Letter Of The Day

When President Bush says America is addicted to oil from unstable regions, does anyone else hear it as, "I want to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge"?

— Jeni Nosbisch, Des Moines.

source

if the law needed fixing

wouldn't that mean bush was outside the law when he spied on Americans?

WASHINGTON - Senate Intelligence Chairman Pat Roberts said he has worked out an agreement with the White House to change U.S. law regarding the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program and provide more information about it to Congress.

--source

corruption defined

USA Today fronts records showing that Republican Sen. Arlen Specter channeled $50 million in defense-related earmarks to clients of a lobbyist who's married to one of Specter's top aides. The aide happens to deal with Specter's work on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where, as it turns out, the earmarks were inserted.

does this sound like America to you?

it sounds more like a third world dictatorship to me.

The NYT stuffs NASA staffers complaining that political appointees pressured them to, in the Times' words, "cut the flow of news releases" on global warming and other touchy topics prior to the 2004 presidential elections. Bureaucrats also complained about one order this summer to do a search-and-replace from "global warming" to the fuzzier "climate change."

new abu ghraib photos

here
here
and here

that Americans would be capable of such brutality is beyond comprehension. only under bush could such a cavalier attitude towards human life be so prevalent in our government. and they said saddam was bad.

cheney & chertoff, sitting in a tree

As the Washington Post's Dana Milbank notes, Chertoff and Cheney each "accepted responsibility" for their actions while neither could not "come up with much in the way of what he had done wrong."

Letter Of The Day

"Corruption Is Threatening Iraq Progress, Rumsfeld Says" (Feb. 8 headline). Now there's a success story the Bush administration can be proud of: Just like home.
- L.F. Menter, Marshalltown.

attribution

oh and dont EVEN get me started

on abu ghraib

dont they get it?

this whole administration, is on job training. the incredible ineptitude and utter lack of experience most have in positions of power, is frightening.

it's more than that. it's scary.

to listen to gloria borger

who schieffer said broke the story last nite... was the height of incredulity at that... speak about cheney being the victim in this, it just dawned on me why i hate,

i _just_ ,,, HATE them. and i dont HATE any body.

it's clear how they play the game

the whitehouse needn't prove anything. their word is the holy word.

all they have to do is plant it, and let people like rupert carry the torch, and do the dirty work of convncing Americans that bush can do no wrong. he is untoucheable. get with it, or get off MY train sorta thinking. how arrogant.

how bush.

from the "well DUH" file

msnbc breaking news email:

In Fox TV interview, Cheney accepts responsibility for

shooting accident

like what else would he have said? that he didn't know who pulled the trigger?

same team, same game plan, different victims

caught this over on common dreams. the bold is what caught my eye.

Cheney has a curious, shifting history on issues of blame and responsibility. He was vice chair of the congressional committee that spent 11 months investigating the Iran-Contra affair and author of its minority report. As John W. Dean highlights in a recent essay, the 500-page majority report concluded the entire affair “was characterized by pervasive dishonesty and inordinate secrecy.” But Cheney’s report said the Reagan administration’s repeated breaking of the law was “mistakes ... were just that—mistakes in judgment and nothing more.”

pervasive dishonesty and inordinate secrecy. describes the bush administration to a "T".

and finally wrapping up a rather busy morning

i offer this, from juan cole:

From Juan Cole (via crookedtimber).

‘Top Ten Ways Iraq is like Harry Whittington

1. Cheney attacked secular Iraq, mistaking it for an ally of Usamah Bin Laden. Cheney attacked Harry Whittington, mistaking him for a small bird.

2. Iraq has been peppered with Cheney’s munitions. Whittington has been peppered with Cheney’s munitions.

3. Cheney did not have a legal license to hunt quail on the trip that saw Whittingon wounded. Cheney did not have a United Nations license to invade Iraq or reduce it to rubble.

4. Cheney tried to blame Iraq for getting itself invaded by not signalling hard enough that it really did not have weapons of mass destruction. Cheney tried to blame Whittington for getting himself shot by not signalling hard enough that he was not a small bird.

5. Cheney thought Iraq’s insurgency was in its last throes nearly a year ago. Cheney was deathly afraid that Whittington might be in his last throes.

6. Whittington thought Cheney as hunting partner would keep him secure. Iraqis thought that after the fall of Saddam, Cheney would make them secure.

7. Cheney gave Whittington a heart attack by shooting him in the heart. Cheney gave Iraqis a heart attack by having them bombed relentlessly.

8. Cheney tried to cover up how bad Whittington’s condition was after he shot him. Cheney tried to cover up how bad Iraq’s situation is after he had it invaded.

9. Cheney thought Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Cheney thought Whittington was a small bird.

10. Cheney shot Whittington while hunting in the dark. Cheney invaded Iraq while being in the dark.’

*giggle*

incompetence defined

The NYT fronts what feels like a thin piece on the Lincoln Group, the Pentagon contractor that ginned up phony news stories in Iraq. The story details the mysterious rise of the amateur company and includes complaints from former staffers who said their young bosses overpromised on contracts and didn't know what they heck they were doing. Among the slight details left out: The company currently has a Pentagon contract, valued at up to $100 million, to help with "strategic communications" worldwide

so let me get this right. we contract a company who has a hard time with bosses keeping track of what their underlings are doing, getting a $100,000,000.00 contacts for STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS work????

that's like putting brownie in charge of anti-terrorism

what the white house wants, the white house gets

A piece inside the Post says the White House's lobbying against a proposed congressional investigation of the warrantless snooping appears to be paying off. The probe now looks like it's going to be voted down in committee. "It's been a full-court press," said a Senate Republican aide.

it's time to call your senators people.

remember abu ghraib?

well, lookie here:

For whatever reason, the NYT decides to absolutely stuff U.S. commanders complaining that the overcrowded Abu Ghraib prison has become what one officer called a "Jihadist University" Another commander said, "Abu Ghraib is a graduate-level training ground for the insurgency." The story, which is datelined Washington, doesn't explain why the prison is so crowded

i've always maintained that it was pakistan who fed terrorism

and yet bush seems to be buddies with musharrof (or however his name is spelled)

The NYT off-leads would-be suicide bombers in Afghanistan telling interrogators they're from Pakistan and asserting that's where most of the bombers are recruited from. The Times saw video of an interrogation. "Most of the attackers are non-Afghans," said an Afghan official. "We have proof, we have prisoners. We have addresses, we have cassettes." Afghanistan has long asserted that Pakistan has essentially harbored insurgents.

what the good ol' boys of texas are saying

about cheney shooting his friend:

Whose fault was it? If there is anything that Harry's friends at the Vaughn Building are angry about, it is not the shooting itself but the attempt by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan to place the blame on the victim. It's the shooter's duty to know what he is shooting at and where his companions are. A shooting accident is always the fault of the shooter. Always.

--source

Column of the Day

Despite sickness, life seems worth staying around for
By ROB BORSELLINO

read it here

Question of the Day

"What do you say to a woman who had lost four sons, two daughters-in-law and a grandson to AIDS?"

find out here

Letter Of The Day

Anybody ever wanted to be able to drive their vehicle because they lost their license due to an alcohol law? Well if you haven’t, it’s a real pain in the butt, always looking for rides and walking everywhere.

Another problem people are facing is being put in jail for doing drugs and experiencing the high life. Sometimes, druggies are put in prison for more than 25 years, completely changing their family’s lives, their friends’ lives and also community.

I don’t think anybody should look at stoners as criminals because a stoner’s not guilty of anything but having a good time and a good appetite for getting messed up.

Some politicians and citizens are just darn right turned around about the bad things they say about drinking and driving laws, alcohol laws and plain drugs in general. Anybody against this stuff should wake up from their ingenious lives and learn how to respect these kinds of people and work on these laws so these people aren’t burned anymore.

Look at me, for instance. I’m 23 years old already put in jail for smoking marijuana and put on probation for three years and now considered a felon, banning me from the right to join the military and own a gun. I’m pretty much screwed from a lot of things in this world and still feel just as good as anybody else.

--TODD MARTIN, Rockwell

attribution

i won 2nd prize

at the local paper's super bowl contest

what the hell am i going to do with stadium seats?

FARPOINT.FACTOID

Twenty-one percent of the 1,000 adults who replied to the survey conducted Thursday through Sunday said it was very likely or somewhat likely their conversations had been wiretapped, while 52 percent said it was not at all likely.

--source

the whitehouse kiss of death?

President Bush has full confidence in Michael Chertoff and has not considered asking the homeland security secretary to step down after criticism of his performance on Hurricane Katrina, the White House said Tuesday.

"Secretary Chertoff is doing a great job," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said, answering a reporter's question about Chertoff. "The president appreciates his strong leadership. He is someone who is committed to doing everything he can to protect the American people and to continuing to take steps to make sure we are better prepared to respond to the threats that we face."

--source

should move-on take on right-wing democrats?

vote here

is there ANYthing about this whitehouse

that isn't a "lessons learned" event?

it's a shame what the US and israel are doing to hamas

even tho there have been no suicide bombers or any action hamas has done to deserve what they're getting. it's the US and israel who are not abiding by democracy in action. hamas won the election but since the US and israel aren't satisfied, they're going to starve the palestinians until they elect what the US and israel wants.

The idea, which the Times says is being "discussed at the highest level of the State Department" is to "starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections" so that President Abbas would call for new elections.

this is not democracy. it's dictators in action.

Letter(s) Of The Day

today there are two, on the same theme, from the same paper.

In his Feb. 1 letter, David Pulliam argues that if President Bush has committed impeachable offenses, one must also recognize that Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln also committed impeachable offenses (“If Bush Impeachable, So Was FDR”).

Pulliam claims that “grievous harm” was “inflicted by their wartime measures.” As a teacher of American history and government, I feel compelled to correct this simple error of analysis.

Impeachment is a legislative tool that can be used to remove presidents from power who subvert the U.S. Constitution. Lincoln did not subvert the Constitution. To the contrary, he exercised power outlined in Article 1, Section 9. Habeas corpus can be suspended (it is a privilege, not a right) under invasion or rebellion.

The Civil War certainly qualifies as armed rebellion. Therefore, Lincoln did no “grievous harm” to our country, and he certainly did not suspend the Constitution or subvert it in any way.

As for FDR’s internment of Japanese during World War II, this action (though I disagree with it) was upheld by the Supreme Court.

The only presidents to have been impeached were Andrew Johnson (for violating the Tenure of Office Act) and President Clinton. As we saw with the latter case, the House of Representatives may impeach a president for nearly anything. The bar has been lowered, not raised, regarding impeachable offenses.

The war-time wiretapping power Bush claims to have is a power hinged on a war that by its very definition has no end. That is also something to take into consideration.

— Brian Cleveland, Altoona.

and

. . . and war hasn’t been declared

The key difference between President Bush and FDR is that America actually was at war when FDR detained Japanese citizens. Unless David Pulliam can point to a declaration of war from Congress, this country is not technically at war. Hence “war powers” are not granted to Bush.

He must still follow the rule of law: “Those who make the law must be accountable to the law.” And as a side note, if President Clinton was impeached for an affair in the White House, why can’t Bush be impeached for clearly breaking the law of the Constitution (namely the Fourth Amendment and its protection of privacy)?

— J.J. Roepke, Altoona.

--source

FARPOINT.FACTOID

According to a report by DiamondCluster International, a management-consulting firm, Americans will have saved $75 billion in HSAs by 2010. The report estimates financial institutions can capture $3.5 billion in account and management fees over the next five years, and payment processors can capture $2.3 billion in transaction fees.
Wow. Billions of health-care dollars landing in the pockets of financial institutions.

The DiamondCluster International report is titled “Seizing the HSA Opportunity: Developing a Winning Strategy to Grow Profits & Market Share in a Time of Transition.” It reminds financial institutions that the last time they were “presented with an opportunity like this was the introduction of the IRA in 1974.”

--SOURCE

unbelievable? not for this (p)resident.

something i want you to see

i belong to this newshounds mailing list. it publishes synapses of fox news (sic). today's edition:

News Hounds Media Digest # 69
2/5/06 to 2/12/06

1.Janie: Far-right Kansas Attorney General, Phil Kline appeared on Dayside this week, to give his opinion on the current lawsuit that is underway involving his interpretation of a Kansas law, in which he feels all health professionals need to report any child under the age of 16 that is sexually active. He claimed that he would not prosecute these teens, as long as their partner were of a similar age, despite the fact his recent testimony proved otherwise.
http://www.newshounds.us/2006/02/08/farright_kansas_attorney_general_phill_kline_dodges_and_spins.php

2. Marie Therese: Last week Bill O'Reilly lashed out at former President Jimmy Carter for remarks he made during the Coretta Scott King funeral. His guest, Rev. Al Sharpton, defended Carter vigorously, forcefully pushing back against O'Reilly's partisan whining. This made for an exciting, if somewhat loud,exchange. http://tinyurl.com/aech2

3. Melanie: Evangelical Christians are consistently welcomed with open arms on Fox News; their causes celebrated and even promoted. So it was striking when two representatives from an evangelical group promoting action to combat global warming appeared on Your World last Thursday and were given the cold shoulder. Even they weren't able to shake Fox's loyalty to the Bush administration on that topic.
http://tinyurl.com/a8lmq

4. Chrish: FOX is interjecting the defense of Bush's warrantless domestic spying into even the most trivial and unrelated segments, as if the outcome of hearings and investigations will be a matter of public opinion rather than law and Constitutionality.
http://www.newshounds.us/2006/02/09/preemptive_damage_control_covers_for_another_defense_of_american_secret_police.php#more

5. Deborah: Did Libby bring Dick Cheney into his testimony because he's shopping for a pardon?
http://www.newshounds.us/2006/02/10/is_libby_shopping_for_a_pardon.php#more

6. Donna: This week the war drums were beating on Fox, including Studio B. John Bolton made the following statement in speaking about Iran, "It's entirely consistent with what the IAEA did on Libya and North Korea, other cases of nuclear weapons programs." John Bolton insinuarted that Iran did, indeed, have nuclear weapons without a shred of evidence.
http://www.newshounds.us/2006/02/07/bolton_insinuates_that_iran_has_nuclear_weapons_program.php

7. Ellen: Where's the outrage from progressives? In a revolting display of racism and tastelessness, Sean Hannity and guests smeared the NAACP, civil rights leaders and Coretta Scott King's memorial while paying lip service to her memory - all because Hannity, et al. decided the mourners were not polite enough to President Bush. News Hound Ellen urges everyone to complain to FOX News about their self-appointed funeral thought-police.
http://tinyurl.com/b5fog
http://tinyurl.com/7ko8s

and the game has only started

i wonder who's gonna be the 'fall guy' this time? ohio was last year's, and before that of course, was florida. will florida again get the courage to take on the bushites and run a rigg'ed election again?

Democratic State Treasurer Robert Casey Jr. holds a 51 – 36 percent lead over incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum in the Pennsylvania Senate race, with 10 percent undecided, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

--source

wow

yes baby!!!

Quote of the WeeQ

"One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
--Oliver Wendell Holmes

God help us, one and all

A major American attack on Iran's nuclear sites would kill up to 10,000 people and lead to war in the Middle East, a report says today.

--source

what the fuck is the problem with ecto??

Quote of the Day

today's edition is a treat. 2 for the price of 1.

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

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

--source

they're still blaming clinton for everything

The top US diplomat also took an implicit jab at the previous administration of Bill Clinton for failing to deal with Bin Laden before he launched the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
--source

9/11 happened on who's watch?

blaming clinton for osama still being on the loose, is a sign of weakness. if they were strong, they wouldn't need to blame clinton for everything.

ahhhhh now i understand what george bush meant

when he said he looked into putin's eyes and saw his soul. from a piece about the saga of a railway worker who was involved in an accident and sentenced to 4 years in a labor camp.

Nowhere is the privilege -- and abuse -- of power more visible to ordinary Russians than on the roads, where politicians and bureaucrats, who have special license plates and blue lights for their luxury vehicles, speed recklessly, force other drivers aside and generally flout the rules. At the same time, ordinary citizens are subject to constant harassment from traffic police, who routinely demand small bribes. These irritants have become the source of open anger because many motorists can easily imagine themselves suffering Shcherbinsky's fate.

i didn't know this

from slate:

Thus Moussaoui, once touted as the "20th hijacker," starts the penalty phase of his trial, having already pleaded guilty to six felony counts of conspiracy in connection with the 9/11 attacks. He pleaded guilty, you'll recall, over the objections of his lawyers, and even as he admitted to lying to government investigators, he denied involvement in the attacks on the Twin Towers

well, of COURSE he denied involvement in 9/11. we all know who was behind 9/11.

and then this:

Yet, the Bush administration first claimed in public statements by Dick Cheney that Moussaoui was probably the 20th hijacker, then claimed he was intimately tied to the 9/11 plot, and now claims that he merely failed to disclose the 9/11 plot to the FBI. Why is it that Moussaoui's story hasn't changed much in four years, while the government has downgraded him from hijacker to secret-keeper?

and on and on it goes about how this incompetent government of george bush junior's is incapable of getting any kind of conviction from prosecuting terrorists. a good read

Letter Of The Day

Republican lawmakers trotted out their education agenda for the new session with great fanfare. At the center of their plan was another call for increased "accountability." Apparently this accountability is to apply only to Iowa's overworked and underpaid teachers.

In 2001 the Republican-controlled Legislature approved a Teacher Quality pay plan that promised increased salaries for teachers in exchange for a new rigorous system of licensure and teaching standards. While teachers have uniformly met these new, time-consuming requirements, our pay has actually gone down to 41in the nation - an all-time low. Why? Because the Legislature broke its pledge to teachers to the tune of a $120 million shortfall in funding.

Republican legislators demand accountability from public schoolteachers but refuse to be accountable themselves. They refuse to face the reality that Iowa teachers are leaving the state and the profession in droves (5,000 did not purchase or renew their licenses last year according to the Iowa Department of Education).

Republican Rod Roberts best exemplified the credibility gap on the floor of the Iowa House in when he said: "If you don't have something that is reasonably adequate in compensating people, it is a deterrent to recruiting folks." (April 28, 2005.) In typical Republican fashion, he was advocating not for an increase in teacher pay but for a raise in his own salary. Not surprisingly, he got it.

- Dave O'Connor, Des Moines.

attribution

back in 1980

who else do you know that can tell you that halloween 1980 was the first night spent in bootcamp? anybody? heh, i know. it's difficult. but they're out there.

ya, i went into the navy in denver. i went to denver out of being in cherokee's drug rehab wing. for the 2nd time i think. wasn't that when cdu was on the north side? i believe the 3rd time was when it was over at the hospital, and that was in 1986. i went in on mother's day in 1980. landed there from new orleans via des moines, chicago a coupla times.

but getting back to denver. i was playing dj at a club, one of the best in denver, and had quite the following. so the night i left, there was huge party - i jacked myself full of cat tranquilizer with my new friend, jerry. he was from new york. he wrote me all during boot in orlando. even came to meet me in new york on new years 1981. graduation day.

but getting back to denver. i got sick and tired of the new owners at this other club thatl i went and got high, then signd up for the USN across the street. they told me that i HAD to go, with my score i would become quite well known or something like that, played on my need for attention. came and woke me up at the side of jerry on halloween morning @ 0630, to take me to the airport for the flight to orlando.

ayup. don't ask, don't tell wasn't on paper yet. but reagan sure had to get tough, just like bush had to this time. the navy lost a lot of good, very much in demand sailors over that. anyway, ayup, i was in the navy, in bootcamp, stuck on a friday without any authorized issue which meant, i had to stay in my street clothes - which were at the time, full camouflage with bars. so they knew me right away in boot. i became the company yeoman - the one who kept all the records. i was a born natural at it.

anybody who wants to understand

just how silly george bush junior's argument against stem-cell research is, all they would need to do is watch tonite's 60 minutes.

ms stahl did a bang up job. KUDOS MS THING.

is there any , ANY way of tying custer battles

and richard cheney?

i'll bet there is like six degrees of separation, if that many.

i wonder how many people know

the feeling you get when you go and interview for a job

in a bar as a piano player.

gunsmoke is on, and mcgraw is the title of this episode.
i bet i was like jake mcgraw in more ways than just piano player?

from the STUPID CRIMINALS file

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.

--source

didn't know they let vampires have guns didja.

Video of the Day

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7193470719293309352

i'm finding out that watching yourselve

you are you best critic.

Quote of the Day

"Dropping bombs from a safe height on an already hard-pressed people, whose infrastructure is in chaos from years of sanctions and who live under an oppressive regime, isn't a 'war'. It's a turkey shoot. "
-- Terry Jones
attribution

(in the signature of ixion's post but worthy of QOTD status just the same)

and speaking of supporting the troops

lookie here:

A device called the Joint IED Neutralizer (JIN) boasts a 90 percent success rate in destroying roadside bombs, but the Pentagon won't let it be used in Iraq, the LAT reports. Although Pentagon officials insist that further testing is needed, others are frustrated by what they consider stalling from an agency out of touch with the immediate needs of ground soldiers. Over fifty percent of total American casualties have been attributed to roadside bombs.

--source

so the report on katrina made it out into the sunlight

DHS secretary Michael Chertoff bears the brunt of its criticism for being slow to make bad decisions which were implemented poorly. But the White House is faulted for lethargic leadership, former FEMA head Michael Brown is blamed for incompetence, and even New Orleans mayor C. Ray Nagin is chided for general hysteria-mongering. '"All the little pigs built houses of straw,'" the report notes in an apt though somewhat unfortunate metaphor. Left unanswered is the question of whether Congress will be satisfied with finger-pointing, or whether accountability will be brought to bear.

i can answer that. of course not. not one person will be held accountable. chertoff will still have his job, brownie already is making millions consulting the very organization he misled.

watching MTP

senator roberts, you need to take a memory pill. you're so lame brained and unable to speak coherently, it's amazing that you're still in office.

why are you so concerned about whether or not you can tap someone's commuinications? why shouldn't that situation have been known for days?