Mr. David Corn,

Great post!

The "act" they play is getting real old with a majority of Americans. If you can believe the polls.

The pending mid-term will be interesting.

Thanks for all of your work.

Kirk

Wayne Madsen Report

March 21, 2006 -- Political observers in Washington are wondering why, a day after taking some unscreened questions from an audience in Cleveland and appearing unprepared to answer them, President Bush held an unscheduled press conference at the White House -- a rarity with this administration. White House handlers even allowed veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas to ask Bush a question, something that has been carefully avoided in past Bush news conferences.

THOMAS: I'd like to ask you, Mr. President -- your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime.

Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is: Why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, your Cabinet officers, former Cabinet officers, intelligence people and so forth -- but what's your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil, the quest for oil. It hasn't been Israel or anything else. What was it?

BUSH: I think your premise, in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist -- that I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect.

QUESTION: And... [Thomas' microphone was then cut off, not permitting the normal follow-up question].

Bush, both in Cleveland and at the White House press conference, was confused, flustered, and typically not well-spoken. These self-inflicted poor public relations demonstrations come at a time when Bush's poll numbers are plummeting. Some informed sources speculate that Bush's top handler, Karl Rove, has other things to worry about these days than ensuring Bush avoids tough questions and keeps to his talking points. There are strong indications that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is about to drop another major indictment in the CIA leak case.

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

The ole' shut off the mike trick... (In my best Don Adams voice.)

"I believe that my job is to go out and explain to people what's on my mind. That's why I'm having this press conference, see. I'm telling you what's on my mind. And what's on my mind is winning the war on terror."

The implication is that if Bush is willing to tell the American people "what's on his mind" he is in fact forthcoming, honest and direct. The claim counters the growing belief that Bush is not forthcoming, untrustworthy and misleading about the reasons for some of his policies. (Imagine that author of "The lies and deceptions...")

Problem #1 is the unpopular war in Iraq. Hot button #1 for US citizens is US security AKA the war on terror.

Bush wants you to believe we'll win US security by winning the war in Iraq. It's conflation.

I'm glad to see Bush in front of reports answering questions. According to CCN it?s been three years since he?s answered reports questions in the White House pressroom.

Christ, but that press conference was a mess. He's sounded especially moronic the past couple of days. No wonder his keepers rarely let him speak without a script.

reporters' questions

I was astounded to hear a reporter on NPR, after bush's press rantings, say today the "president was relaxed and even cheerful..."

WTF? I guess it's in the eye of the beholder.

Oil gushes into Arctic Ocean from BP pipeline

Across the frozen North Slope of Alaska, the region's largest oil accident on record has been sending hundreds of thousands of litres of crude pouring into the Arctic Ocean during the past week after a badly corroded BPO pipeline ruptured.

The publicity caused by the leak in the the 30-year-old pipeline could seriously damage BP's image, which has been carefully crafted to show it as a company concerned about the environment. Unlike other major oil companies, BP boasts that it is fully signed up to the dangers of global warming and it makes a conspicuous effort to flaunt its green credentials, tackling local environmental problems and erecting wind turbines above its petrol stations.

The first indication of the spill came in early March, when an oily patch was discovered near the elevated oil transmission pipeline, but the full scale of the accident is only becoming clear with time. Environmentalists who vociferously objected to the construction of the BP pipeline may now see their worst fears realised.

Clean-up crews have removed more than 190,000 litres of crude oil and melted snow off the frozen tundra but reports indicate that the leak is the second largest crude oil spill in Alaska - second only to the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.

More HERE

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

If "Big oil" was not running the WH and the MSM we would be hearing about this 24/7.

And BUCK FUSH!

capt

8643

The same old tired messages and misdirection. Bush's rhetoric is in re-runs and people are tuning him out. He needs to come up with some new funny stuff like "strategery" and "misunderestimate." Or fall off a Segway again. He's not good for much, but at least he used to give us a good laugh now and then.

Mr. Corn

This is a losing argument for you progressives and the Sen Dems, who wouldn't support Feingold, also know this.

Diane Fienstein has said that this is a great program to be used and that more people would support it if they knew the details.

Harry Reid did brag, and is on record, about trying to kill the Patriot Act.

Progressives just don't have the balls to keep Americans safe and never will.

Partisan politics should be left to the pros not amateurs like Feingold, who will never be President or Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi who think free broadband is more important than national security.

TELL SNOW HE'S DEAD WRONG

Treasury Secretary Snow thinks it's OK that salaries for CEO's are skyrocketing while the minimum wage has stayed the same for over a decade. Tell him that the Bush economy is only working for people at the top and that the Bush Administration needs to give people more opportunities to achieve to the American Dream.

Sign the petition to Snow below!

Dear Secretary Snow:

The widening gap between the rich and the poor in this country is a serious concern. Your assertions that all Americans are sharing in prosperity are not supported by the facts.

Under President Bush's administration, the only group to gain was the top 5% of richest families, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, median family incomes have fallen and incomes for the poorest families fell even further. It is time to create an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.

I am concerned that President Bush's economic policies threaten America's character as a nation of opportunity for all. People who work hard should have something to show for it - a home, a savings account, a better life for their kids. That is not the case in George Bush's America.

Thank you,

Signature

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

From Edwards One America Committee.

capt

AP reports today that Bush said removing troops from Iraq will be a job for " a future president." But just a few days ago Bush reportedly said the pullout will begin this year. Wouldn't it be great if both of these statements turned out to be true?

If Clinton's Affair Deserved Censure, So Does Bush's Spying

Contributed by Working Assets

Back in 1999, twenty-four Senators co-sponsored a resolution to censure President Clinton for his conduct during the Monica Lewinsky affair. Now, however, those very same twenty-four -- including Senator Domenici of New Mexico -- refuse to support Senator Feingold's motion to censure President Bush for his illegal wiretaps. A simple comparison of the two Presidents' conduct shows that position to be deeply hypocritical.

President Clinton engaged in an extramarital affair and then deceived the public -- and a grand jury -- about his conduct.

President Bush, on the other hand, has openly broken the law (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) and violated our Constitution (the Fourth Amendment, prohibiting warrantless searches). He lied to the public on several occasions about his warrantless wiretapping program. The program continues to this day, and may now include warrantless physical searches as well.

Oddly, all the strident voices from the late 1990s screaming "no one is above the law" seem to have fallen silent now. Congress simply must hold the President accountable in this case. If they do not, the governmental system of checks and balances crafted by our nation's founders has effectively been thrown out the window -- and we will have taken a very big step down the road to dictatorship.

Call to action

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

Accountability - seems like such a thing is so far in the past. The duplicitous bastards that used to whine "rule of law" and "character" are now shown for what they really are - partisan pukes that put the party before their country and sell their loyalty and credibility for peanuts.

capt

President Bush: Disclose and Return ALL Your Abramoff Donations

Contributed By Working Assets

Jack Abramoff was a "Pioneer" fundraiser for President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, raising at least $120,000 -- and probably a great deal more -- by bundling together contributions from other individuals and political action committees.

Bush knows keeping donations collected by Abramoff is dead wrong -- in fact, he already donated to charity the $6,000 the Republican operative contributed to his campaign coffers. But despite the fact that Abramoff has pled guilty to multiple felony charges of bribery and corruption, the President still refuses to publicly identify -- or return -- the vast majority of the campaign funds that Abramoff collected for on his behalf as a favored "Pioneer" fundraiser.

Abramoff's guilty pleas have made clear that the public has a powerful interest in knowing the details of Mr. Abramoff's bundled fundraising activities for President Bush. Did Abramoff's clients seek or receive special treatment from the White House in return for these contributions? The President needs to come clean about the money Abramoff raised for him.

Call to action

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

Bush should be setting an example. "What will we tell the children?" It is okay for the president to lie, cheat and steal. If you grow up to be president you can lie, cheat and steal too just like Dumya.

capt

Court Considers Whistleblower Lawsuuits By TONI LOCY, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 6 minutes ago

The Supreme Court on Tuesday debated whether government employees have free-speech rights that protect them while they are carrying out their duties.

The case involves Richard Ceballos, a Los Angeles prosecutor who was demoted after he urged his supervisors to drop a criminal case because he believed a sheriff's deputy had lied in a search warrant affidavit.

A ruling against Ceballos could affect the nation's 20 million public employees by removing their ability to use the First Amendment as protection against supervisors' retaliation for bringing government misconduct or other issues to light.

More.

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

We don't need no stinkin' warrants. Or Badges. Or whatever.

Capt

How many times do I have to explain this to you?

Clinton was impeached because the dumbass got caught with his pants down and then lied about it. Plain and simple. If he had invented the internet like Al Gore, maybe Congress would have gone easy on him.

What is Bill Clinton definition of safe sex? When Hillary's out of town.

How does Bill Clinton keep Monica away from the White House? He keeps offering to send Ted Kennedy over to give her a ride.

When did Bill Clinton realize that Paula Jones wasn't a Democrat. When she didn't swallow everything he presented.

Jeez,
Harry I just posted to you on the other thread.

Obstruction trial may jog Libby's memory
By Jason Leopold

. . . Some of the officials who worked with Libby in the office of the vice president and who are said to have faced criminal charges in the case have made deals with the special prosecutor in exchange for their testimony, sources close to the case said.

Other officials who work or worked in the State Department, the CIA, and the National Security Council at the time of the leak have also decided to cooperate with Fitzgerald; however, it's unknown whether these people faced any criminal charges before agreeing to testify at a trial.

Libby was questioned by investigators twice in 2003 -- in October and November -- and he testified in 2004, repeating the answers to questions he had provided to investigators months earlier: that he did he retaliate against the ambassador's criticism of the administration's rationale for war, and that he found out Wilson's wife worked at the CIA from reporters.

(more)

Bush and Blair have attempted to share their "shared core values" the last two days. It is just that most people think that lying about WMD's. pre-emptively invading a sovereign nation, killing innocent Iraqi people, torturing, spying..most people around the world know that these illegal acts are not "shared core values" these acts are CRIMES.

Helen Thomas was great at the press conference. Bush went immediately to 9/11 when she asked him just why he went into Iraq based on lies.

The problem is that Bush and Blair do not care what anyone thinks.

March 27, 2006 Issue The American Conservative
Hillary the Hawk
by Justin Raimondo

When Ҵhe MooseӠtalks, Democrats listenѪust like the Republicans did when he was flacking on their behalf. And the Democrat listening the closest to this Trotskyist-turned-neoconservative is Hillary Rodham Clinton, supposedly the leader of the partyճ far-left wing.

With his reputation for giving good quote, Ҵhe Moose,Ӡa.k.a. Marshall Wittmann, formerly John McCainճ communications director and now a bigwig at the Democratic Leadership Council, is a legendary character in Washington circles. Once a member of the Trotskyist Spartacist League and an officer in the Young Peopleճ Socialist League, Wittmann, like many admirers of the Red Armyճ founder, moved rightward during the Reagan era and eventually wound up as the Christian Coalitionճ political director. From this strategic vantage point he jumped on McCainճ Straight Talk Expressѡnd then jumped ship entirely, falling into the arms of the DLC and landing, as always, on his feet.

From Leon Trotsky to Ralph Reed to Hillary Clinton is a long, torturous road to follow, yet the chameleon-like Wittmannѷho styles himself a Bull Moose progressive in the tradition of his hero, Theodore RooseveltѨas navigated it expertly. Wittmannճ new role as Hillaryճ unofficial Rasputin is perfectly suited to her current political needs. Eager to overcome her reputation as the leader of the partyճ left wing, Hillary is ҲepositioningӠherself, in modern parlance, as a ңentrist,Ӡi.e. a complete opportunist. She could have no better teacher than Wittmann, who from the pulpit of his ҍoose-blog,Ӡadvises her to ҳeize the issue of Iranian nukes to draw a line in the sand.ӠWhile paying lip service to multilateralism, she should ҭake it clear that while force is the last resort, she would never take it off the table in dealing with the madmen mullahs and the psychotic leader of Iran.ӊ
This advice was proffered on the morning of Jan. 18. By that evening, when Hillary gave her scheduled speech at Princeton University’≥ Woodrow Wilson School, it had clearly been taken to heart:
MORE AT AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE

The Bush Administration is collapsing. If it wasn't so costly in terms of blood and money, it would be fun to watch.

The Democrats should push all of the chips to the middle of the table......by having this one unified message: "Let the Iraqi people decide if we should stay or go." The Democrats should push for a referrendum in Iraq. It would be a clear exit strategy that could not be distorted into "cutting and running."

Bob

I like that Bob idea. "All in"

Yesterday's Charlie Sheen story, in which the actor went public with his grave suspicions about the official story of 9/11, received widespread interest across the Internet and was even linked on the Drudge Report for a time, a news website that gets more traffic than the New York Times.

The story appeared on Drudge shortly after 6pm CST and our servers began receiving hits from millions of readers.......until Drudge mysteriously killed the link after 10pm CST.

The mainstream media pour over stories about Mr. Sheen's personal life whether real or manufactured yet will they remain silent when Sheen actually discusses something serious?

Carlos Santana is all over the news today for criticizing George Bush and the Iraq war yet Charlie Sheen has gone much further, if the media ignores this story it is proof positive of a cover-up.

Huge Reaction To Sheen 9/11 Story
linked on DRUDGE, later removed

Most people, when they encounter 9/11 skeptics for the first time, assume that most members of the 911 truth movement would be drawn from the left of center politically. In fact, most of the strongest and most respected voices speaking about 911 truth are conservatives-- old-school republicans who speak out of a profound respect for the truth, the constitution and the rule of law.

conservatives for 9/11 truth

16 15 or 50?

Bottom part of David's Post:

As for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, Bush did set something of a negative timetable. "Will there come a day--and I'm not asking you when, not asking for a timetable--will there come a day," a reporter asked, "when there will be no more American forces in Iraq?" Bush replied:

That, of course, is an objective, and that will be decided by future Presidents and future governments of Iraq.

In other words, three more years of US troops in Iraq--at least. Now that sounds like a no-spin-answer.
=================================================
There is miscommunication here between the reporter & Bush; compounded by David's misunderstanding of Bush's true meaning.

Reporter's "not asking for a timetable" obviously points to his/her desire to dance around but probing for when meaningful troop withdrawl/reduction may begin. Yet he/she muddles geopolitics by ending "no more American forces in Iraq".

Does this reporter know that in most allied countries, there are American forces and assuming Iraq do not ask us to leave entirely, we may well have forces (even as small as a small intelligence outpost monitoring Iran?) there for decades.

Bush should have a broader perspective and I think he answered this specific question properly.

"He is accusing Dems of helping the mass murderers of 9/11"
Actually David, many of the dems ARE helping the 9/11 murderers. At least they aren't doing much of anything to bring them to justice.

This is from the Democracy Now interview. He=Bush.

KEVIN PHILLIPS: No. He's got a certain smart sort of fraternity boy, towel-snapping, would make a good second vice president of the First National Bank of Amarillo, but, you know, nothing particularly for heavy lifting.
----------------------
I read the quotes from Bush and I just cringe. The guy thinks his job is to go out and tell people what he is thinking? The job description is a little more detailed than that.

The Iraqis had a chance to fall apart and they didn't. That's progress? Huh? What?
That's just an insult.

"That, of course, is an objective, and that will be decided by future Presidents and future governments of Iraq."

That's right, President Bush. Start a war and hand it off to the future presidents and the people of Iraq. How noble of you. How considerate. How compassionate. How decent....how desperately incompetent. How lame. How half assed.

Extra, Extra, Read All about It:

Quake, The Next Big One

Latest issue of Nat'l Geographi received today with the above cover story, it deals with the Hayward Fault.

This Happy Release is for the Californians among the Corn regulars and/or those who specializes in Doom & Gloom.

Gotta go, Boy Scout Meeting!

It would appear that more democrats have the cojones to keep Americans safe than do republicans. My father and husband did. And if you don't believe it you can See For Yourself Who Served and Who Didn't

29 We'll give you your Current Events merit badge is you stop posting here.

"A" is for assassin. . . "A" is for asinine

Andrea

The Democrats in charge of leadership did not serve in our military, starting with Mr. Censure himself-Russ Feingold.

Harry Reid, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chucky Schumer, Patrick Leahy, Nancy Pelosi are all leaders of the Democratic party that never served and have a history of being weak on defense.

So, I stand by my statement that Progressives haven't the balls to protect Americans (this by the way has nothing to do with service or not, just weak leadership in general).

If you want to understand why l no longer stand mute as people like Happy and LBH post needling provocations and argumentative bluster, harangue and insult, read on...

...war opponents were mocked and smeared and their arguments scorned but not answered. We should not allow the Instapundits and The New York Sun's of the world to drive our country -- again -- into foreign policy debacles through the use of character smear and cheap sloganeering in lieu of adult, meaningful and serious discussions about our foreign policy and the people who are seeking to shape it.

I would say this about anyone. The right to participate comes with some responsibility. If you are here to amuse yourself by insulting others, you are not welcome.

While some have questioned the "tolerance" of cornbloggers in general and of me in particular, not one person has spoken up in favor of LBH's and Happy's contributions to this blog. Time's a wastin...

http://georgia10.dailykos.com/ here is one that i will print and hang on the board at the grocery

mr.nonsense

Please, someone respond to poor mr. nonsense so he or she will shut his trap already!! The cornnut needs more attention!!

Bottom line is that more dems have served than repubs.

Chickenhawks: Weak, self-promoting individuals who have never served in combat and are willing to wage war based on lies in order to advance a greedy, self-serving agenda.

I believe that my job is to go out and explain to people what's on my mind.

No Mr. President, your job is to preserve, protect and defend the U.S. Constitution. So why aren't you doing your job Mr. President? Oh, that's right it's just a piece of paper to you.

#35
Chip,
Thank you for posting that. It was a great commentary.

USING CHARACTER SMEARS TO PREVENT FOREIGN POLICY DISCUSSIONS

The greatest crime in the neoconservative universe is to criticize Israeli policy or, worse, discuss and express concern about the influence on American foreign policy of neoconservatives and/or its principal American lobbying group, AIPAC. Since Mearsheimer and Walt have committed this grave sin, it is time for the punishment, which begins -- as it always does for this crime -- with a nice, oozing dose of character smear, courtesy of the likes of Glenn ?Instapundit? Reynolds, Powerline, and The New York Sun (The Weekly Standard can't be far behind).

The New York Sun kicked off the smearing yesterday with a very lengthy, breathless article entitled ?David Duke Claims to be Vindicated by a Harvard Dean.? Apparently, the fact that the utterly inconsequential David Duke expressed support for some of Mearsheimer and Walt's conclusions is highly newsworthy -- meriting an endless article in The New York Sun -- because, well . . . isn't obvious why? Because Professors Mearsheimer and Walt, by virtue of the report they issued, are now evil racists who are the equivalent of David Duke. No need to listen to or think about any of the arguments they advance. After all, they're just a couple of thinly disguised KKK members who are motivated by racial hatred, so we should vent some hatred towards them and then ignore everything they say.

Following along with the character smearing script is, first, Alan Dershowitz, who, in the Sun article, calls the report ?trash,? says that it could have been written by ?some of the less intelligent members of Hamas,? and obligatorily insists that the report ?sounds very similar? to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the anti-Semitic tract from the early 20th Century. To make sure there is no confusion about what he means, Dershowitz calls Mearsheimer and Walt ?two bigots.? Following along, as always, Instapundit links to The New York Sun article and adds his own character smear:

(link)

Kevin Phillips, the author of the book called, "American Theocracy." was on with Lou Dobbs yesterday to talk about his book and how religious extremism is influencing the White House.

Dobbs: Former Republican Party strategist Kevin Phillips joins us here tonight. His new book is called "American Theocracy." It is a provocative indictment of the administration's foreign and economic policy, and examines, among other things, how the religious right is driving this administration's policy. Kevin, it is going good to have you with us.

Phillips: Ah. 1969 is when it was published. It started before the election. But what's happened to the Republican coalition in the last 10 years especially is it's been moved more and more towards religious yardsticks. People who go to church. People who favor religion defining government. People who have just a whole set of concerns that go beyond economics.

One of the reasons I think we have kind of screwed up economic politician in some ways is that a lot of Americans have stopped worrying about the economy because they're waiting for the second coming.

Dobbs: And you mean this quite literally?

Phillips: I mean it quite literally

(link) to more including video

Material witness detention under scrutiny

Detention of material witnesses has become a hotly debated tactic in the wake of reports of government prosecutorial abuses, according to a story set for Wednesday's New York Times, RAW STORY has learned.

Excerpts from the article written by Eric Liptak:

A 22-year-old federal law that allows people to be held without charges if they have information about others' crimes is coming under fresh scrutiny in the courts, in Congress and within the Justice Department after reports that it has been abused in terrorism investigations.

The law allows so-called material witnesses to be held long enough to secure their testimony if there is reason to think they will flee. But lawyers for people detained as material witnesses say the law has been used to hold people the government fears will commit terrorist acts but lacks probable cause to charge with a crime.

Operation Iraqi Liberation -
just when is that liberation going to start flowing anyway?

It Just Keeps Getting Better

He is referred to as "official one" and he is the mysterious senior Bush administration official who unmasked the identity of an undercover CIA operative to Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Bob Woodward in mid-June 2003 and conservative columnist Robert Novak a month later.

The identity of this official is shrouded in secrecy. In fact, his name, government status, and the substance of his conversation with Woodward about the undercover officer are under a protective seal in US District Court for the District of Columbia.

But Woodward tape-recorded the interview he had with "official one." Woodward gave a copy of the tape and a transcript to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

(link)

43 Do you think that's what Bush meant when he said he could care less what people think of him now, he's concerned what people thing of him 20 years from now?

Would someone please tell Helen Thomas that she should only be doing telephone interviews!

White House officials who are sympathetic to Libby say "official one" is former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. But numerous senior officials at the State Department, the CIA, and the National Security Council have said that "official one" is National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Hadley had been a source of information for Woodward when he wrote Plan of Attack, according to the book's footnotes. (more)

= = = =

Libby is the cheese in the rattrap.

Bushniks wanted to pin it on Armitage at the Department of State but Hadley in NSC might have been the first to intentionally blab the classified information, and to Bob Woodward no less, and on tape ? could it get any better?

Yes! When prosecutors investigate to determine if a crime has been committed, they study ?method of operation? What Fitz learned during the investigation is the entire WHIG (White House Iraq Group) met on the issue of Joe Wilson?s NYT OP-ED which challenged the evidence upon which Bush took the country to war. They set out to defend the administration, discredit Wilson and punish him

Libby is the cheese in the rattrap.

According to BuzzFlash, mirroring is a way of obliquely phrasing an untrue statement so that a) listeners draw the intended false conclusion and b) the phrasing cannot be deconstructed to show that the statement was untrue.

Outrageous: Helen Thomas Finally Gets to Ask Bush Why We Went into Iraq - He Answers 9/11

At his news conference today, President Bush took a question from Helen Thomas for the first time in four years. Helen, who is in her 80s, has been a critic of President Bush, so naturally he is terrified of her.

Helen has made it well-known what question she intended to ask Mr. Bush: Why did we go to war in Iraq?

His answer: You wanna know about Iraq? Let me tell you about Afghanistan. The president launched into the reasons we went to war against the Taliban, which gave him an excuse to connect the dots to Al Qaeda, and September 11 - and then he went a dot too far and connected September 11 to Saddam.

There you have it: We went into Iraq because of 9/11. The remedy for 9/11 was to get rid of Saddam. Yesterday, the president said he had always been "very careful never to say that Saddam Hussein ordered the attacks on America."

When you read the president's verbatim answer below, you'll see that his statement makes no sense. This is intentional. It is a prima facie example of "mirroring," a term I learned today which describes the linguistic hat trick that Mr. Bush and his team use to create their patented brand of truthiness.

Wow. Dilated pupils. Flushed face. Hyperactivity. Aggressiveness. Irritability. Emotional lability.

Any guesses as to what Bush was on during that press conference?

I've never seen any head of state look that unstable in public.

He could barely contain his rage. One minute he was blathering on about the need for bipartisanship in dealing with the social security "crisis," the next he was snarling about the weakness of the "Democrat party."

Something is very, very wrong with that man.

#49
Drewp,
Doesn't that scare you? I feel like I'm watching a human time bomb.

Wow! Dialated pupils, flushed face. Hyperactivity. Aggressiveness. Irritability. Emotional liability.

You had me going there, I thought you were talking about David Corn when he got spanked by Rich Lowery.

No, No that's Ted Kennedy everyday minute without a drink!

No, I've got it, It's Al Gore whining about losing in 2000.

No, it's Michael Moore when we found out that he owns Halliburton stock.

Kerry for losing in 2004? Hell, theres so many to choose from.

LBH: "No, No that's Ted Kennedy everyday minute . . . "

Looks like someone needs to cut you off.

Finally, it's Cindy Sheenan when she figured out no one cares about her anymore!

LBH: "Hell, theres (sic) so many to choose from."

Alas, all sadly lame.

Drewp

Me and Teddy go way back(Hiccup)

Drewp

Yes LIberals are all sadly lame!!!

Reporter Who Broke Downing Street Memo Story Receives Award

Michael Smith was voted Specialist Writer of the Year in the 2006 British Press Awards last night. The Downing St Memo was part of the portfolio that won it. The Memo was itself shortlisted for scoop of the year, but that was won by the Mirror with its expose of the supermodel Kate Moss and her cocaine habit!
-------------
Go figure. Kate Moss's cocaine habit is none of my business but somehow it became scoop of the year. Hmmm.

I saw Bush this morning. I was on the edge of my seat when Helen Thomas asked the question. Then Bush, being King, yammered on so she couldn't say anything else.

And what is it with journalist that they can't get on his case? Are they so enamored of being in "the presence" that they lose their minds? They're all so pathetic. I wouldn't be in awe, I'd go for the throat. Those press things should be free-for-alls. Screw decorum. What the HELL is wrong with everyone??? After all the evil shit, the crimes that man has presided over - in any other country people would be marching in the streets.

Lastly, I don't think he's on any drug except the power drug. That's why he appears agressive, or emotional. He is King George and full of confidence because apparently there is no one to stop him. Heil Hitler. Next people will be kissing his ring.

Oh, and by the way you gotta keep in mind that George is above the law. Nothing can touch him so of course he's feisty.

Carol,
I heard they cut Helen Thomas' microphone. Is that right?
I'm just amazed that Helen Thomas was allowed to ask a question. This is the Rally boy we're talking about. I know Helen doesn't have the right social security number to be invited to one of his rallies so how was she allowed to speak at this function?

Look like Dubya took his medication on a empty stomach ....

The irony of someone (we all know) finally takes up the perfect name for himself: Nonsense. Perfect! More, Better and Always!

Imagine, he fancies himself speaking for Mr. Corn (and perhaps others) by `inviting' the opposition to leave! Thin-skinned, intolerant HYPOCRITS! One of the `FOR FUN' reasons I am here is to expose these hypocrits. David, as always, is my intellectual focus.

LBH: Your Post #276 at the `Revenge' thread was great! Right On! We can kick back and enjoy winning the Wars and let these Corn Groupies backslap themselves silly with all the little snide remarks and whines!

Jeanne: "Doesn't that scare you? I feel like I'm watching a human time bomb."

I probably shouldn't admit this, but I find it more intriguing than frightening. Watching the meltdown of the 30-percent president, hands waving wildly, lunging toward the podium, inexplicably grimacing, speaking in staccato cadences -- it's all fascinating, in a morbid sort of way.

It would be really cool to see him take a swing at a reporter, but given GW's record when it comes to courage, I fear he'd pick on Helen Thomas.

If you want to understand why l no longer stand mute as people like Happy and LBH post needling provocations and argumentative bluster, harangue and insult, read on...

I thought you were talking about David Corn when he got spanked by Rich Lowery.
Posted by: LBH at March 21, 2006 10:40 PM

No, No that's Ted Kennedy everyday minute without a drink!
Posted by: LBH at March 21, 2006 10:42 PM

No, I've got it, It's Al Gore whining about losing in 2000.
Posted by: LBH at March 21, 2006 10:43 PM

No, it's Michael Moore when we found out that he owns Halliburton stock.
Posted by: LBH at March 21, 2006 10:45 PM

Kerry for losing in 2004? Hell, theres so many to choose from.
Posted by: LBH at March 21, 2006 10:46 PM

Finally, it's Cindy Sheenan when she figured out no one cares about her anymore!
Posted by: LBH at March 21, 2006 10:48 PM

Drewp, Me and Teddy go way back(Hiccup)
Posted by: LBH at March 21, 2006 10:51 PM

Drewp Yes LIberals are all sadly lame!!!
Posted by: LBH at March 21, 2006 10:52 PM

I would say this about anyone. The right to participate comes with some responsibility. If you are here to amuse yourself by insulting others, you are not welcome.

While some have questioned the "tolerance" of cornbloggers in general and of me in particular, not one person has spoken up in favor of LBH's and Happy's contributions to this blog. Time's a wastin. If you value LBH?s posts and believe he adds to the conversation, say so. If you don?t, explain why.

66 Sad, really.

Happy posts complimenting LBH on his savoir-faire.

They're the same poster.

64 Jeanne, Bush was speaking and doing Q&A with the White House press corps. The first time in three years.

2 Years After Soldier's Death, Family's Battle Is With Army

San Jose, Calif. - Patrick K. Tillman stood outside his law office here, staring intently at a yellow house across the street, just over 70 yards away. That, he recalled, is how far away his eldest son, Pat, who gave up a successful N.F.L. career to become an Army Ranger, was standing from his fellow Rangers when they shot him dead in Afghanistan almost two years ago.

"I could hit that house with a rock," Mr. Tillman said. "You can see every last detail on that place, everything, and you're telling me they couldn't see Pat?"

Mr. Tillman, 51, is a grieving father who has refused to give up on his son. While fiercely shunning the public spotlight that has followed Cpl. Pat Tillman's death, Mr. Tillman has spent untold hours considering measurements like the 70 yards.

......No one wants answers more than the Tillmans. But by now, they said, they have lost patience and faith that any Army entity, even the Criminal Investigation Command, can be trusted to find the truth.

"I am sitting here on my own, going over and over and over this for two years," Ms. Tillman, 50, said in a telephone interview. "The whole thing is such a debacle. I am beyond tears. It's killing me."

.....After the shooting, the Rangers destroyed evidence that would be considered critical in any criminal case, the records show. They burned Corporal Tillman's uniform and his body armor.

Months later, the Rangers involved said they did not intend to destroy evidence. "It was a hygiene issue," one soldier wrote. "They were starting to stink."

Another soldier involved offered a slightly different take, saying "the uniform and equipment had blood on them and it would stir emotion" that needed to be suppressed until the Rangers finished their work overseas.

"How could they do that?" Mr. Tillman said. "That makes no sense."

The family still wants to know, he said, what became of Corporal Tillman's diary. It was never returned to the family, he said.

Happy: "David, as always, is my intellectual focus."

You might start by focusing that intellect of yours on spelling. It's H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E you hopeless feeb.

Now I know why cons can't pronounce the name of the Democratic Party properly. Apparently that last syllable exceeds their limit.

Meet Ben Domenich.

The question of the day is how Ben Domenech, a 24 year old with little journalistic experience who lists among his credientials being the "youngest political appointee of President George W. Bush", was hired by the Washington Post to be their conservative blogger providing balance to...I dunno, their editorial page which was gung-ho for the war in Iraq. (more)

Incredibly Optimistic

Gail Russell Chaddock writes in the Christian Science Monitor: "Capitol Hill lawmakers are signaling that 2006 must be a decisive year in the Iraq war -- and many of the war's vigorous defenders are looking for guidance outside the Bush administration on how to move ahead. . . .

"The move to develop alternatives to Bush administrative briefings signals a growing distrust on Capitol Hill for the 'closed circuit between people sitting inside the Green Zone and the "good news" being sent back to Washington,' says [Edward Luttwak, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies]. 'Congress is discovering that the Bush administration is repeating its own propaganda -- and believes what they are saying.'"

(more)

If you think it's easy for reporters to "get the floor" with the bush administration, you're fooling yourself. Yes, thank goodness for Helen Thomas, but even she admits she censored herself for 50 years. You remember that quote of hers? "Who do I hate today?" Well...here it is in context:

In a November 2002 talk at MIT, Thomas revealed: "I censored myself for 50 years when I was a reporter. Now I wake up and ask myself, 'Who do I hate today?'" Two months later, the answer to that question revealed itself in an off-the-record comment to a reporter from the Torrance, California Daily Breeze following the Society of Professional Journalists annual awards banquet. "This is the worst President ever. He is the worst President in all of American history." The Breeze ran the quote.

I think the busheviks let Helen have a front row seat today (which she had for years before the busheviks relegated her to a less visible seat at press conferences), because they hoped she would "take on" the president. If she "took on" bush, they wagered bush would come out on top because (they hoped) she would come across as an old crone, cranky as hell, and they could gain politically from it. They are THAT sick! And, I hate to say it, but they probably also calculated that Helen looks "ethnic" enough to rally their base. Her parents were from Syria.

Unless there has been a big change at presidential press conferences, Helen didn't have "her" microphone cut off -- there are shotgun mics, handheld mics, roving mics...but they couldn't "turn off her mic" because she didn't have "her" mic -- they just ignored her. Just like they do any reporter who gets "out of line."

When David Corn is chastized for not asking the right questions and not eliciting the right answers, I wonder how he feels. Oh, shit...now, I'm "brown-nosing" David according to some...oh, well.

Incredibly Optimistic

"QUESTION: Mr. President, at beginning of your talk today, you mentioned that you understand why Americans have had their confidence shaken by the events in Iraq. And I'd like to ask you about events that occurred three years ago that might also explain why confidence has been shaken.

"Before we went to war in Iraq, you said there were three main reasons for going to war in Iraq: weapons of mass destruction, the claim that Iraq was sponsoring terrorists that attacked us on 9/11, and that Iraq had purchased nuclear materials from Niger. Now, all three of those turned out to be false.

"My question is, how do we restore confidence that Americans may have in their leaders and to be sure that the information they're getting now is correct?"

Bush denied that he ever made a "direct connection" between Hussein and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- even though he often linked Baghdad with al-Qaeda generally.

But he agreed that it was a good question: "Like you, I mean, I asked that very same question: 'Where'd we go wrong on intelligence? ' . . .

"The truth of the matter is the whole world thought that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. It wasn't just my administration. It was the previous administration. It wasn't just the previous administration . . . .

"Your question, however, the part that's really important is how do we regain credibility when it comes to intelligence?

"I mean, obviously, the Iranian issue is a classic case where we've got to make sure that when we speak there's credibility. . . .

"And so what I did was I called together the Silberman-Robb commission, Laurence Silberman and former Senator Chuck Robb, to take a full look at what went right and what went wrong on the intelligence; and how do we structure an intelligence network that makes sure there's full debate among the analysts; how do we make sure that there's a full compilation of data points that can help decision-makers like myself be comfortable in the decision we make. . . .

"And so there was a reform process they went through, a full analysis of how the operations worked. And out of that came the NDI, John Negroponte and Mike Hayden. And their job is to better correlate and make sure that the intelligence-gathering is seamless across a variety of gatherers and people that analyze.

"But the credibility of our country is essential. I agree with you."

Frank James writes in the Chicago Tribune's Washington blog about that exchange.

"The man who asked the question seemed to be saying to the president, 'You gave us pre-war information before that was incorrect. You asked us to trust you and we did. But you were wrong. You're asking us now to trust you again on Iraq. What can you offer us now that would make us trust that you've gotten it right this time?' . . .

"The president's answer today essentially was the 'whole world' was wrong about Hussein having weapons of mass destruction and that changes have been made to the U.S. intelligence apparatus in an effort to fix the intelligence mistakes that contributed to the decision to invade Iraq.

"Americans will decide in the coming weeks and months whether such an answer to such a question is good enough to lift the president's approval ratings from their current doldrums.

"But it's probably safe to say an answer that essentially boils down to 'I was a victim of bad intelligence but we're working on that,' probably isn't enough do the trick."

(more)

I didn't think Helen had a mike turned off. I read it here yet I was there and didn't think that had happened. Bush just talked over her then called on someone else. Unless she stood up and started screaming, that was it for her.

Fact Check: George W. Bush

Bush Said Iraqi Troops Took the Lead in the Fight to Retake Tal Afar. Bush: "Iraqi forces took the lead. The primary force was ten Iraqi battalions backed by three coalition battalions. Many Iraqi units conducted their own anti-terrorist operations and controlled their own battle space. Hunting for the enemy fighters and securing neighborhoods block by block." [3/20/06]

FACT: Time Magazine's Baghdad Bureau Chief, Michael Ware, Debunked this Claim in November -- Iraqi Troops Not in the Lead.

COOPER: The president also said today that, in the battle of Tal Afar, the assault in the north of Iraq, that he said it was led primarily by Iraqi security forces, 11 Iraqi battalions, backed by five coalition battalions providing support.

WARE: With the greatest respect to the president, that's completely wrong and is extraordinarily misleading.

COOPER: How do you know that?

WARE: I was in that battle from the very beginning to the very end.

I was with Iraqi units, right there on the front line, as they were battling with al Qaeda. They were not leading. They were being led by the U.S. Green Beret special forces with them, Green Berets who were following an American plan of attack, who were advancing with these Iraqi units as and when they were told to do so by the American battle planners. The Iraqis led nothing. [CNN, 11/30/05]

Bush Said He Never Linked 9/11 and Saddam Hussein. "First, if I might correct a misperception. I don't think we ever said -- at least I didn't say that there was a direct connection between September the 11th and Saddam Hussein." [3/20/06]

- FACT: President Bush Linked "End of Major Combat" in Iraq with September 11th Attacks. In his speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, President Bush stated "The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror?We have not forgotten the victims of September the 11th -- the last phone calls, the cold murder of children, the searches in the rubble. With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States. And war is what they got." [Remarks by the President, 5/1/03]

- FACT: Bush Repeatedly Linked al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein to Argue for War in Iraq. For Example:

- "[Y]ou can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror." [President Bush, Photo Opportunity, 9/25/02]

- "The regime has long-standing and continuing ties to terrorist organizations. And there are al-Qaeda terrorists inside Iraq. The regime is seeking a nuclear bomb, and with fissile material, could build one within a year." [President Bush, remarks at Rose Garden, 9/26/02]

- "Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal the Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own." [President Bush, State of the Union, 1/28/03]

- "We also know that Iraq is harboring a terrorist network, headed by a senior al -Qaeda terrorist planner . . .The danger that Saddam Hussein poses reaches across the world." [President Bush, Statement in the Roosevelt Room, 2/6/03]

- "Saddam Hussein has longstanding, direct and continuing ties to terrorist networks. Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and Al Qaeda have met at least eight times since the early 1990s. Iraq has sent bomb-making document forgery experts to work with Al Qaeda. Iraq has also provided Al Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training?We also know that Iraq is harboring a terrorist network headed by a senior Al Qaeda terrorist planner. This network runs a poison and explosive training camp in northeast Iraq, and many of its leaders are known to be in Baghdad." [President Bush, radio address, 2/8/03]

- "Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and al Qaeda have met at least eight times since the early 1990s. Iraq has sent bomb-making and document forgery experts to work with al Qaeda. Iraq has also provided al Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training. We know that Iraq is harboring a terrorist network, headed by a senior al Qaeda terrorist planner. The network runs a poison and explosive training center in northeast Iraq, and many of its leaders are known to be in Baghdad." [President Bush, press conference, 2/6/03]

(link)

Mr. Corn Thanks for highlighting the hyprocracy of Bush and Cheney for claiming that Democrats want to protect Al-Qaeda ability to communicate when they seem like they are guilty of the practice as well. Excellent post.

Carol, I'm not arguing with you but as you said,

"Unless she stood up and started screaming, that was it for her."...

Many reporters ask some pretty darned good questions, but they aren't allowed follow-up after bush has totally ignored the question with blather.

I'm not sure a screaming free-for-all would work in our favor. It'd make interesting television, and give rush and hannity some fodder, but that's not too productive.

Sam Donaldson was usually competing with the roar of Reagon's helicopter, so he looked pretty ballsy.

more nonsense, I would like to answer your question from the previous thread as to why I don't support troll comments. While I feel they have the right to post, if you read what they say you will see my answer. For every blunder bushco is guilty of they throw kennedy or clinton up as an answer, as if two wrongs make a right. They are crude, obnoxious, insulting, uneducated, and have nothing to offer to the discourse other than provoking the worst in people. I don't read their crap anymore, but as I scroll past I know they are here. And the more people respond, the more comments they pollute the blog with. But, carry on. Scrolling past is easy as Capt. pointed out, just more spam to skip.

more nonsense, I would like to answer your question from the previous thread as to why I don't support troll comments. While I feel they have the right to post, if you read what they say you will see my answer. For every blunder bushco is guilty of they throw kennedy or clinton up as an answer, as if two wrongs make a right. They are crude, obnoxious, insulting, uneducated, and have nothing to offer to the discourse other than provoking the worst in people. I don't read their crap anymore, but as I scroll past I know they are here. And the more people respond, the more comments they pollute the blog with. But, carry on. Scrolling past is easy as Capt. pointed out, just more spam to skip.

*****

I am on the same page - chapter and verse!

capt

Eugene Robinson writes in his Washington Post opinion column: "The people running this country sound convinced that reality is whatever they say it is. And if they've actually strayed into the realm of genuine self-delusion -- if they actually believe the fantasies they're spinning about the bloody mess they've made in Iraq over the past three years -- then things are even worse than I thought."

Ruth Marcus writes in her Washington Post opinion column: "I have a new theory about what's behind everything that's wrong with the Bush administration: manliness.

"Manliness," as defined in a new book by Harvey C. Mansfield, a conservative professor of government at Harvard University, "seeks and welcomes drama and prefers times of war, conflict, and risk."

(more)

Sal, Capt. Thank you. Point taken.

I would add:

We have the best exchange of ideas in the absence of the pathetic piffle posts.

The trolls are not serious or they would sound serious. The schoolyard taunts and lefty name calling is just meaningless in a real discussion.

They come to de-rail our conversation, eventually you too will ignore their blather. They do not contribute anything excpet their opinion about what we think, they disagree, beyond that they never link to anything, offer anything in the way of facts. Just piffle, blather and insults.

They play a game, to post to them, in any way is to play their game. That means they win. They just want a reaction, they fully expect it, if they cannot get a reaction they create a handle and post to themselves.

Makes me wonder if those who continue to post to them are just their alter ego's?

BTW - who are you really "more nonsense" your insistence on posting to the trolls gives you very little credibility in my book.

Nothing will check your credibility faster than to continue to play with trolls. Seems like you are the only one posting to the troll. Seems curious to me. What do you hope to achieve that could be more effective than just ignoring them?

Here is the deal with me, I skip the troll posts AND the posts from all that post TO the troll. That means I skip what you post too. I doubt I am missing much why should I read posts from a troll enabler? It just makes no sense.

But that is just me. What do I know? HA!

capt

Saddam's FM was on CIA payroll

WASHINGTON (AFP)Iraq's foreign minister under Saddam Hussein spied for the CIA before the US-led invasion in 2003 in return for a 100,000 dollar payment, a US television station reported.

In September 2002, Iraq's top diplomat Naji Sabri traded information on Hussein's alleged weapons program for cash in a French-sponsored New York City hotel room meeting, NBC reported, citing intelligence sources.

US intelligence agents believe Sabri was fully aware he was selling information to the CIA, it said.

During the cloak-and-dagger meeting, Sabri told the CIA's middleman that Saddam possessed chemical weapons and wanted a nuclear bomb but needed much more time to build one than the CIA estimate of several months to a year.

He also denied Saddam had any biological weapons.

Sabri's tips were thought to be more accurate than the CIA's own guesses on Saddam's arsenal, NBC said.

However, the foreign minister broke off his contacts weeks later after he repeatedly resisted CIA pressures to defect to the United States and publicly renounce Saddam, the sources told NBC.

After the US invasion of March 2003, Sabri was not arrested or included in the notorious "deck of cards" of the US military's most wanted Iraqi suspects.

Sabri, who now teaches journalism in Qatar, has turned down repeated requests for comments, NBC said.

Saddam's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs were revealed to be non-existent after the war.

More HERE

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

So the CIA bribed the Iraqi FM to tell lies or he was a double agent or he was just lying.

I want the hundred thousand dollars back. If there no recourse and no penalty for lying then why would any CIA asset not lie? Consider, the truth is worthless but the lie is rewarded. Seems bass ackward to me.

"Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people." ~ F. M. Hubbard

"If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us?" ~ Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity, 2002

capt

ODD FINDING: WARHEADS TEND TO RIPEN WITH AGE

Modern thermonuclear weapons contain a reported 6,000 or so parts, but the most critical, expensive and dangerous is the pit, a hollow sphere made of a plutonium alloy, encased in high explosives. That is the so-called primary part of the two-stage warhead.

The primary nuclear detonation is triggered when the blast of the high explosives crushes the pit at such force that the plutonium atoms, under enormous pressure and a bombardment of sub-atomic particles, split apart in a runaway chain reaction, called fission. That energy -- as great as the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945 -- then ignites the more powerful secondary stage, which is essentially turbocharged with a booster gas, a hydrogen isotope called tritium.

More HERE

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

This is a very bad piece of news. I had always assumed attrition of our ready warheads would force us to face the question of whether we want to keep building thermonuclear warheads and devices. Instead the thousands of warheads we have built will mature like fine nuclear wine.

Very bad news indeed.

capt

Cold War bunker found in Brooklyn Bridge

NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York workers have discovered a trove of Cold War-era supplies within the masonry of the Brooklyn Bridge, a cache meant to aid in survival efforts in the event of nuclear attack.

City Department of Transportation employees were conducting maintenance on the structure Wednesday when they found the cache on the top floor of a three-floor space inside the bridge's base, agency spokeswoman Kay Sarlin said.

Some containers were marked with two dates notorious in the annals of the Cold War: 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into space, and 1962, the year of the Cuban missile crisis when the two superpowers may have come closest to war.

Sarlin said one of the containers was marked, "To be opened after attack by the enemy."

The stockpile included empty water drums and boxes of medical supplies, such as tourniquet bandages and an intravenous drip. Also, there were cans of high-calorie crackers with instructions to consume 10,000 calories a day per person. The instructions said the crackers should be destroyed after 10 years, but they were mostly intact.

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

The bombs improve, the crackers - not so much!

capt

Fair enough, Capt. I am here for a brief visit. Like an exterminator, I sprayed in the corners, under the sink and in the crawl space. It was my aim to eradicate the vermin. I know now they'll be back. Nonetheless, I have no regrets, except if I per chance enabled them.

Disinformation Agent David Corn wrote: Now that sounds like a no-spin-answer.

If DA David Corn were an honest journalist, he would long ago have called for the questioning of the most critical, incriminating, no-spin answer of George W. Bush's entire life.

Too bad pigs don't fly...

Staying Strong: The Insurgency in Iraq

March 20, 2006 — Chilling new footage obtained by ABC News shows hooded insurgents handing out supplies to schoolchildren as they visit a school in the town of Ramadi, located to the west of Baghdad.

"Who do you love, the mujahedeen or the Americans?" asks one of the hooded men in the latest insurgent propaganda tape.

"The mujahedeen," the students answer in unison. One little boy then goes on to call the Americans infidels, while another says the Americans kill "like this" as he waves his finger around.

"What I think has made the insurgency in Iraq so different from previous ones is the insurgents' enormous media savvy," said Bruce Hoffman, a counterinsurgency expert and director of the RAND office in Washington, D.C.

Insurgent Instructions on the Web

True to the 21st century's digital age, insurgents use dozens of Internet Web sites to wage the propaganda campaign and to pass on the latest tactics, including killing techniques, to other insurgents.

"So, in other words, all the lessons that they're learning on how to attack the United States are being communicated and shared not only throughout Iraq but with insurgents and terrorists throughout the world," Hoffman said.

While the number of active insurgents is currently estimated at about 30,000 throughout Iraq, experts who advise the U.S. military say those who are assisting the insurgency number in the hundreds of thousands.

"Almost like our minutemen during the American Revolution, [they're] people with a weapon who were available at a moment's notice to be summoned to battle," Hoffman said of the insurgents.

The best-known insurgent — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq — has managed to evade an extensive U.S. manhunt. But U.S. officials now say he leads just one of about 60 to 100 different insurgent groups.

"These forces can't be beaten in one single battle," said Kalev Sepp, formerly with the U.S. Army Special Forces. "On any day in Iraq, we're fighting 100 different battles down at the neighborhood and village level in what's been called a mosaic war."

"The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth--that the error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it is cured of one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one. " ~ H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

"Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, other, new insights begin. " ~ Herman Hesse

"The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. " ~ Niels Bohr (1885 - 1962)

"To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation. " ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Capt 91, I can imagine the day when our own govt. says the same thing about American patriots who have finally had enough and decide to take their country back. They will all be terrorists/insurgents who hate us for our freedom!

Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/21/2006 | IRS plans to allow preparers to sell data
The IRS is quietly moving to loosen the once-inviolable privacy of federal income-tax returns. If it succeeds, accountants and other tax-return preparers will be able to sell information from individual returns - or even entire returns - to marketers and data brokers.
The change is raising alarm among consumer and privacy-rights advocates. It was included in a set of proposed rules that the Treasury Department and the IRS published in the Dec. 8 Federal Register, where the official notice labeled them "not a significant regulatory action."
-------------
Nothing is sacred anymore. Absolutely EVERYTHING is for sale.

Larry’s cool change good for reef

Cyclone Larry has been a nightmare on land but underwater, it may have helped save the Great Barrier Reef from disaster.

University of Queensland coral reef expert Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg said Larry's wind had cooled ocean temperatures that had skyrocketed this summer and threatened to bleach the corals of the Reef.

"Cyclones mix the water column and cool things down, so as we move into winter and with cyclones like this, the real threat of a major bleaching event has passed," Director of UQ's Centre for Marine Studies Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said.

More HEERE

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

I love it! Mother nature, Gaia, mother earth can kick our collective butts on land while saving the coral reefs. Makes sense to me.

capt

SACRAMENTO –†The non-profit group Voter Action filed a lawsuit today in San Francisco Superior Court against Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, asking the court to reverse the Secretary’≥ decision to re-certify the Diebold TSx electronic voting machine for use in California. The suit was filed on behalf of 25 California voters, including Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers and Bernice Kandarian of the California Council of Citizens with Low Vision.

Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach), the chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee, has been arguing for over a month that the Secretary of State's February 17 decision to re-certify the Diebold system for use in California violated state law.

The lawsuit puts the spotlight on the question of whether the Secretary of State has the power to ignore the law when it comes to certifying voting equipment for use in California, said Bowen. California law requires voting machine makers to comply with the EAC and FEC standards, but the Diebold machines fail that test because they rely on interpreted code to operate. The law also requires the paper trail to be accessible to visually-impaired voters, which the Diebold machines also fail to do. The Secretary bungled the Diebold re-certification application by ignoring the law and refusing to make key information public, such as an internal study that found 16 security flaws in the Diebold machines, until after he’§ decided to re-certify Diebold for use in California.

“The Secretary of State let the tail wag the dog during this entire process now the voters have decided to call him on it,” continued Bowen. “He waited too long to order the voting machine vendors to submit their certification requests to him for review. Then, when faced with the choice of upsetting Diebold and the counties or ignoring both the law and the voters, he opted for the latter and dared someone to sue him in order to enforce the law. As the lawsuit makes clear, the Secretary of State gave Diebold the green light to sell its machines in this state even though its machines don’t meet the standards we put into law on a unanimous, bi-partisan vote two years ago.”
-------------
Take THAT you nazis!

Bush just can't stop lying

Americans who tuned in for one of President George W. Bush's rare press conferences saw a cornered animal trying to squirm his way out of trouble by doing what he has always done - evading the truth.

Bush's attempt to showcase himself as a leader who could handle tough questions from the press corps fell just as flat as his unscripted town-meeting style appearance in Cleveland the day before.

His eyes darted from side-to-side as he fielded questions about his real reasons for invading Iraq. He stammered. Stalled. Used the word "uh" more times than a suspect caught red-handed. He still claimed his reasons for invading Iraq were just, even though those reasons have been proven wrong. He claims the war can be won, a view not shared by many of his generals. He claimed a lot of things - few of them true.

"President Bush exhibited symptoms of pathological prevarication," says Dr. Stephanie Crossfield, a psychologist who treats people who have trouble telling the truth and who watched Bush's performances on Monday and Tuesday at my request. "His eye movements, gestures, and changes in voice tone all display traits of consistent evasion of the truth."

More HERE

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

But Bush never lied! HA!

capt

Let's start the day w/Happiness 101, Redacted:

Happiness 101: Positive Psych a Hit at Harvard
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
By Lambeth Hochwald

Four Happiness Tips From Tal Ben-Shahar
Hang around Harvard Square for a while and you just might see 855 smiley coeds skipping around the quad.

They're devout followers of Tal Ben-Shahar, a psychology lecturer who created Positive Psychology, now the most trendy class on campus.

The course is so popular, it now trumps Introductory Economics, the previous enrollment champ (which currently boasts 669 students).

...Ben-Shahar is quick to point..."Aristotle talked about being happy and so did Confucius," he says. "I think my students love my class because they want to be happier."

And how do you learn how to be happy?...High up on the syllabus: Learning to be grateful....

..Assignments can include...penning a "gratitude letter." (Talk about higher learning: taking a class to learn how to write thank-you notes!)...

But it's not just Harvard...positive psychology courses are being offered at more than 100 universities nationwide.

"I think it's terrific that positive psychology is being taught in colleges because it presents a healthier, proactive way of thinking, analyzing and approaching life," says Jane Greer, a psychotherapist in private practice in New York City. "...Coming out of Harvard, these students have the potential for great leadership. If they're being schooled in the power of positive thought, then sky's the limit."

.....The good news: Being grumpy doesn't earn you an automatic F.

...why is it so popular? "Students feel that they can take the material and directly apply it to their lives,"...
=================================================
Now, can someone show me a course somewhere on Gloominess 101?

Mixed welcome for new Iraq Study Group
By David Isenberg

ISG, it seems, is a popular abbreviation. Up until last week it was generally thought to stand for the Iraq Survey Group, the fact-finding mission sent to Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion to find evidence of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs in Iraq.

But not anymore. Last Thursday the creation of a "bipartisan Iraq Study Group" to provide a forward-looking assessment of the situation in Iraq to both the White House and Congress was announced.

[...]

The new Iraq Study Group will be led by two co-chairs. They are James A Baker III, who was secretary of state from 1989 through 1992 under president George H W Bush and is honorary chairman of the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy, and Lee H Hamilton, former congressman and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Baker currently is a senior partner in the law firm of Baker Botts and senior counselor to the Carlyle Group. In 2004 Baker, as President George W Bush's special envoy, was trying to persuade the world to forgive Iraq's crushing debts. This was at the same time the Carlyle Group was secretly proposing to try to collect $27 billion in war reparations on behalf of Kuwait, one of Iraq's biggest creditors, by using high-level political influence.

Hamilton is best known for being a co-chair of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission), whose 585-page public report released on July 22, 2004, managed to avoid assigning any blame to anyone over the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The report stated: "Our aim has not been to assign individual blame. Our aim has been to provide the fullest possible account of the events surrounding 9/11 and to identify lessons learned."

Some observers think it is unlikely the group will produce anything useful. "I think it is a whitewash group and nothing will come of it, except that they may concoct some reason for the US to stay the course in Iraq, with perhaps a little more international support, like Germany and Canada," said Washington-based writer and analyst Wayne Madsen, publisher of waynemadsenreport.com.

"The commission is a whitewash because the members are all consummate Washington insiders, many of whom have a political and financial stake in the successful outcome of the war. The longer the war goes on the more money they make," said Madsen.

More.

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It was the usually reliable Mr. Madsen who posted as to Helen Thomas' mic being shut off at yesterdays press conference; to my viewing experience it just appeared that the Wush talked over her with the 9/11 straw man routine.

Anyway, be very suspicious of this commission and any report they may issue.

Reading this blog is funny, first the trolls are all touting that we are being "protected" by the coward in chief, but protected from what? Iraq was going to attack us? With what? They couldn't even fly one aircraft without the military no fly zone being violated which was a unilateral imposition by the US. Or else he was going to Fed Ex his weapons to us, but that wouldn't work either because he couldn't get basic supplies because of the dual use exclusion. So who are the neo cons skeert of? The sheeple of the US, hell give them a six pack and a NASCAR race and they fold like a bad poker hand. The idjits that can't find a job so become bullet stoppers for the corporate oligarchy and their oil profits? Sure they are afraid that they aren't going to come home to the "american dream" non funded VA, no jobs other than Wally World and not a chance of collecting those promised college benefits, so they re-up for the bonuses that might come along if you read the fine print. Yup, believe all that clap trap if you want, fear is just the enabler of these liars and criminals. Look at GW this toad is just the front man for the empire. We need a better mascot, maybe something digital that wouldn't be so human. Repugs are criminals and I mean every one of them for involving themselves ina criminal enterprise. VOte for a repug and you vote for a crook. But not to leave the cowardly and criminal Democrooks out, they are also complicit in this mockery of a government. Selling our country to the foreign owners, removing controls on the rapine of the corporations, returning this economy and country the robber barons. Non securing of the borders, another crime. Let them all in and we will look like an overpopulated third world country. Martial law, I laugh at martial law. We can't even field a force sufficient to curtail some fourth rate backwater. Control americas rednecks? Ha, once the beer runs out and the big screen gets repossesed, they might wake up. Doubtful, and if this offends anyone tough. TIme to get prepared for your new lifestyle. Money will be valueless, and there won't be any safety net, every person is going to be on their own. So enjoy the ride, it is all downhill and gathering speed. I do not fear anything other than idiots that spout ideology and only as long as they occupy my planet. Other than that it is funny to watch the posturing and mindless drivel posted by the resident trolls, screaming for attention. Get a job, wally world is hiring. Or better sign up for the army. Get some.

David:

My comment to you yesterday on the Q&A between Bush and the reporter showed up twice in the Houston Chronicle this morning. My comments were, again, on the mark!

Front page subtitled the gist of the Q&A correctly: "Troop levels will decline, but Bush won't set a deadline for full withdrawl"

The Editorial piece "Over There" also got it correct.

Your apparent `read' on this one (small) item is something I see very often with highly partisan journalists who don't even recognize the fact that their interpretations have been slanted by their views when they are ostensibly presenting fairly simple facts. This is the type of writing I used to challege often (the Dionne, Friedman & Krugmans types).
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Those of us on the Right, certainly myself and LBH, have been challenged multiple times to `prove' our being right and I think when we have taken up the challenge, have done just that.

I sure would like to see your Lefties `prove' where they are correct. Anyone willing to step up?

Robert, another commission? Jeez, don't those guys have a life? Oh yeh, I forgot, spinning and whitewashing IS their life!
Hey WTF, how's it going?

Now, can someone show me a course somewhere on Gloominess 101? - Mr. Happy

Protesters Call Again for Closing of School of the Americas
By Elliott Minor
The Associated Press

The demonstrations are held each November to mark the Nov. 16, 1989, slayings of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter in El Salvador. A congressional task force found that some of the soldiers responsible for the massacre had been trained at the School of Americas, which moved to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984.

Roy Bourgeois, a Catholic priest, founded the group in 1990 in an attempt to come to grips with the violence he had witnessed as a Naval officer in Vietnam and especially as a priest working with the poor in Bolivia in the 1980s.

"What I and others hope to accomplish is that our efforts will somehow help relieve the suffering of other people," Bourgeois said. "We're here trying to love and support people of other countries who are victims of the training at this school we're trying to shut down and our country's foreign policy."

With polls showing waning support for the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq and reports of US soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bourgeois said the growing anti-war sentiment and outrage over the abuses may boost the crowd beyond the 16,000 who attended last year.

"Torture is a hot issue now," he said. "It has been a common part of our foreign policy. When I was in Vietnam, it was common knowledge that torture was used. When I was in Bolivia ... a lot of political prisoners that I and others visited in these prisons were being tortured. This was coming from ... the Bolivian military that we supported and that dictatorship."

Citing the so-called torture manuals discovered in the 1990s, Bourgeois said torture was part of the School of Americas' curriculum. US military officials, however, deny that the books were ever an official part of the training or that the school ever advocated human rights abuses.

"There is not one example of any person taking a course at the school ... who later used that information to commit crimes," said Lee Rials, a spokesman for the institute.

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Pretty gloomy in my estimation. What I find truly reprehensible is the notion expressed by the official spokesman, as if Abu Ghraib and Gitmo and Baghram and etc., were the results of individual bad actors at every interrogation center.

Read John Perkins "Confessions of An Economic Hit-Man" for an account of the U.S. military in Panama.

Now, I know that some wouldn't post in reponse...whatever.

Ms. Ruth Wisse, Harvard Prof. of comparative literature, wrote an Op-Ed piece in the Journal today titled "Israel Lobby".

Her closing sentences were devastatingly accurate and I thought, directly applicable to most Lefties here.

Ms. Wisse writes on the anti-Israel faction's attacks on the bipartisan support of Israel in the US: "Their contempt for fellow citizens dictates their claims of a gullible and stupid America..."

Her ending paragraph starts: "No wonder David Duke, white supremacist and former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, (felt) validated" by this anti-Israel faction.
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One of the major themes among the Corn Lefties have been this `contempt' for f