Hello everyone, it's been ages since I posted here and so allow me to re-introduce myself. I'm Gregory Pratt, formerly known as the Political Penguin over at the Liberal Igloo but now I am the Independent Blogger at the Office of the Independent Blogger.

As I posted at my blog, I've written a poem about the Senator from Arizona that I'd like to share. (Note: I do write political commentary, but I like to mix it up and occasionally I will write a poem to bite at the opposition.)

Living in the Arid Zone Of

John McCain of Arizona
Lives in the Arid Zone of
Barry Goldwater’s Shadow
A place that glows like El Dorado
But all that glitters isn’t gold
And this space is bright and green
I’ve never heard it told
That McCain’s a weapon's dream

People seem to be forgetting
The legacy they’d be getting
If they insisted on electing
The Senator from Arizona
Who lives in the Arid Zone of
Barry Goldwater’s Shadow,
A place called “Bald Bravado”

Some whisper that he’s mad
Driven so by the Vietcong
I say it cause he’s never had
A reason not to bomb
On Iraq -- let us attack
On Iran -- let flights run
On Kosovo -- if it’s Clinton, No
On China -- just give it time, duh

Years before Bush proposed invading
John beat the War Drums
His calls for War predating
Even the new Millennium
This is a Moderate Hawk?
He’s a man who can not talk
Without taking a Swipe
At Apples just not Ripe
For invading

McCain wants the form of Campaign Finance
I guess it’s from Saints that he’s Financed
John doesn’t know Jack! (Abramoff) (he does)
He only takes the Dollars of
"Good lobbyists" -- at least he claims a nice stance!

Oh McCain -- the man's Untainted
What a way he’s been painted
By those with no need for acquaintance
With facts, who needs those
When a Senator is Sainted

McCain’s men so excel at Public Relations
That if his aides had been Stationed
In the Arid Zone of
Barry Goldwater’s 1964 Arizona
This would be a different nation

If you watch the Senate close
You might see Goldwater’s ghost
It’s over McCain that he hovers
Laughing at what the Media don’t cover

The subject of Goldwater’s Revenge
Is scarier than Stonehenge
But it’s hard to hear that story
When the press finds Itself adoring
The man from the Arid Zone of
Barry Goldwater’s Arizona

Goldwater called for us to Saw Off the Coast
If McCain said it, there’d be many toasts
To his wonderful charm
Because what’s the harm
In giving a ride to Goldwater’s ghost

McCain is a leader!
But I see him as addled
You see, my dear reader
Goldwater's truly in the saddle

And Barry Goldwater never looked this good
Because Goldwater didn't have a fawning press
And Goldwater never looked this good
While setting out to make a mess.

I do hope that you guys found the poem enjoyable. I'd also like to share this, a short, fictional story I wrote entitled, "Brokeback Washington."

The President sat at his desk, cursing his decision to run for President and damning the Electoral College. Perhaps he'd been drinking, but on today it didn't appear likely. The President's suit was crisp, his hair combed, his eyes wide, awake -- and disillusioned. One day, when Bess Truman was upset with him, Harry wrote her a letter proclaiming that he longed for her, particularly after "doing a million things I don't want to do every day," and George W. Bush found himself knowing exactly what Truman meant by that on this particular afternoon.

His problem, today, was petty. His friends wanted to enjoy themselves at his expense, and asked him to charge their games to his credit card. George had never been able to decline -- how could he say no to Tom and Dennis? -- but now he was feeling wrong. How would his children feel if they knew what he was up to? How would his wife feel if she opened the most recent Congressional Record and read about the debts amassed? The guilt ate at him, but he couldn't tell his friends what they didn't want to hear. Or that was the popular consensus.

A part of him wished that the Democrats could be in control of the Congress. At least then he could turn his enemies down and not have to confront his friends. He had finally understood what his friends were feeling decades ago when they had to confront him about his alcohol problems. One night, after the millionth attempt at intervention, as he lay alone in the closet, his head resting on a soiled sock and his hair matted with dried liquor, the President told the bottle, "I wish I knew how to quit you."

Now he was back to those days, except that the liquor was replaced by big spending and Congress was his dealer.

The President stood up and turned behind him, opening the curtains behind his desk to see the world outside, but all he saw were the no-longer-friendly faces of Secret Service Agents patrolling the lawn. They used to be his friends, but nobody stays your friend in Washington for long, he thought. Pretty soon, being President gets old and all you want to do is go home. George Bush longed for his Ranch, but now he knew that the time had come to do what he had to do.

He reached into his desk and took out the phone, his fingers tracing the old dial of the phone as he penciled in the number of Dennis Hastert. After a few rings the gravelly voice of Dennis Hastert came on the line, the first word spoken being "hello," and Bush knew the time had come. "Dennis," he said, "I wish I knew how to quit you. I wish I knew how to quit spending with you. But I've got to try. I've got to. So I've got to let you know. Next time you send me a bill -- let me finish! Next time you -- I said let me finish -- send me a bill that has a bunch of costs I don't want to pay, I'm not gonna pay them."

Dennis Hastert, who was also sitting at his desk in the Speaker's chamber that Tip O'Neill and Henry Clay had previously sat in, found his indignation rising. "Listen, George. You don't know how to quit me, and your threatened veto is a brokeback. You won't veto because you don't know how to quit." The phone went dead, and George Bush cried without letting the phone go. When Hastert was right he was right, but Bush would have to be strong. He resolved to be strong. He had to be strong for the Love of Richard Nixon, he thought to himself, before renegging on his own personal vow. "How many budgets did Nixon balance?" he asked himself.

As his thoughts turned to Republican Presidents past, none of whom having felt compelled to balance a budget in their terms, he remembered that he had to quit his Treasury Secretary, too. Conservative Republicans insisted on it, and he was in their doghouse enough as it was! He took the phone he had used to tell Hastert who the boss was -- or to be told who the boss was? -- and dialed Treasury. Getting a "This phone number is not in service message," he buzzed Josh Bolten and asked him to dial for him. Bolten did it easily, without a problem, and Bush felt his resentment rise but gave a polite thanks. "Next time don't dial T-R-E-Z-U-R-E," Bolten said. "If you need help, call...err, buzz me."

The President called the Secretary of the Treasury and received a hello. He opened his mouth to ask his resignation, but the words didn't come. John Snow wondered if he'd just been prank called when Bush finally spoke words that nobody expected. "Dennis wants me to spend more money on him, but I don't think I can. You make the money, right?" he babbled. "You could quit making money if I asked you too, right, and then I could say, 'Hey, I'm brokeback, don't ask me for money'?" John Snow told him that he could, theoretically, but didn't want to go down that road. "It would be disastrous, Mr. President. You should just learn how to quit the Congress' spending." "It's my spending too, John," the President said, before bidding his Secretary farewell and hanging up.

The President realized that, for the millionth time in 2006 alone, he'd forgotten to ask for Snow's resignation. "The Beltway's wondering why I haven't fired Snow, but the truth is that I don't know how to quit him. I just can't. The beltway will have to understand that I just don't know how." He remembered that he got Cheney to fire Paul O'Neill, and then wondered whether he should go down that road with Hastert.

Sitting back, thinking about the many ways to quit his problems, the President cursed the Senate for shelving immigration reform, and he thought about that little bastard who told him he should be ashamed of himself yesterday. He looked to his desk, his windows, his portraits of 42 and 41, before muttering softly, "I wish I knew how to quit you."

Have yourself a visit.

- ThePoliticalPenguin 9:16 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Read:

Sidney Blumenthal: Ridicule and contempt
An imperial president is smothering the system of checks and balances, imperiling free speech

- rob 5:34 PM - [PermaLink] -

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So many lies.

So much corruption.

So much abuse of power -

that you need an encyclopedia to keep up:

WikiThePresidency

People For the American Way believes that a healthy democracy is an informed democracy. We have created www.WikiThePresidency.org to establish a single place for the public to both acquire and share information about Executive Branch wrongdoings.

- rob 5:28 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Cheney declares Russia to be backsliding on democracy and using its energy supplies for "blackmail."

Putin responds by saying - "not uh! you guys are! the one's that are abusing human righats and backsliding on freedom."

Cheney says "I'm rubber and you're glue"

Putin says "takes one to know one"

Cheney rebukes Russia

Cheney attacks on Russia "incomprehensible": Kremlin

Old school bullies deciding the present state of the world is just too difficult - so they're starting up the cold war again for old time's sake. Its easier when you got big bad guys.

Seriously though, isn't there enough going on in the world that we decide to give Russia a lecture on democracy and human rights? Things we too have gotten pretty bad at lately - thanks to Dick "cyborg" Cheney.

- rob 5:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Here's to Raymond McGovern

McGovern was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990 and during the 1960s his responsibilities included analysis of Soviet policy toward Vietnam. At this time, he worked near the very top of his profession, giving direct advice to Henry Kissinger during the Nixon era. He was one of President Ronald Reagan's intelligence briefers from 1981-85 when he was in charge of preparing daily security briefs for the President, the Vice President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Cabinet and National Security Advisor. He also briefed President George Herbert Walker Bush in the White House in the 1980’s, and counts himself a personal friend of Bush Sr.

McGovern is former CIA chief for the Middle East, and a former CIA operations officer, making him a veteran of the CIA’s clandestine service, which manages the agency’s counterterrorism center, espionage and paramilitary operations.

Why mention this retire CIA officer. Maybe because of this conversation he just had with old Rumsfeld:

QUESTION: So I would like to ask you to be up front with the American people, why did you lie to get us into a war that was not necessary, that has caused these kinds of casualties? why?

RUMSFELD: Well, first of all, I haven’t lied. I did not lie then. Colin Powell didn’t lie. He spent weeks and weeks with the Central Intelligence Agency people and prepared a presentation that I know he believed was accurate, and he presented that to the United Nations. the president spent weeks and weeks with the central intelligence people and he went to the american people and made a presentation. i’m not in the intelligence business. they gave the world their honest opinion. it appears that there were not weapons of mass destruction there.

QUESTION: You said you knew where they were.

RUMSFELD: I did not. I said I knew where suspect sites were and –

QUESTION: You said you knew where they were Tikrit, Baghdad, northeast, south, west of there. Those are your words.

RUMSFELD: My words — my words were that — no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute. Let him stay one second. Just a second.

QUESTION: This is America.

RUMSFELD: You’re getting plenty of play, sir.

QUESTION: I’d just like an honest answer.

RUMSFELD: I’m giving it to you.

QUESTION: Well we’re talking about lies and your allegation there was bulletproof evidence of ties between al Qaeda and Iraq.

RUMSFELD: Zarqawi was in Baghdad during the prewar period. That is a fact.

QUESTION: Zarqawi? He was in the north of Iraq in a place where Saddam Hussein had no rule. That’s also…

RUMSFELD: He was also in Baghdad.

QUESTION: Yes, when he needed to go to the hospital.

Come on, these people aren’t idiots. They know the story.

- rob 4:57 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The aptly named TPM Muckraker has been following the GOP hooker story.

Watergate Subpoenaed in Hooker Probe

According to Graham, the Watergate has received multiple subpoenas in connection with the Wilkes Hookergate scandal. He went on to say that the hotel is complying with those subpoenas but that he couldn't discuss the content of the orders, nor could he discuss details of the investigation, "out of respect for our guests' privacy."

and

GOP's Ed Rollins: Hookergate is "Big"

GOP super-strategist Ed Rollins (late of the Katherine Harris campaign) made a couple interesting comments on Charlie Rose last night. First, he indicated strongly that he believes a number of the other lawmakers in trouble with Hookergate are Defense appropriators. He also says as many as 15 lawmakers could get indicted over the mess in the next few months.

and

DHS Honored Scandal Limo Service for "Achievement"

In April 2005, the Department of Homeland Security gave an "achievement award" to Shirlington Limousine Company. You know, the outfit run by the bankrupt felon who's now under investigation for running hookers to congressmen?

And so much more.

Such as: Barr: Hookergate to Blame for Hasty Goss Exit?

Reporter: But Congressman, there's something that doesn't make sense here, you know? There's something... I am wondering whether this resignation is something to come, Porter Goss wanted to get out of the way. Do you have any sense of that on Capitol Hill or from your sources in Washington?

Bobb Barr: We've seen brewing out of the congressman Duke Cunningham scandal, probably now for several months. It's starting to reach into the CIA and that come very... well... like a sore that's been festering, that could very well burst out and maybe that's a reach into the top levels of the agency.

Reporter: Are you saying the director himself, congressman?

- rob 3:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Please God deliver America and its people from the pestilence of Bush and the neo-cons. Amen.

Bush Calls U.S. a Nation of Prayer

- rob 12:18 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush gets out the bullhorn "hey I have something to hide"

Secret Service records of Abramoff visits to White House will be incomplete

WASHINGTON — The White House said Tuesday the list the Secret Service has been ordered to release concerning convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's contacts with the Bush administration will be incomplete.

But spokesman Scott McClellan declined to say what is wrong with the Secret Service list, why it is inaccurate and whether it includes far fewer meetings than took place.

- rob 4:02 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Need to find real heartfelt reporting by the mainstream media on what live is really like in New Orleans?

You'll have to search far and wide - and you'll end up on Sports Illustrated's website.

SI.com - the truth about New Orleans

Well, my wife and I were in a car last Wednesday that toured the hardest-hit area of New Orleans, the Lower Ninth Ward. We worked a day at a nearby Habitat for Humanity site on Thursday, and we toured the Biloxi/Gulfport/Long Beach/Pass Christian gulf shore area last Friday. And let me just say this: I can absolutely guarantee you that if you'd been in the car with us, no matter how much you'd been hit over the head with the effects of this disaster, you would not have Katrina fatigue.

What I saw was a national disgrace. An inexcusable, irresponsible, borderline criminal national disgrace. I am ashamed of this country for the inaction I saw everywhere.
...
"It's been eight months since Katrina,'' said Jack Bowers, my New Jersey friend and Habitat for Humanity guide through the Lower Ninth Ward, as he took us through deserted streets where nothing, absolutely nothing, was being done about the wasteland that this place is.

"Eight months!" he said. "And look at it. When people talk to me about New Orleans, they say, 'Well, things are getting back to normal down there, aren't they?' I tell them things are a long, long way from normal, and it's going to be a long time before it's ever normal. And I tell them they've never seen anything like this.''

For consistent and detailed updates down in New Orleans visit Scout's Page at First-Draft.

- rob 3:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Because Captain America is a true patriot

Captain America - fugitive
Marvel's new series has your favourite superheroes fighting George Bush and the Patriot Act

Captain America is about to battle his most fearsome foe yet: The government of the United States.

Today, Marvel Comics is releasing the first in its miniseries Civil War, which can only be described as a gutsy comic-book series focusing on the whole debate over homeland security and tighter government controls in the name of public safety.
...
But with Civil War, hero is pitted against hero in the choice of whether or not to side with the government, as issues ranging from a Guantanamo-like prison camp for superheroes, embedded reporters and the power of media all play in the mix.

The Fantastic Four's elastic Mr. Fantastic has already joined Iron Man to support Washington in earlier editions of Marvel comics leading into the Civil War series.
...
Washington insider Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, argues that siding with Washington is a way for the heroes to work with lawmakers, not against them, in this moment of trouble.
...
But other heroes aren't having any of it. In one comic leading up to the series, Doctor Strange gets hopping mad when he first hears about the bill (albeit in his debonair, "master of the mystic arts" kind of way). And Captain America, who couldn't be more all-American if he tried with that costume of his, finds himself leading the fugitive heroes.

It should be noted Tony Stark (Iron Man) is a billionaire industrialist with many a government military contract, and Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) also supports his heroic efforts and lifestyle via government licenses of his patents.

Captain American and Doctor Strange meanwhile are just your average middle income super powered everyday folks.

Just thought I'd let you in on that little bit.

- rob 2:30 PM - [PermaLink] -

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In Bush's America knowledge can be politically damaging.

So George Bush who proudly proclaimED his fluentcy of Spanish in the 2000 elections - rapidly becomeS an uneducated English only guy to help the GOP in 2006 mid term elections.

From: Eschaton

AP, 1998:

Helping matters, Bush also speaks fluent Spanish. So does his brother, Jeb Bush, who is married to a Mexican-American and was elected governor of Florida, thanks in part to a strong Hispanic vote.

CNN 8/2000:

PRESS: Well, I wonder how good George Bush's Spanish is. Did he know what the lyrics were before he said they ought to play the song at the convention? I don't know.

O'BRIEN: Yes, he says he's fluent.

Portsmouth Herald, 1999:

Bush also took a question from a Spanish reporter and answered in fluent Spanish.

...
Scott McClellan today:

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the assertion did not ring true to him because, "The president speaks Spanish, but not that well."

"I'm saying that not only was that suggestion absurd, but that he couldn't possibly sing the national anthem in Spanish. He's not that good with his Spanish," McClellan said.

GOP's 2006 strategy is to get out the xenophobic vote.

- rob 1:35 PM - [PermaLink] -

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When politics is policy not security you get the Bush Administration

The Blotter

Two respected Republicans are at war over who's telling the truth.

At issue, security failures at the Department of Homeland Security and allegations by a former Inspector General that the Bush administration wanted them covered up.
...
Ervin told ABC News that Ridge told him to tone down criticism of security failures in the months before the 2004 Presidential election.
...
Ervin says Ridge called him in and sought "to intimidate me, to stare me down, to force me to back off, to not look into those areas that would be controversial, not to issue critical reports."

- rob 5:44 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Give 'Em Hell Harry Harry Reid's Blog: A sad anniversary of a sorry public relations stunt

Today, our country marks an unfortunate anniversary--the three year anniversary of President Bush donning a flight suit to declare "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.

President Bush's dramatic landing on the aircraft carrier the Abraham Lincoln will be marked historically as a public relations stunt gone horribly wrong.

Since President Bush rendered his judgment of "mission accomplished," more than 2,200 Americans have lost their lives, about 20,000 have been wounded, many hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have been expended, and now, Iraq is engaged in a civil war--the degree of which is unknown.

The image of President Bush standing in front of the "Mission Accomplished" banner has been etched into the minds of the American people as a metaphor for the Bush White House's misleading and dangerous incompetence. It shows a self-described "war President" not ready for the war, or the difficult problems of securing the peace--problems the president and his Secretary of Defense simply ignored or did not understand following the invasion of Iraq.

- rob 5:38 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Frist listens to his marching orders

Republicans Drop a Tax Plan After Businesses Protest - New York Times

WASHINGTON, May 1 — Senate Republicans on Monday hurriedly abandoned a broad tax proposal opposed by the oil industry and business leaders, another sign of their struggle to come up with an acceptable political and legislative answer to high gasoline prices.

Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, said he had decided to jettison the provision, which would have generated billions of dollars by changing the way businesses treat inventories for tax purposes. Instead, he said the Senate Finance Committee would hold hearings on the plan "later this year, so the pluses and minuses of the provision can become well known."

With Frist tucking his tail between his legs he acknowledges yet again that he and way too many other legislators do not represent the people of America but rather the interests of large multinationals.

Why the dog metaphors? Both Frist and dogs hate cats.

- rob 2:39 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Why don't some Congress folks in Washington take this up on a national level.

These men and women are putting their lives on the line while phone companies soak them for $60 plus a month?

Cell bills can tie up a call to duty

Army Pfc. Dane Gabrielson's family has been fighting to cancel his $68 monthly cell phone contract with Sprint Nextel Corp. since the 25-year-old was called to active duty a year ago with the 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment, Bravo Company of Appleton.

"Dane is over there risking his neck, and he shouldn't have to deal with a cell phone company," Harris said.

State lawmakers are working to make it easier for service members called up to active duty to get out of contracts with cell phone companies. Rep. Mark Gundrum (R-New Berlin) and Sen. Ron Brown (R-Eau Claire) have introduced a bill that would set up a process for cell phone companies and military customers to follow to cancel such a contract.

"These guys are going over to Iraq . . . and we've got them worried about how much they're paying for their cell phones," Gundrum said.

Good for Wisconsin's Brown and Gundrum (see Republicans can have good ideas too - its just in Washington they Choose not to).

- rob 2:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Hoyner: I'm more easily offended by dead-on satire then I am at a President willfully ignoring the laws of the land.

Hoyer: Bush deserves respect

Hoyer came to the defense of the commander in chief after Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where the president took a drubbing from comedian Stephen Colbert.

“I thought some of it was funny, but I think it got a little rough,” Hoyer said. “He is the president of the United States, and he deserves some respect.”

“I’m certainly not a defender of the administration,” Hoyer reassured stunned observers, but Colbert “crossed the line” with many jokes that were “in bad taste.”

Um... where did he cross the line? In pointing out that Bush seeks photo opp after photo opp rather than actual solutions?

Was it when he noted general after general going after Rumsfeld upon retirement? Was it when he noted the fiasco of Iraq?

Yes the office of Presidency deserves respect - why don't you demand that Bush start giving it respect.

- rob 1:40 PM - [PermaLink] -

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America's health crisis

Worrying about how you're going to pay for your health bills is gonna make you sick.

Many middle-income Americans lack insurance: study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 40 percent of Americans making between $20,000 and $40,000 a year went without insurance for at least part of the year last year, according to a study published on Tuesday.

The research by The Commonwealth Fund also found that 20 percent of working adults are paying off medical debt -- often $2,000 or more -- and 60 percent of uninsured adults with chronic illnesses such as heart disease skip pills to save money.

- rob 1:00 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Last week was the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl's nuclear accident.

Nuclear Power is being trumpeted again as the answer for oil dependence. It is no more an answer then ethanol (an inefficient alternative which is just a political trick of pretending to "do something" while just getting Archer Daniels more money).

The risk of nuclear power is huge, and the expense enormous.

The problem is is that there isn't one answer - there are many and there are more every year. But politics demand one answer - one magic bullet - one grossly costly scheme to funnel funds to.

But the answer is solar in some places, wind in others, biofuel here, geothermal there. We'll need tidal wave generators in coastal areas. And more.

The end result is safer energy then nuclear, cheaper energy then nuclear, cleaner energy then fossil fuels, and gives us inexhaustible sources that removes us from being energy dependent on despots.

Chernobyl was a clear sign of what can go wrong with expensive, risky, and grandiose solutions to energy needs.

The world does not need more cities that look like this:



Tour the area with The Kid of Speed (picture from their site).

For horrifying pictures of the human cost visit: Nuclear Nightmares.

- rob 12:58 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Freedom of the Net is in danger

Senate Bill Dumps Net Neutrality

Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee released telecom reform draft legislation Monday that touches on a number of wide ranging issues but leaves network neutrality to further Federal Communications Commission (FCC) study.

Take Action:

Petitions: Save the Internet

Join Leader Pelosi and become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of the Markey Net Neutrality Amendment

We, the undersigned, oppose the lack of Network Neutrality protections in the the COPE Act, sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX). We strongly urge passage of the Network Neutrality amendment sponsored by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), along with Representatives Rick Boucher (D-VA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Jay Inslee (D-WA).

Whereas, the free and open nature of the Internet has fostered unprecedented innovation and economic growth...[blah blah]

and

MoveOn: Save the Internet

Congress is now pushing a law that would end the free and open Internet as we know it. Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. So Amazon doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.

Many members of Congress take campaign contributions from these companies, and they don't think the public are paying attention to this issue. Let's show them we care - please sign this petition today.

Congress must keep the Internet free and open by voting for meaningful and enforceable Network Neutrality--the Internet's First Amendment.

If AT&T (and others) gets their way - the internet will no longer piece this wonderful source of chaotic and free information - but just another TV set (albeit interactive) full of big media and big stores.

- rob 12:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush is a danger to America.

That is obvious for sometime. But everyday we learn more about how his thirst for getting into war with Iraq and protecting his political behind cost us.

The Raw Story MSNBC confirms: Outed CIA agent was working on Iran

On Chris Matthews' Hardball Monday evening, just moments ago, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster confirmed what RAW STORY first reported in February: that outed CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson was working on Iran at the time she was outed (Watch the video of Shuster's report here).
...
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.

Reports Shuster in this rush transcript: "INTELLIGENCE SOURCES SAY VALERIE WILSON WAS PART OF AN OPERATION THREE YEARS AGO TRACKING THE PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS MATERIAL INTO IRAN. AND THE SOURCES ALLEGE THAT WHEN MRS. WILSON'S COVER WAS BLOWN, THE ADMINISTRATION'S ABILITY TO TRACK IRAN'S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS WAS DAMAGED AS WELL."

I'm sure Shuster wasn't really shouting, its just the way MSNBC did their transcript.

I've already witnessed on the TV News one Bush apologist noting that they were probably unaware of her work in tracking WMDs.

So again the Bush administration defends itself be pleading incompetence. This wasn't incompetent it was dangerously reckless.

Site note: Once again on a day I don't post traffic to TCS shoots up - should I take that personally?

- rob 9:38 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Juan Cole on Iran war-mongering: WE DON'T WANT YOUR STINKIN' WAR!!!
Cole defends himself from the partisan attacks of Christopher Hitchens, and in the second half lets fly a massive slam on the right-wing war machine.

He's right, you know. If we don't want war with Iran, we have to make it absolutely clear that it's totally unacceptable. No way, no how. This madness has to be put to an end.

Warning: graphic pictures and a slap-in-the-face wakeup call.

- Edoc 9:34 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Who needs the legislative and judicial branch when you have Bush?

He says he can do it all.

What that means is that he doesn't believe in the constitution that he swore to uphold.Bush challenges hundreds of laws

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.

Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional.

Why all the fuss about who sits on the Supreme Court anyway. Bush believes they are irrelevant.

- rob 5:50 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Because Abramoff isn't enough of an example of corruption.

Gee what could make the GOP look worse - yep - hookers.

Prostitution Alleged In Cunningham Case

Federal authorities are investigating allegations that a California defense contractor arranged for a Washington area limousine company to provide prostitutes to convicted former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) and possibly other lawmakers, sources familiar with the probe said yesterday.

TPM Muchraker has more.

CIA's Goss Drawn Into Hooker Probe?

Ken Silverstein reports at Harper's blog on the spreading Cunningham-Wade-Wilkes prostitute scandal. He says more lawmakers, past and present, are being investigated. Sounds like he thinks House Intel Chair-turned-CIA Director Porter Goss is one of them:

I've learned from a highly-connected source that those under intense scrutiny by the FBI are current and former lawmakers on Defense and Intelligence comittees -- including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post. [emphasis added]

Yowzah.

- rob 5:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Like the barfly with more makeup - there isn't enough in the world to make this disaster of a presidency look better.

Bolten Says White House to Regain 'Mojo'

But he said that does not mean the president's policies are going to get an overhaul. "I don't think we need to change, but we do need to refresh and re-energize," Bolten said.

Well Bush is still a miserable failure but look at the bounce in his step and the new tie!

- rob 5:42 PM - [PermaLink] -

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This really isn't actually news - MSNBC reported as much a two years back, but people need to know about this.

Unfortunately this article won't get much attention - as far as Americans are concerned an article from Australia might as well by from the other side of the world.

um....

US 'allowed Zarqawi to escape'

The United States deliberately passed up repeated opportunities to kill the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, before the March 2003 US-led invasion of that country.
...
Mr Scheuer was a CIA agent for 22 years - six of them as head of the agency's Osama bin Laden unit - until he resigned in 2004.

He told Four Corners [Australian TV show] that during 2002, the Bush Administration received detailed intelligence about Zarqawi's training camp in Iraqi Kurdistan.
...
"Almost every day we sent a package to the White House that had overhead imagery of the house he was staying in. It was a terrorist training camp . . . experimenting with ricin and anthrax . . . any collateral damage there would have been terrorists."

Attacking Iraq was never about terrorism or WMD it was about... Hell if I know why.

- rob 5:39 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The best way not learn from history?

Hide it.

Archives: 1 in 3 Records Wrongly Resealed

WASHINGTON - The government improperly sealed hundreds of previously public CIA, Pentagon and other records by reclassifying them as secret on questionable grounds, an internal review said Wednesday.

The National Archives' audit of thousands of records withdrawn from public view since 1995 contends that one of every three was resealed without justification.

I guess "it made the Prez (or daddy prez) look bad" isn't a justification?

- rob 5:32 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Wow.

Stephen Colbert proves that in a Democracy you can say what you want - even if what you want is to rip the President for over twenty minutes, even if the President it 10 feet away.

Interestingly enough the mainstream news isn't really talking much about Colbert's performance becuase he pointed out how they have participated in this debacle too.

Go here for the complete 24 minute piece: http://throwawayyourtv.com/2006/04/colbert-at-white-house-correspondents.html. (you really need broadband for that).

The torrent of this has over 3,000 seeds (amazing), and can be found at: http://www.mininova.org/tor/296239 (you'll need a bitTorrent Client - Azureus is the best)

What did he say? Here's a transcript: Colbert transcript.

Some Excerpts:

... Madame First Lady, Mr. President, my name is Stephen Colbert and tonight it's my privilege to celebrate this president. We're not so different, he and I. We get it. We're not brainiacs on the nerd patrol. We're not members of the factinista. We go straight from the gut, right sir? That's where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. I know some of you are going to say I did look it up, and that's not true. That's cause you looked it up in a book.

Next time, look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works. Every night on my show, the Colbert Report, I speak straight from the gut, OK? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument.
...
Sir, pay no attention to the people who say the glass is half empty, because 32% means it's 2/3 empty. There's still some liquid in that glass is my point, but I wouldn't drink it. The last third is usually backwash. Okay, look, folks, my point is that I don't believe this is a low point in this presidency. I believe it is just a lull before a comeback.

I mean, it's like the movie "Rocky." All right. The president in this case is Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed is -- everything else in the world. It's the tenth round. He's bloodied. His corner man, Mick, who in this case I guess would be the vice president, he's yelling, "Cut me, Dick, cut me!," and every time he falls everyone says, "Stay down! Stay down!" Does he stay down? No. Like Rocky, he gets back up, and in the end he -- actually, he loses in the first movie.

OK. Doesn't matter. The point is it is the heart-warming story of a man who was repeatedly punched in the face. So don't pay attention to the approval ratings that say 68% of Americans disapprove of the job this man is doing. I ask you this, does that not also logically mean that 68% approve of the job he's not doing? Think about it. I haven't.

I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound -- with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.
...
Fox News gives you both sides of every story: the president's side, and the vice president's side.

But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on NSA wiretapping or secret prisons in eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason: they're super-depressing. And if that's your goal, well, misery accomplished. Over the last five years you people were so good -- over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. Those were good times, as far as we knew.

But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!
...
See who we've got here tonight. General Moseley, Air Force Chief of Staff. General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They still support Rumsfeld. Right, you guys aren't retired yet, right? Right, they still support Rumsfeld.

The President was not a happy camper:

Colbert Lampoons Bush at White House Correspondents Dinner -- President Not Amused?

WASHINGTON A blistering comedy “tribute” to President Bush by Comedy Central’s faux talk-show host Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondent Dinner Saturday night left George and Laura Bush unsmiling at its close.
...
Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk-show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a well-known liberal bias.”

He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “If anything, they are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.”
...
As Colbert walked from the podium, when it was over, the president and First Lady gave him quick nods, unsmiling. The president shook his hand and tapped his elbow, and left immediately.

Those seated near Bush told E&P's Joe Strupp, who was elsewhere in the room, that Bush had quickly turned from an amused guest to an obviously offended target as Colbert’s comments brought up his low approval ratings and problems in Iraq.
...
“This was anti-Bush,” said one attendee. “Usually they go back and forth between us and him.” Another noted that Bush quickly turned unhappy. “You could see he stopped smiling about halfway through Colbert,” he reported.
...
Strupp, in the crowd during the Colbert routine, had observed that quite a few sitting near him looked a little uncomfortable at times, perhaps feeling the material was a little too biting -- or too much speaking "truthiness" (Colbert's made-up word) to power.

Asked by E&P after it was over if he thought he'd been too harsh, Colbert said, "Not at all." Was he trying to make a point politically or just get laughs? "Just for laughs," he said. He said he did not pull any material for being too strong, just for time reasons. (He later said the president told him "good job" when he walked off.)
...
In its report on the affair, USA Today asserted that some in the crowd cracked up over Colbert but others were "bewildered." Wolf Blitzer of CNN said he thought Colbert was funny and "a little on the edge."

Thousands are already saying: Thank You Stephen Colbert.

- rob 12:23 PM - [PermaLink] -

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House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Ill., center, gets out of a Hydrogen Alternative Fueled automobile, left, as he prepares to board his SUV, which uses gasoline, after holding a news conference at a local gas station in Washington, Thursday, April 27, 2006 to discuss the recent rise in gas prices. Hastert and other members of Congress drove off in the Hydrogen-Fueled cars only to switch to their official cars to drive the few blocks back to the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

I don't know a better way to show the state of our goverment then that picture of the out of shape out of touch pampered politico shuffling from his political prop to his SUV when he thinks he's off stage. pathetic.

My apologies to AP because I just quoted the whole piece, but I just had to share - from: Gasoline Prices on Yahoo! News Photos

and thanks to a phunkster for pointing out the picture.

- rob 10:35 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Stupid Political Tricks (I miss Letterman's stupid pet tricks)

Senators to push for $100 gas rebate checks

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Most American taxpayers would get $100 rebate checks to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote soon.

However, the GOP energy package may face tough sledding because it also includes a controversial proposal to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, which most Democrats and some moderate Republicans oppose.

Wanna really do something about gas prices though? Take the billion or so this stupid ploy will cost and spend it on alternate energy research. Gas prices won't go down tomorrow, but they will in the long run if there are viable alternatives.

And side benefit? America will be more secure.

Or you can just try and get re-elected and the actual welfare of the country be damned.

- rob 10:24 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Hey I was offline for a few days.

Anything happen?

No - in fact it looks like nothing has happened in the past few years, they're still saying "But the lights are coming on!"

U.S. Report Cites Progress, Shortfalls In Iraq Rebuilding

BAGHDAD -- The U.S. official overseeing Iraq reconstruction funding -- whose recent audits have detailed a wide gap between the promise and result of rebuilding efforts -- said in a report published Monday that officials had made significant strides toward providing essential services to Iraqis.

"Despite certain setbacks, chiefly caused by security problems, the overall picture conveys a sense of substantial progress in the relief, recovery and reconstruction of Iraq," Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said in his latest quarterly report.

- rob 9:52 AM - [PermaLink] -

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