Thursday, July 31, 2008
Hootenanny 1963
I approve this message, too!
Funny thing about Old Farts, no matter how long they linger, they never smell any better.
Ted Stevens indictment a windfall for charities
As his fellow Republicans run in fear of his taint, they are giving up the thousands of dollars Ted was nice enough to have given them when he was respected.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the Republican Conference, led the way, with each disclosing that he'd relinquish $10,000 in campaign donations from Stevens' Northern Lights PAC.But they are only giving up the fresh donations, all the well aged stuff from years past will stay where it is.
Minnesota freshman Sen. Norm Coleman, who's fighting to win reelection against comedian-turned-politician Al Franken, decided to give away $20,000 that his campaign and his own leadership PAC got from Stevens' PAC.
North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole acted quickly on Tuesday, announcing that she'd give $10,000 from Stevens' PAC to a campaign to fight hunger, as did Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts.
Freshman Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire made a similar decision on Wednesday as his Democratic rival, former governor Jeanne Shaheen, issued a press release charging that his reelection campaign was funded by $45,000 in "tainted" cash from Stevens and another $65,000 that the Alaska senator raised on his behalf.
Meantime, the Republican Party of Alaska Wednesday disclosed that it's donated $34,500 it received from VECO executives to a half dozen Alaska-based charities. The party received more than $56,000 in donations from the company between 1997 and 2004, but spokesman McHugh Pierre said that more than $20,000 of those funds had been spent when the corruption scandal became public in 2006.
The Old Fart has Rove's Slime Squad on board
So we can expect a barrage of false ads telling us that being intelligent, well educated and self confident are not qualifications for the White House. This line of attack is quite acceptable if you like watching a septuagenarian stumble bum drag the US down to third world status.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A small lesson in accountability
The Navy just shitcanned the captain and executive officer of the aircraft carrier George Washington because they ran a sloppy ship and that sloppiness led to a shipboard fire that delayed deployment by several months.
All I ask is that George W Bush and all his Band of Bastard Bushoviks be held to the same level of accountability.
The two were fired because of practices on their ship that Navy investigators believe led to the fire, Navy officials said.The two officers may never have been in the areas in question. They may not have known what was happening in Engineering, but it was their ship and they are responsible. It only cost taxpayers $70 million, but their careers are in the shitter.
The Navy officials said investigators believe the fire was started when a cigarette ignited material stored in an engineering room.
Investigators found flammable liquids stored in an engineering area of the ship, which is strictly prohibited. Investigators also found that sailors were allowed to smoke in the same engineering areas, considered another violation.
All I ask is that George W Bush and all his Band of Bastard Bushoviks be held to the same level of accountability.
From the pen of Pat Oliphant
Quote of the Day
"We can't afford to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. That's a definition of madness, but that's what John McCain is offering. He's offering Bush economic policies and Karl Rove politics."Barack Obama in Missouri, revealing more about the Old Fart's economics and campaign tactics than the Old Fart has yet done.
Big business is nobodys friend
Especially politicians. Every time they think they have a nice comfortable relationship with an industry of their choice, business does something like this.
The pending merger of American beer giant Anheuser-Busch and a Belgian company that brews and sells beer in Cuba is thrusting John McCain into the middle of thorny Cuba-U.S. relations.Gotta love it, McCain and the Republicans have no one to blame but themselves for continuing the worthless embargo just to please a bunch of old Cuban runaways.
McCain's wife, Cindy, owns the third largest Anheuser-Busch distributor in the country — which means she would stand to profit by partnering with a company that is in business with the Cuban government.
McCain is a staunch advocate of the embargo, which bars most American companies from doing business in Cuba. Among the yet-to-be-resolved issues in the $52 billion deal is whether Belgian giant InBev — expected to operate under the name Anheuser-Busch-InBev — will continue to market its Cuban line of beer, and what that may mean for U.S. distributors.
Dana Milbank in a nutshell
Twenty eight years ago, Ronald Reagan was confident and self assured. Today that high yaller kid is presumptuous. Beware the wrath of reporters who haven't had their barbecue.
The New York Times said it
Like Mr. Bush, Mr. McCain confuses opposition to an unnecessary war with a lack of spine and an unwillingness to use force when the nation is truly in danger. Obviously, Mr. Obama is untested as a commander in chief and his trip was intended to reassure voters. But Mr. McCain is as untested in this area as Mr. Obama, and it is hard to imagine a worse role model than the one Mr. McCain seems to be adopting: President Bush.July 30, 2008
Many voters are wondering whether a McCain presidency would be an extension of Mr. Bush’s two disastrous terms. If the way Mr. McCain is running his campaign these days is an indication, Americans don’t have to wait until next January for the answer to that one.
The Old Fart wants to have it both ways
And no, I am not talking about his sex, although he does hang around with Goober Graham a lot, but his position on taxes. He knows he has to raise them but he also has to promise his supporters that he won't raise them. What's a poor Old Fart to do?
"I don't want tax increases. But that doesn't mean that anything is off the table" when it comes to Social Security, he said over the weekend, an open-to-interpretation remark that drew a prompt challenge from the conservative Club for Growth.Avoid the flip-flops by being all things to all people. No wonder the Republicans support "Intelligent Design", anybody who will believe that tripe will buy their snake oil.
"We hope you will clarify where you stand on this important issue and reaffirm your commitment to eschew all tax increases," wrote Pat Toomey, the group's president.
McCain provided his answer in Sparks, Nev., on Tuesday, when a girl asked him whether he would ever raise taxes.
"No" was the answer, a paragon of simplicity in contrast to the parsing by aides seeking to explain his earlier remarks.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Just one of many bills blocked by Republicans
The Christopher Reeve and Dana Reeve Act, which includes money for research into spinal cord injuries, is one of about 36 bills combined by Senate Democrats into what they are calling the Advancing America’s Priorities Act.Now if the bill were for tax cuts for offshore drilling, the Republicans would be for it in a heartbeat. God forbid they should waste money on people who aren't good for much anymore.
The bills have been bundled in an attempt to bypass objections from Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who has used senatorial privileges and procedures to stop action on several bills, including the spinal cord injury bill....
Named for the late actor who suffered a spinal cord injury and for his late wife, the Reeve Act has the backing of Paralyzed Veterans of America. It would provide $25 million for clinical research on spinal cord injuries, rehabilitation research and programs to improve the quality of life of people who are paralyzed.
The Old Fart and his awesome, wonderful, magnificent and unbelievable support for the troops
And, as KO and Rachel make abundantly clear, unbelievable is the operative word based on the classic definition.
The Feds indict Ted Stevens
For failing to report what the news folks call gifts. In the real world, they are either bribes, or more likely given the lucrative contract Ted steered to his benefactor, kickbacks. Looks like we won't have Ted to kick around the InterTubes for much longer.
For a complete look at this story, check out Talking Point Memo.
For a complete look at this story, check out Talking Point Memo.
If you flip-flop on a flip-flop, is it a flop-flip?
Whatever it may be, The Old Fart has once again flipped and flopped his way to a new position. From an initial position of staying 100 years he has found his way to possibly agreeing to a 16 month timetable for Iraq. Along the way were a number of reversals and denials, including a weekend denial in the face of videotaped evidence.
Because we know John McCain is a straight talkin' "Jesus Christ, I'll say anything to get elected" kind of guy.
Because we know John McCain is a straight talkin' "Jesus Christ, I'll say anything to get elected" kind of guy.
Li'l Georgie's Legacy
Sadly, writ large upon the US and world stages.
Jaime Gorelick details the known damage to the Justice Department.
Eugene Robinson once more addresses the moral and ethical rot that follows torture.
Helluva legacy Georgie!
Jaime Gorelick details the known damage to the Justice Department.
Eugene Robinson once more addresses the moral and ethical rot that follows torture.
Helluva legacy Georgie!
In Texas words don't mean the same
As they do back in civilization. That is why Our Dear Embattled Leader could say this with a straight face.
President Bush took care to say it twice after his meeting with Pakistan's new prime minister: The United States respects Pakistan's sovereignty.Almost immediately after the US had done this,
Later Monday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was asked in a CNN interview whether a missile strike on Monday against a religious school just inside Pakistan's border with Afghanistan was a violation of Pakistani sovereignty. Gilani answered: "Certainly, yes. If it is proved like this, it is certainly yes."You see, sovereignty only applies to Texicans, for everybody else they get lip-service and not the good kind.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon would talk about possible American involvement in the strike, which occurred just hours before Bush and Gilani met. But it followed a series of attacks in recent months against militant leaders in Pakistan's tribal belt that are widely believed to have been conducted by the U.S. military.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Once a Dickwahd, always a Dickwahd.
The Disabled American Veterans were going to have The Dickwahd himself speak at their convention. The The Dickwahd made his requirements clear.
The DAV had one problem with that.
His staff insisted the sick vets be sequestered for two hours before Cheney's arrival and couldn't leave until he'd finished talking, officials confirmed.That last part is the von Stauffenberg clause I believe.
The DAV had one problem with that.
Many of the vets are elderly and left pieces of themselves on foreign battlefields since World War II, and others were crippled by recent service in Iraq and Afghanistan. For health reasons, many can't be stuck in a room for hours.Given a choice between their members and The Dickwahd, the DAV chose their members and told The Dickwahd to not bother coming. Surprising, but good for them.
When your party ideology is a cancer on the body politic
It is no wonder that the party leader has to have another one sliced off his ancient visage. And it is no surprise that one of the leading propagandists and spreader of more manure than all of New York's dairy farms, should be found to have a brain tumor. The surprise is that the doctors could tell the difference between his brain and the tumor.
Like flys to honey
The Salafi suicide bombers attack Shia pilgimages with the kind of zeal only a religion could engender.
Three female suicide bombers killed at least 28 people and wounded 92 in Baghdad on Monday as Shi'ite pilgrims flooded into the Iraqi capital for a major religious event, police said.Along with another bomber who killed 16 in Kirkuk, the situation seems to be deteriorating. Quick, send in John McCain! He knows Iraq!
Paul Krugman has a few words of warning
About the current financial fiasco and how to prevent more.
This bill is the latest in a series of temporary fixes to the financial system — attempts to hold the thing together with bungee cords and masking tape — that have, at least so far, succeeded in staving off complete collapse. But those fixes have done nothing to resolve the system’s underlying flaws. In fact, they set the stage for even bigger future disasters — unless they’re followed up with fundamental reforms.Which is an economist's way of saying the Republican party must be destroyed and their ideology extirpated from the face of the earth.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Monday Music Blogging
John McCain and the Republican platform explained.
Sometimes what seems so hard to understand has a very simple explanation.
Frank Rich, making Old Fart soup
By picking apart the cooked carcase of the McCain campaign.
Once again the candidate was making factual errors about the only subject he cares about, imagining an Iraq-Pakistan border and garbling the chronology of the Anbar Awakening. Once again he displayed a tantrum-prone temperament ill-suited to a high-pressure 21st-century presidency. His grim-faced crusade to brand his opponent as a traitor who wants to “lose a war” isn’t even a competent impersonation of Joe McCarthy. Mr. McCain comes off instead like the ineffectual Mr. Wilson, the retired neighbor perpetually busting a gasket at the antics of pesky little Dennis the Menace.Maybe he should add some mushrooms, they grow well amid decomposition.
The week’s most revealing incident occurred on Wednesday when the new, supposedly improved McCain campaign management finalized its grand plan to counter Mr. Obama’s Berlin speech with a “Mission Accomplished”-like helicopter landing on an oil rig off Louisiana’s coast. The announcement was posted on politico.com even as any American with a television could see that Hurricane Dolly was imminent. Needless to say, this bit of theater was almost immediately “postponed” but not before raising the question of whether a McCain administration would be just as hapless in anticipating the next Katrina as the Bush-Brownie storm watch.
Runner up Quote of the Day
"This is a case study of how a candidate can change a policy position in the interest of raising money."David Donnelly, the national campaigns director of the Public Campaign Action Fund, commenting on the success of the Old Fart's For Sale sign when he changed his position on off shore drilling.
A lie or just another McCain Moment?
Projection
The Old Fart's new tactic against Obama would appear to be accusing Obama of all the failings that define the Old Fart.
A review of the Senate Armed Services Committee hearings as listed on the committee Web site for the past two years reveals that McCain's committee has held six hearings that included the word "Afghanistan" in the title or Central Command -- which overseas U.S. troops in Afghanistan.And it is not just the Old Fart, his surrogates suffer from the same flaw.
McCain missed them all.
He missed the hearings with Adm. William Fallon, then the CentCom commander, with authority over Afghanistan, on March 4, 2008, and May 3, 2007.
There was also hearing on June 7, 2007, on the nomination of Gen. Douglas Lute to be the White House war czar with oversight over Afghanistan.
Of the three Afghanistan-related hearings that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has had over the past 22 months, Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate, has only attended one.The advantage of this tactic is that you know a lot about what you are accusing your opponent of doing. If there is a weak point, it is relying on the power of barbecue to keep the press from tipping your hand. So far the ribs seem to be working.
Meanwhile, DeMint, who most recently attacked Obama over Afghanistan, didn't attend any.
Quote of the Day
I will make one comment and that is about this notion of unfair coverage. Sen. McCain spent an awful lot of the week not presenting his own agenda but working the refs and attacking me. If he puts forward a positive agenda, he might get more coverage. It's how you use your time.Barack Obama, in his interview with McClatchy, making note of the Old Fart's lack of an agenda.
From the pen of Mike Lukovich
In their rush to get rich
The players in the Great Mortgage Scam were careless in their documentation. Most people who have bought a home know that the reason you have a lawyer is to insure that all the paperwork is correctly completed and in order, because a simple mistake can jeopardize your ownership. Gretchen Morganstern writes about the increasing number of foreclosure proceedings going in favor of the homeowner because the trail of ownership was poorly or incompletely documented and no one can prove to a judges satisfaction that they own the mortgage.
The problems associated with banks that begin foreclosure proceedings when they do not have proper legal standing are now looming larger in the mortgage meltdown. Loans were heaped into trusts with little documentation of ownership or proper loan assignments — it was all about volume and the fees that came with it — and now that sloppiness is hurting both lenders and borrowers.Thank goodness there are lawyers and judges who believe in following the law.
Mr. Rothbloom said he had another case in which the lender’s representative has been unable to prove ownership for two and a half years.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Bill Moyers Journal
His guest last night was Jane Mayer. Go watch the video or read the transcript. Then make your anger heard. Our silence makes us no better than the Germans who sat quietly for Adolph Hitler.
Nobody ever asked the American public, "Do you want to start torturing people?" It happened in secret.
Want to take Mickey Weiner down?
He goes by the name of Michael Savage on the radio but the only thing savage about this whiny little piece of shit is what he spews on the radio. In real life he is a coward afraid of his own name.
Sign the petition here.
Sign the petition here.
How dare they do what they did! How dare they!
How refreshing to hear the eloquence of a capable prosecutor.
From the pen of Walt Handelsman
Another chance to know your enemy
Who may not really be your enemy. Kenneth Ballen reports some of the unexpected results of several years of polling across much of the Muslim world.
Our polls provide three useful lessons for the next president. The first is this: don’t be too alarmed by the apparent high level of support for bin Laden in the Muslim world. Such support is soft, and can be made softer still with the right policies.Creating goodwill can be very difficult because it seldom makes people rich, at least not directly. But the conditions it creates can lead to the creation of much that is valuable.
The second lesson is that in order to repair the dismal impression that many Muslims have of the United States, a new president doesn’t need to pull all troops out of Iraq right away, or solve the Israel-Palestine conflict overnight. More modest—if still politically tricky—actions can have an immediate and dramatic impact. It is essential for the United States to adopt policies that reveal a different side of American power—one that demonstrates respect and compassion by improving the lives of individual Muslims. Such policies include increasing student and work visas, direct humanitarian aid, and trade agreements. Since much of the Muslim anger towards the United States and the West is fueled by the widespread perception of a lack of respect, all of these people- based policies send a powerful, tangible message that we care about Muslims and regard them as equals.
The third lesson is that these practical, direct-to-the-public policy initiatives should be seen as an opening to a new American stance that, in both word and deed, manifests respectful relations between people. These initiatives need to be followed up with meaningful action on the major geostrategic issues that fuel Muslim resentment. We need to create more effective counterterrorism strategies, break the logjam on peace with Israel, and resolve the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Otherwise, whatever goodwill we create is likely to fade.
That goodwill is an invaluable asset to our national security.
Was he lining up the local talent for the convention?
Peter Hong, a longtime Republican operative in Minnesota, was arrested Wednesday afternoon on a charge of soliciting prostitution in St. Paul.Possibly, because we know that the Republican rank and file still prefer the traditional hired sex, even as the leadership is diverging into more exotic forms, like diapers, tea rooms and kids.
Bob Herbert says something that needs to be repeated
As often as possible, in as many venues as possible, because it is a necessary preventative to another Republican disaster for the US.
How much do voters really know about John McCain?What follows is a litany of McCain Moments that the Barbecue Boys in the media prefer to overlook.
Part of the makeup of the man — apparently a significant part, according to many close observers — is his outsized temper. Mr. McCain’s temperament has long been a subject of fascination in Washington, and for some a matter of concern. He can be a nasty piece of work. (Truly nasty. He once told an extremely cruel joke about Chelsea Clinton — too cruel to repeat here.)The dangers of the Old Fart are easily subsumed among 99 other senators, but when given center stage, as in the White House, stand forth clearly as a recipe for disaster. John McCain is not a man you want to have a beer with, he is a man who will swing a bottle at your head if you don't watch every word you say.
If the McCain gaffes seem endless, so do the tales about his angry, profanity-laced eruptions. Senator Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican, said of Mr. McCain: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine.”
Senator Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican, told Newsweek in 2000: “I decided I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger.”
Friday, July 25, 2008
An American Patriot
Rep Robert Wexler speaking out for impeachment for real crimes.
Quote of the Day
Jay Leno, recognizing the cold desperation of a loser.
"Hey, have you heard John McCain's new campaign slogan? 'Hey guys! I'm over here!'...You can tell McCain is starting to get a little desperate to get publicity. In fact, last night he was photographed leaving A-Rod's hotel room at 2:00 in the morning."
Chinese civilization already in decline.
Not because of the ubiquitous air pollution or the rampant fraud that is almost a government sponsored way of life. No, not that nor any other of Chinas many rambunctious failings. The true sign of Chinese decline is this.
Clad in knee-high leather boots, spandex shorts and a sports bra, Xiao Yan struck a pose two feet off the ground, her head glistening with sweat and her arms straining as she suspended herself from a vertical pole.It's only exercise now, but just wait until they get enough women trained.
“Keeping your grip is the hardest part,” she said. “It’s really easy to slide downward.”
Ms. Xiao, 26, who works as a supermarket manager, is one of a growing number of women experimenting with China’s newest, and most controversial, fitness activity: pole dancing.
Cheeky little bastards
The Auckland University Students' Association doesn't like what the Bushoviks have done in Iraq. To protest that during the upcoming visit of Condosleazy Rice, the have put a reward on her head.
New Zealand students protesting the Iraq war offered a reward to anyone who carries out a citizen's arrest of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to the country Friday.Doesn't seem like much for all the trouble it would cause, but I like the idea anyway.
The Auckland University Students' Association is seeking Rice's arrest for her role in "overseeing the illegal invasion and continued occupation" of Iraq, Association President David Do said. The group is offering a $3,700 reward.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Stupid pundit tricks #381
Jonathan Chait gives us a reason why an Old Fart presidency might not be so bad.
Yet the upside to a candidate who changes his philosophical orientation as often as McCain is that he could always switch back.Just like Granpa's old mule which would switch back 'n forth so much we had to put him down. Which was just as well because we hadn't bought nothin' for the barbecue that evening.
Quote of the Day
Despite the lack of oral sex with an intern, the past seven years have yielded an embarrassment of riches when it comes to potentially prosecutable crimes.Emily Bazelon, Kara Hadge, Dahlia Lithwick, and Chris Wilson, attempting to sort out the who's who and what's what of Bushovik criminality these last seven+ years. Included is a handy diagram of all the overlapping culpability.
Old people shouldn't worry about their homes
But that is what the Old Fart is doing in his home state of Arizona.
Last month, the McCain campaign startlingly added Arizona to its list of 24 “battleground states,” a fact that state Democrats have clung to like sprinkles on a soft-serve ice cream cone.When you can't count on your homies, you start mopping up the flop sweat.
“John McCain has striking vulnerabilities here,” said Emily DeRose, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party. “We are going to take him to the mat. We are not giving him a pass in Arizona.”
What is more, the state’s Republican Party is more or less in disarray, split between its moderate and staunchly conservative factions. Its chairman, who cheerfully attended a Ron Paul campaign event here just two months ago, has been a thorn in Mr. McCain’s political side for years. On Super Tuesday, Mr. McCain captured 47 percent of his party’s voters, hardly the resounding victory that a candidate who has represented his state for over 25 years might expect.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Fraud as the official policy of the Department
Or so it would seem from this report in the WaPo today.
Auditors at an oversight agency of the Pentagon were pressured by supervisors to skew their reports on a major defense contractor's work, hiding wrongdoing and charges of overbilling, according to an 80-page report from the Government Accountability Office.But have no fear, the fearless defector Joe "Sherlock" Lieberschmuck and his faithful sidekick, Susan Collins are deep into the investigation and will move heaven and earth to insure that no embarrassment is suffered by the administration.
The Defense Contract Audit Agency, which is charged with overseeing contractors for the Defense Department, made an upfront agreement with "a major aerospace company" to limit the scope of work and basis for an audit, the report said.
When the contractor, who is not named in the report, objected to the draft findings of the DCAA audit, managers at the audit agency assigned a new supervisor to the case and threatened the senior auditor with personnel action if "he did not delete findings from the report and change the draft audit opinion to adequate," according to the GAO report.
Quick, lock up your sister!
Vote Vets calls out the Old Fart
Yeah, like some 72 year old 'kept man' knows what freedom means.
Send them some love to get this on the air, everywhere.
Send them some love to get this on the air, everywhere.
This is troubling
While I don't expect Obama to join those of us in the "Hang 'Em High" faction, there is more than enough blatant criminal activity to be prosecuted. No criminal ever acted in "good faith" and they should be made to pay.
A novel solution to pollution
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
What if you throw a barbecue
And the reporters still go on Obama's trip overseas and leave you with the third string. If you are lucky a few, like Mrs. Andrea Greenspan, remember what they were hired for and report some bullshit stories. The rest figure a trip to Europe and the Middle East on the boss' dime is too good to pass up. And that gets the Old Fart all whiny and pissy.
McCain, upset over the extent to which his campaign has been eclipsed, launched a video on the internet entitled Obama Love, with quotes from television anchors and journalists that he regards as evidence of bias.Sweat all day cooking ribs and chicken and what does it get you? Nada.
The New Hampshire Union Leader reported yesterday that there was only one reporter on the tarmac when McCain touched down in the state on Monday in contrast with the enormous media pack accompanying Obama.Sure looks like someone needs a hug.
When Old Farts attack
It's all about the gas and Rachel Maddow makes it clear that we don't mean petrol.
NY Times rejects anti Obama screed
Ghost written especially for the Old Fart himself. The NYT specifically requested some intellectual content to make it readable. Instead the Old Fart's highly trained staff whined about the liberal media and sent begging e-mails to people unfortunate enough to be on their mailing list.
Tom Toles Tuesday
Monday, July 21, 2008
Quote of the Day
If you’re in this White House, you want another Republican administration to follow. You don’t want a Democratic administration coming in there while the evidence is still fresh, so to speak. To look at it the way…Howard Fineman, discussing Republican modus operendi following another presidential disaster.
With the subpoena power and looking through all the records and looking at all the decisions that were made. You want to cover over your two terms with a third term the way Ronald Reagan did with George HW Bush.
When foreign policy is your strongpoint
You really should know that Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border.
Remember when Georgie didn't know who was President of Pakistan?
Remember when Georgie didn't know who was President of Pakistan?
This is satire
Michelle Bachman huffing the solvents again
What better proof that the Republicans themselves do not believe in the efficacy of off shore drilling that the unleashing of the well known Republican dribblewit herself. Having spewed the fallacious "China drilling off our shores" fraud long after Dickwahd himself had acknowledged it was false, she is back and dumber than ever before. Her latest fraud to be perpetrated on a public already suffering from numerous Republican frauds is a beaut. The Democrats are keeping us from $2/gal. gas by stopping the off shore drilling. And if you don't want to buy that, she has a simply fabulous bridge you ought to buy.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Monday Music Blogging
This past weekend saw the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, which I missed again. Not everybody like bluegrass which brings me to todays selection. This is the first time I ever appreciated the mandolin player. Give it a listen.
The Seldom Scene- Rider
The Seldom Scene- Rider
Two views of health care in America
If you have trouble understanding what's wrong with the economy
Two excellent, and easy to understand resources are available for your edification. The first is a post by Kelly at The Eclectic Quill which nicely explains why Phil Gramm's economic ideas and efforts are such a disaster.
The second is from Friday's episode of Bill Moyers Journal, The Mortgage Meltdown. It puts a lot of things into perspective.
The second is from Friday's episode of Bill Moyers Journal, The Mortgage Meltdown. It puts a lot of things into perspective.
Maliki of Iraq better watch his back
The powers that be in Iraq already have him spinning his Spiegel comments in reverse.
And in the US of A, the big guns in the Pentagon are all upset about how Maliki of Iraq's ideas are all wrong for Iraq, of course.
As Senator Barack Obama continues his trip to the Middle East and Europe, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has moved to clarify statements that he supports Mr. Obama’s plan to withdraw most American troops from Iraq over 16 months.The old "problems in translation" excuse.
A spokesman for Mr. al-Maliki said that the comments the prime minister made to the German magazine Der Spiegel were “misunderstood and mistranslated'’ and were not “conveyed accurately.” The spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, did not elaborate on that explanation
And in the US of A, the big guns in the Pentagon are all upset about how Maliki of Iraq's ideas are all wrong for Iraq, of course.
A fixed timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq could jeopardize political and economic progress, the Pentagon's top military officer said Sunday.And to reinforce the message for Maliki, the US gave a little demonstration.
Adm. Mike Mullen said the agreement between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to set a "general time horizon" for bringing more troops home from the war was a sign of "healthy negotiations for a burgeoning democracy."
The military says in a statement that the soldiers were acting in self-defense when they shot the relatives of Hamad Hammoud, governor of Salahuddin province. It says the slain men showed "hostile intent."Message received and understood.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
I thought I was hard on the Old Fart
Frank Rich gives us a graduate course in new one ripping. The object of his attention is the aforementioned Old Fart.
“In a time of war,” Mr. McCain said last week, “the commander in chief doesn’t get a learning curve.” Fair enough, but he imparted this wisdom in a speech that was almost a year behind Mr. Obama in recognizing Afghanistan as the central front in the war against Al Qaeda. Given that it took the deadliest Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul since 9/11 to get Mr. McCain’s attention, you have to wonder if even General Custer’s learning curve was faster than his.And that is just the beginning. In a sane world, it would be hard to imagine George Bush voting for OF after reading Frank.
Just doing my part
The help people remember that The Straight Talk Express has got more twists than a mountain road and more flip-flops than Coney Island.
Quote of the Day
"So far the Americans have had trouble agreeing to a concrete timetable for withdrawal, because they feel it would appear tantamount to an admission of defeat. But that isn't the case at all. If we come to an agreement, it is not evidence of a defeat, but of a victory, of a severe blow we have inflicted on al-Qaida and the militias."Maliki of Iraq, telling Li'l Georgie to go shit in his hat.
Maliki of Iraq thinks Obama has the right idea
Because he, better than most, understands what Our Dear Embattled Leader means when he babbles about time horizons. Yes, Maliki of Iraq, ODEL's BFF in Baghdad thinks 16 months should be more than enough time to get US troops out of Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports US presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. When asked in and interview with SPIEGEL when he thinks US troops should leave Iraq, Maliki responded "as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned." He then continued: "US presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."And in a well delivered smack to the Old Fart.
"Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. Artificially prolonging the tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause problems."This is not to be construed as an endorsement of Obama, but he is M of I and he approved this message.
We must endeavor to perservere
Remember those fine words spoken by government emissaries, as recounted by Chief Dan George? When you heard him repeat them, you could clearly hear their lack of meaning, just so much breeze to stream past your earholes and blow away. Compare the fine words of Our Dear Embattled Leader as presents the "change" in his troop withdrawal plans.
“to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goalsAnd let us never forget that to chase the horizon as we try to grasp aspirations, we must endeavor to persevere.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Quote of the Day
The question for John McCain isnt whether Phil Gramm will continue as chairman of his campaign, but whether he will continue to keep the economic plan that Gramm authored and that represents a continuation of the polices that have failed American families for the last eight years,Hari Sevugan, spokesman for the Obama campaign, explaining how, despite the departure of Phil Gramm from the Old Fart's campaign, "The evil that men do lives after them,"
Want to send Karl Rove to jail?
Sadly, no guarantees but you can join in the petition here. And a video to get you inspired.
And don't forget to share it with your friends, The more, the merrier!
And don't forget to share it with your friends, The more, the merrier!
Lest we forget
The Old Fart tries to help his friends
By revealing the presumptive arrival time of his opponent in Baghdad.
The Obama campaign has tried to cloak the Illinois senator's trip in some measure of secrecy for security reasons. The White House, State Department and Pentagon do not announce senior officials' visits to Iraq in advance.Despite the relative calm and quiet in that poor country, plans can still be made by the bad guys. The question is why would the Old Fart want to help them, nobody ever published his arrival times.
"I believe that either today or tomorrow -- and I'm not privy to his schedule -- Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon.
Curious, isn't it
Crude oil prices have fallen $16 a barrel this week after a nearly steady rise, day after day, in recent months. At the same time Our Dear embattled Leader stops talking war with Iran, send a high level diplomat to talks with Iran and calls for the opening of diplomatic offices in Teheran. Off shore drilling may be the latest Republican call to stupidity, but a little diplomacy seems to have a much more salubrious and immediate effect on oil prices. I suppose we will hear from Dickwahd if the prices get too low for his oil buddies.
It looks like a good bill
The crooks and scoundrels are marshaling their forces against it.
Financial industry executives are mustering on Capitol Hill to head off a Congressional effort to rewrite the rules for the nation’s energy markets, saying it could unsettle already nervous markets and push more energy trading abroad, beyond the reach of domestic regulators.
The primary focus of Wall Street’s concern is a bill entitled the Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act of 2008, introduced on Tuesday by a group of Democratic senators led by Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader.
The bill would substantially broaden federal regulators’ authority over the vast marketplace for privately negotiated derivatives, called swaps. It also would limit the stakes that speculators and other noncommercial energy traders could take, both in private transactions and in the public futures markets, which allow oil producers and users to hedge their price risks.
Worse than previously disclosed
This has become a common phrase when talking about Bushovik achievements and their accompanying disasters. The latest area of application should be considered any electrical work done for the military by KBR.
Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents.No one expects a war zone to be completely safe, but when you pay for specified work you should get that work as specified, not a "systemic problem". The thieving traitors running KBR and Halliburton (which spun off KBR when they realized what a bunch of fuck-ups KBR was) should all be perp walked as soon as possible.
During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country, documents obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007.
And while the Pentagon has previously reported that 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq, many more have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, according to the documents. A log compiled earlier this year at one building complex in Baghdad disclosed that soldiers complained of receiving electrical shocks in their living quarters on an almost daily basis.
The Army report said KBR, the Houston-based company that is responsible for providing basic services for American troops in Iraq, including housing, did its own study and found a “systemic problem” with electrical work.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
R.I.P Jo Stafford
DUMB, Dumb, Dumb, Dumb, DUMB
With apologies to the composer of that wonderful Dragnet theme.
Leonard Pitts on the New Yorker cover
I enjoy reading Leonard Pitts, he has a refreshingly grounded sense of reality. That's why his take on the New Yorker cover and its implications saddens me. Not because he presents it, but because I agree with it.
Indeed, as I sat down to write these words, there beeped into my mailbox an e-mail with this subject line: ''WOW, The New Yorker got it exactly right, for once.'' Said without a trace of irony.To you Mr. Pitts I offer a terrist fist jab in agreement.
But increasingly, that's who we are in this country: ignorant, irony-impaired and petrified. So maybe we should just cancel the campaign and ask that the last intelligent person turn off the lights when he or she leaves. And bring the last book with you. Nobody here will need it.
Somewhere between the stained blue dress and the vice president shooting a guy in the face, between swift boat lies and ''war on terra'' alibis, the absurd became the ordinary, facts became optional and satire became superfluous.
We are beyond satire, my friends. These days, there's nothing more ridiculous than the truth.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
And now the other flop flipping
And not flipping us off as he usually does. Our Dear Embattled Leader has changed a previously inviolable position.
The Bush administration has decided to break with previous policy by sending one of its most senior diplomats to engage Iran's top nuclear official, the White House announced Wednesday.A strong signal that she can polish your rod better than anyone you know. Because you know ODEL never changes his mind because of facts.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "believes it's a smart step to take. There is no change in the substance but it sends a strong signal,"
In a lighter, but no less accurate, vein
The sound of one flop flipping
In case you weren't paying attention to the daily spew from the Old Fart, the Obama people have been kind enough to point out a major change in His Creakiness' policy on Afghanistan.
After months of saying additional troops were not needed in Afghanistan, McCain changed position Tuesday and called for an additional three brigades -- or roughly 15,000 troops -- to be sent to the country. It was unclear if those troops would be redeployed from Iraq or come from NATO forces.At the rate he is going, the Old Fart will have touched all sides of every issue by Election Day. Surely you can find something to like in a man like that, eh?
Quote of the Day
"He lies about everything,. How do you pick a man like that to go to Congress?"Guy Molinari, GOP sachem explaining why he will work against the Republican candidate in NY-13.
Back to back
The Old Fart really can't remember from one day to the next.
For the second time in two days, John McCain has referred to current events in “Czechoslovakia” – a country that officially ceased to exist in January of 1993.For those of you who may share the Old Fart's ignorance of world affairs.
“And I regret some of the recent behavior Russia that has exhibited, and I’ll be glad to talk about that later on including reduction in oil supplies to Czechoslovakia after they agreed with us on a missile defense system, etcetera,” said the presumptive Republican nominee at a New Mexico town hall Tuesday.
More than fifteen years ago, Czechoslovakia officially split into two nations – the Czech Republic and Slovakia.Another Republican who doesn't know who's on first, we know how well the first one worked out.
Republicans choose
And when the choice is between keeping your cushy seat in Congress and supporting some moran from Texas with a 26% approval, the choice is very easy.
President Bush sought to block a bill yesterday aimed at forestalling an 11 percent cut in payments to doctors taking care of Medicare patients, but Congress quickly overrode his veto.Very easy, indeed!
The House voted 383 to 41 to override the veto, while the Senate voted 70 to 26, in both cases far more than the two-thirds necessary to block the president's action.
With organized medicine and other lobbies promoting the popular measure in an election year, Republicans broke heavily from the White House. A total of 153 House Republicans voted to defy the White House, 24 more than in a June 24 vote that started the momentum toward passage of the Medicare doctors' bill yesterday. Twenty-one Senate Republicans voted for the bill this time, including four senators who had voted "nay" in the two previous Medicare votes.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Price is Right
Just Horsey-ing around
Quote of the Day
Wrapping themselves in the flag, repeating the mantra ``security'' and attacking anyone who questioned this insanity as soft on terrorism, they succeeded in disgracing their country before the world, and now they deserve to be called what they are: traitors. In a just world they would be prosecuted and convicted.Craig Seligman, writing about Cheney, Addington, Rumsfeld and Yoo in his Bloomberg review of "The Dark Side" by Jane Mayer.
But who listens to them
The presidents of Afghanistan and Syria, separately spoke out against an attack on Iran. Our buddy Karzai said, in effect, leave them alone, I have to live next door to them. Bashar of Syria, in his remarks, touched on a point that has up to now eluded the Bushoviks.
"It will cost the US and the planet dear," he told France Inter radio yesterday during his visit to Paris. "Israel will pay directly the price of this war. Iran has said so. The problem is that when one starts such action in the Middle East, one cannot manage ... reactions that can spread out over years or even decades."After 8 years of foreign policy failure, normal people would learn. Maybe that's why the Bushoviks haven't yet.
Another quiet day in Iraq
From the NY Times:
Two suicide bombers posing as army recruits struck an Iraqi base just east of Baquba on Tuesday morning, killing at least 35 Iraqi recruits and wounding 63, according to the Iraqi police and medical officials in Diyala Province.They finally figured out who the Salafis are.
The attack came as Iraqi troops prepared for what their commanders predict will be a challenging fight to try to reclaim large areas of Diyala that remain sanctuaries for Salafist jihadi fighters and other anti-government guerrillas.
Monday, July 14, 2008
War crimes, anyone?
A short lesson in Old Fartonomics
From DemFromCT, a quick rundown of why Obama's economic position is so much better than the Old Fart. Probably the most compelling point is this:
Barack Obama doesn't have Phil Gramm as a chief economics adviserFor those of you who put any value in the state of the economy.
Pour célébrer le Quatorzième de Juillet
Is Raspberry Bud Light next?
Anheuser-Busch agreed on Sunday night to sell itself to the Belgian brewer InBev for about $52 billion.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Monday Music Blogging
As predicted
By Calculated Risk via Eschaton, the Fed is going to bail out Freddie and Fannie. Another couple of whiny assed losers sucking at the public tit because they are too big to fail. And once again not a single word about trashing the worthless management.
When your military thinks it is a very bad idea
You "hire" some out of town muscle to do it for you. According to the Sunday Times, that is Our Dear Embattled Leader's answer to the refusal of his generals to attack Iran whenever he says so.
President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official.It's like when Al Capone hired the Purple Gang to get rid of Bugs Moran and then went to Florida for his Valentines Day vacation, except no one else in the Middle East will think Israel and the US are not working together on this caper. That bit about "no help from American forces" ignores the fact that the Israelis would have to fly over US controlled airspace in Iraq. Are you ready for $20/gal?
Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.
“Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,” the official said. But the Israelis have also been told that they can expect no help from American forces and will not be able to use US military bases in Iraq for logistical support...
..“It’s really all down to the Israelis,” the Pentagon official added. “This administration will not attack Iran. This has already been decided. But the president is really preoccupied with the nuclear threat against Israel and I know he doesn’t believe that anything but force will deter Iran.”
But he didn't offer the Lincoln bedroom so it's OK
The Sunday Times of London reveals that a major fundraiser for the Republican party is offering access to major White House officials, and maybe Dear Leader himself, in exchange for large donations to the Bush Liberry and Memorial Twin Seat Outhouse, and himself.
Stephen Payne, who claims to have raised more than $1m for the president’s Republican party in recent years, said he would arrange meetings with Dick Cheney, the vice-president, Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, and other senior officials in return for a payment of $250,000 (£126,000) towards the library in Texas..So one third, $250,000, goes to the Liberry and two thirds, $500,000, goes into his pocket. How droll! Still, the percentages are better than BMW Direct, even if they are greater than your average tort lawyer. Those Republicans sure do know how to handle other people's money.
During an undercover investigation by The Sunday Times, Payne was asked to arrange meetings in Washington for an exiled former central Asian president. He outlined the cost of facilitating such access.
“The exact budget I will come up with, but it will be somewhere between $600,000 and $750,000, with about a third of it going directly to the Bush library,” said Payne, who sits on the US homeland security advisory council...
Payne said the balance of the $750,000 would go to his own lobbying company, Worldwide Strategic Partners (WSP).
Quote of the Day
Who would want to join a failed party? And that's what the Republican Party is today, a failed party,Rep. Robert Wexler D-FL, explaining why more first time voters in Florida are registering as Democrats and echoing the reality across the country.
DNC gets all psychological
Actually they simply document the Old Fart's many moments of psychological, The DNC is just helping you to remember.
Someone's style of governence
The lame duck just broke another wing
And the mean old man who did it was Bushie's best bud in Baghdad, Maliki of Iraq. Despite the presence of 150,000 US troops and a large number of murderous private thugs, the otherwise weak Iraqi government has told Our Dear Leader to put his demands where the sun don't shine.
U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have abandoned efforts to conclude a comprehensive agreement governing the long-term status of U.S troops in Iraq before the end of the Bush presidency, according to senior U.S. officials, effectively leaving talks over an extended U.S. military presence there to the next administration.The Democrats in Congress might want to pay some attention to how it was done, our dear presiduck has a few more turds he wants to float in the punchbowl.
The failure of months of negotiations over the more detailed accord -- blamed on both the Iraqi refusal to accept U.S. terms and the complexity of the task -- deals a blow to the Bush administration's plans to leave in place a formal military architecture in Iraq that could last for years.
And in Afghanistan
From the AP:
UPDATE: Events took a turn for the worst over there.
A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up next to a police patrol in southern Afghanistan on Sunday killing 24 people, while a two-day battle sparked by an insurgent attack killed at least 40 militants, officials said.This and other actions has been given as the reason why the Bushoviks have actually considered speeding up withdrawals from Iraq.
The bomb attack on a police patrol at a busy intersection of the Deh Rawood district in the southern province of Uruzgan killed five police officers and 19 civilians, wounding more than 30 others, said Juma Gul Himat, the province's police chief. Most of those killed and wounded were shopkeepers and young boys selling goods in the street, he said.
Afghan civilians have suffered from a rash of bombings this month. About 55 civilians were killed in a massive bomb attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul Monday, while a government commission said this week that U.S. airstrikes killed 47 civilians in eastern Nangarhar province on July 6.
Elsewhere, Taliban militants executed two women in central Afghanistan late Saturday after accusing them of working as prostitutes on a U.S. base.
The Bush administration is considering the withdrawal of additional combat forces from Iraq beginning in September, according to administration and military officials, raising the prospect of a far more ambitious plan than expected only months ago.Only another war could tempt the Bushoviks.
Such a withdrawal would be a striking reversal from the nadir of the war in 2006 and 2007.
One factor in the consideration is the pressing need for additional American troops in Afghanistan, where the Taliban and other fighters have intensified their insurgency and inflicted a growing number of casualties on Afghans and American-led forces there.
UPDATE: Events took a turn for the worst over there.
Frank Rich compares Nixon and Bush
And for once in his preznitency, Our Dear Embattled Leader comes out ahead. Sadly he wins the comparisons of criminality and stupidity, but these always were Georgie's strongest traits.
We are once again distracted and unprepared while the Taliban and bin Laden’s minions multiply in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This, no less than the defiling of the Constitution, is the legacy of an administration that not merely rationalized the immorality of torture but shackled our national security to the absurdity that torture could easily fix the terrorist threat.If their past record is any indication, their BFF Osama should strike just before the election.
That’s why the Bush White House’s corruption in the end surpasses Nixon’s. We can no longer take cold comfort in the Watergate maxim that the cover-up was worse than the crime. This time the crime is worse than the cover-up, and the punishment could rain down on us all.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Rest In Peace Bobby Murcer
Hey Packers fans!
When the Old Fart comes to Buffalo and says he gave his captors the names of the Bills defensive line, rest assured, we won't believe a word he says.
The Old Fart is blowing smoke up your ass
And in its editorial today, The NY Times as much as calls OF a liar for his promises of tax cuts and budget balancing.
Mr. McCain’s main campaign promises, if fulfilled, would lead to huge budget deficits. Extending the Bush tax cuts, enacting more tax cuts of his own and staying the course in Iraq would cost hundreds of billions of dollars more, every year, than the small bore spending cuts he has specified. Mr. McCain cannot balance the budget on a crusade against pork and a one-year freeze in a sliver of federal spending. Either he has a secret plan to balance the budget or he’s blowing smoke.Unlike myself, the Times style book precludes telling you where he is blowing that smoke. It is obvious from this editorial that the NYT editorial board has never been invited to a McCain barbecus, and never will be.
Good news for Cheney, bad news for the USA
Once again making use of a health care system unavailable to a large number of Americans, Dickwahd had a checkup. And the result was,
Vice President Dick Cheney got good news Saturday from doctors who said his heart was beating normally for a 67-year-old man who has had four heart attacks.Most Americans would have had their coverage cancelled after the second heart attack.
R.I.P. Tony Snow
A first rate liar for a bunch of second rate crooks who want to make America a third world country. Your family will miss you.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Al Franken has a very good idea.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Vacation time
Another McCain moment
On a day when one of his colleagues tells how the Old Fart flew off the handle at a diplomatic meeting with Nicaragua, OF adds another lie to his already overstuffed resume. Which do we believe, the bozo who knows nothing or the buffoon who says he never said any such thing.
I was just wondering if it is really a lie if you can't remember what you said from one day to the next?
I was just wondering if it is really a lie if you can't remember what you said from one day to the next?
So many crooks, so little time
If you plan to be a whistle blower and turn in some fraud you have discovered, take a number. It seems that the Republican Dept. of Justice can't keep up with the massive upwelling of fraud since 2000.
More than 900 cases alleging that government contractors and drug makers have defrauded taxpayers out of billions of dollars are languishing in a backlog that has built up over the past decade because the Justice Department cannot keep pace with the surge in charges brought by whistle-blowers, according to lawyers involved in the disputes.It is that last clause that tells it all. Prosecution would defeat the whole purpose of privatization.
The issue is drawing renewed interest among lawmakers and nonprofit groups because many of the cases involve the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising health-care payouts, and privatization of government functions -- all of which offer rich new opportunities to swindle taxpayers.
Is Republicans the real commies?
Their slavish imitation of Communist methods in all things can lead one to that conclusion. The Soviet method may be preferred, but the Chinese variations are also used.
The military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of “coercive management techniques” for possible use on prisoners, including “sleep deprivation,” “prolonged constraint,” and “exposure.”The problem with Chicom interrogation methods is a simple one. They are designed to elicit confessions, not truth. To get the victim to admit what the torturers want him to say. And to make good videos so Cheney could get his rocks off.
What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners.
The recycled chart is the latest and most vivid evidence of the way Communist interrogation methods that the United States long described as torture became the basis for interrogations both by the military at the base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and by the Central Intelligence Agency.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
A Canadian classic
Don't worry, I brushed off all the snow.
The Moe Koffman Quartette - The Swingin' Shepherd Blues
The Moe Koffman Quartette - The Swingin' Shepherd Blues
McFlipper, more flip-flops than a Coney Island beach
Check out KO's list of the Old Fart's about faces, not always done with military precision. You decide whether it is clever strategy or the Old Fart just has trouble remembering what he said yesterday.
"Straight Jacket Express" ?
In an interview with reporters on the back of his campaign bus, the “Straight Talk Express” Monday afternoon, McCain said that even in retrospect he would still have voted to authorize the war, as he did in 2002.
While McCain acknowledged that there was “a massive, colossal intelligence failure” that led up to the invasion of Iraq, he said that other countries had gathered the same, false intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He said that even with that faulty intelligence he felt the war was justified since Saddam Hussein had twice used weapons of mass destruction, broken international sanctions and was “a threat” to the United States. McCain said that conditions in Iraq would have gotten much worse if Hussein's regime had continued.
In Washington DC the truth only confuses people
Which is one way to look at the unknown CIA agent who says he was fired for filing reports on nuclear weaponry in Iraq and Iran.
The former operative alleged in a 2004 lawsuit that the CIA fired him after he repeatedly clashed with senior managers over his attempts to file reports that challenged the conventional wisdom about weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Key details of his claim have not been made public because they describe events the CIA deems secret.Just filing a report, then filing it away wasn't good enough. A full Orwellian Memory Hole was the Bushovik answer to inconvenient realities.
The consensus view on Iran's nuclear program shifted dramatically last December with the release of a landmark intelligence report that concluded that Iran halted work on nuclear weapons design in 2003. The publication of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran undermined the CIA's rationale for censoring the former officer's lawsuit, said his attorney, Roy Krieger.
"On five occasions he was ordered to either falsify his reporting on WMD in the Near East, or not to file his reports at all," Krieger said in an interview.
Give them something to cry about.
Special Comment from KO.
I am montag and I approve this message.
I am montag and I approve this message.
How goes the G W O T?
Not too good if you consider how well one of the terrorist groups have done under the benificent Bush administration.
Their nationalist battle against the Algerian military was faltering. “We didn’t have enough weapons,” recalled a former militant lieutenant, Mourad Khettab, 34. “The people didn’t want to join. And money, we didn’t have enough money.”Who could have known it would do so well?
Then the leader of the group, a university mathematics graduate named Abdelmalek Droukdal, sent a secret message to Iraq in the fall of 2004. The recipient was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and the two men on opposite ends of the Arab world engaged in what one firsthand observer describes as a corporate merger.
Today, as Islamist violence wanes in some parts of the world, the Algerian militants — renamed Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb — have grown into one of the most potent Osama bin Laden affiliates, reinvigorated with fresh recruits and a zeal for Western targets.
The Iraqi government was a good student.
And their imitation of the veterans policies of the Bushoviks, as is often the case with good students, exceeds the teachers.
In the United States, the issue of war injuries has revolved almost entirely around the care received by the 30,000 wounded American veterans. But Iraqi soldiers and police officers have been wounded in greater numbers, health workers say, and have been treated far worse by their government.Another giant step for peace and harmony in Georgie's Glory.
A number of the half-dozen badly wounded Iraqis interviewed for this article said they had been effectively drummed out of the Iraqi security forces without pensions, or were receiving partial pay and in danger of losing even that. Coping with severe injuries, and often amputations, they have been forced to pay for private doctors or turn to Iraq’s failing public hospitals, which as recently as a year ago were controlled by militias that kidnapped and killed patients — particularly security personnel from rival units.
No one knows the exact number of wounded Iraqi veterans, as the government does not keep track.
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