Stocks Struggle

Mr. David Corn,

Very interesting observation(s). I not not a huge fan of either but your post is making me think about both and the overlap of the politics.

Great and good post!

Thanks

Kirk

UHHH, David, isn't this what is known as a "fluff" piece suitable for People magazine? There are at least 20 very important things happening out there right now, why are you writing about Springsteen?

Was nt one of the Joint Chiefs on T.V. yesterday saying Iraq was going well?

Today in Iraq

So if you are confused by what Bush and his Brownshirts are telling you, try using this simple formula:

Reality = The direct opposite of whatever the Neocons say

Example:

"When we listen to peoples phone calls we are getting a warrant"

"No one anticipated the breach of the levees."

"Saddam Hussien has weapons of mass destruction."

"If anyone in my Administration is leaking the identity of a covert CIA agent they would no longer be working in this administration."

"Social Security is bankrupt."

The Value of George Orwell

Charley Reese | March 6 2006

George Orwell remains a valuable writer, though he died in 1950. He was a man who was an active participant in his times, and since the new century appears to be going down the same road as the last one, we can still learn from him.

His essay "Politics and the English Language" ought to be read by every journalist and by everyone who reads journalists or listens to the babble on television.

"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity," he wrote. "When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.

"In our age, there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia," Orwell wrote. Earlier in the essay he had said, "In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible."

Our time and his time remain the same. We invade a sovereign nation based on lies, destroy its infrastructure, depose its government and kill 30,000 of its people, and we call that "spreading democracy" or "defending freedom."

The phrase "war on terror" is a phony metaphor. We are not at war. Ninety-nine and 99/100ths percent of the American people are living the same way they've always lived. We have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq fighting an insurrection that our invasions of those countries caused. They are at war –†a war of their own country's making –†but the rest of us are not. Waving a flag or putting a bumper sticker on one's car cannot be called a war effort.

The "war" is being relegated to the inside pages, and it's a safe bet that no matter what happens in Baghdad, the Academy Awards will receive more coverage and notice than the war. In our nutty society, the choice of a comedian to emcee a Hollywood trade show is considered big, national news.

What distinguishes us from other animals is language, and when we use language not to communicate truth as best we can determine it, but to deceive, mislead, obfuscate and obscure the facts, then we are committing the ultimate sin against humanity. We are playing a dangerous game with our own sanity.

Our own journalists sanitize even their skimpy coverage of the war. The American people must not be allowed to see the real face of war, lest they withdraw their support. The real face of war, of course, is broken bodies, blood, splattered brains and innards, horrible burns and other mutilations. There are no pleasant aspects of war. So, Americans are allowed to see soldiers giving candy to children, and occasionally an explosion on the horizon or the wreckage after the bodies have been removed.

In the meantime, the president and his folks blather on in carefully chosen euphemisms and newspeak just as if they were characters in an Orwell novel. At least the American people are at last beginning to catch on, and Bush's approval rating is 34 percent and his vice president's rating is 18 percent. That speaks well of the American people. They do trust their politicians, though that trust is often abused, but eventually they begin to check actions against words, facts against claims. Once they realized they've been bamboozled, then all the fancy words and euphemisms in the world won't restore their trust.

Bush has been in trouble in Iraq and Europe and Asia, and now he appears to be in trouble at home. He has three more years, so it would be a great help if this year one or both of the houses of Congress shifted to Democratic control. That would restore the checks and balances so necessary to preserve liberty, not that Democrats are any prize. That doesn't matter. The genius of our Founding Fathers is that they realized that as long as government fights itself, the liberty of the people is safe.
-------------
Sorry, but I think George Orwell had more important things to say. He was nearly a prophet it turns out.

Since Bob Dylan ALREADY DONE THAT...and a whole lot better i think...maybe Springsteen is running out of gas. Personally i think the highlight of his career was when he set the music to Patti Smith's "Because the Night," so it doesn't surprise me that the pretentious balladeer of the working class is STILL TRYING to legitimize his mostly unearned claim to fame...

Sal, (to keep the feds off his ass)

David,

Nice to see you writing about music (again). Your passion for the subject shines through.

The phrase "Attention must be paid!" was repeated regarding the powerful documentary films of the year.

The National Attention Span almost guarantees attention being paid to poignant film, literature or music long enough for much of it to sink in to very many...

Apathy of the general population to the looting of our nation will be it's AND our undoing.

-T

To speak the truth in times of universal deciet, is a heroic act.

George Orwell

...music NOT long enough....

These days what are the Democrats doing to stem the evil tide? Besides voting to pass the Patriot Act, they are attacking Howard Dean again. Maybe they can bust out the remastered screech video again. I really do think they are trying to lose.

Bush wants even more power

President George W. Bush will soon make a formal request to Congress for a line-item veto -- authority that would give him power to cancel specific spending items in budget bills, an administration official said on Sunday.

Many presidents have sought such authority on the argument it would help cut down on wasteful spending in the budget. In a rare yielding of some of its powers of the purse strings, Congress passed legislation granting a line-item veto to President Bill Clinton.

The Supreme Court struck down the law in 1998, ruling by a vote of 6-3 that Congress did not have the authority under the Constitution to give the president that power.

More HERE

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

Sure, Bunnypants needs more power. He has not had enough power to get anything right so far. Everything he has screwed up can be fixed by more power.

capt

Corky,

"Preemptive surrender"

I've walked these streets
a virtual stage
it seemed to me
make-up on their faces
actors took their places
next me

I've walked these streets
in a carnival
of sights to see
all the cheap thrill seekers
the vendors and the dealers
they crowded
around me.

Have I been blind,
have I been lost
inside myself and my own mind
hypnotized
mesmerized
by what my eyes have seen?
Natalie Merchant
--------------
Politics have descended into a stage play from hell. It's all deception, nothing you see is the reality, it's just the make-up. Actors acting out a script while the masses are distracted with candy and fluff. These actors aren't going to save us, they are too busy directing the up coming train wreck, anyone who can't see that is blind. The puppets who inhabit Mordor on the Potomac have only one allegience, and it is to the powers that be who control careers and the flow of riches. They have already abdicated their obligation to uphold the constitution. The bill of rights has been murdered by the Patriot act and most of the actors are guilty of enabling it. I am ashamed of them.

Rep. Harris misled us; now we know why

Let's not make this fuzzy: U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris lied.

Now we know.

MZM CEO Wade's plea agreement tells us that he eventually told Harris -- referred to only as "Representative B" in the court document -- exactly what MZM wanted from her.

Wade, the man who handed her a bundle of $2,000 checks, within the year took our Representative B to dinner at a Washington, D.C., restaurant, Citronelle, and asked her to help the company get a defense contract. It involved work in Navy counterintelligence.

Harris dutifully carried his funding proposal to colleagues in Congress, no matter that she knew little about the proposal or whether MZM could deliver anything of value to the nation.

No wonder she didn't want to tell us about that help to Wade.

Choosing Harris was probably a mistake for Wade. Though her public image gave some people an exaggerated notion of her influence with the Republican power structure, she had little clout on defense spending. She also filed the MZM appropriations proposal after a key deadline. MZM did not get the money.

Eventually, word of MZM's sleazy business practices inspired an investigation. It revealed Wade's use of bribery and illegal campaign donations.

Harris is like a magnet for illegal campaign contributions, going back to long before she went to Congress. It seems she is so happy to get campaign money that all red flags remain invisible to her.

More Here

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

Harris lied so she meets the minimum criteria for the neocons.

capt

"We will protect the American people from terrorist's"

Homeland Insecurity

But David, you have forgotten that Bruce is a really lousy folksinger. The execution here will, I am afraid, not quite live up to the idea. I contend that almost anyone who listens to Bruce's folky recordings would throw them out the window if they sounded just the same but didn't have Bruce's name on them. Seeger's work stands just fine on its' own.

corky, the HS goons are there to protect the govt. from "we the people", not we the people from terrorists! Besides, that wouldn't work anyway, how can they protect us from the bad guys when the bad guys are running the country?

Treasury Dept. Moves to Avoid Debt Limit [including tapping certain government retirement funds]
Source: Associated Press
URL Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic ... /03/06/national/w080639S22.DTL
Published: Mar 6, 2006
Author: Associated Press

(03-06) 08:29 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --

Treasury Secretary John Snow notified Congress on Monday that the administration has now taken "all prudent and legal actions," including tapping certain government retirement funds, to keep from hitting the $8.2 trillion national debt limit.

In a letter to Congress, Snow urged lawmakers to pass a new debt ceiling immediately to avoid the nation's first-ever default on its obligations.

"I know that you share the president's and my commitment to maintaining the full faith and credit of the U.S. government," Snow said in his letter to leaders in the House and Senate.

Treasury officials, briefing congressional aides last week, said that the government will run out of maneuvering room to keep from exceeding the current limit sometime during the week of March 20.

Snow in his letter notified lawmakers that Treasury would begin tapping the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, which Treasury officials said would provide a "few billion" dollars in extra borrowing ability.

Treasury officials also announced that on Friday they had used the $15 billion in the Exchange Stabilization Fund, a reserve that the Treasury secretary has that is normally used to smooth out volatile movements in the value of the dollar in currency markets.

Treasury has also been taking investments out of a $65.3 billion government pension fund known as the G-fund.

Officials have said that once the debt limit is raised, the investments taken out of the pension funds would be replaced and any lost interest payments would be made up. The formal title for the G-fund is the Government Securities Investment Fund of the Federal Employees Retirement System.
----------
We are being led to the slaughter. "A few billion extra dollars in borrowing power??" WTF is wrong with these idiots? We are so f**king doomed.

PANDEMIC HITS THE UNITED STATES

No its not the bird flu or SARS. Its called neoconservatism. Symptoms include: A shrinking middle class, poverty, greed, racism, delusion, intimidation, bigotry, crumbling infrastructure,
weakened military, toxic environment, and widespread headaches.

I couldnt believe this story. This si a perfect example of how badly screwed up our moral compass has become.

IGNORANCE KILLS

In a place where outlaws are banned from the rane
On a day mountains has fallen to foes
In a land where boys are forbidden to grow
And metal is the only master
Were the higway ends and the desert breaks
and buildings are bent from great earthquackes
And statesmen crawl on their bellies like snakes
And feed of the public hunger
In a land were sky-scrapers scratch the sky
And delinquent daughters to their mothers still lie
Papa stands on the corner he wants to beat the drum
Welcome Home My Prodigal Son
When Rivers run raising through city streets
And great eagels have fallen from their lofty peaks
And policemen moonlight aside show freaks
for the final crime is commited

-B.Springsteen

Speaking of Prophetic wisdom:
In early 1944, the New York Times asked Vice President Henry Wallace to, as Wallace noted, "write a piece answering the following questions: What is a fascist? How many fascists have we? How dangerous are they?" Wallaceís answer to those questions was published in the Times on April 9, 1944, at the height of the war against the Axis powers of Germany and Japan. See how much you think his statements apply to our society today: "The really dangerous American fascist," Wallace wrote, ". . . is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power."

In his strongest indictment of the tide of fascism he saw rising in America, Wallace added, "They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection." prophets:

Is Trent Lott a "compassionate conservative"?

Global Warming and a Cold Heart

Bob Seeger with Bruce Springsteen ...thats a story ....Corn must be nursing weekend hangover with this fluff page six crappola ...
corn..get on the stick ....

Dear Howard Dean,

I continue to wholeheartedly support your efforts. If it were not for you, Dr. Dean, I would have completely given up on the democratic party by now. Most of the democrats in congress seem to resemble spineless jellyfish. They can't stand up for anything, even each other. If the party has any problems with raising money, I believe it is thier fault and not yours. Maybe if many of the aforementioned jellyfish are booted out of office in November, it will ultimately be a good thing for America. The actions of the democrats in congress are the reason I dont make any more contributions to the Democratic party. When I stay home on election night, it will not be because of your efforts, it will be because of the jellyfish. Perhaps you could share that with Congresswoman Pelosi and Seantor Ried the next time they meet with you. I hope they start listening to you more, maybe we could win big in November.

Dear David,
I liked it. I like music. I like reading about music. Maybe it's fluff but I don't think so because art is sometimes the stenographer of change. It's importance has to be acknowledged. It reminds people of the time it played. When I think of Kent State I think of the song "For What It's Worth" by Steven Stills and sung by Buffalo Springfield

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Performers and political thinkers know that music -- especially music with lyrics -- can be very persuasive in conveying (and building) social and political attitudes. No one expects an actor or
singer or writer or other artist to single-handedly "save us" for cripes sakes! But, musicians (for instance) can have a powerful influence on culture and politics -- a most obvious influence is that music can push political discussion into a certain direction or pattern. That is fact, not fiction. Look at how Nixon in the 70s tried to capitalize on George Wallace's 1968 working-class support using country singers.

I think David's Springsteen/Seeger topic choice is spot on -- shows he can play more than one note!

Ever wonder why Tucker Carlson doesn't seem all that "fair and balanced"?

Like Father, Like Son

He even wears the same stupid bowtie.

Wow. My beloved stocks are dropping faster than Bush's approval rating! Man, it would really suck if I had to go out and get a job. I would have to decide between Wal Mart, McDonalds, or Burger King. Or move to India.

Happy,
You're finally coming around. How do you feel about National Health Care?

I wonder if tucker wore his bowtie in kindergarten.

Dear Harry,
I just read that you're back to work and going strong. That's a pretty powerful statement for somebody who just turned 79 years old. I have also read that the wounds from the birdshot where dick Cheney shot you in the face are almost unnoticeable. And people want you to be their lawyer. You know why that is? Because your honest and honorable. And you are solid under pressure. You proved yourself.

Harry, I wish you were president. I don't know if you're qualified for the position but you're more qualified than the eighth grader we have in the office right now. I would expect you'd find another person for vice president. Having dick Cheney remain would be awkward.

Anyway, here's the link to the article I read.
Harry Whittington

PS Harry, did you ever think you'd make Time Magazine and have an article title with your name to boot?

David,
If we catch the guy who's posting those annoying ticket posts can we beat the living tickets out of him? How about if we send the IBW army after him?

Jeanne,Disgruntled troll postings are tough to eradicate, all they need to do if one IP is blocked is to use another computer. The price we pay for being here I guess.

Bush's Shannon stopover picketed by anti-war group

A small group of anti-war activists held a protest vigil when President George W Bush's plane refuelled at Shannon airport early today.

Airforce One, touched down at Shannon Airport just before 2.45am while bringing Mr Bush home to Washington from his state visit to Pakistan and India.

Nobody disembarked from the plane during its hour long stop-over, according to airport authorities.

A security operation involving several hundred garda? and soldiers was maintained before and during the stopover.

A small group of anti-war campaigners protested at the airport, spokesperson Ed Horgan claimed that such visits put Ireland at risk of a possible terror attack.

"I think if the United States military continue to be allowed use Shannon airport there is a very strong danger Ireland will be attacked, but the attack would be on Dublin, not on Shannon," he said.
---------------------
Ahhh to be loved the world over.

Dave Zweifel: Another Iraq story gets debunked

In November 2001, just two months after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, two high-profile U.S. journalists Chris Hedges of the New York Times and Christopher Buchanan of PBS' "Frontline" were ushered to a meeting in a Beirut hotel with a man identified as Jamal al-Ghurairy, an Iraqi lieutenant general who had fled Saddam Hussein.

The high-ranking Iraqi military officer claimed he had witnessed terrorist training camps in Iraq where Islamic militants learned how to hijack airplanes. About 40 foreign nationals were based there at any given time, he said.

"We were training these people to attack installations important to the United States," he told the journalists at the meeting arranged by the Iraqi National Congress.

Reporter Hedges and producer Buchanan found Ghurairy to be very convincing, worried for his life and very insistent that his face couldn't be shown on camera. He was accompanied by a well-organized entourage.

A story appeared a couple of days later on the front page of the Times and then "Frontline" followed with a report on public television. The stories generated numerous editorials and op-ed pieces and, of course, became the topic of the week on cable talk shows.

Now, the liberal investigative magazine Mother Jones has exposed the "general" as a fake.

"The story of Saddam training foreign fighters to hijack airplanes was instrumental in building the case to invade Iraq," a detailed report in the March-April issue says. "But it turns out that the Iraqi general who told the story to the New York Times and 'Frontline' was a complete fake a low-ranking former soldier whom Ahmed Chalabi's aides had coached to deceive the media."

The Mother Jones investigator, Jack Fairweather, was even able to track down a Lt. Gen. Ghurairy in Iraq. He interviewed him in Fallujah and this Ghurairy said he had never left Iraq, nor had he ever spoken to the U.S. journalists.

..........After the war started, the Bush neocons had a falling out with Chalabi, discovering that much of the information he had provided was fabricated. They also accused him of spying on the U.S. for neighboring Iran. He has had a resurgence in Iraq, though, and is now the deputy prime minister in the new U.S.-sponsored government and apparently back in favor with the Bush people.

He obviously had a major role in helping sell the war to the American people. Thanks to the deceptions, which a compliant American press didn't uncover, some 69 percent of the American public believed that Saddam had a role in the 9/11 attacks.

Springsteen does Seeger
Don't ask me for evidence: This is opinion.

c 2006 O'Reilly

Homage and nostalgia seem like a great idea to many artists as their careers tilt towards senior citizenship. It is a generous instinct as if to say my success and my art is built on this material and I give it all the credit. Unfortunately as an artistic idea, it rarely produces compelling material.

I'm not saying Bruce or his music is old and tired, I'm saying the timeline of his career is now on the backside. In fact, I'd argue Bruce's music is anything but old and tired; as evidence, his 2003 Grammy winning album, The Rising.

From the beginning, Bruce like Dylan took artistically interesting ideas from folk music in developing their own styles of rock. But looking back - doing folk covers - is rarely more than an act of homage and indulgence in nostalgia.

Make this leap with me: The two most simultaneously powerful and crippling ideas of conservatism, both political and musical conservatism, are nostalgia and homage to the past, a time unreasonably elevated in grandeur by hindsight. As my father might have asked, remember the good old days before rock music? Others ask, remember the good old days before Rap? Or, remember when this country had a strong the middle class? Or, remember the good old days of wholesome television like Leave It to Beaver. Those were the good old days: Let's pass laws to defend conservative values and recoup the good old days.

There is no question Seeger was victimized by his own government. Seeger believed in and sang about socialism (some say communism) during the red scare when the US government was rounding up people for thought crimes. I'm not a big fan of communism but neither am I a fan of using government power to deny people their rights - such as equal access to employment - due to their political beliefs, short of sedition.

On an artistic level, folk musicians and large swaths of our society believed Folk music was high art, imbued with high-minded ideals like the folk musicians who performed it. Folk musicians believed the folk art form had a unique and exclusive ability to tell the story of the people. At the same time they granted rock, as an art form, and rock musicians none of those characteristics or abilities. They believed Rock, in comparison to Folk, was an inherently low art form and, as an artistic choice, a commercial sell-out.

The concept of art forms as inherently high or low, inherently valuable or worthless while seductive is ill conceived. Some, who were digging the scene without their rose colored glasses were asking, where does Seeger, a Harvard educated product of a privileged upbringing, come off as common man, a man of the people? Whether fairly sited or not, the apparent hypocrisy once stated became part of the conversation.

At the Newport Folk Music Festival, in a seminal moment in contemporary music history, Dylan rejected the "Folk good, Rock bad" construct and laid bare its false premises. His band, took the stage and performed " Maggie's Farm (link)" and " Like a Rolling Stone (link) " To many folk artists and folk fans, it was an act of betrayal. To Dylan, while mischievous, it was a sincere artistic decision.

Last November, Ozzy released "Under Cover" an album including all his favorite rock songs. Ozzy's career contribution to the rock genre out paced the material he selected Similarly, Aerosmith tried it with "Honkin on Bobo" They recorded their favorite songs, the songs they grew up listening to. They rocked and it was characteristically Aerosmith but it wasn't "Toys in the Attic" or even "Permanent Vacation" Artistically, it was a hat tip to nostalgia. It's clear they enjoyed it but far too much music has been made since those songs were written and first performed; and as a result, the album is missing an era of artistic musical development The result: predictably is that their covers are not so very interesting artistically.

I did not grow up a big Bruce fan. When everyone was playing Born To Run I was listening to other music. As I grow older, my interest in a wide variety of rock music and other forms of music has expanded and continues to expand.

Bruce is a compelling songwriter and performer. He combines story-telling elements from folk music and his own characteristic rock music. His last album "The Rising" was a critical and commercial success with compelling commentary on the events and attitudes in this country since 9/11.

If Bruce asked me, I'd tell him to write new material, the things he cares about, and leave the nostalgia and folk cover song albums to less productive and influential singer/songwriters.

Straight Talk on South Dakota? (Link)

John McCain, that self-styled "maverick" of Republican politics, continues to try to have it both ways, this time on the politics of abortion and specifically, the South Dakota ban. A spokesperson said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would have signed the South Dakota legislation, "but [he] would also take the appropriate steps under state law -- in whatever state -- to ensure that the exceptions of rape, incest or life of the mother were included."

----------
Neither McCain nor Lieberman embrace progressive values.

HI'YA, FOLKS!!!

Oh Happy Day!! Well now, Duke Cunningham gets 8 yr sentence at the "Crossbar Hilton"!

Tom "Ol'Cockroach" DeLay, this can be you, and we can't wait. One perp-walk for mankind!!

Orange jumpsuits on the house!

Who is accountable for Army's descent into torture?
By David R. Irvine and Deborah Pearlstein

...The system of military justice is supposed to reflect and give force to America's values, even in wartime. The uninvestigated, unpunished homicides committed by U.S. personnel against prisoners says a good deal about what has changed in today's military. It suggests that a new "anything goes" ethic has replaced the older, morally driven, Army "values" ethic. In the new ethic, the constraints of law can be set aside whenever expediency or whim demand. Because there is no top-driven command accountability for senior officers, there are no operational boundaries at the bottom of the chain of command. Even if you get caught, if you have enough rank, it won't matter.

The starkest illumination of this corrosive new Army ethic was stated this past week by former Army interrogator Anthony Lagouranis: "Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller [who 'took the gloves off' at Guantanamo Bay] has denied recommending the use of guard dogs to intimidate prisoners during interrogations in Iraq. He also recently said he would not testify in the courts-martial [of two Army dog handlers], invoking his right to avoid self-incrimination. As someone who voluntarily spoke at length about my actions in Iraq to investigators, without a lawyer present, I can't have a favorable opinion of General Miller. By 'taking the Fifth,' he's decided to protect himself, apparently happy to let two dog handlers take the fall - a stunning betrayal of his subordinates and Army values."

Brig. Gen. David R. Irvine, (Ret.), is a former Army Reserve strategic intelligence officer who taught prisoner interrogation and military law for 18 years with the Sixth Army Intelligence School. He currently practices law in Salt Lake City. Deborah Pearlstein is director of the U.S. Law and Security Program at Human Rights First, and a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
---------------------
I want accountablity and I want it to go all the way to the top. Everybody including Bush. They all knew abuse was going on. They all had the power to stop it and they did nothing.

Who is accountable for Army's descent into torture?
By David R. Irvine and Deborah Pearlstein

...The system of military justice is supposed to reflect and give force to America's values, even in wartime. The uninvestigated, unpunished homicides committed by U.S. personnel against prisoners says a good deal about what has changed in today's military. It suggests that a new "anything goes" ethic has replaced the older, morally driven, Army "values" ethic. In the new ethic, the constraints of law can be set aside whenever expediency or whim demand. Because there is no top-driven command accountability for senior officers, there are no operational boundaries at the bottom of the chain of command. Even if you get caught, if you have enough rank, it won't matter.

The starkest illumination of this corrosive new Army ethic was stated this past week by former Army interrogator Anthony Lagouranis: "Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller [who 'took the gloves off' at Guantanamo Bay] has denied recommending the use of guard dogs to intimidate prisoners during interrogations in Iraq. He also recently said he would not testify in the courts-martial [of two Army dog handlers], invoking his right to avoid self-incrimination. As someone who voluntarily spoke at length about my actions in Iraq to investigators, without a lawyer present, I can't have a favorable opinion of General Miller. By 'taking the Fifth,' he's decided to protect himself, apparently happy to let two dog handlers take the fall - a stunning betrayal of his subordinates and Army values."

Brig. Gen. David R. Irvine, (Ret.), is a former Army Reserve strategic intelligence officer who taught prisoner interrogation and military law for 18 years with the Sixth Army Intelligence School. He currently practices law in Salt Lake City. Deborah Pearlstein is director of the U.S. Law and Security Program at Human Rights First, and a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
---------------------
I want accountablity and I want it to go all the way to the top. Everybody including Bush. They all knew abuse was going on. They all had the power to stop it and they did nothing.

To add insult to injury they wrote policy to make abuse acceptable. They used an arm of the government to promote human rights violations.

Ok, something is funky with the blog. The post didn't go through so I decided to add more to my rant.
Weird.

Let's play "read the transcript and find the truthiness."

Keep in mind, the president likes his Phila. Cheesesteaks wiz wit... or is that American wit... well whichever gets him more votes.

And why should you care if he lies about his cheese preference: because he doesn't respect you enough to tell the truth.

---------------------------------------------

Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
Aboard Air Force One
En Route Shannon, Ireland
1:52 P.M. EST

MR. McCLELLAN: All right, this will be brief. The President spoke with President Putin. President Putin initiated the call. President Putin called the President to update him on the Russian side's conversations with Hammas. And they also talked about the Iranian nuclear issue. President Putin talked about the continuing conversations that they are having with the -- that the Russians are having with the regime in Iran.

And on Hamas, the President reiterated the importance of the Quartet statement, which calls for Hamas to renounce violence, recognize Israel and disarm. And that's the two issues that they talked about in the conversation.

Q Where was the President when he talked to him?
MR. McCLELLAN: In the cabin.

Q Right now?
MR. McCLELLAN: It was just a few -- this was completed about 10, 15 minutes ago.

Q How long did they talk?
MR. McCLELLAN: Probably around 15 minutes, maybe a little bit more.

Q Did they talk about the Indian nuclear deal at all?
MR. McCLELLAN: No, just the two topics that they discussed were the -- Hamas and the Iranian nuclear deal.

All right, we'll send this transcript out to everybody on the ground. Have a good flight.

END 1:53 P.M. EST

Weird? You think thats weird? check this out

Does anyone feel confident in our well being after reading this?

Guards Say Homeland Security Headquarters Insecure

WASHINGTON (March 6) - The agency entrusted with protecting the U.S. homeland is having difficulty safeguarding its own headquarters, say private security guards at the complex.

The guards have taken their concerns to Congress, describing inadequate training, failed security tests and slow or confused reactions to bomb and biological threats.

For instance, when an envelope with suspicious powder was opened last fall at Homeland Security Department headquarters, guards said they watched in amazement as superiors carried it by the office of Secretary Michael Chertoff, took it outside and then shook it outside Chertoff's window without evacuating people nearby.

The scare, caused by white powder that proved to be harmless, "stands as one glaring example" of the agency's security problems, said Derrick Daniels, one of the first guards to respond to the incident.

"I had never previously been given training ... describing how to respond to a possible chemical attack," Daniels told The Associated Press. "I wouldn't feel safe nowhere on this compound as an officer."

....."If the allegations brought forward by the whistleblowers are correct, they represent both a security threat and a waste of taxpayer dollars," Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote. "It would be ironic, to say the least, if DHS were unable to secure its own headquarters."

....A litany of problems were listed by the guards, whose pay ranges from $15.60 to $23 an hour based on their position and level of security clearance. Among their examples of lax security:

They have no training in responding to attacks with weapons of mass destruction;

Chemical-sniffing dogs have been replaced with ineffective equipment that falsely indicates the presence of explosives.

Vehicle entrances to Homeland Security's complex are lightly guarded.

Guards with radios have trouble hearing each other, or have no radios, no batons and no pepper spray, leaving them with few options beyond lethal force with their handguns.

-----------------
I'm liking Brownie better every day.
There are a lot of taxpayer dollars going to Homeland Security that have been diverted from police and fire around the nation. I'd like a full report on how effective Homeland Security really is.

Oscars

Read the Winner list this morning! A bit unsettled that I hadn't seen any of the nominated Best Pictures. I can't recall that ever happending! In fact, the only film I saw was the Penguins which was truly GREAT and deserved its Oscar.

Also unusual, and perhaps unsettling to the Hollywood set, none of nominated Best Pictures were Blockbusters. On the positive side, Hollywood need NOT worry about piracy of these `fine' films.

As for Bruce:

Not a big fan except his rocker hits! Thanks to David, now I know he, along with Naderites, share the blame for Global Warming for championng the No Nuke cause. Credit them for no new Nukes in the good ole USA for almost 30 years!

Other:

Did anybody know that the one millioneth American-made BMW rolled off the S. Carolina plant just this past week?

Does anybody care that China intends to build 156 coal-fired power plants in the next 5~10 years to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuel? Like us, China has oodles of coal.

Business Week's March 13 cover story is titled "The New ME Oil Bonanza; Beyond the Dubai Ports deal: Where all those oil billions are going". Didn't I say something related to this in my NONEVENT comment on the Iranian Bourse?

David: Just so you know, Allman Brothers and the Marijuana Brothers are my favorites! Unlike Clinton, I inhaled!

Lastly, congrats in expanding your repertoire of subjects! Over time, bigger and more diverse audience/readers for you! Chat up Tom Friedman and find out what is his `secret to success'?

Den,
That chart at the end was just gross. How can anyone feel good about making a profit on war?

Jeanne, its meant to be humorous, but I told ya it was weird so dont say you werent warned, HehHehHeh

Homeland Security will keep the government safe from irate citizens and civil unrest. FEMA will protect the government from displaced and refugee citizens.

All hail our permanently protected government.

Let freedom reign for a thousand year Reich.

Seek acceptance, hail to the chief!

Seek, hail, seek, hail, seek hail!

Hold your arm out reaching for God!

Seek, hail, seek, hail, seek hail.

(okay I am creeping myself out now)

capt

#47
Friedman's secret to success. His nice head of hair.
The BEAST 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2005

7. Thomas Friedman

Charges: The worst of all creatures in the political opinion jungle: a cretin who thinks he's a genius. Friedman's intolerable knack for converting irreducibly complex geopolitical/socioeconomic situations into simplistic, tin-eared insta-clich?s makes him one of the most dangerous people on the planet, arming people even stupider than him with the illusion of knowledge in the form of a crude vocabulary of badly mixed metaphors and ill-conceived flashcard images, thereby having a negative net effect on the nation's intellect. India and China are "like a bottle of champagne" which someone has been "shaking for 40 years;" the modern economy dictates that "you need to be at a certain level to be able to claim your share of a global pie that is both expanding and becoming more complex;" and the threat of terrorism is a "bubble" that threatens to "undermine" open society. Friedman's disorienting literary ineptitude is nearly enough to distract us from the indisputable fact that he has no fucking idea what he's talking about. For this dolt-friendly parlor trick and a slavish devotion to globalization and technology as abstract, almost mystical tenets, Friedman has achieved iconic status. Exhibits the easy smile and benevolent smugness of an unjustly celebrated man who has never thought very deeply or rigorously about anything at all.

Exhibit A: Despite his constant exaltation of the internet as some kind of global cure-all, Friedman had to actually fly to London to discover that European newspapers were having misgivings about Guantanamo Bay.

Sentence: Column outsourced to Bangalore, where there is some difficulty in finding a peasant ignorant and ineloquent enough to please his audience. Compelled at gunpoint to write a 500-page retraction of his recent best-seller, called No, Actually the World is Round.

#50
That was sort of musical. I liked it except that it was kind of creepy.

#3 Saladin
#25 Bob Who I am with you. Corn slips periodically. Let's see there are just a few other things he could be writing about, the block to investigate the Nsa wire tappings, Nuclear testing in New Mexico, Katrina/Brown, Phase 2, Sibel Edmonds, the Aipac LObby, Iran..just to mention a few important topics.

Remember folks the AIPAC CONFERENCE is taking place the next few days. Many of the folks attending will be lobbying hard for military action against Iran and for H.R.4681. CALL AND WRITE YOUR REPS THIS WEEK...TRUMP AIPAC. Let your representatives know that it is over due for them to stand up to Aipac...over due...

I strongly urge you to oppose H.R. 4681, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006.

The central provision of this resolution would prohibit the United States from providing direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority unless the President certifies that it has fulfilled a long list of subjective and ambiguous conditions. Current law already prohibits the United States from providing direct assistance to the PA unless the President signs a national security waiver, and in fact the United States provides no direct assistance to the PA.

However, this resolution goes far beyond reiterating the current U.S. ban on direct assistance to the PA; it also calls for many troubling provisions that would punish and isolate the Palestinian people for exercising their right to vote, including:

* Restricting humanitarian aid. Through its military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel has de-developed the Palestinian economy by destroying infrastructure and agricultural lands; by inhibiting the development of internal trade through walls, checkpoints, roadblocks, closures, and curfews; and by preventing external trade through border closings. U.S. humanitarian assistance, overseen by USAID and implemented by certified non-governmental organizations (NGOs), is not only essential to preventing the complete collapse of the Palestinian economy under these difficult conditions imposed by Israel; it is also morally necessary, since the United States supports these Israeli policies through $3 billion of direct military and economic assistance every year. Even though it contains a waiver for certain humanitarian aid categories, this resolution threatens U.S. assistance to NGO's in Palestinian territories by putting it in the same category as aid to the PA.

* Designating all Palestinian territory as a "terrorist sanctuary." Under the terms of the "Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004," this designation would trigger restrictions on U.S. exports to Palestinian territories, effectively gutting the free trade agreement between the United States and the West Bank and Gaza Strip and further crippling the Palestinian economy.

* Prohibiting official Palestinian diplomacy or representation in the United States. Restricting Palestinian diplomacy in the United States would be counter-productive to efforts to promote dialogue and a just peace, further eroding the claim by the United States that it is an "honest broker." This resolution would deny visas to PA representatives, restrict the movement of Palestinian diplomats at the UN, and shut down the PLO information office in Washington, DC.

* Targeting the United Nations for supporting Palestinian human rights. The Palestinians have been denied their human rights through Israeli dispossession and military occupation. The UN has voted by overwhelming majorities to create bodies like the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People to advocate for the realization of unmet Palestinian human rights. This resolution seeks to defund these bodies by calling on the United States to withhold UN dues in proportion to the percentage of the UN budget that funds these bodies.

* Denying Palestinians the ability to receive assistance through international financial institutions. The World Bank has been working with the PA to rehabilitate the Gaza Strip since Israel's unilateral "disengagement" from it in 2005. Funds are needed urgently to rebuild thousands of homes that Israel destroyed there. The reconstruction of the Gaza Strip could be in jeopardy if this bill is passed. It contains a provision instructing the United States, which has a controlling vote at the World Bank, to vote against such funding.

The United States says that it is committed to promoting democracy. If that is indeed the case, it is inappropriate for Members of Congress to advance legislation that would punish and isolate people through draconian economic and diplomatic measures when the result of an election is not to the liking of the United States.

Capt, sounds like the Thorazine is wearing off, Nurse!

#5 Saladin and #was it 11? Corky'

Youll have to forgive this post, mu computer's going into my brother-in-law's shop (his home) soon. It is so true that we need much more balance in our leadership. Yes, most Democrats are complete wimps. Not Dean, but he sometimes mispeaks or speaks too provcatively. The real task before us is VALID campaign finance reform. It's the money, as we all know, that's causing everyone to act like lunatics, looking out only for themselves. (I mean the politicians in this case). Cleaning house is the only answer. Everyone current is too bent on not allowing any real ethical reform.

I haven't been able to read much lately as the computer is really messing up. Other people use and misuse it. But did you hear Friday night on Keith Olbermann's (sp?) show on MSNBC about Bill O'Reilly. It's hilarious. They are, of course, locked in a ratings war and Fox/O'Reilly's numbers are slipping while Olbermann's are gaining. Olbermann responded to O'Reilly's hyperbolic, irrational rantings about him in a funny, satirical way. O'Reilly, on his radio show Friday, took a call from Florida. The young man thanked O'Reilly for taking his call, that he really appreciated it, and then mentioned "that I saw Keith Olbermann's...." and was promptly cut off. O'Reilly launced into the most one of the most bizarre rants ever (shoot aren't they all?) about how Fox Security has this caller's number and that they were going to turn it over to the police and that the caller would be looked into. So now O'Reilly has his own secret Fox police? No swear words were involved. It was just the mentioned of Olbermann's name that set O'Reilly off. It's too funny to pass on telling you about. Oh God, is this machine me annoying right now.

# Jeanne the continent of Africa does not exist on Friedmans "The world is flat" map. His opinion is overrated... in his own mind.

He basically took David Korten's book "When Corporations Rule the World" and revised it. Although Korten comes at it from Globaliztion is a negative and Freidman thinks it is good, at least for those who can participate.

This is weird and funny! (video)

I wish Corn would do Bolton instead of writing about Springsteen doing Seeger.

US Envoy Hints at Strike to Stop Iran By Julian Borger The Guardian UK
Monday 06 March 2006
The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, has told British MPs that military action could bring Iran's nuclear programme to a halt if all diplomatic efforts fail. The warning came ahead of a meeting today of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which will forward a report on Iran's nuclear activities to the UN security council.
The council will have to decide whether to impose sanctions, an issue that could split the international community as policy towards Iraq did before the invasion.

Yesterday the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said: "Nobody has said that we have to rush immediately to sanctions of some kind."
However the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, visiting Washington last week, encountered sharply different views within the Bush administration. The most hawkish came from Mr Bolton. According to Eric Illsley, a Labour committee member, the envoy told the MPs: "They must know everything is on the table and they must understand what that means. We can hit different points along the line. You only have to take out one part of their nuclear operation to take the whole thing down."

It is unusual for an administration official to go into detail about possible military action against Iran. To produce significant amounts of enriched uranium, Iran would have to set up a self-sustaining cycle of processes. Mr Bolton appeared to be suggesting that cycle could be hit at its most vulnerable point.

The CIA appears to be the most sceptical about a military solution and shares the state department's position, say British MPs, in suggesting gradually stepping up pressure on the Iranians.

The Pentagon position was described, by the committee chairman, Mike Gapes, as throwing a demand for a militarily enforced embargo into the security council "like a hand grenade - and see what happens".

Yesterday Mr Bolton reiterated his hardline stance. In a speech to the annual convention of the American-Israel public affairs committee, the leading pro-Israel US lobbyists, he said: "The longer we wait to confront the threat Iran poses, the harder and more intractable it will become to solve ... we must be prepared to rely on comprehensive solutions and use all the tools at our disposal to stop the threat that the Iranian regime poses."
; The IAEA referred Iran to the security council on February 4, but a month's grace was left for diplomatic initiatives. By yesterday, those appeared exhausted. A meeting of European and Iranian negotiators broke down on Friday over Tehran's insistence that even if Russia was allowed to enrich Iran's uranium, Iran would enrich small amounts for research. Iran says that it needs enrichment for electricity.

According to Time magazine, the US plans to present the security council with evidence that Iran is designing a crude nuclear bomb, like the one dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. The evidence will be in the form of blueprints that the US said were found on a laptop belonging to an Iranian nuclear engineer, and obtained by the CIA in 2004. However, any such presentation will bring back memories of a similar briefing in February 2003 in which Colin Powell, then US secretary of state, laid out evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which proved not to exist. While the US and Britain keep a united front over Iraq in the UN security council, there are clear differences over Iran. Britain has ruled out a military option if diplomatic pressure fails. The US has not. There is no serious consideration of large-scale use of ground forces, but there are disagreements in the administration over whether air strikes and small-scale special forces operations could be effective in halting or slowing down Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme.

Some believe Iran has secret facilities that are buried so deep underground as to be impenetrable. They argue that the US could never be certain whether or not it had destroyed Iran's "capability".

You may want to consider inserting some punctuation into that Sprinsteen album title--namely, a colon after "We Shall Overcome". As written, it seems to imply that the Seeger sessions are something to be overcome.

Stubborn reformer stays in the fight

Dear Miss Jeanne:

Thank you for calling that Time magazine article to my attention. As you saw, my friends were quoted, but I wasn't. Well, that's the way I generally prefer it. You might say it's my nature.

If you have time, read the article I mention above. You may not agree with all that is in it, but I know that you're a fair-minded, thoughtful person. I think you'll find it interesting in many ways, perhaps especially about one of my daughters and my motivation to change the laws in Texas regarding incarceration and execution of mentally-handicapped people.

Miss Jeanne, I have to tell you, I got a chuckle from that Time writer describing Bob Woody as a restaurateur! Now mind you he does operate restaurants. But he's known more as a bar owner,
an Austin music scene saloon and lounge fellow! Thanks for your kind remarks about my age, but my other friend, my card-playing pal Joe Greenhill, who was mentioned in Time will be 92 in July! So, I'm the youngster at 79.

As long as I live, I will never understand why anyone would want to buy the pellets that the doctors were able to remove after the vice president of the United States shot me in the face. Kind of reminds me of the woman who saw the Virgin Mary on a piece of toast and someone bought the darn toast.

It's beginning to look like Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney have their ox in a ditch, doesn't it?

Well, you take care of yourself.

Corn please do Bolton, Phase 2, Iran, NSA, Katrina, the Aipac conference this week..."Springsteen doing Seeger" just lacks some depth and importance right now.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, speaks Sunday during the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual Policy Conference in Washington.

?WASHINGTON - Iran faces Ҵangible and painful consequencesӠif it continues its nuclear activities and the United States will use ҡll tools at our disposalӠto stop this threat, a senior U.S. official said Sunday, ahead of a crucial international meeting on Iran.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, speaking at a convention of Jewish-Americans, said it is too soon for the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran but other countries are talking about doing so and Washington is Ңeefing up defensive measures to cope with the Iranian nuclear threat.ӊ
Monday’≥ meeting of the 35-nation International Atomic Energy Agency governing board is expected to take stock of Iran’≥ continued defiance of U.S. and European demands to end sensitive weapons-related uranium enrichment activity and then hand the case over to the security council.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement

Security council concerns
Iran Sunday again threatened to begin large-scale nuclear enrichment if the case is taken up by the security council.

Ҕhe longer we wait to confront the threat Iran poses, the harder and more intractable it will become to solve,ӠBolton warned.

Ҕhe Iran regime must be made aware that if it continues down the path of international isolation, there will be tangible and painful consequences,Ӡhe told 4,500 delegates to the annual convention of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel U.S. lobbying group.

He said Iran poses a ңomprehensive threatӠas a state sponsor of terrorism as well as a nuclear aspirant and so ҷe must be prepared to rely on comprehensive solutions and use all the tools at our disposal to stop the threat that the Iranian regime poses.ӊ
The United States has had sweeping sanctions on Iran since after the 1979 Iranian revolution but is looking at ways to further use its Proliferation Security Initiative to deny Iran materials it needs for its nuclear program, he said.

Bolton reaffirmed that the United States does not see the security council moving quickly to impose sanctions on Iran, but he pointedly noted that ҭany other governments have begun to include the word sanctions in their discourse on Iran,Ӡimplying they may take action outside the security council.
Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited.

IFFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE..THIS VIDEO IS WORTH WATCHING...

Pigs At The Trough
U.S. Politicians Line Up To Prostitute Themselves For AIPAC

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is holding its annual policy conference this week. Speakers today include House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Fmr. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) and, via satellite, the chairman of Israel's Labor Party, Amir Peretz.
3/6/2006: WASHINGTON, DC: 40 min.

#23 Corky

I forgot to add in my last post how prescient Henry Wallace's 1944 comments were. He and George Orwell, and, surprise of surprises, even Dwight Eisenhower (not quite in the same mode though, but still his warning of the coming military-industrial complex had foresight.)

For anybody who's interested, Gore Vidal can now be found on www.truthdig.com. Not regularly, but still anything he writes or says contains such jewels. Robert Scheer is the editor/commentator and one of the founders of this website. When he was fired by the LA Times, I starting reading it less often. But it is the only significant mainstream newspaper on the west coast.

#58 Kathleen.

I saw that Bolton speech. It made me absolutely cringe. I wrote so many letters to editors and to Congressmen/women to plead for Bolton not to be voted through.

Just a reminder of what I said to Bob Woodward in 2002. Got that?

"I'm the commander, see? I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."

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

#60
Dear Harry,
I read the article. I wish all Republicans were like you. I even wish all Democrats were like you. I wish everbody cared as much as you do. Our country would be in a lot better shape.

People just need to work hard to make the community they live in a better place. Congress needs to help the nation forge ahead. We need to be progressive. Just look what you did for the prison system. What good is sending someone to prison if the prisoner isn't learning to better himself? Punishment should only be part of the solution. You were a good man to think of those less fortunate. A man who can't think through problems very well needs help from those who can. Even a man who has done things wrong in society needs protecting.

#65
But that doesn't mean it's not stupid.

Politically speaking, tribal nationalism always insists that its own people is surrounded by "a world of enemies", "one against all", that a fundmental difference exists between this people and all others. It claims its people to be unique, individual, incompatible with all others, and denies theoretically the very possibility of a common mankind long before it is used to destroy the humanity of man: Hannah Arendt, from her book The Origins Of Totalitarianism p.227

=
Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God: Benjamin Franklin

=
The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance: Benjamin Franklin

===

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

"Solutions are not the answer." ~ Richard M. Nixon

"As far as I am concerned now, I have no enemies in the press whatsoever."

"The press is the enemy."

"I am not a crook."

~ Richard M. Nixon

Line-Item Veto Watch

You've got to give Bush credit for chutzpah.

He hasn't vetoed a bill in five years. Relations with the Republican-led Congress are suddenly very testy. There are increasing concerns that the executive branch has repeatedly exceeded its Constitutional authority.

So what does he do? Ask for a line-item veto, that's what. (And never mind that the Supreme Court ruled the last line-item veto attempt unconstitutional.)

This morning, at the swearing-in of the new chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Edward Lazear, Bush announced he would transmit to Congress a new line-item veto proposal. Here's the transcript .

Reuters reports: "Bush said the proposal would be designed 'to meet Supreme Court standards' and would 'give me the authority to strip special interest spending and earmarks out of a bill and then send them back to Congress for an up or down vote.' "

Bush mentioned the line-item veto in his State of the Union speech in January, leading to much head-scratching at the time. But in fact, Bush has mentioned his desire for the authority to micromanage Congressional bills several times before.

(link)

"You must pursue this investigation of Watergate even if it leads to the president. I'm innocent. You've got to believe I'm innocent. If you don't, take my job."

"You've got to learn to survive a defeat. That's when you develop character."

"You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference."

"You must never be satisfied with losing. You must get angry, terribly angry, about losing. But the mark of the good loser is that he takes his anger out on himself and not his victorious opponents or on his teammates."

"Well, I screwed it up real good, didn't"

~ Richard M. Nixon

LOSE THE IMPEACHMENT BATTLE, WIN THE WAR?

Jeanne Cummings writes in the Wall Street Journal that Democratic Party leaders are keeping their distance from impeachment talk.

"They remember how the effort boomeranged on Republicans in the 1998 midterm elections, when Mr. Clinton's adversaries expected to gain House seats but lost ground instead. . . .

"A House resolution offered by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan seeking an initial impeachment inquiry has attracted support from just 26 of 201 House Democrats.

(link)

2/24th's = 1/12 = 2 hours of "24" on Fox now, Mon 8pm EST

Icelandic pop singer Bjork in a Swan Lake tutu, complete with billed head, stitched onto a flesh-colored bodysuit. (photo)

Sad day in baseball.

Puckett dies after massive stroke

On the day Kirby Puckett retired from baseball, he tried reassuring everyone that the sadness of losing sight in his right eye wouldn't diminish the spirit fans had seen him show for 12 seasons in a Twins uniform.
"Kirby Puckett's going to be all right," he said in 1996. "Don't worry about me. I'll show up, and I'll have a smile on my face. The only thing I won't have is this uniform on. But you guys can have the memories of what I did when I did have it on."

condolences j. kirby was an admirable ball player, happy to be a role model.

US government near to debt limit

US Treasury Secretary John Snow has told Congress to raise the government's credit limit in order to avoid having some of its operations shut down.

The government needs Congressional authority to borrow and the total accumulated debt is now close to its limit of $8.2 trillion (£4.7 trillion).

If the limit is not increased, the government could find it difficult to pay debts or borrow money.

Congress is expected to agree to an extension, averting any debt crisis.

Massive deficits

In a letter to Congress, Mr Snow said he has already taken "prudent and legal actions" to avoid reaching the debt limit.

These include tapping the civil service pension funds and using the $15bn in the Exchange Stabilisation Fund, a reserve held for smoothing out volatile movements in the value of the dollar in currency markets.

But the Treasury has warned that such measures will only postpone the credit deadline until mid-March, when an extension will be needed.

This is the fourth time George W Bush's administration has asked Congress to raise the government debt limit.

His administration has produced a series of massive deficits, brought on by the post dot-com recession, tax cuts, the September 11 attacks and wars and reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The US government has never defaulted on its debts, and to do so would destroy its credit rating and raise the cost of any future borrowing.

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

Sounds like Snow has done all of the creative accounting (Enron style) that can be done. That means the NEXT time we push the debt limit will be sooner and there will be no tricks up their sleeves to postpone the inevitable.

capt

The Genius of Art Buchwald
By Ronald G. Shafer

As Art Buchwald keeps his fellow patients in stitches at a Washington hospice, it's time to remember how this national treasure of humor has kept us all laughing for more than 50 years. In his heyday, Buchwald, now 80, was in more newspapers than any other columnist. Harry Truman's secretary of state, Dean Acheson, called him "the greatest satirist in English since Pope and Swift."

more (link)

When are we going to get any politicians from any side to say ENOUGH!

We cannot keep doing this borrowing.

This issue really chaps my hide.

capt

Bush's Self-Evident Certitude
By Michael Kinsley

In his biography of Margaret Thatcher, the British journalist Hugo Young used the term "inspirational certainty" to describe the strength that some political leaders get from refusing to let anything change their minds. Thatcher had it, and so did Ronald Reagan. Bush would like to have it. But on this particular issue, at least, he can't because he actually has changed his mind. In the 2000 election he opposed what was then called nation-building -- and he opposed it for all the self-evident reasons. Now he supports it, for equally self-evident reasons. If the arguments for both sides of some policy question are self-evident, the correct answer must not be. But Bush avoids the trap of complication by taking his self-evident truths sequentially.

Bush parries any challenge to explain his change of views with the simple assertion that Sept. 11, 2001, changed everything. It's easy to see how that day might have changed his opinion about the urgency of the war on terrorism. But how, exactly, is it supposed to have changed his opinion about the aggressive pursuit of democracy as a tactic in that war?

We don't want a President Hamlet, publicly rehearsing his doubts as he leads the nation into battle. But the men and women risking their lives for democracy in Iraq deserve at least a tiny sense that the president who sends them there has considered the evidence against his policy and has some sense of why he rejects it.

more (link)

Oh this never happens. No.

Wal-Mart paying bloggers to burnish image

As it tries to burnish a beleaguered image, Wal-Mart is sidestepping the mainstream media -- whose stories traditionally provided the fodder for Web logs -- and working directly with bloggers, feeding them exclusive nuggets of news, suggesting topics for postings and even offering them trips to its headquarters to learn more about the company, the New York Times reports in Tuesday editions, RAW STORY has learned.

Among those being paid include Michael Krempasky of RedState.org, which was reported in 2005.

The Times declares "the strategy is raising questions about what bloggers and the companies that reach out to them should disclose to readers."
--------------------
"even offering them trips to its headquarters to learn more about the company"

The only drawback to that great trip was that the blogger probably had to pay the airfare himself. And of course the hotel and by the way when you leave, take the pen and give it to Wal Mart headquarters. Wal Mart saves a bundle that way. They have their buyers take the pens from hotels to bring it back to corporate. Of course it's cheap. Of course it would cost the hotel money if everybody took what they wanted from the rooms. So what. Right? It's a pen. It's advertising for the hotel. Right?

It's cheap.

Oh and if you have to call headquarters for anything...um...it's on your dime.

One more thing. I have never used a hotel pen I liked. They are instantly out of ink. And Wal Mart wants their employees to pinch them. Brother.

Charles Krauthammer Reviews Syriana

Most liberalism is angst- and guilt-ridden, seeing moral equivalence everywhere. "Syriana" is of a different species entirely -- a pathological variety that burns with the certainty of its malign anti-Americanism. Osama bin Laden could not have scripted this film with more conviction.

(link)
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It seems Charles didn't enjoy the movie.

Rob Reiner: Ceaseless in California
By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Rob Reiner talks at about 165 miles per hour. He tosses out facts, findings and strategies as if at any moment he'll run out of time to make the next, vital point.

This actor, director and producer whose success defines the term "box office" is on a dual crusade: to change the direction of politics and to improve the performance of kids in schools. He bids, someday, to be the Democrats' answer to Ronald Reagan.

He is, like Reagan, the opposite of a dilettante. He's thinking of the long term -- he's decided not to run for anything this year. He wants to end conservative ideology's long run, which the Gipper inaugurated. Reiner hopes to convince his fellow citizens, first in California and then in the nation, that they can get a return on their tax dollars.

more (link)
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First he'll have to shed the Meathead moniker.

And to George W. Bush we say: "You have asked us to 'Bring it on' and so have we, like never expected. Have you another challenge?"

A message from Iraqi resistance

Peace activist Sheehan arrested in NY protest Mon Mar 6, 4:00 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist whose son was killed in the Iraq war, was arrested with three other protesters in New York on Monday after a rally with women from Iraq.

Sheehan became a central figure in the U.S. anti-war movement last summer after she camped outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch and has been arrested at least two other times at protests.

On Monday, she had joined a delegation of women from Iraq at the rally at the United Nations, urging the United Nations to help prevent civil war in Iraq.

About 20 protesters went to the U.S. mission to the United Nations to deliver a petition with 60,000 signatures seeking an end to the war. Nobody from the mission received them so Sheehan and three other American women sat down in front of the building, refused to leave, and were arrested.

A police spokesman said they were expected to be released later on Monday.

The Iraqi women plan to deliver a petition to the White House on Wednesday. Earlier they held a news conference at U.N. headquarters calling for the United States to withdraw its forces.

Entisar Mohammad Ariabi, a pharmacist at Baghdad's Yarmook Teaching Hospital, wept as she told reporters of the hardships experienced by Iraqi women.

"U.S. occupation has destroyed our country, made it into a prison," she said. "Schools are bombed, hospitals are bombed."

"We thank you, Mr. Bush, for liberating our country from Saddam. But now, go out! Please go out!" she said.

(

South Dakota abortion law is the religious right's first pitch to Alito

Here's what the religious right says to rape victims: "If you're passed around and violated by thugs, we don't care. It's not about you; it's about the fetus."

And these people have the gall to claim moral superiority. It's all about "the little babies." They care nothing about the lives of the women. They are the fascists of our time. We ignore them at our own risk.

more (link)

#73 - Froomkin does a good job over there, and probably fades alotta heat for it too. I've got two quotes from that article that stood out for me.

"GEN. PACE: Anything can happen, and I agree with George Casey, and he's a very practical commander because he needs to be focused on the worst that could happen so he can be ready for it.
Somebody needs to rub Doofus' nose in that last part...ie, Iraq War, Katrina, and on and on. That's what a real leader does.

As Eggen notes, Bush has called the NSA leak "a shameful act" that was "helping the enemy." But no one in the administration has yet to provide a vaguely coherent answer to this question: How is it possibly relevant to terrorists whether their conversations are being wiretapped with or without a warrant? It is, of course, hugely relevant to the Constitution.

Common sense. None of this Rovian bullshyt has any.

Oh thank you, O'Reilly for the Art Buchwald link! He is a national treasure.

Robert Fisk: Somebody is trying to provoke a civil war in Iraq.

This is a very interesting interview. Fisk really knows the Middle East. He lives in Lebanon and reports on the area.

the government has the technology to alter live video in real time.

www.nodeception.com

In the fraction of a second between video frames, any person or object moving in the foreground can be edited out, and objects that aren’t there can be edited in and made to look real. “Pixel plasticity,” Livingston calls it.

Holy Mother of God

Via Steve Bartin, we have yet another horror story of government spying -- in the name, as always, of "national security":

.....And all they did was pay down their debt. They didn't call a suspected terrorist on their cell phone. They didn't try to sneak a machine gun through customs.

They just paid a hefty chunk of their credit card balance. And they learned how frighteningly wide the net of suspicion has been cast.

After sending in the check, they checked online to see if their account had been duly credited. They learned that the check had arrived, but the amount available for credit on their account hadn't changed.

....They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.
--------------
Well, at least I don't have to worry about this one. You need a chunk of money to pay off a chunk of debt.

#91
Good article James.
That's great.
Note to MSM. Just because you have the toy doesn't mean you have to use it.

#87, from the link: "Has anyone paid attention to the details of the bill that was passed and signed into law by the Republican governor? Are you aware that the bill would outlaw abortions even for women who have been raped or are victims of incest."

Yes, I certainly noticed. Unless I have missed something, all of the legislators in favor of this bill were men. It brings up the chauvinistic image of bush in the Rose Garden signing the unconstitutional "partial-birth abortion ban" (BTW, there is no such terminology in the medical lexicon!), where he was surrounded by men - nary a woman in sight!

The ability to decide when, how and with whom to have a child is fundamental to a woman's right to determine her own life.

AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN ABORTIONS, EVEN IN THE CASE OF RAPE OR INCEST, ARE BANNED!!!!!!!

The March 6, 2006 Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
The magic bullet and the tale of two storms:

Q I just wanted to ask in advance of the trip to New Orleans, something that broke last week that I don't think in the middle of the trip everybody sort of got their arms around -- I'm hoping you can clarify for me. That Associated Press report last week, it seemed to suggest that on the Thursday after Katrina, the President gave this interview on "Good Morning America" where he said there was no way to anticipate the severity of the storms or the levees breaking; and then from the briefing on Sunday, it appears as though Max Mayfield and others are telling him that's exactly what could happen. Is there a contradiction here?

A: "Remember, there were really two storms that hit, the initial hurricane and then the flooding that came after it. What we know now is that the worst-case scenario really did hit New Orleans, that the levees were breached. What the President was referring to was the sense that after the storm had initially passed, that there was a sense that that worst-case scenario had not happened.

more (link)
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Yes, Two Storms, really; the hurricane, followed by the calm (AKA the president's complete disinterest and lack of attention) and then the second storm; nationwide astonishment by the lack of federal assistance for residents trapped in their houses, the Superdome and the convention center. The explanation doesn?t even make sense. Does it?

Why were news agencies able to get reporting crews in to film while National Guard was not? As if this abysmal lack of leadership isn't enough, the White House makes it worse by trotting out this lame (lie) explanation. Shameless.

oops, I didn't realize I was hollering at the top of my lungs...

oh, well. shit happens

micki, Art's daughter lives in my neighborhood. I've never talked to her about her father. I hope she's ok... so hard to be lose a parent.

Micki,
I heard you all the way up here in the state right next to South Dakota. Old Rich White Men always know best.

I just hope they're willing to walk the walk. If one of their daughters gets pregnant, will that man suddenly take a nice trip with his family? Maybe not but I remember way back when that was how it worked. They do "God's work" until it's inconvienent. They leave no options for the poor but have the resources to take care of the problem if it arises in their own family.

A Marine source follows up on Wonkette's report that CentCom is blocking certain undesirable websites from reaching the troops.

more (link)

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I wonder if DavidCorn made list the of subversive websites

#98...or what about one of their girlfriends getting pregnant? Pretty quick decision, dontcha think?

#98 "W"'s girlfriend got an illegal abortion in 1971 when he was hot to trot in Texas. Larry Flynt had the goods October 2000.

BERNIE WARD PROGRAM Fri Oct 27, 2000 KGO AM

George W. Bush and Illegal Abortion

Capt 78, most people won't get it until they are filling wheel barrels full of dollars to take to the market to buy bread. Same counterfeit money, different century. Right now we have the luxury of worrying about things like abortion, global warming, racism, wars of agggression, pollution, etc. etc. But just wait until people are really and truly starving on a massive scale in this country. Imagine a 20 KM meteor hurtling towards the earth, and the bullseye is smack dab in the center of America, it will impact in 7 days and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. How many people will worry about spotted owls and Redwoods? Newts and Siberian Tigers? Global Warming and vanishing rain forests? Well, that meteor is our economy, and it isn't 7 days from imploding, but implode it will, and soon. And there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. Pay off your debts, protect yourself.

That was also reported on Democracy Now when Larry Flynt was on the program. I wish the press had had the courage to report that news when they found out about it. But everyone involved, including the old girlfriend, sunk into the woodwork. Safer that way. What could the reporters report without evidence to back up the story?