Mr. David Corn,

Thanks for all of your work.

Kirk

#1 Kirk's OK! Hurray.

Mr. Corn, Thanks for delivering the goods. Good scoop.

PS. Please tell us about your new book. If not here, how about on blogginghead.tv? I enjoyed your last one. It was an eye opener.

With bush being led around by the nose by his handlers what else do we expect, it isn't any problem to them. gw will take the heat, so we get this nincompoop as a president, but surely the freedoms that are america are being eroded, so we waste our time hoping that something will stop this slide into fascism. What exactly is going to do that? No amount of activism is going to solve this dillema. The bushbots think it is all going their way, but these types of fanatics don't realize that sooner or later they too will be considered "enemies of the state" so they will be roped in also. DIstraction after distraction. Nothing stops these clowns. What is next?

Fox, CBN News, World Net Daily and others are running for the hills Y2K style in their madcap efforts to warn the American people that we must strike Iran before they unleash the apocalyptic fury of EMP.

We are led to believe that Iran plans on detonating a low yield nuke at a high altitude above the US, resulting in powerful electromagnetic pulses shooting down to the Earth's surface and knocking out the entire US power grid.

Why would Iran proactively target the US and bring the might of the new world empire down upon them with complete justification for annihilation? It would be insanely suicidal.

To even begin to explore the development of EMP, Iran would have to produce nuclear weapons.

Russian Governor and former nuclear power plant manager Pavel Ipatov stated that Iran was incapable of building a nuclear weapon. Such an assertion was even backed up by National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, who stated that Iran simply does not have the material to produce nuclear bombs.

Even the CIA's own national intelligence estimate concluded that Iran was at least ten years away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon.

The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors say there is no evidence of a weapons program.

Iran's Deadly EMP Weapon Latest Neo-Con War Fraud

David,
Get your facts straight. David Kris said just the opposite of what you claim. And this wiretap controversy is nothing new, despite the claims of the New York Times.

Read very carefully the last quote from the article below, a direct quote from Mr. Kris that is now over three years old.

DOJ Accused of Abusing Wiretap Powers
By Caron Carlson
September 10, 2002

Senators charged with overseeing the Department of Justice lambasted the agency this morning for over-stepping expanded wiretap powers granted last fall following the Sept. 11 attacks. The harsh criticism from Congress came as the Bush Administration prepares for next week's launch of an ambitious new strategy for securing cyberspace—°nother response to the terrorist attacks, and one that is also raising concerns.

The Senate Judiciary Committee met this morning to review the Justice Department's use of expanded electronic surveillance powers enacted in the USA PATRIOT Act, which Congress passed last October. Several committee members lamented that the arcane wiretap provisions were voted in a climate of fear before lawmakers understood the ramifications.

"In our haste to develop legislation to help America, we went too far in some areas," said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., charging that the Justice Department abused the language of the act. "We must carefully examine what we have done."

The expanded wiretap powers pertain to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which exempts foreign-intelligence gathering from the probable cause requirements and privacy protections that govern wiretaps conducted for criminal prosecutions. Previously, the FBI and other federal agents could use the more lenient FISA standard for investigations when "the purpose" was foreign-intelligence gathering, but the USA PATRIOT Act gave the government greater latitude to use the standard when foreign intelligence gathering is a "significant purpose."

Calling the government's interpretation "ridiculous," Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., said the FBI and Justice Department are subverting the purpose of the foreign intelligence surveillance laws.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., noted that the FISA court determined that the government misled it dozens of times. "We were asked to show faith in this government and invest it with new authorities," Durbin said. "As we reflect now, we know it was a faith born of fear."

David Kris, associate deputy attorney general, defended the government's position to the committee. "The USA PATRIOT Act changed the `why' of FISA," but it did not change how foreign intelligence surveillance could be conducted, or when, where or on whom, Kris said.

I'm just getting through the posts. I was working today. On the clock. No access where I work. So how I posted #11 on the previous post is beyond me. I have never called Kathleen a bitch and don't intend to.

David:

Your first sentence and especially the first two words "My hunch" brought me to smile again! For the record, I know your hunch is on the mark.

My, you are lightening up and more entertaining today! And, thanks for the concession speech on the wiretapping issue. We, the Realists on Terror, didn't get everything we wanted but it's the politics we have..

On Dubai, if the latest news is factual and UAE will NOT be involved in US Ports, we, as a country, will have shafted them; at least in so far as the UAE since 9/11! But, as you may recall my `Gift' to you Lefties, I correctly called this "a battle not worth fighting" by Bush/GOP. What will be the ultimate cost of this snubbing of an Arab ally? For sure, good political skills will be needed by both sides.

I come from a blue state, whatever that is. I have never heard anyone say, 'if it makes America safer, go ahead with the wiretaps'. Nobody wants to be spied on and they are angry about it. There is a tension under the surface. If Bush and Cheney and Rove want to ignore that, I don't care but it's going to come back in their face.

Well you can forget our side we don't do politics at least foreign policy kind. We tell, they listen. Then they laugh their asses off at the idiot we send them to represent our country. Yup, happy is as happy does. GFI

#9
Faces.

Jeanne, someone here is trying to provoke civil war here in the Corn zone. Good think we know each other well enough to realize when a comment is out of character. So whoever the mystery jerk is, you might as well give it up, we aren't falling for it.

David, something from the PoliPundit, Kos is betting ZERO on politics where it counts. You and your Groupies can BEAT the Kos, can't you?

Thursday, March 09th, 2006
The Kos Record is Intact

The Daily Kos..is an ultra-left web site... In April 2004, Kos, an America-hating extremist, famously remarked, "screw them" when he heard that four American contractors had been murdered, burned, and strung up in Fallujah. In typical liberal-weasel fashion, Kos then tried to erase his comment and bury any evidence that it ever existed.

..The Daily Kos..is...blog about politics. Prominent Democrat politicians, like John Kerry, stop by and write at the Daily Kos.

But Kos' political instincts leave, shall we say, something to be desired. In 2004, he created the Kos Dozen, A group of ...candidates...backed with donations....the number of Kos..candidates who were elected was: zero.

Then last year, Kos backed Democrat Iraq-War-veteran Paul Hackett in his challenge to Republican Jean Schmidt for an open House seat in Ohio. After funding Hackett with hundreds of thousands of dollars, Hackett: lost.

Kos hasn't learned, though. This year, he's been on a crusade against relatively moderate Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar. Kos backed Cuellar's Democrat primary opponent, former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez. In Tuesday's Democrat primary election, Rodriguez: lost.

The stellar Kos record is intact.

Most encouragingly, Kos still hasn't learned. Here's his typically Kosian reaction:

"So we didn't kill off Cuellar, but we gave him an ass whooping where none was expected and made him sweat. That's the reason why Lieberman is sweating in Connecticut and lining up his dog and pony endorsement shows to flex his muscle. He can’¥ take for granted that a no-name businessman with no political experience and zero connections in his state's political establishment will be a non-factor, not with what we've done for people like [Howard] Dean and now Ciro."

I hope the Democrat party spawns many more activists like Kos, and I hope they do for all Democrat candidates what they've done for people like Dean and now Ciro.

-- PoliPundit

Jeanne 9, I have actually heard someone say that very thing here in Cali. A friend of mine feels that if you aren't doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about. I don't argue with people like that, it's a waste of time. There will always be a certain percentage of the population that believes every word the govt. says and relies on them 100% to keep them safe. It's more pitiful then anything.

I still think the blocking of s complete and thorough NSA inquiry has to do with not only wiretapping private citizens, I think it has to do with who Bolton was wiretapping during the run-up to the invasion.

During the Bolton hearings I can so clearly remember how angry Kerry and Biden were that the NSA transcripts and tapes that they were demanding and had a right to out of Boltons office were not being handed over. This seemed to be a huge issue that was never resolved. The rumors were flying that Bolton had wire tapped Colin Powell in the run-up to the invasion. That the information that Bolton had acquired during these wiretaps had given the neo-cons ammunition to undermine negotiations that Colin Powell had going with Iran at the time.

I had read a great deal about this somewhere, I have not read much about it since the Bolton hearings.

Why am I still stunned that the same Republican controlled Congress that voted/demanded that Clinton testify under oath about an extra marital affair and then voted for impeachment...Now the Republican controlled congress have decided not to investigate this 'illegal" wiretapping program. Outrageous.... Says so much about their priorities.

# 14 O reilly... I care

#20 O'reilly...the frustrating thing is that they have been beating the Iran war drum for three years, building momentum basically withour being challenged. The drums have grown louder and louder, especially with Aipac on the hill all week demanding action in Iran.

Saladin ....that could be considered a conspiracy theory, but it sure looks like we have been headed that way. What worries me is when I hear very big brained historians and military analyst concerned about this issue.

I was very interested during the anti-invasion marches that so many of us attended in Washington D.c. and elsewhere in October 2002 there were a few anti-fascist signs, and as the marches progressed and grew in numbers in New York and Washington I saw more and more people carrying anti-fascist signs. Lots of older people carrying them.

I still think the blocking of s complete and thorough NSA inquiry has to do with not only wiretapping private citizens, I think it has to do with who Bolton was wiretapping during the run-up to the invasion.

During the Bolton hearings I can so clearly remember how angry Kerry and Biden were that the NSA transcripts and tapes that they were demanding and had a right to out of Boltons office were not being handed over. This seemed to be a huge issue that was never resolved. The rumors were flying that Bolton had wire tapped Colin Powell in the run-up to the invasion. That the information that Bolton had acquired during these wiretaps had given the neo-cons ammunition to undermine negotiations that Colin Powell had going with Iran at the time.

I had read a great deal about this somewhere, I have not read much about it since the Bolton hearings.

Why am I still stunned that the same Republican controlled Congress that voted/demanded that Clinton testify under oath about an extra marital affair and then voted for impeachment...Now the Republican controlled congress have decided not to investigate this 'illegal" wiretapping program. Outrageous.... Says so much about their priorities.

# 14 O reilly... I care

#20 O'reilly...the frustrating thing is that they have been beating the Iran war drum for three years, building momentum basically withour being challenged. The drums have grown louder and louder, especially with Aipac on the hill all week demanding action in Iran.

Saladin ....that could be considered a conspiracy theory, but it sure looks like we have been headed that way. What worries me is when I hear very big brained historians and military analyst concerned about this issue.

I was very interested during the anti-invasion marches that so many of us attended in Washington D.c. and elsewhere in October 2002 there were a few anti-fascist signs, and as the marches progressed and grew in numbers in New York and Washington I saw more and more people carrying anti-fascist signs. Lots of older people carrying them.

oops sorry for the duplicate..not my computer.

Does anyone think that the U.S./Israel will really target Irans facilities. I have read and looked at maps of these facilities, they are spread all over Iran in civilian areas. The projection is that tens of thosands of Iranian civilians would die.

This is the reason I have been harping on this issue...trying to get journalist to focus on this critical issue that has been gathering steam for 3 years now.

I apologize if somehow I find this a more critical issue than Springsteen, and Cheney's accident. I have been truely frustrated with the power that journalist have and when this power is not used to inform, educate and point the spotlight on what I believe more important issues...like pre-empting military action in Iran, so that more lives are not lost.

It is terribly frustrating and sad to think that our government may be considering killing some Iranians.....

bandwidth hog, you are a jerk. I wouldn't buy tickets from you if it were the last place available on planet earth. Get a life.

David, isn't there ANYTHING that can be done to stop that idiot? That is spam, big time!

Kathleen, were you referring to the article I posted on the previous thread as a conspiracy theory? If so, tell me, what makes events in progress a theory? All those things listed are a reality, here and now, not something they are just tossing around for the hell of it. If that isn't what you meant, please clarify.

Iran War About Ethnic Cleansing, Not Oil Bourse

A red herring to distract from real long term agenda of full spectrum dominance

Noted author F William Engdahl is keen to warn that Iran's plans institute a Tehran oil bourse is a red herring that diverts attention from the real long-term geopolitical agenda to remove another Middle East pawn in the quest for Neo-Con world domination.

Arguments put forth by the oil bourse theorists state that the US is worried that if Iran shifts to selling its oil in Euros then the dollar will collapse as the world reserve currency and other nations will quickly follow suit and dump their dollar holdings, causing an economic meltdown in America to rival 1929.

In an piece for the Asia Times, Engdahl points out that the intended invasion of Iran was by no means a recent blueprint, but a decades old dream carefully laid out in strategy documents.

"In 1996, Richard Perle and Douglas Feith, two neo-conservatives later to play an important role in formulation of Bush administration's Pentagon policy in the Middle East, authored a paper for then newly elected Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That advisory paper, "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm", called on Netanyahu to make a "clean break from the peace process". Perle and Feith also called on Netanyahu to strengthen Israel's defenses against Syria and Iraq, and to go after Iran as the prop of Syria.

More than a year before President George W Bush declared his "shock and awe" operation against Iraq, he made his now-infamous January 2002 State of the Union address to Congress in which he labeled Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea, as a member of the "axis of evil" trio. This was well before anyone in Tehran was even considering establishing an oil bourse to trade oil in various currencies."

Engdahl expands his article to underline the history of the dollar's relation to the oil market and why the bourse theory and its alleged economic ramifications is a red herring.

More HERE

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

Nothing would surprise me, not after the crud that has happened in the last few years.

capt

Saladin,
#14
Another thing I've heard in MN is that people are fed up with the gay issues. When the window peeping republicans go around the state and try to start a conversation about gay issues the common sense people of Minnesota tell them there are more important issues to talk about.

I think it's time the Republicans get their minds out of the gutter and start doing some real work for the people of this country.

Speaking of common sense.

Common Sense Budget Act

109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION

H. R. 4898

To reallocate funds toward sensible priorities such as improved children's education, increased children's access to health care, expanded job training, and increased energy efficiency and conservation through a reduction of wasteful defense spending, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Ms. WOOLSEY(for herself and Ms. LEE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

A BILL

To reallocate funds toward sensible priorities such as improved children's education, increased children's access to health care, expanded job training, and increased energy efficiency and conservation through a reduction of wasteful defense spending, and for other purposes.
-----------------
It's a good bill. It won't pass of course but it sends a message. I hope a lot of people see it. The American people can see with these acts that the congress doesn't consider the children of this nation as important as an illegal war and a neo con dream of global domination

Now here's another statement telling me my health and the health of the people I love are not really important to this congress. Good to know.

House votes to dump state food safety laws

The House approved a bill Wednesday night that would wipe out state laws on safety labeling of food, overriding tough rules passed by California voters two decades ago that require food producers to warn consumers about cancer-causing ingredients.

The vote was a victory for the food industry, which has lobbied for years for national standards for food labeling and contributed millions of dollars to lawmakers' campaigns. But consumer groups and state regulators warned that the bill would undo more than 200 state laws, including California's landmark Proposition 65, that protect public health.

"The purpose of this legislation is to keep the public from knowing about the harm they may be exposed to in food," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, a chief critic of the measure.

...Under the bill, any state that wanted to keep its own tougher standards for food labeling would have to ask for approval from the Food and Drug Administration, which has been criticized by food safety groups as slow to issue consumer warnings.

...But California officials said the new legislation would reverse the gains made through Prop. 65. Many companies, fearing the warning labels, have changed their food to meet the state's tougher standards. Bottled water companies have cut arsenic levels, and bakers have taken potassium bromate, a potential carcinogen, out of many breads, doughnuts and other bakery goods.

"We've had a lot of success in getting them to reformulate," said California Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

The measure was approved after a debate in which House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco accused the Republican majority of "shredding the food safety net that we have built in this country."

"Americans cannot escape a certain responsibility for what is done in our name around the world. In a democracy, even one as corrupted as ours, ultimate authority rests with the people. We empower the government with our votes, finance it with our taxes, bolster it with our silent acquiescence. If we are passive in the face of America's official actions overseas, we in effect endorse them." - Mark Hertzgaard

=
"If the test of patriotism comes only by reflexively falling into lockstep behind the leader whenever the flag is waved, then what we have is a formula for dictatorship, - not democracy... But the American way is to criticize and debate openly, not to accept unthinkingly the doings of government officials of this or any other country." - Michael Parenti

=
"America cannot have an empire abroad and a Republic at home." Mark Twain

=
The power of the state is measured by the power that men surrender to it." ? Felix Morley

=
Those who have the privilege to know, have the duty to act." Albert Einstein

=
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will do." - Edward Everett Hale

===

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

Libby Defense Request Strongly Resisted by CIA

The CIA said in an affidavit released yesterday that meeting the demand of former White House official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for copies of highly classified intelligence documents he saw before he was indicted would "impose an enormous burden" and divert its analysts from more important tasks.

Attorneys for Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, responded that the CIA was exaggerating the difficulty of finding and turning over the documents. But they also scaled back their request for information in the hope of persuading a federal judge to order the agency to produce the documents.

Saladin yes I was referring to the article you posted. I said that the article "could be considered a conspiracy theory, but it sure looks like we are headed that way."

I am hoping like a fool that some of the politics can still shift and am doing everything in my power to help a shift take place. Although I am more convinced than ever before that even if this country moves back to the right of center that this is not the country that I want to live in for the next quarter of my life.

Many of us here in OHio are all ready working our asses off on the Strickland for Governor campaign. Howard Dean convinced Congressman Strickland to run for Governor hoping to have this set the stage for flipping Ohio in the 2008 presidential election. Only time will tell.

Later.

Dubai Firm to Give Up Stake in U.S. Ports By DAVID ESPO and ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writers
1 hour, 11 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Bowing to ferocious opposition in Congress, a Dubai-owned company signaled surrender Thursday in its quest to take over operations at U.S. ports.

"DP World will transfer fully the U.S. operations ... to a United States entity," the firm's top executive, H. Edward Bilkey, said in an announcement that capped weeks of controversy.

Relieved Republicans in Congress said the firm had pledged full divestiture, a decision that one senator said had been approved personally by the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.

"The devil is in the details," said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, reflecting a sentiment expressed by numerous critics of the deal.

The announcement appeared to indicate an end to a politically tinged controversy that brought President Bush and Republicans in Congress to the brink of an election-year veto battle on a terrorism-related issue. The White House expressed satisfaction with the outcome.

"It does provide a way forward and resolve the matter," presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said.

"We have a strong relationship with the UAE and a good partnership in the global war on terrorism and I think their decision reflects the importance of our broader relationship," he said.

A leading congressional critic of the ports deal, Rep. Peter King (news, bio, voting record), applauded the decision but said he and others would wait to see the details. "It would have to be an American company with no links to DP World, and that would be a tremendous victory and very gratifying," said the New York Republican, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

"This should make the issue go away," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. The Tennessee Republican was one of several GOP leaders to tell President Bush earlier in the day that Congress was ready to ignore his veto threat and scuttle the deal.

Several Republican officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Frist and Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, had been privately urging the firm to give up its plans.

After weeks of controversy —†and White House veto threats that spokesman Scott McClellan renewed at midmorning Thursday —†the end came unexpectedly.

The House Appropriations Committee voted 62-2 on Wednesday to block the deal, and GOP congressional leaders privately informed the president Thursday morning that the Senate would inevitably follow suit. Senate Democrats clamored for a vote, increasing pressure on Senate Republicans to abandon the president.

It was unclear how DP would manage the planned divestiture, and Bilkey's statement said its announcement was "based on an understanding that DP World will not suffer economic loss."

The firm finalized its $6.8 billion purchase Thursday of Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., the British firm that through a U.S. subsidiary runs important port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. It also plays a lesser role in dockside activities at 16 other American ports.

Despite the furor, the company's U.S. operations were never the most prized part of the global transaction. DP World valued its rival's American operations at less than 10 percent of the nearly $7 billion total purchase.

But that portion of the deal set off a political chain of events unlike any other in Bush's five years in office. Republicans denounced the deal, saying they were worried about the effects it would have on efforts to make ports safer from terrorist threats. Democrats did likewise, and capitalized on the issue as well as a way to narrow the polling gap with the GOP on issues of national security.

Bush defended the deal, calling the United Arab Emirates a strong ally in the war on terror and pledging to cast a veto if Congress voted to interfere.

Senate Republicans initially sought to fend off a vote to block the deal, and the administration agreed to a 45-day review of the transaction. That strategy collapsed on Wednesday with the vote in the House Appropriations Committee.

Warner, R-Va., provided the first public word of the firm's switch, when he went to the Senate floor and read aloud from its statement.

Warner said that Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, "advised the company ... that this action is the appropriate course to take."

The Broken Branch: An Unusual Lawsuit Takes Congress to Task For Shoddy and Partisan Lawmaking, In Which A Bill Is Unconstitutionally Being Treated as Law
By JOHN W. DEAN
----
Friday, Mar. 10, 2006

Two seasoned non-partisan Congress-watchers have teamed up (again) to report some bad news about Congress, assessing a decade of Republican rule. Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, and Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, have written a new book, The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get it Back on Track.

While I am familiar with the prior work of Mann and Ornstein, which is always distinguished by its excellence, all that I know about their new book, to be published in June 2006, is the pre-publication description. According to the publisher (Oxford Press), this latest work reveals that after forty years of Democratic control, the House of Representatives was in need of reform. But that did not happen.

Republicans promised reform in 1994, when they won control of the House for the first time in four decades. But rather than deliver it, GOP leadership has - according to Mann and Ornstein - undermined the institution through "the demise of regular order, the decline of deliberation and the weakening of our system of checks and balances."

Speaker Dennis Hastert is described in the pre-publication material, based on his own words, as more of "a lieutenant of the president than a steward of the House." Accordingly, Mann and Ornstein's book suggests, "the legislative process has been bent to serve immediate presidential interests and have often resulted in poorly crafted and stealthily passed laws."

more at John Dean find law

at Tom Paine

Colonization of Palestine Precludes Peace
Jimmy Carter
March 09, 2006

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter led The Carter Center/National Democratic Institute observation of the Palestinian elections in January.

For more than a quarter century, Israeli policy has been in conflict with that of the United States and the international community. Israel’≥ occupation of Palestine has obstructed a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land, regardless of whether Palestinians had no formalized government, one headed by Yasir Arafat or Mahmoud Abbas, or with Abbas as president and Hamas controlling the parliament and cabinet.

The unwavering U.S. position since Dwight Eisenhowerճ administration has been that Israelճ borders coincide with those established in 1949, and, since 1967, the universally adopted U.N. Resolution 242 has mandated Israelճ withdrawal from the occupied territories. This policy was reconfirmed even by Israel in 1978 and 1993, and emphasized by all American presidents, including George W. Bush. As part of the Quartet, including Russia, the U.N. and the European Union, he has endorsed a Ғoad MapӠfor peace. But Israel has officially rejected its basic premises with patently unacceptable caveats and prerequisites.

With Israel’≥ approval, The Carter Center has monitored all three Palestinian elections. Supervised by a blue-ribbon commission of college presidents and distinguished jurists, they have all been honest, fair and peaceful, with the results accepted by winners and losers.

Hamas will control the cabinet and prime minister’≥ office, but Mahmoud Abbas retains all authority and power exercised by Yasir Arafat. He still heads the PLO, the only Palestinian entity recognized by Israel, and could deal with Israeli leaders under this umbrella, independent of Hamas control. He has unequivocally endorsed the Quartet’≥ Road Map. Post-election polls show that 80 percent of Palestinians still want a peace agreement with Israel and nearly 70 percent support Abbas as president.

Israel has announced a policy of isolating and destabilizing the new government (perhaps joined by the United States). The elected officials will be denied travel permits, workers from isolated Gaza barred from entering Israel and every effort is being made to block funds to Palestinians. The Quartet’≥ special envoy, James Wolfensohn, has proposed that donors assist the Palestinian people without violating anti-terrorism laws that prohibit funds from being sent directly to Hamas.

Kathleen, the following paragraphs from that article are what I am referring to when I ask what are our reps are going to do to end this? Mainly I am concerned that they enabled it in the first place. Who in their right mind would EVER pass into law a 2,200 page bill without even f**king reading it?!?! They whine that they weren't given access? Well, weren't they even in the least bit curious or suspicious about passing a bill under such circumstances? That is pure BULLSHIT! And then they pass the DHS bill without reading that either? I say FUCK THEM! I admire your faith and determination, but the reps have already buried this country. Your best bet is to warn as many as will listen, to prepare to weather the coming storm, because I guarantee you, 80% of our "public servants" in DC aren't going to do anything to slow down, much less stop, this handbasket from plunging straight into the abyss. They've had 5 years, I think it's obvious that they have other priorities. 9/11 was the crux, but show me more than 5 who even care about the truth.
--------------

After passage of the Patriot Act of 2001, Rep. Paul told Insight Magazine that the 2,200-page bill was not made available to Congress to read before the vote. So the most corrupt Congress in history rubber-stamped the most fascist legislation they had never read.

The ink had barely dried on the Patriot Act when Congress passed the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Rep. Paul stated that Congress also did not read the 500-page bill that gave birth to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS, a creepy intelligence gathering apparatus reminiscent of the Nazi SS, has merged 22 federal agencies and their databases, employing nearly a quarter million workers. The New York Times columnist William Safire told the American people that, under DHS, "You are a suspect." Rep. Paul confirms that "the Department represents a huge new increase in the size and scope of the federal government that will mostly serve to spy on the American people."

Good news Ffolks,

We had been a bit worried but what the hell do you do? I hadn't told Jill about the 1 soldier killed and 4 wounded in TalAfar until tonight. I hadn't seen her, hardly at all, but as I type this, she's on the phone with Spec.Spank, takin' orders for snackfoods and video games.

Spank sez he does the same kind of patrols in the same places, but..."It's alright, though"...

Whatever the fuck that means.

Once again, glad Spank's ok, but guilty about feeling good, knowing somebody else is greiving, and hurting like nothing we've ever known.

Oh, and O'reilly, I care, too! (in a platonic, manly, "good-game" kinda way!)

Saladin..that piece by Jimmy Carter about the Palestinian situtation is ballsy especially as Aipac and Israel are pushing hard right now for isolating Hamas. (many believe that Aipac made real efforts at taking Jimmy out during his second attempt for the presidential spot, due to his efforts to be more fair and balanced in that conflict)

I am deeply worried about the Patriot act and the Homeland Security act. While I have not taken the time to really read them, I agree with your outrage about this issue and am never quite sure where to focus at times the corruption within our government has gone wild.

I am even more concerned when I hear and see people like Senator Byrd ( I am not bull shitting when I say that I was in the Senate gallery the first time the Homeland security act was going to be voted on in 2002.)

It was one of our groups visits to Washington to lobby STrickland to vote against the upcoming invasion. When I visit D.C. I like going into the Senate to listen and watch. (the rest of the group was not interested) There were just a few other Senators in the galley (most watch from their offices if they watch at all) Byrd took the Patriot Act and slammed it down on the desk next to him and said "how am I supposed to vote on something a bill that was placed on my desk in the middle of the night". "how am I supposed to vote on a 495 (I think) page bill that has been added to just yesterday and was put on my desk at night. He was furious.

I will never forget he pointed out the door that I guess was in the direction of the White House and said " that in my 50 years in the Senate I have never seen an adminstration grab on to so much power during my time here". Steam was coming out of his ears. I know Byrd is no saint, but I admire his fire and passion. He believes deeply in the constitution and he is an incredible orator. (it is worth it.. to go see him in action, who knows how long this guy will be around)

Saladin I am deeply worried as I know you are. These folks in Washington are beholden to corporations and lobbyist and with Cheney having been focused on executive power..fascism does seem absolutely possible.

I am not sure why I continue to push for the things that I think both of us want in this country, justice, equity in education, a living wage for all, and health care.

I am not sure we will see any of this come about?

Hajji,

Glad to hear Spec. Spanky is okay. Heard this evening from your Bro you are coming into town this weekend. It will be guys home alone Saturday as Maria will be heading North for the day. If the weather stay as nice as it has been, 75 degrees today, thanks for sending it this way, I would like to take the boys to Central Park for a while. I'll give you a call a call to see if you are feeling up to that much excitement.

Kathleen,

Good luck with Ted Strickland. He is a good man but has an uphill battle. I don't have to tell you what people from outside Southeastern Ohio think of those of us from Southeastern Ohio. When I went to Akron University, I always caught hell for my southern accent. When I told them I was from Ohio, they couldn't believe it.

Kathleen,

I'm reading Byrd's "America Lost" in bits and pieces right now. He writes the same way he speaks, so I imagine that he dictates. His comprehension of the constitution is astounding. I understand that there is a serious effort afoot in WV to vote him out. I imagine, however that like Strom Thurmond, here in SC, people will keep voting for him, by habit, if nothing else, even after he's dead.

"America Lost" is a good insider look at what happened after 9/11 and how it was never Buscheney's aim to truly fight terrorism, but to grab as much power as fast as possible while Americans huddled quivering in fear in their plastic and duct-taped shelters.

Looks like not enough survived the CO2 buildup without brain damage to make a difference...

C'est LaVie...

-T

TRH,

We got room for another rider to Morehead, if you're interested.

-T

Trh..Stickland is an honest operator. He voted against the invasion. He has a Masters of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary, and a PHD in counseling I think from a University in Kentucky. He has been a minister, counselor and a college professor.

I think Ohio is going to see a Tidal Wave....that is if Diebold is not in control of the election.

Hajji "America Lost" sounds very interesting. I do like Byrd. I know he was in KKK, I know he voted for the Gulf of Tolkin,, but I have actually heard him apologized for both of these things. I actually believe the guy has a fair amount of sincerity inside.

Hajji,

If it weren't for soccer practice and a previous engagement, I would be calling "shotgun!"

If the plans don't pan out, I'll give you or Dennis a call.

Thanks for the invite.

kathleen,

At this point, he's got nothing to lose, why should he do anything but make amends, where he can and try and make wrongs right?

-T

OVERSIGHT BY CAPITULATION: Despite a dip in his opinion polls, George W. Bush's transformation of the United States into an authoritarian society continues apace, with new "compromises" with Congress actually consolidating his claims to virtually unlimited executive power.

"...The legislation on warrantless wiretaps now promises to be the next White House "concession" that will, in reality, consolidate Bush's autocratic power in what looks like an inexorable march toward an end of the American democratic Republic."
++++++
Jeanne, I live in a blue state, too (whatever that means, as you say) and most people I know are upset about spying without a warrant from FISA. A friend told me, though, that I was living in a fool's paradise if I thought that mattered to lots of Americans and suggested that I go to CNN's website regarding an Anderson Cooper story about the eavesdropping and look at the feedback.

The feedback is pretty much, "I don't have anything to hide, so I don't care. bush is keeping us safe."

Oy.

Halliburton is taking over the world. It's a fungus.

Norm Ornstein: Dubai Ports World Is Considering Selling U.S. Operations To Halliburton

Today Dubai Ports World announced it would "transfer fully the U.S. operations...to a United States entity." This evening on the PBS News Hour, AEI scholar Norm Ornstein said that DP World was considering selling its U.S. operations to Halliburton:

If this is done now through the backdoor, where D.P. [Dubai Ports World] has any role at all, Congress is going to go ballistic, and it's going to be a disaster, I think, for the administration.

They have got a dilemma now, because there simply aren't American companies that have the know-how and the breadth to do this. Interestingly, and perhaps ironically, what I had heard earlier in the day, as they were looking at those that have the - the kind of resources, Halliburton was a name that came up.

Very interesting.
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Wow, Halliburton can do anything...or they can pretend that they can do anything....or they can demand that they do everything...or they can claim that they didn't do anything...

#40
Bush is keeping us safe. I snort with laughter. They should read how well the DHS building is kept safe. I have one word to say to those people...Katrina.

Kathleen,

I know that because of where I am from. But, outside of Cincinnati, Cleveland, or Columbus..
we're not taken very serious. It will be an uphill battle and it has nothing to do with voting machines, it has to do with voter mentality.

Here's an example of Bush keeping us safe.

Inexperienced 28-Year-Old Bush Staffer Appointed to Critical Homeland Security Post

The Bush administration has appointed 28-year-old former White House staffer Doug Hoelscher as the executive director of the Homeland Security Advisory Committees.

In his new position, Hoelscher will gather expert advice "on behalf of the president and the Homeland Security secretary" from 20 other advisory boards covering "key areas of homeland security, including threats to infrastructure and preventing terrorist attacks that use weapons of mass destruction."

His experience?

Hoelscher has no management experience, a review of his professional credentials shows. He came to government in 2001 as a low-level White House staffer, arranging presidential travel, according to news reports. He earned $30,000 a year, salary documents show.

...Despite Hoelscher's apparent total lack of professional management or security experience, the press release announcing his appointment praises his qualifications and claims he will now be providing "strategic counsel" to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff:

"The department relies heavily on the expertise and advice of our advisory committees," said Stewart Baker, Assistant Secretary for Policy. "Outside perspectives benefit the policy and decision making process, and the Administration has named a qualified and talented professional to cultivate these partnerships. Doug will provide strategic counsel to the Secretary and increase overall coordination between department leadership and our homeland security partners, and I look forward to his contributions and counsel."
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Well, of all the people in the US with great qualification they chose a 28 year old who likes politics. I hope I'm wrong. I hope he's great at what he does. But right now it just tells me they aren't very serious about Homeland Security. It's a fluff job.

Minister admits 'rendition' planes used RAF bases

The government last night admitted for the first time that aircraft suspected of being used by the CIA to transport detainees to secret interrogation centres had landed at British military airfields.
After months of refusing to answer questions from MPs or the media, it disclosed that two aircraft known to have been chartered by the CIA landed 14 times at RAF Northholt, west London, and RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire between October 2003 and May 2004.

...The flights were disclosed by Adam Ingram, the armed forces minister, in a letter to Sir Menzies Campbell, newly elected leader of the Liberal Democrats. Last week, the Liberal Democrats threatened to report the minister to the parliamentary ombudsman if he continued to refuse to answer detailed questions about flights suspected of being used for "extraordinary rendition" - the practice of sending detainees to camps where they were at risk of being tortured.

In their replies, ministers have said that they either have no record of CIA flights since 1998, when they received four requests from the Clinton administration, or that records it might once have had had since been destroyed.

In his letter last night, Mr Ingram did not say the aircraft were used by the CIA, but the government has never denied they were. Mr Ingram also did not describe the purpose of the flights.

He insisted his disclosure was not "at odds with the foreign secretary's statements on the subject". Jack Straw has said that the government is "unaware" of any CIA flights landing in Britain or using UK airspace since 1998 and transporting terrorist suspects.

However, Michael Moore, the Liberal Democrat's new foreign affairs spokesman, said last night: "Another week, another grudging admission from the government. There is now a well-established pattern of partial disclosures after repeated denials."

He added: "These are disturbing revelations. Were these rendition flights or not? Ministers must urgently obtain answers from the US government."

Liberty, the civil rights group, is supporting an amendment to the civil aviation bill now going through the Lords, tabled by Baroness D'Souza. It would oblige the government to require any plane using UK airspace to land if it had information that it was being used for purposes of unlawful rendition.
------------------

Get a load of this photo.

Reuters sends a subliminal message to Deadeye Dick

Now for something a little different.

God: I've lost faith in Blair

All the signs are that the Almighty is unhappy about efforts to implicate Him in the attack on Iraq

Terry Jones

A high-level leak has revealed that God is "furious" at Tony Blair's attempts to implicate him in the bombing of Iraq. Sources close to the archangel Gabriel report him as describing the Almighty as "hopping mad ... with sanctimonious yet unscrupulous politicians claiming He would condone their bestial activities when He has no way of going public Himself, owing to the MMW agreement" (a reference to the long-established Moving in Mysterious Ways concordat).

Mr Blair went public about God on Michael Parkinson's TV show. "If you have faith about these things," he said, "then you realise that judgment is made by other people. If you believe in God, it's made by God as well." As is customary with Mr Blair's statements, it's rather hard to tease out what he is actually saying; but the gist is clearly that if God didn't actually tell him to bomb Iraq, then the Almighty would certainly agree it was the right thing to do.

"If Tony Blair thinks his friendship with George W Bush is worth rubbing out a couple of hundred thousand Iraqi men, women and children, then that's something he can talk over with me later," said God. "But when he starts publicly claiming that's the way I do the arithmetic too, it's time I put my foot down!" It is well known that God has a very big foot.

A source says Gabriel has spent days trying to dissuade the Almighty from loosing a plague of toads upon the Blair family. Gabriel reminded God that Cherie and the children had nothing to do with Tony's decisions. God's response, it is reliably reported, was: "Blair says the Iraqis are lucky to have got bombed, so how can he complain if his family gets a few toads in the bath?"

The archangel is said to be ticked off with God's ability to provide glib answers without even thinking.

What has particularly incensed the Almighty is that Mr Blair made the claim on the Parkinson show. "If he'd done it on Richard and Judy I could have forgiven a lot," He is reported to have said.

The archangel reported that the Almighty has become increasingly irritated with the vogue for politicians to claim that He is behind their policies - especially if these involve killing large numbers of humans. According to Gabriel, God spake these words: "That George W Bush once had the nerve to say: 'God told me to go end the tyranny in Iraq, and I did.' Well, let me tell you I did no such thing! If I'd wanted to get rid of Saddam Hussein, I could have given him pneumonia. I didn't need the president of the United States to send in hundreds of heavy bombers and thousands of missiles to destroy Iraq - even though I appreciate that Halliburton needed to fill its order books."

"How do Bush and Blair think it makes me look to all those parents who have lost sons and daughters in this grubby business? Don't they know that the Muslims they're taking out worship the same Me that they do? It's a public relations disaster that ought to set Christianity back hundreds of years. Though knowing the fundamentalists, it'll probably have the reverse effect."

The archangel further revealed that he had been advised by no less a person than Alastair Campbell to warn God to keep out of politics. "But it's hard to get God to do anything He doesn't want to," sighed the archangel. "It's all to do with what He calls 'free will', though a lot of us have a problem working that one out, since He's omnipotent and omniscient."

God, the archangel says, is also disturbed by Mr Blair's remark that while religious beliefs might colour his politics, "it's best not to take it too far".

"How would he like it if I went round claiming that he gave me his full backing when I sent the tsunami last year?"

Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python

Impeachment gaining steam

...Simply consider Bubble-boy's record: (1) failure to prevent the terrorist attacks of 9/11, (2) lies and deceit about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and links to al Qaeda to scare gullible Americans into supporting an illegal, immoral preventive war, (3) gross incompetence in conducting America's post-invasion occupation, (4) war crimes committed at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo (5) criminal neglect while Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, (6) illegal eavesdropping on innocent Americans in willful violation of his oath to uphold the Constitution.

...Which is why honorable Americans have no recourse but to impeach, convict and remove Bush/Cheney from office -- as a prelude to their criminal indictments, trials and probable convictions.

Sentiment to impeach has gathered steam. In November 2005 a Zogby poll indicated that 51% of Americans supported the impeachment of Bush, were it proved that he lied to them in order to invade Iraq. On March 1st, Garrison Keillor called for Bush's impeachment, as did the esteemed Lewis Lapham, in the March 2006 issue of Harper's. (This writer made the case for impeachment in June 2005, see http://www.walter-c-uhler.com/Reviews/impeach.html , which he supplemented in January 2006, see http://www.walter-c-uhler.com/Reviews/Gestapo.html .)

Thus, it was no accident that the 8 March 2006 issue of the Wall Street Journal raised the issue of impeachment. Yet the thrust of the Journal article was that Democrats are wary about pursuing impeachment, having seen how swing-voting Americans rebuked Republicans at the polls for having impeached President Clinton.

Although the Journal raises a legitimate question, when it asks whether Democrats can achieve a majority in the House of Representatives by campaigning for Bubble-boy's impeachment; the entire tenor of the article would have changed, had it acknowledged the obvious: that lying to conceal a "blow job" is profoundly less impeachable than lying to invade another country.

Judging by the rhetoric of officials in Bubble-boy's administration, however, they're not counting on help from the Wall Street Journal. Instead, they appear ready to risk spreading religious war across the entire Middle East, causing an untold number of deaths and bringing forth near universal condemnation by launching a preemptive strike on Iran.

Thus, although the pretext will be one of preventing Iran from getting the bomb, you can bet the farm that if the bombs cause an October surprise - they will have been dropped to prevent any possibility of Bubble-boy's impeachment.

Yep, Impeachment is a Bad Idea

By Josh Marshall | bio
I've been noodling ideas on this topic for a while -- and just hadn't gotten to writing about it. But as long as Harold Meyerson is saying it and Matt Yglesias is agreeing, let me put my name down in agreement: yep, impeachment is a bad idea

It's a bad idea on policy grounds. It's a bad idea on political grounds. And it's a bad idea on the most important ground of all, which is keeping your eye on the ball and doing what's necessary to create a political force to counter President Bush during his last two years in office and replace him with someone much better in 2009.

I know this is broad brush and incomplete as to details. I'll put together a lengthier and more detailed post later. But as long as this issue is out there, put me down in the 'it's a bad idea' camp.
----------------------
One man stood up at my precinct caucus and told the people there that there is no one who hates the Bush administration more than he does but he believes, like Marshall that it wastes too much energy.

48. "failure to prevent the terrorist attacks of 9/11?" AAAARRRRGGGG!!! How can the terrorists prevent terrorist attacks?? WE ARE SO DOOMED! Go ahead, impeach, see how much good it does. Does anyone, anyone at all, pay attention to the economy? If you were insolvent, what would you worry about? Would you keep believing you could just keep printing money and survive? That's what our govt. does. Does it work because it is the govt. doing it? ALL fiat currencies fail, every single one in all of history has failed, ours is failing too. Go ahead, vote for democrats, they can't stop it from failing, they helped it fail, and it will be the fatal bullet. Nothing else matters, all the hope and positive attitudes won't prevent what is coming. All the greatest kingdoms of the world have been brought to nothing because of idiot politicians and their greedy, backwards calculations. The simplest person can balance a checkbook, but for lack of this skill our kingdom is going down, you can bet money on that, if money was actually worth anything.

...put me down in the 'it's a bad idea' camp.

Yeah? Well put me down in the "it's the right fkn thing to do" camp. Sure it would fail, but alotta good would come out of it too. We could mark down the DINO's that vote against it. More facts would come out, into the sleeping people's awareness. It would blacken his legacy right now, instead of on down the road of history. Let's show some balls and at least try it. We gotta do something! Look your kids and grandkids in the eyes and tell 'em how you fought.
That's how I feel.

Jeanne, I got a nice reply email from Meghan earlier. She had sent me a note with her new setup and I wrote her back. Then she replied to that. She's a sweet kid, err young woman.

That damn firewall at the NYTimes. I got part of Krugman's piece somewhere else...

Bruce Bartlett, the author of "Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy," is an angry man. At a recent book forum at the Cato Institute, he declared that the Bush administration is "unconscionable," "irresponsible," "vindictive" and "inept."

It's no wonder, then, that one commentator wrote of Mr. Bartlett that "if he were a cartoon character, he would probably look like Donald Duck during one of his famous tirades, with steam pouring out of his ears."

Oh, wait. That's not what somebody wrote about Mr. Bartlett. It's what Mr. Bartlett wrote about me in September 2003, when I was saying pretty much what he's saying now.

Human nature being what it is, I don't expect Mr. Bartlett to acknowledge his about-face. Nor do I expect any expressions of remorse from Andrew Sullivan, the conservative Time.com blogger who also spoke at the Cato forum. Mr. Sullivan used to specialize in denouncing the patriotism and character of anyone who dared to criticize President Bush, whom he lionized. Now he himself has become a critic, not just of Mr. Bush's policies, but of his personal qualities, too.

$25,000 to Lobby Group Is Tied to Access to Bush

WASHINGTON, March 9 — The chief of an Indian tribe represented by the lobbyist Jack Abramoff was admitted to a meeting with President Bush in 2001 days after the tribe paid a prominent conservative lobbying group $25,000 at Mr. Abramoff's direction, according to documents and interviews.

The payment was made to Americans for Tax Reform, a group run by Grover G. Norquist, one of the Republican Party's most influential policy strategists. Mr. Norquist was a friend and longtime associate of Mr. Abramoff.

U.S. Contractor Found Guilty of $3 Million Fraud in Iraq

In the first corporate whistle-blower case to emerge from Iraq, a federal jury in Virginia yesterday found a contractor, Custer Battles L.L.C., guilty of defrauding the United States by filing grossly inflated invoices for work in the chaotic year after the Iraqi invasion.

The civil case is expected to be the first of dozens under the Federal False Claims Act, which allows company insiders to bring suit on behalf of the government and share in damages awarded.

Two former associates accused Custer Battles of faking invoices from shell companies to overcharge the coalition authority, then governing Iraq, by tens of millions of dollars. But the current trial concerned billing of just $3 million under one of several contracts the company garnered in the post-invasion scramble.

After a three-week trial, the jury found that the entire $3 million was gained by fraud. According to the law, the company, which is based in McLean, Va., and its two owners and a former executive must now repay the government triple damages and also pay fines for 37 fraudulent acts.

(snip)

Mr. Grayson said he was pleased that the jury found the case to be "airtight." But he said he was disturbed that the Justice Department had chosen not to join in the false claims case and that many other similar cases remained under seal.

"It fell upon whistle-blowers not only to bring this case to light but to recover money for taxpayers," Mr. Grayson said in a telephone interview.
====================
"... and that many other similiar cases remained under seal." So the DOJ says, y'all go ahead witout us. yeah, that's just neato torpedo

more bullshyt coming...

Bush Urges More Money for Religious Charities

COLLEGE PARK, Ga., March 9 — President Bush said Thursday that his administration had made progress by awarding more than $2.1 billion last year to social programs operated by churches, synagogues and mosques, a modest increase over 2004.

(snip)

Mr. Bush has made his religion-based initiative a central part of his "compassionate conservative" agenda since his first year in the White House, but has run into hurdles trying to carry it out.

Legislation that would have made it easier for religious charities to seek government money for social programs sputtered in Congress in Mr. Bush's first term. He bypassed Capitol Hill and signed executive orders that created religion-based offices in 10 agencies.

Mr. Bush signed an executive order this week to establish a religion-based office in an 11th agency, the Homeland Security Department.

Justin Webb, the BBC's Washington correspondent, said it was unclear whether the deal would result in DPW forfeiting ownership of the ports in question, but if that was the case, the issue would be settled.

DPW's statement added that the decision was "based on an understanding that DP World will have time to affect the transfer in an orderly fashion and that DP World will not suffer economic loss".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4791512.stm

UNDERSTAND THIS…

The DPW acquisition of the US port operations has ALREADY OCCURRED. THE DEAL HAPPENED. GET IT?

All of this dog and pony show is just a charade. The Congress was supposed to conduct a 45 day investigation BEFORE allowing the deal to close. IT ALREADY CLOSED.

THIS IS ALL JUST BULLSHIT ROVIAN SPIN.

THE DEAL IS DONE.

John Snow made his millions and a lot of other Bush Administration representatives received their bribes and Carlyle made their money and the transaction broker made their money…IT’S A DONE DEAL.

They broke the law and got away with it…AGAIN.

In election year, GOP wary of following Bush
"He has no political capital," GOP pollster says of Bush amid ports fallout

When President Bush and senior adviser Karl Rove mapped out plans for a political comeback in 2006, this was nowhere on the script. Suddenly, the collapse of a port-management deal neither even knew about a month ago has devastated the White House and raised questions about its ability to lead even fellow Republicans.

The bipartisan uprising in Congress in the face of a veto threat represented a singular defeat for Bush, who when it came to national security grew accustomed during his first five years in office to leading as he chose and having loyal lawmakers fall in line. Now, with his poll numbers in a political ditch, the port debacle has contributed to a perception of weakness that has liberated Republicans who once would never have dared cross Bush.

"He has no political capital," said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican pollster. "Slowly but surely it's been unraveling. There's been a direct correlation between the trajectory of his approval numbers and the -- I don't want to call it disloyalty -- the independence on the part of the Republicans in Congress."
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It's hard to believe when you open your eyes and see what's happening around you. They have to go home to constituents who are living through the 'Bush economy'. They have to go home to constituents whose sons and daughters are serving or have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nevermind the destruction of the constitution, the no bid contracts that were put in place so companies could commit fraud against the taxpayers and the Iraqis. Nevermind the patriot act that gives Bush more power and takes away the power and the rights of every individual.

The constituents are aware and when we humans get burned bad we have a long memory. No one is going to forget this.

I'd be afraid if I was a Senator or Congressman. I'd be very afraid. Get the want ads out. And the Neo Cons...I'd love to see them in rags begging on a street corner the way some of the vets are right now.

The Port thing was a ruse, intended to make us think Haliburton was a better alternative, aparently Haliburton, et all. ie Dick Chaney.....felt the need of another uncontested no bid contract.

When do we stop being chumps?

I wonder more and more...

Nite Cornbloggers.