David:

I'm a late comer to the the whole Plame incident....was a very minor issue (to me) until coming to your blog!

My guess is this `-gate', and your Lies book, brought you where you are today! Good for you; not that I agree with stirring up a pot of water on a cold stove!

the book is far more about the fraudulent selling of the war than the leak case.

good! the fraudulent selling of the war tends to be overlooked amongst the american idles of today.
----
meanwhile, the war on arabs continues.

STAYING THE COURSE OF COURSE!
bushco '08

bushco inc. we're your go-to guys!
specializing in:
strategic tower removals
depleted uranium seeding
budget and pension appropriations
now featuring no-bid contracts!

The `near impossible' for Ms. Sekula-Gibbs maybe just a tad less impossible! Now, that's what I call putting the ole Thinking Cap On! Gov. Rick Perry, you da Man!

How To Give A Write-In Candidate An Advantage?
Keeping Texas-22
By Erick

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs is not the easiest name to remember for a write-in, but she is the candidate the Texas GOP settled on to keep Tom DeLay's seat out of the hands of Nick Lampson. Ms. Sekula-Gibbs has two problems in this heavily Republican district: (1) she is running as Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, which is not exactly an easy name to spell and (2) she's a write-in candidate.

Today, Governor Rick Perry made things a little easier for her. He called for a Special Election to fill the remainder of Tom DeLay's term, which does not end until January. The Special Election will be held on November 7, 2006, the same day as the general election race to succeed him in the next session of congress.

Candidates have until Friday to pay a qualifying fee. That means Ms. Sekula-Gibbs' name will appear on the ballot, making it easier for people to write her in on the ballot in the separate race. The tactic might confuse some voters. It is not often one gets to vote for a listed candidate in one section of a ballot and then write in the same candidate in another section of the ballot. However, should the Sekula-Gibbs campaign and the Texas GOP work together to educate voters, things should turn out nicely for the GOP in Texas 22.
------------------------------------------------
spy,
Don't forget your favorite battle cry: "It's time to kill Islamo-Fascists in Large Numbers!"

Good call David. Don't take the bait.

How does Hitchens get his laptop computer inside that whiskey bottle? Oops Correction. Gin bottle.

1 Bourbon, 1 shot and 1 beer. . .

I would rather sit on a pumpkin, all by myself,
than share a velvet cushion.

#3 Didn't you just post this on the last thread?

[Hubris] the book is far more about the fraudulent selling of the war than the leak case.

I'd still rather sit on a pumpkin all by myself than share a velvet cushion.

In Memoriam

Talcott Williams Seelye (1922-2006)
By Andrew I. Killgore

FORMER AMERICAN ambassador to Tunisia and Syria, and eminent Middle East expert Talcott Seelye died at his home in Bethesda, Maryland on June 8. Born in Beirut, Lebanon to American parents who were professors at the American University of Beirut, Talcott early on absorbed the rhythms of the Arabic language. He later studied at the State Department?s Foreign Service Institute, where he became one of our best linguists.

Seelye had two Middle East-related assignments in the State Department: first as director of Arabian Peninsula affairs and then as the director of Arabian North affairs. He also was senior deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of African Affairs. When Ambassador Francis Meloy, Jr. was assassinated in Beirut in 1976, President Gerald Ford appointed Seelye as special emissary to Lebanon. There he oversaw the evacuation of 200 Americans by the U.S. Navy?s 6th Fleet.

Talcott Seelye was proud of his New England heritage. In the early days the family was wealthy, but a consensus seems to have been reached among its members that the pursuit of wealth was not a worthy goal for a great family?which counted among its ancestors adventurer Robert Seelye, who came to Massachusetts with John Winthrop in the early 1600s. After that the family produced professors and college presidents.

Seelye?s great-grandfather was president of Amherst College in Massachusetts, from which Talcott graduated Phi Beta Kappa. His great uncle was the first president of Smith College. His daughter, Kate, a Beirut-based journalist, herself graduated from Amherst, which later honored her with a Doctorate of Humane Letters. His son, Talcott, Jr., also attended Seelye?s beloved Amherst. When Talcott?s father returned to the United States from Lebanon, he became the first president of Saint Lawrence University in Canton, New York. The rigorous sense of ethics that he absorbed from his New England heritage stayed with Seelye throughout his career and his life.

An example of his standing by his convictions occurred in 1953, when President Eisenhower assigned Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Producers Association, to divide the Jordan River waters between Israel and the Arab states. When Johnston reached Amman, Jordan, where Talcott was assigned to the American Embassy, the staff told Johnston that the Arabs politically could not agree with Israel.

Johnston took the staff?s answer to mean it disagreed with him personally, when in fact it had simply given its honest assessment of the situation. Johnston had everyone transferred, except Seelye. He stood by his guns and remained at the Embassy.

The Zionists did everything they could to undercut Talcott, saying his sympathies toward the Arabs were so great that he sacrificed American interests. This, of course, was a scurrilous lie. He was a patriotic American, with superb judgment, good sense and with deep skills in his craft. Gradually, through the years, as he appeared on radio and television programs about the Middle East, and through his writings, he became recognized as the leading spokesman for the State Department?s often maligned Arabists.

Talcott Seelye was married to the beautiful Joan Hazeltine. The Seelyes? three daughters, Lauren Harris, Amanda Salzman and Kate Seelye, paid homage to their father at a large memorial service held in Bethesda, Maryland. Two of their grandaughters, Kate and Anne Salzman, read exerpts from the Bible and the Qur?an.

Andrew I. Killgore, a retired foreign service officer and former U.S. ambassador to Qatar, is publisher of the Washington Report.

http://www.wrmea.com/archives/August_2006/0608048.html

I don't have too much to say about Hitchens. The guy is not in control.

HUBRIS:
Did the minute men sell the idea to fight the British?
Did Lincoln sell the people on the Civil War?
Did Churchill sell FDR on the idea to help win WWII?
Did Bush's father sell the idea of removing Saddam from Kuwait?
Why don't you take you nursery rhymes to your kindergarten class?

NYT: Ohio officials prepare to destroy paper ballots from 2004 presidential election

Ohio officials will soon begin destroying the paper ballots from the 2004 presidential election despite objections from voter rights groups, according to a story slated for Wednesday's edition of The New York Times.

"Soon after the 2004 presidential election, questions emerged about how votes were tallied in Ohio, a battleground state that delivered the presidency to George W. Bush," Ian Urbina writes for the Times.

"Now, following a routine procedure, state officials are preparing to destroy the paper ballots from the election," writes Urbina.

"Critics say the ballots should be preserved for more study," the article continues.
--------------
Well, I know the election was stolen. Blackwell could prove me wrong by doing a recount but he would rather destroy the ballots. Pity. I will forever think of him as a thief and a person who has turned his back on democracy.

#9
Along with an upside down copy of 'My Pet Goat'.

NYT: Americans grow more pessimistic about economy

Americans are growing more pessimistic about the economy, according to a story slated for the front page of Wednesday's New York Times.

"Americans are more pessimistic than they have been all year about the state of the economy, according to a new report that reflects a widespread view that a period of brisk growth is coming to an end," writes Jeremy W. Peters for the Times.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that in its monthly survey, American consumer confidence fell sharply in August to its lowest level since last November. The latest index reading of 99.6 was below the 107.0 reported in July, and represented the steepest single-month decline since the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina a year ago.

"Ouch," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist with High Frequency Economics, in a research report on the index.

The pace of growth in the American economy has slowed by more than half since the first quarter, and many economists say they think the outlook will grow worse, not least because consumers sense the slowdown and are reining in their spending accordingly.

First Source of C.I.A. Leak Admits Role, Lawyer Says
By NEIL A. LEWIS
August 30, 2006

Ms. Wilson was a covert employee, and after Mr. Novak printed her identity, the agency requested an investigation to see whether her name had been leaked illegally.

More HERE

Re:(And a reminder: the book is far more about the fraudulent selling of the war than the leak case.)

Oh, how you would like to hide your previous rantings on the Valerie Plame case.

Your credibility-----ZIP

We're still waiting for the New Mexico company's report on WTC 7, but here's some new pictures I hadn't seen. Shows the big gouge on the south side went all the way to the top. See the explanation in several pictures of the east penthouse falling first.
As the collapse progressed down the sourtheast, the mass landed on the cantilevered section of the lower floors (7 seconds later) and pulled the 7th floor eastward, pulling columns out of alignment across most of the south and middle of the building at once:
Then it shows a diagram.

Check it out, it's a small post... not a looooong page to scroll thru...
new pictures of 7

I'm a little confused. Are you saying that Armitage and Rove both leaked this information? You said that Armitage was the original source to Novak. You then mention that Rove leaked it to Cooper and Libby confirmed the information. What I don't understand is why Rove is a 'leaker' and not a 'confirmer'? There is a very big difference between the two. One is illegal while the other is not. Is it not possible that Cooper learned this from Novak or from some other source (namely Woodward but possibly someone else)? How would Rove be a 'leaker' in this case? You seem intent on not having your original assessment to be proven wrong and have chosen to color it in a different light now that new information is available. You use words like 'might' to describe your original viewpoint but that's not how it came across when it was first posted. You are the journalist, re-read it and tell me where the 'might' is either written or implied. Your words were not only harsh and damning but misguided and misinformed. Had your article been called 'A White House Smear?' (notice the question mark), your current version of events 'might' seem a little more credible. I guess you have the right to continue alleging that the White House was somehow involved but you know that no one will be charged with breaking the law in this case. Since you seem to have forgotten, this whole issue was about whether a law had been broken. Now that your quiver is empty, I would suggest you put down your bow.

From the previous blog!

#70 Jeanne and Carey, we need to live a life of service, whether we are CEOs or domestic help. Whoever gets results should be awarded the contracts. Do you realize how much money the Nazis have wasted that could have benefitted people and these contracts were awarded to their bed partners? People for some reason complicate their lives with egos and selfishness.

#83 Jeanne, I give people credit who can swallow their pride and admit their mistakes. We all make mistakes. No one is perfect! An apology takes tremendous courage in the wake of dead and maimed bodies. Pride damns the soul and humility saves the soul.

Hitchens is a big nothing. He's from England! Does he have American citizenship? He is part of the slime that oozes out of Washungton.

alan that does appear to be quite a gouge! i still think that the manner and speed in which it fell were suspicious though, but i never was very big on 7 as any kind of proof -

Hang in there and keep your head steady and strong! Christopher Hichens isn't even an American - and everyone knows he always shoots from the hip! So what he does is nothing new.... Keep up the great work David! Rob

American Soldiers

2,964 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his lies.

16 I'm a little confused.
Posted by: David Ross at August 30, 2006 01:04 AM

More than a little.

hey originroc happy @3!
spy,
Don't forget your favorite battle cry:...

don't pin that bullshit on me when you know damn well who the source of that quote is!

March 2003: The United States invades Iraq.

October 2006: The world finds out why.

What was really behind the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq? As George W. Bush steered the nation to war, who spoke the truth and who tried to hide it? Hubris takes us behind the scenes at the Bush White House, the CIA, the Pentagon, the State Department, and Congress to answer all the vital questions about how the Bush administration came to invade Iraq.

Filled with new revelations, Hubris is a gripping narrative of intrigue that connects the dots between George W. Bushís expletive-laden outbursts at Saddam Hussein, the bitter battles between the CIA and the White House, the fights within the intelligence community over Saddamís weapons of mass destruction, the startling influence of an obscure academic on top government officials, the real reason Valerie Plame was outed, and a top reporterís ties to wily Iraqi exiles trying to start a war. Written by veteran reporters Michael Isikoff and David Corn, this is the inside story of how President Bush took the nation to war using faulty and fraudulent intelligence. It is a news-making account of conspiracy, backstabbing, bureaucratic ineptitude, journalistic malfeasance, and, especially, arrogance.

Hubris, the book, is far more fraudulent than the selling of the Iraq war or the CIA leak case.

It is truly amazing how many non-Americans screw up the American mind, Hitchens, Chalabi (spell), Hezbelloh with their efficient way of completing relief services that help people.

Do you suppose that Hezbelloh will garnish more and more converts for Islam?

WHAT A STUPID STATEMENT...BUT, I EXPECTED NOTHING BETTER FROM YOU....ARMITAGE WAS THE 'FIRST' LEAKER....DUH....THE FIRST IS THE ONLY LEAKER ALL THE REST ARE JUST REPEATING WHAT THEY HEARD.
YOU ALL SPEAK OF ESPIONAGE AND TREASON..HOW ABOUT SANDY BERGER STEALING CLASSIFIED INFORMATION SO THE PUBLIC WOULD NEVER SEE BILL CLINTON'S ROLE IN ALLOWING TERRORISM TO FLOURISH ...DID NOTHING WITH THE FIRST 1993 ATTACK....SOME PEOPLE WENT TO JAIL BECAUSE OF NY'S LAW ENFORCEMENT, IF THEY WAITED FOR CLINTON THEY WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN THAT MUCH DONE....THE BALI BOMBINGS BEFORE PRESIDENT BUSH TOOK OFFICE...BUT, YOU SAY HE STARTED ALL THE TERRORIST'S BOMBINGS...OH, WE HAVE TO FORGET THAT ONE AND THE TOWERS...AND BY THE WAY...THE U.S.S. COLE WHICH CLINTON DID NOTHING ON...DIDN'T EVEN MEET THE SAILORS WHO WERE KILLED IN THAT ATTACK....AND YOU SAY THAT PRESIDENT BUSH STARTED IT ALL..
HOW STUPID ARE YOU ALL ?
LET BERGER AND CLINTON BE TRIED ON TREASON SINCE IT IS THEIR SECRETS THAT LED US TO THIS POINT.
YOU ARE ALL TOO STUPID TO EVEN SEE THAT

Ronald Reagan is the father of modern CUT & RUN tactic in the war against radical Islam.

ROVE TO BE INDITED..... SOOOOOON!

Remember that post? Maybe CAPT, GERALD, or another of you corn-nutters can pull that up for us, so we can see who the real liars are!

You Corn-nutters have been taken for a ride, Weeeeeeeeh! You all hate America-and yourselfers so much you blindly follow the lies of the main stream corn-holes and others. I’m sure that you nutters have not be persuaded that, although the facts are false, the story is still true...RIGHT!

25-Do you suppose that Hezbelloh will garnish more and more converts for Islam?

Sure, by gunpoint.

Why were Libby and Karl Rove telling reporters about Wilson's wife, the covert CIA agent, in the first place?

Why did Libby lie about it to FBI agents? and The Grand Jury (you know, "I solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.")

What does any of that have to do with Bill Clinton?

Why are all the trolls pissed off about this?

AND BY THE WAY...THE U.S.S. COLE WHICH CLINTON DID NOTHING ON...DIDN'T EVEN MEET THE SAILORS WHO WERE KILLED IN THAT ATTACK
------------------------------------------------
Clinton didn't meet the dead sailors? That's crazy.

If people took the time to read my posts, they would know that I wanted Rove indicted!!! However, I said that he would not be indicted!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy agrees, care to explain your comment?

Why bother explaining my posts to the Nazi rolls who are still reading the book, "See Dick and Jane Run?"

I don't care if Rove is indicted or not. I want Bush impeached for lying to congress (and the American people) to obtain war authorization for Iraq.

30-Why were Libby and Karl Rove telling reporters about Wilson's wife, the covert CIA agent, in the first place?

Maybe you don’t understand cause and effect, the first place would be the Armitage revelation, and the 2ND place would be Libby and Karl Rove confirming to reporters what Arbitrage already told. By the way if "Wilson's wife" was a "covert CIA agent” Why was Richard Armitage not prosecuted for outing" her.
Corn-nutters are worse than lemmings.

I'm a little confused.

Are you saying that Armitage and Rove both leaked this information?

What I don't understand is why Rove is a 'leaker' and not a 'confirmer'?

Is it not possible that Cooper learned this from Novak or from some other source (namely Woodward but possibly someone else)?

How would Rove be a 'leaker' in this case?

Posted by: David Ross at August 30, 2006 01:04 AM

-------------------
You seem more than a little confused.

Happy agrees, how could Rove have leaked information that had already been leaked? That is where I am confused. Please explain this and refrain from copying and pasting (that is if you can).

Our parish and I gave money for the Katrina victims. I do not mind helping people but I learned today $4.2 billion that was given to help the Katrina victims could not be accounted for!!! The next time anyone asks me for a donation I will be skeptical in giving any donation.

Libby told Judy Miller, she didn't inquire, he offered it. Rove confirmed it for Novak but offered it to Cooper. Cooper didn't inquire. All of this was before Novak's article was published. Armitages disclosure was the first disclosure of this classified info about a covert CIA emplyoee's status but it was not the only disclosure prior to the time it was published in the paper. Got that?

There is no dispute Valeria Plame's status with the CIA was classified nor the fact her status as an employee was covert nor that the CIA asked the Justice Deparment to investigate if a law had been broken when her status as a CIA employee had been made public.

But since you are not interested in what actually happened becuase you're more interested in being a Bush loyalist, right or wrong, you can do your own research on the facts surrounding the CIA leak case. You might buy a copy of Corn's book or check out firedoglake.com. Either way, you don't have much to add to the conversation.

Maybe you don’t understand cause and effect, the first place would be the Armitage revelation, and the 2ND place would be Libby and Karl Rove confirming to reporters what Arbitrage already told. By the way if "Wilson's wife" was a "covert CIA agent” Why was Richard Armitage not prosecuted for outing" her.

1. Novak didn't tell the other reporters, Rove and Libby did. duh! You think Novak would share his scoop, the fkn traitor. Summary: One leaked supposedly by accident, the 'second wave' were doing it for political gain.
2. Armitage wasn't prosecuted because he found out about Plame from Marc Grossman's memo, which didn't mention she was NOC. The law states you would have to leak an agent's identity while knowing it was a secret to be prosecuted.

32- However, I said that he would not be indicted!!!!!!!!!!!

No, the liar and master manipulator-David Corn stated that Rove would be indicted, were is you outrage that you were lied to by Corn.

Impeach David Corn

41-Novak didn't tell the other reporters, Rove and Libby did.

So Rove and Libby told Judit Miller?! I dont think so, the fact is there was never a crime commited, ask Fitzgerald

Gerald: Actually Hitchens is brilliant, from England, recently became an American citizen, is not slime and Washington is not in England.

Spy: "Humility saves the soul" just ask Gerald.

Rove confirmed it for Novak and told it to Cooper, Time magazine.

Libby told Judy Miller, then lied to FBI investigators, then lied to the Grand Jury under oath saying he learned about Valerie Plame from reporters when in fact he learned about her from administration officials, including Dick Cheney.

Hitchens is a flip-flopper. He was a liberal before he was a conservative. If Hitchens flips back, Mr. forward will be calling him an idiot.

What is a little fib between pals under oath?

First of all, Happy, I am a moderate and not a Bush loyalist as you charge. I used to work for a Democratic senator and voted for Nader (in NY so it didn't affect the electoral outcome). I find this case interesting, that's my interest in it. Your facts are a little off. Cooper called Rove, not the other way around. Also, just because an article wasn't published doesn't mean Valerie Plame's cover was protected, especially considering that Novak, a reporter, had that information. Her cover had been blown when Armitage slipped up. It really doesn't matter if one or one million people know - her cover was blown. The final say on this matter will come from Fitzgerald. No matter how you twist things, no law was broken when Valerie Plame's identity was revealed.

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sasha: THE FIRST IS THE ONLY LEAKER ALL THE REST ARE JUST REPEATING WHAT THEY HEARD.

First, quit yelling, asshole.

Second, giving a reporter information from classified State Dept. memo is not "JUST REPEATING WHAT THEY HEARD."

Read, dammit. Read.

Corn-trolls are so funny and predictable!

Clinton lied about sex and was impeached for it. The Senate found him not guilty (not guilty of lying about sex, they were pretty sure he got the blow job but a blow job was not illegal.)

mr. forward -
"Humility saves the soul"

humility is fine and dandy but it probably doesn't apply in this case:

I also pity you for your outlook on life.
- factchecker

It is now time to start killing them in large quantities.
Posted by: factchecker at August 13, 2006 11:41 PM

So Rove and Libby told Judit Miller?! I dont think so...

Yes, Libby told Judy Miller. He also leaked some of the NIE to her.

52-The Senate found him not guilty

So did he lie or not? You admit yourself that he did have oral"sexual relations" with at woman.
Just a bunch or liars sticking up for their HEAD LIAR,pun intended.
I’m just so HAPPY that your hypocrisy and stupidity shows, cornhole!

In regards to Cooper, it should be noted that it was Karl Rove who signed a waiver to allow him to speak to the special prosecutor without compromising his rights as a journalist. It comes as no surprise now why Rove was willing to do so.

Cooper called Rove, not the other way around. Also, just because an article wasn't published doesn't mean Valerie Plame's cover was protected, especially considering that Novak, a reporter, had that information. Her cover had been blown when Armitage slipped up.

Who initiates the phone call is irrelevent. Rove told Cooper. Cooper wrote an email to his boss about it. The email was supboened by the investigation.

Plames status was classified. Even though Armitage had already told Novak, Plame's status as a CIA agent was still classified.

Your assumption that there can't be multiple illegal disclosure of classified information is incorrect. Your interpretation of classified versus public information is incorrect.

Fitz's decision to indict depends on more than wether he believes a law was broken; it also depends on whether he can prove it. If you watch his press conference, you will learn more about that issue and other issues prosecutors take into account. You can find it on C-Span.

Tre, i fuc%ed your mother last night and she said you were a mistake.

David Ross: It really doesn't matter if one or one million people know - her cover was blown.

Of course it matters. If Novak had kept it to himself, no harm would have been done to Plame.

And even if Rove and Libby told reporters about or simply verified Plame's status for reporters after hearing about it from Novak, that violates the terms of their top-secret security clearance.

In other words, just because one guy with high-level clearance can't keep his mouth shut doesn't mean that anyone else with access to such information is free to blab to reporters.

54- So Rove and Libby told Judit Miller?! I dont think so...

Yes, Libby told Judy Miller. He also leaked some of the NIE to her.

So, Libby told her something that was already common knowledge, but he didn’t get prosecuted for that, which was supposed to be a crime, but Armitage who actually committed the deed that Libby was accused of told the truth, and , about the Wilson's and the lies they told, which was actually the truth, Valire did send Joe to Africa.....and the Bush administrations is accused of trying smear those who are clearly lying the Wilsons....It is clear now...yes lets impeach Bush

59-Of course it matters. If Novak had kept it to himself, no harm would have been done to Plame.

Apparenty there was no harm done to Plame, as no one has be indited on the charges of "outing" her!

But we are sitll wating on that Rove inditement....any day now, right CORN!

Alan. Bush declassified parts of the NIE on the spot, without the normal process.

Libby sited parts of the NIE to Judy Miller over breakfast and represented them as key findings, when in fact, the NIE said the intel claims he told her were not likely.

Why not go with the strong evidence rather than the weak evidence? Did Libby know the entire NIE would be declassified later? Was the WH worried their case for war was impreil?

Maybe this is the subject of the HUBRIS and the purpose of including the CIA leak investigation in it.

The moment Plame's name was out it was out. I don't think Novak had the proper security clearance that allowed him to know such a thing. Additionally, Cooper and Miller didn't run out and print it, Novak did. The only time this law was used to prosecute someone was an instance when a woman shared classified information with her boyfriend. The information she gave was never published or printed yet it still led to her prosecution. She told one person and that was enough.

In other words, just because one guy with high-level clearance can't keep his mouth shut doesn't mean that anyone else with access to such information is free to blab to reporters.

Posted by: Drewp at August 30, 2006 02:56 AM

When J.Miller finaly agreed to testify in front of the Grand Jury,why did she agree to only answer questions along the line of LIBBY, when now we know that it was clearly, Richard Armitage-per Wikipedia, "On August 29, 2006 Neil A. Lewis of The New York Times reported that Armitage is confirmed to be the first and primary source of the CIA leak investigation.[7]"

Wonder if Miller did not already have the info from Armitage before that breakfast with Libby.

Drewp: You are the one that suggested that if Novak didn't report it that there would be no problem. You seem to believe that it is okay to share info as long as nobody tells (or you at least apply that to Armitage and not Libby or Rove). My posts refer to the legal statute that is being applied in this case. The fact remains that her identity was accidently, not illegally, revealed by Armitage. Once an agent's identity is revealed in any way, the statute simply does not apply.

Once an agent's identity is revealed in any way, the statute simply does not apply.

Posted by: David at August 30, 2006 03:24 AM

you continue to make this claim repeatedly but you are wrong. say it again. no one cares what you think. you're wrong.

Exacty what are your dreams of Happt?

David: Once an agent's identity is revealed in any way, the statute simply does not apply.

You sure about that? I can't remember the wording of the statute, so you'll need to give me link.

Did Rove and Libby even know that Armitage had already leaked to Novak? If not, how would they know that what they were doing was legal?

Regardless, though, Rove and Libby did provide classified information about Plame to reporters. That's a matter of record. Their motive is a matter of speculation, but they clearly didn't intend to help Plame's career.

Good morning!
Here is another pice on Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld: US military can handle other threats despite Iraq
08-29-2006, 05h23
FALLON, United States (AFP)

The US military could handle another war despite deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "I get asked from time to time, if your forces are in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the US military sufficiently stressed or strained that it really couldn't deal or cope with a problem in another part of the world," Rumsfeld told troops at an air force base in Nevada.
"The answer is no, that's not correct. We are capable of dealing with other problems where they occur," he said, answering a question about military options for the nuclear crisis with Iran. "I feel comfortable ... our country is able to fulfill the responsibilities the American people expect of us and that the president is charged with," he said. Rumsfeld warned potential enemies that the United States remained ready to take military action to defend its interests. "It would be unfortunate if other countries thought because we have 136,000 troops in Iraq today that therefore we are not capable of defending our country or doing anything that we might need to do," Rumsfeld said. The Pentagon has recently extended tours of US troops in Iraq and called up reserve Marines to quell violence in Iraq unleashed after the US-led invasion in 2003. Apart from Iraq, the US also has more than 20,000 troops in Afghanistan, and defense analysts say the deployments have put an enormous strain on the military. "We have a large active force, we have a large reserve force, we have that ready reserve that drills the selective reserve and we have a large number of individual ready reservists who have an obligation that runs to depending on the circumstance for the remainder of their six-year period and we have allies." Rumsfeld said that 42 countries were working with the US military in Afghanistan and 34 governments were "helping us in Iraq." He added: "You can't do everything and you can't do everything at once. "But some of the capabilities that we need the place where we are using most of the capabilities right now are the ground forces in Iraq. "Our naval forces are certainly not stressed, our air forces are certainly not stressed and those capabilities are available and exist," he said. Rumsfeld told troops that they were facing a "clever" enemy who was "actively manipulating the media in this country." "The constant drumbeat of the things they say often, which are not true, is harmful over time. It is cumulative. It does weaken people's will and lessen their determination and raises questions in their minds," Rumsfeld said.
However, Rumsfeld said he was personally immune to criticism that he was doing a bad job in Iraq. "I don't feel it myself because I read so much history and I am aware that in every conflict we have ever been in there has been heated criticism ... There always has been criticism in every conflict." Rumsfeld has come under severe criticism from retired US generals and lawmakers who have demanded his resignation for his handling of the war in Iraq, accusing him of dedicating too few soldiers to Iraq.
Later Rumsfeld told Americans that if they have patience, the situation in Iraq will eventually change for the better. "Today we will not tell 50 million Afghans and Iraqis that because the going is tough -- and it is tough, let there be no doubt -- that we will abandon them to the beheaders, the terrorists, the assassins, and 21st century fascists who seek to attack us abroad and here at home," Rumseld told the Veterans of Foreign Wars association. "History has shown time and again that if Americans have the patience and the perseverance to see an effort through -- no matter how hard or how difficult -- that we prevail," he said, adding that the goal now was "a safer and more secure world."
AFP

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

On what planet does this man live?
"a safer and more secure world"????
The "sabre rattling" in the Bush admin., to strike Iran, will surely set the world ablaze, if it's is put into action.
Safe and secure, my ass!!

Bush Offers to Meet With Sudan's Leader to Pave Way for U.N. Force in Darfur
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 30, 2006; Page A20

President Bush has proposed meeting with Sudan's president, Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir, as an incentive for Bashir to lift his adamant opposition to the introduction of U.N. peacekeeping forces in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, according to a Sudanese government spokesman and U.S. government officials. The offer of a high-profile meeting on the sidelines of next month's U.N. General Assembly debate was made yesterday by Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E. Frazer in a meeting with Bashir in Khartoum. The Sudanese president had kept Frazer waiting since Saturday, citing a busy schedule, even though he knew that she was bringing a message from Bush. Sudan's Omar Hassan al-Bashir gets an overture. Two years ago, the Bush administration accused the Bashir government of genocide for allegedly abetting the atrocities in Darfur. Bush's willingness to meet with Bashir -- who human rights groups say should be charged with war crimes -- is yet another diplomatic gambit by the administration to encourage cooperation from Khartoum. The conflict broke out in early 2003 when African rebel groups attacked police stations and military outposts. The United Nations and human rights groups accuse the Arab-led central government of supporting militiamen, called the Janjaweed, in an effort to crush the rebellion. About 2,000 villages have been destroyed across Darfur; violence and disease have left as many as 450,000 people dead and 2 million homeless.
Agence France-Presse first reported on the invitation, quoting Bashir spokesman Majoub Fadl Badri. A State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Frazer carried a letter from Bush to Bashir, which generally discussed Bush's concern about Darfur. She told Bashir that cooperation on Darfur could bring many benefits for Khartoum, though the official declined to specifically confirm them. Bashir has long pushed for the lifting of economic sanctions related to Sudan's long support of terrorism. The official stressed that any incentives, such as a presidential meeting, would come only after positive actions by Sudan, such as the acceptance of a U.N. force. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Some analysts doubted Bashir would be impressed by the offer. "President Bush's expression of a willingness to meet with Khartoum's brutal leader inevitably works to confer international legitimacy upon his genocidal regime and policies," said Eric Reeves, a Smith College professor who closely tracks events in Sudan. "But the grim irony here is that this expediency, this moral capitulation, only emboldens the regime, convincing these genocidaires that they hold the upper hand and need not agree to a U.N. force."

What happens when the horror of Iraq become to much for a soldier to bear?
By Neil Makay

06/18/06 "Scotsman" -- -- MORE than 6000 men and women have deserted from the US army since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. In the British forces, the figure stands at around 1000. The soldiers are leaving because they are sickened by the bloodshed in Iraq; because they believe the war is illegal; because they are on the verge of nervous breakdown; and because they are having to buy their own boots or are not being given enough food and water. Labour MP John McDonnell says that troops are now “±uestioning the morality and legality of the occupation.
In Britain, deserters rarely –†if ever –†publicly explain why they have refused to fight. In the US, however, its a different story.
Some 25 GIs have applied for refugee status in Canada since the invasion of Iraq. At least 200 others are just living quietly , assisted by organisations such as War Resisters, and hoping that the US will forget all about them. Many of the Canadians helping them were once US citizens themselves. More than 30 years ago, they fled north, taking Canadian citizenship to escape being drafted to Vietnam. Many of these deserters are suffering from serious mental health problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by prolonged exposure to the horrors of war. Britain’≥ Ministry of Defence recently revealed that in 2005, around 60 soldiers a month were found to be suffering from mental health problems. The total number of cases, 727, equates to almost 10% of the entire British military presence in Iraq –†and 66 were so badly affected that they had to be airlifted home. So far around 2500 US and 113 British soldiers have died in Iraq. One fear is that the recently elected right-wing government in Canada, under the premiership of Stephen Harper, will look less favourably on the US deserters claims than the previous liberal administration –†Harper is a lot closer to the government of US President George W Bush than his predecessor Paul Martin. So far no US soldiers have been granted refugee status, but the Canadian government is thought to be looking for a politically comfortable solution that allows the deserters to stay in Canada without offending the Bush administration. It is unlikely the deserters would be deported back to the US, but they may be sent to a third country if their appeals fail. Once a GI deserts, they lose all the perks : health insurance, pension and the right to a college education. When soldiers go on the run in the US, organisations such as GI Rights help and advise them. Peter Laufer, a respected US journalist whose forthcoming book Mission Rejected recounts the lives of Iraq war deserters, says GI Rights is so concerned about being monitored by the state that its volunteers have at times held discussions about soldiers cases in parking lots where they know they won't be bugged. There are people hiding in attics and cellars, says Laufer, because they are being sought by the military police. GIs who go public with their condemnation of the Iraq war are particularly targeted for arrest. Once a GI is listed as Awol absent without leave their name is put into the Federal Crime Database. That means if they so much as a run a red light and get stopped by a traffic cop their name will be flagged and they will be arrested. The punishment for desertion is a lengthy spell in military prison, but the US army retains the right to send a deserter before a firing squad to be executed although that has'nt happened since the end of the second world war. The US media barely covers the ever-growing phenomenon of desertion, and Laufers book is tipped to cause a sensation when it reveals just how virulently some American troops loathe the action into which they have been sent. Laufer says: The actions of these men and women is great ammunition against those who still support the war. You can't impugn the actions of a soldier who served their country. These people have stood up and said, this is wrong, I'm not going to do this any more in the face of severe penalties. They are brave and heroic and they deserve our support.

Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 10:36 GMT 11:36 UK

Arabic t-shirt sparks airport row

An architect of Iraqi descent has said he was forced to remove a T-shirt that bore the words "We will not be silent" before boarding a flight at New York. Raed Jarrar said security officials warned him his clothing was offensive after he checked in for a JetBlue flight to California on 12 August. Mr Jarrar said he was shocked such an action could be taken in the US.
US transport officials are conducting an inquiry after a complaint from the US Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. JetBlue said it was also investigating the incident but a spokeswoman said: "We're not clear exactly what happened." Mr Jarrar's black cotton T-shirt bore the slogan in both Arabic and English. He said he had cleared security at John F Kennedy airport for a flight back to his home in California when he was approached by two men who wanted to check his ID and boarding pass.
Mr Jarrar said he was told a number of passengers had complained about his T-shirt - apparently concerned at what the Arabic phrase meant - and asked him to remove it. He refused, arguing that the slogan was not offensive and citing his constitutional rights to free expression. Mr Jarrar later told a New York radio station: "I grew up and spent all my life living under authoritarian regimes and I know that these things happen. "But I'm shocked that they happened to me here, in the US."
After a difficult exchange with airline staff, Mr Jarrar was persuaded to wear another T-shirt bought for him at the airport shop. "We Will Not Be Silent" is a slogan adopted by opponents of the war in Iraq and other conflicts in the Middle East. It is said to derive from the White Rose dissident group which opposed Nazi rule in Germany.

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

What's next?? A T-shirt with "I love Bush" in Arabic. That would be funny!

Some contemptible soul is so envious of the real Happy, a conservative, that he has usurped his name. Of course, some liberals have no original ideas. All they can do is mimic and parrot the nomme de plume of others.

By the way, to Erling Krange:
About the last decent living thing coming out of Norway was Edvard Grieg. Your country is the genesis of the cheese-eating surrender monkeys, the French. If it weren't good at surrendering, Norway wouldn't be good for anything at all. You and your ideas are symptomatic of why you are a cowardly nation, a truly worthless nation save your magnificent fjords, and we are a great nation.

We know the piece by Chris Hitchens is on solid logical ground because all the Cornuts can do is attack his person, not his ideas.

But, then again, the liberals are all about emotion and the conservatives are all about ideas.

And Chris is still solidly liberal on almost all other policies save the War on Terror.

And it is still time to start killing large numbers of Islamo-Fascists. See Charles Krauthammer's brilliant piece on Iran today.

Mr. Corn: I am no political gunslinger either, you have that reputation and I don't recall you using the word "might". Your articles on the "Leak" while interesting, we can now see lacked facts. Novak always maintained that when the identity of the leaker was disclosed, people would see it was no big deal. The leak was said in passing and was only a very small part of Novak's original article. It is time for Mr. Corn to take the high road and admit he was wrong. This investigation should never have occurred. By the way, why was Mr. Armitage never indicted for not telling investigators that he spoke with Woodward, what about this point Mr. Corn?

#74 Got you mad again? Foam in your mouth? If so, Mission Accomplished. This is the last time I adress you, so "Factchecker" or "Head Troll",
this one is for you:

"An Internet "troll" is a person who delights in sowing discord on the Internet. He (and it is usually he) tries to start arguments and upset people. Trolls see Internet communications services as convenient venues for their bizarre game. For some reason, they don't "get" that they are hurting real people. To them, other Internet users are not quite human but are a kind of digital abstraction. As a result, they feel no sorrow whatsoever for the pain they inflict. Indeed, the greater the suffering they cause, the greater their 'achievement' (as they see it). At the moment, the relative anonymity of the net allows trolls to flourish. Trolls are utterly impervious to criticism (constructive or otherwise). You cannot negotiate with them; you cannot cause them to feel shame or compassion; you cannot reason with them. They cannot be made to feel remorse. For some reason, trolls do not feel they are bound by the rules of courtesy or social responsibility. Perhaps this sounds inconceivable. You may think, "Surely there is something I can write that will change them." But a true troll can not be changed by mere words. Some people —†particularly those who have been online for years —†are not upset by trolls and consider them an inevitable hazard of using the net. As the saying goes, "You can't have a picnic without ants." It would be nice if everybody was so easy-going, but the sad fact is that trolls do discourage people. Established posters may leave a message board because of the arguments that trolls ignite, and lurkers (people who read but do not post) may decide that they do not want to expose themselves to abuse and thus never get involved. Another problem is that the negative emotions stirred up by trolls leak over into other discussions. Normally affable people can become bitter after reading an angry interchange between a troll and his victims, and this can poison previously friendly interactions between long-time users.
Finally, trolls create a paranoid environment, such that a casual criticism by a new arrival can elicit a ferocious and inappropriate backlash. The Internet is a wonderful resource which is breaking down barriers and stripping away prejudice. Trolls threaten our continued enjoyment of this beautiful forum for ideas."

Wowser,

Not one link to any of the "claims" ?

How about you trolls provide a link or a clip that supports your BS? (no can do because there are none)

Here I'll help you knuckleheads:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051206Y.shtml

If I am not mistaken the only person that said Rove was indicted was the guy from truthout?

Any references to "might" and any reference to previous posts by Mr. Corn seem to be just more made up stuff?

"Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get them, get them right, or they will get you wrong." ~ Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734), Gnomologia, 1732

capt

And now, before you all go off half-cocked:

The Bush Eye Chart

See if your vision is acute?

capt

Has the Bush doctrine failed?

Analysts say conflicts in the Middle East have halted aggressive US policy, and may hint at end of West's military superiority.

When President Bush unveiled "the Bush Doctrine" in a speech on June 1, 2002, to the graduating class at West Point, it was seen as providing a framework for US foreign policy for years to come. According to Wikipedia, the Bush doctrine "outlined a broad new phase in US policy that would place greater emphasis on military pre-emptive, military superiority ('strength beyond challenge'), unilateral action, and a commitment to 'extending democracy, liberty, and security to all regions.'"

Four years later, the San Francisco Chronicle reports in a news analysis piece that many analysts "across the political spectrum" believe the doctrine has failed rendered obsolete by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The United States may find it hard, if not impossible, the analysts say, to again try in the near future to topple a hostile regime. Its military is stretched, its moral standing diminished. Even democracy itself is tarnished, often equated now with car bombs and chaos, rather than peace and prosperity.

"The kind of thing people in the administration prided themselves in understanding, namely the use of power, was actually the very thing they proved not to be able to use effectively," said David Holloway of Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation, which conducts research and training on issues of international security.

More HERE

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

Can anybody name anything that has not been a miserable failure from this misadministration?

Anything? (crickets chirping)

capt

U.S. Policies Hurt War on Terrorism, Say Americans

Many adults in the United States think their federal administration is hindering the global effort against terrorism, according to a poll by SRBI Public Affairs published in Time. 56 per cent of respondents think the U.S. policies in the Middle East are hurting the war on terrorism.

Afghanistan has been the main battleground in the war on terrorism. The conflict began in October 2001, after the Taliban regime refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked and crashed four airplanes on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.

The coalition effort against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq was launched in March 2003. At least 2,633 American soldiers have died during the military operation, and more than 19,700 troops have been wounded in action.

On Aug. 21, U.S. president George W. Bush explained his foreign policy rationale, saying, "It's in our interests that we help reformers across the Middle East achieve their objectives. This is the fundamental challenge of the 21st century. (...) The final history in the region has yet to be written. And what's very interesting about the violence in Lebanon and the violence in Iraq and the violence in Gaza is this: These are all groups of terrorists who are trying to stop the advance of democracy."

Polling Data HERE

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

OUCH! 56% say Bush's policies are HURTING the "war on terror".

But then again what does Bush care what the people think, eh?

capt

Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen.
Mort Sahl

The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt

An age is called Dark, not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.
James Michener

Bush: Anger over war won't change U.S. policy

President, conceding unpopularity, vows to stay the course in Iraq

NEW ORLEANS - Calling resistance against terrorism the "defining struggle of the 21st century," President Bush declared Tuesday that he would not let Americans frustration with the war deter him from finishing the job in Iraq.

In an exclusive interview Tuesday night on "NBC Nightly News," the president said history would vindicate his decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and remove President Saddam Hussein from power. But it would consign him to ignominy if he heeded the calls of critics and much of the public to pull U.S. troops home before democracy could be stabilized in Iraq, he said.

"If we lose our nerve and leave the Middle East before the job is finished, the world will be much worse off," Bush told "Nightly News" anchor and Managing Editor Brian Williams.

More HERE

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

And the BU__SH__ line about "before the job is finished" needs a little more explanation? What will be the sign that the job is finished?

Kill women and children until the Iraqi people actually break out the flowers and candy?

"he would not let Americans frustration with the war"

People are not frustrated they have come to the conclusion that Bush's policies have HURT us not helped us and staying the course is nothing short of denial or reality (Bush's forte).

What an idiot. That is how much he cares what people think, eh?

capt

I don't understand how a person at Armitage's level can be let off the hook, saying he's just a helplessly silly gossip.

Huh? People get fired at all levels of employment for that. Me thinks I smell another lame excuse from oour pals in DC.

But if indeed this is "the truth", how about terminating his career and access to high-level information for being a sloppy-mouthed moron.

David, you wrote the book. Do you think Armitage never heard the term Loose Lips Sink Ships? How does someone like this gossip with impunity?

These people have stood up and said, this is wrong, I'm not going to do this any more in the face of severe penalties. They are brave and heroic and they deserve our support.

These people are deserters, they weren't drafted, they joined the military of their own free will. When it was time to do there job they quit,( must be libs, when the going gets tough quit). I guess during Normandy our soldiers should have said, fuck this I'm not getting shot, no they did what they we're trained to do. Thats brave you dumb fuck. Figures a Norweigan telling us whats brave. Stick to ski jumping, thats about all you euro pusses are good at.

PS. How does it feel to be corn-holed Dave? A worthless book by a worthless partisan hack writer.

Source of C.I.A. Leak Admits Role, Lawyer Says

The Justice Department was quickly informed, and Mr. Armitage disclosed his talks with Mr. Novak in subsequent interviews with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, even before Mr. Fitzgerald's appointment.

The book quotes Carl W. Ford Jr., then head of the intelligence and research bureau at the State Department, as saying that Mr. Armitage had told him, "I may be the guy who caused this whole thing, and that he regretted having told the columnist more than he should have.

Mr. Grossman's memorandum did not mention that Ms. Wilson had undercover status.

Apart from Mr. Ford, as quoted in the book, the lawyer and colleagues of Mr. Armitage who discussed the case have spoken insisting on anonymity, apparently because Mr. Armitage was still not comfortable with the public acknowledgment of his role.

He was also the source for another journalist about Ms. Wilson, a reporter who did not write about her. The lawyers and associates said Mr. Armitage also told Bob Woodward, assistant managing editor of The Washington Post and a well-known author, of her identity in June 2003.

Mr. Woodward was a late player in the legal drama when he disclosed last November that he had the received the information and testified to a grand jury about it after learning that his source had disclosed the conversation to prosecutors.

More HERE

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

Anybody notice this interesting fact:

"Armitage disclosed [..] even before Mr. Fitzgerald's appointment."

Before Fitzgerald's appointment? HA!

That means Fitzgerald KNEW when Libby was lying from the get go. He knew who and how the leak was made, who confirmed it and which slugs were lying through their teeth.

It is all about the timing.

capt

The WSJ has spoken....Full Article!

Fess Up, Mr. Armitage
Time to put the Plame conspiracy to its final rest.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT
The Wall Street Journal

From its very start, the ballyhooed case of who leaked the name of CIA analyst Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak has been drenched in partisan politics and media hypocrisy. The more we learn, however, the more it also reveals about the internal dysfunction of the Bush Administration and the lack of loyalty among some of its most senior officials.

The latest news is that the Bush official who first disclosed Ms. Plame's identity was none other than former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. According to a new book by liberal journalists David Corn and Michael Isikoff, Mr. Armitage was Mr. Novak's primary source for his now famous column of July 14, 2003, that first publicly revealed Ms. Plame's CIA pedigree.

In other words, the leaker wasn't Karl Rove or Scooter Libby or anyone else in the White House who has been accused of running a conspiracy against Ms. Plame as revenge for her husband Joe Wilson's false accusations against the White House's case for war with Iraq. So what have the last three years been all about anyway? Political opportunism and internal score-settling, among other things.

Mr. Armitage, recall, was part of Colin Powell's team at State and well known as an internal Administration opponent of the "neo-cons" who supported the ouster of Saddam Hussein. The book alleges that Mr. Armitage knew as early as October 2003 that he was Mr. Novak's prime source, yet he kept quiet about it even as his colleagues in the Administration were dragged through years of criminal investigation and media accusations as the possible leaker. Even now Mr. Armitage hasn't admitted to being the leaker, though doing so would help to clarify several things about the case.
For starters, fessing up would put to rest the conspiracy theories once and for all. Bush opponents have continued to promote this myth, with Mr. Wilson writing in June 2004 that "the conspiracy to destroy us was most likely conceived--and carried out--within the office of the vice president of the United States." Not a word of that was true.

Mr. Novak hasn't himself confirmed that Mr. Armitage was his primary source, since Mr. Armitage hasn't yet given him leave to do so. But Mr. Novak has written that his source was not a "partisan gunslinger," and the columnist has also said that he himself put in the call to Mr. Rove to confirm what he'd first heard from his main source (presumably Mr. Armitage). The White House, in short, was not engaged in any campaign to "out" Ms. Plame.

All of this matters because it also casts doubt on the thoroughness and fairness of special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's probe that began in December 2003. The prosecutor never did indict anyone for leaking Ms. Plame's name, though this was supposedly the act of "treason" that triggered the political clamor for a probe. Instead, he has indicted Mr. Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Mr. Fitzgerald has nonetheless also tried to spin an aura that Mr. Libby was responsible for outing Ms. Plame. In his press conference on October 28, 2005, the prosecutor asserted that "In fact, Mr. Libby was the first official known to have told a reporter when he talked to [former New York Times reporter] Judith Miller in June of 2003 about Valerie Wilson." But we have since learned that Mr. Armitage also told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward about Ms. Plame--a fact that Mr. Fitzgerald never uncovered until Mr. Woodward came forward after he heard Mr. Fitzgerald make that false public assertion.

Strangely, Mr. Armitage never seems to have told Mr. Fitzgerald that he'd talked to Mr. Woodward. And Mr. Fitzgerald never seems to have asked to see Mr. Armitage's appointment calendar, which would have showed his meeting with Mr. Novak. It's all enough to make us wonder if Mr. Fitzgerald didn't buy into the liberal "conspiracy" theory of this case from the start and target the White House while giving Mr. Armitage a pass.

Meanwhile, according to the Corn-Isikoff book, Mr. Armitage never did tell the White House or his boss, the President, that he was the leaker. Instead, in October 2003 he told Mr. Powell, who told the State Department general counsel, who in turn told the Justice Department but gave the White House Counsel only the sketchiest overview of what he'd learned and didn't mention Mr. Armitage's name. So while Mr. Fitzgerald presumably knew when he began his probe two months later that Mr. Armitage was Mr. Novak's source, the President himself was apparently kept in the dark, even as he was pledging publicly to find out who the leaker was.

At a minimum, there appears to be a serious question of disloyalty here. By keeping silent, Messrs. Powell and Armitage let the President take political heat for the case, while also letting Mr. Rove, Mr. Libby and other White House officials twist in the wind for more than two years. We also know that it was the folks in Mr. Powell's shop--including his former chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson and intelligence officer Carl Ford Jr.--who did so much to trash John Bolton's nomination to be Ambassador to the U.N. in 2005. The State Department clique that Mr. Bush tolerated for so long did tremendous damage to his Administration.

As for Justice, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself from the case in an act of political abdication. That left then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey in charge, and he also presumably knew about Mr. Armitage's role as the leaker who started it all. Yet if the book's account is correct, he too misled the White House with his silence. Mr. Comey is also the official who let Mr. Fitzgerald alter his mandate from its initial find-the-leaker charge to the obstruction and perjury raps against Mr. Libby that are all this case has come down to. Remind us never to get in a foxhole with either Mr. Comey or the Powell crowd.

There is more to be said at a future date about the specific case against Mr. Libby. But for now the Armitage news should concern one man in particular, and that's the President of the United States. How much differently would he have behaved had he known about Mr. Armitage's role in 2003? Would he have kept echoing the media-liberal spin that there was some nefarious White House leaker to discover, and continue to let the aides who most believed in his policies--Mr. Libby and Mr. Rove--be hounded by a special counsel? And why has he tolerated so much insubordination to his policies?
Someday we hope Mr. Bush will tell us. Meantime, as he absorbs the partisan and ultimately trivial truth of this case, why shouldn't he pardon Mr. Libby and put the entire sorry saga to rest?

Troll posts = Ad Hominem

What a waste of bandwidth.

capt

American Soldiers

2,965 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his lies.

#24
Hubris, the book, is far more fraudulent than the selling of the Iraq war or the CIA leak case.

---------
Have you read the book already?

David:

I hope you noticed that for the first time, your name was listed ahead of Isikoff's, twice I believe, in the Editorial piece by the WSJ!

Gee, David Corn is what again, too busy to respond to Hitchens juxtaposing what he said in July 2003:

'The Wilson smear was a thuggish act. Bush and his crew abused and misused intelligence to make their case for war. Now there is evidence Bushies used classified information and put the nation's counter-proliferation efforts at risk merely to settle a score. It is a sign that with this gang politics trumps national security.'

With what he and Isikoff are saying now:

'The disclosures about Armitage, gleaned from interviews with colleagues, friends and lawyers directly involved in the case, underscore one of the ironies of the Plame investigation: that the initial leak, seized on by administration critics as evidence of how far the White House was willing to go to smear an opponent, came from a man who had no apparent intention of harming anyone.'

Hitchens is exactly on target to point out:

'In the stylistic world where disclosures are gleaned and ironies underscored, the nullity of the prose obscures the fact that any irony here is only at the authors' expense.'

And, it obviously unanswerable. So Corn is just ducking.

#36
As I recall from the previous Corn posts Rove spoke to reporters BEFORE the article was published by Novak. So yes, Rove did leak the information to the other reporters. Now another issue is...what was Rove doing with the information? This question is two fold.
1. How did he have access to the information in the first place? He didn't have clearence.

2. What was his 'mission' when he went to Cooper and leaked the info? The mission was as far as I can tell to smear Joe Wilson and dilute his message. Now if the President believed it was ok to declassify the information that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent there needed to be a valid reason. Smearing her husband isn't valid.

This administration has absolutely no honor or understanding of the responsiblity that goes along with holding the highest office in the nation. The President is a disgrace. His white house is a disgrace.

#46 Happy, Hitchens is an opportunist. He was liberal during Clinton's term in office and now he is a conservative under Bush's term in office.

Clinton is no longer a great president. We must go on with our lives.

47 you're right! It's far more honest to refuse to testify under oath or allow any kind of documenting of your testimony then lie your ass off about everything while holding your VP's hand. Such integrity.
capt 80 failure is in the eye of the beholder. What we see as miserable failure they are taking to the bank, and laughing all the way.

I find it humorous that weak liberals can call people every name in the book, then have their tender sensibilities "shocked" when someone replies in kind.

This is why they sit in front of their computers all day, baying at the moon. They are afraid to engage in the real world, the give and take of ideas. And so they retreat to the "safe" world of the Internet.

Well, for Quislings and cowards and intellectual dwarfs, the Internet will no longer be a safe place. You will be challenged and condemned for the ideas you proffer.

Three wasted years

In fact, public support for the United States was a key factor in ousting the dictator's regime.

After the U.S. administration had achieved its major political objectives, it would have been prudent to wrap up its military presence in the region. The tasks of restructuring, rebuilding and redeveloping post-war Iraq could have been ceded to a third party like United Nations. If it had done so, the U.S. war on terrorism would now be regarded as more fair and internationally justifiable, and would now be confronting less opposition at home. In that event, the Rogue states would now be overestimating U.S. military capabilities and would not have become so destabilizing.

Great suggestion!!!

Feckless,

Right back at cha!

Now other than your OPINION, what have you got?

Anything?

capt

No Jeanne the previous residents of the White House we're the disgrace. Sandy Berger and the siutcase of Docs shoved down his pants, Your boys Bill and Al trading missle secrets for his library of disinformation, Hills fraudulent stock deals and cover-up of Vinces alledged suicide, total disregard for US security, Willies inability to try and stick his willy in anything that moves. Now thats a disgrace. Please let me hear the he lied and noone died bullshit. Bushs' problem was listening to the leftover Clinton rejects.

Gerald,
Once again, talking out of your gluteus maximus. Christopher Hitchens is still a liberal on every issue of the day (environment, redistribution of wealth, social justice, etc.) save the War on Terror.

Please get a clue, for a change.

Carnage continues in Bush's Iraq war

The carnage called President George W. Bush's war in Iraq continued Wednesday as insurgent bombing attacks across the devastated country targeted a market, an army recruiting center and a police patrol, killing at least 39 people and wounded dozens Wednesday, police said.

The deaths came as President Bush promised, once again, to "stay the course" in Iraq and Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld called those who oppose the war supporters of fascism.

At least 24 people were killed when a roadside bomb went off at Baghdad's largest and oldest wholesale market district, said police Lts. Mohammed Khayoun and Bilal Ali Majid.

The Shurja commercial center, with its maze of streets and stalls, is usually teeming with vendors selling everything from satellite dishes to spices.

Thirty-five people were wounded in the attack.

In central Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, a man posing as a potential army recruit detonated an explosives-rigged bicycle outside an army recruiting center, killing 12 people and wounding 28, said police Lt. Osama Ahmed.

Hillah was the site of one of the worst bomb attacks in Iraq, when a suicide car bomber in February 2005 killed 125 national guard and police recruits who were lined up to take physical tests.

In another incident in 2005, a bomb explosion killed 60 civilians who were lining up to apply for police jobs in the Kurdish city of Irbil in northern Iraq.

Insurgents have often targeted Iraqi army and police volunteers as they line up outside recruiting stations as a way to discourage people from joining the security services and keep the military and police weak.

In Wednesday's other attack, three police officers were killed and 14 people were injured when twin bombs —†including one planted in a car —†struck a police patrol as it drove by a line of vehicles waiting in a line for gas at a filling station in downtown Baghdad.

As death and carnage increased in Iraq, the Bush Administration stepped up its strident defense of the war. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday the world faces "a new type of fascism" and warned against repeating the pre-World War II mistake of appeasement.

Rumsfeld alluded to critics of the Bush administration's war policies in terms associated with the failure to stop Nazism in the 1930s, "a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among the Western democracies."

Citing Bush critics at home or abroad, he said "it is apparent that many have still not learned history's lessons." Aides to Rumsfeld said later he was not accusing the administration's critics of trying to appease the terrorists but was cautioning against a repeat of errors made in earlier eras.

Speaking to several thousand veterans at the American Legion's national convention, Rumsfeld said that as fascism and Nazism took hold in Europe, those who warned of a coming crisis were ridiculed or ignored. He quoted Winston Churchill as observing that trying to accommodate Hitler was "a bit like feeding a crocodile, hoping it would eat you last."

"I recount this history because once again we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism," he said.

"Can we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased?" he asked.

"Can we truly afford to return to the destructive view that America —†not the enemy —†is the real source of the world's troubles?"

Rumsfeld spoke to the American Legion as part of a coordinated White House strategy, before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, to take the offensive against administration critics at a time of doubt about the future of Iraq and growing calls to withdraw U.S. troops.

More HERE

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

Carnage continues - that is a fact.

See, facts not opinion, no name calling, no Ad Hominem.

(troll take notes you seem to have issues with the factual)

capt

#83
Capt,
I like that. It fits Bush to a tie. BU_SH_. Yep, that's Bush.

Five Morons

When the neocons launched the Bush administration’s invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and announced plans for invading Syria and Iran, I labeled Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Rice "the five Morons." With the passage of time I see that I over-estimated their mental capabilities.

In other words, Dr. Roberts, the five morons are actually functioning as idiots!

In terms of dumb, dumber, and dumbest, idiots are considered the dumbest of all people.

or to a tee.

We know . . .

it is still time to start killing large numbers of Islamo-Fascists.

Posted by: factchecker at August 30, 2006 08:22 AM
- - - - - - - - - -

The only problem with your plan is Islamo-Fascists don't fight in plain view and your policy is killing innocent muslims by the thousands. If you want to insure a long war with muslims, keep it up. They're tired of having their innocent wives and children murdered.

Jeanne 90, no doubt hundreds of thousands of innocents will lose their lives as a result of that fraud as well. What an idiot.

Frist lied to try and keep medical license active

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist admitted Tuesday the Tennessee Senator lied in an attempt to keep his medical license active by falsely claiming he had met all the requirements needed to keep his medical license active.

Frist, in paperwork submitted to the Tennessee Health Department, claimed he had met all the requirementseven though he gave paperwork to Tennessee officials indicating that he had.

The state of Tennessee requires its licensed physicians to complete 40 hours of continuing medical education every two years. Frist, a heart-lung surgeon who is considering a 2008 presidential run, submitted a license renewal with the Tennessee Health Department stating he has fulfilled that requirement.

Responding Tuesday to repeated requests from The Associated Press, a Frist spokesman said the Republican senator may not have done his continuing education after all, and had contacted the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners to see if corrective steps were necessary.

"As a result of a change in Tennessee's regulations several years after Dr. Frist came to the Senate, he may be required to complete additional continuing medical education hours," spokesman Matt Lehigh said in a statement. "A representative of the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners has been contacted, and Dr. Frist will meet every requirement of the Board."

Lehigh indicated that he thought Frist was unaware of a change Tennessee officials enacted in November 2002, which required continuing education for doctors who want to keep active licenses.

Starting with renewal applications filed in January 2005, the state required doctors to have completed 40 hours of continuing education in the two years that preceded their filing.

A renewal application Frist filed with the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners in February of this year specifically mentions the continuing education requirement and bears his signature.

Courses or programs are supposed to follow guidelines set by the American Medical Association or the American Academy of Family Physicians, according to Tennessee rules. Approved training generally includes attending accredited conferences or workshops and seminars.

Doctors in Tennessee are required to retain proof that they participated in such programs in case the Board of Medical Examiners decides to audit them. Doctors do not have to submit such evidence when they renew their license every two years.

Frist is retiring from the Senate at the end of the year to consider a presidential run. As a senator, Frist doesn't maintain a medical practice but routinely emphasizes his experience as a doctor.

Frist recently took blood-pressure tests on Iowans during a visit to the state that holds the first presidential caucuses. He also keeps the letters "MD" next to his name on his Senate office door and has been known to keep a doctor's bag and lab coat on hand on the campaign trail or in his Capitol Hill office.

Those sometimes come in handy. First has aided accident victims and sick tourists and also has gone on medical missions to Africa.

He was widely criticized last year for injecting himself into the debate over Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose feeding tube was removed. Frist viewed a videotape of the woman, then publicly questioned the diagnosis of her doctors. An autopsy later confirmed their judgment, not his.

Tennessee law states that doctors who fail to do their continuing medical education "will be subject to disciplinary action."

Dan Warlick, a Nashville lawyer who represents doctors in trouble with the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners, said a case such as Frist's would likely be taken seriously.

"They have been routinely revoking licenses for physicians who have misrepresented to the board what they have done," Warlick said.

"Medicine changes," Warlick added. "If you're telling them you're keeping up, and you're not, that would be a very significant problem for the board to have to deal with."

Lehigh said in a statement that Frist independently keeps abreast of medical developments.

"Dr. Frist regularly speaks with physicians on the cutting edge of medical research, reads numerous medical journal articles and attends medical meetings," Lehigh said.

More HERE

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

Frist lied - that is a fact.

See, facts not opinion, no name calling, no Ad Hominem.

It is not that hard. Just quit the pathetic name-calling and invective, useless insults because nobody care what your opinion is, here we care more for facts. You know those pesky little critters you avoid because they conflict with your beliefs and opinions. In the abstract facts are scary but you will embrace the truth and that is a fact, try it? (come on just once - post a fact)

capt

If Hitchens is still a liberal, let us know the facts through his words and articles that he may have written that backs up Hitchens' liberal stance.

Hitchens is A SLIMEBALL AND A SCUMBAG.

#99
You forgot the links that back all that information up.

Jeanne, I want to clarify, I didn't mean YOU are an idiot, but the idiot that posted that comment is an idiot :-)

The Five Morons Revisited

[..]

Now I get it. When Fox News’ Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilley assured us that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that would be used against us if we didn’t strike first, they were being manipulated by Osama bin Laden, who used America to get rid of the secular Saddam Hussein and to create a new training and recruitment ground for al Qaeda and fundamentalist fanatics.

When the New York Times let Judith Miller serve as a propagandist for war with Iraq, the Times was being manipulated by Muslim terrorists, not by neocons.

When CNN, the networks and columnists like Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin reassure us that we will win the war unless we pull out prematurely, they are being manipulated by terrorists. Finally I understand what the Weekly Standard, National Review, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, AEI, and the online site Frontpage are all about.

The terrorists are so clever at manipulation that Americans cannot perceive that we have been sucked deep into a war that is creating the Islamic fundamentalism that we so desperately fear.

Obviously, I misjudged Rumsfeld’s intelligence. Anyone who can figure out the Muslim conspiracy is off the charts. What I can’t figure is why Rumsfeld is willing for America to continue to be sucked in. Don’t tell me that terrorists are manipulating Rumsfeld, too!

More HERE

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

This one is a little more complicated. It has facts and opinion in the same article. Can you tell which parts are fact and which parts are opinion?

Paul Craig Roberts is a conservative not a neocon. That might make it easier to understand why you have such a hard time with his insights. (call it an assist)

capt

Bushs' problem was listening to the leftover Clinton rejects.
Posted by: Euro trash at August 30, 2006 10:41 AM

Like Richard Clarke who Bush wouldn't meet with, who provided national security advice to three other U.S. presidents: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton , consulting on issues of intelligence and terrorism, for 30 years. And then there was that little thing called 9/11. Oops.

Rove, Libby, Fleisher, Armitage, etc. "allegedly" leaked Plame's identity. They have all "allegedly" taken part in undermining our National Security.

"When a firing squad is assembled to execute someone who cares whose bullet hit first?"

They would all look good (the Bush administration) in orange and white striped jail clothing, or dropped down in the middle of Baghdad. (A New Reality show). This show would make millions maybe billions of dollars. People around the world would watch.

Hitchens lives in the "state of denial" (along with Bush) in his personal and professional life. People in denial are very very dangerous to themselves and all living creatures around them.

74
Some contemptible soul is so envious of the real Happy, a conservative, that he has usurped his name. Of course, some liberals have no original ideas. All they can do is mimic and parrot the nomme de plume of others.

Posted by: factchecker at August 30, 2006 08:18 AM
=============================================
factchecker, other fellow Conservative Regulars David, non-posting regular Readers and my spoofer `Happy':

As the most spoofed name on the Corn blog this year, I'll share some thoughts on this phenomenon. At first, it did annoy/bother me, as Regular posters know. Guess what? I've `grown' and adapted; life traits I've been blessed with to have achieved above-average success in all life endeavors.

Spoofing IS an interesting & complicated blog phenomenon! I believe it reveals/represents many personal/psychological traits of the spoofer; none are positive.

What kind of person would resort to this subterfuge and repress/hide-from his own identity? Is this type of a person you would look up to or want on your team for serious above-board work?
(I know who the the current dimwit Happy is, he misspelled the same words in his original identity...but I'll keep this to myself for now.)

Isn't spoofing a rather crude attempt to Discredit your opposition whose superior arguments have bloodied the spoofer's original handle? (Hint: Who has been `beaten up' by me recently?)

Isn't spoofing also meant to confuse the casual audiences in order to further the spoofer's agenda?

Isn't the spoofer's threshold for fun rather low-class and juvenile?

Boiled down, spoofing is just one of the Dirty Tricks such spoofer has picked up, latched on and almost certainly, used such Dirty tactics over and over in his personal & business life? If such spoofer had the big-name diplomas, he would be the Jeff Skillings and Andrew Fastows of the world.

To the Cornuts: I suspect many of you, like me, know who the spoofer is....since among you, you exchange off-blog emails, photos, visit each other, etc...Your silence, other than Panty's warning, tells me, my fellow Conservative posters and regular Readers, all we need to know about the hypocrisies of the Extreme Left.

Some may not believe me, but I'm amused to see my spoofed self acting like a jackass and at times, like my 21-yr old son who has been in liberal Austin, TX too long! The only folks I care NOT to confuse me w/my spoofer, are my fellow Conservative posters and Mr. Corn himself! Like factchecker said above, I'm a Conservative and I DON'T FLIP-FLOP!

Hitchens attacked the "liberal" audience by flipping them the single finger salute on Bill Mahers' latest show. for the clip, transscript and the obviously reich wing commentary, News bastards, oops, busters

Why Are We In Iraq?

Error

Why are American armed forces in Iraq? There are two important reasons: error and empire. Although oil is an important focal element, it proxies for business interests in general, and they proxy for the American system extended under the umbrella of American control and protection, that is, empire. America didn’t fight the Spanish-American War, World War I, or the Vietnam War for oil. If we are to understand the Iraq War as part of a longstanding process, oil cannot provide the explanation.

The error was two-fold. It is common knowledge that the supposed benefits of the war, such as removing weapons of mass destruction, decreasing terrorism, making the U.S. more secure, installing a functioning democracy, etc. have not materialized. They need no discussion. The Bush team underestimated the war’s costs and difficulties, and it overestimated the benefits. The Bush team thought that the war could be won easily, that they could install a friendly government easily, and that they could exit Iraq rather quickly and go on to their next field exercise in reconstructing the world.

The evidence supporting the latter assertion is overwhelming. Here are a few examples. Ken Adelman (2/13/02) said: "I believe demolishing Hussein’s military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk." Donald Rumsfeld (11/15/02): "Five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn’t going to last any longer than that." On 1/10/03, Rumsfeld endorsed an estimate of "something under $50 billion for the cost." On 5/16/03, Cheney said: "My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators...I think it will go relatively quickly...[in] weeks rather than months." Richard Perle (3/25/03 said "...this will be a short war." Paul Wolfowitz on 3/27/03 thought that Iraq’s oil revenues "can finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." George Bush on 7/2/03 said: "There are some who feel like – that the conditions are such that they can attack us there [Iraq]. My answer is, bring 'em on! We've got the force necessary to deal with the security situation." Rumsfeld three weeks later said "I don’t do quagmires."

More HERE

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

This one is a mixed bag of facts, opinion and some conclusions. Can you tell which is which?

Have you started to understand the difference between fact and opinion?

capt

The CIA Leak Case: On Bob Novak, The Washington Post, and the Winds of War

Huffington Post

With the latest "news" on this case, several points should be clearly understood at the outset. First, Dick Armitage's role was widely and publicly discussed as early as March, and second, Dick Armitage clearly screwed up but was NOT the original source of the leak. While he does share moral culpability, the driving force behind the leak came from the

neocon and partisan wings of the White House.
It is their spin, and nothing more, to try to defend themselves by shifting blame to the anti-Iraq war Armitage, and to the anti-Iraq war State Department, who they believe "needs an American desk." If Armitage never existed the leaks would have happened exactly the same way. If the White House-neocon axis never existed the leaks would never have happened. Whatever the shortcomings of Armitage and State, the real culpability for the identity disclosures reside elsewhere and progressives should be very careful to avoid unknowingly pushing the neocon line.

This whole episode of a political vendetta that involved distorting the debate about WMD in Iraq and naming intelligence identities is the single most shameful, unpatriotic, and totally dishonorable business that I have seen from the moment I first set foot in Washington.

And let me disclose my one and only bias: to protect the men and women who serve our country courageously and covertly, and the men and women of foreign nations who help our country courageously and covertly...
===========
I have thought the same thing. This is just another attempt at blame shifting.

#111
I know. I laughed when I read it.

Burnout

Joan speaks my words and wrote the article that I would have written in time.

Well, . . . the Internet will no longer be a safe place. You will be challenged and condemned for the ideas you proffer.

Posted by: factchecker at August 30, 2006 10:32 AM

"Comdemned" wooooooooo. The idea police have arrived. Let's turn to another idea. It's an oldie but goodie:

"It's time to start killing them in large quantities."
-factchecker

Oops. There goes your credibility. Say goodbye. Goodbye.

Pandemoniac,
Could you help Euro Trash find the information for post #99? I think if a person is going to trash a former president at least get the information right and of course back it up with facts.

Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies, 1774 - 2004

[..]

Nothing is more basic; yet it continues to elude the grasp of our teachers, writers, professors, and politicians. The forty year Cold War drained this country of much of its wealth, squandered capital, and wasted the labor of millions, whose lifetime work, whether as a soldier, sailor, or defense worker, was devoted to policing the empire, fighting its brush wars, and making weapons, instead of building up our civilization with things of utility, comfort, and beauty.

Some might respond that the Cold War was a necessity, but that's not the question although we now know that the CIA, in yet another massive intelligence failure, grossly overestimated Soviet military capabilities as well as the size of the Soviet economy, estimating it was twice as large and productive as it really was. The point is the wastefulness of war, and the preparation for it; and I see no evidence whatever that the American people or their leaders understand that, or even care to think about it. An awareness and comprehension of these economic realities might lead to more searching scrutiny of the aims and methods that the Bush administration has chosen for the War on Terror.

Only a few days after 9-11, Rumsfeld declared that the war shall last as long as the Cold War (forty plus years), or longer a claim the administration has repeated every few months since then without eliciting the slightest notice or questioning from the media, the public, or the opposing party. Would that be the case, if people understand how much a second Cold War, this time with radical Islam, will cost us in lives, treasure, and foregone comfort and leisure?

More HERE

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

This one is from 2004. It has ten fallacies the above is just part of number two. The whole article is enlightening.

capt

Jeanne, I find it humorous that the ravers who constantly whine about clinton tend to dwell on his least offensive doings while completely ignoring the big sins. More idiots. Clueless ones at that.

Twenty Things We Now Know

A very good article to read!!!

#122,

You can tell when a post is from a position juxtaposed to the facts.

The facts conflict with their beliefs.

"A fool cannot be protected from his folly. If you attempt to do so, you will not only arouse his animosity but also you will be attempting to deprive him of whatever benefit he is capable of deriving from experience. Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig." ~ Robert A. Heinlein

capt

What if my son in liberal Austin begins to think the Reagan revolution is short-sighted, that our society has some values that are not addressed through free market reform; that government plays an important roll in securing our safety from foriegn enemies AND natural disasters, that social security not only helps the aged poor buy food it provides the rest of our society with a minimal foundation for retirement and a safety net if we become disabled during our working lives.

What if he think the UN's purpose, to stop wars and find alternative resolution to armed conflict, is a noble and just cause, that the ACLU mission to protect the rights of all citizens is not only beneficial, it is necessary, and that the neo-cons and George Bush, hand-in-hand have really fucked this country over.

What if my son is a liberal?

Can you really not see?

By Amira Hass
Haaretz

Let us leave aside those Israelis whose ideology supports the dispossession of the Palestinian people because "God chose us." Leave aside the judges who whitewash every military policy of killing and destruction. Leave aside the military commanders who knowingly jail an entire nation in pens surrounded by walls, fortified observation towers, machine guns, barbed wire and blinding projectors. Leave aside the ministers. All of these are not counted among the collaborators. These are the architects, the planners, the designers, the executioners.

But there are others. Historians and mathematicians, senior editors, media stars, psychologists and family doctors, lawyers who do not support Gush Emunim and Kadima, teachers and educators, lovers of hiking trails and sing-alongs, high-tech wizards. Where are you? And what about you, researchers of Nazism, the Holocaust and Soviet gulags? Could you all be in favor of systematic discriminating laws? Laws stating that the Arabs of the Galilee will not even be compensated for the damages of the war by the same sums their Jewish neighbors are entitled to (Aryeh Dayan, Haaretz , August 21).

Could it be that you are all in favor of a racist Citizenship Law that forbids an Israeli Arab from living with his family in his own home? That you side with further expropriation of lands and the demolishing of additional orchards, for another settler neighborhood and another exclusively Jewish road? That you all back the shelling and missile fire killing the old and the young in the Gaza Strip?
Could it be that you all agree that a third of the West Bank (the Jordan Valley) should be off limits to Palestinians? That you all side with an Israeli policy that prevents tens of thousands of Palestinians who have obtained foreign citizenship from returning to their families in the occupied territories?

Could your mind really be so washed with the security excuse, used to forbid Gaza students from studying occupational therapy at Bethlehem and medicine at Abu Dis, and preventing sick people from Rafah from receiving medical treatment in Ramallah? Will also you find it easy to hide behind the explanation "we had no idea": we had no idea that the discrimination practiced in the distribution of water - which is solely controlled by Israel - leaves thousands of Palestinian households without water during the hot summer months; we had no idea that when the IDF blocks the entrance to villages, it also blocks their access to springs or water tanks.

But it cannot be that you don't see the iron gates along route 344 in the West Bank, blocking access to it from the Palestinian villages it passes by. It cannot be that you support preventing the access of thousands of farmers to their land and plantations, that you support the quarantine on Gaza which prevents the entry of medicine for hospitals, the disruption of electricity and water supply to 1.4 million human beings, closing their only outlet to the world for months.

Could it be that you do not know what is happening 15 minutes from your faculties and offices? Is it plausible that you support the system in which Hebrew soldiers, at checkpoints in the heart of the West Bank, are letting tens of thousands of people wait everyday for hours upon hours under the blazing sun, while selecting: residents of Nablus and Tul Karm are not allowed through, 35-year-olds and under - yallah, back to Jenin, residents of the Salem village are not even allowed to be here, a sick woman who skipped the line must learn a lesson and will be purposefully detained for hours. Machsom Watch's site is available for all; in it are countless such testimonies and worse, a day by day routine. But it cannot be that those who are appalled over every swastika painted on a Jewish grave in France and over every anti-Semitic headline in a Spanish local newspaper will not know how to reach this information, and will not be appalled and outraged.

As Jews we all enjoy the privilege Israel gives us, what makes us all collaborators. The question is what does every one of us do in an active and direct daily manner to minimize cooperation with a dispossessing, suppressing regime that never has its fill. Signing a petition and tutting will not do. Israel is a democracy for its Jews. We are not in danger of our lives, we will not be jailed in concentration camps, our livelihood will not be damaged and recreation in the countryside or abroad will not be denied to us. Therefore, the burden of collaboration and direct responsibility is immeasurably heavy.
===========
The facts of a horrible situation from an eye witness. I applaud you Ms. Hass and Haaretz for speaking up on this. It applies to we here in America as well.

Stick to ski jumping, thats about all you euro pusses are good at.

PS. How does it feel to be corn-holed Dave? A worthless book by a worthless partisan hack writer.

Posted by: Euro thrash at August 30, 2006 09:54 AM

Butt Head by any other name is still Butt Head.

Gerald, I saw that article. Even if bushco only knew in advance and allowed it to happen, just like FDR and the first Pearl Harbor, they are just as guilty for all those deaths as they would be if they were directly responsible for the planning of it. There is no difference whatsoever. And it is a fact that they knew well in advance.

The Big Lie About 'Islamic Fascism'

The latest big lie unveiled by Washington's neoconservatives are the poisonous terms, "Islamo-Fascists" and "Islamic Fascists." They are the new, hot buzzwords among America's far right and Christian fundamentalists.

President George W. Bush made a point last week of using "Islamofacists" when recently speaking of Hezbullah and Hamas both, by the way, democratically elected parties. A Canadian government minister from the Conservative Party compared Lebanon's Hezbullah to Nazi Germany.

The term "Islamofascist" is utterly without meaning, but packed with emotional explosives. It is a propaganda creation worthy Dr. Goebbels, and the latest expression of the big lie technique being used by neocons in Washington's propaganda war against its enemies in the Muslim World.

This ugly term was probably first coined in Israel as was the other hugely successful propaganda term, "terrorism" to dehumanize and demonize opponents and deny them any rational political motivation, hence removing any need to deal with their grievances and demands.

As the brilliant humanist Sir Peter Ustinov so succinctly put it, "Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich."

More HERE

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

Who are we killing, who are we suppose to be killing, who would Jesus kill?

The "war on terror" is more accurately the "war on being scared" and as war is a terror it will never end.

What will hearld the end of this so called war? How many deaths are the bargin? How many innocents must be laid to rest? When is the pile of bodies big enough to claim VICTORY?

capt

Fox News Ratings Take a Nosedive

Somewhere, Keith Olbermann is sticking pins in a Bill O'Reilly voodoo doll: Fox News' ratings, TVNewser reports, are down since August of last year. Like, way down. Like down 28 percent in primetime among all viewers, down 20 percent in primetime in the "money demo" (viewers aged 25-54) and down 7 percent in daytime viewership overall. In fact, the only place Fox is up is during the day, when they managed a ratings increase of just 2 percent, and even then only in the money demo.

And lest you think this is an industry-wide trend, consider this: over the same time period, CNN and MSNBC are up. CNN's up 35 percent during the day -- 46 percent in the money demo -- and up 21 percent in primetime overall, 25 percent in the money demo. MSNBC's ratings increases aren't quite as impressive -- up 6 percent in primetime overall, 8 percent in the money demo, and up 36 percent in the money demo during the day, 26 percent overall.

#125 Gerald, good read indeed!

Rove Informs White House He Will Be Indicted
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report

Friday 12 May 2006

Within the last week, Karl Rove told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, as well as a few other high level administration officials, that he will be indicted in the CIA leak case and will immediately resign his White House job when the special counsel publicly announces the charges against him, according to sources.

Details of Rove's discussions with the president and Bolten have spread through the corridors of the White House where low-level staffers and senior officials were trying to determine how the indictment would impact an administration that has been mired in a number of high-profile political scandals for nearly a year, said a half-dozen White House aides and two senior officials who work at the Republican National Committee.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, sources confirmed Rove's indictment is imminent. These individuals requested anonymity saying they were not authorized to speak publicly about Rove's situation. A spokesman in the White House press office said they would not comment on "wildly speculative rumors."

Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, did not return a call for comment Friday.

#127
Then you celebrate. You raised him right.

FOX rules! Liberals suck.

Glenn Greenwald Discusses FISA on the Alan Colmes Show

Gleen Greenwald was on the Alan Colmes show yesterday and got into a rather hefty debate with former deputy undersecretary of defense (under Bush 41), Jed Babbin

Part 1 (mp3)

Part 2 (mp3)

Babbin gets really nasty and says on the air that Glenn has "no god damn idea what he’≥ talking about". Babbin tries to say that FISA "does not cover foreign intelligence gathering", which is funny since it is called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Of course Babbin tries a typical neo-con tactic of yelling and screaming over someone when they are talking, but it fails.

Babbin tries to use the argument that he is a lawyer, but I have heard children give better arguments defending the actions of someone.

(h/t Mike)

More HERE

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

The audio files might be too much for dial-ups.

capt

Has Israel Become Another Nazi Germany?

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that Israel was responsible for most of the violations of the UN-brokered cease-fire that ended the 34-day conflict between Israel and Hezbollah two weeks ago.

Bill Frist complains that "spotlight" is on Iraq

[..]

We have 140,000 troops in a country on the verge of all-out sectarian war, a country which happens to sit in the middle of the most strategically important and inflammable region on the planet. That's the result of a war in which we've lost 2,600 American lives, have had tens of thousands more wounded, killed tens of thousands of Iraqis, and spent hundreds of billions of dollars.

But Bill First is angry because Democrats are trying to put the "spotlight" on that war -- and that, as he says, is "such a political problem." It's been obvious for some time that Bush supporters are trying to ignore the disaster they created in Iraq, to just pretend it doesn't exist (and, just by the way, "violence across Iraq has spiked in recent days, with more than 200 people killed since Sunday in clashes, bombings or shootings"). They want to move on to new, more exciting, more politically exploitable issues -- like the U.K. terror plot or the new wars in Lebanon and Iran. But to hear it so explicitly -- to hear First petulantly complain about the "spotlight" being put on Iraq -- is pretty staggering.

More HERE

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

So Frist is a liar and a fool? No surprise here.

capt

"The phrase "we (I) (you) simply must..." designates something that need not be done. "That goes without saying" is a red warning. "Of course" means you had best check it yourself. These small-change cliches and others like them, when read correctly, are reliable channel markers."

~ Excerpt from the notebooks of Lazarus Long, from Robert Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love"

DEN and Saladin, what concerns me is Americans' silence and lack of outrage. We have wasted lives, resources, and money and we will never feel safe and secure. Americans will get their just due in time and there will be wailing, misery, pain, and suffering beyond comprehension.

God has called us to all be brothers and sisters.

I fear for my country and my world.

A few facts to keep in mind.

1) I. Lewis Libby has been indicted:
One count of obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury and two counts of making false statements.

This is at the very least evidence of deep White House involvement in this affair.

2) Karl Rove only very narrowly averted indictment by an almost unprecedented 5 Grand Jury appearances. Seems he had quite a bit of 'splaining to do. At the very least, more evidence of deep White House involvment.

3) Cheney's own handwriting on the Wilson Op-Ed piece indicates deep White House involvment.

4) It was Mr. Jason Leopold from truthout.com who assured us that Rove would be/had been indicted. I still wish he had come clean as he had promised and outed his source. Mr. Leopold's latest can be seen here, for what it's worth.

5) For all the criticism Joe Wilson has come under it must be remembered that Joe Wilson's Op-Ed was responding to the Wush's 16 words in the State of the Union, about which the White House admits:

Helen Thomas: Ari, does the President stand by all the statements he made in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq to the American people?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think you've heard what the President has said about the State of the Union remarks, about whether Iraq did or did not seek uranium from Africa. Other than that, of course the President does. And even on that, that is --

Q And you still think he'll find --

MR. FLEISCHER: -- even on that, that is a judgment that the President has made in hindsight, knowing now what we did not know at the time of the State of the Union. And the President, in retrospect, would not have included that remark in the State of the Union speech, as you know.

The Crock of Appeasement

The warmongers, imperialists, and just plain greedy who wish to use up US troops to gain their ill-gotten goods love to use the word "appeasement." Anyone who stands against their expansionist ambitions will be tagged with this term. In the lexicology of the Rabid Right, it evokes British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's attempt to negotiate with German Chancellor Adolph Hitler. It is certainly the case that Hitler was a genocidal maniac and not the sort of man with whom one could usefully negotiate. But not all negotiation is equally fruitless. Before that incident, by the way, "appeasement" had a positive connotation, of "seeking peace."

The rightwing use of the term appeasement, however, turns it on its head. Taken seriously, the doctrine of "no appeasement" on the right would mean we are stuck in perpectual war, always doomed to be on the offensive, always dedicated to gobbling up more of other people's territory and wealth even at the expense of living in constant dread of being blown up and being forced to give up the civil liberties which had made American civilization great.

It would never be possible to negotiate a truce with any enemy. That would be appeasement. It would never be possible to compromise. That would be appeasement. It would never be prudent to withdraw troops from a failed war. That would be appeasement. In other words, the rightwing doctrine of "no appeasement, ever" actually turns you into Hitler rather than into Churchill.

But we are anyway not stuck perpetually in the late 1930s, and it is not the only exemplary period in history to which we can resort for our metaphors and our courses of action.

More HERE

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

A revisit on the appeasement issue from Juan Cole.

capt

One persons facts are anothers garbage. you believe what you believe and I believe what I believe and never the two shall meet.
Figures you'd pick Kofi Annan as some bastion of truth for the world. He's a third world commy puppet whos main mission is to trash the US. how silly of me, of course you'd agree with that.
Erlang, I owe you an apology, you guys are good at speed skating too.
Jeanne your still a dumb bitch.
Fake happy suck my dick, something your probably used to doing.

Rumsfeld Accuses Critics of Appeasement of Fascists

The LA Times reports that

' Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday compared critics of the Bush administration to those who sought to appease the Nazis before World War II, warning that the nation is confronting "a new type of fascism."

'(Click here for explanation of photo.)

The LA Times continued:

' He continued, "Can we truly afford to believe that, somehow or someway, vicious extremists could be appeased?" '

More HERE

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

The only fascism we are appeasing is fascism here at home driven by the traitorous neocons.

I do not think for a minute "vicious extremists could be appeased" that is why we have to effect regime change here at home.

capt

Two Elephants in the Room

Finally, someone let the cat out of the bag!

As Professor Mearsheimer put it in an interview with Mother Jones magazine:

"The Israel lobby and its influence has been a taboo subject for too long. It is very important for the national interest that this matter be discussed at length and in a serious way in the media and on Capitol Hill. Too much is at stake to continue treating the lobby and Israel like two elephants in the room."

As the days go by, I am ever more saddened by Israel's actions, behaviors, and deeds.

"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." ~ Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

"DEN and Saladin, what concerns me is Americans' silence and lack of outrage. We have wasted lives, resources, and money and we will never feel safe and secure. Americans will get their just due in time and there will be wailing, misery, pain, and suffering beyond comprehension."

Gerald, No truer words have been spoken.

The American people refuse to acknowledge the obvious, preferring instead to remain in their little snug coccoons of false security.

Beyond Macaca: The Photograph That Haunts George Allen

Barnstorming around Virginia in the re-election campaign that Republican Senator George Allen hopes will provide the impetus for his 2008 run for the presidency, he has suddenly been forced on the defensive. Time and again, he has felt compelled to explain that his mocking of S.R. Sidarth, a young Indian-American staff member for his Democratic opponent, as "macaca," or monkey, was an unintentional gaffe. "It was a mistake. I made a mistake," he told a reporter from a local NBC affiliate at a campaign stop on Thursday. Hours later, he told the ABC affiliate, "It was a mistake, I was wrong." On Fox News's Sean Hannity show, he echoed, "It was a mistake."

But was it an isolated "mistake"?

Only a decade ago, as governor of Virginia, Allen personally initiated an association with the Council of Conservative Citizens, the successor organization to the segregationist White Citizens Council and among the largest white supremacist groups.

More HERE

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

Who would have thought we would still be fighting racism? The fact that these racist jerks can get elected is a shame on all of America.

capt

The prospect of people losing their homes has increased in Placer County as mortgage default notices have more than doubled.

According to the latest report issued by DataQuick Information Systems earlier this month, the amount of default notices in the county - the first step in the foreclosure process - for the second quarter has increased 126.2 percent compared to numbers from the same time last year.

Placer County CA has the highest per capita Republican constituants next to Orange County.

More here

Claims made by Schwartzenegger is the state had a job increase last month of 600 jobs, I figure those were filling jobs created by people leaving the state.

Caught Red-Handed: Stevens Blocked Creation of Federal Spending Database

Last week, an "unidentified senator" placed a hold on legislation introduced by Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would create a easily-accessible Google-like database of all federal spending, which totaled $2.5 trillion last year.

The bill appeared to be headed for passage after being approved unanimously in committee. However, the anonymous senator's hold on the bill prevented it from coming to a vote.

In response, liberals and conservatives worked together to ask every Senate office whether they had placed a hold on the bill. Of all 100 senators, only Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) would not deny placing the hold. In addition, one of the bill's leading sponsors, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), said of Stevens, "he's the only senator blocking it." Stevens's opposition to such a bill is not surprising; he is one of the most prolific earmarkers in the Senate:

In 2005, Stevens helped slip in legislation to begin construction on the "Bridge to Nowhere," earmarking over $200 million for a bridge to an island home to 50 people. When an amendment jeopardized funding for the project, Stevens threatened to resign.

Later that year, Stevens tried to insert an amendment into the national defense bill allowing oil drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. When the Senate struck the provision, Stevens called it "the saddest day of my life" and has "written off" Senate friends who opposed drilling.

This year, Stevens earmarked $450,000 to research baby food made from salmon and over $1 million for "alternative salmon product research." This is the third year in a row he has appropriated money to research salmon products.

More at TPMmuckraker.

Scott Keyes

More HERE

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

Why would the people not want to know where the pork is going? It is a fact of life (or so it seems).

Maybe it is time to quit the "hide the bill" game? One senator should not be able to hold any bill for any reason. It is not legal, not constitutional, and just plain not right.

capt

22
...don't pin that bullshit on me when you know damn well who the source of that quote is!

Posted by: spy on this! at August 30, 2006 01:20 AM
=============================================
spy,

I wondered what your reaction was going to be! The quote isn't BS, it's THE MOST EXPEDIENT WAY to solving our biggest problem! At least for those of us who believe radical Islam is the worlds' BIGGEST PROBLEM.

Seeing that you don't want to have, or share the credit for that stretegically correct BS, OK! Hope you didn't buy oil stocks these past 2~3 weeks, looking a little shaky this week!

Dave Lindorff: 'Public is hungry for impeachment news and information'
Posted on Wednesday, August 30 @ 09:54:29 EDT

Before Barbara and I got a chance to get any real national attention for The Case for Impeachment outside of programs on Air America, the best the book did on the Amazon sales ranking was about #3500.

Then last weekend, we had the opportunity, over a period of two days, to air a 7.5-minute interview on NPR, and a 75-minute presention on C-Span's "Books TV" program. Suddenly the book leapt in the rankings to #42, well ahead of #400, Greg Palast's best-selling Armed Madhouse, and even #80, Ann Coulter's Godless, and closing in on #27, Al Gore's best-selling Inconvenient Truth!

It makes you wonder what would happen if the mainstream media, like the NY Times, Washington Post and LA Times, and liberal publications like the Nation, In These Times, Salon, Slate, the Progressive, Harper's, the New Republic and others, or shows like "Fresh Air" and "Democracy Now," would stop ignoring the book and instead review it.

More.

RE: Polygamist Warren Jeffs Arrested

This is an outrage! This is just another example of government intrusion into our bedrooms. The government has no right to deny the civil right of marriage to people just because they have a different definition of marriage!!!

Stevens gets so flustered he has trouble speaking at times; when the ANWAR provision was struck he was positivly apoplectic.

BUSH THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF SAID HE'D FIRE ANYONE FOR LEAKING, THAT NOBODY WAS INVOLVED.

Asked in June 2004 if he'd stand by his pledge to fire anyone found to have leaked, Bush replied "yes." [Bush Press Conference: Savannah, GA, 6/10/04]

When the White House was asked specifically whether Karl Rove, Elliot Abrams or Lewis Libby told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "Those individuals -- I talked -- I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. And that's where it stands." [White House Briefing, 10/10/03]

"I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action." [Bush Remarks: Chicago, Illinois, 9/30/03]

"The President has set high standards, the highest of standards for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration." [White House Briefing, 9/29/03]

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

These are right off of the White House website.

He knew who was who the whole time, eh? Or did the state department know and not tell Bush? That would be executive incompetence or am I missing something?

capt

154 - The problem with that argument is that many of these are arranged and coerced engagements, often times involving religiously indoctrinated young women and powerful older men in cloistered communities, not freely engaged in unions.

'Fess Up, Tubemeister!

The "secret hold" scandal is all but solved, and Sen. Ted "Series of Tubes" Stevens had best come clean.

Here's the exciting background: There's a bipartisan Senate bill that would actually do something good for a change. S. 2590 would create a Google-style public database that would show who gets government money through contracts and grants. But a single anonymous senator has blocked the bill.

More HERE

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

Tubemeister! HA!

capt

#151
Capt,
If that bill passes we will know who the real welfare 'queens' are.

The October Surprise

Yes, Iran has an unpleasant, authoritarian government. But "apocalyptic" ? Please. The ayatollahs more closely resemble, say, the College of Cardinals than they do Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden. They hold ideas that strike most Americans (and many Iranians ) as deeply nutty, but govern more by tradition and consensus than brute force.

For all the absurdity of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rhetoric, he holds no authority over Iran's armed forces. While hostile to Israel, the Iranians harbor no territorial ambitions. They haven't invaded anybody in centuries. For what it's worth, "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls nuclear weapons immoral. We got into this mess by installing the shah in a 1953 military coup, then training the SAVAK, his hated secret police. Intelligence experts say Iran's years away from developing nukes. So what's the big hurry ? But that's definitely too much explaining for voters who see Eye-ran and Eye-raq as identical lunatic asylums run by nuts in beards and turbans. So I'd say that for all their tough talk, the neo-cons act like a cartoon elephant afraid of a mouse. Last time we trusted the Bush White House, we ended up stuck in Iraq. Now they want to double the bet ? No thanks. And I'd keep asking, "Where's Osama ?"

As I see bush, I see a lunatic who is excited to start another war because he is the WAR PRESIDENT.

Warren Jeffs is promoting child marraiges, damn good thing he did get the greybar hotel, one less child molester running around loose.

Speaking of welfare...

Robert Scheer: 'Clinton ended welfare, not poverty'

[...]

The sad reality is that "ending welfare as we know it" was championed by Clinton because it made him appear to be a "new Democrat" and not because it would improve the lives of poor kids. Otherwise, he would not dare boast in his column that "as a governor, I oversaw a workfare experiment in Arkansas in 1980," because that program was a failure.

In Arkansas today, fully half the children are described in Census department data as "low income," while 1 out of 10 live in a situation that researchers call "extreme child poverty," meaning that a family of four survives on less than $9,675 per year.

Yes, Clinton all but ended welfare. Unfortunately, child poverty is again on the rise in Arkansas and throughout the nation.

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

Of course, Clinton isn't to blame for the last 5-6 years. He isn't the anywhere near the Liberal the GOPhers made him out to be, either.

But, then, get a load of this:

Clinton, 9/11 and the Facts
By William Rivers Pitt

Your marriage to Bush will be consumated when you pull his finger

People believe that a marriage is consumated with the conjugal act. Marriages are consumated by the pulling of a spouse's finger on the honeymoon.

You will love this post!

There is a growing movement in this country to recognize that plural marriages should enjoy the same priveleges as traditional marriage.

Many of the people in plural marriages are very happy and nine days before the arrest of Mr. Jeffs, 300 children of plural marriage rallied in Utah in defense of their families. Some demographers estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of people in these relationships who choose not to reveal the truth of their family life because of the hatred and bigotry in society today. They see what has happened to homosexuals who get married.

I'm simply bringing this issue to the attention of the folks who blog here because I sense that this is an issue of social injustice they can identify with. Am I mistaken?

polygamy! ha ha - wait until there is gay marriage polygamy - a double outrage!

University of New Hampshire administrators are standing behind a
tenured professor who has publicly theorized that the U.S. government
orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, even as Gov. John
Lynch condemned his remarks.

"Although academic freedom is important," the governor said, "if the
UNH professor is promoting that view, it reflects a reckless disregard
for the true facts and raises questions as to why such a professor
would be teaching at the university in the first place."

Scholars for 9/11 Truth claims to have 300 members nationwide. Its
founder and co-chairman, retired University of Minnesota-Duluth
Professor James H. Fetzer, said about 75 of those members have
"academic affiliations."

Woodward's critics, Fetzer said, are "arrogant in their ignorance."

"Of course, all of us have difficulty imagining our government could
have attacked our own government," he said. "But do you know there are
an awful lot of people who have paid attention to the evidence that
are coming around?"

Fetzer's writings dispute the conclusions of the Sept. 11 Commission,
whose 2004 report clearly states that the attacks were carried out by
Islamic extremists under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden.
------
all it reflects is a reckless disregard for the 9/11 commission's report which was nothing more than a whitewash cover-up from one end to the other. here is just a small sample of the official whitewash cover-up:
article

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
--Upton Sinclair

Polygamy between consenting adults, who cares!

Marriage of any kind with a minor, BIG no-no.

Israel deserves the Nazi label

In the past two weeks Israeli forces have come to Ramallah every single night. There is now a vigil in the dark hours of these nights; from 2am till 5am half the city is awake watching and wondering where Israel's eyes are turned and what neighborhood they are targeting.

In the past week Israel has made daily incursions into Nablus and has destroyed houses and killed 16-year old boys in broad daylight, and has raided the city every night. For the past month the whole village district of Ramallah and Nablus have been enduring invasions and raids, house-searches and arrests.

While Olmert is taking a few blows about his conduct of the war in Lebanon, the Palestinians are having to endure being his 'dog-under-the-table'.

How on earth is he and Israel getting away with it?

#162
Good article. I'd like to post a little of it.

The Clinton administration poured more than a billion dollars into counterterrorism activities across the entire spectrum of the intelligence community, into the protection of critical infrastructure, into massive federal stockpiling of antidotes and vaccines to prepare for a possible bioterror attack, into a reorganization of the intelligence community itself. Within the National Security Council, "threat meetings" were held three times a week to assess looming conspiracies. His National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger, prepared a voluminous dossier on al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, actively tracking them across the planet. Clinton raised the issue of terrorism in virtually every important speech he gave in the last three years of his tenure.

Clinton's dire public warnings about the threat posed by terrorism, and the actions taken to thwart it, went completely unreported by the media, which was far more concerned with stained dresses and baseless Drudge Report rumors. When the administration did act militarily against bin Laden and his terrorist network, the actions were dismissed by partisans within the media and Congress as scandalous "wag the dog" tactics. The news networks actually broadcast clips of the movie "Wag the Dog" while reporting on his warnings, to accentuate the idea that everything the administration said was contrived fakery.

In Congress, Clinton was thwarted by the reactionary conservative majority in virtually every attempt he made to pass legislation that would attack al-Qaeda and terrorism. His 1996 omnibus terror bill, which included many of the anti-terror measures we now take for granted after September 11, was withered almost to the point of uselessness by attacks from the right; Senators Jesse Helms and Trent Lott were openly dismissive of the threats Clinton spoke of.

Specifically, Clinton wanted to attack the financial underpinnings of the al-Qaeda network by banning American companies and individuals from dealing with foreign banks and financial institutions that al-Qaeda was using for its money-laundering operations. Texas Senator Phil Gramm, chairman of the Banking Committee, gutted the portions of Clinton's bill dealing with this matter, calling them "totalitarian."
--------------
According to that article, Clinton got more done to fight terrorism with the majority party the Republicans, working against him than Bush has done in this critical time with the majority party, the Republicans, working with him.

And, according to the article, Clinton did it without using scare tactics. The country continued as normal. He did it without starting an illegal war. He remained rational.

Israel has lost her innocence forever!!!

I am no fan of Hitchens. Never have been even in his days of liberalism. I took exception, however, to the criticism that he's British. What, really has that to do with it? Brits have just as much right to comment on American issues.

As I said previously, Hitchens is a complete jerk. He's always been arrogant and self-righteous. In this particular case, he's definitely going after David Corn for personal reasons. Professional jealousy is written all over his absurd attacks. He reminds me, more than ever, of Alexander Cockburn. He sure is shouting from the rooftops about Hubris, isn't he? He's so blatantly obvious, it's embarrassing. Criticizing his alcoholism only eggs him on. He's quite proud of it and flaunts it, not realizing its a disease. (It makes him feel like he's one of the big boy journalists, following old traditions of hitting the bottle hard, like Hemingway and such.)

Jeanne,

So they're going to destroy the paper ballots from 2004. Just dandy. I suppose you've read that the same anti-registration shenanigans used in 2004 are once again being used, most particularly in Ohio, but elsewhere too. I sympathize with Capt's reaction yesterday to the complaint of fatalism. That is not what we're about here! But it is difficult not to get a little depressed, isn't it?

I'm going to go get a link to some of the things the national media has been saying about the subject matter of Hubris. I knew the book was much more about the illegal occupation and how it was pawned off on Americans and the world. Give David some credit to those of you who detract! He's a damn fine journalist and writer. He's always got his finger on the deeper, more important causative elements. He, like so many of us, is after blood now. Bushco, Rumsfeld/Cheney and the like must go down. They are destroying what's left of the Republic.

First I wanted to share this humorous piece by Molly Ivins on techniques for successful anti-war protest strategies.

Cow Whisperers Against the War

Deep Background
In Washington it is hardly a secret that the same people in and around the administration who brought you Iraq are preparing to do the same for Iran. The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney’≥ office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing—¥hat Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack—¢ut no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections.

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

This was in The American Conservative a year ago. If this is the case, so help us God! I know Bushco have been dreaming about attacking Syria and Iran, but this is more like an actual plan for yet another war. And IF this will take place, we'll have a WWIII on our hands! Even the neocons can't escape such a war. It will hit back at America like a giant boomerang!

More Americans Without Health Insurance

The accuracy of census poverty figures has come under scrutiny because they exclude family expenses such as out-of-pocket medical costs and child care. They also don't adjust for cost-of-living differences in urban and rural areas or consider the effects of federal anti-poverty programs such as food stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit and housing subsidies. As a result, "there are a lot fewer poor families over time than the official measures indicate," said Bruce Meyer, a professor of public policy at the University of Chicago and an expert on welfare and unemployment policy.

#27 L.George

Very interesting comment. Caused me to think back. You have a point.

Jeanne your still a dumb bitch.
Fake happy suck my dick, something your probably used to doing.

Posted by: Euro trash at August 30, 2006 12:00 PM

Euro trash or Butt Head . . . by any other name your still LBH.

Islamofascism is a term thap has been bandied about quite a bit lately, and one to which I first was acquainted through the works of Dave Emory.

9 Congressman Who Voted The Least 1/1/6 - 7/29/6

Elected Official Voting % Not Voting % Yea Nay Present Not Voting
Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK 5th) 79.11 20.89 203 134 0 89
Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT 3rd) 78.40 21.60 208 125 1 92
Rep. Ted Strickland (D-OH 6th) 76.76 23.24 189 138 0 99
Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA 1st) 76.06 23.94 190 133 1 102
Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI 1st) 75.59 24.41 185 136 1 104
Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN 9th) 73.71 26.29 199 114 1 112
Rep. Jim Davis (D-FL 11th) 65.26 34.74 173 105 0 148
Rep. Lane Evans (D-IL 17th) 5.40 94.60 16 6 1 403
Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL 14th) 0.00 0.00 25 8 1 0

# 171 Gerald.. Israel has never been innocent.

War stalls Beirut's rebirth as young seek better life elsewhere

Declan Walsh in Beirut
Wednesday August 30, 2006
The Guardian

The line snaked past the Canadian embassy in Beirut on a sweltering afternoon. Sandra fanned herself with the visa application she prayed was her ticket out of Lebanon. "I can't live here any more," said the 35-year-old university researcher, who gave only her first name. "I really wanted to stay. But this war was the final straw." The mood was equally black down the sweaty queue. Israel's bombs not only smashed bridges and killed innocent people, most said, they also wrecked their plans for a life in Lebanon. "As soon as the fighting started we decided to leave," said Abdel Jhalil, a 25-year-old factory worker from Tripoli, further up the coast. "Things are not going to improve. It will always be like this." Shocked by the intensity of Israel's 34-day offensive and dispirited about the prospects for peace, a new generation of young Lebanese are packing their bags. Official statistics on the exodus are unavailable but a weight of anecdotal evidence suggests it is sizeable and includes some of the country's brightest and best-educated minds.
Charli Hanna, a high-scoring 18-year-old student, wanted to attend university in Beirut this autumn. But as the bombs exploded around his father's farm in the Bekaa valley this summer he surfed the internet for other options. After some frantic queries, a school in Kentucky offered him a scholarship. He leaves in a few weeks. "It seemed the best option," he said.
The brain drain is more regrettable for the fact that until the war Beirut was busy consolidating its reputation as the most glamorous city in the Middle East. Memories of the traumatic assassination of the prime minister Rafiq Hariri in February 2005 were receding. Stylish restaurants and luxury hotels were popping up. Celebrity billionairess Ivana Trump had joined a throng of property investors. Tourists from the oil-rich Gulf states, uneasy about partying in the west, were flooding in. The government predicted 1.2 million visitors this year - not bad in a country of 3.5 million people. "There was a sense that things were really happening," said Ramsay Short, the editor of the local Time Out, which started publishing in January. Now the buzz has gone. The airport remains partially closed due to a continuing Israeli air embargo, oils slicks stain beaches, and cafe terraces in the proudly rebuilt downtown district are near-deserted. "We have been pushed 15 years into the past," said Bassem Bouhabib, a 30-year-old sales manager with an application for Canadian citizenship on his desk. Not everyone is ready to leave. The city's party scene has sprung back to life, interrupted only by power cuts. On Saturday night on Rue Monot, a street lined with impossibly trendy nightclubs, young people packed into heaving venues such as Crystal, which is famed for the price of its champagne.
The American University of Beirut says 90% of students turned up for the resumed summer term this week. Some students were transferring their studies abroad for a term, said admissions director Salim Kannan. "We expect to get them back in the spring," he said. The spirit of resilience was also strong in De Prague, a jazzy lounge where hip urbanites draped over low-slung armchairs sipped cocktails and surfed the internet. Yana Najjar, a 22-year-old medical student, said: "I just love this place so much. In Lebanon everything is in Technicolor. Outside the world seems black and white."
At the next table Raghad Midani, 23, paused from updating her blog. While Israel bombed Beirut's southern suburbs she had continued her classical dance classes and watched English football on television, she said. "It was better than the news." Still, she had just said goodbye to friends who had left for Saudi Arabia. "They have no jobs, no family, nothing over there," she said. "I hope it works out for them."
Exodus is nothing new to the Lebanese. A vast diaspora, rooted in centuries-old traditions of seafaring and travel, is estimated at between 4 million and 15 million people. Money from Europe, Africa and the US helped fund the recent property boom. And those who remained at home are well schooled in living through war. Abdullah Ghorayeb, 37, recalled his youth during the 15-year civil war - nipping across battle lines to attend university, dodging sniper fire and helping to free his father from five separate kidnap episodes. But this time it is different. The luxury goods store Mr Ghorayeb manages in central Beirut is deserted, and he has a young family to protect. "I don't want my children to have that life," Mr Ghorayeb said, outlining his plans to move to Qatar. But like many others, he would not rule out a return.
"Nobody ever really leaves Lebanon," he said. "If normality returns we will be back. You feel this place very deeply inside you."

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

Jeanne your still a dumb bitch.

Posted by: Euro trash at August 30, 2006 12:00 PM

Euro Trash/Butt Head/LBH ( a rose by any other name) is making his best argument about the political issues of the day. Too bad he can't do better.

Maybe factchecker or Tim L will throw him a supportive comment or maybe they'll tell him he's an asshole and that he should try to keep his comments on point and off rude charcterizations of other bloggers. Either way it's Troll Time here on www.DavidCorn.com. What's the world coming to?

Capt

As I read through this thread's comments, I'm struck by the quote you posted yesterday (or in the last thread). The one which said that intelligence is measured by the amount of conflicting thoughts one entertains while pondering issues. It seems many are not able to dial complications into their brainwaves, undoubtedly lacking grey matter in the brain. (A sorrowful pun. Areas of grey do not enter black and white thinking.)

Den,

O.K. then. Who are you to say that marriage of any kind with a minor is a "big no no?" On what basis can we define marriage and who gets to decide?

The law sez so, not me.

At what point does the state's responsibility to protect a minor come in to play? This guy married over 300 women, engaged in welfare fraud, married girls as young as 11 years old, deprived them of an opportunity for an education, and an opportunity to make a choice about who their marry.

State law regulates marriage and family law, yes? 1. What is the age at which someone can get married without parental consent? 2.At what age can some get married with parental consent? 3.Is there an age at which the state will not allow a marriage, even with parental consent?

4. Do people work-around the laws of marriage by getting the parent to sign-over custody to the "husband"?

#173
Erling,
What is really really sad about it hitting back at America is that a majority of Americans DO NOT support the wars in the middle east. We need to get a new majority party in the congress and we need to stop the Bush administration in its tracks. They are psychopathic.

The Bush admin is really really slow understanding our Iraq nation-building project is an abject failure. We initiated the war under fals epretenses and we've 'stayed the course' to the bottom.

They should be figuring out strategically how to make the most - political gain in world opinion - of a structured withdrawal. Instead, they'll play it as a pivotal issue in the mid-term elections.

How, in good conscience, can they expend young American lives in Iraq for politcal purposes at home?

Who can think that having sex with an eleven year old is normal? What parent who loves her 11 year old child can hand that child over to somebody and call it a marriage? That is just gross. Tim, the law is there for a reason.

FBI Shows Off Counterterrorism Database
By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 30, 2006; A06

The FBI has built a database with more than 659 million records -- including terrorist watch lists, intelligence cables and financial transactions -- culled from more than 50 FBI and other government agency sources. The system is one of the most powerful data analysis tools available to law enforcement and counterterrorism agents, FBI officials said yesterday.

The FBI demonstrated the database to reporters yesterday in part to address criticism that its technology was failing and outdated as the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks nears.

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

Riddle me this. Left leaning personalities from Senator Ted Kennedy to recently Air America's Randi Rhodes have ended up on this administration's No-Fly list. Have any GOPhers? Why or Why not?

Has Bush's daughters joined the military yet?

No Fly list....GOPhers....oh boy....this is hard. Hmmmmmm. Because.....ummmm.

Ok, let's go with another approach. Ted Kennedy....hmmmm...OH. I know. Because somebody made a phone call. Who made the phone call? Hmmmm...OH I KNOW! Somebody from the White House made a phone call and during the course of the conversation made it clear the Kennedy was to be put on a NO FLY list. My reasoning for this is that the mental and emotional age of someone who would do this is about 13, the mental and emotional age of every person in the Bush administration.

#170 Jeanne and of course, Robert S.

Thanks for linking that. That was posted in Truthdig. It remains adamant that we remember what they did to Clinton.

On the other hand we must also remember what Clinton did to welfare and efforts to alleviate poverty. That, I won't forgive him.

Gerald & Erling,

I'm truly enjoying your posts. On Iran, it doesn't matter if they have nuclear underground bunkers or not. They'll still be bombed to kingdom come. And yes, it will wreak utter havoc, environmentally, globally, economically, oh just every way possible that you can think of.

As to the trolls, of course we're being inundated. That's good news, though, at this time. As Capt has said, any reaction is a good reaction to David's new book. It's bringing in the scum. That's good! Publicity! It's also election time. Not to worry everyone. This too shall pass.

I have a bone to pick with this term "Islamic facsism. I read a column recently, while my computer was down, on how, if you think about it, the term does not really apply. They're not fascists, they're militant. Fascism was a reaction to economic change, that's not what the Islamic militants are about. They want a return to religious fundamentalism. This is what Christiane Amanpour was speaking of in her excellent documentary In The Footsteps of Bin Laden.

Fascism more readily describes Bushco's regime. Just as with the cold war fanatics, only more so, Bushco rejects any redistribution of wealth; they want to turn the clock back on New Deal ideals and legislation like Social Security and Medicare. With cold war ideology and now, (it still continues in various forms) the fear is of socialistic ideals, union strength, governmental solutions to social and economic problems etc. Bushco ideology (and neocon) operates from the same fear.

Happy,
I just wanted to say...you seem a little fractured lately. I think this is a good thing. It means the more rational Happy is being allowed to surface. We are all rooting for you. Take it slow. If I could make one suggestion. Stay away from the stock pages. It might send you into a wobbly episode.

Jeanne,

I did a quick search and didn't find any enlistment announcements for the First Twins. However, this did appear:

Washington hit by curse of the kid bloggers
Tony Allen-Mills, New York

AS the leader of the Republican party in the US Senate and a possible presidential candidate, Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee has a reputation for sober rectitude. The same cannot be said of his son Jonathan, a Vanderbilt University student who recently appeared on the internet wearing six cans of beer strapped to his belt.
Nor has Jonathan’s brother Bryan done much to help his father’s attempts to strike a reasonable note about US involvement in Iraq. “I was born an American by God’s amazing grace,” wrote Bryan Frist in an online profile. “Let’s bomb some people.”

[...]

No sooner had Congressman Louie Gohmert, a conservative Republican from Texas, unleashed a tirade against the moral inadequacies of Democrats opposed to the war in Iraq, than someone found internet pictures of his daughter Caroline dancing on a bartop and posing with a man in his underpants.

There was also embarrassment for Justice Samuel Alito, the conservative Supreme Court judge appointed by President George W Bush earlier this year. Alito is opposed to gay marriage, but a Facebook entry by his Georgetown University student daughter Laura declared, apparently tongue in cheek, that her relationship status was “Married to Kate Tice”.

[...]

Roll Call, the Washington insiders’ newspaper published on Capitol Hill, recently reported that Jonathan Frist’s Facebook entry declared him a member of the “Jonathan Frist appreciation for ‘Waking Up White People’ Group”. It also mentioned a group where there were “No Jews allowed. Just kidding. No seriously”.

[...]

Errant children have long been a fact of Washington political life, but have rarely caused any lasting scandal. Bush was untroubled by the underage drinking exploits of his twin daughters Jenna and Barbara. The president’s brother, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, was not seriously damaged when his daughter Noelle was arrested on drug charges. His son John was arrested for having sex in a car in a shopping centre car park.

More.

Has Bush's daughters joined the military yet?

Posted by: Jeanne at August 30, 2006 03:04 PM

We elected a Commander-in-Chief who went AWOL during his national guard duty, which he elected so he wouldn't have to fight in Vietnam. You think his children would volunteer for military service? Har har har.

Military service is not for our nation's leaders' children, it is for low income 18-35 years old without better options.

Before the war of choice in Iraq, the US military was a reasonable option for young Americans of modest means to serve their country and get leadership, teamwork and specific skills training.

Because of Bush inept handling of the war, the miltary is no longer a lean mean fighting machine, it is disheartened and unable to succeed becuase the mission cannot be won.

Now, the military is a bad option for a young american to serve their country and get something valuable in return.

#131 Capt

Apologies. I just now saw your post on "Islamofascism."

Note how the term has been cropping up however. Recall the two speeches yesterday by Rumsfeld and Cheney. Those who criticize the administration's Iraq policies, they claimed, were appeasing the Islamofascists much like Britain et al appeased the Nazis before WWII. (I have problems with those accusations against Neville Chamberlain, but I will forego that now). We knew they would go low, but this?? Do note though, the strategy.

Thus the sudden use of the label Islamofascists--for use as a soundbite. Easy to grasp by the masses. As they've been doing all along, (even though Rumsfeld once belittled global concerns about going into Iraq as stuff from the "old Europe", they're connecting it with univeral fears of Nazism and fascism.

You are so correct Capt. That's what the cold war was all about, that's what Bushco/neocon ideology is all about, the politics of fear.

Would someone link this for me? This is a frightening interview with Bush. This is at Crooks and Liars.

Brian Williams Interviews a pretty incoherent Bush
By: Jamie Holly on Wednesday, August 30th, 2006 at 9:49 AM - PDT

Countdown-Bush-Williams-

Countdown covered Brian Williams interview with Bush last night.

Video - WMV Video - QT

For someone who does not like how the public perceives him, Bush does not help his case any in this interview. Take this little exchange:

WILLIAMS: When you take a tour of the world, a lot of Americans e-mail me with their fears that, some days they just wake up and it just feels like the end of the world is near. And you go from North Korea to Iran, to Iraq, to Afghanistan, and you look at how things have changed, how Americans are viewed overseas, if that is important to you. Do you have any moments of doubt that we fought a wrong war? Or that there’≥ something wrong with the perception of America overseas?

BUSH: Well those are two different questions, did we fight the wrong war, and absolutely —†I have no doubt —†the war came to our shores, remember that. We had a foreign policy that basically said, let’≥ hope calm works. And we were attacked.

Last week Bush said that he never implied any connection between Iraq and 9/11, yet both Iraq and the War on Terror have again been lumped together and Bush says that the war "came to our shores". Sure the war with terrorism did, but the war with Iraq did not come to our shores. Is it any wonder why people say the White House has tried to link Saddam and 9/11?

Throughout the interview, Bush tries to keep up his "good ole’†boy" appearance, which comes off more as the incompetence appearance. The best part comes at the end:

Carey,

"Apologies."

For what? I am glad you saw my post but even if you missed altogether no reason to apologize.

It is all just sharing and caring!

As always

capt

"Let's bomb some people."

So Bryan Frist has joined the military. Right? It's kinda hard to do the bombing from a keyboard.

An incoherent Bush

Here's the link to Kathleen's post.

The Bush-Is-an-Idiot Camp Grows

Brian Williams Interviews a pretty incoherent Bush

Countdown covered Brian Williams interview with Bush last night.

Video - WMV

Video - QT

For someone who does not like how the public perceives him, Bush does not help his case any in this interview. Take this little exchange:

WILLIAMS: When you take a tour of the world, a lot of Americans e-mail me with their fears that, some days they just wake up and it just feels like the end of the world is near. And you go from North Korea to Iran, to Iraq, to Afghanistan, and you look at how things have changed, how Americans are viewed overseas, if that is important to you. Do you have any moments of doubt that we fought a wrong war? Or that there's something wrong with the perception of America overseas?

BUSH: Well those are two different questions, did we fight the wrong war, and absolutely I have no doubt the war came to our shores, remember that. We had a foreign policy that basically said, let's hope calm works. And we were attacked.

More HERE

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

Every country on the planet has reason to worry about this guy.

capt

Brian Williams Interviews a pretty incoherent Bush [LINK]

For someone who does not like how the public perceives him, Bush does not help his case any in this interview. Take this little exchange:

WILLIAMS: When you take a tour of the world, a lot of Americans e-mail me with their fears that, some days they just wake up and it just feels like the end of the world is near. And you go from North Korea to Iran, to Iraq, to Afghanistan, and you look at how things have changed, how Americans are viewed overseas, if that is important to you. Do you have any moments of doubt that we fought a wrong war? Or that there’≥ something wrong with the perception of America overseas?

BUSH: Well those are two different questions, did we fight the wrong war, and absolutely —†I have no doubt —†the war came to our shores, remember that. We had a foreign policy that basically said, let’≥ hope calm works. And we were attacked.

OK. All Kathleen's friends have linked to the article. Good article. It could have been titled Bush "AWOL" again

#93 Jeanne

Your recollection is correct. Rove first spilled a couple of weeks before the Novak column appeared.

As far as the other questions go, look up the facts and chronology, detractors, before you go spouting your mouth off.

And, I believe it was L.George who asked why Libby felt the need to lie before the Grand Jury and Fitzgerald if nothing improper had been done? It's heavily documented that he committed perjury, though, of course, he'll be pardoned.

For all of the complainers, the once impending Rove indictment was a highly complex matter. I believe it had to do with his possibly breaking the Identities Protection Act, which is extremely difficult to prosecute.

Here are a few short excerpts from The Washington Post and the NY Times culled by Truthdig.

LINK

Calling all Trolls already has posted the Neil Lewis article that David C. mentions in his post. I believe that too is briefly excerpted here.

Lotsa Jinxing going on.

Bush in the interview talked about how he will be remembered 30 or 40 years from now. He will be remembered the way he's thought of by intelligent people right now. Not good.

I never liked Reagan. Ever. I endured hearing what a great president he was and how his likeness should be carved onto Mt. Rushmore. Made me want to....as Gerald would say, puke.
Now look at Reagan's legacy. You can't hide the truth. The more lies, the more secrecy, the more the historians look for the truth. And the worse the president looks.

Just because Armitage did this on his own, earlier, doesn't mean that there wasn't a White House conspiracy to "out" Valerie [Plame] Wilson, said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the group pressing a lawsuit on behalf of Plame/Wilson. We don't think it affects the case.

I wonder which one of the slugs have not admitted to violating their security clearance?

Forget the other laws, they signed on the dotted line and Bush has not done anything to anyone?

What a (mis)leader, eh?

capt

Thanks for the linking!

This is from Justin Raimando's latest article at Anti-war.com

As Professor Mearsheimer put it in an interview with Mother Jones magazine:

"The Israel lobby and its influence has been a taboo subject for too long. It is very important for the national interest that this matter be discussed at length and in a serious way in the media and on Capitol Hill. Too much is at stake to continue treating the lobby and Israel like two elephants in the room."

Thanks for the linking!

This is from Justin Raimando's latest article at Anti-war.com

As Professor Mearsheimer put it in an interview with Mother Jones magazine:

"The Israel lobby and its influence has been a taboo subject for too long. It is very important for the national interest that this matter be discussed at length and in a serious way in the media and on Capitol Hill. Too much is at stake to continue treating the lobby and Israel like two elephants in the room."

www.Truthdig.com

Armitage Was CIA Leak Source, Lawyer Confirms
Comment #20581 by Lance

It amazes me that the press and the reading public continue to accept one after another admission of innocent, idle "gossip" which "just happened" to be about the same low level CIA agent, and all "coincidentally" occured within a one to two week timeframe and just managed to get to as many as SIX different reporters!

C'mon...how much evidence do we need to conclude that this was a coordinated campaign? And Cheney - he...SHAZAYUM...looks under his desk and finds...GLORYOSKY!...a copy of the Sunday Times with Wilson's op ed article and his ruminating handwritten notes about whether a trip to Niger is a boondoggle. Are you kidding, Dickie? Do you know what Niger is like? You think that's second choice to Palm Springs?

Please understand who these people are. They are greedy, imperialistic warmongers who lusted for the war in Iraq long before 911. They ginned the intel to make their case - all LYING to the American people in doing so, and they have spent the last four years covering their tracks. Outing Valerie Plame was a warning to the intel and diplomatic corps - "Fuck with us and you get fucked." After all, you can’¥ give EVERYONE the Medal of Freedom, like they did George Tenet, to buy his silence.

MORE HERE

Aipac's Daily Briefing

August 30, 2006

Iran Starts New Nuclear Work on Eve of U.N. Deadline
Just days before a Thursday U.N. deadline mandating Iran suspend its nuclear program or face possible sanctions, U.N. inspectors confirmed Tuesday that Tehran has begun new uranium enrichment work, a key step in assembling atomic arms, The Washington Post reported. Iran last week rejected an internationally backed nuclear deal offering Iran multilateral talks and possible incentives in return for an end to its pursuit of atomic arms. Visit www.aipac.org/iran to learn more about the threat that a nuclear Iran would pose to the United States and its allies.

United States Freezes Assets of Terrorist Fundraising Group
The Bush administration on Tuesday froze the U.S. assets of a Hizballah fund-raising front and banned Americans from contributing to the organization, The Washington Post reported. U.S. Treasury Department officials presented receipts indicating that the front group, the Islamic Resistance Support Organization, has raised funds used to purchase rockets used against Israelis. Hizballah fired more than 4,000 rockets into northern Israel during recent fighting that erupted after the group raided Israeli territory and kidnapped two servicemen. Read more about the Treasury Department’≥ efforts to shut down terrorist funding sources.

Poll Shows Strong U.S. Support for Israel
A Quinnipiac poll released this week shows Americans continue to view Israel as a strong friend and ally, ranking Israel as the third ҭost friendlyӠnation to the United States, behind only Britain and Canada. The poll indicated that U.S. support for Israel strengthened during its recent conflict with Hizballah, with Israelճ score rising three points, more than any other nation polled. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice echoed this sentiment in a recent interview, stating that the United States is ҧoing to be a defender and ally of Israel. Israel is a democracy. Israel is our friend, and we share values.Ӡ

#170 posted by jeanne should be required reading IMO -
----
addendum to 170:

the reason the replublican majority congress (lott and helms in particular) were so opposed to clinton's plan of going after al qaeda's financial foundations was simple:
al qaeda were (and still is) a bush 41 protege just like saddam was. exposing the al qaeda network to scrutiny would inevitably expose the bushco crime syndicate to scrutiny.

Did anyone here Joseph Cirincione from the Center For American Progress on Terri Gross's Fresh Air. He was addressing the efforts of the right wing radicals push for military action in Iran. This interview is well worth the hour of listening

Bush in Brian Williams interview: The key for me is keeping expectations low.

Mission accomplished!

Cheney repeating we will stay in Iraq until the "job is done." I am sure that Iraqi's would like to know just what "done" means.

Aug. 29, 2006 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Cheney says court ruling on warrantless surveillance will be reversed
By SEAN WHALEY
REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU

Vice President Dick Cheney addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention on Monday in Reno.
Photo by The Associated Press.

RENO -- Vice President Dick Cheney predicted Monday that a recent federal court ruling finding a warrantless surveillance program unconstitutional will be overturned on appeal.

He also said U.S. troops will stay in Iraq until the job is done.

In a speech to about 6,000 members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at the group's annual convention, Cheney said the intelligence-gathering program run by the National Security Agency is one of the most important tools the country has to stop terrorism aimed at domestic U.S. targets.

We can dream...

Ahmadinejad challenges Bush to televised debate. Ґresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday challenged President Bush to a televised debate and voiced defiance as a deadline neared for Iran to halt work the West fears is a step toward building nuclear bombs,ӠReuters reports. Ҕhe White House said Ahmadinejadճ call for a presidential debate on global concerns was a Ԥiversionՠfrom international concerns over Iranճ nuclear program.Ӡ

Short interesting articleWhat If We Left?

By William F. Buckley Jr.

The wires are heavy with the question of Iraq. The defeat of Senator Lieberman in the Democratic primary in Connecticut was a call to outright defiance by Democrats running for reelection. They have been warned now, by the unforgiving, that they must reject the war in Iraq

at National Review

WELCOME TO AMERICA. IF YOU'RE A JOURNALIST, BEND OVER AND SPREAD 'EM!

Right now, it is fortunate that most countries are not reciprocating against U.S. journalists in kind. In fact, there are very few countries that require special visas for journalists. The United States and a few tin horn dictatorships are among the few countries that restrict admittance and travel for foreign journalists. Israel severely restricts media access to the West Bank and Gaza. On the other hand, Cuba provides freer access for foreign journalists than does the United States. It is just that a vocal jingoistic minority in southern Florida and their lickspittles in the Bush administration don't want any American journalists to witness for themselves the relative freedom for foreign journalists to report from Cuba. Ask Cuban authorities about the total lack of restrictions on journalists reporting on and photographing conditions inside the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay from their side of the fence and then consider the draconian restrictions places on U.S. and foreign journalists inside the U.S. military concentration camp.

If the Republicans and neo-cons are not run out of Washington soon, the situation for American journalists abroad may change dramatically. And the public's right to know will be the major casualty in such an event.

@Wayne Madsen

219 What are they running for. . .Superior Imperialist?

Any leader that calls the destruction of a nation (IE Israel IE axis of evil) is completely irresponsible. Even Reagan didn;t call for an end to Russia, it called for an end to Communism.

Ahmadinejad is an dangerous extremist who is doing an admirable job fucking with the balance of power in the middle east and beating George Bush in the war of popular opinion, which is where the war on terrorism is fought.

Plamegate: Another Hitch-Slap

First Juan Cole, now Michael Isikoff and David Corn. Christopher Hitchens nimbly points out the hypocrisy and sheer chutzpah of Isikoff and Corn being instrumental players in ginning up allegations that Plamegate was a blatant Bush administration hit job, and then turning around (and making money on a book, no less) and fingering Richard Armitage as Novak's original source. In other words, there was never any "there there."

This is how Corn responded on his blog last night after Hitchens' story went up:

A bunch of emails arrived today from people asking for (or, demanding) a response to Christopher Hitchens' attack in Slate on me and my coauthor Michael isikoff. I'm going to refrain from taking the bait, as we prepare for next week's release of our book. HUBRIS has plenty in it to discomfort anyone taking his or her cues from my former colleague.

Interesting. Corn's credibility is disappearing faster than a martini in Hyannisport and he says he is not going to "take the bait" - which is a euphemism meaning he won't "answer legitimate questions." Corn concludes by saying that his book is "far more about the fraudulent selling of the war than the leak case." The question at hand, however, is the media's fraudulent selling of the leak case and David Corn's central role in it.

Plamegate is turning out to be, as some have long suspected, exactly the opposite of what we've been led to believe. It was not a revenge-inspired hit job by the Bush administration, but an example of D.C.'s insider culture at its worst: a public, partisan, and dubious attack launched in the op-ed pages of the country's biggest newspaper, followed by innocent gossip between a reporter and a high-level official (and the subsequent shameful silence of that official, influenced by interdepartment fears and rivalries), followed by a firestorm of media speculation and innuendo, followed by an investigation, followed by an indictment for obstruction of justice over a crime that was never committed, followed by revelations that the whole thing wasn't what it was portrayed to be by critics of the administration and the media.

Posted by Tom Bevan at 07:58 AM | Send to a Friend | Email Author | Print | Permalink

It appears certain to me that a CIA agent was exposed by Bush & Co for the vile purpose of smearing an administration critic.. to suggest Joe Wilson wasn't credible simply because his wife was peripherally involved in the CIA decision to send him to Niger. The latest story by Isikoff and Corn(I & C) about Armitage allegedly suddenly realizing in October, several days after the formal investigation was started, that he must be Novak's original source, and that he was distressed and remorseful, isn't credible to me. In the Newsweek excerpt, they write that Armitage "had no apparent intention of harming anyone" in telling Novak and Bob Woodward that Joe Wilson's wife worked at the CIA.. that he thought it was harmless chit-chat. He wasn't like all the other Bush & Co. officials who revealed it to discredit Wilson.. to say he wasn't credible because his wife was "responsible" for his trip to Niger(very liberal/loose interpretation of "responsible" from those who demand strict interpretation of Constitution)... to suggest his trip was a junket or that his report/opinion was flawed by a partisan, anti-war bias. I & C's report supposes that in the firestorm of controversy that erupted after Novak revealed that Plame worked at the CIA, Armitage never thought that he might be one of Novak's sources, despite his having told Novak that Wilson's wife worked in the WMD section of the CIA just days before the column was published. How could that be? Did Armitage not consider himself a "high administration official," as Novak identified his sources? The I & C story says that he suddenly realized he must the source when he read that Novak said that his original source was "not a partisan gunslinger." THESE were the magic words that provoked Armitage to suddenly realize that he must be the source Novak was referring to?? BALONEY! I & C also seem to be offering Armitage cover by asserting that because he was skeptical of Bush's rush to war in Iraq, he couldn't possibly have participated in a smear of Wilson, blowing his wife's CIA cover in the process! BALONEY! He was a loyal Republican/Bush soldier-- just like Powell, who did his duty and went to the UN to deliver an arguement for war he knew was loaded with very dubious evidence. Armitage's reputation as a moderate and a gossip made him the perfect person to make the first leaks to the press and get the ball rolling on Bush & Co's scurrilous charges against Wilson. I & C also state that Armitage learned of Plame position at CIA from the classified State Dept. memo regarding Wilson's trip to Niger, but emphasize that it did not state that she was a covert/undercover operative. But both the NY Times & Washington Post reported that the memo had the symbol indicating "secret" on the paragraph that disclosed that Plame worked at the CIA. It would certainly be reckless, incompetent, & perhaps criminally negligent of Armitage to tell reporters that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA without ascertaining what exactly was secret/classified in that paragraph if not her employment status at the CIA. It is important to consider all the other evidence that points to a conspiracy to discredit/smear Wilson. Cheney himself suggested that Wilson said in his op-ed that Cheney had personally sent him to Niger, which is false. Scooter Libby was indicted on five charges of lying, perjury, and obstructing justice in the investigation. Cheney went on Meet the Press in Sept. and told Russert he didn't know who sent Wilson to Niger. Why did he lie then, if not to try to cover up his role in leaks that lead to the outing of CIA agent?

Look to broadcast media to continue it's persuit of scare the hell out of the the American Public tactic.

Non Military people are really crappy at tactics,and this thing, like their freeking war has no end game strategy.

Keep the public scared out of it's shoes seems to be All of it.

Can you hear me now????

Head on....Apply dirrectly to the forehead.

Nothing more than this week's Turdblossems.

Sound byte me.

69-Regardless, though, Rove and Libby did provide classified information about Plame to reporters. That's a matter of record. Their motive is a matter of speculation, but they clearly didn't intend to help Plame's career.

Yeah, maybe to protect their own from a couple of partisan operatives making the talk circuits telling lies they know can't be disproven because the information they are lying about is classified? What HUBRIS!

Lost in all of this is that Wilson HAS been completely and totally discredited. He lied to Kristof, then he lied in his OpEd, then he used willing dupe, Corn to manafacture outrage at the "outing" of his wife.

What claim by this man has withstood scrutiny? If the Bush Administration was trying to discredit someone who was inherently dishonest (as he's now proven to be) then they've performed a public service.

None of your outrage that your policy preferences aren't being carried out can replace that simple fact.

Here's a hint: Win elections. Then you get to make policy. If you all continue to behave like loons, you'll never get the first part done, which in the end is a good thing.

Corn last seen floating in a turd.

Consider the deafening silence of the media on this story. For 3 years we have been fed a steady diet of "expert" pundancy and pointed speculation damning the Whitehouse. Every new detail fired into the sky of broadcast airwaves confirming to us yet again that Karl Rove was THE lone gunman in the Plame career assasination. Now the mystery of original leakage is solved and the only sound on this media story is crickets. Journalistic integrity is a joke. The media is not covering the war. They are supplying ammo to the enemy.

Could you possibly blow any harder? You are in the same league with Wilson himself, and that's saying something.

Why is everyone so quick to believe the Armitage storyline and what he's NOW and FINALLY spewing?!

He could have put this story to bed the minute it broke - if he had opened his big fat mouth THEN.

He's a fucking LIAR and a shill for the Bush Cartel.

David Corn,

You are nothing more than a hack for Joseph Wilson. This has amounted to not much. Thus, Wilson is no longer in the news, and he just cannot stand it.

Joseph Wilson outed his own wife and there is no denying that fact. He is to blame.

The outing of his wife was not intentional. It is over for Joseph Wilson!!

David Corn,

You are nothing more than a hack for Joseph Wilson. This has amounted to not much. Thus, Wilson is no longer in the news, and he just cannot stand it.

Joseph Wilson outed his own wife and there is no denying that fact. He is to blame.

The outing of his wife was not intentional. It is over for Joseph Wilson!!