SOTU Tonight-Get Out Your "Bullshit Protector"

Bill Moyer, a 73 year old vet, who was seen wearing "Bullshit Protector" flaps over his ears while Bush addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. Moyer, a true veteran who obviously knows who the real patriots are, will undoubtedly be wearing his bullshit protectors tonight. We all should.

The 42 'NAYs' & the 4 Democrat 'YEAs'

NAYs ---42 -------------------- Democrat YEAs--4 Akaka (D-HI) -------------------- Byrd (D-WV) Baucus (D-MT)-------------------- Conrad (D-ND) Bayh (D-IN) -------------------- Johnson (D-SD) Biden (D-DE) -------------------- Nelson (D-NE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Cantwell (D-WA) Carper (D-DE) Chafee (R-RI) Clinton (D-NY) Dayton (D-MN) Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Jeffords (I-VT) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (D-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Menendez (D-NJ) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Obama (D-IL) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO) Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY) Stabenow (D-MI) Wyden (D-OR)

Those Who Stood for the Constitution

(On Cloture) Democrats No Bayh, Ind.; Biden, Del.; Boxer, Calif.; Clinton, N.Y.; Dayton, Minn.; Dodd, Conn.; Durbin, Ill.; Feingold, Wis.; Feinstein, Calif.; Kennedy, Mass.; Kerry, Mass.; Lautenberg, N.J.; Leahy, Vt.; Levin, Mich.; Menendez, N.J.; Mikulski, Md.; Murray, Wash.; Obama, Ill.; Reed, R.I.; Reid, Nev.; Sarbanes, Md.; Schumer, N.Y.; Stabenow, Mich.; Wyden, Ore. Others No Jeffords, Vt. MICHIGANDERS AND CALIFORNIANS SHOULD BE PROUD!

Not Enough Constitutionalists

America Loses The last obstacle to the confirmation of Judge Samuel A. Scalito Jr. as the 110th justice of the Supreme Court was cleared on Monday, providing conservatives with what they believe will be another reliable vote on the deeply divided court. The Senate voted 72 to 25 to allow an up-or-down vote on Judge Alito, ending a last-ditch Democratic effort to block the nomination.

Billy Tauzin, Shameless Former Republican

Here's Tauzin in 2003 lecturing at a conference entitled 'Fight Against Waste, Fraud, Abuse in Federal Government (I not making this up) I like to remind people of how the Republicans ripped off the country for the tune of $1.2 trillion (and growing) when they passed their 'Let's Give the Drug Companies a Few Hundred Billion of Taxpayer's Money Prescription Drug Plan' that they rammed through Congress in the middle of the night back in 2003. As I pointed out the other day, it was backed by almost 100% of the Republicans and opposed by almost 100% of the Democrats, and Billy Tauzin, an obnoxious cracker from Louisiana and who was one of the co-sponsors, made out like a bandit. Tauzin resigned from Congress less than a year later to take a $2 million a year job as president and chief executive officer of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which is essentially the lobbying arm of the pharmaceutical industry. Yeah, good ol' Billy... Americans, you will be paying for his and Republicans' shameless gift to the pharmaceutical industry for the rest of your lives.... Suckers! "It's a sad commentary on politics in Washington that a member of Congress who pushed through a major piece of legislation benefiting the drug industry gets the job leading that industry," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook.

A Near Miss?

'Optical illusion'?.... Or covering their asses?

Loons on the right

Why no one has killed this asshole is a 'miracle' in itself. How much do you want to bet that Fred Phelps is actually gay? It's always like that-the biggest homophobes are always gay! They sure love him in Kansas though and I bet the majority of Republicans you know think he's 'doing God's work'.

Kansas minister and his followers' behavior at services for Iraq veterans is spurring action At least five Midwestern states are considering legislation to ban protests at funerals in response to demonstrations by the Rev. Fred Phelps and members of his Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church, who have been protesting at funerals of Iraq war casualties because they say the deaths are God's punishment for tolerance toward gays. Though the soldiers were not gay, the protesters say the deaths, as well as Hurricane Katrina, recent mining disasters and other tragedies are God's signs of displeasure. They also protested at the memorial service for the 12 West Virginia miners who died in the Sago Mine. A motorcycle group called the Patriot Guard, made up mostly of veterans, has started attending funerals to act as a buffer between the protesters and family members. "They'll chant and make snide remarks, they have all these signs that say, 'Thank God for dead soldiers,' 'Thank God for body bags,' " said Patriot Guard member Rich "Stretch" Strothman. "We go under request from the families, we're not counterprotesters".

Witnesses for the prosecution

Ex-Justice Department lawyers who left because of the criminality of those in the Bush administration "These Justice Department lawyers, backed by their intrepid boss Comey, had stood up to the hard-liners, centered in the office of the vice president, who wanted to give the president virtually unlimited powers in the war on terror. Demanding that the White House stop using what they saw as farfetched rationales for riding rough-shod over the law and the Constitution, Goldsmith and the others fought to bring government spying and interrogation methods within the law. They did so at their peril; ostracized, some were denied promotions, while others left for more comfortable climes in private law firms and academia. Some went so far as to line up private lawyers in 2004, anticipating that the president's eavesdropping program would draw scrutiny from Congress, if not prosecutors. These government attorneys did not always succeed, but their efforts went a long way toward vindicating the principle of a nation of laws and not men".

These will be some of the lead witnesses when George W. Bush is eventually impeached. Congress needs to start the process of impeachment and these men and women who had the courage and integrity to walk away need to be part of the prosecution.

Why did we release bin Laden's bodygard?

Osama bin Laden's bodyguard, Abdallah Tabarak-The man who helped bin Laden escape at Tora Bora

For more than a decade, Osama bin Laden had few soldiers more devoted than Abdallah Tabarak. A former Moroccan transit worker, Tabarak served as a bodyguard for the al Qaeda leader, worked on his farm in Sudan and helped run a gemstone smuggling racket in Afghanistan, court records here show. During the battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, when al Qaeda leaders were pinned down by U.S. forces, Tabarak sacrificed himself to engineer their escape. He headed toward the Pakistani border while making calls on Osama bin Laden's satellite phone as bin Laden and the others fled in the other direction. Tabarak was captured and taken to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was classified as such a high-value prisoner that the Pentagon repeatedly denied requests by the International Committee of the Red Cross to see him. Then, after spending almost three years at the base, he was suddenly released.

Nothing really surprises me anymore about the Bush administration's absolute incompetence to lead this country. But this, the release of bin Laden's personal bodyguard from Guantanamo, definitely takes the incompetence to a new level!

Faith-Based Cronyism

It's ridiculous to give 'religious groups' taxpayer's money. If churches want to do work like this let their damn parishioners pay for it and not my tax dollars. Teaching abstinence to AIDS patients is not only asinine but a huge waste of money. If the faith-based community doesn't like it, tough! They want tax dollars then the sons-of-bitches ought to start paying taxes!

Religious Groups Get Nearly a Quarter of Bush Administration AIDS Money, According to State Dept. President Bush's $15 billion effort to fight AIDS has handed out nearly one-quarter of its grants to religious groups, and officials are aggressively pursuing new church partners that often emphasize disease prevention through abstinence and fidelity over condom use. Award recipients include a Christian relief organization famous for its televised appeals to feed hungry children, a well-known Catholic charity and a group run by the son of evangelist Billy Graham, according to the State Department.

Stop-Loss

You volunteer to join the military and you sign a contract to do four years of service and then you are told when your four years are up that you cannot leave and must serve up to an additional 18 months. Is that fair? Should that it even be legal? It's involuntary servitude and it's wrong. Why is this happening? Because we have an executive branch of government that led us into a war that's turned our fighting forces into an occupation force that is not trained to do what they've been ordered to do. It's shameful to sit around and pretend you 'support the troops' when you sit there silently while this is happening. We need to bring our troops home and it should have already happened.

US Army forces 50,000 soldiers into extended duty The U.S. Army has forced about 50,000 soldiers to continue serving after their voluntary stints ended under a policy called "stop-loss," but while some dispute its fairness, court challenges have fallen flat. The policy applies to soldiers in units due to deploy for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The Army said stop-loss is vital to maintain units that are cohesive and ready to fight. But some experts said it shows how badly the Army is stretched and could further complicate efforts to attract new recruits. "As the war in Iraq drags on, the Army is accumulating a collection of problems that cumulatively could call into question the viability of an all-volunteer force," said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute think tank. "When a service has to repeatedly resort to compelling the retention of people who want to leave, you're edging away from the whole notion of volunteerism."

"Limbaugh Pop Some Oxycontin"

Funny video with Cathy Griffin and Al Franken, two people who 'walk the walk' and who have been to Iraq on more than one occassion in supporting the troops, get a few digs in on Limbaugh, O'Reilly and Sylvester Stallone, who of course, only talk about it.

Bush doing what Democrats told him to do

When Bob Murtha and other Democrats called for troop withdrawals from Iraq a few months ago Bush and other wingnuts kicked and screamed about it being the wrong policy and 'sends the wrong message' to the terrorists, blah, blah, blah. I knew then that it would be just a matter of time before they realized that Bush's Iraq policy would doom Republicans if it continued and they would do just what the Democrats were calling for way before next November's Congressional races. And, I was right;

US troops in Iraq cut by up to 20 percent 'The United States has reduced its forces in Iraq by up to 20 percent in the last two months, but may choose to raise the number of troops if the situation worsens, a top US General reportedly said. "We have reduced our forces already in Iraq by about 15 or 20 percent over the past couple of months," General John Abizaid, commander of the US Central Command, told Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas'.

Bob Woodruff, camera man, seriously injured in Iraq

"ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff and camera operator Doug Vogt were seriously injured in a bomb attack in Iraq on Sunday, the U.S. television network said. At the time of the blast, they were traveling with an Iraqi Army unit in an Iraqi vehicle near Taji, Iraq, the network said. “Bob and Doug are in serious condition and are being treated at a U.S. military hospital in Iraq,” the network said in a statement".

The Republican Kick-Back Program

Medicare program should be overhauled "The Medicare prescription drug plan should be overhauled to make it simpler and less expensive, California Rep. Henry Waxman said Saturday in the Democrats' weekly radio address. Tens of thousands of elderly participants nationwide have been unable to receive medicines promised by the government since the drug benefit went into effect Jan.1. Waxman, the senior Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, said that in the plan's legislation, "corruption, incompetence, and an ideology that favors private profits over public programs all played a role."

The Republican Prescription Drug Rip-Off Plan, passed in the the middle of the night, with the vote held-over for an additional three hours so that Dennis Hasert could deliver it to Bush, is now estimated to cost close to $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. Bush said it would cost $400 billion. If you would like to read some interesting information as to how something so wrong, something that is essentially nothing but a slick maneuver by Republicans to have taxpayers give the pharmaceutical and insurance corporations about $700-800 billion in kick-backs, then try this. Democrats, led by Henry Waxman are trying to get your money back. Maybe you should contact him and thank him. And while you're at it, call your Congressman. And if he or she is a Republican, then it's 99% sure they voted for it back in 2003. If they're a Democrat, then it's the about 99% that they voted 'no'.

the Latest Poll

Do you think the country should go in the direction (Bush wants to lead it), go in the direction (the Democrats in Congress want to lead it), or what? Democrats --- Bush ---51% -----------35% Overall, which party, the (Democrats) or the (Republicans), do you trust to do a better job in coping with the main problems the nation faces over the next few years? Democrats -- Republicans ---51% ----------37% Do you support the policies of George Bush and the Republicans who have added $2.5 trillion to the nation's debt in five short years, cost the country $300 billion in an unnecessary war in Iraq, killed 2,242 young Americans, wounded 16,500 Americans, illegally spied on Americans, sold their souls to money-grubbing lobbyists, and have caused the U.S. to lose respect in most of the world or do you support the Democrats? Americans with a brain and integrity--Republicans ----------51%---------------------------------35% Source

DOD News Release(s) 2 Airmen, 5 Marines, 5 Soldiers

U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060127-12383.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 077-06 January 27, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. Jerry M. Durbin Jr., 26, of Spring, Texas, died in Baghdad, Iraq on Jan. 25, when an improvised explosive device exploded near his dismounted patrol during combat operations. Durbin was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060126-12378.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 075-06 January 26, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Joshua A. Johnson, 24, of Richford, Vt., died in Ramadi, Iraq on Jan. 25, when a rocket propelled grenade struck his vehicle during combat operations. Johnson was assigned to the Army National Guard's 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain), Jericho, Vt. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060125-12369.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 071-06 January 25, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DoD Identifies Army Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died in Baghdad, Iraq on Jan. 23, of wounds sustained that day when an improvised explosive device detonated near their M1A2 Abrams tank during patrol operations. Both soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. Killed were: Staff Sgt. Lance M. Chase, 32, of Oklahoma City, Okla. Pfc. Peter D. Wagler, 18, of Partridge, Kan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060125-12370.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 072-06 January 25, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DoD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Sean H. Miles, 28, of Midlothian, Va., was killed in action Jan. 24 from small arms fire while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Al Karmah, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060124-12361.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 065-06 January 24, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DoD Identifies Marine Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the death of four Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cpl. Carlos Arrelanopandura, 22, of Los Angeles, Calif. Pvt. Lewis T. D. Calapini, 21, of Waipahu, Hawaii Lance Cpl. Brandon Dewey, 20, of San Joaquin, Calif. Lance Cpl. Joshua A. Scott, 24, of Tunnel Hill, Ga. Arrelanopandura and Dewey died Jan. 20 from a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations in Haqlaniyah, Iraq. They were both assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, their unit was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward). Calapini and Scott died Jan. 23 from a non-hostile vehicle accident near Al Taqaddum, Iraq. They were assigned to Anti-Terrorism Battalion, 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060124-12359.html On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060124-12359.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 064-06 January 24, 2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DoD Identifies Air Force Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the death of two airmen who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The airmen were killed Jan. 22, when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device while conducting convoy escort duties in the vicinity of Taji, Iraq. Killed were: Tech. Sgt. Jason L. Norton, 32, of Miami, Okla. Staff Sgt. Brian McElroy, 28, of San Antonio, Texas. Both airmen were assigned to the 3rd Security Forces Squadron, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060124-12363.html On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060124-12363.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 067-06 January 24, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Matthew D. Hunter, 31, of Valley Grove, W.Va., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Jan. 23, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his dismounted patrol during combat operations. Hunter was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dems Don’t Know Jack

"Although Abramoff hasn’t personally given to any Democrats, Republicans, including officials with the GOP campaign to hold on to the Senate, have seized on the donations of his tribal clients as proof that the saga is a bipartisan scandal. And the controversy recently spread to the media when the ombudsman for The Washington Post, Deborah Howell, ignited a firestorm by wrongly asserting that Abramoff had given to both. She eventually amended her assessment, writing that Abramoff “directed his client Indian tribes to make campaign contributions to members of Congress from both parties.” But the Morris and Associates analysis, which was done exclusively for The Prospect, clearly shows that it’s highly misleading to suggest that the tribes's giving to Dems was in any way comparable to their giving to the GOP. The analysis shows that when Abramoff took on his tribal clients, the majority of them dramatically ratcheted up donations to Republicans. Meanwhile, donations to Democrats from the same clients either dropped, remained largely static or, in two cases, rose by a far smaller percentage than the ones to Republicans did".

Very nice piece and very good analysis by The American Prospect

Challenger - 20 Years Ago Today

These sequential photos show a fiery plume escaping from the right solid rocket booster as the space shuttle Challenger ascends to the sky on Jan. 28, 1986. There are a few events that have happened during my life that I vividly remember exactly what I was doing when it happened, and the fiery fate of the Challenger, twenty years ago today, is certainly one of them. "After Challenger was torn apart, the pieces continued upward from their own momentum, reaching a peak altitude of 65,000 ft before arching back down into the water. The cabin hit the surface 2 minutes and 45 seconds after breakup, and all investigations indicate the crew was still alive until then".

7 myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster It didn't explode, the crew didn't die instantly and it wasn't inevitable "Twenty years ago, millions of television viewers were horrified to witness the live broadcast of the space shuttle Challenger exploding 73 seconds into flight, ending the lives of the seven astronauts on board. And they were equally horrified to learn in the aftermath of the disaster that the faulty design had been chosen by NASA to satisfy powerful politicians who had demanded the mission be launched, even under unsafe conditions. Meanwhile, a major factor in the disaster was that NASA had been ordered to use a weaker sealant for environmental reasons. Finally, NASA consoled itself and the nation with the realization that all frontiers are dangerous and to a certain extent, such a disaster should be accepted as inevitable. At least, that seems to be how many people remember it, in whole or in part. That’s how the story of the Challenger is often retold, in oral tradition and broadcast news, in public speeches and in private conversations and all around the Internet. But spaceflight historians believe that each element of the opening paragraph is factually untrue or at best extremely dubious. They are myths, undeserving of popular belief and unworthy of being repeated at every anniversary of the disaster".

Also, read about Ronald E. McNair

Go Blunt! Go Boehner!

Replacing Tom Delay with either Roy Blunt or John Boehner, who are both deeply involved in the Abramoff scandal, will be great news for Democrats. The Democrats in Congress should not say a word until after one of these two are elected majority leader. Just sit back and watch them implode.

Majority in jeopardy, Shadegg only choice for "real reform," "Using some of the sharpest rhetoric in the race to date, four House Republicans warned their colleagues that a vote for Reps. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) or John Boehner (R-Ohio) as majority leader could jeopardize their majority. Reps. Charlie Bass (N.H.), Tom Feeney (Fla.), Jim Kolbe (Ariz.) and Paul Ryan (Wis.) circulated the letter to each member of the conference late Thursday afternoon in support of Rep. John Shadegg (Ariz.), the third candidate in the race. To date, Kolbe is the only one who had not publicly endorsed Shadegg before the letter was sent. Citing a litany of recent polling data that suggests that Republicans will face trouble at the polls next November, the four members wrote: "We must realize that the Majority we have all worked so hard for is in jeopardy. The only choice is to embrace real reform."

Who will be the next crook to lead the Republicans in the House, Roy Blunt or John Boehner? Democrats can't lose with either choice. I was concerned that John Shadegg would win but it's nice to see that Republicans don't think they have to clean up their culture of corruption. Is it November yet? We need fifteen.

What a coincidence

Bush picks Abramoff prosecutor for federal judgeship Democrats wonder about the timing of president's move "The investigation into Jack Abramoff, the disgraced Republican lobbyist, took a provocative new turn Thursday when the Justice Department said the chief prosecutor in the inquiry would step down next week because he had been nominated to a federal judgeship by President Bush. The prosecutor, Noel Hillman, is chief of the department's Office of Public Integrity, and the move ends his involvement in an investigation that has reached into the administration as well as into the top ranks of the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill. Democrats swiftly questioned the move's timing and called for a special prosecutor..."

You really have to hand it to the Bush regime. They have no problem obstructing justice right in your face. They take the prosecutor who has worked on the Abramoff scandal (and possible involvement in a murder) for two years and make him a judge? Democrats smell a skunk and they rightfully demand a special counsel in the Abramoff scandals. George W Bush has a HUGE conflict of interest in this and he should not be allowed to steer anything that involves it.

Huh? Bush to cut Army Reserves?

'Bush will use his new budget to propose cutting the size of the Army Reserve to its lowest level in three decades and stripping up to $4 billion from two fighter aircraft programs. The proposals, likely to face opposition on Capitol Hill, come as the Defense Department struggles to trim personnel costs and other expenses to pay for the war in Iraq and a host of other pricey aircraft and high-tech programs. Bush will send his 2007 budget to Congress on Feb. 6'.

Well, I guess you just use less men and send them more often or keep them there longer. Many of them are on their third tour of Iraq already. What's one more?

Full Nelson

Juana Barraza, 48, is presented to the media next to a bust the police used to help in the search for a serial murder suspect at the Mexico City police headquarters Woman held in Mexico killer hunt "Juana Barraza, 48, was held as she allegedly fled the scene where a woman in her 80s had been strangled with a stethoscope, police said. Ms Barraza, known in wrestling as the Silent Lady, is now feared to be Mexico's "Little Old Lady Killer". She reportedly admitted to Wednesday's killing, but denied a murder spree in which at least 30 women may have died. The killings began in the capital in the late 1990s".

What kind of bullshit is that?

Army Seized Wives of Suspected Insurgents in Hopes of 'Leveraging' Surrenders 'The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of "leveraging" their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show. In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family's door telling him "to come get his wife." The issue of female detentions in Iraq has taken on a higher profile since kidnappers seized American journalist Jill Carroll on Jan. 7 and threatened to kill her unless all Iraqi women detainees are freed. The U.S. military on Thursday freed five of what it said were 11 women among the 14,000 detainees currently held in the 2 1/2-year-old insurgency. All were accused of "aiding terrorists or planting explosives," but an Iraqi government commission found that evidence was lacking. Iraqi human rights activist Hind al-Salehi contends that U.S. anti-insurgent units, coming up empty-handed in raids on suspects' houses, have at times detained wives to pressure men into turning themselves in'.

Has it really come to this? Are we going to act like the Nazi's Gestapo or are we going to try to maintain what little respect we have remaining in the World? Taking women hostage because we can't find their husbands? UnFuckingBelievable! Could you get away with that in this country? When news like this comes out we have absolutely no basis to complain about American women being taken hostage in Iraq. This war, this criminal administration, has turned us into what we hate! Certainly what the rest of the civilized world hates and with good reason.

What Would Have Really Helped

Would have been the Supreme Court not selecting the 'losers' in 2000!

Joe and his intern

the Blacker Kettle On Hardball tonight Joe Scarborough was ragging on Bill Clinton about him and his intern, Monica Lewinsky's, 'situation', and I thought to myself, typical goddamn Republican hypocrite! In case you didn't know, Joe Scarborough, who "resigned from Congress prematurely and unexpectedly, amid rumors about his marital fidelity and soon after a divorce", also had a little thing with an intern himself not so long ago.. "FORT WALTON BEACH, FL. - Lori Klausutis, a 28-year-old office worker for Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Fl), was found dead in the congressman's district office. Police said preliminary findings from the medical examiner's office showed no foul play or any outward indication of suicide." Yeah, good ol' Joe, just your normal, typical and hypocritical Republican.

The Republican's way to "support the troops"

Bush and his ilk like to talk about supporting the troops but they love to put the screws to them every chance they get. When the Iraq war started Bush and Rumsfeld try to cut their combat pay, they have failed to supply the troops with adequate armor and now they're trying to stick them with higher health care costs. Why are Americans so stupid and blind to the dirty deeds of these Republicans? Are people that ignorant? Forget it-we know the answer, now don't we? Administration’s Plan To Triple Our Troops’ Health Care Costs "In the middle of a war, with troops and families vastly overstressed, recruiting already in the toilet, and retention at risk, the Defense Department wants to pay for weapons by cutting manpower and trying to cut career military benefits by $1,000 a year or more? That’s just flat unconscionable". - Steve Strobridge, government relations director for the Military Officers Association of America. Think Progress

Miserable Failure, Lying Murderer

A majority of Americans are more likely to vote for a candidate in November's congressional elections who opposes President Bush, and 58 percent consider his second term a failure so far, according to a poll released Thursday. Fewer people consider Bush to be honest and trustworthy now than did a year ago, and 53 percent said they believe his administration deliberately misled the public about Iraq's purported weapons program before the U.S. invasion in 2003, the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found. deliberate-Done with or marked by full consciousness of the nature and effects; intentional misled-To lead into error of thought or action, especially by intentionally deceiving lying perpetrator-George W Bush result-2,239 dead young men and women, 16,420 wounded, $300 billion wasted

Bring it on, wussy!

Nikolay Valuev, crowned in December as Russia's first World Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion, defeated American John Ruiz on a controversial decision in Berlin to become the tallest (7 feet) and heaviest (323 LA Times Yeah, and we didn't 'evolve'...Nikolay is still in the Cro-Magnum stage

Filibuster

If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything

Kerry, Kennedy press for filibuster Several prominent Democratic senators called Thursday for a filibuster of Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination, exposing a rift in the party. The filibuster's supporters — including Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy — acknowledged the bid is likely to fail and Alito will be confirmed Tuesday. But they said extended debate may draw more Americans' attention to Alito's conservative stands on abortion, civil rights, presidential powers and other matters. "Judge Alito will take America backward, especially when it comes to civil rights and discrimination laws," Kerry said. "It's our right and our responsibility to oppose him vigorously and to fight against this radical upending of the Supreme Court." Kennedy said Alito, 55, "does not share the values of equality and justice that make this country strong. He does not deserve a place on the highest court of the land."

Nice Investment

I was reading this and I was wondering how does a guy who has been a Senator for 20 years, probably averaging about a 100K per year over that 20 years, and has raised 7 kids, afford a $3.75 million dollar 'mansion'? The answer was in the last sentence...He did it the old fashion way-he married into it.

McCains having trouble selling mansion PHOENIX, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tests the declining real estate market as he tries to sell his recently price-reduced $3.75 million Phoenix mansion. The 11,000 square foot estate, with its nine bedrooms and eight bathrooms -- and eight surveillance cameras -- has been on the market for three months. McCain and his wife, Cindy, who grew up in the house, want to downsize.

John McCain will be the Republican's nominee in 2008 and he will bear the scrutiny that I'm sure has come up in his previous elections in Arizona but we will see how it holds up nationally.

Come on! They don't look anything alike!!

U.S. posts wrong photo of ‘al-Qaida operative’ After year and a half, wrong man's photo removed from wanted page Left: U.S. posted photo of ‘Abu Khabab al-Masri’. Right: TV interview photo of Islamic preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri.

United States intelligence agencies have been hunting for one of al-Qaida's most notorious members - an expert in poisons and lethal chemicals. But NBC News has learned they have been trying to find him by using a photo of the wrong man on his wanted poster. For a year and a half, the U.S. government has been asking for the public's help in finding Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, a dangerous al-Qaida operative. But now intelligence officials admit to NBC News they were using a photo of different man. Abu Khabab is allegedly bin Laden's expert on poisons. He was shown on a State Deparment "Rewards for Justice" Web site, with a $5 million bounty on his head.

They both have first names of 'Abu' and they both have the last name of 'al-Masri'. But of course they have different 'middle' names and they don't look anything alike! But the good news to all this? "The hunt for "Abu Khabab" may now be over. Pakistani intelligence officials say he was killed recently in the Predator missile attack in Pakistan".

Heart wrenching

Barbara Mann, the adoptive mother of the Mann children, is consoled at the crash scene. Grandpa dies on hearing 7 children killed in fiery wreck

News of a crash in which seven children perished so upset their grandfather that he had a massive heart attack and died, the children's adoptive mother said. "I lost my daddy tonight," Barbara Mann said Wednesday. "My dad died of a massive heart attack tonight over all this. He lost all seven of his grandkids ... I can't deal with this."

Is there really a God?

Army's "thin green line"

Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a "thin green line" that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon. Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded the Army cannot sustain the pace of deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon's decision to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.

It's obvious that all the rightwing warmongering chickenhawks who hide behind their pom-poms and 'support the troops' decals, are not men enough to volunteer to go and fight the war they feel is so justified, so as I have said many times before, it's time to draft all these 'let's keep on fighting' Republicans! First thing you do is you go to the voter registrations. All Republicans under the age of 60 will immediately be eligible for the draft. No exceptions. No whining from those over the current age allowed, (32 years) about being too old. An M-16 isn't heavy and even a big-mouthed fatass Republican can ride around in a Humvee. We need bodies and it's only right to start with the cheerleaders who haven't had the chance to serve. Line them up at the local Republican campaign office..18-60 year olds-12 weeks of boot camp, some nice half-ass armor, an M-16 and a helmet. No more recruitment problems. Canada, get ready for a whole lot of rightwing girlie-men as new immigrants.

No Peace in the Middle East

Hamas Presses Fatah in Palestinian Vote

Hamas, the militant Islamic party sworn to the destruction of Israel, won a large share of votes in the first Palestinian legislative elections in a decade, depriving the more secular Fatah party of its longstanding monopoly on power, surveys of voters leaving the polls indicated Wednesday. While those surveys showed Fatah with a narrow lead, the vote marked the first entry of Hamas into representative Palestinian politics, a fundamental change, and its strong showing raised questions about the near-term future of any peace talks with Israel.

Bush: Bin Laden Should Be Taken Seriously

Stupid is, as Stupid does That title above, 'Bush: Bin laden Should be Taken Seriously' is the headline of the Drudge Report today. You know, Bush and his sheepish apologists like Matt Drudge, really think you are stupid. We Americans do not need to be told to take bin Laden seriously. If and when we are ever attacked again we just hope that George Bush doesn't hide like scared little brat for 12 hours like he did on 9/11/01. For Bush, 'Stupid is, as Stupid does' is the perfect metaphor for him and for those who still support the fool and who still haven't figured out that he and the administration are nothing but a bunch of bungling idiots. I believe it was Maureen Dowd who wrote an opinion piece about George W Bush around 5 years ago entitled, Forrest Gump with a Trust Fund. As far as being 'stupid' like Gump, Bush is certainly that, but Forrest Gump was a good-hearted man and George Bush is definitely not, so my apologies to Forrest.

the terrifying world for Republicans

A cartoon that accurately describes the Republicans in this country. It must be difficult to go through life being such chickenshits.

'Kenny Boy' soon to face justice

Top Enron Figures Head to Court Ken 'Kenny Boy' Lay gave more money to Bush than even Jack Abramoff!

'The recipe for the defense in the long-awaited Enron Corp. trial opening in Houston next week appears to be one part denial and one part defiance. In contesting federal conspiracy and fraud charges, former Chairman Kenneth L. Lay and Chief Executive Jeffrey K. Skilling are expected to deny that they knew of fraudulent schemes carried out by underlings and defy the government to prove that any of their own business decisions were illegal'.

George Bush's close criminal friend, Ken Lay, will soon have to face charges of bilking employees and shareholders out of $68 billion in the crash of the Enron Corp. Even with Bush running interference and delaying prosecution for his dear friend, 'Kenny Boy', his time of being above the law has run out and now he will have face many of the same Houstonians who he stole their life savings from. Bush will more than likely pardon his slimy ass some day.

And you ask me why I'm a Democrat?

Just make it out to P-a-k-i-s-t-a-n

Bush said Tuesday that he would travel to India and Pakistan in March, but made no public comment about the American airstrikes that killed 18 civilians, including women and children, in one of Pakistan's remote tribal areas earlier this month. Pakistan's prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, remarked that the airstrikes have infuriated Pakistanis, but not so much that an additional $20 billion wouldn't make things much better.

Blatant Incompetence that leads to dying

Billions wasted rebuilding something we shouldn't have to rebuild and then to learn a lot of those billions were wasted due to incompetence and fraud. One of the reasons why the insurgency continues is because of this incompetence and fraud and it's created situations that lead to the death of our troops. The Iraqi people are frustrated after three years of what they've been left with so they either join the insurgency or sympathize with it. Between the corruption and the fraud committed by L. Paul Bremer, George Bush and on down to Halliburton, our soldiers and marines in Iraq are sitting ducks.

Iraq Rebuilding Badly Hobbled, U.S. Report Finds The first official history of the $25 billion American reconstruction effort in Iraq depicts a program hobbled from the outset by gross understaffing, a lack of technical expertise, bureaucratic infighting, secrecy and constantly increasing security costs, according to a preliminary draft. The document, which begins with the secret prewar planning for reconstruction and touches on nearly every phase of the program through 2005, was assembled by the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and debated last month in a closed forum by roughly two dozen experts from outside the office. A person at the forum provided a copy of the document, dated December 2005, to The New York Times. The inspector general's office, whose agents and auditors have been examining and reporting on various aspects of the rebuilding since early 2004, declined to comment on the report other than to say it was highly preliminary.

Why can't we do that?

Kuwaiti MPs declare emir unfit for office

'Nine days after being proclaimed head of one of the world's wealthiest countries, Sheikh Sa'ad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, emir of Kuwait, was declared unfit for office yesterday and removed from his post by a unanimous vote in parliament. The vote - unprecedented for an Arab country - peacefully resolved an embarrassing crisis triggered by the death of Sheikh Jaber al-Sabah who had ruled the Gulf country for the past 29 years. Sheikh Sa'ad, the 76-year-old crown prince, automatically succeeded him to the throne but he has been ill for several years and reportedly suffers from Alzheimer's disease'.

Hey, we've had a couple of leaders whose elevators didn't go all the way to the top floor...what's the big deal? Just feed him some jelly beans let the crew run things.

Great Friends....

You can tell in the grip and how he grasps Beningo's, 'Benni''s, elbow and how all the others in the background are so happy to see the two of them 'exchange pleasantries'. After all, 'Benni' may be a foreigner, and sweat-shop owner, but he's a big-dollar campaign contributor and he real big buddy of Jack Abramoff.

On the heels of a Time Magazine article revealing the existence of photographs of President George W. Bush with fallen conservative superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, RAW STORY has found another photograph of Bush with a leading Abramoff client. The President appears in a snapshot with Beningo Repeki Fitial, then-Speaker of the House for the Northern Marianas Islands. Fitial is vice president of Tan Holdings – the family conglomerate which owns numerous clothing factories on the islands that were a routine stop for Abramoff-flown lawmakers. Tan Holdings was one of the firms which made up the Saipan Garment Manufacturers’ Association, an Abramoff client. He was also, incidentally, chairman of the Bush for President Committee for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. ...The AP reported last May that records show Abramoff’s Marianas lobbying team met members of the Bush Administration at least 195 times between February through November 2001. “The documents show his team also had extensive access to Bush administration officials, meeting with Cheney policy advisers Ron Christie and Stephen Ruhlen, Ashcroft at the Justice Department, White House intergovernmental affairs chief Ruben Barrales, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles and others,” the AP wrote. A month before Bush was photographed with Fitial, the president appointed Patrick Pizzella, a former Abramoff lieutenant, as Deputy Undersecretary of Labor. Pizzella had aggressively worked the Marianas account with Abramoff, leaving his retinue just months before. According to the New Republic, the former conservative lobbyist handpicked Pizzella for his Marianas lobbying team. A 2001 report by The New Republic indicates Pizzella made a whirlwind number of trips with congressmen to the islands, saying he extended personal invitations to at least 11 members of Congress. The Wall Street Journal estimated that 100 representatives visited the islands during Pizzella's tenure. It's unknown who paid for these trips, or even who these congressmembers are. Abramoff praised Bush’s appointment of Pizzella in a letter to the Commonwealth. Notably, Abramoff seemed to reference Pizzella’s new post in a January 2001 letter even though he wasn’t officially appointed until April 2001. "Our standing with the new administration promises to be solid as several friends of the CNMI (islands) will soon be taking high-ranking positions in the Administration, including within the Interior Department," Abramoff wrote. Former DeLay aides, Fitial got Abramoff Marianas contract Along with two former aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), Fitial helped Abramoff sink the Marianas lobbying deal. “Using promises of U.S. tax dollars as bartering chips, [former DeLay chief of staff] Edwin A. Buckham and Michael Scanlon traveled to these remote Pacific islands in late 1999 to convince two local legislators to switch their votes for speaker of the territory's 18-member House of Representatives,” the Los Angeles Times revealed in May 2005. “They succeeded.” Benigno Fitial was “an underdog contender” for speaker of the House, the Times wrote. DeLay’s former aides targeted two key members of the legislature and promised to help get money for needed projects, ensuring their support for Fitial. Soon thereafter, the Fitial-led House passed two resolutions enjoining the island’s governor to hire a lobbyist, “including a July 26, 2000, resolution calling for selection of Abramoff's firm,” the Times wrote. A few days later, the island’s governor, Pedro Tenorio, hired the firm for $100,000 a month. Fitial defended Abramoff earlier this month The photograph of Bush and Fitial is sure to drag the president into a new firestorm over his connections to Abramoff and his clients. The Marianas have since accused Abramoff and his staff of overcharging the islands for some $1.2 million in unsupported expenses. The charges included travel, telephone, photocopy, computer research and outside-professional fees. Pizzella was not named by auditors, though was among the most traveled members of Abramoff’s group. But this didn’t stop now-Governor Fitial from defending Abramoff just last week when asked if he regretted working with the lobbyist. “I will not comment about what Abramoff did outside of the commonwealth,” Fitial told the Marianas Variety Online. “But if you ask me what he did for the commonwealth, (Abramoff) protected our Covenant.” Covenant is Fitial's political party. Fitial was elected governor of the Northern Marianas in November.

"Bin Laden Helps Bush on Domestic Spying" (by Scaring the Sheep)

"The Bush administration has released a 42-page legal argument assembled by the Department of Justice saying it's just fine for the president to spy on Americans without warrants if the president thinks those Americans are talking to terrorists. It's pretty obvious some folks at DOJ had to pull some all-nighters to finish this assignment. Why the rush? It might have been because the Congressional Research Service unburdened itself of a 44-page study on the same subject Jan. 5. The CRS, a non-partisan creature of the Congress, basically concluded that the president has no such right. ...While early signals of the public attitude on this issue have been mixed, the White House has now received a major boost from a most unlikely source: Osama bin Laden. Without meaning to help the president, Osama has weighed in with another of his basement tapes, this one offering a truce in Iraq and Afghanistan but also threatening fresh attacks on the American public sometime in the future. Given his responsibility for the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the leader of Al Qaeda has to be taken seriously -- no matter how mannered and predictable his warnings". George Bush spends 90 minutes in Kansas---tough crowd. Karl Rove reminds the Manhattan Institute that they're scared. ... They roll out Dick Cheney and he gives his tired old repetitive and many times disproved view on what happened... The push this week is all being done to not only scare the populous but to deflect their attention away from the Bush administration's and the Republican Congress' culture of corruption and just plain incompetence. Of course Bush doesn't want to talk about his failure in Iraq, the deficit, stagnant wages, or his and the Republicans' relationship with Abramoff. He, Dick and Karl are pulling out the old playbook of scare the pansy-asses and their old assist man, Osama, is there once again to help them. As I've said before, Bush and bin Laden feed off each other and they both owe each other bigtime.

Paying off their bribes with your money

"House and Senate Democrats were excluded from the meeting". Closed-Door Deal Makes $22 Billion Difference-Republicans give Insurance Companies $22 Billion sweetheart deal

House and Senate GOP negotiators, meeting behind closed doors last month to complete a major budget-cutting bill, agreed on a change to Senate-passed Medicare legislation that would save the health insurance industry $22 billion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The Senate version would have targeted private HMOs participating in Medicare by changing the formula that governs their reimbursement, lowering payments $26 billion over the next decade. But after lobbying by the health insurance industry, the final version made a critical change that had the effect of eliminating all but $4 billion of the projected savings, according to CBO and other health policy experts. That change was made in mid-December during private negotiations involving House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and the staffs of those committees as well as the House Energy and Commerce Committee. House and Senate Democrats were excluded from the meeting.

Pass the lube...

College Sophmore makes Stupid look stupid

College Sophomore Stumps President Bush Bush was stumped during the Q&A session of his speech today by a sophomore at Kansas State: Q: My name is Tiffany Cooper. I’m a sophomore here at Kansas State and I was just wanting to get your comments about education. Recently 12.7 billion dollars was cut from education. I was just wondering how is that supposed to help our futures? Bush: Actually, I think what we did was reform the student loan program. We are not cutting money out of it. Tiffany clearly confused Bush. Not only did he have to turn to his aide for advice, but he confused truthiness with the truth. The facts: Student Loans: On Dec. 21, 2005, the Senate passed $12.7 billion in cuts to education programs — “the largest cut in student college loan programs in history.” Vice President Cheney cast the deciding vote in favor of the cuts. The bill also fixed the interest rate on student loans at 6.8 percent, “even if commercial rates are lower.” Despite Bush’s claims, students will be left off the program. Pell Grants: Pell Grants have been frozen or cut since 2002; they are now stuck at a maximum of $4,050. In his 2000 election campaign, President Bush promised to increase the maximum Pell Grant amount to $5,100. “From 2004 to 2005, 24,000 students lost their Pell grants, according to a report pre-pared by the Congressional Research Service. This was the first drop in the number of students receiving the grants in several years; the number had been growing steadily since 1999.” Think Progress

DOD News Release(s)

U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060123-12355.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 061-06 January 23, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DoD Identifies Army Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the death of four soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died in Al Huwijah, Iraq on Jan. 20, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their HMMWV during patrol operations. Killed were: Staff Sgt. Rickey Scott, 30, of Columbus, Ga. Sgt. Dennis J. Flanagan, 22, of Inverness, Fla. Spc. Clifton J. Yazzie, 23, of Fruitland, N.M. Spc. Matthew C. Frantz, 23, of Lafayette, Ind. Scott, Flanagan and Yazzie were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky. Frantz was assigned to the 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060119-12338.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 053-06 January 20, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pfc. Adam R. Shepherd, 21, of Somerville, Ohio, died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Jan. 17 from a non-combat-related illness. Shepherd was assigned to the Army's 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Navy Seizes Pirate Ship Off Somalia

Photo released by the U.S. Navy, crew members assemble on deck aboard a dhow suspected of piracy after being intercepted by the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill.

The U.S. Navy boarded an apparent pirate ship in the Indian Ocean and detained 26 men for questioning, the Navy said Sunday. The 16 Indians and 10 Somali men were aboard a traditional dhow that was chased and seized Saturday by the U.S. guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill, said Lt. Leslie Hull-Ryde of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain. The dhow stopped fleeing after the Churchill twice fired warning shots during the chase, which ended 54 miles off the coast of Somalia, the Navy said. U.S. sailors boarded the dhow and seized a cache of small arms. The dhow's crew and passengers were being questioned Sunday aboard the Churchill to determine which were pirates and which were legitimate crew members, Hull-Ryde said. Sailors aboard the dhow told Navy investigators that pirates hijacked the vessel six days ago near Mogadishu and thereafter used it to stage pirate attacks on merchant ships.

I wonder if this is the same group of pirates that attempted to overtake the U.S. cruise ship back in November?

Jeb's thugs & freedom of the press

GOP leaders say a state function is private, so reporters are ejected during the speech.

LAKE BUENA VISTA - The Florida Republican Party on Saturday called security to eject reporters listening to Gov. Jeb Bush tout his party's accomplishments in Tallahassee. The unusual scene - five hotel security staffers and a sheriff's deputy escorting reporters away from where they could hear the governor - occurred in the middle of a speech in which Bush exhorted party activists to spread the word of Republican successes in Florida.

There isn't a precedent to how the Republicans, and particularly the Bush's, act today when it comes to limiting free speech in public areas. It's way past time that this type of oppression is stopped and if it doesn't stop, people ought to take back their freedom anyway they can. We're past due on real domestic excitement anyway.

More evidence on Katrina

"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," Mr. Bush said in a television interview on Sept. 1. "Now we're having to deal with it, and will." "The White House was told in the hours before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans that the city would probably soon be inundated with floodwater, forcing the long-term relocation of hundreds of thousands of people, documents to be released Tuesday by Senate investigators show. A Homeland Security Department report submitted to the White House at 1:47 a.m. on Aug. 29, hours before the storm hit, said, "Any storm rated Category 4 or greater will likely lead to severe flooding and/or levee breaching." The internal department documents, which were forwarded to the White House, contradict statements by President Bush and the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, that no one expected the storm protection system in New Orleans to be breached. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," Mr. Bush said in a television interview on Sept. 1. "Now we're having to deal with it, and will." Other documents to be released Tuesday show that the weekend before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Homeland Security Department officials predicted that its impact would be worse than a doomsday-like emergency planning exercise conducted in Louisiana in July 2004. In that drill, held because of common knowledge that New Orleans was susceptible to hurricane-driven flooding, emergency planners predicted that in a Category 3 storm, one million people would be forced to move away, 17 percent of the nation's oil refining capacity would be knocked out and as many as 60,000 lives might be lost".

BLACK MONDAY

Ford to Cut 25,000 to 30,000 Jobs and Idle 14 Facilities by 2012 As Part of Restructuring By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer The Associated Press DEARBORN, Mich. - Ford Motor Co., the nation's second-largest automaker, said Monday that it will cut 25,000 to 30,000 jobs and idle 14 facilities by 2012 as part of a restructuring designed to reverse billion-dollar losses in North America.

When George Met Jack

White House aides deny the President knew lobbyist Abramoff, but unpublished photos shown to TIME suggest there's more to the story

"As details poured out about the illegal and unseemly activities of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, White House officials sought to portray the scandal as a Capitol Hill affair with little relevance to them. Peppered for days with questions about Abramoff's visits to the White House, press secretary Scott McClellan said the now disgraced lobbyist had attended two huge holiday receptions and a few "staff-level meetings" that were not worth describing further. "The President does not know him, nor does the President recall ever meeting him," McClellan said. The President's memory may soon be unhappily refreshed. TIME has seen five photographs of Abramoff and the President..."

Supporting the Troops the Republican Crony Way

U.S. troops exposed to contaminated water in Iraq while Halliburton hid the facts WASHINGTON (AP) - Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq were exposed to contaminated water last year and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton, couldn't get their company to inform camp residents, according to interviews and internal company documents. Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, disputes the allegations about water problems at Camp Junction City, in Ramadi, even though they were made by its own employees and documented in company e-mails. "We exposed a base camp population (military and civilian) to a water source that was not treated," said a July 15, 2005, memo written by William Granger, the official for Halliburton's KBR subsidiary who was in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait. "The level of contamination was roughly 2x the normal contamination of untreated water from the Euphrates River," Granger wrote in one of several documents. The Associated Press obtained the documents from Senate Democrats who are holding a public inquiry into the allegations Monday.

The Senate Democrats will ask for an investigation and the Republicans will stonewall. It's the same old song and dance by Republicans who always show their true support for the troops when it comes right down to it.

"Operation Yellow Elephant"

Progressive Americans Support Military Recruitment of College and Young Republicans! Attention Anti-War Leftists: It's time to reach out to all Americans. On January 30, the College Republicans will sponsor "Finish the Job: Support Our Troops" Rallies in Washington DC and All Over America to support President Bush's January 31 State of the Union address. All of you can support every American's First Amendment rights and make a patriotic impression on our great country. Red States and Blue States together, we're all Americans.

This is one of my favorite topics...able bodied young Republicans sitting around cheering on a worthless war that needs volunteers but they really don't think it's quite that worth it... Operation Yellow Elephant

The Herders and the Sheep Are Pushing Democracy....

It looks like the Iraqis need a little coaxing along to get that 'minority rights' thing going. Seems the Kurds and the Shiites are somewhat suspicious of the Sunnis and the Sunnis are not going to lay down after ruling for centuries. Damn-who would ever think that would happen? What a bunch of fools who are going to be terribly surprised once Bush learns he fucked up badly and get's the hell out of that shithole!

"To the Sunnis, the Kurds are secessionists-in-waiting, the Shiites little more than agents of Iran. To the Kurds, the Sunnis are Baathist irredentists deluded into believing their manifest destiny is to rule".

Iraqi politicians face race against U.S. restlessness "When Iraqi leaders gather this week to begin the elaborate horse-trading required to fashion a coalition government, one non-Iraqi will be very much at the table: Zalmay Khalilzad, the unabashedly hands-on U.S. ambassador here. The advice of Zal, as he is known here, will not be subtle. The United States did not expend its blood and treasure to go coy at this critical time. "A Kurdish-Shia government will not solve the problem," he said. "Iraq needs a government of national unity." In other words, it needs one including the Sunnis, whom Khalilzad has assiduously courted since his arrival last year. The Sunnis' main grouping took 44 seats in the 275-member assembly, a score suggesting nascent interest in democracy, but paling beside the 181 seats taken by Shiite and Kurdish parties, three short of the two-thirds majority needed to form a government. As for the now dominant Shiites, who took 128 seats, their intermittent shorthand for the Sunnis is "the terrorists."

...Well, they do owe us a lot, after all....

Shaul Mofaz and Condi Rice

"Israel's defense minister hinted Saturday that the Jewish state is preparing for military action to stop Iran's nuclear program, but said international diplomacy must be the first course of action. "Israel will not be able to accept an Iranian nuclear capability and it must have the capability to defend itself, with all that implies, and this we are preparing," Shaul Mofaz said.

The Israelis would not be able to pull this off by themselves. No way... It would definitely create some excitement though.......

"Predator and Prey"

The CIA search drone "Only days earlier, a CIA-guided Predator drone fired missiles at houses in the village of Damadola, aiming to kill Zawahiri. At least 18 people were obliterated, though probably not Zawahiri. U.S. officials remained confident that the dead included some senior Qaeda members, and Pakistani authorities maintained that four to five Qaeda operatives were killed in the missile attack. "We are still not sure who they were," said a senior official in Islamabad who spoke only on condition of anonymity. "We are still in the process of establishing their identity." ..."Despite the ethics—and public relations—issues, U.S. officials involved with the hunt for bin Laden and Zawahiri said they're quite sure that the benefits of the Predator campaign outweigh the costs. According to two former officials, several groups of missile-armed Predators—some of which are equipped with laser-guided gravity bombs—are based in the region. And a Pakistani official privy to intelligence says the January Predator strike was the fourth inside Pakistan's borders since May 2005 (two more than have been reported previously). Beginning earlier this month, the military and CIA have also begun to use the first production models of the Global Hawk unmanned recon aircraft, which can survey distances of more than 100 miles from 65,000 feet and direct the lower-flying Predator to precise targets". ..."The CIA effectively has control inside Pakistan, where the U.S. military is not supposed to be operating (and the agency has "deniability" because it is engaged in covert operations that are never officially acknowledged). Indeed the Global Hawk and Predator systems are so sophisticated that live, high-resolution pictures are transmitted, via satellite links, to a large command post called the Global Response Center on the sixth floor of CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. There, officials can watch the satellite feeds in real time on large screens while other officials with headsets bark orders to operatives in the field".

Jim Brady, 25 Years Later

These days, Sarah and Jim Brady live quietly, far from Washington. But 25 years ago this week, Ronald Reagan became president – and Jim Brady was his press secretary. "All of a sudden, you are going to the White House going to parties," says Sarah Brady. "I think both Jim and I were on top of the world. Unfortunately, it only lasted three months." On a grey March morning, as the presidential party left a hotel, John Hinckley Jr. fired six shots, wounding the president, a secret service agent, a D.C. police officer – and most seriously of all, Jim Brady.

Geneva? Chief Warrant Officer get's 3 year maximum...

Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, shown with his grandson in a family photo "He treated that general worse than you would treat a dog and he did so knowing he was required to treat the general humanely," Prosecutor Maj. Tiernan Dolan Interrogator Convicted in Iraqi's Death FT. CARSON, Colo. — A military jury late Saturday convicted an Army interrogator of negligent homicide in the death of an Iraqi general who had been stuffed face-first into a sleeping bag. After seven hours of deliberations, the six-officer panel found Chief Warrant Officer Lewis E. Welshofer Jr. guilty of the charge, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in military prison. Had he been convicted of murder, he could have been given a life sentence. The panel also found Welshofer guilty of dereliction of duty. Welshofer, 43, is the highest-ranking officer tried on murder charges in a case of detainee abuse in the Bush administration's war on terrorism, human rights monitors say. Welshofer stood mute in his dark-green uniform as he listened to the verdict, swallowing silently. Welshofer had interrogated the general several times, once slapping him in the chest, before the interviews turned markedly more violent, according to witnesses at the trial. Iraqi nationals apparently in the employ of the CIA entered the interrogation room Nov. 24 and beat Mowhoush for 30 minutes with rubber hoses and insulation. Welshofer said he did not control that session, but other witnesses testified that he seemed to be directing the questioning. Mowhoush had to be carried back to his cell. The next day, Welshofer's team took Mowhoush to the prison roof and pinned him down while the lead interrogator poured water on his face, according to multiple witnesses. Welshofer and another interrogator also repeatedly hit the general's elbows — an action Welshofer has characterized as more like tapping, saying it was intended to be an annoyance. That night, according to a witness who testified from behind a green tarp, Welshofer talked about the latest regulations from Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, then U.S. commander in Baghdad. The witness, whom an attorney inadvertently implied worked for the CIA, said that Welshofer said "he was pretty sure they were breaking those rules every day." The next morning, Mowhoush was stuffed into the sleeping bag, and soon died. Welshofer's sentencing is expected Monday. More... Also, keep in mind, General Mowhoush had surrendered.

bushreel

bitter end

"Talk show hosts like Hannity, O'Reilly and Limbaugh act like they know all about war; then they refuse to give any credence to soldiers like me who have been to war and seen the brutality of war. These guys are nothing but WEAK SPINELESS COWARDS hiding behind microphones while soldiers come home and are losing everything they have." --Spc. Doug Barber, who took his own life Tuesday, after struggling with PTSD for two years, Link Bartcop

Rove Offers Tired Old Battle Plan

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove offered a biting preview of the 2006 midterm elections yesterday, drawing sharp distinctions with the Democrats over the campaign against terrorism, tax cuts and judicial philosophy, and describing the opposition party as backward-looking and bereft of ideas. "At the core, we are dealing with two parties that have fundamentally different views on national security," Rove said. "Republicans have a post-9/11 worldview and many Democrats have a pre-9/11 worldview. That doesn't make them unpatriotic -- not at all. But it does make them wrong -- deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong."-WP

Karl Rove should not be lecturing the Democrats on 9/11. The Bush administration has not done its job in going after the perpetrators of 9/11 and a clear majority of Americans know that going to Iraq wasn't about 9/11. Rove is smart enough to realize that the only issue, the only maneuver that will save the Republicans' asses this coming fall, is to continue to scare the flock into believing that only Republicans can protect them. It always comes back to the fact that the spineless amoeba still out number us --- Karl 'Turd Blossom' Rove, knows that.

UPDATE, NO:Who is that stranger following Bush?

UPDATE: In the comment section, CTDem discovered another photo from the same event that suggests the person above with Bush is not Jack Abramoff. Great find. 200 visits? Got to be a photo some where... Bush said he never met Jack Abramoff. Can a stranger get that close to a president or a presidential candidate? Think Progress

I'd like to 'second' Molly

Not. Backing. Hillary. Molly Ivins - Creators Syndicate - I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president. Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone. This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges. The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long, long time unlearning, so now I have to re-learn it. It's about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. the rest

John Kerry Comments On New bin Laden Tape

Saturday, 21 January 2006 Opinion: Scoop Blogwatch blog entry by Senator John Kerry on Daily Kos 'Real Hardball' "There's something that doesn't sit right with me when, on the day Osama Bin Laden resurfaced in a disturbing audio tape, cable television ends up in a game of name calling as a war protester is compared to Osama Bin Laden. That's reason to be outraged - but even more outrageous is the fact that in a flurry of sound bites what was lost was a real discussion of the fact that more than four years after the devastating attacks of 9/11, more than four years after George Bush boasted we wanted Osama "dead or alive," more than a year after Osama Bin Laden showed his hateful face in yet another video, this barbarian is still very much alive and boasting of additional attacks against the United States. Here's what I'd like to see debated on Hardball. President Bush's mouthpiece Scott McClellan can claim this administration puts terrorists out of business, but yesterday's tape reminds us that instead of being out of business, Osama is still out there. If this administration had followed through on the opportunity to capture Osama Bin Laden at Tora Bora in 2001, the world would be a better place with Osama Bin Laden brought to justice -- and we wouldn't be having this discussion today. And here's what the media should insist we discuss. President Bush and his defenders continue to claim that Osama Bin Laden didn't escape at Tora Bora. But Gary Bernstein's book Jawbreaker documents what I said early in 2002 and during my debates with George Bush: that because Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon didn't use American troops to do the job and instead outsourced the job of killing the world's #1 terrorist to Afghan warlords, this cold blooded killer got away. So what's the truth? There's a question that the full force of cable television should demand be answered. Press accounts over the last month have raised new concerns about the reliance on Afghan forces at Tora Bora in 2001. One account cited a Department of Defense document said to summarize the case against a suspected al Qaeda militant. The militant was believed to have helped Osama bin Laden escape from Tora Bora. More recently, August Hanning, the head of German intelligence, has said bin Laden bribed Afghan forces at Tora Bora to make his escape. The evidence keeps mounting: http://www.csmonitor.com/... http://www.washingtonpost.com/... Among the people who say Osama Bin Laden escaped at Tora Bora: Gary Schroen, former senior CIA agent, Author of First In: How seven CIA officers opened the war on terrorism in Afghanistan http://www.msnbc.msn.com/... Gary Berntsen, former CIA operative in Afghanistan, requested additional U.S. troops for the assault on Tora Bora, author of Jawbreaker. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/... Peter Bergen, terrorism analyst and author of The Osama bin Laden I Know http://www.vanityfair.com/... U.S. DOD, in a legal brief summarizing evidence against a suspect in U.S. custody at GTMO http://www.cnn.com/... Still - the Administration toes their party line. In 2004 they even dispatched their surrogate General Tommy Franks to dismiss all those who say otherwise. Isn't it time we had the truth? Yes or no, did Osama Bin Laden escape from Tora Bora in 2001? Here's a subject suited for true hard ball, on Hardball: four years of failure - enough is enough - why hasn't Osama Bin Laden been captured or killed, and how will he be destroyed before he next appears on tape to spread his disgusting message? That discussion -- rather than criticizing American citizens who exercise their right to free speech and express dissenting opinions - is the discussion that America needs. That would be the kind of debate on Hardball to which we should all tune in. John Kerry READ FULL DISCUSSION OF JOHN KERRY'S BLOG POST AT http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/1/20/175232/080 Thank you, thank you very much...

Yahoo caved

Yahoo admits it let White House access its databases Yahoo has admitted that it granted the US Government access to its search engine's databases this summer, as a battle develops over the right to privacy in cyberspace. Google, by contrast, promised last night to fight vigorously the Bush Administration’s demand to know what millions of people have been looking up on the internet. It emerged this week that the White House issued subpoenas to a number of US-based search engines this summer, asking to see what information the public had accessed in a two-month period. It said that it needed the information in order to help create online child protection laws. But Google refused to comply with its subpoena - prompting the US Attorney General this week to ask a federal judge in San Jose for an order to hand over the requested records.

"Talk about timing"

'As nervous Republicans raced this month to introduce lobby reform bills in the wake of the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg and his wife, Sandie, were on a five-day, all-expenses-paid trip to a Hawaii conference on an interest group's dime'.