watching law & order, and i caught the police lt. having an issue about 'the president nominating someone like that, as if he didn't do enough damage to new york city already'.... how can you not associate that with THIS?

Letter Of The Day

The July 26 headline, "Bill Would Expand U.S. Ethanol Use: Agreement Seen As 'Positive Step' for Iowa's Corn Farmers," tells only part of the story.

I applaud increased use of the renewable fuels that should lessen our reliance on Middle East oil. However, in that energy bill the petroleum companies gained ever more lucrative concessions for their profitable enterprises.

They've tossed some "crumbs" to renewable fuels while behind the scenes the oil companies again get the "frosting."
-Olive Wilson,
Primghar.

--source

enronomics strikes again!

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 - President Bush has never exercised his veto power, but he brandished it over major transportation legislation for two years, threatening Congress with the V-word should lawmakers break the bank in pursuit of home-state road and bridge work.

So when Congress delivered transportation legislation with a price tag put at $286.4 billion, the administration claimed victory, noting the final amount was just $2 billion above the White House's limit and far below what senior members of Congress wanted.

But as details of the measure came under closer inspection this week, the spending picture got a bit blurry. In a piece of legislative legerdemain, Congress managed to stuff an extra $8.5 billion into the highway bill and still meet Mr. Bush's demands by requiring that the added money be turned back to the Treasury on Sept. 30, 2009, the day the bill expires.

The question of whether that new bottom line translates into financial flexibility or fiscal irresponsibility now depends on who is adding things up.

--nytimes

what did you expect from proven liars? the truth?? mwahahaha

Letter Of The Day

With a world constantly in battle, America's reputation is in a dire need of a tuneup. When I think of the United States, I see three different perspectives foreign nations can view of us.

The first reputation is the arrogant American. In the 2004 election, our presidential candidates boasted the United States as the most powerful nation. They remarked how we have the strongest military in the world. It sure sounds like a challenge to other countries.

Let's not give other nations a reason to test our opinion. We can be proud of our nation without bragging to be better than everyone else. Once we step down from our pedestal, maybe other nations will stop trying to knock us off of it.

Being the "most powerful nation" gives us a responsibility to help less fortunate countries.

Our second reputation is of the world's big brother. We want other nations to think that if they have a problem, we can help. The United States has helped many other countries and should be proud of that.

However, when helping one country means attacking another, that can make America look like we can't mind our own business. Standing up for someone doesn't mean pushing someone else down.

Finally, we have the reputation of spreading democracy. I am totally for democracy in America. I would love if other countries chose to give it a try. We have to remember, though, that other countries have different cultures. What works best for us may not be the best for a culture that has a different background. Let's not shove democracy down other nations' throats. Let them make their own decisions.

The more we look at ourselves, the less we'll have to look out for ourselves.

--By DREW SEVERSON, Garner
--source

from my own hometown paper too, albeit i don't know and haven't heard who Drew Severson is, i sure would like to meet him.

whjy i hate republicons

A piece inside the Post looks at the Scorpions, who were originally created by the CIA to infiltrate Iraq before the war and be behind-the-scenes helpers. Things didn't go so well back then. The WP says most of the prewar missions were "delayed or canceled because of poor training or planning." After the invasion, the Scorpions found employment doing what one "intelligence official" called "dirty work." Oh, and in case you're worried that such talk might get Congress curious, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee said he knew all about the program and isn't interested in investigating: "We're not spending a lot of time going back and dissecting tactical programs."

--source

i can jus hear that chairman now: "so what if they did something wrong, we're not looking backward, we're looking forward."

today's P.S.A.

Search Results

Results 1 - 10 of about 454,000 for poopy - 0.10 sec. (About this page)

Also try: poopy joe.com, poopy joe, poopy diapers, poopy pants

*giggle*

a sad milestone has now passed

we have lost 2000 coalition troops in iraq.

http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx

i'd probably like his hat too

i don't know who nathanial is, but i'm sure he's latino, and that's enough for moi. given george's propensity for latinos, i would say he's in the same boat.

"I bought this Scout hat. It's hard to describe but it's kind of like a Scout cowboy hat. I had it with me but we weren't supposed to wear our hat so I had it between my knees.

"The president shook hands with me and pointed down and said, ‘I like your hat.'
--source

if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, then....

could it be a duck?

Out with the "War on Terrorism", in with the "War on Global Extremism". Could there be a new medal in the words. The "Global War on Extremism Campaign Medal".

When recruiting numbers get down, look for Rumsfeld to try any ploy to get more warm bodies. "Extremism". Now that doesn't sound as scary as "terrorism".

http://forums.military.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/409192893/m/8500001110001/inc/1

QUACK! QUACK!!

remember PLAMEGATE?

where the revenge of karl rove ran into obstacles, like outting a CIA undercover agent, a federal crime? it all started with some phone calls, and karl's bed partner bob novak whispering sweet revenge nothings one night before bob proceeds to out her in his column.

well, it seems to get more ludicrous every time there's a new story about the case, which is over 2 years old now.

Mr. Novak offered a possible explanation for the disconnect on Monday, suggesting in his column that he could have obtained Ms. Wilson's maiden name from the directory Who's Who in America, which used that name in identifying her as the wife of Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador.

--source

well, i couldn't have put the same reaction a friend of mine over on DU had, into better words:

He could well have figured out that Joseph Wilson's wife was named Valerie Plame. So could have their neighbors, their insurance broker, their pool cleaner, and the maitre'd at a local restaurant. That is, needless to say, all very much beside the point. Mrs. Wilson claimed to work as a consultant with a company named Jennings Brewster. As far as their neighbors, their insurance broker, their pool cleaner, the maitre'd or Mr. Robert Novak could have known, this was a legitimate company that drew revenue for consulting services rendered. What none of these people could have determined from "Who's Who in America" or any other public source was that Jennings Brewster was in fact a CIA front company gathering intelligence on weapons proliferation, or that Mrs. Wilson or Ms. Plame, or whatever, was a covert operative for the Central Intelligence Agency. No public source said that. The CIA tried desperately to prevent Mr. Novak from printing that. And the fucking New York Times should stop pretending that this point isn't obvious to any child who looks into the matter with a shred of honesty. Are they fucking kidding me?

The lengths of absurdity that these scumbags will go to to backtrack on their criminal behavior is directly proportional to their culpability and criminal exposure. And this story is a doozy of bad logic and laughable premises, so I'm betting that they're expecting rather severe indictments. He could have figured it out by himself? How? How on earth could he have done that? If any public source made any such claim, that public source should be added to the investigation. As it stands, the FIRST public source to state that Valerie Wilson was a CIA employee was Mr. Novak's column, which is why he's at the center of the shitstorm. As well he should be.
--source

the dog ate my homework excuse only a republicon could get away with using.

on john roberts (the nominee, not the dittohead on cbs)

caught this tidbit on TP this morning:

Roberts also advocated narrowing the reach of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, arguing that the law should bar only voting rules that discriminated intentionally and not those that merely had a disparate impact.

ya know what that tells me? roberts is the type of guy who will let 'unintended consequences' be without consequences.
and that, my friend, is how evil is born.

bush style democracy

WASHINGTON, July 31 - As the Pentagon was making its final preparations to begin war crimes trials against four detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, two senior prosecutors complained in confidential messages last year that the trial system had been secretly arranged to improve the chance of conviction and to deprive defendants of material that could prove their innocence.

--source

you'll see that the pentagon did their usual cover-up investigation, and concluded that their own prosecutors' charges were without merit.

c'mon now. the pentagon has proven time and time again to be pathological liars. so, who ya gonna believe?

Letter Of The Day

Many of the freedoms the founders of this country included in the U.S. Constitution, such as protection from unwarranted searches and the right to a trial, have been discarded by the current administration.

You can now be arrested without any charge, held indefinitely, denied the right to contact family or a lawyer, transferred to a foreign country that openly engages in torture or executed - all without any burden of proof, standard of evidence, legislative oversight or appeal. No judicial process whatsoever except a "tribunal" the president himself constructs, which some top military officers have denounced as nothing more than a sham kangaroo court.

On July 15 in a chilling decision a panel of federal appellate-court judges upheld Bush's sovereign right to designate anyone he chooses a legal non-person, throwing away the Geneva Conventions, American military and domestic law and the U.S. Constitution. One of the jurists on that panel was John G. Roberts.

Four days after he affirmed Bush's autocratic powers, Roberts was rewarded with a nomination to the Supreme Court.

Roberts is not the warm, fuzzy shoo-in he is being sold as in the media. His disdain for the freedom traditionally protected by the U.S. Constitution makes Roberts the exact opposite of the kind of person who should sit on the Supreme Court.
-Jay Miller,
Hills (IA).

--attribution

Letter Of The Day

Twenty-seven children in Iraq are blown up while reaching for candy ("From Smiley-Faces to Blood and Death," July 14). President Bush still says, "We've taken the fight (over there) so that we don't have to fight them on our streets."

The same day I'm sitting with a friend for a nice lunch out. Those children died so that I could safely go out to lunch? Innocent Iraqis are dying so we can be safe here.

The terrorists were not in Iraq, but they are now. The blood of the Iraqi people is on our heads because of bad decisions made by our administration. We can't now change that.

What we must do is make sure that we in some way become worthy of their sacrifice, put our shoulders to the wheel and live exemplary lives. Sacrifice to aid those who are helpless and powerless.

-Jan Fleming, West Des Moines.

--source

the "well DUH" Post of the Day

WASHINGTON - Thirty percent of U.S. troops surveyed have developed stress-related mental health problems three to four months after coming home from the Iraq war, the Army's surgeon general said Thursday.

--source

would anybody like to argue that?

in case you didn't know

the lawyers objecting to how our military treated detainees, wrote some memos. you can see them here.

a turd blossom? bush will give you a raise.

The top pay for senior White House aides, including Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Legislative Affairs Director Candida Wolff, mushroomed to $161,000 at the beginning of July, according to a list sent to Congress and obtained by National Journal, RAW STORY can reveal.

--source

just disgusting. aint it.

i know, let's play NAME THAT WAR

WASHINGTON, July 25 - The Bush administration is retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, pushing the idea that the long-term struggle is as much an ideological battle as a military mission, senior administration and military officials said Monday.

--source

i know, i know!

BUSH BULLSHIT

or bushit for short.

from today's papers on slate

The NYT notes that Scotland Yard's initial assertion that the man police shot was "directly linked" to the case is among what the paper calls "a series of incomplete characterizations" and "in some cases, public misstatements about the evidence."

(By the way, the Post reefers the story of the slain man, but it's worth noting that while the man's death was the paper's leadstory on Saturday, the revelation of his innocence is on A24Sunday.)

--source

i can understand burying the truth and corrections on page B70. but when it's as important as this, then they should be placed in the same spot used when blurting out the (now known) untruths.

PLAMEGATE and the men who brought it to you

and covered by one of the best, most accurate "reporters" of our time, this story has legs i never would have put on her. soupy is exactly how this lying and thievin (mis)administration would like for it to get, so nobody will ever know the truth, except those who are trying to convict America because of it.

josh marshall, you have my extreme gratitude for allowing us to see the truth.

Ever wonder why George Tenet's July 11, 2003 mea culpa about the Niger uranium snafu seemed so protective of the White House?

Maybe that was because it was written by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

Unless I'm mistaken this is one of several interesting (if not that surprising) tidbits in the Friday Times article on the Plame investigation. Says the Times ...

"Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby Jr., were helping to prepare what became the administration's primary response to criticism that a flawed phrase about the nuclear materials in Africa had been included in Mr. Bush's State of the Union address six months earlier. They had exchanged e-mail correspondence and drafts of a proposed statement by George Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, to explain how the disputed wording had gotten into the address. Mr. Rove, the president's political strategist, and Mr. Libby, the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, coordinated their efforts with Stephen Hadley, then the deputy national security adviser, who was in turn consulting with Mr. Tenet."

This tells us a few things.

One, the seamless (or perhaps 'seamy', take your pick) integration of the political and national security staffs at the White House in organizing the push back against Joe Wilson and the controversy he'd ignited about the White House's use of phoney intelligence about an Iraqi nuclear weapons program.

Read the whole article and you'll see that these two were working together on this with a number of top White House officials.

Two, these were the two men who we know had conversations with reporters about Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame. And it would seem that in the days leading up to the leak they were involved in active and detailed collaboration and/or dialog with Director Tenet about the Niger matter and the origins of Wilson's trip.

Another piece of the puzzle is suggested by a new article out from Bloomberg, which says that Rove's and Libby's testimony before the grand jury conflicts with testimony from the reporters whom they spoke to. Specifically, Libby reportedly told the grand jury that he heard of Plame's identity from Tim Russert. But Russert told the grand jury that that's not so.

Now, I know we've got a few balls in the air already. But let me note one other point.

A few days ago a former high-level administration official who was on Air Force One going to Africa with the president (and think for a moment how many now-former administration officials were on that flight in a position to vouch for this fact) told Bloomberg News that he saw Ari Fleischer "perusing the State Department memo on Wilson and his wife."

So Perhaps Libby and Rove found out about Plame from Fleischer, who would have been calling back to the White House. Or perhaps they got it from their research and authorship of the Tenet mea culpa. It seems quite conceiveable that they got it from both directions. Remember, Libby would have had no shortage of access to former CIA officers and CIA personnel on loan to the administration who could have given him more backstory on Plame. The two channels might even help explain the two versions of her name that were in circulation.

In any case, there was no shortage of channels through which they might have gotten the information. But each, it seems, in his grand jury testimony, has claimed he learned the information from journalists -- even though the journalists disagree.

Letter Of The Day

The Register published July 10 an article about the lack of adequate mental-health care ("State of Mental Anguish"). Now, in a July 14 editorial, the Register advocates shutting down the veterans health-care system, issuing cards to veterans and throwing them into the private sector ("Vets' Health Care Needs Overhaul").

Where in this system are they going to find treatment for the post-traumatic stress syndrome the Register admits may affect 30 percent of the soldiers returning from Iraq and/or Afghanistan? Is the private sector going to work hard to find shelter for homeless veterans, offer addiction treatment, run outpatient clinics, assist with drug costs?

Yes, veterans are "only one segment of the population," but they deserve treatment geared to their special needs. The veterans' health system does an admirable job striving to meet those needs. The private-hospital sector leaves much to be desired.

Don't do this to our veterans. If we can spend "precious public dollars" sending them to war, we should come up with the money to care for those who make it back.
-Markoline Johnson,
Des Moines.

--attribution

PLAMEGATE timeline

HERE

WHAT ARE THEY HIDING??

On July 22, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) denounced the latest efforts of the Bush Administration to block the release of the Darby photos and videos depicting torture at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison facility. On June 2, 2004, CCR, along with the ACLU, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense, and Veterans for Peace filed papers with the U.S. District Court, charging the Department of Defense and other government agencies with illegally withholding records concerning the abuse of detainees in American military custody. Since then, the organizations have been repeatedly rebuffed in their efforts to investigate what happened at the prison.

--source

thieves stick together like bees on honey, don't they?

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- During the tumultuous presidential recount in 2000, John Roberts flew to Florida and volunteered advice to Gov. Jeb Bush, whose brother was trying to clinch the election.

--source

Letter Of The Day

A June 30 editorial said President Bush's "bigger task is to convince the Iraqi people to fight for his vision of their future."

Years ago, we couldn't figure out why the South Vietnamese couldn't be trained to defend their own country. The North Vietnamese had no difficulty defending their country. Same people. One group fought to the death, one did not.

Now in Iraq the government-sponsored armies and police forces are unable to defend their country. They are ineffective.

Meanwhile, the insurgents are very effective, tenacious fighters. Same people, one group fights to the death, one group does not.

Why? We asked the South Vietnamese to die for our goals, our vision of what their country should be like. It didn't work.

Today we are asking the Iraqi army and police forces to fight and die for President Bush's vision, his goals, his agenda. It isn't working. It never has, and it never will.

-Barbara Paulding, Russell.

--attribution

they succeeded in washing rove off our televisions

i just wonder how much it cost them.

for all three networks to not even mention rove, given the heavy sunday carryover, it's simply amazing how they all bowed to bush and didn't mention rove all night.

mediawhores. every last one of them. and that includes you john roberts.

looks like bush is CREATING more terrorists

WASHINGTON - New investigations by the Saudi Arabian government and an Israeli think tank — both of which painstakingly analyzed the backgrounds and motivations of hundreds of foreigners entering Iraq to fight the United States — have found that the vast majority of them are not former terrorists and became radicalized by the war.

--source

it's out, and it's a doozie

Report Shows Rove May Have Lied to FBI, A Felony

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0507/S00227.htm

and here too:

http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=11391&fcategory_desc=Under%20Reported


all i can say is

WOW

iraqi democracy on the march

taken from TP:

Meanwhile, the papers mention that another dozen Sunni Muslim men were found dead after being arrested by Iraqi police over the weekend. The NYT mentions the usual signs of torture. "Now when anyone is arrested, his family expects him dead within a few days," one moderate Sunni leader told the Post.

--source

that's the bush legacy, iraqi democracy in all it's gory fashion.

Letter Of The Day

On the front page of the June 30 Register we had news of the death of an orangutan ("Zoo Faulted in Indah's Death"). Meanwhile, buried on page 8A, there was a short news item concerning the loss of 17 American troops in Afghanistan after their copter was shot down ("17 Feared Dead After Afghanistan Copter Crash").

The Bush administration does not have to censor the miserable news coming from the Middle East when there are so many accommodating editors around. How sad.
-Lloyd E. Anderson,
Ames.

--attribution

Quote of the Day

"The losers sat in the back of the plane with the techies."
--Rolling Stone author, Matt Taibbi, on The Daily Show, July 12, 2005

an open message to matt taibbi

you were hot, man, on jon's show tonite. a hot man being hot is not something i get every day out here in north iowa. but even when i lived in manhattan, you would have been my dreamboat for a man with the way you are capable of bringing more than just plain words to life.

bravo boy. bravo. i think i'll run over to amazon and put my first order in for spanking the donkey.

for those of you who are not aware of whom i speak, take a look at some of his work

if you're in iowa you need to go to this

http://www.afsc.org/eyes/details/iowa/default.htm

scotty mcclellan gets roasted

read the fun for yourself

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/11/AR2005071100991.html

Letter Of The Day

I am a convicted felon. Now that I have my right to vote restored, I'd like to assure the Republicans and political experts who are crying foul that I will not be voting for any Democratic candidates.

I won't likely vote for a Republican, either, since both parties are fueled by corruption and greed. As far as I'm concerned, Republican and Democrat politicians are nothing more than liars and thieves who deserve to be in jail more than someone who grew a few pot plants.

I will vote for Libertarian candidates, so please don't worry, Mr. Yepsen.
-Ted Grimm,
Des Moines.

--attribution

Letter Of The WeeQ

and our winner for this week's edition goes to:

For too many Americans the phrase "Religious Freedom" means freedom to practice their own special brand of religion as intrusively, coercively, divisively and punitively as they desire.

The most blasphemous of them claim authority from God to do so. The most dangerous of them seek governmental authority to do so.

No theocracy has endured for long.

It is increasingly likely that American citizens striving to make America a Christian theocracy will destroy America in the name of saving it with little further help from outside terrorists.
-Gordon Greta,
Newton.

--attribution

who ever said small town people can't think, had their heads up their asses.

Letter Of The Day

we got two winners today. both deal with the PBS bias issue.

Cal Thomas, in his June 26 column, "Bias Runs Deep at PBS," attempted to further perpetuate his weakly substantiated assertion that PBS and NPR slant "too far to the left and need to be brought into balance." He cited one program, "NOW." Thomas accused the "lefties" of avoiding the bias debate and said that they "have taken to smearing" the current PBS chairman, Kenneth Tomlinson. Thomas then proceeded to do the very thing that he accused the lefties of doing, by attacking PBS journalist Bill Moyers.

I decided to survey some of the programming presented on both PBS and NPR. Later that very morning, I watched and listened to the program "The McLaughlin Group." Moderator John McLaughlin (former Washington political reporter and columnist for the National Review) facilitated a debate over many of the current political problems facing our nation. Opinions from the left, right and center were presented. Next, I tuned into the local program "Iowa Press," where Register columnist David Yepsen (a leftie for sure) interviewed Republican Sen. Jeff Lamberti over many of the issues confronting the Iowa political scene. Finally, on Monday afternoon on my drive home from work, I listened to the NPR news-radio program "All Things Considered," which included a three-minute radio segment titled "This I believe." The segment highlights an author-written piece that is read over the air. On that particular afternoon, conservative Newt Gingrich shared his personal statement on a deeply held belief.

I decided that there definitely is a bias and hidden agenda running deep. However, it's not one to be found at PBS. Rather, it predominates the rhetoric of Cal Thomas and other detractors of PBS and NPR.
-Dennis E. Thompson,
Ankeny.

AND

It seems that Cal Thomas and other conservatives are using the statistic that only four of 19 guests on Bill Moyer's "NOW" were for the Iraq war. Considering President Bush's sub-50 percent approval ratings, did it ever occur to them that perhaps only four of 19 people in the country are actually for the war anyway?

If so, then "NOW" was "fair and balanced," and to put more pro-war guests on the show would have indeed shown bias.
-Eric McLuen,
Des Moines.

--attribution

Letter Of The Day

The relative silence of the Register's news and editorial columns on the politicization of public broadcasting is deafening and disheartening.

The Washington Post and the New York Times reported on the national leadership of the Iowa Public Television Board of Directors in opposing a move by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to place politics ahead of principle.

But Register news columns made no mention of the role of IPTV in what turned out to be a losing fight. Columnist Rekha Basu mentioned it in passing toward the end of her June 17 column on proposed budget cuts for "Big Bird."

Cartoonist Brian Duffy suggested in his June 28 cartoon that the Public Broadcasting System should be renamed GOPBS. The June 26 Potomac Fever column by Jane Norman reported on principled statements by U.S. Rep. James Leach in defense of PBS.

But Register readers had little context for such commentary unless they read about the leadership of IPTV in the Post or the Times. (Local television news was clueless.)

Much attention has been placed on budget cuts for public broadcasting.

Money can be replaced. You can play catch-up when it comes to budgets. But the integrity of public broadcasting has been damaged by the CPB in naming a political operative to - as Duffy suggests - turn PBS into GOPBS.
-Herb Strentz,
chair, IPTV Advisory Committee on Journalistic and Editorial Integrity,
Urbandale.

--attribution

a MUST READ

Sheehan said the June 2004 private meeting with the President went from bad to worse to a nightmare when Bush acted like he didn’t even want to know her name. She said Bush kept referring to her as ‘Ma’ or ‘Mom’ while he "put on a phony act," saying things like ‘Mom, I can’t even imagine losing a loved one, a mother or a father or a sister or a brother.’

"The whole meeting was simply bizarre and disgusting, designed to intimidate instead of providing compassion. He didn’t even know our names," said Sheehan. "Finally I got so upset I just looked him in the eye, saying ‘I think you can imagine losing someone. You have two daughters. Imagine losing them?’ After I said that he just looked at me, looked at me with no feeling or caring in his eyes at all."

Sheehan said what really upset her about the meeting is that Bush appeared to become annoyed and even angry at her daughter Carley, 25, who also attended the White House get-together.

"My daughter said to him directly ‘I wish I could bring my loved one back’ and he said something like ‘so do we.’ Later she told me that after he made his remark he gave her one of the filthiest looks she had ever had gotten in her life.

"I just couldn’t believe this was happening. It was so surreal and bizarre. Later I met with some of the other 15or 16 families who were at the White House the same day and, sure enough, they all felt the same way I did.

"It’s interesting that they put us each in separate rooms. I heard this was done to prevent any type of group outburst and since it’s easier to control a situation when people are separated. Looking back, all I can say is that the meeting with Bush was one of the most disgusting experiences in my life.

--source

if ever there was a true picture of the one they call george bush jr., that would be it.

Quote of the Day

"having the best doctors in the land does not make the best healthcare system in the world"
--quasar

and the winner is......

the media. the more controversial, the more money MSM makes in ad revenues.

The WP notes that many are predicting the fight over the next supreme court justice will be the most expensive nomination in the country's history, with groups slated to spend at least $50 million and as much as $100 million, if the nominee is particularly controversial.

--source

we WILL prevail

aren't these the same folx who brought you the commercials where they showed the hypocrisy of other churches with bouncers at the door?

ATLANTA (AP) - A committee of United Church of Christ representatives approved a resolution Sunday that moves the church one step closer to becoming the largest Christian denomination to endorse same-sex marriage.

--source

was there really ever any doubt?

NEW YORK Now that Time Inc. has turned over documents to federal court, presumably revealing who its reporter, Matt Cooper, identified as his source in the Valerie Plame/CIA case, speculation runs rampant on the name of that source, and what might happen to him or her. Tonight, on the syndicated McLaughlin Group political talk show, Lawrence O'Donnell, senior MSNBC political analyst, claimed to know that name--and it is, according to him, top White House mastermind Karl Rove.
--source

Letter Of The WeeQ

President Bush's speech on the war in Iraq represents yet another chapter in this administration's governing strategy to stem the rising tide of public dissatisfaction through trite imagery that seeks to project strength and resolute "toughness," while ignoring or minimizing the concerns of the public.

Mr. President, the American people are not growing uneasy with this war because they lack patriotism, a sense of duty, or resolute "toughness" in the face of hardship. Our history contains countless examples where "ordinary" people made heroic sacrifices for the sake of the nation and others.

The American people's concerns are based on the administration's shifting justifications for going to war, the apparent lack of proper war preparation and seeming inability to anticipate post-war realities, and an unwillingness to level with the American public regarding the war's direction and potential costs (human and otherwise).

The people, Mr. President, are being asked to sacrifice their blood and precious resources for this war. Surely these sacrifices entitle them to raise hard questions about the direction and strategy of the war with an expectation that they will receive a direct, coherent and comprehensive reply.
- N. Brian Gentry
Des Moines.

attribution

Letter Of The Day

Thank you for an excellent editorial June 24, "Why Debate? Attack the Critic." If these "good Americans" had read any history, or even stopped to think, they would be unlikely to respond in the manner they do.

More than two centuries ago, it was the true Americans who complained (and acted) in response to the behavior and crimes of King George V and his administrators, the rulers at that time, who gained independence for our country. It was not the spineless element who told these patriots they were traitors to their lawful leader, and they should shut up and do as they were told.

It takes more than a bumper sticker or a cheap flag lapel pin, probably imported from China, to make a patriotic American. It takes people who recognize that a government that constructs prison camps and ships people, not even accused of a crime, to the prison camps or to countries that use torture, as being on a totally wrong track.

This country badly needs more people who care about it and are willing to speak out for a return to law and honorable, decent behavior and fewer who try to prove that torture is both legal and proper.
- Richard Bird,
Keosauqua.

--attribution

fuck up? get promoted

this just pisses me to all hell. people who have otherwise been guilty of everything from fraud to downright theft, getting promoted by the bushites. it's almost a requirement that you play evil dictator games.

WASHINGTON, June 28 - The Pentagon has promoted or nominated for promotion two senior Army officers who oversaw or advised detention and interrogation operations in Iraq during the height of the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal.

--source

what a great birthday present

but then again, it's canada.

OTTAWA, June 28 -- The House of Commons voted Tuesday to guarantee full marriage rights to same-sex couples, reaffirming Canada's sharp difference with the United States over the issue of gay rights and promising an alternative destination for American gay men and lesbians to be married.

--source

i'm back

like i really ever left. but i caught this bug that had me wringing in pain that sent me to the E.R. but it's gone now, hopefully.

and so we're back with reviews of the speech last nite by him.

this is somewhat strange, and i wonder if there's something else going on. are journalists just getting in the way, or are they trying to get the truth?

A wire piece in the Journal says an Iraqi journalist was apparently killed by GIs after he didn't pull over as their convoy was passing; it is reportedly the third such killing of an Iraqi journalist in the last week.

--source

whats wrong with this administration?

they're living high on the hog, while on the job.

a victory for America

WASHINGTON — With barely a word about it, on Friday workers at the Justice Department removed the blue drapes that had famously covered two scantily clad statues for the last 3 1/2 years.

"Spirit of Justice," with one breast exposed and her arms raised, and the bare-chested male "Majesty of Law" basked in the late afternoon light of Justice's ceremonial Great Hall.
--ap WIRE

now that john asscroft is gone. the spirit of justice and the majesty of law can be seen in all their beauty. only to john ashcroft, would justice and law be ugly.