It's Getting Nasty Out There... And I'm Not Talking About Weather

(No, if I talked about weather, I'd use plenty of four-, six-, and even voluminously polysyllabic words as I curse. Vermont has actually had a 36-hour respite from our daily 12 inch dumps of snow and frozen rain BUT...)

What I'm talking about is the talk between some Democrats. And no, I'm not talking solely about Hillary Clinton and her entourage vs. Barack Obama and his Oprah machine. Every day in my travels, mostly online but also off, I see people beating up the other candidate in ways that would give the anti-Clinton elves like Ann Coulter jealousy that they didn't think of the nastiness first.

OK, true, neither Barack nor Hillary is Perfect, by whatever definition we choose to assign to that term. And as much as I have long lists of pros and cons for each of the two, I'm still feeling rather deadlocked, Vermont primary over aside.

But they're like soooooooo freaking much better than what the Republicans want to give us - John McCain, one of those rare men who is actually much more difficult to deal with when he thinks he's winning than he is petulant and tyrannical when he's not winning (see the leadup to how he quit the 2000 presidential race and his frequent meltdowns, usually in the media's face).

Some call McCain a war hero. I once did. But the first time he said it was worth it to stay in Iraq when he knew we have lost SO many soldiers and far more innocent Iraqi civilians meant he was no longer a hero, but another ambitious dickhead with a God complex who never minds leading lambs to slaughter "for a good enough cause" (read: his own).

And when I remember who I don't want to see in the White House next January, Hillary and Barack sure look pretty damned good by comparison. Maybe we can evolve them toward protection by getting them into office and then getting them to do the will of the people (for a change).

Nicholas Kristof: "Repression By China, And By Us"

I have some very big conflicts when it comes to Kristof, one of The New York Times' top Op/Ed columnists, but I daresay he got most of this right. What's more, it's very important reading for us.

I’d meant to focus this column on a Chinese woman whose battle for justice has led the police to arrest her more than 30 times, lock her in an insane asylum, humiliate her sexually, shock her with cattle prods, beat her until she is crippled and, worst of all, take away her young daughter.

The case of Li Guirong, a graying 50-year-old who now hobbles on crutches, reflects China at its worst — government by thuggery. But each time I start this column, I feel that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have pulled the rug out from under me. Do I really have the right to complain about torture or extra-legal detentions in China when we Americans do the same in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba?

I keep remembering a heated conversation I had in Yunnan Province when I lived in China years ago. I reproached an official for China’s torture and arbitrary imprisonment, and he retorted that China was fragile and had lost hundreds of thousands of lives in the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. “If you Americans ever faced the threat of chaos, you would do just the same,” he said.

“Impossible!” I replied.

Yet I owe him an apology, for he has been proven right. The moment we did feel a threat, after 9/11, we held people without trial, and beatings were widespread enough that more than 110 of our prisoners died in custody in places like Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantánamo.

Our extrajudicial detentions and mistreatment of prisoners are wrong in and of themselves. But they also undercut our own ability to speak against oppression and torture around the world.

Read the rest here.

"Bush Won't Fire Alberto Gonzales, But YOU Can Impeach Him!"

I don't usually hand out press releases verbatim, but hey, some folks are noticing that Vermont has been the most vocal and demanding of accountability on the Iraq War of ANY state in this damned nation. Is Vermont small? Hell, yes! There aren't a million of us total, not even if you count moose and fishers (fishers is not the kind with rods but the kind with four feet and a taste for kitties). [Black fly season, however, we probably match mainland China. ::cough::]

Viral Video and Nationwide petition Call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's Impeachment Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films and Democracy for America launch impeachgonzales.org and lead major Movement for Impeachment

Petition States: "President Bush won't fire Attorney General Alberto Gonzales... but YOU can!"Los Angeles and Vermont? A nationwide campaign calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's impeachment was launched today by Filmmaker Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films and Democracy For America.

A viral video about Gonzales and a petition calling for the House Judiciary
Committee to begin the Impeachment process are being circulated across the
internet, YouTube and at the website impeachgonzales.org today in a
nationwide movement for his removal.

The petition at impeachgonzales.org calls for the House Judiciary committee, the committee that can begin the impeachment process, to "Impeach Gonzales and restore accountability and ethical leadership to the United States Justice Department." Both Democratic and Republican leaders and citizens across the country have been calling for the Attorney General's removal over the firings of U.S. attorneys. Evidence against Gonzales has continued to mount and today's launch marks the start of an organized, nationwide effort to remove the Attorney General by Impeachment.

"Americans around the country are standing up to voice opposition to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his politicization of the Department of Justice," said Democracy for America chair Jim Dean. "Our message is clear: Impeach Gonzales."

"President Bush will not fire the Attorney General, but the American people can call for his Impeachment" said filmmaker Robert Greenwald who directed the Impeach Gonzalez video "the video shows Gonzales has no respect for the truth, for the rules of Congress and for the people of this country- how can he lead our Justice department?

The petition will be sent to all members of the House Judiciary committee, who can begin the impeachment process as outlined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. This massive call for impeachment comes at a time where Senate leaders Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer are calling for a Senate No Confidence vote against the Attorney General.

Democracy for America is a political action committee dedicated
to supporting fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates at all
levels of government?from school board to the presidency. Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films uses film and viral video to create social
change.

Rollingstone Magazine: Seymour Hersh on Possible "Secret Plan" to Bomb Iran

The next best thing to reading one of Sy Hersh's excellent exposes in New Yorker Magazine (perhaps), is to read Matt Taibbi's feature on Hersh and the Dick Cheney/White House's "big secret" to bomb the hell out of Iran. (After all, with Iraq and Afghanistan going soooo well, why not tackle Iran next?)

Remember that several sources have indicated that we can/will be seeing a U.S. strike on Iran before the end of April (this April). And the days of April are getting might few now.

Unreal: When American Idol's Reject Sanjaya Meets The White House

As Cernig at Cernig's Newshog (aka The News Hoggers) reports, American Idiot...Idol's latest vapid-to-the-max reject "singer" Sanjaya has been invited as a "special guest" to the famed-and-fabled White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Unfreakingbelievable.

But hey, when you lower the standards enough to allow a George W. Bush (or a Dick Cheney or a Jeff Gannon/JD Guckert or a Bill O'Reilly) anywhere near the White House, you just know the standards are subterranean.

It's Bush's Way Or The (Hell) Highway

From Stranger at Blah3:

One step closer to Constitutional Crisis. They ain't budging.

White House Counsel Fred Fielding, in a letter today, told Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, that the White House has not budged in its refusal to allow the panels to question several White House aides, including Karl Rove, about what they know regarding the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys, moving the two sides closer to a constitutional battle over the scandal.

Fielding also appears to be trying to head off an attempt by Conyers to obtain e-mails and documents from the Republican National Committee regarding the firings. Roughly 50 White House officials, including 22 curent aides, used e-mail accounts controlled by the RNC to send messages, including some related to the prosecutor firings, and Conyers asked RNC Chairman Mike Duncan to turn over those records today.

Fielding also said that "it was and remains our intention to collect e-mails and documents from those accounts as well as the official White House e-mail and document retention systems" as part of a broader deal with the two committees on staffer testimony.

Fielding has offered to allow Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and other Bush aides to be questioned by committee investigators, but only behind closed doors, and not under oath. Fielding also won't allow any transcript of those interviews to be made. Conyers and Leahy have rejected the offer as woefully inadequate, and while both committees have authorized subpoenas for Rove, Miers and the others, only Conyers has issued up until now and those were for documents only.

Presidential temper tantrum?

Wanted: Habeas Corpus' Return - LOTS of Questions Asked (Like, How Could We Give It Up?)

I love this from the ACLU. Link is here.

Was Bush Trying To Kidnap Iranian Intel Bigwigs When Iran Took 15 Sailors?

Story here.

Supreme Court Rules Against Bush Spewings

From The New York Times:

In a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court found today that the Clean Air Act expressly authorizes the E.P.A. to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, contrary to the E.P.A.’s contention.

However, the Mediocres among the Supremes also voted against an appeal by Guantanamo detainees:

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from Guantanamo detainees who want to challenge their five-year-long confinement in court, a victory for the Bush administration's legal strategy in its fight against terrorism.

The victory may be only temporary, however. The high court twice previously has extended legal protections to prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. These individuals were seized as potential terrorists following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and only 10 have been charged with a crime.

Despite the earlier rulings, none of the roughly 385 detainees has yet had a hearing in a civilian court challenging his detention because the administration has moved aggressively to limit the legal rights of prisoners it has labeled as enemy combatants.

A federal appeals court in Washington in February upheld a key provision of a law enacted last year that strips federal courts of their ability to hear such challenges.

At issue is whether prisoners held at Guantanamo have a right to habeas corpus review, a basic tenet of the Constitution that protects people from unlawful imprisonment.

The detainees' core argument is that no matter where they are held by American authorities, they are entitled to access to U.S. courts. They want the court to strike down the new law as unconstitutional.

Explain to me how these detainees can be faulted for WHERE they are held when it's the Bushies, rather than the detainees, who decide where they will be held. This is fucked up behond any possible sense.

Rudy's Kerik Fiasco

Considering that 2008 GOP presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani admits that he KNEW of Bernard Kerik's purported ties to mafia/organized crime back SEVERAL years ago, when Kerik was in the running for New York City's top cop appointment (which he got), it also means Giuliani knew of these and other substantiated allegations about Kerik's lack of character, lack of honesty, and many other lacks WHEN Rudy told President Bush to appoint the credibility-challenged Kerik as Tom Ridge's replacement as Director of Homeland (In)Security. [Mind you, Giuliani has some very questionable aspects, too, including some substantiated claims of his own ties to the mob.

From the Political Wire:

"Federal prosecutors have told Bernard B. Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, that he is likely to be charged with several felonies, including tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wiretapping," the Washington Post reports."

Kerik's indictment could set the stage for a courtroom battle that would draw attention to Kerik's extensive business and political dealings with former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who personally recommended him to President Bush for the Cabinet. Giuliani, the front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination according to most polls, later called the recommendation a mistake."

WINS-AM reports Kerik rejected a possible plea bargain.

Indictment for Kerik currently looks like a most distinct possibility.

Breaking News! George Bush Admits He's The Bastard Love Child of Barbara and Moe Of Three Stooges Fame

Finally! The truth is out: George W. Bush is NOT the legitimate heir to the Bush (missing a few dozen important chromosomes) Dynasty but is, instead, the bastard love chair of Barbara Bush's long, impestuous affair with Moe of the Three Stooges.

She (known as Babs with Crabs in her lustier days) says she does NOT, however, have an explanation for the fact that Georgy managed to make president when he can neither spell "Stooge" or "Bastard" (although Barbara frankly acknowledged that her Georgy is both along with an imbecile, a crank, and a sadist).