WHAT? No Maple Syrup in Baghdad? The Infidels!

Jesus' General writes to Vermont's governor. Poor, poor Jim.

Dear Governor Douglas,

I was horrified to learn that there was no genuine maple syrup for breakfast during your trip to Iraq. So, I’ve decided to do something about it. I’ve been on the phone all afternoon, and I am told there are now serious murmurings about a full congressional investigation into this outrage.

Who is to blame? I don’t think we can blame the President. He has made it amply clear that he relies on his Generals in the field to make menu-level decisions. The Secretary of Defense has already said “You go to war with the menu you have, not the menu you might want or wish to have.” Okay…fair enough!

No…the blame lies with the minority party in Congress. When pushed about funding for more maple syrup to support the troops, they change the subject. They rant on…something about body armor and they make silly suggestions about Humvees. They raise stupid ideas that would make the damn things so heavy and slow that the troops would never get back from a night raid in time to enjoy a wholesome breakfast with pure maple syrup.

So, something must be done, Governor. There have been about 22 Vermonters killed in this war. I shudder at the inhumanity of those proud soldiers getting killed without a proper maple syrup-laden Last Breakfast.

And the solution is so simple--syrup just isn’t that expensive!The only bright spot in this, Governor, is that you are physically safe from harm after your horrific maple-syrup-less breakfast in the Gulf. I mean, just imagine the national outrage and collective bereavement if you had met your demise in the Persian Gulf--without a proper Last Breakfast! I submit to you that the backlash would become a serious threat to our War on Terror®.

Vermont happens to have the highest mortality rate per capita among American soldiers in Mr. Bush's Iraqi folly.

Speaking of the President's Press Conference

Did anyone else find it as rambling, incoherent, and stupid as I did?

I don't see how anyone believes him. He did not answer a single question accurately or cogently.

The President and Helen Thomas

God love Helen... I certainly do.

Editor and Publisher presents a transcript of her attempt to ask the president a legitimate question and his dissembling in response.

FARC, the DOJ's Latest Lark

Well, now we've declared war on the war on drugs, I think. Bush's other favorite lapdog, Gonzalez, announced today that we're going after leaders of FARC, the Colombian rebel group which he claims is responsible for more than half of the cocaine available around the globe.

But this is another situation that is only black-and-white to the Bushies. FARC exists largely because of our schizophrenic war on drugs and the devastation we've brought to Colombia in its wake. In fact, we've made a mess here with the war on drugs and brought death and destruction to Mexico and every country south of it because of same.

Now, you won't find me defending anyone who markets cocaine. I think it's one of the most life-destructive drugs out there - and Mr. Bush of all people should know this; rumor is this was his nose candy of choice. But considering that I can't believe a single word that comes out of Gonzalez's pampered mouth and I know we have never taken responsibility for the mess we've created in Colombia, I'm not at all sure FARC is the terrible bad guy here. There is just too much not known.

US Attack on Iran Could Bankrupt U.S. - And That's Just the Start of the Bad

From Australia:

THE updated version of the Bush Administration's 2002 national security strategy, released in Washington last week, identifies Iran as the country that may pose the biggest danger to the United States.

According to Reuters, the strategy document, which reaffirms pre-emptive military action as a central tenet of US security policy, raises fears the Bush Administration will resort to force to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

If force is used, it will come in the form of air strikes, as US land forces are already overstretched in the occupation of neighbouring Iraq.

One question still to be confronted is the impact such a strike would have on the US economy and how that would affect the global economy, particularly Australia, which is, after the US, the largest-deficit country in the advanced industrial world.

At the very least, a broadening of the war in the Middle East would be certain to push up interest rates in the US and Australia, because the central banks there would have to protect the currencies' value by increasing yields. How far and fast would depend on judgements about the likely outcome of the military intervention.

An air strike against Iranian nuclear facilities is unlikely to be surgical. There are about 50 sites associated with nuclear development in Iran and they are mainly sited in towns where civilian populations would be at risk. An attack would be certain to inflame the Islamic world against the US, almost certainly lead to a full-scale civil war in Iraq with the support of the predominantly Shiite Iranian people, and the US fleet in the shallow and narrow Persian Gulf would have to withdraw or be vulnerable to Iranian missile attack.

Bushies Wanted Secret Searches of American Homes, Too

Crap!

In the dark days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a small group of lawyers from the White House and the Justice Department began meeting to debate a number of novel legal strategies to help prevent another attack. Soon after, President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to begin conducting electronic eavesdropping on terrorism suspects in the United States, including American citizens, without court approval. Meeting in the FBI's state-of-the-art command center in the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the lawyers talked with senior FBI officials about using the same legal authority to conduct physical searches of homes and businesses of terrorism suspects--also without court approval, one current and one former government official tell U.S. News. "There was a fair amount of discussion at Justice on the warrantless physical search issue," says a former senior FBI official. "Discussions about--if [the searches] happened--where would the information go, and would it taint cases."

Doolittle Did Much to Break the Rules

Josh and company at Talking Points Memo are all over the story that GOP Congress critter John Doolittle's wife skimmed 15% of all contributions to her husband's campaign. Say what?

Stinky stinky.

Of course, Katherine Harris' own corruption makes it a divided story.

Murder Leading Cause of Death for Iraq-Based Journalists and Media Workers

Also from Ed and Publisher and sadly, not at all surprising:

Dozens of media workers have lost their lives in explosions and crossfire in Iraq, but now murder has overtaken war as the leading killer, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Friday.

In the past 10 days alone, suspected insurgents have murdered three Iraqi journalists and one media support worker, the CPJ said, raising the death toll to 67 journalists and 24 media support workers killed since the war began on March 20, 2003.

"The killings offer a chilling snapshot into recent trends. Iraqis constitute nearly 80 percent of journalists and support staffers killed for their work in Iraq," CPJ said in a statement. "Overall, 60 percent of the journalists and support workers killed in Iraq were targeted for assassination."

12 Americans Face War Crimes Probe

This from Ed and Publisher.

Residents gave new details Monday about the shootings of civilians in a western Iraqi town, where the U.S. military is investigating allegations of potential misconduct by American troops last November.The residents said troops entered homes and shot and killed 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl, after a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine.

The military, which announced Friday that a dozen Marines are under investigation for possible war crimes in the Nov. 19 incident, said in a statement Monday that a videotape of the aftermath of the shootings in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, was presented in support of the allegations.

The charges against the Marines were first brought forward by Time magazine, which reported this week that it obtained a videotape two months ago taken by a Haditha journalism student that shows the dead still in their nightclothes.

NBC was also talking tonight of a siege in Western Iraq last year that may end up being worse in revelations than the Abu Ghraib scandal. This may or may not be the same case.

However, as we know, when the military investigates itself, it always rules it acted properly.

Shake Up at the White House? Not Enough

With all the news lately that GOPers are saying it's time for some changes at the White House, the problem is that even if such change comes, it will hardly be enough.

Face it: the biggest need for change is in Bush-Cheney, and they aren't leaving. Everyone else is just window dressing. According to the Bushies, no change is needed. I disagree. But even if they were willing to consider a change, it would be to more lame, Bush I rejects. Everyone there is supposed to just go "rah rah" to whatever Bush says, despite how it flies in the face of reason.

So, unless we can use a can opener to get George and Dick out, forget about it.

Impeachment, Doonesbury Style

Brad Blog has it if you missed it. A nod to the mighty Skippy for the link.

As We Begin Year Four of Mr. Bush's Egg-cellent Folly...

Posted at The Carpetbagger Report:

With a terribly sad three-year anniversary upon us, this Center for American Progress paragraph seemed to summarize the landscape nicely.

"As we approach the third anniversary of the onset of the Iraq war," neoconservative-turned-Bush-critic Francis Fukuyama writes, "it seems very unlikely that history will judge either the intervention itself or the ideas animating it kindly." The Bush administration laid out the "ideas animating" the Iraq invasion in its 2002 National Security Strategy. According to the Bush doctrine, "America would have to launch periodic preventive wars to defend itself against rogue states" and "would do this alone, if necessary."

Yet after three years of failed policy in Iraq, the Bush administration yesterday released a "long-overdue" updated National Security Strategy that "offers no second thoughts about the preemption policy" — nor any new ideas for Iraq. "When does consistency become stubbornness…and when does stubbornness become stupidity?" asked Center for American Progress's Bob Boorstin. "When do you give up a doctrine that's not working?"

For that matter, this USA Today poll, published on Friday, helped capture the mood of the nation.

Three years after the invasion of Iraq, more than half of Americans say the war there has touched their own lives, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll finds. By nearly 3-to-1, they say that impact has been a negative one. For most, the conflict has hit close to home: Six in 10 say a close friend, family member or co-worker has served in Iraq. More than one in 10 say someone close to them has been killed or wounded there. Six in 10 in the poll, taken Friday through Sunday, say the war has had a negative effect on the nation.

The confidence when the invasion was launched has been replaced by second-guessing about the wisdom of going to war and dissatisfaction with the way it's been waged. In March 2003, Americans by 3-to-1 said the U.S. action in Iraq was morally justified; now 50% say it's not. A month after the invasion, 85% said the war was going well; now 60% say it's going badly.

A record 60% say the war hasn't been "worth it."

No Casualties in Operation Swarmer? Think Again

Posted at DailyKos, refuting claims by this administration that Operation Swarmer has caused not a single casualty or problem:

Operation Swarmer has been billed by the government as the "largest air assault" since the invasion of Iraq.

On March 17th, the military said there was "no resistance," and no casualties. So far, only less than 80 "insurgents" have been nabbed, and many of them were immediately released. (Though the Department of Defense in its release refers to the Iraqis as "terrorists" not "insurgents.")

Today, we learn that eight civilians, including a child, were killed in clashes between U.S. troops and gunmen in Duluiyah, part of the area targeted in the air assault campaign. It's unclear what exactly is transpiring; there is a media blackout. However, what little information is trickling out from the operation reveals the true cost of this PR campaign.

Operation Swarmer has caused the displacement of 700 Iraqi families. Most fled the Samara area with nothing but the clothes on their back:

"When they started to hit our city I didn't take anything. I just took my family and ran like hell. We don't have anything to eat or wear," urged Barakat Muhammad, a resident and father of five in Samarra.

The displaced families have taken refuge in abandoned buildings in the outskirts of the city. The situation, as described by the Red Crecent, is a humanitarian crisis:

"We have sent volunteers from the disaster department to monitor the situation and we are preparing ourselves for an emergency," said Ferdous al-Abadi, spokesperson for the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) in Baghdad. [...]

"They need urgent help and we call on all organisations to offer them supplies and medical support as soon as possible," Tikrit stressed.

Those supplies include medical supplies. While the U.S. military maintains there have not been any casualties, local doctors tell a different story:

[L]ocal doctors say that at least 35 civilians including women and children have been treated at the local hospital with injuries caused by the air-strikes. In addition, 18 bodies had been taken to the hospital since 17 March.

"We have run out of supplies and if the operation continues we need urgent surgical materials and pain killers to offer treatment to the innocent victims," Dr Ibraheem Mahmoud, of the emergency department at the local hospital in Samarra, said.

Former Iraqi PM Says Iraq Is in Civil War Now

From Allad Allawi:

It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is…We are in a terrible civil conflict now.

Yet today, everyone from the top military leader in Iraq to Bush to Cheney all claimed not only is there not a civil war, but Iraq was nowhere close to one.

Gee, whom to believe? It's not like the Bushies have ever lied to us, right? Gag.

So Much for Capitol Hill Lobby Reform: Lobbyists Yawn and Say it's Big Business as Usual

Read the Washington Post article and weep. No reform. Our politicians will remain on the lucrative payroll of corporations while we pay their lucrative retirement benefits that exceed anything American workers get.

Newfane Draws Vicious Response for Vote to Impeach Bush

Why am I (ever so sadly) not surprised?

From the Boston Globe:

Angry calls and e-mails flooded Newfane, population 1,680, the next day. One critic sent a mock thank-you note, signed ''Usama Bin Ladin," that applauded the town for its help in ''bringing down" America. Some regular guests of the picturesque, 175-year-old Four Columns Inn notified its owners that they would never visit again.

''Shame on you," one caller said on the town clerk's voicemail. ''A little Socialist town like yourself is a disgrace to America."

Three years into the war in Iraq, with the president's approval rating at an all-time low of 34 percent last month, protests against the Bush administration are mostly small and scattered, even in the most liberal outposts.

I've seen much worse, with calls for Vermont to be listed as a terrorist stronghold, for the entire state to be audited, and for black helicopters to be sent in en masse.

Reality Is Just a Concept With the Bushies: Bush's People Pose as Fox Journalists

From Reuters (astounding):

The White House said it would discipline two government employees who impersonated journalists in advance of a trip by U.S. President George W. Bush to the Gulf Coast, The Washington Post said on Saturday.

The Post quoted a Gautier, Mississippi couple whose home was wrecked by Hurricane Katrina as saying two men identified themselves as journalists during a visit to the couple's home.

Elaine Akins told the newspaper she and her husband Jerry were initially told by the two men that they were Fox News journalists, but that they later identified themselves as Secret Service agents.

Bush visited Gautier on March 8.

"They just came up and said they were with the media, and then they said they were with Fox," Akins was quoted as saying.

Discipline?

Does this mean they get promoted to a cabinet position OR do they get a medal of freedom award, like George Tenet?

Compelling Congress

On Impeachment that is... we don't seem to need to force them to give themselves a healthy, wealthy pay hike and more benefits each year while American salaries and perks are dropping like flies in a bug zapper.

Constant shares some thoughts here.

Saturday War Protests

It's been three years, but who's counting? Certainly not Mr. Bush or Mr. Rumsfeld.

Skippy offers a round-up of protests around the nation and the world today.

Blair: Close Gitmo

Well, as least Tony Blair has extracted his nose from Mr. Bush's anus long enough to admit the obvious: Guantanamo Bay should be closed.

Heaviest Bombing Attacks in Iraq Since Operation Shock and Awe

Or, as Buzzflash refers to this latest madness, "Operation Save Bush's Poll Ratings from the Dumpster".

I Guess the Black Vote Just Isn't Quite As Valued

Not good.

Over the bitter objections of some black leaders, the U.S. Justice Department approved a plan Thursday for New Orleans' first elections since Hurricane Katrina.

The department still needs to approve a few polling place changes but otherwise gave its blessing to plans to hold elections for mayor, City Council and other posts on April 22.

Department officials also said they will send observers to monitor the balloting.

Black leaders have charged that Louisiana officials have not done enough to ensure that voters scattered by the storm will be able to vote. The state plans to set up satellite polling places around the state for New Orleans residents driven from their homes, but chose not to create such stations outside Louisiana.

"Two-thirds of the eligible population has been disenfranchised," the Rev. Jesse Jackson complained after the Justice Department decision. "This is more onerous than the poll tax laws of 1965."

How much more obvious can the Bushies be? The Ohio vote where poorer black precincts were made to wait 8-9 hours to cast a vote? Florida in 2000 and 2004 where the voting rolls were purged to get rid of tens of thousands of black votes? This?

The message is nothing if not clear: if you're black and you're not casting a vote for Bushies, well, they'd just as soon prefer you didn't vote at all; they'll do everything in their power to make sure you don't.

Test

Blogger seems to need a high colonic.

Senators Traitors to US Constitution: Change Law to Make Bush's Illegal Spying "Legal"

From WaPo:

The Bush administration could continue its policy of spying on targeted Americans without obtaining warrants, but only if it justifies the action to a small group of lawmakers, under legislation introduced yesterday by key Republican senators.

The four senators hope to settle the debate over National Security Agency eavesdropping on international communications involving Americans when one of the parties is suspected of terrorist ties. President Bush prompted a months-long uproar when he said that constitutional powers absolve him of the need to seek warrants in such cases, even though the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requires warrants for domestic wiretaps.

The program, begun in 2001, was first publicized late last year.

The bill would allow the NSA to eavesdrop, without a warrant, for up to 45 days per case, at which point the Justice Department would have three options. It could drop the surveillance, seek a warrant from FISA's court, or convince a handful of House and Senate members that although there is insufficient evidence for a warrant, continued surveillance "is necessary to protect the United States," according to a summary the four sponsors provided yesterday. They are Mike DeWine (Ohio), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Olympia J. Snowe (Maine).

This is nothing short of criminal; these senators should be removed since clearly, they have no understanding or respect for the U.S. Constitution.. and mind you, several of them are so-called "moderate" Republicans.

As Sandra Day O'Connor said recently, we are walking a very fine line in this country between so-called democracy and a full-fledged dictatorship (or in the case of Duck! It's Dick! Cheney, a dick-tatorship).

WaPo: It's Easier to Rig Electronic Voting Machines Than it is to Rig Vegas Slot Machines

Thank you, WaPo! Finally, a major publication acknowledges the effing obvious:

It's easier to rig an electronic voting machine than a Las Vegas slot machine, says University of Pennsylvania visiting professor Steve Freeman. That's because Vegas slots are better monitored and regulated than America's voting machines, Freeman writes in a book out in July that argues, among other things, that President Bush may owe his 2004 win to an unfair vote count. We'll wait to read his book before making a judgment about that. But Freeman has assembled comparisons that suggest Americans protect their vices more than they guard their rights, according to data he presented at an October meeting of the American Statistical Association in Philadelphia.

How to steal an election? Just ask the Bushies. They've very clearly stolen two national ones (2000 and 2004) and perhaps also the 2002 mid-terms.

And we let them. We should be ashamed. No one who kept silent on the issue deserves to wear a silly flag lapel pin or even whisper that he or she is a patriot.

Carbon Dioxide Rates See Alarming Rise (Thank You, George W. Bush!)

From the BBC:

US climate scientists have recorded a significant rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, pushing it to a new record level.

BBC News has learned the latest data shows CO2 levels now stand at 381 parts per million (ppm) - 100ppm above the pre-industrial average.

The research indicates that 2005 saw one of the largest increases on record - a rise of 2.6ppm.
The figures are seen as a benchmark for climate scientists around the globe.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) has been analysing samples of air taken from all over the world, including America's Rocky Mountains.

The chief carbon dioxide analyst for Noaa says the latest data confirms a worrying trend that recent years have, on average, recorded double the rate of increase from just 30 years ago.

Funny, CNN spent hours covering the sentencing of Carlie Brucia's killer, Joseph Smith, in Florida yesterday but I didn't hear them mention this once.

Bush Administration Rejects Record Number of Hurricane Related Loans for Recovery

Just 35% of hurricane-related loan applications are approved. Want to bet - and stats I've read elsewhere bear this out - that black applicants have an 87% rejection rate?

WASHINGTON - The White House has rejected hurricane disaster-recovery loans at a higher rate than any other administration in the last 15 years, according to a congressional study by Democrats.

The report, expected to be released Wednesday, said business and home loan approval rates averaged about 60 percent after Hurricane Andrew devastated much of south Florida in 1992. The trend continued through the rest of President George H.W. Bush's administration and into the Clinton administration, according to Democratic members of the House Small Business Committee.

After Hurricane Wilma surged ashore in south Florida last year, the approval rate for low-interest, taxpayer-guaranteed loans by the Small Business Administration had dropped to barely 15 percent. Overall, Democrats said, approval rates for home and business disaster loans since 2004 have averaged about 35 percent.

What a Surprise: GE/MSNBC Do Not Like to See Mr. Bush or His Wars Criticized At All

From Media Matters:

Summary: Keith Olbermann, appearing on C-SPAN, said: "There are people I know in the hierarchy of NBC, the company, and GE, the company, who do not like to see the current presidential administration criticized at all. ... There are people who I work for who would prefer, who would sleep much easier at night if this never happened. On the other hand, if they look at my ratings and my ratings are improved and there is criticism of the president of the United States, they're happy."

During a March 12 interview with C-SPAN president and chief executive officer Brian Lamb, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann said: "There are people I know in the hierarchy of NBC, the company, and GE [General Electric Co., NBC's parent corporation], the company, who do not like to see the current presidential administration criticized at all. ... There are people who I work for who would prefer, who would sleep much easier at night if this never happened." He added, "On the other hand, if they look at my ratings and my ratings are improved and there is criticism of the president of the United States, they're happy."

Olbermann also discussed his relationship to Fox News host Bill O'Reilly and claimed: "O'Reilly's agent calls the head of NBC week after week saying, you have got to get Olbermann to stop" criticizing O'Reilly.

O'Reilly can dish it out, but he sure can't take it, can he?

Military Air Strikes WAAAAAAYYYY Up in Iraq

By the way, it's the 1075th day SINCE President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.

Bush: Our Greatest Threat

Now President Bush calls Iran our greatest threat.

Hmmmm.... where have we heard that before?

Could it be Afghanistan? Osama bin Forgotten Laden? Iraq?

How about this:

President George W. Bush is the greatest threat to America and the entire rest of the world!

'Nuff said.

Wonder Why Insurance Rates Are High?

These people may give you a clue... displaying as much chutzpah (well, not quite as much and CERTAINLY not as much industrial use of cosmetics as Florida Congresscreature Katherine Harris who says she's staying in the US Senate race In Fla after accepting oodles of highly questionable money):

LODI, Calif. (AP) -- When a dump truck backed into Curtis Gokey's car, he decided to sue the city for damages. Only thing is, he was the one driving the dump truck. But that minor detail didn't stop Gokey, a Lodi city employee, from filing a $3,600 claim for the December accident, even after admitting the crash was his fault.

After the city denied that claim because Gokey was, in essence, suing himself, he and his wife, Rhonda, decided to file a new claim under her name.

City Attorney Steve Schwabauer said this one also lacks merit because Rhonda Gokey can't sue her own husband.

"You can sue your spouse for divorce, but you can't sue your spouse for negligence," Schwabauer said. "They're a married couple under California law. They're one entity. It's damage to community property."

But Rhonda Gokey insisted she has "the right to sue the city because a city's vehicle damaged my private vehicle."

In fact, her claim, currently pending at Lodi City Hall, is for an even larger amount - $4,800.

Uh huh.

Despite Power-Hungry Bushies, Iraq More in the Dark Than Ever

According to this article in Newsday, the level of sustained electrical power in Iraq - never a problem before we invaded - has now dropped substantially. In other words, Baghdad and other places are often in the dark while we pay shitloads of money to Halliburton and other contractors to run what the evil dictator Saddam managed to supply with no problem.

Gee, why is that?

Spring in Bush's Afghanistan, and the Opium Poppies Have Never Bloomed in Such Record Numbers

Karlo at Swerveleft (hey, Karlo!) has lots of interesting material to ponder, including this:

The U.S. has been in Afghanistan now for years. And the accomplishments?

About 345,000 acres of poppies are believed to have been planted this year — an increase of up to 40 percent from 2005. The opium is refined into heroin before being smuggled out of the country to meet 90 percent of the world's supply.

In the same article, we find the following interesting comparison:

Afghanistan's drug traffickers have acted with virtual impunity since U.S.-led forces in 2001 ousted the Taliban, which in its last two years in power enforced a virtual ban on opium cultivation.

A ban? Why aren't the much more powerful U.S. forces banning the drug then?

"Incompetent" Now Used to Identify Bush by Americans

From Think Progress (and high time):

President Bush’s approval rating according to Pew Research. “Just 42% now approve of Bush’s job in handling terrorist threats, an 11-point drop since February.” Also: “Honesty had been the single trait most closely associated with Bush, but in the current survey ‘incompetent’ is the descriptor used most frequently.”

The honesty thing was always a crock of shit: from the lie about the carefully crafted Crawford Ranch (which, as predicted, Bush has spent a LOT less time at since he was re-selected) to the lies about his cocaine and alcohol abuse, to 9/11 and beyond, honest is a word that should never be used in connection with Dubya.

Under Bushies, Tax Delinquents Are Awarded Lucrative Contracts and Rewarded Rather Than Paying Up

From USA Today, with a nod to TPM Muckraker for pointing to the link:

The Government Accountability Office found more than 3,800 of those GSA contractors had tax debts that totaled about $1.4 billion. That figure may underestimate the amount owed, investigators said, because they did not examine contractors that failed to file tax returns or underreported their income.

The examination of GSA contracts is the third in the panel's series of hearings on contractors that owe federal taxes. The panel's staff said the hearings have identified $7.7 billion in taxes owed by government contractors.

A federal payment levy program that recoups unpaid taxes from delinquent contractors collected about $42 million last year. One contractor has been convicted for tax violations.

"One of the main problems here is that contractors are being allowed into the system in the first place and are being awarded contracts even though they owe taxes," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.

[snippy snip]

In one case, a communications equipment contractor got $100,000 in federal payments while owing nearly $900,000 in unpaid taxes. The owner had been convicted of money laundering.

In another, a security services company got $100,000 while owing more than $3 million, mostly in payroll taxes. The owner had several commercial properties and a yacht.

More Surveillance - Apparently Pacifists Are Now Terrorists, Too

Say hello to TPM Muckraker, which brings us stories like this one which barely hit a blip on the corporate media outlet radar today:

The ACLU has posted to the web FBI documents detailing its surveillance of a nonviolent peace group in Pittsburgh, PA. A representative sample, dated Nov. 29, 2002:

The Thomas Merton Center. . . is a left-wing organization advocating, among many political causes, pacifism.

TMC holds daily leaflet distribution activities in downtown Pittsburgh and is currently focused on its opposition to the potential war with Iraq.

The report is about as outrageous as any Communists-under-the-floorboards dispatch from the Hoover era. But the real outrage is that it was written just a year out from the 9/11 attacks. Remember, tips were still pouring in about possible terrorist activities from all sources. We were still heeding warnings of a shadowy enemy who could strike at any time.

Amid that climate of immediate fear, at least one FBI special agent was assigned to spending several hours surveilling a political group, taking notes, and typing up reports on what he or she saw.

With Washington's ops centers and situation rooms still reeling with the very real concern of another terrorist attack, how could someone assign an agent several hours of watching (and writing about) a nonviolent political group? How many leads could that agent have run down, if political surveillance was not the priority of his or her superiors?

How Will the Bushies Keep Us Safe from Mad Cow Disease? They'll Cut Testing, That's How

Unbleepingbelievable when we now HAVE a confirmed case of mad cow and we already test just a teensy fraction:

Despite the confirmation of a third case of mad cow disease in the U.S., the American government intends to scale back testing for the brain-wasting disorder blamed for the deaths of more than 150 people in Europe.

The U.S. Agriculture Department boosted its surveillance after finding the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S. in 2003.

About 1,000 tests are run daily, up from about 55 daily in 2003.

The testing program detected an infected cow in Alabama last week and further analysis confirmed Monday the animal had mad cow disease.

And I had to go to Canada to read this. In fact, I now increasingly have to go beyond this country's borders to find real news about this country.

Chris Matthews, Gas Bag and GOP Pocket-Lining Lobbyist Stooge for MSNBC

From the good folks at AmericaBlog and Think Progress (whose material is copied below):

ThinkProgress has learned that NBC anchor Chris Matthews has received tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for delivering speeches to corporate interest groups. Matthews’s speaking engagements appear to be in direct violation of NBC’s policy prohibiting its employees from accepting such fees.

Last week Dave Johnson of Seeing the Forest documented Matthews’s speaking engagements, but was unable to confirm whether he was paid.

In 2002, Howard Kurtz reported in the Washington Post:

I’ve been critical of journalistic buckraking since the mid-1990s, when I wrote about a $30,000 speech that Sam Donaldson had given to an insurance group…The issue began to fade as a number of news organizations, including ABC and NBC, banned the practice.
Three trade associations independently confirmed to ThinkProgress that Matthews spoke for hefty fees on several occasions, as recently as last year

Chris has these lovely "bipartisan" panels now that consist entirely of right-wing nutcases like Joe (there's a dead female worker in my office but let's not discuss that) Scarborough, Monica (Dick Nixon is the greatest American ever) Crowley, and Tucker (I'm such a shill) Carlson, sometimes balanced out by Pat (I'm a whore and proud of it) Buchanan. Bipartisan? Right.

How Wonderfully Convenient: Big Oil Reserves Found in Afghanistan

Story here:

Two geological basins in northern Afghanistan hold 18 times the oil and triple the natural gas resources previously thought, scientists said Tuesday as part of a U.S. assessment aimed at enticing energy development in the war-torn country.

Nearly 1.6 billion barrels of oil, mostly in the Afghan-Tajik Basin, and about 15.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, mainly in the Amu Darya Basin, could be tapped, said the U.S. Geological Survey and Afghanistan's Ministry of Mines and Industry.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai described the estimates as "very positive findings," particularly since the country now imports most of its energy, including electricity.

"Knowing more about our country's petroleum resources will enable us to take steps to develop our energy potential, which is crucial for our country's growth," said Karzai, whose government was created after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 and later won national elections.

Look at a map and see how Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran fall together. Do you really think it's just coincidence what countries the Bushies target? The Bushies, who all come from oil/energy corporations (including the two George Bush bankrupted, much as he's done to this nation).

And if you don't, would you like another glass of Koolaid? It's great for your teeth and, as I'm sure the Bushies will be quick to tell you, is quite refreshing during those moments when you might otherwise do something silly like think.

More Than 200K Signatures for Censure

While the right mounts a rather vicious campaign against Senator Russ Feingold, Moveon.org received more than 200,000 signatures supporting Censure proceedings against President Bush in just hours.

Censure is the absolute least of what needs to be done here.

If you believe it's time to send this president a loud NO!, go to Moveon and sign the petition.

This Gives the Term Getting Under Your Skin Whole New Meaning

This from the Washington Post on how idiots leap at the chance to have chips implanted for quick access to their medical records. I'm sure they also leap at the chance to shop at Wal-Mart where everything is tracked.

Have you read "Spy Chips" yet or visited the Web site? You should.

The War on Drugs is Being Lost Throughout the World

In the "No Shit, Sherlock" Department and led by a country where the president is a former coke head (we'll assume he's former but I don't know) and the creepy VP is a current drunk.

From Watching America:

Everywhere, the war against drugs is being lost. I refer at least to South America, Central America, Mexico, the United States and Canada - each country, each region, in its own particular way, with its own particular conditions. But not a single one escapes some of the impact of this crime.

The situation in Mexico is very hard to accurately describe, but if one were to indicate a source of Mexico's state of constant deterioration, the main culprit would be the Vicente Fox government, which has left an indelible mark in its last term. The security forces and their military "auxiliaries" have grown to levels never before seen, and yet the level of creativity, of reinforcements and even the ability sustain a fight seem exhausted.

In considering Mexico, it should be emphasized that based on the telling if tall-tales and denunciations, trust continues to be placed in the supposed effectiveness of "casual" operatives, and so the intelligence being garnered has failed to reach the promised level of accuracy. The National Institute for the War Against Drugs, created in 1993 to focus attention on the roots of this problem, was terminated by the Zedillo Administration [1994-2000].

The Center for Drug Control Planning (Cendro), created 15 years ago for the purpose of obtaining and implementing specialized intelligence exclusively about narco-trafficking, was dismantled by the Zedillo government, and converted into a hybrid organization charged with responding to all federal crimes.

Beware the Ides of the March...

Or any other day when Bush is your president and Cheney is allowed anywhere near anything.

Democratic Politicians Should All Just Resign

I'm serious. If their only reason for serving is to collect a big check, even nicer benefits and lobbyist perks, and bend over while they allow themselves - and us - to be sodomized by the Bush Administration, they should resign immediately. And the rest of these politicians should be indicted and tried.

John Kerry will NEVER receive another vote from me. Bernie Sanders is coming close to losing my support for his Senate race with his talk about impeachment being "impractical".

I am not just ashamed, I am appalled, embarrassed, and outraged.

From the UK Guardian:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats distanced themselves Monday from Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold's effort to censure President Bush over domestic spying, preventing a floor vote that could alienate swing voters.

``Some Democrats in Congress have decided the president is the enemy,'' Vice President Dick Cheney told a Republican audience in Feingold's home state.

Feingold, a potential presidential candidate, said on the Senate floor, ``The president has violated the law and Congress must respond.''

``A formal censure by Congress is an appropriate and responsible first step to assure the public that when the president thinks he can violate the law without consequences, Congress has the will to hold him accountable,'' Feingold said.

Even as he spoke, Democratic leaders held off the immediate vote that Majority Leader Bill Frist requested. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he didn't know if there ever would be one. Durbin said that Feingold had sought to use the censure resolution ``as a catalyst'' for thorough hearings and investigations.

The referral averted a debate and a vote that Democrats privately worried would alienate voters who could decide close elections.

Speaking of which, why isn't Bill Frist on trial RIGHT NOW for his unsavory and illegal actions regarding health care stuff that he owned stock in when he should not have?

Bodies, Bodies Everywhere

Imagine what would happen here if bodies of those summarily executed - men, women, and children- turned up through Manhattan or Boston or Slidell, Louisiana, or Austin Texas as they have in Baghdad the last few days.

This is horrific.

And can the blame really lie anywhere else but with this administration's handling of Iraq? Of course, we shouldn't fault DoD Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. After all, the poor many is too busy counting the $5.25 million he's made in recent months on royalty sales of TamiFlu from a deal he worked out when he was doing slick deals with pharmaceutical companies rather than destroying Muslim countries.

But wasn't it nice that the Bushies panicked everyone here about the bird flu so that sales of TamiFlu would go through the roof even where there is virtually no proof that TamiFlu would help much if avian flu strikes here?

America's Three Decades of Support for Iran's Nuclear Ambitions

Vermont Commons covers this issue, taken from the Muckraker Report. Go read.

Can You Guess?

Is our "recognized" per person share of the national debt currently at:

1. $399.45 per person?
2. $1,027.12 per person?
3. $28,000 per person?
4. $1.3 million per person?

Note that I said "recognized" because much of this stuff is hidden away from us.

Answer below. Don't peek! Only presidents cheat!

Correct answer: c: about $28K per person, of which we all owe about $7K each on Iraq and climbing daily. Make your checks payable to Doofus Incorporated.

Say Hello to

Vermonters First.

Vermont Public Radio, too, will host a discussion Wednesday (noonish?) about the Vermont Blogosphere, featuring Cathy Resmer of 802 Online and Philip Baruch of Vermont Daily Briefing. These are just two of a growing number of excellent blogs in the Green Mountain state where all the maple syrup is Grade A amber and only some of the women have as much facial hair as the men.

I, alas, am a poor Vermonter who owns little in the way of flannel and no long underwear (unless you count my thigh high stockings).

Impeachment and Censure

Odum at Green Mountain Daily posts the results of his impeachment poll (82% in favor) and Russ Feingold's move to bring Censure proceedings against President Bush.

History Burps Back on Itself

On this day in 1925, the great people of the state of Tennessee made it unlawful to teach evolution in schools.

Today, some in Kansas and other places would like to do the same.

Sigh.

Time to Say Goodbye to Joe Lieberman

Today's little ditty where Joe said that Bush's NSA spying is bad but the real problem isn't that he's shitting on the Constitution and instead that the law needs to be changed so Bush can spy on us all legally is another very strong reason why Connecticut needs to get rid of Bush's best Jewish friend, Joe Lieberman.

Right now, however, I think it's time we cleaned out Washington DC of almost all if not all elected officials currently there. We should not be paying the salaries of people who continually do us wrong.

Yes, there are some elected reps I do like. But I think it's time we seriously consider revising the entire system. To do so, none of these old suits can remain.

Will it happen? Nah. People would much rather watch basketball and American Idol than bother to even think about voting.

Milosevic

Milosevic's family is asking for a regal state funeral for this man responsible for the deaths of so many. My immediate question was why isn't his wife, an architect of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, on trial as well?

And why isn't the US on trial for their part in this? We placed Milosevic in power, and he was our great friend until we decided he was our great enemy, which should sound familiar. Think Noriega, Saddam Hussein, and a legion of others.

When do we stop ruining the rest of the world so billionaires here can get richer and richer and America becomes more and more hated throughout the world?

The latter is a rhetorical question, natch.

The Online Free Speech Act

Posted by Duncan at The Blog Herald:

Bloggers from both sides of politics have joined forces to push the Online Freedom of Speech Act (H.R. 1606) through the US Congress.

According to Human Events Online, a bipartisan letter urging members of Congress to vote in favor of passing the bill was sent off this morning. The letter was authored by Michael Krempasky of RedState.com and Markos Moulitsas Zúniga of DailyKos.com.

Part of the letter includes:

H.R. 1606 would preserve the status quo which governed the 2004 election cycle and beyond, one in which a vibrant blogosphere empowered millions of citizens to influence national politics, leveling the effect of wealth on the electoral process, and without any of the corruption which its opponents now fear. Its passage would send a strong message to the Federal Election Commission to tread lightly when it comes to the Internet, telling it that Congress does not wish to stifle online citizen participation in the political process.

Published reports indicate that, as of February 2006, there are over 14 million weblogs, with approximately 75,000 new blogs are created every day, about one every second. The blogosphere is over 60 times bigger than it was only 3 years ago. With the blogosphere continuing to double in size about every five-and-a-half months, it is simply not possible for any person or entity, no matter how wealthy they may be or how much money they can spend, to dominate or corrupt online political discourse.

Mind you, they cant count. 14 million blogs? Even Technorati managed to track 27 odd million.

How to Make Money Blogging: Kiss Up to Wal-Mart

Apparently, Wal-Mart is paying right wing bloggers to say all kinds of favorable things about them. And, being right-wing bloggers, many felt no need to mention they were - and ARE - being paid big bucks to say how wonderful $2.49/ream toilet paper is at Wal-Mart. Imagine that.

Olbermann on Bush, NSA Spying, and the Bushie Assault on the Press

From Crooks and Liars:

Keith: ...the Bush administration on the hunt for anyone who might have leaked word of the NSA domestic spying program to the media. Amid further word tonight that there may even be more secret spying going on than thought previously. Absent any hint of irony, the administration launching several investigations to nab any federal official who may have blown the whistle on its warrant-free surveillance programs, as well as its secret CIA prisons.

President Bush, you will recall, calling the NSA leak a, quote, "shameful act" that was, quote, "helping the enemy." Nevermind the members of his own senior staff who saw fit to leak the name of a covert CIA operative, mainly because her husband had said something critical about he White House..The "Washington Post" reported that dozens of employees at the CIA, NSA and other intelligence agencies have been interviewed by the FBI already. At the same time, the Justice Department warning reporters that they could be prosecuted under espionage laws. .read on"

Popular Story Today - Vermont Towns Vote to Impeach Bush

From the Associated Press (although I like it when Skippy says AssPress or in skippy... asspress - the ee cummings of blogtopia!):

NEWFANE, Vt. - In five Vermont communities, a centuries-old tradition of residents gathering in town halls to conduct local business became a vehicle to send a message to Washington: Impeach the president.

An impeachment article, approved by a paper ballot 121-29 in Newfane Tuesday, calls on Vermont’s lone member of the U.S. House, independent Rep. Bernie Sanders, to file articles of impeachment against President Bush, alleging he misled the nation into the Iraq war and engaged in illegal domestic spying.

“It absolutely affects us locally,” said Newfane select board member Dan DeWalt, who drafted the impeachment article. “It’s our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers, who are dying” in the war in Iraq.

I love how the freepers and the rest of Clueless Dementiadom, those great patrons of "less government" are calling for black helicopters to land in Vermont and the entire population placed on the Terror Watch List.

Hell, I suspect the entire population is already on the Terror Watch List. But that's a story for another day. (cough)

Unfortunately, Bernie Sanders is balking, saying that talking about impeachment is impractical.

Bernie, dear: so is all that red money Rich Tarrant is taking into the Senate campaign. Impractical? Bernie, this isn't semen on the blue dress of a consulting adult. This is lying us into war, into deficit, into a wholesale destruction of the values this country says it holds dear. This is lying us into at least 2300 US soldiers dead, and who knows how many hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq with more in Afghanistan. Where's Osama bin Laden?

Now tell me about practical, Bernie. This, I have to hear!

Also on Impeachment

From ImpeachBush.org:

Just last week:

• tens of thousands of people participated in the People’s Impeachment Lobby by sending letters to their Congressional Representatives.
• Last Thursday, New York City’s historic Town Hall Theatre in Times Square filled up with people supporting impeachment. The event was sponsored by Harper’s magazine. Many of those in attendance took the ImpeachBush.org/VoteToImpeach.org petitions home with them promising to collect signatures in the coming weeks.
• Radio personality Garrison Keillor has just released an article entitled "Impeach Bush." and actor Richard Dreyfuss called for impeachment, while speaking before the National Press Club in Washington.
• 28 members of US Congress have now signed on to H Res 635, including US Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the original co-sponsor. The current 28 total co-sponsors are Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA), Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), Rep. John Olver (D-MA), Rep. Major Owens (D-NY), Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Martin Sabo (D-MN), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA), Rep. John Tierney (D-MA), Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

Also, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted 7:3 to seek impeachment against Mr. Bush.

Newfane, VT Votes 5:1 for Impeachment of the President

The last vote I heard was something like 126 yea/28 nay to request our sole rep in the House of Reprehensibles, Bernie Sanders, initiate a call for articles of impeachment against George W. Bush.

If anyone from Newfane is reading - and I've noticed a few of you in recent weeks - please feel free to provide your comments on the discussion, vote at today's Town Meeting Day.

The Trust Level with Bush and Iraq is Dropping a Tad Low

From Editor & Publisher:

A new Washington Post-ABC News polls shows that an overwhelming majority of adult Americans believe fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslims will lead to civil war in Iraq. Confirming a finding in a Gallup survey last week, more than half say the U.S. should begin withdrawing its forces from that country.

More eight in 10 Democrats and political independents--and seven in 10 Republicans--believe civil war was likely.

Slightly more than half--52%--of those surveyed said the United States should begin withdrawing forces. One in six favors immediate withdrawal of all troops.

The poll found that 56% say the U.S. is not making significant progress toward restoring civil order in Iraq--a major surge in pessimism since December.

I was also reading that Bush's support in deeply Southern-identified states (the ones where the citizens perhaps cannot spell their state except as an abbreviation?) has dropped very low so that even in red only-locations, his unfavorable ratings on terrorism and Iraq are running higher than the favorables.

Not cool, Zeus!

Please Alert Me Next Time John McCain Gets Knocked Up

Because this horse's ass brags that HE would sign that South Dakota ban-all-abortions! bill that does not even take the health and welfare of the mother into account.

I guess old Johnny wasn't reading the U.S. Constitution and the words of our founding fathers while he was a PoW. But then, he lost all credibility when he began brown nosing Bush's ass which smells worse than Viet Cong ever would.

Another fat, privileged, old white man stands up to decide what a woman should do. Yawn.

Vermont Town Meeting Day

Today is the day when every Vermont town gets together and hashes out budgets, bad blood, and who made the best pot of coffee for lunch.

It's also today that Newfane - I'm not aware of any other town presenting it - votes on whether to demand our elected officials initiate impeachment proceedings against the accident-prone guy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Oops, no, the other accident prone guy besides Duck! It's Dick! Cheney.

Hollywood

John at AmericaBlog pointed out the only redeeming moment during the Oscars ceremony on TV last night:

"And finally, I would say that, you know, we are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while. I think it's probably a good thing. We're the ones who talk about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we talked about civil rights when it wasn't really popular. And we, you know, we bring up subjects. This Academy, this group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. I'm proud to be a part of this Academy. Proud to be part of this community, and proud to be out of touch."

George Clooney, at the Academy Awards

Uh...

Think I should have asked for a cross link? ;)

Correction: CentCom Does NOT Send Love Letters

I posted something last night about CentCom contacting some bloggers. And, being me - no, really, I can be sarcastic sometimes, honestly - I closed by mentioning that I had not been the recipient of any love letters from CentCom.

Well, it turns out, CentCom sent me a note today to clarify that CentCom does NOT send love letters (I was so relieved - imagine how the defense budget would soar if it did!).

----- Original Message -----
From: Flowers, SPC Claude W. (USA)
To: EdBlog
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 7:19 PM
Subject: CENTCOM website

Hi, Katharine:

Sorry to disappoint, but CENTCOM doesn't send love letters.

What we have been doing is reaching out to bloggers to let them know that we have a webpage (http://www.centcom.mil). Since so many sites (such as yours) are focusing on the Global War on Terrorism, we've been trying to tailor the content of our own site to make it one of the informational resources that folks can avail themselves of. We've been progressively expanding the scope of CENTCOM.mil over the past few months in an effort to make it better.

I don't know if you've paid the site a visit, but it features news, photos, audio and video from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, all of which you are free to use. There's also a weekly electronic newsletter and monthly Coalition Bulletin which I can sign you up for, if you want.

If you could add a link to CENTCOM on your blogroll, that would be terrific (It'd certainly help spread the word). In any event, hopefully it's got some stuff that's of interest.

SPC C. Flowers
CENTCOM Public Affairs

Anyhoo, yes, SPC Flowers, I would be happy to give CentCom a link. Perhaps I can learn something from you, and you perhaps can learn something from me.

As long as we don't discuss Mr. Rumsfeld, you will find I can be downright civil and I haven't bitten anyone since.. wow.. maybe kindergarten. But then, I hear not everyone at CentCom worships at the altar of The Donald either.

But we won't talk about that. ;>

Another Bush Plan to Bust Information and Truth

The depravity keeps getting worse...

From The Times on Saturday:

The White House has a sorry history of withholding information that the public and Congress need to make informed policy judgments. A proposal in President Bush's new budget would take that damaging tendency one step further by eliminating a government survey that captures the real-world impact of welfare reform, Medicaid, child-support enforcement and many other policies and programs.

Started by the Census Bureau in 1984, this study, called the Survey of Income and Program Participation, questions thousands of the same people every four months for two to four years and gathers details about their lives, including their use of government aid. It is particularly valuable for the way it uncovers the actual effects of government programs and the way people move in and out of them. Most other polls simply capture data at a given point in time.

Take welfare reform, for example. Rather than evaluating it simply by the number of people on welfare before and after, researchers using the survey have isolated the factors — social, economic and personal — that have allowed some men and women to successfully leave welfare for work and the factors that caused others to fall into deeper poverty. Such information is vital to build on what works, to amend what doesn't and to allocate scarce government resources accordingly.

Getting rid of the survey this year, as the new budget proposes, would make it very difficult to study the fallout from deep cuts in food stamps, child care, Medicaid and other programs for the poor that Congress passed and Mr. Bush signed last month. That would be great for politicians who don't want to be held accountable. But it would be a big loss for anyone who wants government to work well.

Senator BilL Frist: Not Just a Doctor But a Disease of Grave Moral Decay in His Own Right

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

From DailyKos:

Via Glenn Greenwald, we learn that once again, when Republicans can't follow the rules, they change them:

Frist specifically threatened that if the Committee holds NSA hearings, he will fundamentally change the 30-year-old structure and operation of the Senate Intelligence Committee so as to make it like every other Committee, i.e., controlled and dominated by Republicans to advance and rubber-stamp the White House's agenda rather than exercise meaningful and nonpartisan oversight.

He really needs to return to diagnosing comatose women by video.

Horse's ass (which really just insults the poor horse).

Greetings from CentCom

Oh dear. I know they visit here, but I certainly haven't gotten a love letter from CentCom.

Heck of a Job, Mr. President

Sorta like Brownie (ex FEMA director, Michael Brown, whom Bush and Homeland (In)security czar Michael Chertoff could not praise enough while black people in New Orleans washed away).

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (hurray!):

The Bush administration has a substantial credibility problem. Things it says turn out not to be true. Again and again.

Two troubling examples made the news last week, and they illustrate a serious problem rooted in a combination of political arrogance, incompetence and disdain for the audience. Often it seems the White House, or the president himself, offers the American public an incredulous shrug to punctuate the plea, "Who could have known?"

In Iraq, a virulent insurgency is killing civilians and American soldiers. Before the war, the Bush administration said the U.S. military would be greeted as liberators by a grateful public. Almost three years of mayhem and chaos later, the White House blames the insurgency on the residue of Saddam Hussein's supporters and foreign terrorists.

Who could have known?

In 2003, the White House was repeatedly warned the insurgency had deep local roots and could lead to civil war. Local conditions, not foreign terrorists, would fuel the flames. The information was prepared by a committee of senior intelligence analysts at the request of the U.S. military command.

As the insurgency gained strength, what did President George W. Bush have to say? "Bring 'em on."

[Snippy snip]

...Transcripts and a government video revealed the administration and the president were warned in advance about the perils of Hurricane Katrina, the vulnerability of levees and the potential for catastrophe.

The president is not directly responsible for making sure ice and cots are available, but he is accountable for the urgency of the response by his team.

Before the storm hit, he was told firsthand about the dangers. So, it is mystifying how he could stand before the American public four days later and declare no one could have anticipated the levees being breached.

Earlier, a room full of people he presumably leads told him exactly that.

President Bush is great at sales, but he cannot deliver a product — time after time.

Koufax Blogging Nominations

While I'm not much of a Koufax award follower, I know some of you participate regularly. For those interested, you can see the categories and vote for your favorites in said categories starting here.

Spike Lee to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice: "Stop Smoking That Crack!"

You heard him, Condi: lay down that crack pipe NOW!

From the NY Daily News:

Firebrand director Spike Lee has found an unlikely new target for his latest spray: the secretary of state.

Says Lee: "I dislike Condoleezza Rice more than [President] Bush. The thing about it is that she's gotten a free ride from black people."

Oh no, he didn't.

"People say, 'She's so successful' and 'Look at her position as a black woman.' She is a black woman who grew up in Birmingham, Ala., and said that she never experienced a day of racism in her life," Lee tells the April issue of Stuff magazine.

"Condi, stop smoking that crack!"

"I know you love your Ferragamo shoes, but come on. While people were drowning in New Orleans, she was going up and down Madison Ave. buying Ferragamo shoes. Then she went to see 'Spamalot.'"

You heard the man, Madame Secretary. Put down the crack pipe.

Another Reason to Avoid Florida

From CNN, although I've heard about this nutcase before:

NAPLES, Florida (AP) -- If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in Florida will be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no place to get an abortion, pornography or birth control.

The pizza magnate is bankrolling the project with at least $250 million and calls it "God's will."

Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and are threatening to sue.

The town of Ave Maria is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in about 40 years. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples in southwestern Florida.

Why is it I have no doubt whatsoever that Viagra, Cialis, liposuction, and really bad toupees and hair waves WILL be allowed?

What's that? Why do I think so? Because paternalistic societies love that shit and the double standards.

Oh yeah, and Domino's pizza sucks. No worse than Pizza Hut pizza, granted, but sucks is still sucks.

Civilians Take Brunt of All Violence in Iraq

We freed them all right. We freed them of their money, their oil, their jobs, their institutions, and their lives. Remember, too, as you read this, that we only report a fraction of the number of Iraqis who have died.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgency-related violence last year killed more than twice as many Iraqi civilians — 4,024 people — as Iraqi soldiers and police, according to government figures obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

And the civilian death count in the first two months of this year already stands at more than one-quarter of last year's total — due in part to sectarian violence triggered by the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine and car bombings in Shiite neighborhoods around Baghdad.
The large number of civilian deaths — many in Baghdad, where 25 percent of the population lives — has created a climate of fear where parents are afraid to send their children to school, women spend their days huddled inside their homes, and husbands send wives and children abroad.

Figures compiled by the Health Ministry put the civilian death toll for 2005 at 4,024. The ministry's civilian death count for the first two months of this year is 1,093.

The Bushies: Stop Leaks the Old-Fashioned Way; Burn the Leakers and the Press

Unless the leaker is named Dick Cheney and the target is Joe Wilson and his former CIA operative wife, Valerie Plame.

From Saturday's WaPo:

The Bush administration, seeking to limit leaks of classified information, has launched initiatives targeting journalists and their possible government sources. The efforts include several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws.

In recent weeks, dozens of employees at the CIA, the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies have been interviewed by agents from the FBI's Washington field office, who are investigating possible leaks that led to reports about secret CIA prisons and the NSA's warrantless domestic surveillance program, according to law enforcement and intelligence officials familiar with the two cases.

Numerous employees at the CIA, FBI, Justice Department and other agencies also have received letters from Justice prohibiting them from discussing even unclassified issues related to the NSA program, according to sources familiar with the notices. Some GOP lawmakers are also considering whether to approve tougher penalties for leaking.

In a little-noticed case in California, FBI agents from Los Angeles have already contacted reporters at the Sacramento Bee about stories published in July that were based on sealed court documents related to a terrorism case in Lodi, according to the newspaper.

Some media watchers, lawyers and editors say that, taken together, the incidents represent perhaps the most extensive and overt campaign against leaks in a generation, and that they have worsened the already-tense relationship between mainstream news organizations and the White House.

"There's a tone of gleeful relish in the way they talk about dragging reporters before grand juries, their appetite for withholding information, and the hints that reporters who look too hard into the public's business risk being branded traitors," said New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller, in a statement responding to questions from The Washington Post. "I don't know how far action will follow rhetoric, but some days it sounds like the administration is declaring war at home on the values it professes to be promoting abroad."

President Bush has called the NSA leak "a shameful act" that was "helping the enemy," and said in December that he was hopeful the Justice Department would conduct a full investigation into the disclosure.

Finally, an Official Inquiry into Pat Tillman's Death and Its Coverup

Tillman, as you may recall, left a lucrative sports career to join Bush's call for heroes to bring down Osama bin Forgotten. Tillman was not only killed, his death was covered up to hide friendly fire being a facotr.

"Dubai and Dubya in Desperate Dash for Lifeboats"

From the NY Daily News, which seems to be tipping to sanity right now, please note how Halliburton may get its greedy fingers in the deal (do we really want to trust national security to Duck! It's Dick! Cheney?

WASHINGTON - The White House is quietly pushing a Dubai company to "significantly restructure" and partner up with a U.S. outfit to keep the port deal from sinking, sources told the Daily News yesterday.

"It's in the hands of the company now. ... They're going to have to significantly restructure," said a Republican source familiar with White House expectations...

[snippy snip]

One snag to such a deal may be that sources say the U.S. company best equipped to partner with DP World is Halliburton, once headed by Vice President Cheney.

After undergoing so much scrutiny for its no-bid Iraq contract and the handling of some of its duties there, Halliburton may not be able to help DP World land the deal, a source admitted.
According to the source close to the White House, Team Bush believes that in addition to clearing an extended 45-day review, DP World will have to come up with a deal that will pass muster with Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

King is seen as a key lawmaker because he broke with the White House over the Dubai deal despite his strong relationship with President Bush and top aides like Karl Rove.

CNN: Bush's "So-Called War on Terror"

As the good folks at Buzzflash point out, someone at CNN got a clue today. Under a picture from the love-fest tryst going on between Pakistan PM Pervez Musharrif and Mr. Bush, CNN called it Mr. Bush's so-called War on Terror.

Finally. Yes, I agree with Buzzflash, the poor truthteller will probably lose his or her job. But it was nice to see someone finally acknowledge the truth.

U.S. Cites Terror Exception

Like nuclear weapons, torture is fine for us to do it and fine for Israel to hide it while being a strong supporter of the policies, but not for Iran or North Korea or Syria. Uh huh.

From WaPo:

Bush administration lawyers, fighting a claim of torture by a Guantanamo Bay detainee, yesterday argued that the new law that bans cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody does not apply to people held at the military prison.
In federal court yesterday and in legal filings, Justice Department lawyers contended that a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, cannot use legislation drafted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to challenge treatment that the detainee's lawyers described as "systematic torture."

Government lawyers have argued that another portion of that same law, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, removes general access to U.S. courts for all Guantanamo Bay captives. Therefore, they said, Mohammed Bawazir, a Yemeni national held since May 2002, cannot claim protection under the anti-torture provisions.

Bawazir's attorneys contend that "extremely painful" new tactics used by the government to force-feed him and end his hunger strike amount to torture.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said in a hearing yesterday that she found allegations of aggressive U.S. military tactics used to break the detainee hunger strike "extremely disturbing" and possibly against U.S. and international law. But Justice Department lawyers argued that even if the tactics were considered in violation of McCain's language, detainees at Guantanamo would have no recourse to challenge them in court.

Charles "McCarthy" Krauthammer: Anti-Americanism

I see Charlie the Tuna is resorting to McCarthy tactics by denouncing the creators of the film, "Syriana" as anti-American. Nothing says American patriot better, after all, than a spent psychiatrist profiting from war and fear while spinning nothing but lies.

No Shit, Sherlock: Senate Says No to Lobbyist Reforms

No way are the good whores men of Washington going to do without all the fancy meals, lavish trips, and other niceties supplied to them by the very interests which go against the needs and desires of the populace.

Bush's Afghanistan Isn't Doing Well Either

And this, from WaPo and Walter Pincus, is just the tip of the iceberg since Afghanistan actually got much worse after Bushies invaded:

Appearing with Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte, Maples said attacks within Afghanistan were up 20 percent between 2004 and 2005, suicide bombings increased "almost fourfold" and use of makeshift bombs, similar to those used in Iraq, had "more than doubled."

The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency told Congress yesterday that the insurgency in Afghanistan is growing and will increase this spring, presenting a greater threat to the central government's expansion of authority "than at any point since late 2001."

"Despite significant progress on the political front, the Taliban-dominated insurgency remains a capable and resilient threat," Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples said in a statement presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee at its annual hearing on national security threats.

Elsewhere, in the Mardi Gras Known as Bush-Occupied Iraq...

More than one in three soldiers and Marines who have served in Iraq have sought help for mental health problems, Army experts say.

AND

Explusion of Shiites from Sunni-dominated towns is on the rise amid rampant sectarian violence. They are being told to leave or die.

More Rumors About VP Duck! It's Dick! Cheney's Imminent Departure

From The Carpetbagger Report (and like them, I don't think Cheney's going anywhere - I do suspect they have balls enough to try to fly him - and his 18% approval rating - as Prez in 2008):

As part of my ongoing fascination with the oddly anti-Bush articles appearing in Insight magazine, an off-shoot of Sun Myung Moon's far-right Washington Times, the latest issue suggests that we won't have Dick Cheney to kick around much longer.

Senior GOP sources envision the retirement of Mr. Cheney in 2007, months after the congressional elections. The sources said Mr. Cheney would be persuaded to step down as he becomes an increasing political liability to President Bush.

The sources reported a growing rift between the president and vice president as well as their staffs. They cited Mr. Cheney's failure to immediately tell the president of the accidental shooting of the vice president's hunting colleague earlier this month. The White House didn't learn of the incident until 18 hours later. […]

"Nothing will happen until after the congressional elections," a GOP source said. "After that, there will be significant changes in the administration and Cheney will probably be part of that."

The opportunities for baseless speculation abound. Indeed, the article dovetails nicely with the Peggy Noonan-inspired boomlet about Cheney's pending departure from a couple of weeks ago. (For the record, I still don't believe Cheney is going anywhere. Bush is loathe to admit mistakes — and this would be a gigantic admission.)

In the "Finally, Someone Else Questions the Whole Iraq Mosque Debacle Story" Department

Finally. I've been biting my tongue but there is something that really stinks about the story of Al Qaeda blowing up the great Mosque last week. This seemed FAR more like an operation somebody (like us) might perpetrate than one al Qaeda would pull.

Now I see James Wolcott smells something as well:

Here's what I don't get about the Golden Dome mosque bombing. That, once overtaken, the guards were tied up.

That eats up the clock when you're in a hurry and it spares lives, not exactly the M.O. of Al Qaeda, which tends to be more throat-cuttingly swift and savage. Al Qaeda and its affiliates are also not shy about claiming bragging rights for their crimes and atrocities, yet no one so far has taken awful credit for this desecration. Most odd, and no wonder the timing and execution of this event has given rise to dark speculation.

Each oil drop of dark speculation deepens the pool of paranoia that has become the mirror of our post 9/11 lives, which brings us to a certain movie that's about to be released that makes the sign of the V. And on that cryptic note...

The Times Sues Bushies for Documents Related to NSA Wiretaps

Good for them. It still doesn't forgive them their disastrous issues like the Select subscription wall and paying John Tierney and David Brooks and Tom Friedman money for their crap but it's a start in the right direction.

Bush Aides With Financial Ties to UAE/Dubai U.S. Ports Deal

What a surprise (NOT)!

From the NY Daily News (of all places):

The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House.

One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose agency heads the federal panel that signed off on the $6.8 billion sale of an English company to government-owned Dubai Ports World - giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port.

Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush's cabinet.

The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The ties raised more concerns about the decision to give port control to a company owned by a nation linked to the 9/11 hijackers.

"The more you look at this deal, the more the deal is called into question," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who said the deal was rubber-stamped in advance - even before DP World formally agreed to buy London's P&O port company.

Boy, the Bushies all have hands in every cookie jar. I suspect that Bush himself, at least through family ties, stands to prosper from this deal as will VP Duck! It's Dick! Cheney.

Monitor Group Sues for White House Logs to Show How Often Lobbyist Abramoff Visited the Bushies

Of course, the Bushies don't know Jack Abramoff, never heard of Jack Abramoff, and didn't even notice his name on all the big checks they cashed.

From the wires:

A public-interest group has sued the Secret Service for access to White House visitor logs that the group says would show how often lobbyist Jack Abramoff met with President Bush and his staff.

Judicial Watch filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington under the federal Freedom of Information Act, claiming that the Secret Service failed to meet a Feb. 21 deadline for releasing the records or indicating how much more time it would need.

[snippy snippy snip]

The White House has refused to say how many times Abramoff, who raised $100,000 for Bush's re-election, has been to see the president or his aides. Bush's spokesman has said Abramoff was admitted to the White House complex for "a few staff-level meetings" and Hanukkah receptions in 2001 and 2002.

The president has said he does not know Abramoff personally.

The White House logs would answer a basic question about the extent of Abramoff's ties to the White House, Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said. The records "may show 30 visits by Jack Abramoff to the White House, or they may show three visits."

Uh huh.

Universal Agreement: Terror Threat Increased After Bush and Blair's Excellent Iraq Adventure

Why the fuck wouldn't the terror threat be MUCH higher is a better question for the Coulters, Limbaughs, and Michelle Malkins of the world.

From the wires:

Most people in 33 out of 35 countries worldwide believe that the US-led war in Iraq has increased the threat of terrorism, a survey for BBC World Service radio suggested.

An average of 60 percent in the 33 nations agreed that the March 2003 invasion had increased the likelihood of terrorist attacks, with just 12 percent believing the opposite. A further 15 percent thought it had no effect.

The survey of 41,856 people by Canadian pollsters GlobeScan and the US Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) also claimed there was overall support in 20 countries for US forces to withdraw in the next few months.

Bush Wears His Cute Bike Uniform to Church?

Rush & Molloy: Some pool correspondents believe Bush
wears his bike uniform under his suit when he goes to church; there is a mysterious “bulkiness.” [NYDN]

Hey, we know it's not balls nor brain.

Karl Rove Certainly Is An Authority on Nasty and Vicious

So we defer to his expertise, as detailed by Wonkette:

Karl Rove on blogs:

"There is so much ugliness and viciousness and fundamental untruths that the blogosphere transmits. It also is a vehicle for ugly rumors, for scurrilous personal attacks, an avenue for the creation of urban legends which are deeply corrosive of the political system and of people’s faith in it."

Well, gee, I guess the fat, 7-chinned lady has now sung.

Talking Points Memo: IRS Is Being Used to Pursue Vendettas

Well, it's not exactly the first time this has happened. Since I got outspoken, I've had the tax men pouring over every paper clip I deduct and charging me penalties for things they never, ever, ever explain.

But here's the scoop from Josh:

The Washington Post ran a story yesterday suggesting that the IRS bowed to political pressure by investigating a Texas public interest group that crossed swords with Tom DeLay. The investigation came at the request of DeLay's crony, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX), who himself was put up to making the request by a lawyer tied to DeLay's fundraising schemes.

But we think there's more to the story. In fact, there are indications that established rules to prevent political abuse of the IRS may not have been followed.

According to IRS rules, a request like Johnson's must be reviewed by a three-member panel set up to ensure that investigations are conducted for fair, nonpartisan purposes. But there doesn't appear to be any evidence that such a review ever took place.

Under the rules, the committee must keep a record of each of its decisions. As the Post reported yesterday, Texans for Public Justice Director Craig L. McDonald asked for all documents relating to his group’s case. McDonald shared those documents with us -- and they contain no record the IRS committee had reviewed Johnson’s letter or referred it for investigation.

Yet Again, President George Bush Shows His Appreciation to the "Heroes in Uniform": Veteran Health Care Cuts to Pay for His Tax Cuts to Billionaires

What a guy! It's really quite amazing that even just 34% of Americans don't want to kick his ass off the planet.

From the wires:

At least tens of thousands of veterans with non-critical medical issues could suffer delayed or even denied care in coming years to enable President Bush to meet his promise of cutting the deficit in half — if the White House is serious about its proposed budget.

After an increase for next year, the Bush budget would turn current trends on their head. Even though the cost of providing medical care to veterans has been growing by leaps and bounds, White House budget documents assume a cutback in 2008 and further cuts thereafter.

In fact, the proposed cuts are so draconian that it seems to some that the White House is simply making them up to make its long-term deficit figures look better. More realistic numbers, however, would raise doubts as to whether Bush can keep his promise to wrestle the deficit under control by the time he leaves office.

Only in Bush's world would the only sacrifices come from the poor, like those who served risking life and limb at less than minimum wage in fictitious wars Bush won't contribute his own kids to fight.

Enabling is what people have been doing for Bush his entire, privileged life. It's time we say NO to Georgie Porgie.

Time to Impeach? Today and Tomorrow Are Action Days

From ImpeachBush.org:

Join the People's Impeachment Lobby taking place today and tomorrow, February 28 - March 1 and demand that the representative from your district support H.Res.635 calling for a Congressional inquiry to investigate the grounds for impeachment.

There are now 27 members of the House of Representatives, including John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee who are supporting a bill, H. Res 635, calling for "a select committee to investigate the Administration's intent to go to war before Congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment." Tell your representative today that you want him or her to co-sponsor this important measure.

1) Click here, or go to ImpeachBush.org, where we have set up another easy-to-use mechanism so that impeachment campaign members and supporters can quickly send a message directly to your representative insisting they support H.Res.635. We have a sample message that you can use and customize before you send it.

2) Tell your friends and family and urge them to also send a message to Congress. You can forward this e-mail simply by clicking the email-this-page button above. After you have sent a message you will also be given a link that lets you send a message to your friends and family encouraging them to participate in the People's Impeachment Lobby.

3) Donate to help the impeachment campaign and to place the next major impeachment newspaper ad by clicking here. The full-page New York Times ad brought tens of thousands of new people into the impeachment movement and brought the crimes of this administration into public view in no uncertain terms. We want to place the next full page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle within the next ten days -- prior to the March 18 mass anti-war demonstration in San Francisco that will include a large impeachment contingent. Let's keep the pressure going and spread the word. Click here to help place this ad.

Apropos of Very Little: Salmon Portland Chase

I happened to find this Wikipedia entry for my ancestor, Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon Portland Chase today. That I am named Kate as was his daughter is not family destiny but pure accident although we do seem to share a certain impudence of facial expression.

In the "Sins of the Father" Department

Reading the book "Joseph McCarthy and the Press" last night (good so far - very insightful), I kept coming across the name Van Susteren from Wisconsin.

Now, Van Susteren is not a common name, even in immigrant sections of Wisconsin, and it made me think about one-time Faux News darling Greta, who got a face lift to join their vapid crew.

Sure enough, Greta is the daughter of Joe McCarthy's campaign manager and staunchest defender, short of Roy Cohn whom I had the displeasure to meet before he died, Judge Urban Van Susteren. In fact, Joseph McCarthy was best man at the wedding of Greta's mom and dad. Urban had an interesting slant: a wealthy industrialist who was ALSO a judge. Hmmm. Not a combination everyone would be comfortable with - certainly not me.

Here's a snippet from online about Greta, the Scientologist, and her dad.