Recall, Norton received $50,000 from Jack Abramoff, and Abramoff also funneled more than $500,000 to one of Norton’s former political aides, Italia Federici, to gain access to her department.
WASHINGTON, March 9 — The chief of an Indian tribe represented by the lobbyist Jack Abramoff was admitted to a meeting with President Bush in 2001 days after the tribe paid a prominent conservative lobbying group $25,000 at Mr. Abramoff's direction, according to documents and interviews.
The payment was made to Americans for Tax Reform, a group run by Grover G. Norquist, one of the Republican Party's most influential policy strategists. Mr. Norquist was a friend and longtime associate of Mr. Abramoff.
Often in life it is easier when you just don't know Jack.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former adviser to President Bush was arrested this week in Maryland and charged with swindling two department stores out of more than $5,000 in a refund scam.
Montgomery County police said Claude Allen, 45, was arrested Thursday and charged with carrying out a felony theft scheme at Target and Hecht's stores. ... February as Bush's top domestic political adviser. Allen had long been a darling among the conservative right -- and Bush had even nominated him to be a federal appeals court judge in 2003, but Democrats blocked the move.
In announcing Allen's resignation, Bush called him a "trusted adviser" who helped "develop policies that will strengthen our nation's families, schools and communities."
In the latest New Yorker, Michael Specter has a positively chilling story on how theoconservatives and Christianists have waged a quiet war against some critical vaccines, especially against Human papillomavirus or HPV. A vaccine exists against this virus that would drastically reduce the numbers of cervix cancer cases. The religious right opposes it as a mandatory childhood vaccination, because it removes a disincentive to having sex....
The "party of life" as they call themselves without any sarcasm, as they support a war of choice. Wow, here's where I sound "pro life" - War is not a choice! Yes, sometimes war does have to happen, but it should never happen because the President and his pals, when you get down to it, just want to have a war.
Funny that the "party of life" is concerned about a progressive "death tax", but has no problem of a regressive "life tax," of expensive health insurance options that leave many millions of Americans uninsured, and when you get down to it, a lot more likely to die from causes that could have been prevented.
Funny that the "party of life" is all up in arms to save the life of a woman who had died years before, but whose body was never allowed to, but is silent about a law signed by President Bush when he was Governor of Texas that makes it legal for the hospital to pull the plug on awake, talking, and coherent people if they can't pay the bill.
Iraqi Torture Victim's Crime? Complaining about US Soldiers That's right. As reported on DailyKos, Ali Shalal Qaissi, the infamous hooded victim who came to symbolize torture at the Abu Ghraib prison had done little more than complain about US soldiers dumping garbage on a local soccer field. And for that offense was interrogated, tortured and held in that hell-hole for six months. Sickening. In related news, it appears that reports of Abu Ghraib's closure are false. According to military authorities, there is no timetable for closure.
I was listening to Buffalo Springfield at work today. Timeless, and relevant.
there's something happinin here what it is aint exactly clear theres a man with a gun over there tellin me i got to beware i think it's time we stop, children what's that sound everybody look what's goin down there's battle lines being drawn nobody's right if everybody's wrong young people speakin there minds getting so much resistance far behind it's time we stop, hey what's that sound, everybody look what's goin down what a field day for the heat a thousand people in the street singing songs that they're carrying signs mostly say hurray for our side it's time we stop, hey what's that sound, everybody look what's goin down Paranoia strikes deep into your life it will creep it starts when your always afraid step out of line the man come and take you away we better stop, hey what's that sound, everybody look what's going down x4
"I am against judicial reforms driven by nakedly partisan reasoning." ... "We must be ever vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary into adopting their preferred policies. It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings."
Listen to the Audio on NPR The big question is: Will the mainstream media soft-pedal these (or cover it at all!) comments in the same manner as other facts which clash with White House policy?
WASHINGTON -- Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff says President Bush knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting. "What are you benching, buff guy?" Abramoff said Bush asked him. The president has said he doesn't know Abramoff.
Abramoff said he finds it hard to believe Bush doesn't remember the 10 or so photos he and members of his family had snapped with the president and first lady.
"He (Bush) has one of the best memories of any politician I have ever met," Abramoff wrote in an e-mail, according to Vanity Fair's April issue being released this week. "Perhaps he has forgotten everything. Who knows?"
Abramoff Burns many GOoPers This post excerpts pieces from the Vanity Fair article. Listen to ol' Jack talk about his fair weather friends.
"Any important Republican who comes out and says they didn't know me is almost certainly lying." ...
Ken Mehlman, who recently claimed he didn't really know Abramoff. According to documents obtained by Vanity Fair, Mehlman exchanged e-mail with Abramoff, and did him political favors (such as preventing Clinton administration alumnus Allen Stayman from keeping a State Department job), had Sabbath dinner at Abramoff's house, and offered to pick up Abramoff's tab at Signatures, Abramoff's own restaurant. ... Newt Gingrich, whose spokesman Rick Tyler tells Margolick that "Before [Abramoff's] picture appeared on TV and in the newspapers, Newt wouldn't have known him if he fell across him. He hadn't seen him in 10 years." A rankled Abramoff says "I have more pictures of [Newt] than I have of my wife." Abramoff shows Margolick numerous photographs: "Here's Newt. Newt. Newt. Newt. More Newt. Newt with Grover [Norquist, the Washington conservative Republican Über-strategist and longtime Abramoff friend] this time. But Newt never met me. Ollie North. Newt. Can't be Newt ... he never met me. Oh, Newt! What's he doing there? Must be a Newt look-alike.... Newt again! It's sick! I thought he never met me!"
Newt? Newt? What's that flushing sound? Oh... yeah, its your chance of winning the 2008 Presidential campaign.
Today's GOP treating our soldiers not only as cannon fodder - but props.
When then defense department becomes dragged into politics our civilian led military is just that much closer to becoming a party led military. And that is the end of freedom. Just like that.
The Pentagon used to understand that - that is why it has a prohibition against a uniformed soldier participating in a partisan event.
But what does the party of "law and order" care about that little ol' rule.
A picture of a Marine dressed in uniform at Larimer County's Republican Lincoln Day Dinner has touched off a firestorm from national political writers and Web bloggers who say the party is using the military as public relations props.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan ran the photograph on Saturday of U.S. Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave introducing Marine Sgt. Brandon Forsyth, dressed in uniform, at the organization's Lincoln Day Dinner on Friday night.
A Department of Defense directive, however, prohibits active military personnel from participating in partisan political meetings while in uniform. Forsyth was one of two uniformed soldiers at the event ... The directive also states that in ambiguous cases, active-duty soldiers are to avoid any activities that seemingly associate the Department of Defense or the Department of Homeland Security directly or indirectly with partisan political activity.
So there is mercury in the food you feed your kid and you don't know it (though the manufacturer does) - so what.
Whine all you want but you didn't lobby congress - you didn't donate to campaigns. You did nothing but think that Congress represented you - well you were wrong. Our representative government does not mean it represents you - you were just the voter - easily misled - easily swayed. Our government represents corporations. Legally we view corporations as entities separate from the individuals that run it. They are by definition creatures without a soul. Some can live with that and maintain a heart, but sadly many can not - and Congress too has begun to act like a corporation and blame guilt on the entity known as Congress and leave its members innocent.
WASHINGTON - Lawmakers seeking to curtail food warning labels have personal ties to food industry lobbyists, critics said Monday.
House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and several other lawmakers support a bill that would keep states from adding warnings that go beyond federal rules.
The lawmakers have family, friends and former staff among the lobbyists for the bill.
"This helps explain why the food industry has blocked any efforts to have hearings," said Ben Cohen, attorney for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a watchdog group. ... State warnings alert consumers to mercury in fish, arsenic in bottled water, pesticides in vegetables and many other potential problems.
Oh, and isn't the GOP the "states rights" party? You know the party that blocks any state initiative that may hurt their favorite corporate sponsor's profit margin.
Soon we'll require members of Congress to stop identifying themselves with their state name like "DeLay (R, TX)" but by their corporate sponsors: "DeLay (R, RJ Reynolds) - obviously it would change daily.
Wait a minute - but Rummy (see the post below from yesterday) was saying that everything was okay and that it was the press making this whole civil war thing up, and aiding terrorists with these false articles about how bad the situation is.
So the top US envoy to Iraq is aiding terrorists? Is Rummy just living on his own little planet? Does the pope use facilities provided for him if he ever needs to go in the woods?
BAGHDAD — The top U.S. envoy to Iraq said Monday that the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime had opened a "Pandora's box" of volatile ethnic and sectarian tensions that could engulf the region in all-out war if America pulled out of the country too soon.
The United States has the power to cause harm and pain. But the United States is susceptible to harm and pain. If that is the path that the U.S. wishes to choose, let the ball roll.
These are the comforting words given by Iranian Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh in response to our government’s recent challenge to their nuclear development program. Several references have been made by Bush administration folks regarding the use of any means necessary to disarm Iran, as they are a threat to our national security and the security of countries around them.
Of course they mean Israel, who Iran has said should be moved to the United States. I am not sure how they intend we move a country to another country, but they would be blind not to point out the obvious connections we have with Israel and our support for them on economic and political issues. After all, it is necessary for us to maintain our close relationship with a country in that region, according to the Neocon administration. What doesn’t get spoken of, however, is how our foreign policy in the middle east is so dependant on Israel. It seems we not only support them but determine our agenda in the middle east based on their wishes.
I am not a strategist but I really don’t think that an administration that won’t back down from its agenda mixed with a country such as Iran who challenges that administration so directly is going to result in anything but conflict. I am going to guess that this will happen in the next 3 months. It also makes me think that the Bushies thought this one out ahead of time as well, which may explain why we sent far fewer troops to Iraq than was initially called for by Rumsfeld.
This hotbed we have created in the Middle East is not cooling off any time soon; in fact, it is getting hotter by the minute. We will soon be overextending our military capabilities. Our adversaries know this, which is why they would step to the plate so boldly. With only Israel and Britain as our main allies left after pissing everyone else off, it is only a matter of time before others start challenging us as well.
Our efforts to forcefully prove our military and economic dominance in the world might in fact be the act that forces the demise of that very dominance. We are essentially shooting ourselves in the foot. Our leaders have already proven how poorly they handle guns.
This is a test post. No merit should be given to any words or statements contained therin. I furthermore take no responsibility for what I have written here. You should also be ashamed for having read this whole statement in its entirety.
You will never get that 8 seconds back. Ha haaa....
No - that's just a headline to make the mundanely evil man seem rational - he is not:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday there has always been a risk Iraq could plunge into civil war but he accused the news media of exaggerating the gravity of the current situation.
Really, there was always a risk? So the President was advised of this risk? The military had plans to try a prevent this from happening and a contingency plan if it did? Was this never to be a cake walk? Or is Rumsfeld just the town idiot who walks into a tree and says "I meant to do that."
Asked whether a civil war was possible, Army Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters on Friday it was unlikely but, "Anything can happen." ... From what I've seen thus far, much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation," Rumsfeld said.
"The steady stream of errors all seem to be of the nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists and to discourage those who hope for success in Iraq," he added.
Ahh. So if the George's little adventure fails it is because the media was free enough to report the facts? Not because it was ill-conceived, unnecessary, and incompetently handled? No it was a free media - well I'm sure Bush and Rummy have plans on how to handle that.
They hate our freedoms.
Have you ever wondered why Bush never gives out some of the laundry list of some of the freedoms they hate?
Because many of those freedoms and aspects of our culture are also what Bush's religious right backers hate.
Rights of women, gays allowed to live, abortion, contraception, etc.
The bush bros and the GOP are turning America into a third world nation where corruption is just part of business. Where it isn't what you know but who you know to pay that counts.
TAMPA - Gov. Jeb Bush's office is refusing to release documents or answer questions about a $400,000 tax credit awarded to MZM Inc., whose former chief executive pleaded guilty last week to bribery and illegal campaign contributions. ... The former CEO, Mitchell Wade, spent $1.08 million buying a four-story office building at 601 E. Twiggs St. in downtown Tampa on May 20, 2004. That was two months after Wade met U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris and gave her $32,000 in campaign contributions from his employees.
In his plea deal Feb. 24, Wade admitted to bribing U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, of California. He also acknowledged giving his employees cash to reimburse them for contributions to Harris and to Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, which is illegal. All three Congress members are Republicans.
Harris, of Longboat Key, is running for U.S. Senate.
The Treasury Department has started drawing from the civil service pension fund to avoid hitting the $8.2 trillion national debt limit. The move to tap the pension fund follows last month's decision to suspend investments in a retirement savings plan held by government employees.
In a letter to Congress this week, Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said he would rely on the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund to avoid bumping up against the statutory debt limit. He said the Treasury is suspending investments and will redeem a portion of the money credited to the fund.
The government is being propped up on the backs of the governments workers now, as the GOP debates making tax cuts for the rich permanent.
Nothing says power like the Oval Office. The paintings of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The bust of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The desk used by both Roosevelts.
And then there's the rug. Don't forget the rug. President Bush never does.
For whatever reason, Bush seems fixated on his rug. Virtually all visitors to the Oval Office find him regaling them about how it was chosen and what it represents. ... "He loves his rug," said Nicolle Wallace, the White House communications director. "I've heard him describe it countless times."
Sometimes Bush describes it as a metaphor for leadership. Sometimes he relates how Russian President Vladimir Putin admired the carpet. Sometimes he seems most taken by the lighting qualities.
Perhaps it is a metaphor for what he has done to our nation's integrity, moral standing, and strength... he walks all over it while talking aobut how great it is.
He was referring to the recent decision by him and his wife to be responsible, to do the kind of thing that just about anyone would say makes good, solid financial sense.
They paid down some debt. The balance on their JCPenney Platinum MasterCard had gotten to an unhealthy level. So they sent in a large payment, a check for $6,522.
And an alarm went off. A red flag went up. The Soehnges' behavior was found questionable. ... They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.
Actually it isn't a security issue at all. Its just the banks don't make money if you pay off your debt, so if you try to they sic the government after you.
The economic security of our banks is homeland security too, you know.
WASHINGTON --Hundreds of warnings on food labels could vanish under a measure moving toward approval in the House.
The bill would stop states from adding warnings that are different from federal rules. States currently add hundreds of extra warnings, indicating the presence of arsenic in water, mercury in fish, alcohol in candy, pesticides in vegetables and more.
"This legislation could overturn 200 state laws -- laws that the American people rely on every day to ensure the safety of the food they eat," Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said Thursday during House debate on the bill.
The resolution would recognize "a Christian god," and it would not protect minority religions, but "protect the majority's right to express their religious beliefs.
The resolution also recognizes that, "a greater power exists," and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, "justified recognition."
If you cared about Christianity you'd stop this bill. Nothing good comes out of state religions - both the citizen and the faith come out damaged in the end. Visit Afganistan, Saudi Arabia, or Iran for examples (or Europe in the middle ages, or Boston in the 17th century).
Is it me or did Jesus understand that when he said "Render unto Ceasar the things that are Ceasar’s and render onto God the things that are God’s." I think he was pushing separation of church and state rather than being fine with taxes.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The governor of South Dakota on Monday signed into law severe restrictions on abortion, in a direct challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court's legalization of the practice 33 years ago.
Abortion foes have said they hope to use the South Dakota law to eventually bring the issue back before the high court, where they believe conservatives added to the bench by President George W. Bush in the last year could weaken or dismantle the court's landmark Roe vs Wade decision of 1973. ... The new law bans abortion in virtually all cases, punishing doctors who perform one with a $5,000 fine and five years in prison.
The measure bans abortion even in cases where a woman is pregnant as a result of rape or incest, or if giving birth would damage the health of the mother. It creates a narrow exemption in cases in which a physician's effort to save a pregnant woman's life results in the accidental death or injury of her fetus.
It isn't pro-life. It is about punishing the daughters of Eve for the Apple.
I'm not being snarky there.
This is the beginning of extremists legislating their version of morality.
First abortion and then birth control.
Because sex is not about pleasure - it is for making babies only. God didn't want you to enjoy your bodies - the pleasure you feel is a sign of wickedness.
For unknown reasons, State Senator Charlotte Burks (DINO) and State Rep. Eric Swafford (R) have been thinking a lot about the activities going on your bedroom. They have come to the conclusion that Tennessee will be a better place to live if the state regulates your bedroom by outlawing dildos.
Unwanted children? Population explosion? Natural desires? - Meet cold showers.
I too find many things disgusting that I know people do in their own bedrooms, but do you see my legislating against people watching American idol in their underwear? No. What hideous vile things people do in their bedrooms is none of my business.
They say "hate the sin, love the sinner" - But the extremist Christians in America aren't loving - they are destroying. They are doing harm. And the bigotry they promote kills.
The report said some Christian-based gay prevention and treatment groups have used the First Amendment protection of religion to avoid sanctions by state health officials seeking to enforce regulations on counselors who offer therapy without a license.
Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman said officials need to ensure that those offering such therapies are licensed Â? as opposed to simply being clergy Â? and that clients and their parents should be informed about the programs' long-term success rates. ... Foreman called the programs frightening, saying they play into stereotypes, cautioning parents to worry if their sons are "too feminine" and often blame parents for their children's sexual orientation.
TAMPA - Even though the boy would shake and wet himself, his father, Ronnie Paris Jr., would box with the 3-year-old, slapping him in the head until he cried because he didn't want his son to grow up to be ``a sissy,'' the boy's mother testified Monday. ... He died six days later with swelling on both sides of his brain.
``He was trying to teach him how to fight,'' said Shanita Powell, Nysheerah Paris' sister. ``He was concerned that the child might be gay.''
Bigotry - ignorance - hate. All religions profess love, but when you go to the extremes that is what you get: Bigotry - ignorance - hate.
And it becomes part of the consciousness - and people die:
Billy Snead was furiously trying to save the life of a friend having a heart attack on a West Virginia roadside in June when the police chief arrived. The chief, Mr. Snead recalled yesterday, ordered him to stop.
The chief, Robert K. Bowman of the small town of Welch, told Mr. Snead that his friend, red-faced and gasping for breath, had the virus that causes AIDS, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday. Chief Bowman grabbed Mr. Snead's shoulder, the suit says, pulling him away from his friend, Claude Green Jr. ... Mr. Green, who was 43, died at Welch Community Hospital less than an hour later. Chief Bowman, the suit said, did nothing to help Mr. Green but did tell ambulance workers and hospital personnel that Mr. Green was positive for H.I.V.
As it happened, the suit says, that was false. Mr. Green was gay, but he did not have the virus, according to the suit, filed in federal court in Bluefield, W.Va.
WASHINGTON - The agency entrusted with protecting the U.S. homeland is having difficulty safeguarding its own headquarters, say private security guards at the complex.
The guards have taken their concerns to Congress, describing inadequate training, failed security tests and slow or confused reactions to bomb and biological threats.
Bush explains "no one could have anticipated the need of a competent Department of Homeland Security."
For instance, when an envelope with suspicious powder was opened last fall at Homeland Security Department headquarters, guards said they watched in amazement as superiors carried it by the office of Secretary Michael Chertoff, took it outside and then shook it outside Chertoff's window without evacuating people nearby.
Well they knew it wasn't Anthrax, that only goes out before the vote on important security messures.
Three days after Hurricane Katrina wiped out most of New Orleans, President Bush appeared on television and said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." His staff has spent the past six months trying to take back, modify or explain away those 10 words.
The release of a pre-storm video showing officials warning Bush during a conference call that the hurricane approaching the Gulf Coast posed a dire threat to the city and its levees has revived a dispute the White House had hoped to put behind it: Was the president misinformed, misspoken or misleading?
Generally, with Bush, it is safe to say all three.
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.
"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.
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