Even conservatives get it.

George Will - conservative columnist extraordinaire. The right-wing baseball freak hits this one out the park.

From the upcoming Newsweek.

Cheney still doesn't get it on Iraq.
A surreal facet of the Iraq fiasco is the lag between when a fact becomes obvious and when the fiasco's architects acknowledge it

By George F. Will
Newsweek

Nov. 6, 2006 issue - Many months ago it became obvious to all but the most ideologically blinkered that America is losing the war launched to deal with a chimeric problem (an arsenal of WMD) and to achieve a delusory goal (a democracy that would inspire emulation, transforming the region). Last week the president retired his mantra "stay the course" because it does not do justice to the nimbleness and subtlety of U.S. tactics for winning the war.

A surreal and ultimately disgusting facet of the Iraq fiasco is the lag between when a fact becomes obvious and when the fiasco's architects acknowledge that fact. Iraq's civil war has been raging for more than a year; so has the Washington debate about whether it is what it is.

In a recent interview with Vice President Cheney, Time magazine asked, "If you had to take back any one thing you'd said about Iraq, what would it be?" Selecting from what one hopes is a very long list, Cheney replied: "I thought that the elections that we went through in '05 would have had a bigger impact on the level of violence than they have ... I thought we were over the hump in terms of violence. I think that was premature."

He thinks so? Clearly, and weirdly, he implies that the elections had some positive impact on the level of violence. Worse, in the full transcript of the interview posted online he said the big impact he expected from the elections "hasn't happened yet." "Yet"? Doggedness can be admirable, but this is clinical.

Anyway, what Cheney actually said 17 months ago was that the insurgency was in its "last throes." That was much stronger than saying we were "over the hump" regarding violence. Beware of people who misquote themselves while purporting to display candor.

The latest plan to pacify Baghdad—announced in June, declared a failure in October—was called Operation Together Forward. But U.S.-Iraqi togetherness is a sometime thing. Last April, The Washington Post's Jonathan Finer reported from Hawijah, Iraq, on a joint patrol to search for roadside bombs. The Iraqis refused to ride in armored U.S. Humvees, preferring pickup trucks because a cleric told them that anyone killed in an "occupier vehicle" would not go to heaven. Eventually, after threatening them with jail, U.S. Army Lt. Aaron Tapalman browbeat them into Humvees:

"About an hour later, the patrol came across a white bag on the roadside that Tapalman suspected might contain a bomb. When he asked some Iraqi soldiers to move it off the road, their commander balked, saying it wasn't his job. 'It is your job to protect the people,' Tapalman said, increasingly exasperated. 'I can go and move it myself, and you know what? I will, but don't you think your people should see you doing that kind of stuff? Someday we're not going to be here anymore.' The Iraqi soldier declined again, apologetically, and drove away."

A mordant joke told during the Cold War concerned asking an Italian, a Frenchman, an Englishman and a Russian to each describe his most cherished dream. The Italian said, "I want my country to produce the greatest artists." The Frenchman said, "I want my nation to produce the greatest philosophers." The Englishman said, "I want my country to produce the greatest parliamentarians." The Russian said, "I want my neighbor's cow to die."

The joke was no laughing matter because it turned on this truth: A history of brutalizing tyranny had stunted the Russians' aptitude for collective aspirations. Which brings us back to Iraq, which Patrick J. McDonnell of the Los Angeles Times covered for two years following the 2003 invasion. He recently returned. His Oct. 23 report ( "Into the Abyss of Baghdad") begins:

"I keep seeing his face. He appears to be in his mid-20s, bespectacled, slightly bearded, and somehow his smile conveys a sense of prosperity to come. Perhaps he is set to marry, or enroll in graduate school, or launch a business—all these flights of ambition seem possible. In the next few images he is encased in plastic: His face is frozen in a ghoulish grimace. Blackened lesions blemish his neck. 'Drill holes,' says Col. Khaled Rasheed, an Iraqi commander who is showing me the set of photographs."

Electric drills are the death squads' preferred instruments of torture. McDonnell:

"One evening I accompanied a three-Humvee convoy of MPs through largely Shiite east Baghdad ... The objective that evening was to patrol with Iraqi police, but the Iraqi lawmen are hesitant to be seen with Americans, whom they regard as IED [improvised explosive device] magnets. The joint patrol never worked out ... The next night, an armor-piercing bomb hit the same squad, Gator 1-2. A sergeant with whom I had ridden the previous evening lost a leg; the gunner and driver suffered severe shrapnel wounds."

For what?

There have been 100 troops killed in Iraq this month.

Why?

Bush never lied about WMDs

And the parrot is not dead.

Dave's not here, man

Bush decided to stump for Congressional Candidate Jeff Lamberti and...well...obviously didn't know his name.

Thanks for your help, George, you moron. Or should I call you "Sam"?

"The election is three weeks away and there are rumors the Republicans are getting ready for an election night disaster, which would be a first---a disaster they were actually prepared for." --Bill Maher

NICE

The DNC has two GREAT new commercials about "stay the course." Considering that the news is just two days old, it looks like they actually are learning how to turn things around fast.

Why I can't stand Bush

Bush Concedes 'Serious Concern' Over Iraq War

Because it takes a FRIGGING ELECTION to get this jackass to admit what everybody ELSE has known for at least a YEAR.

All he actually cares about is the damned election. Not America. HimSELF. He's finally telling SOME of the truth because he's concerned about his own pathetic ass.

How do these guys ever win?

Dennis Hastert, the Speaker of the House:



That's right, the face above is the Speaker of the House.

Did you ever SEE anyone more instinctively repulsive?

There are people who actually consciously decide that they want THAT in a position of power.

The mind boggles.

From Think Progress. Nice caption Fox News has. Fair and Balanced, indeed.

Come on! THAT'S not progaganda! It's a QUESTION! It doesn't say they WILL. It simply ASKS "Will they?" It isn't like they made it a declarative STATEMENT or something.

Enough

Will ONE f'ing Democrat stand up and say that voting glitches are unacceptable? ONE?

U.S. Senate candidate James Webb's last name has been cut off on part of the electronic ballot used by voters in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville because of a computer glitch that also affects other candidates with long names, city officials said yesterday.

"Candidates with long names."

JAMES WEBB is a "long name"?

Every candidate on Alexandria's summary page has been affected in some way by the glitch. Even if candidates' full names appear, as is the case with Webb's Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. George F. Allen, their party affiliations have been cut off.

"George F. Allen" would seem to be a bit longer than "James Webb."

When do we get the torches and the pitchforks?

Slay the course II

"So what you have is not 'stay the course,' but, in fact, a study in constant motion." - Tony Snow

Yep, this sure IS a study in constant motion.

Backpedaling, deflecting, spinning and falling all over themselves.

Iraqi PM Angry Over U.S. Backed Raid
Prime Minister Says He Didn't Approve Raid Targeting Shiite Militia Leader

(CBS/AP) U.S. and Iraqi forces on Wednesday raided Sadr City, the stronghold of the feared Shiite militia led by radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, but Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki disavowed the operation, saying he had not been consulted and insisting "that it will not be repeated."

The guy in charge of Iraq doesn't want us fighting the insurgents.

So why the hell are we there?

The defiant al-Maliki also slammed the top U.S. military and diplomatic representatives in Iraq for saying Iraq needed to set a timetable to curb violence ravaging the country.

"I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it," al-Maliki said at a news conference.

Actually, he's right. If, as Bush says, we have placed in power a sovereign government, we DON'T have the right to impose a timetable.

So we leave. Simple.

Slay the course

"Well, I've been talking about a change in tactics ever since I - ever since we went in, because the role of the commander in chief is to say to our generals, `You adjust to the enemy on the battlefield.'" - the Busher.

He thinks his role is to say to our generals "You adjust to the enemy on the battlefield."?

Are we to understand that we have generals who don't know that unless he tells them?

"Sir, that enemy we are trying to engage just veered to the East! Should we veer to the East, too?"

"No, keeping going straight. That way, we'll miss him entirely."

The job of the Commander-in-Chief is to tell the general to adjust to the enemy on the battlefield?

What is he? Commander-in-Chief of the painfully obvious?

A special place in hell

If you want to know WHY we are actually in Iraq - this is why.

NEW YORK -
Iraq's former finance minister alleged in a U.S. television report that up to $800 million meant to equip the Iraqi army had been stolen from the government by former officials through fraudulent arms deals.

The former minister, Ali Allawi, told CBS' "60 Minutes" that $1.2 billion had been allocated from the Iraqi treasury to the defense ministry to buy new weapons. About $400 million was spent on outdated equipment, while the rest of the money was simply stolen, he said in the interview, which aired Sunday.

Allawi, who has level such accusation repeatedly in the past, said the arms fraud is "one of the biggest thefts in history" and that corrupt former Iraqi officials are now "running around the world hiding and scurrying around."

There are many, many people - including many with strong ties to this administration - who are grabbing cash with both hands from this war. Billions upon billions of dollars. At the sacrifice of other peoples' arms and legs and eyes and lives.

There must be a special place in hell for people who use war as a get-rich-quick scheme.

"WASHINGTON (Oct. 21) — The Bush administration is drafting a timetable for the Iraqi government to address sectarian divisions and assume a larger role in securing the country, senior American officials said."

Gee, weren't we told that wanting a timetable was the same thing as siding with the terrorists?

Looks like the Geniuses In Washington have realized - after 3 1/2 years and tens of thousands of deaths - that the war in Iraq wasn't such a great idea after all.

Morons.

The time to think hard about the consequences of war is BEFORE you start one.

Support the Troops

Military Families are now standing in line for FOOD.

The women and children who formed a line at Camp Pendleton last week could have been waiting for a child-care center to open or Disney on Ice tickets to go on sale.

Instead, they were waiting for day-old bread and frozen dinners packaged in slightly damaged boxes. These families are among a growing number of military households in San Diego County that regularly rely on donated food.

As the Iraq war marches toward its fourth anniversary, food lines operated by churches and other nonprofit groups are an increasingly valuable presence on military bases countywide. Leaders of the charitable groups say they're scrambling to fill a need not seen since World War II.

Too often, the supplies run out before the lines do, said Regina Hunter, who coordinates food distribution at one Camp Pendleton site.

“Here they are defending the country. . . . It is heartbreaking to see,” said Hunter, manager of the on-base Abby Reinke Community Center.

This is NUTS

One of the soldiers who was killed by a roadside bomb was 52 years old.

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) - A Vancouver soldier is one of ten killed this week by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

Ron Paulson spent 14 years in the Army and then another 13 years as an inactive reservist. At 52 years old, he was called up for active duty.

When Paulson finished his service in 1992, soldiers were given a choice - take a lump sum of $30,000 and be done, or take an annual payment of $7,000 with a catch.

He said he went for the annual, but that meant he had to stay in the inactive reserve to get it, which is why he ended up getting called back in to service.

Paulson said that roadside bombs were his biggest concern. His family confirmed his death Wednesday.

This guy probably opened his call-back notice right after paying his dues to the AARP.

While a bunch of war-mongers who are in their twenties sit on their asses at their
computer telling everybody how much they favor this horseshit.

While not volunteering their OWN skin.

Big Bill

No, not Shakespeare - the OTHER Big Bill.

Democrats "believe in mutual responsibility, they believe that in large measure people make or break their own lives and you're on your own. We believe in striving, at least, to cooperate with others because we think there are very few problems in the world we can solve on our own. They favor unilateralism whenever possible and cooperation when it's unavoidable."

Notice what the right-wing bullies regard as an "attack":

"I long for the day when we will return to a debate that is not about who's a good person and who's a slug, not about who represents the religious truth and who is basically running for office on his or her way to hell. I long for the day when Republicans and Democrats will sit around and have these raucous, exciting arguments and actually love learning from one another and we create the common good out of the dynamic center." - Bill Clinton

"It's not surprising to hear these attacks from a man widely recognized for repeatedly playing the blame game to cover his own mistakes.'' - Tracey Schmitt, Republican Spokesperson

It's astonishing how consistently Republicans engage in really, really obvious projection.

Bush: Okay, maybe it IS Vietnam

President Bush said in a one-on-one interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that a newspaper column comparing the current fighting in Iraq to the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam, which was widely seen as the turning point in that war, might be accurate. - ABC

Damned nice of him to notice.

Seriously, I think that George W. Bush is falling apart.

You don't stay on the wrong course.

I think Bush is hoping that Baker can figure out some way to keep him from looking like a total failure.

A commission backed by Bush has agreed that 'stay the course' is not working, its leader says.

WASHINGTON — A commission backed by President Bush that is exploring U.S. options in Iraq intends to propose significant changes in the administration's strategy by early next year, members say.

Two options under consideration would represent reversals of U.S. policy: withdrawing American troops in phases, and bringing neighboring Iran and Syria into a joint effort to stop the fighting.

While it weighs alternatives, the 10-member commission headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III has agreed on one principle.

"It's not going to be 'stay the course,' " one participant said. "The bottom line is, [current U.S. policy] isn't working…. There's got to be another way."

Bush buys 98,000 acres in Paraguay

Bush Buys Land in Northern Paraguay

Buenos Aires, Oct 13 (Prensa Latina) An Argentine official regarded the intention of the George W. Bush family to settle on the Acuifero Guarani (Paraguay) as surprising, besides being a bad signal for the governments of the region.

Luis D Elia, undersecretary for the Social Habitat in the Argentine Federal Planning Ministry, issued a memo partially reproduced by digital INFOBAE.com, in which he spoke of the purchase by Bush of a 98,842-acre farm in northern Paraguay, between Brazil and Bolivia.

The news circulated Thursday in non-official sources in Asuncion, Paraguay.

D Elia considered this Bush step counterproductive for the regional power expressed by Presidents Nestor Kirchner, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

He said that "it is a bad signal that the Bush family is doing business with natural resources linked to the future of MERCOSUR."

The official pointed out that this situation could cause a hypothetical conflict of all the armies in the region, and called attention to the Bush family habit of associating business and politics.

I wonder if George thinks he may have to flee the country?

You ever hear of Thomas Yadegary?

Here, here, and here.

Thomas Yadegary is an Iranian who has emigrated to New Zealand, and converted to Christianity. But his visa is up and he is an overstayer, and the government of New Zealand is trying to send him back to Iran.

He doesn't want to go, because under Sharia' law, he may be imprisoned, tortured, or even executed for converting the Christianity.

New Zealand apparently doesn't think the possibility of execution is a good enough reason to extend his visa, and they are trying to deport him.

This is so messed up, and I thought I'd post it here, because you won't read it anywhere else.

Family Values

It's a local race, and under the radar, but some things, you just can't resist.

Sandy Sullivan is the Republican Candidate for Wisconsin Secretary of State.

Her only qualification for the office is that she had sex with the Green Bay Packers football team. And wrote a book about it:

Sandy Sullivan, a 65-year-old Republican with no political experience, self-published a gushing memoir in 2004 titled "Green Bay Love Stories and Other Affairs" in which she claims she was the girlfriend of Green Bay Packers Paul Hornung and Dan Currie, deflected a pass from Hall of Famer Don Hutson and was on the receiving end of a saucy comment from Richard Nixon.

Sullivan, who is now a blonde and owns a marketing company that she says sets up autograph sessions and Packer appearances, is not hiding from her past. If anything, she is reveling in it. Her campaign Web site prominently mentions the book and features a picture of her with former Packers quarterback Bart Starr.

From her online bio:

2004 - Present - Published author: Green Bay Love Stories

Life-long passion for, and friendship with, Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers

And, being a modern Republican, she is completely clueless as to how absurd this looks.

Bush just using Christians

Book says Bush just using Christians

More than five years after President Bush created the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, the former second-in-command of that office is going public with an insider’s tell-all account that portrays an office used almost exclusively to win political points with both evangelical Christians and traditionally Democratic minorities.

“Tempting Faith’s” author is David Kuo, who served as special assistant to the president from 2001 to 2003. A self-described conservative Christian, Kuo’s previous experience includes work for prominent conservatives including former Education Secretary and federal drug czar Bill Bennett and former Attorney General John Ashcroft.

He says some of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders were known in the office of presidential political strategist Karl Rove as “the nuts.”

“National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just plain ‘goofy,’” Kuo writes.

More seriously, Kuo alleges that then-White House political affairs director Ken Mehlman knowingly participated in a scheme to use the office, and taxpayer funds, to mount ostensibly “nonpartisan” events that were, in reality, designed with the intent of mobilizing religious voters in 20 targeted races.

Kuo quotes Mehlman as saying, “… (I)t can’t come from the campaigns. That would make it look too political. It needs to come from the congressional offices. We’ll take care of that by having our guys call the office [of faith-based initiatives] to request the visit.”

Heh.

Remember when Foley said - probably in a bullshit attempt to gain sympathy - that he was molested by a clergyman when he was a kid? Were you wondering at the time why he didn't name the guy, since, after all, you don't want a pedophile running around?

The Roman Catholic Church is wondering the same thing.

The Roman Catholic diocese where Mark Foley went to church as a child demanded Tuesday that the disgraced ex-congressman name the clergyman who he claims molested him 40 years ago.

J. Patrick Fitzgerald -- lawyer for the Palm Beach, Fla., diocese -- said in a letter that until Foley names the clergyman, "all clergy that served in Palm Beach County have been needlessly placed under suspicion."

At a news conference last week, Foley's attorney, David Roth, said Foley, now 52, had been molested by a member of the clergy when the former congressman was 13. The abuse continued until Foley was 15, Roth said. He refused to name the clergyman or the church where he said the molestation occurred.

Roth could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In his letter to Roth, Fitzgerald wrote that identification of the alleged abuser would be in accordance with the diocese's charter, which was adopted by the United States Roman Catholic Dioceses in 2002. That charter "encourages victims of abuse to come forward, identify the alleged perpetrator and report the abuse to the proper criminal authority."

A spokeswoman for the Palm Beach Diocese said the letter was written because "we want to know if we should be taking any action in all of this."

"Our legal counsel requested that (Foley and his lawyer) provide details about his alleged abuser because, since the vague allegation came out, it has painted us with a rather broad brush," said Alexis Walkenstein, the diocese spokeswoman. "We don't even know if it does involve our diocese. But Mr. Foley has a history of participation of parishes that fall under the jurisdiction of our diocese. So we want to know if we have any involvement."

So it looks like Foley has three choices:

Name the clergyman.

Say, "Ok, I was full of shit - there was no clergyman."

Or ignore it and hope it goes away.

My money is on number 3.

Of COURSE we won't attack them! They HAVE WMDs!

Bush Says U.S. Won't Attack North Korea

WASHINGTON (Oct. 11) -- President Bush demanded stiff sanctions on North Korea Wednesday for its reported nuclear test and asserted the U.S. has "no intention of attacking" the reclusive regime despite its claims that it needs atomic weapons to guard against such a strike.

Well, thank frigging goodness for small frigging favors.

But if anyone still harbors the illusion that Bush was just mistaken, and not lying, in his contention that Iraq had WMDs, this should put it to rest.

If Bush REALLY thought Iraq had WMDs, he wouldn't have invaded.

He invaded Iraq because he knew that they DIDN'T have them.

Moron-In-Chief

Bush has finally revealed why he uses the phrase "cut and run" to describe his opponents' position.

It's because he has a small vocabulary.

QUESTION: One of the things Democrats complain about it is the way you portray their position --

BUSH : Oh, really?

QUESTION: -- in wanting to fight the war on terror. They would say you portray it as either they support exactly what you want to do or they want to do nothing.

BUSH : Hmm.

QUESTION: We hear it in some of your speeches. Is it fair to portray it to the American people that way?

BUSH : Well, I think it's fair to use the words of people in Congress or their votes. [Laughs.] The vote was on the -- on the Hamdan legislation, do you want to continue a program that enabled us to interrogate folks or not?

And all I was doing was reciting the votes. I -- I -- I would -- I would cite my opponent in the 2004 campaign when he said there needs to be a date certain from which to withdraw from Iraq. I characterize that as cut-and-run because I believe it is cut and run. In other words, I've been using their votes or their words to characterize their positions.

QUESTION: But they don't say "cut and run."

BUSH : Well, they may not use "cut and run," but they say "date certain" as to when to get out before the job is done. That is cut and run. You know, I -- nobody's accused me of having a real sophisticated vocabulary. I understand that. And maybe their -- their words are more sophisticated than mine, but when you pull out before the job is done, that's cut and run as far as I'm concerned. And that's cut and run as far as most Americans are concerned.

Don't you think he might have picked up at least a FEW large words while reading those "three Shakespeares"?

Why I love cyberspace.

I recently had a noticable increase in traffic. A lot of people were clicking on this blog from this post of archy's (better known as John McKay). I couldn't figure it out. I'm in archy's sidebar, but why would I get all these hits from one single post, when that post doesn't even mention me?

Because, according to John, there are apparently a frightening number of people who do Google searches on the phrase "mammoth penis," that's why.

Here's Josh Marshallon the absurd attempt to blame Clinton for Bush's disaster:

"Failure" =1994-2002 -- Era of Clinton 'Agreed Framework': No plutonium production. All existing plutonium under international inspection. No bomb.

"Success" = 2002-2006 -- Bush Policy Era: Active plutonium production. No international inspections of plutonium stocks. Nuclear warhead detonated.

Face it. They ditched an imperfect but working policy. They replaced it with nothing. Now North Korea is a nuclear state.

Facts hurt. So do nukes.

A gaggle of morons

In the press gaggle, Tony Snow decides to demonstrate, once again, that these people are clueless and don't learn.

Q Here we are in 2006 operating on the assumption, as the government is, that, in fact, they tested a nuclear devise. So what went wrong?

MR. SNOW: I'm not sure anything went wrong.

He's not sure that anything went wrong? North Korea tests a nuclear device, and you morons think that maybe nothing went wrong?

What the hell would it look like if something HAD gone wrong?

And the fact that you think nothing went wrong, means, of course, that you see no reason to do differently. Failure just breeds more failure.

SNOW: The failed diplomacy is on the part of the North Koreans because what they have done so far is turn down a series of diplomatic initiatives that would have given them everything they have said they wanted, which was the ability to have adequate power for their country, to have economic growth, to have diplomatic ties with other countries, and to have security guarantees.

Yeah, joke's on them. Those stupid North Koreans just didn't realize how GOOD we wanted to be to them, and now they lose: they went and got a nuke, silly people.

Somebody kick these lunatics out of the White House and replace them with someone who tries to solve problems instead of someone who shuts his eyes, and pretends that he make no mistakes.

The whole problem with the Bush's approach to diplomacy is - unintentionally - suumed by John McCain in his foolish political attempt to blame North Korea on Bill Clinton:

"The worst thing we could do is to accede to North Korea's demand for bilateral talks. When has rewarding North Korea's bad behavior ever gotten us anything more than worse behavior?"

When the hell did diplomacy become a reward for good behavior?

But that's what Bush thinks it is.

Which means we never talk to ANYBODY but those whom we LIKE.

And this is the result.

Fit to be Bow-tied.

Tucker Carlson (R-Truly Pathetic Geek) actually spoke the truth about cynical way the Republicans have been using evangelicals - aided and abetted by the evangelical leaders. Tucker doesn't mention that they've been doing it since Reagan, but maybe the dupes have finally begun to figure it out.

CARLSON: It goes deeper than that though. The deep truth is that the elites in the Republican Party have pure contempt for the evangelicals who put their party in power. Everybody in…

MATTHEWS: How do you know that? How do you know that?

CARLSON: Because I know them. Because I grew up with them. Because I live with them. They live on my street. Because I live in Washington, and I know that everybody in our world has contempt for the evangelicals. And the evangelicals know that, and they're beginning to learn that their own leaders sort of look askance at them and don't share their values.

MATTHEWS: So this gay marriage issue and other issues related to the gay lifestyle are simply tools to get elected?

CARLSON: That's exactly right. It's pandering to the base in the most cynical way, and the base is beginning to figure it out

Crooks and Liars Video

"It's simple. You drink, you forget things -- especially things that could endanger minors. Condoleezza Rice claims she can't remember a July 2001 meeting with George Tenet where he warned her an al Qaeda attack was likely, even though White House records prove the meeting happened. She probably just blacked out. It was a drinking game. Every time George Tenet says 'imminent,' you take a shot." - Stephen Colbert

I do love Bishop Tutu.

Army STRONG

The Army, apparently deciding that "Army of One" just wasn't stupid ENOUGH as a slogan, have decided to replace it.

WASHINGTON --In its battle to win the hearts and minds of recruiting-age Americans, the Army is replacing its main ad slogan -- "An Army of One" -- with one it hopes will pack more punch: "Army Strong."

"Army Strong.
Hulk stronger.
Hulk smash."

Just a question...

Who are the Republicans going to put up to run for Foley's set? John Mark Karr?

MAJOR new blog

Garry Trudeau of Doonesbury has a new blog where the soldiers can go and freely post their thoughts and speak their minds.

Here.

You may also consider volunteering your time and/or money to IAVA - the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Right-wingers support the troops by sitting on their butts and yelling "rah, rah" at a television screen. As though the soldiers were a stinking football team.

That's what they do.

That isn't what we do.

No-Sneeze Kitties

Huzzah, Huzzah. A genuine boon to a hurting world:

A small California biotech company says it is ready to deliver the Holy Grail of the $35 billion pet industry: a hypoallergenic cat.

Two cats with a mutant gene that
produces a modified protein
far less likely to induce allergies.

At the start of next year, the first kittens — which the company calls “lifestyle pets” — will go home to eager owners who have been carefully screened and have been on a waiting list for more than two years.

Since it announced the project in October 2004, the company, Allerca, of San Diego, says it has received inquiries from people in 85 countries seeking to buy a cat bred so that its glands do not produce the protein responsible for most human cat allergies.

Cats ordered now will take 12 to 15 months for delivery in the United States, 15 to 18 months in Europe. Cost: $4,000. And owners must pass Allerca’s finicky screening tests.

Prospective buyers are interviewed for motivation and warmth, approved as if they were adopting a child. Will they punish if kitty has an accident on the floor or scratches the furniture? Their families and their homes — from carpets to curtains — must also be evaluated for allergies and allergens.

“You’re not just buying a cat; it’s a medical device that replaces shots and pills,” said Megan Young, chief executive of Allerca. “At the same time, this is a living animal, so the well-being of our product comes before our customers. This is not some high-priced handbag that you put back on the shelf if it doesn’t match.”

Medic says marines murdered Iraqi

For some reason, this is being buried in American publications. It's prominently featured on AOL News, and that's it. Other than that, the American Papers have it as a minor story, if they mention it at all, whereas it is prominently featured in the Jerusalem Post, BBC, Australia News, etc.

Medic says marines murdered Iraqi

A Navy medic has told his court-martial in California how US marines seized an Iraqi civilian, threw him into a hole and shot him in the head 10 times.

US Petty Officer Melson J Bacos agreed a plea bargain to avoid murder charges and will testify against seven marines in later hearings.

The medic said the incident in the western Iraqi town of Hamdaniya in April made him "sick to my stomach"....

Military judge Col Steven Folsom sentenced Bacos to 10 years in prison, but reduced the period he will actually serve to one year because of the plea agreement.

Bacos said he was on patrol with the marine squad who were looking for an insurgent - Saleh Gowad - who had been captured three times but released.

Bacos said the marines were angry the insurgent had been freed and, frustrated at not finding him, instead seized civilian Hashim Awad from his home.

The medic said Mr Awad, 52, was put in a hole.

He testified: "I knew that we were doing something wrong. I tried saying something, sir."

But he said a marine told him to "quit being a pussy".

Bacos said squad leader Sgt Lawrence Hutchins III then fired three shots into Mr Awad's head followed by at least seven more rounds to the head from Cpl Trent Thomas.

'Scene staged'

Bacos said Sgt Hutchins called command for permission to fire on a man he had seen digging a hole.

Prosecutors say an AK-47 assault rifle, bullets and a shovel were placed next to Mr Awad's body to make it appear as if he were trying to plant a roadside bomb.

He said he saw Pennington put Awad's fingerprints on the AK-47 and a shovel to make it look like the Marines had caught the man digging a hole in which he was going to place a roadside bomb.

Speaking of why he had not chosen to walk away from the incident, Bacos said "I wanted to be part of the team. I wanted to be loyal".

Rove's Aide took bribes from Abramoff

Washington Post - A top aide to White House strategist Karl Rove resigned yesterday after disclosures that she accepted gifts from and passed information to now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, becoming the first official in the West Wing to lose a job in the influence-peddling scandal.

Susan B. Ralston submitted her resignation to avoid causing political damage to President Bush a month before the midterm elections, officials said. "She did not want to be a distraction to the White House at this important time," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

In other words, if there was no election coming up, the bribery would be no problem.

Bush and Rove claim that they knew nothing about it, of course.

Clowns

In an astounding display of how completely disconnected they are from reality, the Congress included in a military spending $20 million dollars (TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS) for a celebration in Washington, D.C. commemorating our success in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'm not kidding.

Tucked away in fine print in the military spending bill for this past year was a lump sum of $20 million to pay for a celebration in the nation’s capital “for commemoration of success” in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not surprisingly, the money was not spent.

Now Congressional Republicans are saying, in effect, maybe next year. A paragraph written into spending legislation and approved by the Senate and House allows the $20 million to be rolled over into 2007.

Sadly, I don't think they're CAPABLE of embarrassment.

Olbermann does it again

Read the whole thing.

Yesterday at a fundraiser for an Arizona congressman, Mr. Bush claimed, quote, "177 of the opposition party said, `You know, we don't think we ought to be listening to the conversations of terrorists.'"

The hell they did.

One hundred seventy-seven Democrats opposed the president's seizure of another part of the Constitution.

Not even the White House press office could actually name a single Democrat who had ever said the government shouldn't be listening to the conversations of terrorists.

President Bush hears what he wants.

Tuesday, at another fundraiser in California, he had said, "Democrats take a law enforcement approach to terrorism. That means America will wait until we're attacked again before we respond."

Mr. Bush fabricated that, too.


No Democrat, sir, has ever said anything approaching the suggestion that the best means of self-defense is to "wait until we're attacked again."

No critic, no commentator, no reluctant Republican in the Senate has ever said anything that any responsible person could even have exaggerated into the slander you spoke in Nevada on Monday night, nor the slander you spoke in California on Tuesday, nor the slander you spoke in Arizona on Wednesday ... nor whatever is next.

You have dishonored your party, sir; you have dishonored your supporters; you have dishonored yourself.

But tonight the stark question we must face is -- why?

Why has the ferocity of your venom against the Democrats now exceeded the ferocity of your venom against the terrorists?

Why have you chosen to go down in history as the president who made things up?

In less than one month you have gone from a flawed call to unity to this clarion call to hatred of Americans, by Americans.

If this is not simply the most shameless example of the rhetoric of political hackery, then it would have to be the cry of a leader crumbling under the weight of his own lies.

We have, of course, survived all manner of political hackery, of every shape, size and party. We will have to suffer it, for as long as the Republic stands.

But the premise of a president who comes across as a compulsive liar is nothing less than terrifying.

A president who since 9/11 will not listen, is not listening -- and thanks to Bob Woodward's most recent account -- evidently has never listened.

A president who since 9/11 so hates or fears other Americans that he accuses them of advocating deliberate inaction in the face of the enemy.

A president who since 9/11 has savaged the very freedoms he claims to be protecting from attack -- attack by terrorists, or by Democrats, or by both -- it is now impossible to find a consistent thread of logic as to who Mr. Bush believes the enemy is.

But if we know one thing for certain about Mr. Bush, it is this: This president -- in his bullying of the Senate last month and in his slandering of the Democrats this month -- has shown us that he believes whoever the enemies are, they are hiding themselves inside a dangerous cloak called the Constitution of the United States of America.

"Is THAT what it was called?
I thought it was 'No Child's Behind Left'!"

Lest we forget

In the midst of Foley brouhaha, don't forget:

BAGHDAD - Bomb attacks in Baghdad have hit an all-time high, the US military said today, as one of the capital's frontline police units was pulled off the streets on suspicion of involvement with sectarian death squads.

Reagan's 11th Commandment

Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican."

I guess we should add: "Not even if he's a child molester."

Runaway Government Spending and No Morals At All: Today's Republican Party.

"Well, Mark, mine actually looks THAT big
when I'm wearing my codpiece and my flight suit!

And Brownie back there did one heckuva job on it."

Oh, dear...

Foley made a promo about his legislation cracking down on Internet soliciting.

"We track library books better than we track pedophiles."

"In my view, If you rape a person, if you violate a child, you lose your civil liberties."

"If I were one of these sickos, I'd be nervous."

What a hypocritical asshole.

Heh.

A Republican decides to throw a little gasoline on the fire. LaHood is proposing scuttling the page program altoghether. Because...

Ray LAHOOD (R-Ill.): It just — it's a program that simply is flawed. It has its flaws. We should fix it. And then if it's a valuable program, perhaps bring it back.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, that's kind of a sorry state of affairs. In essence, what you're saying is that members of Congress can't be trusted to be around young people.

LAHOOD: Well, that's pretty obvious.

This just in:

Katherine Harris is batshit crazy.

Harris: Blame Foley's actions on the media and the Democrats

Katherine Harris says the media would be “quite disingenuous” to blame the Mark Foley case on Republicans.

In an interview with WESH Channel 2 in Orlando, Harris said, “if anything, the Republicans didn’t know about these issues and we’re going to be very anxious to find out who in the media and on the other side of the aisle (Democrats) knew about it and kept this from the public interest, because our children were at stake.” Palm Beach Post

Of course

FOX news has figured out how to spin the scandal (What do we call it? Pedogate? Pagefuckergate? Masturgate?) to protect Republicans:

Label Foley a Democrat!





Brad's Blog

Newshounds

Family Values

"Mark Foley knew that he could get away with this type of behavior with male pages because he was a congressman," said [Former Page Mark] Beck-Heyman, who later worked in the Clinton White House and on Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign. "But many people on Capitol Hill," including many Republican staffers, "have known for over 11 years about what was going on and chose to do nothing," he said. - Washington Post

I hate Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward is a smarmy, worthless Washington insider who blows with the wind, and whom I wouldn't trust to sell me a candy bar. That said, when the clown writes a book, the media have to cover it, and its contents instantly become the standard line of the press corps, because they are imbeciles who have no minds of their own.

So he's a smarmy, worthless Washington insider who blows with the wind; but this week he's OUR smarmy, worthless Washington insider who blows with the wind.

Good. We'll take it.

Actually more important than Foley

State Department Confirms Rice Met With Tenet on Terror Threat

``I don't know that this meeting took place,'' Rice said last night. ``What I'm quite certain of, is that it was not a meeting in which I was told there was an impending attack and I refused to respond.''

And:

Rumsfeld, Ashcroft received warning of al Qaida attack before 9/11

One official who helped to prepare the briefing, which included a PowerPoint presentation, described it as a "10 on a scale of 1 to 10" that "connected the dots" in earlier intelligence reports to present a stark warning that al-Qaida, which had already killed Americans in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and East Africa, was poised to strike again.

This meeting was not mentioned in the 9/11 Commission's report.

It's astonishing that a mainstream newspaper publishes articles this blistering and pointed, instead of dancing all around the issue, like most of the rest of the press.

The Niagara Falls Reporter

The United States is setting a fine example...

...for LUNATICS to follow.

Eccentric Lawmaker Says War Against Georgia Is Only Solution

Russia should occupy Georgia before the unruly ex-Soviet republic ever joins NATO, a senior Russian lawmaker and leader of an ultra-nationalist party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, told a news conference on Monday.

The only effective solution to what he called “the Georgian issue” is the military attack on Tbilisi, Zhirinovsky is convinced.

“We should follow the example set by the U.S. and clamp down on Georgia, just as the Americans did with Iraq, depose the local Saddam Hussein, throw all the allies of Saakashvili into FSB prison cells, and then call a free democratic election in Georgia,” chairman of the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) noted.

The parrot is DEAD, dammit

You know what drives me crazy about the clowns in the White House? They simply deny what you are seeing with your own eyes, and stick to it.

Now they are countering Woodward's book by claiming (ready?) that Bush TOLD us all how dire the situation in Iraq was.

It's not that it's bullshit. It's that we all KNOW that it's bullshit; they KNOW we all know it's bullshit; and they look us in the eyes and say it anyway. They lie right to your face. You know it. They know it. They don't care.

I guess we were all just a pack of morons, and just didn't notice that Bush has been telling us how BAD thing were. Silly us. We thought he was saying "Mission Accomplished" and "Turning a corner" and all that crap. However did we miss it?

It's like arguing with someone in an asylum. Or with someone who keeps telling you that the damned parrot is just sleeping.

"In fact, [Bush aide Dan Bartlett says], he references throughout the book time after time after time where the president was being presented with the bad information, was pushing the internal process to make sure we were adapting to the enemy, and he was sharing this news with the American people."

Funny that no one actually remembers him "sharing this news with the American People." We are supposed to believe this from a guy who was actually SO DETERMINE TO HIDE THE COST that he placed a news blackout on flag-draped coffins?

The book also contains a major bombshell:

Bartlett also took issue with the book's assertion that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, failed to take action after CIA Director George Tenet warned her on July 10, 2001, of intelligence pointing toward an impending Al Qaeda attack.

One problem: the 9/11 Commission didn't know about this meeting. Now they claim that Woodward has exagerrated it. But exagerrated or not, what's the excuse for not letting 9/11 Commission know about it's existence? If the meeting was innocuous, why was it kept secret?

BTW, I like this:

Card also said that it is an "overstatement" to say that First Lady Laura Bush joined any effort to oust Rumsfeld, as reported in the book. Her office has denied the assertion.

Notice: he doesn't say that Laura Bush WASN'T in favor of ousting Rumsfield, just that she didn't "join" an effort to do so.

Hypocrisy is not ironic.

CBS - Ironically, Foley, who is 52 and single, could be found to have violated a law that he helped to write as co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus.

It's not "ironic" - it's the heioght of hypocrisy. Apparently, he thought that championing legislation against what he was doing would deflect suspicion from him. Nothing "ironic" about it a all.

Foleyfoleyfoley