The Abramoff scandal is going to hit a lot of members of congress:

Daily Kos: Abramoff About to Flip on Delay and GOP?

But it looks like it may hit the White House to: Bush Abruptly Ended Abramoff Investigation in 2002!

Don't forget that Jack Abramoff's own secretary, Susan Ralston, became Karl Rove's Personal Assistant, and that Abramoff said he contacted Rove personally on relieving his client Tyco from having to pay some taxes and still be able to get federal contracts. Abramoff said "he had contact with Mr. Karl Rove" on Tyco.

But that's not the half of it! It was only revealed this August that in 2002 Bush himself fired a prosecutor, Frederick Black, investigating Abramoff over a scandal in Guam. Rove recommended the replacement and the inquiry of Abramoff ended!

- rob 5:58 PM - [PermaLink] -

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No way no how is this good for a stable Iraq

We're looking at a country that is splitting up

Kurdish Oil Deal Shocks Iraq's Political Leaders

BAGHDAD — A controversial oil exploration deal between Iraq's autonomy-minded Kurds and a Norwegian company got underway this week without the approval of the central government here, raising a potentially explosive issue at a time of heightened ethnic and sectarian tensions.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party, which controls a portion of the semiautonomous Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq, last year quietly signed a deal with Norway's DNO to drill for oil near the border city of Zakho. Iraqi and company officials describe the agreement as the first involving new exploration in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

ADVERTISEMENT

Drilling began after a ceremony Tuesday, during which Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdish northern region, vowed "there is no way Kurdistan would accept that the central government will control our resources," according to news agency reports.

In Baghdad, political leaders on Wednesday reacted to the deal with astonishment.

"We need to figure out if this is allowed in the constitution," said Adnan Ali Kadhimi, an advisor to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari. "Nobody has mentioned it. It has not come up among the government ministers' council. It has not been on their agenda."

Read the article there is more there.

- rob 5:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Rove is still in trouble

Daily Kos: Vivica Novak: Exculpatory? Wha?

Read - it is good. Rove's memory may have been jogged by his lawyer saying "oh crap, they got something on us."

- rob 5:24 PM - [PermaLink] -

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George Bush Believes Politicians know best

Scientists Say "Global Warming'
Bush says "nah... just need more cool to run the air-conditioner"

Health experts say "Plan B"
Bush says "nah - in my day if ya made a mistake the night before you just didn't tell her your real name"

Military officials say "we need more troops" before invasion
Bush says "what are ya wimps? nah"

State department officials say Iraq may not welcome us with flowers
Bush says "sure they will... and chocolates too!"

Intelligence officials say Saddam doesn't have yellow cake
Bush says "sure he does... and chocolate too"

Justice officials say "redistricting illegal"
Bush says "nah... its fun"

Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal

Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan.

The memo, unanimously endorsed by six lawyers and two analysts in the department's voting section, said the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts. It also said the plan eliminated several other districts in which minorities had a substantial, though not necessarily decisive, influence in elections.

- rob 5:21 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush takes Cheney out of the loop on national security
We've been hearing from various inside sources, the rift is growing between the Prez and the Veep.

Mr. Cheney has been ousted from his role as the administration's point man in the area of national security. They said presidential staffers have kept Mr. Cheney out of the loop on discussions on policy as the White House has struggled with the political and intelligence fallout from the war in Iraq.

File this under: "How history might be different if Dubya hadn't obliterated his mind on drugs & alcohol in the 70's." Well Bush is figuring all this out too damn late to make any real difference. Dubya was the ultimate Manchurian Candidate for the neocons, and that's no-one's fault but his own. At a minimum of ten times the liar that Clinton was, it will be a miscarriage of justice if this guy evades impeachment. All such hopes are pinned on dems regaining the House.

- Edoc 11:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Our President once wisely said
"man and fish can coexist peacefully."

But alas, some in the senate do not think it is so and are continuing the war against fish. If we can't have victory in Iraq the least this republican government can do is kill off fish!

Zeroing Out the Messenger

PORTLAND, Ore. -- In a surgical strike from Capitol Hill, Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) has eliminated a little-known agency that counts endangered fish in the Columbia River.

The Fish Passage Center, with just 12 employees and a budget of $1.3 million, has been killed because it did not count fish in a way that suited Craig.

Accurate numbers ill suits many.

Salmon math has clearly riled up Craig, who in his last election campaign in 2002 received more money from electric utilities than from any other industry and who has been named "legislator of the year" by the National Hydropower Association.

The Fish Passage Center has documented, in excruciating statistical detail, how the Columbia-Snake hydroelectric system kills salmon. Its analyses of fish survival data also suggest that one way to increase salmon survival is to spill more water over dams, rather than feed it through electrical turbines.

This suggestion, though, is anathema to utilities -- and to Craig -- because water poured over dams means millions of dollars in lost electricity generation.
...
Fish and game agencies in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, Indian tribes with fishing rights on the river and the governors of Oregon and Washington have all said that eliminating the Fish Passage Center is a bad idea that would reduce the quality of information on endangered salmon.

Look, campaign donations are free speech at its finest. Money talks. If the fish don't donate to campaigns then I guess they're up shit's creek (maybe, no one's counting).

- rob 5:37 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Good for Walgreens!

Walgreens demands employees to their jobs. This isn't religious discrimination. The pharmacists took that job know that it meant giving medicine to customers. These employees were unwilling to do that. Like I've said before - this is why there are no Christian Scientist surgeons or Jewish pork sausage makers. People don't choose professions that don't clash with their religious beliefs. Way should we expect that extremists Christians to be special. (well Target does)

Illinois Pharmacists Balk at Contraception

ST. LOUIS - Walgreen Co. said it has put four Illinois pharmacists in the St. Louis area on unpaid leave for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception in violation of a state rule.

The four cited religious or moral objections to filling prescriptions for the morning-after pill and "have said they would like to maintain their right to refuse to dispense, and in Illinois that is not an option," Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said.

Oh and good for Illinois to have that law.

- rob 5:23 PM - [PermaLink] -

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How to feel Bad.

• Step 1: Read this: Daily Kos: If you thought Hurricane Katrina was bad, just wait.....
• Step 2: For more detail read this: Alarm over dramatic weakening of Gulf Stream
  · Slowing of current by a third in 12 years could bring more extreme weather
  · Temperatures in Britain likely to drop by one degree in next decade

  The powerful ocean current that bathes Britain and northern Europe in warm waters from the tropics has weakened dramatically in recent years, a consequence of global warming that could trigger more severe winters and cooler summers across the region, scientists warn today.
  Researchers on a scientific expedition in the Atlantic Ocean measured the strength of the current between Africa and the east coast of America and found that the circulation has slowed by 30% since a previous expedition 12 years ago.

  Yes more warm water hanging out by the Gulf means a lot more big bad hurricanes.

That bang you just heard was George Bush's head exploding trying to understand the Global Warming would make "Tony's Country" colder.

Here's a bit of odd good news about greenhouse gases though, looks like they have Beano for cows in the works (this is actually very big): Cure for cow flatulence cooked up by scientists

LONDON (Reuters) - Cows belching and breaking wind cause methane pollution but scientists say they have developed a diet to make pastures smell like roses -- almost.
"In some experiments we get a 70 percent decrease (in methane emissions), which is quite staggering," biochemist John Wallace told Reuters in a telephone interview.
...
"In total around 14 percent of global methane comes from the guts of farm animals. It is worth doing something about," Wallace said. Other big sources of methane are landfills, coalmines, rice paddies and bogs.

Speaking of bogs (and we actually were), here's a feedback loop that is really bad news for us humans: Climate warning as Siberia melts

THE world's largest frozen peat bog is melting. An area stretching for a million square kilometres across the permafrost of western Siberia is turning into a mass of shallow lakes as the ground melts, according to Russian researchers just back from the region.

The sudden melting of a bog the size of France and Germany combined could unleash billions of tonnes of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.
...
Kirpotin describes an "ecological landslide that is probably irreversible and is undoubtedly connected to climatic warming". He says that the entire western Siberian sub-Arctic region has begun to melt, and this "has all happened in the last three or four years".

What was until recently a featureless expanse of frozen peat is turning into a watery landscape of lakes, some more than a kilometre across. Kirpotin suspects that some unknown critical threshold has been crossed, triggering the melting.

Western Siberia has warmed faster than almost anywhere else on the planet, with an increase in average temperatures of some 3 °C in the last 40 years.

The warmer it gets the more bogs melt releasing so much methane that the area warms which melts more bogs.

Well, this is a happy post.

- rob 5:17 PM - [PermaLink] -

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It's official: Diebold election bugware can't be trusted

Diebold would rather lose all of its voting machine business in North Carolina than open its source code to state election officials as required by law, the Associated Press reports.

Due to irregularities in the 2004 election traced to touch screen terminals, North Carolina has taken the very reasonable precaution of requiring vendors of electronic voting gizmos to place all of the source code in escrow. Diebold has objected to the possibility of criminal sanctions if they fail to comply, and argued for an exemption before Wake County Superior Court Judge Narley Cashwell. The judge declined to issue an exemption, and Diebold has concluded that it has no choice but withdraw from the state.

After learning this Maryland, Georgia, and Ohio will buy more Diebold machines I'm sure (fire sale). sigh

- rob 4:20 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Plan: We Win

We've seen it before: an embattled president so swathed in his inner circle that he completely loses touch with the public and wanders around among small knots of people who agree with him. There was Lyndon Johnson in the 1960's, Richard Nixon in the 1970's, and George H. W. Bush in the 1990's. Now it's his son's turn.

It has been obvious for months that Americans don't believe the war is going just fine, and they needed to hear that President Bush gets that. They wanted to see that he had learned from his mistakes and adjusted his course, and that he had a measurable and realistic plan for making Iraq safe enough to withdraw United States troops. Americans didn't need to be convinced of Mr. Bush's commitment to his idealized version of the war. They needed to be reassured that he recognized the reality of the war.

Instead, Mr. Bush traveled 32 miles from the White House to the Naval Academy and spoke to yet another of the well-behaved, uniformed audiences that have screened him from the rest of America lately. If you do not happen to be a midshipman, you'd have to have been watching cable news at midmorning on a weekday to catch him.
...
Americans have been clamoring for believable goals in Iraq, but Mr. Bush stuck to his notion of staying until "total victory." His strategy document defines that as an Iraq that "has defeated the terrorists and neutralized the insurgency"; is "peaceful, united, stable, democratic and secure"; and is a partner in the war on terror, an integral part of the international community, and "an engine for regional economic growth and proving the fruits of democratic governance to the region."

That may be the most grandiose set of ambitions for the region since the vision of Nebuchadnezzar's son Belshazzar, who saw the hand writing on the wall. Mr. Bush hates comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq. But after watching the president, we couldn't resist reading Richard Nixon's 1969 Vietnamization speech.

I had a plan that I called "Make Rob Rich."

It went like this:

• Step 1: Cut and Paste chunks of other people's work onto a blog
• Step 2:
• Step 3: Watch the money role in.

I think if I just keep going like I have for the past 2.5 years here for a few more years, it'll really work out for me.

- rob 4:14 PM - [PermaLink] -

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thanks to a farker named stinkbunny - thank you stinkbunny who ever you are. (isn't the internet great)

- rob 4:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Happy Holidays from Bill O'Reilly
Oh, this is a fun one. While all the conservatives are foaming at the mouth over the "war on Christmas" here we have Bill O'Reilly selling "Holiday Ornaments" in his online store. Whatever you do, Bill, make sure you don't call it a Christmas tree ornament. Notice that it's made in the USA, presumably by non-communists or frenchies.

- Edoc 6:04 PM - [PermaLink] -

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UPI's Headline says it best:
(UPI's a moonie outfit but they still have some folks there who know what a good headline is)

Pace schools Rumsfeld on Iraq abuse

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. forces are obliged to stop inhumane treatment wherever they see it in Iraq, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference Tuesday.

This was news to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who told reporters "the United States does not have a responsibility" to prevent abuse of prisoners or civilians at the hands of the Iraqi military or police forces they are training.

Pace offered the military perspective, which is less accommodating.

"It is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it," he said.

"But I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it," said Rumsfeld, turning to Pace.

"If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it," Pace said.

God the military must hate Rumsfeld. At night they go to the bar and get a shot of scotch and say "Here's to honor may ye be resting in peace - we miss ye." (not sure why the military goes to the bar as a single entity and then talks funny - but there you go).

And as always for all things Moon - go to Where in Washington D.C. is Sun Myung Moon? which is often a disturbing read.

- rob 4:34 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush supporters have fallen to the point where they declare torture a good thing and useful for breaking people - getting useful information seems to be beside the point.

We've come to the point that supporters of the President feel the need to defend torture as being useful as a means of expressing sadism?

They say they love America, but they don't even know what America is.

Read: Disgusting

- rob 4:13 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Damn - is America becoming one of those "outlaw" nations we used to say it was okay for folks to invade?

UK airports 'are stop-offs in torture flights'

Eleven police forces were today threatened with legal action if they fail to investigate allegations that UK airports are being used as secret stop-overs by CIA jets transferring terror suspects to torture camps.
...
The move follows international concern over the CIA's failure to confirm or deny suggestions that it has illegally abducted terrorist suspects and flown them between a network of clandestine detention centres - so-called "black sites" - for interrogation under torture.
...
Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden have already opened investigations into the clandestine stop-offs.

Look, they didn't forget Poland.

- rob 3:27 PM - [PermaLink] -

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You've got to take out your nipple ring to fly a plane (see a post from yesterday)
You've got to show your "papers" to go to a bank or ride a bus (yet another post from yesterday)

But big sharp scissors (more dangerous then box cutters) - that's A-OK!

Sharp Objects May Be Allowed on Planes

WASHINGTON - Airport security screeners are reportedly going to let passengers bring sharp objects on board airplanes again. Today's Washington Post says the Transportation Security Administration plans to announce security changes Friday.

Sources quoted by the paper say the new rules will allow things like scissors in carry-on bags. The reasoning is that such items are no longer regarded as the greatest threat to airline security. Homeland Security Department officials are said to be more concerned about preventing suicide bomb attacks at airports. Officials want screeners to focus more on finding things that can explode rather than things that are sharp.

Well good, I'm glad they're going to crack down on those folks boarding planes with big suitcases full of fertilizer.

- rob 3:24 PM - [PermaLink] -

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And we should listen to him because he still thinks going into Iraq early was a great idea

(I say early because it looks like it was a rush job, what with their not having "a plan." Of course in truth they didn't have a plan because its a four letter word.)

Headline today: Bush calls departing Iraq early a big error

- rob 12:58 PM - [PermaLink] -

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I did a long tirade about media coverage of missing teens back in June and I mentioned that sad disappearence of Omar Ducasse in Alaska. A comment was left on this site today from a relative wishing to know if we had any further information about Mr. Ducasse, unfortunately we do not, we only know what we originally posted from the KTUU article.

However if anyone ever goes to this site via searching the name Omar Ducasse and knows something more about the case please leave a comment in hopes that the relative can read it, and more importantly please also go to the Anchorage authorities. I realize that this has a chance of almost nil doing any good, but it can't hurt. I don't even know if he is still missing but hopefully he has, or will soon be, found.

Here's the original post from June (with less typos):

Perils of Penelope
or
Pretty White Girls in Danger!

The message is clear: If your life is worth saving you need to be pretty, white, young, and female.

Now I hope Natalee Holloway is found soon, and that she is safe, but the coverage of this story is another repeat of the disturbing fact that the media only takes interest in your case if the lost child, teen, or bride-to-be is white, female, and photogenic.

Save your daughter: take as many cute all American photos of her as you can. Pray you never have to use them.

Though If I was the Halloway’s I too would demand and be appreciative of all the help this attention has generated, and I am glad for them that they are getting the help, and hope to hear of a happy result. But does America send FBI agents to foreign lands every time a teen goes missing? Do the Dutch Marines scramble to find every missing tourist?

On May 11 Omar Ducasse a 35 year old, 230 pound Hispanic Male disappeared in Anchorage, Alaska. He is a father. Children have lost a father. Did we send in the marines? Did we send in the FBI? I’m not saying make it a media circus, but some attention to the incident could lead to tips. It looks like the local station covered this story, to their credit. That’s how I could find out about it. How many scores of cases could I not find? How many cases never made one line, one mention, among the billions of words that appear on the internet everyday.

The prurient interest in the white girl missing stories is clear. “white slavery” “sex slave” Sex sells, and though they don’t admit it Matt Lauer, Joe Scarborough, and everyone of them is feeding off of the natural horror of a rape story. A missing child is horrible, but the story could soon become (and let’s hope not) appalling and horrendous. That would be great for ratings. That is beyond vampirism.

Yes, a reporter can apologize, defend, and excuse himself by saying “the publicity will help in the search.” And yes that is true. KTUU’s coverage may have helped the case of Omar Ducasse. Lets hope it did.

But are the ratings spike in Dallas helping find a missing teen in Aruba?

Meanwhile coverage of the continuing war might wake people up and realize that war isn’t an option because a foreign leader once tried to kill George’s daddy. The shock of the coverage of Vietnam so shocked America that it took America 15 years before it could go to war again on a whim. That may not sound like much, but without the coverage of the true horror of war during Vietnam we probably would have gone into Nicaragua.

War does have to happen sometimes – but it is horrible, awful, and destroys more then just buildings and lives. So everyone needs to be conscious of its horror, so we demand that it only be used when it is absolutely necessary. These soldiers who survive will forever be injured. Their dreams, thoughts, and emotions will never be the same, and already the message is clear. America doesn’t seem to care.

The war is still going on, but we’re too wrapped up in the Michael Jackson trial to notice. Which, and let’s be frank, is a ratings grabber because it involves allegations of sexual abuse. Murder just wouldn’t be the same. America supports its troops but doesn’t even want to hear about them now. How will we treat them ten years from now when they still need our help and support?

On June first, Phillip Edmundson, Virgil Case, and Louis Niedermeier were killed in Iraq. Would you have already known that if they were pretty white girls?

- rob 12:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

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There's a fun little site called Put Us On Your List, Bill!

We the undersigned do solemnly swear that we are engaged in what television "personality" Bill O'Reilly (R-Fox News) describes as the distribution of "information supplied by far left websites."*

We the undersigned also solemnly swear that we think O'Reilly (R-Falafel) is a fatuous gasbag who spends more time looking in the mirror and crooning "Who's the fairest of them all? You! That's right, you, you sexy beast!" than he does researching anything he says on his alleged talk show.

So I decided that TCS should be added to the list, but I suddenly started typing a lot more then just a link. So being a complete jerk I cluttered up their comments sections with the piece below. I apologize to those fine folks for filling up their comments sections with a particularly unfunny post (well I find it funny, but then I like the design of this here site, so there you go):

Dear Mr. O'Reilly, we wish to be considered as an entrant on your enemies list.

We feel we meet the criteria with which we would be considered by you as "an enemy."

* we have expressed our desire that our modern heroes, our troops, be used only in dire need and as a last resort and not for capricious imperial campaigns that have been ill conceived and do not leave our nation safer.

* we have expressed our desire that our elected officials not accept bribes from contractors.

* we have expressed our desire for our elected officials put America first and not their party first, whatever their party be.

* we have expressed the belief that our elected officials should represent the American people and not corporate interests that ill serve America.

* we have expressed the believe that if an intelligence official has put her life on the line to inquire about weapons of mass destruction that could be used against our citizens the executive branch should not jeopardize her safety and leak her identity.

* we believe the safety of Americans should be put ahead of corporate interests and that its ports and chemical and nuclear plants should be secured.

* we believe America means something. We believe America was a liberal concept by our founding fathers that a nation could be a moral entity reflecting the will of its people and working to promote its general welfare.

* we believe America is good. That means we believe torture and lying is something our government should not do.

* we believe politics should be a competition of ideas. Reasoned discussions of all sides lead the voter to make the informed and correct decision. Sometimes that means a republican wins, sometimes that means a democrat wins, and sometimes that means an independent or third party official wins. But when America decides on a representative with the understanding of that personÂ?s true policies and history we all win.

As you will no doubt agree these beliefs and statements would makes us what you consider an enemy and that we should be added to your list.

Though we often refer to our site as This Century Sucks or even TCS we believe that full disclosure is the best policy so you should use our full name when listing us.

This Century Sucks - A Fair and Balanced Look at the Continuing Corrupt
and Evil Whistle Ass Administration

We do note that we use long-winded commentary and often have a holier than thou tone - so we do have some things in common.

Thank you for your consideration Mr. O'Reilly and Happy Holidays.

- rob 11:58 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Remember all those world war II films, where everyone in Germany carried around their "papers." And depending what was on their "papers" they were either beaten, let through the gate, or thrown in the jail.

Did you know in America you're now supposed to have your "papers" at the ready. Sounds pretty damn unAmerican doens't it.

Next Stop: Big Brother

Meet Deborah Davis. She's a 50 year-old mother of four who lives and works in Denver, Colorado. Her kids are all grown-up: her middle son is a soldier fighting in Iraq. She leads an ordinary, middle class life. You probably never would have heard of Deb Davis if it weren't for her belief in the U.S. Constitution.

One morning in late September 2005, Deb was riding the public bus to work. She was minding her own business, reading a book and planning for work, when a security guard got on this public bus and demanded that every passenger show their ID. Deb, having done nothing wrong, declined. The guard called in federal cops, and she was arrested and charged with federal criminal misdemeanors after refusing to show ID on demand.

It's not just Denver, check this out:

Miami Police Take New Tack Against Terror

MIAMI - Police are planning "in-your-face" shows of force in public places, saying the random, high-profile security operations will keep terrorists guessing about where officers might be next.

Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez, who announced the program Monday, said as an example, officers might surround a bank, check the IDs of everyone going in and out, and hand out leaflets about terror threats.

I thought if we let the terrorists change the American way of life then they win.

Looks like they're winning.

And come on, this is going to do absolutely nothing to make us safer, but it makes our democracy and freedoms a lot less safe.

- rob 5:47 PM - [PermaLink] -

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You may laugh - but not after a plane is hijacked by terrorists with nipple rings (for some reson ear rings aren't dangerous)

Increased security means more complaints

Attention, travelers with nipple piercings: If you plan to fly out of Pittsburgh International Airport this holiday season, bring your pliers.
Otherwise, you might miss your flight.

At least one passenger who traveled through Pittsburgh learned this the hard way. She had to remove her piercings in a restroom after airport security told her she couldn't get on a plane with her hardware intact.

- rob 4:35 PM - [PermaLink] -

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You know, I don't want to sound isolationist, but I really feel that when our government spends our money it should at least go back to American businesses that pay taxes. And American businesses that employ American citizens that pay taxes. Who spend their earnings in America (and thus to companies that pay taxes). See it almost works out to being a discount.

But your government doesn't do that.

'Made in Mexico' Uniforms Miff Border Cops

I could go on about how American workers who are employed are less likely to commit crimes and also won't burden taxpayers by needing government assistence, and that (bonus!) their children are less likely to commit crimes because they as a parent are gainfully gainfully employed (oh and also their children are most likely to be gainfully employed as well... and so on and so on. every job counts and does amazing things.)

- rob 4:25 PM - [PermaLink] -

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As many have pointed out - Alito is not a nice guy.

Here's a post that really explains why that is the correct opinion: Obsidian Wings: Alito And CAP

- rob 4:19 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Vote 2006: Its about the corruption
(and the very soul of America - but corruption is easier to explain)

Fun with MZM

In the charges released yesterday against Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) by the United States Attorney in San Diego, the man identified in the 'information' as "Co-conspirator #2" is none other than Mr. Mitchell Wade, formerly CEO and founder of MZM, Inc., the man whose sweetheart purchase of Cunningham's house was the thread that started Duke's skein of corruption unraveling.

Now, Mitchell Wade has since left MZM to spend more time with his lawyers. But before his high-flying life as a corrupt defense contractor came to a grinding halt last summer he was into more than Duke Cunningham. Wade's MZM was in deep with Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL). So deep in fact that, in a story we broke here at TPM back on June 21st, Harris once had a one day haul of $28,000. Fourteen checks for $2,000 a pop, each from a different MZM employee, each received on March 23rd, 2004. (MZM employees later claimed these contributions were coerced.)

A week later Wade's wife chipped in two more checks for $2,000 each.

Read on, there's more.

And here's more about MZM:

Cunningham and MZM: The White House Connection

It's worth noting that MZM also did some unusual business with the White House:

[O]ver the past three years it [MZM Inc.] was also awarded several contracts, worth more than $600,000, by the Executive Office of the President. They include a $140,000 deal for office furniture in 2002 and several for unspecified "intelligence services."

Why did the White House hire MZM, a "defense and intelligence firm," to buy office furniture for the White House?

Wow, another one to add to the list.

We already know about the continuing Abramoff scandal. Why just today we have this headline: Abramoff Sought Bush Officials' Aid in Indian-Tribe Fee Dispute

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Lobbyist Jack Abramoff sought the help of U.S. Interior Department officials to save the job of an Indian leader under fire for $37 million in fees his tribe paid Abramoff and a partner, according to interviews and e-mails.

The department's Bureau of Indian Affairs last year ruled that Lovelin Poncho should remain head of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana. The bureau acted after Poncho sought help from Abramoff, who called then-Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles and other Interior Department officials, according to a person familiar with the issue.

And lets not forget the Plame story, Fitzgerald hasn't, why just today I read:

Another Time Reporter Agrees to Testify

WASHINGTON Nov 27, 2005 - A second Time magazine reporter has agreed to cooperate in the CIA leak case and will testify about her discussions with Karl Rove's attorney, a sign that prosecutors are still exploring charges against the White House aide.

Viveca Novak, a reporter in Time's Washington bureau, is cooperating with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, who is investigating the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity in 2003, the magazine reported in its Dec. 5 issue.

All these scandals will do nothing but grow in the coming months. The spring of 2006 will be political official after political official explaining why they decided the politics interests were not their own.

Just in time for the election.

- rob 4:17 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Prof. Juan Cole on Bush's Legacy
Journalist Sy Hersh recently reported on Bush's belief in a powerful legacy 20 years from now. Juan Cole has some bad news for Bush:

...George, let me clue you in on something--as a historian... I guarantee you, George, that historians are going to be unkind to you. You went into a major war over a non-existent nuclear weapons program. Presidents' reputations don't survive things like that. Historians are creatures of documents and precision. A wild exaggeration with serious consequences is against everything they stand for as a profession. So forget about history and destiny and the divine will. You are at the helm of the Exxon Valdez and it is headed for the shoals. You can't afford to daydream about future decades.

Ouch-- that's gonna leave a mark.

- Edoc 2:07 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Sen. Joe Lieberman: Our Troops Must Stay in Iraq
(via DailyKos) Unbelievable. The democratic senator from Connecticut is either dumber than a box of hair or he has sold his soul to the GOP.

Does America have a good plan for doing this, a strategy for victory in Iraq? Yes we do. And it is important to make it clear to the American people that the plan has not remained stubbornly still but has changed over the years.

Loopy Lieberman has bought into the GOP war platform lock, stock and two-smoking barrels. If you ask why the democratic party is accused of disaray, look no further.

- Edoc 12:54 PM - [PermaLink] -

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This is supposed to be a House of Law
But you have made it a den of thieves cont'd

Cunningham pleads guilty to conspiring to take bribes, income tax evasion

SAN DIEGO Ă?– Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday morning to conspiring to take bribes in exchange for using his influence to help a defense contractor get business.

He also pleaded guilty to one count of income tax evasion.

- rob 2:00 PM - [PermaLink] -

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'02 Iraq War Vote: Daschle Asked to Depoliticize, Bush Refused
While there is no excuse for democrats who voted in favor of the war, some additional context is helpful. Democrat leaders asked to postpone the vote until after the 2002 congressional elections, but the administration obviously wanted the leverage. Contrast this to Bush Sr. before the first Gulf War:

Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, did not call for a vote authorizing the Persian Gulf War until after the 1990 midterm election. But the vote paving the way for the second war with Iraq came in mid-October of 2002 — at the height of an election campaign in which Republicans were systematically portraying Democrats as weak on national security.

Iraq was this administration's war of choice and political expediency. There is little doubt that they saw this war as their ticket to superpower glory and a permanent party majority.

- Edoc 1:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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NYT: What Part of the Case for War Wasn't a Lie?
(via HuffPo) Frank Rich of the New York Times provides a nice summary of the more recent revelations about pre-war intel and the case for war in Iraq.

The more we learn about the road to Iraq, the more we realize that it's a losing game to ask what lies the White House told along the way. A simpler question might be: What was not a lie? The situation recalls Mary McCarthy's explanation to Dick Cavett about why she thought Lillian Hellman was a dishonest writer: "Every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.'"

Damn straight. At this point it's more efficient to make right-wingers reconstruct a case for war with established facts. Lots of luck, 'nutters.

- Edoc 11:11 AM - [PermaLink] -

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The Bush Administration explained



"their judgment was based more on wishful thinking than on a sound calculation of probabilities; for the usual thing among men is that when they want something they will, without any reflection, leave that to hope, while they will employ the full force of reason in rejecting what they find unpalatable."
- Thucydides

All disquiet on West Wing front

Even as his poll numbers tank, however, Bush is described by aides as still determined to stay the course. He resists advice from Republicans who fear disaster in next year's congressional elections, and rejects criticism from a media establishment he disdains.
...
For the moment, Bush has dismissed discreetly offered advice from friends and loyalists to fire Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and bring back longtime confidant Karen Hughes from the State Department to shore up his personal White House staff.

"He thinks that would be an admission he's screwed up, and he can't bring himself to do that," a former senior staffer lamented.
...
"The staff basically still has an unyielding belief in the wisdom of what they're doing," a close Bush confidant said. "They're talking to people who could help them, but they're not listening."
...
A card-carrying member of the Washington GOP establishment with close ties to the White House recently encountered several senior presidential aides at a dinner and came away shaking his head at their "no problems here" mentality.

"There is just no introspection there at all," he said in exasperation. "It is everybody else's fault - the press, gutless Republicans on the Hill. They're still in denial."

Update: Found this cartoon via First Draft (I think). It really sums it up well: Do give it a look.

- rob 11:08 AM - [PermaLink] -

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This is not America

Pentagon Expanding Its Domestic Surveillance Activity

The Defense Department has expanded its programs aimed at gathering and analyzing intelligence within the United States, creating new agencies, adding personnel and seeking additional legal authority for domestic security activities in the post-9/11 world.

The moves have taken place on several fronts. The White House is considering expanding the power of a little-known Pentagon agency called the Counterintelligence Field Activity, or CIFA, which was created three years ago. The proposal, made by a presidential commission, would transform CIFA from an office that coordinates Pentagon security efforts -- including protecting military facilities from attack -- to one that also has authority to investigate crimes within the United States such as treason, foreign or terrorist sabotage or even economic espionage.

Emphasis mine. The Pentagon now officially works for the Defense Contractors.

- rob 11:01 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Bah. Maybe everything you'll read today is appalling.

CNN.com - Ex-PM: Abuse as bad as Saddam era

LONDON, England -- Human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad as they were under Saddam Hussein if not worse, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has said.

"People are doing the same as (in) Saddam's time and worse," Allawi said in an interview published in Britain on Sunday.

Why are we there?

- rob 10:50 AM - [PermaLink] -

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The most appalling thing you'll read today

(and see)

'Trophy' video exposes private security contractors shooting up Iraqi drivers

A "trophy" video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.

The video, which first appeared on a website that has been linked unofficially to Aegis Defence Services, contained four separate clips, in which security guards open fire with automatic rifles at civilian cars. All of the shooting incidents apparently took place on "route Irish", a road that links the airport to Baghdad.

- rob 10:22 AM - [PermaLink] -

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This should be a house of law
But you have made it a den of thieves

Scanlon, Abramoff `Backroom Guy,' Points Probers at DeLay, Ney

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- For more than a year, Michael Scanlon has been a shadowy presence behind former partner Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist at the center of a corruption probe. Now, Scanlon may help prosecutors raise the investigation to a higher level.

Scanlon, a former aide to Representative Tom DeLay, is scheduled to appear today in U.S. District Court to present a plea bargain with the Justice Department likely to lead to his cooperation with investigators. His testimony would ratchet up the pressure on Abramoff and aid prosecutors in widening the investigation to members of Congress, such as Republicans DeLay and Representative Robert Ney of Ohio.

This is going to be sooo big.

- rob 10:11 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Iraq is not Vietnam-- it is far worse
Vietnam historian Gareth Porter looks at some of the parallels between Iraq and the Vietnam war.

A far more appropriate parallel with American political allies in Baghdad today is with the puppet Vietnamese regime set up by the French in 1949. That regime had no popular support and an army that the French could not trust. Like the present Iraqi regime after the "transfer of sovereignty," France's puppet regime controlled neither national security nor economic policy.

An interesting read.

- Edoc 8:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Circling the Drain: A Journalist Recounts 3 Trips to Baghdad
Sep 2003: "Back then, we could tool around the Iraqi capital."
Jul 2004: "...we were all given flak jackets and helmets for the short trip."
Nov 2005: "...were provided escorts to go to the bathroom."

- Edoc 8:19 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Chris Wallace Claims Bush "Never" Linked Saddam and Al-Qaeda
Wallace, the Fox News Host and asshat apologist for the white house, parses the oft-quoted "you can't distinguish between Saddam and al-Queda" statement in an attempt to exonerate the Shrub. See the video clip at CrooksAndLiars.com.

- Edoc 8:12 PM - [PermaLink] -

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