Kool Aid Subliminal

President Barack Hussein Obama

2008-11-04T19:46:00.002-05:00

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation's next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House. And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didn't do this just to win an election and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Bush has "nothing else to offer"

2007-11-23T11:47:00.000-05:00

Where's Laura now?
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: A Saudi court sentenced a 19-year-old woman victim of gang rape to six months in jail and 200 lashes — more than double than in her initial sentence for being in the car of a man who was not her relative, a newspaper reported Thursday.

UPDATE - 11/23: State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Monday that the administration was "astonished," but had "nothing else to offer".

Where's Laura Bush and her old man now? We all certainly know of the Bush's close, and long-lasting, friendship with the Saudis, so of course, we are surprised they have 'nothing else to offer'.

And in the meantime, while Bush fiddles -- Democrats speak up;

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) states, "I urge President Bush to call on King Abdullah to cancel the ruling and drop all charges against this woman." In a letter to Condoleezza Rice, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) wrote, "I strongly urge the Department of State to condemn this ruling." Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) and John Edwards released statements expressing their outrage.

WHAT ELSE NEEDS TO BE SAID?

2005-09-24T06:54:00.000-04:00

Frist, DeLay Fend Off Probes Into Ethics

"Heading into a midterm election year, Republicans find themselves with not one, but two congressional leaders — Bill Frist in the Senate and Tom DeLay in the House —fending off questions of ethical improprieties.

The news that federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into Frist's sale of stock in HCA Inc., the hospital operating company founded by his family, comes as a criminal investigation continues of Jack Abramoff, a high-powered Republican lobbyist, and his ties to DeLay of Texas.

Less than a week ago, a former White House official was arrested in the Abramoff investigation.

For Republicans, the timing couldn't be worse".

HEY, GOT A LIGHT?

2005-09-24T06:25:00.000-04:00

Palestinians killed in Gaza Blast

"At least 15 Palestinians have been killed and scores injured in a blast during a parade by the militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip.
A truck carrying gunmen and home-made weapons blew up during the rally in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Israel has denied involvement, while the ruling Palestinian Fatah faction said it held Hamas responsible".

IF ONLY THE PRESS WOULD LIE TO US...

2005-09-23T16:44:00.000-04:00

Iraq coming apart, Saudi official warns

...Hey 'Alfie', the 'liberal' press found out about me giving you that waiver on that child-sex stuff..it's gonna take two oil wells now...sure George, give me five, bro...

I keep hearing the Bush administration, Fox News and other rightwing ass-kissing propagandists tell us how great things are going in Iraq. According to them everything is wonderful and if we could only get the 'liberal media' (sic) to just report the truth, everything would be OK. Poor babies.

Those same sheep are surprised now when Bush's buddy, Saud ('Alfie') al-Faisal say's the "main problem is the split between Sunnis and Shiites"! Well goddamn, 'a split between the Sunnis and Shiites'? Who the hell could have ever imagined such a thing happening??!!??

"Iraq is moving toward disintegration, and war there could spread to its neighbors, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Thursday.

All the dynamics there are pushing people away from each other," said Saud, whose nation is predominantly Sunni.

The main problem, Saud told a small group of reporters here, is the split between Sunnis and Shiites in central and southern Iraq. Continued autonomy for non-Arab Kurds in northern Iraq is less of a concern", he said.

SUPPORT THE TROOPS, MY ASS!

2005-09-23T12:48:00.000-04:00

Republicans are once again trying to put the screws to the 'troops' while they lie about their support.

Do the country a favor this weekend. When you see a car with a 'W' sticker and 'support the troops' decal, pull the driver out of their car and pummel the shit out of them. It's called justifiable homicide. Do your part!

Protecting tax cuts, GOP proposes cuts to military health care

"In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush and Republicans in Congress have refused to consider rolling back the $336 billion in new tax cuts that the richest 1 percent are slated to get over the next five years. They say we need to pay for reconstruction not by asking the wealthiest to sacrifice just a little bit, but by massive cuts to spending. And now we see what that means: The Navy Times today reports that those cuts "include trimming military quality-of-life programs, including health care." This, while troops are in battle.

The Republicans have put their cutting efforts in military terms, calling it "Operation Offset" - a further insult to the men and women in uniform they are now trying to screw over. The specifics are ugly. They are, for instance, asking troops to "accept reduced health care benefits for their families." Additionally, "the stateside system of elementary and secondary schools for military family members could be closed." In the past, this idea "has faced strong opposition from parents of children attending the schools because public schools [in and around bases] are seen as offering lower-quality education."

None of this, I suppose, is all that surprising. In the past, we've seen tax cuts put before making sure troops have adequate body armor heading into war - a tax/budget decision that very likely increased U.S. casualties. We've also seen Republicans vote down efforts to reduce tax cuts for the very wealthy in order to restore cuts to military family housing. And we've seen tax cuts come as the White House has refused to adequately fund a variety of other programs for troops. The truth is, the GOP has in moments of candor admitted that they care about cutting taxes for the wealthy far more than they care about the troops.

As you may recall, it was Tom DeLay who said before the Iraq invasion "Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes." Apparently to the Republicans, nothing is more important in the face of a war AND massive destruction to the homefront than cutting taxes either".

Republicans are shameless..

UNCONSTITUTIONAL

2005-09-23T06:01:00.000-04:00

You cannot give federal tax dollars to organizations that discriminate based on religion.

And furthermore, religious organizations that do NOT pay taxes, should NOT be receiving federal tax dollars. That's called the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

It's unfortunate for this country that the Supreme Court is now being filled with more Republican judges that do not have the constitutional integrity needed to overturn this narrow-minded Congress's anti-Constitutional laws.

House OKs Faith As Head Start Hiring Issue
By BEN FELLER, AP Education Writer
Thu Sep 22, 6:09 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to let Head Start centers consider religion when hiring workers, overshadowing its moves to strengthen the preschool program's academics and finances.

The Republican-led House approved a bill that lets churches and other faith-based preschool centers hire only people who share their religion, yet still receive federal tax dollars.

The House passed the bill 231-184; only 23 Democrats voted for it.

GOP lawmakers, with backing from the White House, contend that preschool centers should not have to give up their religious autonomy in order to receive federal grants.

Bush's Butt Buddies

2005-09-22T17:15:00.000-04:00

Bush waives Saudi child sex-slave trafficking sanctions

WASHINGTON - President Bush decided Wednesday to waive any financial sanctions on Saudi Arabia, Washington's closest Arab ally in the war on terrorism, for failing to do enough to stop the modern-day slave trade in prostitutes, child sex workers and forced laborers.

Just one more example of just how hypocritical George Bush truly is. What kind of man would allow Saudi Arabia to continue child 'sex-slave' prostitution so that we don't interrupt our economic relationship?

BLACKWATER DOWN

2005-09-22T07:50:00.000-04:00

Do you remember 'Blackwater' from the dog days of Fallujah? Why were mercenaries sent into New Orleans?

"The men from Blackwater USA arrived in New Orleans right after Katrina hit. The company known for its private security work guarding senior US diplomats in Iraq beat the federal government and most aid organizations to the scene in another devastated Gulf. About 150 heavily armed Blackwater troops dressed in full battle gear spread out into the chaos of New Orleans. Officially, the company boasted of its forces "join[ing] the hurricane relief effort." But its men on the ground told a different story.

Some patrolled the streets in SUVs with tinted windows and the Blackwater logo splashed on the back; others sped around the French Quarter in an unmarked car with no license plates. They congregated on the corner of St. James and Bourbon in front of a bar called 711, where Blackwater was establishing a makeshift headquarters. From the balcony above the bar, several Blackwater guys cleared out what had apparently been someone's apartment. They threw mattresses, clothes, shoes and other household items from the balcony to the street below. They draped an American flag from the balcony's railing. More than a dozen troops from the 82nd Airborne Division stood in formation on the street watching the action.

Armed men shuffled in and out of the building as a handful told stories of their past experiences in Iraq. "I worked the security detail of both Bremer and Negroponte," said one of the Blackwater guys, referring to the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer, and former US Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte. Another complained, while talking on his cell phone, that he was getting only $350 a day plus his per diem. "When they told me New Orleans, I said, 'What country is that in?'" he said. He wore his company ID around his neck in a case with the phrase Operation Iraqi Freedom printed on it.

The men from Blackwater USA arrived in New Orleans right after Katrina hit. The company known for its private security work guarding senior US diplomats in Iraq beat the federal government and most aid organizations to the scene in another devastated Gulf. About 150 heavily armed Blackwater troops dressed in full battle gear spread out into the chaos of New Orleans. Officially, the company boasted of its forces "join[ing] the hurricane relief effort." But its men on the ground told a different story".

...One might ask, given the enormous presence in New Orleans of National Guard, US Army, US Border Patrol, local police from around the country and practically every other government agency with badges, why private security companies are needed, particularly to guard federal projects. "It strikes me...that that may not be the best use of money," said Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

Blackwater's success in procuring federal contracts could well be explained by major-league contributions and family connections to the GOP. According to election records, Blackwater's CEO and co-founder, billionaire Erik Prince, has given tens of thousands to Republicans, including more than $80,000 to the Republican National Committee the month before Bush's victory in 2000. This past June, he gave $2,100 to Senator Rick Santorum's re-election campaign. He has also given to House majority leader Tom DeLay and a slew of other Republican candidates, including Bush/Cheney in 2004. As a young man, Prince interned with President George H.W. Bush, though he complained at the time that he "saw a lot of things I didn't agree with--homosexual groups being invited in, the budget agreement, the Clean Air Act, those kind of bills. I think the Administration has been indifferent to a lot of conservative concerns."

Prince, a staunch right-wing Christian, comes from a powerful Michigan Republican family, and his father, Edgar, was a close friend of former Republican presidential candidate and antichoice leader Gary Bauer. In 1988 the elder Prince helped Bauer start the Family Research Council. Erik Prince's sister, Betsy, once chaired the Michigan Republican Party and is married to Dick DeVos, whose father, billionaire Richard DeVos, is co-founder of the major Republican benefactor Amway. Dick DeVos is also a big-time contributor to the Republican Party and will likely be the GOP candidate for Michigan governor in 2006. Another Blackwater founder, president Gary Jackson, is also a major contributor to Republican campaigns.

After the killing of four Blackwater mercenaries in Falluja in March 2004, Erik Prince hired the Alexander Strategy Group, a PR firm with close ties to GOPers like DeLay. By mid-November the company was reporting 600 percent growth. In February 2005 the company hired Ambassador Cofer Black, former coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department and former director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, as vice chairman. Just as the hurricane was hitting, Blackwater's parent company, the Prince Group, named Joseph Schmitz, who had just resigned as the Pentagon's Inspector General, as the group's chief operating officer and general counsel.

While juicing up the firm's political connections, Prince has been advocating greater use of private security in international operations, arguing at a symposium at the National Defense Industrial Association earlier this year that firms like his are more efficient than the military. In May Blackwater's Jackson testified before Congress in an effort to gain lucrative Homeland Security contracts to train 2,000 new Border Patrol agents, saying Blackwater understands "the value to the government of one-stop shopping." With President Bush using the Katrina disaster to try to repeal Posse Comitatus (the ban on using US troops in domestic law enforcement) and Blackwater and other security firms clearly initiating a push to install their paramilitaries on US soil, the war is coming home in yet another ominous way.

As one Blackwater mercenary said, "This is a trend. You're going to see a lot more guys like us in these situations."
...You had better hope not...

THIS IS HILARIOUS!

2005-09-21T18:17:00.000-04:00

"… whether they know it or not, the Washington Post is reporting here that we’re winning in Iraq..."

...Limbaugh once again making himself look stupid...

I heard this piece of audio of Rush Limbaugh yesterday on Al Franken's show and it's absolutely hilarious. Franken picked it up from Crooks and Liars.

Limbaugh starts reading an article from the Washington Post that he thinks is written as proof that the U.S. is winning the war in Iraq, only to realize half way through the article that it actually states the opposite.

It's funny as hell to hear him when he get's to the quote above.

For Franken
It's never too late, dittoheads-(and you might even learn the difference between the 'debt' and the 'deficit' someday by listening to Franken instead of Limbaugh)

For the audio, Crook and Liars
audio from Hillbilly Heroin Boy (listen at the end as Limbaugh describes an 'insignificant day of violence' in Afghanistan, too.) The audio is priceless!

I DON'T HAVE A BRIDGE TO SELL YOU

2005-09-21T12:07:00.000-04:00

61-meter (200-foot) high bridge over the west channel to Gravina Island

"Alaska's Gravina Island is home to 50 people and more than 350 Sitka black-tailed deer. Under the U.S. highway bill passed last month, this group will get a $223 million bridge taller than the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

The funding is among $1.04 billion that Alaska lawmakers secured for transportation projects, making the state the envy of its neighbors in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The states of Washington and Oregon, with a combined population 15 times that of Alaska's 650,000, each received about $500 million sought by lawmakers for transportation projects in their home states under the bill signed by President George W. Bush on Aug. 10.

Alaska owes its bounty to Congressman Donald Young, a Republican who heads the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation Committee and has told voters he used his position to enhance Alaska's share. A second bridge, spanning 2 miles in Anchorage, to be called ``Don Young's Way,'' got $229 million".

Republicans are excellent at spending and wasting your tax money and telling you it's the Democrats who did it. The only wasteful spending to a Republican is what’s not being spent in his district or state.

Hell, instead of paying $223 million for the bridge that leads, not to 'nowhere', but to 50 poor Eskimos stuck on some God forbidden island, couldn't we give each of them $1 million, have them move off the island and use the remaining $173 million for hurricane Katrina recovery?

Of course, $173 million is chickenfeed. What we should go after is the $300 billion that Bush and the Republicans kicked-back to the pharmaceutical companies when they rammed through their prescription drug program or we could also go after the $15 billion those same criminals kicked-back to the oil industry with their new energy policy. But, best of all, we should tell Iraq to stand on their own two feet and save the $5 billion we're wasting there each month.

There's a lot of room to cut spending and it's on welfare all right-corporate welfare that is. Corporate welfare, the raiding our our treasury to pay off corporate donors to republican criminals. Now, there's where we need to look when Congress talks about cutting spending. That's where the pigs feed.

$tem cell ‘U’

2005-09-20T18:25:00.000-04:00

University of Michigan Slaps Narrow-Minded Republican State Legislature

Tired of losing successful scientists and of listening to narrow-minded, phony religious conservatives in the state, the University of Michigan will do things its way.

You can be an ignorant republican all you want but when your ignorance get's in the way of scientific progress, you need to get your stupid asses the fuck out of the way!

Michigan is a solid Blue state. It needs to start acting like it.

"The University struck back against stringent state regulation of stem-cell research and the brain drain of top scientists in the field with yesterday’s announcement of the creation of the new Center for Stem Cell Biology, to be headed by researcher Sean Morrison.

In the face of growing competition from universities in states such as California, Wisconsin and New Jersey — all with their own stem-cell funding initiatives — the University has been attempting to keep its own star stem-cell researchers from being lured away. Researcher Michael Clark is relocating to Stanford.

The fact that the state of Michigan has some of the most restrictive laws governing stem-cell research has not helped. Current state law prohibits the derivation of new stem cell lines from frozen embryos slated to be discarded by in-vitro fertilization clinics or from a technique that places material from the nuclei of stem-cells into an egg cell to induce division.

“The legislative environment in Michigan restricts our ability to derive new (embryonic stem cell) lines,” Morrison said. “It’s a problem I hope we’ll change.”

With the departure of Clark for Stanford, Morrison himself had been approached with offers from several research universities across the country.

“Not to say that things here are perfect — it would be nice if the state laws were changed — but I looked at other (universities), and I didn’t find the same combination of advantages that we have here,” Morrison said.

Stem cells — which can be transformed into specialized cells such as neurons or bile-producing islet cells in the liver — have recently become the new cutting edge of biology research. The hope is that they can be used for therapeutic purposes — for instance, for growing replacement organs — or to help researchers learn about the development of diseases. The most malleable stem cells, however, are currently derived from embryos, a fact that has sparked a national ethical debate.

Several states, responding to federal reluctance to support stem-cell research, have come forward with their own initiatives to fund stem cell investigation. The University’s new Center for Stem Cell Biology is a part of this growing trend".

Up to 9 Americans killed in Iraq

2005-09-20T16:30:00.000-04:00

A British soldier climbs out of a burning armored vehicle Monday.

"Nine Americans, including five troops, have been killed by bombs in Iraq during the past two days, U.S. officials in Baghdad said Tuesday.

Four troops, assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, were killed Monday in Ramadi, the U.S. military said. The deaths bring to 1,904 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq.

A soldier with the 18th Military Police Brigade died Tuesday when his vehicle was struck by a bomb about 75 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

A State Department employee and three security contractors were killed Monday by a suicide car bomber in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a U.S. official in Baghdad said".

CNN

IT'S A GOOD THING THEY DON'T FOLLOW THE POLLS

2005-09-20T12:50:00.000-04:00

You know why Karl Rove had Dubya give his speech at Jackson Square? He couldn't pull the aircraft carrier up any closer...

"President Bush's vow to rebuild the Gulf Coast did little to help his standing with the public, only 40 percent of whom now approve of his performance in office, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday.

Just 41 percent of the 818 adults polled between Friday and Monday said they approved of Bush's handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while 57 percent disapproved.

And support for his management of the war in Iraq has dropped to 32 percent, with 67 percent telling pollsters they disapproved of how Bush is prosecuting the conflict.

The survey had a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Fifty-nine percent said they considered the 2003 invasion of Iraq a mistake. That figure is the highest recorded in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll".

More...

I'm sure republicans are back to saying 'polls don't matter', but I think George and Karl got the memo. ..Actually... Karl wrote the memo.

IT'S ALL A BIG CIRCLE

2005-09-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

A top Bush Administration official, David Hossein Safavian, who has ties to Tom Delay's criminal buddy, Jack Abramoff, was arrested yesterday; drawing the line of corruption closer to a complete circle around Republicans in the White House and Congress.

"David Hossein Safavian, the Bush administration’s top federal procurement officer in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), was arrested yesterday based on a three-count criminal complaint filed in federal court, according to a Justice Department statement.

The government alleges that Safavian, as chief of staff at the General Services Administration (GSA), helped an unnamed lobbyist acquire GSA-controlled property in and around Washington, D.C.

Sources say the lobbyist is likely Jack Abramoff, who has been indicted by a grand jury in Florida. Safavian and Abramoff worked together at Preston, Gates and the two traveled with Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and others on a golf trip to Scotland in 2002.

Safavian allegedly told a GSA ethics officer and GSA’s inspector general that the lobbyist had no business with GSA before the August 2002 golf trip, the Justice Department statement said.

A spokesperson for Abramoff declined to comment.

Government Executive magazine reported that Safavian resigned last Friday as the head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at OMB".

The Hill

KATRINA BUSH'S FAULT

2005-09-19T06:43:00.000-04:00

Katrina Bush, 81, of Plano, Texas was forced to lay-off 12 employees at her small orthodonic supply company this past week - which added to the 'biggest one-week surge in jobless claims in nearly a decade'.

"Hurricane Katrina triggered the biggest one-week surge in jobless claims in nearly a decade, and analysts warn that's probably just the beginning of the bad economic news ahead as the nation starts paying for the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history".

TO HELL WITH FUNDRAISING!

2005-09-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hey, he's the one who fucked everything up...!

"Clinton launches withering attack on Bush"

Clinton said the Bush administration had decided to invade Iraq "virtually alone and before UN inspections were completed, with no real urgency, no evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction."

"What Americans need to understand is that ... every single day of the year, our government goes into the market and borrows money from other countries to finance Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, and our tax cuts," he said.

"We have never done this before. Never in the history of our republic have we ever financed a conflict, military conflict, by borrowing money from somewhere else."

Clinton added: "We depend on Japan, China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Korea primarily to basically loan us money every day of the year to cover my tax cut and these conflicts and Katrina. I don't think it makes any sense."

Ah, Come on, Mr. President, uh, I mean, Bill...let me go first this time...

“They’re Just Birds”

2005-09-18T20:30:00.000-04:00

US Christian Right misfires again

. . . 'the penguin is only one'

“If ever the world needed reminding about the oddities of America's Christian Right, its espousal of the film March of the Penguins provides us with a perfect example”.

“...this French nature documentary - with its images of birds blinded by blizzards but still battling to protect their young affirms decent, traditional norms like monogamy, sacrifice and child-rearing...but, "Earth also has Bonobo chimps, whose jaw-dropping sexual athleticism would make Hugh Hefner blush; well-fed cats that cruelly toy with their prey; and praying mantises that eat their spouses”.

"surely the penguin is only one of God's works"

MARCH OF THE PENGUINS

IRANIANS ARE NOT BACKING DOWN

2005-09-18T15:00:00.000-04:00

Why wouldn't they feel cocky and confident? They just gained a huge Shiite dominate ally just to their west...

“In an unyielding address before the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday afternoon, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran rebuffed attempts to rein in his country's nuclear program, railing against the United States as an aggressor and restating a compromise proposal that had already been rejected.

Mr. Ahmadinejad repeatedly stressed that Iran would not relinquish its "right to pursue peaceful nuclear energy" and accused the United States of bullying others and attempting to divide the world into "light and dark countries," repeatedly clenching his fist and jabbing his finger in the air for emphasis”.

"Every day they are threatening other nations with nuclear weapons, and they are never inspected," he said. He added that Western countries were "relying on their power and wealth to try to impose a climate of intimidation and injustice over the world," even while portraying themselves as defenders of freedom, democracy and human rights.”

"Mr. Ahmadinejad’s remarks during a visit to Turkey on Thursday caught Washington's attention. There he suggested Iran might share its nuclear technology with other Muslim nations.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said, "Iran is ready to transfer nuclear know-how to the Islamic countries due to their need." On Saturday, he asserted that "the quote was incomplete," but did not explain further".

TOTO PARTED THE CURTAIN

2005-09-18T12:30:00.000-04:00

Very good editorial by Frank Rich. Exposes Bush as "Professor Marvel".

George Bush's agenda on Tuesday, 8/30/05, the day after Katrina's landfall, tells me all I need to know about the guy.

"The worst storm in our history proved perfect for exposing this president because in one big blast it illuminated all his failings: the rampant cronyism, the empty sloganeering of "compassionate conservatism," the lack of concern for the "underprivileged" his mother condescended to at the Astrodome, the reckless lack of planning for all government operations except tax cuts, the use of spin and photo-ops to camouflage failure and to substitute for action".

"If the era of Great Society big government is over, the era of big government for special interests is proving a fiasco. Especially when it's presided over by a self-styled C.E.O. with a consistent three-decade record of running private and public enterprises alike into a ditch".

INFLUENCE PEDDLING 101

2005-09-18T12:00:00.000-04:00

Rod Paige, His Former Top Aides at Education Department Leaders Reunite As Consultants

By BEN FELLER
The Associated Press

Sep. 17, 2005 - Rod Paige and his former top aides at the Education Department have organized a consulting group to offer high-dollar advice on policies they helped create and later enforced, including the controversial No Child Left Behind Act.

Paige, who resigned as education secretary 10 months ago, has agreed to be chairman of New York-based Chartwell Education Group.

The firm, which has begun soliciting business, is seeking clients ranging from state school chiefs to foreign leaders.

It is not unusual for Washington officials to become consultants after leaving government. But this venture involves virtually an entire leadership team from President Bush's first term.

Cartoon Editorials

2005-09-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

SOME LEAD, SOME

2005-09-17T07:58:00.000-04:00

“more than 8 in 10 Americans are very or somewhat concerned that the $5 billion being spent each month on the war in Iraq is draining away money that could be used in the United States”

...Started out 8 out of 10 fell for it...now 8 out of 10 know better. For those 6 out of 10 of you who have jumped from one band wagon to the other,the 2 out of 10 of us who were right the whole time are not going to say, we told you so...but we did

BUSH'S 'NEW DEAL'

2005-09-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

"deeply marred by cronyism and corruption".

"It's a given that the Bush administration, which tried to turn Iraq into a laboratory for conservative economic policies, will try the same thing on the Gulf Coast. The Heritage Foundation, which has surely been helping Karl Rove develop the administration's recovery plan, has already published a manifesto on post-Katrina policy".

Having that $300 billion Bush wasted in Iraq wouldn't be bad right about now.

YOU WANT SOME SALT ON THAT?

2005-09-16T20:10:00.000-04:00

Oh man, I love this stuff! Clinton just can't give it up (hey, $300 million in 3 days why should he?) and all the Clinton-haters just can't go on. You gotta love it!

Clinton Global Initiative

“So there he was, on a hotel ballroom stage that had been made over to look something like the set of a daytime talk show, with deep-cushioned chairs that he and his guests - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and King Abdullah II of Jordan - could sink into. As the host, Mr. Clinton concentrated on the four topics of the Clinton Global Initiative, as the conference was called: poverty, religious conflict, climate change and governing”.

CAN YOU ADD ONE MORE?

2005-09-16T09:16:00.000-04:00

If 1 million people lost their homes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and it's not that many people, probably less than half that but we'll use 1 million for this example, can't we take the $200 billion George Bush has now promised and just give each of them $200,000 cash? Everyone could just go to Las Vegas or Los Angeles and put a $100,000 down on a condo and party like hell for a couple of years (and of course, look for a new job in the meantime) on the other 100 grand. And, as I said, it's probably closer to half that number of people, so you could party, and look for a job, for about 4 or 5 years.

I want in on that deal...

"COMING THROUGH THE DIRGE"

2005-09-15T21:26:00.000-04:00

"Prepare Them For Their Rest"

Does George W. Bush inspire you when he reads someone else's speech to you?

If so, "build higher"...

At least it was nice to hear that he will have his cabinet do a "comprehensive review" of itself.

...He really isn't very good at reading.. ...He's damn good at throwing big sums of money at things that aren't going well, though...

OUR BRILLIANT LEADER

2005-09-15T07:41:00.000-04:00

U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005

Bush "thinks" he needs a "bathroom break"? How stupid can one person possibly be?

Actually, I think he wants to meet Condi in the bathroom. Maybe we do have to have an investigation after all! (see previous post)

WHAT?

2005-09-15T06:04:00.000-04:00

Investigate the Katrina reponse? Come on, it's not like Bush was getting a blowjob or something!

IT AIN'T ALL BAD

2005-09-15T06:00:00.000-04:00

With all the devastation and bad news coming out of Louisiana and Mississippi we can at least feel confident that Bush and his cronies have finally got Iraq under control.

Looks like Dubya has his girls under control, too, huh?

"Come on Daddy! Me and Jenna couldn't party like this in combat fatigues"!

‘PARED DOWN’? NO, PARED WAY UP!

2005-09-14T12:12:00.000-04:00

You call this leadership?

Republicans Just Keep Stepping In it!

Asked if that meant the government was running at peak efficiency, Mr. DeLay said, "Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority we've pared it down pretty good."

Well, there’s the quote from the criminal, Tom ‘the bug man’ Delay, (I hope he likes how he looks in bright orange) about how wonderful republican leadership is. Now, I’ll give you the facts.

When Bill Clinton left office in 2001 federal spending was $1,863,000,000,000 (that’s 1.863 trillion for you republicans) and now, for FY05 which ends at the end of this month it will be $2,473,000,000,000 (2.473 trillion). That’s a 33% increase in four short years! What’s changed since that time? Fiscal conservative Democrat President Bill Clinton isn’t running the show anymore, that’s what!

We have a Republican Senate, a Republican House and a Republican president and spending has increased 33% in four years. That’s what phony conservatives (Republicans) consider ‘pared down’.

Of course no one should be surprised that Bush has sent federal spending skyrocketing; Reagan and Bush’s old man did the exact same thing. Bill Clinton on the other hand held federal spending to a mere 3.55% average annual increase over his entire 8 years in office. Oh, and did I mention that he had four HUGE consecutive budget surpluses?

Be careful to what and who you listen to and know your facts. Republicans don’t want you know the facts. They like the people to be ignorant; like their base.

REPOST - "NARAL, LET IT GO"

2005-09-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

Here (starting at paragraph 3) is a "repost" of mine from August 12.

After reading a newspaper editorial the day before yesterday and hearing Alan Dershowitz say the exact same thing last night on Hardball, I will gladly take credit for being at the forefront of this ingenious political maneuver.

With the Senate Judiciary Committee now hearing testimony from 'Mannequin Man’, John Roberts, and with Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat soon to be filled, I say once again, let it go, do not stop Bush from filling the Supreme Court vacancies with people who will overturn Roe v. Wade. In fact, welcome it, steer the Republicans toward it, because with 65% of the country clearly against the overturning of a woman’s right to choose, we can finally get Republicans out of power and this country can get back to being great once again. LET IT GO!

From August 12th-Kool Aid Subliminal

NARAL, LET IT GO

OVERTURN ROE v. WADE

So the NARAL Pro-Choice America group gave in to pressure and is withdrawing its television ad that linked John Roberts to violent anti-abortion activists? That’s good.

We, the progressive, clear thinking segment of the population need to use our heads a little on this Supreme Court nominee of Bush’s. We need Roberts to be selected to take the place of Sandra Day-O’Connor and hope that he is that final vote in overturning Roe v. Wade.

Most people are under the mistaken assumption that overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade case would make abortion illegal in this country. It would not. Overturning Roe v. Wade would merely give the decision back to the states and that’s when Democrats and Independents can finally rid themselves of Republican control of government. State and federal.

Polls consistently show that Americans, by a 2 to 1 margin, support Roe v. Wade but you would never know that by what you hear on TV or radio or by reading the newspaper. The general impression is that the country is evenly divided on woman’s constitutional right to choose an abortion. That is a lie.

Please confirm John Roberts and please let him finally be that 5th vote in overturning Roe v. Wade.

Sure, Republicans will always have Mississippi, Alabama, Utah and probably Indiana, but who cares?

When the people of those purple states realize that ‘sis’ could go to prison (or worse) for something they currently feel should be a woman’s right, they will be forced to vote Republicans out of office and then the country can get back to prosperity and freedom.

So, let’s hope John Roberts gets selected to the Supreme Court and let’s hope he’s lying when he say’s he would respect the precedent of Roe v. Wade.

Go ahead, overturn it. Make my day!

http://www.pollingreport.com/abortion.htm

THE EPITOME OF REPUBLICANS

2005-09-14T05:59:00.000-04:00

Oklahoma Senator is your typical Republican

Republican Senator Tom Coburn epitomizes what the Republican Party stands for in this country. He’s a goddamn phony hypocrite and by far one of the most divisive members of Congress!

At the opening of the confirmation hearings for John Roberts on Monday, Coburn became choked up and whimpered like baby when he said;

"A super-legislator body is not what the court was intended to be," Coburn said. "When I ponder our country and its greatness, its weakness, its potential, my heart aches for less divisiveness, less polarization, less finger-pointing, less bitterness, less mindless partisanship."

In reading his comments you obviously don't see the emotion he showed but as I said, he was whimpering like a baby. This man, Coburn, sounds like a compassionate man who has grown weary of all the divisiveness in government but he is the same man who has made the following public statements;

“I favor the death penalty for abortionists and other people who take life.”

“… The gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power. ... That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today. Why do you think we see the rationalization for abortion and multiple sexual partners? That’s a gay agenda.”

And the ‘kicker’ to all this? Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn, an MD, sterilized a woman in 1990 without her consent. He admitted to sterilizing her without her 'written' permission and lied about having her ‘oral’ permission. He also admitted to performing 'lot’s' of these sterilizations, even on minors. His stated reason, ‘Reducing the rolls of welfare queens’

Tom Coburn epitomizes Republicans; The Party of pathetic, shameless goddamn hypocrites!

THE FACTS ABOUT POVERTY

2005-09-13T17:42:00.000-04:00

Another 'Family Values' republican,(you know, the phone-sex pervert) Bill O'Reilly, today on his radio program lied about poverty going down under Bush

The fact of the matter is, poverty has gone UP every year under George Bush while it went DOWN every year under Bill Clinton.

Republicans are liars and they can't win the arguments on their record so they lie to their sheep and the sheep are too ignorant to know better.

You learn the facts, and only the facts here.

Another lying republican, Rev. Joe Watkins, a Bush-Cheney '04 campaign adviser, appeared on CNN comparing poverty levels under Clinton and Bush and he totally misrepresented the facts. There is no comparison. In fact, there is no comparison in any statistic that has do with the economic well being of this country when it comes to Bush and Clinton. Bush is a miserable failure while things have NEVER been better economically than when Bill Clinton was leading this country.

Republicans have no shame. The vast majority of them are liars and you have to know your stuff (or read Kool Aid Subliminal)and call them on it when they repeat their bullshit. It's very easy to make fools of them when you know the facts.

"CNN contributor, talk radio host, and Bush-Cheney '04 campaign adviser Rev. Joe Watkins falsely claimed that the United States has experienced a "reduction" in poverty under President Bush. Misleadingly citing poverty statistics on the September 12 edition of CNN's Paula Zahn Now, Watkins stated that "under Bill Clinton, 15.1 percent of the population was poor; under President Bush, 12.7 percent of the population is poor. That's a reduction, that's a good thing." But the poverty rate declined every year Clinton was in office, from 15.1 percent when he took office in 1993 to a low of 11.3 percent in 2000; it has risen every year that Bush has been in office, from 11.7 percent in 2001 to 12.7 percent in 2004".

David Brock sure knows how to make them look like the lying fools they are!

CHIMP-IN-CHIEF

2005-09-13T16:20:00.000-04:00

ANOTHER LIMBAUGH LIE

2005-09-13T14:30:00.000-04:00

"Describing the claim that "the Bush administration squandered this giant surplus left by the Clinton administration" as a "Democrat [sic] mantra talking point," nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh falsely asserted that "there never was a surplus" under President Clinton. In fact, from 1998 to 2001, the federal government ran total annual budget surpluses of between $69.2 billion and $236.2 billion, according to figures from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO)".

This is a favorite lie among phony conservatives (phony conservatives are republicans) because they just can't get over the fact that no Republican since Eisenhower has ever even come close to balancing a federal budget and the fiscally conservative Democrat, William Jefferson Clinton, balanced four in row.

I should have held off on doing this post hoping some of the fools I know who listen to Limbaugh would be dumb enough to believe him and repeat his ignorance but I've already made them look like fools before on this very same issue, so maybe they're finally learning their lesson. Nah, I doubt it-they're awfully dumb and extremely misinformed like all listeners of the republican's favorite drug addict.

Media Matters makes Limbaugh look stupid once again!

America's Most Fiscally Conservative President in History!

HAVE YOU HAD YOUR BREAKFAST YET?

2005-09-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

DRUGGIE LIMBAUGH RELAPSES

2005-09-13T07:41:00.000-04:00

Republican icon, and the person who best personifies their values

Republican's favorite drug addict, Rush Limbaugh is back on oxycotin. David Brock from Media Matters for America nails him on several lies and outright misinformation from just a few of his latest shows.

Is there any wonder why people who listen to this hypocritical drug-addicted blowhard are some of the dumbest and most misinformed people on the planet?

THE LIAR KEEPS LYING

2005-09-12T18:57:00.000-04:00

"I don't think anybody anticipated a breach of the levees".

Max Mayfield, the Director of the National Hurricane Center, told Bush the day BEFORE the hurricane in a video conference call that the levees in New Orleans could be breached.

Now Bush has changed his story and is spouting the Republicans' lying talking point that every one was saying that New Orleans "had dodged the bullet". Many Republicans have even lied about there being several newspapers with that headline. That's a lie.

Bush The Liar - "And I myself thought we had dodged a bullet. You know why? Because I was listening to people probably over the airwaves"

What do you mean "probably", you lying asshole?!?

Read more about the Liar in Chief.

PATHOLOGICAL

2005-09-12T06:00:00.000-04:00

1. Relating to or caused by disease.
2. Of, relating to, or manifesting behavior that is habitual, maladaptive, and compulsive: a pathological liar.

Who among any of us doesn't remember precisely what you were doing the moment you heard about the attack on the WTC on September 11, 2001?

Of all the lies George Bush has told I find his one about what he was doing when the World Trade Center was attacked to be the most compelling.

Below are two transcripts from two different events, one in Orlando Florida and the other in Ontario California, where Bush is asked by members in the audience about what he was doing when he first heard of the attacks on 9/11.

Orlando, Florida at the Orlando Convention Center-12/01/01

QUESTION: One thing, Mr. President, is that you have no idea how much you've done for this country, and another thing is that how did you feel when you heard about the terrorist attack?

BUSH: Well...

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you, Jordan (ph).

Well, Jordan (ph), you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. And my chief of staff, Andy Card -- actually I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. And I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on, and I use to fly myself, and I said, "There's one terrible pilot." And I said, "It must have been a horrible accident."

But I was whisked off there -- I didn't have much time to think about it, and I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my chief who was sitting over here walked in and said, "A second plane has hit the tower. America's under attack."

Town Hall Meeting with Citizens of Ontario
Ontario Convention Center
Ontario, California
1/5/02

Q What was the first thing that went through your head when you heard that a plane crashed into the first building?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Well, I was sitting in a schoolhouse in Florida. I had gone down to tell my little brother what to do, and -- just kidding, Jeb. (Laughter.) And -- it's the mother in me. (Laughter.) Anyway, I was in the midst of learning about a reading program that works. I'm a big believer in basic education, and it starts with making sure every child learns to read. And therefore, we need to focus on the science of reading, not what may feel good or sound good when it comes to teaching children to read. (Applause.) I'm just getting a plug in for my reading initiative.

Anyway, I was sitting there, and my Chief of Staff -- well, first of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake. And something was wrong with the plane, or -- anyway, I'm sitting there, listening to the briefing, and Andy Card came and said, "America is under attack."

Why is George W. Bush a pathological lair? Because there was no live video coverage of the first plane hitting the tower. The video of that first plane hitting the tower was not released until AFTER the second plane had hit.

Bush is a patholgical liar. Why would anyone lie about what they were doing when they first heard of the attacks on 9/11 if they weren't simply, a liar with a "manifesting behavior that is habitual, maladaptive, and compulsive"?

Transcript-Orlando Convention Center Orlando, Florida-12/01/01
Transcript-Ontario Convention Center Ontario, California-1/5/02

THE WORLD TRADE CENTER

2005-09-11T20:00:00.000-04:00

REMEMBERING 9/11

2005-09-11T10:25:00.000-04:00

Remember the man Bush forgot

Don't fall for Bush's phony bullhorn Kodak moment-remember on this day what a miserable failure he's been at bringing bin Laden to justice

Certainly one important thing to remember on this anniversary of 9/11 is Bush’s failure to capture the man, Osama bin Laden, who was responsible.

Instead of completing the mission when he had the chance at Tora Bora, Bush and Tommy Franks gave in to Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, so as to not upset the Pakistani or Afghan tribal leaders, and bin Laden was allowed to escape through another example of Bush’s many cases of incompetence.

Bush and Franks chose to appease Pakistan over our country’s right to avenge the 9/11 disaster and then Bush led us into his needless diversion into Iraq. And what has that needless lie cost this country?

Bush’s phony stance with that bullhorn (after he hid like a scared baby on the day of the attack) in NYC two days later will be what Fox News and other republican mouthpieces will be showing today but those of us who know better will remember what a miserable failure Bush has really been when it comes to remembering the victims of 9/11.

AMERICANS ARE WISING UP

2005-09-11T08:19:00.000-04:00

The Result of 62 Million Idiots

Most of early last week all of the Bush-apologist rightwing commentators on TV and radio were touting an early poll that showed only 13% of poll respondents were blaming Bush for the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Of course, they did not mention that in that same poll another 35% blamed the ‘federal government’ which is the same as blaming republicans since they are, to the detriment of the country, the majority.

But now a Newsweek poll released shows “52 percent, do not trust the president “to make the right decisions during a domestic crisis”, so I’m sure that those same rightwing commentators who care more for the Republican Party than they do the country will be back to saying 'polls don’t matter’. The polls only matter to the Bush ass-kissers when they’re too early and incomplete and wrongly show how the public really feels.

The same Newsweek poll shows Bush with a dismal 38% job approval rate.

It’s unfortunate that 62 million people were too dumb to know better just 10 short months ago. Now, the rest of us we’ll pay for those idiots for the next 3+ years. Unless of course, Americans wise-up and get the House of Representatives back to a Democrat majority in 2006 so we can impeach Bush and Cheney and try to get this country back on it’s feet.

"Go fuck yourself, Mr Cheney"

2005-09-10T07:41:00.000-04:00

UPDATE, from yesterday's post

After learning thru the "LiberalAvenger" (thanks guys) the name of the Patriot, Dr. Ben A. Marble, who told Dickhead Cheney to go fuck himself, I emailed him this morning thanking him and he replied with the following;

"thanks i appreciate it
please drop by and share your thoughts at my site
www.forumearth.com"

So, pay the good doctor a visit and thank him for saying what millions of us only wish we could have.

"Oblivious, In Denial, Dangerous"

2005-09-10T06:22:00.000-04:00

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." --President Gump, referring to FEMA director Michael Brown, Friday, September 2

Nancy Pelosi, the Minority leader in the House of Representatives, was right on the money when she said Bush was "Oblivious, In Denial, Dangerous" in his reaction to hurricane Katrina. Her comments last week came after she asked Bush if he was going to fire Mike Brown and the dumbest and most 'dangerous' president in history stupidly replied 'Why would I do that?'" and 'What didn't go right?'"

Even Bush's staunchest supporters have always admitted that he's not the brightest bulb on the shelf but their excuse for supporting someone so lame was that he would at least surround himself with smart, qualified people. Well, we know that's not true anymore since he surrounds himself not with capable people but with those who gave 10's of thousands of dollars for his political campaigns; And now the country will pay billions more for his blatant acts of cronyism.

It's time this country rids itself of the failed republican leadership that has bankrupted it, both financially and morally.

The country owes Nancy Pelosi their gratitude for being the leader it wishes Bush was.

HOOK, LINE & SINKER

2005-09-09T15:06:00.000-04:00

'BLAME GAME'

2005-09-09T12:54:00.000-04:00

"When people don't want to play the blame game? They're to blame."

Karl Rove and the repuglies have got their talking points down and their new mantra is 'let's not get into a 'blame game'. And why is that you think?

Jon Stewart nailed them the other night on the Daily Show;

"Little observation: When people don't want to play the blame game? They're to blame."

And you know what, Bush knows he's to blame and that's why he's now removed "Brownie". Brown will be Bush's new patsy, the fall guy.

There's nothing better than watching republicans squirm.

AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY

2005-09-09T08:31:00.001-04:00

The man who could have been the first African-American President threw it all away when he allowed Bush, Cheney, and their ilk to use him to pass along the cherry-picked intelligence on Iraq which led us into our senseless and needless war.

You can see Powell in an exclusive interview tonight with Barbara Walters on ABC at 10PM where he candidly talks about the blunders of the Iraq war and the Bush ass-kissing sheep's favorite lie about the link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

"I have never seen a connection. … I can't think otherwise because I'd never seen evidence to suggest there was one..."

The story of Colin Powell is an American tragedy. He could have been a a decent Democrat president someday and he threw it all away by allowing himself to be duped by liars.

Yes, I said "Democrat" president. There's no way the party of bigots, the republican party, with their majority being unabashed racial bigots would have ever voted for an African-American.

But, that's all a moot point now anyway since Bush and Cheney threw out Powell's integrity like yesterday's garbage when they set him up as their patsy in front of the UN and the rest of the World.

Tonight, 10PM.

DELAY & ROVE FUTURE CELLMATES?

2005-09-08T18:03:00.000-04:00

Tom Delay, Karl Rove and Scooter Libby might just be going to the big house on the buddy plan soon.

Republicans are finding out that they're not above the law and Delay is going down!

Demand a change of venue. Tom Delay needs to go on trial in Los Angeles, New York City or better yet, New Orleans!

TRUER WORDS...

2005-09-08T16:40:00.000-04:00

were never spoken...

Not 'one' of the worst - The worst!

THEY'RE STILL DYING IN IRAQ

2005-09-08T05:45:00.000-04:00

Imagine having a son or daughter serving in Bush's war in Iraq right now with almost no one paying attention. In the first 7 days of September, 10 soldiers and marines have died along with four American civilians. A total of 1,894 of our young men and women have died through 9/7.

Out of sight, out of mind. Our country's needless war-fought for a liar.

MORE RIGHTWING SCAMS

2005-09-07T21:43:00.000-04:00

Along the same line as the previous post where Pat Robertson, the rightwing's no. 1 bigoted preacher, another rightwing radio host has been busted in Missouri for also trying to scam the public for donations for victims of hurricane Katrina.

They have no shame. Don't send donations to rightwing groups.

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!

2005-09-07T18:41:00.000-04:00

You've got to hand it to Bush administration; they're the most corrupt and the most shameless administration in the history of this country and you know what? They don't give a damn if you like it or not!

Donations for hurricane Katrina victims going to 'Operation Blessing' (sic)? What's next from these Republican scumbags, a fucking telethon for the KKK and the American Nazi Party?

With the Bush Administration's approval, Robertson's $66 million relief organization, Operation Blessing, has been prominently featured on FEMA's list of charitable groups accepting donations for hurricane relief. Dozens of media outlets, including the New York Times, CNN and the Associated Press, duly reprinted FEMA's list, unwittingly acting as agents soliciting cash for Robertson. "How in the heck did that happen?" Richard Walden, president of the disaster-relief group Operation USA, asked of Operation Blessing's inclusion on FEMA's list. "That gives Pat Robertson millions of extra dollars."

Bush's Damage

2005-09-07T15:24:00.000-04:00

Bush's Hiring of Political Cronies at the Country's Expense

WASHINGTON - "The three top jobs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Bush went to political cronies with no apparent experience coping with catastrophes, the Daily News has learned.

Even if Bush were to fire embattled and suddenly invisible FEMA Director Michael Brown over his handling of Hurricane Katrina, the bureaucrat immediately below him is no disaster professional, either.

While Brown ran horse shows in his last private-sector job, FEMA's No. 2 man, deputy director and chief of staff Patrick Rhode, was an advance man for the Bush-Cheney campaign and White House. He also did short stints at the Commerce Department and Small Business Administration.

Rhode's biography posted on FEMA's Web site doesn't indicate he has any real experience in emergency response.

In addition, the agency's former third-ranking official, deputy chief of staff Scott Morris, was a PR expert who worked for Maverick Media, the Texas outfit that produced TV and radio spots for the Bush-Cheney campaign. In June, Morris moved to Florida to become FEMA's long-term recovery director.

"The Bush administration has apparently transformed FEMA from a professional, world-class emergency responder into a dumping ground for former campaign staff and political hacks," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan)".

We have all witnessed the incompetence of the Bush administration and his handling of FEMA is a national disgrace that calls for an investigation and not one by Dubya himself.

Compare the way this criminal administration handled FEMA with the way Bill Clinton handled FEMA when he hired James Lee Witt.

WHAT DOES THE 'F' STAND FOR?

2005-09-07T06:01:00.000-04:00

The Sheep Will Never Be Anything But Sheep

What does the 'F' in the acronym, F.E.M.A, represent? What does the 'E' and the 'M' represent? Who is responsible for the 'Federal' government? Who is Mike Brown, the head of FEMA? Is he really just a 'political hack' and former 'college roommate of Joe Albaugh', who was Dubya's first Director of FEMA (after being his campaign manager)before leaving to take a job as a lobbyist for Halliburton? Which former president knew the importance of FEMA and made it a cabinet level position? Which president buried FEMA under his new massive Homeland Security Department? Why are American taxpayers paying billions for Homeland Security and FEMA if it's 'not their responsibility'? At what point do all you sheep realize you've drank too much kool aid?

Administration Tries to Shift Blame for Its Own Incompetence

September 6, 2005

True to form, the president’s hatchet man, Karl Rove, began executing a public relations effort over the weekend to shift blame for the administration’s failures in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina onto hard-pressed state and local officials in New Orleans and Louisiana. Although the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had been granted full authority to coordinate relief efforts and assistance prior to the disastrous hurricane, administration officials failed to effectively use their authority to provide swift and comprehensive relief efforts when it mattered most.

• The Bush administration took full responsibility for coordinating the rescue and relief efforts days before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The White House effort to shift the blame for the response to Katrina contradicts their public statements before the storm hit. An August 27 declaration on the White House website "authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts" The order specifies that "FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency." Jane Bullock, former FEMA chief of staff, said "The moment the president declared a federal disaster, it became a federal responsibility…The federal government took ownership over the response."

• Despite this clear authority, administration officials failed to properly execute their duties to protect and assist citizens in New Orleans and other areas. As levees broke, flood waters rose, and thousands of people became stranded in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, Bush administration officials were bickering about lines of authority and bureaucratic red tape. Although there were clear ways to get people out of New Orleans and provide medical and relief support for those left behind, DHS and FEMA failed in their basic duty to aid and assist victims of the hurricane.

• In a further slap to the face, President Bush and Karl Rove are trying to shift the blame for their own incompetence and negligence during this crisis. Bush and Rove are trying to claim now that state officials in Louisiana were "slow to call for outside help." The reality is that Louisiana state officials reached out to the federal government for assistance before the storm hit but got little in return. On August 27, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco sent a detailed letter to President Bush requesting assistance because "this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster."

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=700005

ONE DOWN, MANY MORE TO GO

2005-09-06T19:25:00.000-04:00

Where's the spray paint?

David Corn doesn't sugarcoat the truth about Rehnquist; A despicable human being who doesn't deserve a flag draped coffin and he has no business even near Arlington Cemetery because the only people he ever served were rightwing racist bigots.

"In 1964, Rehnquist testified against a proposed ordinance in Phoenix that would ban racial discrimination in public housing. As The Washington Post notes in today's stories on his death, Rehnquist wrote at the time, "It is, I believe, impossible to justify the sacrifice of even a portion of our historic individual liberty for a purpose such as this." In other words, people are not truly free if they are not free to discriminate."

Wow! To think this man was actually the Supreme Court's Chief Justice. What does that say about this country?

David Corn-The Nation

JUSTICE

2005-09-06T13:33:00.000-04:00

retribution, 'payback' for the misery inflicted on this country from 2000

WHY DIDN’T THE GOVERNOR ASK?

2005-09-06T09:29:00.000-04:00

When one of your pathetic Bush-apologizing ass-kissing neighbors, friends or co-workers asks you, why didn’t the governor of Louisiana ask the president for assistance? Show them a copy of this letter Governor Blanco sent Bush on Sunday, August 28th, the day before the hurricane.

Of course, we know Bush was overly concerned about the potential category 5 hurricane wrecking havoc on that region so what did he do the day of it? He golfed 18 holes. And, of course the day before when the governor sent him the letter he was too busy riding his bicycle around his ranch to be bothered with such trivial bullshit.

But now when you hear Fox News, Limbaugh or Hannity lie about the Louisiana governor failing to act; You’ll know better-won’t you?

For any of you pathetic Bush apologists who find it hard to read a 4 page document or you have your head up Dubya's ass too far to comprehend, let me provide you with one glaring paragraph from Governor Blanco's letter.

"Based on the predictions we have received from the National Weather Service and other sources, I have determined that this incident will be of such severity and magnitude that the effective response will be beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments and that supplementary Federal assistance will be necessary."

thanks Buzzflash

YOU'RE A GODDAMN RACIST!

2005-09-06T07:41:00.000-04:00

CAPTION FOR BLACK WOMAN-"looting a grocery store."

CAPTION FOR WHITE WOMAN- "after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store."

On another note. Did any of you catch what the 'ol bitch, Barbara Bush had to say yesterday? Here's her quote;

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this --this is working very well for them."

You only have to give a republican a few minutes to talk and the truth inevitably always comes out. You're goddamn racists!

HAPPY LABOR DAY

2005-09-05T05:00:00.000-04:00

The History of Labor Day

Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

"Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Labor Day Legislation

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

A Nationwide Holiday

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

'Are you coming, son'?

2005-09-04T20:25:00.000-04:00

The strain was apparent in other ways. Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, dropped his head and cried on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home, and every day she called him and said, 'Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?' And he said, 'And yeah, Momma, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday' - and she drowned Friday night. She drowned on Friday night"

Rehnquist Dies at Superdome

2005-09-04T06:15:00.000-04:00

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist passed away yesterday as the last bus pulled away without him at the New Orleans Superdome.

Having to spend five days without his favorite caviar, his favorite bath robe and slippers, Rehnqusit finally succumbed to the cancer that had taken over his body when Homeland Security and F.E.M.A. could not get him his much needed chemo-therapy drugs in time.

Services will be next Thursday. For those interested in viewing his body, it will be along with the hundreds of others stacked somewhere in one of the temporary morgues in New Orleans.

If you're not sure which body bag (or sheet covered body) is his, feel free to pray over any of them; they're all equal now.

THAT LOOK

2005-09-02T12:05:00.000-04:00

...when he looks out that window...8/31/05

....................September, 11, 2001

George W. Bush on Good Morning America, 9/1/05

"I don't think anybody anticipated a breach of the levees".

THE COLD HARD FACTS

"A key flood-control project in southeastern Louisiana has seen its federal funding steadily dwindle, from $69 million in 2001 to $32.2 million in 2005, according to congressional offices and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Bush requested $10.5 million for the project for 2006, while the Corps said $62.5 million was required.

Funding for hurricane protection, including levee improvements and pumping stations, went from $10 million in 2001 to $5.7 million this year. Bush proposed $3 million for 2006".

Certainly no one can prevent a hurricane like Katrina but most of the misery and the monetary damage done to the city of New Orleans is due to flooding from the 'breach in the levee'.

The potential for that breach was anticipated and the request, the begging, for the money to prevent such a disaster was met every single year with drastic cuts by Bush and his administration.

THE CHOICE, AND THE COST OF THAT CHOICE

For a little perspective; The $37 million ($69m to $32m) CUT in the flood control project from 2001 to 2005 is what Dubya spends every 4 HOURS in Iraq! Every 4 hours!

The $7 million Bush has cut in 'funding for hurricane protection, including levee improvements and pumping stations' since 2001? Bush is spending that every 50 MINUTES in Iraq.

Most estimates of the damage done to that area is already at $50 billion. How much of that $50 billion is due to the levees failing in New Orleans? $5 billion, $10 billion? Let's go with $5 billion. So Bush cut spending of $35-37 million for 'flood control' in New Orleans so he could pay for his war in Iraq, when all the leading experts 'anticipated' this happening, and now it will cost at least $5 billion, and a whole lot of misery?

That look...every time he get's that stare going out that window on Air Force 1.....the country ends up getting hosed!

Day 5, Still Dark...

2005-09-02T07:50:00.000-04:00

Help Out, if you can

"the days seem awfully dark ..."

2005-09-01T16:15:00.001-04:00

COMEUPANCE

2005-09-01T12:05:00.000-04:00

KATRINA FIRES BACK AT THE REAL BLOWHARD

“But when Fox started calling the storm Killer Katrina, I prayed some right-wing idiot wouldn't stoop so low as to link me to this human suffering. But wouldn't you know, the biggest dittohead on the block, Rush Limbaugh, is calling the storm Hurricane Katrina vanden Heuvel. National Review's Jonah Goldberg, who has never seen a bad-joke bandwagon he could resist jumping on with both feet, blogged, "It would be pretty cool if Fox played to caricature and repeatedly referred to the hurricane as Katrina vanden Heuvel." He went on to imagine the lines, "The destruction from Katrina vanden Heuvel is expected to be massive. The poor and disabled are particularly likely to suffer from the effects of Katrina vanden Heuvel."

"This is how they show respect for those who are suffering and dying--with lame quips? At least Limbaugh has the excuse that drug abuse tends to stunt emotional development. What Goldberg's problem is nobody has yet discovered. Natural disasters should be above infantile politics. (George W. Bush's decision to send his father and Bill Clinton to organize aid for the tsunami was one of his few international PR successes since 9/11.) It's so easy to take cheap shots. (Did you hear the one about OxyContin's new tag line? "What a Rush!")

STAND BACK! GIVE THE MAN A STRAW!

2005-09-01T10:59:00.000-04:00

Clinton and Bush's father will lead fundraising effort

FULL CIRCLE

2005-08-31T12:54:00.000-04:00

After denying it for 3 years, Bush now admits, it is about the "OIL"

Mushroom clouds, connected to bin Laden, harbored terrorists, evil, evil, bad, bad, man, fighting them there instead of here? All proven false, so Bush's new reason? 'Protecting' the Iraqi oil fields.

I thought it didn't have anything to do with 'oil'?

"If Zarqawi and [Osama] bin Laden gain control of Iraq, they would create a new training ground for future terrorist attacks. They'd seize oil fields to fund their ambitions", Bush said.

I thought Iraq was now a 'democracy'? If it is and "Zarqawi and [Osama] bin Laden gain control", wouldn't they have to 'gain' it by winning over a majority of Iraqis?

And, if Bush and his administration were so worried about terrorists taking control over Iraq's oil fields-they should have left Saddam Hussein and the Baathists in power.

WHO NEEDS BOMBS?

2005-08-31T07:48:00.000-04:00

More than 950 people were killed and hundreds injured this morning when rumors of a suicide bomber led to a stampede in a vast procession of Shiite pilgrims as they crossed a bridge on their way to a shrine in northern Baghdad.

U.S. OFFERED HUMANITARIAN AID

2005-08-30T12:22:00.000-04:00

In a wonderful gesture of good-will, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered to help out poor Americans who will be victimized by Bush administration cuts. Chavez has now also offered to help the victims of hurricane Katrina.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offered heating oil to poor communities in the United States to bypass the middlemen he claims inflate prices.

Mr. Chavez, 51, made the offer during his weekly television broadcast, Alo Presidente. Mr. Chavez said 140 communities or groups have requested energy aid from the South American country since the president said earlier this week that Venezuela could help poor families in the U.S. "We want to help the poorest communities in the U.S.," Mr. Chavez said. "There are people who die from the cold in winter in the U.S."

Citgo Petroleum Corp., the U.S. unit of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, may co-ordinate distribution, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said. Citgo has eight refineries in the U.S., as well as 14,000 affiliated gas stations. Mr. Chavez and Mr. Ramirez did not say how much heating oil might be offered.

"There is poverty in the U.S.," Mr. Chavez said. "People freeze to death, people starve to death."

Mr. Chavez, who became president in 1999 after winning the presidency in a landslide, has repeatedly attacked multinational oil companies as one of the causes of rising energy prices. Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, sends more than 60 per cent of its two million barrels a day of oil exports to the U.S.

Mr. Chavez also said 150,000 Americans will be offered medical care to correct vision problems.

A NOBLE CAUSE? FOR WHO?

2005-08-30T07:41:00.000-04:00

...................... BUSH EXTENDED FAMILY PHOTO taken January 20, 2005

Thanks BuzzFlash

GOOBERS FOR BUSH

2005-08-29T14:19:00.000-04:00

Crazy Bush/Pro-Lie Supporters Attack Each Other

"There also were some heated moments at the pro-Bush rally when Bush supporters mistakenly identified two people as war protesters. The two walked in with a sign that read "Say No to War — Unless a Democrat is President."

Many Bush supporters only saw the top of the sign and believed the men were war protesters, so they began shouting and chasing the pair out. One man tore up their signs.

When Will Marean of Minneapolis kept repeating that he was on the Bush side, one Bush supporter shook his hand and apologized".

A LITTLE LATE

2005-08-29T10:45:00.000-04:00

Paul Krugman

When I heard last week that Alan Greenspan finally admitted that Bush and the Republican's HUGE deficits will have a negative affect on the economy, I thought to myself 'no shit, Sherlock-where have you been'?

Paul Krugman thinks, and writes about the same thing.

JUMPED THE COUCH

2005-08-28T05:00:00.000-04:00

"Butchering reality to make the fairy tale come out their way"

"Wake Me Up When September Ends"

Op-Ed Columnist

Bike-Deep in the Big Muddy

By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: August 27, 2005

WASHINGTON

W. has jumped the couch.

Not fallen off the couch, as he did when he choked on that pretzel.

Jumped it.

According to UrbanDictionary.com, "jump the couch" has now become slang for "a defining moment when you know someone has gone off the deep end. Inspired by Tom Cruise's recent behavior on 'Oprah.' Also see 'jump the shark.' "

The former stateside National Guardsman who was sometimes M.I.A. jumped the shark by landing on that "Mission Accomplished" carrier. (With Tom Cruise cockiness.)

Then, as president, he jumped the couch by pedaling through the guns of August - the growing carnage and chaos in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He did do a few minutes of work this month, calling a Shiite leader in Baghdad a few days ago to lobby him to reach a consensus with the Sunnis, so Iraq doesn't crack apart. But the Shiites and Kurds ignored the president and skewered the Sunnis.

Iraq, it turns out, is the one branch of American government that the Republicans don't control.

WE'LL REAP WHAT WE SOWED

2005-08-27T17:30:00.000-04:00

Another blundering by-product of the war in Iraq is what will take the place of Saddam's secular Iraq; We can get an idea from one of Iran's 'Supreme Leader' Ayatollah Khamenei's top advisors.

Senior Iran cleric hails "Islamic state of Iraq" Fri. 26 Aug 2005

Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Aug. 26 - A senior Iranian cleric welcomed on Friday the establishment of an Islamic republic in Iraq and hailed the country's new constitution as one based on "Islamic precepts".

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads the powerful ultra-conservative Guardian Council, told worshippers in Tehran's Friday prayers, "Fortunately, after years of effort and expectations in Iraq, an Islamic state has come to power and the constitution has been established on the basis of Islamic precepts".

"We must congratulate the Iraqi people and authorities for this victory", he said.

Jannati, who is a top confidant of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that all justice-seeking counties of the world "have no model other than the Islamic revolution in Iran to turn to".

"Lebanese Hezbollah and the state of Iraq are not the only supporters of the Islamic revolution", he said.

"DEAD WRONG"

2005-08-27T16:00:00.000-04:00

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They lied, they made it up, and Colin Powell was set up to be the stooge

-REPOST-

I finally got the chance this afternoon to see "Dead Wrong -- Inside an Intelligence Meltdown", and I hope all of you who fell for the Bush administration's lies that led us into needlessly attacking Iraq, saw it too.

You were duped and look what it's cost this country. Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, Rice, Tenet and others trumped the intelligence to convince the sheep, the 80% of you, to go along with diverting our attention away from bin Laden and Afghanistan to a war long favored by neocons.

Colin Powell was set up and made to look like the fool he actually turned out to be, all because Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz knew he’d make the perfect patsy.

Powell resigned in disgrace and will forever more be known first, not as a general or as our first African-American Secretary of State, but as the stooge who was assigned to be the administration's final liar, the set up man, in this country’s needless invasion of Iraq.

All of the Bush lies are now coming out-with even those close to this criminal administration now coming forward. Bush and those who lied with him need to be charged and imprisoned for lying this country into the needless and senseless war that has cost so much.

Be sure to watch "Dead Wrong -- Inside an Intelligence Meltdown", which airs Sunday on CNN at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.

“Powell's presentation initially came from a document he described as "sort of a Chinese menu" that was provided by the White House”.

TIME FOR THE DEMOCRAT

2005-08-27T09:44:00.000-04:00

With Alan Greenspan stepping down from the Fed in January, now would be a good time for the Bush administration to show how serious they are with reducing the deficit and increasing consumer confidence back in to the economy.

Bush should select Robert Rubin as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Rubin, Bill Clinton's Treasury Secretary from 1995-99, knows a little about the importance of ridding the country of deficits and creating consumer and investor confidence. Rubin will also tell the Republicans in Congress to shut up and take care of 'prayer in school' issues and leave monetary policy up to him and the Federal Reserve.

And for all you Republicans who think 'deficits don't matter', read this paragraph on the 'current account-deficit' and the effect it's had on the value of the dollar.

"The U.S. dollar has lost more than a third of its value against the euro since 2002, partly because of concern the current-account deficit will damp foreigners' appetite for U.S. assets. The shortfall reached a record $665.9 billion last year, or 5.7 percent of gross domestic product".

Yeah, Republicans stick to what you do best-It's time for a Democrat to lead the country out of another one of your fiscal disasters!

Robert Rubin for Fed Chair.

'Greenspan heir needs crisis skills'
BLOOMBERG
Posted online: Saturday, August 27, 2005 at 1442 hours IST

AUGUST 27: Alan Greenspan's successor as chairman of the Federal Reserve will have to match Greenspan's skills for tackling financial market crises if risks to the U.S.economy persist, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said.

``The next Fed Chairman could face - at some point in the future - an even greater need for the understanding and experience to deal with serious market difficulties,'' said Rubin in the text of a speech delivered at the Kansas City Fed's Jackson Hole, Wyoming, symposium on the Greenspan era. Greenspan is due to retire in January.

Rubin, who served under President Bill Clinton between 1995 and 1999, said the current-account deficit, rising public spending, and a low consumer savings rate are among the biggest risks facing the world's largest economy.

The current-account deficit is the broadest measure of U.S.

financial transactions with the world, and includes the trade balance.

In an earlier interview today, Rubin said U.S. presidents and congressmen have sought Greenspan's advice over the last two decades on issues ranging from tax cuts to welfare reform. Rubin said Greenspan's successor may want to avoid such contentious issues to protect the central bank's independence in its core area, setting interest rates.

``The large role that Alan played, in terms of the breadth of the issues he commented on, raises an interesting substantive question about exactly how broad the ambit of discussion should be,'' Rubin, now chairman of the executive committee at Citigroup Inc. in New York, said.

DOLLAR

The U.S. dollar has lost more than a third of its value against the euro since 2002, partly because of concern the current-account deficit will damp foreigners' appetite for U.S. assets. The shortfall reached a record $665.9 billion last year, or 5.7 percent of gross domestic product.

Greenspan said in March the deficit may narrow ``without substantial disruption'' and there is ``high probability'' it won't cause problems for the U.S. economy.

Rubin and Greenspan together tackled a range of crises during the 1990s, including the Asian financial collapse of 1997, the Russian debt default in 1998 and the failure of the Long-Term Capital Management hedge fund in the same year.

Greenspan, like all Fed chairmen, has had to guard the Fed's independence throughout his tenure. For most Fed chairman, that's meant trying to stay out of political battles. For Greenspan, it's meant toeing a delicate line between the political parties.

NO CRITICISM

Rubin, as President Bill Clinton's top economic adviser, pushed the administration to refrain from criticizing the Fed, leaving the Fed to follow the monetary policy it thought best.

George W. Bush's administration has followed the same strategy. ``The decision the Clinton administration made to not comment on the Fed and to support the independence of the Fed was exceedingly important and useful,'' Rubin said. Greenspan supported Bill Clinton's tax increases in 1993 and then supported George Bush's tax cuts in his first term. He's spoken out in support of private accounts for Social Security and urged Congress to rein in mounting deficits in 2005.

That's earned him criticism from Democrats including Sen. Hillary Clinton from New York now that the budget deficit has risen to a record. Some economists said he should have kept his opinions to himself.

BLINDER

``It is not the place of an unelected central banker to tell elected politicians which taxes to raise or reduce or which spending programs to expand or contract,'' Alan Blinder, former Fed vice chairman, said in a paper at the symposium. ``When a central banker crosses the line into the political arena, he not only imperils central bank independence but runs the risk of appearing (or, worse, of being) partisan.''

Rubin said he doesn't fault Greenspan for talking taxes, though he doesn't recommend it either. Rubin was considered a potential candidate to replace Greenspan if Democrat John Kerry had won the 2004 presidential election.

``He's handled himself quite well, but you certainly could envision circumstances with a less-skilled chairman -- or in a situation where you had a chairman and an administration at odds -- where this could become more difficult,'' Rubin said.

'THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB'?

2005-08-27T06:58:00.000-04:00

Brillantly written piece by Matt Taibbi in RollingStone.

Mocks both sides and does a fine job of describing the atmosphere down in Crawford Texas.

"I never knew," Cindy Sheehan said, sighing. "Not only that I would become the face of the anti-war movement but also that I would become the sacrificial lamb of the anti-war movement."

Bush vs. the Mother

On the president's doorstep -- a dead soldier, an aggrieved housewife and the start of something big

By MATT TAIBBI

Crawford, the home of President George W. Bush, is a sun-scorched hole of a backwater Texas town -- a single dreary railroad crossing surrounded on all sides by roasted earth the color of dried dog shit. There are scattered clumps of trees and brush, but all the foliage seems bent from the sun's rays and ready at any moment to burst into flames.

The moaning cattle along the lonely roads sound like they're begging for their lives. The downtown streets are empty. Just as the earth is home to natural bridges, this place is a natural dead end -- the perfect place to drink a bottle of Lysol, wind up in a bad marriage, have your neck ripped out by a vulture.

It is a very unlikely place for a peace movement to be born. But that's exactly what happened a few weeks ago, when an aggrieved war mom named Cindy Sheehan set up camp along the road to the president's ranch and demanded a meeting with the commander in chief.

Sheehan's vigil began on Saturday, August 6th, and was originally a solitary affair.

WHOM WOULD JESUS WHACK?

2005-08-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

"Hardly a reach for the founder of the Christian Coalition"

"The Rev. Pat Robertson's suggestion Monday that the United States kill a foreign head of state would have come as a surprise only to those who haven't kept up with the loony televangelist..."

"Surprise? No. Nor is it surprising that the forces of the right-wing morality police were silent or unavailable. The Christian Coalition, the Family Research Council and the Traditional Values Coalition saved their anger for those opposing Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. Even Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, while disagreeing, said, "Private citizens say all kinds of things all the time."

But this private citizen meets with the president. Is it because this private citizen can deliver some votes? No surprise there".

HEY, WHAT THE...

2005-08-26T07:42:00.000-04:00

I guess he didn't read that section in Karl's pre-rally loyalty oath agreement!

DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST

2005-08-25T19:30:00.000-04:00

SPENDING YOUR MONEY

"Getting President Bush from here to there consumes an enormous amount of fuel, whether he's aboard Air Force One, riding in a helicopter or on the ground in a heavily armored limousine. The bill gets steeper every day as the White House is rocked by the same energy prices as regular drivers. Taxpayers still foot the bill.

Almost every vehicle Bush uses is custom-made to add security and communications capabilities, and the heavier weight of these guzzlers further drives up gas and jet fuel costs.

The White House declines to discuss travel costs related to the presidential entourage, and did not respond to a request for the overall effect of higher fuel prices on its budget.

It is not Bush's choice to be ferried around in a less than fuel- efficient manner. Those arrangements are dictated by tradition and the Secret Service, whose mission is to protect him.

But Bush is one of the nation's most-traveled presidents.

He has visited 46 countries, some of them several times, during his presidency. He has been to all states except Vermont and Rhode Island.

So far this year, he has made 73 domestic and foreign trips, including crisscrossing the country on a 60-day, 60-city tour to promote his Social Security plan. He was on the road Wednesday, speaking to a military audience in Idaho, before returning to his Texas ranch to resume his summer vacation.

About the only vehicle Bush has much say in is the 2001 white Ford F250 pickup he keeps on his ranch. At the nationwide gasoline average of $2.61 a gallon, it would cost at least $75 to fill the Ford's tank. The 1999 four-wheel-drive model gets 13 miles per gallon in the city, 17 on the highway, according to an Energy Department Web site, http://www.fueleconomy.gov .

But much as he seems to relish any chance to get behind the wheel, Bush actually drives the pickup very little, confined as he is to only occasional visits to his ranch and to remaining on its 1,600 acres when he's driving himself.

Elsewhere, whether in Washington, Des Moines or Tbilisi, Bush is driven in a large motorcade. The typical presidential caravan has well over a dozen vehicles, including Bush's limousine and an identical limo put in as a decoy.

The motorcade generally doesn't cruise placidly at fuel-efficient speeds, but rather hurries along its route as fast as possible. It also often idles outside while Bush is at an event, burning up fuel but ready to depart at a moment's notice.

The president's limos alone consume lots of gas.

Starting with his inaugural in January, Bush began tooling around in new 2006 Cadillac DTS limos.

The full-sized luxury sedan version, available to the general public, has an 18-gallon tank that would cost about $47 to fill at that $2.61- a-gallon rate. (White House vehicles are fueled at a special, dedicated facility and the price paid per gallon there is not released.) Cadillac spokesman Kevin Smith said the Cadillac DTS sedan gets 18 mpg in the city, 27 on the highway.

The vehicle Bush uses is a much different animal _ with different gas mileage. An outside company customizes the DTS for presidential use by "stretching" it to limo length, adding bulletproof glass, heavy armor and other bells and whistles _ all making it significantly heavier and less fuel-efficient, Smith said.

The same thing for the Chevrolet Suburbans that are sometimes used as limo substitutes. The mass-marketed 2005 K1500 Suburban would cost nearly $81 to fill up with its large 31-gallon tank. It gets 15 mpg in the city, 19 on the highway, according to http://www.fueleconomy.gov . But it's not clear exactly which trim model of Suburban Bush uses, and his are custom-fitted with extra gear that would reduce the gas mileage.

In the air, Bush most often flies on a Boeing 747-200B laden with, among other things, an anti-missile system. Like gas for cars, fuel costs for the largest plane in the Air Force One fleet have gone up dramatically _ from $3,974 an hour in fiscal 2004 to $6,029 per hour now, according to the Air Force.

John Armbrust, publisher of Jet Fuel Report, said Air Force One is no different from its commercial counterparts in that respect.

"It's an expensive proposition to fly these planes, whether its Air Force One or a regular 747," he said.

Reducing his appearances outside the White House and making other gestures toward fuel conservation could help cut down on costs.

But some suggest that could do more harm for national morale and Bush's image than good for the financial bottom line.

Remember Jimmy Carter donning a sweater and asking Americans facing an energy crisis to turn down their thermostats? Or giving the speech about the nation's "crisis of confidence" that led to his permanent association with "malaise?" Carter's critics turned both utterances into emblems that contributed to his political undoing".

ASK AYATOLLAH SISTANI!

2005-08-24T12:01:00.000-04:00

Excellent post by Timothy Noah of Slate Magazine.

An interesting look at the 'draft' of the Iraqi constitution and the man, Ayatollah Sistani, the Iranian-born Shiite leader who'll be pulling the strings, or more like cracking the whip, in Iraq soon.

I'm not sure Sistani was what the Bush administration had in mind when they said we'd be 'spreading democracy in the Middle East'. Especially since the constitution's Article II is titled 'Islam is a main source for legislation'.

Some funny, informative and strange links. Be sure to check out Sistani's site.

A good read.

VETERANS KNOW

2005-08-23T12:36:00.000-04:00

Vets understand Iraq War criticism is not criticism of our troops

"In case Democrats were worried that opposing the President's Iraq War policy will raise the ire of those in the military, they should read this piece in the Pensacola News-Journal. The story, from a town with a sizable military population, notes that "If there's growing sentiment against the war in Iraq, many area veterans of the fight aren't taking it personally. Vets see the opposition as a protest against policy, not them or their service."

"The thing is, it insults the intelligence of our soldiers to think that they will automatically believe that questioning the President's misguided Iraq War policy - and the lies that got us to that policy - is undermining the troops. In fact, as I wrote earlier today, when Democrats demand answers and an exit strategy, they are being pro-soldier, in that they are saying it is unacceptable for our political leaders to leave our troops in a perilous situation without a serious plan to bring them home."

KILL IN THE NAME OF GOD

2005-08-23T07:46:00.000-04:00

What Jefferson, Adams and Madison warned the country about

More proof why this country needs to get Republicans out of power. Pat Robertson, one of the main inspirational leaders of the wacky Republican base, the 30-35% of the American population who masquerade as Christian, once again proves that Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Adams knew what they were doing when they wrote the Constitution. Protect the country from these insane rightwing bastards!

History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.
-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.

The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles?
-- John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, June 20, 1815

The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.
-- James Madison, 1803

A SAFE AUDIENCE?

2005-08-22T19:00:00.000-04:00

"Cheney is the last person who should be sent out to stiffen our resolve to stay the course in Iraq. Last week, while Bush was vacationing at his Texas ranch, with a small army of antiwar activists camped outside the gate, the vice president was dispatched to Springfield, Mo., to speak at the 73rd annual convention of the Military Order of Purple Hearts, a safe audience".

'A safe audience?'

"After all, he avoided military service in Vietnam with repeated student deferments, once explaining that he had "other priorities" at the time".

Why would any veteran group be a 'safe audience' for someone as despicable and as big of a shameless chickenhawk as Dick Cheney?

I don't get it.

THEY AREN'T BUYING IT

2005-08-22T13:33:00.000-04:00

"U.S. President George Bush is mounting a new campaign this week to shore up dwindling support for the war in Iraq.

Aides said Bush will give a series of speeches in which he will remind the country of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and will suggest the war in Iraq is similar to other long conflicts, like World War II."

Bush and his administration continue to lie to the American public but the people aren't buying it anymore.

When Bush refers to 9/11 for justifying invading Iraq the people now know he's grasping for straws and that he's desperate because his poll numbers are plummeting.

And now he wants to compare his made-up war with World War II. What a joke.

Well...I guess you could compare the two if FDR had declared war on Indonesia instead of Japan after Pearl Harbor.

CARTOON EDITORIAL

2005-08-21T06:10:00.000-04:00

PRIORITY

2005-08-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

U.S. Struggling to Get Soldiers Updated Armor
By MICHAEL MOSS

For the second time since the Iraq war began, the Pentagon is struggling to replace body armor that is failing to protect American troops from the most lethal attacks by insurgents.

The ceramic plates in vests worn by most personnel cannot withstand certain munitions the insurgents use. But more than a year after military officials initiated an effort to replace the armor with thicker, more resistant plates, tens of thousands of soldiers are still without the stronger protection because of a string of delays in the Pentagon's procurement system.

The effort to replace the armor began in May 2004, just months after the Pentagon finished supplying troops with the original plates - a process also plagued by delays. The officials disclosed the new armor effort Wednesday after questioning by The New York Times, and acknowledged that it would take several more months or longer to complete.

Citing security concerns, the officials declined to say exactly how many more of the stronger plates were needed, or how much armor had already been shipped to Iraq.

"We are working as fast as we can to complete it as soon as we can," Maj. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sorenson, the Army's deputy for acquisition and systems management, said Wednesday in an interview at the Pentagon.

While much of the focus on casualties in Iraq has been on soldiers killed by explosive devices aimed at vehicles, body armor remains critical to the military's goals in Iraq. Gunfire has killed at least 325 troops, about half the number killed by bombs, according to the Pentagon.

Among the problems contributing to the delays in getting the stronger body armor, the Pentagon is relying on a cottage industry of small armor makers with limited production capacity. In addition, each company must independently come up with its own design for the plates, which then undergo military testing. Just four vendors have begun making the enhanced armor, according to military and industry officials. Two more companies are expected to receive contracts by next month, while 20 or more others have plates that are still being tested.

An important material that strengthens the ceramic plates also remains in short supply despite a federal initiative aimed at prodding private industry into meeting the growing demand, military officials said.

"Nobody is happy we haven't been able to do it faster," Maj. Gen. William D. Catto, head of the Marine Corps Systems Command, said Wednesday in the interview.

"If I had the capability, I'd like to see everybody that needs enhanced SAPI to have it and at the rate we have now, we're going to have months before we get the kind of aggregate numbers we want to have," General Catto said, referring to the thicker plates, known as the Enhanced Small Arms Protective Insert. "That's just a fact of life because of the raw materials paucity and the industrial base."

Throughout the war, the military's procurement system has struggled to stay ahead of the insurgency. Most notably, efforts by the Defense Department to add armor to the Humvee - a vehicle never intended for combat - often have been undermined by the insurgents' relentless ability to build more powerful bombs.

Military officials say they have kept the effort to supply troops with the stronger body armor quiet to avoid alerting the insurgency, which they say is adept at mining news media reports for any evidence of weaknesses in the American force. At the request of the Pentagon, The Times has omitted from this article details that would expose vulnerabilities in the original armor and the types of munitions that the original plates cannot repel.

Upgrading the plates for American troops in Iraq will cost at least $160 million, according to industry estimates.

Body armor arose as an issue in Iraq shortly after the invasion in March 2003, when insurgents began attacking American troops who had been given only vests and not bullet-resistant plates. The Army had planned to give the plates only to frontline soldiers. Officials now concede that they underestimated the insurgency's strength and commitment to fighting a war in which there are no back lines.

The ensuing scramble to produce more plates was marred by a series of missteps in which the Pentagon gave one contract to a former Army researcher who had never mass-produced anything. He was allowed to struggle with production for a year before he gave up. An outdated delivery plan slowed the arrival of plates that were made. In all, the war was 10 months old before every soldier in Iraq had plates in late January 2004.

Four months later, the Pentagon quietly issued a solicitation for the enhanced plates that would resist stronger attacks. At the same time, it worked to make improvements to the vests, including adding shoulder and side protection.

Pentagon officials said they had been hampered in their efforts by the need to make the armor as light as possible.

"You can trace this back to the early centuries ago when they started wearing body armor to the point they couldn't get on the horse," General Sorenson said. "We are doing the same sort of thing. You can only put so much armor on a soldier to the point where they can't move."

The new enhanced SAPI plates weigh about one pound more than the original plates, bringing the total body armor system with vest to about 18 pounds, military officials said.

Among the first soldiers to use the stronger armor were the military's special forces, who are known to cut the handles off their toothbrushes to reduce the weight of their packs.

Shortly after the Iraq war began, insurgents began attacking American soldiers engaged in stationary tasks like directing traffic or less arduous combat operations.

Cpl. Nicholas Roberts, 23, a marine from Colorado, was wounded last December in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, when his armor plates failed to deflect an insurgent's attack. He just started walking again this summer after nine operations. In wearing the armor, he said, "you know your risks, that it's not going to stop everything."

"Unfortunately," he added, when told about the enhanced plates, "they didn't have that when I was in."

Among the first companies to begin making enhanced SAPI for the military was Simula, a safety technology company based in Phoenix, military contracting records show. It was awarded a contract in August 2004, and received a new $12 million order this month.

Armor Holdings, a company based in Jacksonville, Fla., that owns Simula, has an exclusive contract to armor the military's Humvees. The company stirred some concern in the Pentagon in January when it balked at selling its legal rights to the Humvee armor, which the military wanted so it could involve additional manufacturers.

Col. Bruce D. Jette, who directed a special unit at the Pentagon known as the Rapid Equipping Force until he retired last fall, said the military's reliance on small companies to make body armor succeeded in spurring innovation. But in failing to acquire the rights to those designs, the military may be passing up an opportunity to increase production, he added.

Pentagon officials said the pending addition of two more vendors to the four that are now producing enhanced SAPI would increase production to 25,000 sets of the plates a month from 20,000. Each vest requires two plates. Worldwide, the Army would need nearly 2 million plates to supply all 996,000 troops using body armor with the enhanced plates.

Industry officials say they are charging the military roughly $600 each for enhanced SAPI plates, compared with $400 for the original plate.

Cercom, an advanced materials company based in Vista, Calif., began making enhanced plates for the Pentagon this summer and said it was working round the clock to fill its part of the military order. To go even faster, Richard J. Palicka, Cercom's president, said it would "need additional furnace capacity and that's expensive."

But industry and military officials say production is also constrained by a lingering shortage of an advanced fiber used to make the plates.

The material is made by only two companies, Honeywell and DSM, a Dutch concern. DSM, which built a new plant in Greenville, N.C., last year at the military's urging, and Honeywell say they are continuing to step up production. DSM said it planned to add another production line next year.

Mike Ryan, a Honeywell executive, said his company was meeting the demand for its version of this material, known as Spectra Shield, until just last month when orders from plate makers surged. "There is a learning curve here that we are trying to come up," Mr. Ryan said.

The military is still trying to assess just how well body armor is working. Pentagon officials said Wednesday during the interview that numerous lives had been saved. To emphasize the point, they played a video taken recently by an Iraqi insurgent in which an American soldier - knocked down by a bullet striking his vest - got back on his feet unharmed and took cover.

The Armed Forces Medical Examiner's Office which has undertaken a number of initiatives in the Iraq war to reduce casualties, has urged the Pentagon to have field commanders return the body armor of slain soldiers so it can be examined along with their wounds. Earlier in the war, the military medical corps helped spur improvements in eye protection and set off an examination of the Army's new helmet by studying wound patterns.

But in interviews this spring, the Medical Examiner's Office said it was receiving only about 10 percent of the vests worn by slain soldiers, too few to get a complete picture of the armor's performance.

Meanwhile, a burst of research is under way to develop even stronger body armor, though some earlier efforts appear to have slipped through the cracks. At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Stephen D. Nunn said his group formulated a polymer that can be added to the ceramic plates to increase their strength. "Our material and assembly seems to perform better than anything else I've read about," he said.

But the group's contract was limited to fortifying helicopters. When that project ended in 2001, there was no money to extend the work to body armor, Mr. Nunn said.

At the behest of the military, researchers are also studying how to make body armor more resistant to explosive devices. In a recent technical paper, one scientist, Thomas Friend, said that more work needed to be done on analyzing the shock waves produced by these blasts and how they interact with the body and the armor.

Some armor, he warned, could aggravate the damage from blasts by twisting the waves as they pass through the body.

DESPERATE DESPERADOS

2005-08-20T12:45:00.000-04:00

THE SHEEP HERD IS DWINDLING FAST

Proving those wrong who say the ‘miserable failure’ known as ‘W’, doesn’t pay attention to polls, a desperate and rattled ‘Dubya’ will begin a 5-day campaign in an attempt to convince the sheep that his needless invasion of Iraq was worth the cost.

Even though it’s been proven over and over again, and the majority of the people now know that Iraq wasn’t a threat or involved in 9/11, ‘W’ will once again attempt to link the two. Unfortunately for him, and his 30-35% base, who love the Republican Party more than their country and certainly more than the ‘troops’, it won’t work.

"By advancing the cause of liberty in a troubled region, we are bringing security to our own citizens and laying the foundations of peace for our children and grandchildren."

Oh really, ol' Liar-in-Chief? You better hope you'll be able to re-convince all those sheep who swallowed the last time you said that; it doesn't look good.

It's 10 months too late to save the country from this miserably failing administration but hopefully the nation will wise-up and elect a Democrat majority into the House of Representatives in 2006, so we can impeach the liar and convict those guilty of lying about the link between Iraq and 9/11.

That will be an impeachment that's justified.

THE POLITICS OF WAR

2005-08-20T09:30:00.000-04:00

Hey, What's That Sound?

Richard Nixon, like George W. Bush and unlike George Herbert-Walker Bush, knew the value of keeping a war going. "We had a lot of success with that in 1972," he told his stunned audience.

Newt Gingrich, is sounding a little more reasonable these days and must be thinking about running for something with quotes like, "Any effort to explain Iraq as 'We are on track and making progress' is nonsense".

Henry Kissinger, who is the only person to win a Nobel Peace Prize and be a wanted war criminal all in the same lifetime, gives some simple advice to 'Bikey W' on winning his war in Iraq by laying out these few 'easy' steps;

train a real Iraqi Army that includes all religious and ethnic groups,
make the Shiites stop hating the Sunnis and the Kurds stop hating everyone,
keep the Iranians from creating a theocratic dictatorship in Iraq,
our troops have to defeat the vicious Iraq insurgency,
and Dubya needs to keep domestic support for the war.

Not a problem...I think we can do all that.

War advice from three huge Republican losers to the biggest republican loser in history, 'Bikey W'.

Thanks Maureen...keep up the good work.

THE SYSTEM WAS BLINKING RED

2005-08-19T08:52:00.002-04:00

Let's summarize what the Bush administration knew during the months leading up to 9/11.

From the 9/11 Commission Report, Chapter Eight,
'The System Was Blinking Red'

During 2001, Director of Central Intelligence GeorgeTenet was briefed regularly regarding threats and other operational information relating to Usama Bin Ladin. He in turn met daily with President Bush, who was briefed by the CIA through what is known as the President's Daily Brief (PDB).

There were more than 40 intelligence articles in the PDBs from January 20 to September 10, 2001, that related to Bin Ladin.

The Drumbeat Begins
In the spring of 2001, the level of reporting on terrorist threats and planned attacks increased dramatically to its highest level since the millennium alert.

On March 23, in connection with discussions about possibly reopening Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, Clarke warned National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice that domestic or foreign terrorists might use a truck bomb-their "weapon of choice"-on Pennsylvania Avenue.

He (Clarke) also told her (Rice) that he thought there were terrorist cells within the United States, including al Qaeda. The next week, Rice was briefed on the activities of Abu Zubaydah and on CIA efforts to locate him.

Over the next few weeks,the CIA repeatedly issued warnings-including calls from DCI Tenet to Clarke-that Abu Zubaydah was planning an operation in the near future.One report cited a source indicating that Abu Zubaydah was planning an attack in a country that CIA analysts thought might be Israel, or perhaps Saudi Arabia or India. Clarke relayed these reports to Rice. In response to these threats, the FBI sent a message to all its field offices on April 13, 2001.

The next day, (April 20, 2001) a briefing to top officials reported "Bin Ladin planning multiple operations." When the deputies discussed al Qaeda policy on April 30, they began with a briefing on the threat.

In May 2001, the drumbeat of reporting grew louder with reports to top officials that "Bin Ladin public profile may presage attack"and "Bin Ladin network's plans advancing." In early May, a walk-in to the FBI claimed there was a plan to launch attacks on London, Boston, and NewYork.Attorney General John Ashcroft was briefed by the CIA on May 15 regarding al Qaeda generally and the current threat reporting specifically.

The next day (May 16,2001) brought a report that a phone call to a U.S. embassy had warned that Bin Ladin supporters were planning an attack in the United States using "high explosives."

On May 17, based on the previous day's report, the first item on the CSG's agenda was "UBL: Operation Planned in U.S." The anonymous caller's tip could not be corroborated.

Late May brought reports of a possible hostage plot against Americans abroad to force the release of prisoners, including Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the "Blind Sheikh," who was serving a life sentence for his role in the 1993 plot to blow up sites in NewYork City. The reporting noted that operatives might opt to hijack an aircraft or storm a U.S. embassy.

Reports similar to many of these were made available to President Bush in morning intelligence briefings with DCI Tenet, usually attended by Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Advisor Rice.

On May 29, Clarke suggested that Rice ask DCI Tenet what more the United States could do to stop Abu Zubaydah from launching"a series of major terrorist attacks,"

High Probability of Near-Term "Spectacular" Attacks

A June 12 , 2001 CIA report passing along biographical background information on several terrorists mentioned, in commenting on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that he was recruiting people to travel to the United States to meet with colleagues already there so that they might conduct terrorist attacks on Bin Ladin's behalf.

On June 22, 2001 the CIA notified all its station chiefs about intelligence suggesting a possible al Qaeda suicide attack on a U.S.target over the next few days. DCI Tenet asked that all U.S. ambassadors be briefed.

A terrorist threat advisory distributed in late June indicated a high probability of near-term "spectacular" terrorist attacks resulting in numerous casualties. Other reports' titles warned,"Bin Ladin Attacks May be Imminent" and "Bin Ladin and Associates Making Near-Term Threats."

On June 21,near the height of the threat reporting,U.S.Central Command raised the force protection condition level for U.S. troops in six countries to the highest possible level, Delta.The U.S. Fifth Fleet moved out of its port in Bahrain, and a U.S. Marine Corps exercise in Jordan was halted.

On June 25, 2001 Clarke warned Rice and Hadley that six separate intelligence reports showed al Qaeda personnel warning of a pending attack…

On June 28, Clarke wrote Rice that the pattern of al Qaeda activity indicating attack planning over the past six weeks "had reached a crescendo.""A series of new reports continue to convince me and analysts at State, CIA, DIA [Defense Intelligence Agency], and NSA that a major terrorist attack or series of attacks is likely in July…"

On July 2, the FBI Counterterrorism Division sent a message to federal agencies and state and local law enforcement agencies summarizing information regarding threats from Bin Ladin.

Clarke and others told us of a particular concern about possible attacks on the Fourth of July. After it passed uneventfully, the CSG decided to maintain the alert. To enlist more international help, Vice President Cheney contacted Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah on July 5.

On July 5, representatives from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the FAA, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, Customs, the CIA, and the FBI met with Clarke to discuss the current threat.

That same day, the CIA briefed Attorney General Ashcroft on the al Qaeda threat, warning that a significant terrorist attack was imminent. Ashcroft was told that preparations for multiple attacks were in late stages or already complete and that little additional warning could be expected.

The next day, the CIA representative told the CSG that al Qaeda members believed the upcoming attack would be "spectacular," qualitatively different from anything they had done to date.

On July 9, when 37 officials from 27 agencies and organizations were briefed on the "current threat level" in the United States.

On July 23, the lead item for CSG discussion was still the al Qaeda threat,and it included mention of suspected terrorist travel to the United States.

Tenet told us that in his world "the system was blinking red." By late July, Tenet said, it could not "get any worse."

On June 30, the SEIB contained an article titled "Bin Ladin Threats Are Real." Yet Hadley told Tenet in July that Deputy Secretary of Defense PaulWolfowitz questioned the reporting.

On July 27, Clarke informed Rice and Hadley that the spike in intelligence about a near-term al Qaeda attack had stopped. He urged keeping readiness high during the August vacation period,warning that another report suggested an attack had just been postponed for a few months "but will still happen."

On August 3, the intelligence community issued an advisory concluding that the threat of impending al Qaeda attacks would likely continue indefinitely.

Two CIA analysts involved in preparing this briefing article believed it represented an opportunity to communicate their view that the threat of a Bin Ladin attack in the United States remained both current and serious.35 The result was an article in the August 6 Presidential Daily Brief titled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US." It was the 36th PDB item briefed so far that year that related to Bin Ladin or al Qaeda, and the first devoted to the possibility of an attack in the United States. The President told us the August 6 report was historical in nature.President Bush said the article told him that al Qaeda was dangerous, which he said he had known since he had become President.

DCI Tenet visited President Bush in Crawford,Texas, on August 17 and participated in PDB briefings of the President between August 31 (after the President had returned to Washington) and September 10.

Once again, Bush was vacationing in Crawford-ironically returning on 9/10.

This information comes from Chapter 8, of the 9/11 Commission's Report, titled, 'The System was Blinking Red'. For those of you who are interested in knowing the truth-read it. For those of you who have no interest in knowing the truth-watch Fox News.

JUST SAY NO TO DOPES

2005-08-18T17:28:00.000-04:00

Limbaugh Going Insane

One of the finer things to witness is the Republican’s three-time divorced, hypocritical drug addict, ‘Mr. Republican Family Values’, Eldrugbo Limbaugh, losing it.

Limbaugh’s many lies are well documented almost daily on the excellent website, Media Matters for America.

The effect of Eldrugbo’s oxycotin addiction was not only the loss of his hearing but his mind is also failing fast.

Only two short days after comparing Cindy Sheehan to Bill Burkett, the Republican’s most admired drug-addict denied saying it. Even after posting the comment on his website.

Polls show that listeners of Limbaugh’s radio show are the second most misinformed people in the country-second only to Fox News viewers. And most of those listeners can’t figure out why they can’t stand up on debating the issues. Duh.

As I said, there’s nothing much better than seeing this despicable piece of garbage losing his mind. Poor fat-ass.

Eldrugbo Limbaugh on 8/17/05
“Apparently, what's out there is that I said that Cindy Sheehan is no different than Bill Burkett, that Bill Burkett lied and Cindy Sheehan lied. They're actually out there, people saying that I am accusing Cindy Sheehan of making up the fact that she had a son and making up the fact that her son died in Iraq. And of course, I've never said this”.

Eldrugbo Limbaugh on 8/15/05
“I mean, Cindy Sheehan is just Bill Burkett. Her story is nothing more than forged documents. There's nothing about it that's real…”

Get a new hero, losers!

Well, on second thought, it is more fun with you being stupid...

Roadside Blast Kills Four U.S. Soldiers

2005-08-18T07:34:00.000-04:00

Blood Runs Red, Not Blue

Four U.S. troops were killed in a roadside bomb blast north of Baghdad on Thursday.

For all the talk of supporting the troops, they are a low priority for most Americans. If the nation really cared, the president would not be frolicking at his ranch for the entire month of August. He'd be back in Washington burning the midnight oil, trying to figure out how to get the troops out of the terrible fix he put them in.

If the war in Iraq is worth fighting - if it's a noble venture, as the hawks insist it is - then it's worth fighting with the children of the privileged classes. They should be added to the combat mix. If it's not worth their blood, then we should bring the other troops home.

If Mr. Bush's war in Iraq is worth dying for, then the children of the privileged should be doing some of the dying.

Sign them up, chickenhawks. Of course, they won't volunteer, so I suggest we go to the list of registered Republicans and re-start the draft.

I wonder how quickly we'd be pulling out of Iraq with that suggestion?

WAY BACK IN 1999

2005-08-17T18:14:00.000-04:00

You know how the hypocrite party, the Republicans, like to question anyone’s patriotism for questioning this lying administration ‘during wartime’? Here are some quotes from some of those hypocrites that occurred during Kosovo.

“You can support the troops but not the president”-Tom Delay

"This is President Clinton's war, and when he falls flat on his face, that's his problem." – Richard Lugar

"[The] President…is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation’s armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy.”- Rick Santorum

"The two powers that have ICBMs that can reach the United States are Russia and China. Here we go in. We're taking on not just Milosevic. We can't just say, 'that little guy, we can whip him.' We have these two other powers that have missiles that can reach us, and we have zero defense thanks to this president." – James Inhofe (Oklahoma redneck)

“If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy.”- Karen Hughes

"You think Vietnam was bad? Vietnam is nothing next to Kosovo." – Tony Snow

And, my favorite;

“Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?” - Sean Hannity

Well Sean, no body bags, not one single one, came ‘home’ from Kosovo but there’s been 1,857 of them so far that have ‘come home’ since your hero lied and led us needlessly into Iraq.

Not one, smart ass. Lying treasonous hypocrites!

MAYBE IT IS A GENETIC DEFORMITY

2005-08-17T12:05:00.000-04:00

How could President Bush be cavorting around on a long vacation with American troops struggling with a spiraling crisis in Iraq?

Wasn't he worried that his vacation activities might send a frivolous signal at a time when he had put so many young Americans in harm's way?

"I'm determined that life goes on," Mr. Bush said stubbornly.

That wasn't the son, believe it or not. It was the father - 15 years ago.

Maureen Dowd, shows that maybe being so uncaring and disconnected isn't really Dubya's fault-it's in his genes. After all, we do remember what his mother, Dog Bush, said about not wanting to be bothered by thoughts of body bags coming from Iraq.

Nice family, them Bush's.

ISRAEL, OUR BIGGEST WELFARE STATE

2005-08-16T20:34:00.000-04:00

Ariel Sharon wants $2 billion from American taxpayers for the removal of 8,500 Jewish settlers from Gaza. That’s over $235,000 per person. So, for a family of four, that’s a cool million from us Americans who, as you know, have gobs and gobs of extra cash just lying around. $235,000 per person!!

Since the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978, American taxpayers have given Israel anywhere from $3-$5 billion per year. There are approximately 6 million Israelis. That means American taxpayers are giving every citizen in Israel $833 per year. For a family of four, that’s a nice little supplement of $3,300-$3,400 every year.

Am I only the only American taxpayer who is tired of this bullshit?

“Our strongest ally in the middle east”. Well, no shit. I wonder why that is?

(Update-I just read in my Wednesday morning newspaper that it's "1,600 families" that are being evicted from Gaza. That works out to $1,250,000 for every family.)

MORTGAGED TO THE HOUSE OF SAUD

2005-08-16T18:01:00.000-04:00

Nice piece from Robert Scheer telling it the only way he knows how.

"Yes, it has stuck deep in the craw of many of us Americans that after 9/11, Washington squandered global goodwill and a huge percentage of our resources invading a country that had nothing to do with Al Qaeda, while continuing to pander to this dysfunctional dynasty. After all, Saudi Arabia is believed to have paid Bin Laden's murderous gang millions in protection money in the years before 9/11, and it lavishly funds extremist religious schools throughout the region that preach and teach anti-Western jihad.

"Al Qaeda found fertile fundraising ground in the kingdom," noted the 9/11 commission report in one of its many careful understatements. The fact is, without Saudi Arabia, there would be no Al Qaeda today.

Our president loves to use the word "evil" in his speeches, yet throughout his life he and his family have had deep personal, political and financial ties with a country that represents everything the American Revolution stood against: tyranny, religious intolerance, corrupt royalty and popular ignorance. This is a country where women aren't allowed to drive and those who show "too much skin" can be beaten in the street by officially sanctioned mobs of fanatics. A medieval land where newspapers routinely publish the most outlandish anti-Semitic rants. A place where executions are held in public, torture is the norm in prison and the most extreme and expansionist version of Islam is the state religion".

THINGS ARE GETTING UGLY

2005-08-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

I have a very busy day ahead-I'll be a little held up.

Besides, the big news of the day is the Iraqis didn't finish their constitution, the Israeli settlers are resisting pulling out of Gaza, John Roberts, like most republicans, doesn't think much of the first amendment to our constitution and the so-called conservatives (LOL)are all excited about this year's budget deficit being 'only' $333 billion. And, oh yeah, Bush is still on vacation.

That ain't news. That's reality.

THE BOTTOM LINE VS. THE RIGHT THING TO DO

2005-08-15T07:45:00.000-04:00

I saw the tail-end of an interesting news segment on CNN Sunday morning about the drug, ImmTher. ImmTher is an experimental drug that has shown great success in the treatment of pediatric bone cancer, specifically, an often deadly form known as, Ewing’s sarcoma.

The segment featured a woman, who I believe was Dr. Eugenie S. Kleinerman, from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and a mother and her six-year old daughter. The little girl had developed Ewing’s Sarcoma at the age of four and after all other therapies had failed and she was expected not to survive, her mother was offered one last hope. ImmTher. The little girl’s tumor vanished after this experimental treatment and she’s been in remission for the last two years. ImmTher saved her life.

So what’s the problem? Wouldn’t you think the drug’s manufacturer, Endorex Corporation, and the FDA would rush to get this new wonder drug to market?

Not quite. You see, Ewing’s sarcoma is a very rare cancer and Endorex and its shareholders decided last year that the continued research and development costs of ImmTher were not worth the expected return in revenue, so they canceled production of the drug.

Dr. Kleinermann and M.D. Anderson only have a very short supply of ImmTher left in their inventory and after that, children and young adults with this rare form of bone cancer will be subjected to a nearly hopeless situation in a lot of these cases.

Is this decision by Endorex and its shareholders to go with the ‘bottom line’ the ethical and/or right thing to do? Is this what good ‘capitalists’ have come to- choosing profit over what’s the moral and ethical thing to do?

I know the answer-it’s very obvious to me.

Ewing 's sarcoma can occur any time during childhood, but usually develops during puberty, when bones are growing rapidly. It is uncommon in African-American, African, and Chinese children.

The tumor may arise anywhere in the body, usually in the long bones of the arms and legs, the pelvis, or the chest. It may also develop in the skull or the flat bones of the trunk.

There are few symptoms. The most common is pain and occasionally swelling at the site of the tumor. Children may also break a bone at the site of the tumor after a seemingly minor trauma (pathologic fracture). Fever may also be present.

The tumor often spreads (metastasis) to the lungs and other bones. Metastasis is present in approximately one-third of children with this condition at the time of diagnosis.

JAWBREAKER

2005-08-14T15:37:00.000-04:00

Kerry was right-Bush did outsource that job

‘The man who led the CIA undercover team assigned to capture or kill Osama bin Laden in the dying days of the Afghan war was Gary Berntsen.

Now he is on a new mission: to convince the US public -- and the White House -- that the al-Qa'ida chief was genuinely within his grasp during the operation, codenamed Jawbreaker, in the Tora Bora mountains.

In his book Jawbreaker, due for publication in October, Berntsen claims the CIA team had pinpointed bin Laden's location and "knew for certain" he was there.

Berntsen's manuscript is being vetted by the CIA, but he is suing his former employers for taking too long to assess his material and for demanding excessive cuts for supposed security reasons.

A spokesman for the White House last week repeated a claim made during last year's presidential election by General Tommy Franks: "We don't know to this day whether bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001."

"We don't know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001. Bin Laden was never within our grasp." General Tommy Franks

“Franks is "a great American. But he was not on the ground out there. I was." Ex-CIA field commander and author of, ‘Jawbreaker’, Gary Berntsen .

John Kerry during the third 2004 presidential debate;
“ I would not take my eye off of the goal: Osama bin Laden. Unfortunately, he escaped in the mountains of Tora Bora. We had him surrounded. But we didn't use American forces, the best trained in the world, to go kill him. The president relied on Afghan warlords and he outsourced that job too. That's wrong”

source