Apparently the CIA has destroyed some tapes to "protect" the identities of it's members who could be "retaliated against" by terrarists™ for their participation in torture. The reality is that these tapes, which by the way were never acknowledged when Judges and trial counsels asked and demanded their production in court proceedings were destroyed to potentially save the torturers from prosecution.

Now if you're not torturing, why the need to lie about it? Certainly a cover-up is bad form...why not hold a seance and ask the ghost of Tricky Dick.

The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Al Qaeda operatives in the agency's custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about the C.I.A's secret detention program, according to current and former government officials.

The videotapes showed agency operatives in 2002 subjecting terror suspects - including Abu Zubaydah, the first detainee in C.I.A. custody - to severe interrogation techniques. They were destroyed in part because officers were concerned that tapes documenting controversial interrogation methods could expose agency officials to greater risk of legal jeopardy, several officials said.
...
The C.I.A. said today that the decision to destroy the tapes had been made "within the C.I.A. itself," and they were destroyed to protect the safety of undercover officers and because they no longer had intelligence value. The agency was headed at the time by Porter J. Goss. Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Goss declined this afternoon to comment on the destruction of the tapes.

I guess that the tapes might have also put lie to yet another of Preznit Prevarication's convenient fictions, "we don't torture", because if we don't why does anyone need to destroy the evidence?

Hey, Nancy...Yo!: Impeachment is the Cure. Oh yeah, I might have mentioned that before.

Oh, for the days of Rosemary Woods.

I saw an interesting story the other day about a Brazilian Supermodel who just signed a contract with an agency, and in the contract stipulated that she be paid only in Euros. Apparently she's not alone in her demands to not take dollar-denominated payment, preferring the Euro instead thanks to out Idiot Bastard Tax-cutting Fuckhead Preznit.

Now for those of you who have stuck with me through my ups and downs, perhaps you'll remember this which I wrote a while ago. I have been "going on" about the 1600 Crew's fical policies as a matter of true National Security for a long time, no one really seemed to care much which I always thought was interesting... I guess that minutae like that are only interesting on a wonk level, but now it's starting to take it's toll as we become the most leveraged country in the history of the world and our currency is becoming as irrelevant as our Beloved Leader.

Imminent Collapse Ahead? No, but electing a republican who will continue us on this path will surely lead us there. I have heard none of them save Ron Paul even express the slightest doubts that the destructive policies of the last seven years need to be maintained and even expanded on...and other than Paul's anti-war and fiscal rhetoric there's nothing in that man's talking points that moves him out of the way-right wingnutosphere, sorry Ron.

Yeah, so I spent about 30 minutes today (which I will never get back) watching Mitt trash the First and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution and never once mentioning (or did I miss it) the word/name "Mormon". If this was supposed to be a speech about his faith, it was nothing but 30 minutes of standard christo-facist blather about "faith" and how every Founding Father would have gladly tithed to the Christian Coalition while putting up a Nativity Creche in their town square.

I also guess that Mitt and all his talk of "violent radical Islam" that seeks conversion by force needs to go back and read what the crusades were all about, hell he just needs to read what Ann Coulter said and she nominally professes the Jesus Christ thing.

I guess that if you are not a believer, in Mitt Romney's America you don't exist.

Shorter Mitt Romney: "Athiests Need Not Apply in Mitt Romney's America".

Update(s): Apparently Mitt did say the word "Mormon" once in his speech. Not bad for being a practicing you know, Mormon. Proud of that fact there, Mittley?

Even the normally obtuse Washington Post Editorial Page aka Fred Hiatt's whiteboard got it right about the MittSpeech. Good for them.

Still unemployed. I hate this. Gee, I'm not on the 1600 Crew "unemployment numbers" though, having never filed for unemployment. I wonder how many more there are like me out here, and how it would skew their rosy numbers if they counted me and people like me.

Been about two and a half years. Making money by doing "pick-up" work where and when I can. Sorry for the continued lack of blogging... perhaps I'll have to get more into it now that we have the Rudy scandal du jour and Mormon Mitt the Muslim-hater is out there beating his well-shellacked head into a wall o'Huck...

Pass the popcorn with government butter on it please.

Calling Nancy Pelosi, Calling Nancy effing Pelosi.

The White House is refusing to let special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald turn over to congressional investigators key documents from his investigation into the leak of Valerie Plame's identity as a covert CIA operative, including reports of interviews with President Bush, Vice President Cheney and five top White House aides.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman disclosed this morning that Fitzgerald is cooperating with the congressional investigation and had agreed to turn over the documents -- until the White House intervened.

There is no excuse anymore for not going after these assholes hammer and tongs, and now that's coming to mean the Pelosi-Emmanuel wing of the Democratic party as well as the republican enablers of Beloved Leader.

Perhaps a third-party might be warranted: An Impeachment Party.

What a set of balls this asshat has. Seriously, for a man who has spent less time actually working than any other president in recent memory, he's got very little room to talk.

"Congress returns from its two-week Thanksgiving break today," the president said at a Rose Garden appearance. "They have just two weeks to go before they leave town again. That's not really a lot of time to squeeze in nearly a year’s worth of unfinished business."

Mr. Bush chided Democrats for trying to impose conditions on a $50 billion emergency financing bill for the Iraq war, and asserted that many critics of his policy have conceded that this year's increase in American troop strength has produced good results. "It is time for members of Congress to meet their responsibility to our men and women in uniform, and they should stay in session until they pass these emergency funds for our troops."

And if it's all about the money for the troops, well then start economizing by taking money from the contractor budgets that has already been appropriated and give it to the troops. Or is that too simple?

Oh, and if I were a Congressional Staffer or oppo-research person, I'd be looking up exactly how many days Beloved Leader has been "on vacation" or out fundraising while in office and publicizing that number. Neither of those two items, vacation or fundraising are in his job description as Fearless Leader, but they are as All-American Jackass #1.

Well, well. Looks like someone is raining (or reigning) in the NeoCon fabulist all-war all the time parade. Iran halted weapons development in 2003. Hmmmm, there goes an exigent case for war.

Iran halted its "nuculer" weapons program in 2003 in response to international pressure, and while it continues to develop an enriched uranium program, it apparently has not resumed moving toward a nuclear capability, according to a consensus judgment of the U.S. intelligence community released today by Director of National Intelligence John M. McConnell.
...
According to the document, Iran is considered "highly unlikely" to be technically capable now of producing enough highly enriched weapons grade uranium for a weapon before 2009. With "moderate confidence," the report puts that date at 2010 and probably not before 2015.

All that remains is for the NeoFucks to get Preznit Utterly Incompetant to leave yet another mess in place for the 2008 elections to ensure that the likelihood of a republican presidency ever again will be slim-to-none. I put nothing past the Lost Village Idiot, nor the evil Darth Cheney Cabal. I also put nothing past the right-wing idiots who will see this report as their own smoking mushroom cloud.

But then I've been wrong before.

1. When 18 minutes looked good
   
2. Econ 101, again
   
3. Sermon of the Mitt
   
4. Back again...
   
5. Impeachement is the Cure
   
6. Preznit Vacation
   
7. Awww... Does McConnell hate America?