Berlusconi Sought to Dissuade Bush on Iraq

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, one of President Bush's strongest supporters over Iraq, says he tried repeatedly to dissuade the American leader from going to war and was never convinced military force was the best way to bring democracy.

"I tried several times to convince the American president to not go to war. I believed that military action should have been avoided," he was quoted as saying.

I don't know if Berlusconi's statements are true or if it's just pre-election blather. I am pleased to see Italy in the news, though. In fact, I'd like to see a lot more of Italy in the press, especially if it leads to inquiries about the Niger uranium forgeries, which coincidentally surfaced in Italy some weeks after neo-cons from the Cheney cabal visited.

- Edoc 10:15 PM - [PermaLink] -

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WSJ Opinion Journal -- Are These Guys for Real?!?
Flipping through the channels on Friday night, I stumbled upon a political roundtable show -- The Wall St. Journal's OpinionJournal, on PBS. Big mistake. It was like an alternate universe-- host Paul Gigot and his editors concluded that the worst is over in PlameGate, and that Libby's indictment isn't particularly damaging to the administration because he wasn't charged with the actual leak. Ho-hum, much ado about nothing!!! I watched in a state of shock as the group flatly and calmly dismissed the matter. These guys were more upset about Miers! It's beyond me how these guys choose to disconnect the dots of PlameGate and obscure the administration's backdrop of fear and lies that led this nation into a disgraceful war. What a travesty.

- Edoc 12:56 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Breaking: Scooter Libby Indicted, Resigns
One down, several more to go. Rove escapes indictment today, which Drudge and other sources seemed to playing up as a possible exoneration. Ideally everyone in Cheney's office should be indicted, including Dick himself. John Bolton deserves his come-uppance in this as well-- he's certainly been wrapped up in the cabal. Hopefully Fitzgerald will probe deeper into the Niger forgeries, and we'll get a more thorough purge of this most vile of rat nests. See the Press Release and Indictment papers at Fitzgerald's website. A press conference is scheduled for 2PM Eastern today.

- Edoc 1:13 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Big Rise in Profit Puts Oil Giants on Defensive

They've squashed alternative research, they've fought against mass transit, they've participated in each bogus 'energy crisis', they've looked the other way when their contractors used forced labor, and they profit from disaster. Their reward for this evil - money - glorious money.

Exxon Mobil, the world's largest oil company, said yesterday that its third-quarter net income jumped 75 percent, to $9.92 billion. Its profit in the first nine months of this year - $25.42 billion - already equals its full-year earnings for 2004. This year's sales, which topped $100 billion in the last quarter, are expected to exceed those of Wal-Mart.

Another oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell, reported a 68 percent jump in profits yesterday, to $9.03 billion. Chevron is expected to post a profit of more than $4 billion today.

Exxon alone could pay each and every man, woman, and child in America a $100 each and still have hundreds of millions of profit still left over, just from the first 9 months (heck every human gets 5 dollars - and you'd still have profit left over).

This is the banality of evil. Many good and wonderful kind people work for these companies that participate in heinous acts. And how does the Government deal with it. We give them special tax breaks (because just 10 billion in a quarter really makes it hard to put food on the table) and we try to stop lawsuits against them (for their participation in slave labor and the destruction of villages) with the lame excuse that the suit would hurt our war on terror (you know what hurts our war on terror - allowing companies identified with America to destroy lives - that aides the terrorists).

- rob 11:41 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Cheney, Libby Blocked Papers To Senate Intelligence Panel
(via CrooksAndLiars.com) Confirming the suspicions we've probably all had, Murray Waas at the National Journal writes an article spotlighting the intelligence filtering and manipulation of the Cheney treasonists.

Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, overruling advice from some White House political staffers and lawyers, decided to withhold crucial documents from the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2004 when the panel was investigating the use of pre-war intelligence that erroneously concluded Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, according to Bush administration and congressional sources.

If true, this story needs greater mainstream visibility-- and let's just cut to the chase: Cheney must go. Now.

- Edoc 5:27 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Shhhh.....Someone replaced the Kool-aide the Washington Post Editorial staff normally drinks with Folger's Coffee... let's see if they notice.

• Vice President for Torture

  VICE PRESIDENT Cheney is aggressively pursuing an initiative that may be unprecedented for an elected official of the executive branch: He is proposing that Congress legally authorize human rights abuses by Americans. "Cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of prisoners is banned by an international treaty negotiated by the Reagan administration and ratified by the United States. The State Department annually issues a report criticizing other governments for violating it. Now Mr. Cheney is asking Congress to approve legal language that would allow the CIA to commit such abuses against foreign prisoners it is holding abroad. In other words, this vice president has become an open advocate of torture.
  ...
  The senators ignored Mr. Cheney's threats, and the amendment, sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), passed this month by a vote of 90 to 9. So now Mr. Cheney is trying to persuade members of a House-Senate conference committee to adopt language that would not just nullify the McCain amendment but would formally adopt cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment as a legal instrument of U.S. policy. The Senate's earlier vote suggests that it will not allow such a betrayal of American values. As for Mr. Cheney: He will be remembered as the vice president who campaigned for torture

• Loss in Iraq

  That the war remains broadly unpopular among Americans, and is routinely and glibly described as a catastrophe by administration critics, shows that these achievements are cloaked by the continuing bloodshed. The horrific nature of car bomb and suicide attacks on U.S. soldiers and innocent civilians has compounded the effect of the loss of life. So have the failure to find weapons of mass destruction -- the threat that originally appeared to justify the costs and risks of an invasion -- and the seeming intractability of the insurgency, which has survived countless military offensives, killings or arrests of top leaders, and changes of tactics. The political gains, though real, have been undermined in recent months by the sectarian and ethnic polarization of Iraqis and the apparent effort by a number of Shiite and Kurdish political leaders to carry out a de facto partition of the country under the guise of "federalism." That agenda, and the Bush administration's weak response to it, threatens to tip Iraq into a full-scale civil war, with U.S. troops caught in the middle.
  ...
  Yet even now he [Bush] refuses to speak candidly about the conflict; he describes it as if it were exclusively a battle between U.S.-backed democrats and foreign terrorists, rather than a complex political and military struggle among Iraqis. He did say on Tuesday that "this war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve." As U.S. servicemen continue to give their lives, the president must explain more clearly and more honestly why that is so -- and why it is necessary.

I think they noticed, so if America is going to restore any of its dignity and moral standing, maybe more papers should stop drinking the Kool-aide.

- rob 2:38 PM - [PermaLink] -

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These are hard days for Rove, Rhett Hard.

Rove critics again turn up the volume

Meanwhile, Radar magazine yesterday reported on its Web site that Texas political insiders are predicting the demise of the married Rove's "very close relationship" with wealthy forty-something Texas lobbyist Karen Johnson.

"Everyone knows how close Karen is to Karl, but she's sick of it," the mag quotes a source "familiar with the situation," noting that Johnson and Rove didn't return phone calls.

Apparently Johnson's family wants her to marry her handsome ranch foreman, Rhett Hard, who works on Johnson's Cinco de Mayo property in Austin.

Yes it is pointless gossip and really who cares it isn't any of our business, but come on: Rhett Hard? It's as if the Dallas TV show never ended.

- rob 2:27 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Since we won't hear anything from Fritz until tomorrow, what else is Washington talking about?

I can't tell because they say inane things like sumpnspicious and PlanBdextrous.

With that kind of spelling they could take my place here at TCS.

Washington commuters watch for "sumpnspicious"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For Washington commuters, unattended bags or odd behaviour spell "sumpnspicious."

The newly coined term is part of a novel campaign by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to make jaded customers on the city's buses and underground trains stay alert to terrorist threats -- despite a slew of false alarms and no new attacks since September 11, 2004.
...
"Sumpnspicious," -- a play on the slang pronunciation of "something suspicious" -- is defined as "n. (noun) unattended package or odd, unusual behaviour that is reported to a bus driver, train operator ... station manager or Metro Police."

Other definitions include "PlanBdextrous: ... adj. (adjective) able to plan an alternate route home in case Metro is inaccessible due to unforeseen circumstances."

- rob 2:24 PM - [PermaLink] -

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James Dobson Revises His Position on Miers
Sure was a good thing that Bush withdrew the nomination of Harriet Miers, because, as we all know, Dobson was truly on the fence about it.

"In recent days I have grown increasingly concerned about her conservative credentials, and I was dismayed to learn this week about her speech in 1993, in which she sounded pro-abortion themes, and expressed so much praise for left-wing feminist leaders.
When the president announced this nominee, I expressed my tentative support, based on what I was able to discover about her. But I also said I would await the hearings to learn more about her judicial philosophy. Based on what we now know about Miss Miers, it appears that we would not have been able to support her candidacy. Thankfully, that difficult evaluation is no longer necessary."

Gee, having been given assurances directly from the White House, and after making public statements about her suitability, I'm sure Dobson was reeeeel close to yanking his support. What a circus clown.

- Edoc 1:51 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Let's Face It: the French Were Right about Iraq
France gets a bad rap by O'Reilly and the mainstream media. It's time to snap out of it and realize that France has been a target of the plan to smear and discredit opponents of the White House.

Politicians continue to declare that they cannot be blamed for their fabricated intelligence regarding WMDs, since they claim (incorrectly) that France also believed that Iraq had WMD. France continues to be despised and ridiculed in the American media, despite the fact that they were right all along.

<

- Edoc 12:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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So Long Harriet Miers: Nomination Withdrawn
This is a costly blow to the administration, and a nice win for opponents, but we can almost certainly look forward to a far more conservative, nightmare-candidate to follow. The danger alert for the "nuclear option" increases from DEFCON 3 to DEFCON 2.

- Edoc 10:11 AM - [PermaLink] -

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If Fox News Had Been Around Throughout History
Oooo, this site puts the hurt on Fox. Humorous, manipulated screen-shots of Fox news programming at various points in history, as seen through Fox Network's cracked lens.

- Edoc 6:00 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Poll: Iraqis Support Attacks on Coalition Troops
Some findings from the poll:

• Forty-five per cent of Iraqis believe attacks against British and American troops are justified - rising to 65 per cent in the British-controlled Maysan province;
• 82 per cent are "strongly opposed" to the presence of coalition troops;
• less than one per cent of the population believes coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security;
• 67 per cent of Iraqis feel less secure because of the occupation;
• 43 per cent of Iraqis believe conditions for peace and stability have worsened;
• 72 per cent do not have confidence in the multi-national forces

If anything, this type of poll results should burst the distressing, oft-heard "stay-the-course" mantra.

And god help me-- if I hear one more time (from Democrats, no less!) that setting a departure timetable would enable the terrorists to wait us out-- I'll flip. Tip for clueless politicians: the entire Islamic world knows we have no intention of staying in Iraq. They have no illusions that we want anything other than the oil. Time is already on their side-- the terrorists could easily wait us out if they prefer to play it that way! If you want really fool the terrorists into believing we're committed to staying, have Haliburton build Wal-Marts, McDonalds, Churches and NASCAR racetracks.

- Edoc 5:41 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Wal-Mart writes Memos about how to be evil

Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs

An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart's board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation. Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart.

Text of Internal Wal-Mart Memo In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive.
...
In an interview, Ms. Chambers said she was focusing not on cutting costs, but on serving employees better by giving them more choices on their benefits.

"We are investing in our benefits that will take even better care of our associates," she said. "Our benefit plan is known today as being generous."

Looks like Bush has found his replacement for Rove. Welcome to the White House Ms. Chambers.

- rob 5:04 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Bush Presidency

(I couldn't resist posting it Edoc).

- rob 4:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Since we won't know what is happening until tomorrow at the earliest. Let's pass the time with an update.

• Journal: Focus is on on Cheney's office in leak probe

  WASHINGTON -- With the grand jury in the CIA leak investigation expected to vote soon to bring charges against White House officials, the two-year probe appears to be focused on the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the chief architects and defenders of the administration's Iraq war policy, The Wall Street Journal reported on its (paid-restricted) website 11:37 AM ET Wednesday.

• Prosecutor in leak case seeks indictments against Rove, Libby, lawyers close to case say

  Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has asked the grand jury investigating the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson to indict Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and Bush’s Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, lawyers close to the investigation tell RAW STORY.
  
  Fitzgerald has also asked the jury to indict Libby on a second charge: knowingly outing a covert operative, the lawyers said. They said the prosecutor believes that Libby violated a 1982 law that made it illegal to unmask an undercover CIA agent.

• That Was Now, This Is Then
  
  This is a good post that points out that the defenders of Bush are suddenly super cool with perjury. When Clinton perjured himself about a blow job (which is a crime and he should have been beat over the head with it) they considered perjury one of the highest of state crimes. Now when Bush's folks perjure themselves about the outing of a CIA agent (and all the national security issues that come with it) they consider it tantamount to a parking ticket.
  
  Moral relativism?

- rob 4:40 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Cheney's Police Court Docket

Did Fitzgerald get him? No this is from November 19, 1962 when Dick used to put himself and others at risk by driving drunk. Now he just puts thousands to death while toasting his friends for a job well done.

Thanks for the Smoking Gun for the Flashback.

- rob 3:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

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CNN is reporting as a News Alert:

No public announcement expected today from special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in CIA leak probe, source tells CNN.

Meanwhile: CNN.com - Poll: Few doubt wrongdoing in CIA leak

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Only one in 10 Americans said they believe Bush administration officials did nothing illegal or unethical in connection with the leaking of a CIA operative's identity, according to a national poll released Tuesday.

Only 10% of America believes the Bush administration didn't sacrifice our national security for political payback. Dang. How come his support is still up to 40%?

- rob 1:40 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Click Here for a copy of Caltech's Survey to examine Threats to Election Process. It is an approximately 450k PDF. That copy is stored here at TCS so will be here for as long as we're here, later on in this post I'll link to the official repository.

Here's a quick note from someone who took the survery:

This is a survey about your perception of the safety of our voting process and system, or more specifically, the safety of the process and system where you yourself vote. (For those of us in Maryland that gives us the opportunity to comment on the threats to the election integrity of voting attributable to use of Diebold electronic voting machines with no paper trail.)

The survey appears to be imperfect but very worthwhile. Since there's one opportunity to insert comments, anything not covered by the survey can be brought up there. A first scan [by the reader] suggests that electronic voting without a paper trail is not explicitly covered, and problems of eligible voters being denied the vote (as happened in Florida in 2000) are omitted entirely. Still, that type of problem can be covered in the comments space by taking a flexible approach to what the survey designers intended the space to be for.

More info:

A new survey released today seeks to identify and assess a wide range of potential threats to the electoral process.

electionline.org, the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project (VTP) and the University of Utah Center for Public Policy and Administration will jointly distribute and analyze the five-page survey, which asks respondents to give their assessment of potential threats ranging from deliberate threats (fraud, intimidation, etc.) to accidental/unintentional threats (malfunction, mistakes, etc.)
...
The survey is designed to be widely distributed and is not limited to any particular community. Doug Chapin, director of electionline.org, noted that "with regard to the survey, the more the merrier; in fact, a larger number of responses will contribute to the quality of the end product. I therefore encourage readers to share this survey widely with friends and colleagues."

The only requirement of the survey is that respondents identify themselves; the survey sponsors will not release, share or use the contact information for any other purposes - but anonymous responses will not be considered.

Ultimately, the researchers at Utah, VTP and electionline.org will compile and issue a report on the responses, offering researchers, policymakers and interested individuals with a more accurate picture of the current thinking about the most pressing sources of potential problems with the election process.

Ensuring a true count of the citizens vote is the most important factor in making sure we continue to be free. It is also the most at risk (terrorism isn't as close a threat to our freedom as this is). So please, please, take the time and fill this out.

- rob 11:42 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Zathura Movie Inspired by White House?
More outta this world war-rationale from the White House. Per Dubya's speech yesterday, the message is that we must stay in Iraq to keep it from falling into the hands of Al-Queda. See Prof. Juan Cole's post today, Iraq Requires More Sacrifice, Says Bush:

Now Bush is menacing us with Usamah Bin Laden taking over Iraq. Note that this scenario would have been utterly laughable in 2002. That is, anyone who heard that Bush thought Usamah Bin Ladin could overthrow Saddam and take over Iraq would have just fallen down laughing. Saddam would have had all the al-Qaeda people just taken out and shot. Twice. It was risible. Now, Bush has screwed up things so royally that he can even say this with a straight face.

Coincidentally, this morning I saw a TV spot for the new movie Zathura-- wherein a bunch of kids play a dangerous game, causing their house to be uprooted from its foundation and hurled into outer space. I wonder, could the names of the lead characters be George and Dick? Someone with Photoshop skillz needs to rework this poster.

- Edoc 10:19 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Condi Tells Canada: We Can Work Out this Minor 5Bn Misunderstanding
Apparently the U.S. is racking up some massive penalties from violations with trading partners. Condoleeza Rice was in Ottawa this week promising Canadian PM Paul Martin that the word of the U.S is "as good as gold" when it comes to international agreements. [ROTFLMAO!! Sure, Condi, bonafide good-as-gold!]

The U.S. recently lost a dispute with Canada over softwood lumber, and now Canada has some collectin' to do.

The already sensitive softwood issue turned into a hot-button topic earlier this year over the United States' refusal to abide by a NAFTA panel ruling ordering it to pay back $3.5-billion in duties it had illegally collected on lumber.

Canada is also expecting another favourable ruling for an additional $1.5-billion that the U.S. has collected in softwood duties.

Whew, 5Bn (assuming the second judgement comes thru) -- that is some serious bullion. I realize this post will get lost in the Plamegate news tomorrow, but I just couldn't let the "good as gold" quote go unpublished-- not with this administration.

- Edoc 9:50 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Yellow Cake Primer

(buy box at Safeway)

Daily Kos: Niger/Uranium: FACTS everyone NEEDS to know

- rob 5:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

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If Bork was Borked then Miers is becoming Mired

Bush Won't Release All Miers Records

WASHINGTON - Risking a possible clash with the Senate, President Bush insisted Monday he will not turn over documents detailing the private advice that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers has given him while serving in the White House.

With Miers' nomination facing continued opposition from conservatives, Bush sidestepped a question of whether the White House was working on a contingency plan for her withdrawal. At the same time, he was emphatic about not turning over papers relating to the "decision-making process, what her recommendations were."

"That would breach very important confidentiality, and it's a red line I'm not willing to cross," he said in an apparent reference to bipartisan requests from the Senate Judiciary Committee. As White House counsel, Miers has regularly advised Bush on a range of sensitive topics.

Some of those 'sensitive' topics are about red lines Bush was willing to cross: "Lying to the nation to start a war," "pro-torture policies," and "revealing the name of CIA agents whose husbands we don't like."

- rob 5:27 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Ex-CIA Neo-Cons and the head of the Italian military intelligence enjoyed discussing war over pasta

Talking Points Memo: by the origins of the Niger/uranium forgeries

Nicolo Pollari is the head of Italian military intelligence, SISMI. The Repubblica article claims that over the course of 2002 Pollari -- knowing the documents were fakes -- made repeated attempts to get them into the DC information stream by going around the CIA, which discounted them as fakes. This was to satisfy the expressed needs of Bush administration officials who were searching for some information to validate their claims about an Iraqi nuclear program.

Remember, too, that Pollari attended the secret Rome meetings in late 2001 arranged by Michael Ledeen and attended by Manucher Ghorbanifar, Larry Franklin and Harold Rhode.

Pollari's efforts were apparently in concert with the man who is now the Italian ambassador to the United States. And, perhaps most explosively, Pollari apparently arranged a secret meeting with Stephen Hadley -- then deputy National Security Advisor, and now National Security Advisor -- to discuss the documents.

- rob 5:23 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Making the woman relive the rape for days - its the Christian thing to do:

Pharmacy turns away rape victim for "religious reasons"

- rob 5:16 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Tricky Dick

Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Notes Show

Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby's testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.

The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson's husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration's handling of intelligence about Iraq's nuclear program to justify the war.

Lawyers involved in the case, who described the notes to The New York Times, said they showed that Mr. Cheney knew that Ms. Wilson worked at the C.I.A. more than a month before her identity was made public and her undercover status was disclosed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on July 14, 2003.

- rob 5:08 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Now that the incompetent bully is realing, the timid picked on kids start pointing out all the bad things he did

The White House cabal

IN PRESIDENT BUSH'S first term, some of the most important decisions about U.S. national security — including vital decisions about postwar Iraq — were made by a secretive, little-known cabal. It was made up of a very small group of people led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
...
It takes firm leadership to preside over the bureaucracy. But it also takes a willingness to listen to dissenting opinions. It requires leaders who can analyze, synthesize, ponder and decide.

The administration's performance during its first four years would have been even worse without Powell's damage control. At least once a week, it seemed, Powell trooped over to the Oval Office and cleaned all the dog poop off the carpet. He held a youthful, inexperienced president's hand. He told him everything would be all right because he, the secretary of State, would fix it. And he did — everything from a serious crisis with China when a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was struck by a Chinese F-8 fighter jet in April 2001, to the secretary's constant reassurances to European leaders following the bitter breach in relations over the Iraq war. It wasn't enough, of course, but it helped.

Today, we have a president whose approval rating is 38% and a vice president who speaks only to Rush Limbaugh and assembled military forces. We have a secretary of Defense presiding over the death-by-a-thousand-cuts of our overstretched armed forces (no surprise to ignored dissenters such as former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki or former Army Secretary Thomas White).

- rob 5:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Blame Clinton for teen oral sex

In 1998, these teens were children watching nightly TV news reports of our president's impeachment. Just as we adults did, over and over they heard him defend himself with: "It depends on what you mean by 'having sex.'" They also saw the rise to near-stardom of the young intern complicit in the Oval Office misbehavior.

Before Clinton teens pleasured themselves by holding hands and reading the bible.

Seriously, these kids were 6 to 8 years old when this was in the news, and this is what causes them to have oral sex 8 years later? Could it be hormones and lack of parental supervision?

- rob 2:22 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Democrats: Come Clean and Admit the War was a Mistake
From today's Huffington Post comes a confrontational ed-op from Cenk Uygur: "The Democratic Party's Indefensible Position on Iraq" Uygur is shocked by Sen. Chuck Schumer's willingness to link of the Iraq war to the War on Terror.

From this week on "Meet the Press":

TIM RUSSERT: Based on what you now know today, do you regret having voted for the war?
SEN. SCHUMER: Well, no, Tim, because my vote was seen and I still see it as a need to say we must fight a strong and active war on terror.

I saw this interview on Sunday, and I was disappointed to see a leading Democrat still trying to have it both ways. Uygur writes:

"When the Democratic establishment supports George Bush's logic in taking us into this war and agrees with him on the original invasion, they make it impossible to support them.
...
I know this is not the position of every elected Democratic official. However, it is the position of the most influential and powerful Democratic leaders in the country, including Senators Schumer, Clinton, Kerry and Biden. This is not a small fringe group within the party, this is the party establishment."

It is time for the democratic party to get aligned and on-message. When mid-term elections roll-around, the Republicans will quickly point to Democrats' complicity in their neo-con fantasies.

- Edoc 1:38 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Software by Microsoft no doubt
(press Ctrl-alt-delete to bring up the task manager and kill the errant sniper process)

Super-soldiers may get brain-chip

US military experts are attempting to create an army of super-human soldiers who will be more intelligent and deadly thanks to a microchip implanted in their brains.

- rob 4:05 PM - [PermaLink] -

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TreasonGate Update:

• United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - Walker's World: Bush at bay

  WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The CIA leak inquiry that threatens senior White House aides has now widened to include the forgery of documents on African uranium that started the investigation, according to NAT0 intelligence sources.
  
  This suggests the inquiry by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald into the leaking of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame has now widened to embrace part of the broader question about the way the Iraq war was justified by the Bush administration.

• How Scary Is This?

  The White House is sweating out the possibility that one or more top officials will soon be indicted on criminal charges. But the Bush administration is immune to prosecution for its greatest offense - its colossal and profoundly tragic incompetence.
  
  Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, addressed the administration's arrogance and ineptitude in a talk last week that was astonishingly candid by Washington standards.
  
  "We have courted disaster in Iraq, in North Korea, in Iran," said Mr. Wilkerson. "Generally, with regard to domestic crises like Katrina, Rita ... we haven't done very well on anything like that in a long time. And if something comes along that is truly serious, something like a nuclear weapon going off in a major American city, or something like a major pandemic, you are going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that will take you back to the Declaration of Independence."

• Meanwhile the "adult" in charge is just a big baby: Bushies feeling
  the boss' wrath

  Bush usually reserves his celebrated temper for senior aides because he knows they can take it. Lately, however, some junior staffers have also faced the boss' wrath.
  
  "This is not some manager at McDonald's chewing out the help," said a source with close ties to the White House when told about these outbursts. "This is the President of the United States, and it's not a pleasant sight."
  ...
  "The President is just unhappy in general and casting blame all about," said one Bush insider. "Andy [Card, the chief of staff] gets his share. Karl gets his share. Even Cheney gets his share. And the press gets a big share."
  ...
  Bush is so dismayed that "the only person escaping blame is the President himself," said a sympathetic official, who delicately termed such self-exoneration "illogical."

- rob 4:03 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Tin Foil Hat Fun

Daily Kos: Were Plame and her associates the target?

Everyone assumes Libby and his co-conspirators were really after Wilson, but this now seems unwarranted, especially in light of Fitzgerald's reported focus on the Niger uranium forgeries. If this question of the forgeries is now within Fitzgerald's purview, it opens up the possibility that the conspirators really were after Plame on her own account. If Plame and her associates were hot on the trail of whoever forged the Niger uranium documents, by neutralizing Brewster Jennings & Associates the Libby cabal closed one possible route to uncovering their schemes - and opened up another one.

And from a comment responding to that post:

Brewster-Jennings was also investigating ARAMCO and how Saudi oil money was being funneled to Islamic terrorist groups.
I've wondered if B-J was getting too close to uncovering Bush family ties to Saudis who were bankrolling Al Qaeda.

- rob 3:58 PM - [PermaLink] -

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If you say "The Governement wastes my tax dollars."

I say BINGO!

Kentucky lands grant to protect bingo halls from terrorists

Actually it is only 36k and doesn't seem like a complete waste - but what a headline.

- rob 3:54 PM - [PermaLink] -

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From a ad crazed website comes this factoid I thought TCS readers would find interesting:

The record holder for highest approval rating? President George W. Bush, who topped out at 90% in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. His father is the runner-up, with an 89% rating during the first Gulf War. Harry Truman scored 87% in April, 1945, following FDR's death and during the final stages of World War II. FDR achieved 84% after Pearl Harbor.

The all-time worst numbers belong to Harry Truman (23%), who also holds the record for the biggest range in approval rating. George H. W. Bush eventually sank to 29%. Carter hit 28%, and Nixon was at 24% before he resigned.

But none had the religious fervor some of Dear Leader's followers have... but it does make you wonder... how low can Bush go?

- rob 3:51 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Is this the Week of Indictments?
Two years of investigation by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald may culminate in a series of indictments, perhaps as early as today. Fitzgerald launched a website last week, presumably to make the information available. For those of you who want to keep an eye on the site, the URL is: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for what could be a fascinating week.

- Edoc 11:51 AM - [PermaLink] -

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



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