Davis urges Rumsfeld's ouster

Just about everybody agrees that the demento should resign, so what's the big deal. He isn't going to and ush won't fire him, because he knows too much.

Davis urges Rumsfeld's ouster:

HAMPTON -- U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis has joined the growing chorus of those who believe Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should be out of a job.

'I told my husband that when (Sen.) Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) came out and said he should resign, it's probably the only thing in my life I've ever agreed with Hillary Clinton about,' said Davis, R-Gloucester.

Clinton's call came on Aug. 3 after she dressed down Rumsfeld before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

The unusual aspect of Davis' stance is that she is a Republican. In her most public comments on the issue in her district, Davis said she has felt this way about Rumsfeld for awhile.

Five Years After 9/11, Are We Any Safer?

Hell no we aren't any safer. We are less safe., because Bush and the NeoCons didn't keep their eye on the ball and capture bin Laden and his top commanders.

They had to have their dream of attacking Iraq no matter the cost. That cost has been huge, and promises to onl;y get bigger.

Five Years After 9/11, Are We Any Safer? - Newsweek: World News - MSNBC.com:

For the moment, at least, it appears that Osama bin Laden has been thwarted in his relentless desire to stage an even grander spectacular than 9/11. But no one can doubt that he, or his successors and many imitators and acolytes, will try again and keep on trying until they succeed. Their ideology may date from the seventh century, but the jihadists, especially bin Laden's sinister No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are eager to get control of 21st-century weapons of mass destruction. Five years after 9/11, Al Qaeda's top leaders may have been killed, captured or driven into the caves of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but they still exercise a powerful pull. Bush has made a personal mission of bringing democracy to the tortured Middle East, and his policies may one day succeed. But America's sometimes heavy-handed attempt to stomp out the terrorists with military force has reaped a whirlwind of anti-American hatred in the Middle East and turned Iraq into a terrorist training ground.

Kristol: Cheney's Claim That Lamont Win Helps Al-Qaeda Types Is,. Indisputably Correct

I see that the NeoCons all have their talking points down pat. They sound like a buch of parrots on Meth.

Hey Billy-boy; Go to hell!

Think Progress � Kristol: Cheney�s Claim That Lamont Win Helps �Al-Qaeda Types� Is �Indisputably Correct�: "Last week, Vice President Dick Cheney called Ned Lamont's win in the Connecticut primary 'disturbing' because 'the al Qaeda types, they clearly are betting on the proposition that ultimately they can break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task.'
Today on Fox News Sunday, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol called Cheney's remarks 'indisputably correct.'

Kristol said that anyone who advocates redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq is helping al-Qaeda.

Desire is strong in Dems to impeach

If the Democrats don't bellieve in accountability, they will be fried in 2008, and maybe we will finally get a multi-party system.

Desire is strong in Dems to impeach:

Impeachment hearings? Nobody launches 'impeachment hearings.'

Should Democrats reassume control of the House of Representatives this fall, an increasingly likely event, they will not convene hearings focused on the possible impeachment of President Bush. Just ask any Democrat in Washington except the delightfully candid Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., whose lust for impeachment is almost refreshing.

'Impeaching the president is so far-fetched it's ridiculous,' Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told me last week while in Phoenix for Democratic Senate candidate Jim Pederson.

Machete-wielding woman outside White House

I guess someone is really fed up, eh?

CNN.com - Machete-wielding woman�outside White House - Aug 13, 2006:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A 32-year-old woman wielding a machete was arrested Sunday outside the White House, the Secret Service said.

Spokeswoman Kim Bruce said Ashwak Saleh was taken into custody and charged with possession of a prohibited weapon after she displayed a 13-inch machete on the sidewalk outside the White House.

Saleh was arrested at 2:20 p.m. and taken to Washington Metro Police Department 3rd district for processing.
Witnesses said Saleh was sitting on the sidewalk when she pulled the machete out of a leather sleeve and began sharpening it on the edge of the sidewalk.

The witnesses said passersby then alerted Secret Service officers, one of whom approached the woman and told her to 'Drop the blade.'

Sy Hersch on Wolf Blitzer - Encouraging Israel to attack

Is anyone really surprised by this?

Daily Kos: Sy Hersch on Wolf Blitzer - Encouraging Israel to attack: (Read full diary)

U.S. encouraging and abetting Israel.

Sy Hersh is out front again with a soon to be released article about the Israeli/Hezbahlla situation. According to his middleeast experts, Israel had shared plans with this administration to attack prior to July 12.

WaPo confirms US in dark about plot

They were too busy monitoring the Quakers, Code Pink and Lamont supporters.....

Daily Kos: WaPo confirms US in dark about plot:

At the FBI, several hundred agents and analysts had been assigned to the case beginning in late July, yet only a handful knew about the overall plot or other significant details, according to several law enforcement officials. Many knew nothing about the targets they were watching or investigating, officials said.

So the US intelligence apparatus was in the dark about the London plot - which had been on-going for over a year. OR, they knew about it but were not doing anything about it.
This also means the US and Bush can take little to no credit for thwarting this plot.

Only since the end of July did the FBI start to check phone numbers made by these suspected terrorists. And:
The arrests were carried out as Bush was taking a working vacation at his ranch in Texas. Aides said he and Vice President Cheney had been kept closely informed of developments starting Aug. 4, and were regularly briefed in the days leading to the arrests.

Where in Washington, D.C. is Reverend Moon?: Watch George H.W. Bush blow birthday candles for Mrs. Moon

Holy Crap (literally).

Watch the video at linked article.

Where in Washington, D.C. is Reverend Moon?: Watch George H.W. Bush blow birthday candles for Mrs. Moon:

Watch George H.W. Bush blow birthday candles for Mrs. Moon

UN Lebanon Force Could Start Deploying in 7 - 10 Days - New York Times

We'll believe it when we see it. It's hard to trust anyone about anything anymore.

UN Lebanon Force Could Start Deploying in 7 - 10 Days - New York Times:

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United Nations expects Israel's ground offensive to wind down within 48 hours and an expanded international force to begin deploying in southern Lebanon in a week to 10 days, the U.N.'s envoy said on Saturday.

`We are not starting from zero,'' Alvaro de Soto, the U.N. special envoy for the Middle East peace process, said of preparations for an international force.

`We have building blocks in place as part of stand-by arrangements with a number of countries with earmarked contingents,'' he told Reuters.

The resolution approved by the U.N. Security Council on Friday calls for a ``full cessation of hostilities'' and authorizes up to 15,000 U.N. troops to move in to enforce a ceasefire.

The resolution says Hizbollah must halt all attacks and Israel must stop ``all offensive military operations.''
De Soto said Israel's offensive was in its ``last throes'' and should wrap up in one to two days. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has backed the U.N. resolution, plans to put it to a vote of his cabinet on Sunday, officials said.

The 60% of American voters who oppose the war....

...should have their voting rights taken away.

Say What?

David Sirota:

Finally, oh thank God finally, the Washington media elite is making it easy. Usually, D.C.'s professional pundits, pontificators and partisan puppets very carefully package their language to hide their real motives and their real beliefs. But this week following the primary defeat of Sen. Joe Lieberman by first-time candidate Ned Lamont, America is witnessing a good-old-fashioned watershed moment: the perfume is off, the restraint is removed, and the ugly, rancid, sweaty-lockerroom stench of truth is there for all of us commoners to waft. Sniff up, contain your dry heaving, and you will finally understand that all the talk of the Establishment's disdain for ordinary citizens is not just talk or conspiracy theory - it's very real, and very powerful.

Take, for instance, New York Times columnist David Brooks's piece yesterday - it is arguably the most brazen admission of elite disdain for democracy that has ever been printed in a major American newspaper. Before you dismiss that as hyperbole, read the third line of Brooks' piece:

'Polarized primary voters shouldn't be allowed to define the choices in American politics.'

Maybe David Brooks should have his big megaphone taken away, at the very least!

A Boost for Lamont as Democratic Leaders Shift Support

Lieberman should bow out, as it ought to be extremely clear to anyone with more than one neuron firing that the American people are fed up and sick to death of Bush's and Cheney's (NeoCons) failed and extremely dumb policies in the middle east.

They have put Americans in more danger than any of us have been in since the Civil War.

A Boost for Lamont as Democratic Leaders Shift Support:

Democratic Senate nominee Ned Lamont will launch a general election bid in Connecticut next week with an expanded campaign operation of Washington-based reinforcements, in preparation for a bitter brawl with Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman over the Iraq war and national security.

Lamont's upset of the three-term senator and former Democratic vice presidential nominee, who is now running to keep his seat as an independent, has forced a hasty reordering of political alliances, as prominent Democratic leaders and organizations shift their support to Lamont. The political novice is seeking help from party veterans in fundraising and communications, and in answering Lieberman's increasingly aggressive war defense.

What we know / A deadly airline plot and failed Bush policies

Amen, and if there is no change we can count on not having the country in which we grew up.

Editorial: What we know / A deadly airline plot and failed Bush policies:

Till then, however, there are some things we do know.

We know that the war in Iraq is not a 'war on terror.'

We know that the loss of 2,600 good Americans, the injuries of 19,000 others and the wartime expense of $320 billion have been a tragic waste.

We know that because of the cost of Iraq, measures that might truly enhance homeland security, like technology that would spot sinister liquids at airport checkpoints, are hardly affordable.

We know that while the president has cut taxes for the rich, at a time when he says all Americans must do their part, U.S. borders are porous, cargo ships are vulnerable and sophisticated identity scanners remain a fantasy.

Yes, there is much that we don't know. What we do know, based on the foiled plot against U.S.-bound aircraft, is that five years of policies by George W. Bush and the Republicans who control Congress have made the country no more secure and its people no more safe. It is time for a change.

NBC: Disagreement over timing of arrests

Surprise, surprise!

Can the Bushites GET more transparent in their never-ending attempts to scare the public. One of these days this shit is going to backfire big-time.

Maybe this is the time.

NBC: Disagreement over timing of arrests - Lisa Myers & the NBC Investigative Unit - MSNBC.com:

LONDON - NBC News has learned that U.S. and British authorities had a significant disagreement over when to move in on the suspects in the alleged plot to bring down trans-Atlantic airliners bound for the United States.

A senior British official knowledgeable about the case said British police were planning to continue to run surveillance for at least another week to try to obtain more evidence, while American officials pressured them to arrest the suspects sooner. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

In contrast to previous reports, the official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports.

Second 9/11 Attack Likely

What makes ou think that Arabs will be responsible entirely for the coming attack, when they were not responsible for the last one, entirely?

Political Cortex: Second 9/11 Attack Likely:

President Bush's recent actions in the Middle East make it almost a certainty that we will have another 9/11-type attack upon America.

The people of the Arab and Muslim world will not endure our punishment forever. Why is this so difficult for our government to comprehend?

· We supply white phosphorus, bunker buster and cluster bombs for Israel to drop on civilians in Lebanon.

· We insist that the only defenders of Lebanon's borders, the Hezbullah, totally disarm before we approve a UN cease-fire, while allowing Israel to buildup a massive invasion force at this border.
·
We torture and abuse Iraqis and Afghanis in our illegal prisons.
· We level entire cities in Iraq and shoot civilians as they attempt to escape.

· We provide loan guarantees to Israel's illegal settlers in the West Bank.

How can we expect the Arab and Muslim peoples to suffer all this in silence? They do not have the patience of Job.

Brain Food for the Body Politic

The jackasss in the halls of power in D.C (and other countries) are simply evil. They are neither conservative nor liberal, progressive nor libertarian.

They are the greatest danger the modern world has ever faced.

Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic:

We've all seen it. That smug little smirk on the face of Donald Rumsfeld as he addresses lesser mortals. That irritating two beat giggle that terminates a Bush sentence. That endless grin of Alberto Gonzales as he lies over and over. That look of air-headed superiority is the natural face of Conservatism -- the face that says they're right, you're wrong, and facts aren't even an issue.

If there's anything that conservatives are sure about it's, well, everything. They've been convinced for decades that they were the bearers of the secret flame, the guardians of truth, the holders of all the cards.

So what do you think will happen now that every single thing they've done has ended in utter disaster? Do you think they'll start to doubt themselves?

Buddy, you never met a conservative.

101 uses of chaos

As we have said, probably, a hundred times before, the Bushites love nothing better than chaos.

WorkingForChange-Tomgram: 101 uses of chaos:

Yesterday, the Israeli security cabinet authorized an expansion of the ground war in Lebanon (while its military suffered 15 dead and 25 wounded, the highest battlefield casualty rate thus far); Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened to 'transform our land in the south [of Lebanon] to a graveyard for Zionist invaders' and called on Haifa's Arab residents to evacuate that city; Israeli planes bombed bridges and dropped leaflets warning that 'any vehicle on the roads south of the Litani River' might be destroyed, while Hezbollah rained 100 or more Katyusha rockets on northern Israel.

In Iraq, the Baghdad morgue released a staggering death toll for the month of July -- 1,815 bodies received (as many as 90% having died violently). As 'a new high,' this was an ominous sign of the spiraling civil war in the Iraqi capital, while in al-Anbar Province, heart of the Sunni insurgency, three more U.S. soldiers died and two Black Hawk helicopter crewmen were missing and possibly dead.

2 brothers emerge as focus of plot probe - Yahoo! News

If the money trail leads to Bush family friends in Saudi Arabia, we won't hear anymore about this.

We can count on that!

2 brothers emerge as focus of plot probe - Yahoo! News:

LONDON - Brothers arrested in Pakistan and England emerged Saturday as key figures in a suspected plot to destroy U.S.-bound aircraft during flight, while prominent Muslims in Britain accused the government of encouraging extremism through its foreign policy.

Pakistani intelligence agents were questioning at least 17 people, including British nationals, officials said. British police released one suspect Friday night but were continuing to question 23 others suspected of involvement to bring down as many as 10 airliners with innocent-looking liquid explosives.

A senior Pakistani security official said the arrest of Rashid Rauf, a British citizen, was followed within days by a telephone call from someone in Pakistan urging the British plotters to execute their plan.

'This telephone call intercept in Karachi and the arrest of Rashid Rauf helped a lot to foil the terror plan,' said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Arrogance, ignorance invite disaster

Greeley nails it, as usual.

Arrogance, ignorance invite disaster:

In the years to come people will ask why did they do it? They had been warned about what would happen and they went ahead anyway. The Congress and the media did not protest. Were they out of their minds?

The answer, I suspect, is yes, we all were out of our minds. Osama bin Laden in his wildest dreams could not have imagined that the United States would have responded to the World Trade Center attack with such madness. Ricks, the Washington Post's Pentagon reporter, points out that the columnists and editorial writers at his paper and the New York Times supported the war at the beginning.

Why the hell did we invade iraq?

Possible to make terrorism mre of a problem than ever?

Because that is exactly what it has done.

Sound off: Where the views and opinions of our staff and others are expressed on various topics that relate to Bush:

Why did we invade Iraq? Why is Joe Lieberman running AGAIN as an Independent in defiance of the voters of Connecticut and the Democratic Party?

A similar pattern of lies, shifting rationales, and outright fraud constructed around an egocentric personality.

If terrorism doesn't scare you, maybe Bush will

Actually, we all have a better chance of winning the lottery, than being killed by terrorist.

Bush is much scarier.

If terrorism doesn't scare you, maybe Bush will | Chicago Tribune:

Scared yet? Well, you may be soon.

What we almost certainly will see in aftermath of the alleged plot to blow up several planes en route to the U.S. is a thunderous response from President Bush and other Republican leaders.

With the midterm elections less than three months away, they will attempt to scare Americans into re-electing Republicans or risk facing instant annihilation at the hands of an evil and murderous enemy.

Choose us and live. Choose them and die. Your call.

Nice way to end the summer, isn't it?

Believe it or not, Thursday was actually a good day. Everybody in his or her right mind knows there are always terrorists plotting to attack the U.S., so it didn't bother me that some people were discovered to be doing just that.

What made it a good day was that at least one government, even if it was the British government, knew how to foil a massive terrorist plot.

But back to the fear. President Bush gave a brief speech Thursday on an airport tarmac in Green Bay. In the speech he brought up 9/11, which, of course, for him, is a synonym for fear.

Then he moved on to the real point he was trying to make, which is some people (read: Democrats) think the world is made up of sugar and spice and everything nice.

Feingold Is Adament on Censure

Censure, my ass.

How about impeachment and trials for war crimes?

Spooner Advocate - Spooner, Wisconsin:

Democrat Wisconsin U.S. Senator Russ Feingold was adamant, during a listening session held Monday afternoon in Spooner, that President George Bush should be officially censured for historical purposes for authorizing, what he called, “illegal wiretaps.”

Feingold had sponsored a bill in spring 2006 to censure the President for authorizing wiretaps of those suspected of receiving calls from overseas terrorists. Feingold’s bill died with very little support, notably from his own party.

In Spooner, Feingold made the comments on censuring the President when asked about the Supreme Court decision giving legal status to detainees at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, persons the Administration claimed did not deserve protection under the Geneva Convention.

Confessions of a Former Dittohead

This should give is a little hope, I guess.

This book can be ordered through Buzzflash.

Confessions of a Former Dittohead (Paperback):

Can a Dittohead see the light?

Everyone knows a dittohead. In addition to being devoted listeners of Rush Limbaugh, they're also loud, judgmental, and sure they're always right. One of the most common phrases you'll hear them use is 'if you only understood politics you'd be a Republican.' And from abortion to gay marriage to national defense to fiscal policy, Rush tells them how it only works the Republican way.

Originally a diary on the popular website Daily Kos, Confessions of a Former Dittohead is a unique personal and political memoir that follows red-stater and social conservative Jim Derych on a unique journey from right to left.

Now our soldiers are raiding funerals, in Iraq

My God, if this war gets any more barbaric, I don't think I can stand it.

Bomb kills 2 U.S. soldiers in Baghdad - Yahoo! News:

Two U.S soldiers were killed Saturday when their foot patrol was hit by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the military said. The deaths brought to 23 the number of Americans killed in
Iraq this month.

At least 2,600 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The names of the soldiers were not released and no further details were given.

Also Saturday, the U.S. military said soldiers had raided a funeral and detained 60 men suspected of ties to al-Qaida car bombings.
It was the first announcement of a major roundup of suspected insurgents since troop reinforcements began arriving for a new crackdown in Baghdad.

Fewer reporters traveling with president

Ground Air Force One and Two, except for official government business.

With the U.S. economic conditions as they are, we can ill afford for the two biggest jackasses in America to free-load off of the taxpayers.

The Seattle Times: Politics: Fewer reporters traveling with president:

GREEN BAY, Wis. — On one of the scariest days yet in the five-year war with terrorists, President Bush prepared to address the nation to reassure the American people. But the White House press corps was 1,000 miles away in Texas.

Bush had left his ranch vacation and jetted north for a previously scheduled closed-door fundraiser. No press plane accompanied him. And so when news broke Thursday that Britain had foiled a major terrorist plot, the only ones there to convey the president's reaction were some local reporters and a few pool journalists who ride in the back of Air Force One.

The idea that Bush could travel across the country without a full contingent of reporters, especially in the middle of a war, highlights a major cultural shift in the presidency and the news media.

In the four-plus decades since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, presidents traditionally have taken journalists with them wherever they traveled on the theory that when it comes to the most powerful leader on the planet, anything can happen at any time.

But increasingly in recent months, Bush has left town without a chartered press plane, often to receptions where he talks to donors chipping in hundreds of thousands of dollars, with no cameras or tapes to record his words for the public.

Former staffers open up on chaos of campaign

Sounds like rapid-cycling Bi-polar Disorder.

Someone, get her to a psychiatrist, quick!

Whatever, do not let her anywhere near the halls of power. We have to many psychos there as it is.

State: Former staffers open up on chaos of campaign:

The smallest things would set her off.

Buying the wrong candy for her to toss at parades. Photographing her vertically instead of horizontally. Failing to bring her favorite Starbucks beverage extra hot venti triple latte, no fat, no foam, one Sweet'n Low.

One minute, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris would lavish campaign staffers with praise and hugs. The next she would lose her temper, screaming 'stupid' or 'idiot' at a startled employee.

'You never know what you are going to get,' said Mike Miller, who left in February after serving eight months as her finance director. 'Some days, it would be great. Other days, it would be 'Oh my God.'

Protest to Encircle White House

Wish we had known about this sooner!

We will be with you in spirit.......

Protest to Encircle White House:

The nation's capital is becoming a stage where passions on both sides of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict are being played out with a series of protests, vigils and rallies in Washington in recent weeks, with more to come.

The largest demonstration -- billed as a protest of the 'U.S.-Israeli war' -- is expected to draw 'tens of thousands' of people who plan to surround the White House tomorrow, said Tony Kutayli, communications coordinator for the Washington-based American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, one of the groups helping coordinate participants arriving from across the country.

In the last few weeks, the National Park Service has issued several permits for demonstrations tied to the conflict, said spokesman Bill Line.

This month, groups of women dressed in somber black slowly circled in front of the White House holding candles in a silent tribute to those killed in Lebanon. Across the region, groups have held small meetings to raise almost $7 million in aid for those killed and injured in Israel.

'Somehow, the story of what is really going on is being lost,' said Misha Galperin, executive vice president and chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. 'We need to try and counter that to the extent possible, to demonstrate our support.'

Bush Back down to 33% Approval

I would say that unless the GOP has major election theft plans, they are in very deep do-do

Crooks and Liars:

The most interesting part of this poll is this:

More sobering for the GOP are the number of voters who backed Bush in 2004 who are ready to vote Democratic in the fall’s congressional elections - 19 percent. These one-time Bush voters are more likely to be female, self-described moderates, low- to middle-income and from the Northeast and Midwest.

Two years after giving the Republican president another term, more than half of these voters - 57 percent - disapprove of the job Bush is doing.

Bush wants to 'stay the course' while America wants to change the course - both in Iraq and at home. True the talking heads will quickly dismiss this by saying 'look at how much money he brings in on the campaign trail'. Just remember this - people still paid to see Nixon even after he resigned in disgrace.

9/11 Commissioner: Terror Plot Shows Danger of Putting ‘All Our Intelligence and Military Resources in Iraq’

The Bush administration is a freakin' disaster on securing America.

Oh and by the way, The Bushites are not interested in capturing Osama.

How could they play Osama-in-the-box with Americans if he was dead or behind bars?

Think Progress » 9/11 Commissioner: Terror Plot Shows Danger of Putting ‘All Our Intelligence and Military Resources in Iraq’:

This morning on CNN, former 9/11 commissioner Tim Roemer argued that the recent terror plot in Britain illustrated why we need to direct resources from Iraq to the global terrorist threat. Roemer said, “It’s very important that we don’t put all our intelligence and military resources in Iraq and take our eye off the ball in other places in the world.”

He also emphasized that “it’s very important that we capture Osama Bin Laden” because Bin Laden is producing “CNN quality tapes” and “communicating with hundreds of millions of potential jihadist and trying to get them to sign up.” Watch it: ^

A convenient threat

Of course, we now know that Bush and Cheney knew about the "plot" on Sunday before the CT Primary

A convenient threat - The Boston Globe:

DICK CHENEY was certainly farsighted when he declared Wednesday that Ned Lamont's victory over Joe Lieberman would comfort ``Al Qaeda types.'

Voila! Only a day later, Al Qaeda was revealed as plotting to bring down 10 planes!

I thought that was a nice parody line -- until I picked up yesterday's Wall Street Journal. There, editorial page writer Daniel Henninger, in a column headed, ``Democrats Knifed Lieberman on Eve of Airliner Plot,' goes beyond parody.

Henninger writes, ``[G]etting on a US airliner, who would you rather have in the Senate formulating policy towards this threat -- Ned Lamont or Joe Lieberman?'

GOP candidates fret over increasing opposition to Bush

People need to be reminded, daily, that it has been the GOP cover-up congress that has allowed Bush and Cheney to get away with murder, by refusing to do their constituional jobs of oversight.

GOP candidates fret over increasing opposition to Bush | Gainesville.com | The Gainesville Sun | Gainesville, Fla.:

WASHINGTON - Republicans determined to win in November are up against a troublesome trend - growing opposition to President Bush.

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted this week found the president's approval rating has dropped to 33 percent, matching his low in May. His handling of nearly every issue, from the Iraq war to foreign policy, contributed to the president's decline around the nation, even in the Republican-friendly South.

More sobering for the GOP are the number of voters who backed Bush in 2004 who are ready to vote Democratic in the fall's congressional elections - 19 percent. These one-time Bush voters are more likely to be female, self-described moderates, low- to middle-income and from the Northeast and Midwest.

Two years after giving the Republican president another term, more than half of these voters - 57 percent - disapprove of the job Bush is doing.

Deceit Beyond Bounds

The GOP should be outlawed as the lying authoritarians that they are.!

tbe Progressive American:

It sure looks like American voters want change. And here's an example of the kind of thing they want a change from.

In a move that was typically and patently deceitful, Republicans in Congress tried to pass a minimum wage measure last week in which the biggest winners would have been some of the wealthiest people in America.

The G.O.P. has tended to fight minimum wage hikes the way the Hatfields battled the McCoys. But suddenly this summer, Republicans discovered minimum wage legislation that they could truly love. G.O.P. leaders in Congress linked a modest increase in the minimum wage to a whopping decrease in the estate tax. The cut in the estate tax would have cost the government at least $268 billion in revenue over the next decade, and probably a lot more.

In exchange for this estate tax bonanza for the fabulously wealthy, the G.O.P. was willing to approve a $2.10-an-hour increase, stretched over three years, in the miserly $5.15-an-hour minimum wage. It was made clear that any Democrats who dared oppose this raid on the Treasury would be targeted by Republicans as obstructionists blocking a sorely needed wage hike for the lowest-paid workers in the nation.

Focused on 9/11, U.S. Is Seen to Lag on New Threats

Again, we cannot help but wonder if they aren't hoping for anoher attack. They seem to be doing little to nothing to prevent one.

Focused on 9/11, U.S. Is Seen to Lag on New Threats - New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 — The Department of Homeland Security has taken significant steps since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to make it much harder to turn a plane into a flying weapon. But a nearly obsessive focus on the previous attacks may have prevented the federal government from combating new threats effectively, terrorism experts and former agency officials say.

The arrests overseas this week of people accused of planning to use an explosive that would be undetectable at airports illustrates the significant security gaps, they said.

While the department has hardened cockpit doors and set up screening for guns and knives, it has done far too little to protect against plastic and liquid explosives, bombs in air cargo and shoulder-fired missiles, the experts say.

The nation is still at risk from the same “failure of imagination” cited by the 9/11 commission as having contributed to the success of the 2001 attack, several argued.

“They are reactive, not proactive,” said Randall J. Larsen, a retired colonel in the Air Force who is chairman of the military strategy department at the National War College in Washington.

Bush Officials Admit Playing Little Role In Foiling British Terror Plot

We knew that, already.

NSA spying and all the rest of the constitution shredding policies opf the F-up adminisrtaion had nothing to do with the foiling of the London plot.

Think Progress » Bush Officials Admit Playing Little Role In Foiling British Terror Plot:

Conservatives have “seized on the arrests of terrorism suspects in Britain yesterday to bolster a White House campaign to turn national security issues to their advantage.”

But as White House officials have admitted — and news reports have verified — the Bush administration apparently had little to do with foiling the potential “second September 11.

Cheney accused of politicizing terrorism - Yahoo! News

What the hell does he think 9/11 was? They have done nothing but play fear-politics ever since.

Cheney accused of politicizing terrorism - Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON - Senate Democratic leaders on Friday accused Vice President Dick Cheney of playing politics with terrorism and contended that voters won't buy Republican arguments that the GOP is stronger on national security.

'They've run this play one too many times,' Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a conference call with reporters. 'The American people simply do not recognize any validity in what they're saying.'

Republicans, in turn, accused Democrats of political posturing.

'It sounds to me like Senator Reid is trying to accuse us of politicizing while he, himself, is politicizing the issue,' said White House press secretary Tony Snow. 'The comments that this administration has been making, including me, have been aimed at simply trying to get people to think seriously about, How do you achieve the goal of winning the war on terror? When you're in a war, the goal should not be how to get out. It should be how to win and then to get out.'

Busheviks Wanted to Cut Money to Protect Us from Liquid Explosives! | BuzzFlash

Sounds like the Bushites are once again hoping a terrorist event happens.

Busheviks Wanted to Cut Money to Protect Us from Liquid Explosives! | BuzzFlash:

As we've said before, when it comes to using fear to achieve political ends and consolidate power, the Bush Administration makes us feel like it's Groundhog Day everyday when they need some tyrannical law passed or election season is approaching.

So, in today's BuzzFlash stories, we have a number of examples of their latest efforts that are really from the same page of the same playbook that they have been using since 9/11: make the population fearful, make them think that only the Busheviks can save them, and then grab as much UnConstitutional power as Cheney and Bush can and use fear to preserve a one-party state (you know, Soviet-style.)

In Saturday's headline line-up alone, you will see that the Bush Administration wants to use the latest alleged terror threat to:

-- achieve their UnConstitutional goals for Kafkaesque Gitmo trials that the Supreme ruled against the law.

-- make their illegal NSA spying and data mining on American citizens legal (shades of the East German Stasi secret police).

N.H. GOP in hot water

Put their sorry asses in jail.

TPMmuckraker August 10, 2006 02:45 PM:

As part of their ongoing law suit against the New Hampshire Republicans regarding the jamming of Democratic phone banks on Election Day, 2002, the Democrats alleged a 'deliberate cover up' by the GOP in a filing earlier this week. Notes from FBI interviews indicate that that a number of senior officials with the New Hampshire Republican State Committee [NHRSC] knew of the jamming and consciously covered it up, they say.

The FBI's 2003 interview with NHRSC Executive Director Chuck McGee is especially revealing in this regard [we've posted it here]. McGee, who has said he originally hatched the plan to jam Democrat's phones, told the FBI that he'd discussed the jamming before Election Day with the NHRSC's Chair, the Vice Chair, Finance Director, and four other senior level Republican staffers in the state. McGee pled guilty for his role in the jamming and has already served his time.

Jim Webb Slams George Allen on Iraq, "War on Terror"

Way to go, Jim. Give 'em hell!

Daily Kos: Jim Webb Slams George Allen on Iraq, "War on Terror":

From the Webb campaign...Jim Webb goes after George Allen for his 'blind support of the Bush Administration's failed strategy in Iraq.' (bolding added for emphasis)

'The news of a terror plot uncovered and foiled in England today highlights the continuing need to stay committed and strong in our fight against global terrorism. This fight cannot be won by simple intimidation. America must continue to make funding and executing the war on terror a priority. British authorities should be commended for their excellent work in foiling this terrorist plot.

Joe Conason: War Critics Are Mainstream, Not Fringe

The GOP appears more desperate with every day that passes.

Truthdig - Reports - Joe Conason: War Critics Are Mainstream, Not Fringe:

As Connecticut Democrats went to their polling places to choose a Senate nominee, waves of rhetorical hysteria burst forth from the mouths of excitable conservatives. At stake in the primary was not only the fate of a single politician but the 'soul of the Democratic Party' and perhaps even the fate of the West.

Old terms like 'appeasement' and 'Stalinist' have been brandished to insinuate that anyone who dares to dissent from the failed policies adopted by Joe Lieberman and the Bush administration is at best a fool and at worst a traitor.
Such overwrought commentary, often phrased in terms of deep concern for the future of the party of FDR, JFK and Harry S. Truman, usually emanates from commentators whose political objective is continued Republican domination of all branches of government. Democrats should reject this propaganda barrage, which reveals an extraordinary capacity for self-deception on the right.

Sore losers

Amen!

Sore losers Salon:

Connecticut voters did what they felt was best for the country -- and should ignore the right-wing scolds who support Bush's failed policies.

Iraq Is Dying

I strongly suspect that that was the plan, from the very beginning.

Iraq Is Dying:

The possibility of saving Iraq as a viable Arab nation is in question, even if American public opinion forces the withdrawal of US troops. For some American hawks, a dismembered Iraq may not be ideal but would no longer be a strategic threat.

Those were the morbid impressions I formed after two days of discussions with Iraqis gathered in Amman, Jordan, at an unprecedented meeting initiated by Code Pink and attended by Cindy Sheehan and a smattering of peace activists that included Iraq Veterans Against the War and United for Peace and Justice.

Sheehan Taken To Emergency Room

Cindy, stop the fast!

Junior and the Dick don't give a damn if you die,

We do! Get well. We need you.

KWTX Sheehan Taken To Emergency Room:

"August 11, 2006) -Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was being treated Friday evening in the emergency room of Providence Health Center in Waco.

Sheehan, who has been on a liquids-only diet for 37 days as part of a fast in protest of the war, was described as being gaunt and pale as she arrived at the hospital.

An assistant said Sheehan, who flew to Central Texas after a trip with other activists to Jordan to meet with members of Iraq's new parliament, was being treated for exhaustion.

Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son Casey died in Iraq in 2004 while serving with Fort Hood's 1st Cavalry Division, returned to Central Texas last week, after purchasing a 5-acre tract in the Crawford area.

She again took up her vigil in the area of the president's Central Texas ranch, where afternoon temperatures have been at or above the century mark.

Israeli PM Has Accepted Cease-Fire Deal

Now, who's going to clean up the mess?

ABC News: Israeli PM Has Accepted Cease-Fire Deal:

JERUSALEM Aug 11, 2006 (AP)- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has accepted an emerging Mideast cease-fire deal and informed the United States of his decision, Israeli officials said Friday.

Olmert will recommend that his government approve the deal in its meeting on Sunday, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief journalists on the internal discussions.

It was not immediately clear whether Israel's expanded ground offensive would be frozen. Defense officials said it appeared the campaign would be halted.

Beyond Chutzpah: Cheney Implies Terrorists Are Happy Lieberman Lost | The Huffington Post

I doubt seriously that Osama even knows who Lieberman is, let alone Lamont. But he would be very unwise to think that an anti-war cnadidate would be soft of terrorism. One has nothing to do woith the other, except in Cheney's twisted little mind.

Look how much mover has been flushed down the toilet in Iraq that coul d havebeen used to make us safer at home and less dependent on foreign oil.

The Blog Arianna Huffington: Beyond Chutzpah: Cheney Implies Terrorists Are Happy Lieberman Lost The Huffington Post

Clinton Denounces Cheney for Terrorism Comments

Bravo!

WNYC - News - Clinton Denounces Cheney for Terrorism Comments:

NEW YORK, NY August 11, 2006 - Senator Hillary Clinton has denounced Vice President Dick Cheney for saying terrorists would be emboldened by the results of Connecticut's Democratic Primary.

REPORTER: That's where an anti-war candidate defeated Senator Joe Lieberman.

CLINTON: I don't take anything he says seriously anymore. I think that he has been a very counterproductive even destructive force in our country and I am very disheartened by the failure of leadership from the president and vice president.

REPORTER: During a campaign stop in the Bronx yesterday, Clinton accused the administration of shortchanging New York of its homeland security money.
A spokeswoman for the vice president said his comments on the importance of a strong national security strategy 'speak for themselves.

It Is Not Certain that Americabs can change.

Will they get it, or will there be a revolution this country.

To hell with the rest of the world, We have lost all credibility and can no longer help any one else.

We have no moral authority left, thanks to Bush and Cheney.

We cannot help anyone else until we an help ouselves.

tbe Progressive American:

It sure looks like American voters want change. And here's an example of the kind of thing they want a change from.
In a move that was typically and patently deceitful, Republicans in Congress tried to pass a minimum wage measure last week in which the biggest winners would have been some of the wealthiest people in America.

The G.O.P. has tended to fight minimum wage hikes the way the Hatfields battled the McCoys. But suddenly this summer, Republicans discovered minimum wage legislation that they could truly love. G.O.P. leaders in Congress linked a modest increase in the minimum wage to a whopping decrease in the estate tax. The cut in the estate tax would have cost the government at least $268 billion in revenue over the next decade, and probably a lot more.

In exchange for this estate tax bonanza for the fabulously wealthy, the G.O.P. was willing to approve a $2.10-an-hour increase, stretched over three years, in the miserly $5.15-an-hour minimum wage. It was made clear that any Democrats who dared oppose this raid on the Treasury would be targeted by Republicans as obstructionists blocking a sorely

Israel Must Be Held Accountable For Its International Law Violations

if not now, when?

Maybe , when they and the NeoCons have destroyed the world?

Israel Must Be Held Accountable For Its International Law Violations:

Israel Must Be Held Accountable For Its International Law Violations

On June 25, the Palestinians responded to continued, unrelenting and unjustifiable Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attacks against them by striking at an Israeli military post near Kerem Shalom crossing, southeast of Rafah, killing two IDF soldiers, injuring several others, and capturing (not 'kidnapping) a third. It set off a swift and deadly IDF response of daily killings and mass destruction in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)against defenseless Palestinians helpless in the face of the relentless IDF onslaught.

Events since escalated into a mass conflagration when Hezbollah resistance fighters captured (again, not 'kidnapped') two IDF soldiers who apparently illegally crossed the UN-monitored 'blue line' into Lebanon as they've routinely done almost daily after withdrawing from the country in May, 2000. Again the IDF responded with overwhelming force by air and with a ground invasion in the south causing vast destruction over a wide area throughout the country including in Beirut, Tyre and Sidon (Lebanon's three largest cities) and now extending to the north in Christian areas and up to the Syria-Lebanon border.

Smiling Buddha

Great article about what is really going own, behind the scenes.

Litsen up or don't, at your own peril.

Smiling Buddha:

'Everyone in Utah can tell you a story - or take you to a cemetery and show you where loved ones are buried . . .'

Alyson Heyrend, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, was talking about the experience of being a 'downwinder,' and she could have been speaking for residents of Nevada, Idaho, Montana and other places as well, where large segments of the population were exposed to fallout from U.S. nuclear testing over the years; suffered dire health consequences and the premture deaths of loved ones despite glib assurances from the government that they were in no danger; who have finally cried, loudly enough to disrupt, at least temporily, the government's oblivious, WMD-smitten agenda, 'No more!'

'We have stood down the experiment site and the workforce that was preparing the site for the experiment,' read the dry, tersely worded statement issued by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency last week, referring to the 'subnuclear' blast known as Divine Strake, initially slated to go off in early June at the Nevada Test Site and twice-postponed because of local uproar and environmental challenges.

Divine Strake would have ignited 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, sending up a 10,000-foot mushroom cloud, possibly stirring up radioactive dust at the Test Site and spewing an array of pollutants into the atmosphere: 'two tons of cyanide compounds, 25 tons of particulates, a ton of hexachloroethane, a ton each of tetrachloroethylene and tetrachloromethane, a ton and a half of phosgene, nearly a ton of sulfur dioxide, more than 31 tons of carbon monoxide, seven tons of nitrogen oxides, nearly two tons of chloroform, and many other noxious compounds,' according to environmental writer Valerie Brown, in an article published recently in the St. George.

Big Katrina Contractors Win More FEMA Work

Surprise, surprise!

Big Katrina Contractors Win More FEMA Work:

The four giant construction firms that received controversial no-bid contracts to house Hurricane Katrina evacuees last September will be earning up to $250 million apiece to do similar work after future disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said yesterday.

Unlike the Katrina deals, the contracts announced yesterday were awarded after a bidding process. But most of them went to the same four firms: Bechtel Corp., CH2M Hill Cos., Fluor Corp. and Shaw Group Inc. Two new consortia of companies were also chosen for a share of the work. Together, the six winners will receive up to $1.5 billion for hauling and installing temporary trailers to house evacuees during future emergencies.

Bin Laaen and Buh, sitting in a tree.....

Jeebus, why don't the American peope see this?

Consortiumnews.com:

As Americans suffer through another terrorism scare and George W. Bush talks tough about a long war against 'Islamic fascists,' it bears remembering that top CIA analysts concluded that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden released a videotape right before Election 2004 to help Bush win a second term.

Many liberals and Democrats have focused on allegations of Republican voter suppression and vote tampering, especially in the swing state of Ohio. But polls suggest that a more decisive factor in Bush's narrow victory in 2004 was the reaction of the American people to bin Laden's last-minute tirade against Bush.

On Oct. 29, 2004, the Friday before Election 2004, bin Laden broke nearly a year of silence and took the risk of releasing a videotape that denounced Bush and was immediately spun by Bush's supporters as bin Laden's 'endorsement' of Democratic Sen. John Kerry.

Psychologists adopt anti-torture policy

Yes, we do!

It is amazing that we have to.

Psychologists adopt anti-torture policy - Yahoo! News:

NEW ORLEANS - The American Psychological Association took a stand against torture Thursday but kept an existing policy saying that it's ethical for psychologists to assist in military interrogations.

Critics said the new policy, adopted at the group's convention, does not go far enough to keep its members from becoming embroiled in practices that could violate the principles of human rights.

'The ultimate question is, should psychologists participate in national security interrogations, and the answer is no,' said Leonard Rubenstein, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights. 'It's a question that other medical groups have addressed and the APA has not.'

The APA adopted as policy long-standing international human rights standards for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.
'
The Association unequivocally condemns any involvement by psychologists in torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This APA policy applies to all psychologists in all settings,' a statement released by the organization said.

The Rude Pundit

As always with the Rude One, no comment neccesary

The Rude Pundit:

Pro-War Politicians Have Written a Check Their Asses Can't Cash, Part 3 - Wherein We Witness the Implosion of the Right Wing:
Pro-war conservatives have become the guys with tiny dicks who feel the need to compensate in some other way. You know the type: generally, you will know them by their accessories - the black Hummer, the diamond-studded grill, the big wad of cash. Anything shiny or expensive to take the focus off their shame over their wee peckers. It's a pretty damn strong rule: the bigger the bling, the smaller the cock. If you happen to pick up someone at the bar, well, the truth will be revealed soon enough. (And do not worry, dear small-phallused readers; this is only a condemnation of those who try to hide the truth.)

If the volume and viciousness of attacks by the right over Joe Lieberman's public de-pantsing in Connecticut, the cock of crazed conservativism is actually withdrawing into its torso.

The Prog"Hey, Rummy, Go ''F'' Yourself"

No comment needed

The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Hey, Rummy, Go ''F'' Yourself":

The Bush administration's arrogance knows no bounds! Dick Cheney has taken it upon his Vietnam draft-dodging macho-self to out an undercover CIA agent, Valerie Plame, because her husband dared tell the truth about lies leading to the Iraq War; George W. Bush whose only real talent is making a mess of everything he touches has declared himself Emperor of America and, too, exempted himself from more than 750 laws, shredded the entire Constitution, and committed several war-crimes. Then, of course, there is Donald Rumsfeld.

It seems rather fitting that on the day it was learned Rummy's Pentagon likely deceived the 9/11 Commission, he decided himself to be too busy to be bothered with testifying before the Senate. That's right, Don Rumsfeld was just too busy to be bothered with explaining exactly why and how it is that Iraq has gone from bad to worse. Donald Rumsfeld just couldn't muster up the time to justify why so many American soldiers and in excess of 6,000 Iraqi citizens, in the last two months alone, have had to be slaughtered in Iraq. Sorry, too damned busy! Maybe next time 'round.

The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Dying for Big Oil"

They can be brought down too.

The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Dying for Big Oil":

Collectively big oil has posted a second-quarter profit of $30 billion. Most people think the reason for big oil's grotesque profit surge is that they are bending the American consumer over at the pump, and not even bothering to give the people a smooch when they're done. Greed is greed, but there is more to the profit story than most Americans care to realize.

The biggest reason for big oil's obscene profit surge is war. While Bush and Republicans steal freedoms from the American people, if any American parent continues to believe their son or daughter is dying in Iraq because of some absurd notion of 'spreading freedom' in the Middle East, that parent or parents are sadly mistaken! Their son or daughter is dying in Iraq for oil profits.

'Liberal whack-job', you say, 'Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and the Democratic Leadership Council warned me about people like you.'

Fair enough. Everyone is entitled to their opinion; however, neither propaganda nor absurd nationalistic delusions will change this reality: The war in Iraq and now, too, the instability created by Israel's fight with Hezbollah threatens to, thanks to Bush's refusal to seek a ceasefire, completely destabilize the entire Middle East and are the engines driving oil over $70 a barrel. And it is the uncertainty created by war(s) more than anything that has been generating big oil's absurd profits.

The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Newt Gingrich Considers Political Opposition, American Citizens, to be an ''Insurgency''"

...and we consider him to be a fucking Nazi.

So, Newt, bring it on, you SOB and may the best people win!

The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Newt Gingrich Considers Political Opposition, American Citizens, to be an ''Insurgency''":

Some have expressed concern over Newt Gingrich's use of the term 'insurgency', while referring to Ned Lamont supporters in Connecticut. From a personal perspective, Gingrich was correct in obliquely referring to America's blogosphere and directly Lamont supporters, as being an 'insurgency'. Gingrich, of course, meant the term to be derogatory and a means of linking those that oppose Bush's war follies with terrorists. Still, Crazy Newt the serial divorcer was correct in more ways than he fully understands and, too, revealed the Neo-Conservative agenda in a clear and yet, unintended way.

That Gingrich would openly refer to those who oppose Bush-Republican Neo-Conservative madness as being an 'insurgency' is, in a very real sense, the first public admission that the Bush regime and Republicans are at war with the American people. It is a blatant confession of the ultimate Neo-Conservative agenda, i.e. a deliberate and swift movement toward a very real Executive dictatorship wherein those who dissent or disagree are 'the enemy' or members of an 'insurgency'. Gingrich's use of the term 'insurgency' when referring to fellow Americans reveals in no uncertain terms the reality that the Neo-Cons recognize a movement forming that consists of the American people and that is designed to directly challenge their drive toward a nationalist imperialistic dictatorship.

"The Neo-Conservative Menace"

We say, let's take 'em down, all the way, whatever it takes!

The Progressive Daily Beacon: "The Neo-Conservative Menace": "Leo Strauss is the father of Neo-Conservative ideology and chief among his many stygian theories, was the idea that only through constant and everlasting struggle and conflict can common people be controlled. As a Jew who lived through Hitler's time, Strauss' philosophy was largely influenced by the holocaust.

In a nutshell, Strauss viewed Hitler's rise as not having resulted from Germany's post-WWI socio-economic predicament -- the view held by most experts and historians -- but rather as the result of Europe's evolution towards liberalized labor laws, social programs, and the ignorant masses being allowed to elect leaders of their choosing. Strauss believed liberal government policies were providing the masses with rights, power, and leisure that their simple minds neither deserved, nor were capable of responsibly wielding. Invariably, according to Strauss and Neo-Cons, the devolved masses give rise to Hitler-like evil.

"Neo-Con Madmen Strike Again

Didn't work for me. I'm not scared, are you?

The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Neo-Con Madmen Strike Again - The London Fear Frenzy":

The Neo-Cons strike again! Unabashed in their fascist-like lust for power the Bush administration began on Wednesday, an all out assault on the Democratic Party's patriotism and willingness to defend the American people from terrorists. Nothing new there! Questioning their political 'enemy's' love of country is after all, what Republicans do best. This time; however, the Neo-Con madmen had an ace-in-the-hole: Tony Blair had made them privy to a soon-to-be announced terrorist plot. And Bush, Rove, and Republicans used that information -- while simultaneously concealing it from Democrats and the nation -- as the basis for their dastardly attack on the Democratic Party's commitment to protecting the country's citizens. Democrats, according to Bush and Republicans, like to see America's women and children slaughtered...that is how they get their kicks.

Well before Wednesday the administration was aware of Britain's plans to launch a raid against a possible terror plot. In an unusual move, Cheney, while vacationing at his Wyoming Ranch, had arranged a phone conference with reporters. This was something the Vice President was loathe to do during the Katrina massacre, but quick to do in order to gain possible political traction by attacking Democrats' love of country and, too, to seize an opportunity to instill a little fear in the American electorate. Everyone knows nothing works better for Republicans during an election year than baseless attacks upon Democrats' patriotism and scaring the people.

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: Clarke: Why is Al Qaeda still active?

Nigga, please!

We all know why; Osama needs Bush as Bush needs Osama!
,
AlterNet: Blogs: Video: Clarke: Why is Al Qaeda still active?:

Following the foiled terrorist attacks, the Bush administration has gone on the propaganda offensive, with a lot of help from its minions in the U.S. media. While the War on Terror rhetoric is being grandly reinforced, it is important to note that this latest threat just highlights the incompetence of the administration and its failure to defeat Al Qaeda.

Thankfully, we have Richard Clarke, former counter-terrorism chief, to point out this obvious fact while speaking on World News with Charles Gibson:

It's Al Qaeda or a variation of Al Qaeda. And what today's plot reminds us, is that five years after 9/11, the United States has not eliminated Al Qaeda. We eliminated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in under four years, but five years into this war against Al Qaeda, they're out there, still plotting major attacks against the United States.

In this clip, Clarke goes on to further derail the Bush propaganda...

: Al Qaeda loves the Republicans

....and the Rethugs love Al Qaeda. Such a hideous couple. May they rot in hell!

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: Al Qaeda loves the Republicans:

The Republicans are trotting out the same old canard from '04 when Cheney claimed that a vote for Kerry would be a vote for another 9/11: 'It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2nd, that we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again.'

This time, both Cheney and Snow are turning reality into a pretzel by claiming that the antiwar Ned Lamont is encouraging Al Qaeda by advocating for the removal of Al Qaeda's greatest recruiting commercial ever: American troops in Iraq.

Well, two HUGE, though relatively unknown pieces of information from Ron Suskind's One Percent Doctrine put that lie to that thinking.

First, back in 2003, the CIA and NSA learned something interesting which Suskind characterized as 'another growing consensus' and ' a conclusion that was the last thing anyone in the White House wanted publicized': That Al Qaeda might not even want to attack the U.S. With 9/11 their work was essentially done. They provoked the sleeping bear into a clumsy and stupid quagmire. They'd set the ball rolling and set themselves to assisting the big bear in hastening its own demise.

Olmert's popularity plunges in Israel

The Israelis are getting it much faster than we have.

Reuters AlertNet - Olmert's popularity plunges in Israel - poll:

JERUSALEM, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Rising Israeli casualties and constant Hizbollah rocket attacks have sharply eroded public support in Israel for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defence minister, an opinion poll showed on Friday.
The survey in the Haaretz newspaper found only 48 percent of Israelis were satisfied with Olmert's performance compared with popularity ratings of more than 75 percent in polls taken in the early stages of fighting against the Lebanese group.

Public support for Defence Minister Amir Peretz fell from 65 percent to 37 percent, the survey showed.
Commentary accompanying the survey said the continuing hostilities, which began on July 12 after Hizbollah seized two soldiers in a cross-border raid, mounting Israeli casualties and daily rocket attacks were to blame for the drops in popularity.

The war has killed 122 Israelis and at least 1,011 people in Lebanon.

Hizbollah has fired more than 3,400 rockets at northern Israel in the war. The rockets have paralysed life in a region that is home to one million people, driving one third of them to flee while many others are holed up indoors or in bomb shelters.

Against a backdrop of intensified international diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting, only some 20 percent of those polled said Israel could claim victory if the war ended now.

Whistle-blower feared fellow GIs

Who can blame him?

His fellow GIs seem to be a bit sociopathic.

Whistle-blower feared fellow GIs Chicago Tribune:

NEW YORK -- The soldier who triggered the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal by sending incriminating photos to military investigators says he feared deadly retaliation by other GIs and was shocked when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mentioned his name at a Senate hearing.

Within days, Spec. Joe Darby was spirited out of Iraq at his own request. But his family was besieged by news media, and close relatives called him a traitor. Ultimately, he had to move away from his hometown in western Maryland.

Gallup: Many Americans Harbor Strong Bias Against U.S. Muslims

These are pathetic, ignorant, cowardly jackasses, who do not even deserve to be called American.

Gallup: Many Americans Harbor Strong Bias Against U.S. Muslims:

NEW YORK A new Gallup poll finds that many Americans -- what it calls 'substantial minorities' -- harbor 'negative feelings or prejudices against people of the Muslim faith' in this country. Nearly one in four Americans, 22%, say they would not like to have a Muslim as a neighbor.

While Americans tend to disagree with the notion that Muslims living in the United States are sympathetic to al-Qaeda, a significant 34% believe they do back al-Qaeda. And fewer than half -- 49% -- believe U.S. Muslims are loyal to the United States.

Almost four in ten, 39%, advocate that Muslims here should carry special I.D. That same number admit that they do hold some 'prejudice' against Muslims. Forty-four percent say their religious views are too 'extreme.'

In every case, Americans who actually know any Muslims are more sympathethic.

Bush staff wanted bomb-detect cash moved - Yahoo! News

God, what's next, and engreaved invitation to bin Laden and his whole family to the Brush ranch?

Bush staff wanted bomb-detect cash moved - Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON - While the British terror suspects were hatching their plot, the Bush administration was quietly seeking permission to divert $6 million that was supposed to be spent this year developing new homeland explosives detection technology.

Congressional leaders rejected the idea, the latest in a series of steps by the Homeland Security Department that has left lawmakers and some of the department's own experts questioning the commitment to create better anti-terror technologies.

Homeland Security's research arm, called the Sciences & Technology Directorate, is a 'rudderless ship without a clear way to get back on course,' Republican and Democratic senators on the Appropriations Committee declared recently.
'
The committee is extremely disappointed with the manner in which S&T is being managed within the Department of Homeland Security,' the panel wrote June 29 in a bipartisan report accompanying the agency's 2007 budget.
Rep. Martin Sabo, D-Minn., who joined Republicans to block the administration's recent diversion of explosives detection money, said research and development is crucial to thwarting future attacks and there is bipartisan agreement that HMS has fallen short.

Arrogance, ignorance invite disaster

Father Greeley nails it again:

Arrogance, ignorance invite disaster:

In a war, as Secretary Rumsfeld says, stuff happens. Things go wrong, sometimes a lot goes wrong, on occasion everything goes wrong. Then you have a fiasco (the title of the best book about Iraq, written by Thomas E. Ricks).
Military history is filled with fiasco stories -- the French army at Agincourt or the Union army at Fredericksburg. A more recent fiasco was Operation Market Garden in the autumn of 1944, a scheme cooked up by British Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery. The Germans, driven out of France, were falling back behind the Siegfried line.

Montgomery desperately wanted to win the war by himself. The plan was for his British 2nd Army to run around the end of the line and go on to Berlin. Three airborne divisions (two American, one British) would secure bridges over the Rhine at Nijmegen, Enthoven and Arnheim. An armored corps of the 2d Army would drive up the road, cross the Rhine and strike into Germany.

It was an ingenious scheme, at least on paper. It turned into a fiasco (recorded in the book A Bridge Too Far and a film of the same name). The U.S. airborne divisions captured the first two bridges. The British failed to capture the bridge at Arnheim and their armored corps moved too slowly. The English paratroop division was destroyed and the war went on. Why the failure? Market Garden was developed in less than two weeks. The intelligence was inadequate. There were more Germans moving into Holland than Montgomery realized. There were not enough paratroop divisions. The armored corps was not strong enough and moved too slowly. The causes: arrogance and ignorance. The result: fiasco.

101 uses of chaos

The Bsuhites, the NeoCons and the Lidniks love chaos. It covers a multitude of sins (crimes)

WorkingForChange-Tomgram: 101 uses of chaos:

Yesterday, the Israeli security cabinet authorized an expansion of the ground war in Lebanon (while its military suffered 15 dead and 25 wounded, the highest battlefield casualty rate thus far); Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened to 'transform our land in the south [of Lebanon] to a graveyard for Zionist invaders' and called on Haifa's Arab residents to evacuate that city; Israeli planes bombed bridges and dropped leaflets warning that 'any vehicle on the roads south of the Litani River' might be destroyed, while Hezbollah rained 100 or more Katyusha rockets on northern Israel.

In Iraq, the Baghdad morgue released a staggering death toll for the month of July -- 1,815 bodies received (as many as 90% having died violently). As 'a new high,' this was an ominous sign of the spiraling civil war in the Iraqi capital, while in al-Anbar Province, heart of the Sunni insurgency, three more U.S. soldiers died and two Black Hawk helicopter crewmen were missing and possibly dead.

In Afghanistan, the capital, Kabul, is now experiencing an energy crisis which has left its electricity levels at lows equal to that of occupied, embattled Baghdad; while, to the south, the country is experiencing an ever more intense guerrilla war, replete with Iraqi-style suicide bombers and roadside IEDs, led by a resurgent Taliban.

Karl Rove's Tingler

Invoking 9/11, given what we now know, is an abomination and the Rethugs will pay bigtime, with more than their stinking political lives.!

Station Charon: Karl Rove's Tingler:

One of my all time favorite horror movies is William Castle's 1959 classic The Tingler starring the great Vincent Price. The Tingler is a large, ugly centipede like creature that lives inside a victim's body as a parasite and grows larger as it is fed by fear, attaching itself to the spinal cord. The Tingler literally becomes stronger as the fear level is ratcheted up. The studio even had a promo even a gimmick where at the end of the flick when the creature is on the loose in a theatre that certain seats had electric devices that would activate for the additional scare value to moviegoers.

Karl Rove has his own Tingler and it's name is 9/11, ready to be loosed upon the American subconscious at any time and on days like today with the breaking up of the latest and greatest alleged terrorist plot (and one day after the national release of Oliver Stone's World Trade Center - what wonderful serendiptiy or was it just another convenient coincidence?) this time ten planes departing from Britain to blow up while traveling to various U.S. destinations. Whether legitimate or another phony, overhyped conspiracy designed to invoke fear like the Miami 'Cornrow Qaeda' and their ridiculous plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago the timing of this media fed monstrosity is suspect to say the least. According to an article on the website of the London Guardian Bush�s 'poodle' Tony Blair had reportedly informed our hallowed king of the coming crackdown on the plotters as early as Sunday. 'Yo Blair, Thanks for the assist....again.'

Learning from Richard Nixon About How to Frame the GOP on Iraq | BuzzFlash

It must be a freakin' nightmare whe we have to resort to Nixon.


Learning from Richard Nixon About How to Frame the GOP on Iraq BuzzFlash:

We will again be delaying a day or two our commentary about the foolhardiness of progressive advocacy groups supporting any Republican senator, particularly Lincoln Chafee (where there is a good chance of picking up a Democratic Senate seat this year).

As usual, the Busheviks are tossing so much shi* at all of us, we need to tend to some more pressing issues.

And one of them is the perennial question of how do Democrats respond to the use of well-timed 'terrorist arrests' (and this one appears to be more substantive than the last two, but we don't really know) that suddenly emerge around elections, or when Bush is in a political corner. (It should be noted that Bush and Cheney are currently trying to pass a law that would retroactively absolve them and other administration officials of war crimes. Good timing for a diversionary terrorist scare, not to mention getting our minds off the fiasco in Iraq and failure of leadership in Lebanon, right?)

A couple of weeks ago, we found our answer to the question of how the Democrats should respond in the words of none other than Richard Nixon (perish the thought!). In running in 1968 against the pro-Vietnam War stance of the Johnson Administration, Nixon's theme was: (Read on^)

Israeli PM has accepted cease-fire deal

We will believe it when we see it.

Israeli PM has accepted cease-fire deal - Yahoo! News:

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has accepted an emerging Mideast cease-fire deal and informed the United States of his decision, Israeli officials said Friday.

Olmert will recommend that his government approve the deal in its meeting on Sunday, said Gideon Meir, a senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Meir said the military offensive in Lebanon would continue for the time being. It was not immediately clear if it would be halted after the U.N. Security Council vote on the cease-fire deal later Friday, or only after the Israeli Cabinet has endorsed it.

Where in Washington, D.C. is Reverend Moon?: Video: Moon says he's poured millions into U.S. to shape destiny

Any and all political parties caught excepting money from this felonious whackjob should be outlawed, like the Nazis were in Germany.

Where in Washington, D.C. is Reverend Moon?: Video: Moon says he's poured millions into U.S. to shape destiny:

Washington Times owner and conservative benefactor Rev. Sun Myung Moon has dumped a fortune in foreign mystery money into the Capitol. Here he is speaking on CSPAN in 1984 about what he describes as a vast project to influence the destiny of the United States. That was years ago, of course; Moon has now injected as much as $3 billion into the paper alone. (See video ^)

So, what is realy up wiith the latest Terror attack?

Disinformation :: The gateway to the underground - news, politics, conspiracy and weirdness.:

If Al Qaeda Is Behind Terrorist Plots, Who's Behind Al Qaeda?

Damn good question!


On Thursday, August 10, 2006, British authorities announced they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several commercial aircraft bound for the United States using explosives smuggled in carry-on baggage. Carry-on luggage was banned in Britain as well as nearly all forms of liquid except for baby formula.

British officials said 21 persons had been arrested in connection with the bombing plot but declined to identify any of them, only stating that they 'appear to be of Pakistani origin '.'They said the suspects were 'homegrown,' but it was not clear if the suspects were all British citizens. US Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff immediately said the plot had all the 'earmarks' of an al Qaeda operation but admitted it was too early in the investigation to reach any conclusions. Yet, it was not too early for authorities to say they had caught the main suspects.

News of the plot caused tightened security procedures at all airports, not only in Britain abut also the United States. US air carriers said that while carry-on luggage was still allowed, no liquids, including toothpaste, could be carried onto aircraft. And news of the plot dominated the news channels, distracting from the aggression being practiced in the Middle East, the slumping US economy and the growing public awareness of government complicity in the 9/11 attacks.

Interestingly enough, both British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush were both out of pocket when the plot was announced. Blair was vacationing in the Caribbean and Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. [By Jim Marrs - click 'read more' for full story and check out Jim's new book The Terror Conspiracy

Red Alert For Staged Government Terror Attack

Why are we not surprised?

Red Alert For Staged Government Terror Attack:

Today's red level terror alert in symbiosis with escalation of conflict in the Middle East is the trial balloon for a massive staged false flag terror attack, blamed on Hezbollah or Al-Qaeda, that will light the blue touch paper for World War Three.

Radio host Alex Jones, who predicted a staged attack on the World Trade Center involving the use of Osama bin Laden as a fall guy in July 2001, has now gone on record with a second prediction that a staged government terror attack will occur before the end of October unless a gargantuan effort to prevent it is launched.

Only through a massively increased counter-propaganda effort on behalf of all truth activists can prevent an imminent cataclysmic horror show that will make 9/11 look like a walk in the park.

We have exhaustively documented that criminal elements in control of major western governments have carried out terror attacks and deliberately manufactured fake alerts for political purposes.

In 2002, then White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told the Washington Times that terror alerts were issued 'as a result of all the controversy that took place last week,' referring to political heat bestowed on President Bush when 9/11 prior knowledge evidence first surfaced.

From this point onwards smoking guns of government complicity in 9/11 became intrinsically linked with fake terror alerts.

'Dead zone' startles scientists

We are toast!

'Dead zone' startles scientists:

Ocean scientists took their first look Tuesday into the oxygen-starved 'dead zone' spreading off the Oregon Coast and were shocked by what they saw: a lifeless wasteland of thousands of dead crabs, starfish and no live fish at all.

'It was a real eye-opener for all of us,' said Hal Weeks, a marine ecologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. 'I don't think anybody expected this sort of thing.'
Dead Dungeness crabs off Cape Perpetua, just south of Yachats, 'were like jellybeans in a jar. You just can't count them, there were so many.'

: Karen Kwiatkowski: The Lame Duck of Destruction

Amen, say it again.

MilitaryWeek.com: Karen Kwiatkowski: The Lame Duck of Destruction:

The evangelical in the White House crossed a milestone this week.

For the rest of the world, this milestone passes largely unnoticed in the midst of Middle East fear, death, and destruction in Iraq, in Gaza and the occupied territories, and now in Lebanon. Specifically taking a back seat to the Israeli-Hezbollah war is the ongoing and tragic status of American-occupied Iraq.

But in Washington, history was made when George W. Bush finally, and for the first time, used his presidential veto power to reject a piece of legislation from his loyal Congress.

The veto, as Bush explained in a public ceremony framed by chattering toddlers, was done to prevent American taxpayers from being compelled to fund the deliberate destruction of human embryos.'

He went on, 'Crossing this line would be a grave mistake and would needlessly encourage a conflict between science and ethics that can only do damage to both and harm our Nation as a whole.'

Science and ethics are two areas where George W. Bush cannot be accused of knowing too much, thinking too deeply, nor retaining even a shadow of personal humility.

It may be that this historic veto on a domestic issue is unrelated to global politics. Perhaps it is just an attempt to consolidate the evangelical nanny-state supporters that constitute the Bush base within the Republican Party in advance of upcoming midterm congressional elections.

But the logic of this veto and Bush's other actions in the past few weeks, and years, is worthy of examination. This is beyond lame duck. It may be the story of the lame dodo in the White House.