After several years of doing absolutely nothing but increasing the sales of duct tape and multi-colored media it seems that everyones favorite Color-by-Numbers Cabinet official is set to rake in the loot. For doing nothing.

For a man who spent much of his childhood in public housing, Tom Ridge has done pretty well for himself. His salary as secretary of homeland security, $175,700, is more than five times what the average American earns.

But he is about to do a whole lot better.

After a long career in government service as a congressman, Pennsylvania governor and cabinet member, Mr. Ridge is stepping down but staying in Washington. His job prospects are stratospheric, say executive hiring experts and old Washington hands.

Mr. Ridge is being bombarded with offers, friends say, though he has made no commitments. If he postpones full-time employment for a turn on the lecture circuit, he could easily command $50,000 per appearance, topping his annual cabinet salary in a single week of speech making. If he dusts off his law degree and signs on as a rainmaker for a big Washington law firm, he could earn $1 million a year. And if he takes his name brand to a corporation competing for the burgeoning business of domestic security, that million could multiply many times over.

Bert

Ernie

Thank the Hairy Thunderer we never got to Elmo, there might have been a run on duct tape the likes of which would have been of biblical proportions...

Cats and Dogs, living together. Mr. Governor you've just saved the lives of millions of registered Voters.

May Bill Murray forgive me.

Retired vets, probably not too sophisticated or saavy about small things like usury or federal laws that govern their pension benefits have been getting ummm, having difficulties with companies that trade on their immediate financial needs.

Kevin D. Jones, a retired Army veteran, was desperate for money. He wanted to get his wife out of the Philippines quickly after her home had been destroyed in a bombing. But she was being delayed as she waited for immigration papers to come through that would allow her to join him in North Carolina.

His military contacts, cultivated during a 25-year career that included duty in Bosnia and Kosovo, helped speed the paperwork. And a Florida financial services company that he had found through an advertisement in The Army Times helped him raise the money to fly to Manila, resettle his in-laws and return home with his wife.

He was too frantic, he said, to consider the cost of that money. But it was steep. In exchange for $19,980 after fees and insurance, Mr. Jones signed over his $1,000-a-month military pension for the next five years, a total of $60,000. That is the equivalent of paying interest at a rate of 56 percent a year.

Federal law prohibits retired military people from signing over their future pension payments to others. The companies offering these deals say they are arranged to avoid that restriction. But two federal bankruptcy judges ruled this year that deals like Mr. Jones's, in which veterans in need of quick cash give up their future pensions for a small fraction of their value, do in fact violate that law.

But the law has not been enforced or consistently interpreted. Indeed, the Defense Department's payroll centers routinely handle the paperwork that diverts the pension payments, even though veterans are warned "to exercise caution in these arrangements," a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

As a result, a small but persistent band of financial companies using military-sounding names continue to offer these so-called pension advances to retired military people over the Internet and in military newspapers.

I shudder to think how soon some of these vultures descend on medically-retired vets from Iraq...my guess, the ink won't be dry on their DD-214's before they're getting offers for "Lump Sum" settlements to ease their "transition" to civilian life, and some desperate for cash to get back to normal will take the offer.

The 1600 Crew, will of course, side with the companies, who by then will own a congresscriminal or three after losing more litigation, and have a hook or two into the Oval Office, where the blow-jobs will resemble a Man Date. Of some sort.

Anyone now doubt who owns the 1600 Crew, lock stock and cock?

And corporations would be allowed to immediately deduct -- or "expense" -- from their taxes a portion of the cost of business investments, instead of having to slowly write off those costs based on complex depreciation allowances.

To cover the cost of the tax changes, the plan would tax the value of an employee's health insurance benefit as if it were income. "Most Social Security benefits" would also be taxed as income, the report says. Finally, the plan eliminates the itemized deduction for state and local tax payments.

Just a reminder (as threatened), I'll be on the internets radio show, Subject to Discussion next Wednesday, January 5th at 11-ish Eastern. Hook up your speakers, tune in and chat on-line with us.

Update: As commenter Lurch points out, I was overcome by a wave of "civilanism" (to quote Max Klinger)...that would indeed be 2300-ish on the 5th.

The longer we're there, the more the Mess in Mesopotamia seems like it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Before the invasion, no Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Saddam and bin Laden hated each other. Now:

The tape describes Zarqawi as the "emir" of al-Qaeda in Iraq and praises the "daring operations" of his group against US troops and Iraqi officials.

"The brothers in the group there must listen to him [Zarqawi] and obey him for what is good," the message says.

Zarqawi's al-Qaeda-linked group has claimed responsibility for many bombings and hostage murders in Iraq, Thanks, Fearless One.

Anyone have word on what, if any, damage to Diego Garcia? It would have been in the path of that wall of water, and there's very little to shelter it from immersion.

Two words.

The largest political party representing Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority announced Monday that it would drop out of the Jan. 30 election, dealing a fresh blow to the vote's credibility on the same day the top Shiite Muslim candidate survived a car bombing.

The withdrawal of the Iraqi Islamic Party, combined with the assassination attempt on cleric Abdul Aziz Hakim, heightened concerns that the parliamentary election may produce a lopsided result, further alienating Sunni areas where the armed insurgency is growing.

Well, since I could not blog much, it seems that the Hairy Thunderer has graciously allowed me to do a little blogging today. See, I'm iced in, and I mean in. So when it comes to blogging or trying to run the snow-blower, well, here I am. On the plus side, we have not lost power (yet) and the office is sort of closed because they are asking folks to refrain from non-emergency travel.

Unfortunately, someone else of the spousal persuasion may soon have different ideas. Pictures later, perhaps.

Once upon a time, Beloved Leader's puppeteers at the Heritage Foundation said this which I think provided The Fearless One with a sound bite or two for the Millionaire Pundit Class:

"Repealing Tax Cuts Equals a Tax Increase"

If you're looking to buy a car, or get rid of one, changes to the nation's tax code can make it wise to act before Jan. 1.

Two new tax rules relate to autos, trucks, boats and other vehicles. One reduces the deductible value of vehicles that individuals give to charity starting Jan. 1, thus making it smart to donate before year-end if you're so inclined.

The other, more significant rule lets taxpayers deduct either their state and local income taxes or their state and local sales taxes - the first time since the mid-1980s that Uncle Sam has allowed a sales-tax break.

YABL. Yet Another Bush Lie. And it's not even the coronation inauguration yet.

Back during the debates, John Kerry rightly pointed out that college students seeking an education using financial assistance from the government in the form of Pell Grants would be getting screwed by the 1600 Crew. Preznit "C" I graduated, claimed that Kerry was trying to scare the American public because the 1600 Crew largesse knew no bounds when it came to edu-macation. The truth today looks a little different.

College students in virtually every state will be required to shoulder more of the cost of their education under new federal rules that govern most of the nation's financial aid.

Because of the changes, which take effect next fall and are expected to save the government $300 million in the 2005-6 academic year, at least 1.3 million students will receive smaller Pell Grants, the nation's primary scholarship for those of low income, according to two analyses of the new rules.

In addition, 89,000 students or so who would otherwise be getting some Pell Grant money will get none, the analyses found.

In a series of dueling statistics, the two men tussled over Pell Grants, which assist college students, proving that each side can find the numbers for putting the best gloss on their case. Kerry said that "they've cut the Pell Grants . . . they're not getting the $5,100 the president promised them." Bush countered: "He said we cut Pell grants. We've increased Pell grants by a million students."

In the 2000 campaign, Bush promised a maximum grant of $5,100 for each freshman. When Bush released his budget in February, it capped the maximum Pell Grant award to $4,050 for the third year in a row, and the American Association of Community Colleges called it a freeze that would be "a severe blow" to students from low-income families at a time of declining state and local support for public higher education. The White House has argued that the program has a $3.7 billion shortfall, and that raising the maximum award while making the shortfall worse would be irresponsible.

Is this part of the 1600 Crew master plan, to create that permanent Big-Box and fast-food empire workforce for their corporate masters? I understand that far fewer young men and women are opting for the other Uncle Sam College Assistance Plan, you know, the one where you get to the ivy-covered halls via the Mesopotamian mud-brick walls program.

What happens when the kiddies of the local Christo-Fascist Gentry who supported this lying sack of shit can't go to college and the draft starts back up? Will they feel betrayed, or just pray about it? Or finally wake up and realize that they've been sold a bill of goods by an incompetant evil asshole in a $5000 suit? I'm betting that they'll sell the house and car then stand on the street corner awaiting the rapture, it's cheaper than college anyhow.

Got to wonder if the "new" SECDEF sign all the casualty letters policy will be in effect this week, and whether or not Fearless Leader will be doing comforting or Southern Comfort.

The press information center for U.S. forces in Baghdad announced in an e-mail late today that of the 22 people killed, 14 were U.S. military personnel, four were U.S. civilians, three were Iraqi Security Forces and one was an unidentified non-American. Sixty-nine people are now believed to have been wounded -- 44 of them U.S. military personnel. Twenty-nine people have been released from the hospital, the announcement said.

Preznit Purely Psychotic will, I am sure be celebrating his Holidays secure in the knowledge that he's bested Daddy on three fronts, winning re-election, ousting Saddam Hussein and getting more American Servicemen killed than any President since Vietnam for a lie.

If the Gulf of Tonkin resolution were the historical event we were supposed to learn from, I guess there are some folks who choose to defy the maxim of "learning from history". Gee, wonder who that might be?

Been waaay over-worked with the departure of a colleague. Posting has been a low priority for me...sorry 'bout that. I meant to get on here and pimp my upcoming appearance on Internets Radio tonight, which because of my "new and improved" schedule is looking a bit tentative. If I can slip away for an hour or so, it'll be at 11PM Eastern here or click on "here". The first link is if your media player needs some help firing up.

Anyhow...Rock on. With any luck at all, I'll be on the air tonight.

And more bloggy goodness will be forthcoming. I am taking a couple of days off, because I had those scheduled before all this started. Unless the boss won't let me of course.

Five days between posts. What a slacker.

I hate to agree with any wingnuts, but most especially with David Frum. But he's totally correct in substance if not in scope...Der Duchesses continual whining about Federalism is "tactical". Why in scope? Because everything Sullivan whines about is for a reason: to make sure everyone loves him. Sullivan is a man more bent than a pretzel, who has the certitude of weathervane. Tactical because it's Practical.

However, a note to Frum who says:

For the advocates of same-sex marriage, federalism is a tactic, not a principle. It will be discarded as soon as it ceases to serve its purposes.

Once upon a time there was a document called the Constitution. Then there were some people who decided to shit all over it. They were called the Angry White Christian Bigots, people so scared of everything that they were willing and unfortunately able to desecrate that immortal document piecemeal. Now we get to see the next big thing they have done, from fear and hatred.

A federal judge in Washington yesterday ordered U.S. officials to provide information on whether the U.S. government has had a role in the detention of a Northern Virginia man held without charges in Saudi Arabia for a year and a half.

In his written ruling, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said he needs the information so he can decide whether his court has jurisdiction in the case. He rejected the government's request to dismiss the petition filed by the parents of Ahmed Abu Ali, a 23-year-old Falls Church resident and U.S. citizen who was arrested by the Saudis in June 2003 while studying in the kingdom. (emphasis added)

Legal experts called Bates's decision an important one in the U.S. war on terrorism. They said the judge essentially found that U.S. courts can decide whether detentions of U.S. citizens by foreign countries are justified, as long as there is evidence that the U.S. government had a hand in those detentions.

The real deal? We should have cut off Saudi Arabia three years ago when 15 of their Nationals, financed by "interesting" money funneled around the world at the behest of the Saudi Wahhabist Mullahs attacked us. Instead, we attacked a country with no connection to 9/11 at all. But by golly, Preznit Yellow Stripe showed 'em he could best his Daddy at spending lives wantonly and expeditiously and lying about it faster than Big Pharma could score some more Hillbilly Heroin.

Now an American citizen, who has no chance except for a Federal judge to see the light of day or probably even know the reasons he was locked up in a Third World Petrogarchy, is languishing there for some indeterminate amount of time and our government, the one that's supposed to answer to us not the other way around, has done it.

If this keeps up, the successor to Preznit Corporate Cum Licker may inherit a moral wasteland run by an American Taliban where the documents of the Founding Fathers don't even rise to the stature of a comic-strip packed in with a piece of bubble-gum. Don't be surprised if before 2006 you have to take a loyalty oath to get your new National ID card, issued when you sign over your part of the Social Security Trust Fund to the All-American Christian Faith-Based Investment Officer from the Department of Imminent Miracles. It's how they'll distinguish us from those "other" Citizens...

It's that whole-lesser-son-of Beloved Leader pre-emption-thing, isn't it?

North Korea warned that it would regard any sanctions imposed on it by Japan as a declaration of war and would hit back with an "effective physical" response.

Hey, maybe Koizumi has been getting diplomatic advice from NeoCon mouthpiece, John Bolten, who is truly well-loved by the North K's.

However, while President Roh was working toward peace to get the talks underway, John Bolten, Undersecretary of State, was forced to resign from the discussions for calling the North a `hellish nightmare', a stunt that almost promoted Kim Jong-Il to cancel the current negotiations. Moreover, the six rounds talks abruptly ended a few days ago amidst United States threats of economic quarantine and North Korean promises to strengthen its nuclear deterrent.

The DCCC blog The Stakeholder, has a nice video out on the lies of the 1600 Crew and the SS "emergency". It makes the same point made here and elsewhere that the "privatization" is a huge windfall for all the Hogs at the Trough, but won't do more than fatten the investment companies wallets. Speaking of Fat Investors, it even has Novakula spewing more bullshit per second than most humans can spew in a day. Enjoy.

Remember, Privatization = Social Insecurity. Let there be no doubt.

Just when I thought that there could not possibly be any more stupidity (well, I really didn't think that) coming from The Head AWCB this comes forth:

Iraqi political leaders began campaigning today for next month's scheduled elections amid new allegations of foreign interference in the country's insurgency and continuing violence aimed at civilians, including a bomb blast near the offices of a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric.

In Washington, President Bush weighed in on the alleged foreign interference, warning Iran and Syria against "meddling" in Iraq.

Well until the next big murder trial, I guess the punditry will be all a-twitter about the Dumpin' o' the Bernie. Everyone seems to be surprised that Rudy-the-Family-guy would -gasp- have given the blessing of St. Rudy to an "unsavory character". And then for Beloved Leader to nominate him to a senior, Cabinet-level law enforcement. Why, oh why...?

Throughout the process, the Republican close to the administration said, everyone at the White House knew that Mr. Bush liked Mr. Kerik, placing him in the special category of "this guy's our guy." Mr. Bush admired Mr. Kerik for his service as New York City's police commissioner on Sept. 11, 2001, for his willingness to try to train the police force in Iraq and for campaigning tirelessly for the president's re-election.
...
But Mr. Bush did not forget Mr. Kerik's time under fire, or his reflected glow from New York's response to the attacks on the city. By the fall of 2004, Mr. Kerik had become one of the symbols of the Bush campaign's fight against terrorism and traveled the nation spreading the message.

I wonder when the grand jury convenes? And has that arrest warrant ever been served? It's not like no one can find ol' Bernie these days. Inquiring minds and all that.

This is pretty interesting. Seems like the Colonel is enjoying himself...and he's doing what seems like good work in Afghanistan. Still, 70?

Dr. John Caulfield thought it had to be a mistake when the Army asked him to return to active duty. After all, he's 70 years old and had already retired - twice. He left the Army in 1980 and private practice two years ago.

"My first reaction was disbelief," Caulfield said. "It never occurred to me that they would call a 70-year-old."

In fact, he was so sure it was an error that he ignored the postcards and telephone messages asking if he would be willing to volunteer for active duty to "backfill" somewhere on the East Coast, Europe or Hawaii. That would be OK, he thought. It would release active duty oral surgeons from those areas to go to combat zones in Iraq or Afghanistan.

But then the orders came for him to go to Afghanistan.
...
"I've been a soldier for 25 years," he said. "When your country asks, you do it."

His wife of 47 years, Patricia, said she thought a cruise through the Panama Canal they took after he gave up his private practice would be the most adventurous experience they would have after retirement.

"I feel a lot more comfortable than when he was in Vietnam," she said. "This is a great way to finish his career."

Getting ready involved updating his medical credentials and re-establishing military security clearances. His pre-deployment preparation at Fort Benning, Ga., included making sure he was physically fit and could use a gun. Caulfield carries a gun in a holster strapped to his side, sometimes under his scrubs.

I guess that here in the America of the 1600 Crew, it's perfectly OK to behave like, well, McCarthyites. Especially if you are.

May 5, the day that changed Aliakbar and Shahla Afshari's lives, began like most others. They shared coffee, dropped their 12-year-old son off at Cheat Lake Middle School here, then drove to their laboratories at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a federal agency that studies workplace hazards.

But that afternoon, their managers pulled the Afsharis aside and delivered a stunning message: they had failed secret background checks and were being fired. No explanations were offered and no appeals allowed. They were escorted to the door and told not to return.
...
They have been told they were fired for national security reasons that remain secret. When their lawyer requested the documents used to justify the action, he was told none existed. When he asked for copies of the agency's policies relating to the background checks, he received a generic personnel handbook.
...
"What we have here is a brand-new, ad hoc, secret system," said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, a civil liberties group, referring to the checks that led to the firings.

Friends and former colleagues say the Afsharis, though practicing Shiites who shun alcohol and worry about the permissiveness of American society, are anything but religious firebrands.

Note to Tom Daschle: are you getting any of this? If Daschle had been speaking like this, perhaps someone might have thought that he actually had a backbone, not just a go-along get-along attitude and a lobbyist wife to protect.

Republicans claim that Democrats have abused the filibuster by blocking 10 of the president's 229 judicial nominees in his first term -- although confirmation of Bush nominees exceeds in most cases the first-term experience of presidents dating to Ronald Reagan. Describing the filibusters as intolerable, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has hinted he may resort to an unusual parliamentary maneuver, dubbed the "nuclear option," to thwart such filibusters.

"One way or another, the filibuster of judicial nominees must end," he said in a speech to the Federalist Society last month, labeling the use of filibusters against judicial nominees a "formula for tyranny by the minority."
...
"If they, for whatever reason, decide to do this, it's not only wrong, they will rue the day they did it, because we will do whatever we can do to strike back," Senate Democratic leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) said last week. "I know procedures around here. And I know that there will still be Senate business conducted. But I will, for lack of a better word, screw things up."

Harry Reid, a man to watch?

Remember. The Army has what they've got. So sayeth The Oracle of Memos, Rummy the Great.

For the next 20 minutes, Smiley's platoon engaged an invisible enemy on Mosul's streets in the kind of clattering midafternoon gunfight that has become commonplace here in recent weeks. The ensuing chase led Smiley's men and a small Iraqi National Guard contingent into a sophisticated ambush -- and exposed the risks facing U.S. soldiers here and across Iraq as they struggle to face down a determined insurgency before the Jan. 30 elections.

On the other hand, when would Jenna and NotJenna be donning their Cammies for a tour in the sand? Never? Oh, I guess like Uncle Dick, they have "other priorities".

And after all this, what happens if some Fundamentalist Islamic regime is in power a year from now? Will the 1600 Crew allow that, as long as access to the Iraqi Oil reserves is granted? Or will there be yet another "invasion", because we need a compliant client state, not one who will always hate us?

Basically. Let's face it, there are no Democratic senators with the cojones to have filibustered this, BartCop is absolutely correct about the pink tutus on the Hill.

The intelligence package that Congress approved this week includes a series of little-noticed measures that would broaden the government's power to conduct terrorism investigations, including provisions to loosen standards for FBI surveillance warrants and allow the Justice Department to more easily detain suspects without bail.
...
These and other changes designed to strengthen federal counterterrorism programs have long been sought by the Bush administration and the Justice Department but have languished in Congress, in part because of opposition from civil liberties advocates.
...
But civil liberties advocates and some Democrats said the measures would do little to protect the public while further eroding constitutional protections for innocent people caught up in investigations.
...
Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) said that while he voted for the bill because of its intelligence reforms, he opposed much of the expansion of law enforcement power. Most of it was not part of the Sept. 11 panel's recommendations.

When will our party stop behaving like the victims of domestic violence, hoping that the next beating will not happen, but if it does, it won't be so painful?

Given the track record of some of these morons (joementum) and the DLC, the answer might be: Never.

Dancing with them what brung ya. A uniquely Texan concept, to be sure. As the 1600 Crew starts down this path, there will be little left for anyone outside their circles of power and influence except the waste.

Once his team is set, Bush plans to move fast on the domestic front. Republican sources said the first major issue the White House wants the congressional leadership to bring up in the new year is Bush's plan to restrict medical malpractice claims by limiting to $250,000 noneconomic damages, which compensate a victim for pain and suffering. Yet the president's plan to create private Social Security accounts for younger workers will put the new team to its toughest test early on.

It's all Physics, you know?

Will this ever come to a conclusion? Now that the victory of the AWCB's has made prison-level accountability for anything at that place go no higher than some junior enlisted folks, it seems that the only pressure might come through previous reports and civil litigation.

Two Defense Department intelligence officials reported observing brutal treatment of Iraqi insurgents captured in Baghdad in June, several weeks after disclosures of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison created a worldwide uproar, according to a memorandum disclosed Tuesday.

The memorandum, written by the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency to a senior Pentagon official, said that when the two members of his agency objected to the treatment, they were threatened and told to keep quiet by other military interrogators.

The memorandum said the Defense Intelligence Agency officials had seen prisoners being brought in to a detention center with burn marks on their backs and complaining about sore kidneys.

The document was disclosed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained it as part of a cache of papers from a civil lawsuit seeking to discover the extent of abuse of prisoners by the military.

Other memorandums disclosed this week, including some released by the A.C.L.U., showed that the interrogation and detention system at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had drawn strong objections from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which argued that the coercive techniques used there were unnecessary and produced unreliable information.

And what's with threatening DoD officials? I know that there must have been a considerable amount of frustration on the part of some of these "interregators", and that they felt justified by Chickenhawk Gonzales' memos, but threatening DoD folks. Talk about cutting off your nose etc...

I feel bad for some of the enlisted folks who are getting toasted, but if they had been thinking about what they were doing i.e. maintained their Situation Awareness, they might not have done it at all. The real shame is that Rumsfeld gets to keep his job as Head Ostrich and Gonzales gets a nomination to be the nations Top Law Enforcement guy. It's the application of Leona Helmsley Axiom: Laws are for Little People. Too bad no one is there to excercise the Leona Helmsley Corallary: Until You Get Caught.

It's a shame that these brave Marines had to sit and listen to Preznit Turd Smoker talk. After all, they're men and women who understand doing their duty. The Turd Smoker understands how to spend their lives, talk macho and run away. And it's all documented. In later years some of them may even grimace at the irony of it all. An oath-breaker telling them about duty.

President Bush made an emotional visit on Tuesday to the Marine base that has been home to nearly a sixth of all the American troops killed in Iraq. Yet even as he praised the role of American forces that retook Falluja last month, Mr. Bush spoke cautiously about the ability of Iraqi forces to defend themselves.
...
"The enemies of freedom in Iraq have been wounded, but they're not yet defeated," he said at an athletic field here, describing how troops from the First Marine Expeditionary Force had gone "block by block, building by building" in taking Falluja back from insurgents. "We found blood-stained torture chambers where hostages had been executed. We found videos of beheadings and brutal terrorist attacks."

It was Mr. Bush's first visit with troops here since he flew onto the deck of the aircraft carrier Lincoln as it returned to San Diego 18 months ago, when he declared the end of active combat in Iraq under a sign reading "Mission Accomplished." White House officials now concede that they learned a hard lesson about the price of raising expectations about quick military victories.

Oh, and I wonder how the Marines feel about the whole "Mission Accomplished" thing.

What a shame that Preznit Yellow Stripe disgraces their honorable prescence by his just being there.

Every once in a while a gem sneaks in to make you smile. Enjoy.

A man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard.

Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the
right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have
beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in
frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection
with him. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window
and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took
her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted,
photographed, and placed in a cell.

After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened
the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting
officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind
your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in
front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him." "I noticed the 'Choose
Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do?' bumper sticker,
the 'Follow Me to Sunday School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated
Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen
the car.

From Matt Taibbi (via Atrios) today...

We've got to repudiate, you know, the most strident and insulting anti-American voices out there sometimes on our party's left... We can't have our party identified by Michael Moore and Hollywood as our cultural values.

—Al From,
CEO, Democratic Leadership Council

You know, let's let Hollywood and the Cannes Film Festival fawn all over Michael Moore. We ought to make it pretty clear that he sure doesn't speak for us when it comes to standing up for our country.

—Will Marshall, President of the Progressive Policy Institute, the think-tank of the DLC

It's getting to be time to rethink the DLC and their place in the scheme of things. I'm truly wondering if offering them anything more than one seat at the table in the next election cycle is worth much, and then only if they bring in something besides "consultants" who charge a fortune for losing.

Yeah, that Michael Moore, what a loser. Other than that Oscar and having the highest-grossing documentary ever, he don't know much, do he? Certainly he doesn't represent all Democrats, but he's someone that shouldn't be discounted, and certainly not to please the AWCB's who hate us anyhow.

When Alan Greenspan finally retires from the Federal Reserve, will he leave behind any of his DNA?

Sorry for that..

Apologies to the Times for stealing the headline. But if the shoe fits...etc...pretty good chart. Must be one-a them universidy liberulz or sumpin.

Note: Fixed the link. Sorry for the delay.

A story about Marines chasing insurgents. Gosh, why have I read that before...somewhere, sometime, in some other place in history. Their politician masters sit in Washington, and send them off to parts unknown, to round up ... insurgents. It's their profession, and hopefully they're doing it well, and safely. But check out this little gem from the story.

"People around here are beginning to believe that the Americans are going to stay and go after the bad guys, and they're not going to leave until the job's been done," he added. "As that sinks in, opinion is swinging to our side."

Whether that is true is hard for reporters to gauge, considering that the only approximately safe way to venture into the towns is with a heavily armed Marine foot patrol. Beyond that, it is an axiom of life here that, just as under Mr. Hussein's rule, opinion among Iraqis is intimidation-led. People in the battle zones tend to tell reporters whatever they judge to be safest.

I'm guessing that the next phase will involve "pacification". Like the kind seen in Fallujah, and numerous hamlets in South Vietnam...you know, "Destroy it to Save it".

When the Duchess, America's No.1 Whore for Big Pharma writes this, how long before the dementia sets in (or has it?):

... We have drugs for hard-ons; ... Our cultural norm is that drugs that do not harm you are perfectly legit in increasing your enjoyment of life, or enhancing your ability to perform certain tasks.

An interesting piece in the the Post today about the death of Pat Tillman. It looks like a part of series on the friendly fire that caused his death in Afghanistan...you know, "The Other War".

One interesting thing, and some may or may not agree with me on this...but does it seem like the troops in Afghanistan are still getting the left-overs? It doesn't seem to me that the Rangers there are getting the kind of support that they should be getting to fight the actual you know, al-Qaeda and Taliban guys, as opposed to the enemies that the 1600 Crew has managed to create for the express purpose of killing our troops in Iraq, with their Phabulous Phoreign Policy.

The trouble began with a Humvee's broken fuel pump.

A helicopter flew into Paktia with a spare on the night of April 21. But the next morning, the Black Sheep's mechanic had no luck with his repair.

Uthlaut ordered his platoon to pull out. He commanded 34 men in nine vehicles, including the busted Humvee. They towed the broken vehicle with straps because they lacked a proper tow bar. After several hours on rough dirt-rock roads, the Humvee's front end buckled. It could move no farther. Uthlaut pulled his men into a tiny village called Margarah to assess options.

It was just after noon. They were in the heart of Taliban country, and they were stuck.

Uthlaut messaged his regiment's Tactical Operations Center far away at Bagram, near Kabul. He asked for a helicopter to hoist the Humvee back to base. No dice, came the reply: There would be no transport chopper available for at least two or three days.

Ahead of them, parked outside a small village near Manah, David Uthlaut heard an explosion. From his position he "could not see the enemy or make an adequate assessment of the situation," so he ordered his men to move toward the firing.

Uthlaut designated Pat Tillman as one of three fire team leaders and ordered him to join other Rangers "to press the fight," as Uthlaut put it, against an uncertain adversary.

Uthlaut tried to raise Serial 2 on his radio. He wanted to find out where the Rangers were and to tell them where his serial had set up. But he could not get through -- the high canyon walls blocked radio signals.

Gosh, I'm glad we saved the Iraqis from that mean old Saddam guy, aren't you? It's a shame about that Osama guy going missing. I'll bet the 1600 Crew will get someone right on that, just in time for the mid-term elections...

Just found out that DemVet has been nominated for a Wizbang 2004 Weblog Award for Best Military Blog. DemVet is running in the middle of the pack, so please, vote early, vote often (once a day) and let's see if we can, umm...smash the vote.

Also, fellow RTB'r South Knox Bubba is nominated for Best Liberal Blog, and deserves due consideration...vote, vote, vote!

Let me say this one more time, real slow so it will soak into your stupid little Chickenhawk Brains:

The

Geneva

Convention

Is

To

Protect

All

Recognized Combatants

Theirs

And

OURS.

Please do not put the lives of future American Servicemen in a war who are captured in jeopardy by the foolish and short-sighted actions of a few.

Remember, we are supposed to be the "Good Guys". Tales of Torture on our young men and women will not be pleasant to read of in the future. But giving an adversary an excuse by our present behaviour is putting future men and women at unacceptable risk.

Get over it and grow up. The Military ID is not called a Geneva Convention Card with a GC categorization of the servicemember for nothing, you know?

Oh, yeah, you're Chickenhawks and don't know that.

Buy a dictionary. Then look up this word: Insurgency. Perhaps you'll figure this out. I'm pretty sure that the formerly unemployed boys and girls from the Heritage Foundation now in the Green Zone could share their insights on Fallujah with the Marines who are the on behalf of Preznit Yellow Stripe's hissy-fit last spring.

Iraqi rebels are creeping back into areas cleared by US marines in Fallujah, where the military continues daily to secure homes and try to seize weapons caches before they can be used to again attack US and Iraqi troops, marines say.
...
But they also say with increasingly fewer marines -- several units have already left the city following the November attack -- there is virtually no way to keep rebels from taking up refuge in cleared buildings.

"If you want to keep this place secured, you need a whole lot of bodies," said one marine corporal.

The old guys who were the framers of the constitution, and indeed our Democracy, were you have to admit, pretty saavy individuals. The filibuster was a sort of an ingenious "poison pill" for the protection of the minority, and has been used to the benefit and detriment of the sausage-making operations in congress many times (Hell, even Jimmy Stewart used it in "Mr. Smith"). So to see someone as annoying as George Will warn the AWCB's that screwing with Mother Nature has makes you vulnerable to the law of unintended consequences is pretty intresting.

Actually, some Republican senators' hearts are about as pure as the driven slush after the treatment they dished out to some of President Clinton's judicial nominees. Republicans respond that Democrats opened this front in the political wars with their 1987 defeat of the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork. Democrats reply that in 1968 Republicans filibustered Lyndon Johnson's nomination of Abe Fortas to be chief justice. But Republicans say the issue then was not ideology but corruption. And so it goes.
...
In 2003, after many years of stoutly defending the filibuster, this columnist, his reason unhinged by the unconscionable filibuster against Miguel Estrada's confirmation to an appellate court, endorsed changing Senate rules to prevent such things. Now to make amends, herewith a credo:

The filibuster is an important defense of minority rights, enabling democratic government to measure and respect not merely numbers but also intensity in public controversies. Filibusters enable intense minorities to slow the governmental juggernaut. Conservatives, who do not think government is sufficiently inhibited, should cherish this blocking mechanism. And someone should puncture Republicans' current triumphalism by reminding them that someday they will again be in the minority.

Maybe.

From Buzzflash. I saw a different version of this database, and was hoping to find it again, so I guess that $25 bucks I donated to Buzzflash was worth it! :)

As they so rightly point out, spending money with merchants/corporations that are "blue" might be a huge thing in an environment so evenly split. (What Fucking Man-Date?). It's not the most complete list, but it's pretty interesting.

Check it out.

1. Tom Ridge: His Real Color...Green
   
2. Shameful on too many levels
   
3. Res Ipsa Loquitur
   
4. Subject to Discussion
   
5. Phoreign Policy
   
6. The Quake
   
7. Fort Sumter Far Eastern Edition
   
8. Weather or Not to Blog
   
9. Taxing Thoughts
   
10. Another 1600 Crew lie