The NSA - and Mr. Bush - Needs to Read the U.S. Constitution

Did all of you catch the huge gaffe - and not just a gaffe, really since it indicates the level to which they'll go to try to suppress the actual wording of the U.S. Constitution - where Michael Hayden of the NSA insists that the Fourth Amendment does NOT have a probable cause provision for searches and seizures? He insisted that if there was ONE part of the Constitution the NSA knows better than anyone else, it was the Fourth.

Yup.

From Brad Blog (guest blogged by David Edwards):

Prior to the Feb. 6th Senate Judiciary hearing on the NSA's Domestic Spying program, the Bush Administration is rushing to frame the debate. Most of the talk has amounted to little more than political spin.

Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Gen. Michael Hayden lead the PR blitz by taking questions from reporters at The National Press Club on Monday. The General confirmed to NSA expert James Bamford and Jonathan Landay with Knight Ridder that a feature of the NSA program was the lowering of the legal standard from 'probable cause' to 'reasonably believe' (a.k.a. 'reasonable suspicion') -- which would avoid the FISA Law requirements.

Besides showing that he had a limited understanding of the Fourth Amendment, Hayden's assertion of the Constitutionality of lowering the 'probable cause' standard has troubled many. This Kos diary calls the admission "explosive and damning"

Rick Santorum Exposed

OK, the idea of him exposed is a little creepy.

But Santorum Exposed also details Rick Santorum's complete hypocrisy (which does not begin to do justice to his arrogant behavior) on K Street corruption and other matters.

Corruption Digest

David Sirota - if you don't happen to catch him regularly - has been chronicling much of the lobbyist/kickback/sleezy deals in his Corruption Digest over at Working for Change's blog.

It's worth a read. The most recent installment is on Rick "Man on Dog and Republicans on Everything They Can" Santorum's efforts to distance himself from the K Street lobbying scandal, which is a hoot considering Rick regularly commutes on a Wal-Mart jet and used to regularly show up along with Tom DeLay at the K Street sleeze breakfast events.

Sorry about the Paucity of Posts

Work, a six-year-long Bush depression, hardware issues, and a bitch editor from hell have kept me elsewhere. But I'm sadly not joking about the depression.

That we're hearing Bush is doing better in polls right now as he shits on human rights and smirks his way through ripping up the US Constitution and Bill of Rights is honestly getting to me in a way that's hard to imagine. But as much as he bothers me, I'd like to kick some sense (since their anus is clearly the orifice from which they shat their brains a long time ago) into the Bush toadies and even the non toadies who are still clapping for the man.

I'd also like to propose that all these people get forcibly drafted into our war with Iran. You know, the one that won't be a crusade against Muslims even though it's the third Muslim country in a row we've gone in and tried to waste. But Iran isn't quite the country in decline that Iraq was after our sanctions really did wear down so much of the Iraqis. Iran's going to kick ass and it's going to be apparent even to the most fervent Bush apologistas that Bush is on a crusade to puff up his chest while he tries to wipe out every Muslim who isn't doing dirty oil business with his family. Oh, Bush doesn't really believe in all that religious crap. It's an act he bought as true. A few people mistook him for a God-scent King and he's eager to "raise" himself to their expectations.

Of course, it's easy to huff and puff when you aren't sacrificing your sons or daughters. And neither of Bush's kids, or his eight immediate nieces and nephews is doing anything but bar hopping, doing illegal drugs openly but don't face the sanctions you do (in fact, taxpayers pay for the Secret Service to cover up for them), and having rather profiglate sex, sometimes in public, while the Righteous Wrongies pretend that since the kids are in nice clothes, they aren't skanks and sleezes.

My time in advertising (brief) taught me one thing: don't buy the package. :)

Today's Bush Conference "Mechanic Flaw"?

Well, yes, the microphone hanging down was the problem.

But the egregious mechanical flaw, of course, is Bush himself.

He is driving me mad with all the smirking and strange huffing and puffing with all his speeches telling us it's his God given right to commit any atrocity he wants.

Dudlee

Contact me - there's an educational publisher you may want to contact.

Abramoff Billed $25K to a Client for Lunch with the President

The White House's response?

"So?"

Actually, there was quite a testy exchange with White House press spokesweasel last week in which McClellan said it was not his job to tell the press what the White House did wrong, it was the press' job to learn what had been done wrong and then ask him questions about it. Novel idea since McClellan isn't paid by Bush and company but by the American taxpayers, true for most of Weaselton... er. Washington.

The Republican talking heads all say this isn't a GOP problem because Abramoff gave money across the board.

But that last part is hardly an accurate portrayal. One report says that for every dollar a Dem got from the ultra-wealthy lobbyist, GOPers got more than $1,000.

They also ignore the fact that under Tom DeLay, Dem lobbyists were pretty much forced to be fired. Any lobbying agency that had a Dem worker was told to hide them away because only GOP lobbyists were welcome. Tom also supposed had breakfast with K Street lobbying groups every week to give them a list of demands for what he and his people wanted. Under DeLay, he all but told staffers that if they expected to be paid, they needed to ask Jack or his cronies to write a check.

Third Apache Helicopter Down in Iraq in 10 Days

And the military always lies about this until it's learned that, of course, the folks with shoulder-mounted spitball shooters did indeed take down a multi million dollar helicopter and kill its entire crew.

Shit.

The Drumbeat Against Iran

The media seems to keep telling us that, regarding Condi Rice's latest saber rattling toward Iran, we don't have to worry about going in there because we don't have the troops to do so.

I find that rather cold comfort, and I doubt for a moment that lack of military preparedness will stop us if we decide to go after Iran. We had similar warnings before Afghanistan and Iraq and we're still there.

And handed out last week as an almost parenthetical statement, given no attention or emphasis, is a new projection that Iraq - the war we were told would more than pay for itself - will cost us at least 2-3 trillion.

TRILLION

Uh huh.

Imagine for a Minute...

That Pakistan or India or hell, even France, learned that a suspected terrorist was in downtown Chicago or Salt Lake City or Boston. They decided to launch an air strike to take out that terrorist.

But, hey, life isn't perfect so not only did they fail to kill the terrorist (who has had no trial and is not convicted of the crime - only "intelligence" tells us this person is at fault and that same intelligence has been wrong again and again and again and again and again), but they happen to kill 18-20 civilians including women and children instead.

Think, "oops!" would cut it?

Yet that is our way of handling al Zawahiri in Pakistan and the death of hundreds now Iraqis when trying to get al-Zarqawi. We do this repeatedly, and we simply don't understand why Iraqis and Pakistanis would fuss.

The War on Terror is creating far more terror than it is resolving. Not just in creating many new people angry and willing to join the martyr cause, but our actions are terrorizing innocent civilians. What the hell is going on and why are we allowing it?

Blogger's Identity Exposed by Lawsuit

Interesting - from Minneapolis Star Tribune:

A feisty anonymous Minnesota political blogger has unmasked himself in the face of a lawsuit that claims his blog defamed a local public relations firm.
The case against Michael Brodkorb and his website, www.minnesotademocratsexposed.com, could break new legal ground in the Wild West frontier of blogging.

Lawyers who filed the suit say that Web logs and other new media should be held to the same standards of accountability as traditional media and journalism. Brodbkorb, a former operative for the Minnesota Republican Party, pledges to protect his source and to keep his website going.

The suit alleges that Brodkorb, citing an unnamed source, defamed the St. Paul-based public relations firm New School Communications when he posted a claim that New School had become publicly critical of the congressional campaign of Coleen Rowley only after Rowley rejected a contract with the firm.

Despite being told that New School does not perform political campaign work, Brodkorb, the suit says, continues to make the claim, even though his source "may, in fact, be a fabrication."

Old time readers here know while I do not have anything against anonymous blogging, I think this is a case where the folks who feel he has wronged them do have a right to face their accuser, so to speak.

But it's a real gray area that becomes more of an issue when you're getting paid for the work. The "former Republican operative" part bothers me a little because it's hard to tell what it means. It also raises questions of whether like a Jeff Gannon, he's taking money to sell his opinion. Former means little; many of the bloggers, particularly on the right, do take very big money to blog nasties about anyone left of Attila the Hun. I do not see the trend anymore near as prevalent among moderates and left of center bloggers and blogs. But the rightie types also are far less likely to disclose the fact that they're being financed to spew.

The Alito Hearings

I'm going to blow a gasket, quite literally.

That Alito - a man who certainly must know how many Americans feel about Italian Americans or "wops" as I spent my childhood hearing - was part of a campaign to exclude women and minorities from Princeton and now pretends - like the Federalist Society - that he did not engage is beyond the pale. It tells you a LOT about how honest a man he is and how privileged he feels himself to be.

And he'll be confirmed because the only ones who can make it onto the Supreme Court under Bush are pieces of crap like Alito with no concern for the truth and no sense that he should be held accountable for his actions. Someone who cannot answer a single question without dancing about doesn't belong in any courtroom, let alone the Supreme Court.

And I'd pay money to see Mrs. Alito hit with a dead fish while she sits there smiling beneficently while her husband dodges questions knowing he'll take the right of choice from women at his first opportunity. After all, women like Mrs. Alito and her fashionable daughter always will have choice. They can go to a private doctor who will do a D&C and write it up as a diagnostic procedure rather than as an abortion. If you aren't well-heeled, that won't happen.

Bush on TV

He's coined a new word: "suicider".

What a jerk.

And the Iraqi police and military will take care of everything because it's their responsibility.. you know, one that Bush forced upon them.

Farris Hassan

What a 16-year-old piece of crap.

His family did well under Saddam before they came here, and did even better as part of the elite Florida rich and then he goes to Iraq on stocks and credit cards expecting the US military to protect him and then comes back to tell us about the glorious democracy he discovered in Iraq (even though he was there for 3 seconds and was a Bush supporter before he left and a bigger one after he came back). Oh, and we picked up a big part of the tab for protecting this little shit.

Why am I mad? He didn't discover democracy there. Listen to the story behind Hassan and you know he had help and went there with preconceived notions and returned to spew same, without any evidence that his notions were true.

He's quite the darling of the right wing in his pink Izod shirts and his declarations to help Governor Bush's campaigns and perhaps get the president elected to a third term. Hey, rich Bushies can overrule term limits, you know.

Poor Bill O'Lielly

My heart bleeds (ketchup):

NEW YORK (AP) — If Bill O'Reilly truly loves a good fight, then he's had quite a week. The Fox News Channel personality's confrontation with David Letterman Tuesday night made for some gripping television. The cranky Late Show host told his guest: "I have the feeling about 60% of what you say is crap."

O'Reilly called Olbermann a "notorious smear merchant" after the MSNBC host awarded him the "Worst Person in the World" prize for the 15th time.
By Jim Cooper, AP

That same night, nemesis Keith Olbermann on MSNBC once again named O'Reilly his "Worst Person in the World," this time for battling with two people at The New York Times. That's the 15th time O'Reilly has been cited since Olbermann began his half-facetious, half-serious nightly "award" to wag his finger at bad behavior.

For whatever reason, it seems more people are willing to step into the ring with the host of cable TV news' No. 1 program.

Saying No to Fat Man and Little Boy (aka Jeb and Dumbya)

The Florida Supreme Court has tossed out the Dumbya-pushed and Jeb Bush-flaunted school voucher program.

Women and Pornography

You can read some of my take on the subject here at Associated Content.

130 Dead in Iraq on Thursday

5 American soldiers and the rest mostly civilians.

Yet Mr. Bush is out pounding his chest today telling us how wonderfully the war is going and how the economy is picture perfect. Statistics, as any mathematician or journalist can tell you, can always be manipulated. The Bushies have made manipulation into an art form. Oh, they're not all that artful at it, but they just bully people into shutting up.

After all, a bad economy where even the middle class is struggling to pay health insurance and heating bills keeps people directed towards home rather than looking at the world around them and how badly it smells.

Lou Rawls Dead, Ariel Sharon Severely Brain Damaged

First, goodbye Lou. I did not have to be a direct fan of yours to enjoy your music when I did hear it. You will be missed.

As for Mr. Sharon, God help me, but Israel and the Palestinians would have been better if this man had never been allowed to return to power. He helped bring about the most recent wave of violence since his re-election, there have been numerous scandals associated with his administration, the Bushies' close relationship with him has hurt us all, and we make a huge mistake in congratulating Sharon for his efforts in the "peace" process.

Sharon pulled out of a few areas, but Israel still controls water, travel, lights, food, and employment for the Palestinians, who are still essentially occupied.

Settlement building went mad under Sharon, and for every area vacated (very few), illegal Israeli settlements have been built to surround the Palestinians, effectively boxing them in to control every aspect of their lives. This is NOT freedom. This is NOT peace. This is NOT giving the Palestinians a place. And as long as this occurs, Israel cannot hope for peace even as so many good Israelis surely deserve it.

Sharon was a man of peace as much as Bush is, meaning, not at all.

I am sorry to see any human condemned to permanent brain damage, but this is a man who harmed so many with no regard. Unfortunately, his replacement will be another Likkud nutcase.

Being Told to Pray

Again and again during the mine disaster, what did the media and our leaders tell us to do? Pray.

Wolfie Blitzer was practically screaming at us to pray during CNN's coverage, but others were, too. The president told us to pray.

Oh, I have no problems praying. I frequently do.

But I pay Bush and Company to do more than tell me to pray. I support CNN through viewership etc. I don't need these dunderheads to tell me what I should do. I want them to do their goddamned jobs, and none of that involves telling me to call on a higher power I only know through faith to produce a miracle that proper mine operation or other procedures would prevent from occuring in the first place.