David,

In your dreams, yes.

Real world, no.

Suffering from a little trans-atlantic jetlag?

Pandemoniac, from previous thread

I jumped so you don't have to be first. Yes, both men and women have control over "getting pregnant." I was referring to your reference to white men controlling reproductive rights. You seemed to imply they had none when in fact, they do. All men do. It is after reproduction occurs that your argument comes into play. The sperm and the egg are a separate entity until fertilization.

As has been clear for 5+ years; cowardly incompetence...the economy, China and our spy plane, the deficit, the stock market, the Supreme Court, etc.

As has been clear for 3+ years; deceptive treasonous traitorous corruption...9/11, Afghanistan, Oil/energy, Osama, wire-tapping, etc.

Perhaps the American Public should bother to sample the non-corporate news. Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, Canada, the Pacific Rim....Oh, I mean the entire rest of the World has been pretty aware of the the whole criminal affair. Yea, Redneck Nation...

By all means, feel free to sample all of the other countries you mentioned, permanently.

Just "josh"ing.

G'nite.

On the "What would you ask Alito?" link, I said I wanted him to answer the questions already asked! "I don't recall" and all other b/s ain't good enough. Wellll, look who else thinks that way... tho you couldn't tell it.

As Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter wrote in his 2000 book, Passion for Truth : “[T]he Senate should resist, if not refuse, to confirm Supreme Court nominees who refuse to answer questions on fundamental issues. In voting on whether or not to confirm a nominee, senators should not have to gamble or guess about a candidate’s philosophy, but should be able to judge on the basis of the candidate’s expressed views."

THX, TRH.

BTW, if you're a fan of fascism, you don't belong in a democracy.

This country was founded on principles of dissent and skepticism. Read the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land.

Perhaps, you belong in another country, say, Kurdistan, our "Terror" ally whom has murdered 10-30K of it's own citizens last year.

Or, perhaps you would enjoy some other dictatorship...

But, you certainly don't belong in a free society...

Clearly, you would be happier in a nation where you zealously support the party currently in charge.

There are dozens of nation to choose from, some our allies, some our enemies. Well, you decide...

But, please, don't pretend to be a defender of liberty and democracy.

Ms. Holtzman is a patriot and she is right. 'nuff said

I dunno 'bout this. If it's true, then it would be a good sign. But what if it's more 'pay to play' journalism?

Local Insurgents Tell of Clashes With Al Qaeda's Forces in Iraq
---
"Al Qaeda killed two people from our group," said an Islamic Army fighter who uses the nom de guerre Abu Lil and who claimed that he attended the meeting. "They repeatedly kill our people."

The encounter ended angrily. A few days later, the insurgents said, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and the Islamic Army fought a bloody battle on the outskirts of town.

The Media Missed this one!!!!

Subject: Denzel Washington, and Brooks Army Medical Center

Don't know whether you heard about this, but Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center, in San Antonio,Texas (BAMC) the other day. This is where soldiers who have been evacuated, come to be hospitalized in the United States, especially burn victims. There are some buildings there called Fisher Houses. The Fisher House is a Hotel where soldier's families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is staying in the Hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, but as you can imagine, they are filled most of the time. While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build. He took his check book out and wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot. The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word out to the American public.

My question is, if MSM isn't bias liberal, why do, Bags of human waste like, Alec Baldwin, Madonna, Sean Penn and other Hollywood types make front page news with their anti-everything America crap and Denzel Washington's heart felt patriotic gift doesn't even make page 3 in the Metro section of any newspaper except a Local one in San Antonio?

Texas Redistricting Is One More Hurdle for DeLay

"I think there is a 50-50 chance DeLay won't even be in the race in November," said Calvin C. Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

I posted about the Swiss 'getting a whif'(intercepted fax proving the secret torture prisons and CIA flights in the EU) last night. Now they are investigating the leaker, like their big brothers, the U.K and the U.S. But check out how their media stood up to the government. No waiting a year for those guys.

Swiss Investigate Leak to Paper on C.I.A. Prisons

---
Christoph Grenacher, the newspaper's editor in chief, said that before the article was published, newspaper officials met with high-ranking Swiss government officials, who urged the paper to withhold the information. "We concluded that the discussion about so-called secret prisons is much more important than the interests of the secret service in Switzerland," he said.

During those discussions, he said, no one
contested the authenticity of the document. Egypt has not commented on the report, but it quickly reignited a political fury in Europe that began in the fall with news reports that said there were C.I.A. interrogation centers in Europe and that there had been secret flights through European countries transferring terrorism suspects for questioning.

Bags of human waste like, Alec Baldwin, Madonna, Sean Penn and other Hollywood types make front page news with their anti-everything America crap and Denzel Washington's heart felt patriotic gift doesn't even make page 3 in the Metro section of any newspaper except a Local one in San Antonio?

What does that make you "wondering", the mushroom growing under them bags? haha You know, "kept in the dark 'n...".

Actor Denzel Washington Spontaneously Paid for the Construction of a "Fisher House" During a Visit to Brooke Army Medical Center-Fiction!

A Challenge to Evolution of Universe
'Dark Energy' Finding Casts Doubt on Einstein's 'Cosmological Constant'

By Guy Gugliotta
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 12, 2006; Page A02

In the quest to decipher the evolution of the cosmos, no topic generates greater interest among scientists than "dark energy," the mysterious force that appears to be causing the universe to expand at an ever-accelerating rate.

Yesterday, Louisiana State University astronomer Bradley E. Schaefer tossed a grenade into this debate, presenting new research to suggest that the force dark energy exerts may have varied over time. That casts new doubt on the validity of Albert Einstein's "cosmological constant" only a few years after astronomers rescued the concept from scientific oblivion.

Schaefer based his findings on analysis of ultra-bright cosmic explosions called gamma-ray bursts, detected as far as 12.8 billion light-years away. He found that the most distant explosions appeared brighter than they should have been if the universe were accelerating at a constant rate.

"As you go back in time, the universe is pushing [outward] less and less," he said. "At some point, the pressure of dark energy is zero and is exerting no force on the universe. There is no explanation for it."

Into the Oversight Void Step the Inspectors General

part of the second page...

Pentagon Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz resigned in September after learning that he was the target of a congressional inquiry into whether he had blocked two criminal probes. Janet Rehnquist resigned the IG's post at the Department of Health and Human Services in June 2003, ending a controversial 22-month tenure in which she improperly kept a firearm in her office and initiated personnel changes that led at least 20 senior managers to retire, resign or be reassigned. That same summer, U.S. Postal Service Inspector General Karla W. Corcoran retired after a federal investigation found that she abused her authority, spent more than $1 million on each of three employee award ceremonies and conducted questionable personnel practices.

A few critics say the work of inspectors general has been undermined by politics. A 2004 report by the Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Committee found that fewer than 20 percent of inspectors general appointed by Bush had audit experience, while nearly two-thirds had held political positions, such as working for a GOP member of Congress or in a Republican White House. Under President Bill Clinton, more than 60 percent had audit experience and fewer than one-quarter had held political positions, the report said.

ALAN, nice Non-Sequitor.

If you had bothered to read scientific journals (peer reviewed, not dogma reviewed);
you would have read that recent discoveries provide compelling evidence for the factual existence of Einstein's Cosmological Constant...

Yes, Anti-Intellectualism is alive and well...

Your "War on Science" is as relevant as the "War on Christmas"...

And, this makes Bush not a corrupt incompetent?

Well played.

Do I think there is a profound case to be made for Impeachment, oh hell yes.

Do I think this is the best strategy.........sadly, no.

Who among us wan'ts President Chaney?????????

However; we can and Should change the balance of power in Congress. And it may well be our last chance.

Bush has made serious inroads into creating a Corporate Coup. I don't need a King, an Emporor, or a Dictator. I have a Democracy.

I plan to do everything in my power to defend and protect THAT.

It will start with my check book.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their Party.

The Real Thing

Either the Democrats are going to try and save our Constitution, our democracy and the gift of the American Revolution, or they might as well just leave their seats in Congress and go home. Why pretend there is two-party rule, when the Democrats just keep counting out the inches of rope to hang themselves -- and our Constitution? They didn't learn when the election was stolen in 2000 -- and appear to have learned little since.

Both the Democrats and Republicans know what an Alito confirmation would mean. Another step in the consolidation of a one-party, secretive, snooping, self-profiteering, religious fundamentalist, form of population control. Call it fascism, call it totalinariasm, call it an oligarchy, call it whatever "ism" you want; they are all the same in this respect. They are not democracy.

All the "analysis" we are reading daily about the Alito hearings could be written by the television reviewers for newspapers.

Everyone knows Alito is the monarchal, elitist "real thing." That's why Arlen Specter and other Republican senators are lying to cover his back.

If the Democrats had the ability to frame the real issue -- that the future of the balance of powers and our Constitution are at stake -- they would filibuster this until Bill Frist tries to bring on his "nuclear option." Then, they would tell him, "Bring it on, Bill!"

Better to put up a fight as they did in 1776 than to act like pawns getting crushed by a totalitarian steamroller.

Einstein Was Right (Again): NIST And MIT Confirm That E=mc2

Albert Einstein was correct in his prediction that E=mc2, according to scientists at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who conducted the most precise direct test ever of what is perhaps the most famous formula in science.

In experiments described in the Dec. 22, 2005, issue of Nature,* the researchers added to a catalog of confirmations that matter and energy are related in a precise way. Specifically, energy (E) equals mass (m) times the square of the speed of light (c2), a prediction of Einstein's theory of special relativity. By comparing NIST measurements of energy emitted by silicon and sulfur atoms and MIT measurements of the mass of the same atoms, the scientists found that E differs from mc2 by at most 0.0000004, or four-tenths of 1 part in 1 million. This result is "consistent with equality" and is 55 times more accurate than the previous best direct test of Einstein's formula, according to the paper.

Such tests are important because special relativity is a central principle of modern physics and the basis for many scientific experiments as well as common instruments like the global positioning system. Other researchers have performed more complicated tests of special relativity that imply closer agreement between E and mc2 than the NIST/MIT work, but additional assumptions are required to interpret their results, making these previous tests arguably less direct.

The Nature paper describes two very different precision measurements, one done at NIST by a group led by the late physicist Richard Deslattes, and another done at MIT by a group led by David Pritchard. Deslattes developed methods for using optical and X-ray interferometry--the study of interference patterns created by electromagnetic waves--to precisely determine the spacing of atoms in a silicon crystal, and for using such calibrated crystals to measure and establish more accurate standards for the very short wavelengths characteristic of highly energetic X-ray and gamma ray radiation.

According to the basic laws of physics, every wavelength of electromagnetic radiation corresponds to a specific amount of energy. The NIST team determined the value for energy in the Einstein equation, E = mc2, by carefully measuring the wavelength of gamma rays emitted by silicon and sulfur atoms.

Alan

I meant A REAL NEWSPAPER

I have 7 jpegs of him actually there, and writing the check.

Pictures of Denzel? Didn't we all get them in our email? The sister of one of my coworkers took some at BAMC. She's the one that got me interested in Fisher House.

TRH, you really should read the history of reproductive rights to see how women have had to fight for them. In arguing about the use of condoms and vasectomies, you are saying that (biologically) men hold the key before conception (you inaccurately used the word "reproduction"). That is as illogical as saying that women hold the key to conception because of the use of The Birthcontrol Pill. Reproductive rights belong to all, regardless of gender. As Dershowitz pointed out, most Americans are for it. And having a bunch of white guys in robes deciding what goes on in a woman's body (but not denying men their rights) is unfair. See the 1891 case Union Pacific Railway Co. v. Botsford, the 1965 decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, Eisenstadt v. Baird, and Doe v. Bolton. It's not just about Roe v. Wade.

==+==

Hey look. Criminality on the Democratic side of the tracks (in New Orleans, LA no less). A crooked Dem is about to go down, down, down for trying to get rich quick. Let's please not call for a lynching (I think the guy is black), but let's lock 'em up, lock 'em up, do it now!

++=++

Impeachment? That's funny. That would require effort, courage and principles. Sadly none of the current Republican crop of congressional Reps has either the strength, courage or ethical backbone to engage in even the discussion of Impeachment, much less the actual hearings. There are plenty of Dems who are making the case and holding hearings. Capt (I think) linked a story about a group of Dems who would be holding their own hearings (because the Reds refuse to cooperate). Impeachment won't happen because the debate about Impeachment is being squelched by the Republicans. Cowards.

Happy new year, Mr. C. Never a dull moment in the District huh?I think the ultimate strategy would be one to focus on clarifying the extent of the President's power grab. I know some times when legal disputes happen the ruling is not definitive just ample resolution. The Padilla case is worth noting also.The administration doesn't act untill their hand is forced out and this might be a model to go by for quickly getting the issues in question to the Supremes before the next Presidential election. Nicely articulated stautes with supporting data ready to have for the electorate to use at their disposal. The way this Administration acts first and answers for itself later is my biggest gripe, besides attacking any one who questions what they are doing. Simple, if you have the Authority Mr. President just prove it. Thanks

Amen Sister Elizabeth.

As shown in any factual examination, this president should be cast out. As a practical matter, I don't think it can happen with the one-party control of both houses of congress. John Conyers' move to censure is maybe more worthy, but still unlikely to progress because of republican control. This makes the mid-term elections loom large. I daydream of a third-party presidential candidate who can show courage and shame the timid democrats and the shameless administration of Bush & company.

Man of the Year: Patrick Fitzgerald By Gerald Rellick

Al-Jazeerah, January 8, 2006

My nomination for Man of the Year in 2005 is Patrick Fitzgerald. Anyone who could flush out a sleazy journalist like Judy Miller and toss her in jail without blinking an eye gets my vote. More significantly, though, it was only after Fitzgerald’s tenacious investigation that the media woke from its stupor and discovered that the disclosure of Valerie Plame’s CIA identity was more than just another Washington scandal – which is where they seemed happy to leave it. So we began reading about – get this now --possible attempts by the Bush administration to dissemble, deceive and distort, as they “fixed the intelligence” to sell the Iraq war to Congress and the American people. It’s clear that Fitzgerald’s dogged efforts had that hard-to-define tipping effect, where what had been obvious all along, but was being ignored for lack of momentum, suddenly gets new life.

But the media still has some catching up to do. When discussing the Plame affair, they frequently describe the White House’s actions as an attempt to "discredit” Joseph Wilson. This has never made any sense. Wilson was a career diplomat from 1976 until 1998, specializing in African affairs, and was the first president Bush’s acting ambassador to Iraq during the period of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. He was a perfectly logical choice to undertake the CIA mission to assess whether Hussein had attempted to buy uranium ore from the African country of Niger. So, why would revealing his wife’s clandestine CIA status discredit him? If Plame was known to be anti-Bush it might be different. But Plame worked undercover for the CIA and her political views—if she even had any – were surely anything but common knowledge.

And just this week the New York Times, in an otherwise hard-hitting editorial critical of the Bush administration’s “leak investigations,” called the Plame outing “an attempt to silence Mrs. Wilson's husband.” Then later in the same editorial the Times says the whole incident “began with a cynical effort by the administration to deflect public attention from hyped prewar intelligence on Iraq.”

No, Joe Wilson’s wife was outed in a purely vindictive act to punish Wilson, and secondarily, to frighten off others who might question the Bush war propaganda machine which was then in high gear. In one of the more inane articles on the Plame affair, Washington Post columnist, Jim Hoagland, asked why the White House had to resort to this tactic. Asks Hoagland, “Why didn’t they just write a countering op-ed?” You have to wonder where Hoagland has been for the last five years. The answer is, this is not how the Bush administration works. They are juvenile and petty – like school yard bullies who steal your lunch and defy you to do something about it. Thanks to the Fitzgerald investigation, we see this now more clearly than ever.

The administration’s conduct in the Plame affair calls to mind Peter Singer’s dissection of George Bush in his book, The President of Good and Evil: The Ethics of George W. Bush. Singer is professor of philosophy at Princeton and a prolific author on a range of subjects. It is Singer’s view that Bush suffers from “arrested moral development.”

He supports his argument by citing work of Harvard psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg who studied moral judgment in children, adolescents and adults from the United States and other countries. Kohlberg found that we all move through three major stages of moral development, the last being what he calls the “postconventional stage,” where one moves away from “an orientation toward authority, fixed rules, and the maintenance of social order” that characterize the prior stage, to a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of rules and the possibility of altering these by “appealing to logical comprehensiveness, universality and consistency.”

For Singer, Bush is stuck in the second stage of moral reasoning which is “typically reached by teenage boys in the thirteen to sixteen age group.” [emphasis added]. “Bush’s childishly literal notion of what is truthful has set the tone for his entire administration,” writes Singer… "Handicapped by a naïve idea of ethics as conformity to a small number of fixed rules, [Bush] has been unable to handle adequately the difficult choices that any chief executive of a major nation must face.”

And just this week we got yet another revelation of George Bush’s “arrested moral development.” According to an article in the UK Independent, New York Times journalist, James Risen, in his recently released book, State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration, tells of a telephone conversation between Bush and his father, the former President. After the elder Bush challenged his son for allowing Don Rumsfeld "and a cadre of neoconservative ideologues" to exert excessive influence over foreign policy, the younger Bush simply hung up the phone.

While attention is now focused on Bush’s secret domestic surveillance program, don’t dismiss Fitzgerald’s investigation. It’s not over yet. Hanging in the balance is the fate of Dick Cheney, still believed to be a Fitzgerald target. Wouldn’t a Cheney indictment be sweet justice? The match up between Fitzgerald and the White House is the stuff of movies. Compare Fitzgerald’s leading man stats -- 6’ 2”, 215 pounds, handsome, and a former rugby player at Amherst and Harvard – with those of George Bush, the pom-pom waving cheerleader at Andover and Yale, and Dick Cheney, the Yale flunk-out and draft dodger, and you have the beginnings of a script for a modern day version of Gladiator II.

So I’m looking forward to an interesting 2006. If anyone can wipe that smirk off George Bush’s face, it’s Pat Fitzgerald.

Gerald S. Rellick, Ph.D., worked in aerospace industry for 22 years. He now teaches in the California Community College system.

David,

The common response to recent statements about impeachment is often:

"Well the citizens had thier chance to vote in 2000 and 2004 and they picked Bush, that is how a Democracy works."

That is total bullshit.

There was nothing fair or legal about either election. Gore won the election in 2000. That is a fact. Then Bush allowed us to be attacked by terrorists. Then he used fear, intimidation and Diebold to do it again in 2004. The lack of effective journalism was also a crucial factor in keeping Americans misinformed. At the time a large number of Americans actually believed Saddam Hussien attacked us on 9/11. Recent events involving the Diebold corporation and Ohio politicians make this a lot more tangible then your typical "moonbat lefty tinfoil hat conspiracy theory". Thousands of people were turned away from the polls in Ohio. Journalism looked the other way. Electronic voting machines, still in place everywhere, are still easily hacked. Journalism looks the other way. So in a system where big business controls the media and the elections, how else do you rid yourself of a dictator?

You get of your ass and demand the dictator step down, and you demand that, "every vote is counted".

Once we allow our liberty to be taken, we are'nt gonna get it back.

I wish journalists would wake up.

TRH,

That's EXACTLY what Hitler and his youth were saying.

As long as the Republicans have the majority in the House and Senate, impeachment is just wishful thinking and the Democrats are better served by winning seats in November. If they can't run against the debacles in Iraq and New Orleans, the attempt to gut Social Security, the rampant corruption, the domestic spying, and the naked power grab by the executive branch, well, then I guess there's not much hope for them as a party.

Pande - Should I look on television for someone who resembles Pancho Villa in the audience at the game tonight?

Corky,
You are either insane, or stupid. Gore flat lost the election. In 2000, the Dems, stuffed ballot boxes with votes from the deceased and incarcerated, and got caught.

If the dead and convicted are the popular vote, then, granted Gore was popular, but not with living registered voters.

All Intelligent, living, registered voters, cast their ballots for President Bush, and he won, despite all the corruption permeating the Democrat party.

You should get down on your knees and thank the Republican voters of America for saving your life in 2004. They saw through the criminally deceptive campaign of John the cowardly traitor Kerry, and sent him packing.

After reading posts, written by most regular cornbloggers, it is easy to see why you guys and gals, David Corn's band of intellectual midgets, are always so confused about reality.

It is simple.

You choose to ignore facts. You make up ridiculous conspiracy theories, pass those ridiculous theories amongst yourselves until you believe they actually happened, then call anyone who points out your deception a liar. Do the world a big favor and commit suicide.

I can't think of a better rallying cry for the upcoming elections than Impeachment.

Let's face it, 95% of the delegates at the Democratic Convention were opposed to the Iraq War, and the nominee was the milqtoast Kerry.

The election was at least close enough that the shenanigans ala Ohio were able to swing it.

John Dean says, "Worse than Watergate."

Let's do the world a favor, and at least do the right thing and go out swinging; if we do go down and not be called out on strikes looking like fools at the plate.

Sorry for the baseball metaphor.

p.s. - To not fight for impeachment is the moral equivalent of condoning:

illegal war,
torture,
abu ghraib & gitmo,
extraordinary rendition to who knows where,
outing Valerie Wilson & Brewster Jennings, &
Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan,
NSA fishing expeditions,
ad infinitum

I may be crazy for loving my country these days.

Gore won the election in 2000. This is no "crazy conspiracy theory".

Would you have me believe that you support some "culture of life" when you suggest that I should commit suicide. I thought all you conservatives were christians with lots of "moral values". Clearly you are you are confused.

Would you also suggest that my mother should have had an abortion? You should go read your Bible some more. Then you would see the movement you blindly support is a one way ticket straight to hell.

Dear Corky is an Idiot,
You're wrong.
The Wrong Man is President. Overvotes in 2000 Election In Florida

-----------------------
And Bush lost in 2004.

David, do you have inside info. that diebold may allow the dems to win this time around? And, who will be our choice in 2008? Contestant #1, war mongering, AIPAC spy supporting hillary, or contestant #2, war mongering, AIPAC spy supporting gulliani? Gee, I just can't WAIT! The best damn democracy central banker money can buy.

Robert,
I agree with you. Impeach the bum and all his rascal crew.

No man is above the law.

We've heard that a number of times during these hearings.

As I've pointed out, that is bullshyt, there is the notion of prosecutorial descretion, not to mention the fact that many police officers make the choice to arrest or not everyday, and the overall targeting of certain populations for criminal investigation is often arbitrary.

Also witness:

No ticket for Schwarzenegger
Governor didn't have permit to operate motorcycle
Thursday, January 12, 2006; Posted: 10:32 a.m. EST (15:32 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's weekend motorcycle crash left him with a fat lip and a political black eye, but he won't be charged with a driving violation, officials said Wednesday.

No man is above the law, another example of a clean pig.

Saladin,

GREAT!! I hope David gets a chance to read that!

Anybody have a comment regarding Alitos wifes crying at the hearings yesterday? Coincidentally while the subject of bigotry was being discussed. Could Alito be a spousal abuser and things got a little close to home for her?

Go Murtha Go!
During a campaign-style town hall meeting in Louisville on Wednesday, President Bush continued his PR offensive on Iraq, offering up his familiar "strategy for victory" talking points (Saddam: bad; democracy: good) and an upbeat assessment of the situation there.

According to the president, "Things are good."

Reports from around the country are that wherever Murtha goes -- be it a Home Depot or a Starbucks -- applause breaks out. The well-spring of sentiment against the war that he tapped into when he first spoke out in November is still very much alive. He hit a nerve, one that strikes at the heart of the administration's signature policy initiative: the invasion of Iraq.

If Democrats are smart, they will keep Murtha front and center -- making him the face of the party for the 2006 race in the way the GOP utilized Gingrich to nationalize the 1994 elections.

As he proceeds on his barnstorming offensive, Murtha does what the Democrats should have been doing for years (are you listening, Hillary?): show how the war on Iraq has actually undermined our national security.

"The annual expenditures for the War on Iraq dwarf those of the combined budgets of all other programs in place to fight terrorism," he wrote in his letter. "That is a gross misallocation of resources and has important consequences for making our population safer from terrorist attack. The dollars used to pay for an 8,000 mile logistical pipeline to Iraq could be reapplied to fixing our many vulnerabilities at home in the transportation sector, or at chemical plants, river levees, or nuclear power plants...

"We should be conducting a war against the terrorists in which America's borders are effectively guarded to keep out terrorists, and programs are in place to ensure that none of the millions of cargo containers that enter American ports contain explosives that could render one or more of our great ports inoperable and debilitate our economy, not a "War on Terror" where our finest young people are sacrificing their lives and limbs to implement the visions of "intellectual geopolitical strategists" who fantasize about Jeffersonian democracies being installed in Middle East cultures that have had authoritarian regimes during their entire two millennia of existence...

"It is time to 'change the course' of our Iraqi policy. It is time to wage an effective war against international terrorism. The American people know it. It is time for the administration and the Congress to catch up with them..."

Expect more of this impassioned and spot-on reasoning when Murtha is profiled on "60 Minutes" this Sunday.
---------------------

corky, it won't matter if David reads it or not, he doesn't believe the elections were hacked, it's just a conspiracy theory dontcha know.

Yes, impeachment is very serious business. But, it is more important business to protect our constitutional system of government and to preserve our democracy.

It is apparent to many ordinary Americans and to many of the best legal minds in the country (from across the political spectrum), that George W. Bush has violated the laws of the land.

When a president of the United States violates the law and breaks his oath of office, and serious steps are not taken to hold him accountable, what does that say about a nation, its people, and elected officials who supposedly represent them?. Not much.

What will serve as the standard by which future presidents will be judged and measured? If nothing is done to at least attempt to hold bush accountable, the benchmark will be very low indeed. And then it will be too late -- once a president knows he can amass power and violate the law and get away with it (while good people sit and wait for the next election, for chrissakes!), we are closer to that dictatorship that some people predict.

I say, "bring it on." The "I" word should be the word of the day!

++++

(PS Thanks to Capt for bringing Holtzman's article to our attention.)

The crying was just "good theatrics."

The director looked at the script and cued her to "emote" and she did her best.

DEN, I think this little essay sums it up pretty well,

From: Hoffmania

Let's not kid ourselves. The Alito appointment is ENORMOUSLY important to Bush's "legacy" in what will historically be one failure after another. And it's no secret that Lindsey Graham coached Alito before the hearings began. So it's no small leap of reality to come to the conclusion that Martha-Ann's blubbering came right on Rovian cue during Graham's impassioned plea for dialing down the big bad attacks by the Democrats.

I'm sorry. I didn't know Hatch was so close to Alito's missus that he jumped in as her spokesman. Some separation of interests, eh? Some impartiality.

Unapologetically, I say this is all a big fat steaming pile of fly-infested horseshit. Alito knew the hearings were going to be an uphill battle. He knew it wasn't a slam dunk. And if you believe for one second that his own damned wife didn't know that, you're stupider than the coverage of this really bad drama.

What pisses us off is how many people ARE buying it, and how many will become sympathetic to Alito - and in turn, have disdain and disgust toward the Democratic Meanies who are ganging up on these poor sensitive people.

In other words, right out of the GOP playbook.

It's horseshit, it's horseshit, it is HORSE SHIT. Graham has absolutely no reason to apologize to Alito, other than to curry sympathy. And yet the Democrats are being painted as the ones showing no impartiality and have their minds made up going into this whole thing.

The GOP Playbook. Pages 15-22, 47, 102, 171-175 and Appendix XXVI. There's your slam dunk.

It's theater. Really awful theater at that. And the media are thoroughly enraptured by it.

Lowbrows.
---------
DC is right up there with Hollywood in terms of BS production!

Wow, what a dose of 'work within the system because it works' Mr. Corn, following on a fair degree of disdain for grass roots politics in the form of demonstrations, and concerns over the highly irregular and probably fraudulent conduct of the last two presidential elections, among other issues. And your beltway crowd feeds monsters like Abramoff. And Bush's many impeachable offenses have brought death, maiming, evisceration of fundamental rights and ruin of so many lives, and ruinous fiscal consequences. Gosh darn it! We just gotta work harder to win some elections, cuz the system that brought all this ain't perfect but works well enough; if they would just to take it a bit easier on all the vote selling.

I'm with Robert and Jeanne above. If we really lived in a moral country and Rule of Law prevailed, there could no other course than impeachment. And there ought to be jail time involved too for both the President and involved cabinet members, and the Abramoff crooks to start. We have lost our soul and slipped into Hell without noticing.

British Government to Float QinetiQ
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 12, 2006
Filed at 11:03 a.m. ET

LONDON (AP) -- British defense research company QinetiQ Group PLC said Thursday it will make an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.

The British government, which owns a majority stake in the company, said the IPO would take place in February, subject to market conditions. The offering will mark the first full privatization of a state-owned venture since Prime Minister Tony Blair's government came to power in 1997.

In a statement to Parliament, Defense Secretary John Reid said the Ministry of Defense and its strategic partner, the Washington-based private equity firm The Carlyle Group, ''will continue to retain a significant stake in the company.''

The Carlyle Group bought a 31 percent share of the company in 2003. Britain's defense ministry owns a 56 percent stake, with the remaining 13 percent owned by staff and management.

More.

*******************

Notice. The Carlyle Group, was in partnership with the British Government before the public offering.

Established in 1987, The Carlyle Group is a private global investment firm that originates, structures and acts as lead equity investor in management-led buyouts, strategic minority equity investments, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, and growth capital financings.

Curious, no?

From: Live Journal

The murdered New York Times reporter and the Alito connection

Rosenbaum's last piece for the TIMES was published on 12/24/2005, and reported that Samuel Alito had authored a 1984 memo arguing that then-President Reagan had the right to order wiretaps without warrants.

Rosenbaum was mugged to death two weeks later, as Alito's confirmation hearings are about to begin?

Small world, isn't it? And full of odd coincidences.

Update: Rosenbaum not only was on Alito's tail, he was on Bush 41's. He had done a lot of reporting on Iran Contra. And we all know that all the real Iran-Contra crooks are back at it right now.
-------
Mugged to death? And they took his wallet but left the jewelry. These lowlifes are nothing more than common mobsters.

Sorry for the unusually hard edge above,, folks. I just heard today from a good buddy who is posted to a US military hospital in Germany and has been working hard trying to put together horribly maimed victim's of Bush's ghastly crusade.

Someone mentioned bigotry regarding Alito earlier.
I have a story about that:

I am here right now because I am currently unemployed. I left my job two days ago. There is a guy at my work who is a conservative. He has a giant bank account, a millionaire father, and works at a low paying factory job. I know this because he loves to talk about all of his money all day long. He drives a car that cost's more than I make in four years. He believes that black people, immigrants and poor people are inferior. I know this because he says so loudly and proudly,every day. There is a Latina lady who comes to work every single day and works her ass off. The aforementioned rich guy has been sexually harassing this latina lady, a married christian who reads her bible when she eats lunch.This has gone on for a year. So I started teaching her English. She learned fast. The conservative guy was very angry about this. He viewed her as a subhuman. The boss went on vacation this week and left the rich guy in charge. The first day the boss was away the rich guy began to abuse the Latina lady. This made me so angry I was unable to contain my discontent. We began a shouting match wich ended in the rich guy saying: "Im not going to stop and if you dont like it you can leave!" So I did.

Snow says new Bush budget will impose tight spending controls and require sacrifice
By Martin Crutsinger
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:21 p.m. January 10, 2006

WASHINGTON –†President Bush's new budget will call for sacrifices as a way to meet his goal of cutting the budget deficit in half by 2009, Treasury Secretary John Snow said Tuesday.
Snow said every government agency would be asked to help reduce the growth of government spending in the budget proposal that Bush will submit to Congress in early February.

The spending blueprint for the budget year that begins Oct. 1 will contain "good, tight spending controls" that will "call for sacrifices, no doubt about it," Snow said in an interview with a small group of reporters.

The new budget is being written to accomplish Bush's 2004 campaign goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009, Snow said.

"The president has made clear that he expects every department to make its contribution to achieving these results, which means stringent budgets," Snow said.

More.

***********************

Say thanks to your buddy, Riff. Remember that the V.A. is one of those agencies facing the budget axe, for Happy tax cuts...

I don't know what the salaries are for our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, but did you notice:

Wall Street Bonuses to Hit Record $21.5 Billion in 2005
By JENNY ANDERSON
Published: January 11, 2006

The average bonus of $125,000 was also a record, surpassing the previous peak in 2004, of $114,270. Mr. Hevesi's figures represent bonuses awarded at 220 companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Adjusted for inflation, the 2000 record was $22.3 billion.

Robert, I've been thinking about the Chinese financing our debt, and wondering, are they complete idiots, or brilliant strategists? They must know the dollar is balanced on a precipice, yet they continue to collect them. The news that they plan to invest 2.5% of their trade surplus in gold, that amounts to 2.5 BILLION dollars of almost useless paper being traded for the real thing, tells me they are definitely not stupid! I can't help but wonder how many other super rich investors are doing the same thing. How much longer will the market be able to carry such inconceivable debt?

The rise of rectal journalism - David Sirota

A lot has already been written about Joe Klein's latest column - a true foray into fantasy. The man is the epitomy of a journalist who is so self-absorbed, so obsessed with himself, or so lazy that he quite literally thinks he can just make things up. But sadly, Klein epitomzes a new brand of journalism sweeping the nation. It's what I call Rectal Journalism because its based on reporters and pundits simply pulling stuff right out of their asses and peddling it as fact, when in fact it is anything but.
Here's what I'm talking about. Klein writes:

"A strong majority would favor the NSA program [Bush ordered]...Democrats are about as far from the American mainstream on these issues as Republicans were when they invaded the privacy of Terri Schiavo's family in the right-to-die case last year."

Klein published his piece one day after the Associated Press published its poll showing "a majority of Americans want the Bush administration to get court approval before eavesdropping on people inside the United States, even if those calls might involve suspected terrorists." In criticizing the administration for not getting warrants as required by law, Democrats were standing with 56 percent of the public. By contrast, ABC News reported that just 27 percent of the public supported the Republicans' intervention in the Schiavo affair. In other words, Klein made this assertion even though the hard data was there for him to check. He just chose not to look at it (and by the way, it was Klein who, during the Schiavo affair, urged Democrats to support the GOP's actions).

More.

From: The Financial Times

Bush adviser says war on terror top priority
By Caroline Daniel in Washington
Published: January 11 2006 23:01 | Last updated: January 11 2006 23:01

In a speech laden with references to the attacks of September 11 2001, a senior adviser to President George W. Bush on Wednesday made an explicit link between the two dominant themes of the administration when he noted that the war on terror must be won in order to be able to have this sound economy.
----------
"This sound economy???" That is the most brain-dead load of drivel I have heard so far! Where in the hell do they come UP with this shit? And even more amazingly, people swallow it. Remember the bushspeak, the label they apply carries the opposite of the reality. Carol is right, we are freakin doomed.

Riff,
I was listening to NPR this morning and heard the report about the lack of body armor for the Marines. One guy bought his son the body armor he needed and when the guy asked the brass at 29 Palms what the deal was, they told him there was no money in the budget.
Cannon Fodder - that's all the military is.
There is enough money for private contractors however. There is enough money to pay Haliburton and Co to subcontract and walk away with billions.
There is no excuse.

Visteon shifts resources offshore

Company will close factories in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Buffalo, N.Y., put six other plants up for sale.

Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News

Visteon turnaround plan

In its latest restructuring move, the auto supplier said by 2008 it plans:

To fix, close or sell 23 plants. Three North American plants will be closed in 2006.

Have nearly half of its engineering resources and 75 percent of its manufacturing operations in low-costs countries.

Visteon Corp. will shutter at least three factories in North America this year, put "for sale" signs on six others around the world and shift half of its engineering to low-cost countries such as China as part of a three-year global restructuring plan announced Wednesday.

The plan, presented to a group of Wall Street analysts in Dearborn, represents the latest installment in a comprehensive reorganization of the company that began last year when the supplier reached an agreement with Ford Motor Co.

Visteon, which four months ago had almost 31,000 hourly workers in North America -- including many in Michigan -- now has just 11,000 hourly workers in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Today, 64 percent of the company's blue-collar workers are in low-wage countries, and Stebbins wants to see that increase to 75 percent by 2008.

Visteon hopes to shift half its engineering operations to low-cost countries by 2008, a move that could cost hundreds of American engineers their jobs. Visteon has 3,600 engineers worldwide. Of those, 70 percent are in what Visteon considers high-cost countries, including more than 1,500 in North America. Stebbins said he wants to have 48 percent of his engineers in low-cost countries by 2008.

By shifting the bulk of the company's work force to low-wage countries, Visteon hopes to become profitable. Visteon has yet to post an annual profit.
-------------
Another casuality of inflation. The fed is killing our money and taking the country down with it. Is this incompetence? I don't think so. This is deliberate. They know that as costs continue to rise, wages need to rise, which in turn, force the costs up again. This is a never ending circle. The debate on minimum wage is a waste of time because in the end it doesn't help anyone. If you need $20. an hour just to scrape by, what difference does it make if the minimum wage is $5.50 or $7.50? When they raise it, it's another excuse to raise prices and outsource jobs. We are SO screwed.

The reason I come to this site is for my daily laugh. The reason I laugh is becuase you stupid cornholes want to impeach Bush, but don't care who or what direction the country should go. If you think the Liberal, defeatist, moraless party is the answer (insert uncontrolable laughter) watch the liberal clowns at the Alito hearings. Listen to what they stand for and you will understand why it equates to 12 years with no congress or senate power. There veiws were out of the mainstream then and they are just plain foolish now.

The abortion issue was never decided by the american people. It was decided by the men in black. Why do you think the Liberals are so worried? Because that is the only place left for them to push there views and make law. But without the their majority on the Supreme court it is over for them (thank god).

You people on this blog seem like good people, but for god's sake come up with some decent idea's. It is the only way to make change. (remember 94) Trying to impeach Bush only makes your useless party more laughable.

we ARE so screwed! - how could it possibly be incompetence? how could it NOT be deliberate? - it's all about the benjamins -
"the economy is strong!" - right. are companies moving their operations overseas because the economy is strong? or is the economy strong because companies are moving their operations overseas?

David, if you don't have the stomach for impeaching bush, how about an impeachment inquiry on Dick Cheney instead?

Cheney is the one in charge anyway. He's the power behind King George. He's the one making up the lies and clamoring for more executive power and the "right" to torture. While I think bush and cheney are equal scum, cheney is more loathesome and not very likeable to many people, while they think bush is a great guy to share a brewski with. (gag)

Cheney is the ringmaster of the neo-cons. Let's get rid of him. Let's not give General Rove and the media a chance to trot out a new cheney (well, trotting is not likely with that bum foot and cane).

Yeah, that's the ticket. Impeach cheney. His so-called heart could continue to tick, "something" happens to bush and cheney might become president. Yikes! Let's nail cheney.

Tell me wireman, who would we take any decent ideas to? I can think of three good conservatives offhand who the powers that be don't listen to. The dems are useless and we have no effective third party. When you come up with an answer to my question we can all get together and start throwing out ideas, until then you should lighten up on the criticism.

The website, Free Market News, has linked the Holtzman article David references. I tend to read Libertarian websites like FMN, and I can tell you that virtually all of them are absolutely fed up with those lying usurpers in DC. I think they could be an effective third party, but there is no chance that any true conservatives will ever gain power. And like the other two lame parties we have as options, I have no doubt that it would eventually draw out crooks who would manage to wreck that movement as well.

wireman,

Is there a special conservative edition Bible out there? A bible with most of the passages blacked out, like passages about helping the poor, helping the sick, the deadly sin of greed, the sin of lying, and anything that does not pertain to sodomy and sex?

corky,

There is the Jefferson Bible...with all the supernatural parts exised...but that isn't what you were asking, of course...

By Les Visible

Excerpt from one of many outstanding essays.

Every time I think about the foul, stinking, retch-inducing reality of this gang of killer clowns I am further renewed in my appreciation in the existence of God. God doesn't always work on our timetable and according to our wishes but the wheels of his passage grind exceedingly small. And in respect of that I am convinced of the final destiny of these... these... words fail me.

What made it all possible was the seizure of the media. For the vast numbers of humanity that won't take the trouble to investigate they've got your McNews right here. The Frightwing was very savvy to have gone this way... "but wait," you say, "it's all been done before." Yes it has.

Still, there's got to be more to the puzzle. What happened to the democrats and every other faction of opposition? How come they all slink along on their bellies? It does look like bush is Damien. I have no trouble imaging Barbara Bush being inseminated by a dog and I'd be less surprised if bushligula did in fact have 666 tattooed under his hair. You throw in Bush Sr.'s control of the White House for 12 years and his long time status as one of the world's most powerful drug lords and, well- Yeah it all sounds like comic book stuff or the product of us dis-enfranchised hallucinators. Then again, no way those towers came down the way they say and mounting evidence points to a cabal involving the boys in the back. Let's take it a step further. Could the alien Gray's finally be moving toward their dream of a post-Terminator world? It would explain a lot if it were, in fact, aliens behind the whole sudden shift in reality. That would explain the silence on all sides in the face of possibly the most inept leader since the last days of the Roman Empire.

Neoconservative "ideas"!

Make the rich richer!

Make the poor even poorer!

Make the sick even sicker!

Repeat lies over and over again.

Spread war and chaos across the globe.

Trample the constitution!

Appoint cronies to important government post's!

Take over Christianity and twist it into something evil.

When natural disasters strike, ignore them(unless its Florida in an election year).

Whenever you screw up, blame it on somebody else!

Regurgitate talking points often.

THE TWO COMMANDMENTS OF GEORGE W BUSH

1. I am above the law.
2. Anyone who says otherwise is "giving aid and comfort to the enemy."

Bob in North Dakota

Gore to deliver scathing speech Monday on 'constitutional crisis' in Washington
John Byrne
Published: January 12, 2006

Former Vice President Al Gore will deliver a scathing speech Monday at Constitution Hall in Washington -- just blocks from the White House -- at which he will declare America is faced with a constitutional crisis, RAW STORY has learned.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day speech is set to take place at noon at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall. Gore will be introduced by onetime Georgia Republican congressman Bob Barr.

More.

**************************

Meanwhile Democratic Senate aides are signaling Democratic aides say Alito filibuster 'highly unlikely'
John Byrne
Published: January 12, 2006

Note Wireman: Please read my post #21. And I am liberal beyond. well?

Betty Bowers weighs in on torture.

DEFENDING NON-TORTURE: SECRETARY RICE RELEASES TOP-SECRET TRANSCRIPT OF FRIENDLY CONVERSATION WITH AMERICA-HATING "TICKING TIME BOMB"
Statement by the Secretary of State

CONDOLEEZZA RICE: Tomorrow, I will depart for a historic five-day tour across Old Europe. While there, I will say whatever it takes to reverse the tide of virulent America-hating that is rapidly gripping our once-steadfast allies. Specifically, on this issue of so-called "torture" which has everyone so worked up, I am also prepared to deliver denials qualified with semantic parsings that would make even Bill Clinton's penis blush. But before then, in an effort to hopefully convince would-be critics that America's policies and practices are completely beyond reproach, I am today taking the unusual step of releasing a top-secret transcript of a typical ultra-civil Q&A between our super-competent CIA agents and genuine, 100% guilty evildoers. Thank you.

[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]

CIA OPERATIVE: Remove the hood.

(RUSTLING SOUND)

TERRORIST #456-B: Where am I?

CIA OPERATIVE: Hey buddy! You're someplace super secret, but don't worry. I just want to ask you a couple few questions, 'k?

TERRORIST #456-B: Who are you?

CIA OPERATIVE: Whoa, pardner. You're not here to ask questions, silly goose. I am. But you can call me Bruce. Tea?

TERRORIST #456-B: No, thank you. The last thing I remember, I was sitting down to watch a rerun of "Everybody Loves Mehmet"... and then men burst in and I was hit in the head and then...

CIA OPERATIVE: Howdy and hello! Pork rind?

TERRORIST #456-B: No, thank you.

CIA OPERATIVE: Alrighty then. Let's get started? You are a terrorist.

TERRORIST #456-B: What?

CIA OPERATIVE: You are a terrorist.

TERRORIST #456-B: Is that a question?

CIA OPERATIVE: Cigarette?

TERRORIST #456-B: I don't smoke.

CIA OPERATIVE: Ok, so to continue: you are a terrorist.

TERRORIST #456-B: No, I'm... not.

(A SIZZLE AND A SCREAM OF PAIN)

TERRORIST #456-B: You put your cigarette out on my forehead! Sweet merciful Allah!

CIA OPERATIVE: Let's back up: what's your name?

TERRORIST #456-B: Amal Al-Rahiim

CIA OPERATIVE: Nope. Sorry.

(SPLASHING, FOLLOWED BY GARGLING.)

CIA OPERATIVE: Your name is Terrorist. You are one.

(MORE SPLASHING, FOLLOWED BY MORE GARGLING)

TERRORIST #456-B: Can't... can't breathe... (ANGUISHED COUGHING)

CIA OPERATIVE: Tea?

TERRORIST #456-B: I'm not a terrorist. I don't...don't even know any... I'm a barber...

CIA OPERATIVE: That's not what this form says. This form says that you, terrorist #456-B are Amal Al-Rahmaan, a known terrorist sympathizer.

TERRORIST #456-B: My last name is AL-RAHIIM not AL-RAHMAAN!

CIA OPERATIVE: Huh. Pota-TOE, POE-tato. Arabiac names all sound the same to this small town farm boy. I'm sure it's a typo.

TERRORIST #456-B: What is that? Dear Allah, I thought Americans didn't believe in cruel or inhumane punishments! Torture!

CIA OPERATIVE: This is a sock full of limes. It won't leave bruises. And buddy, Americans believe in results. The bottom line. Besides, this isn't torture, it's just really painful talking. Now, alley-oop!

(A SERIES OF WET THUDS, FOLLOWED BY WEEPING)

CIA OPERATIVE: You are a terrorist.

TERRORIST #456-B: Fine. FINE! I am a terrorist!

CIA OPERATIVE: See? This is easy! And now that you admitted that -- THIS IS FOR NINE ONE ONE AND THE WTC, RAGHEAD!

(WET THUDS, CRIES OF PAIN)

CIA OPERATIVE: Where is the suitcase nuke?

TERRORIST #456-B: The what?

CIA OPERATIVE: You heard me. The nuclear device. Where is it? WHERE IS IT?

TERRORIST #456-B: I don't know what you're talking about.

CIA OPERATIVE: Don't fuck with me Al-Rahmaan!

TERRORIST #456-B: I told you that's not my name!

CIA OPERATIVE: Do you know what a broken nose feels like?

(A CRUNCH AND A YELP)

CIA OPERATIVE: Really stings, huh? Lots of blood. Now repeat after me: I am Amal Al-Rahmaan, terrorist. Say it. Say it or I go for the cheek bones.

TERRORIST #456-B: I...I...I am Amal Al-Rahmaan. Terrorist.

CIA OPERATIVE: And where is the nuke?

TERRORIST #456-B: I don't know, where is it?

CIA OPERATIVE: Is it in New York? Washington DC?

TERRORIST #456-B: Uh... yes!

CIA OPERATIVE: Jesus Lord, I knew it. I knew it. Is it a dirty bomb? Or a fully operative nuke?

TERRORIST #456-B: Yes, yes!

CIA OPERATIVE: You're holding back on me. Tell me all you know, or I swear, you'll be swallowing your teeth next!

TERRORIST #456-B: Well, I don't know. There's a nuke and I'm a terrorist? I'm a terrorist and I'm going to nuke you, nuke you all? With nuclear bombs?

CIA OPERATIVE: I hate to do this, you sniveling coward. But I'm going to break your toes with this hammer.

TERRORIST #456-B: Don't break my toes with that hammer. Please.

CIA OPERATIVE: Then what is the plan? TELL ME! THE CLOCK IS TICKING!

(FURIOUS HAMMERING AND INCONSOLABLE BELLOWING)

TERRORIST #456-B: Well, my terrorist friends and I, we're smuggling a nuclear bomb...filled with anthrax...into the United States inside a...

CIA OPERATIVE: Yes? Inside what? A container? A shipping container?

TERRORIST #456-B: How did you know?

CIA OPERATIVE: What else?

TERRORIST #456-B: That's it.

CIA OPERATIVE: Are you sure?

TERRORIST #456-B: Yes.

CIA OPERATIVE: Super-duper sure?

TERRORIST #456-B: That's all I know.

CIA OPERATIVE: I'm still going to rip your fingernails off.

TERRORIST #456-B: Why? WHY?

CIA OPERATIVE: Then stuff you in a cell where you can't pray, or talk to anyone and if you think you can starve yourself, just wait until we shove a tube up your nose and pump liquified bacon bits product directly into your stomach.

TERRORIST #456-B: Why don't you just kill me? KILL ME!

CIA OPERATIVE: Please. We're Americans. That would be barbaric.

(HIGH-PITCH WHINE OF A DRILL)

Now open wide!

[END TRANSCRIPT]

I'd like to clarify my post in #28.

I certainly agree with Robert, riff, micki, etc., that Bush should be impeached. But is that realistic with the current composition of Congress? Of course not; it just ain't gonna happen. And, IMHO, I don't think that running a 2006 campaign on impeachment will work.

However, if the Democrats run on all of the things that I mentioned in my post, as well as clarifying exactly what it is that Democrats stand for, and they WIN a majority of their races, they then can view that as a mandate to proceed with impeachment proceedings. At the very least, they can make the Bush administration miserable for two years.

Don,
All this talk about Democrats taking back congress is a bit silly. Electronic voting machines are the problem. The only people who can save America now are normal Americans. When elections are stolen and the exit polls differ, the media looks in a different direction.

Saladin #46

Did you see this one?

Was NYT’s David Rosenbaum Assassinated?
Tuesday January 10th 2006, 1:54 pm Kurt Nimmo

Is it possible Rosenbaum was assassinated in order to send a strong message to the corporate media to tow the line? Of course, the corporate media has more or less dutifully disseminated the neocon line—from the so-called “war on terrorism” (rife with lies and fakery) to selling the Straussian neocon invasion of Iraq (more lies and outright fabrication)—but even so, the New York Times’ primary goal is to sell newspapers and enrich stockholders and no doubt the NSA snoop “scandal,” splashed across headlines a year late, sold a few extra copies of the “Gray Lady” and also restored to a certain degree the newspaper’s reputation in the wake of the fact it served (primarily through the neocon shill Judith Miller) as a propaganda organ for the Straussian total war agenda, beginning with the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

As we know, the neocon Pentagon has vigorously instituted the “Salvador Option” in Iraq—that is to say, the Pentagon has organized and unleashed, in part, paramilitary death squads, as an integral component of its counterinsurgency doctrine based on the model of Nazi suppression of partisan insurgents, as Michael McClintock documents (Instruments of Statecraft: U.S. Guerilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and Counterterrorism, 1940-1990; chapter 3, The Legacy of World War II). Obviously, as the NSA snoop revelations reveal, the neocons believe “counterinsurgency” is required in America and thus it is not a stretch to speculate that journalists in this country are possible targets, as are their counterparts in Iraq. For instance, consider the assassination of Steven Vincent, a writer and blogger who made the deadly mistake of reporting the news in Basra. I wrote last August:

As the Los Angeles Times reported, one of Vincent’s abductors was “an Interior Ministry employee,” and a witness was told it was the “duty” of the U.S.-installed puppet government to grab people off the street and murder them. “A few hours later, the journalist’s body was found dumped by a road outside the city, with multiple bullet wounds to the head. He suffered bruises to his face and shoulder, had been blindfolded and his hands were tied in front with plastic wire.” Smells like democracy to me.

It’s no secret the Interior Ministry is under the control of the CIA, as reported by Knight Ridder on May 8, 2005. “Right after Saddam’s ouster, the U.S.-led coalition took the top intelligence agents from each of the main opposition parties and trained them in how to turn raw intelligence into targets that could be used in operations, said an Iraqi intelligence expert who participated in the program,” Hannah Allam and Warren P. Strobel wrote. An Iraqi official interviewed by the journalists admitted that

the CIA recruited agents from SCIRI, Dawa, the two main Kurdish factions, and two secular Arab parties: the Iraqi National Congress led by Ahmad Chalabi and the Iraqi National Accord led by Ayad Allawi, who later became the interim prime minister. This group, the prototype for an Iraqi intelligence group that represented Iraq’s diversity, became CMAD: the Collection, Management and Analysis Directorate.

When the U.S.-led occupation authority ceded power to the semi-sovereign interim government last June, the official said, CMAD was split, with roughly half the agents going to the new interior ministry and the rest to work on military intelligence in the defense ministry. Both ministries’ intelligence departments are led by Kurds, the most consistently U.S.-friendly group in Iraq, and report to the Iraqi prime minister.

But an elite corps of CMAD operatives was recruited into the third and most important Iraqi intelligence agency, the secret police force known by its Arabic name: the Mukhabarat…. The Mukhabarat’s money comes straight from the CIA.

More.

****************

Anthrax letters to Leahy & Daschle. Wellstone's plane goes down.

All coincidence, of course, of corpse.

And by the way, for "lets be honest," here is a story, via Talking Points Memo, calling yesterday's Washington Times story regarding a DOJ investigation into Harry Reid into question.

(As Josh Marshall says, "I'm shocked.")

If Bush can slide another wing nut into the Supreme court, what will stop him from declaring himself President for life? He would just say it was needed for national security.

It is that serious. We are on that road.

Hello all,

Impeachment criteria has exceeded critical mass. At the very least a strong congressional censure is appropriate. But the wimpocrats and repugnic^nts will not have the spine for even that.

-.-.-.-.-.-

But what I wanna know is what is Alito's wife doing in the hearings if not anything other than that of a prop. The tearful display was well choreographed.
Puleeze!
didn't anyone warn his family that there would be some tough questions...and rightly so?

Message to MS Bomgradner--"If ya can't take the heat, get outta da kitchen".

Later,
th

Washington Times? The moonie news? Are you kidding?

No these guys would never stoop so low as to stage anything!

corky,

Like you, I am skeptical of the integrity of our electoral system. I certainly believe there should be a paper trail. The whole system obviously needs a great deal of reform. However, I am not so cynical that I believe we should just throw our hands up in the air and give up. I will support candidates who call for electoral reform (I'm in John Conyers district, so I'm good there - those calling for impeachment NOW on this blog should be so lucky, eh?) and hope for the best while expecting the worst.

Slightly off topic, but growing up in roughly the latter half of the Cold War, I never thought I'd see the day when Russia was more or less a democracy, and my country was running a chain of #@$%ing gulags! Later, 'gators, gotta get ready for work now.---IBW

Conyers is your Rep.? That awesome! I love that guy. He is always standing up to Goliath! I would never just give up. I am just saying, in Nov. 2006 when you see on T.V. that Republicans pick up more seats in the House and Senate despite what the polls say, I wonder if Americans will just sit there like they have for the last two elections.

Corky and Don,

Real political unrest and the subsequent revolutionary change you speak of may only be possible when conditions for the masses become much worse than they are at the moment. Right now, everybody is still making their cell phone, cable TV, and credit card payments. But it may not be all that much longer before oil hits $100 a barrel, possibly even this calendar year. Can you afford to go to work at $5.00 or more per gallon? Since we don't have a back up in public transportation as many other nations of the world do, people are going to find it suddenly and surprisingly very unpleasant, I suspect.

Some interesting questions: China's biggest customer is the U.S. - if they start dumping dollars big time, and the resultant recession/depression makes it impossible for all the Wal Mart customers to buy their (China's) stuff, what then?

Who will the corporate interests that currently run our federal government sell their stuff to when everybody is broke?

William Bonner's "Empire of Debt" is highly recommended. Available at booksellers everywhere now.

Did you hear that for $89.95 you can buy anyone's (cell?) phone records as long as you know their phone number?

John Avarios (sp?) at Americablog proved it today by going online and buying General Wesley Clark's phone records.

MoveOn.org is asking people to write to their reps about this (like they'll give a damn).

CBS is reportedly doing a story on this tonight.
Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, and WaPo have touched on the story.

From #5

As Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter wrote in his 2000 book, Passion for Truth : “õT]he Senate should resist, if not refuse, to confirm Supreme Court nominees who refuse to answer questions on fundamental issues. In voting on whether or not to confirm a nominee, senators should not have to gamble or guess about a candidate’≥ philosophy, but should be able to judge on the basis of the candidate’≥ expressed views."

Is it wildly possible that the "fundamental issues" Specter believes applicable is whether the SC is to make laws or interpret laws? Of course not to the Left. The "issues" to the Left is "Do you, the nominee, accept the established LAW of a woman's right to choose an abortion as a result of Roe vs. Wade?" Are any of our country's courts charged with making Laws?

By the way, I am actually (almost fully) pro-choice.

On another note...it made me laugh that someone (anyone!) thinks the GOP is the party of ideas! What a hoot!

Have you seen the 37 pages that passes for John Boehner's "platform" to become majority leader? It's a bunch of BS, recycled platitudes, totally devoid of ideas. There's not one idea in it!

He espouses a "majority that matters."

Ain't that special.

There was a suggestion some postings ago that liberals should come up with some ideas before criticizing President Bush. A responding question was to ask to whom the ideas should be taken.

How about to the American people, as the Republicans did in 1994? Why are you people so afraid of the ballot box? No Floridas in 1994, no Diebolds, just every Republican Senator, Congressman and Governor running for reelection being reelected and a tidalwave of new Republicans. And all because of the Contract With America.

Your call for impeachment is inartful, at least. I believe you mean impeachment and conviction. Impeachment is merely an indictment by the House of Representatives. Only the Senate can remove the President.

As far as impeachment, I don't believe you realize the damage you do to your cause by proffering such complete inanities. President Bush has a great number of faults, and has made some terrible decisions, but none that warrant impeachment. And when you make such suggestions, all you do is alientate the great majority of Americans.

For this great Republic to work, there have to be at least two serious parties. The Democrats have become the party of abortion and unilateral withdrawal. This is not serious.

Worse, you have allowed the Republicans to become unserious. The Republicans have abandoned practically every principle and platform on which they were elected. People would like an alternative, but when the only other choices are the moonbat philosophies espoused on these and other pages, Americans hold their noses and vote Republican.

And now for something completely different, Glow-in-the-dark....Pigs

#80
Micki,
How about if we buy our represntatives cell phone records. Things would change instantly.

So, to save time I weighed a package at home that I sent to my daughter on Monday. It weighed in at slightly less than a pound -- so I slapped sufficient postage (stamps) on it and dropped it in at the mailbox at the P.O.

Yesterday the package was returned to me for "security reasons" (to the cluster box in our neighborhood -- I guess it's safe for the driver to cart it around on his truck and put it into a box and possibly blow up my neighbors), with a notation that the package would have to presented in person to a post office clerk. My husband dutifully took the package to the P.O., gave it to the clerk, and it went on its way, no questions asked! (Turned out the package actually weighed the magical POUND that means ya can't send it without presenting it to a clerk!)

However, a not-so-lucky fellow in front of my husband got a returned package, too. He was asked what the contents were and for a photo I.D. My husband is white. The other fellow wasn't.

I feel so much safer.

Enough dead people because of chimpies policies to fill 20 boxcars and bill calls US moonbats?

Great IDEA, Jeanne! #85 Who says we don't have good ideas?

Let's pool our money! We could buy Tom DeLay's records. Jack Abramoff's records. Judith Miller's records. Bob Novak's records. Bob Woodward's records.

Etc.

From #20

Impeachment won't happen because the debate about Impeachment is being squelched by the Republicans. Cowards.

You sure sound like a real hero-cowboy while the Oppositions is both stupid and Cowards. Well, let's say I accept your contention that the Right is both stupid and cowards. How does it make you look to be so soundly beaten for 12 years by idiots and cowards?

You have some fine qualities and show some flair in your posts. I believe you are unique among the Lefty Cornbloggers to actually help out (at Hospital/Army Base, I believe) instead of just `Keyboard Active'. I have the heart to help out more physically but for now, not much beyond what Scouts do for community projects (w/my son's troop) and the annual Habitat for Humanity/Rebuilding Houston Together projects. I do, write checks regularly; in fact, wrote two yesterday. One to the US Olympic Committee which I suspect many here don't support, too nationalistic for you!

You are probably ~30, may or may not have children. Have some college or is a graduate. Have potential, some smarts, but lacking wisdom that can really only come with age and life experiences. I do not want to engage regularly and like Gerald, who DID stop calling `All Americans are stupid', I am asking that you stop calling people Cowards. It means nothing in virtual space and you need to outgrow it.

#64

Leading to green glow in the dark eggs and ham...

find yer bacon with the lights out...

corky
72
If Bush can slide another wing nut into the Supreme court,

We don't need another wingnut on the Supreme court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg , the biggest wing nut of all time, is already there.

From #42

The crying was just "good theatrics."

The director looked at the script and cued her to "emote" and she did her best.

There are always many outrageous comments by you Lefties but this #42 comment is truly disgusting! The hypocracies are what riles you and it does me too! Regulars will recall my restraint on `attacking' a certain Toyota Prius on order.

Happy speculates about our doings in the world and/or community, and then, having assumed the truth of his/her assumptions goes on to comment about us.

Might as well assume there's WMD in them there hills...

From #55 Wireman

The abortion issue was never decided by the american people. It was decided by the men in black. Why do you think the Liberals are so worried? Because that is the only place left for them to push there views and make law. But without the their majority on the Supreme court it is over for them (thank god).

You people on this blog seem like good people, but for god's sake come up with some decent idea's. It is the only way to make change. (remember 94) Trying to impeach Bush only makes your useless party more laughable.

Well said!

From #63

Make the rich richer!

Not Today!

From #68

However, if the Democrats run on all of the things that I mentioned in my post, as well as clarifying exactly what it is that Democrats stand for, and they WIN a majority of their races, they then can view that as a mandate to proceed with impeachment proceedings. At the very least, they can make the Bush administration miserable for two years.

Sounds almost like David! Good Stuff!

corky,

F**k the bible.
You are constantly wrong. You keep trying to think, and keep failing. You seem to be under the misconception that all conservatives are Christian. WRONG ... most of us are just RED State working class Joe's, tired of giving all our hard earned tax dollars to Democrat politician bums, to spend on worthless crap instead of the military, or big and small business people, so those of us who want to work, can have places to work.

Robb #79,

I am familiar with Bonner's work (and I am sure you are familiar with James Howard Kunstler, who addresses some of the same subjects). Unfortunately, I agree that radical political change will only take place if we experience an event similar to the Great Depression. However, I am concerned with the direction of such political change should an economic catastrophe takes place. Combine a depression with the war on terror and the looming immigration crisis and you've got a recipe for neo-fascism. We're too damn close to it as it is.

Take the ideas to the people? And the people will do what with them? Hope and pray for somebody to do the right thing? HA! That is exactly the non answer I expected.