Happy Headline Brought to you by folks like Perle

US fears civil war in Kirkuk

- rob 5:49 PM - [PermaLink] -

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A few words from Dowd sum it all up:

The Passion of the Tom

Before, Republicans just scared other people. Now, they're starting to scare themselves.

When Dick Cheney tells you you've gone too far, you know you're way over the edge.

Let's read more.

Last week, the vice president told The New York Post's editorial board that Tom DeLay should not have jumped ugly on the judges who refused to order that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be reinserted. He said he would "have problems" with the DeLay plan to get revenge on the judges: "I don't think that's appropriate."

Usually, the White House loves bullies. It embraces John Bolton, nominated as U.N. ambassador, even though, as The Times reports today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is reviewing allegations that Mr. Bolton misused intelligence and bullied subordinates to help buttress W.M.D. hokum when he was at State.
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Mr. DeLay is seeking sanctuary in Rome at the pope's funeral, and he will hang on to the bitter end. He got thunderous applause from his House colleagues yesterday morning, showing once more that Mr. DeLay, the House majority leader, has a strong hold on the loyalty of those who have benefited from the largesse of his fat-cat friends and from his shrewdness in keeping them in the majority.

"I think a lot of members think he's taking arrows for all of us," Representative Roy Blunt told the press yesterday, backing up Mr. DeLay's martyr complex.

- rob 5:48 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Poll: Bush, Congress Approval Slumping

WASHINGTON - President Bush's standing with the public is slumping just three months into his final term, but Americans have an even lower regard for the job being done by Congress. Bush's job approval is at 44 percent, with 54 percent disapproving. Only 37 percent have a favorable opinion of the work being done by the Republican-controlled Congress, according to an AP-Ipsos poll.

Bush's job approval was at 49 percent in January, while Congress was at 41 percent.

Buyer's remorse. Trying to get a refund on a return... really hard work. Don't worry about Bush though, the very next article I'm sure mentioned that Bush was a "popular war time president" in their coverage of his visit to the Pope's funeral (where Bush was booed).

- rob 5:44 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The religious war begins.

On Eschaton (Atrios): Remaking the judicial system to reflect a more explicitly biblical world view

They also warned that Frist and other politicians who have thus far been reluctant to force a confrontation with Senate Minority Leader Reid over the nominations would be held accountable if Democrats continue to block conservative judges.

Participants at this week's Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration meeting said the group also will focus on forcing Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against any judge who does not conform with their biblically based interpretation of the Constitution, as well as permanently curb judicial authority over matters of church and state, marriage and governmental acknowledgement of a Christian deity.

"What it is time to do is impeach justices," Texas Justice Foundation President Allan Parker extolled a crowd of a hundred or so conservative lobbyists, attorneys and activists. "The standard should be any judge who believes in the 'living constitution' should be impeached."

- rob 5:40 PM - [PermaLink] -

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I think Clarke would have won in November (or at least won by so much that i'd be hard to put a fix on the results)

Same Committee, Same Combatants, Different Tune

Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. is a conservative Republican from North Carolina who voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq. So it jarred all the more yesterday when Jones turned his fury on Richard N. Perle, the Pentagon adviser who provided the Bush administration with brainpower for the Iraq war.

Jones, who said he has signed more than 900 condolence letters to kin of fallen soldiers, pronounced himself "incensed" with Perle. "It is just amazing to me how we as a Congress were told we had to remove this man . . . but the reason we were given was not accurate," Jones told Perle at a House Armed Services Committee hearing. Jones said the administration should "apologize for the misinformation that was given. To me there should be somebody who is large enough to say 'We've made a mistake.' I've not heard that yet."

As chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, Perle had gone before the same committee in 2002 and smugly portrayed retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark, who urged caution in Iraq, as "hopelessly confused" and spouting "fuzzy stuff" and "dumb cliches."
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Perle wasn't about to provide the apology Jones sought. He disavowed any responsibility for his confident prewar assertions about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, heaping the blame instead on "appalling incompetence" at the CIA. "There is reason to believe that we were sucked into an ill-conceived initial attack aimed at Saddam himself by double agents planted by the regime.
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Jones, nearly in tears as he held up Perle's testimony, glared at the witness. "I went to a Marine's funeral who left a wife and three children, twins he never saw, and I'll tell you, I apologize, Mr. Chairman, but I am just incensed with this statement."
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Yesterday, it imitated an episode of "Crossfire." For more than three hours, Clark and Perle reprised their confrontation before the committee in September 2002. The two men entered in twin gray suits and red ties, and took adjacent chairs at the witness table. Clark scribbled in pencil, Perle with a fountain pen. Only Perle's reading material -- he put on the witness table a copy of "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly" -- suggested he was not expecting what was to come.

Perle opened by acknowledging mistakes -- though not his own. "The occupation of Iraq did much to vitiate the goodwill we earned," he said, and, "The grand ambition of the Coalition Provisional Authority was profoundly mistaken."

The two belligerents then went after each other, taking the hearing out of the control of the lawmakers. Perle wondered "why in the world" Clark would talk to Syria. Clark said Perle should learn to "eat the elephant one bite at a time." "What are you talking about?" Perle demanded.
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At the September 2002 hearing, GOP lawmakers joined in Perle's dismissal of Clark's argument that "time is on our side" in Iraq and that force should be used only as a "last resort."

Perle said Clark was "wildly optimistic" and called it "one of the dumber cliches, frankly, to say that force must always be a last resort." While Clark fiddled, "Saddam Hussein is busy perfecting those weapons of mass destruction that he already has."

In retrospect, Clark's forecasts proved more accurate than Perle's, and even Republicans on the committee made little effort yesterday to defend Perle or to undermine Clark.

I agree, what a silly dumb cliche using force as a last resort. Why the other day I was with Perle at a diner and I was thinking of asking the waitress to refresh my coffee but instead I slammed her head against the wall. I got my coffee. Perle was so proud of me he let me hold the magnifying glass first as we fried ants in the Pentagon's lawn.

- rob 5:37 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Oh, and if you give TCS $1,250 we'll give you a certificate suitable from framing declaring you "Best Surfer of All The Internets." And we'll wash your car [you pay for travel, rooming, and other incidental expenses of course].

Are Honors for Physicians the New Political Diploma Mill?

The good news reached the Jamestown, N.Y., office of Dr. Rudolph Mueller in a fax from a congressman in Washington. Mueller had been named 2004 Physician of the Year.

"My secretary came running in and said, 'Dr. Rudy, look at what you've won, you're Physician of the Year,' " said Mueller, an internist.

But to receive the award in person at a special two-day workshop in Washington last month, Mueller found out that he would have to make a $1,250 contribution to the National Republican Congressional Committee. It was a disturbing discovery, he said.
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Mueller soon found he was not the only winner. There were hundreds of Physicians of the Year present, many of whom found the criteria for being selected equally as opaque.
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The Republicans, under the direction of DeLay, came up with the idea for the awards five years ago as a means of helping to raise funds for the congressional campaign efforts for their party.
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Later that day, Bush spoke at the NRCC dinner, thanking the attendees for their "investment" in the party. "You're making a wise investment about the future of this country, an investment made upon principle, an investment made upon freedom, an investment that will help us stay a prosperous nation, and an investment that will allow each and every American to rise to his or her own God-given talents," he said.

The President continued: "Why I remember 5 years back when I got the fax from my congressman saying I was President of the United States, after a small donation of course. That was the best investment I ever made."

- rob 3:11 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Yesterday TCS noted a fine Kos diary about Bush's hinting that the treasury may default on the social security trust fund.

Here's another post worth a read: Daily Kos :: Bush just publicly committed an impeachable offense

Let's skip right to the part that was violated by Bush's little remark that should get him impeached:

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.

In other words, these "IOUs" not only have the backing of the US Government, but are binding under the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution says quite clearly that public debt shall not be questioned yet there is Bush doing just that, in order to push the plan/non-plan scheme of piratizing Social Security.

- rob 3:03 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Martinez: It's not my fault I'm a moron who can't think for himself. Give me any only sheet of paper tell me its policy and I'll read off of it, and have no idea what it says.

Here we go: "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta." And that is my official position of the child-welfare system of Florida.

Martinez says his staffer produced Schiavo memo

Sen. Mel Martinez said last night that his office was the source of the anonymous political talking-points memo on the Terri Schiavo situation and that he unwittingly passed the memo to Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat.

Mr. Harkin had told reporters earlier in the day that he got the memo on the Senate floor from Mr. Martinez, contradicting previous statements to The Washington Times by the Florida Republican's office that neither the senator nor his staff had produced or distributed the memo.

Martinez noted he once was handed some toilet paper under the stall from Senator Harkin when he ran out, and he didn't go running to the press about it.

- rob 2:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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While it is sweet the government cares, I think I'd rather just have my money back.

The Republicans always says "its your money," then why are they spending $817,000 for urban horticulture in Wisconsin? I guess if you are going to spend money on bringing a whore to culture it would be most cost effective in an urban area - so I probably shouldn't complain, this is probably a big savings form the rural prostitute film studies program originally envisioned.

Citizens Against Government Waste: pigbookintro

The 2005 Congressional Pig Book is the latest installment of Citizens Against Government Waste's (CAGW) 15-year exposé of pork-barrel spending. This year's list includes $3,270,000 for the Capitol Visitor Center; $100,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation; and $75,000 for Onondaga County for the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.

Once again, Congress porked out at record levels. For fiscal 2005, appropriators stuffed 13,997 projects into the 13 appropriations bills, an increase of 31 percent over last year's total of 10,656. In the last two years, the total number of projects has increased by 49.5 percent. The cost of these projects in fiscal 2005 was $27.3 billion, or 19 percent more than last year?s total of $22.9 billion. In fact, the total cost of pork has increased by 21 percent since fiscal 2003. Total pork identified by CAGW since 1991 adds up to $212 billion.

The top three increases in pork from fiscal 2004 to fiscal 2005 were: Homeland Security from $423 million to $1.72 billion million (306 percent); Energy and Water from $714 million to $1.88 billion (163 percent); and Labor/HHS from $943 million to $1.7 billion (80 percent).

Alaska again led the nation with $985 per capita ($646 million), or 30 times the national pork average of $33. The runners up were the District of Columbia with $461 per capita ($257 million) and Hawaii with $454 per capita ($574 million).

Though I'm sure there are some worthy (and necessary) causes to be found in the pork ("mmmmm.... pork"), many others however pale in comparison with the worthy cause of not saddling our children (and children's children... and as abstinence programs get more popular we will be having more kids having kids) with enormous debt.

In traditional TCS manner, I'm only going to skim the very top of the article leaving in depth study to... I dunno who... the media doesn't do in depth study.. someone, but even just at the very top you get such interesting things as:

• $1,108,000 for alternative salmon products in Alaska
  Now is that an alternative to salmon such as say "tuna?" or is it alternative products made from salmon such as rotting fish wallets? And shouldn't the salmon industry pay for this?
  
  
• $334,000 for e-commerce research in Mississippi
  "Hey Bubba, didja know we can pay for porn on the internets? It don't always have to be free."
  
  
• $569,000 for the Babcock Institute (according to their website, their "strategy is twofold: to enhance the competitiveness of the US dairy industry by drawing on global perspectives; to strengthen dairy industries around the world by sharing US expertise." With a $2 billion U.S. dairy subsidy and the rest of the world's penchant for subsidies, it seems as if they already know each other's secrets.
  Got pork? (I mean milk)
  
  
• $2,300,000 for animal waste management in Bowling Green, KY
  Of course they could just spend $4 and rent Mad Max 3 and realize the energy generating potential of pig poop, but nooooo... they're probably just trying to figure out how to turn wetlands near factory farms into kitty litter for their animal waste.
  
  
• $250,000 for asparagus technology and production
  For the love or God - Why! There is already enough suffering.
  
  
• $5,500,000 for the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) (Initially designed to capture energy from the aurora borealis [northern lights], HAARP is now being configured to heat up the ionosphere to improve military communications.
  "Heat up the ionosphere?" That just doesn't sound like something I would want to have anyone do, much less pay them to do. If the military is having trouble with communications they should try speaking louder. "Can you HEAR ME NOW!"
  
  
• $4,250,000 for Norton Air Force Base through the Office of Economic Adjustment. Norton was closed by the first round of Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC), and ceased most of its military operations by 1992. According to the Center for Land Use Interpretation, "The Air Force signed over the lease on the airport to the local redevelopment organization in 1999, though much of the rest of base remains in the Air Force's hands as this ongoing clean-up and conversion process continues. Some businesses have moved on base, and some films have been shot there (including 'Volcano')."
  It would have been better if they used the money to refund everyone who paid to see that movie (okay that was too obvious).
  
  
• $75,000 for the Albuquerque Biopark
  Okay I am NOT taking my kids to a biopark.

- rob 2:38 PM - [PermaLink] -

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What is this octopus thinking?

WHEN an octopus in a research laboratory in Naples learnt to choose a red ball instead of a white one by watching another octopus, students of animal learning were taken aback. Such "observational learning" is supposed to be seen only in higher vertebrates animals such as rats with sophisticated brains - Octopuses, on the other hand, are molluscs, a seemingly primitive animal group. True, octopus have huge brains. But they look nothing like the brains of the vertebrates that are so adept at learning.

For that matter, why would octopuses need to learn by example? They are short-lived, solitary creatures that usually meet only once, to copulate.

Jean Boal, who studies animal behaviour at the University of Texas in Galveston, epitomises the scepticism that greeted the announcement in 1992 of the educable octopus. "If they really did show observational learning, it would be astonishing," she said recently. "We have many mammals that aren't doing that."

Bush Supporters can't squirt ink either.

- rob 3:41 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Thanks to the Bush brothers American tourists Win

In the old days if you wanted to go to a banana republic you had to travel long distances, get visas, get malaria shots, it was just a real hassle.

Now you can see all the wonder of a banana republic without even leaving the lower 48!

Fla. Sheriff Used Records to Find Critic

ORLANDO, Fla. Apr 6, 2005 — Orange County's sheriff used driver's license records to contact a woman who wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper citicizing his staff's use of Taser stun guns and describing him as fat.
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It is illegal to access a driver's license database to obtain personal information, except for clear law-enforcement purposes, under the U.S. Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994.

"I recently read your slanderous remarks about the Orange County Sheriff's Office in the Orlando Sentinel," Beary wrote Gawronski on March 23. "It is unfortunate that people ridicule others without arming themselves with the facts before they slander a law enforcement agency or individual."

Gawronski said, "I thought I was exercising my First Amendment right of free speech expressing an opinion in an open forum about a paid public official." She considered Beary's letter a form of intimidation.
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Beary said he was a victim of slander.
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Before the test, the 5-foot, 10-inch Beary estimated his weight at 290 pounds.

- rob 3:12 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Daily Kos :: Exit Polls: The Evidence Demands an Investigation

"The fact that, in the 2004 election, all voting equipment technologies except paper ballots were associated with large unexplained exit poll discrepancies all favoring the same party certainly warrants further inquiry."
(from summary of US Count Votes' exit poll analysis - March 31, 2005)

- rob 3:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Reid Accuses GOP of Arrogance on Courts

Reid Also Accuses Bears of Doing Their Business in The Woods (Reid was going to accuse the Pope of wearing a funny hat, but this isn't really the week for that).

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats on Tuesday said Republican criticism of the federal courts following Terri Schiavo's death showed an "arrogancy of power" that is leading to a Senate confrontation over filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees.

"If they don't get what they want, they attack whoever's around," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "Now they're after the courts, and I think it goes back to this arrogancy of power."

- rob 3:02 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush still thinks its halloween

Daily Kos :: Bush States Treasury May Default

"There is no trust 'fund' -- just IOUs that I sa w firsthand," Bush said.
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"Imagine," Bush said in his speech. "The retirement security for future generations is sitting in a filing cabinet. It's time to strengthen and modernize Social Security for future generations with growing assets that you can control that you call your own -- assets that the government can't take away."

BOO!

Now when a President hints that the US Government may very well default on its loans you would think the financial makets would go nuts (and go into the toilet). Luckily eveyone world wide now fully understands that our President not only just makes stuff up, he doesn't even know what he is lying about.

- rob 2:47 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Bush Boys Love Cults

Jeb Bush praises Scientologists

While the religion of Tom Cruise and John Travolta has been getting some tough press in recent days, it’s also been lauded by President Bush’s brother.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush raised eyebrows among the critics of the sometimes controversial religion recently when he honored Scientology volunteers who helped victims of hurricanes in his state.

Members of the group — which was put in the spotlight this week by the New York Daily News for its alleged anti-homosexual philosophy — were given a “Points of Light Award” as Hurricane Heroes. Scientology volunteers have been high profile at disaster scenes recently, distributing food and water, as well as delivering controversial “touch assist” healings that supposedly help victims through the laying on of hands.

This isn't to be confused with "touch assets" financial bleedings that helps the church through the laying on of hands on the victims wallet.

“The Bush brothers have both been good to some groups that have been called cults,” says Rick Ross of CultNews.com. “Governor Bush has recognized Scientology while his brother in the White House has actually appointed a follower of Reverend Moon [David Caprara] to dole out tax payer money through the so-called faith-based initiative. Seems to me like the fox guarding the henhouse.”

Its a family thing: Bush Praises Sun Myung Moon as 'Man of Vision'

Nov 25, 1996 EST

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -

The South Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon launched a new Spanish-language newspaper for the whole of Latin America this weekend, with the backing of guest George Bush who praised Moon's respect for editorial independence. The former U.S. president, guest speaker at a banquet Saturday to launch Moon's new publication ``Tiempos del Politics Mundo'' (Times of the World), was full of praise for the controversial evangelist's best-known newspaper, the Washington Times, and referred to Moon as ``the man with the vision.'' Bush then travelled with Moon to neighboring Uruguay Sunday to help him inaugurate a seminary in the capital Montevideo to train 4,200 young Japanese women to spread the word of his Church of Unification across Latin America.

Come on, that's gotta freak you out. An ex-President traveling around with Rev. Moon?

Read Where in Washington, D.C. is Sun Myung Moon? It'll make you wonder why all these people who supposedly should know better are hanging with "the father" Rev. Moon.

- rob 2:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

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hee hee

Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter - Homeland Security Department To Provide Details On Gannon

- rob 5:14 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Checks and Balances and Idiots

Senator Links Violence to 'Political' Decisions
'Unaccountable' Judiciary Raises Ire

Sen. John Cornyn said yesterday that recent examples of courthouse violence may be linked to public anger over judges who make politically charged decisions without being held accountable.

Well you're a Senator, Senator Cornyn, if you want to hold a federal judge accountable - you do. You can. That's your role. You impeach them. I don't go around saying I understand violence towards Senators because they are unaccountable. Because there are two flaws there, violence shouldn't be an option and the fact that Senators are accountable - to the citizens who can choose not to reelect them next election. Remember that Senator.

In a Senate floor speech in which he sharply criticized a recent Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty, Cornyn (R-Tex.) -- a former Texas Supreme Court justice and member of the Judiciary Committee -- said Americans are growing increasingly frustrated by what he describes as activist jurists.

Like those damn conservative judges who supported the constitution and laws of this nation - there just goddamn hippies I guess.

Cornyn continued: "I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection, but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. . . . And I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters, on some occasions, where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in, engage in violence. Certainly without any justification, but a concern that I have."

That folks is a veiled threat. The Senator is selling decision insurance, if you make the "right" decisions no harm will come to you, if you make the "wrong" decisions something tragic may happen to you; gee he sure wish it wouldn't happen but, you know, it could, it is, after all, understandable.

The party of Delay and Cheney and Rummy and King Georgie has officially declared war against one third of our government.

The judiciary can't be influenced by misled voters, can't be influenced by megalomaniac preachers, can't be influenced by huge donations from corporations. The judiciary is a threat to one party rule.

- rob 5:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Yesterday was Monday, and that's all you're getting out of me today.

The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 192 - Democratic Underground

1. Tom DeLay
You may have noticed that in the furor over the circumstances surrounding the death of Terri Schiavo, the radical right-wingers have gone a bit, um, over the top. We highlighted several stories in Idiots 191 indicating the lunacy of these people - a man arrested for trying to steal a gun from a firearms store so he could "save Terri," a radio host who suggested that Jeb Bush should take her into custody and advocated the "killing of anyone who interferes with such rescue," a man arrested for offering a $250,000 reward for killing Terri's husband Michael, plus a $50,000 bonus for killing Judge Greer. The threats continued last week, extending as far as Michael Schiavo's family in Pennsylvania.

All of which makes Tom "The Snake" DeLay's remarks last week particularly disturbing, if not downright dangerous. After learning of Terri Schiavo's passing, DeLay appeared in public and said, "This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change. The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today." Compare this to a quote from one of the nuts who called to threaten the Schiavos: "Your time will come. The time will come, for all of us, for all of us. Time will come. I wonder which way you will get to go when time does come." Creepily similar aren't they?

And I guess I'm not the only one who thought the House Majority Leader's comments sounded like a threat. Sen. Frank Lautenberg sent an official letter to DeLay last week which read in part, "You should be aware that your comments yesterday may violate a Federal criminal statute, 18 U.S.C. §115 (a)(1)(B) ... Threats against specific Federal judges are not only a serious crime, but also beneath a Member of Congress." When will Republicans wake up and realize what kind of people are leading their party?

2. Power-hungry Maniacs
Mind you, DeLay's outrageous comments are just the tip of the iceberg. It's becoming clear that for the right-wing radicals, the point of this whole exercise is to grab control of the only branch of government they don't have total power over yet - the judicial branch. DeLay also referred last week to "an arrogant, out of control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at the Congress and the president." I mean, wow. How dare the judiciary not rubber-stamp all of Bush and DeLay's unconstitutional actions.

Radical groups were lining up last week to jump on the judge-bashing bandwagon - like the Council for Constitutional Restoration (whatever that means) who issued a press release saying "Our purpose is to draw up a plan of action to oppose the liberal judges who have abrogated our most precious human rights - including Terri Schiavo's right to life." Aha! Now we come to the crux of the matter. It's the liberal judges who are ruining America. You know, it often amazes me how much damage the liberals have done since Republicans gained control of the House, Senate, and White House.

So let's take a quick look at some of the liberal judges who've participated in the "murder" of Terri Schiavo. There was obviously the aforementioned Judge Greer - a conservative Christian and Republican. But there were plenty of other judges whose liberal credentials leave a little to be desired. Salon.com's breakdown of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals - who upheld the decision to not force-feed Terri Schiavo - reveals that "Of the appeals court's 12 active judges, only two dissented ... The remainder ... included six Republicans: Reagan appointee and Chief Judge J.L. Edmondson; George H.W. Bush appointees Carnes, Stanley Birch, Joel Dubina, Susan Black; and, most ironically, William Pryor Jr., who was given a recess appointment by George W. Bush two years ago in the midst of controversy and filibuster by Democratic senators." For those of you who are intersted, one of the two dissenting judges who thought that Schiavo's feeding tube should be reinserted was appointed by Bill Clinton. Oh yes, and let's not forget that the U.S. Supreme Court - who turned down the case five times - is comprised of a majority of Republicans.

In fact, Judge Birch - who, it should be noted, is an extremely conservative Republican - wrote that, "In resolving the Schiavo controversy, it is my judgment that, despite sincere and altruistic motivation, the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people - our Constitution."

Let's face it - there's no such thing as a "liberal judiciary." This is just a ploy by the radical right-wing to gain control of the judicial branch and fill it with their own radical right-wing judges. Sure, Republicans say they hate judicial activism - but then they used to hate interference by the federal government until they got control of it. Just wait until they get their own radical activists on the bench.

- rob 4:40 PM - [PermaLink] -

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I can still hear you saying those words that never were true,
Spoken to help nobody but you,
Words with lies inside,
But, small enough to hide till your playing was through, ahh.
- Words (Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart - sung by The Monkees)

Panel: U.S. Ignored Work of U.N. Arms Inspectors

Of all the claims U.S. intelligence made about Iraq's arsenal in the fall and winter of 2002, it was a handful of new charges that seemed the most significant: secret purchases of uranium from Africa, biological weapons being made in mobile laboratories, and pilotless planes that could disperse anthrax or sarin gas into the air above U.S. cities.

By the time President Bush ordered U.S. troops to disarm Saddam Hussein of the deadly weapons he was allegedly trying to build, every piece of fresh evidence had been tested -- and disproved -- by U.N. inspectors, according to a report commissioned by the president and released Thursday.

The work of the inspectors -- who had extraordinary access during their three months in Iraq between November 2002 and March 2003 -- was routinely dismissed by the Bush administration and the intelligence community in the run-up to the war, according to the commission led by former senator Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) and retired appellate court judge Laurence H. Silberman.

And this surprises anyone?

Flashback to 2002: The president's real goal in Iraq

The official story on Iraq has never made sense. The connection that the Bush administration has tried to draw between Iraq and al-Qaida has always seemed contrived and artificial. In fact, it was hard to believe that smart people in the Bush administration would start a major war based on such flimsy evidence.
The pieces just didn't fit. Something else had to be going on; something was missing.

In recent days, those missing pieces have finally begun to fall into place. As it turns out, this is not really about Iraq. It is not about weapons of mass destruction, or terrorism, or Saddam, or U.N. resolutions.

This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity for global domination, even if it means becoming the "American imperialists" that our enemies always claimed we were.

Once that is understood, other mysteries solve themselves. For example, why does the administration seem unconcerned about an exit strategy from Iraq once Saddam is toppled?

Because we won't be leaving.

- rob 5:34 PM - [PermaLink] -

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This post should fit in well with the below post

Hot fire, red-hot fire
Lava, ohh, hot lava
Hot lava, red-hot lava
Hot lava, re-e-ed, hot lava
Oh hot lava
- Lava (B-52s)

Super Volcano

SYDNEY (AFP) - As Indonesians struggled to recover from the second deadly earthquake to strike them in three months, an Australian expert warned the country faced the prospect of a "super volcano" eruption that would dwarf all previous catastrophes.
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Cas said Toba last erupted 73,000 years ago in an event so massive that it altered the entire world's climate.

"The eruption released 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles) of ash and rock debris into the atmosphere, much of it as fine ash which blocked out solar radiation, kicking the world back into an ice age," he said.

Isn’t it reassuring though that if faced by such an apocologyptic scenario our fearless president will put down My Pet Goat and leap into action. He’ll call Pat Robertson and ask why he has been Left Behind.

- rob 5:09 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Six o’clock - tv hour. don’t get caught in foreign
Towers. slash and burn, return, listen to yourself
Churn. locking in, uniforming, book burning, blood
Letting. every motive escalate. automotive incinerate
Light a candle, light a votive. step down, step down
Watch your heel crush, crushed, uh-oh, this means no
Fear cavalier. renegade steer clear! a tournament,
Tournament, a tournament of lies. offer me solutions,
Offer me alternatives and I decline

(chorus)
It’s the end of the world as we know it (it’s time I had some time alone)
It’s the end of the world as we know it (it’s time I had some time alone)
It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine
- It’s the end of the world as we know it (REM)

• Oil Tops $58, OPEC Discusses Output Rise

  LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices raced to all-time peaks on Monday, climbing above $58 a barrel, while OPEC producers said they had begun discussing a second output rise to try to quell the market's rally.

• The Mainstream Media has officially cancelled journalism: How to Write a Newspaper Article
  
  
• Report: Colombia drug war failing

  The war on drugs in Colombia, the world's main cocaine-producing country and a major supplier of heroin, has cost more than $3 billion in U.S. aid here since 2000. Critics of Washington's effort say the report indicates the Colombia and U.S. governments are losing the war.
  
  "The U.S. government's own data provides stark evidence that the drug war is failing to achieve its most basic objectives," said John Walsh, of the Washington Office on Latin America, a think tank critical of U.S. drug policies in Colombia.

• Al Qaeda Claims Raid on Iraq's Abu Ghraib Prison

  DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq Sunday claimedresponsibility for a brazen overnight raid on Abu Ghraib prisonthat wounded 44 U.S. soldiers, according to an Internetstatement, and said more attacks would follow.
  
  The U.S. military said dozens of insurgents carried outSaturday's attack on the notorious prison outside Baghdad,detonating two suicide car bombs and firing rocket-propelledgrenades at U.S. forces before the assault was repelled.
  
  "Your brothers in the al Qaeda Organization (for Holy War)in Iraq launched a well-planned attack on Abu Ghraib prison,where Muslim women and men are held," said the statement postedon a Web site used by Islamists.

• Saint's Prophecy: Only Two Popes Remain

  When the cardinals of the world pick John Paul II's successor, they may well be choosing the next-to-last pope.
  
  The pope who then follows this choice in the Chair of St. Peter will be the last pope, and after his reign Rome will be destroyed.

- rob 5:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
- Bob Dylan

Daily Kos: Energy - some good news (for once)

- rob 4:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you're going to San Francisco
You're gonna meet some gentle people there
- San Francisco (Scott McKenzie)


Jordan runs an excellent site called The Free Speech Zone (by the way that site's had an excellent series of posts about Arnie's folks harrassing people, check it out). Despite being in San Francisco Jordan doesn't lord over the rest of his the beauty of his town, or the fine cuisine readily available (or even the cool local transit systems).

Which is good because if he die we'd readily point out that San Francisco's Board of Supervisors is even screwier then most.

San Francisco May Regulate Blogging

Just when you thought the Federal Election Commission had it out for the blogosphere, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors took it up a notch and announced yesterday that it will soon vote on a city ordinance that would require local bloggers to register with the city Ethics Commission and report all blog-related costs that exceed $1,000 in the aggregate.

Blogs that mention candidates for local office that receive more than 500 hits will be forced to pay a registration fee and will be subject to website traffic audits, according to Chad Jacobs, a San Francisco City Attorney.

- rob 3:27 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Here’s the musical accompaniment to Michael’s post below:

When I hold you in my arms
and I feel my finger on you trigger
I know nobody can do no harm
Because Happiness is a warm gun mama
Happiness is a warm gun, yes it is
Happiness is a warm, yes it is, gun
- Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Lennon/McCartney)

- rob 3:25 PM - [PermaLink] -

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A Gun Culture of Life

Here's a relevant e-exchange with my comrades-in-arms (not to be confused with the gun-nut Second Amendment Freedom Fighters, who in turn should never be confused with Osama's well-protected, well-armed organization, thanks to the U.S. government) from February. Who said it was a federal crime to aid and abet terrorists? So why aren't George W. Bush, the NRA and Congress all going to jail, to be detained indefinitely, their rights and citizenship stripped from them, and tried by military tribunal without access to lawyers? Simple: Because they are the law. So it doesn't apply in this case. Or any other case:

From: J
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2005
Subject: Gunplay in my hometown mall

Shots at Mall Trigger Panic; Two Wounded

ABSTRACT: A gunman wielding an assault rifle opened fire inside an electronics store at a crowded mall in the Hudson Valley yesterday afternoon, wounding two people and sending hundreds of panicked shoppers ducking and running for cover. . . .

From: Michael
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2005
Subject: Re: Gunplay in my hometown mall

Kingston's a stone throw from where I live. Thank fucking God for the 2nd
Amendment and our God-given right to carry AK-47 assault rifles and shoot
them at people randomly in shopping malls. And God forbid men should be
allowed to kiss each other. That's in the Constitution too. And women,
well, we're workin' on it. Suffrage this.

Depressing, Part 2: My mother tells me that my cousin's kid is
visiting Amsterdam as part of his college studies and he meets some girl and they get
along like gangbusters, yakking it up, flirting away, and this goes on for
about an hour, and she asks, "So, where're you from?" and he says,
"America," and she says, "Oh. Bye." And she leaves on the spot.

How d'ya like them apples? I'll take mine with bullets.

From: A
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005
Subject: RE: Gunplay in my hometown mall

RE: part 2:

While that certainly says something about our perception in the world,
does that not say so much more about the woman and, potentially, the culture
she's coming from?

From: Michael
Date: Monday, April 4, 2005
Subject: RE: Gunplay in my hometown mall

This says more about who we are in the eyes of the world than any Dutch
girl's rebuff:

Guns For Terrorists

"If a background check shows that you are an undocumented immigrant, federal
law bars you from buying a gun. If the same check shows that you have ties
to Al Qaeda, you are free to buy an AK-47. That is the absurd state of the
nation's gun laws, and a recent government report revealed that terrorist
suspects are taking advantage of it."

"The Government Accountability Office examined F.B.I. and state background checks for gun sales during a five-month period last year. It found 44 checks in which the prospective buyer turned up on a government terrorist
watch list. . . 35 of the 44 people on the watch lists were able to buy
guns."

How's that for Government Accountability? I got a new slogan for Bush and the NRA: "A Gun Culture of Life"

In another recent exchange, J writes about Ward Churchill and adds, "This is the guy who has been recieving all those death threats for his disparaging remarks. The Times has had several articles covering it, but no link to the essay. Here is the Times coverage."

News Flash: Iraqis didn't fly planes into our buildings. A little geopolitics is in order. Al-Qaeda doesn't give a shit about Iraqis. Everybody's using everybody else, always will, always have. The Arabs in particular hate one another, same as Americans do. That's why we need each other -- just like a hole in the head. Which is the whole point, right? We're free to own assault rifles, we're free to open fire in any way and on anyone at any time and any place we choose, because we're free to spread freedom even if that necessarily means that you wind up with your head blown off, and if you don't like it, feel free to try to stop me. Freedom's untidy. Bring 'em on! Especially in the mall.

Hail to the commander-in-bullets, and God Bless the NRA.

- Michael 11:19 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Y'Gotta Read This

By Maureen Dowd:

When King Lear's favorite daughter spoke frankly to him, and refused to fawn like her sisters, she was instantly banished. Insincerity pays. . . .

When the "values" president and his aides do it, they're rewarded. Condoleezza Rice was promoted to secretary of state. Stephen Hadley, Condi's old deputy, was promoted to national security adviser. Bob Joseph, a national security aide who helped shovel the uranium hooey into the State of the Union address, is becoming an under secretary of state. Paul Wolfowitz, who painted the takeover of Iraq as such a cakewalk that our troops went in without the proper armor or backup, will run the World Bank. George Tenet, who ran the C.I.A. when Al Qaeda attacked and when Saddam's mushroom cloud gained credibility, got the Medal of Freedom.

Then the president appoints a compliant Democrat and a complicit conservative judge to head an inquiry set up to let the president off the hook.

When was he ever on the hook? Name one time. So far, never.

- Michael 12:27 AM - [PermaLink] -

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