared ... just RUN!"
Bush foreign policy.
- Michael 12:40 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
Lawmakers Ask Ashcroft Why Suspect Freed
WASHINGTON - Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike are demanding to know why the Bush administration chose to release to Syria a terror suspect when several prosecutors and FBI agents had collected evidence for a possible criminal case.
The circumstances surrounding Nabil al-Marabh's release, detailed in a recent Associated Press story, are "of deep concern and appear to be a departure from an aggressive, proactive approach to the war on terrorism," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote Tuesday in a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft.
"Al-Marabh was at one time No. 27 on the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) list of Most Wanted Terrorists," wrote Grassley, who leads the committee that controls federal spending and also is a member of the Judiciary Committee that oversees the Justice Department. "He appears to have links to a number of terrorists and suspected terrorists in several U.S. cities."
Well I see two possiblities. One Nabil al-Marabh has never bared a women's breast and thus is no threat to America, or two Nabil al-Marabh also has connections to other people besides terrorists.
- rob 4:10 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Updates have been made to the TCS store
The new image is available as Postcards (Package of 8) and a cheap shirt (our first under $10 shirt at the TCS store).
The "In your guts you know their nuts" slogan I've seen around on the web (first at Bartcop), though generally in the singular about Bush "you know he's nuts", but since I had a nice hi-rez photo of those two "evil doers" I figured it work even better as "you know their nuts."
And from One Good Move we can learn the historical significance of the joke:
"In Your Guts You Know He's Nuts" harkens back to the 1964 Goldwater campaign, a parody on his "In Your Heart You Know He's Right," slogan.
As always any money I make from the store I put in one pocket and out of the other pocket I give the same amount to the DSCC or the DCCC. So far the TCS Store has given a total of $25 to the DCCC, so watch out!
- rob 3:48 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Windfalls of War
Oil Immunity?
WASHINGTON, October 30, 2003 — On May 22, the U.N. Security Council gathered in New York to approve a resolution lifting sanctions on Iraq, creating a Development Fund for the country and providing limited immunity to corporations involved in oil and gas deals there for the next four years. The resolution directed that proceeds from future sales of Iraqi oil and gas be placed in the development fund and allowed the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority to disburse the funds in consultation with the interim Iraqi administration.
That same day at the White House, President George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13303, which appears to give immunity from any judicial process to every entity with direct or indirect interests in Iraqi petroleum and related products. "The threat of attachment or judicial process against the Development Fund for Iraq, Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein ... constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," reads the executive order. It continues, "… any … judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void."
Helping set up schools (which the neocons now seem to act as if that was why we went to war) - no immunity
Helping set up hospitals - no immunity
Helping set up a new democratic government - no immunity
Working for an oil company - hell yeah!
Thanks to S for the link to Windfalls of War - an excellent site
- rob 3:33 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Times the are a changing (continued):
- From a report on last night's Yankees game:
You bet Cheney got booed while Ronan Tynan sang "God Bless America." Cheney - close to the action for a change - had been down in a box seat next to the Yankee dugout with Rudy Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki. Now Cheney was upstairs in George Steinbrenner's box, and when they put his face on the big screen in the outfield, there was plenty of booing. It was about the only thing that stopped the real cheers for the Yankees at Yankee Stadium as they kept pouring it on against the Red Sox.
Real game story last night? Cheney got booed. Emphasis mine.
- Saw Faherenheit 9/11 last night on a Tuesday night. The theater was backed, it was almost sold out. On a Tuesday. I think the movie will make number 2 next week (but with Spiderman II coming out today number 1 is way out of reach). It certainly helps that the movie will go to a wider release of 1,710 screens by Friday (wow!).
- Letterman getting even more obvious about his distaste for Bush, Here's two bits from the last couple of nights.
Top Ten George W. Bush Complaints About "Fahrenheit 9/11"
10. That actor who played the President was totally unconvincing
9. It oversimplified the way I stole the election
8. Too many of them fancy college-boy words
7. If Michael Moore had waited a few months, he could have included the part where I get him deported
6. Didn't have one of them hilarious monkeys who smoke cigarettes and gives people the finger
5. Of all Michael Moore's accusations, only 97% are true
4. Not sure - - I passed out after a piece of popcorn lodged in my windpipe
3. Where the hell was Spider-man?
2. Couldn't hear most of the movie over Cheney's foul mouth
1. I thought this was supposed to be about Dodgeball
Excerpts from the: IRAQI HANDOVER TIMELINE
9:00 AM - President Bush congratulates "Iraqi President what's-his-name and Prime Minister Blah-blah-blah."
10:00 AM - Iraqi officials inspect damage, refuse to return United States' security deposit.
11:00 AM - Inspired by President Bush, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi leaves for a month-long vacation.
12:15 PM - Every member of the government automatically goes on Halliburton payroll.
12:30 PM - President Bush asks President Ghazi Al-Yawer to change his name to something easier to pronounce like "Jeb."
3:00 PM - Bush goes to see "Fahrenheit 9/11." Enjoys a good laugh at what a dolt he is.
4:00 PM - Donald Rumsfeld provides United States ground commanders with plans to invade and conquer the new Iraq.
6:00 PM - President Bush begins process of handing over control of the United States to John Kerry.
- rob 11:45 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
And so it begins- Tuesday, June 29, 2004 -
the end of democracy
Voting Official Seeks Terrorism Guidelines
WASHINGTON - The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission.
- rob 10:06 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
Bush's IQ problems revealed
Iraq Internet presence in Limbo
WHILE THE AMERICANS might be turning over rulership to an interim government in Iraq, it will be some time before the country gets its domain name back.
This time it is not because of any attempts at US control, the .iq owners are facing a criminal indictment and can't pass the Internet suffix on.
According to a report from AP, the problem started in 1997, when Saddam Hussein's dictatorship was blocking access to the Internet.
An ICANN body granted responsibility for the ".iq" domain to InfoCom a Texas-based company and purveyor of computers and Web services in the Middle East.
In 2002, a grand jury indicted InfoCom, and its owners on charges that they exported computer equipment to Libya and Syria and funneled money to a member of the Islamic extremist group Hamas. Meanwhile the new government, national institutions or regular Iraqis are having to register themselves as ".com," ".org" or ".net".
Is it really sovereignty if you don't have your own domain???
- rob 5:37 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
The power of TCS (yes I know we're an obscure site in a dark corner of the internet... but let's pretend!)
In a post eariler this month we explained how easy it would be to win a pulitzer.
Okay the uranium claim was one of the biggest claims in getting people concerned about Iraq, and they were based on forgeries... really bad forgeries.
So don't you think looking into who made the forgeries would be a big story?
I mean, I don't think it was the CIA, they'd do a better job (I'd hope)
But how about some zealous American Neocons?
Chalabi? Someone from the Iraqi National Congress?
or how about Iranian intelligence?
(yep I just quoted myself, I feel so important now)
Well thanks to the amazing influence of TCS (play along now), It really looks like someone is about to go for it.
None other than the Joshua Marshall of Talking Points Memo.
If you're up on the arcana of the 'Niger-uranium' story you'll remember that they first came to light when a source -- an unnamed Italian businessman and security consultant -- gave copies of them to an Italian journalist named Elisabetta Burba.
...
According to the Financial Times article, that business man is likely himself the forger of the documents and he has a long history of bad acts which, they say, discredit him as a source of information. That last tidbit plays a key part in the FT story because, in their words, the provider of the documents is "understood to be planning to reveal selected aspects of his story to a US television channel."
That's what the FT says.
I hear something different.
In fact, I know something different.
My colleagues and I have reported on this matter extensively, spoken to key players involved in the drama, and put together a detailed picture of what happened. And that picture looks remarkably different from this account which is out today -- specifically on the matter of the origins of those forged documents and who was involved.
Lots of hints. No names. Between torturegate, plamegate, and many other gates, I didn't think Cakegate (for yellowcake uranium) would come back to life, but I'm very happy it looks like it will. Oh, and by the way TCS wants worldwide creidt for coining Cakegate, um, unless its already in use... nevermind.
- rob 3:38 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Rolling Stone has a conference with what in the old days would be considered a panel of experienced professionals, but these days they are known as:
'The Coalition of Wild-Eyed'
Anthony Zinni Commander in chief of Centcom, 1997-2000; special envoy to the Middle East, 2002-2003; author of Battle Ready
Gen. Wesley Clark Supreme allied commander, Europe, 1997-2000; led NATO military campaign in Kosovo Rand Beers Counterterrorism adviser to President Bush, 2002-2003; national security adviser to Sen. John Kerry Sen.
Joseph Biden Ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Thomas P.M. Barnett Strategic adviser to the Defense Department, 2001-2003; faculty member of U.S. Naval War College; author of The Pentagon's New Map Fouad Ajami, Director of Middle Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University
Youssef Ibrahim Managing director of the Dubai-based Strategic Energy Investment Group; former Middle Eastern correspondent for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal
Bob Kerrey Senator from Nebraska, 1988-2000; president of New School University
Chas Freeman U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, 1989-1992; assistant secretary of defense, 1993-1994
Do you want to be a member of the 'wild-eyed'? Its easy, just say something truthful but unflattering about Bush.... Have you done it? Its easy isn't it? Well that's all it takes. Now you too are a member of the 'Coalition of Wild-Eyed' (don't ask me what it means, the Bush campaign came up with it and now their cronies are using it in TV interviews like it some kind of amazing dis. "ouch, he just called me wild-eyed, now I'll go home and cry).
Anyway, here's some fun parts of the Rolling Stone Panel:
What Next?
Sen. Joseph Biden: I've been a senator through seven administrations, and this is by far the most divided one I've ever served with. The internal discord is rampant. It's not just Colin Powell, who has differed with Vice President Cheney at every turn. It isn't just Richard Clarke and the others on the intelligence team who have angrily defected. It's General Eric Shinseki, who was fired for telling the truth. It's Lawrence Lindsay, Bush's economic adviser, who was fired for saying the war was going to cost $200 billion. The price tag is even higher now, and still they submit a budget for 2005 without a single penny for Iraq. What in the hell is going on?
...
Clark: That date was picked as a political gambit before there was a real plan for what to do. We're not prepared, but we're not going to be able to renege on that commitment.
Ibrahim: June 30th is the biggest joke around. There will still be 135,000 American soldiers in Iraq. We will pick a new governing council -- a whole bunch of new lackeys. A superambassador -- John Negroponte -- will command an embassy of 3,000 Americans. Every controversial thing that the new government does will look like Negroponte's fault.
...
Thomas P.M. Barnett: It was a major mistake for the Bush administration to say to potential allies, "If you're too big a pussy to show up for the war, we're not going to let you in on the peace or rehab process -- and don't expect any contracts." We had such a macho view of war that we completely miscalculated the dangers of peacekeeping.
...
Zinni: This is a key point. Everybody I know in this part of the world says you cannot let this become a religious war. You can't let this become Islam vs. the West. I fear that's what it's become. We're viewed as modern crusaders. We have our own mad mullahs in America -- the Jerry Falwells, the Pat Robertsons -- who criticize Islam. They are heard much louder over there than they are here.
Ibrahim: It's worse than that. Bush himself is seen to be a mad mullah. The president has repeatedly asserted that God is on our side in Iraq, that he's consulting with a "higher" father. The zealotry even infects the military. General William Boykin recently said, "My God is much bigger than their Allah" -- this was all over the Arab media. He was never fired or reprimanded for making that statement. Prisoners have given accounts of being forced to thank Jesus and denounce Islam. The perception in the Gulf, where I live, is that this administration is vehemently anti-Muslim. Like it or not, we are in a war with 2.1 billion Muslims.
Beers: Even though the clash between Islam and Christianity during the Crusades took place 1,000 years ago, those terms clearly still have resonance in the Islamic community and Al Qaeda. To invoke religion is to give our opponents ammunition in the larger war on terrorism.
...
Beers: The Navy has a custom -- if a ship runs aground, the captain is relieved regardless of who is responsible. That's how Abu Ghraib should be handled.
Biden: I was in the Oval Office the other day, and the president asked me what I would do about resignations. I said, "Look, Mr. President, would I keep Rumsfeld? Absolutely not." And I turned to Vice President Cheney, who was there, and I said, "Mr. Vice President, I wouldn't keep you if it weren't constitutionally required." I turned back to the president and said, "Mr. President, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld are bright guys, really patriotic, but they've been dead wrong on every major piece of advice they've given you. That's why I'd get rid of them, Mr. President -- not just Abu Ghraib." They said nothing. Just sat like big old bullfrogs on a log and looked at me.
Wow, wouldn't you have loved to see a tape of that exchange. Wait Biden's got another good one later on:
Biden: About six months ago, the president said to me, "Well, at least I make strong decisions, I lead." I said, "Mr. President, look behind you. Leaders have followers. No one's following. Nobody."
Biden is my new favorite plagerist.
- rob 3:26 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Thank you for serving our country - But now we're going to take you back.
Army to recall former military members
"Just when I think I'm out, they keep pulling me back in!" is hear throughout the land (apologies to Godfather III).
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army is preparing to notify about 5,600 retired and discharged soldiers who are not members of the National Guard or Reserve that they will be involuntarily recalled to active duty for possible service in Iraq or Afghanistan, Army officials said Tuesday. Emphasis mine.
Please don't interpret this to mean that Bush has stretched America's military too thin. No, just think of it as a new definition of "retirement package."
Any former enlisted soldier who did not serve at least eight years on active duty is in the Individual Ready Reserve pool, as are all officers who have not resigned their commission.
The Army has been reviewing its list of 118,000 eligible individual reservists for several weeks in search of qualified people in certain high-priority skill areas like civil affairs.
- rob 3:01 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Ooops - did you realize yesterday was Monday:
The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 161 - Democratic Underground
1. Dick Cheney
There's an exciting new level of political discourse in town, and it's all thanks to Vice President Dick Cheney! For years, partisan activists such as ourselves have remained on the fringes of legitimate political debate partly due to our use of coarse and colorful language. But now it appears that Dick Cheney has blown down the barriers by dropping an F-bomb on the floor of the Senate. At a photo session last week Crashcart got into a heated debate with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) over the Democrats' investigations into Halliburton war profiteering. When Leahy retorted that Cheney was standing by Republicans who accused Democrats of being anti-Catholic, Cheney replied, "Fuck yourself." Yay! Fuck yourself! Fuck yourself! Go fuck yourself! Thank you, Dick Cheney, for lowering the bar for all of us partisan outsiders. Because if it's okay for the vice president to tell a senator to fuck himself on the floor of the Senate, it should be perfectly okay for a bunch of political hacks on a website to say it. Fuck yourself! (In an added comic twist, I should mention that the incident occurred on the same day the Senate passed the so-called "Defense of Decency" act. Ha ha.)
...
Senate Republicans
It seems that the Senate Republicans are getting a little worried that their boy in the White House might go down hard this November, so they're doing what they can to prop him up. Last week John Kerry was forced to interrupt his campaign and return to Washington in order to cast an important vote on funding health care benefits for veterans. But guess what? As soon as he got there, Republican leaders postponed the vote. Way to play politics with veterans' health care benefits, guys! But this isn't the first time Republicans have played politics with Senate business in an attempt to hobble John Kerry - the Bush Administration bashed the Democratic nominee recently for failing to return to Washington to vote on a proposal to extend unemployment benefits to jobless Americans. The bill missed passage by one vote, which sounds bad - until you learn that according to CNN, "one of the 11 GOP senators who voted for the measure would have switched sides to defeat it if [Kerry] had been there to vote for it." Well, you know what that old conservative maxim says: If you can't beat 'em... cheat 'em.
- rob 11:30 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
Krugman: Who Lost Iraq?
The formal occupation of Iraq came to an ignominious end yesterday with a furtive ceremony, held two days early to foil insurgent attacks, and a swift airborne exit for the chief administrator. In reality, the occupation will continue under another name, most likely until a hostile Iraqi populace demands that we leave. But it's already worth asking why things went so wrong.
The Iraq venture may have been doomed from the start — but we'll never know for sure because the Bush administration made such a mess of the occupation. Future historians will view it as a case study of how not to run a country.
...
The insurgency took root during the occupation's first few months, when the Coalition Provisional Authority seemed oddly disengaged from the problems of postwar anarchy. But what was Paul Bremer III, the head of the C.P.A., focused on? According to a Washington Post reporter who shared a flight with him last June, "Bremer discussed the need to privatize government-run factories with such fervor that his voice cut through the din of the cargo hold."
Plans for privatization were eventually put on hold. But as he prepared to leave Iraq, Mr. Bremer listed reduced tax rates, reduced tariffs and the liberalization of foreign-investment laws as among his major accomplishments. Insurgents are blowing up pipelines and police stations, geysers of sewage are erupting from the streets, and the electricity is off most of the time — but we've given Iraq the gift of supply-side economics.
If the occupiers often seemed oblivious to reality, one reason was that many jobs at the C.P.A. went to people whose qualifications seemed to lie mainly in their personal and political connections — people like Simone Ledeen, whose father, Michael Ledeen, a prominent neoconservative, told a forum that "the level of casualties is secondary" because "we are a warlike people" and "we love war."
Still, given Mr. Bremer's economic focus, you might at least have expected his top aide for private-sector development to be an expert on privatization and liberalization in such countries as Russia or Argentina. But the job initially went to Thomas Foley, a Connecticut businessman and Republican fund-raiser with no obviously relevant expertise. In March, Michael Fleischer, a New Jersey businessman, took over. Yes, he's Ari Fleischer's brother.
...
Let's say the obvious. By making Iraq a playground for right-wing economic theorists, an employment agency for friends and family, and a source of lucrative contracts for corporate donors, the administration did terrorist recruiters a very big favor. Emphasis mine.
- rob 11:27 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
Vox clamantis en deserto- Monday, June 28, 2004 -
A voice crying in the wilderness is something many liberal bloggers, and liberals in general have felt in the past few years. But times, they are a changing:
- On my commute today in a very very Republican area I noticed a Kerry 2004 bumper sticker, and I realized I'd seen a few around (not many, just a few), but then it hit me. I've never seen a Bush/Cheney 2004 bumper sticker. Never. Again, this is Republican Central. I think they're a little ashamed.
- Is it me or is the news getting a wheee bit more accurate? Probably not, but it seems the press is doing a little bit less Bush worship, and that is a very good sign. Perhaps they're embarrased now that its pubicly known that they've been submitting questions that they'll ask Bush ahead of time (thus making it all the more amazing that he has difficulties with the answers).
- Seeing that Cheney's cyborg computer wasn't built to handle a situation where he might be called on to answer for his actions, so he's nervously spouting of explitives. Which brings me to yet more Jon Stewart clips. You've got to check out the Cheney one, I've mentioned this clip before, but it is wonderful to see someone finally say "bald faced lie" when talking about Cheney, and have the news clips to make it plainly obvious: "Cheney, your pants are on fire."
- Watching Letterman getting more and more biting in his daily Bush putdown.
- rob 11:22 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
Handover in Iraq
I'm speechless. Bereft of words. Shaking my head in wonder.
- B 4:27 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Billions of Iraqi Funds Missing
Can't add anything to that headline. Show of hands of who is surprised? Nobody? Alas, why have we all grown so cynical?
- rob 4:06 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Torture: It doesn't even work
Iraq and Al Qaeda
A captured Qaeda commander who was a principal source for Bush administration claims that Osama bin Laden collaborated with Saddam Hussein's regime has changed his story, setting back White House efforts to shore up the credibility of its original case for the invasion of Iraq. The apparent recantation of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a onetime member of bin Laden's inner circle, has never been publicly acknowledged.
...
But more recently, sources said, U.S. interrogators went back to al-Libi with new evidence from other detainees that cast doubt on his claims. Al-Libi "subsequently recounted a different story," said one U.S. official. "It's not clear which version is correct. We are still sorting this out." Some officials now suspect that al-Libi, facing aggressive interrogation techniques, had previously said what U.S. officials wanted to hear. Emphasis mine.
Thanks to Atrios for the link.
- rob 3:38 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Bremer: I'm leaving on a jet plain, don't know when I'll be back again.
Never would be a good guess though.
U.S. returns sovereignty to Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Members of Iraq's interim government took an oath of office Monday just hours after the United States returned the nation's sovereignty, two days ahead of schedule.
Led by Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, each member of the new government placed a hand on the Koran and promised to serve with sincerity and impartiality. Iraqi flags lined the wall behind them.
Funny thing if you look at the picture none of the flags feature that bogus Iraqi flag the CPA launched a couple months back. They're the old flag.
The preparations for the possibility of an early transfer were started a week ago, according to a senior U.S. official.
The low-key transfer ceremony happened inside the Coalition Provisional Authority's "Green Zone" headquarters in Baghdad.
We "handed" a country over to the Iraqi's that was so safe the ceremony had to occur in the most heavily guarded section of Iraq, if not the world. I wish the new Iraq all the best, and I wish they were in power... but the transfer of power seems to be from Bremer to Negroponte.
And Bremer couldn't get out of there fast enough:
In Baghdad prior to his departure, Bremer -- dressed in a business suit but wearing tan combat boots -- said he was proud to have been able to return sovereignty. He said he was confident the new government was ready to meet the challenges ahead.
Bremer boarded a helicopter less than an hour later to begin his trip out of Iraq after 14 months as the administrator, according to coalition military spokesman Mark Kimmett. Within two hours, he was out of the country.
He had to catch a matinee of Fahrenheit 9/11.
But don't worry, Negroponte will do such a fine job.
- rob 3:34 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
@!#&* Dick
Cheney Defends Use Of Four-Letter Word
Cheney said he "probably" used an obscenity in an argument Tuesday on the Senate floor with Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and added that he had no regrets. "I expressed myself rather forcefully, felt better after I had done it," Cheney told Neil Cavuto of Fox News. The vice president said those who heard the putdown agreed with him. "I think that a lot of my colleagues felt that what I had said badly needed to be said, that it was long overdue."
What an odd use of "probably?" It normally isn't used when both parties know the event being discussed most definitely happened. It'd be like me saying Cheney "probably" used his influence to help Halliburton get lucrative contracts.
- rob 2:53 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
Stepping out to a cold Irish welcome
Smiling and waving, George Bush glided down the steps of Air Force One at Shannon airport last night, seemingly unfazed by his tag as the most unwelcome American ever to set foot on Irish soil.
...
Pretzels are off the menu at his working lunch with European statesmen. Only the finest Irish seafood and lamb will grace the table as the conversation turns to the Middle East and famine in Sudan. The French wine-list will serve as a reminder of the difficult task at hand.
But what Mr Bush has been choking on recently is the gristle of the Irish media. Expecting nothing more than a gentle probing from a friendly state which America "helped" to prosper, he gave the first White House interview to an Irish journalist for 20 years. But the state broadcaster RTE subjected him to a grilling which left him fuming and had media commentators and licence-payers debating the Irish style of journalism.
The interview was intended as a cordial start to the president's first visit to the Irish Republic. Some claim the summit was tailored to give Mr Bush a pre-election media-opportunity for the 50 million or so Irish folk back home.
But RTE's Washington correspondent, Carole Coleman, was not about to let Mr Bush off the hook. In an interview broadcast on television and a radio breakfast show she persisted with questions about dead US soldiers, torture, the issue of making the world a more dangerous place, and being disliked.
"I don't really try to chase popularity polls," the president said.
After Irish churchmen queried the president's morals this week, there was also an inevitable question about his devotion to the Lord.
Bush was reported to be angry and confused by his Irish receptiong, cornering Rice in the hallways of the castle he was staying in: "Where the hell are the cute friendly little Irish folk? I means these guys aren't even wearing green!"
Image thanks to Bartcop.
- rob 2:46 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
AP headlines you have to just love reading on a Monday morning:
Bush Can Hold Citizens Without Charges
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court ruled narrowly Monday that Congress gave President Bush the power to hold an American citizen without charges or trial, but said the detainee can challenge his treatment in court.
Okay, so congress gave him the right, but as Supreme Court you get to decide if it is constitutional? Is it?
Its not all bad: The administration had fought any suggestion that Hamdi or another U.S.-born terrorism suspect could go to court, saying that such a legal fight posed a threat to the president's power to wage war as he sees fit.
"We have no reason to doubt that courts, faced with these sensitive matters, will pay proper heed both to the matters of national security that might arise in an individual case and to the constitutional limitations safeguarding essential liberties that remain vibrant even in times of security concerns," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the court.
O'Connor said that Hamdi "unquestionably has the right to access to counsel." Duh.
- rob 12:48 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
I didn't write this, saw it in an atrios comment (and that person saw it on another message board):
Fahrenheit 9-11 Production Budget: $6 million
Fahrenheit 9-11 Marketing Costs: $10 million
Fahrenheit 9-11 First weekend gross: $21,958,00.00
Watching a bunch of right-wingers go into total meltdown and start
screeching in rage like a tribe of monkeys: PRICELESS
Box Office Mojo - 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Ignites Box Office Passion
- rob 10:35 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
A good letter- Sunday, June 27, 2004 -
From today's NYT:
To the Editor:
I sympathize with Michael Newdow's sense of personal injury as his daughter is subjected to a majority view that her father's beliefs are wrong ("Pledging Allegiance to My Daughter," Op-Ed, June 21).
Religious faith, or its absence, is a purely personal matter, and public schools — as well as all public institutions — should make no proclamations about it. Even trial witnesses are no longer required to put their hand on a Christian Bible and say "so help me God" when being sworn to tell the truth.
But what about the rights of the young girl herself, and of all the children in our public schools? Their beliefs concerning God and religion should be a product of individual family upbringing and personal disposition, not shaped at an impressionable age by an institution and figures of authority.
The Supreme Court in this case used domestic relations law as a pretense to hide its political cowardice, thereby abdicating its constitutional responsibility to defend every American's right to express his or her own beliefs without fear of government-sanctioned prejudice.
VERA HOLLANDER
Teaneck, N.J., June 21, 2004
That last paragraph will come back to haunt us.
- Michael 3:23 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
Fahrenheit
I'm surprised I haven't heard any Burning Bush jokes, because this whole movie is about burning. You see burned babies, burned cities, burned allies, burned patriots, burned religion, burned politics, burned bridges, burned faith, burned justice, and most of all, burned money; everything and everyone, it seems, is burning except George Bush, the kid with matches, otherwise known as Nero. And by the time it ends, your blood is boiling and your hair is on fire. The right-wing death squad has all its armies out; if I were Michael Moore I'd stock up on Kevlar and hire an entourage of body guards, because the hit is on. People are afraid of him. And the army ants are hard-wired to kill. We've been told to sit down and shut up. If the fat kid speaks, shoot him. Any questions? Good.
Welcome to the monkey house.
- Michael 5:58 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
TCS Now offers a News Reader Feed
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:
Archive
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.
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.
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...
