Smafty Mac: Fighting the kakistocracy!!!

FNCs Beltway Boys

Have any of you ever seen this "Inside the beltway" show Fox puts out?

I decided to watch it since it was on, knowing my brain cells could possibly melt out of my ears on to the floor. Fred Barnes and Mort Kondacke "debating" each other is the equivalent of a Republican circle jerk, with both creaming when the other slams John Kerry...the afterglow was rather unsettling to say the least.

On he menu today was "Why John Kerry would sell us out to the French" or the EXTREME LEFTWING rhetoric of Al Gore's speech for the Move on PAC hurting Kerry, equally unappealing. With an heaping side of Coleslaw we were served Media Bias, thanks to a "weekly standardized" view of a Pew research study that says the media is "Liberal"; Never mind reading a study, seeing as how big words are scary, to get the actual results. It turns out the majority of reporters are more Libertarian than a "Liberal". Libertarians of course are conservative not tree hugging, whale loving hippies but rather Milton Friedman hugging, SUV loving capitalists.

So they completely lied about the study.


Is Al Gore a Left Wing extremist?

That would surprise the hell out of me, coming from the reality aspect the Clinton administration was moderate to say the least, and Al Gore helped symbolized that. Now he is an Earth first radical screamer, who almost became your President!

Please, Did they see the same campaign everyone else did? The campaign was Colmesesqe in it's bland, apology driven, ashamed of being a Liberal speeches. Is it because Moveon.org has been sponsoring his speeches? The organization is Liberal, but not radical. The John Birch society is radical, and a bit nutty, no one calls them a radical association or groups them into the KKK; which is closer to their ideology than Move on's.


So the "objective" Fox news team, again frames the debate as follows Liberals are evil radicals who hate America, Conservatives are Christian who love puppies and know evil.

I'm so sorry I watched that lame show.

Confessions of a former Deaniac (sort of)


2003 was going to be the year that we Liberals really strike back, and strike back hard! Bush launched a war of aggression to steal its oil and set-up military bases for dominance of the region. Million of people marched, protested, and in far too many cases bled to stop this war and the president equated it to a "focus group". We were pissed and we needed someone who felt like we did, intro to Howard Dean.

Dean was what the campaign needed, energetic, smart, passionate, every thing you wanted in a candidate. Howard Dean had what we wanted, experience and a lack of fear. He lowered taxes, he provided health care to everyone in his state, and he was the polar opposite of George Bush. He had problems, especially with his emotional control he became red faced and ready to fight, showing emotion and being a real human being apparently is now a political liability.

For almost a year Bush was planning an all out assault on Howard Dean, Rove laughing and Bush was drooling, I'm not sure if it was eager salvation or choking on a pretzel I'm not sure which but you get the idea. The effective strategy was put into play; make him crazy and easily beaten. Scaring you into thinking he was a radical who was going to have his ass handed to him worked for Kerry in the primaries. The Republican wing of the Democratic Party, the DNC HATED Howard Dean and they moved heaven and earth make sure he didn't get the nod either.


In the End Howard Dean, the front-runner for almost all of 2003, the man who energized the party and the campaign lost every primary except his home state of Vermont.

I miss Howard Dean, and Wes Clark; they were the best, better than Kerry. I do feel like we are stuck with Kerry on some levels, we let the fears Rove put in the process get the better of us. The irony is perhaps on us, we campaigned against, the patriot act, no "No Child left behind", and the Iraq war, I got a fucking rock thrown at my head during a protest...and now we support a candidate who voted for the patriot act, No Child Left Behind, and the Iraq War, you can't help but lament.


We feel the same defeat and it stings, but we can't let what we fought for fade away. What we believe is bigger than any one candidate, once Kerry wins in November it will be our responsibility to hold his feet to the fire and make sure he listens to us. I want universal healthcare, I want America to become energy independent, and I don't want to be drafted into military service or die for American imperialism. Fight the bastards, and keep the ideals of the deaniacs alive!



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It's 4:51 am and my brain is fried.

Tomorrow about mid-day I will post observations on FNCs Beltway boys, Howard Dean's Campaign, and my insight on the Republican thought process.

Over the weekend give a moument of thought to the people who have died in service to the country. Let's give them a country they'd like to come back to!
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Go play the Anti Bush game, it's so damn funny.

It takes about 30 or so minutes to play,

go to Bush game

Thank you Atrios for posting that link on his blog!

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CIA connected former baath party new head of Iraqi government

Iyad Alawi, an Iraqi neurologist known for his close ties to the Central Intelligence Agency, was chosen Friday to be the country's interim prime minister when the Americans transfer sovereignty here on June 30.

Dr. Alawi, a secular-minded Shiite leader, was a compromise candidate endorsed by Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations special envoy, after days of intense negotiations involving Iraqi leaders and American officials.

With a resume like that I can see why he was picked, *cough* PUPPET *cough* oh, excuse me...
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I leave the blogging universe for a few hours and I miss out on CNN equating a Kerry win with an Al-Qaida victory!

[Kelli] ARENA: Neither John Kerry nor the president has said troops pulled out of Iraq any time soon. But there is some speculation that al Qaeda believes it has a better chance of winning in Iraq if John Kerry is in the White House.



BEN VENZKE, INTELCENTER: Al Qaeda feels that Bush is, even despite casualties, right or wrong for staying there is going to stay much longer than possibly what they might hope a Democratic administration would.



There you go. We're fighting al Qaeda in Iraq and they think John Kerry is a wimp.



Atlanta:

404-827-1500



Washington:

202-898-7900



You can communicate your thoughts to Ms. Arena personally at: kelli.arena@turner.com

Leave them a nice message, no cursing, be polite but be honest and tear 'em a new one.
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Jefferson Davis 2004

Well lookie here, a bunch of fundies want to start a Christian nation in South Carolina, it includes breaking off of the United States!

"It's unleashed a barrage," said Cory Burnell, president of Texas-based ChristianExodus.org . "It's been an incredible response, it's nothing I'm used to and is fairly gut-wrenching for me."

Burnell and like-minded believers are looking to encourage thousands of U.S. citizens to migrate to South Carolina, run for state office, and eventually prompt South Carolina to peacefully secede from the union to create a new country where "government derives its power from the consent of the governed."

He says since WND's story was first posted, the number of those actively interested has jumped from a few dozen people to hundreds. Many people are also stepping forward to work as volunteers, and Burnell himself has had numerous appearances on radio talk shows as well as "Hannity and Colmes" on the Fox News Channel.

So, let me get this straight!

They want to move to South Carolina to start a Christian Republic (Isn't this an oxymoron?,) where "government derives its power from the consent of the governed"...because as we all know Theocratic governments are the model of democratic societies!

So what's the kicker?

South Carolina was the first State to secede durng the Civil War!

How many white nationalists do you think are involved?

Will this Act of treason go without responce?

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Exerpt from the Kerry interview in Salon

Well, it's not exactly what they did to McCain. Nobody's accused you of having an illegitimate love child.


Not yet. I'm waiting for those. That's probably August or September.

I'll tell you what. What's really so craven about it is that they pick something that they implement badly and screw up, like Iraq or No Child Left Behind or the Patriot Act. And when you point out that they screwed it up, they say that you're "flip-flopping."

But they , on the other hand, break a promise to have no deficit, break a promise not to invade Social Security, break a promise to fund No Child Left Behind, break a promise to introduce the four-pollutant bill and move forward on the environment, break a promise to deal with the real health issues and prescription drugs, break a promise of humility in American foreign policy. I mean, you start running down the list -- I've never seen a grander array of flip-flops. This is the biggest "say one thing, do another" administration in modern history.

Word!

They have such dishonest politics, even more than usual from Washington.
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Krugman, go read!

ome news organizations, including The New York Times, are currently engaged in self-criticism over the run-up to the Iraq war. They are asking, as they should, why poorly documented claims of a dire threat received prominent, uncritical coverage, while contrary evidence was either ignored or played down.

But it's not just Iraq, and it's not just The Times. Many journalists seem to be having regrets about the broader context in which Iraq coverage was embedded: a climate in which the press wasn't willing to report negative information about George Bush.

People who get their news by skimming the front page, or by watching TV, must be feeling confused by the sudden change in Mr. Bush's character. For more than two years after 9/11, he was a straight shooter, all moral clarity and righteousness.

But now those people hear about a president who won't tell a straight story about why he took us to war in Iraq or how that war is going, who can't admit to and learn from mistakes, and who won't hold himself or anyone else accountable. What happened?

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Arianna's new colum!

Coincidentally, these companies and their oil and gas industry brethren have a highly profitable habit of greasing the receptive palms of their friend George Bush -- doling out over $3.5 million to his 2000 and 2004 presidential runs.

So for American consumers, payback is a bitch. And over two bucks a gallon at the gas pump.

Indeed, since taking office, the Bush administration has turned the White House into a veritable full service fueling station for Big Oil. And we're the ones being forced to pick up the tab.

How has Bush responded to Big Oil's call to "fill 'er up"? Let me count the ways:

1.5: the meager miles per gallon Bush has proposed increasing fuel efficiency standards for light trucks and SUVs, which are allowed to average 7 miles per gallon less than regular cars.

33: the number of oil refinery mergers the Bush administration has allowed, while refusing to block a single oily takeover. Who needs all that messy free market competition, anyway?

41: the number of top-level Bush administration officials with ties to the oil industry, including Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Evans, Gale Norton and Condoleezza Rice -- the only national security adviser in history to have an oil tanker named after her.

100,000: the amount, in dollars, that buyers of extra large -- and extra gas-guzzling -- SUVs are able to write off in taxes thanks to a scandalous loophole the president signed into law.

23 billion: the number of dollars in tax incentives, tax credits and tax deductions earmarked for the president's energy industry chums in the Bush-backed energy bill passed by the House and awaiting a vote in the Senate.

Infinite (or does it only seem so?): the number of times the president has resurrected the idea that drilling in Alaska's pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would make us less dependent on foreign oil -- even though such drilling would, at best, produce enough oil to meet only six months of America's energy needs. And it would take 10 years to do even that.

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MTV won't air ads for "Supersize Me"

Film documentary "Super Size Me," a critical look at the health impact of a fast-food only diet, has been downsized at cable network MTV which has refused to air advertisements for the film, its distributors said on Wednesday.


Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films said in a statement the cable TV channel targeted to young audiences has told them the ads are "disparaging to fast food restaurants."

The distributors said MTV sister network VH1 was planning to use clips from the movie in a program called "Best Week Ever," but the clips were pulled before the show aired.

An MTV spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment. MTV and VH1 are owned by media giant Viacom Inc, which depends on advertising for a major portion of revenues.

For "Super Size Me," director Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but food from McDonald's restaurants over 30-day period, and if asked whether he wanted the larger, "supersize" meal, he always said yes.

Over the month, he gains weight and his health declines. Documenting the impact are not only the cameras but also his doctors. Spurlock mixes in various facts and figures about food and dieting as he travels the United States talking to health and food experts in 20 cities.

I'm old enough to remember MTV being subersive, now it's just a tool!
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The lead story on Drudge............


GRRRRRRRRRORE!

Our real president deserves better, and I didn't even vote for the guy!
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Al Gore's speech, damn good!

George W. Bush promised us a foreign policy with humility. Instead, he has brought us humiliation in the eyes of the world.

He promised to "restore honor and integrity to the White House." Instead, he has brought deep dishonor to our country and built a durable reputation as the most dishonest President since Richard Nixon.

Honor? He decided not to honor the Geneva Convention. Just as he would not honor the United Nations, international treaties, the opinions of our allies, the role of Congress and the courts, or what Jefferson described as "a decent respect for the opinion of mankind." He did not honor the advice, experience and judgment of our military leaders in designing his invasion of Iraq. And now he will not honor our fallen dead by attending any funerals or even by permitting photos of their flag-draped coffins.

How did we get from September 12th , 2001, when a leading French newspaper ran a giant headline with the words "We Are All Americans Now" and when we had the good will and empathy of all the world -- to the horror that we all felt in witnessing the pictures of torture in Abu Ghraib.

To begin with, from its earliest days in power, this administration sought to radically destroy the foreign policy consensus that had guided America since the end of World War II. The long successful strategy of containment was abandoned in favor of the new strategy of "preemption." And what they meant by preemption was not the inherent right of any nation to act preemptively against an imminent threat to its national security, but rather an exotic new approach that asserted a unique and unilateral U.S. right to ignore international law wherever it wished to do so and take military action against any nation, even in circumstances where there was no imminent threat. All that is required, in the view of Bush's team is the mere assertion of a possible, future threat - and the assertion need be made by only one person, the President.

More disturbing still was their frequent use of the word "dominance" to describe their strategic goal, because an American policy of dominance is as repugnant to the rest of the world as the ugly dominance of the helpless, naked Iraqi prisoners has been to the American people. Dominance is as dominance does.

Dominance is not really a strategic policy or political philosophy at all. It is a seductive illusion that tempts the powerful to satiate their hunger for more power still by striking a Faustian bargain. And as always happens - sooner or later - to those who shake hands with the devil, they find out too late that what they have given up in the bargain is their soul.

One of the clearest indications of the impending loss of intimacy with one's soul is the failure to recognize the existence of a soul in those over whom power is exercised, especially if the helpless come to be treated as animals, and degraded. We also know - and not just from De Sade and Freud - the psychological proximity between sexual depravity and other people's pain. It has been especially shocking and awful to see these paired evils perpetrated so crudely and cruelly in the name of America.

Those pictures of torture and sexual abuse came to us embedded in a wave of news about escalating casualties and growing chaos enveloping our entire policy in Iraq. But in order understand the failure of our overall policy, it is important to focus specifically on what happened in the Abu Ghraib prison, and ask whether or not those actions were representative of who we are as Americans? Obviously the quick answer is no, but unfortunately it's more complicated than that.

There is good and evil in every person. And what makes the United States special in the history of nations is our commitment to the rule of law and our carefully constructed system of checks and balances. Our natural distrust of concentrated power and our devotion to openness and democracy are what have lead us as a people to consistently choose good over evil in our collective aspirations more than the people any other nation.

Our founders were insightful students of human nature. They feared the abuse of power because they understood that every human being has not only "better angels" in his nature, but also an innate vulnerability to temptation - especially the temptation to abuse power over others.

Our founders understood full well that a system of checks and balances is needed in our constitution because every human being lives with an internal system of checks and balances that cannot be relied upon to produce virtue if they are allowed to attain an unhealthy degree of power over their fellow citizens.

Listen then to the balance of internal impulses described by specialist Charles Graner when confronted by one of his colleagues, Specialist Joseph M. Darby, who later became a courageous whistleblower. When Darby asked him to explain his actions documented in the photos, Graner replied: "The Christian in me says it's wrong, but the Corrections Officer says, 'I love to make a groan man piss on himself."

What happened at the prison, it is now clear, was not the result of random acts by "a few bad apples," it was the natural consequence of the Bush Administration policy that has dismantled those wise constraints and has made war on America's checks and balances.

The abuse of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib flowed directly from the abuse of the truth that characterized the Administration's march to war and the abuse of the trust that had been placed in President Bush by the American people in the aftermath of September 11th.

There was then, there is now and there would have been regardless of what Bush did, a threat of terrorism that we would have to deal with. But instead of making it better, he has made it infinitely worse. We are less safe because of his policies. He has created more anger and righteous indignation against us as Americans than any leader of our country in the 228 years of our existence as a nation -- because of his attitude of contempt for any person, institution or nation who disagrees with him.

He has exposed Americans abroad and Americans in every U.S. town and city to a greater danger of attack by terrorists because of his arrogance, willfulness, and bungling at stirring up hornet's nests that pose no threat whatsoever to us. And by then insulting the religion and culture and tradition of people in other countries. And by pursuing policies that have resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children, all of it done in our name.

President Bush said in his speech Monday night that the war in Iraq is "the central front in the war on terror." It's not the central front in the war on terror, but it has unfortunately become the central recruiting office for terrorists. [Dick Cheney said, "This war may last the rest of our lives.] The unpleasant truth is that President Bush's utter incompetence has made the world a far more dangerous place and dramatically increased the threat of terrorism against the United States. Just yesterday, the International Institute of Strategic Studies reported that the Iraq conflict " has arguable focused the energies and resources of Al Qaeda and its followers while diluting those of the global counterterrorism coalition." The ISS said that in the wake of the war in Iraq Al Qaeda now has more than 18,000 potential terrorists scattered around the world and the war in Iraq is swelling its ranks.

The war plan was incompetent in its rejection of the advice from military professionals and the analysis of the intelligence was incompetent in its conclusion that our soldiers would be welcomed with garlands of flowers and cheering crowds. Thus we would not need to respect the so-called Powell doctrine of overwhelming force.

There was also in Rumsfeld's planning a failure to provide security for nuclear materials, and to prevent widespread lawlessness and looting.

Luckily, there was a high level of competence on the part of our soldiers even though they were denied the tools and the numbers they needed for their mission. What a disgrace that their families have to hold bake sales to buy discarded Kevlar vests to stuff into the floorboards of the Humvees! Bake sales for body armor

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Bush creating more terrorists, no sh*t!

Far from being crippled by the U.S.-led war on terror, al-Qaida has more than 18,000 potential terrorists scattered around the world and the war in Iraq is swelling its ranks, a report said Tuesday.



Al-Qaida is probably working on plans for major attacks on the United States and Europe, and it may be seeking weapons of mass destruction in its desire to inflict as many casualties as possible, the International Institute of Strategic Studies said in its annual survey of world affairs.



Osama bin Laden's network appears to be operating in more than 60 nations, often in concert with local allies, the study by the independent think tank said.




Although about half of al-Qaida's top 30 leaders have been killed or captured, it has an effective leadership, with bin Laden apparently still playing a key role, it said.



"Al-Qaida must be expected to keep trying to develop more promising plans for terrorist operations in North America and Europe, potentially involving weapons of mass destruction," IISS director Dr. John Chipman told a press conference releasing "Strategic Survey 2003/4

Kerry 2004, 'Nuff said!
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Nader, again, calls for Bush to be impeached

Ralph Nader, the independent candidate for president, condemned President George W. Bush yesterday as a "messianic militarist" who should be impeached for pushing the nation into a war in Iraq "based on false pretenses."



Mr. Bush's actions "rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors," Mr. Nader said in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan. He said Mr. Bush had exceeded his authority in the face of widespread opposition at home and abroad.



"The founding fathers did not want the declaration of war put in the hands of one man," he said, contending that United States foreign policy goals are being hindered because the president tends to "talk like an out-of-control West Texas sheriff."



Mr. Nader said the White House should set a specific date before the end of 2004 to withdraw American troops. At the same time, he said he would advocate internationally supervised elections in Iraq.

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MY internet keeps going out, so if you don't hear from me...I'll be reading!
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Russert puts them to sleep in Boston, now they know how I feel every sunday morning.

Although parts of Russert's speech were punctuated by cheers and laughter, some graduates napped throughout the ceremony, or shook off sleep only long enough to applaud now and then. Others wore sunglasses, even though bad weather had pushed the ceremony indoors.

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Babylon 5 actor Richard Biggs dead at 44

A posting on a "Babylon 5" message board by J. Michael Straczynski, the sci-fi show's creator, said the cause of death has not been determined but that "paramedics who showed up suggested it was either an aneurysm or a massive stroke."

Biggs, a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Theatre, gained his first major exposure as Dr. Marcus Hunter on "Days of Our Lives." He was on the NBC show for five years.

He also appeared on Lifetime's "Any Day Now" and "Strong Medicine." Most recently, he played Clayton Boudreaux on the CBS soap opera "Guiding Light."

"Babylon 5" fans and staff were shocked by his passing.

"Richard was a consummate professional, but more than that he was an honorable, stand-up guy," Straczynski wrote in his posting. "He was, quite simply, a terrific guy, and everyone here is just devastated at the news."

Biggs is survived by his wife, Lori Gerber, and two sons

My heart goes out to his family!
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For you guys who gave me grief when I complained that Afghan fiasco was out of control because we let warlords and the Taliban take over and the same will happen in Iraq, well here it is: Nation building Dubya style

With only weeks to go until an Iraqi government takes over, American officials have failed to disarm the tens of thousands of fighters in private militias deployed almost exclusively along ethnic and religious lines.

In the 15 months since the fall of Saddam Hussein, American officials have declared repeatedly that they would disband the private militias, recognizing that their narrow, sectarian interests could threaten a unified and democratic Iraqi state.

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But with the sharp deterioration of the security situation in recent months, American officials appear to have resigned themselves to working with militias in Falluja, Baghdad and elsewhere even as American soldiers die fighting them in street battles in Karbala and Najaf.

A senior allied official said Monday that the Americans were engaged in delicate negotiations with several of the country's main militias to disband and integrate them into the security forces. The official said the Americans hoped to announce an agreement with the militias as early as this week. But it is not clear, with so few weeks left before the transfer of sovereignty, whether the Americans will have the leverage to disarm the militias.

The danger is that on June 30 the Americans will hand over power to an Iraqi administration that will not have a monopoly on the use of armed force, in an environment that many fear could set the stage for sectarian and ethnic warfare as the country moves toward what are intended to be democratic elections.

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Battleground states turning blue!

Remember, it's only May so keep working and get those leads into double digits!

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Molly Ivins: How Fascism starts

It's pretty easy to get to the point where you don't want to hear any more about Abu Ghraib prison and what went on there. But there are some really good reasons why Americans should take a look at why this happened.

I suspect the division here is not between liberals and conservatives (except for a few inane comments made by some trying to be flippant), but between those who are following the story closely and those who are not. I particularly recommend both Sy Hersh's follow-up piece in the current issue of The New Yorker and the investigative piece in the current issue of Newsweek. What seems to me more important than the "Oh ugh" factor is just how easy it is for standards of law and behavior of slip into bestiality.

The problems go all the way back to the administration's refusal to abide by the Geneva Conventions. President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft "signed off on a secret system of detention and interrogation that opened the door to such methods. It was an approach that they adopted in order to sidestep the historical safeguards of the Geneva Convention, which protect the rights of detainees and prisoners of war," according to Newsweek.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and the military's lawyers objected. You may recall the military's objections (broadcast, as usual, by retired officers) were on the excellent grounds that if we didn't observe the Geneva Conventions neither would our enemies -- the very reason they were signed in the first place.

The Pentagon still insists that "suspected Al Qaeda followers" have no rights under Geneva III, as they are "enemy combatants" rather than POWs. Geneva III also has procedures for what to do if the status of a detainee is in doubt -- full Geneva rights apply until "a competent tribunal" decides. We have been holding 595 prisoners at Guantanamo for two and half years, not counting those we have already let go, in conditions in violation of Geneva. Only now are a few of these prisoners being assigned lawyers, and the lawyers are raising hell about the whole process.

The legal rationale came from White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, including the line, "In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."

According to Newsweek, Bush first signed a secret order granting new powers to the CIA, a directive authorizing it to set up secret detention facilities outside the United States and to question those held in them with unprecedented harshness. The agency also schlepped suspected terrorists off to other countries known to practice torture.

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Bush to present a clear message...have you heard this guy talk?

Facing political discord over the war in Iraq, President Bush tries to reassure voters Monday that hundreds of Americans have not died in vain, and to tell the world he has a blueprint to create a democratic nation.

Five months before the U.S. election and just five weeks before the June 30 hand-off of political power in Iraq, Bush travels late Monday to the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., to give the first in a series of speeches about the future of Iraq. Bush will give a televised speech tonight.

Earlier in the day, the United States and Britain presented a new U.N. resolution that would transfer "governing authority" in Iraq to a sovereign interim government by June 30 and authorize a multinational force to maintain peace with Iraqi consent.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb in Baghdad destroyed a civilian car with armor plating near an entrance to the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition, killing two Britons and injuring two other people.


Worldwide attention is focused on the transfer of sovereignty next month, but the president is expected to lay out a timeline in Iraq that extends until elections are held early next year.

He was to offer a "clear strategy" for getting there, but was not expected to address the question of when American troops will return from Iraq, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday.

With an eye on the future, Bush's prime-time speech will address two issues dominating U.S. efforts in Iraq: The creation of a new Iraqi interim government, whose leaders are to be announced within days, and ways to improve security in areas of Iraq still rife with violence.

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The Nuclear network is still active

As they race to dismantle a global black market in nuclear weapons components, U.S. authorities are focusing on an unusual case: an Orthodox Jew from Israel accused of trying to sell nuclear weapons parts to a business associate in Islamic Pakistan.

Asher Karni, 50, currently a resident of South Africa, was arrested at Denver's international airport as he arrived with his wife and daughter for a New Year's ski vacation. Friends and family have been pressing for his release, describing him as a hard-working electronics salesman just trying to earn a living.


However, federal authorities contend that Karni is something more: a veteran player in an underground network of traffickers in parts, technology and know-how for the clandestine nuclear weapons programs of foreign governments.

The Karni case offers a rare glimpse into what authorities say is an international bazaar teeming with entrepreneurs, transporters, scientists, manufacturers, government agents, organized-crime syndicates and, perhaps, terrorists.

Authorities say the case also provides a classic illustration of how illicit nuclear traffickers operate — readily skirting export bans, disguising the real use for products, using middlemen to buy from legitimate manufacturers and routing shipments through several countries.

Scary, read on!
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You may ask yourself, "How can tha Iraq fiasco get any worse" than you read things like For months they wondered what they had in common, how their names had come to the attention of the Pentagon, until one day they figured it out: They had all posted their resumes at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank,

what's worse you say?

They are just a bunch of Young Republicans with no experience

It was after nightfall when they finally found their offices at Saddam Hussein's Republican Palace -- 11 jet-lagged, sweaty, idealistic volunteers who had come to help Iraq along the road to democracy.

When the U.S. government went looking for people to help rebuild Iraq, they had responded to the call. They supported the war effort and President Bush. Many had strong Republican credentials. They were in their twenties or early thirties and had no foreign service experience. On that first day, Oct. 1, they knew so little about how things worked that they waited hours at the airport for a ride that was never coming. They finally discovered the shuttle bus out of the airport but got off at the wrong stop.

Occupied Iraq was just as Simone Ledeen had imagined -- ornate mosques, soldiers in formation, sand blowing everywhere, "just like on TV." The 28-year-old daughter of neoconservative pundit Michael Ledeen and a recently minted MBA, she had arrived on a military transport plane with the others and was eager to get to work.

They had been hired to perform a low-level task: collecting and organizing statistics, surveys and wish lists from the Iraqi ministries for a report that would be presented to potential donors at the end of the month. But as suicide bombs and rocket attacks became almost daily occurrences, more and more senior staffers defected. In short order, six of the new young hires found themselves managing the country's $13 billion budget, making decisions affecting millions of Iraqis.

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Michael Moore: "The President had not been eating a pretzel when he heard the news."

After winning the top prize at Cannes for his anti-Bush documentary, American filmmaker Michael Moore said he hoped the President had not been eating a pretzel when he heard the news.

Moore admitted to one regret after accepting the Palme d'Or on Saturday -- he forgot to thank George W. Bush for providing the funniest lines in "Fahrenheit 9/11", a blistering attack on Bush's handling of Iraq and the war on terror.

Moore hopes to release the film this summer and spark heated political debate with his searing diatribe in the run-up to November's presidential election.

Asked what he thought Bush's reaction might be to the award, he told a packed news conference: "He is probably choking on a pretzel or something. I hope nobody tells him that I have won this award while he is eating a pretzel."

Bush fainted in 2002 after choking on a pretzel while watching a football game on television.

"He has the funniest lines in the film. I am eternally grateful to him," Moore said.

The Oscar-winning director mocked leading members of the Bush administration, saying: "I believe them to be actors.

"I forgot out there on the stage to thank my cast. So if I could do that now, I want to thank Mr Bush, Mr Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld. I thought the love scene between Cheney and Rumsfeld brought a tear to my eye."

he he he he he he
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New David Corn Article

Let's review.

* The head of the picked-in-Washington Governing Council in Iraq was assassinated just outside the highly protected command center of the occupation six weeks before a new but yet to be named Iraqi government assumes sovereignty.

* The Baghdad home and compound of Ahmad Chalabi, whose Iraqi National Congress received $27 million in US taxpayer money for providing wrong and misleading (deliberately so) intelligence on WMDs and other matters, was raided by US troops and Iraqi police, pursuant to warrants issued by an Iraqi judge. The early indications are Chalabi's gang may stand accused of a) corruption; b) impeding an investigation into possible corruption in the UN's oil-for-food program in Iraq; c) fomenting a coup or otherwise trying to interfere in the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq; d) engaging in espionage by sharing sensitive information with Iran; or e) all of the above. The raid came two days after the Pentagon stopped funding the INC and four days after Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged he had made false assertions about Iraq possessing mobile biological weapons labs during his February 2003 presentation to the UN Security Council. That charge had been based on intelligence provided by an INC source. At Bush's State of the Union speech in January, Chalabi was a guest of the president and sat right behind Laura Bush.

* An attack mounted by US forces near the Syrian border has led to charges that the American troops massacred a wedding party. The US military claims it struck a legitimate military target. Local Iraqi health officials maintain most of the victims were women and children.

* The prison abuse scandal rolls on, with more photos and more videotapes. Meanwhile, a soldier who worked for military intelligence at Abu Ghraib military has gone public with the accusation that guards at the prison were encouraged to abuse the prisoners. At higher levels, the US military and senior military officials have not been able to get their stories straight on who actually was in charge at Abu Ghraib and what interrogation practices were authorized (and by whom) regarding Iraqi detainees.

* The newspapers are filled with quotes from US officials working for the occupation authority who express despair and discouragement about the current situation and the road (or lack thereof) ahead.

* There are signs that security in Iraq is deteriorating further. Iraqis complain about kidnappings and lawlessness. American reporters, by and large, rarely venture beyond the Green Zone and their hotels. Earlier this week, a Time writer told me that the newsmagazine has only three people in Iraq. Much of the video footage shown on cable news stations has been shot by non-Americans hired by US media outlets. The war is too unsafe for Americans to cover. And reconstruction efforts are slowing down or stopping.

* Halliburton still cannot work up a legitimate bill for hundreds of millions of dollars in food services it has supplied in Iraq.

* Neocon Bill Kristol, one of the main promoters of the war, called George W. Bush's handling of the war "incompetent." Columnist George Will has accused the Bush administration of being unable to think clearly about Iraq. Senator Pat Roberts, the Republican chairman of the intelligence committee, has groused about "growing US messianic instincts." In other words, some hawk-mice are abandoning the ship. (They're not calling for withdrawal--the neocons, actually, are urging dramatically expanding the US military mission in Iraq--but they are distancing themselves from the commander-in-chief.)

* And remember how the war in Iraq was supposed to bolster the Middle East peace process? Tell that to the parents of the children recently killed in Gaza during a protest.

Enjoy
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New David Corn Article

Let's review.

* The head of the picked-in-Washington Governing Council in Iraq was assassinated just outside the highly protected command center of the occupation six weeks before a new but yet to be named Iraqi government assumes sovereignty.

* The Baghdad home and compound of Ahmad Chalabi, whose Iraqi National Congress received $27 million in US taxpayer money for providing wrong and misleading (deliberately so) intelligence on WMDs and other matters, was raided by US troops and Iraqi police, pursuant to warrants issued by an Iraqi judge. The early indications are Chalabi's gang may stand accused of a) corruption; b) impeding an investigation into possible corruption in the UN's oil-for-food program in Iraq; c) fomenting a coup or otherwise trying to interfere in the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq; d) engaging in espionage by sharing sensitive information with Iran; or e) all of the above. The raid came two days after the Pentagon stopped funding the INC and four days after Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged he had made false assertions about Iraq possessing mobile biological weapons labs during his February 2003 presentation to the UN Security Council. That charge had been based on intelligence provided by an INC source. At Bush's State of the Union speech in January, Chalabi was a guest of the president and sat right behind Laura Bush.

* An attack mounted by US forces near the Syrian border has led to charges that the American troops massacred a wedding party. The US military claims it struck a legitimate military target. Local Iraqi health officials maintain most of the victims were women and children.

* The prison abuse scandal rolls on, with more photos and more videotapes. Meanwhile, a soldier who worked for military intelligence at Abu Ghraib military has gone public with the accusation that guards at the prison were encouraged to abuse the prisoners. At higher levels, the US military and senior military officials have not been able to get their stories straight on who actually was in charge at Abu Ghraib and what interrogation practices were authorized (and by whom) regarding Iraqi detainees.

* The newspapers are filled with quotes from US officials working for the occupation authority who express despair and discouragement about the current situation and the road (or lack thereof) ahead.

* There are signs that security in Iraq is deteriorating further. Iraqis complain about kidnappings and lawlessness. American reporters, by and large, rarely venture beyond the Green Zone and their hotels. Earlier this week, a Time writer told me that the newsmagazine has only three people in Iraq. Much of the video footage shown on cable news stations has been shot by non-Americans hired by US media outlets. The war is too unsafe for Americans to cover. And reconstruction efforts are slowing down or stopping.

* Halliburton still cannot work up a legitimate bill for hundreds of millions of dollars in food services it has supplied in Iraq.

* Neocon Bill Kristol, one of the main promoters of the war, called George W. Bush's handling of the war "incompetent." Columnist George Will has accused the Bush administration of being unable to think clearly about Iraq. Senator Pat Roberts, the Republican chairman of the intelligence committee, has groused about "growing US messianic instincts." In other words, some hawk-mice are abandoning the ship. (They're not calling for withdrawal--the neocons, actually, are urging dramatically expanding the US military mission in Iraq--but they are distancing themselves from the commander-in-chief.)

* And remember how the war in Iraq was supposed to bolster the Middle East peace process? Tell that to the parents of the children recently killed in Gaza during a protest.

Enjoy
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Arianna's new article

There is no shortage of comparisons between our current military misadventures and Vietnam. But after watching "RFK," David Grubin's powerful new documentary on the life of Robert F. Kennedy set to air on PBS in October, I feel there is a more useful comparison -- not of the two wars but of two eras and two leaders.

John Kerry has said that he would one day like to write a book entitled simply "1968." In fact, it was impossible to watch "RFK" and not be struck by the many historical parallels between 1968 and today, by how much the legacy of Bobby Kennedy animates John Kerry's run for the White House -- and how Kerry is in a unique position to complete Kennedy's unfinished mission of ending a misguided war, returning real compassion to our domestic agenda, and bringing us together as a nation.

"As a survivor of RFK's 1968 campaign," historian Arthur Schlesinger told me, "I see John Kerry in the JFK/RFK tradition -- a brave, intelligent, and thoughtful man. I find many similarities between that campaign and this one, especially our entanglement in a hopeless war at the expense of urgent domestic woes."

In the film, former Senator and RFK confidant Harris Wofford says that Kennedy told him that he was running for president "to save the soul of the country."

Kerry has already fueled his campaign with similar aspirations. "America is more than a piece of geography," he said in a speech earlier this month, "more than the name of a country. It is the most powerful idea in human history: freedom and equal opportunity for all… I am running for president to renew that idea and spirit again."

And not a minute too soon. You know the idea and spirit of America are in desperate need of renewal when the most stirring rallying cry we can muster these days is, "At least we don't behead people!"

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I finished watching "Bowling for Columbine" and wow, brilliant film.


The over all big picture idea of the movie is to lose the fear we have of each other, the Xenophobia only makes us crazy.

I live in a shitty town, the crime rate is pretty high and we've had attempted break ins, about 10 or so in 5 years. I do the rounds always a lite sleeper anyways the slightest sounds wakes me up...now I am a bit paranoid because I caught someone the other day spying into my house, but I'm not afraid.

I know that seems very stupid, I just don't let them put fear in me. If I need to protect my own (god be with the idiots who break in) I'll do just that but I'm not scared.


We need to lose the anger and fear we have, it's eating us alive!

It's 5AM, good morning, I will post later today!
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What Scott Ritter has to say about the current Sarin Gas/WMD situation

In the mid-1980s I served as the intelligence officer for a Marine artillery battalion. Stationed in Twentynine Palms, Calif., I would often find myself deployed in the field, on exercises where thousands of live artillery rounds were fired downrange. In keeping with the Marine artillery motto of "shoot, move, communicate," we were always moving from one firing location to another to simulate modern war. This mobility had us often passing through live-fire impact areas. One thing you quickly learned was not to touch anything lying on the ground, because modern artillery shells had a high "dud" rate, meaning they didn't always function the way they were intended. Tens of thousands of these "duds" were scattered across the desert terrain, not unlike those found in Iraq.

What makes this relevant now is the ongoing speculation about the source of the sarin chemical artillery shell that the US military found rigged as an improvised explosive device (IED) last week in Baghdad. If the 155-mm shell was a "dud" fired long ago - which is highly likely - then it would not be evidence of the secret stockpile of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that the Bush administration used as justification to invade Iraq.As a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, I know that the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), the US-led unit now responsible for investigating WMD in Iraq, could quite easily determine whether this shell had been fired long ago or not. Given the trouble the administration has had in documenting its past allegations about WMD, releasing the news of last week's sarin shell without the key information about the state of the shell itself seems disingenuous.

As a former UN inspector, I'm also familiar with the level of disarmament achieved concerning Iraq's banned WMD. And during my time in Iraq, 95 percent of the WMD produced by Iraq were verifiably accounted for. But I've always contended that Iraq is a WMD archaeological site, and that if one digs long enough, vestiges of these past WMD programs will be uncovered. Determining whether the discovery of the sarin artillery shell represents such an archaeological discovery, or is part of Saddam Hussein's alleged stockpile of WMD, rests with a full forensic exam of the shell.

The key to whether the sarin artillery round came from an arms cache or was a derelict dud rests in the physical characteristics of the shell. The artillery shells in question were fitted with two aluminum cannisters separated by a rupture disk. The two precursor chemicals for the kind of sarin associated with this shell were stored separately in these containers. The thrust of the shell being fired was designed to cause the liquid in the forward cannister to press back and break the rupture disk, whereupon the rotation of the shell as it headed downrange would mix the two precursors together, creating sarin. Upon impact with the ground - or in the air, if a timed fuse was used - a burster charge would break the shell, releasing the sarin gas.

Many things go wrong when firing an artillery round: the propellent charge can be faulty, resulting in a round that doesn't reach its target; the fuse can malfunction, preventing the burster charge from going off, leaving the round intact; the rupture disk can fail to burst, keeping precursor chemicals from combining. The fuse could break off on impact, leaving the fuse cavity empty. To the untrained eye, the artillery shell, if found in this state, would look weathered, but unfired.

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Will Kerry delay his nomination to rasie more money?

If Kerry were to delay acceptance of his nomination for a month, he would even the playing field with President Bush, who is planning to accept the nomination at the Republican National Convention five weeks later. The party convention would still be held at the end of July, but Kerry would officially accept the nomination at a later date under such a plan.

Kerry and Bush are expected to use federal funding for their general election campaign and will be limited to spending the roughly $75 million in federal funds given to each candidate once they accepts the nomination. At that point, neither candidate would be able to raise or spend private funds.

“We are looking at this and many other options very seriously because we won’t fight with one hand behind our back,” Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Friday. ...

Both Kerry and Bush are expected to accept $75 million in full government financing for the general-election phase of their campaigns, which starts for each when he is nominated.

If Kerry is nominated in late July as the party planned, he will have to make his $75 million check last five weeks longer than Bush. Because the Republican convention is timed later than the Democratic gathering, Bush will have about a month more to raise money from private contributors than Kerry.

As long as he beats Bush I don't care, it's not illegal or slimey in the least.
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Greg Palast interview from BuzzFlash

If there is one BuzzFlash interviewee who does not need an introduction, it is certainly award-winning investigative reporter Greg Palast. In the release of the third edition of Greg's book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Palast continues his quest to reveal corporate influence and corruption in government policy, in the media, and in virtually every aspect of our society. Palast's book is a must-read for any progressive trying to recognize corruption and its impact on the Iraq war, to see it in the close relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud and to understand its part in the stolen election in Florida and in the continuing assault on African-American voters on a national scale.

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With a face like this, would you trust the guy?

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Retroactive censorship from the Junta, they are hiding something!

The Justice Department has taken the unusual step of retroactively classifying information it gave to Congress nearly two years ago regarding a former F.B.I. translator who charged that the bureau had missed critical terrorist warnings, officials said Wednesday.

Law enforcement officials say the secrecy surrounding the translator, Sibel Edmonds, is essential to protecting information that could reveal intelligence-gathering operations. But some members of Congress and Congressional aides said they were troubled by the move, which comes as critics have accused the Bush administration of excessive secrecy.

"What the F.B.I. is up to here is ludicrous," Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said in an interview. "To classify something that's already been out in the public domain, what do you accomplish? It does harm to transparency in government, and it looks like an attempt to cover up the F.B.I.'s problems in translating intelligence."

What are they holding back from the public?

If there is nothing to hide, release it all or theories will abound!
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"Ready to take the training wheels off!"

Iraqis are ready to "take the training wheels off" and assume political power from the U.S.-led coalition, President Bush said Thursday as his administration began to roll out a rough plan for the June 30 transition of authority.

Bush went to Capitol Hill to brief anxious Republican lawmakers, warning of more difficult days in Iraq even after the transfer of sovereignty.

"This has been a rough couple of months for the president, particularly on the issues of Iraq, and I think he was here to remind folks that we do have a policy and this policy is going to be tough," said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. "Things, as I think he commented, are very likely to get worse before they get better."

To who are we leaving this broken country to?

No, You're ready to dump Iraq to save your "reelection", pathetic.

This guy is a menace, dangerous to the world, HE NEEDS TO GO!

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Are the Log Cabin Republicans retarded?

The North Carolina Republican Party is refusing to let the Log Cabin Republicans set up a booth at this weekend's state convention -- a move that has prompted complaints from the homosexual group that says it stands for "fairness, inclusion, and tolerance in the GOP."

"Log Cabin Republicans believe that at a time when our country is at war, we ought to be bringing Republicans together, not dividing them, and certainly not excluding them from their own state convention," said Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director Patrick Guerriero in a statement on the group's website.

Ed Farthing, a North Carolina Log Cabin Republican, said he purchased a table at the NC state convention on behalf of the group in early April.

But N.C. GOP Chairman Ferrell Blount recently returned the money, along with what the Log Cabin Republicans called "a lengthy vitriolic letter" that said the group could not have a table after all. ...

Blount's letter reportedly said that "homosexuality is not normal and should not be established as an acceptable 'alternative' lifestyle." He also said the North Carolina Republican Party and the Log Cabin Republicans "do not seem to share the same agenda."

At their state convention this weekend, N.C. Republicans will vote on a platform that opposes same-sex marriage, the adoption of children by homosexuals, and taxpayer-funded benefits plans for unmarried partners, The Advocate reported.

"We believe that homosexuality is not normal and should not be established as an acceptable 'alternative' lifestyle either in public education or in public policy," the proposed platform says.

Wake up Log Cabin Repubs, You're not even considered fuc*ing human beings by these guys, let alone equals!

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Chalabi breaks off ties with Iraqi leadershiptwo years too late!

Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi said his relations with the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority were "non-existent" after an overnight raid against his house.

"My relationship with the CPA now is non-existent ..." he told reporters after claiming a firefight had narrowly been avoided between his guards and US-backed Iraqi police during the raid.


"I am America's best friend in Iraq; if the CPA finds it necessary to direct an armed attack against my home you can see the state of relations between the CPA and the Iraqi people."


The former Pentagon favourite also called on US President George W. Bush to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqi people without delay.


"My message to the CPA is let my people go, let my people be free. We are grateful to President Bush for liberating Iraq but it is time for the Iraqi people to run their affairs," he told a press conference.

So Chalabi isn't going to be the next Saddam, this guy was part of the cabal that lead us to war on lies and now he's cut off.

heh,hehe, hehee

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Senate fighting over the new budget

A rebellion among moderate Republican senators trying to curb tax cuts has thrust the compromise $2.4 trillion budget for 2005 into deep trouble in the Senate, despite the measure's House passage.


The House used a mostly party-line 216-213 vote Wednesday to approve the fiscal blueprint, a modest one-year plan shorn of any long-range policies on deficit-reduction or job creation to minimize controversy.


Republican leaders were hoping the House vote and pressure from administration officials would get Senate GOP moderates to relent.


"I hope senators recognize the importance of helping our nation's families and urge them to act quickly to make sure millions of taxpayers don't get hit with a tax hike," Treasury Secretary John Snow said in a written statement.

What a load of crap, "millions of tax payers don't get hit with a tax hike". We will have to raise taxes yet that isn't the point, no it won't, back up what you say Snow.

WTF, we need to pay down the debt before it bites us on the ass!
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As many know I was a fan of Angel, a series on the WB that got the AXE earlier this year. The show was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Spin off, yet it was more than that the show had it's own energy to it, much darker than Buffy (dark genre is my favorite) with stronger, better developed characters. For the older people think; Mary Tyler Moore spin off Lou Grant ( I know both were set in LA but Lou Grant didn't have Vampires...that we know of).

The series ended on a high note, my favorite character died, I was left wanting more...how better to end a show?

The Parent Network the WB will replace the show with Reality Television, as many other Networks are doing will only end poorly for them. Eventually Reality TV will die a slow death, dragging the Networks that sponsor such crap with them. Good television is fiction, reality is a fad, TV Execs stop killing shows!!!

Elimindate has a 24 hour run in Hell, remember that!

If you're unfamiliar with the show check out the best online guide to Angel at Angels Acolyte

It sucks but life goes on and one less hour of TV.
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Nader and Kerry had a meeting, both came out alive.

When Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry meets with independent rival Ralph Nader on Wednesday, Kerry isn't likely to ask him to leave the race. And it's even less likely that Nader will offer to bow out.

Kerry probably will point out that the two rivals share a goal - ousting President Bush - and contend that a joint effort is the best way to achieve it, aides to the Massachusetts senator said. Nader told The Associated Press that he looks forward to discussing "certain common policies" with Kerry.

"I think that's for the good of our country and for the benefit of the American people that are being ignored or repudiated by the Bush regime," Nader said in an interview.

Still, Kerry aides hope Nader eventually comes around to Kerry's view - if not after the meeting, then following what senior Democrats say will be a weeks-long campaign by party operatives to pressure Nader publicly and privately. That effort, being formulated by Democrats not aligned with the Kerry campaign, may include television commercials and challenging Nader's efforts to get on state ballots, the Democrats said on condition of anonymity.

As a Nader voter from 2000 I think he would make a fine President, but it's not going to happen in 2004. With the Reform party's nod last week Nader has ballot access in Florida, a tough state for Kerry to win, if Nader keeps pulling off 5% from Kerry such as the polls suggest, Nader this year will be a spoiler.
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Events in Iraq and other recent armed conflicts have time and again shown that the essential dignity of human beings is often among the first casualties of war,the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross said in an article published by the British Financial Times newspaper on Wednesday.

Numerous offenses are committed against civilians, wounded and sick combatants and those deprived of their liberty in armed conflicts around the world, which happens despite the fact that there is almost universal support for the Geneva Conventions, Jakob Kellenberger said in the article.

The shocking events concerning detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq are unfortunately just one example of violations of these laws and the values they embody, the article said.

In order to tackle violations of international humanitarian law committed in armed conflicts, simply paying lip service to the protection of human life and dignity is not enough, the article argued.


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Well the utter lack of planning of the post-invasion will result in Fewer than 25,000 Iraqis rebuilding Iraq!

Fewer than 25,000 Iraqis are working on projects in the U.S. reconstruction effort, tempering expectations that more than $18 billion in American spending would jump-start Iraq (news - web sites)'s economy and trigger a surge in goodwill toward the United States.

U.S. officials blame bureaucratic delays in contracting and the recent increase in violence for the low employment numbers, which represent less than 1 percent of Iraq's work force of more than 7 million.


The Bush administration is aiming to more than double the number of Iraqi workers to 50,000 in less than two months — when Washington expects to hand over limited authority to a caretaker Iraqi government.


Iraqis are thinking twice about working for the Americans because of the latest violence, which has targeted not only U.S. troops but also Iraqis working with them.


Violence earlier this spring "had an impact on the numbers of workers showing up," said Navy Capt. Bruce Cole, spokesman for the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s Iraq Program Management Office. "Some were probably afraid to be seen working with us on those projects. Our numbers are starting to come back up, though."

Iraqis should have been rebuilding Iraq, not war profiteers!
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Catch this interview David Cay Johnston who wrote Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich - and Cheat Everybody Else does Democracy now

Click here! for the interview.

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Those damn Tax raising Republicans

When Virginia's legislature voted last month to raise taxes by $1.5 billion to fund spending on education, roads and other needs, Republicans who see tax cutting as the party's binding issue were dismayed. The tax hike had been approved by a Republican-controlled legislature with a tradition of fiscal conservatism. More remarkable: It was $360 million more than Democratic Gov. Mark Warner had requested.


Virginia reflects a nationwide trend. The Republican Party, long the champion of less government and low taxes, has backed large boosts in spending and taxes in many states where the GOP controls the legislature, the governor's mansion or both. On average, the largest spending increases from 1997 through 2002 occurred in states where Republicans controlled both branches, according to a 2003 analysis by USA TODAY.


The trend appears broad enough to ask whether the country's two-decade entrancement with tax cuts may be easing.

So much for less spending and small government.

Does the Republican party have a base?
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Oliver North quote

NORTH: Alan -- Alan, for 13 or 14 days now, all we have seen on the front pages of America's newspapers is a group of obviously twisted young people with leashes and weird sex acts, the kind of thing that you might find on any college campus nowadays, being perpetrated by people in uniform.

REALLY?

I'm so glad I never joined a frat, with the sodomy, naked dog piles, torture stuff- I couldn't hang out with people who dig that kind of "fun".
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New Conason from Salon

How interesting, then, that one of Quinn Gillespie's top clients is European Aerospace and Defense Services (EADS), the parent company of Airbus Industrie -- which assembles its planes in Toulouse, France, and happens to be largely owned and controlled by the French state. Airbus is the main competitor to Chicago-based Boeing, which has long charged that the European defense giant competes unfairly in international aviation markets with enormous subsidies from both the French and German governments. The affected workers in depressed cities like Seattle might wonder why Gillespie complains about Kerry, when his own company is raking in dollars (or euros) from Airbus.

Partisan hypocrisy aside, Gillespie's remarkable position at the nexus of the White House, Congress and those seeking favors from the U.S. government is, as Public Citizen noted last year, an extraordinary opportunity to exploit conflicts of interest.

Thanks to friendly press coverage, Gillespie has moved back and forth, with unimpeded smoothness, from politics to government to lobbying to politics again. He oversaw the Bush transition team at the Commerce Department, where he installed one of his Quinn Gillespie employees in an influential position -- then turned around to lobby the department for his clients. He collected money from clients like Daimler Chrysler and Enron to pay for ads attacking environmentalists and promoting the Bush energy plan. He collected still more money from companies like Pfizer and Microsoft (another client) to promote the Bush education bill. He pushed the Republican Medicare bill that also happened to be the most important legislative priority of another major Quinn Gillespie client, the Health Insurance Association of America.

It's hard to imagine the Times publishing such an utterly sycophantic profile about any important Democrat. In fact, the Times and the Boston Globe (which is owned by the New York Times Company) seem determined to take down Kerry, much the way Times reporters did their worst in denigrating Al Gore four years ago.

But as party chairman, Gillespie controls vast amounts of funding for members of Congress who will vote on issues affecting Quinn Gillespie clients. As a key figure in the Bush-Cheney campaign, he has access to inside information about every issue, budget item, and political tactic that might affect those clients. The "potential for corruption," as Public Citizen noted, is enormous. Yet the supposedly liberal press, so indignant over Kerry's tenuous ties to lobbyists, looks at Gillespie and sees nothing worse than a cute conservative "attack puppy" they can scratch behind the ears.

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Rummy and Bush approved of the treatment in that prison

The White House put up three soldiers for court-martial, saying the pictures were all the work of a few bad-apple MPs who were poorly supervised. But evidence was mounting that the furor was only going to grow and probably sink some prominent careers in the process. Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John Warner declared the pictures were the worst "military misconduct" he'd seen in 60 years, and he planned more hearings. Republicans on Capitol Hill were notably reluctant to back Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. And NEWSWEEK has learned that U.S. soldiers and CIA operatives could be accused of war crimes. Among the possible charges: homicide involving deaths during interrogations. "The photos clearly demonstrate to me the level of prisoner abuse and mistreatment went far beyond what I expected, and certainly involved more than six or seven MPs," said GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, a former military prosecutor. He added: "It seems to have been planned."

Indeed, the single most iconic image to come out of the abuse scandal—that of a hooded man standing naked on a box, arms outspread, with wires dangling from his fingers, toes and penis—may do a lot to undercut the administration's case that this was the work of a few criminal MPs. That's because the practice shown in that photo is an arcane torture method known only to veterans of the interrogation trade. "Was that something that [an MP] dreamed up by herself? Think again," says Darius Rejali, an expert on the use of torture by democracies. "That's a standard torture. It's called 'the Vietnam.' But it's not common knowledge. Ordinary American soldiers did this, but someone taught them.

Suprise, Suprise...read the article, register to vote (if not already), Vote Kerry into office!

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Iraqi Governing president killed in bombing!

The president of the Iraqi Governing Council was killed early Monday in a huge explosion set off by a suicide bomber outside the headquarters of the U.S.-led occupation authority here.

At least 10 Iraqis were killed and six were wounded, and two U.S. soldiers were slightly injured, in a devastating attack on Iraq’s political leaders six weeks before the scheduled handover of limited political power to a new Iraqi government.

The explosion killed Izzedine Salim, who had held the rotating presidency of the Governing Council since May 1 and was a leader of the Islamic Dawa Party, one of the most influential Shiite Muslim political factions in Iraq.

If there is an Iraqi civil war, it's on our hands!
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Smafty mail is down.

This is the third time in three months that the service has been down, ugh!

Until it's back or I find another service send your hate mail here!

help_hannity@yahoo.fr
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Over 100,000 Israelis call for the withdrawl from the Gaza Strip

The rally in Tel Aviv was organised to show support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's pullout plan.

The controversial plan has been rejected by the ruling Likud party but polls show most Israelis support it.

Meanwhile, Palestinians won a small victory when an Israeli Court imposed a temporary ban on the demolition of houses in the Gaza Strip.

I hope they do, more work needs to be done.
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Will we pull out if the Iraqis ask us to, Colin Powell says Yes

Secretary of State Colin Powell emphatically said yesterday that if the incoming Iraqi interim government ordered the departure of foreign troops after June 30, they would pack up without protest, but emphasized he doubted such a request would be made.

Powell said the United States believes a U.N. resolution passed last year and Iraqi administrative law provide necessary authority for coalition forces currently numbering about 170,000 to remain even beyond the scheduled June 30 handover of limited sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.

Why the Hell are we even there right now?

Wouldn't a chaotic Iraq be much worse for the region AND the Iraqi people than a contained Saddam was?

Is this the Rove plan to take Iraq off the table?
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Gen. Zinni lists his view of the Ten mistakes made by this administration!

the first mistake that will be recorded in history, the belief that containment as a policy doesn't work

The second mistake I think history will record is that the strategy was flawed

The third mistake, I think was one we repeated from Vietnam, we had to create a false rationale for going in to get public support

We failed in number four, to internationalize the effort

I think the fifth mistake was that we underestimated the task.

The sixth mistake, and maybe the biggest one, was propping up and trusting the exiles

The seventh problem has been the lack of planning.

The eighth problem was the insufficiency of military forces on the ground

The ninth problem has been the ad hoc organization we threw in there.

the tenth mistake, and that's a series of bad decisions on the ground.

Go read the speech, reread the previous Wes Clark plan for democracy in the Middle East. Understanding what your doing is much better than dropping bombs just because you can.

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The NY Post "disses" Rumsfeld.

ACCORDING to his handlers, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld went to Baghdad to "boost troop morale." The best way the SecDef could improve morale would be to resign.

In Operation Iraqi Freedom, Rumsfeld and his apparatchiks boldly defended Washington while our troops fought overseas. Now that the battle's shifted to Capitol Hill in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the SecDef's in Iraq.

It's like all those press briefings in which he answers the questions when things are going well, but defers to those in uniform when things are going badly.

Should Rumsfeld resign over the prisoner abuse by rogue MPs? No. He should resign for the good of our military and our country. Those twisted photos are only one symptom of how badly the Rumsfeld era has derailed our military.

Rumsfeld has maintained a positive image with much of America because he controls information fanatically and tolerates no deviation from the party line. Differing opinions are punished in today's Pentagon - and every field general who has spoken plainly of the deficiencies of either the non-plan for the occupation of Iraq, the lack of sufficient troops (in Iraq or overall) or any aspect of Rumsfeld's "transformation" plan has seen his career ended.

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John Kerry has to go BIG to win this election, go sign Arianna Huffington's petition here!
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Michael (Weiner) Savage must feel unappreciated and ignored, here's the Savage in action.

[T]ake their deepest fear, the pig, the dog, the woman with the leash, and use it on them to break them!"

"Use ... [l]ittle, ugly women. And let 'em take big strapping Iraqis and put 'em on leashes naked."

"Instead of putting joysticks, I would have liked to have seen dynamite put in their orifices."

Being honest, I could feel that way too if it happened to a Rapist or a Child molster it'd be wrong I just wouldn't cry over it, however 70 to 90% in that Iraqi jail were innocent of ANY CRIME.


Now 80% of the Iraqi population distrust us.

This is bigger than Rummy, we need a new commander in chief!
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Cramming for an interview right now, brain full of facts and figures


will post later today.
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The "Star Wars" Missile defense doesn't work.

The multibillion-dollar U.S. ballistic missile shield due to start operating by Sept. 30 appears incapable of shooting down any incoming warheads, an independent scientists' group said on Thursday.

A technical analysis found "no basis for believing the system will have any capability to defend against a real attack," the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a 76-page report titled Technical Realities.

I hate paying for things like this, then finding out it doesn't work should make YOU angry.
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Oh Jesus, Now Kittens are being tortured!

Six soldiers were facing the likelihood of dismissal here Tuesday after outraging Australia by admitting to a court that they tortured to death a litter of kittens.

Amid continuing shock in Australia over allegations of US and British soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, colleagues of the six men, local residents and animal welfare groups have all expressed horror at the soldiers' cruelty.

KITTENS????

Are Puppies and babies next?


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The Lawn in Central park is more important than your freedom of speech!

Mayor Michael Bloomberg lobbied hard to attract the Republican convention to New York this summer. Now it's coming, and with it swarms of protesters. The city is obliged to offer hospitality to both the conventioneers and the demonstrators. A group opposed to the Bush administration's policies has applied to hold a march and a rally in Central Park, but the city has turned down the request without offering a reasonable alternative site. The city's position shows a lack of respect for the First Amendment, and is an invitation to disorder.

The group, United for Peace and Justice, applied last June for permits for a march and a rally of 250,000 people on the Great Lawn in Central Park. The group says the Great Lawn is one of the few places in Manhattan that can accommodate a rally this big. In the past, it has been the site of numerous large protests, concerts and other events, including a 1982 antinuclear rally attended by 700,000 people.

But since then, the Parks Department has invested millions of dollars in replanting and landscaping the Great Lawn, including an elaborate underground irrigation system. The city claims that the area is no longer appropriate for very large events, and it is directing the protesters to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens instead of Central Park, or to a circuitous route through the streets of the far West Side.

Neither option is acceptable. City Hall may want to declare Manhattan to be a no-free-speech zone for convention week, but critics have a right to gather in the same borough as the conventioneers they are protesting. Making a parade route available in Manhattan is not enough. The demonstrators have a right to a central rallying place in which they can speak and be heard. Depriving them of that would also present a far greater threat of spontaneous protests the police might not be able to control.

The city has not allowed events with hundreds of thousands of people on the Great Lawn since it was rebuilt in 1996, though it has given permits for ticketed events sponsored by large corporations. The carefully protected lawn is now lush and beautifully landscaped, but at a cost. Allowing the exercise of free speech is just as much a key function of the city's parks as allowing softball or in-line skating.

The Parks Department's dismay at the possible destruction of the grass and shrubbery is understandable. But if the mayor wants to protect the greenery, he is obligated to find an equally good place for the demonstrations. In this era of highly scripted conventions, the protests outside the convention hall may offer the most authentic political discourse of the week. When the nation watches what happens in New York during the convention, we want everyone to fully appreciate the glories of the city, and the way it has come back from the disaster of 9/11. But viewers also need to see a New York that is and always has been a place in which political expression is valued and protected.

So the Bush and the Cabal can exploit the people murdered on 9/11.

There was 500,000 people for the Simon and Garfunkel concert but your rights don't match up to "bridge over troubled waters"

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Bush flip flops...

Bush is against campaign finance reform; then he's for it.

Bush is against a Homeland Security Department; then he's for it.

Bush is against a 9/11 commission; then he's for it.

Bush is against an Iraq WMD investigation; then he's for it.

Bush is against nation building; then he's for it.

Bush is against deficits; then he's for them.

Bush is for free trade; then he's for tariffs on steel; then he's against them again.

Bush is against the U.S. taking a role in the Israeli Palestinian conflict; then he pushes for a "road map" and a Palestinian State.

Bush is for states right to decide on gay marriage, then he is for changing the constitution.

Bush first says he'll provide money for first responders (fire, police, emergency), then he doesn't.

Bush first says that 'help is on the way' to the military ... then he cuts benefits

Bush-"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. Bush-"I don't know where he is. I have no idea and I really don't care.

Bush claims to be in favor of the environment and then secretly starts drilling on Padre Island.

Bush talks about helping education and increases mandates while cutting funding.

Bush first says the U.S. won't negotiate with North Korea. Now he will

Bush goes to Bob Jones University. Then say's he shouldn't have.

Bush said he would demand a U.N. Security Council vote on whether to sanction military action against Iraq. Later Bush announced he would not call for a vote

Bush said the "mission accomplished" banner was put up by the sailors.  Bush later admits it was his advance team.

Bush was for fingerprinting and photographing Mexicans who enter the US. Bush after meeting with Pres. Fox, he's against it.

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Wes Clark on bringing democracy to the Middle East

During 2002 and early 2003, Bush administration officials put forth a shifting series of arguments for why we needed to invade Iraq. Nearly every one of these has been belied by subsequent events. We have yet to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; assuming that they exist at all, they obviously never presented an imminent threat. Saddam's alleged connections to al Qaeda turned out to be tenuous at best and clearly had nothing to do with September 11. The terrorists now in Iraq have largely arrived because we are there, and Saddam's security forces aren't. And peace between Israel and the Palestinians, which prominent hawks argued could be achieved "only through Baghdad," seems further away than ever.

Advocates of the invasion are now down to their last argument: that transforming Iraq from brutal tyranny to stable democracy will spark a wave of democratic reform throughout the Middle East, thereby alleviating the conditions that give rise to terrorism. This argument is still standing because not enough time has elapsed to test it definitively--though events in the year since Baghdad's fall do not inspire confidence. For every report of a growing conversation in the Arab world about the importance of democracy, there's another report of moderate Arabs feeling their position undercut by the backlash against our invasion. For every example of progress (Libya giving up its WMD program), there's an instance of backsliding (the Iranian mullahs purging reformist parliamentarians).

Interesting read, I recommend it.
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Iraqis behead a non mercenary contractor

An al Qaeda-linked Web site posted video Tuesday of a man who identified himself as an American and then was beheaded.

His captors said the United States refused to exchange him for prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison.

"For the mothers and wives of American soldiers, we tell you that we offered the U.S. administration to exchange this hostage for some of the detainees in Abu Ghraib, and they refused," a hooded man standing behind the American says in Arabic.

"So we tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls. You will not receive anything from us but coffins after coffins, slaughtered in this way."

At the beginning of the tape, the victim describes himself as Nicholas Berg from Pennsylvania.

God be with his family.

Did the trailer trash cost this man is life?

Did the lack of leadership result in torture?

Of course.

"Humanitarian do-gooders" as Inhofe calls the Red Cross are the heros, not the villians!
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FOX Newscaster arrested on DUI

WFLD-Channel 32 news anchor and veteran television reporter Walter Jacobson was arrested early Saturday morning for allegedly driving while under the influence of alcohol, Chicago Police said.

Jacobson, 66, also was charged with running a stop sign and obstructing traffic in Lincoln Park.

Now I know it isn't the same, so I have for you a blast from the past to ease your pain!

What scandals would you like to see FOX Pundits or Talking Heads involved in?

John Gibson waiting in line for a night of dancing and whipping at the White Swallow.

A" Girls Gone Wild" DVD showing A drunk Laure Dhue arrested at Mardi Gras wearing 50 pounds of beads- flashing the crowd screaming " I Hate Rita Cosby"!

Sean Hannity photographed in a dirty motel room, smoking crack and having sex with homeless men.......Wait, that was the dad from Alf...my bad.

I'm mean to FOX but they are lying propagandists!
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Tax breaks going to the poor?...no...the middle class?...NO... *sigh* corporations? BINGO

It started as an effort to eliminate a $5 billion tax break for exporters that irked the European Union ( news -web sites ). Since then, a tax bill has blossomed into a $170 billion cornucopia of breaks for a variety of groups ranging from farmers and railroads to the cruise ship industry, former Oldsmobile dealers, NASCAR ( news -web sites ) and makers of bows and arrows.


Typically, critics say, it is during the dark of night that lawmakers slip such benefits into bills like the one now before the Senate. This time, however, many of the tax breaks were added in full light of day.

The Senate Finance Committee chairman publicly disclosed most of them and folded them into the corporate tax bill, which Republicans are calling the Jumpstart Our Business Strength (JOBS) bill. Then Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, asked colleagues to support it.

"Keep in mind," Grassley said, "that the JOBS bill could be the last train out of town this year."

Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said it was an "in-your-face, `Here's your special parochial pork barrel tax provision, now I want your vote,' approach."

Can this be more in your face?
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Fox to have a spin off channel it's not trailer trash from West Virginia breeding you have to worry about now!

Get ready for "Fair and Balanced" business, entertainment or sports news. News Corp. (NWS) Chairman Rupert Murdoch said Thursday that the media giant will launch a new Fox cable channel by the end of 2004 and is studying additional spinoffs for 2005 and beyond.

Murdoch later told Fox News Channel business anchor Neil Cavuto that the company is considering a business, entertainment or sports channel. Other possibilities: weather, reality and Hispanic channels. Earlier, on a conference call with analysts to announce quarterly earnings, Murdoch said the company is looking at a "number of genres" that would be "natural extensions" of News Corp's Fox brand.

That's what we need more crap on the TV.

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Well Blogger has changed and I will have to adapt to the new format!!!
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Googlebomb time from Scoobie davis!!!

The subtitle of the editorial is "I was on Mr. Kerry's boat in Vietnam. He doesn't deserve to be commander in chief." (yeah right). However, Google searchers should be able to access a comprehensive article that tells them who O'Neill really is. Joe Conason 's recent article for Salon is a good choice. Accordingly, a good Googlebomb would be to link the words "John O'Neill" to http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/04/23/o_neill/index.html
The result will look like this: John O'Neill

"Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" to this link: http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/05/04/swift/index_np.html
The result will look like this: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

Bloggers, you know what to do!
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