Democrats grow a vertebra (still waiting on the rest of the back bone)

Democrats want Gonzales off Abramoff probe

WASHINGTON - Thirty-one Senate Democrats on Thursday asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to remove himself from the investigation into the Jack Abramoff scandal, saying the lobbyist's dealings with President Bush and others in the administration should compel Gonzales to step aside.

"FBI officials have said the Abramoff investigation 'involves systemic corruption within the highest levels of government,'" the Democrats wrote in a letter to Gonzales. "In light of your previous service as White House Counsel and your close connection to many Administration officials, the appearance of conflict looms large."

- rob 5:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

And I have the power of flight.

Cheney says he has power to declassify information

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that an executive order gives him the authority to declassify secret documents, but he would not say whether he authorized an indicted former aide to release classified information.

Hmm... my power comes from having been bitten by a radio active gnat.

Anyway, if that is true Mr. VP Cheney it should be known that with great power comes great responsibility. Or are you just going to let poor Uncle Ben die?

- rob 4:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Remember Scott McClellan said they didn't contact the press immediately because they were concentrating on making sure Mr Whittington was all right.

Of course they were also concentrating on getting their story right.

Less then 90 minutes after the shooting Mrs. Armstrong is on the phone with Karl Rove.

Bush Learned of Cheney Shooting Accident on Saturday

The shooting, which occurred at about 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, left a prominent Austin lawyer and Republican campaign supporter, Harry Whittington, wounded by shotgun pellets in the neck, shoulder and chest.

"Chief of Staff Andy Card called the president around 7:30 p.m. to inform him that there was a hunting accident," a statement released today by the White House said. "He did not know the vice president was involved at that time. Subsequent to the call, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove spoke with Mrs. Armstrong. He then called the president shortly before 8 p.m. to update him and let him know the vice president had accidentally shot Mr. Whittington."

That is of course if that was true, but maybe Bush didn't know at 8 on Saturday?

Troubling Questions About Cheney's Boss
Why is the vice president getting nearly all the blame for keeping his shooting escapade secret last weekend? President Bush either kept it hidden just as long--or, equally disturbing, maybe he did not find out about Cheney's role as shooter until much later.

- rob 5:00 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Yet Another Bush Success Story

Success has made a failure of our home.

U.S. fears Abu Ghraib is 'Jihad University'

WASHINGTON U.S. commanders in Iraq are expressing grave concerns that the overcrowded Abu Ghraib prison has become a breeding ground for extremist leaders and a school for terrorist foot soldiers.

The reason is that the confinement allows detainees to forge relationships and exchange lessons of combat against the United States and the new Iraqi government.

"Abu Ghraib is a graduate-level training ground for the insurgency," said a U.S. commander in Iraq.

- rob 4:25 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

A more then a few

325,000 Names on Terrorism List

- rob 4:23 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Congress doesn't want to do their job. Horse soon to be appointed Senator.

Congressional Probe of NSA Spying Is in Doubt

The Senate intelligence committee is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a Democratic-sponsored motion to start an inquiry into the recently revealed program in which the National Security Agency eavesdrops on an undisclosed number of phone calls and e-mails involving U.S. residents without obtaining warrants from a secret court. Two committee Democrats said the panel -- made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats -- was clearly leaning in favor of the motion last week but now is closely divided and possibly inclined against it.

They attributed the shift to last week's closed briefings given by top administration officials to the full House and Senate intelligence committees, and to private appeals to wavering GOP senators by officials, including Vice President Cheney.

Well, I can understand now - they're scared of Cheney.

- rob 4:22 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

With all this "hunting" biz - let's not forget about Jack.

Jack Who?

IT'S NOT, as photos for a superlobbyist's power wall go, a terribly impressive shot: President Bush, his back to the camera, shaking the hand of Raul Garza, chief of the Kickapoo tribe of Texas. In the foreground, Karl Rove, smiling at a 2001 White House meeting to promote the president's tax cuts. And there at the back of the room, only his slightly blurry head visible, the chief's lobbyist: Jack Abramoff. Which, of course -- along with the refusal of the Bush administration to release information about what Mr. Abramoff was doing at the White House, how often he was there and with whom -- is what makes the picture a big deal.

Kim Eisler of Washingtonian magazine has reported that the disgraced lobbyist met with Mr. Bush almost a dozen times over the past five years and was invited to the president's ranch in Crawford, Tex., in 2003.

- rob 4:19 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Silencing those who would dare speak the truth.

National security whistle-blowers allege retaliation

WASHINGTON (SH) - Military and intelligence officers told spellbound lawmakers Tuesday that their careers had been ruined by superiors because they refused to lie about Able Danger, Abu Ghraib and other national security controversies.
...
Shaffer told a House Government Reform subcommittee that he and other intelligence officers and contractors working on the top-secret program code-named "Able Danger" had identified Mohammed Atta, ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks, but were prevented from passing their findings to the FBI.
"I became a whistleblower not out of choice, but out of necessity," Shaffer said. "Many of us have a personal commitment to ... going forward to expose the truth and wrongdoing of government officials who - before and after the 9/11 attacks - failed to do their job."
...
Shaffer contradicted recent statements by Philip Zelikow, former executive director of the Sept. 11 commission, who denied having met with Shaffer and other Able Danger operatives in Afghanistan in October 2003.

It should be noted that Philip Zelikow is very close to Bush and especially Rice, with whom he wrote a 520 page book back in 1995. Here is another bit of writing from him:

In the November-December 1998 issue of Foreign Affairs, he co-authored an article entitled “Catastrophic Terrorism,” in which he speculated that if the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center had succeeded, “the resulting horror and chaos would have exceeded our ability to describe it. Such an act of catastrophic terrorism would be a watershed event in American history. It could involve loss of life and property unprecedented in peacetime and undermine America’s fundamental sense of security, as did the Soviet atomic bomb test in 1949. Like Pearl Harbor, the event would divide our past and future into a before and after. The United States might respond with draconian measures scaling back civil liberties, allowing wider surveillance of citizens, detention of suspects and use of deadly force. More violence could follow, either future terrorist attacks or U.S. counterattacks. Belatedly, Americans would judge their leaders negligent for not addressing terrorism more urgently.”

Now back to the article.

Spc. Samuel Provance, also dressed in Army green, said he was demoted and humiliated after telling a general investigating the Abu Ghraib scandal that senior officers had covered up the full extent of abuse during interrogations of detainees at the U.S. military prison in Iraq.

"Young soldiers were scapegoated while superiors misrepresented what had happened and tried to misdirect attention away from what was really going on," Provance said. "I considered all of this conduct to be dishonorable and inconsistent with the traditions of the Army. I was ashamed and embarrassed to be associated with it."

- rob 3:49 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

One of these things is not like the other.



The black and white image on the left is from the actual Texas Parks and Wildlife Hunting Accident and Incident Report Form about the shooting. (found at the always useful: The Smoking Gun: See Dick. Run!

The color image is from a reenactment of the shooting at a shooting range from 30 yards away. It shows a wider dispersal pattern, both Mr. Whittington and this piece of paper in the reenactment were struck by over 200 BBs. This is serious business. (though some of the jokes out there are good, such as Rude Pundit's So, like, apparently the country pays attention whenever someone in the White House blows a load all over another person. )

A very nice satirical explanation in the difference in the dispersal patterns is the detailed Magic BB Theory

Whatever is going on, we're not getting the facts. People say Bush is lazy, I don't think so, and certainly Cheney and his pals aren't. What evidence do I have? The fact that they lie. Lying takes work, it takes effort. A lazy person would just tell the truth. When you lie you have to remember what story you told what person and when. A good lie needs backstory behind it, you need to know the why of the lie.

Some people aren't skilled at it, and then things fall apart: Update: Shooting Holes In Cheney's Story is a great detailed account of the shifting stories that have already occurred in witness accounts of the event. Read the post, which is summed up with this:

So let's recap the many statements made by Cheney's alibi; from the inside of a car, 100 yards from the scene, Armstrong neither saw nor heard Whittington announce his approach, he was "more bruised than bloody," and he was "bleeding profusely," he was "fine," and he didn't know, "if he was going to the hospital or the mortuary," there was "no drinking" and there was, "beer available," Cheney "urged" her tell her story on Saturday, and it was her family's "idea" on Sunday, except when it was her idea on Sunday.

As clear as mud, isn't it?

You would think though that Katharine Armstrong would be more adept at rejigging the truth, she is afterall a high paid lobbyist (I guess Jack's hunting trips all had to be cancelled).

Cheney's hunting host lobbied White House
Ranch owner who divulged accident earned $160,000 for work in 2004

Katharine Armstrong, whose family owns the ranch where Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a hunting partner, is a registered lobbyist who has been paid to lobby the White House, according to records.

Armstrong told NBC News in a telephone interview that she has never directly lobbied Cheney as far as she remembers.

"Never!" she said. And she says she does not remember directly lobbying the president himself either.

Check out the explanation mark, you definitely know its true.

Interesting thing about that MSNBC article though. It had a quote from Ms. Armstrong that, (and this is where I'm making an assumption) after a call from GE HQ who were concerned about some defense contracts, went down the memory whole.

Beer comment scrubbed from NBC story

When first posted, NBC news quoted Katharine Armstrong as saying:

"There may be a beer or two in there," she said, "but remember not everyone in the party was shooting.".

About an hour later, the quote was deleted from the story.

Nice.

- rob 3:38 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Waste and Abuse in Pentagon Budget
The untold tale of the latest Pentagon budget is the wastage and overpricing that continue to lard it up to the tune of perhaps $100 billion—with Congress scarcely paying attention.

Why would Congress pay attention? I mean its just OUR money. They've got more important things to deal with... like gays and brain dead white women.

- rob 4:57 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Because when you think about it what is more important:

• Educational Budget or giving more money to oil companies who are making Billions in profit every few weeks.
  
• Buying armor for the troops(and not making them pay for armor they lose after they've been injured or oil companies
  
• Rebuilding New Orleans or oil companies
  
• Research in alternative fuels or oil companies

As an American citizen government land is owned is YOUR land, the government is just a caretaker. Well the government feels that YOUR oil - oil on public lands, can be given to oil companies for free. Heck given roads and infrastructure improvements the government will no doubt even be partially involved in the American government is probably spending money to allow the oil companies take OUR oil for free.

You can have a reasonable argument about subsidizing farmers but subsidizing oil companies?

U.S. Royalty Plan to Give Windfall to Oil Companies

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 Â? The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years.

Royalty-Free Oil and Gas New projections, buried in the Interior Department's just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government.

They are only doing this because they care more for the share holders of ExxonMobile, Texaco, etc. more than they care for America.

- rob 4:55 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Daily Kos: AP ties Abramoff to Rove: Contact began in the 1990s

- rob 3:34 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

You can't help but laugh:

Cheney Accident Triggers Jokes on Late-Night TV

David Letterman

• "Good news ladies and gentleman, we have finally located weapons of mass destruction … It's Dick Cheney."
  
• "We can't get Bin Laden, but we nailed a 78-year-old attorney."

Jimmy Kimmel:

• "It's part of the president's new Social Security plan. Once you hit 78, kablamo."
  
• "Luckily, the guy he shot was wearing the body armor that never got shipped to the troops."

Jay Leno:

After he shot the guy, he screamed, 'Anyone else want to call domestic wire tapping illegal?'"

• "Something I just found out today about the incident. Do you know that Dick Cheney tortured the guy for a half hour before he shot him?"

And you knew he'd be all over this:

Jon Stewart:

• "Yes, as you've just heard, a near-tragedy over the weekend in south Texas. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a man during a quail hunt at a political supporter's ranch. Making 78-year-old Harry Whittington the first person shot by a sitting VP since Alexander Hamilton.
  
  "Hamilton, of course, shot in a duel with Aaron Burr over issues of honor, integrity and political maneuvering. Whittington? Mistaken for a bird.
  
• Jon Stewart: "I'm joined now by our own vice-presidential firearms mishap analyst, Rob Corddry. Rob, obviously a very unfortunate situation. How is the vice president handling it?
  
  Rob Corddry: "Jon, tonight the vice president is standing by his decision to shoot Harry Wittington. According to the best intelligence available, there were quail hidden in the brush. Everyone believed at the time there were quail in the brush.
  
  "And while the quail turned out to be a 78-year-old man, even knowing that today, Mr. Cheney insists he still would have shot Mr. Whittington in the face. He believes the world is a better place for his spreading buckshot throughout the entire region of Mr. Whittington's face."
  
  Jon Stewart: "But why, Rob? If he had known Mr. Whittington was not a bird, why would he still have shot him?"
  
  Rob Corddry: "Jon, in a post-9-11 world, the American people expect their leaders to be decisive. To not have shot his friend in the face would have sent a message to the quail that America is weak."
  
  Jon Stewart: "That's horrible."
  
  Rob Corddry: "Look, the mere fact that we're even talking about how the vice president drives up with his rich friends in cars to shoot farm-raised wingless quail-tards is letting the quail know 'how' we're hunting them. I'm sure right now those birds are laughing at us in that little 'covey' of theirs.
  
  Jon Stewart: "I'm not sure birds can laugh, Rob."
  
  Rob Corddry: "Well, whatever it is they do … coo .. they're cooing at us right now, Jon, because here we are talking openly about our plans to hunt them. Jig is up. Quails one, America zero."

But really it isn't funny: Hunter Shot by Cheney Has Heart Attack

The 78-year-old lawyer who Vice President Cheney accidentally shot in a hunting accident suffered a minor heart attack this morning after a piece of birdshot moved and lodged in his heart, doctors said.

Doctors treating Harry Whittington said the Republican lawyer was moved back into the intensive care unit and will need to remain hospitalized for at least a week.

"Some of the birdshot appears to have moved and lodged into part of his heart," Peter Banko, spokesman for Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital, told reporters outside the Corpus Christi hospital. Banko said the birdshot caused a minor heart attack.

We've heard the press use the terms "peppered", "sprayed", "pellet gun." The Administration wants it to seem like it is no more than a mishap with a BB Gun or something. The man was shot. With a gun.

- rob 3:28 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

First of all let's get this out in the open: This wasn't a hunting accident. Cheney wasn't hunting.

Hunting is where you use skill and patience to get your prey.

Cheney was just shooting birds. Birds raised and then released in front of the guns of fat middle aged men who think they're real men now that they enjoy the "sport" of hunting.

And Cheney wasn't even killing birds legally.

Officials: Cheney Lacked 'Bird Stamp' for Texas License

NEW YORK In the aftermath of the Saturday shooting, Texas state wildlife officials reported late today that while Vice President Dick Cheney had purchased a valid non-resident hunting license, he did not obtain a required "upland game bird stamp."

A warning citation--which carries no fine or penalty--will be issued to Cheney, which state officials described as "routine." Cheney's office said he would promptly send in the $7 for the stamp. However, as the Dallas Morning News headlined on its Web site, he was, on Saturday, "hunting illegally."

- rob 10:02 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

And all 4 of TCS's readers would scream out "another voice silenced! Hey, the quiet is kinda nice."

U.S. concludes 'Cyber Storm' mock attacks

WASHINGTON -- The government concluded its "Cyber Storm" wargame Friday, its biggest-ever exercise to test how it would respond to devastating attacks over the Internet from anti-globalization activists, underground hackers and bloggers.

Bloggers?

Participants confirmed parts of the worldwide simulation challenged government officials and industry executives to respond to deliberate misinformation campaigns and activist calls by Internet bloggers, online diarists whose "Web logs" include political rantings and musings about current events.

Yes bloggers are something truly to be feared. Better watch out or I'll post something that will take down the government... like a picture of Bush and a chimp.

HaHaHa! Feel my power! Time to pray, Captain. Pray to me.

- rob 7:44 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Fall In To The Gap

The Trust Gap

We can't think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers — and just trust him. We also can't think of a president who has deserved that trust less.

Do read it - someone's changed the kool aide they normally drink at the New York Times with Folger's.

It does a good job talking about the Domestic Spying scandal, The Prison Camps, and the good ol' War In Iraq WMD bugaboo (something NY Times should remember: They were one of the folks beating on those war drums).

- rob 7:37 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Katrina Report Spreads Blame

The 600-plus-page report lays primary fault with the passive reaction and misjudgments of top Bush aides, singling out Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Operations Center and the White House Homeland Security Council, according to a 60-page summary of the document obtained by The Washington Post. Regarding Bush, the report found that "earlier presidential involvement could have speeded the response" because he alone could have cut through all bureaucratic resistance.

The report, produced by an 11-member House select committee of Republicans chaired by Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), proposes few specific changes. But it is an unusual compendium of criticism by the House GOP, which generally has not been aggressive in its oversight of the administration.

The report portrays Chertoff, who took the helm of the department six months before the storm, as detached from events. It contends he switched on the government's emergency response systems "late, ineffectively or not at all," delaying the flow of federal troops and materiel by as much as three days.

Katrina is just another example that My Pet Goat was not just a fluke. This President can not react correctly or quickly. His initial reaction to 9/11 was a dazed blank stare at children for 7 minutes after being told the nation's was under attack, though he did have the wherewithal to joke with the children when they had finished reading. This time it took days for him to realize that the loss of an American city does come into "areas he should pretend to have interest in." Since then it has been PR - nothing more.

For up to the minute accounts of the continuing fiasco that is the responds to Katrina go to the Katrina section of First Draft. There you'll find excellent posts about:

• the up to 700 New Orleans police and firefighters who are about to be homeless as the cruise ship they've been sleeping on this entire time is about to leave port and there is nowhere else for them to live.
• How the New Orleans criminal justice system is basically shutting down. A judge refuses to here cases defended by the public defender's office as he believes the suspects would receive inadequate representation. He might have a point as the public defenders office is down to 7 attorneys (from 42 pre-Katrina), and all investigators and staff have been laid off.
• How there was some "pushback" from FEMA Public Affairs when the FEMA official who witnessed the levee break wanted to have a conference call to alert the big wigs about the unfolding disaster.
• That while many New Orleans residents are still homeless (and soon many fire fighters and police officers) there sits 10,000 FEMA mobile homes in Hope, Arkansas. Empty. $25,000 a dollars a month of your tax dollars, and they sit. Empty.
• That residents of New Orleans are getting power back as fast as the residents of Baghdad and have begun hacking into the power lines so they can get some power into their homes.

Check it out.

- rob 7:28 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

The GOP's got DeLay like a habit and they'll never get enough.

They know DeLay's going to hurt them hard in November, but they can't get his smiling face out of their mind.

As they look at the poll numbers they pause and look again at his smiling face - "I wish I knew how to quit you"



DeLay Lands Coveted Appropriations Spot

WASHINGTON - Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, forced to step down as the No. 2 Republican in the House, scored a soft landing Wednesday as GOP leaders rewarded him with a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee.

DeLay, R-Texas, also claimed a seat on the subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department, which is currently investigating an influence-peddling scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his dealings with lawmakers. The subcommittee also has responsibility over NASA Â? a top priority for DeLay, since the Johnson Space Center is located in his Houston-area district.

Let it be known, the GOP rewarded the man who helped turn the Republican House into a place where every law was up for bid.

Yes, it has always been that way to a certain extent, but what was a sad fact that some legislators were for sale has been turned into a culture of expected behavior. One can almost see DeLay walking down the halls of Congress followed by his pals throwing you junior representatives up against the lockers: "what Sam, you too good for Jack's money? Or are you just a scared goody two shoes, well get with the program man, you want to fit in you gotta play by my rules... not some "ethics" your mommy told you to follow." At which point the juniorrepresentativee would suck it up and then go to the boy's room, close the stall door, and cry.

- rob 6:16 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Excellent Post at First Draft following up on Bush's surprise announcement last week about how he saved LA.

First Draft - The Library Tower ''Plot'': Unraveling the Lies

The post notes all the inconsistencies in the official explaination of what occured. Some inconsistencies are probably some bungling involved in how much to reveal about some covert operations (which makes you wonder why Bush made the announcement beyond saying "look see, something good happened on my watch - we caught some bad guys!"). However the stories that are coming out of Washington are just falling apart and a comment to the First-Draft post sums it up best.

So, KSM initiated the planning for the horrifying attack on the something tower somewhere, after 9/11/01, recruiting as one of his deadly terrorists a man, who had already been arrested and in custody for at least two months. A second of the dastardly terrorists he recruited after 9/11/01 backed out after 9/11/01 horrified him. The other two are in custody, except that one is still at large. All four, one of whom was in jail at the time, traveled the world together and met with bin Laden, who they may never have met. Hmmm. Yes, it all seems likely. (Likely to be results of torture, that is.)

Do read the post.

- rob 5:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Our tax dollars at work.

The Raw Story | Bush Admin. spent over $1.6 Billion on advertising and P.R. since 2003, GAO finds

"The government is spending over a billion dollars per year on PR and advertising," said Rep. Waxman. "Careful oversight of this spending is essential given the track record of the Bush Administration, which has used taxpayer dollars to fund covert propaganda within the United States."

"No amount of money will successfully sell the Bush Administration's failed policies, from the war in Iraq, to its disastrous energy policy, to its confusing Medicare prescription drug benefits," said Democratic Leader Pelosi. "The American people know the Bush Administration is on the wrong track and the White House PR machine won't change that fact."

- rob 3:50 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Setting up Cheney for the fall.

9/11 was the excuse to set various plans in motion (Patriot Act, Iraq war, and other concepts already in the works before 9/11).

This shooting will be the Bush Administration's excuse to get rid of Cheney. The Plame/Scooter story is going to make Cheney look bad and Bush is looking bad enough without seeming to be loyal to a VP who risks national security for revenge. This will be the excuse to get Cheney out, and get Rove out of people's radar when it comes to Plame (and Rove is definitely more important to this administration then Dick).

I may be stretching it, and maybe I'm wrong, but the Bush administration tries to never admit errors and to reveal a miscommunication this big I think is very unusual. Its also being featured on Drudgereport, a frequent outlet for items GOP establishment want to get out into the media mainstream.

McClellan: Bush Told About Texas Shooting Saturday--But Not Cheney's Role

McClellan explained that the White House knew about the accidental shooting of a fellow hunter on Saturday night, but deferred to the vice president's office, which did not announce it. The vice president's office in turn deferred to Katharine Armstrong, the ranch owner in Texas where the shooting took place. She called a Corpus Christi reporter at midday Sunday and only then did the news come out.

McClellan also said Monday, according to The Associated Press, that "Bush and senior aides were told Saturday night by the staff of the White House Situation Room that somebody in the Cheney's hunting party was shot, but he said he was not told until Sunday morning that Cheney was the shooter. He said he contacted the vice president's office and everyone agreed they needed to get the information to the public quickly."

He explained further, “The first priority… was making sure that Mr. Whittington was getting the medical care that he needed. The first priority Saturday night was making sure he receiving medical care and getting to the hospital and being taken care of, and that’s what happened. The vice president’s office was taking the lead on making sure the information got out, and it did. The vice president’s office worked with Mrs. Armstrong to get that information out.’’

In fact the vice president's office didn't say "peep" about the shooting, allowing Mrs. Armstrong to make the announcement, because "it happened on her property." eh? The VP shoots somebody and the VP's office doesn't think it is in their role to tell anyone?

Maybe this is the gun Cheney should get for next Christmas: The Incredible Rubberband Machine Gun! (thanks to a phunkster for that link)

- rob 1:44 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Cheney and Bush have put politics and petty revenge over national security time and time again.

Well history ever reveal how incredibly obscene these past few years have been?

The Raw Story | Outed CIA officer was working on Iran, intelligence sources say

According to current and former intelligence officials, Plame Wilson, who worked on the clandestine side of the CIA in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official cover (NOC) officer, was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran.

Speaking under strict confidentiality, intelligence officials revealed heretofore unreported elements of Plame's work. Their accounts suggest that Plame's outing was more serious than has previously been reported and carries grave implications for U.S. national security and its ability to monitor Iran's burgeoning nuclear program.

Maybe they outed her because she was finding real evidence about Iran, when the Bush policy was to find fake evidence about Iraq.

- rob 1:33 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

I shot a man just to watch him die.
But the sucker lived.

Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.
...
Armstrong in an interview with The Associated Press said Whittington, 78, was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest during the incident which occurred late afternoon on Saturday.
...
The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The vice president's office did not disclose the accident until the day after it happened.

Why'd it take a day to lets us know that the Vice-President is now shooting American citizens?

- rob 11:49 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Sunday Funny: Poker With Dick Cheney
I write this post, of course, while the mainstream media is starting to run with the "Cheney Shoots Fellow Hunter" story. The late night show hosts will have a field day with this one.

- Edoc 6:22 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Do Bush Followers Have a Political Ideology?
Required Reading. Wow, this is a great piece about how the word "conservative" has been morphed to mean "blind allegiance to George Bush". It's a great read, and more evidence that the conservative base is crumbling around the commander-in-thief.

- Edoc 6:18 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Subscribe to the TCS Feed

Having trouble with some of the poor English on this site?
Imagine what it looks like when translated by a machine:

Search TCS

Archive

Archive Index Page

What is this?

This is a "team" blog.  We are a bunch of Americans, whose rising distress in our leader's decisions brought us together to make this site.  As Bush said, he's a "uniter."  Many of us have never even met.
That's the internet for you.

This Century Sucks Store

Buy our cool stuff.
And tell everyone what you feel.  

We have a little Store you can visit.  

Our store's selection of items is constantly growing. Come see what we have.

 

We're also Amazon Associates, so if you want to buy something from Amazon, please search for it below, and we will get a few bucks from the sale.

Search Now:

Sites we often like:

Tin Foil Caps

The Free Speech Zone

The office of the independent blogger

Buzzflash

Tom The Dancing Bug

VerifiedVoting.org

Get Your War On

This Modern World

Eschaton / Atrios

Daily Kos

Contribute to America's Future

It is now more important then ever.

Donate to the Democractic Congressional Campaign Committee

Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

Some More Site Mottos

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



"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make fitting response."
 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt



"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson



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

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree."
- James Madison



"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy



"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

More Sites we often like:

more coming...

"There's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America." - Bill Clinton.