Jack Cafferty on the 'Just Do It!' Bush Administration
(via CrooksAndLiars.com) For over three years, the NSA has been spying on US citizens without a warrant, thanks to post 9-11 authorization from Bush. Now can we seriously talk about impeaching Bush? Or at this rate should we wait another 5 minutes for the dossier of evidence to fatten?

Jack Cafferty of CNN's Situation Room goes through a list of odious actions this administration thinks it's empowered to take.

"Who cares if the Patriot Act gets renewed? If you want to abuse our civil liberties: Just do it!

Who cares about the Geneva conventions? Want to torture prisoners: Just do it!

Who cares about rules concerning the identity of CIA gents. Want to reveal the name of a covert operative? Just do it!

Who cares about whether the intelligence concerning WMD's is accurate. Want to invade Iraq? Just do it!

Who cares about qualifications to serve on the nation's highest court. Want to nominate a personal friend with no qualifications? Just do it!

And the latest outrage, which I read about in The New York Times this morning:

Who cares about needing a court order to eavesdrop on American citizens. Want to wiretap their phones conversations? Just do it!

What a joke-- a very cruel, very sad joke."

It's no laughing matter-- more like gallows humor as democracy mounts the platform in chains.

Update: See AmericaBlog for more on this breach of privacy laws.

- Edoc 8:44 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Patrick Cockburn: The Occupation
Highly informative summary of the current situation in Iraq, and how we got there.

A panorama of Iraq two and a half years after the Anglo-American invasion. Britain's leading reporter on the country talks about the life conditions of the population; the springs of the resistance; the relations between Sunni and Shia communities; the position of the Kurds; the performance of the US military; and the historical precedents and possible outcomes of the second Western seizure of Iraq.

It's so hard to get a grasp of what things are like in Iraq, so summaries like this are particularly valuable. There's a lot to digest in there, but it's a must-read.

- Edoc 5:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Cenk Uygur: Are We Really This Stupid?
Listen to Cenk here folks. Like the mob rushing the Bailey Savings & Loan in "It's a Wonderful Life", we need to stop and realize what's happening here.

"... what are the Republicans talking about? Tax cuts that go largely to the upper class. The war on Christmas. The gay marriage amendment. Flag burning. Does anyone believe these are the real pressing concerns of the American people? Is our top problem that the rich don't have enough tax breaks?"

"The Democrats use to be the tax and spend party. Now, it looks like the Republicans are the tax and steal party. How much of this are we going to tolerate?

Apparently a lot, because God forbid we should have gays getting married or for someone to say 'Holiday' instead of 'Christmas.' Are we really this stupid as a nation?"

The US public has a prediliction for distraction while Rome burns. We need to focus our energies on exposing and stemming the massive fraud and dereliction that the current administration is perpetrating on this country.

- Edoc 10:39 AM - [PermaLink] -

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"Let the fools have their tartar sauce"
- Monty Burns

The House GOP feds some meat to the citizens so they can continue to destroy our country without being noticed.

Fox News isn't just making up its "War on Christmas" for ratings and to distract its sheep (I mean "audience") from reality. No it is a coordinated effort by the ruling party to distract the citizens of America from the real war and the real issues. Coming soon: Circuses!

Daily Kos: Breaking News: GOP House Top Priority? Xmas Vote!

War in Iraq, war against terrorism, war in Afghanistan, move over -- today, House GOP leaders have decided there is a more pressing war to attend to: the fictional war against Christmas, which apparently requires protection for Christmas symbols. And what happened when Democrats asked that the symbols of Chanukah be protected along with the symbols of Christmas? The House GOP simply said "no."
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This afternoon, 26 House Republicans -- together with the GOP leadership -- will be forcing the full House to vote on whether House members support the "symbols and traditions" of Christmas, and whether they disapprove of the utterly mythical "attempts to ban references to Christmas." Today's roll call vote comes on the heels of a House floor debate held last night regarding H. Res. 579, a resolution "Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected." During the debate, Democratic members asked the Republican author of the resolution, Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-VA), if she would permit the symbols of Chanukah and other holidays to be included in the protection of the resolution -- and she refused.

Today's hero: Congressman John D. Dingell

Washington, DC - Congressman John D. Dingell (MI-15) recited the following poem on the floor of the US House of Representatives concerning House Resolution 579, which expressed the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected. “Preserving Christmas” has been a frequent topic for conservative talk show hosts, including Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly:

‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House

No bills were passed ‘bout which Fox News could grouse;

Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer,

So vacations in St. Barts soon would be near;

Katrina kids were nestled all snug in motel beds,

While visions of school and home danced in their heads;

In Iraq our soldiers needed supplies and a plan,

Plus nuclear weapons were being built in Iran;

Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell;

Americans feared we were on a fast track to…well…

Wait--- we need a distraction--- something divisive and wily;

A fabrication straight from the mouth of O’Reilly

We can pretend that Christmas is under attack

Hold a vote to save it--- then pat ourselves on the back;

Silent Night, First Noel, Away in the Manger

Wake up Congress, they’re in no danger!

This time of year we see Christmas every where we go,

From churches, to homes, to schools, and yes…even Costco;

What we have is an attempt to divide and destroy,

When this is the season to unite us with joy

At Christmas time we’re taught to unite,

We don’t need a made-up reason to fight

So on O’Reilly, on Hannity, on Coulter, and those right wing blogs;

You should just sit back, relax…have a few egg nogs!

‘Tis the holiday season: enjoy it a pinch

With all our real problems, do we honestly need another Grinch?

So to my friends and my colleagues I say with delight,

A merry Christmas to all,

and to Bill O’Reilly…Happy Holidays.

- rob 5:45 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush's war on Terror: No Babies bombed a plane under my watch

US no-fly list vexes travelers from babies on up

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sarah Zapolsky was checking in for a flight to Italy when she discovered her 9-month-old son's name was on the United States' "no-fly" list of suspected terrorists.
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Zapolsky, who did not want her son's name made public, said she was initially amused by the mix-up. "But when I found out you can't actually get off the list, I started to get a bit annoyed."

Lady what is in your baby's diaper... is it that horrible biological weapon known as poop?

- rob 5:33 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Its official, vote results in Florida, Georgia, Maryland and many other places are not worth the paper they our printed on.

New tests fuel doubts about vote machines
A top election official and computer experts say computer hackers could easily change election results, after they found numerous flaws with a state-approved voting-machine in Tallahassee.

TALLAHASSEE - A political operative with hacking skills could alter the results of any election on Diebold-made voting machines -- and possibly other new voting systems in Florida -- according to the state capital's election supervisor, who said Diebold software has failed repeated tests.

Ion Sancho, Leon County's election chief, said tests by two computer experts, completed this week, showed that an insider could surreptitiously change vote results and the number of ballots cast on Diebold's optical-scan machines.
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The Leon County test results are likely to further fuel suspicions that the new electronic voting systems in Florida, in place since the 2002 elections, are susceptible to manipulation.

When the debate hit fever pitch before last year's presidential election, many conservatives said questions about the machinery were a liberal ploy to undermine confidence in the voting system.

Ahhh yes reality again is a liberal ploy.

Sancho said he tried to discuss the problems with Diebold, but met with resistance. On Monday, he did one final test with Hursti at the Leon County supervisor's office, Hursti hacked the memory card to spit out seven ''yes'' votes on an issue and one ''no'' vote.

Then, six ''no'' votes and two ''yes'' votes were cast into the machine the same way voters would. Those results didn't show up in the final tally -- just the ones hacked into the card.
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The Diebold problems show that simple tests haven't been done on at least one major voting system, he said.

''These were sold as safe systems. They passed tests as safe systems,'' Sancho said. ``But even in the so-called safe system, if you don't follow the paper ballots, there is a way to rig the election. Except it's not a bunch of guys stuffing ballots in a precinct. It's possibly one person acting in secret changing thousands of votes in a second.''

If you remember back the 2004 election the areas where optical-scan machines were used were the areas that had the most disparity between exit polling and final counts.

Just saying that maybe it isn't freedom on the march here... but something else (read some of the posts below and you'll see that 'maybe' may be generous)

- rob 5:24 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Daily Kos: Is There Any Doubt ScAlito Is An Extremist?

Here's some ScAlito language to ponder:

[Plaintiff's] brief never asserts that his work environment was one that a reasonable, non-retarded person would find hostile or abusive.

Pretty interesting in that the plaintiff, a man with a subaverage IQ, presented, via his attorneys, allegations that:

a co-worker attempted to push a broomstick into [plaintiff's] behind as other staff watched.

Maybe this is why these guys have no problem with torture - they think pushing a broomstick into someone's behind is standard office hijinks. Damn what kind of conversations do they have at the water cooler: "So the other day I beat up the neighbors kid, striped him, and tied him to a tree." "You did? Wow so did I!"

Sick repressed individuals trying to adjudicate morality when they have none.

- rob 5:08 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Gee only a hundred plus representatives in the House are pro-torture (and over a hundred of those are Republicans - who'd have guessed). It shouldn't have been even 1.

House Backs McCain Ban on Mistreatment

The 308-122 procedural vote was symbolic, simply putting the House on record backing the ban and another provision by McCain, R-Ariz., that would standardize interrogation techniques used by U.S. troops.

Nevertheless, such a mandate - 107 Republicans joined 200 Democrats and one independent in supporting McCain - puts political pressure on House negotiators to accept the provisions overwhelmingly approved by the Senate in October.

- rob 4:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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It takes a crook to know one. (I was going to say it takes a murder to know one - given Don King's manslaughter conviction - but its the holiday season, I didn't want to sound confrontational).

Don King Loves George

DON KING; I love George Walker Bush because I think he's a revolutionary. He's a president that comes in with conclusiveness.

- rob 4:56 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Sign the petition.

Stop the Patriot Act

The Patriot Act reauthorization bill before Congress is inadequate. It's bad law and needs to be reformed. I urge you to support the bipartisan group of Senators in blocking this version. A filibuster is the only chance we have to fix the Patriot Act. It should not be reauthorized until it includes needed protections on the privacy and freedoms of ordinary Americans.

The Patriot Act is unpatriotic. It is the War is Peace of the 21st Century.



Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety
- Benjamin Franklin

With so many in the House heading to jail soon I'd have to say "You were right Ben - soon those guys won't have any Liberty or Safety."

- rob 4:37 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Do you remember
Once upon a time ahaha
When there were open doors
An invitation to the world
We were falling in and out with lovers
Looking out for others
Our sisters and our brothers

Come to me, cover me, hold me
Together we’ll break these chains of love
- Erasure (Chains of Love)

Congrats to Ameriablog and many others:

Ford to Advertise In Gay Press

Ford Motor Co. yesterday said it will resume advertising Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles in gay-themed publications, following an outpouring of fury from gay groups that said Ford's recent decision to pull the ads fed anti-gay sentiment and emboldened enemies of gay rights.

"I think we're back in gear with Ford," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce. "They responded to each of the concerns we raised in a positive way. It's a great outcome."

- rob 4:30 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush represents the Culture of Life?

His law - he signed it - in Texas. Bush's law allowed a hospital to pull the plug on a conscious and responsive patient.

Let me repeat - The Woman was Talking, Aware, and Alive. Her family wanted her to stay alive. SHE wanted to stay alive. Yes she would die soon due to her cancer, but they ended her life early because of money. Yes euthanasia is illegal because it only is used to give a person an end to their painful suffering. But if they can't pay, even if they want to stay alive, then go ahead and kill the poor guy.

Bush's law KILLED her.

No Frist, No DeLay, No Bush, suddenly the whole culture of life is silent.

It is ALL a sham. They do not care about saving lives. They care about votes and donations. I know many earnestly believed that keeping Terri Schiavo alive was the right thing - and you know what - The GOP used you. You were pawns they played with. They don't care or respect you.

Alas, I should add that the woman was not white - I bet you aren't surprised.

Daily Kos: Culture of Life: Pull the plug on conscious patients - W's law.

Bush represents the Culture of Money. That is all he represents. That is all he respects. That is all he loves.

Bush's Culture of Life is the most cynical political lie America has ever seen (and it has seen a lot).

- rob 6:14 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Alas, the heady enlightened days of the '90s where we discussed whether or not oral sex counted as sexual relations, are long gone.

Now we discuss just how much pain, sensory deprivation, and humiliation is considered torture. And because of that I feel much more dirty - this is supposedly our government.

BREAKING: As Torture Amendment Nears Passage, Pentagon Rewrites Army Detainee Standards

- rob 6:00 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Your Tax Dollars at work

Restoration of the expenisve seating? - Yes
Making sure Superdome actually works as an emergency evacuation area? - No

Superdome could be ready for football by Nov. 1

Repair costs are estimated at about $140 million and most of that is expected to be covered by the state's insurance and by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The renovation will include extensive improvements to the building that can be done at the time at a lower cost. The enhancements, which include adding windows to sections of the exterior, renovating and upgrading suites and meeting rooms, adding new scoreboards and entrances for suite holders, would cost an additional $42 million but over $13 million would be covered by repair money.
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There are no plans to upgrade the building as a shelter in the proposed work because there is no money for it, Thornton said. Thornton estimated such an upgrade would require raising the generator and air conditioning equipment, which nearly flooded during Katrina. That would cost between $30 and $40 million. FEMA will not pay for the work.

Emphasis mine.

- rob 4:57 PM - [PermaLink] -

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And what a sorry Federal Government it is.



"I AM the federal government." -- Tom DeLay, to the owner of Ruth's Chris Steak House, after being told to put out his cigar because of federal government regulations banning smoking in the building, May 14, 2003

DeLay and The Duke: Together At Last

The prosecutions of Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) for money laundering and former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham for bribery have finally converged:

A Texas prosecutor has issued subpoenas for bank records and other information of a defense contractor involved in the bribery case of a California congressman as part of the investigation of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

- rob 3:39 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Horrible - and we still don't even know why we went there.

Backstory: 1,000 days in Iraq

• 2,149 US forces have been killed, including 44 women.

• 15,880 US soldiers have been wounded.
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• 25,000 to 30,000 is a rough estimate of the number of Iraqi civilians who lost their lives for war-related reasons since May 2003.

• An estimated 3,700 Iraqi police and military have died since June 2003.

- rob 3:31 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Bush Administration: They Hate Our Freedoms

Is the Pentagon spying on Americans?

WASHINGTON - A year ago, at a Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, Fla., a small group of activists met to plan a protest of military recruiting at local high schools. What they didn't know was that their meeting had come to the attention of the U.S. military.

A secret 400-page Defense Department document obtained by NBC News lists the Lake Worth meeting as a “threat” and one of more than 1,500 “suspicious incidents” across the country over a recent 10-month period.

Yep our military is spying on Americans.

Yep our military seems to think American's worrying about why we are at war are a threat. (They'd probably have lots of spies following James Madison).

When you get right down to it. Our military is scared of some Quakers. And less face it, Nixon aside, Quakers generally are not scary folks.



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

- rob 3:25 PM - [PermaLink] -

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American Citizen: "Excuse me, but we just found out the Pentagon has been using billions of our tax dollars to pay for security personnel in Iraq, sometimes as much as $5000 a day per individual while still not providing our troops with the armor they need?"
Pentagon: "Well you never told us not to."
American Citizen: "We didn't know you were doing something so criminally stupid."
Pentagon: "Well you never asked."
American Citizen: "Well then, are you doing anything else incredibly stupid with our tax dollars?"
Pentagon: "I'm sorry you're going to have to be much more specific for me to be able to answer that."

Pentagon rolls out stealth PR

A $300 million Pentagon psychological warfare operation includes plans for placing pro-American messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing the U.S. government as the source, one of the military officials in charge of the program says.
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The program will operate throughout the world, including in allied nations and in countries where the United States is not involved in armed conflict.
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"While the product may not carry the label, 'Made in the USA,' we will respond truthfully if asked" by journalists, Furlong told USA TODAY in a videoconference interview.

- rob 3:19 PM - [PermaLink] -

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unfortunately it seems TCS declaring "I Miss America" could be a series that continues far into the future despite the fact that it should have been cancelled last year (at the latest).

China, Cuba, US top jailing scribes

China, Cuba, Eritrea and Ethiopia jail more journalists than any other country, but the United States has risen to sixth place because of detentions in Iraq, a journalism watchdog group said.

The top four countries accounted for two-thirds of the 125 imprisoned editors, writers and photojournalists as of December 1, according to the report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Bush Administration: They Hate Our Freedoms

- rob 3:05 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Being able to vote and having that vote correctly counted are of equal importance in maintaining a democracy. We seem to fall short on the second one a lot these days.

So, without further ado, a Diebold update:

Diebold CEO resigns after reports of fraud litigation, internal woes

"The board of directors and Wally [O'Dell] mutually agreed that his decision to resign at this time for personal reasons was in the best interest of all parties," the company's new chairman said in a statement.

Which is wonderfully followed up by:

EXCLUSIVE: SECURITIES FRAUD LITIGATION FILED AGAINST DIEBOLD, INC!

The suit has been filed by plaintiff Janice Konkol, alleging securities fraud against the North Canton, Ohio-based manufacturer of Voting Systems and ATM machines on behalf of investors who owned shares of Diebold stock and lost money due to an alleged fraudulent scheme by the company and its executives to deceive shareholders during the "class period" of October 22, 2003 through September 21, 2005.

The suit was filed today in U.S. Federal District Court in Ohio and alleges the company "artificially inflated" stock prices through misleading public information designed to conceal the true nature of Diebold's financial and legal situation. The defendants are also alleged to have attempted to disguise well-known and ongoing problems with Diebold's Voting Machine equipment and software.

And finally about of good news from Florida when it pertains to Diebold.

Blackboxvoting: Leon County dumps Diebold

Due to contractual non-performance and security design issues, Leon County (Florida) supervisor of elections Ion Sancho has announced that he will never again use Diebold in an election. He has requested funds to replace the Diebold system from the county. On Tuesday, the most serious "hack" demonstration to date took place in Leon County. The Diebold machines succumbed quickly to alteration of the votes.

But remember Diebold is just one of the manufacturers of these "black box" voting machines.

Diebold, Electronic Voting and the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

The electronic voting industry is dominated by only a few corporations; Diebold, Election Systems & Software (ES&S) and Sequoia. Diebold and ES&S combined count an estimated 80% of U.S. black box electronic votes.

In the early 1980s, brothers Bob and Todd Urosevich founded ES&S's originator, Data Mark. The brothers Urosevich obtained financing from the far-Right Ahmanson family in 1984, which purchased a 68% ownership stake, according to the Omaha World Herald. After brothers William and Robert Ahmanson infused Data Mark with new capital, the name was changed to American Information Systems (AIS). California newspapers have long documented the Ahmanson family's ties to right-wing evangelical Christian and Republican circles.

In 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported, "... primarily funded by evangelical Christians; particularly the wealthy Ahmanson family of Irvine; the [Discovery] institute's $1-million annual program has produced 25 books, a stream of conferences and more than 100 fellowships for doctoral and postdoctoral research." The chief philanthropists of the Discovery Institute, that pushes creationist science and education in California, are Howard and Roberta Ahmanson.

According to Group Watch, in the 1980s Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr. was a member of the highly secretive far-Right Council for National Policy, an organization that included Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, Major General John K. Singlaub and other Iran-Contra scandal notables, as well as former Klan members like Richard Shoff. Ahmanson, heir to a savings and loan fortune, is little reported on in the mainstream U.S. press. But, English papers like The Independent are a bit more forthcoming on Ahmanson's politics.

Leaving the counting of the votes to a machine is asking for trouble. It leaves the integrity of the vote to the whim of a corporate entity (or even the 15 year old hacker down the street). Transparent, verifiable, auditable is the only way to go. If an honest vote requires hand counting (twice) and delays results for days - then so be it.

- rob 2:54 PM - [PermaLink] -

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They hate our freedoms

When you hear that do you think of our own government?

Maybe you should

Daily Kos: New Free Speechless Zones in PATRIOT ACT

Section 602 makes holding an un-authorised sign at a Democratic or Republican National Convention, a Presidential, VP, or Candidate appearance, and any other event designated by the Secret Service as a "national special security event". a felony punishable by a year imprisonment.

Would a "This is American isn't it?" poster be approved?

- rob 2:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Sometimes technology changes so much that entire industries disappear or at least change their business model.

Other times industries have so much political influence they decide they want to legislate technology to meet their needs.

See that up ahead - its a toll booth on the information highway.

Telecoms want their products to travel on a faster Internet

AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. are lobbying Capitol Hill for the right to create a two-tiered Internet, where the telecom carriers' own Internet services would be transmitted faster and more efficiently than those of their competitors.

- rob 1:41 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Comment I just left for John Harris:

I was reading an opinion piece by a famous American journalist that considers not only the role of a reporter in a free society, but on the citizenry as well.

"It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority."

Pretty outrageous isn't it Mr. Harris. I mean where is the required reverence for authority? Why was this journalist advocating being adversarial with those in power?

Yes, Mr. Harris what the heck was Ben Franklin thinking when he said that.

washingtonpost.blog - The Editors Talk About Site Policies, Design and Goals#comment-12061618#comment-12061618

- rob 11:43 AM - [PermaLink] -

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At the Washington Post web site you can read:

washingtonpost.blog - The Editors Talk About Site Policies, Design and Goals

There Washington Post Political Editor John Harris explains that:

1) He is an idiot and seems to think a column in the op-ed section is a news article.

2) He views Washington Post readers as idiots who would think a column in the op-ed section is a news article.

3) Has problems with a columnist who does not think the Bush administration's pronouncements are the same as facts.

4) Notes that because the columnist is not a White House sycophant that his reporters can't get access to White House sources.

Let's repeat that last point as it explain why my parents and so many others in the Washington area have stopped getting the Washington Post. It has lost its way. It now believes that its sources are more important than its readers.

If a reporter is self-censoring to appease their source then they are no longer a reporter, but a typist. A democracy is ill served by a newspaper that is simply a conduit for power to get its message out. Democracy is further damaged when the newspaper and others (say the NY Times) actually consider such stenography reporting. A newspaper is ill served when its reporters (say Bob Woodward) consider a source more important then reporting to its readers lies that are being told by its government (so he could use the source for a future book).

Commenter jawbone says it best:

"Heckuva job, Harris!"

Read the comments, its some of the best stuff that's been on the Washington Post site for a long time, except for Dan Fromkin's columns.

- rob 10:38 AM - [PermaLink] -

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We often say hear that Fox News gets its marching orders from the GOP.

But that isn't true.

The Saudi's also have their editorial say.

Think Progress - Saudi Prince Calls Murdoch And Changes Fox News

Billionaire Saudi Prince al-Walid bin Talal, who owns 5.5% of Fox News, was unhappy with the tagline:

I picked up the phone and called Murdoch… (and told him) these are not Muslim riots, these are riots out of poverty. Within 30 minutes, the title was changed from Muslim riots to civil riots.

Talal gained notoriety after 9/11 when he blamed U.S. policies for the terrorist attacks.

- rob 7:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Is this true - if so America is NOT a free nation

Secret Laws - America has secret laws?

Why am I in jail?
You broke the law
What Law?
I cant tell you ha ha ha

The Washington Monthly - Secret Laws

The Bush administration...claims that the ID requirement is necessary for security but has refused to identify any actual regulation requiring it.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals seemed skeptical of the Bush administration's defense of secret laws and regulations but stopped short of suggesting that such a rule would be necessarily unconstitutional.

"How do we know there's an order?" Judge Thomas Nelson asked. "Because you said there was?"

....The Justice Department has said it could identify the secret law under seal, which would be available to the 9th Circuit but not necessarily Gilmore's lawyers. But any public description would not be permitted, the department said.

POSTSCRIPT: Seriously, is this true? I'm just gobsmacked. Congress is passing laws that the American public isn't allowed to know about? Any of us might be prosecuted under one of these laws that we don't know exists? Courts are being asked to interpret laws they've never seen?

- rob 7:50 PM - [PermaLink] -

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America loses a city while Bush just watches.

New Orleans fought bravely against the British in perhaps the largest battle in the War of 1812 (historians being bad with dates this particular War of 1812 battle took place between December, 1814 and January, 1815) only to die at the hands of Bush's indiverense and ineptitude.

Death of an American City

We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.

We said this wouldn't happen. President Bush said it wouldn't happen. He stood in Jackson Square and said, "There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans." But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck and the city is in complete shambles.
...
The rumbling from Washington that the proposed cost of better levees is too much has grown louder. Pretending we are going to do the necessary work eventually, while stalling until the next hurricane season is upon us, is dishonest and cowardly. Unless some clear, quick commitments are made, the displaced will have no choice but to sink roots in the alien communities where they landed.

The price tag for protection against a Category 5 hurricane, which would involve not just stronger and higher levees but also new drainage canals and environmental restoration, would very likely run to well over $32 billion. That is a lot of money. But that starting point represents just 1.2 percent of this year's estimated $2.6 trillion in federal spending, which actually overstates the case, since the cost would be spread over many years. And it is barely one-third the cost of the $95 billion in tax cuts passed just last week by the House of Representatives.

Total allocations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror have topped $300 billion. All that money has been appropriated as the cost of protecting the nation from terrorist attacks. But what was the worst possible case we fought to prevent?

Losing a major American city.

- rob 7:32 PM - [PermaLink] -

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At Fox News it is GOP first family second (and truth doesn't even make the list)

Fox News anchor: Dad - I loved you, but then you said the truth about Bush being a disaster - so now I want you committed.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Wallace

On november 6th:

C [Chris] WALLACE: Well, it’s a great book. It is a great life. I couldn’t be prouder of both. And I love you.

M [Mike] WALLACE: I love you. And I’m proud of you.

But in an interview a month later with the Boston Globe, Mike Wallace made some comments critical of President Bush. Chris Wallace quickly changed his tune. From a NewsMax article via Americablog:

“Fox News Sunday” anchorman Chris Wallace says father Mike Wallace has “lost it”…

“He’s lost it. The man has lost it. What can I say,” the younger Wallace lamented to WRKO Boston radio host Howie Carr on Friday.

“He’s 87-years old and things have set in,” the Fox anchor continued. “I mean, we’re going to have a competence hearing pretty soon.”

- rob 7:24 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Wow - It really is a sad day when the Saudi ambassador understands what America means more the President or Vice-President

Saudi Says Iraq War Likely Fueled Terrorism

Turki also said, "The U.S. for much of mankind has always stood as an example of … due process, human rights, innocent before proven guilty. If any of these precepts and principles are flouted by the promoter … then that affects all of us."

He also stated the obvious.

The U.S.-led war in Iraq may have accelerated the spread of terrorism around the globe, and reports of U.S. mistreatment of militant suspects are troubling its allies, the new Saudi ambassador to Washington said.

- rob 7:19 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush announces to the world: I'm a Man

Glad that is cleared up (I always thought the lizard alien bit wasn't true)

Follow up on the post below:Daily Kos: BubbleBoy: "Bubble? What Bubble?".

Williams: "... Time Magazine says you're out there talking to people, and Newsweek says you're in here not talking to people. So what is the truth, Mr. President?"

Bush: "Well, I'm talking to you. You're a person."

Williams: "This says you're in a bubble, you have a very small circle of advisers now."

Bush: "Yeah."

Williams: "Is that true?"

Bush: "Uh."

Williams. "Do you feel in a bubble?"

Bush: "No, I don't feel in a bubble. I mean, you feel in a bubble in the sense that I can't go walking out the front gate and go shopping, like I'd love to do for my wife -- although I'm a man, I'm not going to tell you what I'm gonna buy her.".

- rob 7:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart



Bush in the Bubble

Dec. 19, 2005 issue - Jack Murtha still can't figure out why the father and son treated him so differently. Every week or so before the '91 gulf war, President George H.W. Bush would invite Congressman Murtha, along with other Hill leaders, to the White House. "He would listen to all the bitching from everybody, Republicans and Democrats, and then he would do what he thought was right." A decorated Vietnam veteran, ex-Marine Murtha was a critical supporter for the elder Bush on Capitol Hill. "I led the fight for the '91 war," he says. "I led the fight, for Christ's sake."
...
Yet 13 years later, when Murtha tried to write George W. Bush with some suggestions for fighting the Iraq war, the congressman's letter was ignored by the White House (after waiting for seven months, Murtha received a polite kiss-off from a deputy under secretary of Defense). Murtha, who has always preferred to operate behind the scenes, finally went public, calling for an orderly withdrawal from Iraq. In the furor that followed, a White House spokesman compared the Vietnam War hero to "Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party."

pop

- rob 7:00 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Since even before the beginning of the last century there was a war going on - a real war against Christmas.

A religious holiday was becoming a social holiday, a time for reflection and celebration was becoming a retail bonanza.

Yes the true war was against the commercialization of Christmas. Christmas was becoming not a time of worshipers but a time of consumers.

In the sixties this quiet war burst into the headlines when "It's Christmas Charlie Brown" shouted out on primetime television that the true meaning of Christmas was being lost amidst garish banners proclaiming "Christmas Sales" "Its Christmas Buy buy buy."

It seemed only Charlie and Linus were prepared to fight for Christmas.

You may have wondered, how is their selfless noble fight going? Well Fox News has announced that Charlie Brown and Linus have lost.

Consumerism has not only been victorious against Christmas, but according to Fox News Consumerism is Christmas. Yes that is right. O'Reilly and the rest of the Fox News minions are upset because retail stores who make so much money from Christmas do not have up banners that say "Its Christmas buy buy buy." Yes it seems some stores have "Holiday Sales" which strangely remove the Christ from the shopping experience. Yes, according to O'Reilly and Fox News it isn't Christmas unless it says so at a store (what the hell can you buy at a church anyway).

Fox News wants to codify Christmas with consumption. Lucy was right and Linus was wrong - The true spirit of Christmas is indeed: Gimmee gimmee gimmee.

Media Matters - War on Christmas

- rob 6:53 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'
Doug Thompson over at Capitol Hill Blue writes about the renewal of the Patriot Act:

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

"I don’t give a goddamn," Bush retorted. "I'm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."

"Mr. President," one aide in the meeting said. "There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution."

"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

I've talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution "a goddamned piece of paper."

So the president sees these provisions of the Patriot Act as being more important than the Constitution of this nation? How mentally deranged is this guy?

- Edoc 9:13 AM - [PermaLink] -

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