Iran welcomes unconditional talks on nukes - Yahoo! News

Condi won't buy this. (It isn't high heel boots from NYC)

Iran welcomes unconditional talks on nukes - Yahoo! News:

"TEHRAN, Iran - A breakthrough in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program is possible, the republic's president told the U.N. chief Saturday while welcoming unconditional talks with all parties, including the United States.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech later Saturday that his government would not rush to judge an incentives package offered by Western countries to persuade Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program.

State television reported that Ahmadinejad spoke by phone to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and told him the crisis could be settled as long as the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency preserved Tehran's right to use atomic energy."

Thousands demonstrate against US in Somalia - Boston.com

We are really hated all over the world.

Thanks Junior.

Thousands demonstrate against US in Somalia - Boston.com:

"MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Mogadishu on Friday angrily condemning the United States for supporting warlords involved in clashes with Islamic militias that claimed 16 more lives overnight.

'America is responsible for the death of our children and the elderly,' Sheikh Nur Barud, a respected cleric in Mogadishu, told the crowd chanting anti-American slogans.

'We are ready to defend our religion from the big American evil,' read a banner held high by Mogadishu resident Ureji Yusuf at the rally protected by Islamic militia armed with machine guns, anti-aircraft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades."

Nitwits for regime change in Iran

Right Web Profile Iran Policy Committee:

"Iran Policy Committee (IPC) is 'comprised of former officials from the White House, State Department, Pentagon, intelligence agencies, and experts from think tanks and universities.' According to IPC, 'Iran is emerging as the primary threat against the United States and its allies,' but says that the policy debate in Washington is wrongly focused on two alternatives: engagement and military strikes. 'By calling for change in Tehran based on Iranians instead of Americans,' IPC says that it is offering a 'third alternative,' namely: 'Keep open diplomatic and military options, while providing a central role for the Iranian opposition to facilitate regime change.

IPC's slogan is 'Empowering Iranians for Regime Change.'

Members of IPC: James Akins, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia (ret.); Lt. Col. Bill Cowan, USMC (ret.); R. Bruce McColm; Lt. General Thomas McInerney; Captain Charles T. 'Chuck' Nash, USN (ret.); Lt. General Edward Rowny, USA (ret.); Professor Raymond Tanter; Major General Paul E. Vallely, USA (Ret.); Clare M. Lopez. " (Read On ^

FEC FINDS FRIST 2000 VIOLATED LAW - CREW

It is becoming more and more apparent that nothing is seriously going to be done about campaign finance reform, let alone election reform until the people throw a huge hissy fit.

This is 2006. These shennanighans went on in 2000. Now, the FEC fines the Frist campaign for mere pocket change.

Frist is retiring from the senate, this year. I don't think he should be allowed to run for federal office again. It is that damn simple. Cheat and, when you are caught, you lose. For good. I am so damned sick and tired of manipulaters, cheaters, de-frauders and slick Willies, not matter to which party they belong.

FEC FINDS FRIST 2000 VIOLATED LAW - CREW:

"Washington, DC: Earlier today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) received notice from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) indicating that in response to a complaint filed by CREW, the FEC found that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's 2000 Senate campaign committee, Frist 2000, Inc. violated federal campaign finance laws.

CREW's complaint alleged -- and the FEC agreed -- that Frist 2000, Inc. failed to disclose a $1.44 million loan taken out jointly by Frist 2000, Inc. and by Frist's 1994 campaign committee, Bill Frist for Senate, Inc. The result of the discrepancy was to make it appear that Frist 2000, Inc. had significantly more money that it actually had.

In June 2000, Senator Frist took $1 million of the money that had been contributed to his 2000 Senate campaign and invested it in the stock market, where it promptly began losing money. In November 2000, Senator Frist sought to collect $1.2 million he had lent his 1994 Senate campaign committee. As a result of the stock market losses, however, Frist 2000, Inc. did not have enough money to repay the loan. Senator Frist solved this problem by having the 1994 and the 2000 campaign committees jointly take out a $1.44 million bank loan at a cost of $10,000 a month interest. Frist 2000, Inc. did not report this debt on its FEC disclosure forms."

A COulter, Big Mouth and Liar, is is deep doo-dooo.

Hear come da judge!

Come on, Your honor, Coulter's just being a good Rethug. The more election fraud the better, they always say.

I can't help it; this is funny as hell.


Channel 5 reporter says ex punched her:

"What? Ted Olson wasn't available?

Conservative pundit and best-selling political writer Ann Coulter has hired a white-glove, White House-connected law firm to fight allegations she voted illegally in February's Town of Palm Beach election.

And the attorney from the Miami-based Kenny Nachwalter firm is no stranger to Palm Beach voting. Marcos Jimenez, who was, along with the more famous Olson, one of the lead attorneys who fought for George W. Bush's side in the 2000 presidential election snafu here. was assigned to Coulter."

Press Accounts Suggest Military 'Cover-up' in Ishagi Killings

My God, will this nightmare ever end?

Press Accounts Suggest Military 'Cover-up' in Ishagi Killings: "NEW YORK The U.S military said Saturday it had found no wrongdoing in the March 15 raid on a home in Ishaqi that left nine Iraqi civilians dead. But, as with the apparent massacre in Haditha, will a military 'coverup' in this case come undone? E&P coverage from back in March, and other evidence, suggest that the official story may soon unravel.

The Iraqi police charge that American forces executed the civilians, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old baby. The BBC has been airing video of the dead civilians, mainly children, who appeared to be shot, possibly at close range. Photographs taken just after the raid for the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse, and reports at the time by Reuters and Knight Ridder, also appear to back up the charge of an atrocity.

After the attack, American officials said that they had demolished the house in an airstrike after insurgents fired from the building. One insurgent, two women and a child were killed in the attack, they said.

After the Haditha killings, the military said all of the Iraqis had been killed in an explosion or a firefight. "

Our current goverment never ceases to amaze...

OR HORRIFY!

Finding a Voice: Our current goverment never ceases to amaze...:

"Our current government never ceases to amaze, operating as it does at a positively stunning level of ineptitude. Its major players seem to function without comprehending the consequences of their actions. Their message machine is constantly in play, but it has become obvious the message is an empty one, 'full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.' This administration has proven itself incapable of fulfilling its obligations or attaining its stated goals.

When it is revealed that U.S. troops may have slaughtered civilians in Iraq and covered up the matter for months, the president and the high command jump right in and order 'ethics' training, as if things might have been different if only those involved had been better instructed on how to behave in the midst of an insurgency. Little attention is paid to the confusion and stress experienced by those serving multiple tours of duty in an area where it is increasingly difficult to identify the enemy and define the mission. Attacks on unarmed civilians cannot be tolerated, but our leaders need to know the terrible toll their decisions exact not only on those we claim to have liberated but on our military as well."

| Santorum calls marriage amendment an opportunity to end 'we should treat people nicely' approach

So, Little Ricky says we should get beyond the idea that we must treat people nicely, eh? How freakin' Christian of him!

Well, I will say one thing, I have about come to the same conclusion; except for differnt reasons.

It is Mr. Santorum and his ilk, who cause me to get passed the idea that we must be polite to people who are, apparently, insane and hide it behind their religiosity.

How did it come to this? How did we become a nation of people with a twice elected leader who tells other leaders around the world that God talks to him? Not only does God talk to him, but God says some pretty psychotic stuff. God tells him who to bomb.

What's more, how did we become a nation too tolerant to ask for a psychiatric exam of anyone who says such things, let alone someone with the biggest arsenal on Earth.

So, Ricky, I agree with you. We need to get beyond being polite, especially with people like you.

The Raw Story Santorum calls marriage amendment an opportunity to end 'we should treat people nicely' approach:

"While Parshall and Santorum acknowledged the FMA's bleak prospect of passing a full Senate vote, Parshall cast the bill as an attempt to 'speak back to the culture.' Santorum agreed, declaring that the debate over the FMA would be 'an opportunity for us to get beyond, you know, 'We should treat people nicely.'''

Crashing the Wiretapper's Ball

Indeed....

Wired News: Crashing the Wiretapper's Ball:

"You really need to educate yourself,' he insisted. 'Do you think this stuff doesn't happen in the West? Let me tell you something. I sell this equipment all over the world, especially in the Middle East. I deal with buyers from Qatar, and I get more concern about proper legal procedure from them than I get in the USA.'
'
Well, perhaps the Qataris are conscientious,' I said, 'and I'm prepared to take your word on that, but there are seriously oppressive governments out there itching to get hold of this stuff.'

He sneered again. 'Do you think for a minute that Bush would let legal issues stop him from doing surveillance? He's got to prevent a terrorist attack that everyone knows is coming. He'll do absolutely anything he thinks is going to work. And so would you. So why are you bothering these guys?'

'It's a valid question,' I insisted. 'This is powerful stuff. In the wrong hands, it could ruin political opponents; it could make the state's power impossible to challenge. The state would know basically everything. People would be getting rounded up for thought crimes.'"

Clinton uses Pederson fundraiser to blast GOP - The Business Journal of Phoenix:

Yeah, Yeah, whatever, Bill...

Clinton uses Pederson fundraiser to blast GOP - The Business Journal of Phoenix::

"Former president Bill Clinton keynoted a Phoenix Democratic fundraiser Thursday evening, saying the Republican Party is dominated by 'right-wing, white Southerners.'

Clinton also hit the GOP for favoring the rich and practicing 'crony capitalism'. "

Teaching Remedial Decency

The word tragic comes to mind, among others.

Rozius: Maureen Dowd: Teaching Remedial Decency:

"Before the war, America railed against the Iraqi leader for slaughtering innocent Iraqis. Now the Iraqi leader is railing against America for slaughtering innocent Iraqis."

Kennedy: Vote against Iraq war my best - Yahoo! News

Yep, competent government would be nice.

Kennedy: Vote against Iraq war my best - Yahoo! News:

"WORCESTER, Mass. - Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) on Friday declared his vote against the Iraq war the best he has cast since being elected in 1962.

The Massachusetts Democrat also predicted that his party would regain control of both chambers of Congress this fall.
'Americans aren't looking for big government or small government, liberal government or conservative government. They're looking most of all for competent government,' Kennedy told delegates gathered for the start of the state Democratic convention.

American Tryranny; It's Here...

Just as was predicted long ago, American Tryanny has arrived and the cowed and/or complicit Congress has done nothing to stop it.. Read On:

Consortiumnews.com:

"Despite new disclosures about government spying on Americans and a flurry of interest in the erosion of U.S. constitutional rights, the near-term outlook appears to be for a consolidation of George W. Bush's boundless vision of his own authority, at least until the November elections.
None of the promised investigations into Bush's alleged abuses has made much progress, as the traditional checks and balances of the Republic, the press, Congress and the Judiciary, have either backed away or looked helpless in the face of Bush's grab for more and more power.

In frustrating a few hesitant challenges to his so-called 'plenary,' or unlimited, powers as Commander in Chief, Bush has insisted that only he can decide how to enforce laws, what reality is and when release of information endangers the national security."

Karl Zinsmeister moves on up to the White House

Never assume anything when it comes to this W.H..

Is it just me, or does just about everyone, who has anything at all to do with the American Enterprise, have a name that sounds like it belongs to a prisoner or a gaurd at a Nazi concentration camp?

Karl Zinsmeister moves on up to the White House:

"We can't say with absolute certainty, but we suspect that unlike his predecessor, Karl Zinsmeister, the Bush Administration's newly appointed top domestic policy advisor, has not been ripping off Target, Hecht or any other D.C.-area department store. We can only assume that his credit card record is clean, and that the vetting process was a lot more thorough than the one used when former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was nominated by George W. Bush to head up the Department of Homeland Security. Soon after being nominated, Kerik -- a longtime buddy and business partner of former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani -- was forced to withdraw his name after admitting to employing an illegal immigrant as a nanny, and revelations surfaced about extramarital affairs and past conflicts of interest."

Haditha Massacre: In An 'Atrocity-Producing Situation' Who Is to Blame?

Everyone, from top to bottom, must be held accountable.

I have heard people say that the troops should not be blamed because war is hell and it is not their fault they have been put in this untenable situation.

While it is not their fault they were put in an untenable situation, troops who murder innocent civilians must be held accountable. Yes, war is hell, that is why we should not go to war on trumped up evidence. Troops have the responsibility to obey lawful orders. The untenable situation they have been put in involves saying no to their commander-in-chief. Some have had the courage to do just that. They have refused to go to Iraq. Good for them.

When a war is illegal, meaning prosecuted on false evidence, it is called a war of aggression, the mother of all war crimes. Everything that happens after that, becomes a war crime.

Therefore, while it lets no troop off the hook for murder, the major blame for these murders belongs squarely in the White House and its agencies. The people in this administration who told lie after lie, frightening the American people with verbal paintings of Mushroom clouds rising over American cities and plagues sprayed all over the eastern seaboard by Saddam's cardboard aerial drones must be held accountable for these murders, along with many others.

By held accountable, I mean tried in a court of International Law, and imprisoned for life. In addition, all of their financial assists should be taken.


Haditha Massacre: In An 'Atrocity-Producing Situation' Who Is to Blame?:

"Is it enough for the media to accept that incidents such as the apparent massacre at Haditha are inevitably a part of war? The type of war we are waging in Iraq makes atrocities more likely, and responsibility for the crimes at Haditha extends to top commanders, the secretary of defense, and the White House. "

30 Flew Into the Cuckoos Nest

TomDispatch - Tomgram: Proliferation Wars in the Intelligence Community:

"All this news involving what we call 'intelligence' -- and much more -- played out on the front pages of the nation's newspapers and on TV, replete with copious leaks from within the intelligence community, threats from the White House to prosecute journalists reporting those leaks, outraged press editorials about sundry intelligence topics, and a great deal of heat and noise.

Each scandal came and went, the news spotlight flickering from one to the next; and yet, as Hayden's testimony before the Senate made clear, just about no one seemed to have the urge to ask the obvious what's-it-all-about-Alfie question. Nobody wondered what this thing called 'intelligence,' over which so many tens of thousands of analysts, code breakers, and agents labor with so many tens of billions of our dollars, really is; what sort of knowledge about our planet all those acronymic intelligence organizations really deliver. The value of the 'intelligence community' to deliver this thing called 'intelligence,' whatever mistakes or missteps might be made, is simply taken for granted. "

Some Good News For Democracy!

Could it be that Fox Veiwers are waking up, or are they all so broke they can't pay their cable bills?

Channel Island: The TV Industry Blog:

"You may recall my column last month noting the recent ratings cool-off for Fox News Channel, where, as I put it, 'explosive growth appears to be, like the president�s 90% approval rating in the days following Sept. 11, a relic from the first Bush term.'

I know I'm risking another cascade of hysterics from right-wing bloggers here, but the May ratings prove this trend has legs. Fox News' average prime-time viewing audience tumbled 6%, to 1.3 million total viewers, compared with May 2005, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research. By comparison, CNN climbed 13%, to 687,000, while MSNBC was also up 13%, to 322,000. "

Noe pleads guilty to illegally funneling money to Bush

Printer-friendly version:

"Former GOP fund-raiser Tom Noe admitted today that he used politicians, former aides to Gov. Bob Taft, coworkers, and friends to illegally pour thousands of dollars into the effort to reelect President Bush.

Noe entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Court Judge David Katz in Toledo to all three felony charges he faced for violating federal campaign finance law. Appearing with his sister and brother-in-law and three attorneys, Noe was calm and responsive to Judge Katz' questions during the 47-minute hearing.

Then, in a brief, 10-second statement, Noe said he voluntarily agreed to change his plea 'to accept responsibility to spare my family and friends the further embarassment of any additional court proceeding. Therefore, I plead guilty.'
No date was set for sentencing pending a pre-sentencing report to the judge. Noe, who lives in Florida, remains free on $350,000 bond."

Cheney Starts New Cold War Over Oil

How many times do we have to say this?

The Cold War never ended.

Cheney is only ramping it up again.

AlterNet: Cheney Starts New Cold War Over Oil:

"Cheney's brazen oil grab strategy in Central Asia has launched a new Cold War with Russia -- and this time we're losing. "

Is Osama bin Laden running DHS?

Another, in a long list of reasons why we don't believe the Bush administration expects another terrorist attack on American soil.

Unless the need one, of course.

D.C. at Low Risk Of Attack, Says Federal Agency:

"The Department of Homeland Security has ranked the District in a low-risk category of terrorist attack or catastrophe, putting it in the bottom 25 percent of U.S. states and territories, as part of a decision that will cost the city millions in anti-terror funds, according to city and federal officials.

The news came as irate officials from New York and Washington demanded explanations for why the department slashed funds in a separate urban anti-terrorism program by 40 percent for the metropolitan areas hit hardest by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."

Bobby Kennedy Goes After the Mob, again.

Just like old times.

Rolling Stone : Was the 2004 Election Stolen?:

"Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House. BY ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. "

Guess who is voted worst president EVER?

If you can't guess, you really should get some sleep.

Your brain just isn't firing on all cylinders

Quinnipiac University Search Detail:

"June 1, 2006 - Bush Tops List As U.S. Voters Name Worst President, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Reagan, Clinton Top List As Best In 61 Years

Strong Democratic sentiment pushes President George W. Bush to the top of the list when American voters pick the worst U.S. President in the last 61 years. Bush is named by 34 percent of voters, followed by Richard Nixon at 17 percent and Bill Clinton at 16 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. Leading the list for best President since 1945 is Ronald Reagan with 28 percent, and Clinton with 25 percent.


President Bush is ranked worst by 56 percent of Democrats, 35 percent of independent voters and 7 percent of Republicans, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Best ranking for Reagan comes from 56 percent of Republicans, 7 percent of Democrats and 25 percent of independent voters. Among American voters 18 - 29 years old, Clinton leads the 'best' list with 40 percent.


Among young voters, 42 percent list Bush as worst. Clinton tops the 'worst' list among white Protestants - 24 percent, and white evangelical Christians - 29 percent. " (Oh, who cares what these people think? They are more frightened of penises and breasts than they are of Osama bin Laden.)

The nation has gone to hell in a hand-basket,,,so what does Bush do?

More troops are needed in Iraq, Kabul is total anarchy, American troops are, again, accused of war crimes, so what does Bush do?

Why, call press conference, of course, to protect us from the gruesone possibility that David Drier and Ken Mehlman might get married and move next door to James Dobson, or something like that.

Oh, God forbid!

Gay News From 365Gay.com: "President Bush is once again placating extremists and pushing discrimination when he should be finding solutions for the real challenges facing Americans,' Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese told 365Gay.com.

'It's despicable that he would use this opportunity and the spotlight of the Rose Garden not to unite the country, but to advocate discriminatory and divisive politics.'
June 5 is the same day that the proposed amendment will be debated in the Senate.

The president has rarely mentioned the proposed amendment since 2004 when it failed to get enough votes to proceed. The measure was reintroduced this year."

(It won't pass this time, either. The last thing the Repuiblicans want is to lose this issue to bang on every two years.. It is always good for some crackopot votes. They can just keep putting it back on state ballots every two years until we are all dead, which may not be all that long, thanks to other Bushites screw ups. Read On^)

Ala. candidates revive judicial debate - Yahoo! News

Let the South secede! Please, let them go, this time.

Just let me get out first.

Ala. candidates revive judicial debate - Yahoo! News

We have all died and gone to Tabloid Hell.

I know, why don't we make the 2008 elections, officially, the Jerry Springer 2008 Elections?

We now have bowl games named after corpoprations, so why not elections named after talk show hosts, who specialize in giving all sorts of good Amurkin inbreds a nice public place to lose their last shred of human dignity.

Since we, as a nation, have no dignity left at all, why not just go all out.

Instead of debates, since we never really have debates anyway, why not wet tee-shirt contests between the primary candidates? Mud wrestling would be fun, to watch.

When it comes to the main event, lets get the candidates and their families on the Jerry Springer show and allow them to insult and whack each other until we are all content that they have been shamed enough to be our first family.

The news media and the press, in general. in this nation are, in large part, reponsible for the tabloid hell in which we find ourselves today.

The must be punished!
NWAnews.com :: Northwest Arkansas' News Source:

"It's amazing what you can learn in a supermarket checkout line.

Like every red-blooded American man, I yearn to comfort poor Jennifer for what Brad did to her. I'm also worried about Jessica and Nick, whoever they are. The tabloids say their marriage is on the rocks. Reportedly, so is George and Laura Bush's 29-year marriage. According to a recent issue of the Globe, old Dubya's hitting the Jack Daniels again. A 'family friend' confided that 'after their last fight over booze, [the president and first lady ] just stopped talking'period.'

I hate it when that happens.

Bill and Sen. Hillary Clinton, too. The New York Times recently put 2000 anonymously sourced words on its front page speculating about their marriage. Evidently, 'several prominent New York Democrats' pronounced themselves concerned about, get this, an earlier Globe photo depicting Bill leaving a Manhattan restaurant with a dozen people, among them a hot, blond Canadian politician. The Times thought that couldn't help but 'fuel coverage in the gossip pages.' Now you'd ordinarily think, 'hot, blond Canadian politician a contradiction in terms, like 'leggy basset hound' or 'worldchampion Chicago Cubs.' But the nation's crackerjack political press was serving notice: If Hillary runs for president, it'll make headlines any time Bill appears in the same time zone with an attractive woman. They'll be sniggering like Beavis and Butthead on 'Meet the Press' and 'Hardball.' Are they, like, doing it ? "

Spitzer's WTC fury

This is Bush's America.

9/11 made it America Bush's nation, run by his rules and moral code.

It is appropriate, don't you think, that NYC cannot rebuild those towers, because of Enron-style corruption.

The whole world is filled with it, these days. What in the world made Spitzer think that the LMDC would be any different?

New York Daily News - Home - Spitzer's WTC fury:

"Eliot Spitzer blasted the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. yesterday, calling the post-9/11 rebuilding effort an 'Enron-style debacle' - sparking an angry rebuttal from Gov. Pataki, whose camp took a thinly veiled swipe at the state attorney general's patriotism.

The Democratic gubernatorial front-runner's strong words also threatened to reignite his feud with outgoing LMDC boss John Whitehead, a Pataki appointee.

In Buffalo for this week's state Democratic convention, Spitzer told New York 1 that the Pataki-controlled agency had been an 'abject failure.' He cited the skyrocketing cost estimates for the World Trade Center Memorial, now at $1 billion - a price tag that's spurred orders for an overhaul.

'Those who are running the LMDC deserve an enormous piece of the criticism,' Spitzer said.

'This was an Enron-style debacle where they have violated their duty to the public. ... Now they're beginning to throw in the towel one by one,' he said in what seemed to be a direct slap at Whitehead, who recently announced he was stepping down from the LMDC and World Trade Center Memorial Foundation"

Wing and a Prayer: Religious Right Got Bush Elected - Now They Are Righting Each Other

They created this freakin' , self-righteous religio-fascist monster.

I hope they are happy with the results.


Wing and a Prayer: Religious Right Got Bush Elected - Now They Are Righting Each Other:

Campaigners who fail to keep the hardline faith face threats and intimidation

by Stephen Bates

In his consulting room in a suburb of Montgomery, Alabama, gastrologist Randy Brinson is a worried man. A staunch Republican and devout Baptist, Dr Brinson can claim substantial credit for getting George Bush re-elected in 2004. It was his Redeem the Vote initiative that may have persuaded up to 25 million people to turn out for President Bush. Yet his wife is receiving threats from anonymous conservative activists warning her husband to stay away from politics.

'They've been calling my house, threatening my wife,' said Dr Brinson. 'The first time was on a day when I was going up to Washington to speak to Republicans in Congress. Only they knew I'd be away from home. The Republicans were advised not to turn up to listen to me, so only three did so.'
The reason he has fallen foul of men whose candidate he helped re-elect is that he has dared to question the partisan tactics of the religious right. 'Conservatives speak in tones that they have got power and they can do what they want. Only 23% of the population embraces those positions but if someone questions their mandate or wants to articulate a different case, for the moderate right, they are totally ridiculed.'"

Avenging Santorum: It Takes a Village of Five Angry Young Women

Little Ricky's SS momen, comes back to haunt him, as well it should].

Attytood: Avenging Santorum: It Takes a Village of Five Angry Young Women:

"Check out what happened next:

Galperin [one of the women] says she heard the trooper ask,
"Do you want me to get rid of them?'

And then the trooper, Delaware State Police Sgt. Mark DiJiacomo, who was on detail as a private security guard, came over to the group of women.

Here is the conversation, as Galperin remembers it: 'You guys have to leave.'

'Why?'

'Your business is not wanted here. They don't want you here anymore. If you don't leave, you're going to be arrested. If you can't post bail, you'll go to prison. Those of you who are under 18 will go to Ferris [the juvenile detention center]. And those of you over 18 will go either to Gander Hill Prison or the woman�s correctional facility. Any questions?'

The scene dragged on -- two of the women refused to leave but eventually were escorted out by the uniformed but off-duty trooper. The story got some minor attention, mostly on the liberal side, but one assumes that the senator and his people thought this whole ugly assault on free speech would go away.

It didn't -- check out what happened today:" (Read On ^)

The Clownification of America

Now, ain't this the damn truth?

What? No beautiful, young, white women go missing last week?

The Bill of Rights is being shredded and the big news is who the final contestants are on American Idol. Nope, nothing to see in Washington. Let's check out Hollywood.

Jeebus! We really are to damn dumb to live in this country. The sad thing, is that the stupidist ones among us are all deciding what is news and what isn't.

AlterNet: The Clownification of America:

"Unless the loser on 'American Idol' pulls a gun and opens fire, that show belongs in the entertainment section and not on my front page. "

As of the end of May, Santorum is toast in PA.

Seems Americans are becoming as fed up with the hypocrisy as with the corruption, which means double-trouble for Santorum and his ilk..

2006 is becoming a political tsunami.

That does not mean that any Democrat should feel safe, especially beyond 2006.

paSenateMay:

"The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll in Pennsylvania shows Republican Senator Rick Santorum solidifying his standing as most vulnerable congressional incumbent this election season.

Santorum now trails Democratic challenger Bob Casey 56% to 33% (see crosstabs). Our latest survey of the governor's race also brings good news for the Democrat in that contest.
Last month, Santorum trailed by thirteen percentage points. The incumbent began 2006 down by 20 points and closed to within single digits by March. That was before the Primary Election solidified Casey's position as the Democratic nominee."

Sweet Jesus, this is the last damned straw!

Excuse me while I try to get a grip....

(Ok, there...,deep breath...feel a little better.)

Actually, it is just another piece in the Bush Crime Puzzle; the puzzle which seems to have puzzled the news media types right out of their over-priced loafers.

Most of it we have known for quite sometime, but now is the time when it should be re-visited.


Truthdig - Reports - Robert Scheer: Bush Links Energized Enron:

"The Bush family consistently acted to put Enron and its longtime CEO, Ken Lay, into a position to rip off investors and taxpayers. Why is the mass media ignoring that fact now that Lay has been convicted in arguably the most egregious example of white-collar fraud in U.S. history?

Until he hooked up with the Bushes, Lay was just another mid-level energy trader complaining endlessly about being hemmed in by onerous government regulations and those terrible consumer lawyers who prevent free market hustlers from doing their thing. But after he and his company became top supporters of the Bushes, eventually giving $3 million in total to various Bush electoral campaigns and the Republican Party, doors opened for them in a big way. In particular, once Bush the father got rid of key energy industry regulations, Lay was a made man and Enron's fortunes soared. "

Stephen Crockett: 9-11 Should Not Have Changed Everything!

It didn't.

It sure as hell did not change the fact that I do not trust our government.

Stephen Crockett: 9-11 Should Not Have Changed Everything!:

"In the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, it became accepted politically that everything had changed in America. The idea was always simply nonsense. The Bush Republican machine used the public hysteria to sell a broad array of pro-Corporatist and anti-civil liberties measures.

The terrorists were never going to destroy America or American political conditions by acts of terrorism. The assault on American institutions and traditions were only going to be successful if they were launched by strong elements of the American political spectrum. Our nation was unfortunate to have the Bush Republicans in power during the 9-11 attacks.
The 9-11 attacks were successfully executed largely as a result of incompetence by the Bush Administration. The outrage expressed by the Republican establishment and their Fox News allies during the 2004 Presidential Election concerning Michael Moore's movie, Fahrenheit 9-11, was based on fear of facts. There was great fear that the American public would discover that political and policy failures by this Republican Administration. They could be documented unless the documents were hidden from public view."

Did Bush just get spanked by the Iraqi Ambassador?

Not that there would be anything wrong with that...

Courtesy of John: freakin' amazing!

AMERICAblog: Because a great nation deserves the truth:


"Here's the transcript from CNN.

BLITZER: But even months before the incident in November, you lost a cousin at Haditha in a separate battle involving United States Marines.

SUMAIDAIE: Well, that was not a battle at all. Marines were doing house-to-house searches, and they went into the house of my cousin. He opened the door for them.

His mother, his siblings were there. He led them into the bedroom of his father. And there he was shot.

BLITZER: Who shot him?

SUMAIDAIE: A member of the Marines.

BLITZER: Why did they shoot him?

SUMAIDAIE: Well, they said that they shot him in self-defense. I find that hard to believe because, A, he is not at all a violent -- I mean, I know the boy. He was [in] a second-year engineering course in the university. Nothing to do with violence. All his life has been studies and intellectual work.

Totally unbelievable. And, in fact, they had no weapon in the house. They had one weapon which belonged to the school where his father was a headmaster. And it had no ammunition in it. And he led them into the room to show it to them."

(Read On ^ - Wolfie gets even goofier.)

Block the Vote

This is spooky, in addition to being anti-democratic.

A person can't vote unless their voter registration card fits a government database somewhere?

Hmmmmmmm.

Block the Vote - New York Times:

"In a country that spends so much time extolling the glories of democracy, it's amazing how many elected officials go out of their way to discourage voting. States are adopting rules that make it hard, and financially perilous, for nonpartisan groups to register new voters. They have adopted new rules for maintaining voter rolls that are likely to throw off many eligible voters, and they are imposing unnecessarily tough ID requirements.

Florida recently reached a new low when it actually bullied the League of Women Voters into stopping its voter registration efforts in the state. The Legislature did this by adopting a law that seems intended to scare away anyone who wants to run a voter registration drive. Since registration drives are particularly important for bringing poor people, minority groups and less educated voters into the process, the law appears to be designed to keep such people from voting."

Ex-Kansas GOP chair switches affiliation - Yahoo! News

Are Kansans waking up to the horror their party has become under the Bushites, or is this the only way a Republican can get elected anymore?

Just in case this is the beginning of the great awakening in Kanasa, does this mean Pat "cover-up' Roberts may soon be retiring or being retired?

Ex-Kansas GOP chair switches affiliation - Yahoo! News:

"TOPEKA, Kan. - The former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party jumped ship in a big way Tuesday, switching his affiliation to Democrat amid speculation that he would become Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' running mate. "

Howard Kurtz, Unreliable Source

Howie Kurtz has never been credible. Now we know why, or at least one of the reasons

Howard Kurtz, Unreliable Source:

"I'm writing at 35,000 feet over the Atlantic. Lufthansa is now offering wireless internet on board the airplane, and the connection is amazing. Anyway, it is time to blow the whistle on Howie Kurtz and his hypocrisy. Kurtz, the media reporter for the Washington Post, tries to present the persona of the objective journalist. But a review of his pieces shows a decided tilt to the right and a tendency to be an apologist for the Republican administration. Why is that?

It's all about love. You see, Howie's wife, Sheri Annis, is a Republican consultant/activist. I don't begrudge the lady making a living. I just think it is important that Howie disclose his conflict of interest on this front. Yes, Howie's wife is fair game. She is not undercover. She is not doing classified work. But, she is carrying water for the Republican party and little Howie is more than willing to drink from that cup. Hey, as someone who has been married for 30 years, I fully understand the power of the wife.

I first dealt with Howie when he wrote the story on Robert Greenwald's documentary, 'Outfoxed.'

Howie, acting as a journalist, wrote the following diatribe: "

Activists Celebrate Postponement of Bomb Test

I would not count on this being the end of "Divine Strake," as much as I dislike being a kill joy.

Remember TIA? Total Information Awareness? Everyone who was anyone threw a fit about that little pentagon program, so they moved the program to the NSA and never mentioned it again, until they had no choice, because they got caught

Knowing the Bushites, they will move the test site to California, call it Devil's Mushroom, or some damn thing, irradiate a bunch of "Hollywood Libruls" and will never mention it again, until they get caught.

Activists Celebrate Postponement of Bomb Test:

"Carson City - A massive explosion that would have produced a mushroom cloud over the Nevada Test Site was delayed Friday by federal officials.

An attorney representing groups opposed to the test of conventional explosives said he now believes the project is dead.

The Nevada Site Office of the National Nuclear Security Administration announced the delay of the Divine Strake blast following a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Reno.
Reno attorney Bob Hager, who filed a lawsuit against the project on behalf of several groups and individuals, including the Winnemucca Indian Colony and Nevada and Utah down-winders, said he believes the decision means the project has been abandoned.

'The problem is the way Bechtel and the DOD (U.S. Department of Defense) have conducted themselves since the lawsuit was filed,' Hager said. 'They used junk science to provide false assurances of the safety of the blast.

'Is it gone for good? I believe it is,' he said."

Bush learned of Haditha deaths from press

Do the staffers in the White House ever tell Bush anything?

Bush learned of Haditha deaths from press - Yahoo! News:

"WASHINGTON - President Bush learned of reports that U.S. Marines killed two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians only after reporters began asking questions, the White House said Tuesday.

Asked when Bush was first briefed about the events in Haditha, an insurgent stronghold in western Iraq, White House press secretary Tony Snow replied Tuesday: 'When a Time reporter first made the call.'

Time magazine was first to report, in March, that the U.S. military was investigating a dozen Marines for possible war crimes in the November incident. The killings, which included women and children, came after a bomb rocked a military convoy on Nov. 19, killing a Marine."

Speasking of the Hill Dust-up

....Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, here;s this...

TPMmuckraker May 30, 2006 06:58 PM:

"I didn't think it was possible, but the Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) case just got even uglier.

Today the Justice Department filed their response to Jefferson's lawyer's motion, where he argued that the search violated the 'Speech or Debate' clause of the Constitution and demanded that the FBI return the seized documents. It is a lengthy, detailed dismantling of that argument - and TPMm readers interested in the Constitutional questions here should give it a read.

But beyond the legal argumentation, prosecutors supply the most detailed version of their case against him so far. And they explain why it is that they needed to raid his office - because they don't trust him to turn over evidence. According to an FBI agent's affidavit appended to the filing, Jefferson tried to 'surreptitiously remove' documents while the FBI was searching his home in August of last year." (Constitutional issues aside, just for a moment, Jefferson should, at least, step down from his commitee assignements: Read On ^)

Update 6: Official Details FBI-Congress Standoff - Forbes.com

Yesterday's Hearing in the House featured a few of our better known Constitutional Lawyers, including Truley and Fein.

Esssentially, they said that there were mechanisms in place, which the DOJ could have easily used, but chose not to. In other words this constitutional crisis could have been easily avoided.

Oh, and here is, to me, the real kicker. The warrant they used to raid Jefferson's office, was a 'form warrant,' signed offf on by a judge, with no special instructions.

Something very strange is unfolding here, and it is not just about seperation of powers, though, lord knows that would be enough, especially these days.

Update 6: Official Details FBI-Congress Standoff - Forbes.com:

"The constitutional showdown that followed the FBI's search of a congressman's office came down to this: The House threatened budgetary retaliation against the Justice Department. Justice officials raised the prospect of resigning.

That scenario, as described Saturday by a senior administration official, set the stage for President Bush's intervention into the fight over the FBI's search of the office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., an eight-term lawmaker being investigated on bribery allegations.

During contentious conversations between the Department of Justice and the House, top law enforcement officials indicated that they'd rather quit than return documents FBI agents, armed with a warrant, seized in an overnight search of Jefferson's office, the administration official said. "

Iraqis are not all that cocerned about Haditha. It's just daily life for them

As I recall, My Lai wasn't that big a deal to the Vietnamese either.

It was a big deal to us. It should have been.

But My Lai, like Haditha, was not an isolated incident, like we all tried to convince ourselves, it was.

When will we ever learn?

AP Blog: End of deaths uncertain in Iraq - Yahoo! News:

"Allegations that American Marines massacred two dozen civilians last November in the city of Haditha are making big news in the United States but causing hardly a ripple in Iraq.
That may seem unusual, considering the firestorm that was unleashed two years ago when pictures surfaced of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison. And the Haditha allegations may yet hit Iraq's front pages after Navy investigators announce their findings sometime next month.

For the moment, however, Haditha isn't making much of a ripple here, there is simply so much death and bloodshed in Iraq that a few more don't make much impact except to family and friends.

That may seem brutal, and it is. But considering Iraq's recent history, it's not surprising.

Since Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980, Iraqis have had little real peace. Two years after the Iran-Iraq war ended, Saddam sent his soldiers into Kuwait, only to have them driven out by American-led forces less than six months later."

Prodi coalition OK in local elections - Yahoo! News

Seems that the Left is breaking out all over!

George W. Bush is the best thing that ever happened to Communism, Socialism or Liberals, everywhere.

Not a time to laugh, but I must....

Prodi coalition OK in local elections - Yahoo! News:

"ROME - Prime Minister Romano Prodi's center-left coalition appeared poised late Monday to retain its grip on several major cities in mayoral races across Italy.

Two days of balloting that ended Monday to choose mayors across Italy and a governor in Sicily came just weeks after April general elections in which Prodi's forces narrowly defeated the conservatives of Silvio Berlusconi, snatching the premiership from the media mogul.

According to projections by the NEXUS institute shown on state-run TV RAI, Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni was to garner 61 percent of the vote, compared to 37 for Gianni Alemanno, a right-wing candidate who served as Berlusconi's agriculture minister. In Turin and Naples, incumbent center-left mayors also appeared to have won re-election in the first round."

ABC News: Marine at Haditha: 'I Can Still Smell the Blood'

Can we spell, M_Y L_A_I?

Here we go again!

Freddie Kruger just keeps coming back, like the freakin' energizer bunny.

When will we ever learn.....

ABC News: Marine at Haditha: 'I Can Still Smell the Blood':

"May 29, 2006 - As military officials investigate the Haditha killings in Iraq, one of the Marines involved has spoken out about what he saw last year.

Only hours after Iraqi civilians were killed, a second team of Marines was sent in to take the victims' bodies to a local morgue.

Lance Corp. Ryan Briones was among the Marines sent in to recover the bodies, and he told the Los Angeles Times he is still haunted by what he saw, including a young girl who was shot in the head.

'[The victims] ranged from little babies to adult males and females,' Briones told the newspaper. 'I can still smell the blood.'

Briones says he and another Marine were told to photograph the bodies. Military officials say those photos � which they say show people shot at close range in the head and chest � clearly contradict initial reports that the civilians were killed by a roadside bomb."

High court limits whistleblower lawsuits - Yahoo! News

We Are So Screwed!

High court limits whistleblower lawsuits - Yahoo! News:

"WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it harder for government employees to claim they were retaliated against for going public with allegations of official misconduct. "

Can we afford to heed Gore? - baltimoresun.com

Can we afford not to?

Can we afford to heed Gore? - baltimoresun.com:

"Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, is already making waves, not surprisingly. Lately, you cannot pick up a newspaper or watch the news without some headline about greenhouse gases, global warming or efforts to combat it.

Despite many questions, governments around the globe seem to be in a frenzy to respond to a public that seems to want something done and to growing pressure from green groups that demand that something be done."

My husband is on the government's terrorist watch list - baltimoresun.com

This really is outrageous!

Apparently our 'ever vigilant' government has something agasinst the Irish as well as Arabs.

After all Ted Kennedy was on the no fly list as well.


My husband is on the government's terrorist watch list - baltimoresun.com:

"My husband is not a terrorist.

He's not an ex-convict, a felon or on the lam, and if you don't count the occasional Post-it notes or paper clips that come home with him from the office, he's not even a petty thief. "

Immigration debate impacts Mexican race

One must give credit where it is due,.

George W Bush does more to create the very things he claims to hate than nayone else I believe I have ever encountered.

He hates terrorists, yet becomes the poster boy for Jihhadist recruitment posters.

All corporatists, and GOPers, period, really want to see the New Deal and the Great Society in shreds and being hauled to the Bon-fire; they so all hate anything that even hints of Communism. Yet, they have done more to swing the entire Western Hemisphere to the left than anyone in the Soviet Union ever did.

Damn! Just think on that one for a moment.

Immigration debate impacts Mexican race:

"MEXICO CITY -- The U.S. immigration debate could determine more than the future of illegal immigrants. It may help pick Mexico's next president July 2.

A reform that legalizes undocumented Mexicans in the U.S. could boost conservative candidate Felipe Calderon and keep the ruling National Action Party in power.

More walls and troops at the border could tip the balance in favor of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, sweeping Mexico into Latin America's shift to the left.

With an estimated 12 million Mexicans living in the United States, about half undocumented, any change in U.S. immigration policy provokes powerful reactions south of the border."

Analysis: Democrats wary of November vote - Yahoo! News

Who the hell knows what's going on?

I'm not real sure if anyone knows with any certainty what the Democratic strategy is, if anything. Given the mess this country is in, any Democrat might be somewhat forgiven for being a bit overwhelmed by it and the quickly changing landscape.

There has never been another time like this in recorded history. Oh, yes there are human cycles, just as there is every other kind of cycle on earth.

Seems, many of our leaders are somewhat paralyzed, somehow, or are about to be.

Nevertheless, if the Democrats do not come up with a plan to energize their base; like taking a strong moral and ethical stand on the real issues of the day, and the divisive ones that we know will be cast on them, the GOP will still be a very viable force in DC.

I, personally, would rather see them swept from power for while; a long while, actualy.

Thing is, I am not so sure that the Democrats, too, may not need to come down as well.

I hope we see a major and viable third party or several parties, so that in America, we never see anything like the past 5 years, if not the last 40 years, again.

Seems to me that both the Liberals and Conservatives have been sold out by their respective parties

(But more on all these meaningless labels later.)



Analysis: Democrats wary of November vote - Yahoo! News:

"WASHINGTON - Republicans are three steps from a November shellacking, each a grim possibility if habitually divided Democrats get their acts together.

First step: Voters must focus on the national landscape on Nov. 7 rather than local issues and personalities that usually dominate midterm elections.
That would sting Republicans, who trail badly in national polls.
Second step: Voters must be so angry at Washington and politics in general that an anti-incumbent, throw-the-bums-out mentality sweeps the nation.
That would wound Republicans, the majority party.

Third step: Americans must view the elections as a referendum on President Bush and the GOP-led Congress, siding with Democrats in a symbolic vote against the Iraq war, rising gas prices, economic insecurity and the nagging sense that the nation is on the wrong track.

That would destroy Republicans, sweeping them from power in one or both chambers and making Bush a lame duck."
(Before you get too excited, Read On ^)

Want to have some real freakin' nightmares?

OH GOD!

Lord have Mercy, Christ have mercy...on us all.

I'm not kidding!

Have we all laid in our Hemlock supplies, or a reasonable fascimile, thereof?

We really do need to get the hell out of here if this is really gonna happen. I know it is hard to believe, but I think that Jeb has a few more loose screws than Junior.

This is like Nightmare on Elm Street.

It just never stops.

State: Gingrich: Gov. Bush could be president:

"His brother's approval ratings are in the cellar, and that whole dynasty thing doesn't help. But don't underestimate Jeb Bush's prospects as a future presidential contender, says former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Probably '08 is a little bit tricky, but ' '12 or '16 isn't. And he's a young enough guy (53) that he has a great future,' Gingrich said on the Political Connections television show airing today on Bay News 9. 'I just think his natural, personal ability is so great that people are going to realize he is not his father and he's not his brother. He's a very unique, charismatic leader with extraordinary capabilities. ... Jeb Bush may well be the most innovative (governor) in the entire country.'

Gingrich taped the interview after headlining a recent fundraiser for state Rep. Gus Bilirakis' campaign to succeed his father in Congress. He addressed everything from his fears that Republican loyalists won't turn out heavily in November to congressional intervention in the Terri Schiavo case (reasonable idea, clumsily executed) to Florida being a competitive but Republican-leaning state."

Neo-cons question Bush's democratisation strategy

Well, this is rich!

Remember those pointy-headed Liberals we have heard about non-stop for the last 40 years. Well, heads up, because they are, now, the NeoCons and they are not just Republicans.

They will go with whichever political party they think will do the best job of keeping us in eternal war, and keeping the masses from becoming too restless.

Junior flopped big time.

Somehow, I don't think they, the NeoCons, counted on Georgie getting it into his head that he was some kind of new Messiah figure and that God talks to him.

The egg-heads of today are the ones who got us into this mess. Not one of them has gone anywhere, really. They are all still skulking about the halls of power here and in other countires, hanging out at 'think tanks,' none of which is known for the common sense to be found there.

Common sense truths just escape them. Like, just maybe, a guy who drank alcohol addictively and did some fairly serious drugs until he was forty, could not even manage to complete his TAG duty in a responsible fashion, ran every company he ever had any real control over into the dirt and had to be bailed out, again and again, may not be your best choice for Leader of the free world. even in the best of times, let alone now.

The very definition of a true egg-head ^

Democracy at gun point. Give the gun to the guy who runs the biggest risk of full-blown bipolar disorder, and who is going to be under incredible preasure; then, while you about your eggheaded business, give the ammo to a man who is at biggest risk for paranoid ideation and, apparently, shooting people in the face.

Oh, yeah, you eggheads are really good. Here we are, on the eve of destruction....why? For what? More money? Your perfect, but perfectly untested, pet theories, turned to hardened ideology? What? Why?

Damn you eggheads are good. You guys had us all thinking that Osama bin Laden is the most dangerous man on Earth, or is that, now, Zarqawi.

Don't know.

Can't keep up.

I can remember when Tim Leary was the most dangerous man on Earth.

Ah, the good old days....

FT.com / Home US - Neo-cons question Bush�s democratisation strategy:

Addressing military cadets graduating from West Point, Mr Bush reaffirmed at the weekend that the US 'will not rest until the promise of liberty reaches every people in every nation'.


But as the US struggles to assert itself on the international stage, the president's most radical supporters now dismiss this as mere rhetoric, and traditional conservatives are questioning the wisdom of a democratisation strategy that has brought unpleasant consequences in the Middle East.

Administration officials speak privately of a sense of fatigue over the worsening crisis in Iraq that has drained energy from other important policy issues. Senior officials are leaving, not so unusual in a second term, but still giving the sense of a sinking ship run in some quarters by relatively inexperienced crew. (Read On ^)

Iraq Is a Deadly Assignment for Journalists - New York Times

The first casualty of war; the truth

The second, anyone who might possibly tell it.

Iraq Is a Deadly Assignment for Journalists - New York Times:

"By some reckonings, the death of two journalists working for CBS News on Monday firmly secured the Iraq war as the deadliest conflict for reporters in modern times. "

Bush wants spy suits thrown out over secrets

NO!

As Nancy Reagan might say; "Just Say, No!"

We want to know whom, in America, is being monitored?

We wannt to know if reporters are being monitored and which ones are suspected of ties to Al Qaeda.

Are opposition politicians being monitored? If so, who among them is talking to Al Qaeda?

What about the Quakers, the Grannies, Code Pink, UFPJ, Green Peace, Defcon, Impeachment groups....? Are these people talking to Al Qaeda?

If there are Al Qaeda cells in the U.S., they know damn well they are being monitored, and no, they won't forget about that possibility. The only people who are not sure is the American people.

We want to know just how far our Constitution has been flushed, this time.

Bush wants spy suits thrown out over secrets:

"NEW YORK -- The Bush administration has asked federal judges in New York and Michigan to dismiss a pair of lawsuits filed over the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, saying litigating them would jeopardize state secrets.

In papers filed late Friday, Justice Department lawyers said it would be impossible to defend the legality of the spying program without disclosing classified information that could be of value to suspected terrorists.

National Intelligence Director John Negroponte invoked the state secrets privilege on behalf of the administration, writing that disclosure of such information would cause 'exceptionally grave damage' to national security.

The administration laid out some supporting arguments in classified memos filed under seal.

The government's motion, widely anticipated, involves two cases challenging an NSA program that allows investigators to eavesdrop on Americans who communicate with people outside the country suspected of terrorist ties." (Damn it to hell! That is not what we are concerned about, and they damn well know it. They can spy their little heads off, on Al Qaeda. No one gives a damn! How hard is this, people? )
(Read On ^)

Lead figure in phone jam to advise GOP contenders - Concord Monitor Online - Concord, NH 03301

Un-freakin'-believable.

I just don't know what to say. I am just sputtering, again.

We don't allow a surgeon back into the operating room if he has abused drugs, gotten higher than Aspen and cost the hospital a whole bunch of money by injuring a patient. Surgeons are much more needed and valuable to their professions and to society as a whole than any political consultant.

It is not as if we really need more political consultants.

Election are very important in a Democracy. I just do not believe that someone who violates the public trust with regard to something as important as elections should ever be allowed back into a position where he can do it again and, maybe, get by with it this time.

Haven't we had about all we can take of election fraud and dirty tricks?

Do Republicans ever get fired anymore?

Faux News should have given him a job working with Ollie North.

Oh, hell, I am still sputtering.


Lead figure in phone jam to advise GOP contenders - Concord Monitor Online - Concord, NH 03301:

"A major figure in the Election Day phone-jamming scandal that embarrassed and nearly bankrupted the New Hampshire GOP is out of prison and back in the political game.

Charles McGee, the former executive director of the state Republican Party, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and served seven months for his part in the scheme to have a telemarketer tie up Democratic and union phone lines in 2002.

He's back at his old job with a Republican political marketing firm, Spectrum Monthly & Printing Inc., and will be helping out at the firm's 'GOP campaign school' for candidates.
Richard Pease, the firm's co-president, said McGee would be available to advise candidates at the two-day event, planned for next weekend in Manchester. McGee's role at the school was reported Thursday by the New Hampshire Union Leader."

A Muslim son wonders if overseas calls will raise red flags with NSA

Don't we all?

I would imagine that anyone who has had any overseas communication wonders the same thing, especially those of us who have spoken to, messaged or emailed anyone in Arab lands

I think we have all slipped into some twisted parallel universe, where the Soviet Union still exists, and we are in it.

Chron.com A Muslim son wonders if overseas calls will raise red flags with NSA:

"'May Allah guide you in whatever you do. May Allah protect you from evil. May Allah destroy your enemies.'

These were the words I heard from my eightysomething father one recent morning as his frail voice came over the phone from a Sudanese village about 6,000 miles away. To each sentence I replied 'Amen,' and as I hung up, I felt the soothing effect of his prayer come over me at the start of another day."

No New Contrition

You can say that again...and again....and again...

Junior's behavior rises to the level of a 5 year old and the news media goes ga-ga.

We are truly pathetic as a nation.

No New Contrition:

"Reading and watching the coverage of President Bush's joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair last night, you could be forgiven for concluding that Bush had suddenly started acknowledging the error of his ways.
But you would be wrong.
Bush expressed regrets last night for some of the cowboy rhetoric of his first term, and he acknowledged that the horrific prison abuse at Abu Ghraib was a big mistake.
But he wasn't really conceding much. In the former case, he was expressing regret about style, not substance; and in the latter case, the only harm he acknowledged was to America's reputation -- while taking no responsibility for any role he might have had in creating the conditions in which such atrocities could take place.
And even more to the point, none of this was new. Reporters describing this as some sort of Bushian sea change seemed to be suffering from self-imposed amnesia.
Bush first acknowledged regrets about his most outlandish swaggering almost a year and a half ago, in an interview that may have been disregarded by many reporters simply because it wasn't on television -- which of course is no excuse."

Editorial: America's shame / This nation no longer shines on human rights

Character is measured by what you do when you are underfire, not what you do while you are playing beach volley-ball.

Our character as a nation was tested on 9/11.

We failed!

So, now is not a time to give up, and wallow in shame, like a beaten narcissist; like Ted Bundy.

It is time to make things right. That is what growing up is all about.

Many of us will not live to see the day, when we will be as redeemed as Germany is now.

Editorial: America's shame / This nation no longer shines on human rights:

"The United States being hauled up before the U.N. Committee Against Torture in Geneva earlier this month was a sharp reminder of how America's reputation as a beacon of human rights has sagged in recent years.

There was a time when the United States could go on the offensive in international forums against countries that were human rights violators. It could do that since its position was solidly based on a strong record of respect of civil rights and deeply entrenched rule of law at home.

That base now no longer exists, and American professions of indignation at other countries' violations of human rights have a tinny ring in the light of what has happened to the United States in that regard. It isn't so much that the United States has taken strong measures at home and abroad in response to the 9/11 attacks and to seek to preclude other such events. That was normal. It is rather the degree to which the United States has violated its own previous standards of justice, in the name of 9/11, in the name of what is sold to the American public as defense of U.S. national security."

The Ways of Opus Dei -- Apr. 24, 2006

It's the secrecy, the exclusivity and the money, STUPID.

Want to avoid being thought as fruitcakes?

Can you spell T-R-A-N-S-P-A-R-E-N-C+Y?

TIME Magazine Archive Article -- The Ways of Opus Dei -- Apr. 24, 2006:

"IT'S NOT THE VILLAIN THAT THE DA VINCI CODE SETS IT UP TO BE. BUT IT HAS BEEN A MYSTERY. AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL GROUP IN CATHOLICISM"

Gore: I'm not running...

Don't know what to say about this, at the moment.

Since this monent is a long way from 2008, we do not feel all that pressured to make a comment

TIME.com: Lights, Camera, Al Gore! -- Jun. 5, 2006 -- Page 1:

"Al Gore used to joke that it was easy to pick him out in a roomful of Secret Service agents: He was the stiff one. So he was the first to say how surreal it was to find himself the toast of Cannes last week. Over two days at the celebrated film festival, the former Vice President conducted what he figures were 48 interviews, many of them roundtable sessions, to accommodate the kind of interest that entertainment reporters usually bestow on people named Halle and Beyonc'. And then there was that encounter with Hugh Jackman, the Australian heartthrob whose expected summer blockbuster, X-Men: The Last Stand, was set to open in some 16,000 theaters around the world. 'It was just a random comment, and here's how I remember it--Hugh Jackman saying, 'Well, I look forward to your movie,'' Gore told TIME with a lusty chortle. 'And I thought to myself, Oooo-kay.'"

Pentagon ordered to expedite handover of UC spying records - By ROGER SIDEMAN - SENTINEL STAFF WRITER - May 28, 2006

Bless the ACLU!

Pentagon ordered to expedite handover of UC spying records - By ROGER SIDEMAN - SENTINEL STAFF WRITER - May 28, 2006:

"This story ran in Saturday's Sentinel.

Trying to learn more about reports of military spying at UC Santa Cruz last year, campus group Students Against War scored a victory this week when a federal judge ordered the Department of Defense to expedite a public-records request made by the group.

In January, Students Against War asked the Pentagon to disclose whether it spied on San Francisco Bay Area student organizations, and release any information gathered on the organizations.

U.S. 9th District Court Judge William Alsup ruled Thursday that such information is 'of significant importance to public policy and public protest,' impelling the Department of Defense to act more quickly on the student request.
Students said they were pleased with the decision."

UPDATE 1-Germans should stop feeling Holocaust guilt -Iran�|�World Football�|�Reuters.co.uk

We shall see, if he really said this.

In the meantime, we have to say that Holocaust deniers are idiots. It happened. We all know that it did.

It was a horror.

It will never stop being horror becuase of what was done to many people, not only Jews.

This I do agree with; Germans should stop with the guilt. It is useless now. Germans who are alive today, for the most part, had nothing to do with Hitler's rampage. They should learn the lesson of their history, as I believe they have done.

Now it is our turn.

No people should have to pay, forever, for a crime they did not commit.

Nevertheless, we should never forget what happened in Germany, because it can happen anywhere.

It has, time and time again.

It's happening now, in Darfur.

It is happening here.

Does anyone think that evil always looks the same?

UPDATE 1-Germans should stop feeling Holocaust guilt -Iran��World Football��Reuters.co.uk:

"BERLIN, May 28 (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Germans they should no longer allow themselves to be held prisoner by a sense of guilt over the Holocaust and reiterated doubts that the Holocaust even happened.

In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, Ahmadinejad said he doubted Germans were allowed to write 'the truth' about the Holocaust and said he was still considering travelling to Germany for the World Cup soccer tournament.

'I believe the German people are prisoners of the Holocaust. More than 60 million were killed in World War Two ... The question is: Why is it that only Jews are at the centre of attention?,' he said in the interview published on Sunday.

'How long is this going to go on?' he added. 'How long will the German people be held hostage to the Zionists?... Why should you feel obligated to the Zionists? You've paid reparations for 60 years and will have to pay for another 100 years.'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders have said his previous remarks questioning whether the Holocaust happened were unacceptable. Denying the Holocaust is a serious crime in Germany punishable with a prison term of up to five years.

Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their allies in concentration camps.

In the rare interview with Western media, Ahmadinejad said if the Holocaust really happened Jews should be moved from Israel back to Europe."

I read the news today, Oh Boy

The New Yorker: Fact: "



'Yesterday, I was hysterical,' the Italian journalist and novelist Oriana Fallaci said. She was telling me a story about a local dog owner and the liberties he'd allowed his animal to take in front of Fallaci's town house, on the Upper East Side. Big mistake. 'I no longer have the energy to get really angry, like I used to,' she added. It called to mind what the journalist Robert Scheer said about Fallaci after interviewing her for Playboy, in 1981: 'For the first time in my life, I found myself feeling sorry for the likes of Khomeini, Qaddafi, the Shah of Iran, and Kissinger, all of whom had been the objects of her wrath, the people she described as interviewing, with a thousand feelings of rage.'"

For two decades, from the mid-nineteen-sixties to the mid-nineteen-eighties, Fallaci was one of the sharpest political interviewers in the world. Her subjects were among the world's most powerful figures: Yasir Arafat, Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi, Haile Selassie, Deng Xiaoping. Henry Kissinger, who later wrote that his 1972 interview with her was 'the single most disastrous conversation I have ever had with any member of the press,' said that he had been flattered into granting it by the company he'd be keeping as part of Fallaci's journalistic pantheon.'

It was more like a collection of pelts: Fallaci never left her subjects unskinned."

Deadly Attack On CBS News Crew, Two Team Members Killed, Correspondent Seriously Injured By Roadside Bomb In Baghdad - CBS News

More horror from Bush's war!

The horror, the horror.....

Deadly Attack On CBS News Crew, Two Team Members Killed, Correspondent Seriously Injured By Roadside Bomb In Baghdad - CBS News:

"CBS/AP) Two members of a CBS News team, veteran cameraman Paul Douglas, 48, and soundman James Brolan, 42, were killed and correspondent Kimberly Dozier, 39, was seriously injured Monday when the Baghdad military unit in which they were embedded was attacked.

They were reporting on patrol with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, when their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb.

The attack was among a slew of car and roadside bombs left about three dozen people dead before noon Monday, including one explosion that killed 10 people on a bus. Nearly all the attacks occurred in Baghdad.

CBS News Correspondent Kimberly Dozier, 39, sustained serious injuries in the attack and underwent surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad. She is in critical condition, but doctors are cautiously optimistic about her prognosis.' "

OP/ED: Don't trust computer voting machines, verify ballots : The Morning Call Online

Ask youself this simple question:

Would you do business with a bank that never gave you a piece of paper showing your balance?

If your vote really less important than your money?

If the answer to that question is, yes...well, just move to a totalatarian state and be done with it.

Or, simply stay here and do nothing.

OP/ED: Don't trust computer voting machines, verify ballots : The Morning Call Online:

"On Primary Election day, I voted in Lehigh County on one of the new ''touch-screen'' electronic voting machines. I immediately felt that I might as well have cast my vote in the sewer. They contain a glaring flaw that must be corrected before they are used in the general election in November.

The old lever-type machines were easy to understand. They were simple mechanical counters where you could verify your vote before you pull the master lever to close the booth; and they could be checked out by a polling-place staff with minimum education. Those machines could be trusted."

The Shame Of Kilo Company ....

...and the Bush adminsiration, without whom, none of this would be possible.

TIME.com: The Shame Of Kilo Company -- Jun. 5, 2006 -- Page 1: "Sparked by a TIME report published in March, a U.S. military investigation is probing the killing of as many as 24 Iraqi civilians by a group of Marines in the town of Haditha last November. Several Marines may face criminal charges, including murder. And new revelations suggest that their superiors may have helped in a cover-up"

More Problems For NYC's Ex-Top Cop, Former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik Still Facing Corruption Probe - CBS News

Somehow, this is going to touch Rudi.

Count on it.


More Problems For NYC's Ex-Top Cop, Former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik Still Facing Corruption Probe - CBS News:

"(AP) Bernard Kerik once enjoyed a national reputation as a brash, self-made law enforcer. As New York's police commissioner, he was at Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's side during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. By late 2004, President Bush wanted him for homeland security chief.

Kerik's fame faded after allegations of ethical lapses doomed his nomination. His troubles, however, have endured.

A grand jury in the Bronx has been hearing testimony about a possible corruption case against Kerik involving reputed mob associates, alleged influence peddling and a questionable home-renovation project. "