Bushites Seem To Have Beaten the Generals into Submission.

Tell you what, Generals, let us all know when you have, finally, had enough, and we will meet you in Washington!

In the meantime, we have plans of our own, so don't take it personally.

Commander Said to Be Open to More Troops - New York Times:

The American military command in Iraq is now willing to back a temporary increase in American troops in Baghdad as part of a broader Iraqi and United States effort to stem the slide toward chaos, senior American officials said Saturday.

President Bush and his advisers were told Saturday of the new position when Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates met with them at Camp David, an administration official said.

Until recently, the top ground commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., has argued that sending more American forces into Baghdad and Anbar Province, the two most violent regions of Iraq, would increase the Iraqi dependency on Washington, and in the words of one senior official, “make this feel more like an occupation.'

Liberal lawmakers face new challenges

What is that old Chinese curse? "May you live in interesting times?"

Just call us properly cursed. If you thought 2006 was the year from hell, you ain't seen nothing, yet.

Hang in there, friends, we are in for one helluva ride!

Liberal lawmakers face new challenges - Yahoo! News:

There's one certainty for the Capitol's most liberal lawmakers now that Democrats will control Congress: They won't have to meet in the basement anymore.

'One time they put us in the most obscure, smallest meeting room in the farthest corner,' Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio (news, bio, voting record) said of life for progressive Democrats under GOP control.
Now, 'we should be able to score a regular and accessible meeting place.'

That may be the easy part.

Accustomed to pleading in obscurity for causes like universal health care, come January these progressives from Northern California, Massachusetts and elsewhere will be part of the congressional majority and in a position to actually do something about them.

Bush Developing Illegal Bioterror Weapons

Who the hell gave Der Monkey permission for this horror?

Hey, People, we have got to rid ourselves, the nation and the world of these madmen! Yesterday!

Bush Developing Illegal Bioterror Weapons:

In violation of the U.S. Code and international law, the Bush administration is spending more money (in inflation-adjusted dollars) to develop illegal, offensive germ warfare than the $2-billion spent in World War II on the Manhattan Project to make the atomic bomb.

So says Francis Boyle, the professor of international law who drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 enacted by Congress. He states the Pentagon 'is now gearing up to fight and 'win' biological warfare' pursuant to two Bush national strategy directives adopted 'without public knowledge and review' in 2002.

The Pentagon's Chemical and Biological Defense Program was revised in 2003 to implement those directives, endorsing 'first-use' strike of chemical and biological weapons(CBW) in war, says Boyle, who teaches at the University of Illinois, Champaign.

Terming the action 'the proverbial smoking gun,' Boyle said the mission of the controversial CBW program 'has been altered to permit development of offensive capability in chemical and biological weapons!' (Original italics)
"

Keith is UP; Faux News is OUT

'Tis a very merry Christmas, after all;

to all, and to O'Liely, good night and SHUT UP!.

Keith Olbermann's Ratings on the Rise; Fox News Drops Out of the Top Ten Most Watched Cable Channels - Associated Content:

Just in case you haven't been paying attention-and poll numbers suggest that a frighteningly large number of Americans still aren't-Keith Olbermann's show on MSNBC at 8:00 PM Eastern underwent a tremendous shift right around the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. That night Keith Olbermann delivered not only the speech of the year but the speech of the millennium. So far. It was a Special Comment that excoriated Pres. Bush for every lie, hypocrisy and dumbheaded policy move he's initiated since the attacks. Overnight, the spirit of Edward R. Murrow was reborn. And finally real patriotic Americans had a mainstream media show they could watch without having to be restrained by family or loved ones when the urge to throw something hard and solid at the television screen overcame them.

US tests call-up system but denies return to conscription

Canada is nice in Winter. It's such a huge place. Lots of room to disappear.....

US tests call-up system but denies return to conscription Iraq Guardian Unlimited:

The Bush administration is planning a test run of America's emergency military call-up, stoking speculation about a return to a draft at a time when the White House is considering sending more troops to Iraq.

The secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, provided further evidence that the administration was leaning towards sending more troops to Iraq, acknowledging the high financial and human toll of the war so far, and indicating there would be further costs to bear.

'A lot has been sacrificed for Iraq, a lot has been invested in Iraq,' she told the Associated Press on Thursday. 'But the president wouldn't ask for the continued sacrifice, the continued investment if he did not believe, and in fact I believe as well, that we can in fact succeed and in fact that it's imperative we succeed.'

As Ms Rice spoke, the Selective Service System, the government agency charged with providing troops to the military in an emergency, said it was preparing its first readiness exercise since 1998.

The Race For Iraq's Resources: Will Iraq's Oil Blessing Become a Curse? - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

We are just shocked, shocked, I tell you.

The Race For Iraq's Resources: Will Iraq's Oil Blessing Become a Curse? - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News:

The Iraqi government is considering a new oil law that could give private oil companies greater control over its vast reserves. In light of rampant violence and shaky democratic institutions, many fear the law is being pushed through hastily by special interests behind closed doors.

Bushites' Censorship; We have a problem!

By FLYNT LEVERETT and HILLARY MANN
Washington

HERE is the redacted version of a draft Op-Ed article

We wrote for The Times, as blacked out by the Central Intelligence Agency’s Publication Review Board after the White House intervened in the normal prepublication review process and demanded substantial deletions. Agency officials told us that they had concluded on their own that the original draft included no classified material, but that they had to bow to the White House.

Indeed, the deleted portions of the original draft reveal no classified material. These passages go into aspects of American-Iranian relations during the Bush administration’s first term that have been publicly discussed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; a former State Department policy planning director, Richard Haass; and a former special envoy to Afghanistan, James Dobbins.

These aspects have been extensively reported in the news media, and one of us, Mr. Leverett, has written about them in The Times and other publications with the explicit permission of the review board. We provided the following citations to the board to demonstrate that all of the material the White House objected to is already in the public domain. Unfortunately, to make sense of much of our Op-Ed article, readers will have to read the citations for themselves. (See links at left.)

The decisions of the C.I.A. and the White House took us by surprise. Since leaving government service three and a half years ago, Mr. Leverett has put more than 20 articles through the C.I.A.’s prepublication review process and the Publication Review Board has never changed a word or asked the White House for permission to clear these articles.
What’s more, we have spent a collective 20 years serving our country as career civil servants in national security, for both Republican and Democratic administrations. We know firsthand the importance of protecting sensitive information. But we also know the importance of shared knowledge. In the entrance to the C.I.A.’s headquarters the words of the Gospel of John are inscribed, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
National security must be above politics. In a democracy, transparency in government has to be honored and protected. To classify information for reasons other than the safety and security of the United States and its interests is a violation of these principles. It is for this reason that we will continue to press for the release of the article without the material deleted.

Flynt Leverett is a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Hillary Mann, a former Foreign Service officer, participated in the United States discussions with Iran from 2001 to 2003.

....and the truth shall set you free.

George W. Bush: a sadistic, torture-loving sociopath

This is quite an astute observation, and one no one will find in the MS press, MSM, or cabal news.

Why the hell do I not move to Oregon?

BlueOregon: George W. Bush: a sadistic, torture-loving sociopath:


Bill McDonald usually writes jokes for a living -- funny one-liners for Jay Leno and various morning 'zoo' radio shows.

But this week, he's wondering out loud why George W. Bush seems so happy lately. At his blog, the
Portland Freelancer: Apparently, nothing focuses this man like failure. He seemed energized by the gigantic mess he's made, and eager to make the mess worse.

There's clearly something psychological at work here. He's spent his life trying to talk himself out of bad situations of his own making, so maybe this has put him in a comfort zone. He finally has the conflict in Iraq on his own terms, which means it is all screwed up. He seemed defiant and almost happy as he sparred with the reporters about this fiasco. The war isn't wearing him down - he seemed invigorated and joyfully alive. ... (quite alaming, don't you think?)

So what's my theory? Okay, the reason the President seems so animated right now - the reason he is focused and alert - is that the Iraq War has given him something that his sadistic, sociopathic personality craved from the first time he was called mediocre, and teased for being who he is.

The Iraq War is his adult version of torturing little animals. He has finally made it to the Super Bowl of Cruelty, and it's really working for him. The reason he's sleeping so well, and talking so energetically, is precisely because - in his twisted way - he is happy right now. Why? Because he's using the Iraq War to torture us all.

George W. Bush: a sadistic, torture-loving sociopath

This is quite an astute observation, and one no one will find in the MS press, MSM, or cabal news.

Why the hell do I not move to Oregon?

BlueOregon: George W. Bush: a sadistic, torture-loving sociopath:


Bill McDonald usually writes jokes for a living -- funny one-liners for Jay Leno and various morning 'zoo' radio shows.

But this week, he's wondering out loud why George W. Bush seems so happy lately. At his blog, the
Portland Freelancer: Apparently, nothing focuses this man like failure. He seemed energized by the gigantic mess he's made, and eager to make the mess worse.

There's clearly something psychological at work here. He's spent his life trying to talk himself out of bad situations of his own making, so maybe this has put him in a comfort zone. He finally has the conflict in Iraq on his own terms, which means it is all screwed up. He seemed defiant and almost happy as he sparred with the reporters about this fiasco. The war isn't wearing him down - he seemed invigorated and joyfully alive. ... (quite alaming, don't you think?)

So what's my theory? Okay, the reason the President seems so animated right now - the reason he is focused and alert - is that the Iraq War has given him something that his sadistic, sociopathic personality craved from the first time he was called mediocre, and teased for being who he is.

The Iraq War is his adult version of torturing little animals. He has finally made it to the Super Bowl of Cruelty, and it's really working for him. The reason he's sleeping so well, and talking so energetically, is precisely because - in his twisted way - he is happy right now. Why? Because he's using the Iraq War to torture us all.

Rowling says she dreams she is Harry

We find this much easier to believe than that Saddam and Osama were good buds.

To each his own fantsay, except when one of those fantasies theatens us all.

Not everyone is at a place where death is liberation.

BellSouth - MOVIES:

LONDON (AP) - Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling says she has dreamed that she was the boy wizard as she writes the seven-book series' final installment - work she says has left her feeling both 'elated and overwrought.'

Rowling said in a message posted Tuesday on her official Web site this week that she has been hard at work writing scenes, some of which she planned more than 12 years ago.

'I am alternately elated and overwrought. I both want and don't want to finish this book (don't worry, I will),' she wrote.

She gave no new clues about what will happen in the book, which is expected to be published next year. Previously she said two characters will die, and hinted Harry might not survive.

Rowling said she has been asked for years if she ever dreams she is in the boy wizard's world.

Ten Things the Democrats Can Do to Hold Corporations Accountable

After the last six years, this is one American who believes that corporate America is a freakin' cesspool of sociopaths and bottom-line feeders who may well be irredeemable, at this point, as human beings.

Nevertheless, the next congress, must...I repeat, must, exhaust all efforts to clean it up, or the people will. If that happens, it will not be pretty.

AlterNet: WorkPlace: Ten Things the Democrats Can Do to Hold Corporations Accountable:

After years of lax congressional oversight, most Americans think corporations wield too much power. Only by restoring the balance between government and the private sector can corporate America regain the public's trust.

'Christian' Game Leaves Behind A Pile of Corpses

Points to ponder: What really is the difference betweeen the religiously insane over here and the ones over there?

AlterNet: 'Christian' Game Leaves Behind A Pile of Corpses:

The Left Behind video game encourages you to celebrate the birth of Jesus by wasting dozens of people at a time, using a variety of Christ-sanctioned weapons.

"I have no future" -- Jeb Bush tells reporters

One cannot believe a word any of the BFEE says, so I wouldn't count on Jeb not running, maybe not in 2008, provided the planet stll exists by then, but 2012 is just around the corner, electorally speaking, of course. Campaigns and elections never end in the Land of Loons

Junior will do his part by leaving the biggest mess is history to a Democratic adminitstration.

The Democrats may well pull a Nixon, and get caught in the broadening quagmire, while being advised by a Democratic Kissinger (OK, I know, an Oxymoron, if there ever was one)

Well, be of good cheer, all of these horrors only can happen if we actually survive 2007.

have no future" -- Jeb Bush tells reporters - Yahoo! News:

The shadow of President Bush seemed to loom large over his younger brother on Wednesday, as the outgoing Florida governor ruled out any plans to return to elected office.

'No tengo futuro (I have no future),' Jeb Bush told Spanish-language reporters in Miami, when asked about any possible political ambitions after he steps down next month.

The popular, two-term governor has often been touted as a savvy politician with a good chance of following both his brother and father, George H.W. Bush, into the White House.

But the unpopularity and dismal job-approval ratings of his brother may have scuttled any plans Jeb Bush may have had for a future in politics after running one of America's most crucial swing states for the past eight years.

Bush did not elaborate on his terse 'no future' comment. But he has said repeatedly over the past year that he would not run for president in 2008 and has never seemed comfortable with talk about Bush III or the Bush presidential dynasty.

A Very Dangerous New Year!

Can we please do something to stop Preznet Psycho from screwing up another decade for another generation?

Consortiumnews.com:

The first two or three months of 2007 represent a dangerous opening for an escalation of war in the Middle East, as George W. Bush will be tempted to “double-down” his gamble in Iraq by joining with Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair to strike at Syria and Iran, intelligence sources say.The first two or three months of 2007 represent a dangerous opening for an escalation of war in the Middle East, as George W. Bush will be tempted to “double-down” his gamble in Iraq by joining with Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair to strike at Syria and Iran, intelligence sources say.

Bears have stopped hibernating in Spain

Isn't this going cause bears to be very grumpy?

Independent Online Edition > Environment:

Bears have stopped hibernating in the mountains of northern Spain, scientists revealed yesterday, in what may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world.

In a December in which bumblebees, butterflies and even swallows have been on the wing in Britain, European brown bears have been lumbering through the forests of Spain's Cantabrian mountains, when normally they would already be in their long, annual sleep.

Bears are supposed to slumber throughout the winter, slowing their body rhythms to a minimum and drawing on stored resources, because frozen weather makes food too scarce to find. The barely breathing creatures can lose up to 40 per cent of their body weight before warmer springtime weather rouses them back to life.

But many of the 130 bears in Spain's northern cordillera - which have a slightly different genetic identity from bear populations elsewhere in the world - have remained active throughout recent winters, naturalists from Spain's Brown Bear Foundation (La Fundación Oso Pardo - FOP) said yesterday.

Uh OH!

Let it be known. If oil prices soar again, I am going to hurt somebody!

Independent Online Edition > World Politics:

The UN Security Council is poised to order sanctions against Iran today, placing an embargo on sensitive nuclear exports in the international drive to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear bomb. With the diplomatic pressure set to increase after months of negotiations, the US and Britain are moving extra warships and strike aircraft to the Persian Gulf.

Much of the military focus is on countering any attempts by the Iranians to block oil shipments by mining sea lanes in retaliation against a UN resolution which British diplomats hope will be adopted unanimously by the 15-nation security council.

The draft resolution provides for bans on the import and export of material and technology relating to uranium enrichment, reprocessing and heavy-water reactors, as well as ballistic missile systems. It also calls for a travel ban and freezes funds and financial assets owned or controlled by entities or people associated with sensitive areas of Iran's nuclear or missile programme. Eleven organisations and 12 individuals are named as targets of the measures.

The draft text, sponsored by Britain, France and Germany, was expected to be adopted after a final negotiating session last night. It has been negotiated for months with the US, Russia and China, and watered down by the sponsors in hopes of obtaining Russian and Chinese assent.

Peter Michaelson: Singing the Right-Wing Blues | BuzzFlash

Andrew has grown on us,, over here at the Lantern. We kinda like him.

Maybe it is is slight Libertarian leainings.

Maybe it is the fact that he hates idielogy and dogma as much as we do.

Peter Michaelson: Singing the Right-Wing Blues BuzzFlash:

In this season of conviviality and in the spirit of harmony, I picked up a library copy of Andrew Sullivan's book, titled The Conservative Soul: How We Lost it, How to Get it Back (HarperCollins, 2006, 294 pages). Sullivan is an editor at The New Republic as well as a contributor to Time magazine and The Sunday Times of London. His book should provide clues, I thought, to unravel the conservative psyche.

Is Sullivan indeed a soul man who can belt out the Right-Wing Blues? He confesses to having been an insecure, young nerd and a neurotic, fundamentalist Catholic growing up in England. He voted for Bush in 2000, but because of the president's 'nonconservative recklessness' he 'felt forced to back John Kerry' in 2004.

With Recession Looming, Bush Tells America To ‘Go Shopping More’

Bush is having a 9/11 flaskback.

Think Progress » With Recession Looming, Bush Tells America To ‘Go Shopping More’:

Today, President Bush held a news conference where he discussed the “way forward” for the economy in 2007. Renowned Morgan Stanley economist Steven Roach says the the “odds of the U.S. economy tipping into recession are about 40 to 45 per cent.” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman notes that “the odds are very good — maybe 2 to 1,” that the U.S. will teeter toward a recession in 2007. Bush’s solution? “Go shopping more.” Watch it: Today, President Bush held a news conference where he discussed the “way forward” for the economy in 2007. Renowned Morgan Stanley economist Steven Roach says the the “odds of the U.S. economy tipping into recession are about 40 to 45 per cent.” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman notes that “the odds are very good — maybe 2 to 1,” that the U.S. will teeter toward a recession in 2007. Bush’s solution? “Go shopping more.” Watch it: (Link above)

Bush No Longer Listening To Commanders On Troop Levels In Iraq | BuzzFlash

He has only been listening to the voices in hs head for quite some time now.

WTF is wrong with you Dems, that you cannot come to grips with this?

DNC: Bush No Longer Listening To Commanders On Troop Levels In Iraq BuzzFlash:

Washington, DC - After insisting that troop levels in Iraq would be determined by the commanders in the field, President Bush said today during his news conference that the recommendations of his military leaders are just one of many factors that will determine whether he orders an upsurge of thousands more American troops in Iraq. President Bush is reportedly leaning toward a surge, despite reports that the Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously oppose Bush's proposal to send more troops to Iraq without a clear mission, because the White House has been confounded by its limited options in Iraq.

More on Preznit Psycho

Time for an email campaign.

Do something about the mental cases in Washington. All of them!

Columnist Barnicle Joins Scarborough In Expressing Alarm About Bush and Iraq:

NEW YORK MSNBC host, and former GOP congressman, Joe Scarborough, was once a strong supporter of the Iraq and the President, but he has turned harshly critical of both in recent weeks. This may have reached a climax of sorts on Wednesday night, when he welcomed, among others, Boston newspaper columnist Mike Barnicle to talk about the president's latest statements on Iraq, which seemed to suggest that he was no longer listening to his generals (as he once said he always did).

This caused all of the guests, as well as the host, to suggest that Bush may be turning 'delusional,' with Barnicle going so far as stating that perhaps the generals need a new commander-in-chief soon. Scarborough agreed, saying it was 'uncharted territory' and 'very frightening.' Bush, he added, is 'standing alone! He just doesn‘t seem to have any credibility. And this is extraordinarily disturbing to me, as a guy who supported this war and supported this president twice.'

Here are excerpts from the chat, with Barnicle at center stage. (Link Above)