Saturday, May 27, 2006
The Mother Of All Public Airings Of The Dirty Skivvies
Will the world excuse us, please, while we have a true meltdown? It's been coming for a long time and cannot be postponed.
Daily Kos: The Mother Of All Public Airings Of The Dirty Skivvies:
"I read the news today Oh Boy, and then I noticed that a good cross section of the top tier of American society, the movers, the shakers, the big money makers in government, business, and the religion game, the very pillars of our community, were in prison, under investigation or actually indicted, awaiting trial or out on appeal, on the prison bus or trapped underneath two large convicts named Leroy and Bubba and I sat back for a moment and smiled somewhat wistfully."
(Read On ^)
Inside Donnie Rumsfeld's Orwellian Pentagon
Jim Hightower Inside Donnie Rumsfeld's Orwellian Pentagon:
"While claiming that they must 'secure'' America for a post-9/11 world, the BushCheney zealots are taking us back to a pre-1776 world.
In 1928, Justice Louis Brandeis wrote that the real threat to American freedom was not from an outside assault, but from the devious manipulations of our own misguided leaders. 'The greatest dangers to liberty,' he observed, 'lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning, but without understanding.'
Nearly 80 years after Brandeis's warning, the zealots have been brought in from the far-right fringe on the golden chariot of George W, and they've shown that they have no understanding of the essence of America, which includes our hard-won liberties, our rule of law and our system of checked-and-balanced governmental power.
But these men of zeal - Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. - are hardly well-meaning. They are deliberately and determinedly striving to impose the AntiAmerica on our own land - an unrecognizable America of supreme executive authority, constant surveillance of the citizenry, secret government and suppression of dissent. Their chief weapon is fear. They feverishly wave the bloody flag of 9/11, shouting that the citizenry must surrender liberties or be attacked again by The Madmen, that we mustn't question authority for this only encourages The Madmen, that all government operations must be cloaked in a dark veil of secrecy to keep The Madmen off balance, and that executive and police power must drastically expand to protect us from The Madmen. (Read On ^)
"While claiming that they must 'secure'' America for a post-9/11 world, the BushCheney zealots are taking us back to a pre-1776 world.
In 1928, Justice Louis Brandeis wrote that the real threat to American freedom was not from an outside assault, but from the devious manipulations of our own misguided leaders. 'The greatest dangers to liberty,' he observed, 'lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning, but without understanding.'
Nearly 80 years after Brandeis's warning, the zealots have been brought in from the far-right fringe on the golden chariot of George W, and they've shown that they have no understanding of the essence of America, which includes our hard-won liberties, our rule of law and our system of checked-and-balanced governmental power.
But these men of zeal - Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. - are hardly well-meaning. They are deliberately and determinedly striving to impose the AntiAmerica on our own land - an unrecognizable America of supreme executive authority, constant surveillance of the citizenry, secret government and suppression of dissent. Their chief weapon is fear. They feverishly wave the bloody flag of 9/11, shouting that the citizenry must surrender liberties or be attacked again by The Madmen, that we mustn't question authority for this only encourages The Madmen, that all government operations must be cloaked in a dark veil of secrecy to keep The Madmen off balance, and that executive and police power must drastically expand to protect us from The Madmen. (Read On ^)
Playing the Impeachment Card
In other words: Send money unless you want our pet war criminal held accountable for the myriad sins of this admnistration, against people around the world and our nation and its people.
Playing the Impeachment Card:
All in all, the framers would probably agree that it's better to impeach too often than too seldom. If presidents can't be virtuous, they should at least be nervous.
- Joseph Sobran
Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan is a small and soft-spoken man. One gets the definite sense upon meeting him that here is a man who could probably have made a fortune in Hollywood, had he chosen a different direction in life, playing the role of the wise and kindly grandfather. He wound up in public service, and today - if you listen to Karl Rove and the GOP - he is easily the most terrifying man in America.
Back on May 10th, Howard Fineman wrote for MSNBC: 'Then there is the attention being paid - and it's just starting - to obscure Democratic characters such as Rep. John Conyers of Michigan. As of now, only political junkies know that Conyers, an African-American and old-school liberal from Detroit, would become chairman of the Judiciary Committee if the Democrats regain control of the House. Few know that Conyers has expressed interest in holding hearings on the impeachment of the president.'
A direct-mail piece from Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) popped up several days ago. In the mailer, Dole warned that unless the faithful donate money for the midterm elections, rampaging Democrats were going to, 'increase your taxes, call for endless investigations, Congressional censure and maybe even impeachment of President Bush.' (If there is a God, Read On ^)
Secular Iraqis, "New Government Is Irrelevant"
These Iraqis aren't the only ones who feel that their institutions of government are irrelevant.
People all over the world are questioning much of what has seemed normal, effective, relevant, etc.
People are coming to distrust their governing, as well as religious institutions.
We don't consider this a bad thing. It seems to us that it is time for such questioning, and not just in Iraq.
Secular Iraqis, "New Government Is Irrelevant":
" San Francisco - Many secular Iraqis have been expressing their displeasure with the new Iraqi government that was sworn-in Saturday and introduced with much fanfare by politicians in Washington, Baghdad, and London this week.
'All Iraqis know this government is totally irrelevant to the realities that they're facing,' said Houzan Mahmoud, the international representative of the left-wing Iraqi Freedom Congress, an umbrella organization of workers' and women's groups that opposes both the U.S.-led occupation and Islamist control of Iraq.
'It's a government of rightist militias who are terrorizing people on the ground,' she added, noting the government is dominated by the same religious, Shi'ite, political parties that have been in power since 2005.
Since then, representatives of those parties' militias have been taking to the streets beating up religious minorities and people who sell alcohol while forcing women to cover their heads.
'These are militias representing groups based on religious sects and ethnic backgrounds, just engaged in trying to increase their own power,' Mahmoud said.
Iraqi politicians say the new government will be able to deliver greater sovereignty and security for the people of Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that Iraq could take over security in most of the country within 18 months.
'There is already an agreement, and a plan has been submitted to hand over security issues in every Iraqi city,' Maliki told reporters in Baghdad Monday. 'The process will be started in June with the handover of the southern provinces of Samawa and Amara.' "
People all over the world are questioning much of what has seemed normal, effective, relevant, etc.
People are coming to distrust their governing, as well as religious institutions.
We don't consider this a bad thing. It seems to us that it is time for such questioning, and not just in Iraq.
Secular Iraqis, "New Government Is Irrelevant":
" San Francisco - Many secular Iraqis have been expressing their displeasure with the new Iraqi government that was sworn-in Saturday and introduced with much fanfare by politicians in Washington, Baghdad, and London this week.
'All Iraqis know this government is totally irrelevant to the realities that they're facing,' said Houzan Mahmoud, the international representative of the left-wing Iraqi Freedom Congress, an umbrella organization of workers' and women's groups that opposes both the U.S.-led occupation and Islamist control of Iraq.
'It's a government of rightist militias who are terrorizing people on the ground,' she added, noting the government is dominated by the same religious, Shi'ite, political parties that have been in power since 2005.
Since then, representatives of those parties' militias have been taking to the streets beating up religious minorities and people who sell alcohol while forcing women to cover their heads.
'These are militias representing groups based on religious sects and ethnic backgrounds, just engaged in trying to increase their own power,' Mahmoud said.
Iraqi politicians say the new government will be able to deliver greater sovereignty and security for the people of Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that Iraq could take over security in most of the country within 18 months.
'There is already an agreement, and a plan has been submitted to hand over security issues in every Iraqi city,' Maliki told reporters in Baghdad Monday. 'The process will be started in June with the handover of the southern provinces of Samawa and Amara.' "
A New Protest Song: Joan Baez Sings to Save Acres of Land
Joan is up a tree!
We love Joan Baez, in a tree, on the steps of City Hall is San Francisco, on a stage in DC, under a light drizzle crying out, "Where have all the Flowers gone?
She gladens our hearts and brings tears to our eyes.
Be warned, all you fascists out there. Harm one hair on this Peacemakers head, a woe be unto you!
A New Protest Song: Joan Baez Sings to Save Acres of Land: "
If the words of the song came easily to Joan Baez it was because she has been singing them most of her life. Standing in front of an ageing walnut tree threatened - along with the land on which it stood - by developers in Los Angeles, the veteran folk singer jammed her hands in the front pockets of her jeans and sang: 'No, no, no nos movean. No, no, no nos moveran.'
For the mainly Hispanic farmers and gardeners hoping to prevent the 14-acre site known as South Central Farm from being sold to developers, the presence this week of the silver-haired Baez and her Spanish rendition of the protest anthem 'We Shall Not be Moved' has boosted their efforts to save their community garden. For Baez, now aged 65, it is just the latest protest in a lifetime of demonstration and campaigning.
'At the moment it is absolutely extraordinary. It's one of those things that just take off,' Baez yesterday told The
Independent by telephone. 'Two days ago it was very iffy - there were just a couple of people [here]. I thought it would either fizzle out or else take off and it's taken off. It's such a morale-booster - everybody is bustling to work.' "
Iraq supports Iran on nuclear development | Chicago Tribune
Bush is an idiot, chapter 989.
If God really told Junior to attack Iraq, then we can only assume that God doesn't like Junior very much.
Iraq supports Iran on nuclear development Chicago Tribune:
"BAGHDAD -- Iraq assured Iran on Friday that it supports Iran's right to develop nuclear energy and will not allow Iraqi territory to be used to threaten Iran, adopting a position at odds with America's view that Iran should abandon its nuclear program.
Speaking during a visit by the Iranian foreign minister to Iraq to congratulate the new Iraqi government formed a week ago, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Iraq's new government 'is a friendly government to Iran.'
'Iraq definitely will not be a place to threaten Iran from,' Zebari said at a news conference in Baghdad, with the Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, standing at his side.
Mottaki was the second foreign dignitary to call on Iraq's week-old government after Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, who visited Monday. Mottaki's trip came as a reminder that although the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government remains beholden to the U.S.-led coalition for its existence, it also enjoys warm relations with its neighbor, Shiite Iran, and does not wish to become embroiled in the rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran."
If God really told Junior to attack Iraq, then we can only assume that God doesn't like Junior very much.
Iraq supports Iran on nuclear development Chicago Tribune:
"BAGHDAD -- Iraq assured Iran on Friday that it supports Iran's right to develop nuclear energy and will not allow Iraqi territory to be used to threaten Iran, adopting a position at odds with America's view that Iran should abandon its nuclear program.
Speaking during a visit by the Iranian foreign minister to Iraq to congratulate the new Iraqi government formed a week ago, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Iraq's new government 'is a friendly government to Iran.'
'Iraq definitely will not be a place to threaten Iran from,' Zebari said at a news conference in Baghdad, with the Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, standing at his side.
Mottaki was the second foreign dignitary to call on Iraq's week-old government after Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, who visited Monday. Mottaki's trip came as a reminder that although the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government remains beholden to the U.S.-led coalition for its existence, it also enjoys warm relations with its neighbor, Shiite Iran, and does not wish to become embroiled in the rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran."
It's Obvious, Republicans Are Bobbleheads
Wasserman-Schultz has been a favorite of mine since she rose to her feet and made sense during the GOP flame-out regarding the Schiavo case.
I love this woman. She is a hoot, as well as being a voice for sanity.
Take a look at the video
YouTube - It's Obvious, Republicans Are Bobbleheads
Strong Signs of Rift Among Democrats - Los Angeles Times
DLCers Beware:
It's fine to be a Centrist when times are normal. These are not normal times. The country has been dragged so far to the right that it will reqire a strong pull to the left, if we expect to ever have any balance at all, let alone balance of power.
Everyone I know in Conn, plans on voting for Lamont, and many of them consider themselves moderate independents.
Just because someone is against Bush's illegal war does not make them Liberal.
These political terms, such as liberal and consevative have ceased to mean anything.
Strong Signs of Rift Among Democrats - Los Angeles Times:
"WASHINGTON - The liberal challenge to Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) escalated Friday when the political arm of MoveOn.org, an influential online advocacy group, endorsed the political newcomer opposing his bid for renomination.
Gaining the support of MoveOn's political action committee was Ned Lamont, a businessman who wants to unseat Lieberman largely because of the veteran lawmaker's staunch support for the war in Iraq."
The Corruption Crackdown
If we can put pot smokers in jail and ruin their lives, these corrupt jackasses should get 50 flat.
The Corruption Crackdown - Los Angeles Times:
"WASHINGTON - Forgive House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) for seeming a bit paranoid. (He is just having to live in the same world as the rest of us, and isn't liking it very much)
With grand juries convened around the country and hundreds of FBI agents on the case, Congress has become the focal point of the most aggressive investigations into federal corruption in decades." ( and it is about damned time.)
GOP Heavy Hitters Pressuring White House to Talk With Iran - Los Angeles Times
Does anyone else get the impression that this administration, like bullies on playgrounds everywhere, won't talk to people who scare them?
GOP Heavy Hitters Pressuring White House to Talk With Iran - Los Angeles Times:
"WASHINGTON - Amid concern that the U.S. is drifting toward eventual confrontation with Iran, a growing number of influential statesmen, Republican senators and foreign policy experts are stepping up pressure on the Bush administration to consider doing what no U.S. administration has done in 27 years: talk directly with Iran.
In recent congressional hearings, think-tank conferences, op-ed essays and media appearances, Republican heavyweights, including former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), have publicly urged the administration to leave the current path of escalation and join European allies in direct talks with Tehran."
Cheny and classification/declassificaion
Cheney's office is, apparently, exempt from all rules of government.
The Swamp - Chicago Tribune - Blogs.:
"The government slowed down somewhat last year in the classification of top secret and confidential information, and it also declassified slightly more documents than had been opened up the year before.
But the numbers still rank among record-levels: With 14 million decisions made last year to classify information, a slight decline from the 2004 record, and 29.5 million pages declassified last year -- far fewer than the 100 million pages declassified in 2001. And once again, Vice President Dick
Cheney, who has refused to report on his office's classification activities since 2003, is missing from the count.
Despite an executive order signed by President Bush in 2003 requiring all agencies or 'any other entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information,' to report on its activities, the vice president's office maintains that it has no legal obligation to report on its classification decisions."
Friday, May 26, 2006
Bush and Blair Concede Errors, but Defend War - New York Times
This is absolute B.S.
Never mind that there have been tactcal errors, strategic errors and just about every other kind of error on can think of:
IT'S THE LIES, STUPID!
Bush said he regretted using those words - you know, the ones he said on the occassion of 9/11 and when the insurgency was already cranking up in Iraq.
He said that he had been told (by La Bush, apparently) that he needed to be a little more sophisticated in expressing himself, because his words were misnterpreted around the world.
Do you hear the difference in an admission of error and a seeming admission followed by blaming others?
Bush said that he needed to express himself differently because others misunderstood him. (Gotta clean it up for the Texas cow-paddy deprived, I guess)
Bush didn't really admit a mistake, according to this statement. Of course, this is about as close as he is likely to ever come.
Basically Bush said, about Osama bin Laden:
"Wanted Dead or Alive."He regrets that?
If bin Laden, single-handedly, master-minded the attack of 9/11, I do not consider that statement, coming at the time that it did, just after the attacks, all that un-called for, Texas tackcy, OK, but not all that out-there.
I do not believe his words were misinterpreted by anyone.
Everyone knew exactly what he meant, and the vast majority of Americans agreed with him, and probably quite a few others around the world.
The only problem with that statement, is that it apparently wasn't a true statement of intentions, because Osama bin Laden is freer that we are and our army is bogged down in Iraq, which had and has nothing to do with the people Bush "wanted" dead or alive, almost 5 years later.
Then, there was "Bring 'em on." Yep, those sound bites Bush and Rove love so much do come back again an again to bite one in the ass, especially when one goes of script. (Yeehaw is definitely not a foreign policy)
The families of the men and women serving in our military had a hissy fit, and no one can blame them. What Bush said was stupid, macho, bravado BS like that that usually comes out of the mouths of Chicken Hawks and actors in war movies.
But again, I do not believe that anyone misinterpreted his words, especially the insurgency in Iraq. As I recall, they brought it on, alright, and still are doing so.
The problem was the words, Junior, not other people misinterpreting them.
There were a few you forgot: (Actually, so many that blogger would probably crash if anyone tried to list them all, so here is one):
You are either with us against us.
Those words were not misinterpreted either, by anyone.
So, according to Bush, he needs to be a little more 'nuanced.' Did anyone check on Dick Cheney to see if he had, maybe, stroked out, when he heard Junior say that?.
Does anyone else remember the thrashing John Kerry got, for saying we needed a more nuanced foriegn policy (an understatement, If you ask me), from Junior's Vice?
A little more sophisticated so the dumbasses of the world will understand him, Bush says he needs to be.
No one misunderstood you. Everyone understood you very well, and they do not like you at all, and neither do we.
You seem quite off your trolly to the rest of the world. You seem that way to us as well.
That is what we understand, not from your words, stupid though they maybe, but from your actions.
What you say stopped mattering a long time ago, Junior, because you lied to us all, not once, but repeatedly and about very serious issues. All that matters, is what you do, what you have been doing and not doing, since the day you were appointed by the Supremes.
That is all that matters to us now. La Bush can put tape over your mouth, if she cares to.It won't matter, because those of us who re somehwat conscious and nt lost in the usual American fantasy, LaLa land, do not care much what you say.
Until you start threatening people again, and then we get really upset with you, because we know how you are, you blew up frogs as a kid, just for the 'fun of it', and now you are blowing up people, and you are using our military to do it.
You had better think hard before you try to play anymore violent video games out on the world stage.
Bush and Blair Concede Errors, but Defend War - New York Times:
"For those who trace Mr. Bush's own reluctance to acknowledge errors in Iraq, his statements on Thursday night seemed to mark a crossing of a major threshold. In an interview with The New York Times in August 2004, Mr. Bush said that his biggest mistake in Iraq had been underestimating the speed of initial victory over Mr. Hussein's forces, which allowed Iraqi troops to melt back into the cities and towns. When pressed, he said he could think of no other errors.
Over the winter, as public support for the war eroded, he acknowledged other mistakes; failing to plan sufficiently for the occupation and rebuilding of the country, or to execute the plans that had been made. But he described these as tactical mistakes that had been fixed.
His answer on Thursday evening, though, harked back to the two statements ' 'bring them on' and 'dead or alive' - that his wife, Laura, had been particularly critical about. While he had apologized before for the treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib, his statement on Thursday was his starkest admission to date of the damage that the episode did to the image of the United States. "
Bush and Blair Concede Errors, but Defend War - New York Times
This is absolute B.S.
Never mind that there have been tactcal errors, strategic errors and just about every other kind of error on can think of:
IT'S THE LIES, STUPID!
Bush said he regretted using those words - you know, the ones he said on the occassion of 9/11 and when the insurgency was already cranking up in Iraq.
He said that he had been told (by La Bush, apparently) that he needed to be a little more sophisticated in expressing himself, because his words were misnterpreted around the world.
Do you hear the difference in an admission of error and a seeming admission followed by blaming others?
Bush said that he needed to express himself differently because others misunderstood him. (Gotta clean it up for the Texas cow-paddy deprived, I guess)
Bush didn't really admit a mistake, according to this statement. Of course, this is about as close as he is likely to ever come.
Basically Bush said, about Osama bin Laden:
"Wanted Dead or Alive."He regrets that?
If bin Laden, single-handedly, master-minded the attack of 9/11, I do not consider that statement, coming at the time that it did, just after the attacks, all that un-called for, Texas tackcy, OK, but not all that out-there.
I do not believe his words were misinterpreted by anyone.
Everyone knew exactly what he meant, and the vast majority of Americans agreed with him, and probably quite a few others around the world.
The only problem with that statement, is that it apparently wasn't a true statement of intentions, because Osama bin Laden is freer that we are and our army is bogged down in Iraq, which had and has nothing to do with the people Bush "wanted" dead or alive, almost 5 years later.
Then, there was "Bring 'em on." Yep, those sound bites Bush and Rove love so much do come back again an again to bite one in the ass, especially when one goes of script. (Yeehaw is definitely not a foreign policy)
The families of the men and women serving in our military had a hissy fit, and no one can blame them. What Bush said was stupid, macho, bravado BS like that that usually comes out of the mouths of Chicken Hawks and actors in war movies.
But again, I do not believe that anyone misinterpreted his words, especially the insurgency in Iraq. As I recall, they brought it on, alright, and still are doing so.
The problem was the words, Junior, not other people misinterpreting them.
There were a few you forgot: (Actually, so many that blogger would probably crash if anyone tried to list them all, so here is one):
You are either with us against us.
Those words were not misinterpreted either, by anyone.
So, according to Bush, he needs to be a little more 'nuanced.' Did anyone check on Dick Cheney to see if he had, maybe, stroked out, when he heard Junior say that?.
Does anyone else remember the thrashing John Kerry got, for saying we needed a more nuanced foriegn policy (an understatement, If you ask me), from Junior's Vice?
A little more sophisticated so the dumbasses of the world will understand him, Bush says he needs to be.
No one misunderstood you. Everyone understood you very well, and they do not like you at all, and neither do we.
You seem quite off your trolly to the rest of the world. You seem that way to us as well.
That is what we understand, not from your words, stupid though they maybe, but from your actions.
What you say stopped mattering a long time ago, Junior, because you lied to us all, not once, but repeatedly and about very serious issues. All that matters, is what you do, what you have been doing and not doing, since the day you were appointed by the Supremes.
That is all that matters to us now. La Bush can put tape over your mouth, if she cares to.It won't matter, because those of us who re somehwat conscious and nt lost in the usual American fantasy, LaLa land, do not care much what you say.
Until you start threatening people again, and then we get really upset with you, because we know how you are, you blew up frogs as a kid, just for the 'fun of it', and now you are blowing up people, and you are using our military to do it.
You had better think hard before you try to play anymore violent video games out on the world stage.
Bush and Blair Concede Errors, but Defend War - New York Times:
"For those who trace Mr. Bush's own reluctance to acknowledge errors in Iraq, his statements on Thursday night seemed to mark a crossing of a major threshold. In an interview with The New York Times in August 2004, Mr. Bush said that his biggest mistake in Iraq had been underestimating the speed of initial victory over Mr. Hussein's forces, which allowed Iraqi troops to melt back into the cities and towns. When pressed, he said he could think of no other errors.
Over the winter, as public support for the war eroded, he acknowledged other mistakes; failing to plan sufficiently for the occupation and rebuilding of the country, or to execute the plans that had been made. But he described these as tactical mistakes that had been fixed.
His answer on Thursday evening, though, harked back to the two statements ' 'bring them on' and 'dead or alive' - that his wife, Laura, had been particularly critical about. While he had apologized before for the treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib, his statement on Thursday was his starkest admission to date of the damage that the episode did to the image of the United States. "
America's Hitler: Part V
Links to the first 4 parts can be fund at the linked atricle
America's Hitler: Part V:
"In attempting to conclude this article I must say at the outset that I have been astounded by the response to the first four parts of 'America's Hitler.' Especially since I am about as qualified to write a serious article about Adolf Hitler as Bush is to be president of the United States.
However, one woman who is a translator and teacher of German-language literature; a woman who lived in Germany for ten years and has immersed herself in the German culture for twenty years said that among the people in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, and among Holocaust survivors in the United States, she hears the parallels between Bush and Hitler and the similarities between the United States now and Germany in the 1930's all the time.
She writes:" (Please read on ^)
News From Underground: BushCo lays the groundwork for this year's electoral rip-off
Here We Go Again!
Grab the Barf Bag!
It's Going Top Be A Bumpy Ride.
News From Underground: BushCo lays the groundwork for this year's electoral rip-off:
BushCo lays the groundwork for this year's electoral rip-off
This is not the time for Dems to count their chickens. Rather, it is time-- past time--for them to stop their clucking and get down, finally, to their proper patriotic business. Notwithstanding Bush & Co.'s abysmal numbers nowadays, the regime will attempt to steal it once again; and, as sure as shootin', the stalwarts of the Fourth Estate will, once more, go along with it, as long as the regime has done the necessary pre-propaganda (which is what we see right here):
'If Republicans retain Congress in November, Bush advisers note, he could assert that for the third straight election, the party defied historical patterns and popular predictions.'
Any Dem who thinks the regime won't dare try to steal it, and/or that the press will not abet such theft (again), is living full-time on that mighty river in old Egypt. Here and now on Planet Earth, the facts are staring us all right in the face (again). So the Democrats had better face that possibility, and, at long last, deal with it."
Grab the Barf Bag!
It's Going Top Be A Bumpy Ride.
News From Underground: BushCo lays the groundwork for this year's electoral rip-off:
BushCo lays the groundwork for this year's electoral rip-off
This is not the time for Dems to count their chickens. Rather, it is time-- past time--for them to stop their clucking and get down, finally, to their proper patriotic business. Notwithstanding Bush & Co.'s abysmal numbers nowadays, the regime will attempt to steal it once again; and, as sure as shootin', the stalwarts of the Fourth Estate will, once more, go along with it, as long as the regime has done the necessary pre-propaganda (which is what we see right here):
'If Republicans retain Congress in November, Bush advisers note, he could assert that for the third straight election, the party defied historical patterns and popular predictions.'
Any Dem who thinks the regime won't dare try to steal it, and/or that the press will not abet such theft (again), is living full-time on that mighty river in old Egypt. Here and now on Planet Earth, the facts are staring us all right in the face (again). So the Democrats had better face that possibility, and, at long last, deal with it."
Bipartisan Majority Supports Internet Freedom in the House
Will miracles never cease?
Congress is listening to the people for a change.
That is not to say that we don't have to keep an eagle eye on this; much money is invloved for the corporations. We all know what that means.
This ain't over, by a long shot.
News Alert: Free Press: Bipartisan Majority Supports Internet Freedom in the House:
Growing Momentum for SavetheInternet.com Coalition as Net Neutrality Scores a Victory in Washington
WASHINGTON -- The broad, nonpartisan movement for Internet freedom notched a major victory today, when a bipartisan majority of the House Judiciary Committee passed the 'Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006' -- a bill that offers meaningful protections for Network Neutrality, 'the First Amendment of the Internet.'
'Today's vote would have been unthinkable three weeks ago,' said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, the nonpartisan media reform group that coordinates the SavetheInternet.com Coalition. 'It shows that the politicians are listening to the vast number of citizens who don't want the Internet to become the private domain of the cable and telephone monopolies. Today's vote is a milestone for the fast-growing movement to protect the public interest and defend Internet freedom.'"
Congress is listening to the people for a change.
That is not to say that we don't have to keep an eagle eye on this; much money is invloved for the corporations. We all know what that means.
This ain't over, by a long shot.
News Alert: Free Press: Bipartisan Majority Supports Internet Freedom in the House:
Growing Momentum for SavetheInternet.com Coalition as Net Neutrality Scores a Victory in Washington
WASHINGTON -- The broad, nonpartisan movement for Internet freedom notched a major victory today, when a bipartisan majority of the House Judiciary Committee passed the 'Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006' -- a bill that offers meaningful protections for Network Neutrality, 'the First Amendment of the Internet.'
'Today's vote would have been unthinkable three weeks ago,' said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, the nonpartisan media reform group that coordinates the SavetheInternet.com Coalition. 'It shows that the politicians are listening to the vast number of citizens who don't want the Internet to become the private domain of the cable and telephone monopolies. Today's vote is a milestone for the fast-growing movement to protect the public interest and defend Internet freedom.'"
Bush's Enron Lies
Georgie and Kenny-boy.
While Al Q planned to attck America, Condi was busy trying to get India to bail-out Kenny-boy.
Consortiumnews.com:
"Four years ago, when the taboo against calling George W. Bush a liar was even stronger than it is today, the national news media bought into the Bush administration�s spin that the President did nothing to bail out his Enron benefactors, including Kenneth Lay.
Bush supposedly refused to intervene, despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Enron had poured into his political coffers. That refusal purportedly showed the high ethical standards that set Bush apart from lesser politicians.
Bush's defenders will probably reprise that storyline now that former Enron Chairman Lay and former Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling stand convicted of conspiracy and fraud in the plundering of the onetime energy-trading giant. But the reality is that the Bush-can't-be-bought spin was never true."
The Burial of the 9/11 Story that Got Away
AHSOO, NSA had been listening to Al Qaeda, before 9/11, without all of the exraordinary surviellance BushCo claims it now needs. They knew something was coming. So did high White Officials.
Alot of good it did.
Of course, had the 9/11 hijackers been stopped, there would have been no reason to declare war on the entire Middle East.
AlterNet: The Burial of the 9/11 Story that Got Away:
"Last week, William Scott Malone and I broke the story of how a still anonymous, senior White House official leaked top-secret NSA intelligence in 2001 to then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller. The intelligence indicated that Al Qaeda was planning a major attack on the United States. But the 'The 9/11 Story That Got Away' never made it into the paper.
It never made it to the attention of top Times executive Bill Keller either. Keller, now executive editor of the paper, was managing editor in July 2001. But he was kept in the dark when Miller's 'impeccable' source first revealed details of highly classified signals intelligence (SIGINT) concerning an impending Al Qaeda attack, perhaps to be visited on the continental United States. The NSA had been listening in on a conversation between two members of Osama bin Laden's terror network. One was overheard saying to the other, 'Don't worry, we're planning something so big now that the U.S. will have to respond.'
Asked to comment on our revelation, Times man Keller emailed a statement that said in part, 'I heard nothing about this from Judy or Steve (Stephen Engelberg, Miller's editor) at the time.'"
Thursday, May 25, 2006
|More News From the Amukin Police State
Democracy Now! U.S. Court Rules Wrongfully-Held Detainee Khaled El-Masri Can't Sue CIA For Kidnapping Him: "In December, El-Masri sued the United States but last week the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed the case. Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled that holding the proceedings would jeopardize state secrets.
In a moment we will be joined by Khaled El-Masri's attorney, Ben Wizner. But first we hear Khaled El-Masri describing his treatment at the hands of the CIA. He spoke publicly for the first time last December shortly after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on his behalf. "
In a moment we will be joined by Khaled El-Masri's attorney, Ben Wizner. But first we hear Khaled El-Masri describing his treatment at the hands of the CIA. He spoke publicly for the first time last December shortly after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on his behalf. "
Group thinks CIA had vigilante ties
I think I may be having a Reaga/Bush flashback. Pass the Valium.
MiamiHerald.com 05/24/2006 Group thinks CIA had vigilante ties:
"BOGOTA - A Washington-based think tank filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to force the Central Intelligence Agency to search its archives for documents that may help reveal the CIA's links to a vigilante group here that helped Colombian and U.S. authorities track down drug lord Pablo Escobar.
In its suit, the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and the law firm of Brian Gaffney said CIA actions ``discourage the Plaintiff, its members and other members of the public from obtaining public records from the United States government.''
IPS, one of Washington's oldest think tanks, has been requesting documents on the case via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) since 2004."
Net Neutrality, an Anti-trust Issue
Free Press : Press Release:
"Consumer Federation, Consumers Union, Free Press and Public Knowledge Endorse Judiciary Committee Bill; New Report Supports Ban on Network Discrimination
WASHINGTON - In a letter today to the leaders of the House Judiciary Committee, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Free Press and Public Knowledge urged adoption of the 'Internet Freedom and Non-Discrimination Act' (H.R. 5417) to protect the free and open Internet.
'The phone and cable companies fighting Network Neutrality have cloaked the issue in anti-regulatory rhetoric,' said Mark Cooper, Director of Research for the Consumer Federation of America. 'But the Internet has become the engine of innovation, economic growth and free speech precisely because nondiscrimination rules have applied to communications networks and have prevented network owners from abusing their market power to undercut the competition.'
The bipartisan legislation is sponsored by House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.); Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.); and Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Rick Boucher (D-Va.). The bill is scheduled to be marked up at a hearing on Thursday.
'The bill squarely addresses the issue of the enormous market power of the telephone and cable companies as the providers of 98 percent of the broadband service in the country,' said Gigi Sohn, President of Public Knowledge. 'The bill restores the principle of non-discrimination that allowed the Internet to flourish since its inception, making certain that the same freedom and innovation will flourish in the future.'"
"Consumer Federation, Consumers Union, Free Press and Public Knowledge Endorse Judiciary Committee Bill; New Report Supports Ban on Network Discrimination
WASHINGTON - In a letter today to the leaders of the House Judiciary Committee, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Free Press and Public Knowledge urged adoption of the 'Internet Freedom and Non-Discrimination Act' (H.R. 5417) to protect the free and open Internet.
'The phone and cable companies fighting Network Neutrality have cloaked the issue in anti-regulatory rhetoric,' said Mark Cooper, Director of Research for the Consumer Federation of America. 'But the Internet has become the engine of innovation, economic growth and free speech precisely because nondiscrimination rules have applied to communications networks and have prevented network owners from abusing their market power to undercut the competition.'
The bipartisan legislation is sponsored by House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.); Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.); and Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Rick Boucher (D-Va.). The bill is scheduled to be marked up at a hearing on Thursday.
'The bill squarely addresses the issue of the enormous market power of the telephone and cable companies as the providers of 98 percent of the broadband service in the country,' said Gigi Sohn, President of Public Knowledge. 'The bill restores the principle of non-discrimination that allowed the Internet to flourish since its inception, making certain that the same freedom and innovation will flourish in the future.'"
Libby Told Grand Jury Cheney Spoke of Plame
What was it, exactly, that Cheney wanted Libby to 'get out."
The NIE, or only those parts of the NIE that backed the administrations stated beliefs?
Why was Cheney so upset about Wilson's "attack on his credibility?" If he was so upset that Wilson was falsely attacking his credibility, why didn't he just call a press conference, an get it all out himself?
It seems that Cheney picked out one portion of Wilson's OpEd, and went a little nutz on the subject. That would be that Wilson had said that he had gone to Niger because the VP had expressed an interest in nailing down the Niger/Uranium/Saddam fiction. Wilson, assumed, that the CIA would pass on his report to the VP. A normal assumption.
So Cheney whacks out because he did not personally send Joe Wilson to Niger. Now the whole thing, apparently, in Cheney's mind, becomes some strange conspiracy between Joe Wilson, his wife and all those other "leftsits in the CIA,"to make Cheney look like a fool. (Not that he hasn't done a fine job of that all by himself)
OooooK.
Why is there not a law that requires our elected officials to submit to a battery of psychological tests along with their annual physical, which we pay for.
I really do believe that Cheney has gone off the rails and someone really should do something.
Libby Told Grand Jury Cheney Spoke of Plame:
"Vice President Cheney was personally angered by a former U.S. ambassador's newspaper column attacking a key rationale for the war in Iraq and repeatedly directed I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, then his chief of staff, to 'get all the facts out' related to the critique, according to excerpts from Libby's 2004 grand jury testimony released late yesterday by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
Libby also told the grand jury that Cheney raised as an issue that the former ambassador's wife worked at the CIA and that she allegedly played a role in sending him to investigate the Iraqi government's interest in acquiring nuclear weapons materials. That issue formed the basis of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV's published critique."
Seeing the Forest: Election Coming II -- Indicting Dem Donors
Oh, yeah, these guys are playing for keeps; like their very lives depend on it. Maybe that is because they do.
Seeing the Forest: Election Coming II -- Indicting Dem Donors:
"Election Coming II -- Indicting Dem Donors
A little while ago I posted about an Iraq withdrawal announcement, timed for the coming elections. Now this - indictments of top Democratic donors, timed for the election.
The story seems designed for a Republican Party press release,
The firm and individuals there made $2.78 million in campaign donations to Democrats since 1999 compared to about $22,000 to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics.
... Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said Republicans would likely use the donations as ammunition in the November congressional elections and to blunt criticism about recent corruption scandals involving Republicans.
They will target 'every individual Democrat in a competitive race in 2006 to begin with,' Sabato said.
They also will mount 'a P.R. offensive to make certain that this helps to balance the Democrats' charges of a culture of corruption that affects only Republicans,' he said.
Gosh, why would the Bush administration indict a law firm?"
(Read On ^)
Bush orders FBI-Congress documents sealed - Yahoo! News
Der Monkey says that the investigation will go forward and justice will be served.
He also said that people who break the law must be held accountable. Well, everyone, except him ofcourse, because he has those handy-dandy little signing statements, which make him King George.
This the kind of Bush statement that just about causes my head to explode!
Bush orders FBI-Congress documents sealed - Yahoo! News:
"WASHINGTON - President Bush stepped into the Justice Department's constitutional confrontation with Congress on Thursday and ordered that documents seized in an FBI raid on a lawmaker's office be sealed for 45 days. "
Dennis Hastert's Letter to Gale Norton Opposing Indian Casino Expansion
Too late, I fear, our Congress-critters are getting a real good look at the beast they helped create, because that beast is now snarling at them.
Let this be a lesson to all of you.
Any power you give to law enforcement, will, at some point, be used on you or someone you care about.
News Analysis: Dennis Hastert's Letter to Gale Norton Opposing Indian Casino Expansion:
"Below you will find the alleged letter that Dennis Hastert sent to oppose Indian Casino expansion that would have potentially cut into the profits of one of Abramoff's clients. It is dated 6/10/2003 and signed by Hastert, Tom DeLay, Roy Blunt and Eric Cantor.
The subject of the letter -- and its relationship to Abramoff clients and donations to the GOP -- are reportedly the basis for a report that the FBI is probing Hastert. Although, the timing of the ABC News report about FBI interest in Hastert is probably more related to Hastert's public outrage about the FBI breaking into a Congressman's office than it is to the letter, which has allegedly been public for sometime.
In short, Hastert may or may not be knee deep in the Abramoff scandal, but the FBI wasn't very interested in fingering him publicly until Hastert all of a sudden became concerned about the Constitutional separation of powers.
Interesting, isn't it? "
Lay, Skilling convicted in Enron collapse - Yahoo! News
Nailed 'em! Not that that will do their victims much good.
They stoled billions and now we get the privilege of housing them for $70,000 a year.
We need to come up with a justice system that makes more sense.
Lay, Skilling convicted in Enron collapse - Yahoo! News:
"HOUSTON - Former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted Thursday of conspiracy and securities and wire fraud in one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history. "
Is Fitz going after Asscraft too?
Oh that would be too good!
I don't think my heart could stand the excitement!
Be gentle, Fitz.... hehehehehe
NATIONAL JOURNAL: Rove-Novak Call Was Concern To Leak Investigators (05/25/2006):
"Ashcroft oversaw the CIA-Plame leak probe for three months until he recused himself and allowed Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to be named to take over the investigation on December 30, 2003. Ashcroft received routine briefings about the status of the investigation from October to December of that year.
Sources said that Ashcroft received a special briefing on the highly sensitive issue of the September 29 conversation between Novak and Rove because of the concerns of federal investigators that a well-known journalist might have been involved in an effort to not only protect a source but also work in tandem with the president's chief political adviser to stymie the FBI. "
I don't think my heart could stand the excitement!
Be gentle, Fitz.... hehehehehe
NATIONAL JOURNAL: Rove-Novak Call Was Concern To Leak Investigators (05/25/2006):
"Ashcroft oversaw the CIA-Plame leak probe for three months until he recused himself and allowed Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to be named to take over the investigation on December 30, 2003. Ashcroft received routine briefings about the status of the investigation from October to December of that year.
Sources said that Ashcroft received a special briefing on the highly sensitive issue of the September 29 conversation between Novak and Rove because of the concerns of federal investigators that a well-known journalist might have been involved in an effort to not only protect a source but also work in tandem with the president's chief political adviser to stymie the FBI. "
Rove-Novak Call Was Concern To Leak Investigators (05/25/2006)
Whether or not Fitz can meet the level of proof needed to indict or convict, Novak and Rove conspired to obstruct justice.
They should both be on Devil's island, for extreme arrogance, if not for anything else.
They are both toast in the court of public opinion!
NATIONAL JOURNAL: Rove-Novak Call Was Concern To Leak Investigators (05/25/2006):
"On September 29, 2003, three days after it became known that the CIA had asked the Justice Department to investigate who leaked the name of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, columnist Robert Novak telephoned White House senior adviser Karl Rove to assure Rove that he would protect him from being harmed by the investigation, according to people with firsthand knowledge of the federal grand jury testimony of both men. "
First woman jailed for conscious
The story of another American hero
School of the Americas Watch:
"FORT BENNING, Georgia - May 24 - Army National Guard Specialist Katherine Jashinski received a bad conduct discharge today and was sentenced to 120 days confinement after pleading guilty to the charge of 'refusal to obey a legal order.' She was acquitted of the more serious charge of 'missing movement by design.' With 53 days already served (on Fort Benning), and 20 days off for good behavior, Ms. Jashinski has 47 days of confinement remaining.
On November 17, 2005, Jashinski made a public statement of conscientious objection on the eve of her scheduled deployment to Afghanistan. Eighteen months after filing, the Army denied her application for a discharge. She was then court-martialed for refusing to train with weapons.
Jashinski's superiors testified that they believed in the sincerity of her CO claim, and the Judge noted that he was convinced of the same.
Aidan Delgado and Camilo Meja, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, attended Ms. Jashinski's trial today to support her. They described the atmosphere of the courtroom as initially tense, but said that Jashinski's powerful heartfelt testimony changed the tone of the room. "
A New Iraqi Government? Don't Believe the Hype
Not to worry, we stopped believing the hype years ago.
A New Iraqi Government? Don't Believe the Hype:
"There's a lot of hype about Iraq's new 'government.'
In a speech to the National Restaurant Association in Chicago, George Bush called the new government a 'turning point in the struggle between freedom and terror.'
He called the government 'something new' - a constitutional democracy in the heart of the Middle East.
One thing it probably won't lead to is an end to the occupation.
In speeches both George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to give a timeline for withdrawal of their armies from Iraq, meaning the more than 150,000 foreign troops in Iraq will probably not be coming home any time soon.
Sure, the politicians are making their usual noises. At a press conference alongside Blair in Baghdad, Iraq's new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki spoke of an agreement to turn security in almost every Iraqi city over to his government by the end of the year. "
A New Iraqi Government? Don't Believe the Hype:
"There's a lot of hype about Iraq's new 'government.'
In a speech to the National Restaurant Association in Chicago, George Bush called the new government a 'turning point in the struggle between freedom and terror.'
He called the government 'something new' - a constitutional democracy in the heart of the Middle East.
One thing it probably won't lead to is an end to the occupation.
In speeches both George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to give a timeline for withdrawal of their armies from Iraq, meaning the more than 150,000 foreign troops in Iraq will probably not be coming home any time soon.
Sure, the politicians are making their usual noises. At a press conference alongside Blair in Baghdad, Iraq's new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki spoke of an agreement to turn security in almost every Iraqi city over to his government by the end of the year. "
Climate Change is the Major Problem Facing the World
No shit, Sherlock!
Climate Change is the Major Problem Facing the World:
"I was sceptical about climate change. I was cautious about crying wolf. I am always cautious about crying wolf. I think conservationists have to be careful in saying things are catastrophic when, in fact, they are less than catastrophic.
I have seen my job at the BBC as a presenter to produce programmes about natural history, just as the Natural History Museum would be interested in showing a range of birds of paradise - that's the sort of thing I've been doing. And in almost every big series I've made, the most recent one being Planet Earth, I've ended up by talking about the future, and possible dangers. But, with climate change, I was sceptical. That is true.
Also, I'm not a chemist or a climatologist or a meteorologist; it isn't for me to suddenly stand up and say I have decided the climate is changing. That's not my expertise. The television gives you an unfair and unjustified prominence but just because your face is on the telly doesn't mean you're an expert on meteorology. "
Police Target Anti-War Protester and Make off with Banners
What happens in England will happen here, sooner or later.
Police Target Anti-War Protester and Make off with Banners:
"The veteran peace activist Brian Haw was stripped of his anti-war banners and placards by up to 50 police officers in an early-morning raid in Parliament Square yesterday.
There were chaotic and farcical scenes as police wrestled with nine dishevelled protesters led by Mr Haw, and a 40-metre line of anti-war placards, including two donated by the graffiti artist Banksy, was dismantled and dumped in a metal container. Two demonstrators, Martin McGrath and Maria Gallastegui, who tried to climb the metal container to salvage the placards, were arrested. Mr Haw claimed that officers had seized his 'personal belongings' as well, including bedding, clothes and a treasured Bible."
Democratic Weakness and Fear Confirmed
Does seem that Dems in DC are scared silly. They know damn well they are being spied on.
AlterNet: Democratic Weakness Confirmed:
"Gen. Hayden's confirmation process confirms the fear and passivity that governs Senate Democrats."
Ahmadinejad: Not Hitler After All
See, the thing is, these guys have all lied to us so much, we no longer listen to anything they say, let alone believe it, especially the really 'out-there' BS.
For the most part, we just assume they are lying, until proven otherwise
AlterNet: Ahmadinejad: Not Hitler After All:
"A now discredited article by Iranian-American and neocon chum Amir Taheri that appeared last Friday in the Canadian National Post suggested that new legislation in Iran would require Jews and other religious minorities to wear distinctive color badges. At the article's end appeared this invitation to readers:
'Dangerous Parallel: Is Iran turning into the new Nazi Germany? Share your opinion online at nationalpost.com.'
The readers who wrote in immediately savaged the article, its author and the National Post's facile, transparent attempt to resurrect the Wermacht. No one took the bait, and the disbelief quickly spread across the internet."
Finally Feeling the Heat
What is it with humans?
Why do we always wait until the entire human race is about to die before we accept "inconvenient truths?"
Oh, right...MONEY. That's always the reason people act in ways that make absolutely no sense.
Finally Feeling the Heat - New York Times:
"TODAY 'An Inconvenient Truth,' Al Gore's movie about the greenhouse effect, opens in New York and California. Many who already believe global warming is a menace will flock to the film; many who scoff at the notion will opt for Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks. But has anything happened in recent years that should cause a reasonable person to switch sides in the global-warming debate?
Yes: the science has changed from ambiguous to near-unanimous. As an environmental commentator, I have a long record of opposing alarmism. But based on the data I'm now switching sides regarding global warming, from skeptic to convert. "
Why do we always wait until the entire human race is about to die before we accept "inconvenient truths?"
Oh, right...MONEY. That's always the reason people act in ways that make absolutely no sense.
Finally Feeling the Heat - New York Times:
"TODAY 'An Inconvenient Truth,' Al Gore's movie about the greenhouse effect, opens in New York and California. Many who already believe global warming is a menace will flock to the film; many who scoff at the notion will opt for Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks. But has anything happened in recent years that should cause a reasonable person to switch sides in the global-warming debate?
Yes: the science has changed from ambiguous to near-unanimous. As an environmental commentator, I have a long record of opposing alarmism. But based on the data I'm now switching sides regarding global warming, from skeptic to convert. "
Rice's Appearance Draws Protests in Boston - New York Times
Maybe Condi should tell her boss what she told the graduating students at Boston College.
Rice's Appearance Draws Protests in Boston - New York Times:
"'There is nothing wrong with holding an opinion and holding it passionately,' Ms. Rice said. 'But at those times you're absolutely sure that you are right, go find somebody who disagrees. Don't allow yourself the easy course of the constant 'Amen' to everything you say.' "
Bloomberg.com: U.S.
So, does this mean that Trent has forgiven Junior for hanging him out to dry over the Strom Thurmond remarks and allowing his state to drown?
Just wondering.
By the way, Trent, how's the re-building going?
Bloomberg.com: U.S.:
"May 24 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Trent Lott keeps a dog-eared piece of paper in his pocket showing which senators supported his proposal to spend $700 million to move a railroad line in his home state of Mississippi, and which opposed him.
Lott keeps the paper so he can ``pull it out and remind people who voted with me and who didn't,'' he said.
A former Senate majority leader, Lott, 64, has never stopped keeping score as he eyes a possible return to the Republican leadership after the November elections.
Lott said he might run for whip, the No. 2 job, if Mitch McConnell of Kentucky moves up to replace retiring Majority Leader Bill Frist and the No. 3 Republican, Rick Santorum, loses his tight re-election race. Lott doesn't rule out a bid for the top spot if Republicans lose so many seats in November that the caucus demands leadership changes and resists promoting McConnell. "
Exxon-Backed Pundit Compares Gore To Nazi Propagandist
Josh has the video, from Faux News.
Think Progress � Exxon-Backed Pundit Compares Gore To Nazi Propagandist:
"Sterling Burnett is a senior fellow (read oil company whore and shill) at the National Center for Policy Analysis, an organization that has received over $390,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998. This afternoon on Fox, Burnett compared watching Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, to watching a movie by Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels to learn about Nazi Germany."
Not a nice thing to say, Fat boy!
Hastert, ABC spar over investigation report - May 25, 2006
Hastert seems to have several bees in his bonnet these days. Things have a way of looking quite different when the Bushites come after you, eh, Denny?
CNN.com - Hastert, ABC spar over investigation report - May 25, 2006:
"Citing the department's denial, Hastert's spokesman, Ron Bonjean, released a statement saying the ABC report was 'absolutely untrue.'
'We are demanding a full retraction of the ABC News story,' Bonjean said.
However, ABC News posted a statement on its Web site late Wednesday standing by the story.
The network said law enforcement sources told ABC that the Justice Department denial meant only that the speaker was not a formal 'target' or 'subject' of the probe, not that he wasn't under investigation.
Hastert deflected questions about the report while on his way to the House floor by telling reporters to 'ask the Justice Department.'
Asked where the report came from, the speaker shook his head and said, 'Somebody leaked it.'"
Congress gets a taste .....
.... of the Police State they helped the Bushites create, beginning after 9/11, if not before.
Doesn't feel very good, eh, guys and gals, to not be secure in your own offices, homes and personal effects?
Welcome to our world.
Oh, and by the way, this crap started with the ridiculous war on drugs, which has to stop! The government is more addicted to drug money , than anyone is to drugs.
Some people are just too dumb to live and it seems to me that many of those people are in Washhington, D.C.
House Leaders Demand Return of Seized Files - New York Times:
"The demand, by Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois, and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, underscored the degree of the anger generated among members of both parties on Capitol Hill by the search on Saturday night at the office of Representative William J. Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana, who has been accused of accepting bribes.
'The Justice Department was wrong to seize records from Congressman Jefferson's office in violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers, the speech or debate clause of the Constitution, and the practice of the last 219 years,' Mr. Hastert and Ms. Pelosi said in a rare joint statement.
Mr. Jefferson made a similar demand in federal court. He called for federal agents to be prohibited from reviewing seized files and computer records."
Doesn't feel very good, eh, guys and gals, to not be secure in your own offices, homes and personal effects?
Welcome to our world.
Oh, and by the way, this crap started with the ridiculous war on drugs, which has to stop! The government is more addicted to drug money , than anyone is to drugs.
Some people are just too dumb to live and it seems to me that many of those people are in Washhington, D.C.
House Leaders Demand Return of Seized Files - New York Times:
"The demand, by Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois, and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, underscored the degree of the anger generated among members of both parties on Capitol Hill by the search on Saturday night at the office of Representative William J. Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana, who has been accused of accepting bribes.
'The Justice Department was wrong to seize records from Congressman Jefferson's office in violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers, the speech or debate clause of the Constitution, and the practice of the last 219 years,' Mr. Hastert and Ms. Pelosi said in a rare joint statement.
Mr. Jefferson made a similar demand in federal court. He called for federal agents to be prohibited from reviewing seized files and computer records."
The war on free press
There is a very good chance that this is gonna backfire, big time.
The war on free press - The Boston Globe:
"JOURNALISTS. Get the rack ready! Our attorney general is coming for us, snarling like a guard dog at Abu Ghraib.
On Sunday, Alberto Gonzales told ABC's ``This Week' that he would consider prosecuting reporters who get their hands on classified information and break news about President Bush's terrorist surveillance program. ``There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, (which mean, read the law the way he wannts to) would seem to indicate that that is a possibility, ' Gonzales said, adding at one point, ``We have an obligation to enforce those laws.' ( Bwahahaha)
Asked more specifically if The New York Times should be prosecuted for its initial story on government surveillance without warrants, Gonzales said, ``We are engaged now in an investigation about what would be the appropriate course of action.'" (How about, you stop breaking the law forty ways from Sunday, and then the press won't have to report that you are doing it. See how that works?)
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Anger mounts after FBI raid of rep's office
Hey, Politicos, welcome to our world.
Anger mounts after FBI raid of rep�s office - Politics - MSNBC.com:
"WASHINGTON - In rare, election-year harmony, House Republican and Democratic leaders jointly demanded on Wednesday that the FBI return documents taken in a Capitol Hill raid that has quickly grown into a constitutional turf fight beyond party politics.
'The Justice Department must immediately return the papers it unconstitutionally seized,' House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement.
After that, they said, Democratic Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana must cooperate with the Justice Department�s bribery investigation against him."
Cheney may be called to testify in leak case
Which means that Vice is not a 'target,' yet.
Cheney may be called to testify in leak case - Politics - MSNBC.com:
"WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney could be called to testify in the perjury case against his former chief of staff, a special prosecutor said in a court filing Wednesday.
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald suggested Cheney would be a logical government witness because he could authenticate notes he jotted on a July 6, 2003, New York Times opinion piece by a former U.S. ambassador critical of the Iraq war.
Fitzgerald said Cheney's 'state of mind' is 'directly relevant' to whether I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, the vice president's former top aide, lied to FBI agents and a federal grand jury about how he learned about CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity and what he subsequently told reporters. "
A Sudden Taste for the Law
This would be a laugh riot, if it wasn't so damn dangerous!
Little Alberto is suddenly very concerned that the law be upheld, as Congress intended?
Bwahahahahaha.!
A Sudden Taste for the Law - New York Times:
"It's hard to say which was more bizarre about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's threat to prosecute The Times for revealing President Bush's domestic spying program: his claim that a century-old espionage law could be used to muzzle the press or his assertion that the administration cares about enforcing laws the way Congress intended.
Mr. Gonzales said on Sunday that a careful reading of some statutes 'would seem to indicate' that it was possible to prosecute journalists for publishing classified material. He called it 'a policy judgment by Congress in passing that kind of legislation,' which the executive is obliged to obey.
Mr. Gonzales seemed to be talking about a law that dates to World War I and bans, in some circumstances, the unauthorized possession and publication of information related to national defense. It has long been understood that this overly broad and little used law applies to government officials who swear to protect such secrets, and not to journalists."
Hastert, among others, in FBI Sights
The Blotter:
"Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal law enforcement sources tonight said ABC News accurately reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is 'in the mix' in the FBI investigation of corruption in Congress.
Speaker Hastert said tonight the story was 'absolutely untrue' and has demanded ABC News retract its story.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has provided information to the FBI about Hastert and a number of other members of Congress that have broadened the scope of the investigation. Sources would not divulge details of the Abramoff's information.
'You guys wrote the story very carefully but they are not reading it very carefully,' a senior official said.
One focus involves a letter Hastert wrote in 2003 urging the Secretary of the Interior to block an Indian casino that would have competed with tribes represented by Abramoff"
"Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal law enforcement sources tonight said ABC News accurately reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is 'in the mix' in the FBI investigation of corruption in Congress.
Speaker Hastert said tonight the story was 'absolutely untrue' and has demanded ABC News retract its story.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has provided information to the FBI about Hastert and a number of other members of Congress that have broadened the scope of the investigation. Sources would not divulge details of the Abramoff's information.
'You guys wrote the story very carefully but they are not reading it very carefully,' a senior official said.
One focus involves a letter Hastert wrote in 2003 urging the Secretary of the Interior to block an Indian casino that would have competed with tribes represented by Abramoff"
West's 'terror deceptions' rapped
BBC NEWS Europe West's 'terror deceptions' rapped:
"Governments have sacrificed principles and ignored human rights in the name of the 'war on terror', says a leading rights group in its annual report.
But Amnesty International celebrates what it calls a 'wake-up call' issued to governments over the last year.
It says their 'doublespeak and deception have been exposed by the media, challenged by activists and rejected by the courts'.
The report highlights crises which it says have been ignored in this climate.
The annual report, totalling some 300 pages, contains detailed country-by-country assessments of human rights violations and advances.
It singles out some regional and national issues as particular areas of concern, including: " (Read On ^)
"Governments have sacrificed principles and ignored human rights in the name of the 'war on terror', says a leading rights group in its annual report.
But Amnesty International celebrates what it calls a 'wake-up call' issued to governments over the last year.
It says their 'doublespeak and deception have been exposed by the media, challenged by activists and rejected by the courts'.
The report highlights crises which it says have been ignored in this climate.
The annual report, totalling some 300 pages, contains detailed country-by-country assessments of human rights violations and advances.
It singles out some regional and national issues as particular areas of concern, including: " (Read On ^)
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
War on Terror; Undermining Human Rights�
War on Terror �Undermining Human Rights�: "
Governments and international institutions have turned a blind eye to massive human rights violations and �sacrificed principles in the name of the war on terror, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
In its annual report, the London-based human rights watchdog said the security agenda of the powerful and privileged had diverted the world's attention from serious human rights crises elsewhere.
Criticising western governments, Irene Khan, Amnesty's secretary general, said: 'When the UK remains muted on arbitrary detention and ill-treatment in Guantnamo, when the US ignores prohibition on torture, when European governments are mute about their record on renditions, racism or refugees, they undermine their own moral authority to champion human rights elsewhere in the world.'
While the report covers the past twelve months, the British government has recently called on the US to close the Guantnamo Bay detention centre, which prime minister Tony Blair branded an 'anomaly'.
The United Nations also came in for censure. According to the report the UN had failed to monitor the human rights performance of China and Russia, allowing their political and economic interests to prevail over human rights concerns domestically or internationally.'
Governments and international institutions have turned a blind eye to massive human rights violations and �sacrificed principles in the name of the war on terror, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
In its annual report, the London-based human rights watchdog said the security agenda of the powerful and privileged had diverted the world's attention from serious human rights crises elsewhere.
Criticising western governments, Irene Khan, Amnesty's secretary general, said: 'When the UK remains muted on arbitrary detention and ill-treatment in Guantnamo, when the US ignores prohibition on torture, when European governments are mute about their record on renditions, racism or refugees, they undermine their own moral authority to champion human rights elsewhere in the world.'
While the report covers the past twelve months, the British government has recently called on the US to close the Guantnamo Bay detention centre, which prime minister Tony Blair branded an 'anomaly'.
The United Nations also came in for censure. According to the report the UN had failed to monitor the human rights performance of China and Russia, allowing their political and economic interests to prevail over human rights concerns domestically or internationally.'
Documents Describe Technology Allegedly Used in Surveillance by Telecom Giant
Documents Describe Technology Allegedly Used in Surveillance by Telecom Giant:
"Documents purportedly at the heart of a lawsuit accusing AT&T of collaborating with the National Security Agency to snoop on Americans appeared Monday on the Web, possibly shedding new light on surveillance techniques but also intensifying debate over the publication of leaked documents related to national security. "
"Documents purportedly at the heart of a lawsuit accusing AT&T of collaborating with the National Security Agency to snoop on Americans appeared Monday on the Web, possibly shedding new light on surveillance techniques but also intensifying debate over the publication of leaked documents related to national security. "
NEW Zogby Poll: Over 70 Million American Adults Support New 9/11 investigation
It's All About To Come Tumbling Down!!
Be advised: In direct violation of the Constitution of the United States, and all human decency, this document, or any other, may be monitored.
NEW Zogby Poll: Over 70 Million American Adults Support New 9/11 investigation
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/5/prweb388743.htm
Utica, NY (PRWEB) May 22, 2006 -- 911Truth.org urges 2006 reform candidates to recognize a powerful new constituency.
Although the Bush administration continues to exploit September 11 to justify domestic spying, unprecedented spending and a permanent state of war, a new Zogby poll reveals that less than half of the American public trusts the official 9/11 story or believes the attacks were adequately investigated.
The poll is the first scientific survey of Americans' belief in a 9/11 cover up or the need to investigate possible US government complicity, and was commissioned to inform deliberations at the June 2~4 "9/11: Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming Our Future" conference in Chicago. Poll results indicate 42% believe there has indeed been a cover up (with 10% unsure) and 45% think "Congress or an International Tribunal should re-investigate the attacks, including whether any US government officials consciously allowed or helped facilitate their success" (with 8% unsure).
According to Janice Matthews, executive director of 911truth.org, "To those of us who have followed the mounting evidence for US government involvement in 9/11, these results are both heartening and frankly quite amazing, given the mainstream media's ongoing refusal to cover the most critical questions of that day. Our August 2004 Zogby poll of New Yorkers showed nearly half believe certain U.S. officials 'consciously' allowed the attacks to happen and 66% want a fresh investigation, but these were people closest to the tragedy and most familiar with facts refuting the official account. This revelation that so many millions nationwide now also recognize a 9/11 cover up and the need for a new inquiry should be a wake up call for all 2006 political candidates hoping to turn this country around. We think it also indicates Americans are awakening to the larger pattern of deceit that led us into Constitutional twilight and endless war, and that our independent media may have fina!
lly come of age."
Poll co-author W. David Kubiak concurs, saying "Despite years of relentless media promotion, whitewash and 9/11 Commission propaganda, the official 9/11 story still can't even muster 50% popular support. Since this myth has been the administration's primary source of political and war-making power, this level of distrust has revolutionary implications for everyone working for peace, justice and civil liberties. If we ever hope to reclaim this country, end aggression and restore international respect, we all must finally scrutinize that day when things started to go so terribly wrong. The media and movement leaders ignore this call at their peril, because tens of millions are clearly telling us here they are ready for 9/11 truth."
SCOPE: The poll covered five related areas: 1) Iraq - do Americans think the Bush administration exploited 9/11 to attack Iraq? (44% do, 44% don't); 2) Cover up - did the government and its 9/11 Commission conceal or refuse to investigate evidence that contradicts their official story? (only 48% said no); 3) The collapse of WTC 7, which was not even mentioned by the 9/11 Commission and has seldom been reported in the media -were respondents aware of this collapse and, if so, did they think it should be investigated (only 52% knew about it, but over 70% of this group believe it should have been investigated); 4) new investigation of official complicity - do respondents think we need one? (only 48% said no); and 5) mass media - how do people rate its performance, including its coverage of alternative 9/11 theories, unanswered questions and inquiry issues? (43% rate it positively, 55% negatively).
(Poll sponsors see knowledge of the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 as a bellwether issue, because if people do not know this elementary fact, they have probably not been exposed to any independent 9/11 research at all. Since only 52% of respondents had ever heard of this collapse and 45% support a reinvestigation, it may be reasonably inferred that a public fully informed of all the unreported 9/11 facts might support a new investigation by a margin of 80% or more.)
SPONSOR: 911truth.org is a coalition of researchers, journalists and victim family members working to expose and answer the hundreds of still unresolved questions concerning 9/11, especially the nearly 400 questions that the Family Steering Committee filed with the 9/11 Commission. Initially welcomed by the commissioners as their "road map", these queries cut to the heart of 9/11 crimes and accountability, specifically raising the central issues of motive, means and cui bono (who profited?). The Commission ultimately ignored 80% of these issues, however, opting only to explore system failures, miscommunications and incompetence. The victim families' most incisive questions remain unaddressed to this day.
For more information on the Chicago "9/11: Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming our Future" conference and other developments, see http://www.911revealingthetruth.org and http://www.911truth.org or contact 911truth.org media spokesman, Michael Berger at 314-308-4893 or september11press at yahoo.com.
* Numerical computations conservatively based on U.S. Census Bureau data projecting 184 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 in 2005.
Survey Methodology: Zogby America, 5/12/06 through 5/16/06
This is a telephone survey of adults nationwide conducted by Zogby International. The target sample is 1,200 interviews with approximately 81 questions asked. Samples are randomly drawn from telephone Cd's of national listed sample. Zogby International surveys employ sampling strategies in which selection probabilities are proportional to population size within area codes and exchanges. As many as six calls are made to reach a sampled phone number. Cooperation rates are calculated using one of AAPOR's approved methodologies1 and are comparable to other professional public-opinion surveys conducted using similar sampling strategies.2 Weighting by region, party, age, race, religion, and gender is used to adjust for non-response. The margin of error is � 2.9 percentage points. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.
Zogby International's sampling and weighting procedures also have been validated through its political polling: more than 95% of the firm's polls have come within 1% of actual election-day outcomes.
Dodd to run in 2008 (Ah Christ!)
Some advice: DON'T!
The last thing we need is a DC insider.
Doesn't anyone get it! We are really pissed off with all of you!
Connecticut News from The Hartford Courant ::: State, National, & World News On courant.com:
"WASHINGTON -- Sen. Christopher J. Dodd said today he has 'decided to do all the things that are necessary to prepare to seek the presidency in 2008.'
The Connecticut Democrat will hire staff, raise money and travel around the country in the next few months as he tries to enlist support.
Like other presidential contenders, Dodd said during a lengthy interview in his Capitol Hill office that he will not formally decide until early next year whether to make his bid official. At the moment, he joins about 10 other major Democratic Party figures who are considering a run.
Dodd came close to running in 2004 but never entered the race. Circumstances are different today -- he is not up for re-election to his Senate seat, and colleague Joe Lieberman is not running for president."
Bush: Iraq 'progress is incremental'
This guy is as full of crap as a Thanksgiving Turkey.
He and his portfolio buddies are succeeding, but no one else is.
Bush: Iraq 'progress is incremental':
"President Bush acknowledged to a Chicago audience Monday that 'there's an unease in America' over the war in Iraq, but he insisted that even though 'our progress is incremental,' the Middle Eastern nation is moving toward security and freedom.
'I can understand why people are uneasy,' Bush said. 'Americans care about human life. We have a great compassion for people all around the world.
'Let me just share my thoughts about this with you. If I didn't think we'd succeed, I wouldn't stay. And if I didn't think it was important that we succeed, I wouldn't stay.'"
Rove's 'Nightmare' Election Strategy
Well, we say, "Bring it On, you ugly toad of a man."
Americans are finding out that Bush's ownership society is a nightmarish trap for anyone making less than $100,000 a year. Banks and lending institutions have become nothing more an legalized loan sharks
American workers are still being laid off. We don't have a healthcare system worth a tinkers damn. 1 in every 136 Americans is behind bars.
Foreclosuers on homes are up and bankruptcy filings are at an all time high in spite of the draconian anti-bankruptcy bill passed by Congress
Bush does nothing that does not involve huge giveaways to the wealthy and the sociopathic, corporate whores of babylon, or sending in the military and corporate mercenaries.
This administration has done nothing to secure this country, other than hassle travelers, spy on Americans, and try to turn our port security over to Dubai. They even suceeded in turning over a manufacturer of military equipment for our Army to Dubai.
Meanwhile, Veterans benefits are being cut left and right and Iraq war vets are coming home to live on the streets, with their nightmares and PTSD. But none of the Bushites would understand anything about that, since they all hid out during Vietnam.
This entire administration has been one huge apocalyptic hell, and the Republican Congress has not lifted a finger to do any oversight at all.
I fail to see how the Democrats could possibly do worse.
And if there is a God, Rove will be running Republican campaigns from Devil's Island!
Fineman: Rove's 'Nightmare' Election Strategy - Newsweek Politics - MSNBC.com:
"With ratings down and the midterms coming up, the GOP adopts a new tack: Call it the 'apocalypse strategy.'"
Washington's New Watchword
Well, what else can you do, when you have ruined the military, made our country into a rogue nation, lost all credibility with the vast majority of the world's population, including the American people and just continue to make enemies, both at home and abroad.
One helluva stupid way to run a war....any war, even a silly war on an intense emotion.
Washington�s New Watchword - Newsweek Politics - MSNBC.com:
"May 22, 2006 - An old word is gaining new currency in Washington: containment. You may be hearing a lot more of it as the Bush administration hunkers down for its final two years. Containment of Iraq's low-level civil war, which shows every sign of persisting for years despite the new government inaugurated this week. Containment of Iran's nuclear power, which may lead to a missile defense system in Europe. Containment of the Islamism revived by Hamas and Hizbullah, by the Sunni suicide bombers in Iraq, as well as by the 'Shiite Crescent' as Jordan's King Abdullah once called it, running from Iran through Southern Iraq and into the Gulf."
One helluva stupid way to run a war....any war, even a silly war on an intense emotion.
Washington�s New Watchword - Newsweek Politics - MSNBC.com:
"May 22, 2006 - An old word is gaining new currency in Washington: containment. You may be hearing a lot more of it as the Bush administration hunkers down for its final two years. Containment of Iraq's low-level civil war, which shows every sign of persisting for years despite the new government inaugurated this week. Containment of Iran's nuclear power, which may lead to a missile defense system in Europe. Containment of the Islamism revived by Hamas and Hizbullah, by the Sunni suicide bombers in Iraq, as well as by the 'Shiite Crescent' as Jordan's King Abdullah once called it, running from Iran through Southern Iraq and into the Gulf."
Al Gore: The Come-Back Kid
We are solidly for Gore in 2008!
Al Gore: The Come-Back Kid -- New York Magazine:
"Looking back, I ask, are you happy with the campaign you ran?
'I think it was a tough environment,' he replies. 'It's now clear that a fairly significant recession started in the spring of the election year, and the stock market fell dramatically all through the campaign, and it came at the end of an eight-year cycle that triggered the normal pendulum effect of American politics,which cuts in two different ways. The hunger of the party that's been satiated for eight years has a half-life. And the hunger and determination of the party that's been out for eight years is built up to a fevered pitch. And then there's a third factor.
In both 1992 and 1996, Bill Clinton and I were very fortunate to have a significant third-party candidate that drew virtually all of his votes from the Republican nominee. By contrast, in 2000, there was a third-party candidate drawing from me. And the task of holding down that number to the noise level, while simultaneously reaching out to the centrist voters who were vulnerable to that pendulum effect, made it a campaign of an impressive degree of difficulty.
'In spite of that,' Gore goes on, 'we won the popular vote and came within one Supreme Court justice's vote of winning the election. So if that final decision had gone the other way, the question might well be, how did you guys pull it off?'
Does he, like many Democrats, think the election was stolen?
Gore pauses a long time and stares into the middle distance. 'There may come a time when I speak on that,' Gore says, 'but it's not now; I need more time to frame it carefully, if I do" Gore sighs, 'In our system of government, there is no intermediate step between a definitive Supreme Court decision and violent revolution."
(One more stolen election, and all the Supreme's decsions in the world won't stop that revolution, because we, as Americans, are either a Democratic Republic, living under the rule of law, not a monarchy or a fascist dictatorship, or we are nothing and there is no rule of law.)
What stung the Rethugs?
Maybe they sense the police state closing in on them....
Bloomberg.com: Top Worldwide:
"May 23 (Bloomberg) -- House and Senate leaders challenged the constitutionality of an FBI raid on a lawmaker's office, saying it broke a 219-year precedent and raised concerns about the separation of power between the administration and Congress.
``The actions of the Justice Department in seeking and executing this warrant raise important constitutional issues,'' House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said in a statement last night. ``I expect to seek a means to restore the delicate balance of power among the branches of government that the founders intended.''
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Majority Leader Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, also expressed concern about the constitutional implications of the Saturday night raid of Louisiana Democratic Representative William Jefferson's office in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. "
Corrupt lawmakers should step down, no matter their Party
The corruption in DC has got to go.
If Congress cannot clean up their act, the peple will be compelled to do so, and it won't be pretty!
Lawmaker, Democrats Feel the Chill - Los Angeles Times:
"The fallout from the latest alleged wrongdoing could be politically costly; one more thing to cement voters' low opinion of Congress in an election year.
Democrats have been using the ethics storm swirling around the Republican Party as election-year fodder: Cunningham is now serving eight years for bribery and tax evasion. And the once-powerful and well-connected GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff has pleaded guilty to defrauding clients and conspiring to bribe lawmakers in one of the most sweeping political scandals of modern times.
But the Democrats have fallen upon troubles of their own. Rep. Alan B. Mollohan of West Virginia resigned from the House Ethics Committee when the FBI began looking into his personal finances; and Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney of Georgia embarrassed her party by poking a Capitol Police officer at a security checkpoint.
Jefferson is the latest to join the pack of beleaguered lawmakers. According to an 83-page affidavit released Sunday, he offered to help a northern Virginia businesswoman win contracts to install telephone and Internet contracts in Nigeria and Ghana in exchange for a 30% kickback."
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