Bush Revealed National Secrets

**********************************************

"Telling an aide to leak classified information to the New York Times is not a normal channel."

- Representative Jane Harman


Yes. He should have gone through Corpus Christi Caller-Times instead.



**********************************************

How George Bush and Dick Cheney Betrayed America

According to the AP, citing court documents, Lewis Libby, Dick Cheney's top aide, has testified under oath that Cheney that said President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq.

The court filings allegedly say that Libby testified to the grand jury that Cheney told him to pass on information and that Bush himself who authorized the disclosure.

This led directly to July 8, 2003, conversation between Libby and Judith Miller, where Valerie Plame's status was discussed, according to Miller's grand jury testimony.

But the court documents state that Libby revealed vital American national secrets "only after the vice president advised defendant that the president specifically had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the National Intelligence Estimate."

"Defendant testified that the circumstances of his conversation with reporter Miller -- getting approval from the president through the vice president to discuss material that would be classified but for that approval -- were unique in his recollection."

Senator Cat Killer

"This is how I used to strangle kittens."

Friday Cat Blogging

Tiger was rescued from the streets, weighing 1 lb., back in September. Now he's six months old read to take on the world!

W For Who, Me?

Re: the uproar over "V for Vendetta," "Good Night and Good Luck," "Crash," "Syriana" and "Brokeback Mountain."

Every movie that attacks fascism, depotism, repression, big government, bad government, stupid leaders, liars, bigotry, cruelty and ignorance is seen as an attack on George W. Bush.


Funny how that works.

Specter: President is Our King

Arlen Specter began his career with the Single Bullet Theory, and he's going to end it with the Single Branch Theory.

Goodbye Abu Ghraib

The U.S. military is closing Abu Ghraib prison.

And with it, a sad chapter in American history, when, despite the best of intentions, the U.S. became for a time the thing it stood against, even using Saddam Hussein's old prison to commit brutal acts against Iraqis - many of whom were innnocent.

Yes, sometimes symbolic actions are important.

This should have been done long ago.

Two Decades later, Still No Ideas

Republicans On Abortion:

"I haven't sorted out the penalties"


– George H.W. Bush, 1988



"I‘m not sure what the penalty would be"

– Congressman Pat Toomey, 2004

Harry Whittington (and the Barenaked Ladies)

ONE WEEK

By Harry Whittington and the Barenaked Ladies

It’s been one week since you shot at me
Cocked your gun to your shoulder and nearly killed me.
Five days since you blasted me
Saying Harry, geez, you didn't see me.
Three days since we were drinking
I realized it’s all my fault, I wasn’t thinking
Yesterday you’d have unplugged me
But now I’m alive and said I’m sorry

How can you help it if you’re not sorry that I’m sad
Trying hard not to smile though I feel bad
You’re the kind of guy who can start a war
Arrange a federal contract
It sucks to be poor
You have a tendency of getting your own way
You have a history of coming out on top

It’s been one week since you shot at me
Waved your gun around and really hurt me
Five days since you injured me
I’ve still got the birdshot lodged in my cheeks
It’s been three days since the afternoon
You realized it’s my fault not a moment too soon
Yesterday you’d have pinned the blame on me
But now you don’t have to I said I'm sorry

How can you help it if you’re not sorry that I’m sad
Trying hard not to smile though I feel bad
You’re the kind of guy who can start a war
Remember Katrina
It sucks to be poor
You have a tendency of getting your own way
You have a history of coming out on top

It’s been one week since you shot at me
Had one beer and didn't see me
Five days since I almost died
And all your friends went on tv and lied
Three days since we hunted quail
Now thanks to me you won’t need bail
Yesterday you Swift Boated me
But now you won’t I said I'm sorry
You let me live I said I said I'm sorry

Can I meet you later in the lobby…

WATCH OUT, HARRY'S GOT A BROOM!

CBS re-enacted the crime on their morning show.

Aside from the comic value of Harry Smith stalking his co-hosts while wearing an orange vest and carrying a broom, it was pretty much settled that while Dick probably shouldn't be shooting in random directions, Whittington shouldn't not have been hiding in long grass like that, but needed to announced himself, in a oud voice.

Move along. Nothing to see here.

Except Harry Smith on Columbus Circle holding a broom to his shoulder accompanied by a fake dog.

THE SNARK OF THE HUNTING

Cheney's (otherwise known as "The Shooter") Police Blotter

Observitory Circle?

QUOTE OF THE WEK

“Our enemy is listening, and I cannot help but wonder
if they aren't shaking their heads in amazement, and
smiling at the prospect that we might now disclose
even more,"

– Alberto Gonzales, in his testimony before the
Senate.



They get C-SPAN in Afghan caves?

Then let cable company go after him!
***********************************************

CREEPING FASCISM, PART XXVII

Gonzalez was finally forced to testify before the
Senate this week to defend the President’s
indefensible wiretapping program.

I was surprised they’re sticking with the idea that
the authorization to use force immediately after 9/11
gave them the authority to avoid the law.

No one believes that.

So you can see how that might provoke a Constitutional
crisis – not to mention that they’re an entire branch
of government to go screw themselves.

Republican reactions:

"The president does not have a blank check.”

– Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. Chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee,


"Presidents are always stronger in the conduct of
foreign affairs when Congress is on board.”

– Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio. He said the administration
should seek explicit congressional authorization for
the surveillance.


"I never envisioned that I was giving to this
president or any other president the ability to go
around FISA carte blanche.”

“The argument that the president has such broad
inherent authorities in wartime could, if taken to its
logical conclusion, basically neuter the Congress and
weaken the courts."

– Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina:

***********************************************

TRUTHINESS MANAGEMENT

I’m rarely shocked anymore. But I gotta say, this
blew me away.

I mean, I knew that Bush had even staffed Iraq with
Young Republicans, but this, this is unbelievable.

Recently a number of NASA scientists have gone public
with the fact the Administration has pressured them to
cover up their scientific discoveries with the
Republican version of facts and religion.

late January, James E. Hansen, a famous climate
scientist, and several midlevel public affairs
officers told The New York Times that political
appointees, including one George Deutsch, told Dr.
Hansen's not give any public speeches or interviews on
the threats posed by global warming.

This week it was revealed that in October 2005, George
C. Deutsch, a Bush appointee working a NASA, sent an
order to a NASA contractor working on a set of Web
presentations about Albert Einstein for middle-school
students. The message said the word "theory" needed to
be added after every mention of the Big Bang.

The Big Bang is "not proven fact; it is opinion," Mr.
Deutsch wrote, adding, "It is not NASA's place, nor
should it be to make a declaration such as this about
the existence of the universe that discounts
intelligent design by a creator."

It continued: "This is more than a science issue, it
is a religious issue. And I would hate to think that
young people would only be getting one-half of this
debate from NASA.”

Stunned yet?

There’s more.

Who is George Deutsch?

According to his résumé, Mr. Deutsch received a
"Bachelor of Arts in journalism, Class of 2003."

That’s right. He was an intern on the Bush campaign
and was immediately put in charge of Truthiness
Management at a multi-billion agency. A guy who was
in high school in 1999.

It gets worse.

His high school diploma?

He’d better hang on to it.

He was forced out this week. Why?

“Mr. Deutsch's resignation came on the same day that
officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he
did not graduate from there, as his résumé on file at
the agency asserted.”

Bush is staffing our federal government agencies with
loyal Christian nuts with high school diplomas.

Seriously, our country can’t survive this stupidity
much longer.

Yesterday, Dr. Hansen said that the questions about
Mr. Deutsch's credentials were important, but were a
distraction from the broader issue of political
control of scientific information.

"He's only a bit player," Dr. Hansen said of Mr.
Deutsch. " The problem is much broader and much deeper
and it goes across agencies. That's what I'm really
concerned about."

"On climate, the public has been misinformed and not
informed," he said. "The foundation of a democracy is
an informed public, which obviously means an honestly
informed public. That's the big issue here."

That’s true. The real scandal is administation that
has no regard for truth whatsoever; just a dedicated
loyalty to extreme, psychotic self-serving agenda.

***************************************************

CNN on Top of Important Issues

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Which of these is an actual CNN Headline?


"Bush Urges End to Cartoon Violence"

"Greenfield: 'Do You Really do this at a Funeral?"

"Too big to Hang, Killer Dies in Prison"

"Lightbulbs Scar Girl, Force a Dim Childhood"

'Constant Gardener' star Ralph Fiennes, Partner Separate

"Britney Defends Driving with Baby on Lap"

"Pregnant Princess Starts Japan's Gender Debate"

"Chicken Saved By Mouth-To-Beak Resuscitation"



Answer: All of the above

Rove Threatens Republican Congress

(AP) WASHINGTON -

Karl Rove has threatened Republican Congressman with Presidential support unless they voted with with the administration, sources say. "Unless they vote with us, the President will show up at their campaign events," vowed Rove.

Congressmen are scared. "We can't afford to be tied to Bush in any way," said one, who wished to remain anonymous. "This is a serious threat to send in Bush, and he's not bluffing," he said. "He'll get his votes," said a Senator up for reelection, "anything but that."

********************************************************************

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid

"Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research, human cloning in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, selling or patenting human embryos. Human life is a gift from our creator, and that gift should never be discarded, devalued or put up for sale."

- George W. Bush, January 31, 2006.

Damm, there goes my plan to get rich selling Brundeflies on e-Bay.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Bruce Bartlett, top Reagan advisor and vituperative critic of Democrats and liberals, has a new book out. What is the title?

(A) “The Bush Presidency: a Study of Triumph”

(B) “The Terror Years: How the Right Won Freedom”

(C) “Treason: How Liberals Sold Out America”

(D) "Reagan, Quayle, Bush and Cheney: The Rushmore of Our Time”

(E) “Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy”


Answer: E
***********************************************************

NAME THAT SPEAKER!

What organization made this statement this week?

"Intelligent design does not belong to science and there is no justification
for the demand it be taught as a scientific theory alongside the Darwinian explanation."


(A) Atheists of America

(B) The Communist Party of Massachusetts

(C) Americans for Separation of Church and State

(D) People for Religious Intolerance

(E) The Vatican



Answer: E


Damm godless liberals.

*************************************************

CORRUPTION IS IRRELEVANT. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

"Photos With Disgraced Lobbyist
Are 'Not Relevant,' Bush Says"

"President Bush responded somewhat indirectly when asked if he was
afraid to release the pictures of him and Jack Abramoff."

– The New York Times


But what has he got to hide?

To paraphrase the President:

"If you're meeting with a known criminal who
bribes politicians, we want to know about it."


******************************************

Three Questions for General Hayden

General Hayden:

The FISA Court of Review wrote in 2002 that:

"The Supreme Court has interpreted the warrant clause of the Fourth Amendment to require three elements:

First, warrants must be issued by neutral, disinterested magistrates.

Second, those seeking the warrant must demonstrate to the magistrate their probable cause to believe that “the evidence sought will aid in a particular apprehension or conviction” for a particular offense.

Finally, “warrants must particularly describe the ‘things to be seized,’” as well as the place to be searched. (Dalia v. United States, 441 U.S. 238, 255 (1979) (citations omitted)."

(See United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, In re: Sealed Case No. 02-001, Argued September 9, 2002 Decided November 18, 2002)

THREE QUESTIONS

General Hayden, would you please describe the "neutral, disinterested magistrates," who oversaw the surveillance program, how "probable cause" was demonstrated to those magistrates, and what the application for warrants looked like?

BIN LADEN QUIZ OF THE DAY

Complete this sentence:

Osama Bin Laden, mass murderer of thousands, releases
a new tape.

Your first reaction is to __________________


(A) Condemn the soulless monster

(B) Curse him and mourn the many who died

(C) Pray that the U.S. will soon capture him

(D) Look for clues to the next attack

(E) Use the opportunity bin Laden
has given you to attack fellow Americans,
even though it means demeaning
the deaths of 3,000 people and
giving him what he wants.


Answer: If you’re a right wing nut -- (E)

“That's the basis for bin Laden's truce offer. He is
talking to America's far left and saying, "You know
what. We're on the same side. So why don't you work on
that hardhead George W. Bush?"

Bin Laden told us Thursday that our far left has been
working for him. It's their poll results he quotes.

Bin Laden told us that our secret wiretapping program
is something we should keep up. He's got people here
already and he's got more coming and they are planning
to blow us up.

In the War on Terror, a bin Laden tape is the far
left's worst nightmare because it reminds Americans
the war is real."

-- John Gibson, FOX News

“Osama bin Laden "sounds like an over the top Michael
Moore here, if not a Michael Moore."

-- Hardball host Chris Matthews

Thrilling to clips interposing statements by John
Kerry, Howard Dean, John Murtha, and Ted Kennedy with
Osama bin Laden.

--Joe Scarborough & Tucker Carlson

**********************************************************

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The idea of Republicans reforming themselves is like
asking John Gotti to clean up organized crime. I
thought I’d seen the last of corruption when I helped
clean up Las Vegas thirty years ago. But, while its
not quite the mafia of Las Vegas in the 1970s, what is
happening today in Washington is every bit as corrupt
and the consequences for our country have been just as
severe.”

-- Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid.

*****************************************

THAT’S WHAT I CALL REFORM

Speaker Dennis Hastert’s reform proposal would finally
ban corrupt lobbying of Congress excerpt for what?

(A) Members could still get gifts from family members

(B) Members could still share a cab with a lobbyist

(C) Members could still accept small gifts at
Christmas

(D) Members could accept campaign contributions, but
not personal gifts.

(E) All members of Congress and their staffs members
of Congress and their staffs could still travel the
world on private jets and eat on a lobbyist's account
at the priciest restaurants in Washington.

Answer: (E)

The only limitation would be that whenever a lobbyist
pays the bill, he or she must also hand the lawmaker a
campaign contribution. Then the transaction would be
legal.

"That's a big hole if they don't address campaign
finance," said Joel Jankowsky, the lobbying chief of
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.


You think?

**********************************************************

K SREET? NEVER HEARD OF IT

"The K Street project is purely to make sure we have
qualified applicants for positions that are in town.
From my perspective, it's a good government thing."

–– Rick Santorum, November, 2005.

"Well, I don't know what you mean by Senate liaison to
the, quote, 'K Street Project.' I'm not aware of any
Senate liaison job that I do for the K Street
Project."

–– Rick Santorum, January, 2006

**********************************************************

THE LAW WAS BROKEN. ALL CLEAR NOW?

A legal analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional
Research Service concludes that the Bush
administration’s limited briefings for Congress on the
National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping
without warrants are “inconsistent with the law.”

********************************************************

CNN HIRES ONLY THE BEST

"CNN's Headline News has signed
conservative radio host Glenn Beck
for an hourlong talkshow "


Who is Glenn Beck?

"And that's all we're hearing about, are the people in
New Orleans. Those are the only ones that we're seeing
on television are the scumbags -- This is horrible to
say, and I wonder if I'm alone in this -- you know, it
took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims'
families? "

-- Glenn Beck

Quote of the Day

"We like reality TV, and we decided it would bring awareness to brain tumors."

– A patient whose surgery will be featured on the new tv show "Miracle Workers."

Quote of the Day

"I thought they were wrong."

– Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., on ABC's "This Week", speaking about Bush administration arguments
that they have the legal authority to wiretap Americans without a warrant.

Lower Court to Reconsider Abortion Law

New York Times

NEWS ALERT | 10:13 AM ET

"Supreme Court Orders Lower Court to Reconsider Abortion Law"


Updates to follow......

It's about individual liberty

If I recall correctly, all the cases Senator Sam Brownback cited, and there were quite a few, as wrongly decided, were cases where the took away individual rights in favor of government control over that individual and majority rule.

Dred Scott. Plessy. Korematsu. Roe v. Wade.

Which of these is not like the other?

It was the decisions overturning these cases (except for Korematsu, which was not) which, like Roe, affirmed indivudal autonomy and choice against societal control.


Roe v. Wade is self-evidently more like "Brown v. Board of Education" that it is like Plessy.

When the Supreme Court has gotten it "wrong" in the past, it has been because they deferred to majority rule, and not in favor of individual civil constitutional rights.

A decision to overturn Roe v. Wade would be remembered with the decisions we regard in retrospect as "wrong," even using the standards a Senator like Sam Brownback.

Hey, Vince: Come Play for the Jets

Well I saw Mister Young play USC

Well, I saw ole Vince put them down

Well, I hope Vince Young will remember

A Southern man don't need to stay around


(from "Sweet Home Alabama")

Pat Robertson Hates America

“And I would say, Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations or the United States of America."

-- Pat Robertson


It's bad enough he denigrates Christianity, but now he officially despises the United States of America.

Coming soon a theatre near you

"It is no surprise that gaps in domestic intelligence are being filled by ad hoc initiatives."

– Richard Posner

"Ad hoc initiatives" being the new euphemism for "crimes," apparently.

Coming soon a theatre near you:


"Ad Hoc Initiative and Punishment"

"Ad Hoc Initiatives and Misdemeanors"

"Ad Hoc Initiative of the Century"

"Partners in Ad Hoc Initiatives"

"Ad Hoc Initiatives of the Heart"

"A Perfect Ad Hoc Initiative"

"Ad Hoc Initiative Scene Investigation"

Making "Arguments" Not Their Strength

Why not seek a warrant? 'Cause then they'd actually have to use "reason" and "logic."


Q: "But how does FISA --"

GENERAL HAYDEN:

"FISA involves the process -- FISA INVOLVES MASHALING ARGUMENTS. . . ."

MR. GONZALES, THE GHOST OF WILLIAM BELKNAP IS CALLING YOU

Yes, Cabinet officers CAN be impeached.

William W. Belknap, Secretary of War.

Impeached and tried and in the Senate.

Acquitted Aug. 1, 1876.

QUOTE OF THE YEAR

Brian Williams:

“A lot of people have seen in this series of speeches
you’re giving on Iraq, a movement in your position.
They call it an acknowledgment that perhaps the
mission has not gone as it was originally planned —
three points: That the U.S. would be welcomed as
liberators, that General Shinsecki, when he said this
would take hundreds of thousands of troops in his
farewell speech, might have been right. And third,
that it wasn’t a self-sustaining war in terms of the
oil revenue. Do you concede those three points might
not have gone as planned?”

President Bush:

“Review them with me again.”

Williams:

“Number one — that we’d be welcomed as liberators?”

President Bush:

“I think we are welcomed. But it was not a peaceful
welcome.”

–– Interview between NBC News Anchor Brian
Williams and President of the United States
President George W. Bush, December 12, 2005.

****************************************************************************


“I THINK WE ARE WELCOMED.

"BUT IT WAS NOT A PEACEFUL WELCOME.”


Orwell? Kafka? Lewis Caroll? Jonathan Swift?

Amateurs.

THERE’S NO PLEASING SOME PEOPLE

A recent poll ranked the popularity of the last 10
Presidents. Where did Bush rank?

(A) First

(B) Third

(C) Fifth

(D) Seventh

(E) Ninth


Answer: Last.

Favorite President:
1. John F. Kennedy --26%
2. Bill Clinton – 25%
3. Ronald Reagan -- 23%

10. George Bush – 9%

Bush was also viewed as the most warlike president (43
percent), the worst for the economy (42 percent) and
the least effective (33 percent).

***************************************************************

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"In the past five years, our economy has endured
a stock market collapse, a recession, terrorist
attacks, corporate scandals, high energy costs, and
devastating natural disasters."

– George W. Bush, Monday, December 12, 2005.



Someone finally had the guts to say it.

***********************************************************************

FREIGHTED WITH MEANING

You may fly this Christmas. And there may be a dead
solider in the cargo hold.

Soldiers coming home form Iraq are supposed to be
treated with respect, including an honor guard. But
often they are packed as freight on commercial
airliners, stopping at local airports -- stuffed in
the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo.

John Holley and his wife, Stacey, were stunned when
they found out the body of their only child, Matthew
John Holley, who died in Iraq last month, would be
arriving at the airport as “freight.”

Matthew was a medic with the 101st Airborne unit and
died on Nov. 15.

"When someone dies in combat, they need to give them
due respect they deserve for (the) sacrifice they
made," said John Holley.

They called U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, and Matthew was
greeted with honor and respect.

A representative from the Defense Department said she
did not know why this is happening.

Maybe because they just don’t care?

***********************************************************

MEMO OF THE WEEK

From: Emery, Edie
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 11:09 AM
Subject: CNN statement regarding Mr. Novak

"After 25 years of serving as a CNN commentator and
program host, our colleague Bob Novak's tenure on the
network will come to a close (effective 12/31).
Through the years, Bob has offered incisive analysis
for much of CNN's programming, including Crossfire,
The Capital Gang, Inside Politics, Evans and Novak,
The Novak Zone, and Novak, Hunt and Shields. Bob has
also been a valued contributor to CNN's political
coverage. We appreciate his many contributions and
wish him well in future endeavors."
-- Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S.


UPDATE: Bob Novak, who you may remember put countless
lives in danger and hurt America’s ability to prevent
nuclear terrorism, by outing CIA agent Valerie Plame,
was hired by Fox News Friday afternoon.

HOW ABOUT A WAR ON STUPIDITY

With just days to go in a Congressional session
presiding over three wars, massive debt, a huge trade
deficit, a stalled economy and natural disasters,
Congress this week devoted itself to: Defending
Christmas.

The House seriously debated a resolution to support
the "symbols and traditions" of Christmas, and to
disapprove of utterly mythical "attempts to ban
references to Christmas.” H. Res. 579, is a
resolution "Expressing the sense of the House of
Representatives that the symbols and traditions of
Christmas should be protected."

It gets worse.

During the debate, Democratic members asked the
Republican author of the resolution, Rep. Jo-Ann Davis
(R-VA), if she would permit the symbols of Hanukkah
and other holidays to be included in the protection of
the resolution -- and she refused.

"Yes, Virginia... and North Carolina, Oklahoma, New
Jersey and others... your GOP representatives believe
in the imaginary 'war on Christmas,' and apparently
they think this is the best use of Congress' time.
And apparently they think nothing of pressing their
Jewish House colleagues to actually cast a
congressional vote in favor of Christian 'symbols and
traditions,' and they refuse to offer the same
supposed protections to the symbols of Chanukah,”
National Jewish Democratic Council Executive Director
Ira N. Forman said.

"In this case, House Republicans are adopting the
talking points of the most extreme, most divisive
far-right elements in today's society -- and making
that agenda the work of the people's House. Aside from
being a colossal waste of time, it's divisive, it
excludes other practices and faiths, and it buys into
the conservative fantasy that there's some war against
the 95 percent of Americans who celebrate Christmas,"
he also said.

****************************************************************

RADICAL MILITANT LIBRARIANS

"While radical militant librarians kick us around,
true terrorists benefit from OIPR's failure to let us
use the tools given to us. This should be an OIPR
priority!!!"

-- Unidentified F.B.I. official. Internal F.B.I.
e-mail message, October 2003

It's phrase already sweeping the blogosphere:
“radical militant librarians” may yet enter common
discourse.

Turns out though, that some liberals may have been too
worried that the government had too much power after
the PATRIOT Act.

Documents released this week showed that agents at the
Federal Bureau of Investigation have been frustrated
by their inability to get information they wanted.
The above e-mails sent in October 2003, complaining
that “radical militant librarians kick us around.”

They are a testy bunch.
********************************************************************

CREEPING FASCISM, PART XVIII

Deborah Davis, a 50-year-old mother of four, is in an
all ordinary woman, although she does have a son
serving in Iraq. To save money, she rides the bus to
work in Denver, Colorado. Every morning, her bus goes
through the Denver Federal Center, a collection of
government offices in an area with increased security.
Every morning, officers from the Department of
Homeland Security board the bus and check the IDs of
all passengers, whether or not they are exiting the
bus at the Federal Center. The officers glance at it,
but don’t check it against any list. There appears to
be no earthly reason to ask for ID, except a sort of
vague sense that it’s helpful in an age of terror.

In September, they had the following conversation:

Officer: "Do you have your ID?"
Davis: "Yes."
Officer: "May I see it?"
Davis: "No."

Officers would later said she was "argumentative." In
any case they handcuffed her and arrested her.

I’ve had this experience myself – not of being
arrested, but being asked to show ID without it being
checked against a database or recorded in any way. I
also work in this field of identification and the law,
and understand the temptation to believe that an ID
has some magic function that deters terrorists.

Well, it doesn’t, and all the 9/11 hijackers had valid
ID, and few were on any watch lists. Aside from being
unconstitutional, (the charges against her have been
dropped) the exercise on the bus was a colossal waste
of time, and probably detrimental to any effort to
prevent real terrorism.

But that's the world we live in now. Unthinking,
painfully useless attempts to deal with our fear.
Which is all the terrorists wanted in the first place.

************************************************************************

OVAL OFFICE FENG SHUI

Bill Clinton's memoir “My Life” has turned out to be a
big seller (see the poll above). Even, or especially,
in other countries. But there may more to it than
thrilling tales of Georgetown, Oxford, Yale, and all
things Hillary. Turns out the Chinese translation has
a few differences.

According to the Chinese version of “My Life”, even as
a child, Bill Clinton felt an overwhelming love and
admiration for Chinese culture and politics, and
considered rulers like Mao Zedong and "Chief
Architect" Deng Xiaoping his intellectual mentors.

Original sentences like "I was concerned about China's
continued suppression of basic freedoms" were
translated out, while new more enlightening passages
added, such as:

"It was from my uncle Buddy that I first heard that
China was one of the world's most ancient cultures,
that in ancient times its technology was already very
advanced, and that very early on it had produced the
Four Great Inventions. Take, for example, the cannons
that were tested in Buddy's munitions factory.
Originally, gunpowder was invented by the Chinese. Not
only that, the compass, printing, and paper were also
great creations of the Chinese people."

It seems the Chinese are not big on Clinton’s famous
wordiness. The notoriously very long opening sentence
of Mr. Clinton's version, which takes 48 words to
describe his birth, reads:

"The town of Hope, where I was born, has very good
feng shui."

*********************************************************************

THE BOY IN THE BUBBLE

“Newsweek” magazine asks this week if Bush lives in a
bubble. It includes this quote, alternately amusing
and disturbing:

“A foreign diplomat who declined to be
identified was startled when Secretary of State
Rice warned him not to lay bad news on the
president. "Don't upset him," she said.”

***************************************************************

IRAQ UPDATE

It is the 1,000th day of war in Iraq, and we still
have not secured the road from Baghdad to the airport.

*********************************************************

LAURA BUSH: HOW SINISTER IS SHE?

Liberals (those waging the war on Christmas) like to
point out all the so-called conservatives who also say
things like “Happy Holidays,” but don’t expect anyone
else to notice.

But Tim Wildmon, President of the American Family
Association, also noticed, and blasted President Bush
and First Lady Laura Bush for sending out cards that,
even though they include a quote from the Bible on the
inside, say “Season’s Greetings” on the front.

“Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether this is
sinister….or whether it just political correctness run
amok,” he said.

*********************************************************************

WAR ON CHRISTMAS QUESTION OF THE WEEK

WAR ON CHRISTMAS QUESTION OF THE WEEK

How many times does the The official Fox Network web
page use of the word "Holiday"?

(A) Zero

(B) Three

(C) Five

(D) Seven

(E) Nine

Answer: Eleven

How many times does the Network’s web site use the
word “Christmas”?

(A) 10

(B) 20

(C) 30

(D) 50

(E) 100


Answer: Zero.

***************************************************************

COPS TO PIRRO: SHUT UP

Jeanine's campaign of gaffes continues unabated.... Clearly, she is remaining in the race so increase her profile when she is hired as a Fox News Legal and Political Commentator in December of 2006.

New York Daily News
"Pirro told to zip it"

"Chattering outside church has officers fuming at her"

By Alison Gendar and Joe Mahoney

Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro was seen giggling and chatting outside a Bronx church after the funeral Mass for slain Police Officer Danny Enchautegui - spurring outrage from cops.

One officer brusquely told her to "shut up," prompting Pirro to zip her lips and snap to attention just after the flag-draped coffin holding Enchautegui was placed into a nearby hearse.

While grim-faced Finest stood ramrod-straight, Pirro drew glares from the hero cop's fellow officers when they spotted her giggling and chatting with state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R-Rensselaer).

"She should have kept her mouth shut and showed some respect," said one disgusted high-ranking member of the NYPD.

Fumed another officer: "It was bad timing. Everyone is waiting for the family to leave. The family is trying to be strong. We're all still in formation. It was out of line."

KANSAS, WE’RE NOT IN THE 19TH CENTURY ANYMORE

A University of Kansas professor wrote some e-mails
last week criticizing the serious study of
creationism. What happened next?

(A) He received unexpected widespread support

(B) The Catholic Church praised him

(C) He was nominated for a “Courage Award”

(D) Bill O’Reilly read his e-mails on the air,
prompting a backlash in Kansas

(E) He was fired

(F) He was attacked by a group “Christian” thugs


Answer: (E) and (F)

"This allows the department to focus on what's most
important, ”teaching, research and service,” said the
President when he was fired.

On Monday, the professor was treated at a Lawrence
hospital for head injuries after he said he was beaten
by two men on a country road. He said the men referred
to the creationism remarks.

Law enforcement officials are investigating.
********************************************************************

It's a War on Christmas, and We're Losing It

I want to write about the “War on Christmas,”
but there is very little left to say at this point.

Once it was on the “Today Show,” I think it had pretty
much run its course from the nutty, borderline
anti-Semitic rantings by Bill O’Reilly to self-parody.
Although Fox News anchor John Gibson –- you may
remember him from the O.J. Simpson trial -- does have a
book out titled, seriously, “The War on Christmas”.
(Available at Amazon – I suggest you pick one up
before they are banned.)

I would, however, point out the danger in demanding
that everyone else celebrate your holiday, and
equating lack of government support with censorship.
The logical end of this will be the government
dictating what is and what is not the proper way to
celebrate Christmas. Think I’m kidding? It’s already
happening.

In Nashville, the Mayor called the lighted tree in
Riverfront Park a “holiday tree,” instead of a
“Christmas tree.” Seeing as it was taxpayer funded,
that was probably wise. Indeed some conservatives
insist on calling the public tree by that name,
since it keeps it Constitutional.

But someone was listening to too much Bill
O’Reilly, and last week a Councilman name Eric Crafton
wrote legislation stating that Nashville “affirms
and supports the use of the words ‘Christmas’ or
‘Merry Christmas,’ instead of non-descript, generic
terms such as ‘Happy Holidays,’ ‘Winter Festival’ and
the like, when referring to Metro Government entities
or activities traditionally associated with
Christmas.”

“By using these generic, nondescript terms, it
diminishes the TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS.
And, quite frankly, I’m tired of it.”

He also awkwardly said “We’re not in the business of forcing
people — but we do want to recognize that the whole
reason for this holiday was … because of Jesus
Christ".

His resolution, states that Christmas “derives from
the act of celebrating the Mass of Christ;” that
“Jesus Christ is an actual man who was born over 2,000
years ago, as recorded by history;” that Christ’s life
and teachings have “profoundly impacted the entire
world, especially the United States of America.”


So there you have it. A government resolution
defining the true meaning of Christmas. Which is
probably right. After all, Jesus was an American, and
a Republican. I’m pretty sure.
********************************************************************

FUN WITH SENTENCE COMPLETION

Complete this sentence from Pope Ratzinger:

“The suspicion emerges in us that a person
who does not sin is, after all, ________________.


(A) “Saintly”

(B) “Christ-like”

(C) “Frankly suspicious”

(D) “Boring”

(E) “Probably hiding something”


Answer: (D)

"The suspicion emerges in us that a person who does
not sin is, after all, boring; that something is
missing from his life: the dramatic dimension of being
free. We think that bargaining with evil, reserving
ourselves a little freedom against God, is, after all,
good or even necessary. But looking at the world
around us we can see that this is not so.”

–– Pope Benedict XVI

MIKE, HOW DO YOU REALLY FEEL?

Interviewer, to Mike Wallace:

“President George W. Bush has declined to be i
interviewed by you. What would you ask him if
you had the chance?”

Mike Wallace:

“What in the world prepared you to be the
commander in chief of the largest superpower in the world?
In your background, Mr. President, you apparently were
incurious. You didn't want to travel. You knew very little
about the military. The governor of Texas doesn't have the kind of
power that some governors have. Why do you think they
nominated you? Do you think that has anything to do with the
fact that the country is so [expletive] up?”

MENTAL INSTITUTIONS FOR LIBERALS

Mike Wallace’s son is "Fox News Sunday" anchorman
Chris Wallace. His reaction to what Mike Wallace said

"He's lost it. The man has lost it. What can I
say. He's 87-years old and things have set in. I mean,
we're going to have a competence hearing pretty soon."

Later he said about his father "He's checked out. I
don't understand it," beyond the fact that Wallace Sr.
has "problems with the war. "I don't know why he said
what he said," he added.


Nice.
********************************************************************

Fox News: Where Brutal Dictators Not Only Get Their News, They Write It

According the Guardian, Fox News now re-writes their news coverage based on the approval one the world's most brutal regimes.

"Fox News was ordered to alter its coverage of the riots in France after a Saudi prince with shares in its parent company News Corporation complained to Rupert Murdoch.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul aziz Al-Saud told a conference in Dubai he had telephoned Mr Murdoch after seeing a strapline on the news channel describing the disturbances as "Muslim riots".

"I picked up the phone and called Murdoch and said that I was speaking not as a shareholder, but as a viewer of Fox. I said that these are not Muslim riots, they are riots," Campaign Middle East magazine quoted the prince as saying.

"He investigated the matter and called Fox and within half an hour it was changed from 'Muslim riots' to 'civil riots'."


Just so we're clear, Fox news is now cleared for approval by an anti-freedom, misogynistic, brutal, torturing, radical muslim dictatorship?

We're Pulling Out Fingernails Now

Via CNN:

"Inspectors found "a number of problems" at a jail housing Iraqi detainees, the nation's Human Rights Ministry said today, amid a report of a dozen incidents of "severe torture" at the facility.

Today's Washington Post quoted an Iraqi official saying at least 12 of the detainees had suffered severe torture. "Two of them showed me their nails, and they were gone," said an anonymous Iraqi official quoted by the Post."


It's not going to look if the purple-finger brigage are missing their fingernails...

And "Mad Max" Would Help With Crazed Bikers

What is it with the Republican party and their infatuation with Hollywood?


"There is even a movement to draft Mel Gibson, the actor and director, to run against Schwarzenegger in the Republican primary next year -- in part because the success of Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ," could help his chances among religious conservatives. Raised in Australia, Gibson was born in New York and is a U.S. citizen. He has not expressed an interest in elected politics.

"We need to have a good backup," said Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a grass-roots organization that is separate from the state party. Spence's group has already set up a Web site, melgibsonforgovernor.com. "He seems to be more consistent with the Republican message than the governor does."

Gibson could not be reached, and his spokesman, who was traveling Tuesday, did not return an e-mail and call for comment."

FEMA Was Warned Their Response in Mississippi Would Lead to "Riots"

According to the Associate Press, "FEMA realized its response to Hurricane Katrina was "broken" and braced for rioting over woefully low supplies in Mississippi in the days just after the storm, according to new documents released Monday."

"This is unlike what we have seen before," wrote William Carwile, FEMA's former top responder in Mississippi, in an e-mail sent September 1, three days after the hurricane. He couldn't get body bags to Mississippi.

"I personally authorized Hancock County to buy refer (sic) trucks that had been carrying ice becasue (sic) the coroner was going to have to start putting bodies out in the parking lot as his cooler was getting full. Still lots and lots of bodies out there." The next day he wrote: "System appears broken."

The troubles got worse from there. Local FEMA officials had to report that their plan could lead to disaster.

"If we get the quantities in your report tomorrow we will have serious riots," Fenton wrote.

Carwile wrote back: "Turns out this report is true. There seems to be no way we will get commodities in amounts beyond those indicated below. And it turns out these shortfalls were know much earlier in the day and we were not informed. Will need big time law enforcement reinforcements tomorrow. All our good will here in MS will be very seriously impacted by noon tomorrow. Have been holding it together as it is."

"Gulfport Ms only has enough commodities for roughly 3 hours distribution tomorrow," FEMA deputy chief of staff Scott Morris wrote in an e-mail sent at 11:46 p.m. on Aug. 29 — just hours after the storm roared ashore. "Apparently, the local law enforcement officials have allowed evacuees back into city."

Replying to Carwile's e-mail about body bag shortages, Scott wrote: "Let me know how I can help. 24/7 whatever you need."

"One of the things we have learned is that our logistic resources weren't up to the task, and the technology that we were using wasn't up to the task," FEMA's spokesman said. He also said that Michael Chertoff "has said that one of his priorities is retooling FEMA and, as part of that, making it a 21st century agency."

Friday Cat Blogging

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Bush, during a week-long visit to Asia, met with
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as they took
a morning tour of Kinkakuji, the revered Temple of the
Golden Pavilion in Kyoto.

Koizumi showed Bush, a devout Christian, how to bow in
prayer before an idol of the Buddha, said Raitei
Arima, the temple's head priest.

What did Bush say to the priest?

(A) “That Buddha’s cute, but kind of fat.”

(B) “We pray in America too, but to Jesus.”

(C) “I wonder if my socks have any holes.”

(D) “I didn’t know they had religion in China.”

(E) “Buddha – what religion is that?”

(F) “I’ll bet you could drill for oil under here.”



Answer: (C)


"What was most interesting was that Bush said, “I
wonder if my socks have any holes.”

And Laura said not to worry," the priest told the
reporters from newspapers all over the world.

Bidentropy

Bidentropy

Bi.den.en·tro·py (Bi den ĕn'trə-pē)

1. A measure of the loss of information in a transmitted message.

2. The tendency for all political thought and policy to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.

3. Inevitable and steady deterioration of a political party or society.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"War is the hardest place to make moral judgments."

–– Col. Ted Westhusing
Journal of Military Ethics

Norah O'Donnell: Clueless or Right-Wing Shill?

Seriously, how out of it do you have to be to not know that the vote Friday was a stunt?

Only Norah O'Donnell, apparently, has no idea what is going on. Either that, or is a paid or unpaid operative for the Republican party.

The GOP is, of course, desperately trying to spread the false rumor that Rep. Murtha called for an "immediate" pullout from Iraq with a resolution he submitted in Congress. This is, of course, false.

The Republican resolution, sponsored Duncan "Cut and Run" Hunter, DID called for an "immediate" pullout from Iraq.

So naturally, this morning, on the Today Show, O'Donnell said, "Congress Murtha called for an immediate withdraw from Iraq."

Republicans are pleased, and Norah got paid her money -- or I hope she did, if not, she shills for free -- but the viewers of NBC got fed a pack of lies made up by the Republican party.

"Immediate"? Try Again, Times.

The New York Times Web Site:

"Cheney Attacks Democratic Critics of War, but Not Murtha "

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  12:20 PM ET

"The vice president, however, strongly disagreed with the top Democrat's call for an IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL in Iraq."


Just to be clear, Republican Duncan Hunter called for an immediate withdrawal on Friday.**

This was opposed by Democrats, including Murtha.

********************************************************

** Obviously, Hunter didn't mean it -- it was a cheap stunt designed to degrade the House. But Murtha has NOT called for immediate withdrawal.

This is a Republican spin point, eagerly lapped up the AP and the Times.

Friday Cat Blogging

Holocaust Denier Arrested

Call this another blow in favor of a Culture of Truth:

According to news reports, David Irving has been arrested in Austria on charges of denying the Holocaust took place, which is a crime in that country. While we are very much in favor of free speech, given worldwide and national degrading standards when it comes to a culture of truth mark this as a positive development.

David Irving is well-known British writer who has several books about WWII, has written that Adolf Hitler was not behind an orchestrated effort by the Nazi regime to wipe out the Jewish people.

Speaking of truth and lies, according to The New York Times in 1992 Irving was fined $6,000 in Germany after he said that that no gas chambers had been used in Auschwitz. This is illegal in Germany.

Mr. Irving was once known as a rigorous historian; some of his early works on Hitler and Germany were highly praised. But his views have became more extreme and he has become a hero of neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups across Europe. Mr. Irving says he does not deny that the Nazis killed some Jews, but contends that the death toll among Jews in World War II was far lower than generally accepted.

Many years ago Deborah Lipstadt said David Irving was "one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial." Irving sued her for libel in England, where libel standards are looser than in the U.S., but he still lost.

The judge British libel suit called David Irving, called "an active Holocaust denier."

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I like guys who've never been there that criticize us who've been there. I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done."

–– Rep. John Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania

Corruption in Iraq

Remember when certain people tried to spread the idea that we invaded in Iraq because of corruption in the Oil-for-Food program?

The New York Times is reporting that numerous criminal charges have been, and will be, filed against U.S. government officials and contractors, relating to bribes and kickbacks which have been paid in order to get lucrative contracts. I can't say I'm surprised.

A person named Philip H. Bloom, who apparently had oversight over recontrsuction contracts, has been charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, conspiracy to launder money and interstate transportation of stolen property.

Other Americans in the Coalition Provisional Authority, have been charged and are being investigated.

"This is the first case, but it won't be the last," the Times quotes Jim Mitchell, a spokesman for the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an independent office.

Mr. Bloom, of course, should be considered legally innocent until are charges are proven in a court of law.

Mr. Bloom's lawyer, Robert Mintz of Newark, said, "The complaint and the supporting affidavit were unsealed for the first time today and we're in the process of reviewing the allegations."

Friday Cat Blogging

First ever Friday cat blogging for the Culture of Truth...

Veteran's Day

Number of Americans Killed in Iraq:

2,062

Number of Americans Wounded in Iraq

15,568

Number of Americans Killed in Iraq in October:

99*

*The highest number since January of 2005

Number of Americans Wounded in Iraq in October

602*

*The highest number since November of 2004.

Congressman: Arrest Chalabi

Congressman George Miller of California scores one for the culture of truth:


Rep. George Miller
Monday, November 7, 2005

"Madam Speaker, somebody ought to call the cops. Today I am not talking about collusion, corruption and cronyism and the leaking of sensitive classified information that has irreparably damaged the national security of the United States. No, I am not talking about Scooter Libby or Karl Rove, though their involvement in outing a female CIA agent to silence her husband's criticisms of the President's Iraq policy deserves closer scrutiny.

No, I am talking about another shadowy character and administration ally, someone whose deception played a large role in leading the United States into war in Iraq. I am talking about Ahmad Chalabi. Mr. Chalabi is the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq's newly constituted government. But Mr. Chalabi also is a convicted bank swindler who, we now know, fed the Bush administration false intelligence about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and capabilities and Iraq's ties to terrorism.

Many Americans remember Mr. Chalabi as a man who convinced Vice President Cheney that the United States would be greeted as a great liberator in Iraq. Some have even said it was Mr. Chalabi who promoted the false story about Iraq's attempted purchase of nuclear material in Niger. Chalabi fed false stories about Iraq's weapons capabilities to New York Times reporter Judith Miller, a story that the Times was later forced to publicly discount.

Mr. Chalabi, who supplied information to the White House Iraq working group, a mysterious cabal, as Colin Powell's former chief of staff recently said, that hijacked U.S. foreign policy and hyped the case for war in Iraq. The bottom line is that Mr. Chalabi played a central role in the orchestrated deception leading to the invasion of Iraq.

After the administration discovered that Mr. Chalabi provided false intelligence, instead of investigating, the Department of Defense attempted to prop Mr. Chalabi up as a candidate of choice in the post-war Iraq.

Keep in mind what Mr. Chalabi did next. He was suspected of leaking classified information about U.S. intelligence capabilities to Iran. He was suspected of telling the Iranians that we had broken the code by which we were learning information about their activities.

Seventeen months ago, then National Security Adviser Rice promised an FBI inquiry into who leaked information to Iran. Seventeen months ago, and yet nothing has happened. Despite the fact that Mr. Chalabi was a prime suspect, the FBI has never interviewed him. In fact, the Wall Street Journal quotes the FBI as having said they have little active interest in this matter. Little active interest in a person who is leaking intelligence material to Iran in the middle of the war in Iraq?

Just this week the administration invited this criminal to meet with the Secretary of State and maybe even Vice President Cheney in the West Wing to discuss his candidacy for the Iraq presidency in this December's election. I would be curious to learn from the President what role granting a U.S. entry visa to a man suspected of spying for Iran plays in the administration's terrorism strategy.

Mr. Chalabi's actions are an insult to every American, especially those serving in our Nation's Armed Forces, and his high-level visit to the United States is an additional affront. Chalabi's crimes cannot go unanswered. He belongs in jail for his misdeeds. Instead, he gets a White House photo-op.

As the Senate concludes its investigation into the administration's use of false and misleading intelligence to make the case for war, no such inquiry would be complete without Mr. Chalabi's testimony under oath. While he is sashaying around the streets of Washington, D.C., the Senate Intelligence Committee and the House Intelligence Committee may want to issue a subpoena for his presence. He has offered to testify, but no intelligence agency of the United States has interviewed him, nor has the FBI, as we learned today.

He should be detained in this country until he gives that testimony. I know I speak for all Americans when I say that our idea of democracy is not propping up a bank swindler, kidnapper and extortionist whose lies and deceptions contributed to the 14,000 U.S. soldiers injured and over 2,000 killed in action and is an intractable quagmire with no end in sight. Americans deserve the truth about the Bush administration's manipulation of intelligence to justify this tragic war.

Calling the cops to arrest Mr. Chalabi, while he is here, so he can be interrogated, would be a good beginning to understand how extensive the manipulation, how false the evidence was, that caused the President to take us to war and which was championed by the Vice President and the President and the cabal to try to justify to the American citizens the reason for this war.

Mr. Speaker, call the cops. Mr. Chalabi should not be allowed to run free on the streets of this Nation's capital.

Galileo's Middle Finger

Galileo's Middle Finger

From the Museum of Science in Florence, Italy

WELL, THIS INSPIRES CONFIDENCE

.

"Can I quit now? Can I come home?"

--Michael Brown, former FEMA director, in an e-mail he sent the morning of the hurricane to Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs.

"I'm trapped now, please rescue me."
--Brown a few days later, to an acquaintance.

"Tie or not for tonight? Button down blue shirt?"
-- Brown, August 26, just days before Katrina made landfall.

"You look fabulous."
-- Worthy to Brown, on August 29, the day of the storm.

"I got it at Nordstroms. ... Are you proud of me?"
–- Brown's reply.

"If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god."

-- Brown, August 29, the day of the storm.

Alito Does Not Deserve an Up or Down Vote

Judge Alito does NOT deserve an up-or-down vote.

Harriet Miers didn't get one.

The predecent has been set.

Bush should do the honorable thing and, after realizing that Alito is too far outside the mainstream to represent all Americans, ask him to withdraw his name from consideration.

End of story.

Did Cheney and Libby Orchestrate the Outing of Valerie Plame?

By the time Libby met with Official A, he had already told Judith Miller about Valerie Plame.

On June 11 or 12, an Undersecretary of State (John Boolton) told Libby about Valerie Plame. At the same time, a CIA officer told Libby about Wilson's wife, and that she sent him to Niger.

On or around June 12, 2003, Libby and Cheney had a meeting in which Cheney told Libby that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. Cheney had learned this from the CIA. They were discussing how to respond the upcoming Washington Post article by Walter Pincus, published June 12.

Two days later Libby discussed with a CIA debriefer Valerie Wilson, and expressed his anger at the stories that were coming out.

On June 19 the article in "The New Republic" came out.

Right after that, he and his Principal Deputy talking rebuting Wilson in the press.

On June 23, Libby told Judith Miller about Wilson's wife.

So here's my question:

In their meeting on June 12, 2005, or at any time prior or thereafter,
did Vice President Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby ever discuss disclosing
the fact that Valerie Plame worked at the CIA with a member of the press?

.

Libby's Criminal Intent

On May 6, 2003, Nicholas Kristof published an article, presumably with Wilson as a source, describing the Niger trip and suggesting the allegations were based on forged documents.

On June 12, Walter Pincus of the Post published an article describing Wilson's trip and what he had reported back to the CIA.

On June 19, 2003, an article appeared in "The New Republic" online that was very critical of the office of Vice President and said that officials knew the Niger story was a "flat out lie."

I believe for Libby, and possibly Rove and Cheney, the New Republic story was the last straw. Almost immediately, decision was made, officially, to begin sliming Wilson. We get this key quote from the indictment:

"Shortly after the publication of the article in "The New Republic," LIBBY spoke by telephone
with his then Principal Deputy and discussed the article. That official asked LIBBY whether
information about Wilson's trip could be shared with the press to rebut allegations that the
Vice President had sent Wilson. LIBBY responded that there would be complications at the CIA
in disclosing that information publicly, and that he could not disucss the matter on a
non-secure telephone line."


Assuming this is accurate, it stongly suggests Libby was well aware he was dealing with confidential information.

He used a secure line, so was very careful with that information?

No.

Just two, or possibly three days later, he told Judith Miller, a journalist with no clearance, that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

It's Always Something with the Bush Family

"Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said relief agency response to Hurricane Wilma will "be better" Thursday after residents waited for hours the day before for basic supplies such as water, ice and gasoline.

"Today is going to be better, tomorrow is going to be better than today, and the day after tomorrow will be even better," Bush said during a Wednesday news conference."


Just plug in "Iraq", "Terror", "The Economy", 'The Debt", "Supreme Court", "Ethics" and anything else, and the story just pretty much writes itself with this family, doesn't it?

AFTER THE REVOLUTION

MY MOVIE QUOTE OF THE DAY



"After the Revolution,
I Will Buy Fiztgerald a New Cat."

Wal-Mart Seeks "Healthy" Employees

A memorandum to the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has provoked quite a bit of reaction. It also could have implications for patient and employee privacy. The memo suggests that Wal-Mart take steps to hire healthy employees, get their employees healthier, and even discourage non-healthy employees from ever getting a job at Wal-Mart.

Not because you need to be healthy to work at Wal-Mart -- but to cut down on Wal-Mart's insurance costs.

But this is what anti-discrimination and privacy laws were designed to prevent.

We often hear that even small employers with group health plans will be unaffected by one sick employee. And that should be true for a large one, too. But what if an employer is so large that they can see extensive savings by implementing a corporate-wide, generalized effort to weed out employees who might cause their insurance rates to rise? Given the role that employers have in paying for health insurance and health care, not to mention other costs to employers from sick employees (lost time, lost productivity) this is a trend that we will see again.

Key Quotes from the Memo:

“Given the significant savings from even a small improvement in the health of our Associate base, Wal-Mart should seek to attract a healthier workforce.”

Some of the memo's recommendations:

• Design all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g. all cashiers do some cart gathering);

• Offer savings via the Discount Card on health foods (e.g., fruits and vegetables);

• Offer benefits that appeal to healthy Associates (e.g., an education offering targeted at students)

Other key quotes:

“A healthier workforce will lead to lower insurance costs, lower absenteeism through fewer sick days, and higher productivity.”

“It will be far easier to attract and retain a healthier workforce than to change behavior in an existing one.”

“These moves would also dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work at Wal-Mart.”

SIR, WE’VE LOST MARGARET THATCHER

Yep, even the iron Lady herself has turned on the war
in Iraq. Claims she was never for it.

"I was a scientist before I was a politician. And as a
scientist I know you need facts, evidence and proof -
and then you check, recheck and check again."

"The fact was that there were no facts, there was no
evidence, and there was no proof. As a politician the
most serious decision you can take is to commit your
armed services to war from which they may not return."

-- Margaret Thatcher


If they lost her, they've got big problems.

******************************************************************

WHAT KIND OF GRADUATION CEREMONY DO THEY HAVE ?

What did the head of Canada’s spy agency say Iraq has
become?

(A) “A fledgling democracy”

(B) “An experiment in developing a civilization”

(C) “A relatively peaceful war zone”

(D) “A place I hope to vacation – someday”

(E) “The envy of the Middle East”

(F) "A post-graduate faculty for terrorism"


Answer: F

******************************************************************

It's Always Miller Time

Bill Keller, posted on Poynter.org, his thoughts on the whole Judith Miller
fiasco.

Emphasis added:

Date/Time:
10/21/2005 4:06:23 PM

Title:
Memo from NYT executive editor Bill Keller

“In the end, I’m pretty sure I would have concluded
that we had to fight this case in court. For one
thing, we were facing an insidious new menace in these
blanket waivers, ostensibly voluntary, that
Administration officials had been compelled to sign.
But IF I HAD KNOWN the details of Judy’s entanglement
with Libby, I’d have been MORE CAREFUL in how the
paper articulated its defense, and perhaps more
willing than I had been to support efforts aimed at
exploring compromises.

Dick Stevenson has expressed the larger lesson here in
an e-mail that strikes me as just right:

“I think there is, or should be, a contract between
the paper and its reporters. The contract holds that
the paper will go to the mat to back them up
institutionally -- but only to the degree that the
reporter has LIVED UP TO HIS OR HER END OF THE
BARGAIN, specifically to have conducted him or herself
in a way consistent with our LEGAL, ETHICAL, AND
JOURNALISTIC STANDARDS, to have been OPEN and CANDID
with the paper about sources, mistakes, conflicts and
the like, and generally to deserve having the
reputations of all of us put behind him or her. In
that way, everybody knows going into a battle exactly
what the situation is, what we’re fighting for, the
degree to which the facts might counsel compromise or
not, and the degree to which our collective
credibility should be put on the line.”

I’ve heard similar sentiments from a number of
reporters in the aftermath of this case.

There is another important issue surfaced by this
case: how we deal with the inherent conflict of
writing about ourselves. This paper (and, indeed, this
business) has had way too much experience of that over
the past few years. Almost everyone we’ve heard from
on the staff appreciates that once we had agreed as an
institution to defend Judy’s source, it would have
been wrong to expose her source in the paper. Even if
our reporters had learned that information through
their own enterprise, our publication of it would have
been seen by many readers as authoritative -- as
outing Judy’s source in a backhanded way. Yet it is
EXCRUCIATING to WITHHOLD INFORMATION of value to our
readers, especially when rival publications are
unconstrained. I don’t yet see a clear-cut answer to
this dilemma, but we’ve received some thoughtful
suggestions from the staff, and it’s one of the
problems that we’ll be wrestling with in the coming
weeks.

Best, Bill”

###

Fascinating. My translation:

“Judith Miller, through an endless series of lies,
deceits, and underhanded behavior, has not only
prevented the Times from reporting news for the last
few years, and compelled it to actively print lies,
she also forced every employee of the paper to sink to
her level, and get them to defend her, at the cost of
the own reputations. Further, she may have embroiled
the Times in criminal conspiracy and coverup, and to
this very day refuses to be honest with her colleagues
even after they have fought for her at great cost to
themselves.

Because of a complete lack of a sense of ethics or
management at the Times, a once fine newspaper is now
regarded a cheap, bought-and-paid-for propaganda tool,
used to destroy innocent people who would dare
challenge a government misleading its own people to go
to war. Once no longer trusted, an information source
can not function. The New York Times has shredded its credibility
through misplaced loyalty and fear of political payback.
Its shattered remains litter the sidewalks of New York, as do the careers
of everyone once associated with this travesty.”

Did I miss anything?

******************************************************************

FIDDLING WHILE A CITY WAS DESTROYED

August 31, Marty Bahamonde, FEMA Regional Director frantically e-mailed
Mike Brown to tell him that thousands are evacuees were gathering in the streets with no food or water and that "estimates are many will die within hours."

"Sir, I know that you know the situation is past
critical," Bahamonde wrote.

Three hours after sending that e-mail,
Brown's press secretary wrote back that
Brown couldn’t response immediately.

Why?

(A) He was speaking with the White House about
response coordination with military.

(B) He was working with the state National Guard
authorities on rescue efforts.

(C) He was busy directing the Coast Guard relief and
supply mission.

(D) He was in a meeting with local police, fire and
rescue departments.

(E) He was organizing a massive effort with the Red
Cross, other charities, churches, businesses, and
individuals.

(F) He was eating dinner.


Answer: F

"We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a
location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service
from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."

******************************************************************

IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE END OF TIMES

TRUE or FALSE:

Wolf Blitzer recently hosted a show on CNN where he
and guests, including Pat Robertson, seriously debated
the question, as headlined, “Are We Living in the End
Times?”


Answer:

True
******************************************************************

Et Tu, Burt?

"I heard Colin Powell tell the United Nations there
are weapons of mass destruction. I totally believed
him. I love this guy. He's like a hero. This was such
a bad, bad blemish mark on his life, that he was so
wronged.

"Then we go into Iraq. It looked like the heroic,
right thing to do.”

“It was the wrong thing to do. There was fabricated
information. There are no weapons of mass
destruction."


–– Burt Bacharach

"Stuff just kept going more wrong and more wrong here
as I was writing."

"Who Are These People?" sung by Elvis Costello,
expresses his disillusionment with the war in Iraq,
and forcefully asks, "Who are these people that keep
telling us lies and how did these people get control
of our lives and who'll stop the violence 'cause it's
out of control? Make 'em stop."

Judith Miller's Amnesia Worthy of Soap Opera

"When asked if she had ever left the impression with sources, including Mr. Libby, that she had access to classified information after leaving her assignment in Iraq, Ms. Miller said she could not recall.

“I don’t remember if I ever told him I was disembedded,” she said. “I might not have.” But she added, “I never misled anybody.”

-- Katharine Seelye’s, New York Times, October 20

"New York Times reporter Judith Miller told the federal grand jury in the CIA leak case that she might have met with I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby on June 23, 2003 only after prosecutors showed her Secret Service logs that indicated she and Libby had indeed met that day in the Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House, according to attorneys familiar with her testimony."

-- Murray Waas in National Journal

Court: Spyware Can Be Trespass

In a federal case pending in Illinois, (Sotelo v. DirectRevenue) a judge has accepted the idea that placing spyware can result in a tort claim of trespass to chattels.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff alleged that the defendant deceptively placed software on his computer, which allowed them to track the user and place targered pop-up ads on the computer.

The court denied a motion to dismiss the claim of trespass to chattels. The court accepted the claim that the allegation of the placement of, and damage done by, the spyware interfered with the plaintiff's personal resources to the degree required by the tort.

Pirro Breaks Out the Child Molesting Talking Points

According to Newsday, on Tuesday Jeanine Pirro said in a speech, "That's a difference between Democrats and Republicans _ we don't want them next door molesting children and murdering women," referring to sex offenders.

Apparently this was in a Chemung County Republicans. She was referring to legislation that would civilly confine violent sex offenders after their prison sentences end, which is pending in the Democratic-controlled state Assembly.

It may seem a little early to break out the child molesting talking points, but the election is the first week of November.

Of 2006.

Yes, it is a little early for such talk and Clinton's people had a response:

"Ms. Pirro's comment is an affront to common decency and an outrageous insult to the five and a half million law-abiding Democrats in our state. With statements like these, Ms. Pirro's campaign is rapidly going from an embarrassment to a disgrace."

-- Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson.

The next day Pirro's campaign manager, Brian Donahue, she does not believe Democrats want sexual predators living next door to anyone. Well, that's just great! "This quote is out of context."

Aren't they always?

"She's conveying a sense of frustration associated with it because she believes that unless this legislation is passed, we are allowing sex offenders to prey on the innocent. The bill "is being held up for partisan reasons by the Democratic leadership." said Pirro's spokesman.

According to Newsday, "State Assemblyman David Koon, a Rochester-area Democrat whose 18-year-old daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 1993, called Pirro's comments "total malarkey."

"Civil confinement should be out there, but it doesn't define Republicans and Democrats," Koon said, adding that "there are a lot of Democrats out there who believe in it."

Whatever the outcome of this legislation, the whole debate does suggest something about Jeanine, aside from her lack of ethics and her foundering campaign.

She should've run for a statewide office. She's a well-known prosecutor who's probably knowledgeable on criminal justice issues, which often impact other local political decision-making, like police department budgets, family court, welfare, poverty, drug policy, education, urban planning... But these are all local and state issues, as is criminal prosecution in general.

What's her stance on the war in Iraq? Scandal in White House? Harriet Miers? Federal and international environmental issues? Social Security? Federal spending? Taxes? CAFTA? The WTO? North Korea? Taiwan? Chechnya?

Jeanine: Drop out now. Run for Assembly. Then you can propose all the civil confinement bills you want.

Or maybe she doesn't really care about anything. Maybe she's just a cheap smear artist, an incompetent hack with a love of the spotlight.

Fake Tip in Holland Shuts Down Baltimore

Blame the Dutch!!

BALTIMORE, Maryland (CNN) -- Information about a possible threat that shut down the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel on Tuesday came from a source in the Netherlands, a senior U.S. official said.

The closures came about as a result of a "threat of undetermined credibility to an unspecified tunnel in the Baltimore area," said Kevin Perkins, head of the FBI's Baltimore office.

According to U.S. officials, the alert was triggered by a report that a shipment of explosives was heading into the city's harbor disguised as cocoa. The explosives then would have been used to build a truck bomb to be detonated inside the targeted tunnel, officials said.

"At this point in time we don't have any evidence that suggests this threat is credible," Perkins said. "However, we are continuing our investigation. We have to follow this to the end."

Judy Gives Herself Away

“I interviewed Mr. Libby for a second time on July 8, two days after Mr. Wilson
published his essay ATTACKING THE ADMINISTRATION on the
Op-Ed Page of The Times..."

-- Judith Miller


He did no such thing. Judy's bias is showing.

Bush Popularity Among African Americans Hits All Time Record

BUSH HITS 98TH PERCENTILE IN
POPULARITY AMONG BLACKS

"All Time Record, Experts Say"

"According the White House, Bush's popularity among African Americans is now in the 98th percentile, which is an all-time record for any President, regardless of party. Sources in the White House say it is a reflection of all that Bush has done for blacks and other minorities, as well the American people, since he took office."

Words of Wisdom from the Next Justice

"This is the wish

That should have been sent

Before your birthday

Came and went"


John Jay
John Marshall
Salmon P. Chase
John Marshall Harlan
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Charles Evans Hughes
Louis Brandeis
William Howard Taft
Benjamin Cardozo
Hugo Black
Felix Frankfurter
William O. Douglas
Harlan Fisk Stone
Robert Jackson
Earl Warren
Warren Burger
Thurgood Marshall
William Brennan
Sandra Day O'Connor
Ruth Bader Ginsburg

* Harriet Miers *

LBJ and The Court

I saw an interesting story this weekend.

It seems Lyndon Johnson really wanted to appoint an African-American to the Court, to his credit. But there weren't any vacancies.

So he decided to create one.

He nominated Ramsey Clark to his Attorney General, then told him, "You can't be Attorney General if your Daddy is on the Supreme Court. He's gonna have to step down."

So Justice Clark resigns the Court at only 67 years of age, and Thurgood Marshall becomes the 1st black Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

The LBJ was one tricky operator, that's for sure.

One of my problems with Bush is that not only do I disagree with combination of corporatism and militarism, he isn't nearly clever enough to pull something like this off.

Just Another Quiet Day In Iraq

From Juan Cole:

Guerrilla violence killed 18 persons in Iraq on Monday, including one US GI.

Protesters in Ramadi said they had not yet seen the offical text of the constitution and think the government is conspiring to keep it from them, according to the Washington Post. Many in Baghdad also say they have not seen it.

Allawi Government Implicated in Massive Theft

Ever since he delivered that ridiculous speech to Congress, I had Allawi pegged as an untrustworthy prop of the Administration.

Now comes this story.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -

"Iraq has issued arrest warrants against the defense minister and 27 other officials from the U.S.-backed government of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi over the alleged disappearance or misappropriation of $1 billion in military procurement funds."

Miers Was Picked Because She is the "Right" Religion

"To persuade the right to embrace Ms. Miers's selection
despite her lack of a clear record on social issues,
representatives of the White House put Justice Hecht
on at least one conference call with influential
social conservative organizers on Monday to talk about
her faith and character. "

- The New York Times, 10/05/2005

This says alot about what's wrong with our system. She has no judicial, or philosophical, or constitutional record to speak of, so they try to sell her to their supporters with this crap about her being the "right" religion -- in other words, this all about outlawing abortion.

What's really twisted here is they want someone with very specific personal views, and they want her to impose those views, BECAUSE they are her personal views.

In other words, they want her to legislate from the bench, which is what they constantly say they DON'T want. That's truly screwed up.

Why the Right Wing is So Mad

This is zero sum game for the Right.

It's a one-time-only, lifetime appointment.

This is the whole reason they supported Bush beginning in 1998 and 1999. It's why they gave him money, volunteered, wrote letters, editorials, lied again again, It's why they stole the 2000 election, why the supported Swift Boating, the Iraq war, and the other insane nonsense Bush and Rove pull.

All so they could have this ONE thing. Justice Sunday I and II. This is what it was all about. No second chance. This was it.

And Bush blows it all by nominating a 60 year old woman who was his very efficient secretary.

It's as if Jed Barlett had nominated Mrs. Landingham.

The wing nuts went through too much crap to put up with this now.

MIERS UNITES REPUBLICANS

They All Dislike Her


Senator Lincoln Chafee said he planned to apply a more skeptical standard to the next nominee because of the balance of the court and might even oppose a jurist similar to Judge Roberts. "I will be looking very carefully," he said, at the next nominee's views on privacy rights, separation of church and state and the scope of federal power.


On the conservative side of the party, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas has said he would vote against a nominee who was not "solid and known" on cultural issues like abortion, same-sex marriage and religion in public life.
"If the president doesn't nominate a solid nominee, that is going counter to what he campaigned on," Mr. Brownback said, before this morning's nomination announcement. And if such a nominee "involves a contentious battle, then let it be."


Why are Chafee and Brownback such obstructionists?

What Is John Roberts' Shoe Size?

Bush looked high and low for the most qualified person he could find to sit on America’s highest court, and settled on…. his lawyer.

Quick -- what is John Roberts' shoe size?

You don't know? I guess Bush never considered it that important.

But at a 1996 awards ceremony, he called Harriet Miers a "a pit bull in size 6 shoes."

Very funny. Cute, but like Bush's habit of bestowing nicknames, also crass and demeaning. Would he have something similar about a man?

Regarding Harriet Miers: Frankly, she doesn't appear to be qualified.

Apparently, she’s a devout member of the Bush Cult of Personality, and was even George Bush's personal lawyer in Texas. Later, after he was elected Governor, he gave the job of running the Texas Lottery.

Then she followed him to Washington, where she served as to serve as staff secretary, the person who controls every piece of paper that crosses the president's desk. Then it was on the Counsel's Office.

Apart from many years in private practice in Dallas, that's it.

This is who he picks for the Supreme Court.

No clerking with the Supreme Court. No clerking with an appellate court. No arguing before the Supreme Court. No significant legal scholarship.

Even if one is known as one of the most powerful lawyers in America -- let us say, the number personal injury lawyer in Texas, the best tax attorney in D.C., the most outstanding environmental lawyer in California, the best criminal defense attorney in New York -- this would not necessarily qualify someone for U.S. Supreme Court

Is Harriet Miers qualified for the job of interpreting the U.S. Constitution - our founding legal and political document for the rest of the country, rendering decisions that will have effects for decades, if not centuries?

At this point, the answer appears to be no.