Saturday, December 24, 2005

> Bin Laden family to end ties to Carlyle

> Bin Laden family to end ties to Carlyle

> http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,5-2001365686,00.html
>
> TUESDAY OCTOBER 23 2001
> Bin Laden family to end ties to Carlyle
> FROM CHRIS AYRES IN NEW YORK
> THE family of Osama bin Laden is close to ending its relationship
> with the Carlyle Group, the US investment group backed by George
> Bush Snr, the former President, and John Major, the former Prime
> Minister.
>
> It is understood that Carlyle Group and the Saudi Binladin Group,
> the Middle Eastern conglomerate owned by the family of bin Laden,
> have decided to part company by “mutual consent”

Archive:WH wanted to run government without congress


> THE WHITE HOUSE MADE A POWER PLAY TO RECEIVE EXTRAORDINARY POWERS, IF
> CONGRESS IS OUT OF SESSION, WITH ONLY THE APPROVAL OF DENNIS HASTERT!
>
> FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35905-2001Oct22.html
>
> By Dana Milbank
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Tuesday, October 23, 2001; Page A04
>
> Congressional negotiators balked at a White House proposal that would
> give the president new powers to keep the government open if Congress
> could not meet because of a crisis.
>
> The Bush administration last week suggested an emergency spending
> procedure that would allow a president, in consultation with
> congressional leaders, to continue government operations for 30 days at
> existing funding levels if spending authority expires during a time of
> crisis when Congress cannot convene.
>
> The White House dropped the proposal when congressional and
> administration aides could not agree on the structure of such a
> mechanism. In their haste to vacate Capitol Hill because of an anthrax
> scare, lawmakers instead agreed to extend interim legislation to keep
> the government running until Oct. 31 without making a policy for future
> emergencies.
>
> Rep. David R. Obey (Wis.), ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations
> Committee, said the White House had sought to give the president power
> to extend government operations for 30 days if the president had the
> permission of the speaker of the House, in this case J. Dennis Hastert
> (R-Ill.).
>
> "We were willing to give them some short-term authority if they had the
> agreement of both parties in both houses," Obey said. Aides to President
> Bush talked about such a plan with congressional aides, but the Bush
> proposal "was very different from what had been discussed on the phone,"
> Obey said. "On both sides of the aisle in the House it was felt that was
> too far-reaching."
>
> Bush aides now indicate that getting such powers for the president is
> not a top priority, making it unlikely such a proposal will become law.
> But the proposal, which comes in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist
> attacks and when congressional offices have been closed because of fears
> of anthrax, underscores the government's new concerns about catastrophic
> terrorism in the United States.
>
> While scholars say it would be controversial, if not unconstitutional,
> for Congress to delegate its purse-strings authority to the president,
> Amy Call, a spokeswoman for the White House Office of Management and
> Budget, said the emergency provision would only be activated when
> congressional leaders gave their approval. "This would be a decision by
> congressional leaders in participation with the president," she said.
>
> Robert D. Reischauer, a former director of the Congressional Budget
> Office and now president of the Urban Institute, said there would likely
> be nothing unconstitutional about members of Congress delegating
> authority to their own leaders. "It's not a crazy thing to develop some
> kind of mechanism to ensure the government can continue operating," he
> said. "If the alternative is shutting down the government, I can't
> really see why it would be objectionable."
>
> Bush aides said that while the proposal is not meant to shift power from
> the legislative to executive branch, they were not optimistic Congress
> would approve a measure that even appeared to make such a shift.
> "Publicly, they're not going to give up any prerogatives," an official
> said.
>
> Existing law does not have a provision stipulating what would happen if
> Congress could not meet to authorize government spending, Reischauer
> said. But under the Civil War-era Feed and Forage Act, the military
> could continue to buy supplies without budget authority, he said.
>
> The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Vice President Cheney's
> staff promoted the idea of giving the president authority to keep the
> government operating for up to 30 days if Congress could not convene.
>
> The current federal fiscal year began on Oct. 1 without Congress passing
> any of the 13 annual spending bills needed to fund the government. The
> government has continued to operate under short-term spending bills
> Congress has passed and Bush has signed.
>
> Staff writer Dan Morgan contributed to this report.
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> FOB1-unsubscribe@egroups.com

New offer on Bin Laden (Archive)

New offer on Bin Laden
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,575593,00.html
Minister makes secret trip to offer trial in third country

Rory McCarthy in Islamabad
Wednesday October 17, 2001
The Guardian

A senior Taliban minister has offered a last-minute deal to hand over Osama bin Laden during a secret visit to Islamabad, senior sources in Pakistan told the Guardian last night.

For the first time, the Taliban offered to hand over Bin Laden for trial in a country other than the US without asking to see evidence first in return for a halt to the bombing, a source close to Pakistan's military leadership said.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Yahoo caption

Yahoo photo caption

US President George W. Bush arrives at Osaka International Airport in Japan with First Lady Laura Bush. Americans trust US President George W. Bush less than they trusted his predecessor, Bill Clinton, and they are increasingly losing confidence in his leadership, a poll showed(AFP/Paul J. Richards)

Kerry/Edwards victims? (DU exchange

DU exchange: Are Kerry/Edwards victims?
82. Victims of the theft, perpetrators of the lie (that Bush won)

The theft is the primary crime, but the lie itself (that even you buy to some extent) is damaging too - as it makes us fight the wrong battles ("the perfect candidate" "work harder" raise more money" - all meaningless in a no elections country)

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

NYT: Bloomberg cruises, Corzine wins costly...

.
2 elections with obscene spending - in one both candidates spend (Corzine and the GOP) in the other one candidate obliterates the other with 100 million (that we know of) plus scares donors from opposition. Yet, one's victory is a cruise, a lansslide, reason fr celebration. The other guy's is "surprising" - and dirty tricks (ex-wife for the opposition) are brough back in the news.
Why? because the "cruiser" is GOP, and the "costly winner" a dem.
And I mentioned NYT, but all media , print and Tv is doing it - and NOBODY NOTICES

Monday, October 17, 2005

Tough question (W - Rov)

Scotty refuses to answer "W has confidence in Karl Rove?"
Al Franken played a clip from the last press conference:
The question is posed repeatedly.
Scotty zigs and zags "won't respond in context of an ongoing investigation" and "check transcripts of previous answers"
Al Frenken did - and the answer was then "yes" (ongoing investigation being also present). Hmmmm...so what changed?

Howie does the blogosphere

Even gets to quote fellow clarkie Armando over at Kos:
The Judy Chronicles
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100587.html
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 17, 2005; 6:39 AM
At Daily Kos, Armando starts by quoting Bush's
's insistence he'd fire any Plame leakers and McClellan's denial that Rove was involved:
Of course Karl Rove was involved up to his eyeballs. And Karl Rove still works at the White House. And George Bush is a liar"
and also
and has an interesting tidbit from her interview with WSJ:
The Wall Street Journal lands a brief Judy interview and asks about the "Valerie Flame" notation in her notebook:
"'I don't remember who told me the name,' she said, growing agitated. 'I wasn't writing a story, remember?' Asked if the other source was Mr. Rove, she replied, 'I'm not going to discuss anyone else that I talked to.'"

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Laying under the plane

Was Rove playing "mime" "sounds like: Lying about Plame?"
Image hosted by Photobucket.com
"Who remembers "laying under the plane?" (sounds like lying about"
Author Bushknew    


Plame?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=176743
The Associated Press
McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. Oct. 18, 2004 - Karl Rove laid himself on
the line Monday for his boss, the president of the United States.

Friday, September 16, 2005

W's "contrition" speech - DU comment

MADem
13. Brian Williams nailed it
This morning on Imus he wondered "What was he doing behind that statue before they cued him to come out???"
They spent ten minutes talking about shirtsleeves, not much on the speech itself. They concurred that the contrition should have been the first two paragraphs, not buried in the speech, and opined that he just does not know how to say sorry to anyone for anything.
I thought it was dreadful. No people, the backlit blue cathedral that matched his shirt, if he was going for a "rebuilding moment" it didn't cut it--he looked like the last guy to leave Disneyland--fucking Goofy, indeed.


radfringe (
Response to Original message
8. my immediate impressions of bush*'s speech


if his 9-11 speech, while standing atop rubble with his arm around a fireman, was his "bullhorn" moment -- then standing outside a church in New Orleans was his bullsh*t moment.
-- the "casual" look, not an accident, no one forgot to dress him before he appeared swaggering across the lawn. Shirt sleeves, no tie and no jacket were to give the impression of someone ready to get to work, a regular guy ready to shovel out the muck, grab a hammer and start building
-- he begin by giving a list of heroic efforts and actions. Poor choice for a lead off - all this did was to remind people how much WASN'T done by FEMA
-- the 800#, , sounded like he was pitching zirconia jewelry for the homeshopping network
-- most disturbing was the pitch for a power grab, we've seen what putting all the departments in one bag has done, and now he wants to stuff more into the bag.
-- investigation - unless it's free of bush* cronies and kool-aid drinkers - it won't mean a damn thing
I've printed out the transcript and will be reading it more closely -- meanwhile 4 out 5 cats in my home left the room during the speech, 1 gave it 2 hairballs, 2 out of 3 dogs gave it a fart, and the other dog snored
addendum (on edit) all those references to god, faith-based this and that, funerals etc -- the only thing missing was the back-up choir shouting out the "amens"
and did you catch the "talking point" - connecting katrina to 9-11. I know he's made this "connection" in the past few days in other statements -- HOWEVER, this is going to be the "new improved theme" instead of 9-11 changed everything, it will be Katrina changed everything
and Krugman
Krugman Pegs Bush’s Speech
September 16th, 2005
Paul Krugman pegs Bush’s speech and lets the cat out of the bag…
Now it begins: America’s biggest relief and recovery program since the New Deal. And the omens aren’t good.
It’s a given that the Bush administration, which tried to turn Iraq into a laboratory for conservative economic policies, will try the same thing on the Gulf Coast. The Heritage Foundation, which has surely been helping Karl Rove develop the administration’s recovery plan, has already published a manifesto on post-Katrina policy. It calls for waivers on environmental rules, the elimination of capital gains taxes and the private ownership of public school buildings in the disaster areas. And if any of the people killed by Katrina, most of them poor, had a net worth of more than $1.5 million, Heritage wants to exempt their heirs from the estate tax.
here ...

Friday, March 18, 2005

W gridiron mccain joke (Modo)



At the Gridiron, Mr. Bush slyly joked that he had the "dangedest puppy" who would roll over on command - but only some of the time. "I renamed him 'John McCain.' "
(from MoDo article)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/17/opinion/17dowd.html?

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Bordering on cruelty

Falwell's daddy

From a recent New Yorker:
"There were times that Dad’s pranks bordered on cruelty. One of his oil-company workers, a one-legged man he nicknamed “Crip” Smith, complained about everything. Dad and Crip’s co-workers got tired of the old man’s bellyaching and decided to take revenge. One morning Crip called in sick and Dad volunteered to send by lunch to his grateful but suspicious employee. Dad and his chums caught Crip’s old black tomcat, killed it, skinned it, and cooked it in the kitchen of one of Dad’s little restaurants. They called it squirrel meat and delivered it to Crip on a linen-covered tray. When Crip returned to work the next morning, Dad and his co-conspirators asked him how he liked his meal. They knew he would complain even about a free home-cooked lunch, and when Crip called it “the toughest squirrel meat” he had ever eaten, they were glad to tell him why."

—The Reverend Jerry Falwell, in “Strength for the Journey: An Autobiography.”

Monday, February 28, 2005

Kicking Rather again


US free media retaliated to Putin accusation: "shocking Putin statement that he'll watch Oscars rather than news makes page one!

Sunday, February 27, 2005

Newsweek washing up Putin's remarks

It's not clear how well Putin understands the controversy that led to the dismissal of four CBS journalists over the discredited report on Bush's National Guard service. Yet it's all too clear how Putin sees the relationship between Bush and the American media—just like his own. Bush's aides have long feared that former KGB officers in Putin's inner circle are painting a twisted picture of U.S. policy. So Bush explained how he had no power to fire American journalists. It made little difference. When the two presidents emerged for their joint press conference, one Russian reporter repeated Putin's language about journalists getting fired. Bush (already hot after an earlier question about his spying on U.S. citizens) asked the reporter if he felt free. "They obviously planted the question," said one of Bush's senior aides.
more…
Of course, Dick Cheney's calls to CNN as spilled by Wes Clark"
That's the reason I was attacked all through the war by guys like Dick Cheney for being an armchair general, because they knew I was against what they were doing. And they were right. And now we see why everybody should have been against it.
LINK

Putin to W: "What about 60 Minutes?"

Contrary to the cloying WaPo versionLINK , Putin didn't exactly take W's lecturing sitting down. Maureen Dowd said today on MTP that Putin refered to the electoral colleges and his daddy's friends. Also, according to Newsweek

NEWSWEEK: Putin to Bush: 'We Didn't Criticize You When You Fired Those Reporters at CBS'
Sunday February 27, 12:34 pm ET
NEW YORK, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- When George W. Bush confronted Vladimir Putin last week about the freedom of the press in Russia, Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe reports, Putin shot back with an attack of his own: "We didn't criticize you when you fired those reporters at CBS." Details of the meeting, which included just the two presidents and their translators inside the historic castle that overlooks the Slovak capital of Bratislava, are reported in the March 7 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, February 28).
(Photo: > http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050227/NYSU002

I linked the delicious Bartcop thread about it

WaPo editorial cartoon

GOP opposing war - back then

Supporting the troops - depends...

Nashville Brook on DU - Leadership institute and the threat of socialism:

Nashville Brook on DU - Leadership institute and the threat of socialism:

But there it is. These people really believe there is a Socialist Threat and if you read the material you find out that what these people hate most is public education and workers' rights. These are the Angry White Men, who, despite having great jobs and stay-at-home wives and home-schooled chunks of children, they truly believe the world is out to get them. The feminists want their masculinity. The schools want their religion. The government wants their money. They are middle class and operating out of fear they might lose their footing. they are one lay-off or serious illness from bankruptcy (for as long as that exists).

Friday, February 25, 2005

Ridiculous options

"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table"

Democracy 101 by....W?

An unsmiling, visibly irritated Mr Putin squirmed as he listened to Mr Bush tell a press conference he had been told that Washington had "concerns about Russia's commitment in fulfilling" the "universal principles" of democracy. "Democracies always reflect a country's customs and culture, and I know that," Mr Bush said. "Yet democracies have certain things in common; they have a rule of law, and protection of minorities, a free press, and a viable political opposition."

MWO where are thou?

Monday, February 21, 2005

On Gay Sex, White House and who we are


nashville_brook  Sat Feb-19-05 03:19 PM

Question of GAY SEX surrounding White House reveal who we have become
Who here has ever attended an elite prep school? Anyone been to jail? Well, I'm sure everyone has been to the zoo.

The kind of behavior associated with Gannon's flavor of "services," and Bush's affair with Vicktor Ashe, have nothing to do with what most people consider sex. I know this is difficult to understand because we *are* talking about the act of eventually bumping uglies. Make no mistake, that happens in the end (pun intended), but it's not "romantic." All the well-groomed bachelors of a certain age in surrounding the GOP and the While House, they aren't all looking for love. They are "establishing order."
Homo-erotic social ordering is at the center the Lord of the Flies world inhabited by the orphans of privilege who attend elite private schools. It's also common in public schools, and in neighborhoods. You most certainly see it in prison. Who is whose bitch. It's certainly not a behavior exclusive to the wealthy. I grew up in central Florida and the cracker kids in my neighborhood did it. I've witnessed it in the corporate world where you have the bullying in a hereto-erotic manner. Hell, my 14-pound female Italian Greyhound asserts her authority over her roomie, an 18-pound male Iggy. I love it when we have guests over in the summer for BBQ's and Astra is humping away at Trouble. "Well you see, they are establishing dominant order. It has nothing to do with sex-drive. If she were in heat, believe me, she would be acting much different."
Skull and Bones is supposed to be the final stopping place for the adolescent ready to leave that ordering process behind. Or is it? Does the behavior serve a purpose beyond the developmental ordering of youth? I would say it most certainly does. Who wouldn't want to be privy to your opponent's vulnerability? If you were the bully, I imagine you could use your reputation for mad ruthlessness against your peers forever -- given you maintain the rep through continued ruthlessness.
This is base nature, folks. It's what we form social institutions to guard against. The Enlightenment, humanity in general, the arts, music. Our entire culture until now has been centered on progress and The Social Contract. Now, it is Hobbe's State of Nature re-created by men in power in order to fill a need -- most likely a garden variety narcissist need with Daddy-issues thrown in. Always needing to show oneself to be "the boss," or "the big Man," is not normal behavior. It's aberrant. Transgressive.
Everyone who has an angle on the Gannon story wants to assert their reason "why the sex is relevant," or why it's not. I'm no exception. I believe the issue of sex is important because it tells us something about this administration's sense of social ordering. It's claw to jaw. It's pre-modern. It's Old Testament.
When Clinton was fooling around with his little muffin, it wasn't about him being a big man. He's not proving to the world and to his Father that he is better. Clinton had to become his own father. He had to grow up fast and nurture his mother. I have some experience with that. When you come from those roots, you don't have anything to prove, anymore. But you do get lonely. When you are everyone's parent, there is nothing left for you.
In the Clinton dalliance there was yearning for connection. In Bush's case the yearning is to stand over the vanquished -- this is called "annihilation."
We must get better at articulating what this is about because it seems to me that whether or not you believe any of the Left Behind crap, Bush The Annihilator, does. Those are the rules he is playing by. He is a sick man and he is going to take all of us with him on his Odyssey to prove to Poppy once and for all, who's The Man.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

W is not gay, so stop saying that!

"President Bush falls in love - on TV"
http://www.expressen.se/index.jsp?a=244308
It's in Swedish, but here's a translation;
President Bush is talking about an eventual attack on Iran - but his thoughts are somewhere else. Finally he can't keep it in and tells the female reporter, "You have wonderful eyes"

Irony is dead:

link
Mesg #353582 "Ha ha ... DC Freeper rallly in support of Gannon!"
Author samela    
Author Info Member since Apr 25th 2002
12571 posts
Date Fri Feb-18-05 11:52 AM
Message
  

        


They'd better guard their porta potties ... you don't know who's gonna pee in them.
Cadged from a DU post ... I wouldn't have gone to FR myself.
--snip--
DEMONSTRATION IN SUPPORT OF JEFF GANNON
&
THE FIRST AMENDMENT
WHEN: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2005, 6 P.M. TO 8 P.M.
WHERE: THE SIDEWALK BY MONICA’S GATE,
AKA THE NORTHWEST VISITORS ENTRANCE
THE WHITE HOUSE, 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVE., NW, WASHINGTON, D.C.
(Washington) The D.C. Chapter of Free Republic, an independent grassroots organization, will be holding a demonstration at the White House this evening in support of former Talon News White House Correspondent Jeff Gannon and the rights of other reporters to do their jobs without fear of being destroyed by the political establishment.
The group will also be bringing attention to several First Amendment-related issues pertaining to the current imbroglio. Among them are the unconstitutional efforts of Democratic congressmen to determine who is a reporter and efforts by the establishment media to shut out Internet-based news sites from having access to government press conferences.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1345967/posts

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

IOKIYAR - media

link
            
Mesg #352867 "It makes sense to me"
Author samela    

Date Tue Feb-15-05 12:57 AM



I remember so well listening to Leslie Stahl in some radio interview describing how she had a meeting with Reagan in the Oval Office, and she realized he didn't even know who he was, much less she. And she says, "I said to myself ... is this something I should report? And I decided no." Apparently, the entire media knew the president was nigh onto non compis mentis, and didn't report it. Well, maybe this was just some sort of national security thing. Maybe we didn't want all our "enemies" to know the American president was drooling in his shoes and not steering the ship of state.
But I rather think they would have reported it of Clinton or Carter. In other words: Republican stories don't get printed. Compare Jennifer Fitzgerald to Monica Lewinsky. Compare Bush-daddy's pardon of Cuban terrorists and Pakistani heroin runners to Clinton's "scandallous" pardons.
IOKIYAR.
Plus, the media is scared. Plus, the people in this administration think they can get away with anything: lying, withholding information, telling long-time allies to screw off, having male prostitutes flitting around the White House. They don't give a shit, and that is how they get away with it.

Gannon screw-up

link
"They screwed up?"
Author samela    
  

        
In response to Reply #14


Sure they screwed up. But it has consequences.
They screwed things up royally in Iraq, too. They've screwed up the long-term economic picture of the country. Look, these people operate on two principles:
(1) hubris
(2) incompetence
And they get away with both things time after time.
Let's remember how Bush was hell-bent on getting his tax cuts passed. Here's this guy with no mandate, having eked out his power from a controversial Supreme Court decision (the whole election scam/fight thing in Florida itself being an extreme form of hubris ... I mean, who would think they could get away with having a candidate's brother strong-arm an election in his own state using such lumpenly obvious scams as the Karl-Rove butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County and phony lists of felons), and he puts forth this zany idea, and even a lot of old-time Republicans warn it's a bad idea, and it's plain as day what the consequences will be. But he gets away with it anyway, and to make matters worse does it again after 9/11. And everyone says, no one in their right mind would cut taxes when the nation is at war and the deficits are mounting, and you'd think he'd have to be nuts to propose cutting again, cause unemployment is going up and the gubmint revenues are declining ... but he does it again. And we now have historic deficits--he blew nine trillion dollars, taking us from a $5 trillion surplus to $4 trillion deficits. And a lot of people would say, yeah ... but you know, some stuff came along and, well, they didn't realize and they just screwed up. He's gotten away with it.
Let's not even talk 9/11. Can you imagine a president of the United States going on a month-long vacation after serving only 5 months in office, getting a memo entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Within the United States" (not to mention the 52 other memos specifically mentioning domestic suicide bombings using planes that we now know about) and then not doing one fucking thing about it? I mean, sitting on his ranch clearing brush or whatever and not having his National Security Advisor even call a single meeting? And then, after doing absolutely nothing with regard to this information, spending his time at an elementary school and ... even after being informed that America had been attacked ... sitting there on a little teeny chair reading a story about a pet goat? I mean, who could imagine anyone screwing up that badly? But he gets away with it, and they call him "manly" and "a leader" to boot.

So this happens, and that very night Rumsfeld is running around the Pentagon saying find an excuse to attack Iraq. And Richard Clarke tells him, and other people tell him, WHA? Iraq had nothing to do with this. But he says fuck that, this is a great opportunity. So they do all this shit for the next however many months that is really quite unbelievable--so unbelievable you can't imagine them actually having the hubris to do it on purpose cause who could get away with such things? -- kicking out the CIA analysts from meetings so Doug Feith can stovepipe his own raw intelligence up the ladder, getting the National Security Advisor and the Vice-President to go on TV and lie about nuclear capability and scaring people with phony stories of mushroom clouds. And they have the unprecedented gall to baldfacedly have the President lie during his State of the Union speech, including known fabrications like the Niger Yellow-Cake story, full well knowing the CIA has told them it is not true. But they do it anyway. I mean, that is so far-fetched that a Presient of these United States would get up and tell a boner like that after having been warned a dozen times it was not to be used (even having had it removed previously from a speech in Cincinnati). But they do it anyway, and they don't even care when they get caught with it. They just break a law by smearing the people telling the truth, outing a CIA agent -- and they get away with it.
And then they attack Iraq and even though all the generals have told Rumsfeld you need way more troops and you need a plan for after the military portion, he completely ignores them and goes ahead with his own hare-brained amateur battle plans. And talk about screwing up. Oh man, we don't even have to go over this. Not guarding the ammunition caches, letting all the country be looted of records, firing all the Ba'athists, creating a maelstrom of insurgency that has enmeshed us in an unwinnable war in which some 1,500 troops have died and 8,000 maimed and untold thousands and thousands of innocent Iraqis dead. And it was all based on this bold, audacious set of lies. And they get away with it.
And now you ask if they would intentionally have the nerve to pass through a known male hooker with no journalistic experience into the White House for two years? I mean, what rational administration would do something that nutty thinking they could get away with it?
Well, you know what? They are that nutty and that "fuck-you-we-can-do-anything-we-want." And they will get away with it.
This is the screw-up administration. And I am both shamed and scared to be an American right now. And if it takes a two-bit hooker who is blackmailing Scotty McClellan--or whatever the story on this turns out to be-- to discredit them, so be it.

The Gannon affair

link
Mesg #352876 "RE: So let's understand clearly what we are witness to"
Author felix19    


(not that there won't be plenty more to this story in the by and bye)
* Guckert/Gannon has been a "working boy" in DC at least since 2000, and prolly since well before that.
* Apparently a pretty successful working boy according to his testimonials and back taxes owed.
* People who ply his trade in DC have a tendency to run into plenty of powerful people. Especially if they are "total tops" like Gannon/Guckert is said to be.
* But dude is aging. Even though his escort service sites say he's 31, he's actually 47 and gravity is having its effect. No matter how well he maintains his equipment, surely his days as a prominent working boy in DC are numbered. What to do?
* How about presstitude?! He's always liked writing and given his experience, he's got plenty to say. What if he went to journalism school and wrote for some website?
* Next thing you know he's got a Leadership Institute Journalism Certificate and he's working at the White House for GOPUSA and Talon News. Woo-hoo! And how convenient! The personnel director for the White House is married to a board member of GOPUSA/Talon. And Howie Kurtz and his wife Sherry Anis are praising Leadership Institute to the skies.
* It's safe to say that "Jeff" was inserted into the White House press pool, he didn't just casually walk up to the gate and show his ID. Now the question is, who inserted him, and why him?
* Any good whore is going to have a client list. Who is on "Jeff's" list? Or is that too "personal?"
* Why did he resign from Talon? He hasn't done anything (much) wrong, at least as far as Howie Kurtz is concerned. And why is he going around blabbing and gabbing like he is if everything is so personal and private?
* Who has threatened and harrassed him and his family?
* What will it take for him to honestly tell what he knows?
* What about the Plame connection? When will we find out about that?
* Why is Big Media practically panicking over this whole thing, and why has Howie Kurtz been delgated to Make It Go Away?
* Shouldn't Gannon/Guckert be in protective custody NOW?
* What will we tell the CHILDREN??
* Doesn't anybody care about National Security?

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Dancing Bear posts on DU

link
DancingBear  (1000+ posts) Thu Feb-03-05 08:33 PM

The conversion of a moderate (long)Edited on Thu Feb-03-05 08:35 PM by DancingBear
It happened over time. I believed once, as do many here that all things good and just come from the process. Yes, the amorphous “process”, defined within a world 10 miles in diameter where no one is allowed a glimpse into real life, lest the process be tainted. Within the 10-mile world backs are patted, deals are struck, and the political yin/yang that is our side vs. their side continues forth. With equilibrium maintained, the country marches forward.
For the longest time, I too felt that when one side gives, in time the other side receives, and that moderation was the key to staying in power. “The woods are full of moderates”, I would say, and I watched my representatives play what I always thought was a fair game. Ya win some, ya lose some – just have to try harder next time, I guess. I cleaned off the cobwebs, opened the windows, and stepped outside.
What I saw surprised me, for I so wanted to believe that the process worked. I saw Republicans standing united with one goal and one goal only – to take complete and unquestioned control over every branch of government that exists, and to do it by any means necessary. I saw them attack a man who left his limbs in Southeast Asia. I saw them call a man with three Purple Hearts a coward, while their cocaine-addled puppet ran away from every challenge, tiny as they were. I saw them drive a newsman to retirement because he had the audacity to try and speak the truth, while the Vice President spoke from the gutter and was praised. I saw them equate oral sex with prison, while watching their brethren engage in adulterous affairs by the boatloads. In short, I watched them lie, steal and cheat their way to elected offices throughout this country, and to stay there with the help of a media cowering so badly in the corner that the slightest hint of honest reporting makes them cringe.
They will not stop. They will not stop until our views and beliefs literally vanish from the face of the earth. Falwell boasts that he wouldn’t give a dying liberal a thimbleful of water, and the zealots believe. Limbaugh and Hannity have hot lines to the Congress, and the hatred pours forth from the radios day after day. Gay Americans live in fear, for Our Leader has in so many words condemned them all to hell. In the halls of Congress, these thoughts get amplified time and again as Goosestep Nation tells the tepid opposition to keep quiet, lest they want more of the same. We reply with a kiss on the cheek.
I watch it get worse. A woman jointly responsible for the deaths of 3000 people on a clear September day is now our voice abroad. As she brazenly lied before Congress and the world, all but 13 of the people I thought shared my beliefs decided the process trumps truthfulness and said “aye.” A man who finds torture to be open to suggestion is now the chief arbiter of the law of our land, and 9 of the people who I thought shared my beliefs decided the process trumps evil, and voted “aye.” As the beast builds, shooting the citizenry in cold blood, those who hold the process dear fold their arms and promise to defend the sheriff because, after all, that is the most important battle. No one seems to notice that the streets are empty, and the graveyards full.
Where, I ask, is the outrage, the moral sense of purpose that I, and millions of my fellow citizens carry with us? Why must our blood literally boil with rage every time another part of the fabric of this country gets chipped away, a victim of the process? How has the simple of act of saying “no” to evil become not a stand for decency, but an object of ridicule?
As we get beaten time after time after time, and as our leaders prove unfit for the task at hand, I realize that the process kills. It kills the spirit that makes us who we are, and it breeds those for whom a comfortable place in the 10-mile room is safe haven from the beast that is destroying their constituents. We extend the outstretched hand, only to get pulled into the mud, never realizing the other side is always starched and washday white.
I realize now that the Lieberman’s of the world have dealt us a blow from which, unless they are removed forever, we cannot recover from. I think of 1964, and the resounding defeat of Barry Goldwater, and the right saying “never again.” They started building in 1965, and have not stopped since. In all that time, they have never wavered from their ultimate goal. The wayward sons have or will be put to pasture, and when the time comes to speak as one, or to demonize, the flock delivers. The plan is there for all to see, but we turn a blind eye to what works and instead take body blows for 12 rounds, happy to get to Round 13 without getting hit with a left hook. Some strategy.
I can no longer believe. I am moving to a new state soon, and I have talked with my wife and length about what to do. As of today, I am seriously considering running for elected office in that new state. If I do so, I hope there will be a (D) next to my name, but I can’t promise. It is up to you, and I, and millions more, to write, call, march, and scream, and to bring us primary candidates to challenge the DINO’s, and general candidates to clean out the filth. It is our only salvation.
For those that disagree, and who still believe, watch closely over these next months. Watch as Bush and the rest laugh at your beliefs that democracy actually still exists. As you talk endlessly one about “keeping our powder dry” and “when we get back in power” and “we need to pick our battles carefully” watch the other side nod its head with a confident swagger. Then, as you watch yet another Democrat buckle to the will of the right (disguised of course under the guise of being prudent), watch as they take this naïve plan, tape it to a razor blade, and shove it down your throat. As you head for the ER, they pray for you.
But not too much.

Totally Committed posts on CCN

link
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by TOTALLY COMMITTED on 02/05/2005 12:24:57 PM EST



The very obstruction of which you speak is the main reason I am feeling so unwilling to try and "fix" the Democratic Party. I gave my all to this Party for almost my whole life. There is no way to convey to you my disgust, disappointment, and anger over what it has become.
When I changed my registration to Independent about an hour after Kerry conceded, I actually cried. I stood in my Town Hall, holding my new voting papers which said I was an "Independent" and I cried. I thought of my grandpa, and how sad he would have been, and then rememberred he wouldn't have been sad with me, but with the Party, too. I am sure of it.
The Democratic Party can just smooch my petoot. They disenfranchised me; they bull-dozed their own candidate into the nomination; they ran a sickeningly weak campaign; they copmpletely direspected and disregarded my candidate, and then their candidate conceded and walked away.... no thanks...
I'm not sure this is a Party I want to see survive. They don't seem to care if they win, or know how to win, or be willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to win. And they are almost as corrupt right now as the other side.
Today, I choose to fight my own guerilla war against thee RW Rregressives. The Democratic Party left me long before I left it.
TC

Monday, January 24, 2005

Nuremberg prosecution reasons

Chief Prosecutor, Nuremberg (and US Supreme Court Justice)
http://www.roberthjackson.org/index.asp
From his opening statement:


The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to reason.
(...)
Our position is that whatever grievances a nation may have, however objectionable it finds the status quo, aggressive warfare is an illegal means for settling those grievances or for altering those conditions. It may be that the Germany of the 1920's and 1930's faced desperate problems, problems that would have warranted the boldest measures short of war. All other methods-persuasion, propaganda, economic competition, diplomacy-were open to an aggrieved country, but aggressive warfare was outlawed. These defendants did make aggressive war, a war in violation of treaties. They did attack and invade their neighbors in order to effectuate a foreign policy which they knew could not be accomplished by measures short of war. And that is as far as we accuse or propose to inquire.
http://www.roberthjackson.org/theman2-7-8.asp Link

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Farewell democracy - rest in peace!

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Malva Zebrina  (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-19-05 11:07 AM
Response to Original message
95. It is a testimony to the corruption that pervades our government
when a proven liar, a jingo speaking woman who drove this country, along with her boss, into an illegal war, and who continues to lie about it, without any sense of conscience, understanding, or even a hint of any independant thought above that which is the required talking points in this fascist administration.
That these men and women, save a few truth seekers like the brave Barbara Boxer, would affirm her specious methods, in total denial of the thousands of human lives that have been snuffed out by her and her boss , as if they were mere collateral damage, tells me something very bad about our system and the people in it.
We have, with this appointment virtually lost the ability to challenge George Bush on his motives for lying to his own people many times, in order to invade, occupy and murder in Iraq to his pleasure, and not to mention Abu Ghraib. What they will do is seal those arguments and file them away. When Iran is invaded it will all be "legal", you can be sure. You have seen the future SOS in all her ability to lie to hide the truth and to establish memes, and she does so with practiced skill.
The only resource left, is for the people to rise up and revolt against the entire, corrupted system. Something is rotten in the state of America.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1507258&mesg_id=1507800&page=

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Answer to "Quit the Kerry bashing"

"RE: Kerry? Kerry Who?"
Author felix19    
Date Tue Jan-18-05 12:15 PM

  
http://bartcopnation.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=2&topic_id=347910&mesg_id=347997&page=
        

There is certainly no Democratic Party leader named "Kerry."
I understand there was a Democratic Presidential candidate with that name at one time, but he seems to have "lost" the election -- and disappeared. Like a phantom. Hard to bash someone who may not really exist at all. Did he? Was he?
Sorry, but no one named "Kerry" has shown a scrap of leadership -- or even presence -- in this very traumatizing post-election epoch. No one named "Kerry." He's not around. AWOL. Apparently acting out what his opponents (especially the SwiftLiars) accused him of.
Call it bashing if you want, but let's face it, he's no leader, and he is no fighter -- at least not for anything that matters to progressives right now.

Sunday, January 16, 2005

I exploded on a "No Dean for DNC - he is Northeastern" on DU:

Response to Original message
90. While I have no vote/hope in the DNC thingy, I am tired of this civil war
being readjudicated on daily basis. We won the civil war. get TF over it. After this election it's not just the South that can hate the North with impunity. I hate you too. Or better said: enough with the geographical discrimination.
Kerry won. we were robbed, stick your images where the sun don't shine - I HAVE HAD IT!

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Typical Kerrygroup poster:

angrydemocrat  (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-14-05 01:56 AM
Response to Reply #9
12. I quit listenting to AAR
When they started all the Kerry bashing the way they did I said screw them! Mike Malloy bashes Kerry and christians all the time. Then Randi Rhodes went into one of her damn ignorant fits one night and was so damn rude it was it unreal. So I refuse to listen to it to me they are as bad as the right wing nuts. I know other people that also quit listening for the same reasons I did and also refuse to listen again. I guess they don't give a damn if they run their listeners off or night. The only one that doesn't bash Kerry is Al Frankin and he takes up for Kerry when they start their crap about him. But when you listen to him you always here between breaks Malloy and Rhodes and I don't want to hear anything either one has to say anymore so I just don't listen. And Malloy needs to get a life and realize all christians aren't rightwing nuts and until he does he run more listeners off. Oh well not my problem. It's theirs so let them deal with it. 
 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=273&topic_id=6244&mesg_id=6289&page=
Who will be thre Dem nominee in 2008?
My guess is it will be a Bush (4.00 / 2)
Maybe Jeb, maybe Neil, maybe Dorothy, will run against one of the other Bushes.  Or Jenna or Barbara.  The Dems will have moved more to the "center" and will field a Bush/Lieberman ticket, against the Republican Bush/Bush ticket.
by tangoasg

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

jeff's poem

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Solemnly I swear to uphold the laws of this
great land? except for Roe Vs. Wade?
the Clean Air and Water Act
the Endangered Species Act?
free speech, right to assemble,
no bid contract? wait? what? Oh, that?s ok.
I pledge allegiance to
Hum Vees, SUVs, Saudi Royal Family.
I pledge allegiance to an average report card
? to the Texas Heir National Guard.
because? I thought it was Heir, not Air.
Because I?m heir to the Bush throne.
But it?s hard? being presnident. It?s hard work.
I pledge allegiance to Swift Boats for Sleuth
And muddying up the voting booth.
To the red steaks? and the blue.
It?s time to separate the hate mongers
so we can examinate our defenseries
And come to a pository plastitude.
Time to decrease the innarceration rate
(unless it?s for ballot tampering).
Before it?s too late.
I steer the ship of state!
Bring the flood, father.
And let Damien Liebeskind
freedom?s child,
I?ve asked my friend to build
a fountain in the Holy Land
to honor the G Spot, a truly holy act.
I pledge allegiance to the Patriot Act.
You wanna read my e-mail?
I?ll write in Farsi?
what a farce?
one nation under a goon.
Under the hood
a donkey doing a unicorn.
Keep the myth alive!
In spite of cuckoo clocks
making a mockery of democracy.
Mission Accomplished! What?
Oh, not yet? Oh, not yet.
Enron, Chevron, da doo ron ron.
Haliburton good. Gay marriage?
a constitutional amendment!
Mary Cheney, she?s no daughter of
Dick Cheney? there?s not a gay boner
in his body. She must be
Osama?s bin Laden?s love puppy.
They all worked together.
Free pot, whachugot, Laura willl take it.
Smirk whine peeve pretend?
Put on my privliged brat routine.
Eagle fly?bomb the sky
with pledges of allegiance?.
I steer the ship of state.
Schwarzenegger, he?s my pronegee? see.
Terminator, gubernator? soon
you will be Presidentator!
Non residentator? green card girlie menator.
Immigration, elimination. Doesn?t matterator!
No problemo-ator! See.
Diebold and ESO had him cloned in Ohio?.
180,000 damaged ballots in Florida in 2000.
That was child?s play.
100% voting errors favored me in 2004.
100% (and more?I could die laughing)
of some of my precincts voting?
see? Americans? arrogance is romance.
Ignorance is a pistol! You catch my draft?
That?s why I?m publishing my own dictionater.
with words like nyucuhler and libral?
So?s ya?ll can learn to pronunciate more clearier.
Amen. Hot dog. Thank you God for
entrusting me with the keys
to the future of cheap energy.
I pledge allegiance to Bush.
Read my lapse. Hail to the chaff!
Jeffrey Cyphers Wright

Thursday, January 06, 2005

On the electoral votes thingy


Mesg #346410 "I had a kind of different reaction"
Author samela    
http://bartcopnation.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=2&topic_id=346327&mesg_id=346410&page=

Watching the Democrats talk about the sacred right of voting and the Republicans bat around a few insults, what struck me was the strategic hopelessness not just of this but a lot of stuff. (I frankly, thought the Dems did not cite enough concrete examples--and they should have organized themselves so that different issues were covered in each 5 minute segment. They especially didn't stress enough the recount irregularities--which allowed the Republicans to do their old 'it was recounted and Bush still won' shtick).
It's a damned odd thing to watch the Republicans tolerate the children having a little tantrum because they know they have the votes to do any fucking thing they want. It was so sad to me. Like mocking democracy. I almost wish it hadn't happened at all, even though I know it was necessary.
Why did the Democrats let Boxer stray off the reservation and join the rebels this time? Because there is absolutely nothing at stake. Had we even been successful in getting the Republicans to agree that Ohio was corrupted and throw their votes out, the result would have been to throw the election to the Congress to decide: and then Bush would still win. It all brought the total minority status we have into sharp contrast--and it's not a pretty picture.
The Republicans sat there tapping their feet while we got our two hours of venting. And no one who wasn't watching C-Span saw any of it. And then it was all over. It's going to be the same with Gonzales. Sorry to those who are enthused about it ... I just feel like this was a particularly black day in which the reality of minority status was startlingly apparent.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Translating kerry:

Tom Rinaldo  (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-05-05 05:16 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1470218&mesg_id=1470374&page=
18. I have a translation of Kerry's letter
Posted it on one other thread so sorry if it's a dupe to you:
"We lost, get over it, but don't get over the
importance of every vote counting. Although in this
case all the votes weren't counted, in this case it
doesn't really matter, but in some other case it would
matter, and it matters that we say it matters. But
don't say that it mattered in this case.
There were some troubling irregularities and
disturbing questions remain unanswered, but we know
that the answers to those unanswered questions would
have no effect on this election. The Republicans
really should do the right thing this time to clean
things up, although they should have done the right
thing last time to clean things up also, but since
they won both last time and this time, give them a
call and ask for their help, since they are now in
charge.
And remember, irregularities are a part of life.
That's why people use Ex-Lax. If it weren't for
irregularities discount stores would have nothing to
sell, so really irregularities are not overly
alarming, just a teensy bit alarming, so don't rock
the boat about this past election but it is OK to
write a letter about it. But remember, certain words
are just too divisive to use in mixed company, and
it's not only Democrats who live in America. We have
to be considerate of our Republican neighbors. Words
like lies, liberal, and fraud, those are all fighting
words. People fight over words like that and it would
be better if we could be more civil. Less combative
words are readily available.
I chose to acknowledge voting "irregularities", and I
am standing up to say that I wish they would stop.
Please join with me in opposing voting irregularities,
in a limited context anyway. We all understand that a
certain amount of irregularities will always be
inevitable. Much more study is needed to ensure that
American voters are not subjected to an excessive
amount of such irregularities, or, in other words,
more irregularities than they are willing to accept.
The bottom line is all votes should be counted and the
overwhelming majority of those votes should be counted
accurately. And it would greatly help to be confident
that that was truly the case, which we can't be
confident of now. Still, I am confident that I lost
this election. But don't worry, I have your back.

Saturday, January 01, 2005

Please, someone tell me that the 1st night of the year dream means
something...I had a very realistic dream that I somehow missed the news that a thisrd candidate in this election (a Bloomberg type businesman) had contested the election in court and won. he would now be inaugurated. It wasn't Kerry, but it wasn't Bush either - and everyone was rejoycing, even the media had snarky articles about loser Bush. And I kept saying: "Wow! So then our system works too....we are still a democracy! Wow!

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