Scooter Libby: President Bush Approved Leak of CIA Operative Plame to Press

Damning information in court documents. From The Times:

Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

Before his indictment, I. Lewis Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the CIA leak that Cheney told him to pass on information and that it was Bush who authorized the disclosure, the court papers say. According to the documents, the authorization led to the July 8, 2003, conversation between Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized Libby to disclose Valerie Plame's CIA identity.

But the disclosure in documents filed Wednesday means that the president and the vice president put Libby in play as a secret provider of information to reporters about prewar intelligence on Iraq.

Then, of course, the Times spins is to say that Bush's opponents are "leaping" with joy on this information.

I don't see any joy in this. I may NOT like the CIA or the dirty stuff it pulls. But outing a CIA operative JUST to discredit her husband is beyond evil. Other lives were endangered by this. It also must be a CHILLING message to the CIA that the president will happily hang them out to dry for the slightest transgression. All of this just to make Bush and Cheney happy.

Joy? Horror from this Bush opponent. No matter how many times I've heard evidence of this, it still chills me to the core.

Campaign Finance Reform By Cutting Average Americans Out

The WaPo details this disastrous campaign finance reform effort where the Republicans basically cut out the efforts of 527s that get their funding through average Americans like the grassroots people who contributed to Howard Dean, et al. Senate Dems vow to fight it but... when was the last time you noticed that working recently?

Tom DeLay: Quit Before He Was "Fired"?

Read this from Tom DeLay's neighborhood and you get the distinct impression that the Texas GOP told Tom to get outta town because he would lose otherwise. Also sounds like they intend to do whatever it takes to keep anyone else but their chosen one from taking that seat, no matter what the law says.

Thanks to Buzzflash for the link.

Rumsfeld to Condi Rice: What Mistakes?

Interesting that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld answered Secretary of State Condi Rice's disclosure last week that "thousands of mistakes" had been committed in Iraq with a "what? who? me?"

From the WaPo:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he did not know what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was talking about when she said last week that the United States had made thousands of "tactical errors" in handling the war in Iraq, a statement she later said was meant figuratively.

Speaking during a radio interview on WDAY in Fargo, N.D., on Tuesday, Rumsfeld said calling changes in military tactics during the war "errors" reflects a lack of understanding of warfare. Rumsfeld defended his war plan for Iraq but added that such plans inevitably do not survive first contact with the enemy.

"Why? Because the enemy's got a brain; the enemy watches what you do and then adjusts to that, so you have to constantly adjust and change your tactics, your techniques and your procedures," Rumsfeld told interviewer Scott Hennen, according to a Defense Department transcript. "If someone says, well, that's a tactical mistake, then I guess it's a lack of understanding, at least my understanding, of what warfare is about."

However, as noted elsewhere, there seems to be a systematic effort within the White House - and Condi is VERY close to the prez - to make Iraq seem like entirely Rummy's problem to defer criticism from Bush-Cheney.

What an Endorsement!

Ann Coulter - dear Ann-Thrax - called Tom DeLay an incredibly honorable man.

Those two deserve one another.

CBS News - How Low Can it Go?

I don't even know what to say about the completely silly, disastrous decision CBS made to hire Katie Couric to head their news department.

Couric is no journalist. She's perky and precious and all of that, and she'll certainly market any dipshit thing Les Moonves (head of CBS programming) wants. She won't ever be controversial.

But she's a piss-poor choice and clear indication the network no longer intends to do any news. Supposedly, the entire news dept at CBS is very, very upset about it.

That Couric could become the first solo woman to anchor a major network news show is a little like saying Condi Rice or Hillary Clinton could become the first woman president. In other words, sure, it's an achievement, but there are such better qualified women for the job that it just makes you sick that the ones chosen are so uninspired and unbefitting of the sacred trust and position.

DHS Official Arrested Last Night NOT the First DHS Child Predator

From TPM Muckraker - and why the hell IS child porn and such under the Department of Homeland Security anyway? That's a good question even BEFORE we learned that DHS seems to be filled with sanctimonious pedophiles who AREN'T - as the rabid right would have us believe - gay:

As I noted earlier, a senior Homeland Security Department law enforcement agent was busted last October for exposing himself to a girl in the food court of a mall.

Next to the recent arrest of DHS spokesman Brian Doyle on child sex charges, this was just one more reason to take Operation Predator away from DHS, I said. "Predator" is the agency's program to bust child sex criminals.

Now we discover -- that law enforcement agent, Frank Figueroa, used to run Operation Predator.

The victim, a 16-year-old girl, said Figueroa pulled up a leg of his shorts, exposed himself and masturbated for about 10 minutes, according to the Tampa Tribune.

Figueroa was in court this morning; he pleaded no contest to charges of exposure of sexual organs and disorderly conduct He had formerly said he was not guilty. His trial is expected to begin tomorrow..

Bush Hands Rich Another Big Perk While American Middle Class Dies Away

From the New York Times:

The first data to document the effect of President Bush's tax cuts for investment income show that they have significantly lowered the tax burden on the richest Americans, reducing taxes on incomes of more than $10 million by an average of about $500,000.

An analysis of Internal Revenue Service data by The New York Times found that the benefit of the lower taxes on investments was far more concentrated on the very wealthiest Americans than the benefits of Mr. Bush's two previous tax cuts: on wages and other noninvestment income.

When Congress cut investment taxes three years ago, it was clear that the highest-income Americans would gain the most, because they had the most money in investments. But the size of the cuts and what share goes to each income group have not been known.

As Congress debates whether to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, The Times analyzed I.R.S. figures for 2003, the latest year available and the first that reflected the tax cuts for income from dividends and from the sale of stock and other assets, known as capital gains.

The analysis found the following:

¶Among taxpayers with incomes greater than $10 million, the amount by which their investment tax bill was reduced averaged about $500,000 in 2003, and total tax savings, which included the two Bush tax cuts on compensation, nearly doubled, to slightly more than $1 million.

¶These taxpayers, whose average income was $26 million, paid about the same share of their income in income taxes as those making $200,000 to $500,000 because of the lowered rates on investment income.

¶Americans with annual incomes of $1 million or more, about one-tenth of 1 percent all taxpayers, reaped 43 percent of all the savings on investment taxes in 2003. The savings for these taxpayers averaged about $41,400 each. By comparison, these same Americans received less than 10 percent of the savings from the other Bush tax cuts, which applied primarily to wages, though that share is expected to grow in coming years.

The Jose Padilla Case

The Village Voice offers an excellent article this week on why the case of Jose Padilla, the American citizen held now for 3 1/2 years without any charges being filed against him but villified by the Bushies as a terrorist mastermind (of course, every Taco Bell minimum wage worker qualifies as a mastermind) threatens us all.

I encourage you to read it, and to think about it.

Our Supreme Court

Read this about the opportunity lost and... perhaps like me... weep.

I Think NewsMax Overshot April Fool's Day By a Few

Because I just saw THIS on Yahoo.

Help Young Republicans Through Bingo

The General, once again, has devised a very, very, - did I mention? - very helpful Bingo card to help Young Republicans tender all the right reasons for NOT signing up for their great leader's War in Error on Terror.

Squint here, but you really want to go THERE to read it all.

Nice work, JC!

Congratulations to the 2005 Koufax Awards Winners

You can find them here. As usual, there were so many good blogs and bloggers in the running that I think the true winners are those of us who get to read them.

Man's Best Mate? You'll Feel Like An Ass When You Hear

[Shaking head, muttering...]

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A textbook used at schools in the Indian state of Rajasthan compares housewives to donkeys, and suggests the animals make better companions as they complain less and are more loyal to their "masters," The Times of India reported Tuesday.

Protecting Us From What?

Unbleeping believable.

MSNBC just announced that the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland (in)Security has just been arrested for soliciting sex with a woman he was told was just 14 years old and for the possession and/or distribution of pornographic material related to minors.

Is DHS Secretary Chertoff going to blame this on the simpering ex-FEMA chief Michael Brown who in turn blames it on everyone else? I mean, none of the Bushies ever take responsibility for anything unless they perceive it, even incorrectly, as praise.

DHS only seems to exist to:

- cut sweetheart deal for no-bid contracts for Bush friendly pals
- come up with a dipshit color-coded system and advise us to stock up on tape
- point fingers at others
- screw up security even further
- and now, apparently lure children to online sex

Great. Just great.

Bad Hair Day

Even MY hair doesn't look that bad in the morning in hot and humid weather. But HE paid to look like that! There simply is no justice for the rich, y'know.

Say Hello to Chronological Oddity

From the wires (again):

Call it a coincidental sign of our digital times or a reason to stay up late and stare at the clock. Either way, early Wednesday morning the time and date will be 01-02-03-04-05-06.

At 1:02 a.m. and three seconds on Wednesday, April 5, 2006, it will be the first hour of the day, the second minute of the hour, the third second of that precious minute in the fourth month of the fifth year of ... uh oh. It's not really the sixth year.

It's actually 2006 — only in our shorthand is it '06.

Taking the Malice out of Malware

Stranger at Blah3 shares this from eWeek:

...and what they have to say is pretty goddam depressing.

In a rare discussion on the severity of the Windows malware scourge, a Microsoft security official said businesses should consider investing in an automated process to wipe hard drives and reinstall operating systems as a practical way to recover from malware infestation. "When you are dealing with rootkits and some advanced spyware programs, the only solution is to rebuild from scratch. In some cases, there really is no way to recover without nuking the systems from orbit," Mike Danseglio, program manager in the Security Solutions group at Microsoft, said in a presentation at the InfoSec World conference here. Offensive rootkits, which are used hide malware programs and maintain an undetectable presence on an infected machine, have become the weapon of choice for virus and spyware writers and, because they often use kernel hooks to avoid detection, Danseglio said IT administrators may never know if all traces of a rootkit have been successfully removed.

As you may recall, I got hit bad with something like this last Thanksgiving. I'd never seen anything corrupt an entire office like this did, and I'm quite technically savvy.

LA Times: Frist Senate Leadership Seen as Entirely Self-Serving

Here:

WASHINGTON — As he prepares to leave the Senate and position himself for a presidential bid, Bill Frist faces mounting criticism that he has proved an ineffectual majority leader whose legislative agenda increasingly is dictated by his White House ambitions.

Complaints about the patrician Tennessean by fellow Republicans intensified this week, sparked by his decision to force Senate debate on illegal immigration. Some GOP lawmakers say his move spotlighted a squabble within the party over a hot-button issue in an election year.

"We should have had a much more ambitious process of trying to build consensus and bringing people and different views together before we engaged in debate on the Senate floor," Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) told reporters.But grumbling about the majority leader and the decisions he has made were evident before the flap over immigration.

Even God Almighty knows that the Senate only exists to serve Bill Frist's personal president-seeking agenda.

And who can possibly forget his WRONG diagnosis of Terri Schiavo made by a doctored (cough) videotape?

Even a Rap Mogul Can't Survive Without Filing for Bankruptcy in a Bush Economy

Rap mogul Suge Knight just filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy so he can keep control of Death Row Records.

They Don't Like Him Either?

From the wires:

WASHINGTON - From Iraq to deficits, from immigration to port security, some of the most pointed criticism leveled at
President Bush is coming from within his own party. Republicans these days are almost sounding like perennially divided Democrats.

The rising GOP angst stems from Bush's deep slump in the polls and the growing unpopularity of the Iraq war.

But it also reflects a political reawakening as Republicans follow their own political interests in this midterm election year and as would-be 2008 presidential contenders seek ways to set themselves apart — from each other and from Bush.

"It's open season on him. George Bush has lost trust on too many issues," said presidential historian Thomas E. Cronin of Colorado College. "We saw it happen with Johnson, we saw it with Nixon. And now, sadly, we're seeing it with Bush."

The only solace to frustrated Republicans could be that Democrats seem to be struggling themselves to come up with unified positions on Iraq and many other major issues.

Ah, but the Reps are just trying to distance themselves from him because it's a mid-year election cycle and the American people are so very tired of Mr. Bush's pouting, braggart frat-boy style of leadership.

DeLay: A Chronology of Greed, Excess, Corruption, and Illegal Acts

The Washington Post offers us this timeline of events for Hot Tub Tom DeLay, who's busy yesterday and today telling us we won't have him to kick around anymore. Let's see if this holds true for the prosecutor since Tom is telling people that, after June, he won't have to answer any damn questions.

And On the Issue of Tom DeLay, Is This Behind His Announcement Not to Run and His Desire to Oust Prosecutor?

From the Washington Post, and I suspect it very much relates to the timing of his no-run announcement and his dissing of prosecutor Earle despite his lawyer's insistent denial:

The pending resignation of former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), once one of the most powerful lawmakers in Washington, comes amid a federal criminal investigation that already has reached into his inner circle of longtime advisers.

DeLay faces a trial later this year on money-laundering charges in Texas that stems from an October 2005 indictment related to corporate contributions to state elections in 2001 and 2002. Since then, two former aides and one of his most prominent contributors have pleaded guilty in a separate federal probe to crimes including conspiracy; wire, tax and mail fraud; and corruption of public officials.

The picture appeared to darken further last week with the guilty plea of Tony C. Rudy, DeLay's former deputy chief of staff. Edwin A. Buckham, the lawmaker's former chief of staff and his closest political and spiritual adviser, was described in court documents filed in the case as someone who collaborated with Rudy, Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former DeLay aide Michael Scanlon. They arranged payments, trips and favors that the department's investigators charged were part of an illegal conspiracy, according to the documents.

DeLay himself was formally designated as "Representative #2" in the documents, a title that cannot be considered a good omen. The lawmaker designated in the same documents as Representative #1 -- Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) -- has been cited by the Justice Department as having received "things of value" for performing official acts.

...DeLay and Buckham also have not been accused of wrongdoing by federal prosecutors, and they have asserted their innocence. But some of DeLay's official actions in Congress clearly fall within the scope of the continuing investigation: Last week's guilty plea by Rudy cites as part of the evidence of conspiracy a letter that DeLay wrote on behalf of an Abramoff client and legislation that DeLay supported on behalf of a client of Abramoff's firm.

DeLay has assembled a substantial legal team to fight back, and he has a defense fund -- financed largely by corporations with business before Congress -- that contained more than $600,000 at the end of last year, based on the cumulative record of its receipts and contributions. But contributions to the fund dropped from $318,000 to $181,500 between the third and fourth quarters of 2005.

DeLay also is entitled under federal election rules to convert any or all of the remaining funds from his reelection campaign to his legal expenses, whether or not he resigns, is indicted or loses the election. Election lawyers say one advantage of bowing out of the election now is that the campaign cash can be converted to pay legal bills immediately, instead of being drained in the course of a bid to stay in office.

So he gets to pocket all that money. Some sweet deal for the bug man.

The Next Trick Up Bug Man Tom DeLay's Sleeve? Exterminate the Prosecutor

Judd at Think Progress breaks this ugly bit of bugdom:

On an interview this morning on Fox News Radio’s Tony Snow Show, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) revealed a plan to have the Texas legislature oust district attorney Ronnie Earle, the prosecutor who charged DeLay with money laundering:

Transcript:
SNOW: Okay, so at this point, you know — are you willing to let bygones be bygones?
DELAY: Absolutely not. Texas should not allow a district attorney from Travis County have this kind of power. And they can take his power away from him because there was the Texas legislature that gave him this power. And I think that will happen in the next session of the Texas legislature.
SNOW: Oh, really?
DELAY: Yes.

DeLay sounds like someone who is really confident of his ability to win on the merits in a court of law.

No, this is no surprise. DeLay's whole modus operandi is to squash any bug that gets in his way.

But I don't want to see this happen. Earle has seemed pretty even handed in his investigations and prosecutions, which is how it should be. Prosecutions should not be political and partisan, although they too often are.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer Sues Spyware Company Over Pop Ups

Interesting. I never know quite how to feel about this.

I do believe companies are far too invasive and aggressive in pushing stuff at us. But I also don't want to see government intruding everywhere either.

Corporate Media and the Protests

Anyone else notice that both in France with the labor protests and here with the immigration demonstrations, corporate-owned CNN and other news agencies are using very inflammatory language toward the demonstrators?

"Troublemakers", "people with nothing better to do", "thugs" are just some of the phrases CNN has used to describe them. While last week, dim bulb and Rush Limbaugh's sweetie, host Daryn Kagan suggested the kids demonstrating against the immigration changes "would be better off in classes where they could learn something".

Dissing the Miss

Missile Defense Project, Bush's Reagan Redux Star Wars wunderkind pet project, that is.

Posted by Majikthise:

A senior analyst from the Government Accountability Office is accusing his agency of ignoring scientific fraud perpetrated by defense contrators working a $26 billion missile defense system.

A senior Congressional investigator has accused his agency of covering up a scientific fraud among builders of a $26 billion system meant to shield the nation from nuclear attack. The disputed weapon is the centerpiece of the Bush administration's antimissile plan, which is expected to cost more than $250 billion over the next two decades.

The investigator, Subrata Ghoshroy of the Government Accountability Office, led technical analyses of a prototype warhead for the antimissile weapon in an 18-month study, winning awards for his "great care" and "tremendous skill and patience."

Mr. Ghoshroy now says his agency ignored evidence that the two main contractors had doctored data, skewed test results and made false statements in a 2002 report that credited the contractors with revealing the warhead's failings to the government.

The agency strongly denied his accusations, insisting that its antimissile report was impartial and that it was right to exonerate the contractors of a coverup.

Gee, the damned thing doesn't work. Who'd a thunk it (besides several million of us who have said it for more than twenty fucking years)?

When You Want to Make a Call Without Inviting the Feds to Join in...

Check THIS out:

How easy is it for the average internet user to make a phone call secure enough to frustrate the NSA's extrajudicial surveillance program?

Wired News took Phil Zimmermann's newest encryption software, Zfone, for a test drive and found it's actually quite easy, even if the program is still in beta.

Zimmermann, the man who released the PGP e-mail encryption program to the world in 1991 -- only to face an abortive criminal prosecution from the government -- has been trying for 10 years to give the world easy-to-use software to cloak internet phone calls.

On March 14, Zimmermann released a beta version of the widely anticipated Zfone. The software is currently available only for OS X (Tiger) and Linux, though a Windows version is due in April.

The open-source software manages cryptographic handshakes invisibly, and encrypts and decrypts voice calls as the traffic leaves and enters the computer. Operation is simple, and users don't have to agree in advance on an encryption key or type out long passcodes to make it work.

Who is the Most Foolish American?

Well, Michael Jackson tops the list. But our belubbed leader, George ("How do you spell Dubya?") Bush and his belubbed leader, Duck! It's Dick! Cheney, come in close behind in this Brit poll.

Snort.

Iraq on the Ballot in Some Wisconsin Communities

In a story brought to us by Where We Are Bound comes this piece from the Milwaukee Channel on how the issue of Iraq and the direction we've taken there is ending up on some ballots in Wisconsin. Check it out.

What (New) is Rotten in Bush's Social Security Denmark?

Posted by Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo, which also links back to the story's coverage on Atrios' Eschaton:

A bit more follow up on this issue of this year's Social Security actuarial report. Atrios got hold of this portion of the Social Security Act which mandates that the annual report be released no later than April 1st of each year. It's only April 3rd so it's not that late -- black letter law notwithstanding. But Matt Yglesias called Treasury Department public affairs and was told not only that it isn't out yet but that there's not even any timeline or projected date when it will be released.

This administration doesn't play fast and loose with the law on Social Security for nothing. Something's up.

Something is definitely up.

Anyone have any ideas?

McCain: US in Iran=Armageddon?

As I mentioned, McCain lately is scaring me.

But I still got nervous when I saw a link from Buzzflash to a NewsMax article with McCain talking about Iran. Specifically:

2008 presidential hopeful John McCain said Sunday that the consequences of a military conflict with Iran over that country's nuclear program could be so serious they could lead to "Armageddon."

The Arizona Republican issued his dire warning after saying that before any military option against Iran is exercised, the world community must first put maximum pressure on Tehran through sanctions.

"We're going to the United Nations Security Council with our European allies," he told NBC's "Meet the Press." "We are seeking sanctions . . . . We must have sanctions against Iran."
McCain said that if sanctions fail, the U.S. must be prepared to resort to the use of military force.

We MUST resort to military force?

Who died and left us boss?

Who died and left us boss with the power to decide that Iran can't have what Israel has, what India has, and what we have many, many thousands of times over?

Somebody get Johnny Boy some thorazine.

Have We Been Hammered Enough by the Whip? Yes, But I Doubt It's All Over

Tom DeLay has announced he will not run for re-election as Congressman from Texas.

This is not enough, however. I want his prosecution to go forward and I would like to see measures taken that completely exclude him from any future political role including becoming a lobbyist.

Taking the McKinney Thing a Tad Too Far

Saturday, I posted about the whole Cynthia McKinney brouhaha where the Capitol police went after her because they said she did not show proper ID, and McKinney, a Congresswoman who recently won re-election after being unseated in Georgia, says she was accosted by one of the officers.

Notably, I mentioned how the right-wing really goes after her, using words they would never allow to be used for a Tom DeLay or a Denny Hastert or a similar type of squirrel meat. Joe Scarborough on his MSNBC program tonight called her "crazy Cynthia McKinney", for example. There have also been numerous extremely rude and clearly ethnic references to her hair. One guy the other day seemed to be struggling very hard to find a word that meant the unfortunate "jigaboo" without getting slimed for actually saying jigaboo.

Tonight? TPM Muckraker provides this:

The Capitol Police have requested an arrest warrant for Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), on unspecified charges. Abramoff-chaser U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein, on his way out to become Assistant Attorney General for National Security, is "reviewing the merits" of the case, his spokesperson says.

As I wrote the other day and have said before, I am not a big McKinney fan. I certainly would not call her crazy, but I do find her to be a bit more conspiracy oriented on issues that I think probably warrant more attention than sheer speculation.

But I find a lot of what is happening with McKinney since last week patently offensive. It's clear the extreme right wants to be sure everyone dismisses her out of hand, and they're not being very subtle in coming right to the edge and even stepping over a few boundries to make it obvious they feel she has even less credibility because she's a) black b) a woman c) doesn't love Bush. The hairdo comments, for example, make serious play on the fact that she's wearing her hair as an African American woman is more likely to do, and a Rita Cosby and such have no problem with making that sound silly and wrong.

I can see good reasons to, at times, seriously disagree with McKinney. But her hairdo, her skin color, and her gender don't enter into it.

I also don't take issue with Joe Scarborough because of his hairdo, his skin color, or his gender. I do question how a woman turned up dead in his office right after he "suddenly" announced he would not run again for office like there might be something hanging in Joe's closet. But that's just me. (Cough).

Speaking of Whores...

Rush Limbaugh, not a particularly attractive prostitute, has called an alleged rape victim one.

As documented at Media Matters:

During the March 31 broadcast of his national syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh referred to the alleged victim of a rape by members of the Duke University lacrosse team as a "ho[]." During an on-air discussion with a caller, Limbaugh said that former Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton was "trying to figure out how he can get involved in the deal down there at Duke where the lacrosse team ... supposedly, you know, raped some, uh, hos."

Delightful, insightful soul, isn't he? Or perhaps he needs to take a few hundred more OxyContin for the pain he's producing in all of us.

Sanctimonious Rick Santorum's Love Affair with Lobbyists and Their Cash Lard Makes Him an Easy Target ... and Quite a Whore, To Boot

The Post-Gazette brings us this re: the 2006 PA Senatorial race:

The Senate wrapped up its lobbying bill this past week, but criticisms about K Street connections are not going away any time soon for Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, whose chief Democratic opponent plans to make the issue central to his campaign over the next eight months.

Mr. Santorum's likely challenger, state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., called the Senate bill a missed opportunity given the public outrage over the activities of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy in a spectacular fraud and bribery scheme.

Mr. Casey said he could not understand why Mr. Santorum and other senators rejected the call for more scrutiny from a proposed independent Office of Public Integrity, which would have investigated ethics complaints against senators.

Mr. Santorum "started this process trying to be a lion and he's going out like a lamb," Mr. Casey said. "He's not aggressively insisting on the kind of ethics reform that I would in the Senate. ... It ought to be real and comprehensive, not some kind of piecemeal approach that doesn't get to the heart of the problem."

Any Pennsylvanians out there with a strong sense of whether Santorum will easily win re-election or get trounced this time out? I'd like to see him go, but since I'm not a PA voter... well...

Standing Up for What is Right, Standing Up to Bush

I think the Boston Globe puts this quite well in an editorial today. What it says goes well beyond partisan politics and touches upon concepts and beliefs we have always said (at least) we hold dear from our country's earliest times under our founding fathers:

PRESIDENT BUSH'S secret intercepts of American citizens' communications are ''more serious abuses" than President Nixon perpetrated in Watergate, according to an informed observer. John Dean, counsel to Nixon during Watergate, was on target when he told the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Friday that Congress should fight back when a president ignores laws it has passed...

Senator Lindsey Graham countered at the hearing that Nixon's motive was base self-interest, while Bush is seeking to strengthen national security. This is a worthwhile distinction from the South Carolina Republican, but it only underlines the cavalier manner in which Bush brushes off congressional actions and mandates.

It should not take a censure resolution to get the members of Congress to stick up for themselves. If they do not, they are as culpable as Bush.

Amen!

Another Rumsfeld Fan (Cough)

Of course, Mr. Bush is satisfied with Mr. Rumsfeld's performance. The more screwups, the more cost someone makes for American taxpayers, and the more deaths and deception a person is responsible for in the Bushie administration, the more Mr. Bush would like to promote them or give them the Medal of Freedom.

From The Times today:

For the second time in two weeks, a former general has called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld over what both generals described as serious mistakes made in the war in Iraq.

In remarks Sunday on the NBC News program "Meet the Press," Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, who once led the United States Central Command and retired from the Marines in 2000, said Mr. Rumsfeld, among others, should be held accountable for tactical mistakes in Iraq.

When asked who should resign, General Zinni said, "Secretary of Defense, to begin with," adding that resignations should also come from others responsible for planning the war efforts and from military officials who sat by without pointing out potential problems.

On March 19, similar sentiments were expressed by Paul D. Eaton, a retired Army major general in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004. In an Op-Ed article in The New York Times, General Eaton criticized Mr. Rumsfeld's handling of the war and said that "President Bush should accept the offer to resign that Mr. Rumsfeld says he has tendered more than once."

Several days later, Mr. Bush dismissed calls for Mr. Rumsfeld to step down, saying he was satisfied with his job performance.

Zinni happens to command my respect and has for some time.

Wow!

I noticed hits here have been going nuts, and now I see why. My lowly little, never promoted blog is featured today on the Daou Report at Salon and at Real Clear Politics. Recently, we were also linked to by CBS News and a few other bigger players.

Since, as I say, I never promote the blog - I've always been happier with a smaller, more appreciative audience than a louder, larger one - it's always a surprise when I get a shout-out. In this case, it's a delightful surprise, and I don't get too many of those.

The Next Heads on the Chopping Block

Rumors circulate that Treasurer Secretary and Bush Yes Man, John Snow, and press secretary Scott McClellan will be the next heads sacrificed to try to drive up Bush's dismal approval ratings.

I doubt that either sacrifice will make a bit of difference. Both men are seen as solid Bushies, with no ideas past those that Bush-Cheney tell them to have.

The rot and corruption here is not going to improve in the eyes of the American public with these token sacrifices. Perhaps the public still is sour on the taste of impeachment with the senseless proceedings against Bill Clinton in the late 90s, but I don't believe for a minute they will feel better about the White House through these silly effords like replacing Andy Card or asses like McClellan or Snow with an even more virulent Bushie defender.

John McCain: Legally Insane?

He's spent the last few weeks trying to prove his brain has been Bushified. Now he's saying Jerry Falwell isn't such a bad guy.

Off his meds? Drinking Koolaid?

What's your opinion?

Costs, the Iraq War, and "Enduring" Bases

The Christian Science Monitor has a thought-provoking piece up, a bit of which is reproduced here:

United States taxpayers have spent an inflation-adjusted $1 trillion to keep military bases in South Korea since the war ended there in 1953. Those bases remain in place, though they are shrinking.

Some military analysts wonder if 20 or so years from now the US will still have costly "enduring" bases in Iraq. ("Permanent" is a term the Pentagon generally avoids in referring to the hundreds of bases it has around the globe.)

Alternatively, should the US decide to leave Iraq - perhaps because a full-fledged civil war puts American armed forces in a too-perilous position - the personnel and their equipment could be flown out quickly. "They could come home in a month," calculates John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.com, a website specializing in military affairs.

Maybe three months, figures Gordon Adams, head of Security Policy Studies at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Hiring Ukraine's huge Antonov cargo planes might speed the process.

So far, though, it seems clear that the Pentagon would prefer to keep its bases in Iraq. It has already spent $1 billion or more on them, outfitting some with underground bunkers and other characteristics of long-term bases. The $67.6 billion emergency bill to cover Iraq and Afghanistan military costs includes $348 million for further base construction.

On Subject of Immigration, Bush and Congress Once Again Not in Sync with American Public

From the wire service:

WASHINGTON - Americans are divided about whether illegal immigrants help or hurt the country, a poll finds. More than one-half of those questioned are open to allowing undocumented workers to obtain some temporary legal status so they can stay in the United States.

At the same time, people doubt that erecting a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border could help to fix such a complex and enduring problem, an AP-Ipsos poll found. Two-thirds do not think it would work.

"You can't go and round up 11 million people and ship them out of the country," said Robert Kelly. The Chicago lawyer is among the 56 percent of Americans who favor offering some kind of legal status. "It just isn't practical," he said.

It's really quite hard to tell which is more of a dipshit idea: making prisoners pick crops for huge agribusiness conglomerates or building a 700 mile fence (a reverse "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!")

Sunday, Bloody Sunday in Baghdad

At least 50 civilians dead in Iraq along with an estimated 6 U.S. military personnel.

Cake walk? Flowers at their feet? Right.

$200 Million for Nothing: Fat Cat Contracts Under Bush

I keep thinking that given what's happened since he stole the election in 2000, I must be past being appalled by what horrors and depravity can go on with Bush in "command". Yet this story in the WaPo let me plunge to a new depth of despair.

BAGHDAD -- A reconstruction contract for the building of 142 primary health centers across Iraq has run out of money, after two years and roughly $200 million, with no more than 20 clinics now expected to be completed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says.
The contract, awarded to U.S. construction giant Parsons Inc. in the flush, early days of reconstruction in Iraq, was expected to lay the foundation of a modern health-care system for the country, putting quality medical care within reach of all Iraqis.

Parsons, according to the Corps, will walk away from more than 120 clinics that on average are two-thirds finished. Auditors say its failure serves as a warning for other U.S. reconstruction efforts due to be completed this year.

Brig. Gen. William McCoy, the Army Corps commander overseeing reconstruction in Iraq, said he still hoped to complete all 142 clinics as promised and was seeking emergency funds from the U.S. military and foreign donors. "I'm fairly confident," McCoy said.

Coming with little public warning, the 86 percent shortfall of completions dismayed the World Health Organization's representative for Iraq. "That's not good. That's shocking," Naeema al-Gasseer said by telephone from Cairo. "We're not sending the right message here. That's affecting people's expectations and people's trust, I must say."

Some Floridians Like Their Public Schools Better Than Jeb Bush

Neither Bush bro gets very good marks for what they do to public schools and kids.

From the St. Petersburg Times:

Gov. Jeb Bush's sweeping overhaul of Florida schools is out of step with the views of most Floridians, according to a new St. Petersburg Times poll.

Overall, most Floridians give the two-term Republican high marks for job performance. But on education issues, support for his policies wanes.

A majority of Floridians do not like private school vouchers, continue to support the multibillion-dollar class-size amendment and oppose use of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to reward or penalize schools, the poll shows.

Meanwhile, parents say they like their public schools. A lot.

Featured Blog List

I updated it at the top left. I'll be making a special appeal from time to time during this month hoping to help Blah3 make their million hit mark.

Iraq's Bloodiest Season Ever

We hear very little about the fact that just in the last few weeks, as many as 36,000 Iraqi families have been displaced because of U.S. military actions and insurgent violence as well as the racist assassinations.

From The Times today:

The war in Iraq has entered a bloodier phase, with the killings of Iraqi civilians rising tremendously in daily sectarian violence while American casualties have steadily declined, spurring tens of thousands of Iraqis to flee from mixed Shiite-Sunni areas.

A boy who had fled Abu Ghraib played last week in a camp near Najaf. Sectarian bloodshed has prompted thousands of Iraqis to flee their homes.

The new pattern, detailed in casualty and migration statistics from the past six months and in interviews with American commanders and Iraqi officials, has led to further separation of Shiite and Sunni Arabs, moving the country toward a de facto partitioning along sectarian and ethnic lines — an outcome that the Bush administration has doggedly worked to avoid over the past three years.

The nature of the Iraq war has been changing since at least the late autumn, when political friction between Sunni Arabs and Shiite Arabs rose even as American troops began implementing a long-term plan to decrease their street presence. But the killing accelerated after the bombing on Feb. 22 of a revered Shiite shrine, which unleashed a wave of sectarian bloodletting.

About 900 Iraqi civilians died violently in March, up from about 700 the month before, according to military statistics and the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent organization that tracks deaths. Meanwhile, at least 29 American troops were killed in March, the second-lowest monthly total since the war began.

The White House says that little violence occurs in most of Iraq's 18 provinces. But those four or five provinces where the majority of the killings and migrations take place are Iraq's major population centers, generally mixed regions that include Baghdad, and contain much of the nation's infrastructure — crucial factors in Iraq's prospects for stability.

And Speaking of Burkha Bette Rice...

I like this from The Heretic.

Dr. Rice: From Coon to Condom

It just hasn't been fashion plate Condi Rice's week.

First, a right-wing radio host, in the midst of telling us how wonderful (choke) it would be to have Rice as the first female president, calls her a coon.

Then - and this has NOT been widely reported here though it certainly draws enough press abroad - everyone from small school kids to sr oldsters overseas have showed up to boo her (Joe Lieberman can commisserate: he got booed down at a Dem fundraiser in Connecticut, his home turf).

And now, Britain's Jack Straw has accidentally called her Condom Rice.

Would that only Condi's dad had worn one the night she was conceived!

Double Oh Zero?

Stolen from Amanda at Pandagon, labeled Conservative Avenger.

But this still creeps me out.

CB's Sunday Discussion Group

Regular The Carpetbagger Report readers know the folks there post an excellent Sunday discussion series. Here's a snippet from today's offering:

• The Boston Globe reported that President Bush believes he is not obligated to follow the Patriot Act's provisions that require him inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers. The law is clear, but Bush doesn't feel like he has to follow it. The revelations were on the Globe's front page, but were completely ignored by every other national newspaper and went unmentioned on the TV news networks.
  
• The New York Times reported on a pre-war memo that added shocking insights into the president's discussions with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, including the fact that Bush not only decided in January to go to war, but also that he was prepared to provoke a war, through fraud if necessary. The memo was confirmed to be legitimate and ran on the Times' front page. The rest of the major news outlets ignored the stunning revelations.
  
• On Wednesday, congressional Democrats unveiled a major new foreign policy/national security strategy, in a high-profile DC event, after months of preparation. Print and TV media, both of which have told Americans repeatedly that Democrats "have no plan" to deal with national security, decided the detailed new strategy wasn't worth mentioning to the public.

Scorned Woman Testifying Against Boss DeLay

No man deserves her scorn - and testimony against - more than corrupt, vile, fraudulent, miserable Hot Tub Tom DeLay.

Iraq the Bush Way

The New York Times has a stunning editorial today:

Iraq is becoming a country that America should be ashamed to support, let alone occupy. The nation as a whole is sliding closer to open civil war. In its capital, thugs kidnap and torture innocent civilians with impunity, then murder them for their religious beliefs. The rights of women are evaporating. The head of the government is the ally of a radical anti-American cleric who leads a powerful private militia that is behind much of the sectarian terror.

The Bush administration will not acknowledge the desperate situation. But it is, at least, pushing in the right direction, trying to mobilize all possible leverage in a frantic effort to persuade the leading Shiite parties to embrace more inclusive policies and support a broad-based national government.

One vital goal is to persuade the Shiites to abort their disastrous nomination of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Mr. Jaafari is unable to form a broadly inclusive government and has made no serious effort to rein in police death squads. Even some Shiite leaders are now calling on him to step aside. If his nomination stands and is confirmed by Parliament, civil war will become much harder to head off. And from the American perspective, the Iraqi government will have become something that no parent should be asked to risk a soldier son or daughter to protect.

Disastrous? Because al-Jaafari reads Noam Chomsky? So far, I've had difficulty understanding why American critics are so opposed to him.

G'night

Hope you pulled a good April Fool's day prank... and if you did, share in comments.

Bush: One Wildly Expensive, Covered-Up Failure After Another; This One, Missile Command

No shame, no shame whatsoever with this crew:

A senior Congressional investigator has accused his agency of covering up a scientific fraud among builders of a $26 billion system meant to shield the nation from nuclear attack. The disputed weapon is the centerpiece of the Bush administration's antimissile plan, which is expected to cost more than $250 billion over the next two decades.

The investigator, Subrata Ghoshroy of the Government Accountability Office, led technical analyses of a prototype warhead for the antimissile weapon in an 18-month study, winning awards for his "great care" and "tremendous skill and patience."

Mr. Ghoshroy now says his agency ignored evidence that the two main contractors had doctored data, skewed test results and made false statements in a 2002 report that credited the contractors with revealing the warhead's failings to the government.

The agency strongly denied his accusations, insisting that its antimissile report was impartial and that it was right to exonerate the contractors of a coverup.

The dispute is unusual. Rarely in the 85-year history of the G.A.O., an investigative arm of Congress with a reputation for nonpartisan accuracy, has a dissenter emerged publicly from its ranks.

And Mr. Ghoshroy's assertions raise new questions about the Boeing Company's military arm, the main contractor for the troubled $26 billion system of interceptor rockets now being installed in Alaska and California. The system's "kill vehicles" are to zoom into space and destroy enemy warheads by force of impact.

But years of test failures have thrown the program into disarray, and the military has recently begun to look for a kill vehicle of greater reliability.

Charles Taylor and the "Great" Christian, Pat Robertson

So many times this week, we've heard about the horrors committed during Charles Taylor's reign in Monrovia and elsewhere. Never, though, did I hear a single outlet tie him back to Pat Robertson who was not only a Taylor supporter (Taylor let him smuggle diamonds and shit out) but a business associate.

Dick Cheney's Halliburton Shows Nothing But Contempt for Efforts to Keep Its Fraud of US Taxpayers to a Minimum

Isn't it time to get rid of Bush-Cheney and tax dollar cheats like Halliburton and KBR?

From the LA Times:

WASHINGTON — Frustrated government auditors pleaded, cajoled and finally threatened Halliburton Co. executives who repeatedly failed to comply with government reporting requirements under a key Iraq contract with a $1.2-billion potential price tag, newly released documents show.

The documents, along with a report, were issued Tuesday by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Government Reform. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) had requested the report on the contract, considered crucial to the restoration of oil production capacity in southern Iraq.
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The 15-page report cites findings by auditors that Halliburton overcharged — "apparently intentionally" — on the contract by using hidden calculations, and attempted in one instance to bill the government for $26 million in costs it did not incur. Auditors also challenged $45 million in other costs, labeling them as "unreasonable or unsupported," the report said.

The report blamed the Department of Defense for awarding the contract despite warnings from auditors that Halliburton's cost estimating system had "significant deficiencies." Although federal officials have criticized the company and threatened to cancel its contracts, Halliburton remains the largest private contractor in Iraq.

The contract, awarded in January 2004, was one of three Iraq pacts for the company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney

Britain About to Start "Secret" Talks in Prep for a US-Led Attack on Iran

Sadly, this is apparently NOT an April Fool's joke:

The Government is to hold secret talks with defence chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.

A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran.

It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme.

From the UK Independent: Prepare for Six Permanent US Military Bases in Iraq

Wow, Bush can kill off soldiers and keep Iraq destabilized for generations to come.

Bring 'em on, eh, Dubya?

Schumer: Bill to Fast Track Suits Related to Illegal NSA Spying

Story here.

Experts Say Bush-Rumsfeld's Damage to Military Will Take Years to Repair

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Anyone else might be embarrassed when not one but two detailed studies of the way he's doing business conclude that his plans and assumptions are totally wrong, but not Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.

A recent Rand Corp. study commissioned by the Pentagon of the U.S. Army in this time of war concluded that without an increase in manpower the Army ''simply cannot sustain the force levels needed to break the back of the insurgent movement'' in Iraq.

Yet another study, conducted by the Defense Department's own Institute for Defense Analyses, concluded that the Army's Transformation program, intended to add combat brigades without boosting manpower, cuts the number of maneuver battalions in those brigades while adding more headquarters troops.

''The essence of land power is resident in the maneuver battalions that occupy terrain, control populations and fight battles, not in headquarters and enablers,'' the IDA study said. ''Yet the Army plan reduces the number of maneuver battalions by 20 percent below the number available in 2003, while increasing headquarters by 11.5 percent.''

The IDA study noted that under the Army plan, now well under way, the number of infantry battalions in infantry brigades and the number of armor battalions in armor brigades had been cut from three to two.

GOP Walkout in Maryland

Remember when the Dems in Texas walked out because Tom DeLay's folks railroaded through a disastrous redistricting plan? The rabid wing of the GOP party savaged those Dems for doing so, calling them whiny cry babies and telling them they were crap for not standing up and staying put.

Well, gosh... now the Maryland GOP has done the same thing. Of course, they are NOT criticizing themselves because... you know... they're sure they aren't whiny cry babies but principled people. Cough.

Republicans in the Maryland Senate unplugged their computers, picked up their belongings and marched out of the chamber yesterday afternoon in protest of a frantic push by Democrats to pass a stack of hotly contested bills.

Infuriated members strode up the marble State House staircase to the offices of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), who applauded them for the rare walkout and declared that four years of "monopoly frustration has come to a head."

They're frustrated by four years of monopoly behavior? Really? Because we've put up with in for ages now under Bush-Cheney-Frist-Hastert-DeLay and we're simply told to shut up and "get over it".

Devastation from Iran Earthquake

I suppose we won't be sending aid to Iran unless Condi decides nuclear bunker busters count as humanitarian help.

A Beautiful Sight on the Brooklyn Bridge Today

People who remember what America is supposed to be, and joined those who would like to have the ability to become Americans themselves.

So the Military Lied

Remember the US military attack on a mosque last weekend? Early pictures showed a mosque. But then the military said it had never attacked a mosque or religious shrine, that this was all made up... those who had seen the pictures were supposed to forget we had. But meanwhile, other countries were protesting the US actions because they believed a mosque had been hit, too.

Well, sure 'nuff, the military DID attack a mosque... now they agree they did and say it was supposed to be a warning. From US News:

The U.S. military was trying to send a "little reality jab" to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr when American and Iraqi troops raided a Shiite community center and shrine over the weekend, says a top U.S. military official.

The joint assault killed at least 16 people, most of them believed to be tied to Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army. U.S. officials insist the center was being used as a base for insurgent activities and was not a mosque. But many Iraqis say the complex did indeed include the Shiite equivalent of a mosque, and the raid has drawn harsh condemnation from Shiite politicians and prompted Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, to launch an investigation.

The mayor of Baghdad promptly cut off cooperation with the U.S. Embassy, and Shiite politicians suspended their negotiations to form a new government. The U.S. military has long contemplated taking tougher steps against Sadr and his troublesome militia but has held off in the past because it did not want to antagonize his many fervent supporters. This raid, officials say, was intended as a reminder to Sadr of the U.S. military's reach in Iraq.

U.S. officials had been quietly praising Sadr's group in recent weeks because of its calls for calm in the wake of the bombing of a Sunni mosque in Samarra that sparked a wave of sectarian violence.

A lie is a lie is a lie is a lie.

Katherine Harris Campaign Seems More Like Titanic Than Good Ship Lollipop

Hmmm...

The last of U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' key staffers appear ready to abandon her campaign for the U.S. Senate in a wave of resignations expected to start this weekend.Sources close to the campaign said Friday that the defections would touch virtually every level of her operation.

Harris, who is running against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, is likely to lose her chief political strategist, her campaign manager, her spokeswoman, her director of field operations and even a traveling aide who helps hand out stickers at campaign appearances.It is the latest and most dramatic indication so far that her campaign is on the verge of collapse."I've never seen staffers go like this," said David Johnson, a Republican pollster and consultant. "It's just imploding."

Calls and e-mails to the campaign were not returned Friday night, but sources said Harris met with staffers earlier in the day to tell them she would be hiring new people to replace those who had already left.Campaign workers could stay, she said, but they would have to recommit themselves to the Senate race. She gave them until 5 p.m. Sunday to decide.

Can't happen to a nicer lipstick-wearing swine.

Compare "Can't Criticize Bush" Policy to Treatment of Cynthia McKinney

Now I'm not a huge Cynthia McKinney fan. I think she too often speaks first, thinks later (a practice I'm guilty of myself).

But, although she was pushed out after 9/11, her constituents brought her back to the House. They have that right.

This week, a rumpus turned into a bigger one when McKinney supposedly went through House security without properly displaying her ID. A Capitol police officer chased her down. What happened next is open to some conjecture. McKinney says she was "touched inappropriately".

But the far right is, as usual, displaying its barely concealed hatred for anyone of color who does not pull the Uncle Clarence Thomas "love them whities" routine. They've called her a nut, a mental case, and even a "ghetto slut" because she says her rights were violated. Rita Cosby - who really has no right to call anyone names considering she's a no talent moose-voiced lard ass - was hinting at similar phrases when she was on Hardball last night with Chris Matthews.

The contempt these folks hold for anyone of color just amazes me. A lot of real righty Reps really can't see why we don't have separate drinking fountains and can't understand why Rosa Parks got buses desegregated. And that's part of what's behind the No Child Left Behind/Charter School programs - if kids of color have to be in public schools, then let's kill the public schools.

Very sad, but I think true.

Gee, I Find Mr. Bush a Bit Nauseating Myself

But you simply can't criticize the man who criticizes everyone else:

ABC News suspended the executive producer of the weekend edition of "Good Morning America" yesterday over a pair of leaked e-mails in which he used inflammatory language to slam President Bush and Madeleine Albright.

John Green, whose unpaid suspension will last one month, apologized to the White House in a call to communications director Nicolle Wallace, while two ABC executives called the former secretary of state to apologize.

"No one is sorrier than John for the embarrassment that these albeit private e-mails caused to his colleagues and to the people who were the subjects of those comments," said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider. "John would be the first to say this has been a real lesson to him. John is abjectly sorry for all the comments that have come to light, and that's appropriate."

In one of the e-mails, written during the first presidential debate in 2004 and leaked to the Drudge Report, Green wrote to a colleague on his BlackBerry: "Are you watching this? Bush makes me sick. If he uses the 'mixed messages' line one more time, I'm going to puke."

Scary Stuff: Blackwater USA, Mercenaries for Hire

Also found this at Think Progress, which I find even more repellant than Jonah Goldberg who is great for any weight loss plan:

This week at a conference in Jordan, Blackwater USA vice chairman Cofer Black announced that the private security company is ready to shift from a security role to a more “overt combat role,” essentially becoming an army for hire.

The Bush administration has shown itself more than willing to call in Blackwater in place of U.S. troops.

In Aug. 2003, the Bush administration awarded Blackwater a $21.3 million contract to guard then Amb. Paul Bremer. The average senior special operations officer makes $50,000 a year from the U.S. government. Employees in private security firms in Iraq often make more than $1,000 a day from government contracts. This arrangement is “depleting the ranks of the special forces,” luring them into lucrative private jobs.

Some military analysts initially welcomed the administration’s private security arrangement with Blackwater because it allowed “regular military troops to concentrate on fighting.” But Blackwater’s new proposal would shift some of the fighting to the private sector, further diminishing the role of the all-volunteer army.

Remember, what Blackwater does will be the responsibility of the American people. There is every bit of evidence that the mess in Fallujah began by Blackwater shooting up civilians and being ham-handed, which ultimately resulted in the four contractors being hung by their feet from a bridge, and then we went in and committed atrocities in Fallujah as payback.

This is NOT good.

The U.S. Economy: Faux News Vs. Reality

Following up the previous post from David Sirota, here is this about Faux... er... Fox News deliberately misleading the public about the U.S. economy, starting with a transcript from Fox, posted at Think Progress:

Transcript:

But according to a new survey, 59 percent have bought into that crackpot notion. They rate it [the economy] as bad, very bad, or terrible, in fact, when all the facts say that just the opposite is true. So, where are the folks getting this image? My next guest says look no further than the liberal media. Larry, it’s media making the people thank the economy stinks, is that right?

But the polls don’t reflect media manipulation. Americans see the real state of the economy in their everyday lives:

• After adjusting for inflation, wages have not risen during the last three years.
• In fact, real hourly wages fell for most middle- and low-income workers in 2005 and the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage is 29 percent lower today than it was in 1979.
• The poverty rate has risen each year since 2001, with 12.7 percent of the population now living in poverty.
• Job growth during President Bush’s term has been the lowest since World War II. /font>

Record Profits for Some But Workers' Share Hits 40-Year Low

Posted by the ever-vigilant David Sirota who has a book- Hostile Takeover - coming out soon:

As I noted last week, media pundits like Sam Donaldson simply cannot understand why polls show the public is so down on the economic direction of our country. These commentators - who are supposed to reflect the true pulse of America - look at today's Wall Street Journal headline blaring that "Corporate Pretax Profits Jump 14.4% - Strongest Gain Since 1992" and wonder: why, oh dear god why, aren't ordinary Americans aren't jumping with joy?

The answer, as I note in my upcoming book Hostile Takeover, is simple: if you take the five seconds it takes to actually look at the underlying data, you see that those profits aren't actually benefitting ordinary workers - they are increasingly benefitting only those at the very top of the economic ladder.

John Dean: Presidential Censure

Read it here at Raw Story.

Brit PM Tony Blair Will Resign By Christmas

As you may recall, he just barely won re-election less than a year ago. From the London Telegraph:

Tony Blair is to announce his resignation by Christmas, members of his inner circle believe.

The disclosure comes as John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, agreed to try to broker an agreement between Mr Blair and back-bench MPs over the succession after being warned that uncertainty about the leadership is having a disastrous effect on Labour morale.

Joan Ruddock, a former minister, raised the issue of the succession, including the timing of Mr Blair's departure, with Mr Prescott at a meeting of Labour's parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

Can't we retire Dubya and Duck! It's Dick! too?

Jesus Would Suffer Under George W. Bush as Well

This cartoon at Harper's says a great deal in one single panel.

Sad, But Oh So Honest

Lifted shamelessly from Mr. Natural at the splendidly honest Left Edge North:

Our Belubbed Leader's Resume

Karlo at SwerveLeft has posted the best, most flattering resume I have ever read for our befuddled smirker president, Mr. Bush.

Go here (you know you want to, you really do).

Past Work Experience
Ran for congress and lost.

Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.

Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas; company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.

Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox.

With father's help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas.

Accomplishments in Previous Positions

Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union.

Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog-ridden city in America. Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money.

Set record for most executions by any governor in American history.

More White House Staff Shakeup

Cough (from the Borowitz Report):

Attempting to answer the calls within his own party to shake up his beleaguered administration, President George W. Bush today ousted the White House pastry chef and pronounced the shakeup complete. “There have been many Republicans in Congress who have been calling upon me to do something drastic,” Mr. Bush told reporters at the White House.

“I am convinced that by firing the pastry chef, we have fixed the problems.” Mr. Bush, while declining to “play the blame game,” indicated that after much consideration he had concluded that the White House pastry chef was at the root of most of the problems of his administration.

“Let’s face it, during the run-up to the war in Iraq, there was all of that talk about weapons of mass destruction, and the pastry chef didn’t say anything about it,” Mr. Bush said. “If he knew that the intelligence was faulty, he should have spoken up.”

The president added that the pastry chef was “slow to act” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: “Basically, he was just in the kitchen baking the whole time.”

While Mr. Bush said that firing the White House pastry chef would probably solve all of the problems plaguing his administration of late, he was not afraid to take future action if warranted.

“I am fully prepared to fire the person who waters the plants around here,” Mr. Bush said.

Well, it will certainly make as much difference as replacing Andy Card with Josh Bolten, meaning, not at all.

Talk About Corporate Welfare Taken to the Nth Power Under the Bushies

Also from AmericaBlog:

The Bush DHS is using tax dollars to subsidize a Fortune 500 oil company. Not kidding. ONE MILLION DOLLARS for a FORTUNE 500 refinery. That's what we learn from Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's report from February, 2006 (page 21):

For example, a Fortune 500 refinery received a port security grant in round five totaling almost $1 million for fencing and surveillance upgrades at a refinery located in a major port. It did put up the same amount in matching funds.

This company recently reported 3rd quarter net income in excess of $1.2 billion. We remained concerned about the absence of more specific guidance on security measures proposed by private companies that are capable of paying for them, and what measures they should pay for.

Now, which Fortune 500 company -- with 3rd quarter net income of $1.2 billion -- needed tax dollars to build a fence? The GOP loves corporate welfare -- but giving tax dollars to oil companies is a new low.

Scalia's F-You Photog Fired

AmericaBlog informs us the photographer who snapped the picture of Supreme Court (In)Justice Scalia gesticulating the F word to his critics has been fired.

Of the two people involved here, I think one should be held to a much higher standard and perhaps relieved of his duties. It's now, however, the photographer.

Yet More Preposterous Claims About Jill Carroll

Now the repugnant right is stepping up their vile crap about released hostage journalist, Jill Carroll.

Not only is she suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, they allege, she's quite possibly:

• a traitor to this country
• a Jane Fonda wannabe
• an al Qaeda operative
• on the payroll of the insurgency
• someone whose citizenship should be revoked

Vile, vile people.

Lou Dobbs Day? Perish the Thought

The General discusses illegal aliens (from Mexico, not Mars), Lou Dobbs, and immigration:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holds periodical roundups of these workers. Usually they occur on the heels of the harvest and are targeted at farmworkers. Occasionally, one of the many canneries in the area is hit, but only when the workers get too uppity and start talking to union organizers.

The roundups are always elaborately planned and very efficiently carried out. The workers are picked up, held at a temporary facility for a day or two before appearing at an assembly line style hearing, and then sent straight to Mexico (most of our farmworkers come from two Mexican states, Michoacán and Jalisco).

A new roundup began on Tuesday. It's very different from previous ones. Immigration's already hit more than one cannery and, according to Ofjoshua's sources at ICE, they plan to continue raiding canneries through Friday. They've also added restaurants to their list for the first time.

The strangest thing about it is that they aren't holding anyone. They're photographing and fingerprinting them and then picking up their families for similar treatment before letting everyone go. From what I understand, it's as well planned and efficient as every other roundup, except they've done away with the detention, hearings, and deportation.I can't quite figure out why they're doing it this way, but I have to wonder if it's all prep for some kind of Lou Dobbs Day when thousands of illegals are gathered up all across the country to serve as props for one of Our Leader's glorious media events.

The Right's Attack on Jill Carroll

It sure didn't take long for the pond scum right like John Podhoretz to treat freed captive journalist Jill Carroll after she had the *nerve* to say she was treated humanely by her abductors. And just as Podhoretz said, the talking heads on TV tonight are using phrases like Stockholm Syndrome and such to discredit her words.

These people make me way past ill.

Judge Criticizes Post 9-11 Intelligence Overhaul

Government intelligence has become even more of an oxymoron, but this judge says we have gone way over the top and with poor results.

Predatory Lending, Brought to You By Predatory Lobbyists Who Buy Our Politicians

From David Sirota (go here to read it in full):

Last year, I noted how the most bought-off forces in Congress were trying to follow up their passage of the credit card industry-written bankruptcy bill with a new bill to open the door to all sorts of predatory lending practices.

Specifically, the bill would invalidate state laws regulating predatory lending - yet another move by a supposedly conservative federal government to usurp state power. That bill is being spearheaded by Ohio Rep. Bob Ney (R) - a guy so corrupt, he's become somewhat of a household name in political circles. The conventional wisdom in Washington is that laws regulating banking practices are too esoteric to become major political themes in a campaign year. But it is becoming clear that is not the case. On the contrary, as consumer debt is hitting record levels and the middle class economic squeeze is subsequently worsening, debates over these laws are becoming flashpoints for broader debates over how much power our government has ceded to Corporate America, and how that power is being used to bleed ordinary citizens dry. And these flashpoints are occurring in the most politically important states in America.

Turns Out Ann Coulter is Also Too Stupid to Vote

From my neighbors (so to speak) at The Carpetbagger Report, a story I've avoided posting:

Ordinarily, I'm content pretending Ann Coulter doesn't exist, but one item jumped out at me that I considered too entertaining to ignore.

Coulter, you may recall, ridiculed voters in Palm Beach, Fla., after the 2000 presidential election, when thousands of votes were miscast due to the infamous "butterfly ballot." Coulter suggested those who are too stupid to vote properly shouldn't count anyway.

Coulter may want to rethink that whole approach.

Palm Beach County's elections supervisor has given Universal Press Syndicate columnist Ann Coulter 30 days to explain why she voted in the wrong precinct, according to a Wednesday piece by Palm Beach Post columnist Jose Lambiet.

Lambiet had first reported on Coulter's Florida voting problems last month. In his Wednesday follow-up, Lambiet wrote: "This time, claiming she doesn't even live here — as GOP pundit Ann Coulter has been doing on this spring's college speaking tour when she's questioned about her February election meltdown on Palm Beach — isn't going to cut it. …"

The Lambiet piece continued: "In a registered letter scheduled to be sent to her this week, Coulter is asked to 'clarify certain information as to her legal residence,' elections boss Arthur Anderson said. 'We want to give her a chance,' Anderson said. 'She needs to tell us where she really lives.' Or else? He could refer the case to State Attorney Barry Krischer for criminal charges, Anderson said."

Lambiet cited an official incident report from a poll worker who found Coulter trying to vote in two precincts on the same day, in the same election. As for the possible legal penalties, Lambiet noted that it is a third-degree felony to vote knowingly in the wrong precinct. What's more, lying on a voter's registration can cost up to $5,000 and five years in jail.

Bolten-Bush Bizarro World

Speaking of Blah3, here's some really odd information I just read there:

preznit_giv_me_turkee writes "Some people keep pics of their spouse in their office, Bolten has pics of Bush's hands

His wall collection of Bush photos, typical throughout the White House complex, is unique. The pictures focus exclusively on Bush's hands at key moments in his presidency. Not a single photo of Bush's face can be found."

OK, this is just plain creepy. I think I'm going to forego the container of yogurt I just opened.

Surf the Stranger

Blah3 - a very good blog, IMHO opinion - hopes to reach its one millionth blog visitor mark by the end of April. Consider visiting to see what Stranger, dedalus, and others have to say.

In the What the Bleep Are the Bushies Thinking?!? Department

What indeed? From an Australian paper (because God forbid American news media tell us these things):

THE United States military planned to detonate a 700 tonne explosive charge in a test called "Divine Strake" that would send a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas, a senior defence official said."I don't want to sound glib here but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons," said

James Tegnelia, head of the Defence Threat Reduction Agency.
Mr Tegnelia said the test was part of a US effort to develop weapons capable of destroying deeply buried bunkers housing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

"We have several very large penetrators we're developing," he said.

"We also have - are you ready for this - a 700 tonne explosively-formed charge that we're going to be putting in a tunnel in Nevada.

"And that represents to us the largest single explosive that we could imagine doing conventionally to solve that problem."

The aim was to measure the effect of the blast on hard granite structures, he said.

And scaring the shit out of the inhabitants to justify more Pentagon spending perhaps? In other words, a terrorist act by our own government perpetrated against its own people.

Lovely. Just lovely.

Congress, Lobbyists, and Industry Responsible for Weakening on Controls on Uranium Exports

Grrrr.....

"The responsibility falls to us, to take necessary action to prevent the horrors of 9/11 being replayed, but on a nuclear scale," declared Spencer Abraham, then-U.S. energy secretary, at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in May 2004. [1] Taking up the cudgels, he announced that Washington was establishing a Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI), "to secure, remove, or dispose of an even broader range of nuclear and radiological materials around the world that are vulnerable to theft . . . ensuring they will not fall into the hands of those with evil intentions." The plan was applauded by many who felt the United States was not acting quickly enough to safeguard bomb-grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) from terrorists. [2]

Yet, no sooner did the U.S. government take an important step forward than it took a giant leap back. Barely a year after Abraham's announcement, President George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which includes an amendment that loosens restrictions on the export of HEU. Driven by a purported need to assure the domestic supply of medical isotopes, which was never actually at risk, the new statute retreats from more than a quarter-century of U.S. efforts to phase out HEU commerce and its catastrophic risks.

The individuals responsible for this legislative debacle comprise a sweeping cast of characters, including foreign producers of medical isotopes, their U.S.-based lobbyists, gullible sectors of the American medical community, and the compliant lawmakers who spearheaded efforts on Capitol Hill. It is a cautionary tale of how a single foreign company can weaken U.S. national security through misleading scare tactics and cold cash.

Americans Are Getting Smarter, Not Falling for Bush/House's Bait-and-Switch

Somebody in America seems a little less ready to let Bush and the idiots in the House of Reprehensibles constantly distract them with bait-and-switch measures.

As proof, there is a CNN poll right now asking which is the greatest threat to American workers:

Illegal immigrants, or
Outsourcing

5:1 (80% to 20%), poll respondents are saying outsourcing, which I believe to be very much the correct answer. Keep passing on the Koolaid, kiddies!

Gee, Perhaps We Can Get Prisoners to Take Those Tough Jobs in Congress, Too!

Scum sucking idiots (from CNN):

House conservatives criticized President Bush, accused the Senate of fouling the air, said prisoners rather than illegal farm workers should pick American crops and denounced the use of Mexican flags by protesters Thursday in a vehement attack on legislation to liberalize U.S. immigration laws.

Emergency Broadcast System

Is anyone else noticing that tests on TV for the Emergency Alert System, formerly the Emergency Broadcast System, are way up in frequency?

Yes, I realize they're always annoying, but I notice that on New York metro stations, they call them weekly tests now even though I sometimes see them more than once a week on the same station such as WNBC-TV, NBC's Manhattan flagship station.

We're also seeing them that often in Vermont.

Yet they used to be, until very recently, no more than monthly. So why the big increase?

Fear mongering?

As many of you will recall, the one time we did NOT see the Emergency Broadcast System was on 9/11, the one time when it might have been useful. This was because it was headquartered - oh, smart move - in the World Trade Center.

beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beeeeeeeepppppppp!!!

Billions and Billions Spent by the Bushies and We're No Safer

From WaPo (thank you, Michael Chertoff and the Department of Homeland InSUCKurity):

Nearly five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Washington region still lacks a strategic plan to guide preparations for any future attacks or to effectively spend hundreds of millions of homeland security dollars, federal and local officials told a U.S. Senate panel yesterday.

DC is hardly the only case of less security, however.

But with this true, why are all those Bush-friendly defense companies making such huge bundles of money? Hmmmm....

Speaking of Mr. Rumsfeld's Nonsense

While the DoD is busy, with Bush, cutting services and pay and health care for the military currently fighting their bogus wars, Rumsfeld pushed for THIS nonsense to defense contactor staff as reported by WaPo at The Washington Monthly's Political Animal Blog:

Starting this month, U.S. government civilians serving in Iraq and in Afghanistan outside of Kabul are receiving an extra 35 percent above their base salaries for hardship and another 35 percent for danger. Previously, they were paid 25 percent extra for each category, the limits the government had set decades ago for any foreign post.

...."The idea was to recognize service at our most difficult and dangerous posts, and foremost among those posts are Iraq and Afghanistan," said a senior State Department official.

But I thought things were going fine in Iraq and it was only the traitorous fifth columnists in the media who were making it look dangerous?

Mr. Rumsfeld's Great Catch 22 Adventure

The Army under Rumsfeld's direction, along with the reserves etc, aren't always getting equipped with body armor. We know that already, correct?

So why is the Army now outlawing the use of personally-purchased body armor?

This makes about as much sense as our saber-rattling at Iran considering we're getting our asses kicked hard in Afghanistan and Iraq and we're bankrupt here at home in making overpayments to Halliburton, Bechtel, and other lovely defense contractors.

The Good (In)Justice Antonin Scalia: Fuck You to My Critics

Nice. Really nice. And in a church, for Pete's sake. From the Boston Herald:

Amid a growing national controversy about the gesture U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made Sunday at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the freelance photographer who captured the moment has come forward with the picture. Amid a growing national controversy about the gesture U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made Sunday at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the freelance photographer who captured the moment has come forward with the picture.

“It’s inaccurate and deceptive of him to say there was no vulgarity in the moment,” said Peter Smith, the Boston University assistant photojournalism professor who made the shot.

Despite Scalia’s insistence that the Sicilian gesture was not offensive and had been incorrectly characterized by the Herald as obscene, the photographer said the newspaper “got the story right.”

Smith said the jurist “immediately knew he’d made a mistake, and said, ‘You’re not going to print that, are you?’ ”

Scalia’s office yesterday referred questions regarding the flap to Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg, who said a letter Scalia sent Tuesday to the Herald defending his gesture at the cathedral “speaks for itself.”

“He has no further comment,” Arberg said.

Smith was working as a freelance photographer for the Boston archdiocese’s weekly newspaper at a special Mass for lawyers Sunday when a Herald reporter asked the justice how he responds to critics who might question his impartiality as a judge given his public worship.

“The judge paused for a second, then looked directly into my lens and said, ‘To my critics, I say, ‘Vaffanculo,’ ” punctuating the comment by flicking his right hand out from under his chin, Smith said.

The Italian phrase means “(expletive) you.”