NYT sues DOD over NSA

tee hee

lets see where this goes. from yahoo:

The New York Times sued the U.S. Defense Department on Monday demanding that it hand over documents about the National Security Agency's domestic spying program.

with iraq heading to civil war

one should keep an eye out for juan cole

approve me, i'm gay!

to my new friends over at leftyblogs:

YOU ROCK!

from the GOOD NEWS file

The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high.

Americans are also overwhelmingly opposed to the Bush-backed deal giving a Dubai-owned company operational control over six major U.S. ports. Seven in 10 Americans, including 58 percent of Republicans, say they're opposed to the agreement.

The troubling results for the Bush administration come amid reminders about the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina and negative assessments of how the government and the president have handled it for six months.

In a separate poll, two out of three Americans said they do not think President Bush has responded adequately to the needs of Katrina victims. Only 32 percent approve of the way President Bush is responding to those needs, a drop of 12 points from last September’s poll, taken just two weeks after the storm made landfall

Mr. Bush's overall job rating has fallen to 34 percent, down from 42 percent last month. Fifty-nine percent disapprove of the job the president is doing.

--source

R.I.P. Dennis Weaver

there's a good memory of him HERE


to don knotts
and darren mcgavin too.

duke cunningham's psychiatric report

is HERE

the daily muck has some interesting tidbits on the culture of corruption

foxnews and the saudis

According to the publication Trading Places (not to be confused with the movie of the same name), which offers news and commentary about "exchanges and trading values worldwide," Shadi Sadeek Sanbar, Special Advisor to Kingdom Holding Company, joined the Board of Directors of the DIFX on September 1, 2005.

In addition to Kingdom Holding Company and Kingdom Hotels Investments, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal owns 5.5% of News Corporation stock.

News Corporation owns FOX News Channel.

--source

no WONDER fox is pushing the UAE deal

CORRUPTION DEFINED

Although a Pentagon audit determined that a Halliburton subsidiary submitted $262 million worth of questionable costs as part of a fuel-delivery contract, the Army still plans to pay the company the bulk of the money, the NYT reports. Only 3.4 percent of the reimbursement will be withheld—an amount more than 50 percent below the average amount of money withheld by the military on disputed contractor charges.

that flip-flopper bush

being the grand hypocrite, it's only fitting that we expose his flip-flopping he so grandly accused john kerry of being.

The Los Angeles Times leads with President Bush's decision to reopen the federal investigation into a Dubai-based firm's bid to gain control of six U.S. ports. Bush's reversal comes after significant bipartisan criticism of the deal and the firm's own suggestion that the matter be reexamined.

Letter Of The Day

In response to Roger Engebretson letter “Deception is Democrats’ Way”: It appears you need to advance forward a few decades to present time and deal with real facts and not fiction.

The American people (regardless of party affiliation) need to acknowledge our administration ranks among the top in corruption and deceit, and apparently has little conscience as is evidenced by loss of lives, and the many thousands maimed for life in Iraq.

Each day brings a new scandal. Are we all just going to sit back and continue to accept this? I shudder to think of our country’s image and stability by 2OO8.

And, for the record I am registered as an independent.

--MYRNA MARNIN, Rockwel

attribution

from the "well DUH" file

the ex-we-used-to-prance-around somethings telling whomever would bother to listen:

"We suggest you decline an invitation to a civil commitment ceremony," Melissa Fryrear told a group of parents. Some busily took notes; a few others wiped away tears. "So many Christians are yielding on this part,"

--source

perhaps they recognize democracy has no limits

that the u.s. would work to suppress a duly elected government when they're running around the world beating their chests like monkeys proclaiming that freedom is on the march. they're finding out that they can not be selective when it comes to who that freedom represents.

The US effort to isolate the Palestinian militant group Hamas has suffered serious setbacks in recent days , as countries around the world have expressed a reluctance to block financial aid and rule out diplomatic ties with the group.

from time magazine

Buried in the huge budget-reconciliation bill, on which House and Senate conferees are putting the final touches right now, are a few paragraphs that accomplish an extraordinary feat. They roll back the price of a barrel of crude oil to what it sold for two years ago. They create this pretend price for the benefit of a small group of the politically well connected. You still won't be able to buy gasoline for $1.73 per gal. as you did then, instead of today's $2.28. You still won't be able to buy home heating oil for $1.60 per gal., in place of today's $2.39. But a select group of investors and companies will walk away with billions of dollars in tax subsidies, not from oil but from the marketing of a dubious concoction of synthetic fuel produced from coal and dependent on government tax credits tied to the price of oil.

Today about 55 such plants around the U.S. process 125 million tons of coal or, in many cases, coal waste from an earlier mining era. For owners and operators, the whole point isn't creating a profitable new energy resource for the U.S.; it's about collecting the tax subsidy. Progress Energy Inc. of Raleigh, N.C., which owns electric utilities that serve portions of the Carolinas and Florida, reported in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that in 2002-04 its synfuel-production losses added up to $400 million. No problem: the company claimed $852 million in tax credits, magically transforming a money-losing operation into a money-making business with $452 million in profits—courtesy of the American taxpayer. And that's not all. Like other synfuel producers, Progress Energy can't immediately use all the tax credits it mines because of tax-law limitations. As of Dec. 31, 2004, it was sitting on $745 million in deferred credits that it can write off against future earnings for years to come. And Progress Energy is not alone. Plants run by DTE Energy Co. of Detroit generated $1.2 billion in tax credits during the same years.

--source

one only has to wonder if all those mining accidents lately had anything to do with this.

from paul bremer's book

in it:

the head of the American occupation harbored doubts about troop levels and Iraqi forces, even though he always sounded sure of himself when he spoke. Bremer reveals that at one point he secretly requested more troops from the Pentagon even though in public he never recognized that he thought it was necessary.

isn't that just like this administration. telling the American people one thing, and doing something completely different?

hm, is this good or what?

A senior U.S. diplomat told the Palestinian leader that U.S. aid will continue, despite the appointment of a new Hamas government.

from the UNDERSTATEMENT of the century dept.

At a time when considerable political attention is focused on the Democrats' uphill struggle to recapture Congress, leaders of both parties say Democrats appear to be in a much stronger position on another pivotal battlefield this November, the contests for governors.
--source

and then to find out that the questions being raised now

are not even the proper questions when talking about port security.

tom kean, from the 9/11 commission, argues that in a nyt dispatch.

democrats don't matter

the company from dubai is inviting the bush administration over to alleviate any fears of security. the problem seems to be not the dubai company, but the republicans who are standing in the way.

The hope is that this announcement will prevent Republicans in Congress from taking any action next week to stop the deal from going through.

so the democrats don't matter?

What Civil War Could Look Like

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/weekinreview/26weis.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=login

guantanamo II

Officials who spoke anonymously to the NYT insist that Bagram was never meant to house long-term prisoners, but now some have been there for three years . Although conditions at the detention center seem to have improved since the military decided to renovate the facilities,

by all accounts the situation is still bleak and prisoners are mostly held in large wire cages.

this is sickening. if that's not torture, i don't know what is. imagine a foreign government coming to nab you and put you inside a cage for three years, without being charged or having the opportunity to defend yourself. God have mercy on the souls of those men who are behind this.

Letter Of The Day

On war and mind control:

I have found myself very disturbed as I watch the Olympics by the ad from “Progress for America.” It runs repeatedly and offers the contention that we must support the war in Iraq and continue sending more people there to die so that those already dead will not have died in vain.

Does anyone remember the same logic used for staying in Vietnam? To me, this is faulty thinking, and for love of our country and people, we need to speak back.

The other component of this ad that disturbs me is the attempt to teach us to hate and fear our enemies.

We have a long history of this. I can remember the “Japs” and Germans of World War II, followed by the terrors that soulless communism would unleash against us.

Post-USSR, there was a failed attempt to label secular humanists the enemy; this was followed by an entire summer of Congress trying to figure out a way to punish desecrators of the flag.

Finally, homosexuality was raised to an exalted level of threat to our way of life. Now it seems to me, we are to believe that we must put Islam, Muslims and Arabs on the highest podium.

I do not deny that there are serious problems in our world, and I love my people and my country. But one of my “core religious values” is the belief that all are children of God. This is the strongest influence on my outlook on the world. In this context, I feel that we should not demonize our enemies, and we should call ourselves, our government and any group who would have us hate and fear to task.

--ANNE GANNETT, Mason City

attribution

Barney Fife, Dead at 81

Don Knotts, the skinny, lovable nerd who kept generations of television audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show," has died. He was 81.
--source

an all-time high

when they say "post-war" exactly when did the war end?

Insurgent attacks in Iraq reached a postwar high in the four months preceding Jan. 20, according to a Iraq progress report issued Friday by the Pentagon.
--source

Joke of the Day

The NYT business section brings word that H&R Block has been forced to restate earnings going back two and a half years. The reason? It made inaccurate estimates of its own tax liability.

from a letter writer in colfax

How dare they go back on their promise to the soldiers who fought so bravely for our country? First, they refuse to give the soldiers the right equipment (such as armor) to protect themselves. Then they make the soldiers pay for their own armor when they are injured before they are released from service. And they had to go into debt to pay off the government. Then, when the men and women get hurt: too bad, you have to also worry about finances.

--source

it's nice to see someone else GET IT

Column of the Day

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060225/OPINION01/602250316/1035/opinion

have you ever thought about death

in a way that makes you wanna experience it, only if you could live to tell about it?

c'mon now, be honest. haven't you ever wondered what it was like on the other side? in a non-physical world? or do you believe that there is a heaven and hell, and if you're not good then you'll be dancing with the devil?

or don't you dance?

freedom on the march

Late Friday, the Iraqi government ordered the curfew to be extended for a second straight day, state television said. The 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. curfew will remain in effect in Baghdad and the provinces of Diyala, Salaheddin and Babil — the same areas where the daytime movement ban was in force Friday to curb sectarian violence.
--source

from the well DUH file

US President George W. Bush said Friday that Iraqis faced "a moment of choosing" amid violence sparked by the bombing of a Shiite shrine but said he remained hopeful about their country's future.

"We can expect the coming days will be intense. Iraq remains a serious situation. But I'm optimistic," Bush said in a wide-ranging speech defending his strategy in that war-torn country and the global fight against terrorism.

--source

tongue planted firmly in cheek

in other words, frivolous legislation but it makes a point.

State Sen. Robert Hagan sent out e-mails to fellow lawmakers late Wednesday night, stating that he intends to "introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents." The e-mail ended with a request for co-sponsorship.

--source

like all things repuke

they backfire

Hillary Clinton has the Senate's biggest war chest, rising poll numbers and her husband's political pit bulls pitching for her. Not that she's officially running for President or anything.

The New York Democrat's numbers are up, suggesting recent Republican attacks on her for being "angry" have backfired, according to a new Hotline poll.

Clinton's favorability rating is up 4% from a poll last month, to 52%, and 82% of voters call her "tough" as opposed to "irrational" (40%) or "angry" (49%).

---source

they wanted iraq within hours of 9/11

These are Defense Department staffer Stephen Cambone's notes from a 2:40 PM meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the afternoon of September 11, 2001. Cambone's notes were cited heavily in the 9/11 Commission Report's reconstruction of the day's events. The document was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Thad Anderson of outragedmoderates.org.

don't just take my word for it

for a while now i've been telling you that iraq was on the brink of civil war, and today, i find that i'm not alone.

The American ambassador to Iraq said Friday that the country was on the precipice of full-scale civil war, and that Iraqi leaders would have to come together and compromise if they wanted to save their homeland.
--source

from the "NO SHIT SHERLOCK" file

A new Gallup survey says a majority of U.S. residents are dissatisfied with the United States' position in the world.

Two-thirds believe that President George W. Bush is not respected by his fellow world leaders, although a majority still have at least a fair amount of confidence in the United States' ability to handle international problems.

Before Sept. 11, 2001, most Americans believed the United States was viewed favorably in the eyes of the world. Between February 2002 and February 2003, Americans' perception of how the world sees the United States became much less positive. The percentage saying the United States is viewed favorably dropped from 79 percent to 57 percent over this period.

--source

looks like ohio is going to be another ohio

Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown says he's heard from "all kinds of people in Washington" that President Bush's political mastermind, Karl Rove, "is going to unleash all his attack dogs in Ohio this year."

--source
ohio was the scene last election where they closed up the courthouse in one county so they could fuck with the numbers.


well, not all the dogs, as one is headed for the pound

Thomas W. Noe, the coin dealer and prominent Republican contributor whose $50 million state coin investment sparked one of the biggest scandals in Ohio state government history, was indicted today on 53 felonies, including theft of more than $1 million.

Joke of the Day

State Sen. Robert Hagan sent out e-mails to fellow lawmakers late Wednesday night, stating that he intends to "introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents." The e-mail ended with a request for co-sponsorship.
--source

MWAHAHA

to sum it up

"the clerics are the kingmakers, the peacemakers and the war-makers."

and what are we doing about it?

nothing.

"The Americans also abandoned us extremely," said one Sunni politician. "They could have put some of their vehicles to protect the mosques—they have the forces to do that. How does a civil war start? It starts like this."

the next time bush or any of his cronys come out saying that 'we're doing this, or we're doing that', you will know, they're lying.

i report, you decide

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told reporters in Baghdad, "We're seeing a confident, capable Iraqi government using their capable Iraqi security forces to calm the storm that was inflamed by a horrendous, horrific terrorist attack yesterday against the Golden Mosque in Samarra."

oh REALLY?

the NYT says "Iraqi forces did little to contain the violence. In at least one case in Baghdad, Iraqi witnesses said that policemen joined in attacking a mosque."

something i didn't know

was how the UAE was keeping iran in check. caught this lil' tidbit over on signsonsandiego.com

That dispute won't be simply or cleanly resolved, either, because America needs places like the UAE: Who else will allow the United States to base spy planes on its territory, or keep freighters to Iran from carrying the building blocks of nuclear weapons?

it's civil war dammit

it's noit the iraqi freedom war any more.

Quote of the Day

"I just don't understand all the negative reporting concerning the Katrina response. President Bush did the best he could, appointing the former head of the International Arabian Horse Association to be his point man in the event of a national disaster. We owe Bush, Michael Brown and FEMA an apology. After all, I haven't heard of a single Arabian horse that was lost in the storm."
-- Rich Barnes, Orland Park, Illinois

attribution

no wonder the populace is unhappy

The average income of American families, after adjusting for inflation, declined by 2.3 percent in 2004 compared to 2001 while their net worth rose but at a slower pace.
--source

al-qaeda and iran are not bossom buddies

like the cons would have you believe.

An Iraqi militant grouping led by al Qaeda blamed Baghdad's government and Iran on Thursday for the bombing of a major Shi'ite shrine and vowed reprisals after retaliatory attacks on Sunni Muslim mosques.
--source

you decide

The US military rejected the idea that a civil war is brewing in Iraq, saying it had confirmed only seven major attacks on mosques across the country.
--source

so what would you call this then?

Gunmen have killed at least 127 people in Iraq in sectarian violence that flared after the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine and reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques.

Another 47 bodies of men shot to death were discovered along with 10 burned out cars alongside a road near Nahrawan, southeast of Baghdad, police said.
--source

the rewriting of history begins

A White House assessment of the sluggish federal response to Hurricane Katrina calls for a better definition of the military's role during catastrophes, opening the door for the Pentagon to oversee government relief efforts in extreme cases, officials said Wednesday.
--source

and bush didn't know? what the hell is going on here?

The Bush administration secretly required a company in the United Arab Emirates to cooperate with future U.S. investigations before approving its takeover of operations at six American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. It chose not to impose other, routine restrictions.
--source

saddam would be proud

The papers have passing word of a new report from a human-rights group, showing there have been about 50 deaths of detainees in U.S. custody where the cause of death was, as the AP puts it, "never announced or was reported as undetermined." Another 34 deaths were "confirmed or suspected" homicides. Soldiers in only 12 of the cases have faced punishment. The longest sentence: five months.

from Rep. Sue Myrick

"Dear Mr President: In regards to selling American ports to the United Arab Emirates, not just NO but HELL NO!"
--source

could this be the ticket for republicans to distance themselves from the prez without looking soft on terrorism? i hope howard dean's got a tin ear to this development.

Iraq's 9/11

to understand the damage to the iraqi's holiest of places, you have to see the damage done to their mosque.

BEFORE:


AND AFTER:



here is a before picture:


and here is a picture after the bombing: