are you a good marine or a bad marine

remember that lil' scuffle between some marines and private contractors had caused the contractors to be jailed? the latimes has a good followup

WASHINGTON — Matt Raiche knew he was in trouble when the Marines handed him an orange jumpsuit, a bottle to urinate in, a Koran and a Muslim prayer rug.

remember, a crooked E is a W

for those who still don't comprehend what enron was really about (other than the company bilked it's investors), the latimes has a good write up about citigroup's settlement.

The suit said Citigroup lent Enron $2.4 billion in a series of deals identified as "swaps" and nicknamed Delta transactions because they were conducted through Citigroup's Cayman Island unit, called Delta. Citigroup paid Enron hundreds of millions of dollars each time, obligating the company to repay the cash over five years.

Although the transactions were in fact loans, they were never disclosed as such on Enron's books. The plaintiffs alleged that Enron was seeking to conceal the full amount of its debt so that regulators and investors would be unaware of its precarious financial position.

Based on its investment grade rating at the time, Enron could have gotten credit at much lower rates, but it paid Citigroup and JPMorgan 6.5% to 7% for the "disguised loans," making the deals hugely profitable for the banks, the plaintiffs said.

In late 2001, after revelations about Enron's accounting made headlines, Citigroup and JPMorgan unsuccessfully sought to arrange the company's sale to rival Dynegy Inc. so they could split a $90-million investment banking fee and stave off its likely bankruptcy. The suit said calls to credit rating firm Moody's Investors Service by Robert E. Rubin, a former Treasury secretary who was then Citigroup's vice chairman, and by JPMorgan Chairman William Harrison were attempts to "strong-arm" the firm to prevent it from downgrading Enron before a sale could be completed.

--source

Enron settlements

Citigroup's $2-billion payment to settle claims by Enron shareholders is the largest yet in a series of deals with investors and regulators in connection with the energy trader's 2001 collapse.

August 2002: Andersen Worldwide, parent of auditor Arthur Andersen, says it will pay $32 million to settle lawsuits from Enron investors and employees.

February 2003: Merrill Lynch agrees to pay $80 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of its Enron dealings.

July 2003: Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase agree to pay more than $300 million to settle government charges that they helped Enron and Dynegy defraud investors.

December 2003: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce says it will pay $80 million to settle SEC allegations that it helped Enron inflate profit and hide debt.

July 2004: Bank of America says it will pay $69 million to settle a lawsuit by Enron investors over its role as underwriter for some debt offerings.

October 2004: Lehman Bros. says it will pay $222.5 million to settle a suit by the University of California and other investors over its role as an Enron underwriter.

January: Enron's insurance firm says it will pay $155 million to UC and other investors to settle a shareholder lawsuit. Ten former Enron directors say they also will pay $13 million out of their own pockets.

Friday: Citigroup agrees to pay investors $2 billion to settle a lawsuit that accused the bank of fraud in its work for Enron.

Letter Of The Day

Investors beware. President Bush has nominated a Republican congressman from California, Christopher Cox, to replace William Donaldson as chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission. Cox is a pro-business member of Congress who believes too much regulation is harmful to the interests of our nation and the interests of business.

Donaldson had supposedly angered business interests with his strict enforcement of the stiffer regulations put in place after the corporate scandals of Enron and WorldCom.

With the confirmation of Cox as the new SEC chairman, it will be back to unchecked corporate greed.

-Rob Robinson,
Des Moines.

--attribution

Sign The Petition!

A bill just introduced in the House could destroy universal, affordable Internet access everywhere.

The “Preserving Innovation in Telecom Act” (H.R. 2726) would let big cable and telecom companies shut down Community Internet and municipal broadband projects being planned across the country.

The bill would prevent state or local governments from providing “any telecommunications service, information service or cable service” anywhere a corporation offers a similar service.

This outrageous legislation was introduced by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) — a former SBC executive — and is a blatant effort by the telecom and cable companies to cement their monopoly control of communications at the expense of innovation, competition, and local choice.

SIGN HERE

regarding the dean scream II movie

i hope they portray dean for what he is: A TRUTH TELLER.

why are the republicans spending so much time trying to recruit in jewish areas, then scream bloody hell about their party being predominately white christian? the fact of the matter is, the republican party IS a party dominated by people who are white and christian.

and of course, we got dinos like joe lieberman (who in my opinion outta be shown the door) siding with members of the christian coalition, which makes this whole thing a topsy turvy situation that nobody in their right minds would want to unravel for fear of seeing what lies underneath this facade of civility.

dean's doing exactly what should be done. root out those DINOS, and make republicans get defensive (however, that second matter takes such a minute amount of effort). it's time they're put on the defensive.

and tHEN, to bring racisim into the mix.... scriptwriters better be paying attention.

playing along the way republicons want you to play, only means you'll lose. as skylarme mentioned on DU:

[this is what cost kerry the] election. He wouldn't get down and dirty with the scum tactics of the right and unfortunately the masses in general seem to miss the point opting for sensationalism and plain outright lies. How else could a war hero be made to look like a weak, lily-livered fraud???

if dean changes, i will lose all hope for the democratic party.

Quote of the Day

Surveying the crowd of about 60, (Joe Weinroth, the GOP candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh) Weinroth joked, "We didn't know that there were that many Jewish Republicans."

--attribution

60 jewish republicans, in a town of what? 1.5 MILLION?

Joke of the Day

no wonder fox news is so hated by so many people. look at what works there:

AMERICAblog hears someone went batshit-crazy today at the Harry Reid/Howard Dean meeting, but it wasn't who the MSM would like to think.

Our sources tell us that a photo-op took place today with Howard Dean and Senator Harry Reid in Reid’s private office (these are usually secreted away in the Capitol Building itself, near the Senate floor). FOX News's Brian Wilson reportedly spent the photo op angrily interrupting reporters and shouting questions out of turn. After an initial swarm, reporters squeezed out the door. FOX's Brian Wilson was apparently wearing no credential of any kind (that wasn’t a red flag to anyone) and behaving "bizarrely angry" so the Washington Post's Mark Leibovich asked who he was.

We hear that Wilson "went nuts," responding to the Post reporter (whose credentials were clearly on display):

"Who the fuck are you?"

Gee, Brian, do you kiss Rupert with that mouth?

The Post reporter then responded that he was from the Washington Post and didn’t see credentials on Wilson and because of his incredibly pointed questions wondered whether or not he was a rogue Republican staffer!

As they raced down the hall outside the austere Senate chamber, we're told that Wilson displayed an impressive knowledge of four-letter words, and was incredulous that he would either not be recognized without proper ID or would be called out on being completely one-sided and working from GOP talking points.

See, and folks thought things wouldn't be nearly as interesting now that Jeff Gannon is history.

--Americablog

Headline of the Day

Biden calls on Bush to `level with the American people' about Iraq

--source

ROFLMAO

the boy king "work"???

WACO, Texas — President Bush's aides contend that he hasn't thought much about what he will do when he leaves office in January 2009. But there are indications that plans are underway.

Bush has named a close friend, former Commerce Secretary Don Evans, to head the search for the location of his presidential library. Evans said he was being assisted by one of the president's brothers, Marvin Bush, and by Craig R. Stapleton, the husband of a Bush cousin and the nominee to be ambassador to France.

And in comments to the Los Angeles Times, Bush said that his return to private life probably would include work with Texas faith-based organizations that performed social services. He did not elaborate

--source

and as javaman on DU puts it rather succinctly:

This is the boy king, he doesn't work, when the world is in flames, he reads, "My Pet Goat", when a "terrorist flies over Washington", no one tells him, when he speaks to an audience, they have to be hand picked, when he is in a debate, he needs a ear microphone to coach him.

mwahahaha

a good read

BAIJI, Iraq -- An hour before dawn, the sky still clouded by a dust storm, the soldiers of the Iraqi army's Charlie Company began their mission with a ballad to ousted president Saddam Hussein. "We have lived in humiliation since you left," one sang in Arabic, out of earshot of his U.S. counterparts. "We had hoped to spend our life with you."

But the Iraqi soldiers had no clue where they were going. They shrugged their shoulders when asked what they would do. The U.S. military had billed the mission as pivotal in the Iraqis' progress as a fighting force but had kept the destination and objectives secret out of fear the Iraqis would leak the information to insurgents.

--read on

Letter Of The Day III

and lastly (i promise, it's the last letter i'm reading):

Regarding the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman by friendly fire in Iraq: The lies about Tillman's death pale next to the lies about why our military is in Iraq in the first place.

-Mark Lindahl,
Des Moines.

--attribution

Letter Of The Day II

we get two winners today (from the same source)

In much of Iowa, we have no contrasting viewpoints in our radio programming. Of all our statewide radio stations, we have nothing but right-wing, conservative-talk radio. You can find Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh on three or four stations at any time during the day in metro Des Moines.

We do have National Public Radio, which is predomi- nately middle of the road; however, almost three-quarters of its programming is unrelated to news. Where are all the contrasting views to the conservative talking points being thrown at us all day?

The Davenport area recently acquired "Air America" radio programming. While this is geared to a more liberal audience, it at least provides listeners a chance to hear the other side of the story, a chance to get a bigger view of the picture.

I want a station to broadcast the other side of the story and form my own opinion on who is right. How can we claim to be informed if we are hearing only half the story?

-Kelly Ratcliff,
Des Moines.

Letter Of The Day

It's very alarming that several steps toward media control have been taken by our government. One such step is the practice of "news stories" from the White House or other government agencies given to the media and printed or shown without identifying the source, thus implying they have come from independent journalists. Once considered illegal, it is now allowed by a recent Justice Department ruling.

Kenneth Tomlinson, the chairman of the Republican-dominated eight-member board at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), has begun a sweeping campaign to monitor public broadcasting for liberal bias and to turn it more to the right ("PBS Head Wards Off Liberal Bias Accusation," May 25). He paid a contractor $10,000 last year to monitor "Now" with Bill Moyers.

Conservative meddling was seen when the widely admired Bob Edwards was fired from his job as host of the NPR "Morning Edition" news program. The GOP majority on the board are said to be planning to redirect money from news coverage to music programming and are preparing an "examination" of National Public Radio's Middle East coverage for evidence of bias.

Although CPB funding in 2004 was about 15 percent of public broadcasting's funds, the public contributed a great deal more for public radio and TV. Contributors expect the CPB to be bipartisan and the programming free of government interference or political party bias.

The myth of a liberal press is being exchanged for Big Brother dictating what we can see and hear.

-Betty Krueger,
Washington.

--attribution

bush did say he was a uniter

As Shi'ites and Kurds fought for three months to come up with an Iraqi cabinet, it is emerging from Baghdad that soon a broad front will emerge on the political scene composed of politicians, religious leaders, clan and tribal sheikhs - basically Sunni but with Shi'ite participation - with a single-minded agenda: the end of the US-led occupation.

--source

will there EVER be a gate in the bush (mis)administration?

if so, then the one i propose getting tagged is DSMgate.

The Prime Minister is convinced that he was right to invade Iraq. To do so, he needed the backing of Labour MPs. Two years on, Panorama tells the story of what Mr Blair did not reveal to them, and us, before sending British troops into battle.

This timeline includes the key documentary evidence used in the film, along with links to the Prime Minister's speeches. The leaked secret documents were obtained and published by The Daily Telegraph.

see the video @
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/4336727.stm

faulting the fbi for 9/11 'missed chances'

The FBI missed at least five opportunities before the September 11 attacks to uncover vital intelligence information about the terrorists, and the bureau didn’t aggressively pursue the information it did have, the Justice Department’s inspector general says in a newly released report.

The IG faulted the FBI for not knowing about the presence of two of the September 11 terrorists in the US and for not following up on an agent’s theory that Osama bin Laden was sending students to US flight training schools.

The agent’s theory turned out to be precisely what bin Laden did.

--source

ya, blame the fbi. asscroft knew, and stopped taking commercial flights earlier.

um, because that's how the bushite people work

they manipulate you.

Chud Vault's Chudgoo points to today's story about the arrest of five men in Lodi, Calif., who may be linked to al-Qaida and asks cattily, "What better way to convince the American people that they need these drastic anti-privacy laws than to arrest a terror suspect the same day a statement calling for the expansion of the 'PATRIOT' act is released by the White House."

thanks to today's blogs over at slate for the heads up

from the whiskey bar

Tobacco industry lobbying budget, 1999 to June 2004: $113 million

Tobacco contributions to the Republican Party candidates 1990 to 2004: $41 million (75% of total)

Tobacco PAC contributions to Republican candidates 1997 to April 2005: $7 million (75% of total)

Tobacco soft dollars for the RNC 1997-2002: $6.3 million

Tobacco donations to GOP conventions and Bush-Cheney inauguration celebrations 2000 - 2005: $1.5 million

Having the President on your side in a major litigation battle with the Justice Department: Priceless.

--source

that was priceless.

great thread over on DU

about obama coming out against dean. really pisses me off that this dean's dozen had to speak to the media like this instead of being private. but i made a comment about how we need to ditch the old dlc and make the new democratic party much more forceful. it worked for the republicons by golly, it'll work for us even better.

but the thread is an interesting one. some were on obama's side, which surprised me. just goes to show, you can't satisfy everybody, all of the time. and rarely can you even satisfy one all the time. but you sure as hell can satisfy a lot of people, a lot of the time. and i think dean's the perfect man for the job.

headline on yahoo

Bush: Patriot Act Helped to Nab Terrorists

COLUMBUS, Ohio - President Bush on Thursday credited the Patriot Act with helping to convict more than 200 terrorists and dismissed accusations that the law has violated civil liberties.

Bush described scary scenarios that he said were thwarted by law enforcement and intelligence officers working together with powers granted by the law he signed six weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Bush used the examples to pressure Congress to make permanent the provisions of the law that would otherwise expire at the end of the year. But he faces oppositions from civil libertarians who tell their own stories of law-abiding citizens dogged by secret probing of their private affairs.

once again, he's using scare tactics to achieve what he wants. i call that bullying. but others may call just call it politics as usual.

and that's what is wrong with this country. scaring the population as a "normal" way of getting something done is pathetic. it's how the nazi regime came to be in power.

the Misinformer Of The Year award goes to....

bill o'reilly, of fox news.

1. O'Reilly falsely claimed Bush didn't oppose 9-11 Commission…
2. O'Reilly falsely claimed Iraq had ricin…
3. O'Reilly repeated discredited claims on Iraq-Al Qaeda link…
4. O'Reilly fabricated "Paris Business Review" as source for success of French boycott…
5. O'Reilly cited phony stats to argue that taxes on rich are excessive…
6. O'Reilly confused on elementary economics…
7. O'Reilly doctored quotation to suggest Soros wished his own father dead…
8. O'Reilly questioned if Kennedy would show up to Democratic convention ... as Kennedy spoke behind him…
9. O'Reilly disparaged Democrats with trifecta of voter falsehoods. In a discussion about what went wrong for Democrats in the November 2 election, O'Reilly claimed that Democrats "lost votes from four years ago"; that "18- to 24[-year-old]s didn't go" to the polls; and that "[c]ommitted Republicans didn't carry the day for the president; independents did." All three claims are false.
10. O'Reilly on the radio: Three lies, one broadcast. Lie No. 1: Bush tax cuts didn't create the budget deficit. Lie No. 2: "Socialistic" French, Germans, and Canadian governments tax at 80 percent. Lie No. 3: Canadian, British, and French media are "government-controlled," but Italian media is free.

courtesy of mediamatters, via make them accountable

saving this part for when bush jr beats his monkey chest

and proclaims "he killed the taliban" in afghanistan:

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 8 -- Insurgents linked to the former Taliban regime have set off a wave of violence in Afghanistan, launching a string of almost daily bombings and assassinations that have killed dozens of U.S. and Afghan military personnel and civilians in recent weeks while spreading fear throughout the international aid worker community.

--source

from the Voice of the People

My roommate and I ordered Dish Network last week because we were excited by the prospect of being able to watch CNN for more in-depth news coverage. Much to my chagrin the first story I caught was about the Michael Jackson trial. Does anyone really care whether Jackson is guilty or innocent? I'm sorry for his plight, but I really don't think it's headline news. News stories should report real issues of the day. Stories should not be sugar-coated or fluffy. The public needs to hear real truth regardless of its severity. Society will change only if we are stirred into action by real issues. If I want entertainment I'll watch E!, but as for now I want my money back.
- Kelli Starcevich, Des Moines

--attribution

an open message to howard dean:

do not let these people intimidate you. and from what i saw tonite on cbs, they didn't. STAND UP AND TELL THESE MONEY MONKEYS: YELLOW-BELLY DEMOCRATS ARE NOT WELCOMED. LOOK WHERE IT GOT US SO FAR.

and do not worry. the power of being right far outweighs loyalty to the left. just keep that true blue American thing happening, and define yourself, do not let them define you.

maybe it's time to put DEANWATCH.US back up.

message to gloria bolger:

shut your republican trap. whoever injected you into cbs was either (1) completely out of their collective minds, or (2) subversive to the security of the United States of America.

i wish you would just sliver back into foxnews where you belong.

the push is on

for reporting "terrorist" and "united states citizen" in the same sentence, much less the same story. and certainly pushing the envelope in making the connection.

winner of the Hypocrite Of The WeeQ award

Bush told a press conference afterwards, "I've always said it's a serious long long-term issue that needs to be dealt with, and my administration isn't waiting around to deal with the issue.

"We lead the world when it comes to dollars spent, millions spent on research about climate change," the US president said. "We want to know more about it. It's easier to solve a problem when you know a lot about it."

--source

has there ever been a more solid reason to believe that george bush jr. is a hypocrite?

what exxon wants, exxon gets

courtesy of my friend josh marshall:

I don't think the Bush adminsitration needed a lot of convincing not to sign the Kyoto global warming treaty. But this is the lede in a piece just out from The Guardian: "President's George Bush's decision not to sign the United States up to the Kyoto global warming treaty was partly a result of pressure from ExxonMobil, the world's most powerful oil company, and other industries, according to US State Department papers seen by the Guardian."

Quote of the Day

it's a long one, but it sure hits the point on the head:

MR. PRESIDENT, YOU LIED THEN AND YOU CONTINUE TO LIE NOW. HAVE YOU NO SHAME?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Steve.

Q Thank you, sir. On Iraq, the so-called Downing Street memo from July 2002 says intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy of removing Saddam through military action. Is this an accurate reflection of what happened? Could both of you respond?

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: Well, I can respond to that very easily. No, the facts were not being fixed in any shape or form at all. And let me remind you that that memorandum was written before we then went to the United Nations. Now, no one knows more intimately the discussions that we were conducting as two countries at the time than me. And the fact is we decided to go to the United Nations and went through that process, which resulted in the November 2002 United Nations resolution, to give a final chance to Saddam Hussein to comply with international law. He didn't do so. And that was the reason why we had to take military action.

But all the way through that period of time, we were trying to look for a way of managing to resolve this without conflict. As it happened, we weren't able to do that because -- as I think was very clear -- there was no way that Saddam Hussein was ever going to change the way that he worked, or the way that he acted.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, I -- you know, I read kind of the characterizations of the memo, particularly when they dropped it out in the middle of his race. I'm not sure who "they dropped it out" is, but -- I'm not suggesting that you all dropped it out there. (Laughter.) And somebody said, well, you know, we had made up our mind to go to use military force to deal with Saddam. There's nothing farther from the truth.

My conversation with the Prime Minister was, how could we do this peacefully, what could we do. And this meeting, evidently, that took place in London happened before we even went to the United Nations -- or I went to the United Nations. And so it's -- look, both us of didn't want to use our military. Nobody wants to commit military into combat. It's the last option. The consequences of committing the military are -- are very difficult. The hardest things I do as the President is to try to comfort families who've lost a loved one in combat. It's the last option that the President must have -- and it's the last option I know my friend had, as well.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050607-2.html

but isn't musharraf one of our allies?

The LAT's metro section says the FBI has arrested a father and son near Sacramento, accusing the son of having attended an "al-Qaida training camp" in Pakistan.

--courtesy of slate's today's papers

i just have one question here: if the fbi knows about an al-qaeda training camp IN pakistan, why is bush still in bed with musharraf? (like that's not a stupid question)

lets play war daddy

Snipers still regularly attack civilians and troops patrolling Fallujah, despite the fact that the US bombed the city heavily in April and November 2004 to flush out suspected rebels.

According to the Zapata contractors, one of their vehicles veered left on a road leading to a Marine checkpoint. It ran over the spike strip in the road near the guard house and the tire went flat. The anxious contractors jumped into action and put on a spare. Within minutes, they began rolling again.

A Marine captain brought the convoy to a halt. Had anyone in the convoy shot at the guard tower, he asked. Negative, said a convoy member.

But the captain was not convinced. Sixteen American and three Iraqi security contractors in the Zapata convoy were then taken into custody presumably on suspicion of shooting at the Marine tower. They were thrown in jail on the evening of May 28.

Earlier that day, May 28, the soldiers recounted, "receiving small arms fire from gunman in several late-model trucks and sport utility vehicles" at approximately 2 P.M. "Marines also say witnessed passengers in the vehicles firing at and near civilian cars on the street," the Marines' report continues.

According to a Marines press statement, "Three hours later, another Marine observation post was fired on by gunmen from vehicles matching the description of those involved in the earlier attack. Marines saw passengers in the vehicles firing out the windows." This second account coincides with the arrest of the Zapata men.

Today the contractors have been set free and each side tells a different story. Contractors and their families feel they were unfairly arrested and, once in the military prisons, they say they were treated with disrespect.

--corpwatch

there's a lot more of this interesting tale, that got reported in today's latimes.

Letter Of The Day II

Regarding the May 28 letters, "Majority Should Control Senate Confirmations": If the majority should always rule, it follows Al Gore should have been president.

-Jan Kerrigan,
Ankeny.

attribution

Letter Of The Day

President Bush strongly supports embryo adoption. The only way an adopted embryo can be brought to term is through implantation in a healthy woman. So, Bush should encourage his daughters to be surrogate mothers, or does he have others in mind? Maybe volunteer surrogates should get a free college education?

My point is that if he is serious that all those embryos are persons, then he has to propose a program to take care of all of them. Or maybe when he had his photo taken with all those parents and their embryo-implanted babies, he should have reminded them that they should not produce embryos unless they are willing to bring all of them to birth.

Embryos are not persons. As a test, give any of those parents at Bush's photo opportunity a "Sophie's Choice" between the life of a four-celled embryo and the life of an already-born child.

While they might not want to make any choice, they would choose the child. The child, unlike the embryo, is a person with full civil and economic rights.

-Jon Torgerson,
Urbandale.

attribution

and speaking of pensions....

The heads of three major airlines were called to appear Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee. Its leaders are alarmed that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. — the federal agency that insures private pension plans — already has a $23.3 billion deficit because of defaults.

More than half of the 100 largest plans had less than their promised benefits on deposit, which the committee's chairman blames on lax rules that are supposed to guarantee full endowment.

About 34 million people — roughly 20 percent of the nation's workforce — expect to receive payments from their employers through defined benefit plans.

--source

well, there ya go.

if they can't get it right (sic) with pensions....

how in the hell are they expected to get it right with social security???

Although the financial markets have been on the upswing recently from their post-boom low, many of the nation's private pension plans have been sinking deeper into the hole, according to new figures from the government's pension insurance agency.

The 1,108 weakest pension plans -- those whose assets are at least $50 million below the value of the benefits they promise -- were short by an aggregate $353.7 billion at the end of last year, figures from the government's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. show. That was 27 percent more than the shortfall a year earlier, contrary to the hopes of many that funding would improve as the economy strengthens.

--source

to demonstrate how i can say the post and times aren't on the same page....

from slate's today's papers:

Meanwhile, the Post flags a suicide bombing at an Iraqi base in Baghdad. Five people were reportedly killed. (The NYT says none were killed and seven wounded.)

now how can a mistake of that proportion be made by papers that are supposed to be 'of record' quality?

corruption defined

the boeing deal made a lot of people, a lot of money, on the backs of taxpayers. plain and simple.

Besides documenting precisely who was responsible, the new report details the Air Force's vigorous efforts on Boeing's behalf. It also shows how Air Force leaders and Boeing officials jointly manipulated legislation to authorize the deal and later sought to suppress dissenting opinion throughout the Pentagon.

After interviewing 88 people and reading hundreds of thousands of pages of e-mails, the inspector general's office concluded that four top Air Force officials and one of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's former top aides, Undersecretary of Defense Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge, violated Pentagon and government-wide procurement rules, failed to use "best business practices," ignored a legal requirement for weapons testing and failed to ensure that the tankers would meet the military's requirements.

The report also connects Rumsfeld to policymaking on the lease, recounting a statement by former Air Force secretary James G. Roche that Rumsfeld had called him in Newport, R.I., in July 2003 to say "he did not want me to budge on the tanker lease proposal," despite criticism.

but can't let in on just how the bushites are involved:

In the copy of the report obtained by The Washington Post, 45 sections were deleted by the White House counsel's office to obscure what several sources described as references to White House involvement in the lease negotiations and its interaction with Boeing. The Pentagon separately blacked out 64 names and many e-mails. It also omitted the names of members of Congress, including some who pressured the Pentagon to back the deal.

--source

how can a weapons maker be having such a hard time making it, DURING A WAR???

and speaking of tom white....

he altered his website thinking that nobody would remember. he went from:

"Prior to his appointment as Secretary of the Army, Secretary White served as Vice Chairman of Enron Energy Services, the Enron Corporation subsidiary responsible for providing energy outsource solutions to commercial and industrial customers throughout the United States. Mr. White was responsible for the delivery component of energy management services, which included commodity management; purchasing, maintaining, and operating energy assets; developing and implementing energy information services; capital management; and facilities management. "

"Secretary White also served as a member of Enron's Executive Committee and was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Enron Operations Corporation. He was also responsible for the Enron Engineering and Construction Company, which managed an extensive construction portfolio with domestic and international projects."

to this:

"From 1990 to 2001, Mr. White was employed by Enron Corporation and held various senior executive positions."

--source

criminals every last one of them.

enronizing America

Buried in the 700-plus page energy bill currently under debate in the U.S. Senate is a provision that provides hundreds of millions of dollars worth of federal loan guarantees for a power project apparently to be built by four former Enron executives, the interest group Public Citizen revealed Monday in a release to RAW STORY.

One of the former executives is Thomas White, who was Enron's head of retail and energy trading in California during the energy crisis. White later served as Secretary of the Army under President Bush.

Title XIV of the Senate energy bill provides federal loan guarantees for "a project to produce energy from coal … mined in the western United States using appropriate advanced integrated gasification combined cycle technology that minimizes and offers the potential to sequester carbon dioxide emissions and … shall be located in a western State at an altitude greater than 4,000 feet."

--rawstory

it's a law in bush country: fuck up and get rewarded.

more malarky from the majority of misfits in congress

The American Family Business Institute and Free Enterprise Fund launched a TV and radio ad campaign May 10 that targets potential swing votes in the Senate for full repeal of the estate tax. The group said it will run different versions of the 30-second and 60-second ads in Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Maine, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nevada and New York as part of a $15 million campaign leading up to a Senate vote expected before the August recess.


Contrary to ad's claim that "your family" might be crippled, the vast majority of families actually are not affected by the estate tax. In fact, less than 3 percent of deceased adults in 2002 had estates subject to the tax, according to the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center and figures from the IRS.


One ad claims the federal estate tax "can bury your family in crippling tax bills," which is untrue for nearly all of those who will see the ad, including the large majority of farm and business owners. Both ads claim the estate tax is a "double tax," which is only partly true, and mostly false when it comes to very wealthy families.

in short? THEY LIED.

and why did they lie? BECAISE HYPOCRITES LIE.

CANDY CROWLEY, YOU MAKE MY SKIN CRAWL

god what a waste of human flesh.

HILLARY '08

this country is counting on you hillary.

Mrs. Clinton, who is running for a second term in 2006 and is widely described as a possible Democratic nominee for the presidency in 2008, said that her party is hamstrung because Republicans dissemble and smear without shame and the news media has lost its investigatory zeal for exposing misdeeds.

Left unchallenged, especially if Democrats fail to pick up seats in next year's Congressional elections, she said, Republican leaders could ram through extremist conservative judges, wreck Social Security and make unacceptable concessions to China, Saudi Arabia and other nations that are needed to finance the United States budget deficit.

"There has never been an administration, I don't believe in our history, more intent upon consolidating and abusing power to further their own agenda," Mrs. Clinton told the audience at a "Women for Hillary" gathering in Midtown Manhattan this morning.

--source

an open question to the president

"mr. president, how can you fight a war when you do not know who your enemy is?"

Other than fellow Marines, he had no idea whom he could trust. So he trusted no one. Local Iraqi officials were corrupt, poorly trained and under constant threat from the insurgents. Any civilian could be an insurgent waiting to strike. Maybe the man who sold him ice every morning would attack.

"You give them the benefit of the doubt and they kill you,' he said.

http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~2906180,00.html

HYPOCRISY ALERT

In an interview with radio and television news directors, Bush posed "an interesting ethical dilemma," using as an example a top al-Qaida operative captured last month in Pakistan.

"If you're in my shoes, and you thought Abu Farraj al-Libbi had planned an attack on America, would you use any means necessary to get the information from him?" Bush asked. "The decision I have made is `No, we will not.' And let's just pray he doesn't have that information. And when I told the American people we're not torturing, we're not torturing.

--SOURCE

two words: ABU GHRAIB

and they wonder why we call 'em faux

that foxnews is a bush propaganda organ has been widely accepted and acknowledged by all with a specle of brain cells in their heads. but something else got slipped out recently, and it has to do with how karl rove is in bed with fox somewhere. from slate:

Here is what Norvell fessed up to in the May 20 Wall Street Journal Europe:

Even we at Fox News manage to get some lefties on the air occasionally, and often let them finish their sentences before we club them to death and feed the scraps to Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly. And those who hate us can take solace in the fact that they aren't subsidizing Bill's bombast; we payers of the BBC license fee don't enjoy that peace of mind.

another sad day for America and state's rights

Federal authorities may prosecute sick people who smoke pot on doctors' orders, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, concluding that state medical marijuana laws don't protect users from a federal ban on the drug.

-cnn

the results are in, and they're not pretty

unless you're hyper-rich. in which case, you probably aren't reading material like the new york times:

The people at the top of America's money pyramid have so prospered in recent years that they have pulled far ahead of the rest of the population, an analysis of tax records and other government data by The New York Times shows. They have even left behind people making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

The share of the nation's income earned by those in this uppermost category has more than doubled since 1980, to 7.4 percent in 2002. The share of income earned by the rest of the top 10 percent rose far less, and the share earned by the bottom 90 percent fell.

The Bush administration tax cuts stand to widen the gap between the hyper-rich and the rest of America. The merely rich, making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, will shoulder a disproportionate share of the tax burden.

President Bush said during the third election debate last October that most of the tax cuts went to low- and middle-income Americans. In fact, most - 53 percent - will go to people with incomes in the top 10 percent over the first 15 years of the cuts, which began in 2001 and would have to be reauthorized in 2010. And more than 15 percent will go just to the top 0.1 percent, those 145,000 taxpayers.

guess what.... HE LIED:

Under the Bush tax cuts, the 400 taxpayers with the highest incomes - a minimum of $87 million in 2000, the last year for which the government will release such data - now pay income, Medicare and Social Security taxes amounting to virtually the same percentage of their incomes as people making $50,000 to $75,000.

• Those earning more than $10 million a year now pay a lesser share of their income in these taxes than those making $100,000 to $200,000.
• The alternative minimum tax, created 36 years ago to make sure the very richest paid taxes, takes back a growing share of the tax cuts over time from the majority of families earning $75,000 to $1 million - thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars annually. Far fewer of the very wealthiest will be affected by this tax.

The analysis examined only income reported on tax returns. The Treasury Department says that the very wealthiest find ways, legal and illegal, to shelter a lot of income from taxes. So the gap between the very richest and everyone else is almost certainly much larger.

and then we have to get a quote in from the reich-wing heritage foundation:

"In this income data I see a snapshot of a very innovative society," said Tim Kane, an economist at the Heritage Foundation. "Lower taxes and lower marginal tax rates are leading to more growth. There's an explosion of wealth. We are so wealthy in a world that is profoundly poor."

the explosion is happening on the backs of ordainary Americans and he couldn't care less.

the Rush-limbaugh-Wannabe Of The Day

Jeffrey Weiss' article on the meaning of the Quran in Saturday's edition confused me. ("Quran Carries Great Meaning to Muslims," may 29.)

If the Quran is so sacred to Muslims, where is the outrage when insurgents in Iraq set off car bombs in front of mosques? How many Qurans or "representatives of the physical embodiment of the words of God" were destroyed, dirtied or allowed to touch the ground in these car-bomb attacks?

For me to take the imams seriously about their reverence for their holy book, I will need to understand why their outrage is so selective.

Who gave the Muslim detainees Qurans in the first place? It was the U.S. military with gloved hands showing all the respect a Western mind can muster for Islam. Were Nick Berg or our captured soldiers given a Bible or Torah before they were beaten, beheaded and their bodies burned?

-Scott Nelson,
Des Moines.

attribution

Letter Of The Day

I am ashamed to say that I haven't supported Planned Parenthood for years, but now I plan to start sending donations again thanks to STOPP. The May 29 STOPP letter writer displayed specious reasoning in blaming Planned Parenthood for all the ills she abhors. Why not also blame bad breath and obesity on family planning?

-Eileen Mericle,
Ames.

attribution

the tale of two republicans

one a nazi, the other an American. can you tell which is which?

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050605/OPINION01/506050315/1035/OPINION