John Dean Predicts Wars on Capitol Hill

Rethugs plan to punish Democrats for winning back Congress.

In reality, that means they plan to punsih the voters who saw fit to elect a Democratic Congress. If the Rethugs want war with the Congress we elected, then they are picking a fight with us as well!

FindLaw's Writ - Dean: Are Congressional Wars Coming? Since Cheney Has Already Said He'll Ignore the Democratic Congress, It Seems Likely:

Rumblings on Capitol Hill suggest that Republicans may literally be 'out of control' as the minority party. Many Republicans in Congress are upset that they will lose their perks, and they want to punish the Democrats for winning. In addition, the White House believes its conservative base wants it to make life difficult for the Democrat Congress, so they will assist in doing just that.

The word on K Street is also that making life difficult for Congressional Democrats will help Republicans win the White House and Congress in 2008. As one well-connected Republican attorney in Washington told me: 'We see a war coming on Capitol Hill.' In fact, many Congressional Republicans believe they are better at being opponents than proponents, so they look forward to raising hell.
Since Democrats are going to encountering some major stonewalling, when they try to pursue oversight of the Bush Administration, this raises two key questions: What should the Democrats do in response to the stonewalling, and how should they do it?

The Word of John

If the Rethugs want a fight, they will get one!

The people have spoken. If the Rethugs do not listen, they will damned well regret it!


Dean: Are Congressional Wars Coming? Since Cheney Has Already Said He'll Ignore the Democratic Congress, It Seems Likely:

During the 2006 campaign, which actually started in 2005, President Bush and Vice President Cheney said remarkably ugly things about Congressional Democrats, describing the possibility that they would take control of Congress as an unmitigated disaster, or worse. For example, as the campaign came to a close, President Bush all but accused Democrats of committing treason: 'However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses,' Bush said.

It was Cheney who led the GOP's attack on Democrats to prevent them from winning control of Congress. In fact, the Vice President was more active in fighting to keep Republican control of Congress, than he was in seeking his own reelection in 2004. The Washington Post reported that Cheney was the star attraction at some 111 GOP fundraisers for the 2006 midterm campaign, in addition to actively campaigning for a slew of Republican candidates. As he traveled the country, Cheney accused Democrats of being soft on terrorism; he named names, and he called people names, as he warned of the end of civilization if Democrats won control of Congress. During the 2006 campaign, which actually started in 2005, President Bush and Vice President Cheney said remarkably ugly things about Congressional Democrats, describing the possibility that they would take control of Congress as an unmitigated disaster, or worse. For example, as the campaign came to a close, President Bush all but accused Democrats of committing treason: 'However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses,' Bush said.

Scarborough labels O'Reilly's attack on NBC over "civil war" decision "insane" and "insulting"

O'Lie-ly is a freakin' idiot.

Why anyone pays any attention to him is beyond me?

Media Matters - Scarborough labels O'Reilly's attack on NBC over "civil war" decision "insane" and "insulting":

On the November 29 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, host Joe Scarborough said that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's criticism of NBC and MSNBC for deciding to use the phrase 'civil war' in describing the situation in Iraq, was 'insane,' 'insulting,' 'over the top,' and 'very disturbing.' On the November 28 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly said, '[T]he American media is not helping anyone by oversimplifying the situation and rooting for the USA to lose in Iraq.' After airing the clip, Scarborough said O'Reilly is 'suggesting that NBC is rooting for America to lose in Iraq' and asked: 'What is going on at Fox News? Why is Bill O'Reilly claiming that my network, NBC News, is rooting for terrorists? That's truly insulting to me.'

From the November 29 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, which featured Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs: On the November 29 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, host Joe Scarborough said that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's criticism of NBC and MSNBC for deciding to use the phrase 'civil war' in describing the situation in Iraq, was 'insane,' 'insulting,' 'over the top,' and 'very disturbing.' On the November 28 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly said, '[T]he American media is not helping anyone by oversimplifying the situation and rooting for the USA to lose in Iraq.' After airing the clip, Scarborough said O'Reilly is 'suggesting that NBC is rooting for America to lose in Iraq' and asked: 'What is going on at Fox News? Why is Bill O'Reilly claiming that my network, NBC News, is rooting for terrorist?

Key Rumsfeld aide resigns

Looks like all the Neocons, Chickenhawk, Pansies are running for their lives.

Don't be so sure that leaving now will save you! You are being watched and tracked.

Key Rumsfeld aide resigns - Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Defense Department's top intelligence official will resign at the end of the year, the Pentagon announced.

Stephen Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, is the most senior Pentagon official to announce he is leaving since US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tendered his resignation last month.

Cambone, who came to the Pentagon with Rumsfeld in January 2001, has been a key player in his efforts to transform the US military into a lighter, high tech force and in carving out a larger role for US military intelligence.

The Defense Department expanded espionage and other covert intelligence gathering activities under Cambone, drawing criticism from some in Congress that it was intruding on turf traditionally dominated by the CIA.

General Michael Hayden, the CIA director, said in a radio interview November 22 that reports of tension between the CIA and the Pentagon over its intelligence gathering programs were exaggerated.

Maureen Dowd: What's in a Name, Barry?

Rogers is the biggest fairy going!

Wanna take me on, you sorry little whimp? Bring it on!

Welcome to Pottersville: Maureen Dowd: What's in a Name, Barry?:

If you call Barack Obama’s office to check the spelling of his middle name, the reply comes back: “Like the dictator.”

In the first rush of our blind date with the young senator from Illinois, we are still discovering things that are going to take some getting used to. Like his middle name: Hussein.

There were already a few top Democrats scoffing at the idea that a man whose surname sounded like a Middle East terrorist could get elected president. Now it turns out that his middle name sounds like a Middle East dictator. So with one moniker, he evokes both maniacal villains of the Bush administration. And to top it off, as Jennifer Senior noted in New York magazine, Barack rhymes with Iraq.

Republican wizards have whipped up nasty soufflés with far less tasty ingredients than that.

Quote of the Day: Gingrich Aide Admits Newt Has No Chance

Of course Gingrich doesn't stand a chance of a snow ball in hell.

We have a about all we can take of psychotic authoritarnism; orange alerts, lies and other scare tactics.

Screw you people!

Americans are not all cowards like Gingrich or the rest of the dastardly authoritarians of our day!

Quote of the Day: Gingrich Aide Admits Newt Has No Chance At Presidency TPMCafe: (read on)

—Rich Galen, strategist for Newt Gingrich, admitting his candidate doesn't stand a chance yesterday at a forum of GOP strategists. Galen spoke of Gingrich's potential role as a candidate who could pitch ideas and affect the debate, but had little optimism about an actual victory.

Bayh Running for 2008

Explore this Evan!

You don't stand a chance!

Ventura County Star: News:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, a Democrat with a record of political success in a Republican-leaning state, intends to take the first official step toward a 2008 presidential campaign early next week, officials said Friday.

Bayh's plans include creation of a presidential exploratory committee, as well as appearances Monday in Iowa and next weekend in New Hampshire, two early states on the campaign calendar.

Faux News fines ways to misinform about their own ratings plummet

More and more people are catching on every month. Only the most ignorant, or people who are hard-up for entertainement, keep watching

mediabistro.com: TVNewser:

FNC's November ratings release headlined the fact that 'Fox News Channel retains largest share of audience post midterm elections.' But in an e-mail to TVNewser, a cable competitor calls it a pathetic claim:

'Fox's fancy number crunching is a day late and a dollar short. They are desperate to mask the fact that Fox News was the ONLY cable network to lose viewers this month over last November. And when they say they 'retained more' since the midterms, this actually means they didn't have as high of a peak on election day from which to fall. Seems that Fox News' continuous slide in the ratings just keeps going on and on...'

> Update: 5:51pm: A Fox News spokesperson responds: 'Between falling off a cliff after election night and losing the demo race to MSNBC, we can't blame CNN for being a little bitter.' (God, what a a bitch!)

U.S. gov't terror ratings draw outrage

Oversight, my ass, these data banks need to be destroyed, forthwith!

U.S. gov't terror ratings draw outrage - Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON - A leader of the new Democratic Congress, business travelers and privacy advocates expressed outrage Friday over the unannounced assignment of terrorism risk assessments to American international travelers by a computerized system managed from an unmarked, two-story brick building in Northern Virginia.

Incoming Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) of Vermont pledged greater scrutiny of such government database-mining projects after reading that during the past four years millions of Americans have been evaluated without their knowledge to assess the risks that they are terrorists or criminals.

'Data banks like this are overdue for oversight,' said Leahy, who will take over Judiciary in January. 'That is going to change in the new Congress.'

The Associated Press reported Thursday that Americans and foreigners crossing U.S. borders since 2002 have been assessed by the Homeland Security Department's computerized Automated Targeting System, or ATS.

Reyes to head House intelligence panel

Hey, someone who couldn't speak a word of English could do a better job than the cover-up Intel. Committees we have had, both in the House and the Senate.

Reyes to head House intelligence panel - Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON - Silvestre Reyes was unable to speak English until he was 6 years old. Now the Texas congressman must master the lingo of the nation's spy agencies and the politics of the war in Iraq.

The son of West Texas cotton farmers, Reyes was held back in school along with other Mexican-American children because of limited English. Both Reyes' parents were born in the U.S. His father was a successful farmer and both parents were avid readers who instilled a love for reading in him.

'I always look back and am amused,' Reyes said, recalling his school days. 'I was tagged as (one day) being a chicken farmer (and) a high school counselor said I was good with my hands and could be a welder.'

Instead, he became a combat soldier, a Border Patrol agent and chief and then was elected to Congress. This week, he added one more achievement: chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

Powell says U.S. should talk to Iran, not attack

Of course, you are right Colin, but it is too late for you.

You sold your credibility for the criminals in the White House and their hidden agenda.

Are you now willing to tell all you know, about everything, from 9/11 on?

Powell says U.S. should talk to Iran, not attack - Yahoo! News:

LONDON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell does not believe the United States will attack Iran and says Washington should speak to Tehran and Syria.

Powell, who said Iraq was in a civil war on Wednesday, was speaking to the Leaders in London Business Forum on Thursday.

Answering a question from Reuters, Powell said: 'Iran is a regional power and it will have to be dealt with. We should find ways to speak to them and also speak to the Syrians.'

Both Iran and Syria have been accused by the U.S. government of sponsoring terrorism and fomenting violence in Iraq. Iran has also been accused of trying to build nuclear weapons. Both countries deny the accusations.

Crisis Intensifies in Lebanon As Hezbollah Takes to Streets

So, Hizbollah want's to reorient Lebanon....we could stand some reorienting over here, as well.

Try an election first, guys. Then, if that doesn't work, well, have at it!

Crisis Intensifies in Lebanon As Hezbollah Takes to Streets - washingtonpost.com:

BEIRUT, Dec. 1 -- Hezbollah and its allies escalated Lebanon's month-long political crisis into a popular confrontation Friday, sending hundreds of thousands of supporters into the streets, parking lots and sidewalks of downtown Beirut, vowing to topple the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and reorient the country.

Iraq Panel to Urge Pullout Of Combat Troops by '08

It's Nixon's Vietnam all over again!

We can't afford another year of this bullshit!

Iraq Panel to Urge Pullout Of Combat Troops by '08 - washingtonpost.com:

The bipartisan Iraq Study Group plans to recommend withdrawing nearly all U.S. combat units from Iraq by early 2008 while leaving behind troops to train, advise and support the Iraqis, setting the first goal for a major drawdown of U.S. forces, sources familiar with the proposal said yesterday.
The commission plan would shift the U.S. mission in Iraq to a secondary role as the fragile Baghdad government and its security forces take the lead in fighting a Sunni insurgency and trying to halt sectarian violence. As part of major changes in the U.S. presence, sources said, the plan recommends embedding U.S. soldiers directly in Iraqi security units starting as early as next month to improve leadership and effectiveness.

Poll: Only 14% Agree with Bush That Iraq Conflict Is Not a Civil War

Polls have changed, dramatically, against Bush and his idiotic pronouncements, just since the election.

Could it be that Americans feel somewhat safer to express their real views now that Dems are in power in, at least, one branch of government?

Or could it be that the MSM have, finally, been telling more of the truth?

Pensito Review » Poll: Only 14% Agree with Bush That Iraq Conflict Is Not a Civil War:

After months of polls that show around 30 percent of Americans — let’s call them “Dead-Enders” — approve of or agree with the president, there is a new poll out that indicates that no more than 14 percent of Americans believe that the crisis the president and his team have created in Iraq is not a civil war. And the poll is from no less a conservative bastion than the Wall Street Journal:After months of polls that show around 30 percent of Americans — let’s call them “Dead-Enders” — approve of or agree with the president, there is a new poll out that indicates that no more than 14 percent of Americans believe that the crisis the president and his team have created in Iraq is not a civil war. And the poll is from no less a conservative bastion than the Wall Street Journal:

Man burns himself alive to protest war

I have actually thought if doing something similar....

I admire this man's courage and conscious.

Man burns himself alive to protest war:

CHICAGO (AP) -- Malachi Ritscher envisioned his death as one full of purpose. He carefully planned the details, mailed a copy of his apartment key to a friend, created to-do lists for his family. On his Web site, the 52-year-old experimental musician who'd fought with depression even penned his obituary.

At 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 3 -- four days before an election caused a seismic shift in Washington politics -- Ritscher, a frequent anti-war protester, stood by an off-ramp in downtown Chicago near a statue of a giant flame, set up a video camera, doused himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire. 'Here is the statement I want to make. ... 'If one death can atone for anything, in any small way, to say to the world: I apologize for what we have done to you, I am ashamed for the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country.'

'This man killed himself in such a painful way ... to get our attention...,' said Jennifer Diaz, a grad student researching Ritscher's life. 'I'm not going to sit by, and I can't sit by, and let this go unheard.'

Kissinger to Serve As Papal Adviser?

So, now this Pope, who, quite frankly gives me the creeps, is asking advise from a war criminal; a man who dare not enter ceratin countries, because he would be arrested on the spot?

The Roman Catholic Church seems to be heading for hell in a hand basket.

Kissinger to Serve As Papal Adviser?:

VATICAN CITY — Over the course of his long and controversial career, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has had many titles. Now he reportedly has one more — adviser to the Pope.
According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Pope Benedict XVI has invited the 83-year-old former adviser to Richard Nixon to be a political consultant, and Kissinger has accepted.

Quoting an “authoritative” diplomatic source at the Holy See, the paper reported Nov. 4 that the Nobel laureate was asked at a recent private audience with the Holy Father to form part of a papal “advisory board” on foreign and political affairs.

As the Register went to press, Kissinger’s office was unable to confirm or deny the report. La Stampa stood by its story, although the Italian press is less rigorous in its authentication of stories as is the United States Press.

The EU's Shame

To the people of Europe:

Buck up, Friends. We know how you must be feeling. These are shameful times for us all.

The Blotter:

The CIA flew 1,245 secret flights into European airspace, according to a European Parliament draft report obtained by ABC News.

The report is the result of a year-long investigation into secret CIA 'extraordinary rendition' flights and prisons in Europe.

No European country has officially acknowledged being part of the program.

Happy birthday, Iran-Contra!

Why wasn't the anniversary of Iran/Contra covered by the MSM?

Probably because most of the twits who (dis)grace the news rooms of today probably are to young to even remember that it was a big deal, let alone have a clue how that goofy chapter in presidential/vice presidential history plays into today's catastrophe in the Middle East.

Happy birthday, Iran-Contra! - By Timothy Noah - Slate Magazine:

This anniversary fixation makes it all the more baffling that one particularly significant anniversary recently went unnoticed: the 20th anniversary, on Nov. 25, of the Iran-Contra scandal. On that day in 1986, Attorney General Ed Meese confirmed press reports that the Reagan White House had sold arms secretly to Iran and, defying legislation passed by Congress and signed by the president, gave the proceeds to a group (the 'Contras') that was trying to overthrow the government of Nicaragua. An independent prosecutor was promptly assigned to the case, and Congress created a joint investigative committee that many believed would lead to the impeachment of President Reagan. That didn't happen, of course. But Iran-Contra was a hugely significant political event.

Why no anniversary coverage? It certainly wasn't because that date was crowded with other news. Nov. 25 fell this year on a Saturday during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Newsrooms were half-empty, and front pages were padded out with stories like 'Cities Compete In Hipness Battle to Attract Young' (New York Times). Yet apart from an AP story about the National Security Archive's document-rich commemoration, I found precisely zero newspaper or magazine articles when I checked the Nexis and Google News databases for recent stories containing the words Iran, Contra, anniversary, and 20. (The Nation magazine covered the anniversary via David Corn's 'Capital Games' Web log, but even that came three days late.)

Litvinenko Radiation Attack: A Warning for the U.S.

Especially U.S. disidents, we would say.

Political Cortex: Litvinenko Radiation Attack: A Warning for the U.S.:

It's sometimes hard to tell if the British government's handling of a radiation poisoning case is inept or just poorly reported, but it certainly could be improved. The difficulty of the UK's response to a radiological attack on an individual demonstrates, on a much smaller scale, the kind of challenge Americans would face if terrorists used radioactive substances to inflict mass casualties in the United States.

By the time British government authorities publicly identified polonium-210 as the likely cause of Alexander Litvinenko's death, thousands of people had been exposed to cross-contamination as they passed through each of the places visited by the former Russian spy, and possibly his assassin, before he fell ill on November 1. It is unclear if doctors failed to quickly diagnose the cause, or if officials intentionally withheld the diagnosis for investigative purposes.

Letters 'revealed secret hit squad'

The world just keeps getting scarier by the day!

Letters 'revealed secret hit squad' | UK Latest | Guardian Unlimited:

Detectives are investigating letters smuggled out of Russia purporting to show the existence of a secret squad set up to target poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko and others.

Scotland Yard has been passed copies of two letters apparently penned in jail by former Russian intelligence officer Mikhail Trepashkin, in one of which Mr Litvinenko is warned that both he and his family are at risk.

Mr Litvinenko's London friend Alex Goldfarb said scans of the letters came into his possession on Thursday and he passed them to Scotland Yard.