In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Why Does NBC Nighly News Hate America?- Thursday, January 26, 2006 -
Tonight on NBC Nightly News, host Brian Williams covered the controversy surrounding the election of Hamas to the leadership of Palestine. Williams pointed out that Egypt, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq have all elected hardline fundamentalist parties. This flies in the face of the Bush administration's idealistic push to spread democracy across the middle east. I was struck by how Williams's report loosely followed today's piece by Prof. Juan Cole in Salon.com (reprint at Truthout.com).
NBC next moved to the anemic GDP report for last quarter of 2005 GDP-- although rumors of a possible auto-industry bailout slipped by.
To wrap it all up, NBC was so bold as to report on the story of US interrogators allegedly holding wives of iraqi suspects captive in hopes of getting their husbands to surrender.
This evening's broadcast only confirms NBC's liberal-media bias, due to their fervent anti-administration stance in approximately 1% of their reporting. <sarcasm>What hateful traitors.</sarcasm>
- Edoc 8:03 PM - [PermaLink] -
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You know I saw some $20 ice trays going for real cheap on Ebay
$20 Ice Trays Rile Whistleblower But not PentagonWASHINGTON -- A retired Army Reserve officer called the Pentagon's fraud hotline last year to complain that the Defense Department had overpaid for kitchen appliances: $1,000 for popcorn makers and toasters, $5,500 for a deep-fat fryer that cost other government agencies $1,919.
Although the officer provided a four-page spreadsheet showing 135 cases of higher prices, the Defense Department dismissed the tip without checking with him.
- rob 3:48 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Can a headline better sum up the current state of affairs better?
Senators in Need of a Spine
We are living in an age where the Republican Senators are thinking that it would be okay if Bush just wrote the laws himself and the Democrats are thinking of saying that might, you know, be a bad idea, but they're still thinking about saying it - you know - they don't want to look to negative.Judge Samuel Alito Jr., whose entire history suggests that he holds extreme views about the expansive powers of the presidency and the limited role of Congress, will almost certainly be a Supreme Court justice soon. His elevation will come courtesy of a president whose grandiose vision of his own powers threatens to undermine the nation's basic philosophy of government — and a Senate that seems eager to cooperate by rolling over and playing dead.
It is hard to imagine a moment when it would be more appropriate for senators to fight for a principle. Even a losing battle would draw the public's attention to the import of this nomination.
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A filibuster is a radical tool. It's easy to see why Democrats are frightened of it. But from our perspective, there are some things far more frightening. One of them is Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court.
- rob 3:38 PM - [PermaLink] -
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And lo as Jack had fortold Bush denied Jack three times.
President Bush Holds a White House Press ConferenceQUESTION: What do you fear or your staff fear about releasing the photograph of Jack Abramoff with you, Mr. President? You say you don't fear anything; tell us why you won't release this.
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BUSH: I've had my picture taken with a lot of people.
Having my picture taken with someone doesn't mean that I'm a friend with him or know him very well.
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BUSH: I, frankly, don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy. I don't know him.
- rob 3:26 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Seriously - What the Hell
President Bush Holds a White House Press ConferenceQUESTION: Mr. President, good morning.Well shucks isn't he just the most folksy incoherent incompetent President ever?
BUSH: You're going to have to speak loudly, because somebody took your seat. Your name was on my seating chart, and you're not sitting down.
QUESTION: Isn't that a shame?
(LAUGHTER)
BUSH: You're probably going to blame it on me.
(LAUGHTER)
QUESTION: I'm going to let you pass that time.
BUSH: Just trying to rattle you before you get going.
...And I will hug him and squeeze him and I will call him George.
- rob 3:19 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Officer I needed to get to the movie on time. It was decided that if I did 75 all the way and cut through that yard back there I could make the previews. I looked at the speed limit and judged that it wouldn't allow me to do the job I had to do, so that is why I made the decision I made. What I'm doing is legally right... right? Right? Officer why are you asking me to get out of the car.
Daily Kos: Bush Press Conference: Did He Admit He Broke the Law?May I, may I, may I, if I might. You said that I have to circumvent it. Uh...there is...wait a minute...that's a...there's something..it's like saying, you know, "you're breaking the law." I mean, I'm not. See, that's what you've got to understand, I'm upholding my duty and at the same time doing so under the law and with the Constitution behind me. That's just very important for you to understand. Secondly, the FISA law was written in 1978. We're having this discussion in 2006. It's a different world. And FISA is still an important tool. It's an important tool. And we still use that tool. But also...and we, and I looked and I said look, is it possible to conduct this program under the old law and people said it doesn't work in order to be able to do the job we expect us to do. And so that's why I made the decision I made. And uh, circumventing is a loaded word and I refuse to accept it because I believe what I'm doing is legally right.
- rob 3:10 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Let's see - a person is calling a person from the united states to... say... Canada - that is an international call. But if you are spying on that phone call you are spying on someone in America - Domestic as it were. Bush disagrees - he's only doing spying internationally. Which you could be forgiven as thinking means a call from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia, and which is what Bush is hoping you'd think, but now it means he is spying on a person right in the good ol' USA.
Now the Bush folks are really really damn adimate that one end of the phone call has always been outside the US. It is also adimate that this will stop terrorism - and that it would have stopped 9/11. Does this mean that a phone call from a person with known connections to al Queada at a flight school in Florida to some folks in Las Vegas in which they discuss flying a plane into the luxor hotel is going to be completely ignored by the government?
The new Bush talking points in which domestic and international definitions are discussed in sad detail are duly mocked by Olbermann in this video via Crooks and Liars. It is funny, brutual, and sad - worth the wait even on a dial up.
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Rummy Wrong As Usual: Top U.S. General Says Army 'Stretched'
Only a day after Donald Rumsfeld refuted a Pentagon study depicting the US Army as overextended, Gen. Casey strays from the talking points with this admission:"The forces are stretched ... and I don't think there's any question of that."Should be interesting to see how Rumsfeld & Casey ultimately reconcile their positions, as administration protocol requires.
- Edoc 1:42 PM - [PermaLink] -
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He's King Midas with a curse
He's King Midas in reverse
He's King Midas with a curse
He's King Midas in reverse
It's plain to see it's hopeless
Going on the way we are
- The Hollies
Bob Herbert via Eschaton (atrios)That was early on the morning of last Aug. 29. On Sept. 1, with the city all but completely underwater, the president went on television and blithely declared, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."
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Fantasy may be in fashion. Reality may have been shoved into the shadows on Mr. Bush's watch. But the plain truth is that he is the worst president in memory, and one of the worst of all time. Many thousands of people — men, women and children — have died unnecessarily (and thousands more are suffering) because of his misguided and mishandled policies.
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This week, as the killing of American G.I.'s and innocent Iraqis continued, we learned from a draft report from the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction that, like the war itself, the Bush plan for rebuilding Iraq has been crippled by incompetence and extreme shortages of personnel. I doubt that this will bother the president any more than any of his other failures. He seems to truly believe that he can do no wrong.
The fiasco in Iraq and the president's response to the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe were Mr. Bush's two most spectacular foul-ups. There have been many others. The president's new Medicare prescription drug program has been a monumental embarrassment, leaving some of the most vulnerable members of our society without essential medication. Prominent members of the president's own party are balking at the heavy hand of his No Child Left Behind law, which was supposed to radically upgrade the quality of public education.
The Constitution? Civil liberties? Don't ask.
Just keep in mind, whatever your political beliefs, that incompetence in high places can have devastating consequences.
- rob 1:26 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Bush and Cheney - in touch with the common man.
Who made more money in 2005, Dick Cheney or President Bush?According to the Tax History Project, which collects presidential tax returns, Dick and Lynne Cheney (filing jointly) earned an adjusted gross income of $1,734,373 in 2004. George and Laura Bush logged an AGI of $784,219 that year....
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The Cheneys best year, financially speaking, was 2000, when they earned $36,086,635 (that's 8 figures, not including the cents), mostly from Cheney's Halliburton stock. The poor top-of-the-ticket Bushes made just $744,682 that year.
- rob 12:53 PM - [PermaLink] -
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While Bush has been emptying our treasury with giveaways to the rich and weakening our military with the Iraq war - the Australians have been working on amazing new technology. Is America ready to defend itself from a fleet of flying autos from the land of Oz?
Flying car captured on Google Earth
The internets are fun.
- rob 12:48 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Truthout: They Know They Broke the Law- Wednesday, January 25, 2006 -The ratio of lies to substance spouted by this administration has reached unprecedented heights. They are clearly going-for-broke. The NSA spying scandal is only the latest example, and Truthout's William Rivers Pitt does a great job debunking the lies du-jour.
Democrats need to gather on the steps of the Congress and hold a press conference. The general soundbite should be:
"Mr. President, for 5 years you and your administration have lied and deceived the american people with impunity. You have betrayed the Constitution and your party has diverted power from the american people in favor of big business and special interests. It is time for you to reform your administration and political party, and to work with-- not against-- Democrats to serve the american people."
The event should be carried out with the seriousness of the matter, a constitutional crisis. Forget writing a polite, joint-letter to the President. We all know the president doesn't read. (Thanks to SNL and Crooks and Liars for the graphic idea).
- Edoc 9:22 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Utah Republican Pary: Voters are dumb
The concept of citizens electing their national representation is actually quite dangerous when you think about it - sometimes they elect Democrats and Independents - which really shouldn't happen in a safe and free world.
Utah Lawmakers Defend Bill to Bypass VotersUtah's Republican senators want to lead the charge nationwide to recapture some of the power state legislatures once held before a constitutional amendment allowed people to vote for their U.S. senators directly.
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It's an effort to bolster the power of state leaders, who are more equipped to crack down on unfunded programs foisted upon the states by the U.S. Congress, he said.
"We know more than voters do," Valentine said. "They don't get the chance to hear all that we do." The legislation would also allow lawmakers to "direct" senators by making requests.
- rob 5:54 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Rumsfeld Disputes Pentagon Report: Military isn't Overstretched
According to Rummy this new pentagon report is flat-out wrong. Thanks for the second opinion, Rummy. Which compels me to ask: Why would anybody listen to this incompetent philistine? Rumsfeld has virtually orchestrated the breaking of the military and he should've been dismissed from his position long ago.
- Edoc 5:07 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Funny thing. Bush finally is declaring to the world "I don't Know JACK," and yet now people believe he does.
Mr. Abramoff's MeetingsHERE ARE SOME things we know about Jack Abramoff and the White House: The disgraced lobbyist raised at least $100,000 for President Bush's reelection campaign. He had long-standing ties to Karl Rove, a key presidential adviser. He had extensive dealings with executive branch officials and departments -- one of whom, former procurement chief David H. Safavian, has been charged by federal prosecutors with lying to investigators about his involvement with Mr. Abramoff.No Fishin'! Didn't you read the sign - water is tainted - no fishin'!
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Here is what we don't know about Jack Abramoff and the White House: whom he met with and what was discussed. Nor, if the White House sticks to its current position, will we learn that anytime soon. Press secretary Scott McClellan told the White House press corps: "If you've got some specific issue that you need to bring to my attention, fine. But what we're not going to do is engage in a fishing expedition that has nothing to do with the investigation.""Any suggestion by critics or anybody else to suggest that the president was doing something nefarious with Jack Abramoff is absolutely wrong, and it's absurd," presidential adviser Dan Bartlett said on NBC's "Today" show. The best way to refute such "absurd" suggestions is to get all of Mr. Abramoff's dealings with the Bush White House and the Bush administration out in the open -- now.
- rob 2:19 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Ambramoff - the Hydra of the 21st century.
Oh Jack, was there no door closed to you?
Congress - The White House - Maryland's Governor - and now... Texas
State lobbyist's bid fell shortOthers were better on criteria, cost than Abramoff-linked firm.WASHINGTON — When the state approved hiring a lobbying firm with close ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2004, it rejected competing bids that met more of its selection criteria and cost less, according to documents obtained by the Austin American-Statesman.Feel free to wonder why Texas - who's previous govenor is President and who until recently had one of its representative being the House Majority leader - needed a lobbiest to lobby Congress.
What the winning firm, Cassidy & Associates, did have was access, all the way to presidential aide Karl Rove, according to memos and e-mails obtained through a Texas open records request.
And despite the lower marks the firm received when state officials reviewed the bids, staff members from state agencies tapped to choose a lobbyist eventually awarded the firm a $15,000-a-month contract to lobby Congress.
- rob 1:32 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Okay - Here's a fun bit.
From: New York Daily News - Daily Dish &What kept Antonin Scalia from joining the rest of the Supreme Court at September's swearing-in of John Roberts as Chief Justice? He had a tennis date. ABC News' Brian Ross has learned that the tough-talking Scalia was living large at the Ritz-Carlton in Bachelor Gulch, Colo., where he was the guest of the right-wing Federalist Society. So far, Scalia has said only that he had "a commitment that I couldn't break" - "it doesn't matter what it was." The Roberts-snubbing, junketeering justice attended a cocktail party hosted by the same firm where convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff once worked.
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I guess with a name like that you gotta be a fighter.
Rep Louise Slaughter: Keep Playing 'Hardball' with Chris Matthews and MSNBCOver the last few days, I have watched with concern as prominent media personalities and political pundits like Chris Matthews have engaged in reckless rhetoric comparing critics of the Bush Administration to the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama Bin Laden. This isn't just offensive, it's absurd-- and harmful to our nation.
I share your outrage about the insulting comparison between Democrats and the man who is actively pursuing America's annihilation.
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Comparisons between Americans and Osama bin Laden have no place in our national discourse. This rhetoric is pointlessly divisive and serves only to distract us from our most pressing priority: the capture of Osama bin Laden and the destruction of his terrorist organization.
- rob 12:42 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Proof that the Bush Administration supports torture is that they continue to force poor McClellan, who's self portrait is decaying up in his attic, to be their front man.
Scott tries to explain away the Bush administration's lack of concern for the law: Press Briefing by Scott McClellanQ Why doesn't he seek a warrant? What's the big problem?Scott just let's that little fact about FISA go by without comment and continues with his talking points.
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, actually, we've walked through this repeatedly over the last few days. It's important for the American people to understand what the facts are. There is a lot of misinformation about --
Q Why can't you seek a warrant?
MR. McCLELLAN: -- this program. And we do use the FISA tool, as well. That's an important tool, as well. But we have briefed members of Congress more than a dozen times on this. We continue to brief members of Congress in an appropriate manner. This is a highly classified program and it is a vital program to our nation's security. The 9/11 Commission criticized us for not connecting the dots --
Q Is it vital to go through legal steps?
MR. McCLELLAN: This is helping us to connect the dots in a very targeted and focused way.
Q Why can't he seek a warrant?
MR. McCLELLAN: It is about detecting and preventing attacks. FISA was created for a different time period. General Hayden walked through that yesterday; the Attorney General talked about it more. This is about moving with speed and agility, not some long-term period of time. It's about detecting --
Q You can get one retroactively.
So The President briefed members of congress a dozen times. Is that a dozen member of congress once? He didn't get permission from Congress. Some of the briefed members even complained about it through proper channels.
And again if it is targeted monitoring - why not a warrant? They say it was only a few who were spied on - then why has the FBI been getting a flood of useless leads (The NSA was acting like Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross - and the FBI was Jack Lemmon)? Are we really supposed to trust them? How? I only trust them to mislead - because that is all they have done.
The only results we know about is that the FBI couldn't spend time on good leads because so many unqualified leads were coming at them fast and furious. The unwarranted searches have no only made America less free - it has make America less safe.
I guess Ben Franklin needs updating. Not only does one not deserve security and liberty if one is willing to give up liberty for temporary security; one actually does lose both liberty and security.
Spy Agency Data After Sept. 11 Led F.B.I. to Dead EndsWASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - In the anxious months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the National Security Agency began sending a steady stream of telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and names to the F.B.I. in search of terrorists. The stream soon became a flood, requiring hundreds of agents to check out thousands of tips a month.Thousands a month. How targeted is this again Scott?
But virtually all of them, current and former officials say, led to dead ends or innocent Americans.
And if FISA was an old tool - why not get it updated to the way you wanted?
Oh wait - A Senator did propose such a law, in 2002 - it lowered the standards for such snooping to the one General Hayden says the NSA now uses. Guess what?
The Bush Administration didn't support it.
The Administration's new FISA defense is factually falseIn light of Gen. Hayden's new claim yesterday that the reason the Bush Administration decided to eavesdrop outside of FISA is because the "probable cause" standard for obtaining a FISA warrant was too onerous (and prevented them from obtaining warrants they needed to eavesdrop), there is a fact which I have not seen discussed anywhere but which now appears extremely significant, at least to me.But of course everything Bush does is good - so let's not pry into his affairs and be grateful that he is prying into ours.
In June, 2002, Republican Sen. Michael DeWine of Ohio introduced legislation (S. 2659) which would have eliminated the exact barrier to FISA which Gen. Hayden yesterday said is what necessitated the Administration bypassing FISA.
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And then, regarding DeWine's specific proposal to lower the evidentiary standard required for a FISA warrant, Baker said that:The Department of Justice has been studying Sen. DeWine's proposed legislation. Because the proposed change raises both significant legal and practical issues, the Administration at this time is not prepared to support it.So, in June, 2002, the Administration refused to support elimination of the very barrier ("probable cause") which Gen. Hayden claimed yesterday necessitated the circumvention of FISA.
- rob 12:18 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Heresy: Bush the Incompetent
As we all know Bush is infallible and any documents stating otherwise are privileged communications between the President and his advisors. - but let's see what this heretic says.Incompetence is not one of the seven deadly sins, and it's hardly the worst attribute that can be ascribed to George W. Bush. But it is this president's defining attribute. Historians, looking back at the hash that his administration has made of his war in Iraq, his response to Hurricane Katrina and his Medicare drug plan, will have to grapple with how one president could so cosmically botch so many big things -- particularly when most of them were the president's own initiatives.See listen to that heretic - questioning Bush, who's actions and motivations are unknowable. Bush works in mysterious ways.
In numbing profusion, the newspapers are filled with litanies of screw-ups. Yesterday's New York Times brought news of the first official assessment of our reconstruction efforts in Iraq, in which the government's special inspector general depicted a policy beset, as Times reporter James Glanz put it, "by gross understaffing, a lack of technical expertise, bureaucratic infighting [and] secrecy." At one point, rebuilding efforts were divided, bewilderingly and counterproductively, between the Army Corps of Engineers and, for projects involving water, the Navy.
But the Navy thing makes sense - you know. See the Navy deals in all things wet - like water purification, plumbing and what not. Its such a "duh." Just like how the Air Force should be involved in all broadcast media (you know, "air waves" - duh).
- rob 11:35 AM - [PermaLink] -
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It is all just talk
Things went wrong with the Katrina response - everyone admits that. And everyone does realize (whether or not they say it) that that response does reflect on our ability to respond to a massive terrorist attack. It is a national security issue. So any reasonable person would think that studying what went wrong would be helpful.
McClellan says the Bush administration agrees with that: Press Briefing by Scott McClellanMR. McCLELLAN:... But what we've got to do is make sure that we learn the lessons, and that we apply those lessons to future response efforts. And that's exactly what we are doing. We're also working with congressional committees. They're moving forward on hearings and looking at these issues. And the comprehensive review that we have undertaken is nearing completion, and we'll be talking more about it soon.Sounds great - but words often do.
White House Declines to Provide Storm PapersWASHINGTON, Jan. 24 - The Bush administration, citing the confidentiality of executive branch communications, said Tuesday that it did not plan to turn over certain documents about Hurricane Katrina or make senior White House officials available for sworn testimony before two Congressional committees investigating the storm response.They don't want to know what went wrong - and they certainly don't want us to know where they went wrong. Everyone knows the city government in New Orleans could have done better - everyone knows the state government could have done better - and without a doubt everyone knows the federal government could have done better. Why the secrecy?
Because Bush makes no mistakes. He is the Pope - infallible.
- rob 11:28 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Gonzales Aggressively Spreads the Smokescreen
Gonzo is working lying overtime to the press in an attempt to cover for the law-breaking administration. It's reprehensible to see the top attorney legal-politico in the country spouting bold-faced lies to the american public.Gonzales said a 15-day grace period allowing warrantless eavesdropping under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act demonstrates that Congress knew such surveillance "would be essential in wartime."I can't believe this guy was on the short list to become a candidate for the Supreme Court; I can't believe this guy will be in charge of investigating the Abramoff scandal.
- Edoc 11:26 AM - [PermaLink] -
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In child psychology books it will note that 2 and 3 year olds incessantly lying about something that they know you know is a lie, is an opportunity to instruct them (gently) that saying something doesn't make it so. It is something humans need to learn.- Tuesday, January 24, 2006 -
Or in the case of members of the Bush administration - not learn.[General Michael Hayden said] "Just to be very clear, ok, and believe me, if there's any amendment to the constitution of the United States that employees of the National Security Agency are familiar with it's the fourth."Except it seems they are not familiar with the fourth amendment - Do watch this excellent (QT video Clip) excerpt from Olbermann's showonegoodmove: Trust U.S.
In the video General Hayden calmly explains to the members of the press (who insist that probable cause is in the 4th amendment) that the 4th amendment is about unreasonable search and seizures (which it is) and does not mention probably cause (which it does).
As a service to Hayden and the Bush administration we are printing the 4th amendment for their edification:The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.Emphasis mine (and probably the founders).
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If speechifying could save America - then we'd be in good shape.
If this leads to action then this is far more then a good give 'em hell speech - it is a beginning.
Reid fires back at Bush: 'The president has been giving us doublespeak for years'Republicans today control the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House. They have absolute power, and it has corrupted their Party and led to the culture of corruption that we see now in Washington.Oh, and we gave them tax cuts and insentives too - because yachts aren't free you know - and damn do you know how much it costs to fill those tanks?
We have the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, admonished three times for ethics violations and under indictment now for money laundering.
We have the White House, where an employee has been indicted for the first time in 135 years.
There’s Karl Rove, who is under investigation… and David Safavian, the man appointed by President Bush to be charge in charge of hundreds of billions of dollars in government contracts who was led away in handcuffs because of his dealings with Jack Abramoff and others.
And then, we have the Republican “K-Street Project, which has invited lobbyists inside our nation’s Capitol….as long as they are willing to pay the right price.
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What is the state of our union in 2006?
We have a national security policy that protects Halliburton’s bottom-line with no-bid contracts | but sends our troops to Iraq without body armor.
We have Vice President Cheney’s energy policy that helped Big Oil make a hundred billion dollars in profit in 2005 | but this same policy has America paying 70 dollars for a barrel of oil and families paying twice as much for heat and gasoline as did in late 2001.As we saw in the video, the President has been giving us doublespeak for years. He utters platitudes about helping Americans, when he’s really helping his special interest friends.It is all good. Read it all.
When he wanted to let energy companies release more pollution into the air, he called it the “Clear Skies Initiative.”
When he wanted to give tax breaks to his special interest friends – even though it meant adding more than $50 billion to the deficit, he called it the “Deficit Reduction Act.”
His “Leave No Child Behind Act” is leaving children behind every day because he refuses to fund it. And his new Medicare drug benefit hardly resembles a “benefit” for seniors.
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America can do better, and only the pessimistic would suggest anything less.
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George Bush has no one to blame but himself for today’s fiscal mess. Not 9/11… Not a weak economy… And certainly not the Democrats.
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In his 2003 State of the Union, President Bush called Medicare the “binding commitment of a caring society.” Three years later, we can see it is not seniors the president cares about.
Democrats have always supported adding a drug benefit to Medicare, but nearly all of us voted against the Medicare Bill of 2003 because it was clear that President Bush’s plan would help drug companies more than seniors.
Unfortunately, time has proven us right. The state of our union today is that we have seniors begging in the streets for the medicine they need.
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Ms. Dowd (like Krugman) is on some pay for view channel on NYTimes.com so I'm just going to quote her from the newsprint.
Googling Past the GraveyardI don't like the thought of Dick Cheney ogling my Googling.I always wanted to do a t-shirt for the TCS store that has an image of a yellow note safety pinned to the shirt which says "can you show me where the bathroom is? I work at a conservative think tank." But I'm too lazy and unskilled to do it. Of course maybe I have, but I'm too lazy to actually click on the link to go to the TCS store to check and see if I did.
Because what I'm Googling, of course, is Dick Cheney. I have to constantly monitor how Vice Voyeur is pushing the federal government to constantly monitor millions of ordinary Americans' phone calls, e-mail notes and internet searches.
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Torquemada Cheney was torturing logic again in a speech to a conservative think tank in New York. "Some have suggested that by liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein, we simply stirred up a hornets' nest," he said. "They overlook a fundamental fact: we were not in Iraq on Sept. 11, 2001, and the terrorists hit us anyway."
I hope you appreciate the thought and time that goes into this site.
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Well Hello there!
I'm not sure went it happened - but our friends over at The Free Speech Zone have started posting again.
(I take it that means his blushing bride hasn't yet come to her senses and taken away his keyboard)
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I know a land
where they live for today
because tomorrow is too far away
- Kirsty MacColl
Independent Report Lists U.S. 28th in Meeting Environmental GoalsJanuary 23, 2006 A new independent nation-by-nation study of overall environmental performance ranks the United States 28th in meeting a wide set of global environmental goals.hahahahahah... sorry that last bit was so sad - I had to laugh.
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“The lagging performance of the United States on environmental issues–particularly on energy and climate change—signals trouble not only for the American people, but for the whole world,” said Gus Speth, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, in the press release. “Perhaps this ranking will serve as a wake up call to the American public and particularly to leaders in Washington.”
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Another memo ignored by our glorious leader: Katrina determined to strike in US- Monday, January 23, 2006 -
White House Was Told Hurricane Posed DangerWASHINGTON, Jan. 23 - The White House was told in the hours before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans that the city would probably soon be inundated with floodwater, forcing the long-term relocation of hundreds of thousands of people, documents to be released Tuesday by Senate investigators show.
A Homeland Security Department report submitted to the White House at 1:47 a.m. on Aug. 29, hours before the storm hit, said, "Any storm rated Category 4 or greater will likely lead to severe flooding and/or levee breaching."
The internal department documents, which were forwarded to the White House, contradict statements by President Bush and the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, that no one expected the storm protection system in New Orleans to be breached.
- rob 11:39 AM - [PermaLink] -
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It isn't some smear - it is fact:
Bush represents and works for corporations - not Americans
As Profits Soar, Companies Pay U.S. Less for Gas RightsWASHINGTON, Jan. 22 - At a time when energy prices and industry profits are soaring, the federal government collected little more money last year than it did five years ago from the companies that extracted more than $60 billion in oil and gas from publicly owned lands and coastal waters.Why audit? An audit would find out if our dear friends, the oil companies, needed to pay more taxes? Why should they? Let's just not police our ports and call it even.
Shifting Numbers on Price Reports (January 23, 2006) If royalty payments in fiscal 2005 for natural gas had risen in step with market prices, the government would have received about $700 million more than it actually did, a three-month investigation by The New York Times has found.
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The disparities in gas prices parallel those uncovered just five years ago in a wave of scandals involving royalty payments for oil. From 1998 to 2001, a dozen major companies, while admitting no wrongdoing, paid a total of $438 million to settle charges that they had fraudulently understated their sale prices for oil.
Since then, the government has tightened its rules for oil payments. But with natural gas, the Bush administration recently loosened the rules and eased its audits intended to uncover cheating.
For a Government of Big Oil, by Big Oil, and for Big Oil will soon perish from the Earth - and they may take us with them.
- rob 7:52 PM - [PermaLink] -
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The Future is just like Today - Just More So
Rove Offers Republicans A Battle Plan For ElectionsAt a time when Democrats have staked their hopes in large part on the issue of corruption, Rove and Mehlman showed that Republicans plan to contest the elections on themes that have helped expand their majorities under President Bush. They see national security and the vigorous prosecution of the campaign against terrorism at the heart of the GOP appeal to voters.
- rob 7:46 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Today's Washington Post
Afraid of the fact that its readers are more informed and coherent in explaining facts, truth, and ethics than its ombudsman; the Washington Post does a little selective editing.
Daily Kos: the 6 blog posts WaPo REALLY wants to hide from you
- rob 7:45 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Here that rumbling? Well it is kind of hard to hear... what with it being a virtual rumbling.
But the Liberal bloggers are angry. Something about watching the media this week deciding that the important thing about bin Laden issuing new threats is that some of his talking points sound like Howard Dean's or Michael Moore's... Enough is Enough.
Some are having fun and pointing out which bin Laden statments sound just like Bush or the right.
Some are just issuing A Declaration of Media WarThere are some media foibles that are unfortunate. There are some media mistakes that are abominable. And then there are some proud and self-aggrandizing statements that are simply unforgivable; words which, no matter the span of years, require a condemnation above that of mere words, and a response above that of mere outrage.So You Want to Play Hardball Eh?
We shall see the depth and breadth of MSNBC's apology for the remarks of the perennially gullible, uninformed, arrogant, shallow-headed balloon of conventional wisdom known as Chris Matthews, who earlier yesterday declared Osama Bin Laden "sounds like" Michael Moore. It is possible the bubble of self-animated Abramoff-tied Washington sewage will, yet again, receive the support of the NBC offices, which have on many past occasions decided that any gross insult directed at half the citizens of this country was well worth the momentary ingratiation of the select few.
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As for Fox News' John Gibson -- now there is something different entirely. In John Gibson, we find the quintessential anti-patriot. Part Benedict Arnold, part Tokyo Rose, his is a media voice which, presumably much like the organization that surrounds him, holds a profound and venomous hatred of true America, the history, the words and deeds of the country, the voices that fill it, the population that, from the great heights of his own ego and self-promotion, must look merely like ants swarming on his owned and chosen land. It is a land where his own interpretation of religion is, alledgely, under constant assault by the personal religions of all others. It is a land where his own interpretation of political advantage is pure, and that of millions of others not only dismissible, but condemnable.They are vehemently against abortion, they resist progressive woman's rights. They view homosexuality as a crime against nature and God, some advocate the death penalty as an option for it. Separation of Church and State is despised by these folks; they insist the nation is founded on the principles of their religion, and they work hard to bring that de facto theocracy about. They deplore strong language, gay characters, and sexual content on TV and in the media. And they ignore the Geneva Convention when it suits their ideological purposes, including provisions against torture or due process. They're anti-stem cell research, pro-creationism, and generally distrustful of science. These folks are easily whipped into a state of frenzy with ideological manipulation to the point where they will commit violence, or at least tacitly endorse that violence is acceptable, if it advances their Divine agenda. They then take great pains to justify that violence, including unprovoked attack of civilian areas, under certain conditions, with convoluted theological gymnastics. They are almost to the man pro-death penalty ... Am I railing against the religious right again?
Could be, but my target here is actually Al Qaeda and related fundamentalist Wahhabism; the source of terrorism, the scourge of our planet, the Axis of Evil.
- rob 7:18 PM - [PermaLink] -
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General Hayden was trotted out by the Bush administration to defend Bush's spying program.
He drops that previous White House lie that they didn't get warrants because speed was an issue (I guess people realized that with warrants being possible 72 hours after the fact speed couldn't possibly be an issue).
He comes up with a new excuse - we couldn't get a warrant.
Atrios: Shorter General HaydenI have no idea what this "constitution" thing is that you keep talking about:My apologies to Atrios for basically lifting this entire Eschaton post. So to make amends why don't you all read his site now. He spends a lot of time on it - even more then just lunch time.Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who led the National Security Agency when it began a program of warrantless wiretaps, vigorously defended the program today, but acknowledged that it depends on a lower standard of evidence than required by courts.Actually, "probable cause" isn't just the lower standard used by the special court, it's also the standard required by the US constitution.
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The standard laid out by General Hayden - a "reasonable basis to believe" - is lower than "probably cause," [sic] the standard used by the special court created by Congress to handle surveillance involving foreign intelligence.The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
- rob 7:09 PM - [PermaLink] -
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But Richard Perle (or was it Douglas Feith) said it would be okay.
Former Military Analyst Gets Prison Term for Passing InformationWASHINGTON, Jan. 20 - A federal judge sentenced a former Defense Department analyst to 12 years and seven months in prison on Friday after the analyst admitted passing classified military information about Iran and Iraq to two pro-Israel lobbyists and an Israeli diplomat.
The sentence given to the analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, by Judge T. S. Ellis III of Federal District Court in Alexandria, Va., was at the low end of the federal sentencing guidelines. Judge Ellis said at the hearing that he did not excuse the actions of Mr. Franklin, 59, but that Mr. Franklin had been motivated by a desire to help the United States.
- rob 2:00 PM - [PermaLink] -
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MSNBC considers Matthews to be one of their "liberal" columnists. As far as I can see he doesn't have political views beyond a lust for those who have power.
He is, as those crazy kids say these days, a tool.
Matthews implicated in Abramoff scandalOkay, things are suddenly starting to make sense. If you were wondering why Chris Matthews was so desperate to explain away the Abramoff scandal, now we know why. Aravosis has the scoop.Matthews almost certainly doesn't know the charity is bogus. But we do know that he wants to be on of the "inside the beltway" guys. He wants to belong. He wants to hang out with the guys in power. This is a supposed charity for children benefit - where's the Democrats? Did they not get the invite?
First there's this:Abramoff forms a group called the "Capital Athletic Foundation." The group appears to play a key role in the Abramoff scandal:......allegations that Abramoff used NCPPR and CAF to pay for overseas trips for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and other Republican lawmakers and that he attempted to influence lawmakers with large donations from various American Indian tribes.
now this is where it gets interesting:Then we go back to March 5, 2003 and find out that Chris Matthews helped put on an event benefiting the very same "Capital Athletic Foundation":It's called the Interactive Spy Game Gala. Scheduled for March 26 at the International Spy Museum in Washington, the event's purpose is to raise about $300,000 for the Capital Athletic Foundation....
Fox News Channel's Tony Snow is master of ceremonies, and Fox's Brit Hume and MSNBC's Chris Matthews are aboard. Opera great Placido Domingo is an event committee member. But, this being Washington, the event will be mostly populated by powerful lawmakers, including Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas; Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.; and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.
- rob 1:45 PM - [PermaLink] -
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I'm about to talk ill of the official looting branch of the Bush administration. I guess that makes me a terrorist?
Halliburton Cited in Iraq ContaminationWASHINGTON - Water supplied to a U.S. base in Iraq was contaminated and the contractor in charge, Halliburton, failed to tell troops and civilians at the facility, according to internal documents from the company and interviews with former Halliburton officials.So we don't pay our troops what they deserve. We don't give them the armor they need. And now we don't given them potable water?
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"We exposed a base camp population (military and civilian) to a water source that was not treated," said a July 15, 2005, memo by William Granger, the official for Halliburton's KBR subsidiary who was in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait.
"The level of contamination was roughly 2x the normal contamination of untreated water from the Euphrates River," Granger wrote in one of several documents.
These people are fighting for us (yes they are fighting a war that isn't about protecting America - but that doesn't matter when it comes to supporting our troops - they are fighting for us) - They deserve respect. And it seems it now has to be pointed out that they deserve water. Pathetic.The Associated Press obtained the documents from Senate Democrats who are holding a public inquiry into the allegations Monday.Yep, the Republicans would rather have our troops get sick from drinking coffee or brushing their teeth in contaminated water then have Halliburton bothered.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record), D-N.D., who will chair the session, held a number of similar inquiries last year on contracting abuses in Iraq. He said Democrats were acting on their own because they had not been able to persuade committee chairmen in the Republican-run Senate to investigate.
How can they act so outrageously?
Because Matthews, Carlson, Scarborough, Fox News, et al aren't telling the American public what is happening to America. Isn't that odd?
- rob 1:25 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Tired with the free flow of the ideas that the internet provides.
Angry that a semi-literate anti-Bush website can have as easy access to a citizen's browser as the voice of the ruling party Fox News?
Well - don't worry - the phone companies don't like that either.
The Coming Tug of War Over the InternetThe telecommunications companies' proposals have the potential, within just a few years, to alter the flow of commerce and information -- and your personal experience -- on the Internet. For the first time, the companies that own the equipment that delivers the Internet to your office, cubicle, den and dorm room could, for a price, give one company priority on their networks over another.Yep, soon payola may move to the internet - where if you want your site's little packets of information to flow freely through the internet stream, you gotta pay up.
This represents a break with the commercial meritocracy that has ruled the Internet until now. We've come to expect that the people who own the phone and cable lines remain "neutral," doing nothing to influence the content on your computer screen. And may the best Web site win.
You want the opinion of the small guy in the future? I've got one word for you (repeated over and over again):
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- rob 1:20 PM - [PermaLink] -
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The set up starts
Much of the minimal support Bush still receives from the American public is based on the fact that America hasn't been attacked since 9/11 (gee... after the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 there were no more foreign terrorist attacks under Clinton - does that mean he was a success in that area?).
But an attack could very well happen again. Would Bush lose most of the last remaining support he has with the American public? No - the attack will be because Bush was hemmed in by bureaucrats and Democrats. Old laws for an old world. Bush is the emperor of a new world. Much of the press will follow that script. I honestly don't think Americans will follow along as blindly - but they may.
Step one of the set up: People who speak out against Bush's policies = terrorists.
Bin Laden releases a new tape.
This is how Americans (via NY Times letters page on Saturday) react:I was disappointed to see that Osama bin Laden is apparently still breathing. I can't get away from tele-marketers, but this guy's been dodging Special Forces for four years.This is how the media reacts:
After his threat to attack the United States again, I'd have thought that Homeland Security would bump up its color-coded threat alert a notch. Does that work only during election season?
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After more than 3,000 people died on 9/11, President Bush vowed to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." More than four years later, his is still making tapes.
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Osama bin Laden's warning is a stark reminder of how little the Bush administration has done to protect us.
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It is to the lasting shame of the Bush administration that almost four and a half years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is still free to plan and issue threats against the United States and pretend to be in a position to offer a "truce."CARLSON: The war in Iraq is creating more terrorists than it's killing. It's just a war about oil and Halliburton. Sounds awfully familiar. When did Osama bin Laden start getting talking points from the DNC?(here's the video of the interview). Yep MSNBC, Fox News, and others all are talking about how some of bin Laden sounds like Howard Dean (forgetting the quotes that sound like Bush). And they all talked about it. They all got the fax from Karl and dutifully repeated his lines like a parrot (they had to don't you know - or else Karl wouldn't talk to them any more... its about access now - not facts).
These talking points are desperate. They are pathetic. Will they work?
Meanwhile Chris Matthes has decided that Osama bin Laden is Michael Moore with a diet.
People are reacting.
Visit The Open Letter to Chris Matthews.
John Kerry is even offend (and this guy doesn't react to much - as we all sadly know): A Daily Kos post by John Kerry - Real HardballThere's something that doesn't sit right with me when, on the day Osama Bin Laden resurfaced in a disturbing audio tape, cable television ends up in a game of name calling as a war protester is compared to Osama Bin Laden.bin Laden doesn't like Bush. Liberals don't like Bush. Its QED to a moron.
That's reason to be outraged - but even more outrageous is the fact that in a flurry of sound bites what was lost was a real discussion of the fact that more than four years after the devastating attacks of 9/11, more than four years after George Bush boasted we wanted Osama "dead or alive," more than a year after Osama Bin Laden showed his hateful face in yet another video, this barbarian is still very much alive and boasting of additional attacks against the United States.
Meanwhile a man who has attacked America - and says he will do so again - seems to be free enough to have his own public access cable TV show.
Too many Democrats in charge think they still are participating in the free flow of ideas. They still believe in debate.
They don't understand the new reality:
If something goes right - it is because Bush has power.
If something goes wrong - it is because Bush doesn't have enough power.
Start getting outraged.
Start getting outrageous
- rob 12:40 PM - [PermaLink] -
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William Rivers Pit: Democrats, Get Up and Walk Out
Pitt dares democratic reps to leave during the president's State of the Union address. Personally I'd rather see the democrats fight fire with fire, but at least this is a start. I think all opponents of the administration can sense that the odds favor the democrats blowing the November elections.[Democrats] have been far too polite... The writing has been on the wall for a while now. Back in 1995, Republican Senator Phil Gramm said, "We're going to keep building the party until we're hunting Democrats with dogs." That was eleven years ago. If you listen close, you can hear the beasts baying in the distance, waiting to slip the leash. Your limp tactics in the face of the assault upon you, your vacillation, your strange hope that maybe the GOP will be nicer tomorrow, has left you all smelling like Alpo.Rove and company are good at what they do, and they have the media in their pocket. Democrats need to move fast and unite around a message that resonates with the american people. But that can only happen if they get some attention, and steal the spotlight from those who control it (See military tactic, the principal of fire and motion.)
For the love of God, you are being compared to Osama bin Laden all over network television because some within your ranks have had the courage to question the war in Iraq. It hasn't been subtle. Bin Laden, according to the right-wing talking heads, is getting his talking points straight from Howard Dean. These are the out-front spokespeople for the folks running the GOP right now. If you think there is compromise to be had with these people, if you think there is quarter to be given to you, then I have a nice, big red bridge to sell you in San Francisco.
I know you believe the Abramoff scandal is going to be your bread and butter in the upcoming midterm elections. I hate to break it to you, but you have already been outflanked. The television nitwits have flooded the airwaves with the meme that this is a "two-party scandal," despite the fact that Abramoff would have sooner lit himself on fire than give money to a Democrat...
Oh, yeah, P.S., the investigation is being run out of the Department Justice. If this scandal does touch some sixty Republican officeholders, as Abramoff's donation history indicates, do you really think this White House is going to let the investigation get far enough to do real damage? If so, I again need to mention that big red bridge I have for sale.
- Edoc 11:15 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Good High Band Width Morning.
Not really a conspiracy - a pretty good video of fact:
Conspiracy Theories
An amazing animation and a bit extreme - but worth a watch (also a video)
What Barry Says
- rob 11:07 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Eco-terrorists: Same as Al-Queda?
Since the appeals court upheld the Jose Padilla detainment in September, we've had a dual system in place, whereby anyone who fits a broad definition of "terrorist" can be detained without access to the legal system. Take these eco-terrorists, for example. The govt. and police are now able to skip the formalities of the normal criminal process by defining them as terrorists.
- Edoc 8:26 AM - [PermaLink] -
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