Mr. David Corn,

""Well, so what did you do this weekend, Dick?"
"

Maybe it would get the same response that Mr. Cheney offered Senator Leahey?

Something is going on just below the surface on this one.

The law of unintended consequences applies on everything these days.

Thanks

Kirk

THE DAVID LETTERMAN REJECTED TOP TEN FOR "BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN" TITLES. WE CAN'T WAIT FOR THOSE THAT MADE IT. ... STAY TUNED

HIGH NOONER
JEREMIAH'S JOHNSON
TRUE, HE GRITS
THE PLEASURE OF THE SIERRA, PADRE
THE MAN WHO SHOT ALL OVER LIBERTY VALANCE
HOW THE WEST WAS HUNG
THE WILD BRUNCH
HE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON
THE LEGEND OF THE LONG RANGER
DOC'S HOLIDAY WITH BILLY THE KID
VERY RAW HIDE
LONESOME DOUG
THE HOARSE SOLDIERS
DESTRY RIDES AGAIN... AND AGAIN
MCCABE AND MR. MILLER
A FISTFUL OF NED
HI, PLAINS DRIFTER!
QUICKLY DOWN UNDER
BAREBACK MOUNTING
BONE-NANZA
DON'T MESS WITH TEX' ASS
HOMO ON THE RANGE
OKLA-HOMO
LITTLE BATHHOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE
PRANCES WITH WOLVES

Repeat Again and Again,

Cheney say's on faux news "the image of him falling is something i'll never be able to get out of my mind.......I fired and there's Harry falling, I'd have to say it was one of the worst days of my life at that moment". Maybe he understands what images many of the 200,000+ troops (he and his buddies sent to Iraq)have to live with for the rest of there lives. This man is an embarrasment to our country. Can you imagine if John Kerry would of shot someone in his 2004 photo-op hunting trip. The "liberal" media would have deemed it the end of civilization as we know it.

Cheney says he has power to declassify info

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney disclosed Wednesday that he has the power to declassify sensitive government information, authority that could set up a criminal defense for his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Cheney's disclosure comes a week after reports that Libby testified under oath he was authorized by superiors in 2003 to disclose highly sensitive prewar information to reporters. The information, about Iraq and alleged weapons of mass destruction, was used by the Bush administration to bolster its case for invading Iraq.

At the time of Libby's contacts with reporters in June and July 2003, the administration including Cheney, who was among the war's most ardent proponents, faced growing criticism. No weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, and Bush supporters were anxious to show that the White House had relied on prewar intelligence projecting a strong threat from such weapons.

When Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald revealed Libby's assertions to a grand jury that he had been authorized by his superiors to spread sensitive information, the prosecutor did not specify which superiors.

But in an interview on Fox News Channel, Cheney said there is an executive order that gives the vice president, along with the president, the authority to declassify information.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Well now, Cheney did it but says he was authorized to do so? That is the claim but since Libby is not charged with anything except lying I do not see how this could be very helpful to Libby's defense.

Maybe Fitzgerald is smoking the liars out of their undisclosed location?

I would like to see the executive order that authorized "outing" Plame?

capt

Those damn repugs. Don't they know there is nothing more important to the national economy or the war on terrorism than a quail hunting accident? Man ... how DARE they hold that important story from the press for 15 hours. I think we are now screwed as a nation because we didn't find out about it in 10 hours. We are doomed. I have no idea how we have survived to see the light of day on Monday, without that absolutely essential national story. We just got lucky I guess. We really dodged a bullit, I mean BB, on that one.

You god damm liberals are just against good guns. Time after time when a federal official is involved in a gun related shooting, you liberals blame the shooter. I mean the man (V.P. Cheney) came forward 108 hours after the actual shooting, and admitted that he pulled the trigger. what else do you people want from him? If any of you cornnuts actually owned a gun, and had been involved in a less than explainable incident you would understand. It wasn't like he had been drinking or anything?

Tongue in cheek...

Initially, I thought this whole hunting affair was a perfect representation of what is wrong with this administration. Things like delaying information, lack of transparency, changing information (e.g. beer), lack of willingness to submit to due process and the law (e.g. sheriff interview delayed, no alcohol tests). I'm willing to say maybe he wasn't drunk and it was just bad judgment to shoot, but the real issue is that he gave himself all the exceptions from having to submit to the authorities from the sheriff, the president himself, the press, and ultimately to the people of the united states. Interviewing with Brit Hume, is like writing your own press release. As one site pointed out if his last name was a hispanic one, he wouldn't have gotten off so easy.

But maybe I'm wrong... after all he said the following to Brit Hume...

Q: -- and it does raise the question of whether you couldn't have headed off this beltway firestorm if you had put out the word to the national media, as well as to the local newspaper so that it could post it on its website. I mean, in retrospect, wouldn't that have been the wise course --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, who is going to do that? Are they going to take my word for what happened? There is obviously --

Wow, so Cheney hides behind the fact that he is unable to be a credible spokesperson, the VP of the USA is incapable of coming off as trustworthy. Ok, granted that even the most admired people have their critics, but by and large, many public people are capable of speaking for themselves and to be given the benefit of the doubt until evidence comes to the contrary. Cheney is basically saying he didn't even have a fighting chance to be believed... I guess his past behavior is getting to him.

and here is another quote of his to Brit Hume:
THE VICE PRESIDENT: There wasn't any way this was going to be minimized, Brit; but it was important that it be accurate. I do think what I've experienced over the years here in Washington is as the media outlets have proliferated, speed has become sort of a driving force, lots of time at the expense of accuracy. And I wanted to make sure we got it as accurate as possible, and I think Katherine was an excellent choice.

What? Is he saying he finally learned how to gather evidence and build a good analysis and report before spinning to the media? Wow, too bad he didn't do that for Iraq. What's the excuse for Niger, etc.?

Well maybe he did learn and he is trying to mend his ways, just a little to late.

again this was tongue in cheek :-;

#5 bad news. straw dog. bait.

Gonzales Withholding Plame Emails

Sources close to the investigation into the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson have revealed this week that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not turned over emails to the special prosecutor's office that may incriminate Vice President Dick Cheney, his aides, and other White House officials who allegedly played an active role in unmasking Plame Wilson's identity to reporters.

Moreover, these sources said that, in early 2004, Cheney was interviewed by federal prosecutors investigating the Plame Wilson leak and testified that neither he nor any of his senior aides were involved in unmasking her undercover CIA status to reporters and that no one in the vice president's office had attempted to discredit her husband, a vocal critic of the administration's pre-war Iraq intelligence. Cheney did not testify under oath or under penalty of perjury when he was interviewed by federal prosecutors.

The emails Gonzales is said to be withholding contained references to Valerie Plame Wilson's identity and CIA status and developments related to the inability to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Moreover, according to sources, the emails contained suggestions by the officials on how the White House should respond to what it believed were increasingly destructive comments Joseph Wilson had been making about the administration's pre-war Iraq intelligence.

Gonzales, who at the time of the leak was the White House counsel, spent two weeks with other White House attorneys screening emails turned over to his office by roughly 2,000 staffers following a deadline imposed by the White House in 2003. The sources said Gonzales told Fitzgerald more than a year ago that he did not intend to turn over the emails to his office, because they contained classified intelligence information about Iraq in addition to minor references to Plame Wilson, the sources said.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

The slugs are going to ride the "we authorized ourselves to break the law so it is legal" thing. Same thing Nixon tried.

"When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal." ~ Richard M. Nixon

capt

Tongue in cheek...

Well you know these people (superfratboy, secretsociety, myfriendsthepresident) always seem to get away with everything. They have raped this country for five years. I say give them a little of their own medicine. This "shooting" may be insignificant, but I feel it is very relevant. This sort of thing is exactly what Cheney deserves. Who better to be put through the horror of shooting someone than the Man who sent so many others to shoot?

Eugene Jarecki: Good Will Hunting

We have frequently felt that Bush is not the sharpest tool in the shed but it looks like Chainy is even more dull than Hitler Bush. What is also revealing is that Chainy's elevator does not reach the top of his thinking processes. Chainy is just a dumb and stupid creature.

American Soldiers

2,539 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his lies.

Henry Kissinger says that military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.

G.K. Chesterton said that Jesus speaks sanity to a world of lunatics.

Confucius spoke that before you seek revenge dig two graves.

When an illegal war is launched, every person killed and injured, every piece of property destroyed, and all environmental damage is a war crime. A war without borders and limits is a perpetual war. This war of aggression proliferates terrorism in proportion to its reckless widening, making the world ever more dangerous. TCR News

Nazi America is a mirror image of Hitler Bush.

Here's what he told Fox News' Brit Hume on Wednesday:

I mean the fact that he goes to Faux really says it all. Fuck you. What business is it of yours. Who are you a taxpayer? Doesn't matter, we have our own media (remember the filter). Why should I have to answer to anyone "I had no press people there it was a private trip". This whole story is filled with humor and irony, but it's not that funny when you hold it up to the record of these bean brains. Nothing but lies and bullshit. Have you seen the race technology that they broadcast during the Olympic games. Where they show the winning skier and how he/she outpaces the loser. We need something like that for these "leaders" that we let spend our tax money. Imagine.

Little Difference Between the Two Parties

Mary Matalin said of her boss, "He was not careless or incautious [and did not] violate of any of the [rules]. He didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to do."

Of course he did, Ms. Matalin, he shot Harry Whittington.

Molly Ivins: Cheney Shoots a Texas Liberal

Willie's gay cowboy homage

Country music singer Willie Nelson sang Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys and My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys more than 25 years ago.

But now he has released a different sort of cowboy anthem.

Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other) may be the first gay cowboy song by a major recording artist.

Available exclusively through iTunes, the song features choppy Tex-Mex style guitar runs and Nelson's deadpan delivery of lines such as "What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?" and "Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out."

The song, which debuted today on Howard Stern's Sirius Satellite Radio show, was written by Texas-born singer-songwriter Ned Sublette in 1981 - long before this year's Oscar-nominated Brokeback Mountain made gay cowboys a contemporary topic.

Sublette said he wrote the song during the Urban Cowboy craze and always imagined Nelson singing it.

Someone passed a copy of the song to Nelson back in the late 1980s and, according to Nelson's record label, Lost Highway, Nelson recorded it last year at his Pedernales studio in Texas.

Nelson has appeared in several Western movies and sings He Was a Friend of Mine on the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack.

*****end of clip*****

I guess this comes as a surprise to someone?

Good for Willie and good for the cowboy’≥ too! The fact is who cares? Of course there are gay cowboys just like there are gay cops, firemen, office workers, etc.

capt

Little Difference

As we enter the twenty-first century, I have come to the realization that there is little difference between the Democrats and the War Party of the bushits. Even with little difference between the two parties I may still vote because I do not want to give up my right to vote.

The reason for me voting for Democrats is the Democrats will give you a bone but at least they keep some meat on the bone so the soup can have some flavor. The bushits will give you a bone but they scrape all the meat off the bone. How you enhance the flavor of your soup that's for you to figure out. With either party in power it will be important for the 90% of Americans to master the art of making soup. Each home will be a soup kitchen for the poor and disenfranchised 90% of Americans.

In trying to find out the difference between the Democrats and the bushits there is another difference that keeps me voting for Democrats for now. The Democrats will ram a poker up your rectum but the poker is straight so when they pull the poker out there will be some inflammation. With ointment the inflammation will heal in time.

The bushits will ram a poker up your rectum but the poker is straight and attached to the poker is a curved section as we see with some fireplaces to spread the burning wood. This poker goes in but when the bushits pull the poker out of your ass, your rectum is shot to hell. Healing of the rectum takes a long, long time.

Either party is going to screw the 90% of Americans but the Democrats operate with a little more class. But either way you look at it you are going to have a poker rammed up your ass.

US sinks to new low in eyes of Australians

AUSTRALIANS are more hostile than ever towards the United States and view China's global influence more favourably than that of Canberra's key ally, a new global poll has found.

The poll, released yesterday in the influential US magazine Foreign Policy, describes America as globally "red, white and booed", noting: "The United States's standing dropped sharply as a result of the Iraq war, and it hasn't hit rock bottom yet."

In interviews conducted between last October and January, only 29 per cent of Australians had a "mainly positive" attitude towards the US, while 60 per cent were "mainly negative" and 11 per cent undecided. This is down on last year, when 40 per cent of Australians were positive about the US.

America's popularity also fell, but less sharply, among allies such as Britain and South Korea. Only the French and Germans, opponents of the invasion of war in Iraq, are less enthusiastic about the US than Australians.

"The Bush Administration is a very difficult export for the US … and you can see the same responses in other liberal democracies," said Allan Gyngell, executive director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy.

A big poll by the Lowy Institute last year revealed similarly critical views of the US and a more benign attitude to China.

"When you are the world's superpower and the focus of attention is upon you, then all these [critical] issues like the Abu Ghraib torture photos get circulated globally," he said. But, he said, many Australians still pragmatically support our security alliance with the US, despite their misgivings.

Mr Gyngell said instant global communications, like the internet, SMS and satellite TV, meant governments had to recognise that all diplomacy was now public diplomacy.

Although Australians still feel more comfortable about China, it has also lost some of its shine. Australia's "mainly positive" attitudes fell from 56 per cent last year to 43 per cent. This may be the consequence of the protracted war of words over the defection of the Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin last year. Mr Chen claims China is running an extensive overseas spy network, including agents in Australia.

The global poll also looked at attitudes to coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, only 27 per cent of people view the US-led forces favourably, compared with 72 per cent of Afghans.

But it seems Iran is failing to rally the rest of the world "against the rich and powerful West", despite rattling the nuclear sabre. The respondents in 33 countries may not like America much, but they like Iran even less.

*****end of clip*****

This is from one of our allied countries?

At least we are not as bad a Iran.

capt

Good on yer, David. I like this article. To me it is an example of the Blogosphere at its best. You are a well-informed man with access to no special information (that I know of), you look at current events, and give us an insightful, common-sense take on the news. This is not rocket science, yet it seems to elude the execs at CNN, Fox, and God Help Us, MSNBC. Why can we only find this sort of commentary online and on NPR?

You are quite right that this story should be as legless as a fish. All it does is expose the profundity of Bush and Cheney's culture of opacity. If this had happened to me it would barely be news if at all.

I recently found your site through Yahoo! News, and I like your work. Keep it up!

-Zedmaster 3.75

PS: Are you aware of a program on Maine Public Radio called the Humble Farmer? This show is run by my friend Robert Skoglund, one of Maine's most misunderstood geniuses. Out-of-staters are often struck by the thickness of his downeast accent (he makes Ted Kennedy sound like Ted Koppel), and turn him off. That's OK, because we don't want to share him. For most people, they realize who they are dealing with when they hear him use a phrase like "labio-dental fricative," or "moral relativism." His shows, which are full of outrageously dry Maine humor, top-notch Jazz, and witty social-commentary are available on demand at MPBN.Net. I know I said we don't want to share him, but I figure your readers are OK... ;)

Humble was actually the subject of internal censorship at MPBN last year for asking whether there were similarities between Bush's GOP and the Nazis. Their rationale was that because he played music on his show he had to remain politically neutral. I wrote a little article about it HERE.
I mention Humble because I put him in the same class sites like yours. You guys tell it like it is. Humble always answers articulate emails if you write him, and usually has something worth listening to.

NOT BIN LADEN?

An article in the Capital Times out of Madison, Wisconsin, by Kevin Barrett of the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth, challenges the premise that Osama bin Laden is the voice on the latest alleged Anti-Western, anti-US audiotape.

He goes even further, stating that "9/11 had nothing to do with Islam. The war on terror is as phony as the latest Osama bin Laden tape. ... Take the recent 'bin Laden' tape, please! That voice was no more bin Laden than it was Rodney Dangerfield channeling my late Aunt Corinne from Peoria. I recently helped translate a previously unknown bin Laden tape, a real one from the early '90s, back when he was still alive. I know the guy's flowery religious rhetoric. The recent tape wasn't him."

He cites the leading American bin Laden expert, Professor Bruce Lawrence, head of Duke University's religious studies department, who has just published a book of translations of bin Laden's speeches. "He says that the recent tape is a fake and that it is possible bin Laden is not even alive. ... Every supposed bin Laden statement since 2001 has been blatantly bogus. The last we heard from the real bin Laden came in his post-9/11 statements to Pakistani journalists 'I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation. ... I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States. ... I had no knowledge of these attacks.'"

Barrett dismisses the succeeding tapes allegedly of bin Laden's speeches as being nothing more than feeble attempts to keep the anti-Islam fires burning, and says emphatically that "The trouble was, the big guy clearly was not bin Laden. He was at least 40 or 50 pounds heavier, and his facial features were obviously different. The 'Fatty bin Laden' tape was widely ridiculed, and I have yet to meet an informed observer who considers it authentic. ... Every bin Laden message since then has been equally phony. They are released at moments when the Bush regime needs a boost and the American media go along with the fraud." The real bin Laden, Barrett asserts, the one who insisted he had nothing to do with 9/11, "has been dead since late 2001 or early 2002." - ST may not like America much, but they like Iran even less.

*****end of clip*****

But, but the CIA said they confirmed it was OBL?

Why would there even be fake tapes? That is unless the whole thing is a lie and Bunnypants, the neocons, PNAC, etc. are just orchestrating the whole mess?

One simple question "Qui bono?" the answer to which is surely NOT OBL.

capt

The one comment that slayed me last night came from Mary Matalin. She said that Dick Cheney would be going into his "human being mode" as he now faced the public. That just about says it all.

Secret Service stalls and delays for Cheney

Cover-up in progress and Shotgun ballistics don’t match-up!

What we had deducted almost immediately after Cheney machine began rolling on this shooting is now finally starting to filter out into the rest of the media: It is not only unlikely that Whittington was injured in the way he reportedly was if Cheney had shot him from 30 yards it is impossible.

After reviewing the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife report on the shooting, there is no doubt that this is a cover-up.

The pattern of the birdshot depicted in the diagram on the report indicates about a foot spread from cheek to chest.

As we previously reported, birdshot is not like a traditional bullet. Birdshot is composed of hundreds of tiny lead BB's with very low mass which are designed to spread out and slow down very quickly. The idea is basically to shoot out a bunch of tiny pellets to catch a bird that may be taking wing at the instant it recognizes the shot has been fired. Many points ensure greater likelyhood of hitting the target.

These pellets are incredibly tiny and the further they get away from the gun, the slower and less forceful they become. So at a distance of about 90 feet (or 30 yards as reported by the White House) the pellets would have hit Whittington with the force equivilent to a gentle shove and have left maybe some tiny surface marks on any exposed skin.

The only way to account for the pattern indicated on the TDPW report is if Cheney was about 10 feet away from Whittington when he shot him.

Reports and press releases that followed the event explained that some of the pellets had become lodged in his heart tissue. The only way this is possible, the only way that the tiny pellets designed to spread over distance could have maintained the force necessary to penetrate Whittington's hunting vest, clothing, skin, muscle, bone and finally into his rock-hard heart would have been if they came from a much shorter distance than the White House is claiming.

The initial reports have Whittington making jokes and feeling fine after the shooting, but doctors would have been able to diagnose with a simple x-ray that there was a chunk of metal in his heart tissue immediately upon receiving him. Now that he has taken a turn for the worse, they are in scramble-mode to cover-up what really happened in case he dies.

*****end of clip*****

Copies of the police/sheriff report at the linked piece.

capt

"Human being mode?"

I am glad you all watch that stuff. I would miss the little gems like "human being mode." I think she is saying Cheney's default mode is inhuman? One heck of an admission.

What else is there to say?

Thanks!

capt

Britain has new weapon against loitering youths -- Sonic Teenager Deterrent

Shopkeepers in central England have been trying out a new device that emits an uncomfortable high-pitched noise designed to disperse young loiterers outside their stores without bothering adults.

Police carrying out the pilot project in Staffordshire say some of those who have tested the "Sonic Teenager Deterrent," nicknamed the mosquito, have talked of buying one of their own.

The device which costs 622 pounds (908 euros, 1,081 dollars) "doesn't cause any pain to the hearer," according to Inspector Amanda Davies, quoted by Britain's domestic Press Association news agency.

"The noise can normally only be heard by those between 12 and 22 and it makes the listener feel uncomfortable," she added.

Once in their early 20s, people lose their capacity to hear sounds at such a high pitch.

"It is controlled by the shopkeepers. If they can see through their window that there is a problem, they turn the device on for a few minutes until the group has dispersed," Davies said.

"Shop owners have reported fabulous results and we've been approached by some who are considering buying their own equipment," she said.

*****end of clip*****

I figure they frown on cattle prods?

"If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever." ~ George Orwell (1903 - 1950), 1984

capt

U.S. Aid Would Fund Iran Opposition

Rice asks for $85 million in an effort to provide a counterbalance to the country's Islamic regime. Some say the plan could backfire.

At the Senate hearing, members of both parties questioned whether the administration's strategy in the Middle East, built around promoting democracy, had improved the situation.

Some noted that U.S.-backed elections had strengthened the influence of Iran, giving more power to militant groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories, and seating a Shiite-dominated Iraqi government with strong ties to Tehran.

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) praised the administration for recently focusing on multinational diplomacy, but he said he did not see how "things are getting better."

"I think they're getting worse in Iraq. I think they're getting worse in Iran," Hagel said. He added that he hoped Hamas' rise to power would "start to develop in a different direction."

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said elections in the Middle East and Latin America had handed power to "negative candidates who run against America," and she questioned whether the administration had properly handled policy.

Rice insisted that the elections had "made the world —†in a transitional state —†a better place."

"There are going to be some outcomes that are not perfect from an American point of view," she said.

"But I don't think our policy can be that you can only have elections if you plan to elect …†candidates that are friendly to America."

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

If we are spreading freedom and democracy we should be honest about what we mean. We mean freedom as we define it at any given moment and democracy to elect pro-American candidates. Kind of takes the shine off of the breastplate of American foreign policy.

capt

Pat "the devil" Buchanan,

Posted: February 11, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 Creators Syndicate Inc.
Like white phosphorus, the mocking cartoons of Muhammad have inflamed and lit up the battlefield in the culture war between the secular and the sacred, between West and East.
Since 9-11, President Bush seems to have understood that if we wish to win the war on terror, we must separate the Islamic masses from the monsters. To defeat the Islamic extremists, we must win the hearts and minds of the moderates.
To this end, Bush has visited mosques. He has held White House celebrations for the breaking of the fast at the end of Ramadan. He has sent Karen Hughes to State to develop ideas to show we respect the Islamic faith and that our war is against terror, not Islam. He has said more times than many of us care to recall, "Islam is a religion of peace."
Those cartoons – insulting, blasphemous, provocative to Muslims – have wiped out much of what Bush had accomplished. The cartoons have given the Muslim radicals visible proof to show the masses that the West mocks what they hold sacred.
All Muslims believe that to depict the face of the prophet or to ridicule him as Salman Rushdie did is a sacrilege. Why did that Danish newspaper do it? Why have conservatives rushed to show solidarity with the European editor-idiots who plastered these mocking cartoons all over Page 1?
"We believe in the First Amendment!" comes the blustery reply.
But just because the First Amendment may protect the right of Nazis to march in Skokie, or Larry Flynt to publish pornography, or Mapplethorpe to publish photos of himself with a bullwhip protruding from his rectum does not mean we stand in solidarity with Nazis, Larry Flynt or Robert Mapplethorpe – or does it?
Conservatives rage in rebuttal that Islamic nations tolerate cartoons, books, billboards and TV shows far more anti-Semitic and anti-Christian than these cartoons were anti-Islamic.
All of which is true, and none of which is relevant. For this is not a debate over double standards. It is a battle for the hearts and minds of Islamic peoples. And if we are to have any hope of winning that battle, we cannot condone insults to what they hold most sacred and dear: their faith.
Though State initially condemned the cartoons – "Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is unacceptable" – neocons who lust after "World War IV" with "Islamofascism" seem to have regained control of the message. While Bush, standing next to King Abdullah of Jordan, denounced the violence the cartoons ignited and Condi Rice charged Iran and Syria with exploiting the crisis, neither would criticize the cartoons.
But if Bush cannot follow the lead of our best friends in the region, like Abdullah, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Recep Erdogan of Turkey and Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, or even Jacques Chirac, and denounce the insulting content of the cartoons as well as the violence promoted by the anti-Western demagogues, our wars for democracy will be in vain. For we cannot win the friendship of these people if they believe our words of respect for their religion are a cover for an abiding contempt.
And let us admit the truth. Contempt for the beliefs and values the Islamic faith holds dear, and for the prophet, has been widely expressed by ideologues, entertainers, preachers and even conservatives post-9-11.
We are all entitled to hold such views. But if we wish to exercise our right to air them in print or broadcast, we should expect to reap what we have sown. For, as Bishop Berkeley said: "Things are as they are, and their consequences will be what they will be. Why then should we seek to be deceived?"
To understand Islam, we might read more deeply into our own history. When Christianity was as old as Islam is today, we, too, were prepared to die in crusades to defend Christians abroad. We, too, were prepared to burn heretics, schismatics and infidels. Their Most Catholic Majesties, the king and queen of Spain in the 15th century, and the father of the Anglican Church, Henry VIII, had no problem with beheadings.
Five centuries ago, Christians would have responded to insults as Muslims do today. However, given our pathetic protests of Hollywood sacrileges such as "The Last Temptation of Christ," one could argue that Muslims are simply more devout and resolute in defense of their faith than the milquetoast Christians of modernity. Like Catholics and Protestants in the 16th century, Muslims do not believe all religions are equal. They do not believe freedom of speech and the press should protect those who blaspheme their God or prophet. And if we are unwilling to curb our tongues when it comes to their faith, or to condemn those among us who use their freedom to insult the Islamic religion, we should probably pack up and get out of the Middle East. Before they throw us out.

Gerald 18
But either way you look at it you are going to have a poker rammed up your ass.

Come on Gerald, enough with the Brokeback Mountain fag jokes.

Fags, fruits, fairies, homos and all of their fellow perverts, have every right in the world to have pokers rammed up their asses.

Gerald wrote:
“I may still vote because I do not want to give up my right to vote”.

Well thank you. Thank you for voting. The verb "may" is not very definite. It seems that you may still vote only because you don't want to give up your right to vote. What a thoroughly ambiguous statement. Hey I’m a Liberal are any of you? Do any of you really vote.

Wow,

I got a copycat. Thanks for being a fag, fag.

CopyCat:

Or I guess your probably a conservative what with orations like "Fags, fruits, fairies, homos and all of their fellow perverts". You are so well spoken. I wish I had the money your parents wasted on your elaborate education!

#28

I wish I had the money your parents wasted on your elaborate education!

I wish I had the money your parents pissed away your elaborate education!

"Fags, fruits, fairies, homos and all of their fellow perverts, have every right in the world to have pokers rammed up their asses."

I take it you will be voting for the "save marrige for God fearing people" act. It must be so comforting to know that God is on your side?

to Gerold123 at # 32

Hey, nard head. If those mentally twisted dick licking pervs like shit on their stick, or poker, that's their business. Leave them alone, you homophobe.

Gerald567

Why would god pick a side? Is god also a dick licking perv like you?

Hey, nard head?

Do you understand how the internet works? If you have something to say, use your own identity. Your posts are recorded. Be careful what you say.
http://aserver1.securesites.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-comments.cgi?__mode=red;id=41031

Bad Cop No Donut!
http://aserver1.securesites.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-comments.cgi?__mode=red;id=41032

Ahhhhh ... Huh, Huh, Huh. You said NARD, you dillhole.

http://aserver1.securesites.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-comments.cgi?__mode=red;id=41038

http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/mlkandclintoninmemphis.mp3

capt wrote:

Of course there are gay cowboys just like there are gay cops, firemen, office workers, etc.

Not to mention wingnuts waiting excitedly for Harry Reid to be indicted.

(In case others haven't figured it out yet, the copycat is LBH; note the style and the obsession with homoerotic sex.)

American Soldiers

2,540 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his lies.

Henry Kissinger says that military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.

G.K. Chesterton said that Jesus speaks sanity to a world of lunatics.

Confucius spoke that before you seek revenge dig two graves.

When an illegal war is launched, every person killed and injured, every piece of property destroyed, and all environmental damage is a war crime. A war without borders and limits is a perpetual war. This war of aggression proliferates terrorism in proportion to its reckless widening, making the world ever more dangerous. TCR News

Nazi America is a mirror image of Hitler Bush.

Contamination

Linda Schrock Taylor says that when God means to punish a nation, He deprives its rulers of wisdom.

Hitler Bush and the Nazi cabal will prowl the world seeking endless wars. With endless wars and depleted uranium the Nazi States of America will contaminate people, land, air, and water. In time our entire world will become contaminated through the use of depleted uranium in fighting our endless wars.

The Nazi States of America is an evil nation.

16,500+ American soldiers have been maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his evil lies.

40,000+ American soldiers are suffering from PTSD.

Over 250,000+ Iraqis have been killed in Iraq since Bush declared shock and awe bombings on March 19, 2003.

Contamination from depleted uranium may have affected 100,000 American soldiers and several million Iraqis.

Are you feeling more safe and secure with Bush in the WH and Cheney as his chief hatchet man overseeing America and her people.

The Twelve Step Program

Dear Cornposters:

The twelve step program is not just for alcoholism, codependency, gambling narcotics, overeating, overspending, pornography, self-injury, sexual partners, and tobacco and nicotine they are several areas of addiction. I would like to say that sin is an addiction. We are all sinners even though many of us will not admit it. Prayer is helpful to try to control our addiction but we can also use the twelve step program to help us fight our addiction to sin.

Here is the twelve step program and I will try to share with you some information. This letter is a beginning but not the end all. Each person is free to work out his or her own twelve step program.

Step 1 Powerlessness! I admit that I am powerless over my addiction to sin in areas of commission and omission and that my life has become unmanageable. Sinners are often in the state of denial with regard to their sinful ways. We must seek strength to overcome sin and we must admit that we are sinners.

Step 2 Hope! I come to believe that a power greater than myself can restore me to sanity. No person can overcome sin unless he or she relies on some greater power.

Step 3 Faith! I make a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as I understand God. Sin separates us from God and we need to be with God or near God. We should not distance ourselves from God.

Step 4 Inventory! I make a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself. We cannot go through life in an aimless way. We need to take time to review our life through actions, behaviors, and deeds.

Step 5 Honesty! I admit to God, to myself, and to another human being the exact nature of my wrongs or sins. As a Catholic I participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and confess my sins to a priest.

Step 6 Preparation! I become entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. We must prepare ourselves to let go and let God help us.

Step 7 Letting Go! I humbly ask God to remove my shortcomings. We should not let pride keep us from asking God for help.

Step 8 Humility! I make a list of persons that I have harmed and become willing to make amends to them all. I have apologized to people that I have hurt in any way.

Step 9 Forgiveness! I make direct amends to people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. There are times to let the past rest.

Step 10 Continuous Inventory! I continue to make a personal inventory of my sins and when I am wrong I promptly admit it. We must continue to review our lives daily. Taking five or ten minutes out of the day to review our wrongs or sins should become a habit. By reviewing our sins we can try to develop ways that would keep us from further sin.

Step 11 Conscious Contact! Through prayer and meditation I seek to improve my conscious contact with God as I understand God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for my life and the power carry that out. God has a plan for each of us. We must work with God to try and know His plan for us so that we can avoid sinful activities and environments.

Step 12 Carrying the Message! Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, I try to carry this message to others and practice these principles in all of my life.

I have been critical of Hitler Bush and his Nazi regime because I see people who really do not pursue the common good and humanitarian interests that would make our world a better place. Nazi America cannot continue her sinful ways of hatred, murders, torture, wars, corruption, greed, decadence, and lies. Those sins prevent our world from attempting to make our lives and world a heavenly place that was God's intention from the time he created man and woman.

Sincerely,

Gerald

Serenity Prayer

LBH=Likes-Being-Homo

Any one else notice that Paul Pillar the former senior Cia official testimony last week has basically dissappeared from the news?

Five days on Cheney's accident....not on Cheney's Office of Special Plans that "created, cherry picked, conflated and dessiminated" pre-war intelligence.

Rove is really an incredibly skilled opportunist...taking a tragedy with holding the information and then the White HOuse Press corp jumps write into the web....spin...spin...spin.

Somehow it would seem more important to stay focused on the testimonies that came from analyst and other officials about the mis-use of pre-war intelligence.

Especially since this same group of individuals give or take a few are "sleepwalking" our nation towards sanctions or military action against Iran.

Seriously, progressive means acceptance of all people regardess of race, creed, religious views and sexual preferences.

A beer? 40oz, Malt Liquor? Human being mode vs iron fisted, cold hearted, sack of elephant excrement. so much BS so few facts. Not worth the time while the rest of the world is suffering under tyranny created by that less than human being.

Remember the EVIL Patriot Act?..... "The outcome here is absolutely predetermined," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said late Wednesday. "It's going to pass with overwhelming support." Read more here. While we were out the ram it down your throat crowd in Congress has been busy. Mommy sez its good for you little people to keep those bad old boogeymen away.

David said today:

"...this is a story that should not have legs. Yet with explanations--or no explanations--like these, the story may not fade. By Thursday, .....media and the Bush-hating liberals (and the liberal media) are obsessing over a minor mishap. But they should blame Cheney; he's the one who is keeping the story alive."

==========================================

Cheney up to his brillian self and David ends up with 3 successive posts, so far, on this "For the Birds" incident. What a waste of bandwith!

This little accident certainly proves how the GOP braintrust is able to get the Left to go round and round and round, chasing their own tails. Cheny rocks as the BEST `shock absorber' VP of all time! But to be fair, it takes two to play and he has been blessed with an opposition that just don't have IT!

Capt 21, I posted that yesterday but saw no response. I wonder, are people beginning to accept that we've been taken for a ride, or are they just bored? Anyone who has taken the time to actually look at the person they are claiming is OBL in that tape could see in about 5 seconds that it definitely is NOT!
Do you get the feeling bushco is pushing the envelope to see just how much they can get away with? Think about it, if you or I accidentally shot a hunting companion in the face there would be hell to pay for months. If you waited a day to even tell anyone that would put you under instant suspicion and they would slap the cuffs on and throw your ass in jail. These thugs are above the law, they've been rubbing the countries face in that fact for over 5 years. Whether it's a non-important event or not isn't the point, it's how it is treated by law enforcement and the media that pisses me off. They've been rounding up and imprisoning people without charges, torturing them, refusing them counsel, all without a shred of proof that they've done anything against the law. Yet they continue to break just about every law in the book, not bothering to try very hard to conceal it, and each successive crime is worse than the last, but they remain free as a bird. Murder and mayhem is all in a days work for those lunatics. I don't see it stopping any time soon. After all, we still have Iran and Syria and God only knows who else, to bestow the wonderful gift of democKracy upon.

Our leaders just cnt piss away money fast enough........ The Bush administration made an emergency request to Congress yesterday for a seven-fold increase in funding to mount the biggest ever propaganda campaign against the Tehran government, in a further sign of the worsening crisis between Iran and the west. Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said the $75m in extra funds, on top of $10m already allocated for later this year, would be used to broadcast US radio and television programmes into Iran, help pay for Iranians to study in America and support pro-democracy groups inside the country. Read more here How can it cost $85 MILLION bucks to broadcast propaganda, it doesnt cost 1/4 as much here on Faux News

DEN, the worst part is it is all funded by a credit card that our great grandchildren will not be able to pay.

The Bizzaro World Order brought to you by the freindly folks at PNAC, we hope you enjoy your stay. Please no tape recorders or cameras inside. Follow the rules and nothing will happen to you, break them and we cannot guarantee your families safety, please place all your money and jewels in the bin on your way into the theater, remember to breathe deeply as the sterilization takes place.

cheney has given Monty Python new competitions for their old Upper Class Twit of the Year Contest.

The new competitions are "Lying to the Media in Plain Sight" and "Working on being a Human Being" and "Opening a Canned Hunt with your Bare Hands" which join the oldies, but goodies, Insulting the Waiter, Waking the Neighbour, and Taking the Bras Off the Debutantes.

(PS to Pande...I saw your post. Kaff is undoubtedly smiling. I am.)

What Is a Neoconservative? -- & Does It Matter?

Authentic neocons descend from the Communist and socialist movements, with the most prominent leaders being Trotskyites (that is, ultra-Left Communists). When Stalin took over the Soviet Union, the Trotskyites were severely persecuted, and ultimately Trotsky himself was assassinated in Mexico. Stalin was a gentile (indeed, an ex-seminarian) and Trotsky was a Jew, and the divide between the Stalinists and Trotskyites pretty much followed the same divide (with significant exceptions, especially in the early years of the Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe, before many of the Jews in those satellite states were purged from the Party, even executed).
-------------
This is a very informative article from the New Oxford Review. Kathleen, I think you will find it particularly interesting. Note to Gerald, the NOR is a Catholic publication. Every once in a while I run across a catholic site that rejects the neocons outright and are willing to write the truth. I say, bravo for them!

Neoconservatism in the United States

Some opponents of neoconservatives have sought to emphasize their interest in Israel and the relatively large proportion of Jewish neoconservatives, and have raised the question of "dual loyalty". A number of critics, such as Pat Buchanan, have accused them of putting Israeli interests above those of America. In turn these critics have been labeled as anti-Semites by many neoconservatives (which in turn has led to accusations of professional smearing, and then paranoia, and so on). However, it may be noted that many prominent neoconservatives are not Jewish, such as Michael Novak, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Frank Gaffney, and Max Boot. Furthermore, neoconservatives in the 1960s were much less interested in Israel before the June 1967 Six Day War. It was only after this conflict, which raised the specter of unopposed Soviet influence in the Middle East, that the neoconservatives became preoccupied by Israel's security interests. They promote the view that Israel is the US's strongest ally in the Middle East as the sole Western-style democracy in the region, aside from Turkey (George W. Bush has also supported Turkey in its efforts to join the European Union).

*****end of clip*****

One paragraph from the wikipedia page. You really have to read the rest of the page linked and I would seek additional sources on the subject.

capt

Put this in the NOT DAMNED LIKELY CATEGORY...cheney sez, "Well, who is going to do that? Are they going to take my word for what happened?"

Why should we take cheney's word on ANYTHING?

Also, why should we believe the "I had one beer at lunch" statement??

cheney is very sensitive to questions about his alcohol use -- not just because those questions might lead to allegations that he was IMPAIRED at the time he shot his hunting pal at close range -- cheney was convicted of drunken driving twice during an eight-month period. NOT a great record!!!

Capt, I found the NOR article interesting because it points out that the original neocons are descended from the ultra-leftwing communists of Russia! Yet the idiot bushbots come to this blog and accuse US of being communists, even though we comment voraciously against the neocons everyday. Shows how pathetically lacking in education they really are.

The return of Abu Ghraib

Abu Ghraib has come back to haunt the US government.

The latest pictures from the prison are another disaster for the image of the US presence in Iraq (formally an occupation at the time the photos were probably taken, in 2003).

They could hardly have come out at a worse time, amid the furore over the Danish cartoons and immediately after the emergence of a video showing British troops beating up Iraqi protesters.

The US government is taking refuge in declaring that these are images from some time ago, refer to isolated incidents which are shocking but which have been investigated and punished and which are no longer taking place.

The pictures appear genuine in that some are very similar to the ones upon which convictions have already taken place. There is the now familiar and ghastly crop of violence, threats (dogs again), hooding and sexual humiliation. Indeed the apparent sexual thrill given to the photo-taker/s is one of the most disturbing elements. One picture shows a prisoner baring her breasts, presumably under compulsion.

Some though are even worse than before. This batch shows several dead bodies, one with its heart removed, perhaps after a post-mortem. The alternative is too awful to contemplate.

MOre HERE

*****end of clip*****

"They could hardly have come out at a worse time, amid the furore over the Danish cartoons and immediately after the emergence of a video showing British troops beating up Iraqi protesters."

Seem like "they" could not have come out at a worse time?

Coincidence? Why did they keep these pictures under wraps until there was rioting in the streets?

They could have released ALL of the pictures a year or two ago and been done with it, so why would they wait unless it is completely intended to foment more hatred for the USA and UK.

capt

Saladin,

The wiki says the same thing.

Neo-liberals, trotskites, communists, east european's, etc.

Nothing "conservative" about communists and neo-liberals.

capt

Cheney Shotgun Ballistics Don't Match Up

Alex Jones/Prison Planet.com | February 15 2006

What we had deducted almost immediately after Cheney machine began rolling on this shooting is now finally starting to filter out into the rest of the media: It is not only unlikely that Whittington was injured in the way he reportedly was if Cheney had shot him from 30 yards it is impossible.

After reviewing the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife report on the shooting, there is no doubt that this is a cover-up.

The pattern of the birdshot depicted in the diagram on the report indicates about a foot spread from cheek to chest.

As we previously reported, birdshot is not like a traditional bullet. Birdshot is composed of hundreds of tiny lead BB's with very low mass which are designed to spread out and slow down very quickly. The idea is basically to shoot out a bunch of tiny pellets to catch a bird that may be taking wing at the instant it recognizes the shot has been fired. Many points ensure greater likelyhood of hitting the target.

These pellets are incredibly tiny and the further they get away from the gun, the slower and less forceful they become. So at a distance of about 90 feet (or 30 yards as reported by the White House) the pellets would have hit Whittington with the force equivilent to a gentle shove and have left maybe some tiny surface marks on any exposed skin.

The only way to account for the pattern indicated on the TDPW report is if Cheney was about 10 feet away from Whittington when he shot him.
------------
A cover-up?? Well I never!

What a waste of bandwith!

It didn't seem to prevent you from posting the usual lame response, though, did it?

Cheny rocks as the BEST `shock absorber' VP of all time! But to be fair, it takes two to play and he has been blessed with an opposition that just don't have IT!

Yeah, go GOP! That was a brilliant Rovian move to have Cheney shoot an old man in the face! The Democrats will NEVER win an election with the kung-fu Machiavellian mayhem devised by the genius Turdblossom!

Shooting Whittington: the Least of Cheney's Crimes
Kurt Nimmo

I don't care if the war criminal Dick Cheney shot one of his rich Republican friends. I am disgusted by this story dominating headlines while the Straussian neocons, who run roughshod over the Constitution in dictatorial fashion through their cardboard cut-out, brain damaged, unelected president, methodically plan to attack another sovereign nation and kill hundreds of thousands of people, poison millions of innocent others with depleted uranium, destroy and loot more antiquities, deliberately wreck hospitals, electrical plants and water and sewage treatment facilities, the same way they did in Iraq.

Harry Whittington's gunshot wounds are nothing compared to the distinct possibility the Straussian neocons may use nuclear weapons against the people of Iran, and down the road, against other official enemies, numbering in the billions (according to the heavy-lifter Straussian neocon Frank Gaffney, these enemies include the people of China, Russia, and anti-American countries in Latin America, in other words Latin American countries that have rejected neoliberalism and are sick and tired of globalist bankers and multinational carpetbaggers stealing their natural resources and impoverishing their people).

Cheney's war crimes have besmirched the public record for over a decade and a half, it was Cheney, as Secretary of War in the Bush Senior administration, who engineered and instigated a 43-day bombing campaign against Iraq (the most devastating concentrated bombing attack in history at the time), a blitzkrieg that targeted Iraqi electrical, water, and sewage treatment systems, resulting in massive civilian casualties, especially children, the elderly, and the sick, in short the most vulnerable of Iraqi society, a particularly horrendous war crime.

So, what did Cheney have to say about these choices of targets after the war, when there was no way to deny the deadly effects on civilians?asked Robert Jensen, writing for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Every Iraqi target was perfectly legitimate, adding if I had to do it over again, I would do exactly the same thing. In short, Cheney is not only a war criminal, he is an unrepentant war criminal, an anti-human sociopath who brags about his serial murdering exploits. All of this is scrupulously avoided in the corporate media.
---------
I totally agree with this editorial. This hunting incident is not even a drop in the bucket. If cheney has any regrets at all it's that he is unable to personally participate in the torture and murder of innocent people.

Uranium anybody? Security SLACK at american NUKE sites, surprised?..... February 16, 2006 -- Nuclear security expert punished for calling attention to security deficiencies at U.S. nuclear weapons facilities. With the Bush administration still spinning "fairy tales" about WMDs in Iraq and pressing for sanctions against Iran and North Korea for their nuclear weapons programs, America's nuclear weapons sites are sitting ducks for terrorist attacks. Although much attention was paid to whistleblowers from DIA and NSA at the February 14 Shays Committee hearing, the testimony of former Department of Energy Quality Assurance Program Manager Richard Levernier was perhaps as startling as revelations about torture and sexual molestation of children in Iraq and massive NSA eavesdropping of American citizens. Read more here. Now you would think if the goomers in charge were worried about terrorists they would appoint Homeland Security to fix that. Maybe they dont care......on purpose.

Don #41

Don't bring me into your sick perverted discussion of gay cowboys. I only refer to these comments when two or more of you lefties try to gang up on me (I'm too much for just one of you) and the sickening suck up you all get into to try and defaet me in a joust.

I leave for the night and this is what you, supposed, serious debaters degenerate to. A whole post about fags-NICE!!!!

Now Don, leave me out of your hissy fit, fag talk!!!

Don #64

You forget, Don, that John Kerry shot a teenage, unarmed Vietnamese in the back to get a purple heart and become President.

Don

At least Cheney didn't shhot an unarmed boy in the back, like Kerry!!

You should know by now that just about everything Cheney and Bush spout is a lie. This story is probably a lie too. My guess: Cheney was drunk and shot his pal because he couldn't see straight. We know administration offiicials are boozers. Doesn't this make you feel safe, that these losers are "protecting" Americans?

An Abu Ghraib Photo We Didn't See on the Front Page of the NYTs

Look closely at the tattoo.

#67

Methinks LBH protesteth too much...

Mountain out of a molehill, folks...

And the left continues their jump off the deep end...

It amazes me that, with so many important things going on in the world, the leftists have to sink their hooks into an inconsiquential story.

In the history of this administration, I doubt this will be listed by anyone.

So, keep playing the same old tune, and we'll see even more Republicans elected.

Don

You're such a candy ass!!

LBH,

There you go again! Conflating a man's ass with something sweet!

URL Source: http://rigorousintuition.blogspot

Accidents will happen

...Reportedly this was the first occasion for the victim, Austin "millionaire attorney" Harry Whittington, 78, to go hunting with Cheney. Naturally enough he's a Republican, and not surprisingly he's a Bush appointee: a few years ago, then-Governor George Bush named him to the Texas Funeral Services Commission. If that means anything to you, it probably means Funeralgate. TFSC was the investigating body on the case of Service Corporation International, headed by Bush family friend Robert Waltrip, which had been "recycling graves" and throwing corpses in the woods. Eliza May was the director of the TFSC when the investigation began, and was fired, she claimed, on account of pressure from the Governor's office to help his friend at SCI. Her replacement? Harry Whittington. (As we've noted, SCI has gone on to better things, like being tasked to disappear the dead of Louisiana.)

Whittington was shot by the Vice President on the happy Republican hunting grounds of the 50,000 acre Armstrong Ranch of South Texas. The ranch had belonged to late Bush "Pioneer" Tobin Armstrong, who died last October, and is now the property of daughter Katherine. Perhaps the most interesting family biography belongs to Tobin's widow and Katherine's mother Anne, who advised Nixon, served as Ford's British Ambassador, and "approved covert actions on the President’≥ Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under Reagan." Perhaps also worth noting is that Anne was a Halliburton director when the company first hired Dick Cheney.
-----------
Typical connections.
Don, I acknowledge your right to comment in any way, but I wish you would not provoke that psycho, he is not interested in any kind of rational debate and the comments deteriorate into schoolyard immaturity. I can't believe you get any kind of satisfaction out of this back and forth with such an idiot. But please pardon me if I am wrong.

Don

Like I said, don't drag me into your perverted world. I know this subject is exciting for you but don't embarrass your buddies, like capt, that find this kind of discussion juvenile and beneath you. Now move on!

#4
Capt,
That is just absurd. He can declassify material. OMG. This man does not belong in the role of vice president. It's bad enough that he thinks he's above the law but he re-writes them as he goes along. The laws morph to suit his needs. Cheney is sociopathic, folks.

And David,
This incident makes me sooo mad. It magnifies for the public what is really going on in the White House. Folk, reality bites. Take a good look at the chew marks.

This bit about the deputy being sent away...It wasn't cheney's job to decide whether a law had been broken. It wasn't chaney's job to decide whether law enforcement should have been involved. It was law enforcement's job.

This administration uses this same logic in every aspect of American policy. The congress is sent away. The judicial branches are sent away. Local government is ignored. Foreign governments are ignored. Weapons inspectors are ignored. The voting public is ignored. The needs of the citizens of this country are ignored.

Cheney decides what will be policy. Cheney decides what is law.

We have an incompetent dick, who can't take criticism in charge of life and death policy. This group needs to be impeached or needs to be made impotent.

Another take on shotgungate from The Voice of the Whitehouse.

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good." (My, my!)

This is a quote off the wire. Had an email from someone who saw the initial SS report to the White House and it runs almost the same except to put a slightly different spin on it. Cheney, heavily guarded and accompanied by a small army of security men and a few medical personnel, was hunting quail in thin brush. One of the party who was a little behind him shot a quail and had to hunt it up in the bush. He found the bird and then charged after the Cheney people. The VP, who is terrified that people are going to assassinate him, heard his friend calling and crashing towards him, saw a figure with a gun... and fired right at him.

Man was hit in the face with bird shot.

Cheney was stone sober at the time and I am surprised he was shooting at birds on the wing. Normally, he likes tethered or tame game so he won't have to overexert himself. A tame white duck, trussed up and hanging up, alive, in a tree (not too high) is a perfect point blank target for the sportsman Cheney.

The only sinister aspect to this is the hysterical behavior of the VP .

I have done a lot of hunting in my life: quail, pheasants, ducks, geese, a big rabbit hunt in Germany with beaters and all, German wild boar, deer, elk and the occasional beater.

I have gone after quail before and know the part of Texas they are talking about. I am positive it all happened as described but am equally positive that Cheney way overreacted and shot out of sheer terror.

Think about it. Our senior leadership is not only corrupt, they are nuttier than fruitcakes!

#9
GRRRRRR
Capt,
You're getting my blood boiling today.

'Sources close to the investigation into the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson have revealed this week that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not turned over emails to the special prosecutor's office that may incriminate Vice President Dick Cheney'

Gonzales needs to be brought up on charges of withholding evidence of a crime. Right? Any lawyers out there?

Saladin

That's exactly what John Kerry said when he shot that unarmed, Vietnamese boy in the back: I shot him out of sheer terror!!!!

TBR News

Now, on to much more serious matters:

There are growing questions in the media and also in Congress as to exactly why President Bush was not available during the vital first few days of the Katrina disaster. There are statements, made under oath before Congress, by former FEMA director Brown that he always bypassed DHS Secretary Chertoff on important matters because of the latter's gross incompetence.

Brown testified that he personally notified Bush, who had gone to his Texas ranch at Crawford before the hurricane hit, on the Sunday that the approaching storm was obviously very serious, was headed directly for the very vulnerable New Orleans and that he, Brown, would keep the President personally informed. On Monday, when it appeared that the New Orleans levees had broken, Brown notified Crawford that this had happened but was not able to speak with the President personally.

As he testified, for the next few days, he was unable to speak with Bush but passed his vital messages to Andrew Card, his chief of staff, or other top Bush officials then at Crawford.

I have personally spoken with personnel at Crawford and also with one accredited newsperson with the Presidential party and have learned that for three days, George W. Bush was totally unavailable for any kind of report on the terrible damage caused by Katrina and the urgent need to help the suffering population. Bush did, and said, absolutely nothing.

Why is this?

Quite simply because the President was drunk.

Yes, Bush was, and is, a so-called binge drinker. This means that from time to time, often when under pressure, he goes to Crawford for privacy and during his visit, gets royally drunk. During this time, it has been proven impossible to communicate anything to Bush, and his aides and his wife not only shield him from hostile eyes but endeavor to fill in until he is back amongst the living again. In this case, the White House staff in Washington, horrified by the mounting news stories and well aware of the President's chronic drinking problems, compiled a DVD containing urgent television programs on the progress of the disaster and sent it by courier to Crawford to play for the President.

Three days after the levee collapse and the mounting chaos in New Orleans, Bush apparently regained some degree of sobriety and then decided to leave Crawford, for a fund-raising dinner in Arizona and a photo opportunity in California!.

In spite of the frantic attempts on the part of his staff and senior advisors, he refused to either go to New Orleans or return to Washington. If nothing else, Bush will not be told what to do by anyone and this was the situation here. He duly flew over the flooded city, pointed at the mess for the press cameraman and then relaxed with a nice lunch with his staff.

Realizing that the President could be accused of dereliction of duty, Clever Karl, the Fat Viper, decided to blame the neglect on Brown, released enough material to make a fool out of him and then forced him to retire. Brown, however, had the foresight to keep his communications with the White House and presented them to a Congressional committee.

He certainly managed to overcome the image of a bumbling failure and although very careful about accusing the President, he nevertheless pointed directly to a complete failure on the part of the President and his staff as well as the Director of Homeland Security. He gave much better than he got and now the public, and Congress, has a nice bone to chew on.

To be blunt, Bush and his gang couldn't run a mechanical whorehouse and the sooner we can rid ourselves of them, the better. If you come up behind Bush, he might like it but Cheney will shoot you. What a guilty conscience this bunker-living bombastic idiot must have.

Pop a paperbag near him and his pump would give out on the spot.

#71
Saladin,
I had heard that there were Israeli soldiers used as guards at that prison.

There are some really good stories on Democracy Now today on the Katrina disaster.
FEMA Fails Katrina Evacuees on Housing: Hotel Evictions Continue, Promises of Trailers and Rental Assistance Unmet

Chertoff should be out of a job. What a loser. I know for certain if the homeless were white upper middle class Republicans the city would have been rebuilt already. It would be a miracle to behold.

Jeanne, who is REALLY benefitting from this middle east armegeddon? OBL? AL-CIA-DUH? Hamas? Iran? Our only ally there is loaded to the teeth with nuclear WMD's, yet they are screeching like banshees over the made up threat of nukes in Iraq and Iran, and coincidentally our govt. foreign policies are developed by zionist neocons in the PNAC. This is not a anti-semite statement, it is a fact. There is something very wrong with this picture.

When Ernst Zundel questions the character and dimension of the Jewish holocaust, he is thrown into jail, tried and deported. That's "hate speech" because it offends Canada's 300,000 Jews.

But when a Jew, Ezra Levant, publishes cartoons that incense Canada's 600,000 Muslims and touch off demonstrations, well that's "free speech."

The Hypocrisy Of Canada's Tolerance

how about ISRAELI SNIPERS pretending to be Iraqis and killing US soldiers?

Sal, sounds strikingly similar to our policy doesnt it. Got Nukes? We got lots of them.

David Corn, on Fox, said, the chenny shooting "was a major" event, as he then poo-poo the significant of Traitor Gore in the kindom, attacking the adm policy, falsely indicating abuses of patriot act.

Gore is traitor.
And DavidCorn, egotistically presumes he is a part of the elite media deserving of the hot chenny scoop. What a joke.

Of course, Chenny gave up the real story, drinking a beer 2hr ahead of the accident.

David Corn, miffed at being stiff on the story, attacks with such arogant self-centeredness, they miss the real story.

Cheers!!!

I know you are, but what am I?

SSSSHHHH! dont say anything bad about....you know....The "I" word. Consider who the party was involved with the controlled demolition of the WTC, they have reason to be touchy. Moving company MY ASS!

#84 Chertoff is a lawyer by training. He talks a good game.

Bush appoints policy stooges not professionals.

So much for running the Federal goverment with a results-oriented business model.

Salon exclusive: The Abu Ghraib files

Never-published photos, and an internal Army report, show more Iraqi prisoner abuse -- evidence the government is fighting to hide.

--------------
I have been saying for months that these photos should come out. The White House is jumping up and down and saying that the photos will endanger the American soldiers. BS.

The fact that the photos are coming out the way they are is causing more trouble than if they were just released. The White House is trying to hide its mistakes. And the mistakes come out, drip, drip, drip.

Anybody who has the power to protect himself from prosecution is doing it. The young, unsupervised soldiers are given the blame. They should have known what they were doing was wrong, but they were allowed to used techniques and they were given opportunity. They were given dogs to use. They were left with lack of real training and lack of leadership.

The photos tell the tale. Many were involved. The photos show a similarity in torture techniques from prison to prison. The blame for this behavior and wrongdoing goes to the very top.

THAT is what is endangering the soldiers. The leadership in this country lied about WMD and entered the country of Iraq. They forced a war upon the country who had done nothing to provoke it. And then leadership ordered torture and humiliate of the citizens, even young boys. THAT is endangering the soldiers. The pictures are the proof. Hiding them is not protecting the soldiers.

#92
business model. Chripes. They couldn't run a damn lemonade stand. Unless of course they were trying to run the lemonade stand across the street out of business and then they would make everbody on the block think the other lemonade stand was selling poison. Once the first lemondade stand was out of business the Bush lemonade stand would convince the other lemonade stand to become partners. They would pocket the money and then the Bush lemonade stand would fall apart. There would be no real need for the lemonade stand any longer. They would have gotten what they wanted, the profit from the first lemonade stand. It's all very complicated.

Justice Department accidentally releases secret surveillance documents

Oops.

In what appears to have been an effort to bury defense attorneys in mountains of paperwork, Justice Department lawyers accidentally revealed "classified counter-terrorism information in a breach of national security that could also threaten one of the country's biggest terrorism prosecution cases," the Los Angeles Times is reporting.

The mistake was made last year in a criminal case against officials from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which the Times describes as a "a now-defunct Islamic charity with alleged ties to terrorists." As part of the discovery process in that case, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Dallas provided defense attorneys with access to thousands of pages of documents "piled indiscriminately in unmarked boxes." Four months after the document dump, the Times says, FBI agents figured out that the papers included classified documents that weren't supposed to be released, including wiretap requests to and orders from the supposed-to-be-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and "about 80 volumes of translated summaries of conversations."

Court documents show that the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case tried to retrieve the documents by demanding access to the room in the federal courthouse that had been set aside for defense attorneys to review them. When a court security officer and defense attorneys refused to let him in, the prosecutor went to the judge handling the case, who has since taken custody of the documents and ruled them "off-limits" to both sides, the Times says.

We are BORG prepare to be assimilated, resistance is futile, you must comply.

Secret Data Exposed in Terrorism Case

.....In announcing the seizure of the charity's funds, President Bush told a Rose Garden gathering in December 2001 that the charity was among those who "do business with terror."

Disclosure that the government erred in sharing secret intelligence on the case came to light when court files were unsealed this week. The mistake occurred nearly a year ago but was not previously disclosed. KTVT-TV in Dallas first reported the security breach late Tuesday.

The unsealed records, included in boxes of selected classified data turned over to defense lawyers in April, included what a federal prosecutor called "extraordinarily sensitive information."

....Such documents commonly include highly sensitive and classified information from a variety of U.S. intelligence agencies, foreign intelligence services and confidential sources, prosecutors acknowledged.

It was not immediately clear what defense lawyers learned in the case. All sides are barred from discussing the still-classified information.

But a protracted legal tussle over the documents produced a number of sealed motions. Their release provided clues to the extent of the security breach.

Defense motions show that Holy Land lawyers believe the classified material benefits defendants and raises the possibility that federal surveillance was authorized based on misrepresentations, vague descriptions and fabricated testimony.

Saladin, you're right, bush probably was drunk leading up to the Katrina debacle. In fact, last Saturday night he was probably drunk, too, and that's one reason they didn't tell him of cheney's involvement in the shooting until a bit later.

Two drunks at the helm, both likkered up at the same time, is not reassuring.

bush and cheney have more DUIs between the two of them than a shipload of drunken sailors on shore leave.

BORG=Badass-Organized-Republican-Goonsquad

Who can forget the image of GOP supporters who hoisted their blue stained finger tips in the air to show support for past Iraqi elections? Never mind the fact that the symbolism was laughable in the sense that the only democracy that will emerge will be one that the current US administration approves of.

So I introduce "The Little Orange Vest Project". We will be manufacturing tiny orange hunting vests that people can carry around, slide on their finger and hold up proudly in the air.

These can be worn at protests, GOP speaking engagements or better yet... just hold one up when debating neocon lunkheads face to face.

The tiny orange vests symbolize everything that is wrong with this administration:

Firing without having a clear idea of what the outcome will be and then scrambling deceitfully to control the disastrous outcome.

Lift them high America. They're tiny hunting vests. They smell of freedom.

Inflatable Dartbboard

Paul Pillar, former CIA Officer (and current whistlblower I beleive) was on C-SPAN this morning. It is being replayed on C-CPAN 2 now. Watch it!

I heard the only place cheney feels REALLY safe is in his bunker -- sort of like Hitler did.

cheney's public persona of calmness "under fire" is all about PR and marketing. He's a coiled spring. He shot Harry Whittington in a state of panic, exacerbated by over-indulgence in the sauce.

BRIT HUME 1, DICK CHENEY 0
Fox Hunting
by T. A. Frank
Thank goodness for Fox, because if any other station had interviewed the Vice President there wouldn't have been narrative like this: "Hospital officials meanwhile say the man that Vice President Cheney shot is doing fine after his minor heart attack and that he wonders what all the hoopla is about." Or you might have missed Fred Barnes's analysis: "Look, it might have been more important if, one, the victim had died, and, two, Cheney were running for president, but ... even then it would have been just a shooting accident." Right--if all of us had to put off our careers every time we accidentally shot somebody, nothing would ever get done....
Cheney Chooses to Hide Behind Fox's Skirts

FLAN,
Stan
Here's your big chance. They have a poetry contest on Crooks and Liars. Go for it.

chirp chirp

For an administration who doesn't want a penny spent unwisely here's a real bargin.

Flying fish

comment on Jeanne's post at #93

Last night I DL'd the tv show and got to watch about 20 minutes of it before... my damn screensaver kicked in because I was 'idle' and it fk'd up the whole thing when I deactivated it. Forgot where the hell it was I found the link, but you had a choice of 3 different resolutions... the biggest being a 90mb file. I went with the quickest/smallest resolution and it took my cable connection about 3 minutes to DL. It was late, so I didn't go back and start the show over again. I was able to see 10 or 12 unpublished photos before my system screwed up. Later, if I find that link again, I'll post it. Also, they recommended the 'bit torrent' version, but I don't know a thing about that. They said it wouldn't use as much bandwidth.
==================
not related but...
That pissant liar LBH hasn't said a word about his bullshyt claims about the 'Saddam tapes', has he? That sacka lying shyt! Old tapes that didn't say a thing he challenged Capt on, not one of his claims were correct. Surprised? hell naw!

Local station refuses to run pro-DeLay ad
The commercial will be broadcast on cable channels

and it's the local FAUX station too!

George Bush in another fine example of kicking the poor and middle class to the curb.

Bush's Health Care Scheme Would Create 600K More Uninsured Americans

Last week, the President unveiled his new budget proposals –†including $12 billion per year in tax breaks to promote health savings accounts (HSAs) linked to high-deductible health plans –†a fatally-flawed approach to health care coverage that will leave Americans out in the cold.

This week, noted Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Jonathan Gruber released an analysis that confirms the worst fears about HSAs. The key points:

1