A: When they say they're not. This is so unbelievable...I guess that John Walker Lindh ought to be getting his pardon from Preznit Build'n A. Dynasty any day now...
Here's a news flash for Americans: Remember that country we invaded right after 9/11? You know: The one that actually had a connection to terrorists. It turns out that the Bush Administration now says that the Taliban are not terrorists.
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s the Christian Science Monitor reports: "When the US State Department issued its annual Country Reports on Terrorism ..., it listed numerous state-sponsors of terrorism, like Iran, and groups it considers foreign terrorist organizations, like Hamas, Al Qaeda, and Hizbullah. Conspiciously absent from the lists, however, was the Taliban.
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He says a political motive is behind this double standard. In order to gain a broad base of support, Afghan President Karzai has reached out to Pashtuns, many of whom were members of the Taliban. 'You can't call them 'terrorists' and at the same time reconcile with them,' Tarzi says."
You mean to tell me that the 1600 Crew would use crass political opportunism as policy. I'm just shocked.
The House of Representatives approved a $69 billion bill to extend President Bush's tax cuts for two more years this afternoon, sending the measure to the Senate, where passage is expected by Thursday.
The House vote was 244 to 185, with nearly all Republicans voting in favor. Although most Democrats voted no, more than a dozen voted in favor. The measure also temporarily blocks a big jump in the alternative minimum tax.
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Those tax cuts on dividends and capital gains were the heart of Mr. Bush's 2003 tax-cutting package, and Republicans had credited them with spurring a rebound in investment and economic growth in the past three years. They also had enormous support from business groups and Wall Street.
Democrats and some Senate Republicans opposed extending them this year, arguing that the dividend tax cuts would not expire until 2009 and would primarily benefit the top 10 percent of income-earners.
When we've returned to the fiscal sanity that seemed to rule the 90s, and a budget surplus, hell...tax cuts all around. But right now, the republicans are spending themselves into fat-cat lobbying jobs and campaign contributions.
The investors and businesses who are going to benefit from this could give a flying fuck about the cost of a gallon of gas. Not true of the rest of America...maybe the Democrats need to frame this in terms of the cost of a gallon of gasoline. I suspect that no tax cuts for rich folks would get passed by anyone Democrat or republican if it were presented in that context.
Tax cuts have been a great tool for the credit-card conservatives, but now the bills are coming due and their solution is just continued borrowing for as long as possible. That should be November, 2006. No Kidding.
This has to make the racist republicans just soil their panties...
The same coalition of labor leaders, Latino activists, Catholic priests and radio deejays responsible for massive pro-immigrant demonstrations in Los Angeles described a new coordinated campaign on Tuesday that they hope will register 1 million new voters before the November elections.
Under the umbrella of the newly formed We Are America Alliance, organizers will make similar announcements in New York, Chicago and other cities, including a news conference in Washington on Wednesday. In Los Angeles, they gave details for the first time of a strategy voiced repeatedly during marches: "Ahora marchamos, mañana votamos" -- Today we march, tomorrow we vote.
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...Activists hope to encourage citizens who usually ignore elections to head to the ballot box, and they will push those who are almost citizens to complete their paperwork.
You know that the activists who help these folks get registered and finish their paperwork for citizenship will be making sure that these newly enfranchised voters remember two things: republicans hate them and their extended families and whether or not their local congress critters and others voted for things like singing the national anthem in English-only.
It's the little things you know? And I do believe that when the little things add up, elections turn on them. It's gonna be fun to watch this...and as a first-generation American Citizen (became naturalized 34 years ago to apply for an NROTC scholarship), I applaud this drive to sign'em up! It's an American thing to do...Vote!!!
And speaking of Cruella de Harris, Evil Queen of the Recount, it looks like the guy that JEB! and Bunnypants wanted to run against her in the Florida Senate primary isn't gonna bite.
Citing both family and business considerations, House Speaker Allan Bense announced Wednesday that he will not challenge U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
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Bense's announcement is sure to be a major letdown to Gov. Jeb Bush and other leading Republicans, who have aggressively been searching for an alternative to Harris.
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A growing number of Republicans are increasingly concerned that Harris' presence at the top of the ticket could depress voter turnout and make things tougher for other GOP candidates on the ticket.
"If she's the Republican candidate, the best we can hope for is that she doesn't bring down the rest of the ticket," said Brian Ballard, a lobbyist and fund-raiser for Attorney General Charlie Crist, a candidate for governor.
All I can say is that Katherine Harris is reaping what she sowed. She might be the congress critter from Sarasota, but Floridians are hardly excited by her presence or her campaign. Add to the fact that she was one grey curly hair away from climbing into bed with the Cunningham Crew to get herself a little of that easy graft, she doesn't really win much in the way of trustworthiness or blazing honesty. My guess, had the whole Cunningham thing been about one year later, she'd have been on MZM's payroll and had her own bribe menu for willing lobbyists...hell, it looks like she was already 75% of the way there when Cunningham et al got nailed. For her, timing really was everything, and I doubt the voters of Florida will forget that.
You best believe that Bill Nelson won't let them, and that's as it should be.
So, Beloved Leader was in Floridia this morning to diss "Tammy Faye" Harris, Evil Queen of the Recount and pimp Beloved Brother for Preznit. Now kids, that would be a hoot, having JEB! run for Preznit in Ought-8.
President Bush would like to see his brother Jeb run for office again and says he would make "a great president."
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Asked if Jeb should run for president, Bush said, "I think Jeb would be a great president. But it's up to Jeb to make a decision to run."
Other than the fact that the last thing America could afford is to have yet another member of Genus Shrubbus occupy the Oval Office, can you imagine how pissed-off John McCain would be if he lost another republican nomination to another Scion de Shrubbus?
Hoo-boy, I'd pay to be in the room when it got announced at the RNC that they were supporting JEB! over JOHN!. I'm guessing that the "straight talk" from McCain would have a lot of words that began with "F" in it.
Career appointees at the Department of Agriculture were stunned last week to receive e-mailed instructions that include Bush administration "talking points" -- saying things such as "President Bush has a clear strategy for victory in Iraq" -- in every speech they give for the department.
"The President has requested that all members of his cabinet and sub-cabinet incorporate message points on the Global War on Terror into speeches, including specific examples of what each agency is doing to aid the reconstruction of Iraq," the May 2 e-mail from USDA speechwriter Heather Vaughn began.
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Now, you might still be scratching your heads, trying to figure out how this is going to work when people expect a talk about agriculture issues. Not to worry. The attachments -- which can be viewed at http://www.washingtonpost.com/fedpage -- show how easy it is to work a little Iraq happy talk into just about anything.
There's a sample introduction: "Several topics I'd like to talk about today -- Farm Bill, trade with Japan, WTO, avian flu . . . but before I do, let me touch on a subject people always ask about . . . progress in Iraq." See? Smooth as silk.
Wow, got that? Need advice on farrowing season? They'll help you with a little advice on seasonal swine estrus and the Global War on Terra™. Drought got you down? Crop futures not doing too well, hey, we're making Iraq safe for freedoms, Yo.
An apology shout-out to the Go-go's for that one...seems that Brazil has just announced that they will be taking their energy independence one step further ... they're opening a do-it-yourself Uranium Enrichment plant and they once planned to build a nuke-q-lar bombe. Yes, they are in the axis o'weevil. And, they can produce energy from sugar, which makes them a target for some sugar company that's paid off a 1600 Crew employee to plan an invasion! Don't you see it, evil right here in our hemisphere. Why, they have that Godless Carnivale every year! Topless Beaches! Sex with comlete strangers! Invasion is the only solution!
Brazil has inaugurated a uranium enrichment center capable of producing nuclear fuel for the South American country's power plants.
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In 2004, the Brazilian government drew attention when it refused unrestricted inspections by the International Atomic Energy Association, arguing that full access to its centrifuges would put it at risk of industrial espionage.
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Brazil's nuclear program began during a 1964-85 military dictatorship, and the ruling generals had secret plans to test an atomic bomb underground in the Amazon jungle.
Edited to make it appear worthy of a Preznit 16 Words SOTU address...go read the story, and seen how it really reads.
We have to invade friends, they speak some funny furrin language, they do sexy dancin', worship the Pope O'Rome and have all that non-oil-based energy just lyin' around waiting to be conglomerated by ExxonMobileTexConShellMaraBP.
You know, if say Malta or Sicily were to attack Brazil, well there's always the Monroe Doctrine....yeah, that's it, the Monroe Doctrine to allow us to "defend" Brazil and her sugar and uranium...
Runnin' Away to Get Away... Most profuse apologies to Sly Stone, but it just fits...check this out. Rubber-stamp republican Clay Shaw (R-Spend it All) is in line to become the House Ways and Means Committee chairman if by some stroke of luck the republican's aren't shown the door in November. Shaw, who is apparenetly in a very competitive race has this to say:
Shaw rejects the notion that he is a Bush toady, citing his differences with the administration on
Social Security reform. He disagreed with the president's proposal to privatize Social Security using payroll taxes, but instead supports creating personal accounts using general revenue funds, which wouldn't dip into current reserves. Shaw also opposed oil drilling off Florida's coast and criticized Bush's actions on the Dubai ports deal and his proposed budget for cancer research.
Wow! There's some not-toadying for you...taking contrary positions when you know that your republitard buddies have your back. How Hillary of him. I sure don't remember hearing him protest about the strong-arm tactics used to keep the floor vote open on medicare in violation of House rules; I don't ever remember him standing up and saying that the administration had gone too far with it's tax-cuts and profligate incursion of debt for generations to come. Somehow claiming the mantle of non-toady rings pretty hollow when he stood there and not only watched the car crash, but helped ice the bend in the road.
Shaw is seeing the handwriting on the wall...and it says something like "don't let the sundown catch you in the chairman's office, boy". Just could not happen to a nicer guy...no, really. Well, at least he's not Crazy Curt Weldon or Duke Cunningham...as far as we know.
Zacharias Moussaui makes Preznit Intellectually Impaired look like a frackin' Rhodes Scholar. And that's a feat that takes some stretching.
Convicted Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui says he lied on the witness stand about being involved in the plot and wants to withdraw his guilty plea because he now believes he can get a fair trial.
In a motion filed Friday but released Monday, Moussaoui said he testified March 27 he was supposed to hijack a fifth plane on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House "even though I knew that was a complete fabrication."
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Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers told the court they filed the motion even though a federal rule "prohibits a defendant from withdrawing a guilty plea after imposition of sentence." They did so anyway because of their "problematic relationship with Moussaoui" and the fact that new lawyers have yet to be appointed to replace them.
Denied his martyrdom, he's now decided he's an innocent man. He's just a sad idiot. Had he cooperated minimally with his attorneys instead of behaving like what he is, a 12-year old inside an adult's body he could probably have tied up the legal system for years, or turned states evidence against Al-Qaeda, who has long-abandoned him to his 24/7/365 climate-controlled 11x7 foot cell in Colorado, and become the Arab Henry Hill...house in the 'burbs a little ranting now and then to keep the juices flowing...
Well, you never know in about 10 years or so he might be allowed out to discuss existenstalism with Ted Kacsinzsky...there's an image of two folks who will talk over each other's head and have nothing to say... wow.
Since the massive failure of the 1600 Crew at everything, they've looked for everyone under the sun to scapegoat. Congress, Democrats, Republicans who don't support them, CIA officers who disagree, husbands of CIA officers who disagree...you get the picture. So, while the morons on Pennsylvania Ave spent the last six years making an incompetent loser into a "war preznit" they have also managed to destroy the premier intelligence agency, the CIA. The one thing about CIA is that right or wrong, they always kept trying to perform their mission of providing intelligence to decision-makers. I don't think that their hands have always been "clean", certainly there are unsavory things that they have done, but at least the CIA has been accountable to someone, usually Congress ultimately, which has excercised oversight to some extent.
No more. Rumsfeld has begun to use his not-incosiderable sway with Prenzit Marginal IQ to begin to build a rival intelligence apparatus at DoD, which is being built with none of the statutory strictures against minor things like domestic spying and violating Posse Comitatus, which the Whiny Ass Titty Babies may do away with because there might be boogeymen under our beds.
So, what's up with Hayden? Well, with the Rumsfeldian drive to build an unaccountable agency he certainly isn't going to be roadblocked by a guy whose paycheck is signed at DoD, is he? Also, a civilian CIA director can walk into the Oval Office anytime he wants and tell the occupant to fuck off and eat shit. A four-star general can't by law.
Gee, think that would chill discourse?
Not that any other 1600 Crew appointee will be any better because Preznit Incredibly Incompetant is spring-loaded to appoint either a totally-unqualified crony or someone who contributed lots of money to his campaign.
Hayden has no respect for the Constitution, he's already made that perfectly clear, and it seems that even the ass-kissing oversight-free congress is figuring that out. If Hayden is confirmed it will be evidence that the only function congress has is cashing their paychecks and taking vacations.
Oh, and looking for another JACKabramOFF-like sugar-daddy to hire them post-election.
