Stephen Colbert is an American Hero. Watch the video of his performance at the WH Correspondants Dinner. You know why the whore media was not applauding? Because he held up a mirror to their faces, and they saw what everyone else sees. That they are, for the most part, a bunch of two-bit hookers. Well, not really because that gives hookers a bad name.

Watch it here or catch a rerun on CSPAN.

Tough shit about Beloved Leader finding out that he's not loved, isn't it? I wonder how he'll feel if he's impeached and convicted, left with nothing but his radioactive aura (no republican will talk to him for the rest of his life) and daddy's millions. No secret service, no government stipend, and what will irk him eternally, no power or respect through fear and bullying.

What Colbert said about the media and Preznit were what so many of us feel...whores, liars and stenographers.

Well the IAEA has said that them nasty Persians are not being good little doobies and complying with the worldview of the 1600 Crew's Chickenhawk Cabal.

Shortly after Iran's president said his country "won't give a damn" about any U.N. sanctions, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that Iran had enriched uranium and was in defiance of the U.N. Security Council.

President Bush said "the world is united and concerned" about what he called Iran's "desire to have not only a nuclear weapon but the capacity to make a nuclear weapon or the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon."

Jeez, if that's true we're all in trouble. Gum wrappers fer chrissake. Invasion is our only option.

Keeping with the Friday Sexcapdes theme, may I offer this? A sample of republicans with err... problems:

Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.

Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.

Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.

Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.

Yeah good, upstanding moral Amurkans. Wanna bet every one of them has a yellow-ribbon magnet on their cars?

Hookers at the Watergate servicing republican congressmen? What, hookers teaching whores how to conduct business? Well, it's looking like a certain ex-Congressman who might have "E-ticket" CIA access has a shot at being, ummm, involved. who?

The FBI is probing whether now-imprisoned Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) and other lawmakers spent time with prostitutes arranged for and paid by Mitchell Wade, former head of defense-intelligence contractor MZM Inc., and Brent Wilkes, of ADCS. Both men are accused of bribing Cunningham; Wade has admitted it, and is cooperating with prosecutors.

The FBI's also curious about staff members who may have joined in on the action, which is said to take place in the Westin Grand and -- yes, the second time is farce -- the Watergate.

It's being said in other places around left-blogistan, that the more deadly but less soundbite-friendly scandals of Valerie Plame, no WMD's or JACKAbramOFF and such that make Joe Six-Pack's eyes glaze over will be eclipsed by this because it's a SEX scandal. Oh, and there might be a white woman involved, which will give Tweety something to bloviate about for well, eternity.

Absolutely the best "find" will be one or more of these congressmen who has any "interesting" proclivities. You have to wonder if Larry Flynt will be offering any of the women (if they are ever identified) cash for that certain "tell all" story of Kongressional Kink.

Oh, those sanctimonious republicans. Remember that the republicans who howled the loudest about the misdeeds of Clinton were the ones whose marital and fidelity transgressions were out there for everyone to see, like Mr. Family Values-while-I-fuck-my-mistress Henry Hyde. Fucking hypocrites, all.

Maybe the FBI needs to get ahold of that "intelligence-connected" Congressmans' appointment book from his tenure in the House, and then match up some of those appointments with bank transactions, "dinners out" and other points of interest in his schedule. It's not as simple as a semen-covered blue dress, but the details are in the grunt work. Just ask Al Capone's ghost.

You have to read this. In 50 years this will be Preznit Absolutely Wrong's legacy.

And ours as Americans. How sad.

So the Senate republicans want to do away with FEMA and wrap it up into that other non-functional bureacracy, the Departmant of Hopeless Security? Ooookay. Apparently there is a "bi-partisan" report/recommendation. Hmmm, says I, Bi-Partisan?

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was so fundamentally dysfunctional during Hurricane Katrina that Congress should abolish it and create a new disaster response agency from scratch, a draft bipartisan Senate report has concluded.
...
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the new agency would be "better equipped with the tools to prepare for and respond to a disaster."

The committee's ranking Democrat, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, also endorsed creation of what would be called the National Preparedness and Response Authority. The full committee has not yet debated or voted on the draft recommendations.

If Joementum is for it, then hey I'm pretty much against it, because it's gotta be a vehicle for giving cover to Joe's Man-Love Himself, Preznit French Kiss.

And adding anything to the politcally-appointee ridden Dysfunctional Helpless Sycophants isn't going to help anyone. Shit, Chertoff can't even recall whether the biggest threats to Amerika were Hurricanes or Librarians named Katrina in 2005. But, I'm sure he's doing a heckuva job, nonetheless.

And of course in classic 1600 Crew fashion, the time to make any changes in FEMA would be when Hurricane season is upon us. That way it's all congress's fault for not being prepared.

Yeah, my guess is that Intel will be making a great show of this whole self-examination and then drag out a report that says: Offshore everything! Be Competitive!

The chief executive of Intel, Paul Otellini, pledged Thursday to begin cutting costs companywide within 90 days to cope with slowing personal- computer demand and stem a slide in the chip maker's market share.

"No stone will remain unturned or unlooked at," Otellini said during a meeting with analysts in New York. "You will see a leaner, more agile and more efficient Intel Corp."

I hate it when I think I'm right...but you know, I did learn something when I got that worthless MBA.

Well, here we go...

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday said the United Nations Security Council must "take some action" against Iran for defying demands that it stop uranium enrichment.
...
"It's pretty clear Iran is not going to meet those requirements," said Rice, speaking at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in the Bulgarian capital.
...
The Security Council must be "credible" and make clear to the Iranian authorities that "it cannot be cost-free to flaunt the will of the international community," Rice told reporters.

As the key body for maintaining global peace and security, the Security Council should not see its "word and will ignored," said Rice, adding, "The Security Council has to act to be credible."

Rice repeated Washington's warning that it had not ruled out using military strikes against Tehran. "The President of the United States does not take any of the options off the table," she said.

Does it ever end with these people? The further down in the polls they slide, the more the rhetoric seems to get ratched up for action against Iran.

Bush Pussy...sort of unlike Jumbo Shrimp, Military Intelligence, Brave Neo-Cons, isn't it? No oxy, just moron.

Nah, the 1600 Crew is not in bed with the oil companies. Not at all. Back before Kinda-Lyin' became the most-incompetant National Security Advisor of all time, she had a Chevron Tanker named for her.

Until Chevron decided it couldn't be quite so obvious.

Louisiana legislators, who have absolutely nothing better to do than screw around with abortion laws (not like any, you know, Hurricanes might come there or anything...or that significant numbers of residents are displaced) have a state senator who calls himself a Democrat. Oh, spare me.

Louisiana's state Senate on Wednesday approved a near-total ban on abortion, rejecting a move to allow the procedure for victims of rape and incest.

The bill would outlaw all abortions except to save the life of the mother. Sen. Ben Nevers, the sponsor, argued against adding any other exception, saying his "heart goes out to" sex crime victims but their wishes are less important than his goal of preventing abortion.

"Lord knows I would never want to hurt a mother, in any way. Lord knows I would never want to hurt a victim of rape or incest," said Nevers, D-Bogalusa.

"A crime committed by a rapist should not result in the death of an unborn child." (my emphasis)

I don't get why men like Nevers hate Women and Children so much. This is purely a selfish act ("his goal") on Nevers part, oh, and what's the penalty for the woman who has the abortion?

Under the measure, doctors found guilty of performing abortions would face up to 10 years in prison and fines of $100,000.

I get mail all the time from people who want to know why I think "Christians" are so full of shit. Take a look at Mr. Nevers and his
"supporters" in the Louisiana legislature, and see part of the answer there.

Yo, I'll take ass-licking sycophants for $1000, please. In the form of a question, "How long before Tony Snowjob 'regrets' his past criticisms of Most Beloved Leader?"

Today on Special Report with Brit Hume, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow expressed regret for his past criticisms of President Bush, as reported yesterday on Think Progress. Watch it.

I wonder if Snowjob isn't missing the gentle minstrations of the One True Father. Well, maybe by the end of the week.

JIm Webb, a man who is seeing that country comes before Politics announced his candidacy for George Allen's senate seat today in the small southwest Virginia town of Gate City.

Democrat James Webb officially kicked off his campaign for the U.S. Senate in this conservative corner of Virginia on Tuesday, offering a strongly populist indictment of the Bush administration and pledging to seek an end to the war in Iraq and a "culture of corruption" in Washington.
...
Webb, 60, has never run for political office before and has a mixed background of support for both parties -- he voted for President Bush in 2000 and even endorsed Allen when he was elected to the Senate six years ago.

But Webb was an early opponent of the Iraq invasion, and his military credentials -- he's a decorated Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War - ...
...
He told his audience that his son, also a Marine, is schedule to be deployed to Iraq this summer.

"My objection to the war is not aimed at my country but at the administration that has chosen to wage this war, an administration that has muddied the truth, made mistake after mistake and refused to accept responsibility," he said.
...
Webb was wearing combat boots with his suit Tuesday, in contrast to the cowboy boots that Allen is known for. He said he is wearing them to show support for his son and others in the military and urged supporters to put on boots -- "any kind other than cowboy" -- and "join this journey."

If Webb wins the seat, he will go to Congress as the only Senator with a son serving in Mess O'Potamia.

I-'ave-marched-six-weeks in 'Ell an' certify
It-is-not-fire-devils, dark, or anything,
But boots-boots-boots-boots-movin' up an' down again,
An' there's no discharge in the war!

Aww, Howie is getting all gooshy, in that K-Lo stinky couche kinda way over Tony Snow getting job of being Scotty II, the Lying continues. Here's Howie:

Jody Powell was part of Jimmy Carter's inner circle. James Brady had been a spokeswoman for HUD, OMB and DOD before taking the White House job under Ronald Reagan. After Brady was wounded in the assassination attempt, Reagan tapped Larry Speakes, who had been a vice president of Hill & Knowlton. Marlin Fitzwater was an administration PR guy. Dee Dee Myers had been Bill Clinton's campaign spokeswoman. Her successor, Mike McCurry, was a political PR guy who worked for Bob Kerrey in the primaries and then became the State Department flack. Joe Lockhart, who had dabbled in television, was McCurry's deputy and Clinton's '96 campaign spokesman. Ari Fleischer was a Hill spokesman who became Bush's campaign mouthpiece. Scott McClellan was Fleischer's deputy and a Bush loyalist from Texas.

Notice a pattern here?

They're all PR pros. Not a real ex-journalist among them.

Lou Dobbs is getting to be the Number One TV Racist, isn't he? Or maybe he was already there, I don't know since I'm not much for watching CNN before today (and I don't know why I am watching it today).

Amidst all the rhetoric the message is, "Boy, do I not like Brown People". On and on and on he goes, talking about securing our Southern border. Because you know, there's never been an illegal immigrant walking across the US-Canadian border.

Well, none who don't have blonde hair, blue eyes and the other features of the master race (or brown eyes, like Lou's). Amazing, isn't it?

Well, long time since we've checked in on the Duchess of Dupont. Seems that he's still hot for his man, Preznit Incredibly Incompetant. No matter what he does, Sullivan loves him some George...yeah, in that way.

What Bush has - typically - done is get a spokesman, who doesn't set policy, to appeal to alienated conservatives. It is literal window-dressing. Unless, of course, more is going on than meets the eye. Here's hoping that's true.

Some things really never do change, do they?

CNN, if you didn't know, now has an "Eye on Iran" graphic up and running.

Jeebus. What's next? You get three guesses and the first two don't count.

With gas prices expected to hover at record highs through summer, President Bush yesterday called for price-fixing investigations and several measures aimed at holding down the fast-rising costs of driving.

With a Preznit who wipes his ass with the Constitution, what can anyone expect? Not much from a military, business, personal and political failure of a "man" whose greatest accomplishments have been drunken daughters, the sale of America to his buddies and the moral and economic bankruptcy of our country for generations to come.

Awww, how cute. Hand in hand, two of the biggest losers in the 1600 Crew are off to Mess O'Potamia together.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced joint visit to Iraq Wednesday to bolster the new emerging government and to ensure that the sometimes disjointed U.S. political and military operations are working seamlessly with the transition to a permanent government.

"This is the Iraqis' time," Rice told reporters traveling with her. "This is the time to support the Iraqi's government of national unity. It will be up to the Iraqis to determine how to move forward and we are going to be there very much in support of them."

And with that, the invasion of Iran will commence. Because it's never enough to stop with the Sudatenland, is it?

How in the fuck do we get this message to every congress critter, from bloggers of both parties: "You give away the Internet, we give away your fucking jobs?"

Congress is going to hand the operation of the Internet over to AT&T, Verizon and Comcast. Democrats are helping. It's a shame.

Don’t look now, but the House Commerce Committee next Wednesday is likely to vote to turn control of the Internet over to AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner and what’s left of the telecommunications industry. It will be one of those stories the MSM writes about as “little noticed” because they haven’t covered it.

There are about 300 or so of you very loyal readers out there, but 300 of us won't be fart in this windstorm. Spread the word. Everywhere. On left and right wing blogs that have comments. This can't be allowed.

Found this wandering around the photo blogging system Flickr. Pretty interesting graphic, you can make one up for your website. I do wish that you could make the US map more granular and turn the blue states blue :)

Where's Jo been? or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Make one of your own and leave the URL in comments or a link to your blog. Be interesting to see where folks have been.

Yeah, it was Kinda-Lyin's "Thousand Tactical Errors" that led to this. Big Time.

Last Nov. 13, U.S. soldiers found 173 incarcerated men, some of them emaciated and showing signs of torture, in a secret bunker in an Interior Ministry compound in central Baghdad. The soldiers immediately transferred the men to a separate detention facility to protect them from further abuse, the U.S. military reported.

Since then, there have been at least six joint U.S.-Iraqi inspections of detention centers, most of them run by Iraq's Shiite Muslim-dominated Interior Ministry. Two sources involved with the inspections, one Iraqi official and one U.S. official, said abuse of prisoners was found at all the sites visited through February. U.S. military authorities confirmed that signs of severe abuse were observed at two of the detention centers.

The tragedy of Iraq isn't that no one saw this coming, it's that the Preznit and his Neo-Con enablers and sycophants just didn't care. After all, for them brown Islamic people who kill each other are brown Islamic people who can't do them any harm over here. Fight them over there and all that bullshit...right, Sully?

I guess that the 1600 Crew is adopting that "...only good wog" aphorism coined by the countrymen of the poodle Blair a few years past, because it seems to me that right after the beginnings of the huuuge waste of everything that has been the Mess in Mess O'Potamia, the Preznit after he made light of not finding any WMD's (wasn't that just the funniest? O-My-Gawd!!) for the Washington Press Corpse he began spewing about the terrible, terrible un-freedomly mannerisms of Sadd-Am and his "rape rooms". Knowing little and understanding less, that the Shi'a majority were just itching for some payback and it was coming their way. Nothing if not patient were the Shi'a, and had a single one of the Neo-cons read about Iraq they would have seen an inkling of this.

But no. Candy and rose petals. Saddam Bad. Shi'a Good. Civil War? Not gonna happen, and if it does, well it's not our fault...we gave them their Freedom!

I think that as of today, I am officially declaring that I personally don't give a shit if Saddam was still in charge of Iraq. There would be thousands of Americans and Iraqi's alive, thousands without wounds both physical and emotional that might never heal and a bazillion dollars of our children's future inheritance not squandered by the most profligately ruinous administration in our Nation's once-proud history.

If Saddam were there, we wouldn't be, and the War on Terra™ might be going a whole different way, because there might be actual adults in charge today. Next time someone says "Well, aren't you glad we took down Saddam?" say "No. I'd rather have live Americans, Money in the Treasury and sane people in power here".

You know it's true.

[/endRant]

I guess you all have noticed that I have been posting a bit less frequently these last couple of weeks. Well, it's spring. The doctor sez I gotta get off my ever-expanding ass and do something else, so I have been. Not that I always agree with MD's, but well...I have something to be sharing with you on that score in the not too distant future (all good).

So, while the 1600 Crew is Beating about the Beloved Leader for new ways to un-suck, I'm taking a few personal days to get recharged for what will, I'm sure, be an epic battle this fall. I have a feeling that short of an "October Un=surprise" of invading/bombing Iran the republicans are gonna fall hard in one or both chambers of the congress. I don't know that the "new generation" of democratic leadership will be much better, it worries me that they will start off being vindictive for being shut out and shit on for so many years. Not to say I blame them, but it's hardly a way to begin rebuilding the total destruction that the 1600 Crew hath wrought with their terrible swift swords.

So with all that in mind, regularly scheduled programming will return after in a few days (like, maybe Tuesday) on a more regularly scheduled basis. Honest. Oh, and I'm gonna start posting some of my pictures here, because what the fuck, it is a blog...and all politics all the time makes Jo a dull fool.

Catch you in a couple of days. Unless I post tonight. I just can't give it up...

Yep. Knew it would happen sooner or later. Today, convicted terrorist sympathizer Sami Al-Arian is the first documented deportee who will be able to hang a picture of him on his wall in his new, as-yet undetermined "homeland".

In the end, Sami Al-Arian's decision to accept a plea deal came down to two things: his desire to end the case for his family, and his determination not to admit to a crime of violence.

The single count to which he pleaded guilty in a deal approved Monday accomplished both, said his attorney Linda Moreno.
...
What the former University of South Florida computer science professor did do, however, was publicly admit for the first time that he aided associates of a terrorist group.

By pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Arian acknowledged helping three known associates of the group with various nonviolent activities and repeatedly lying about what he knew.

As a result, Al-Arian likely will serve several more months in prison, then be deported to an undetermined country.

Yes, that's Beloved Leader and Mrs. BottleInFrontaMe with Sami and Family on 3-12-00, if the date is right. I imagine that Dear Leader raised some money from this photo-op, since they don't normally let just any douchebag get a photo-op with a candidate. Or maybe they do. Any of that lucre from Palestinian Islamic Jihad? Inquiring minds do want to know.

From the first time I saw Oklahoma senator Tom Coburn on TeeVee, I had him pegged as a pretty typical wingnut whacko, and on issues like Choice, oooh, baby baby he's the gift that keeps on giving. But in terms of fiscal discipline, he's a tiger. And right now he's going for two senior senators Lott and Cochran and their bag o'earmarks.

"It is ludicrous for the Senate to spend $700 million to destroy and relocate a rail line that is in perfect working order, particularly when it recently underwent a $250 million repair," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who is planning to challenge the funding when the $106.5 billion war spending bill reaches the Senate floor. "American taxpayers are generous and are happy to restore damaged property, but it is wrong for senators to turn this tragedy into a giveaway for economic developers."

The republicans have managed to turn the US Treasury into the biggest government contractor-special interest ATM in the history of civilization. Remember Ted Stevens throwing a menopausal hissy-fit over that bridge and other Alaska appropriations? Today's republicans view cutting off their money supply as worse than selling their children into slavery...a sad fact that will bankrupt this country faster than you can say "alleged fiscal conservatives".

Oh, wait. It's happening already? Silly me.

From the lips of Preznit Mizerable Failure:

In a brief question-and-answer session with reporters in the White House Rose Garden after announcing his nomination of Portman, Bush declared that Rumsfeld "is doing a fine job" and will keep his post.

"I'm the decider, and I decide what is best," Bush said.

Maxim for the last six years: The 1600 Crew wins, America loses. Does it get any simpler than that?

Yeah, he's an MBA all right...Mostly Bigoted Asshole. Mighty Boneheaded Administrator. Maybe Been Alcholic...choose your own. But one thing Preznit Idiot Bastard has never been, or behaved like is a Master of Business Adminstration. Now, let's see...other than breaking the bank, invading sovereign countries based on a fit of pique, and being the Racist Messiah for the unwashed masses, he's just a good old boy, right?

Well, not so much. He also wanted to close down FEMA back when he became Preznit, that being the Grover Norquist thing to do. Well, no consequences, right?

According to a 218-page audit by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general that was obtained by The Washington Post in advance of its scheduled release today, FEMA cited a New Orleans hurricane as a top threat in 2001 but never completed plans because of a lack of funds.

Among other things, the report refers to rushed and inefficient decisions in the first weeks after Katrina:

• FEMA spent $900 million to buy 25,000 manufactured homes and 1,300 modular homes, most of which cannot be used because agency rules say they are too big or unsafe in flood zones.

• The agency spent $632 million to subsidize hotel rooms for tens of thousands of families at an average cost of $2,400 a month, three times what it later paid families to rent two-bedroom apartments.

• The agency spent $249 million to secure 8,136 cruise-ship cabins for six months, at a cost that Inspector General Richard L. Skinner estimated at $5,100 a month per passenger. That is six times the cost of renting two-bedroom apartments.

Skinner's report cites a "basic lack of understanding" of FEMA regulations for the $900 million manufactured- housing fiasco and a "fundamental lack of planning" for a makeshift program under which FEMA is reimbursing localities to lease 66,000 apartments for evacuees. It found the cruise ship program "not necessarily efficient."

A top House Democrat released e-mails Tuesday detailing Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's role in pushing a $236 million federal contract for Carnival Cruise Lines to house Hurricane Katrina victims.

In a letter, Rep. Henry Waxman of California called on Bush to explain his role in the award of the "lucrative contract," which was given to the Florida-based company without a full competitive bid process. The e-mails Waxman released were provided to Congress by Michael Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
...
A spokesman for Bush's office, Russell Schweiss, called any charges of impropriety baseless.

"The governor's involvement was merely facilitating contact with a corporate citizen of Florida that was seeking to provide immediate housing relief," Schweiss said. "Any assertion the governor had to do with any contracting negotiations or further action by FEMA is unfounded."

Yeah, that eye-for-an-eye thing that the republicans and unfortunately a few lawn-order Dems are to fond of...the immutable punishment. Well, here's a case where it went wrong, all wrong.

Ruben Cantu, 18 years old, was convicted of capital murder in San Antonio in 1985 and executed in 1993. Many people - including Sam Millsap, Bexar Co. district attorney at the time of Cantu's conviction - now believe that Cantu was innocent. A 2005 article in the Houston Chronicle led the current DA, Susan Reed, to open an investigation. However, her tactics - including threatening to charge one of the recanting witnesses with "murder by perjury" - have led all the witnesses to hire attorneys and clam up. And it is now unclear whether any real investigation will take place.

I was looking through my sitemeter stats, and found this link from a site called linguamatrix. It's DemVet translated into what looks like Indonesian...not quite sure though.

Wild.

Catalog Note: offered Fall term 2006 only instr: Staff

An overview of contemporary and unlikely threats to American citizens too afraid of their own shadows to go out at noon. Emphasis will be given to distorting facts, making the media believe everything at the risk of being denounced as "unpatriotic" and methodologies for driving poll numbers via threat levels and Fox News. 1 credit, seminar. Prerequisites: Ohio Political Thuggery 101, Scaremongering 101, Three-card monte 101.

Seems that the Kids of the Fall are at it again. An election coming up, and it's time to ratchet up the sphincters of the clueless sheeple with talk of "sixteen days" to Nukular Armageddon at the hands of those whacky Muslims. Apparently Karl needs Preznit Rexall Wrangler to get his war on again to make sure that the elections get delivered in a timely manner, thus keeping promises of graft, corruption, cronyism and incompetance alive. Keeping hope alive...for CheneyBurton, that's it!

The Wingnut Post, which once had an editor and now has Fred Hiatt featured this piece from a remarkably reliable republican Neocon, Mark Helprin, a fellow at the incredibly unbiased Claremont Institute (yes, I was laughing while I wrote that).

...But with an intermediate-range strategic nuclear capacity, it could deter American intervention, ...

And he still believes in the tooth-fairy and Easter bunny:

The obvious option is an aerial campaign to divest Iran of its nuclear potential: i.e., clear the Persian Gulf of Iranian naval forces, scrub anti-ship missiles from the shore and lay open antiaircraft-free corridors to each target. With the furious capacity of its new weapons, the United States can accomplish this readily.

In that time, we would do well to strengthen -- in numbers and mass as well as quality -- the means with which we fight, to reinforce the fleet train with which to supply the fighting lines, and to plan for a land route from the Mediterranean across Israel and Jordan to the Tigris and Euphrates. And even if we cannot extricate ourselves from nation-building and counterinsurgency in Iraq, we must have a plan for remounting the army there so that it can fight and maneuver as it was born to do.

Then Helprin goes off the reservation;

Our problem in Iraq has been delusion and lack of foresight.

Preznit End Times just can't help himself, there must be a conflation gene somewhere in his makeup. Today at a seminar at Johns Hopkins:

Responding to questions, Mr. Bush said the decision to go to war against Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein was a difficult one, but the correct one.

"After Sept. 11, America decided that we would fight the war on terror on the offense, and that we would confront threats before they fully materialized," the president said. "Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States of America. America is safer today because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. Now, it's time for the Iraqi leaders to do their part and finish the job of forming a unity government."

Where was this guy in the run-up to the 2004 Elections? It would have been a definite plus to know that men like LGEN Newbold were speaking their minds openly. It might have made a difference.

In 1971, the rock group The Who released the antiwar anthem Won't Get Fooled Again. To most in my generation, the song conveyed a sense of betrayal by the nation's leaders, who had led our country into a costly and unnecessary war in Vietnam. To those of us who were truly counterculture--who became career members of the military during those rough times--the song conveyed a very different message. To us, its lyrics evoked a feeling that we must never again stand by quietly while those ignorant of and casual about war lead us into another one and then mismanage the conduct of it. Never again, we thought, would our military's senior leaders remain silent as American troops were marched off to an ill-considered engagement. It's 35 years later, and the judgment is in: the Who had it wrong. We have been fooled again.

"...those ignorant of and casual about war..."

Time Magazine asks:

When Is a Leak Not a Leak?

Yeah, this is going to happen. Not. I don't know where this is coming from, it's either due to the 1600 Crew'sinking poll numbers, or Unka Karl, who's always thinking, is getting out ahead of the story by winding up Simple Arlen and going for another snow-the-media spin-a-thon.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney need to explain what classified information was authorized to be leaked to reporters in July 2003 and why, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said yesterday.

"I think that there has to be a detailed explanation precisely as to what Vice President Cheney did, what the president said to him, and an explanation from the president as to what he said so that it can be evaluated," Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) said. He was referring to last week's revelation in a court document that Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, testified that Cheney told him Bush approved leaking parts of a classified document about intelligence estimates of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

For added effect, Lynn can show up and weep, a la Mrs.Weepy Scalito, and then call the Pat Leahy a "bad, bad man". Because if it works once, it works twice...right?

Who knew...?

Eons ago, Venus may have been the gentle, tropical paradise that Earthlings once imagined. It was closer to the sun -- but not too close. It was almost Earth-size -- but not quite. And it had plenty of water, even oceans.

But that was then. Sometime in the distant past, the oceans started to heat up and then boiled away. The water vapor hung over the planet like a glove, trapping the heat below and creating a berserk greenhouse effect.

Today, Venus's atmosphere is 97 percent carbon dioxide, and the planet is wreathed in clouds of sulfuric acid. The planet is apparently condemned to an eternal cycle of global warming, with surface temperatures that hover around 900 degrees Fahrenheit.

Well, the hornet's nest is stirring about the Armadillo Messiah, and his desire to turn Iran into a glass-topped parking lot. I remember that there was a lot of talk like that when the hostages were taken...I spent a lot of time off the coast of Iran during that crisis, that was resolved by President "Never negotiates with Terrorists. Not!" Raygun in his own "October Surprise".

But this shit really worries me...all of it. I know it's not just me either, but the talk of the Armadillo Messiah having to go where no man will ever go again is well, frightening. So check this out...

At a conference in Berlin, Gardiner outlined a five-day operation that would require 400 "aim points," or targets for individual weapons, at nuclear facilities, at least 75 of which would require penetrating weapons. He also presumed the Pentagon would hit two chemical production plants, medium-range ballistic missile launchers and 14 airfields with sheltered aircraft. Special Operations forces would be required, he said.

Gardiner concluded that a military attack would not work, but said he believes the United States seems to be moving inexorably toward it. "The Bush administration is very close to being left with only the military option," he said.

There is no such thing as a "surgical" airstrike. The only way that they could "surgically" strike against Iran is to commit genocide on a scale never before concieved, because any strike like this would foment a scenario far worse than any Soviets-rolling-into-France scenario ever envisioned by planners during the Cold War.

A Tumbleweed Jesus we don't need. Sanity we do need..and it's not coming from the 1600 Crew, yesterday, today or tomorrow.

"Tom Delay was a victim and prisoner of unruly, out-of-control staffers"

The piece that former Delay staffer John Feehry writes is pretty revealing. Much of that info could probably be surmised from stuff published elsewhere. But I think that the biggest little nuke that Feehry tosses is this:

Bill Clinton was impeached for three reasons: DeLay, Rudy and Scanlon.

The other prime mover in the Clinton Impeachment debacle was Henry "Gotta Getta Mistress" Hyde, that paragon of religiosity who has stated that the Clinton Impeachment was, in part, payback for the downing of The Nixon.

In Crazy Base World anyhow.

Another great interview at The Talking Dog with another GITMO defense attorney. Drop by and check it out.

Preznit Leak Plugger was apparently making politically motivated leaks to silence Joe Wilson, ensuring that information that was classified something like TS/SCI (Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmentalized Information) was used for pure political gain.

President Bush authorized White House official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to disclose highly sensitive intelligence information to the news media in an attempt to discredit a CIA adviser whose views undermined the rationale for the invasion of Iraq, according to a federal prosecutor's account of Libby's testimony to a grand jury.

But, SCI info is not normally shared and even when it finally hits the public domain years (if it ever does) it's usually so stale and heavily redacted that historians and archivists can only make any sense of it be contextual references to other contemporaneous documents. So, yeah it's a big deal to try to commit character assasination via classified documents. Imagine the manufactured outrage platoons being led by Conveniently Christofacist Tommy-boy Delay if this were committed by the Clenis™. Outrage of biblical proportions, my friends.

To keep it all in perspective, here's my friend Jane Hamsher from FireDogLake:

...Bush constantly reinforces the lie that he must have unlimited powers in order to fight terrorists, but in fact he uses this unchecked authority to fight journalists. ...

But Clinton got a blowjob.

I don't write much about the middle east, i.e Israel and all it's attendant issues, because frankly I'm pretty clueless about a lot of what goes on over there. But this seems to be a pretty interesting (and saavy) move on the part of Hamas.

The Islamic militant group Hamas is ready for a "two-state" solution with Israel, a senior official said Friday, a position that would imply recognition of the Jewish state for the first time.
...
n a published interview Friday, Zahar said his government is prepared to discuss the idea of a settlement with Israel with the Quartet of international Mideast negotiator _ the U.S., European Union, Russia and United Nations.

"Let us speak about what is the meaning of the two-state solution," he told The Times of London. "We will ask them what is their concept concerning the two-state solution."

Interesting development...any bets that the 1600 Crew will come charging out of the gate dead set against it, because someone in Hamas once took a piss in the stall next to some al-Qaeda member?

With Preznt Neverreada Poll's numbers going down faster than meteorite passing through the stratosphere, it's getting fun to smell the flop-sweat of the GOoPer consultants and others as they begin to see how the elections in the fall might shape up.

On an issue the GOP has dominated for decades, Republicans are now locked in a tie with Democrats - 41 percent each - on the question of which party people trust to protect the country. Democrats made their biggest national security gains among young men, according to the AP-Ipsos poll, which had a 3 percentage point margin of error.

The public gives Democrats a slight edge on what party would best handle Iraq, a reversal from Election Day 2004.

"We're in an exceptionally challenging electoral environment," said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a former GOP strategist. "We start off on a battlefield today that is tilted in their direction, and that's when you have to use the advantages you have."
...
Bush's approval rating is down 12 points among Republicans since a year ago. Six-in-10 Republicans said they disapproved of the GOP-led Congress.

"I'd just as soon they shut (Congress) down for a few years," said Robert Hirsch, 72, a Republican-leaning voter in Chicago. "All they do is keep passing laws and figuring out ways to spend our money."

Yeah, it's not going to be hard. The national Dems just need to have the stomach for this, oh, and fire every consultant from 2000 and 2004 in the DLC mold. It's time to move back to being Democrats, not republcan-lite.

All over the news today.

Katie Couric, the most successful host in the more than 50-year history of NBC's "Today" show, told her audience of more than 6 million viewers this morning that she will step down from the program and leave NBC when her contract concludes at the end of next month.

Getting nowhere near as much press: the fact that there has been documentation of the fact that Preznit Airhead knowingly lied us into war. Look! Kevin Federline got knocked up by Angelina Jolie and is having her baby with Britney!

A recently announced fossil find brings a closer understanding of the evolution of land animals from creatures of the deep.

Scientists have discovered fossils of a 375-million-year-old fish, a large scaly creature not seen before, that they say is a long-sought missing link in the evolution of some fishes from water to a life walking on four limbs on land.
...
In the fishes' forward fins, the scientists found evidence of limbs in the making. There are the beginnings of digits, proto-wrists, elbows and shoulders. The fish also had a flat skull resembling a crocodile's, a neck, ribs and other parts that were similar to four-legged land animals known as tetrapods.

Other scientists said that in addition to confirming elements of a major transition in evolution, the fossils were a powerful rebuttal to religious creationists, who have long argued that the absence of such transitional creatures are a serious weakness in Darwin's theory.

The discovery team called the fossils the most compelling examples yet of an animal that was at the cusp of the fish-tetrapod transition. The fish has been named Tiktaalik roseae, at the suggestion of elders of Canada's Nunavut Territory. Tiktaalik (pronounced tic-TAH-lick) means "large shallow water fish."

Duane T. Gish, a retired official of the Institute for Creation Research in San Diego, said, "This alleged transitional fish will have to be evaluated carefully." But he added that he still found evolution "questionable because paleontologists have yet to discover any transitional fossils between complex invertebrates and fish, and this destroys the whole evolutionary story."

From Powertool AssRocket:

...DeLay was an effective leader, albeit too liberal in recent years. It's possible, of course, that he did something wrong along the way. But there is no evidence of that in the public domain;...

Talk about living on in an opiate-filled delusion...no pain, only tranquility and beautiful music filling the air. The longer I live, the more I'm sure that the Powertools are really an advance guard of Aliens sent here like the ones from ID4. It's the only rational explanation for their ... weirdness.

It would be utterly naive of me to even think that the insurgents in Iraq, of whatever religious or political persuasion would for one minute think that their conduct was covered under any rules of conventional warfare. Partisans in any conflict have rarely held themselves accountable for their actions or actions taken against adversaries captured, but you know, you have to wonder how the chickenhawk repudiation of the Geneva Convention might affect captured US Forces in the Middle East.

A video posted on the Internet Wednesday in the name of an extremist group claimed to show Iraqi insurgents dragging the burning body of a U.S. pilot on the ground after the crash of an Apache helicopter.

The outright abrogation of the Geneva Convention by the 1600 Chickenhawks was another "swaggering moment" for them in their mas macho phase that led the gullible to believe that they stood for National Security, even as they were destroying it both from within by attacks on our Constitution, and from without as they managed to piss off people who were not even mildly annoyed with us.

Now there's talk of "surgical" airstrikes into Iran to "take out" their nuclear capabilities. Yeah, once again their chickenhawk guts, someone else's blood is the Plan of the Day.

I shudder to think what happens when a US aircrew is captured by an adversary who wants to make a North Vietnamese style propaganda show of "war criminal" before summarily executing them, because that Geneva Convention thingy? Why it's just a quaint idea.

I'm liking this guy. Admiral Sestak, you'll be getting some dollars from me and I don't even live in Pennsylvania.

If you haven't seen the piece over at Atrios, give it a read. Is Curt Weldon that stupid, or just that "republican arrogant"? Or both.

The Admiral is the real deal.

The 1600 Crew and it's beloved leader, Preznit Mano-a-Mano have managed to yet again skewer their own talking point. You know, the one about building a "Democratic Iraq". The rationale du jour which followed searching for WMD's, Saddam Very Bad, People Just Wanna Be Free...

While President Bush vows to transform Iraq into a beacon of democracy in the Middle East, his administration has been scaling back funding for the main organizations trying to carry out his vision by building democratic institutions such as political parties and civil society groups.

The administration has included limited new money for traditional democracy promotion in budget requests to Congress.

I wonder if in 20 years anyone will admit having voted for these idiots, thieves, pedophiles and felons?

I was wondering how long it would take before this happened.

Apple Computer Corp. released software today that will allow users of its new Mac computers to run the Windows XP operating system and programs that were previously available for use only on Windows computers.

Called Boot Camp, Apple's new software is available for download at the company's Web site and is scheduled for inclusion in the next update of the Mac operating system. The software allows owners of new Apple computers, ones with Intel processors inside, to run Microsoft's operating system natively.

The reason the new Intel-based Macs are going to be good? The inter-operability that will make the new Macs attractive again to businesses, and the new apps being written (or rewritten) in Universal Binary to take advantage of the new machines capability. Other than having an original 1985 model Mac on my shelf, I've never been much of an "early adopter" of most whiz-bang technology (heck, I still don't use a GPS in an airplane, dead-reckoning and pilotage work just fine for me on a nice VFR day). But I'm pretty happy with this new addition to my collection of toys er...tools.

And it is fast...blazing, even at 1.83ghz. Apple reborn...knew it would happen, thank iPod.

*apologies to R.E.M

So Preznit Disobedient Deserter went to reliably republican Cincinatti to throw out the first pitch of the season. Interesting that he walked out onto the field with two soldiers, both recipients of the Purple Heart.

I guess that's one way to ensure that no one boos you from the cheap seats.

Short note: read somewhere that Condi and her British poodle, Jack Straw flew into Baghdad Airport. Apparently the weather was so bad that they couldn't get a helo airborne to transport them from the airport to the Green Zone. Word is that poor little Condi was a mite uncomfortable on that ride.

Gee, why? Aren't all the media reports wrong and skewed? Surely the road was strewn with rose petals and candy, thrown by cheering crowds of nattily dressed women, happy healthy children and prosperous men-folk on their way to their mosques from their shops and places of offices.
Or, perhaps not.

If Condi was uncomfortable with the formidable security that follows her, I wonder if she appreciates how that PFC feels mounting up for his daily run down a road with or without IED's, religious fanatics of some persuasion and people who just wish he's return to his hometown, and leave theirs for good.

Well, maybe she does for a day or so....

Oh yeah, same song, different day.

President Bush used the upcoming income tax-filing deadline and his weekly radio address to promote tax-cut proposals and set up an election-year debate with Democrats over the issue.
...
"As tax day approaches later this month, many American families are now finishing their tax returns," Bush said. "And as you do, an important debate is taking place in Washington that will affect the amount you will pay in the years ahead."

Just what America needs, more debt piled on top of more debt. Because that money to pay for minor budget items like Mess O'Potamia, has to come from somewhere, and in an election year, it's a lead-pipe cinch it ain't coming from Medicare, Social Security or DHS.

Failed father, failed military officer, failed businessman, failed Preznit and given his shredding of the Constitution; failing American. And he's been entrusted with THE credit card.

Delay has seen the handwriting on the wall, and is not going to take a chance of seeing his district go Democratic in the fall. We'll see. This article from Time has a really interesting quote in it. During a tour of La Casa Delay in folksy, aw shucks Sugar Land, Texas, Mrs. Graft and Corruption makes this stunning observation:

His wife, a formidable daily force in his office with a voice in nearly all scheduling and media decisions, pointed to a photo of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and noted, "That's when we thought she was going to be conservative."

I really have no feelings about Zacharias Moussaoui, one way or the other. He was not a participant in the horrific events of 9/11, Karl Rove's favorite day of the 1600 Crew administration. He might have known about it, but insiders from Al-Qaeda seem to indicate even if he did, his knowledge was sparse at best. But the "kill 'em all" crowd is crowing for their pound of flesh. The 1600 Crew blew their chance catch Reagan Adminstration creation, Osama bin Forgotten in Afghanistan. Right after they let all his relative leave the country when no one else could fly out. So someone's gotta die. It's the American Way, after all.

A federal jury found today that Zacarias Moussaoui was responsible for at least some of the deaths that occurred in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, meaning that he could be subject to the death penalty.
...
The trial, whose sole purpose was to determine whether he would be sentenced to death or life in prison, also gave a newly detailed and vivid picture of the missed opportunities that followed his arrest three weeks before the attacks.

Well, if they decide to execute the guy who's already pled guilty, then all that's happened is that the US Government has created a martyr where one did not exist before. There were a few home-grown nutjobs who celebrated the death of Tim McVeigh for his terrible act, and have lionized his deeds. Imagine how the many adherants of Islam, who already aren't real thrilled with our conduct in Mess O'Potamia will feel after we execute Moussaoui. I suspect that there will be Zacharias brigades taking vengence in his name, in the not too distant future. If they had just locked his ass up in SuperMax for 30 or 40 years, no one would remember him or anything he did or said. Now we get the chance to elevate him to the status of Martyr, all on the taxpayers dime.

Well done. Idiots.

Oh, Baby. It's all coming home to roost now. The Gubmint is spending like a drunken sailor (and I know whereof I speak, having been both drunk and a sailor and had some cash). Seems that the alleged "conservatives" are a little bit upset.

Federal spending is outstripping economic growth at a rate unseen in more than half a century, provoking some conservatives to complain that government under Republican control has gotten too big.

The federal government is currently spending 20.8 cents of every $1 the economy generates, up from 18.5 cents in 2001, White House budget documents show. That's the most rapid growth during one administration since Franklin Roosevelt.

Remember that campaign stunt that Bunnypants used to pull, where he'd take four quarters and illustrate how the Government was taking some percentage (I think it was 25 cents) of every dollar that belonged to the American Taxpayer and wasting it? I wonder how all the "true believers" would feel if someone were to have told them that five years hence, an additional 20.8 cents per dollar was going to wasted doing things like lining the pockets of defense contractors and 1600 Crew cronys?

That might have cost the fool a few votes, if not the election. Well, we have all been saying that the fiscal policies of a failed MBA would be the death of us all, but I don't think we meant it quite this literally.

It's a shame that the rubber-stamp republicans in congress just gave this fool another increase in the National Credit Line. Now we can be in debt until 2301 instead of 2201. And isn't that a comforting thought?

Media Nutz speaks...

Night after night, President Bush is being kicked, punched, slapped, poked, stomped and otherwise disrespected in one small corner of the cable television world.

The real reason Howie is pissed off at Olbermann? He wishes that his reliably right-wing "Reliable Sources" had the kind of numbers that Countdown gets. Green-eyed monster, much?

You know, they never seem to report the good news from Mess O'
Potamia. Never. Like the power plants being rebuilt, the schools being repainted/rebuilt, or those medical clinics being built...ooops, belay my last.

A reconstruction contract for the building of 142 primary health centers across Iraq is running out of money, after two years and roughly $200 million, with no more than 20 clinics now expected to be completed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says.

The contract, awarded to U.S. construction giant Parsons Inc. in the flush, early days of reconstruction in Iraq, was expected to lay the foundation of a modern health care system for the country, putting quality medical care within reach of all Iraqis.

Parsons, according to the Corps, will walk away from more than 120 clinics that on average are two-thirds finished. Auditors say the project serves as a warning for other U.S. reconstruction efforts due to be completed this year.

I wonder how many other contractors are getting ready to pull the plug on their reconstruction efforts. I'm sure that they all bought into the wingnut NeoCon fantasy of the cakewalk in Iraq, and saw massive windfall profits on the government dole (the rugged right-wing corporate small-government conservatives that they are) and jumped on the CPA no-bid donor list. I guess that when the cost of doing business is having your employees potentially kidnapped and murdered, it gets to be a bit too high, even for the Donor Contingent.

I wonder if there's buyer's remorse in that boardroom right now...and if they're scraping off their "Bunnypants for King '04" bumperstickers today.

One of the more bizarre Senate republicans is Orrin Hatch of Utah, a guy whom when he ran the Judiciary Committee would not have known the truth if it bit him in the ass. In fact, unlike Arlen Specter, who made Abu Gonzales at least show up unsworn to lie to the committee about all the 1600 Crew felonies, would have let Gonzales literally "phone it in".

During the committee hearings today concerning Feingold's censure motion Oral Orrin had the Rove-inspired cojones to accuse Democrats on the Judiciary Committe of being politically motivated. Now that's comedy.

"Quit trying to score political points," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, shot across the aisle at committee Democrats.

Orrin Hatch you say? You mean this fire-breathing seeker of Truth, Justice and the republican Way?

Hatch was a more one-dimensional figure when he arrived in the senate almost 30 years ago. A fire-and-brimstone values crusader, he introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade and was prone to saying things like, "Democrats are the party of homosexuals." In his early career, he routinely tallied one of the most conservative Senate voting records. His intensity rankled even his GOP colleagues, one of whom later admitted he thought Hatch was an egomaniac with an irritating "save-the-world complex."

But that helped him score points in the GOP as a reliable attack dog. During the Iran-Contra hearings, no one defended Oliver North and the Reagan White House more stubbornly. And during Clarence Thomas's 1991 confirmation battle, no one trashed Anita Hill with more zest. (Among other things, Hatch bizarrely suggested Hill might have lifted her famous tale about pubic hair and Coke from The Exorcist.)

Oh, and here's his take on a blow-job and impeachment.

Of great concern to me is what the standard should be for impeachment in this and future trials. The President's Counsel has argued that the President can only be removed for constituting, what Oliver Wendell Holmes termed in free speech cases, a "clear and present danger." It was contended that a President can only be removed if he is a danger to the Constitution. As such, according to the President's Counsel, removable conduct must relate to egregious conduct related to performance in office. Even if the House's allegation -- that President Clinton committed acts of perjury and obstruction of justice is proven true -- it was argued -- than such behavior does not rise to impeachable offenses because it was private, not public, conduct. In this case an inappropriate sexual relation with a subordinate employee -- was the predicate of the charged offenses.

But such a standard establishes an impossibly high bar as to render impotent the impeachment clauses of the Constitution. I hope that no matter the outcome of this trial, President Clinton's view of what constitutes an impeachable offense does not become precedent. If it does, I fear the moral framework of our Republic will be frayed. If it does, the legitimacy of our institutions may very well become tattered. It would create the paradox of being able to convict and jail an official for committing, let's say, homicide, but not to be able to remove that official from holding positions of public trust. Committing crimes of moral turpitude, such as perjury and obstruction of justice, go to the very heart of qualification for public office.
...
...Impeachment is thus seen by many scholars as a means of removing unqualified office holders.
...
But I must emphasize that even if the President's Counsel is correct in that private acts unrelated to performance in office are not impeachable offenses, I believe the gravamen of what President Clinton committed are public, not private, acts that are unambiguous breaches of public trust. Perjury and particularly obstruction of justice are conduct that attack the very veracity of our justice system. (Furthermore, I vehemently disagree that the underlying conduct was a purely private concern because the conduct involved a federal employee in a work environment).

Lying under oath, hiding evidence, and tampering with witnesses destroy the truth-finding function of our investigatory and trial system. Perjury and obstruction of justice are particularly pernicious if committed by a President of the United States, who has sworn pursuant to the oath of office to protect the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether perjury and obstruction of justice can be considered private or public acts is of no moment. They are twin "high crimes" harming the political order and requiring impeachment and removal from office.

I guess that to him, a republican Preznit who breaks the law is just, well, Okey-be-dokey. In all his long years that Orrin has warmed a seat in the Senate Chamber he has learned the one most-invioble rule: You don't Shit where you Eat.

1. American Hero
   
2. Bunnypants Speaks
   
3. More republican sex follies
   
4. Oh Yeah
   
5. A Garden in GITMO
   
6. Breaking FEMA?
   
7. Between the lines, reading
   
8. Sabres being rattled
   
9. Remember this?
   
10. Oh get this...