The Gap Between Reality-Based America and Bush's Fantasy Island Grows Greater!� But the Democratic Leaders on Capitol Hill are Captives on the Island.

And he shall deceive many! (A reference to the son of the beast)

Jeebus, I am still waiting for my wages in the Ronnie Raygun movie, 'Bonzo Goes To Washington,' as a hapless non-speaking extra.

Now, I find that I am filling out the crowd for yet another GOP Production. I guess the Republicans and a few Dems are right. Our society has become more obscene. This one has a working title of Chimpy Craps On The World.

Would someone please clean up Hollywood?

Wait a minute! Cancel that. Make that Washington and K-Street.

The Gap Between Reality-Based America and Bush's Fantasy Island Grows Greater!� But the Democratic Leaders on Capitol Hill are Captives on the Island.:

"Yes, the gap between what is really happening in the United States and the world as compared to the Hollywood style narrative peddled by the Rovian propaganda machine grows greater.

As many critics have noted, what the Republican Party does best is sell a story about America by playing on images and themes with deep emotional resonance to a large segment of the nation. This story is no truer in terms of facts and what is happening than an episode of 'The Brady Bunch' is to real life in American families.

This ability to sell a fictional political 'narrative' to a large chunk of Americans was exemplified by the ascent and election of Ronald Reagan, who acted his way into and through the White House. He was literally the epitome of GOP production values: an actor who performed his role of president with the support of a Hollywood-style production team who wrote his 'patriotic,' macho scripts -- and a literal television production team that made his presidency a series of on-location 'scenes' for the movie that was his presidency. "

Jobs Data Indicates Economy Is Slowing - New York Times

We would bet that interests rate increases will slow, though continue to rise. The dollar will fall against foreign currencies and the economy will crash in a big way, if fuel prices spike this hurricane season, as big storms churn in the Gulf and tenions in the middle east grow worse, and stay spiked.

Fuel prices could increase to 5.00 a gallon, if everything comes together at one time.

Oh, hell, forget predictions! Junior and the Dick are in charge. It's Armageddon time.

Jobs Data Indicates Economy Is Slowing - New York Times:

"Employers added only 121,000 jobs in June, the government reported yesterday, indicating that the economy was slowing under the combined weight of high energy prices and rising interest rates.

Employment Situation Report (pdf) But the government also reported that hourly wages rose at their fastest pace in five years, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.6 percent.

This suggests that the labor market remains tight and may yet spur higher inflation.

The disparate data underscored the uncertain economic situation facing the Federal Reserve as it ponders whether to continue raising interest rates over the summer to cool the economy further or whether it is time to pause. Over the last two years, the Fed has steadily increased the benchmark federal funds rate from 1 percent to 5.25 percent.

'Today's numbers only tighten the vise the Fed finds itself in,' said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist of LaSalle Bank in Chicago. 'The challenge is not to be overly restrictive as growth slows and still attentive to inflation risk.'"

That's What Friends in High Places Are For - New York Times

Wait a minute!

The guy was in for Cocaine?

Damn, this is odd.

That's What Friends in High Places Are For - New York Times:

"LOS ANGELES, July 7 : Although collaborations happen all the time in pop music, they do not generally involve R & B hitmakers and Senator Orrin G. Hatch.

But the release of a music producer from a Dubai jail this week, quick on the heels of his conviction for drug possession, turns out to be a story of high-level string-pulling on the part of Mr. Hatch, the conservative Utah Republican and songwriter, along with Lionel Richie, the singer; Quincy Jones, the music entrepreneur; and an array of well-connected lawyers, businessmen and others, spanning cities and continents"

Tenet and Woodward, Slam Dunked

We always wondered why, after what Woodward and Bernstein did to Nixon, with their youthfully intense investigation of Watergate and all of the sleaze that was revealed as a result, this White House would give Woodward almost unfettered access to White House staff.

This was especially curious after we learned more regarding how Karl Rove felt about what had happened to his childhood hero, Nixon, and how Cheney felt about the loss of executive powers.

Woodward got Roved big time! He was set up to begin with; given access no one else had, allowed to hang about the White House; all good for his outsized ego.

Bob, you were chosen!

What an idiot! Maybe that is why we haven't heard much from him lately. He seems to have disappeared from the scene, after it was learned that he was also entertwined by the White House in the Plame investigation.

Consortiumnews.com: (Full article)

A contrary version of that Oval Office meeting appears in Ron Suskind's The One Percent Doctrine, which drew heavily from U.S. intelligence officials much as Woodward's book relied on senior White House officials.

According to Suskind, the two CIA officials , Tenet and McLaughlin, have very different recollections of the Dec. 21, 2002, meeting. They remember it more as 'a marketing meeting' about how to present the WMD case, not a review of the quality of the underlying intelligence.

Both Tenet and McLaughlin say they don't even recall Tenet exclaiming the words 'slam dunk,' although Tenet won't dispute the version from Bush and his top aides, Suskind wrote.

'McLaughlin said he never remembered Tenet saying 'slam dunk,' Suskind wrote. 'He doesn't recall Tenet ever, in any context, jumping up and waving his arms.' The President's question, McLaughlin recalled, was 'whether we could craft a better pitch than this was a PR meeting ; it certainly wasn't about the nature of the evidence.'

Papers show more White House appointments with Abramoff

Thank You, Judicial Watch.

Now, whatever happened to the Anthrax lawsuit?

The Raw Story Papers show more White House appointments with Abramoff:

"Judicial Watch, a conservative good-government watchdog group, has received documents showing that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff had seven previously undisclosed appointments for meetings at the White House.

An earlier set of documents released to the group indicated just two visits, on March 6, 2001, and Jan. 20, 2004. But a Justice Department lawyer in a letter to the group Friday said the administration had 'unexpectedly discovered' more records.

The new document release shows Abramoff had at least seven other appointments, but it did not indicate whether the meetings had actually taken place. The appointments were for March 1, 2001; March 6, 2001; April 20, 2001; May 9, 2001; May 17, 2001; December 7, 2001; and December 10, 2001. "

The Far-Right Burn Anne Frank's Diary

Who will rid the planet of these slack-jawed, fuctards?


"BERLIN (Reuters) - The ceremonial burning of the diary of Holocaust victim Anne Frank by far-right extremists in eastern Germany was condemned by the German government on Friday amid calls to intensify efforts to stamp out neo-Nazi activity.

'This act was beneath contempt and could scarcely have been more primitive,' the German Interior Ministry said in a statement to Reuters.

The ministry was reacting to an incident in which three men in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt used a copy of the diary of the Jewish teenager to re-enact the Nazis' infamous incineration of 'un-German' literature in 1933.
State prosecutors are investigating the men, who also burned an American flag in front of a crowd estimated to have numbered more than a hundred, on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.

According to news reports, one of the men cast the diary into the flames and said: 'I commit Anne Frank to the fire,' borrowing words used by the Nazis in 1933."

Bush says report CIA bin Laden unit closed is 'incorrect'

Memo to Hayden: Re- open that damn unit, Chimpy just lied out his arse again. Thanks, Dick

The Raw Story Bush says report CIA bin Laden unit closed is 'incorrect':

"Partial transcript from briefing by President George W. Bush in Chicago, IL, July 7, 2006:

QUESTION: You said some time ago that you wanted Osama bin Laden dead or alive. You later regretted the formulation, but maybe no the thought.

BUSH: I regretted the formulation because my wife got on me for talking that way.

QUESTION: We suspected as much, sir. But the question I have -- the question I have is, it appears that the CIA has disbanded the unit that was hunting him down. Is it no longer important to track him down?

BUSH: I -- you know, it's just an incorrect story. I mean, we got a -- we're -- we got a lot of assets looking for Osama bin Laden. So whatever you want to read in that story, it's just not true, period.

QUESTION: So you're still looking?

BUSH: Absolutely. No ands, ifs or buts. And in my judgment, it's just a matter of time, unless we stop looking. And we're not going to stop looking so long as I'm the president, not only for Osama bin Laden, but anybody else who plots and plans attacks against the United States of America. We're going to stay on the offense so long as I'm your president. And my judgment is, if we let up the pressure on him, the world's more dangerous."

Man indicted in phone jamming case will argue Administration approved election scheme

However, it doesn't look as if he has direct proof.

The Raw Story Man indicted in phone jamming case will argue Administration approved election scheme:

"The fourth man indicted in a New Hampshire phone-jamming scheme -- in which Republican operatives jammed the phone lines of Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts in a 2002 Senate race -- will argue at trial that the Bush Administration and the national Republican Party gave their approval to the plan, according to a motion filed by his attorney Thursday."

Whacko gun guys are at it again

Just in case the U.N. doesn't alreeady think half the people in thisa counrty are insane, the NRA plans on proving it.

Freedom States Alliance:

This is what we are up against and why we need your help:

Thousands of US citizens, prodded by a misleading National Rifle Association (NRA)-related campaign, have inundated the offices of UN officials with letters expressing concern that the world organization will take away their right to bear arms during the UN Small Arms Review Conference.

That's from a UPI story, as the NRA leadership riles up its membership with the absurd claim that the U.N. is going to confiscate firearms from American gun owners. The well-paid NRA Executive Vice-President, Wayne LaPierre, even penned an inflammatory book entitled, 'The Global War on Your Guns: Inside the UN Plan to Destroy the Bill of Rights.'

Warming was top factor in 2005 bumper crop of deadly storms

The Earth will be well rid of us.

National Geographic- warming-was-top-factor-in-2005 - AOL Research & Learn:

"(June 28) - Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, climate scientists began a heated debate: Was last year's superstrong hurricane season a result of global warming?

Several experts say no, pointing to a natural long-term fluctuation in sea-surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean called the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO).


Few scientists doubt that human-induced global warming is occurring. But some maintain that a natural cycle played a larger role in creating last year's bumper crop of storms."

The thug and intimidation tactics of the Far Right go mainstream

Why isn't this all over the Cabal talkathons?

full article by Greenwald:
Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald: The thug and intimidation tactics of the Far Right go mainstream:

"This weekend, prominent neoconservative David Horowitz proclaimed that the United States is fighting a war and 'the aggressors in this war are Democrats, liberals and leftists.' In particular, he cited the now infamous NYT Travel section article on Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld's vacation homes as evidence that the employees of the NYT are among the enemies in this war, and he then linked to and recommended as a 'proposal for action' this post from his associate, Front Page contributor Rocco DiPippo. The post which Horowitz recommended was entitled 'Where Does Punch Sulzberger Live?' and this is what it said:

I issue a call to the blogosphere to begin finding and publicly listing the addresses of all New York Times reporters and editors. Posting pictures of their residences, along with details of any security measures in place to protect the properties and their owners (such as location of security cameras and on-site security details) should also be published."

Cheney really wants U.S. dictator

Cheney is a vile and evil influence on American political and governance.


Cheney really wants U.S. dictator#:

"The call for a military style dictatorship is the ultimate temptation to the greatest treason of a democratic society. Fortunately for us, FDR resisted the temptation and reformed the American economy by a mix of gradualist changes (like Social Security) and magical 'fireside chats.' Unfortunately years later he yielded to the temptation to a military dictatorship when he interned Japanese Americans simply because they were Japanese. In the first case he resisted the demands of the American people. In the second he caved in to their racist demands.

The United States is caught up in a new campaign for a military dictatorship -- rule by a military chief with absolute power. The White House, inspired by Vice President Dick Cheney, has argued that in time of great danger, the president has unlimited powers as commander in chief. If he cites 'national security' he can do whatever he wants -- ignore Congress, disobey laws, disregard the courts, override the Constitution's Bill of Rights -- without being subject to any review. Separation of powers no longer exists. The president need not consult Congress or the courts. Moreover the rights of the commander in chief to act as a military dictator lasts as long as the national emergency persists, indefinitely that is and permanently.

Here we go again! Be afraid, be very afraid

Wet your pants and vote for us: GOP

News Analysis: Connecting the Dots: GOP Using Scare Tactics to Get Votes:

We need George Bush to protect us from the deadly terrorists. At least, that's what Karl Rove wants you to think. The headlines today are filled with reports that we have all been saved from a plot to blow up something in New York City (reports vary on what exactly this is). How convenient it is that the arrest of the suspect falls on the first anniversary of last year's deadly London bombings.

It seems like it was just yesterday when the government announced the arrests of seven 'terrorists' in Miami who discussed blowing up the Sears Tower (BuzzFlash wrote an analysis exposing how exaggerated the claims were). This, of course, occurred immediately following Senate votes calling on Bush to finally develop an exit strategy in Iraq.

Has this country gone comletely insane?

Un-freakin-believable.

Does this rent-a-cop know how many vets are against this stunningly stupid war?

Crooks and Liars:

"This afternoon, drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's south side, a Veterans Administration cop walked up to me and said, 'OK, you�ve had your 15 minutes, it's time to go.' 'Huh?', I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking about.

'You can't be in here protesting,' officer Adkins said, pointing to my Veterans For Peace shirt.'Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee,' I returned, thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier duties of guarding against serious terrorists. Flipping his badge open, he said, 'No, not with that shirt. You're protesting and you have to go'." read on

Lieberman Channels Bush in Debate | The Huffington Post

Lieberman is becoming an accomplished Rethug:
When your policies are attacked, attack the attacker personally, and project all of you weaknesses on to them.

Was he coached for this debate by Karl Rove?

The Blog Ari Melber: Lieberman Channels Bush in Debate The Huffington Post:

"Lieberman actually channeled Bush throughout the debate. He echoed the White House spin on Iraq, arguing the only 'choice is between helping the Iraqis achieve a free and independent Iraq or abandoning them and letting the terrorists take over.' He trotted out baseless flip-flop charges, accusing Lamont of taking five different positions on the war. And when all else failed, Lieberman deployed the classic Bush-Rove tactic: project your own weakness on to your opponent. So he accused Lamont of the top grievances voters have against Lieberman: voting too often with Republicans, acting out of touch and prioritizing power over principle. (He claimed Lamont's war position only changed when he decided there was an 'opportunity to become a United States senator'). "

Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts - New York Times

This is a really good way of winning hearts and minds; sign up the pathological haters!

Is it realy possible that Rumsfeld and company are this stupid, or do they have an agenda we haven't been told about?

Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts - New York Times:

A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed 'large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists' to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, estimated that the numbers could run into the thousands, citing interviews with Defense Department investigators and reports and postings on racist Web sites and magazines.

'We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad,' the group quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report to be posted today on its Web site, www.splcenter.org. 'That's a problem.'

A Defense Department spokeswoman said officials there could not comment on the report because they had not yet seen it.

The center called on Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to appoint a task force to study the problem, declare a new zero tolerance policy and strictly enforce it.

The imperial presidency crushed

Is it safe to hope?

The imperial presidency crushed Salon:

The Supreme Court ruling in the case of Hamdan v. Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al., on June 29 did far more than settle the limited question of whether alleged terrorist detainees can be tried before secret military tribunals. By declaring Bush's position unconstitutional, the court in effect judged his concept of his presidency and his methods in his 'global war on terror' illegitimate. In his majority opinion, Justice John Paul Steven's strategic capitalization emphasized the larger point: 'The Executive,' he wrote, 'is bound to comply with the Rule of Law.'

Inside the Bush administration, senior legal authorities refer to their novel framing of the law as the 'war paradigm.' Its origins can be traced to Vice President Dick Cheney's experience with the thwarting of Richard Nixon's imperial presidency and Cheney's subsequent decades-long effort to re-create it on a new basis."

Sen. Graham's Strategy To Restore Bush�s Detainee Policy Is Unconstitutional

Graham is a slitherin little guy, now isn't he?

Think Progress � Sen. Graham�s Strategy To Restore Bush�s Detainee Policy Is Unconstitutional:

"In an interview with the National Review, Sen. Lindsey Graham strongly objected to the Supreme Court's ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that the Geneva Conventions applied to enemy combatants. Graham suggested that Congress should reverse the Supreme Court's interpretation:

We've got to put a fence around this decision by the Court to grant Common Article Three of the Geneva Convention rights to terrorists. In 2002, Bush said that enemy combatant terrorists will be treated humanely within the spirit of the Convention but not given Convention status. I think he was right. You don't want to erode the Convention.

What Graham is suggesting is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has the final say on how treaties should be interpreted. The Court explained in another case, Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon, issued the same day has Hamdan:" Read On ^

Hersh: Bush's Iran Attack Plans Face Concerns from Military

Is this where the military is going to finally draw a line in the sand with the Chickenhawks?

Crooks and Liars � Hersh: Bush�s Iran Attack Plans Face Concerns from Military:

"Military leadership is having difficulty completing a request from President bush for plans to bomb Iran.

In his latest article, Seymour Hersh writes, 'The generals and admirals have told the administration that the bombing campaign will probably not succeed in destroying Iran�s nuclear program. A crucial issue in the military�s dissent, the officers said, is the fact that American and European intelligence agencies have not found specific evidence of clandestine activities or hidden facilities. The war planners are not sure what to hit.'"

While the Bushites try to create another new reality, where are the Democrats?

Truthdig - Reports - Robert Scheer: Will the Real Democrats Please Stand Up?:

"Time for yet another Bush Iraq photo op. Heck, the last one, when the president popped into the liberated Green Zone to once again proclaim a turning point in his obviously endless war, worked so well that he went up five points in some opinion polls.

No matter that the government in Baghdad is as dysfunctional and powerless as ever, that the rate of U.S. and Iraqi deaths has climbed since Bush's visit, that the war is on a trajectory to cost significantly more than $1 trillion, and that the American flag is desecrated by examples of rape, murder and torture. Most of the world acknowledges that the U.S. presence in Iraq is part of the problem, not the solution, but the facts on the ground matter not at all to the Bushites for whom 'staying the course' in Iraq is perceived as a winning electoral strategy at home. "

Fast to End War Begins in Front of White House

Fast to End War Begins in Front of White House:

Washington - About 150 protesters sat in front of the White House on Monday to savor their last meal before starting a hunger strike that some said will continue until American troops return from Iraq.

The demonstration marking the Independence Day holiday was organized by CodePink, a women's anti-war group that called on volunteers to abstain from eating for 24 hours from midnight on Monday.

Some protesters said their fast would continue beyond July 4th.

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, said she would drink only water throughout the summer, which she said she would spend outside President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Lawyers: Spy Agency Sought US Call Records 7 Months Before 9/11

Why isn't Cabal News having a field day with this? (Oh, nevermind, stupid question)

The only place I've seen this reported was on Olberman/Countdown, MSNBC.

Actually, this isn't the first time this has been reported. Jason Leopold reported, last winter, that NSA was looking at ways to spy on domestic calls as early as February, 2001, when Dick Cheney began making visits to the NSA.

Now everyone, who is anyone, who has written an insider book about this administration has said , in no-uncertain terms, that terrorism was almost non-existent on the Bush list of prioroties. John Ashcroft is quoted as having told people on his staff that he did not want to hear about Al Qaeda.

So, what the hell was Cheney doing over at the NSA, 6 months before 9/11?

Lawyers: Spy Agency Sought US Call Records 7 Months Before 9/11:

"The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept? 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.

The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers.

The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages.

'The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. 'This undermines that assertion.'

The lawsuit is related to an alleged NSA program to record and store data on calls placed by subscribers. More than 30 suits have been filed over claims that the carriers, the three biggest U.S. telephone companies, violated the privacy rights of their customers by cooperating with the NSA in an effort to track alleged terrorists."

Ashcroft/Abramoff ties are thick

Apparently, little Johnny learned well. He has opened his own den of K-street thieves

TPMmuckraker July 5, 2006 01:26 PM:

John Ashcroft' is a name that doesn't come up very often in the Jack Abramoff mucky muck. But it should.

The former Attorney General and his staff had extraordinary ties to Abramoff and his team, as numerous emails and the recent report out from the Justice Department Inspector General make clear.

Bushites and friends push oil prices higher

Gotta keep those energy profits up, so the Republlican campaign contributions keep rolling in.

Oil hits record above $75 on US demand - Yahoo! News:

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil jumped to a record high above $75 a barrel on Wednesday on strong U.S. demand and ongoing tensions over Iran's nuclear program. "

Wave of Bodies in Baghdad's Central Morgue Signals a Stepped-Up Pace of Sectarian Killing - New York Times

Those last throes are a bitch, eh Dickhead?

Wave of Bodies in Baghdad's Central Morgue Signals a Stepped-Up Pace of Sectarian Killing - New York Times:

"BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 4: The central morgue said Tuesday that it received 1,595 bodies last month, 16 percent more than in May, in a tally that showed the pace of killing here has increased since the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq."

Bush tight-lipped on Enron chief Lay's death: White House - Yahoo! News

What can he say? Anything he says now will only make matters worse.

Unless people in the Bush administration can be directly connected to the Enron case, this is a non-story.

Bush tight-lipped on Enron chief Lay's death: White House - Yahoo! News:

"WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush once reportedly called him 'Kenny Boy,' but the White House had few kind words for former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay on his death.

Spokesman Tony Snow would not say how Bush reacted to the passing of Lay, 64, who died while awaiting sentencing for fraud and conspiracy in one of America's largest corporate scandals.

'The president had described Ken Lay as an acquaintance. And many of the president's acquaintances have died during his time in office,' Snow said.

Lay was close to the Bush family and a major Republican Party contributor."

Osama seems to be back with a vengeance?

and the Bushites are, of course, denying that he is important at all.

What all this really means is, that the Rethug administration has failed in the ' war on turr' and the Rethug, cover-up congress would know that if they had been doing any over-sight at all.

Printer Friendly Version - Bin Laden clout on rise?:

"WASHINGTON - The flurry of messages from Osama Bin Laden and his deputy this year suggests the pair is regaining control over Al Qaeda operations for the first time since the U.S. toppled the Taliban, two top experts told the Daily News.
'It means their command and control over Al Qaeda is probably stronger than we thought it was,' said Michael Scheuer, who ran the CIA's Osama Bin Laden unit and is the author of 'Imperial Hubris.'

Bin Laden has issued five audiotapes since he ended a 14-month silence in January. His deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri has released eight audio- or video-taped anti-Western speeches this year.

Few believe anymore that Al Qaeda tapes signal terror cells to strike, or otherwise foreshadow an impending attack.

But the messages do suggest Al Qaeda leaders are probably able to communicate as easily with henchmen plotting attacks as they are with operatives putting the tapes on the Internet, according to Scheuer and Peter Bergen, two of the foremost American experts on Bin Laden.

'It shows they're extremely unconcerned about releasing them' as a risk to their own security, said Bergen, author of
'The Osama Bin Laden I Know' and one of the first Western journalists to interview the Al Qaeda founder in 1997.
'
The heat is not on,' Bergen said."

Bush admits that he has never attended a soldier's funeral

This is a stupid reason. Everyone understands that no president has time to attend every funeral. It would be a waste of taxpayer money for goof-ball to fly all over the country to attend funerals, not that wasting tax payer money is an issue for him, at all.

If Bush had ever been a real soldier he would realize that honoring one, honors all.

Why not pick one a month, to attend?

My God, there are plenty to choose from.

'Stars and Stripes' Lands Exclusive, and Revealing, Bush Interview:

"NEW YORK When Stars and Stripes nabbed anexclusive interview with President Bush on July 4 -- aboard Air Force One -- it devoted most of the questions to ones submitted by service members.

One, put to the commander-in-chief by the newspaper's Jeff Schogol: Has he attended even one funeral for a fallen soldier from Iraq? No, he replied. 'Because which funeral do you go to? In my judgment, I think if I go to one I should go to all. How do you honor one person but not another?' he said.

A soldier now serving in Iraq asked how many times he would have to return to the war zone in the next five years. Bush said he did not know. 'The conditions on the ground will determine our troop levels, and one of the main conditions on the ground is the capacity for the Iraqis to take the fight to the enemy, and therefore it is very difficult for me to predict with certainty how many times this particular person would be sent back to Iraq,' Bush said, in the article published on Wednesday."

Gov't contractor was able to hack FBI and director's accounts

Oh, this is rich....

The Raw Story Washington Post Thursday: Gov't contractor was able to hack FBI and director's accounts:

"A government consultant, using computer programs easily found on the Internet, managed to crack the FBI's classified computer system and gain the passwords of 38,000 employees, including that of FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III,' Eric M. Weiss will report in Thursday editions of The Washington Post, RAW STORY has learned."

Florida prisons scandal breaks open

CNN.com - Florida prisons scandal breaks open - Jul 5, 2006:

"JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) -- Florida's former prisons chief, ousted amid an wide-ranging investigation into criminal activity within the state corrections system, will plead guilty to accepting kickbacks, according to court documents filed Wednesday."

The Stop the ACLU Coalition publishes Jewish family's personal information:

I hate to have to say this, but it was only a matter of time before this was bound to happen.

But this is not anything masquerading as anything. The people who did this do hate the ACLU and they hate Jews, and the Jewish people would do well to remember that fact.

Frankly, I blame the Emperor Constantine and his Christian suck-ups for much of this kind of stupidity, today, among many of the crusading-crackpots.

Crooks and Liars � The Stop the ACLU Coalition publishes Jewish family�s personal information: They are forced to move:

Religious persecution masquerading as hatred against the ACLU. Jesus General finds this heartbreaking story about a Jewish family that is forced to move out of town because... they are Jewish."

Rumsfeld subpoenaed over Abu Ghraib

What's this?

Someone is demanding that congress be told the truth about something? Even more astounding, it's a Republican doing the demanding?

Is this for real, an if so, is this the biggest July 4th rocket of all?

Are some Republicans ready to take on Dear Leader?

The Connecticut Post Online - Rumsfeld subpoenaed over Abu Ghraib:

"WASHINGTON: A Congressional committee subpoenaed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday at the request of U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays.

Shays, R-4, sought the subpoena after the Pentagon refused to answer questions regarding allegations that an Army whistleblower faced retaliation for discussing abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Shays, chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, is investigating allegations made by Army Spec. Samuel Provance that his attempts to provide information to investigators about prison abuses were rebuffed and that he then was retaliated against for providing unclassified information to the media.

'The bottom line is it's critical that our oversight inquiries be taken seriously by executive branch departments and that we get timely access to the information we need to do our job,' Shays said.

'Today we are demanding that the Department of Defense provide information that is critical to our investigation.'"

Bush Cartoon - What Really Worries Bush About The NY Times SWIFT Revelations

LOL TIME

IWR Bush Cartoon - What Really Worries Bush About The NY Times SWIFT Revelations:

"FANTASY LAND, FL - (IWR News Satire) President Bush in Florida today said what really worried him about the recent NY Times SWIFT banking revelations.

'If those pinko, liberal, man-on-dog, flag burning, traitors at the NY Times keep telling people what's really going on inside my administration, the American people, sooner or later, are going to start wondering why we haven't found any that Saudi Arabian money or arrested any of those princes, yet."

How do they get away with it?

A couple of things come to mind:

Corporate media and Diebold.


Finding a Voice: How do they get away with it?:

"How do they get away with it? That is a recurring question in the long nightmare that has overtaken us and allowed the most corrupt, power-mad, fanatical, incompetent, oil-guzzling, hypocritical, self-aggrandizing, war-mongering, runners of failed businesses to commandeer the country and endanger our democracy with policies that fail even a minimalist's measure of good governance. "

Alan Dershowitz has cracked-up entirely

If we have to re-write our laws in order to allow torture of other human beings in order to save our society, it should not be saved.

There must be a line we will not cross, and surely torture is one of those lines.

Independent Online Edition > Americas:

"The United States' Supreme Court has ruled that military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay breach the human rights of inmates. But in an age of suicide bombings and mass civilian casualties, do our laws themselves need to be rewritten? Are we just ignoring the unpalatable truth: that the survival of our society may depend on the legalised torture of terror suspects? Here, America's leading liberal lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, presents the case for radical reform "

Bush's foreign friends fading fast

What?

Did Junior have a spat with Pooty-poot?

Bush's foreign friends fading fast - Yahoo! News:

"WASHINGTON - President Bush's stalwart foreign friends are fading fast.

Most of the leaders who defied criticism at home to stand with him on Iraq and win his friendship are no longer players on the world stage, or are on their way out. And it was a small band of brothers to begin with.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he'll step down before the next national election and is coming under increasing pressure from his own party to do it sooner. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a farewell visit to the United States last week. He is leaving office in September"

Biden says North Korea a "paper tiger" - Yahoo! News

Did anyone else think that CNN was just a bit over the top, with it's reporting yesterday, about these North Korean duds.

The BREAKING NEWS REPORT was "Natioanal Security Crisis. Seem like strong words to me. The rockets that were tested, totally failed, not unlike our missle defense system, time and time again.

Seems to me that yesterday's news was good news.

The bad news is the Constitutional Crisis that looms over all of us. That is far more serious and scary than Kim's fireworks display that went poof, for the whole world to see.

Biden says North Korea a "paper tiger" - Yahoo! News:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea's test-firing of missiles was an act of a 'paper tiger' that has miscalculated the world's response and may result in sanctions, the senior Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Wednesday. "

Clinton draws line on backing Lieberman - Yahoo! News

What amazes me, is that this even needs to be said.

Schumer is an idiot who is far to full of himself, it seems to me. This is not a policy dispute among Democrats. This is Schumer putting himself and his wants and needs above the will of voting Democrats of another state.

Un-freakin'-believable!

Clinton draws line on backing Lieberman - Yahoo! News:

"ALBANY, N.Y. - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a longtime supporter of Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record), said Tuesday she will not back the Connecticut Democrat's bid for re-election if he loses their party's primary. "

Ah, the light dawns, ever so slowly

Hell no, it wasn't worth it!

Are war crimes ever worth it, meaning the sacrifice of blood and treasure?

Can we really doubt that that, which is based on lies, will not stand up or be successful? Have we grown so accustomed to deception in this country that we just don't care about truth anymore, or authenticity?

American Majority Says Iraq War Pointless: Angus Reid Consultants:

" Many adults in the United States regret their federal government's decision to launch the coalition effort, according to a poll by Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times. 54 per cent of respondents think the situation in Iraq was not worth going to war over, down four points since April.

The coalition effort against Saddam Hussein's regime was launched in March 2003. At least 2,539 American soldiers have died during the military operation, and more than 18,600 troops have been wounded in action."

The Leaker-in-Chief Fessed Up

Maybe this is just the way things are done in Washington, D.C., but if that is true, it is a hell of a way to run a nation.

When Joe Wilson's OpEd hit the streets, everyone who read it or heard about it knew that what he was saying was a serious accusation, about a very serious matter.

Why not simply call a press conference and tell the American people the truth, straight up? Why, all of the back channel leaking, selectively, let us not forget, of classified information?

This is not about whether Junior was drunk when he nearly choked on pretzels or fell off his bike for the umteenth time.

This was an accusation, made by a former ambassador, under both Democrat and Republican administrations. So, why not a press conference?

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Bush Directed Cheney To Counter War Critic (07/03/06):

"President Bush told the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case that he directed Vice President Dick Cheney to personally lead an effort to counter allegations made by former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV that his administration had misrepresented intelligence information to make the case to go to war with Iraq, according to people familiar with the president's interview. "

Our Nation Needs Fewer Secrets

...and that's not going to happen as long as Bush is in office.

Our Nation Needs Fewer Secrets:

"The U.S. Freedom of Information Act turns 40 today, the day we celebrate our independence. But this anniversary will not be a day of celebration for the right to information in our country. Our government leaders have become increasingly obsessed with secrecy. Obstructionist policies and deficient practices have ensured that many important public documents and official actions remain hidden from our view.

The events in our nation today -- war, civil rights violations, spiraling energy costs, campaign finance and lobbyist scandals -- dictate the growing need and citizens' desire for access to public documents. A poll conducted last year found that 70 percent of Americans are either somewhat or very concerned about government secrecy. This is understandable when the U.S. government uses at least 50 designations to restrict unclassified information and created 81 percent more ''secrets'' in 2005 than in 2000, according to the watchdog coalition OpenTheGovernment.org.

Moreover, the response to FOIA requests often does not satisfy the transparency objectives or provisions of the law, which, for example, mandates an answer to information requests within 20 working days. "

Visceral Emotion Threatens What the Flag Represents

My personal position on flag burning is DON'T. It is a practice that brings out the whackadoo in otherwise rational people.

Interestingly, no one ever mentions the fact that the only way to dispose of a desecrated flag is to burn it, and ours has been desecrated by the blood of innocents. Some folks just lose it when a flag is burned. We have way to much irrational, emotional stuff going on as it is.

If one feels that the flag is the only tool for expressing their dismay/outrage and what is happening in this country, fly it upside down, an internationally recognized symbol of distress.

Visceral Emotion Threatens What the Flag Represents:

"As the U.S. Senate contributed mightily to global warming while debating a constitutional amendment to ban flag-desecration last week, the Citizens Flag Alliance ('representing 147 organizations and more than 20 million members') made this startling announcement: Flag-desecration incidents are up 33 percent this year. That is, there have been four incidents reported so far this year, compared with three by June last year.

And those four incidents? Early in the morning of June 22 on a residential Brooklyn street, louts thought to be teens just out of school set on fire a few flags in people's yards. Two weeks earlier, a drunken man in West Haven, Conn., desecrated a flag while chugging beer and taunting passers-by on a bike path. On May 30, vandals stole a flag from a VFW Post in Mineville, N.Y., and burned it. And on May 13 in a small New Hampshire town, 13 flags hanging from a VFW building were sliced into ribbons.

Each of these, except the drunken man's desecration (he could be prosecuted for drinking beer in public, but not messing with a flag) are misdemeanors punishable by perfectly acceptable laws: You can't go around destroying other people's yard property, whether it's a flag or a pink flamingo. But are three instances of stupid vandalism and one drunken hiccup a crisis warranting the mobilization of the U.S. Senate and the push for the first constitutional amendment in 14 years? "

Lieberman should pay for this...

What is it with this man?

Does he think he owns that senate seat?

I hope the good people of Conn. remind him otherwise!

Lieberman weighs campaign as independent - Yahoo! News:

"HARTFORD, Conn. - Facing a stronger-than-expected Democratic primary challenge and sagging poll numbers because of his support of the Iraq war, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Monday he'll collect signatures for an independent campaign if he loses next month's primary. "

International Bank Spying is not all that effective

Many Americans were shocked?

Why?

Is anyone paying attention?

Moneylaundering.com:

"News of the Bush administration's clandestine bank surveillance program stunned many Americans, but Washington insiders say it didn't surprise them or the terrorists the program tails.

President Bush described last week's media reports exposing the U.S. Treasury Department's terrorist finance tracking program, covert scrutiny of international financial transactions through a Belgium-based cooperative known by its acronym SWIFT, as 'disgraceful' and Republican Senator Jim Bunning accused the reporters who wrote the stories of 'treason.'

'The rhetoric on this is way out of proportion on both sides,' said Victor Comras, a former State Department official and U.S. diplomat appointed by the United Nations Security Council to assess global anti-terrorist financing efforts. 'The people who finance terrorism and launder money recognized long ago that these transactions can be traced.'

Since the New York Times and other media didn't tell the public anything the terrorists didn't already know and since banks already monitor suspicious transactions for the U.S. government, many question the probe's usefulness. 'It's not a cost-effective way to deal with terrorism issues,' Comras said."

Switzerland: Israel violating law in Gaza - Yahoo! News

Whoa...even the neutralists think Israel is way out of
line.

Switzerland: Israel violating law in Gaza - Yahoo! News:

"GENEVA - Switzerland accused Israel of violating international law in its Gaza offensive by inflicting heavy destruction and endangering civilians in acts of collective punishment banned under the Geneva Conventions. "

Homelessness a threat for Iraq vets

Surprise, surprise!

Any Vietnam Vet could have predicted this. But then, no Vietnam Vets were running things.

Homelessness a threat for Iraq vets - Yahoo! News:

"NEW YORK - Herold Noel had nowhere to call home after returning from military service in Iraq. He slept in his Jeep, taking care to find a parking space where he wouldn't get a ticket.

'Then the nightmares would start,' says the 26-year-old former Army private first class, who drove a fuel truck in Iraq. 'I saw a baby decapitated when it was run over by a truck, I relived that every night.'

Across America on any given evening, hundreds of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan like Noel are homeless, according to government estimates.

The reasons for their plight are many. For some, residual stress from daily insurgent attacks and roadside bombs makes it tough to adjust to civilian life; some can't navigate government assistance programs; others simply can't afford a house or apartment."

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden - New York Times

Why are we not surprised?

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden - New York Times:

WASHINGTON, July 3 : The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

National Security The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice 'dead or alive.'

Bush, bin Laden, Inc

I have no clue why this was not obvious to everyone. It was sure as hell obvious to us.

I remember getting an email from Hawk that next morning. In the Subject line: Osama casts his vote in the American election.

In the body, simply: A Vote For Bush; this thing may not even need to be stolen, with Osama's help.

Consortiumnews.com:

"On Oct. 29, 2004, just four days before the U.S. presidential election, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden released a videotape denouncing George W. Bush. Some Bush supporters quickly spun the diatribe as 'Osama's endorsement of John Kerry.' But behind the walls of the CIA, analysts had concluded the opposite: that bin-Laden was trying to help Bush gain a second term."

Generals are saying No to Chimpy on Iran

There is dissent at the Pentagon.

The ramifications of this dust up could be profound, if push really does come o shove.

The New Yorker: Fact:

"Inside the Pentagon, senior commanders have increasingly challenged the President's plans, according to active-duty and retired officers and officials. The generals and admirals have told the Administration that the bombing campaign will probably not succeed in destroying Iran's nuclear program. They have also warned that an attack could lead to serious economic, political, and military consequences for the United States. "

"Time to End the Sound Bite ''We're at War'' and too, Time to End the ''War on Terror''"

The sad part is, this would have stopped working a long time ago, if we had a thinking electorate.

The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Time to End the Sound Bite ''We're at War'' and too, Time to End the ''War on Terror''":

"'We're at war' is one of the GOP's favorite sound bites. That cute little phrase and all GOP sound bites like 'cut and run' and 'stay the course' and 'surrender is not an option' and 'flip-flop' and 'fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here' and 'when the Iraqis stand-up we'll stand-down' and 'tax and spend liberals' and, well, the list continues on toward infinity being limited only by the GOP's twisted imagination.

All those sound bites serve two simple purposes: First they are easy to repeat, require no thought whatsoever and are, therefore, guaranteed to be replayed over and again in the media. Second the sound bites convey a message, which, not based on reality or fact, cannot be refuted and, therefore, prevent an honest discussion that could result in a real solution to problems facing the country."

"Playing into bin-Laden's Hand - ''We're Fighting Them There, So We Don't Have to Fight Them Here''"

This is one of those little bushisms that was always a jaw-dropper to my ears.

I have always wondered why someone in the press didn't ask: Are you off your meds, Mr. President?

Never made any sense to anyone but Junior and his doppleganger.

The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Playing into bin-Laden's Hand - ''We're Fighting Them There, So We Don't Have to Fight Them Here''":

"We're fighting them there, so we don't have to fight them here.' That is a favorite Republican nonreason-reason for continuing toward infinity with the war in Iraq. Never mind the war is lumbering on toward four long years now. Forget too, that what Republicans advocate when repeating that tired sound bite designed to prevent any real discussion from occurring, is that we must 'stay the' same failed 'course'.

Forget all that, because the reality concerning 'We're fighting them there, so we don't have to fight them here,' is that bin-Laden really wants to fight us there and not here. September 11, 2001, was merely the method and means by which bin-Laden tricked Bush and Republicans into fighting a war on his terms. That is unless the American people would rather believe Bush and Republicans while ignoring the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point:"

Feinstein says she was not briefed on the Bank Program

Hummm..wonder if they are tracking Richard Blums financial dealings. (That would be Feinstein's husband)

Crooks and Liars � Feinstein says she was not briefed on the Bank Program:

"STEPHANOPOULOS: The White House said they briefed the Congress on this and there is no law called into question. Do you believe that a law is called into question and that this program might have been illegal?

FEINSTEIN: Well, I'm on the Intelligence Committee. I can tell you when I was briefed and when the committee was briefed, and that was when it became apparent that the New York Times had the story and was going to run it. And that's when and why they came to us and briefed us.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you knew nothing about it before the New York Times was asking questions?

FEINSTEIN: That's correct."

War Has Been Declared on an Independent Press

Media Matters - "Media Matters"; by Paul Waldman:

"Not on The New York Times. Not even on the media in general. No, this week the entire conservative movement -- from the White House to Republicans in Congress to Fox News to right-wing talk radio to conservative magazines -- declared war on the very idea of an independent press.

They declared war on the idea that journalists have not just the right but the obligation to hold those in power accountable for their actions. They declared war on the idea that journalists, not the government and not a political party, get to decide what appears in the press. They declared war on the idea that the public has a right to know what the government is doing in our name.

This is a profound threat to our democracy, and we underestimate it at our peril."

Greg Palast: Stealing Mexico: Bush Team Helps Ruling Party "Floridize" Mexican Presidential Election

Oh God, does anyone think that they won't steal out elections again, if they can do this?

Might I exclaim, "Oh, Shit!?

Or is all this disinformation?

Who the hell knows anymore?

See....that is the problem...!


Greg Palast: Stealing Mexico: Bush Team Helps Ruling Party "Floridize" Mexican Presidential Election:

"George Bush's operatives have plans to jigger with the upcoming elections. I'm not talking about the November '06 vote in the USA (though they have plans for that, too). I'm talking about the election this Sunday in Mexico for their Presidency.

It begins with an FBI document marked, 'Counterterrorism' and 'Foreign Intelligence Collection' and 'Secret.' Date: '9/17/2001,' six days after the attack on the World Trade towers. It's nice to know the feds got right on the ball, if a little late.

What does this have to do with jiggering Mexico's election? Hold that thought.

This document is what's called a 'guidance' memo for using a private contractor to provide databases on dangerous foreigners. Good idea. We know the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the Persian Gulf Emirates. So you'd think the 'Intelligence Collection' would be aimed at getting info on the guys in the Gulf.

No so. When we received the document, we obtained as well its classified appendix. The target nations for 'foreign counterterrorism investigation' were nowhere near the Persian Gulf. Every one was in Latin America -- Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico and a handful of others. See one of the documents yourself."

War on Science progressing better than War on Turr.

Good lord, what's next?

Maybe we should just shut down the schools, starting with all intsitutions of higher learning. We can probably get to grades k-12 by 2007.


The BEAST Blog:

"Shit meets fan at EPA:"

Just came across this gem

Bwhahahahah! Can't help it. Sometimes one just has to LOL.

I still wonder whose decision it was to "get" Zarqawi, now.

The BEAST: America's Best Fiend:

"Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is apparently dead. The United States armed forces in Iraq have been bombing al-Zarqawi hideouts almost weekly since May 2004 when American businessman Nicholas Berg was shockingly beheaded on film, and someone claiming to be Zarqawi is said to have taken credit for it. With a $25 million reward on his head, there were surely a series of tragic mistakes based on opportunistic calls."

Why does anyone care what Coulter says?

We have elected not to do much blogging about Coulter's recent, off-meds tirade.

Admittedly, we wouldn't mind seeing her get what she really deserves, but we won't hold our breath.

In the meantime, she deserves no more words from us.

The world really does not need us to point out how vile and trashy this woman is. It goes without saying, by now.

However, the wingers' worst enemy is their own collective mouth.

So, we, therefore, praise the media for giving people like Ms. Coulter a platform from which to spew.

All we ask, is that the media host confront this bitch, and let the chips fall where they may.


The BEAST: America's Best Fiend:

"I managed to stop caring about what Ann Coulter says a couple of years ago. It was easy somehow, like finally walking away from a boring ass who's wasted half your night already bending your ear at a party. Once in a while, I'll peek at the first couple of paragraphs of one of her alarmingly well-published columns, but I never have the stomach, or the time, to bother finishing them. If I see her on television, I change the channel reflexively. Life is too short.


But it's been dismaying this past couple of weeks to watch the ease with which Coulter has whipped up yet another media frenzy in time for the release of her new book. And no, it is not a demonstration of media savvy. It doesn't take a PR expert to know that if you lob bricks at people theyre likely to get angry."

Leftist, conservative each, claim Mexico vote win

UhOh!

Fire-in-the-hole, down south.

We are learning how it feels to be living in a mine-field, located somewhere in the Theatre of the Absurd.

Canadians know all about ludicrous place. They have been living atop a a time bomb for a very long time. Tick, tick, tick.

CNN.com - Leftist, conservative each�claim Mexico vote win - Jul 3, 2006:

"Two leading candidates have claimed victory in Mexico's presidential vote, even as the country's top election official deemed the result too close to call.

'It is not possible within the margins established in the quick count to say what party has obtained the highest vote,' said Luis Carlos Ugalde, adding 'it is not possible to say at this point in time who has won.'

The counting of ballots must be completed in all 300 of Mexico's voting districts, with an official count of the votes set to take place on Wednesday, Ugalde added."

Al-Zarqawi's cell phone reportedly yields surprises - Jul 3, 2006

Oh my...what to make of all this crap.

Not even the Bush administration is sick enough to want Zarqawi's body brought here, but this is the kind of whack-a-doo stuff that becomes truth to many people, when they are lied to over and over again.



CNN.com - Al-Zarqawi's cell phone reportedly yields surprises - Jul 3, 2006:

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had the phone numbers of senior Iraqi officials stored in his cell phone, according to an Iraqi legislator.

Waiel Abdul-Latif, a member of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party, said Monday that authorities found the numbers after al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in a U.S. air strike on June 7.

Abdul-Latif did not give names of the officials. But he said they included ministry employees and members of parliament.

He called for an investigation, saying Iraqis 'cannot have one hand with the government and another with the terrorists.'"
(Why not? Ours does.)

Poll: Good News Fails to Boost Bush's Job Approval -- Page 1

Once again, the only place that Bush is still maintaining even a smidgen of approval is having to do with the 'War on Turr.'

This makes no rational sense. This is the same man and administration, who ignored hundreds of warnings pre-9/11, chose to send Afghans in to get Osama, when we had him trapped in Tora Bora, then chose to quit Afghanistan and run helter-skelter into Iraq, which has caused more people than ever to want to kill Americans (who still do not know the real reason we started this insane adventure in the first place), who has done virtualy nothing to secure the "homeland," other than hassle Americans at airports.

Why does Bush still rate so high on the "war on Turr?"

Has it escaped anyone's notice that Dubai Ports World is runnng American ports, in spite of all the public back-pedalling the Rethugs did when this deal was made public?

The Bushites do this kind of thing all the time. Just push it to a back burner, we will get back to it, when the furor dies down.

The Bushites need to be confronted over and over on this issue.

Thi is total BS.


TIME.com: Poll: Good News Fails to Boost Bush's Job Approval -- Page 1:

"A spate of good news at home and abroad has so far failed to boost how Americans feel about President Bush's job performance. Bush's approval rating slipped to 35% in a TIME poll taken this week, down from 37% in March (and 53% in early 2005). Only 33% of Americans in the survey said they approved of Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq, vs. 35% in March, and 47% in March 2005. His management of the U.S. economy lost supporters, too, as 36% approved, compared with 39% three months earlier. Bush's handling of the war on terror saw a slight gain in support, from 44% to 45%.

Bush's poll numbers remain stuck in a rut despite several high-profile victories scored recently by the Bush Administration. Earlier this month, U.S. forces killed al-Qaeda leader Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi in an air raid in Iraq. Also this month, Karl Rove escaped indictment in the CIA leak investigation. And the Commerce Department reported today that the U.S. economy grew 5.6% in the first quarter of 2006, the fastest growth in more than two years. "

Election Theft 2004, finally gets a little attention.

It will require much more!

Rolling Stone : The 2004 Election:

Snow tried to deflect the question with a joke, suggesting that the reporter should serve as Bush's 'emissary from Rolling Stone.' But many citizens, journalists and elected officials are taking our four-month investigation of vote-rigging in Ohio far more seriously ['Was the 2004 Election Stolen?' RS 1002]. The debate began online, where the story set off a firestorm. More than 700,000 people logged on to rollingstone.com to read the story, and thousands of bloggers posted heated entries about Kennedy's report.

The online furor caught the attention of some in the mainstream press, which has long downplayed the evidence of vote tampering. In The New York Times, Bob Herbert devoted an entire column to our investigation, concluding that John Kerry 'almost certainly would have won Ohio' if Republicans had not blocked so many of his supporters from casting ballots. And The Seattle Post-Intelligencer blasted the media for its 'deafening' silence on Kennedy's report. 'In terms of bad news judgment,' the paper observed, 'this could turn out to be the 2006 equivalent of the infamous Downing Street memo' -- evidence that the Bush administration falsified intelligence on WMDs to justify invading Iraq -- 'that was initially greeted by the U.S. media with a collective yawn.

Every American should know who David Adinton is

Colin Powell was heard to say that Addington was behind most of the constitution shredding being done by the VP's constitutional chop shop.

Addington may be one of the "effing crazies" that Powell talked about to a European counterpart.

The New Yorker: Fact:

"According to someone who knows Powell, his comment about the article was terse. 'It's Addington,' he said. 'He doesn't care about the Constitution.' Powell was referring to David S. Addington, Vice-President Cheney's chief of staff and his longtime principal legal adviser. Powell's office says that he does not recall making the statement. But his former top aide, Lawrence Wilkerson, confirms that he and Powell shared this opinion of Addington."

Inquring minds need to know, read on ^

The real Story on the Rethug furor over Banking spy program

Not that the Bushites are tracking terrorist money and financing, but the total, intentional, ineptitude of a program that does not publicize the role of the Saudis, the UAE and other Gulf States which we know have been big terrorist funders.

There is no telling what else is being hidden, and not for national security reasons. Who else is funding terrorism?

That is the question the White House press corps should be asking. Who are the individuals, the families or organizations, the states who have assisted terrorists around the world?

Why not name them all?

Niagara Falls Reporter Opinion:

"The real story is not that our government is looking at networks financing terrorist operations -- a legitimate and necessary activity -- but how poorly that job is done and how the greatest source of terrorist funding escapes serious scrutiny.

Lenny Wallace, a Florida-based financial consultant, has spent nearly five years trying to get to the bottom of a $5 billion series of loans involving Citigroup and a Saudi prince. The deal saw money bouncing from Singapore to Scotland to Miami. Wallace was retained to facilitate the loans and assist the bank in investing the proceeds. What he thought was a legitimate business venture turned into a mysterious shuffle of funds for nebulous purposes.

Jack Blum is a Washington lawyer and skilled investigator who has spent years following the trail of dirty money.

William Greider reports in 'The Nation' on Blum's assessment of phony furor over The New York Times blowing the lid off the government tracking international banking data. "

(Read On ^)

The People's Path to Impeachment

This could just work, ya know?

AlterNet: The People's Path to Impeachment:

"You wouldn't know it from the media, but grassroots movements are afoot all over the country to hold the president legally accountable for his lies. "

(Read On ^)

Bush's Sick Vision of 'Democracy'

Yep, that's about the size of it.

Bush would just as soon not involve Congress at all. He much prefers to just ignore Congress.

So, now the Rethug Congress, which he prefers to ignore, is going to try to rescue him from the Supremes' big smackdown, by finding a way to make what he wants legal, in some way.

This ain't gonna fly! Not this time.

The Congress should just shut up and let the Supreme Court's opinion stand. Let Junior be held in contempt of the Supreme Court. Hell, not even Nixon was that stupid.

AlterNet: Bush's Sick Vision of 'Democracy':

"The president believes our government should work like this: President Breaks Law, Court says President broke law, Congress vows to pass law to make President's actions illegal, President attaches signing statement indicating he will not follow law."

The 100 Worst Corporate Citizens

Damn it!

These huge-ass institutional thugs are not "citizens!"

The sooner we get that through our thick skulls the better.

Corporations are made up of citizens; they are not, as institutions, citizens deserving of individual rights, such as those which have been granted to them.

The sooner we change that loony law the better

AlterNet: WorkPlace: The 100 Worst Corporate Citizens:

"Business Ethics compiles its list using data on corporate social performance in eight categories -- community, diversity, employee relations, environment, etc. -- from the Socrates database produced by KLD Research & Analytics. That information is then processed quantitatively using methodology developed by Sandra Waddock and Samuel Graves of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. Unfortunately, the magazine says nothing about that methodology, so the reader is confronted with a statistical black box. An article accompanying the list provides scanty details. Thus, one must essentially take the rankings at face value.

The first thing that stands out is that the list is top heavy with high-tech firms, including Hewlett-Packard (No. 2), Advanced Micro Devices (No. 3), Motorola (No. 4), Cisco Systems (No. 8), Dell Inc. (No. 9), Texas Instruments (No. 10), and Intel (No. 11). The magazine says this is, in part, because 'most top tech companies do well on environmental issues.' That claim would come as a surprise to groups such as the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC), which has for years been pointing out that high-tech industry is far dirtier than its clean image.

The electronics industry is a heavy user of toxic chemicals, which have a way of seeping out into the environment, resulting in a proliferation of Superfund toxic waste sites in places such as Silicon Valley. (Read On ^)

White House Reacts to bin Laden Tape

So Junior saya that Osama is still trying to use the media to seel his dark vision of war gainst humanity.

UhHuh. Sounds like he is commenting on Dick Cheney.

WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News: White House reacts to bin Laden tape:

"WHITE HOUSE The White House says if it's genuine, the latest Osama bin Laden tape shows militants still try 'to use the media to justify their dark vision and war against humanity.'

A statement from the Bush administration says al-Qaida offers nothing more than 'future fighting, conflict and misery.'
A White House official says the U-S is analyzing the audiotape posted to a militant Web site Saturday to determine if it's authentic.

In the tape, a voice thought to be bin Laden urges militants to 'stay steadfast and don't leave Baghdad.' Otherwise, he says 'all the capitals in the region will fall to the crusaders.'"

Former Navy secretary says Republicans can't fix Iraq quagmire

Well, of course they can't. They are serial liars and war criminals. They will not be effective at anything regarding Iraq or any other place in the middle east.

No one believes anything they say. That makes them a non-starter, nuch as they said Arafat was.

WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News: Former Navy secretary says Republicans can't fix Iraq quagmire:

"RICHMOND, Va.: A Democrat seeking a Senate seat in Virginia says President Bush and the Republican-led Congress can't get the U-S out of the bloody quagmire they created in Iraq.

Jim Webb was President Reagan's Navy secretary in 1987 and 1988. He's using the Democrats' weekly radio address to call on leaders to admit the war isn't going well and fix the problem.

Webb is one of the most decorated Marines from the Vietnam War. He left the Republican Party over President Bush's decision to invade Iraq. He's challenging Republican Senator George Allen.

Webb said some say that speaking out against a war is disloyal to the troops. But he says people should consider, in his words, 'what it's like to be a troop, wishing someone would speak the truth.'"

BuzzFlash Review: The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11 (Hardcover)

The whole damn thing is terrifying if you ask us.

BuzzFlash Review: The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11 (Hardcover):

"From articles in 'Vanity Fair' to his book about Paul O'Neill's journey through the Bushevik wonderland, Ron Suskind has been a professional chronicler of the White house bumblers.

Now, he has penned his most ominous work, detailing the maniacal Dick Cheney's 'War on Terror.' The operational basis assumption of Cheney's Strangelovian madness is that even if there is only a 1% possibility of a terrorist attack, then it should be treated as basically a 100% certainty. This, of course, leads to a world permanently at war -- and with the U.S. government precipitating the very chaos it is claiming it is trying to prevent.

As one reader of the book wrote on another website:"

(Read On ^)