Corn!

If I were going to choose an ally in this rock fight, I would choose the truth and you have. Along with the truth, you get Fitzgerald. He's a great ally. The guy doesn't quit. He was at Amherst when you were at Brown, same class. You also get us - well ok, that's a consolation prize but I thought I'd say it.

Go get 'em tomorrow on CSPAN. It's an opportunity. Use it well.

PS. You know the facts, just deliver the goods.

In a Replay of Iraq, a Battle Is Brewing Over Intelligence on Iran By Warren P. Strobel and John WalcottMcClatchy Newspapers
Friday 15 September 2006Washington - In an echo of the intelligence wars that preceded the US invasion of Iraq, a high-stakes struggle is brewing within the Bush administration and in Congress over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program and involvement in terrorism.

US intelligence and counterterrorism officials say Bush political appointees and hard-liners on Capitol Hill have tried recently to portray Iran's nuclear program as more advanced than it is and to exaggerate Tehran's role in Hezbollah's attack on Israel in mid-July.

The struggle's outcome could have profound implications for US policy.

;President Bush, who addresses the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, has said he prefers diplomacy to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but he hasn't ruled out using military force.

at Truthout

David,

If there's something else that'd shut Novak's gaping maw for ANOTHER two-and-a-half years...

DO IT!!!

Thanks, for that and many things!

-T

Wow! Pope apologies! Just in on HuffingtonPost.

Yet Novak has a bug up his keister about me, and he let it fly on C-SPAN.

Novakula has had a hair across his ass about a lot of things for years. On Crossfire he was a cranky old prick who displayed an ideological "certaintude" (props to fc.)

Don't you wonder who he's been taking with and what they've been telling him? Someone convinced him you're an irresponsible hatchetman.

I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that the "Bush Push" for legalizing torture is simply to get something on the books to protect his' gangs dirty derrieres besides rancid Repugnat Depends and a pocketful of pardons, am I?

-T

Stay with the facts tomorrow David..don't get too wrapped up in the name calling. The last thing that Novak and Toensing want you to do is stick to the facts. As you have all ready stated they want to turn this into a" he said she said" sideshow.

I hope you quote Fitzgerald's findings having to do with Plame's status as covert/Non official cover. Toensing continued to undermine that finding today on C-span.

Pound away at what Valerie was doing..looking for evidence of WMD's.

So important that the public know that it has yet to be determined what the effects of this outing has been on our National Security. So serious to undermine National Security by outing Plame and then have the nerve to run on Security...What a contradiction.

Don't forget to turn your phone off. We will be watching, calling, e-mailing. So many of us appreciate your work and your efforts to bring the truth as best you can to the public.

Shine the light on the lies and contradictions.

Yes, David Corn, shine the light...

at national review today
Hubris
Responding to David Corn responding to me.
By Victoria Toensing
;It's a shame David Corn chose to show his displeasure with my September 15, 2006, Wall Street Journal op-ed about Richard Armitage's role in the Valerie Plame so-called leak by making a baseless personal attack against me. I wrote: The first journalist to reveal Ms. Plame was covert was David Corn on July 16, 2003, two days after Mr. Novak"s column. The latter [Robert Novak] never wrote, because he did not know and it was not so, that Ms. Plame was covert. However, Mr. Corn claimed Mr. Novak outed her as an undercover CIA officer, querying whether Bush officials blew the cover of a U.S. intelligence officer working covertly innational security. Was Mr. Corn subpoenaed? Did Mr. Fitzgerald subpoena Mr. Wilson to attest he had never revealed his wifes employment to anyone? If he had done so, he might have learned Mr. Corn's source.

Nothing like having a "friendly" calling for your indictment, heh?

-T

Can anyone explain why gas prices are down? Did I hear you say elections and because the American public has been taking it up the gas for quite some time? Can you believe that the American public could possibly base their vote on low gas prices. How pitiful

Energy Independence Is a Winner for the GOP

With gas prices coming down, Republicans can switch from defense to offense.By Cesar Conda&

Congressional Republicans are breathing a little easier because of the recent decline in gasoline prices. Earlier this year, Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) confidently proclaimed: High gas prices are going to be the final nail in the GOP's coffin this election year. Today, gasoline prices have dropped to almost $2 per gallon in some parts of the country.

at national Review

Where is Micheal Ledeen? Is he tapping Manucher Ghorbanifar for more false intelligence? In a Replay of Iraq, a Battle Is Brewing Over Intelligence on Iran By Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott Friday 15 September 2006 Washington - In an echo of the intelligence wars that preceded the US invasion of Iraq, a high-stakes struggle is brewing within the Bush administration and in Congress over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program and involvement in terrorism. US intelligence and counterterrorism officials say Bush political appointees and hard-liners on Capitol Hill have tried recently to portray Iran's nuclear program as more advanced than it is and to exaggerate Tehran's role in Hezbollah's attack on Israel in mid-July. The struggle's outcome could have profound implications for US policy. President Bush, who addresses the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, has said he prefers diplomacy to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but he hasn't ruled out using military force. at truthout

#8
Hajji,
My husband said the same thing today. The right wing is running in all directions. The sky is falling.

#10
Yes, cockroaches hate light.

David,
You are a great journalist and a fine man. Please keep up the good work. I promise to buy the book, and to read every word. But, do´n`t miss too many columns. Thanks.
Ed W.

Corn writes these long and largely personal posts that duck the essence of the complaints about him -- that he is a highly partisan left winger whose basic claims about Plame have been debunked. He should have recognized long ago that by being highly partisan he would sacrifice his credibility. Nothing he can say now will recover his credibility, so I guess in that sense, he is better off just attacking his critics and feigning insult than dealing with the facts.

But Corn sometimes trips himself up with his limited dislcosures. Now, he has Wilson, the guy Wilson and Corn have described as up in arms over the devestating disclosure of information about his wife, telling Corn "its up to you" when he hears Corn is going to write about his wife being a covert CIA person. Give me a break.

Kathleen,
The gas prices are at about $2.13 in my neck of the woods (MN). I don't think it's political...cough cough. It would be interesting to see where the gas prices are the lowest and see if the Repugs are trying to keep their political base in those areas. I told one person to be prepared for the HIKE after the election. Like say about a $2 hike. Another explanation might be that the oil giants know the Repugs have a good chance of losing and are trying to keep the Democrats off their backs. If they keep the prices low the Democrats won't come back at them. The Democrats will have other bigger fish to fry if the prices are low.

Brian,
Three's a book on the shelves right now that you should read. It is a really good analysis of this issue. It's called Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandel, and the Selling of the Iraq War. Of course there's a lot more to the book than just the Plame deal.

It's a shame David Corn chose to show his displeasure with my September 15, 2006, Wall Street Journal op-ed about Richard Armitage's role in the Valerie Plame so-called leak by making a baseless personal attack against me. I wrote: "The first journalist to reveal Ms. Plame was 'covert' was David Corn on July 16, 2003, two days after Mr. Novak?s column.

Let's revisit this: Armitage told Novak, Rove confirmed, Harlow (CIA) asked Novak twice not to write the story and Novak publishes "Plame" is a "CIA" "operative".

Two days later, Corn poses the question: Did Novak reveal the identify of a covert CIA agent?

I think it's a good question and Toensing is right about one thing, Corn was the first to use the word "covert" but that's hardly an accurate representation of the fact Novak (Armitage and Rove) put the fact of Plame's role in the CIA in the public arena as an operative. To the those of us unfamiliar with CIA vocabulary, operative pretty much means spy. Sorry, Teonsing your JD is showing. Fancy word tricks are your trade and there's nothing more you'd like that an argument about who outed Valerie Plame.

Now, what was that baseless personal attack you acuse Corn of? Beside being a talented photo journalist, what else would you like us to know about your lovely daughter?

#20
OMG, I wrote three instead of there.

whose basic claims about Plame have been debunked

That's what this blog is for. Take a shot at it. Present the evidence that contradicts Corn's claims.

The Republicans are feeling the pressure so they are turning up the pressure on Fitzgerald...

fhe Case of the
Missing Crime
The CIA leaker has been found. No law was broken. Why is the prosecutor still going after Scooter Libby?
by Clarice Feldman 09/25/2006,
The New York Times and Washington Post are hard at work airbrushing history to obscure their role in promoting Joseph C. Wilson's incredible tale of his Mission to Niger and subsequent fantasy of martyrdom at the hands of Karl Rove. Both add insult to injury. While minimizing their own responsibility for the three-year witchhunt for an imagined White House conspiracy, they still suggest that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby--Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff and the only man indicted in the case--committed a crime for which he must be held accountable.
Really? It would appear that the Fourth Estate has been as inattentive to the criminal case as it was to the facts that led up to it. The case against Libby is as weak as the basis for the investigation was, and the animus that impelled it so distorted the investigative process as to make its continuation a travesty. It's long past time for Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to do the right thing and drop the charges.
at pajamas media

David Corn:

Remember at the annual Gridiron Club bacchanal when Bob Novak hammed it up in a skit about the Plame leak, singing to the tune of "Once I Had a Secret Love?"

His finale, with a wink and arched-eyebrow grin, was "Cross the right wing you may try/Bob Novak's coming after you."

Not so funny now, is it? Novak's got a hidden agenda. I hope we find out who set it, and what it is.

Jeanne it would be great to see Olbermann do a piece like the one he did where he compared negative news events for the Bush administration and demonstrated how often the color code fear factor would be raised to distract the american public from that event. The same could be done for gas prices.

Well, I'm a little late with this because the topic has change from public art but...Jeanne, you'll be interested...

RODIN: In His Own Words

Today I went to our wonderful little museum and was privileged to see a marvelous Rodin exhibit. In the literature provided, I was reminded of the high regard for sculpture during Rodin's lifetime. The most highly regarded sculptures were projects done for public places because they were thought to have universal rather than personal meaning.

I was thinking about Rodin but I couldn't remember any of his sculpture.

Virgo, 2004, acrylic on linen, 57.5 x 45 inches (art)

Untitled (Constellation), 2003, Acrylic on linen (art)

The Case of the Missing Crime
The CIA leaker has been found. No law was broken. Why is the prosecutor still going after Scooter Libby?by Clarice Feldman
09/25/2006 The New York Times and Washington Post are hard at work airbrushing history to obscure their role in promoting Joseph C. Wilson's incredible tale of his Mission to Niger and subsequent fantasy of martyrdom at the hands of Karl Rove. Both add insult to injury. While minimizing their own responsibility for the three-year witchhunt for an imagined White House conspiracy, they still suggest that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby--Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff and the only man indicted in the case--committed a crime for which he must be held accountable.
Really? It would appear that the Fourth Estate has been as inattentive to the criminal case as it was to the facts that led up to it. The case against Libby is as weak as the basis for the investigation was, and the animus that impelled it so distorted the investigative process as to make its continuation a travesty. It's long past time for Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to do the right thing and drop the charge

at national review

Republicans are sure feeling the heat they are applying pressure on Fitzgerald in packs. They mush know Fitzgerald is going to drop a bomb.

Bloomberg Reportedly Considers Independent Presidential Run by Joe Gandelman For those of you who may have thought 2008 was shaping up as a race between two major parties, think again. There is an outside chance that there may be a third big-name candidate. This independent thing is catching... especially amongst people who lose and ditch their team LIEBERMANN

Untitled, 2000 12 1/8" x 15 1/2" x 2" (pic)

Jeanne,

I saw the small, indy station putting out $2.09 on my way home tonight.

I'm thinkin' more that Oil companies think that the less pissed-off the "sheeple" are, the less they're likely to confront the status-quo.

But I'm just this guy, y'know...

-T

31 I think you're right. The next development in the leak case is coming soon and the propaganda machine is gearing up to preempt. FITZ!

Gloomy Beacon ,2000 (pic)

#28 Adjust your thinking cap. It'll come to you.

It's really funny that when the right wing isn't running scared they use the 'see what we do to people who cross us' tactic as they did with Wilson. But when they start running scared they jump down the throats of anyone who reveals to the public the crimes they have committed and the errors they have made. When someone, like David Corn reminds and lays out analysis they just go berserk. Amazing. Just amazing. This is a group of people who can't see consequences coming and can't handle them when they do. What does the country do with these losers? This included the white house by the way.

I forgot...does the "thinking cap" go over or UNDER the tin-foil?

#27
Micki,
How do people create those masterpieces? My God.

David,

You accuse a sitting President of the United States of being a liar and almost every other vile object imaginable, yet recoil in horror when someone tries to contradict you on a little-watched cable television station.

It just goes to show that liberals are thin-skinned hypocrites who try to dish it out, but who really can't take it.

It also shows why you are intellectually weak and philosophically bankrupt. We need mental warriors, not wimps.

#39 I'll have to think about that question. I think I'll ask O'Reilly. Actually, I think I'll ask him for his risotto recipe first. On second thought, I think I'm hungry. Ciao!

#39
If you put it under you take the chance of having a rational thought leak in. Over would be better.

I'm thinking. . . . nope, it hasn't come to me yet. . . still thinking...

I think the tin foil hat IS a thinking cap. The proverbial thinking cap is metaphorical. The tin one keeps others from knwing your thoughts.

Gas $2.89 for regular in Bishop CA.

Arborio rice
grated parmesan cheese
fresh graden tomato
fresh basil, 1/4 cup chopped

Cook the rice, stirring frequently. Add chopped tomatoes 1/4 in. cubes, stir in cheese, stiry in half of the basil, serve in bowls hot topped with basil and sprinkled parm. Yummie! Watch your portion size, white rice is high glycemic.

bush is a lying puppet, nothing less, nothing more.

#41
FC...tsk tsk tsk.... Here's the deal. David Corn backs up his accusations with....facts. I'd recoil in horror too if somebody lambasted me for no rational reason and nothing to back up the smears. I'm sure David Corn has a tough hide and I'm sure he expected the smears. But I'm also sure he was ready and waiting with both barrels loaded. What did you think he was going to do, run and hide? That's what the right wing hopes for but it doesn't always happen. Especially on this blog.

I'm afraid to ask because I fear my question will be misunderstood as an offer for a dialogue but here goes: How is a "liar" a "vile object" and what is a "mental warrior?"

Novak appeared tired and frustrated in his interview on Friday (CSPAN). I felt sorry for him. It is difficult to take him seriously when it is clear he is so out of touch with the media (Hardball, John Stewart, etc) today.

He really didn't make sense to me. He claimed he didnt take notes when he originally interviewed Armitage. How can a reliable journalist interview a person and not take any notes--then tell the world he remembers exactly what the person told him in an interview 3 years later. Does he think we are stupid? He first claims one thing about the his interview with Armitage, then later claims something else. Of course, conveniently, he doesnt have any notes to verify his claims and expects us all to take what he says at face value.
I suspect that Novak's memory is not what he thinks it is--and in the future I hope he documents everything so we (the public) don't have to be subjected to his confusion of the facts.

Novak attacked Corn and Isikoff because they have written a book (based on facts) that disputes his claims. Of course, he is going to attack Corn--he has to, Novak's ego will not allow him to anything else but defend his undefendable position.

I hope David Corn will appear on CSPAN and let the public know that he feels pitifully sorry for Novak for his baseless claims and desperate attempts to cover up the Rove's (and others in the administration) involvement in the Plame scandal. Desperate people do desperate deeds and Novak is clearly desperate--unfortunately, his claims have caused him to make a fool of himself.

I thought I heard (on Washington Journal) that david Corn will be on tomorrow (monday), I may be wrong about that--if he is, I hope he will treat his desperate adversary with the pity he deserves.

BTW- It didn't sound (to me) as though Novak (or toensing) had read your book, maybe if you would send them a copy they might be more enlightened with the facts and stop attacking you.

O'Reilly,

Makes my grilled Salmon over Uncle Ben's seem kinda...well, actually, It was STILL pretty good!

But I'ma gonner Risotto, tomorrow!

-T

p.s. Fatchuncker, shouldn't you be out there killin' some'a thum MUSLIMS, in great numbers, or something?

Yummm. Salmon.

How Bad Is the Senate
Intelligence Report?
Very bad.by Stephen F. Hayes
09/25/2006, According to a report released September 8 by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Saddam Hussein "was resistant to cooperating with al Qaeda or any other Islamist groups." It's an odd claim. Saddam Hussein's regime has a long and well-documented history of cooperating with Islamists, including al Qaeda and its affiliates

As early as 1982, the Iraqi regime was openly supporting, training, and funding the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization opposed to the secular regime of Hafez Assad. For years, Saddam Hussein cultivated warm relations with Hassan al-Turabi, the Islamist who was the de facto leader of the Sudanese terrorist state, and a man Bill Clinton described as "a buddy of [Osama] bin Laden's
at national review

The radical right just will not stop
spinning

Corn contends that Novak's use of "operative" implies Plame's classified employment, but Victoria Toensing in her 17 Sep rebuttal [in National Review Online] asserts that "operative" does not imply classified employment. Having helped frame the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, Toensing should know.

If Joseph C. Wilson IV and wife continue their civil suit vs. Libby et al, we can expect to see counsel for Libby et al mount a defense. And whereas Patrick Fitzgerald had no subpoena for Corn, there is no guarantee that counsel for Libby et al will treat Corn similarly. In which case Corn then must in due course begin springing for legal fees. Were I he, I too would be squalling and bawling.

Mr. David Corn,

"Novak might need to hone his reading comprehension skills."

That seems to be some kind of affliction on the right.

The moonbats cannot handle facts because all facts are "reality based" and therefore facts are in conflict with their "beliefs".

Thanks for all of your work.

Kirk

I made the mistake of buying Jordan almonds this afternoon at the supermarket. I can't stop.

Bledsoe will somehow find a way to lose this game.

Anybody want to talk about good questions for Corn on C-SPAN?

What is "squalling"?

Corn contends that Novak's use of "operative" implies Plame's classified employment

That's what I thought too. If Novak said secretary or accountant I wouldn't have thought "spy" and "undercover" but Novak said "operative" and so that is what came to mind.

How does Victoria Teonsing know what Corn "ought" to know about the word "operative"?

Who is paying Teonsing?

#49
Don't get me giggling.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source squall2 (skw?nbsp; Pronunciation Key
n.
A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.
Informal. A brief commotion.

intr.v. squalled, squall·ing, squalls
To blow strongly for a brief period.

[Probably of Scandinavian origin.]

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source squall1 (skw?nbsp; Pronunciation Key
n.
A loud, harsh cry.

intr.v. squalled, squall·ing, squalls
To scream or cry loudly and harshly.

[Probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse skvala, to squeal.]
squaller n.

squalling

adj : characterized by short periods of noisy commotion; "a home life that has been extraordinarily squally" [syn: squally]

"Mental Warrior"

A more violent member of the "Thought Police"!

Over at The Corner on National Review Online, Cliff May states that he and Corn nearly "came to blows in the Green Room at Fox this week."

I suppose that May meant Fox News. Be that as it may, Fox Sports should offer to host a boxing match between May and Corn. They could bill it as "sissy boy slap party."

speaking of Scandinavian where's Erling?

Jeanne,

I dunno 'bout Earling, but my Helsinki pal told me that there's a sadness to this time of year for him when he basically quits the bartending business, for the time being, and returns to the University to complete his 2nd or 3rd masters'.

I'll send this question to C-SPAN:

What do you say to the argument that claims since Armitage from State was the first known leaker, there was no conspiracy in the White House to leak Valarie Plame's classified status?

Trouble a brewing.

Post: Election experts fear major problems at polls

Election experts fear major problems at polls during November's election, according to a front page story in Sunday's Washington Post.

"An overhaul in how states and localities record votes and administer elections since the Florida recount battle six years ago has created conditions that could trigger a repeat -- this time on a national scale -- of last week's Election Day debacle in the Maryland suburbs, election experts said," write Dan Balz and Zachary A. Goldfarb for the Post.

...But in Maryland last Tuesday, a combination of human blunders and technological glitches caused long lines and delays in vote-counting. The problems, which followed ones earlier this year in Ohio, Illinois and several other states, have contributed to doubts among some experts about whether the new systems are reliable and whether election officials are adequately prepared to use them.

In a polarized political climate, in which elections are routinely marked by litigation and allegations of incompetent administration or outright tampering, some worry that voting problems could cast a Florida-style shadow over this fall's midterm elections.

Now, I'm off to bed...looks like Bledsoe couldn't even find a way to lose this one...

G'nite and good rest.

-T

Gee. Why did I think the affair was brought on by the CIA asking for charges to be filed in the case?

Corn may have been observant enough to take note, but don't the Novak legal bills come from the case made by the CIA? and not Corn, Shumer or any Democrats of note?

"... I don't know what the conservative columnist has against yours truly. ..." Cornball, he's a journalist-columnist. Probably just wants to set the record straight. You are the first one to mention a supposed "undercover" status for the serial liar's wife, no? Don't sweat it. Without the active and repeat lying by the NYT rag and Wash. Compost, this moonbat conspiracy theory would never have gotten off the ground. It ain't your fault.

Can you give C-SPAN watchers a three minute summary of the story of how the Bush administration brought the country to war in Iraq?

Oh...look at this. Looks like everybody is seeing the same strategy.

Olbermann: Bush's 'rush' to redefine Geneva Conventions may be mostly about 'covering his own backside'

Keith Olbermann's Friday broadcast on MSNBC featured a long look at the President's contentious Rose Garden press conference on Friday, dubbing it the "Roast Garden," and then pondered whether Bush's urgency to redefine the Geneva Convention had more to do with "covering his own backside" than anything else.

...In video of the Friday presser, a visibly angry President raises his voice as responds to reporters' questions.

NBC White House Correspondent David Gregory asks the President how he would react if American officers were interrogated based on another country's own re-interpreted version of the Geneva Conventions. Without answering the question, Bush says, "We can debate this issue all we want but the practical matter is if our professionals do not have clear standards in the law, the program will not go forward."

Further pressed by Gregory for an answer, Bush raises his voice and says, "You can ask this question all you want but the bottom line is -- and the American people have got to understand this -- that this program won't go forward... if there are vague standards applied like those in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. It's just not going to go forward. Now, perhaps some in Congress don't think the program is important. That's fine."
--------------
Isn't that great? Bush's backside is more important than the soldiers he sends out to defend the country from 'terrorism' he helped stimulate.

"And, in Novak's telling, this all led to "a very unnecessary investigation." While presenting his paranoid account--a "left-wing investigative team" from Newsday?--he failed to mention that the CIA first examined the leak and then asked the Justice Department for an FBI investigation. I find it difficult to believe that my one web-column or the remarks of Senator Schumer somehow caused the CIA lawyers to do something they would not have otherwise done. Maybe I am too modest."

I think you might have missed this above?

capt

Plame. To think that this administration is so incompetent that they can't even properly smear a measly CIA agent and her grandstanding husband. What a bunch of dumbasses.

What's worse is watching the twisting and turning of the apologists on the right to justify the idiocy of the current crop of dumbasses in the WH.

First WMD-Timmie makes a verifiable dingbat of himself ranting, raving, huffing and puffing about the fact that Saddam and Al Qaeda were in cahoots, that, in the words of the President, they were "allies." Then (as Capt. linked) the Senate Whitewash Committee pops a cap in Timmie's ass. To make matters worse, it was widely known in the CIA in '02 That Bin Laden Had No Iraq Ties. None.

Then we've got numbnuts like Cliffy May saying that Mr. Corn outed Valerie Plame. Never mind the words of Mr. Fitzgerald:
"Valerie Wilson's cover was blown in July 2003. The first sign of that cover being blown was when Mr. Novak published a column on July 14th, 2003."

What's even more pathetic is that almost a year after Fitzgerald announces that Plame's cover was blown, we have Happy trying to claim (long after the rest of the civilized world has forsaken that line of logic) that Plame was not a covert agent.

Now we have Le Douchebag d'Liberte himself trying to slime Mr. Corn after having changed his story at least 5 times. His excuse to Russert? That he tends to misspeak in live appearances.

O'Reily,

Fair question that I be asked to support my view that the facts (including those now being published by Corn) debunk Corn's prior claims.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time to do the answer full justice. But my recollection is that Corn has consistently pushed the theme that there was a violation of the law (he even confirms that with his new account of his telehone conversations with Wilson) and there was a Rove centric conspiracy. It seems that with the disclosure of Armitage as the first and apparently principal leaker and the failure of Fitzgerald to indict anyone for the leak, Corn's claims have been debunked.

I assume there is no dispute over the fact that Corn is highly partisan. I saw him on Bloggerheads where he was trying to defend himself based on his journalistic integrity. I don't think that works very well when he is such an obvious partisan and, for that matter, so prone to personal attacks.

Did your research delve into the anthrax mailed to Tom Daschle by US mail and how it may have influenced his thinkiong on the question?

Senator Graham offers strong defense of Geneva Convention

CBS Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer said to Graham, "This would seem to me to be a huge political risk for you. You come from a very conservative state. A state that is probably one of the strongest states for President Bush. You're taking on the president on this. I'll bet you that you get a primary opponent as a result of this."

Senator Graham responded, "Well, I'm getting pounded at home by some people -- why can't you work with the president? The president wants to defend us. The CIA needs to get good information. These guys are barbarians. Why are you standing in the way? I'm not standing in the way. I share the same goals, but I'm a military lawyer. Twenty-two years as a member of the Air Force JAG Corps. When I put that uniform on, I took an obligation as a military officer.

"Now I have an obligation as a senator. I admire our president, I want to help him. But the biggest risk in the world is not Lindsey Graham losing an election. We can have a good country without Lindsey Graham being in the Senate. We cannot have a great nation when we start redefining who we are under the guise of redefining our law.

"My biggest fear is that as we try to solve these complicated legal procedures and problems that we're seen as taking shortcuts and we don't redefine the law, we redefine America in a way so we can't win this war. That's what Colin Powell is saying. That's what General Vessey's saying. It's not about my political career. America can do well without me, but we cannot do well if we're seen to abandon our principles and the rule of law."

A mental warrior has a black belt in BRAIN KUNG-FUks; a person who eats thumbtacks for breakfast and avoids yogurt and soy products. The mental warrior uses mouth-breathing techniques to enhance his mental gyrations. The mental warrior is exquisitely simple and never forgets that his mind is his limiting factor.

One's status as a democrat or republican or a politcal commentator from the right or from the left doesn't disable a journalist from being a journalist.

Just like a newspapaer, a journalist can write journalism or opinion. Writing opinion doesn't disqualify someone from reporting.

Corn's status as a left leaning commentator doesn't prohibit him from adhearing to journalistic principlew in his non-opinion journalistic articles.

Does Novak lose the ability to tell the truth because he is a well-known right-wing partisan? No, that's not why.

"... he failed to mention that the CIA first examined the leak and then asked the Justice Department for an FBI investigation. ... I think you might have missed this above? ... capt" That was in late September, 2003. Cornball is just lying again there.

#73
His excuse to Russert? That he tends to misspeak in live appearances.
----
Ok, now you guys have got me giggling. I wish I could have seen Russert's expression when he heard that. His eyes bug out of his head when he has to swallow the BS he hears from these idiots.

#62 Jeanne, I think Erling went to Turkey.

If the case was without merit, the judge would have dismissed the charges against Libby. Libby is lying and obstructing justice. What does Libby know that he doesn't want other to know?

#81
wow...people and their adventures. I'm going to Elba on thursday to climb a forest ranger tower. And then I'm going to Winona to buy donuts. And then I'm going to Lanesboro to buy a wooden spoon. Jealous aren't you?

Oop I almost forgot...I'm going to Lake City to buy Pepin Heights Cider.

There is a possibility that Bob Novak is so pissy just because he's not accustomed to anyone QUESTIONING him. He's gotten away with so much shit in his career, rumor-mongering and distributing well-organized false innuendoes (Tom Foley comes to mind, for one), that the old DISAGREEABLE fart might be just getting even at the personal level.

We should keep in mind that NOVAK IS NOT A JOURNALIST -- he is a syndicated opinion columnist and TeeVee pundit. He's a hack.

No one has ever held Novak accountable for his machinations. David "sic him!" Enough already with the niceties!

Your book sales will soar!

Jeanne, his eyes bug out of his head because because he's full of shit, too.

O'Reilly, thanks for the recipe. There's olive oil in there some place!

Senate To Investigate Administration Coercion of Military Lawyers

Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) alleged that the U.S. military's top uniformed lawyers were pressured by the administration for more than five hours to "sign a prepared statement" supporting the President's proposal for military tribunals. Today on CBS's Face The Nation, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced that he plans to hold a hearing investigating the incident. The JAG lawyers would be called as witnesses.
--------------
Ok Sen. Specter...we believe you.

AP Photographer Held In Iraq for Five Months

We know that it is dangerous for journalists in Iraq, just ask David Bloom, Lara Logan, Bob Woodruff and Jill Carroll. You know, the ones that stepped out of the Green Zone. But the dangers to journalists are not solely from "insurgents", "terrorists" or whatever the White House wants to refer to as the "enemy in Iraq".

Reuters:

The U.S. military has been holding an Iraqi photographer working for The Associated Press since April, and the agency asked on Sunday that he either be charged or released.

Bilal Hussein, 35, was taken into U.S. military custody on April 12 in the Iraqi city of Ramadi and has been held since then without charge, AP said.

"Bilal Hussein has been held in violation of Iraqi law and in disregard to the Geneva Conventions. He must be charged under the Iraqi system or released immediately," said Tom Curley, AP president and chief executive.

AP said its own examination "had produced no evidence that Hussein had done anything to justify holding him" and that it was making its request public because all other efforts had failed to secure his release. Read on…

So if Bush gets his way, Hussein can remain in prison indefinitely and go to trial without knowing what he’s charged with or what evidence there is against him. This White House has had a fairly testy relationship with the press from the beginning, but this is ridiculous.

O'Reily,

You are correct that a liberal or conservative columnist does not necessarily lose his or her journalistic intergrity with respect to their fact reporting. There are examples, such as George Will, Bill Buckley, David Broder, Clarence Page and probably Joe Klein (I don't read him that much and there was that stupid annonymous book), who maintain high levels of credibility.

In fact, I think all media reporters should disclose their political preferences, then demonstrate to their readership/listeners that they are credible by the quality of their work. I think the present situation is ridiculous where reporters and television anchors conceal their political preferences and tell us to just trust them to be objective. I'm for full disclosure and trust the intelligence of your audience to figure out if you are credible or not.

On Corn, I don't know much of his history, but on the Plame issue he has been very partisan and extreme, and at least his recent other writings also have been so. Combined with his spinning and dissembling in recent writings on the Plame matter when he tries to defend himself (e.g., "thought excercise and not an act of disclosure" when the truth ws that he clearly disclosed in his original column that Plame supposedly was a covert agent), I think his credibility has suffered a big blow.

Shrill, hysterical lefty partisan blogger

[..]

Just look at the things we're debating -- whether the U.S. Government can abduct and indefinitely imprison U.S. citizens without charges; whether we can use torture to interrogate people; whether our Government can eavesdrop on our private conversations without warrants; whether we can create secret prisons and keep people there out of sight and beyond the reach of any law or oversight; and whether the President can simply disregard long-standing constitutional limitations and duly enacted Congressional laws because he has deemed that doing so is necessary to "protect" us.

These haven't been open questions for decades if not centuries. They've been settled as intrinsic values that define our country. Yet nothing is settled or resolved any longer. Everything -- even the most extremist and authoritarian policies and things which were long considered taboo -- are now openly entertained, justifiable and routinely justified.

More HERE

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

Glenn is addressing Yoo.

capt

Hall of Honor

Dear Cornposters:

I am announcing a new category for worthwhile people. Recognition is given to persons who have been attacked verbally and criticized by Nazis, fascists, scumbags, slime balls, neocons, and religious right groups. The new award is called Hall of Honor. I will add more names as they become available to me and as I can recall more names. You may assist with names as well. Politicians' names are excluded because most politicians are attacked verbally and criticized by some group or groups.

Here are the names of the recipients of this award.

David Corn
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Father John Dear

Sincerely,

Gerald

P.S. Mr. Corn, please consider it a great honor to be attacked verbally by Robert Novak. He is a low life and possibly sub-human.

#89
brian,
I think his credibility has suffered a big blow.
----------
Ok...yeah...whatever...credibility has suffered a big blow...sure...

Go to think progress and watched the blowhard Novak on the video they have there. Are you defending him? Are you defending the White House that got us into Iraq for no good reason? Who ignored the gulf coast as one of the worst hurricanes in history barrelled its way inland? The same White House who continues to ignore the laws of this nation and the writings of the constitution? Is that who you are defending?

#91
Gerald,
I bet David Corn is proud.

You guys always want to switch the subject from Corn's credibility or lack thereof.

But I wil indulge you on Novak. He certainly is hated by folks on the left. But I really am not aware of him getting things wrong in his columns. Recently, what I've read, he seems to have pretty good inside sources. I think the animosity must be the result of his long television career and his arrogant demeanor on TV. I also would think lefties would have a soft spot for him since he opposed the Iraq War.

Does anyone have examples of him being wrong in his fact reporting?

Jeanne, here are three new names for the Hall of Honor - Greg Palast, Al Franken, and Michael Moore.

I was checking out the weather in MN and noticed the satellite map. Look at how colorful the Pandemoniac back yard is.

San Antonio

#94
You're a comedian right? I'm supposed to laugh right? Satire, right?

Gerald,
Dahr Jamail and Robert Fisk.

I am also excluding my foxes from the Hall of Honor. They are deserving of special honors and accolades.

#98
And of course Bill Moyers.

#98 Jeanne, Jamail is a columnist and I need more info on Jamail and Fisk. Thank you for any help. For example, what person or group has attacked these men. I will add women's names as well but I may prefer to have them as part of my foxes' list. I am certain that there could be thousands of names to be added to the Hall of Honor. Certain people are always attacked scumbags and slime balls.

In these dangerous and unhappy times the list for your hall of fame is very long. The right has never understood the real power of the written word. The right only chooses to use words to smear. They've never understand that the strength comes when it is used to reveal the truth.

#96,

WOW - that looks like bad weather.

We finally broke the cycle of rain. The foothills of the Sandia Mountains were 229% over the same time last year. If we get some snow NM will have had a drought busting year.

Clear and cool today.

capt

Re. The Armitage/Novak Articles making the rounds
The Tards got excited and forgot the check the Facts.

Novak didn’¥ even meet Armitage till July 8, 2003

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-edt-novak14.html
. . . I sat down with Armitage in his State Department office the afternoon of July 8. . .

Libby told Miller about Valerie more than two weeks before Armitage met Novak; DOH!

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/documents/libby_indictment_28102005.pdf
. . . On or about June 23, 2003, LIBBY met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller. During this meeting LIBBY was critical of the CIA, and disparaged what he termed ҳelective leakingӠby the CIA concerning intelligence matters. In discussing the CIAճ handling of Wilsonճ trip to Niger, LIBBY informed her that Wilsonճ wife might work at a bureau of the CIA. . .

No Reich-wing truthiness?

TARDS

Now THAT is funny. (and true)

Good post - just those pesky facts.

Thanks

capt

#101
Oh...I see. Well, Bill Moyers belongs in the Hall of Fame. He was shoved off PBS. However it is your hall of fame so you get to choose.

#100 Jeanne, Bill Moyers is an excellent name.

Here are some names of excellent columnists and commentators but I am unaware of them being attacked by scumbags and slime balls - Paul Craig Roberts, Jim Hightower, Bob Herbert, Frank Rich, and Alex Jones.

It's kinda funny that the Liberal Media (sic) has gone sour on Mr. Bush. From that Leftloony fishwrap, BusinessWeek Online:
What's Really Propping Up The Economy
"Since 2001, the health-care industry has added 1.7 million jobs. The rest of the private sector? None"

Jobs? Who needs freekin' jobs? 19 million jobs created under Big Dawg. He was so good at gettin jobs that he jobbed himself right onto the edge of impeachment.

Republican incompetence? They can't even run their much-vaunted War on Terror without the typical rightwing upfuckery that has become common in Congress. Pakistan won't go after Bin Laden as long as he promises not to kill too many Americans. Then they release the killers of that Pearl guy, again with the understanding that they play nice... wink, wink, nudge, nudge. And the Reds? They have a plan. They're going to appease the terrorists. Lovely:
"WASHINGTON, Sept 15: The United States believes that the agreement the government recently signed with pro-Taliban tribal chiefs in Waziristan has the `potential to work'.

In a policy speech at the School of Advanced International Studies here, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher endorsed the deal as an effort to get tribal support to defeat terrorism."

Concise. Look it up in the dictionary and you'll find a picture of Billmon. Maybe not. I've never seen a picture of Billmon.
Shorter Krauthammer
"America must attack Iran even if sets the Middle East on fire, because the Iranians are crazy and might set the Middle East on fire."
Posted by billmon at September 15, 2006 10:21 PM

I like that one.

I also like this ad that blows Macaca Allen out of the water for his refusal to protect our country's brave troops.

I've been hearing every Sunday for the last 4 Friedmans that Israel is going to blast Iran if the U.N. doesn't wipe out their nuclear program. CNN says the US will take care of Iran. I never knew CNN was so into the whole comedic line of reporting.

And speaking of funny, Happy, your post way back trying to parse the Identities Protection act was a hoot!! If a UPS man delivered papers to Iraq, in Iraq, for the JTFI, would he be "serving" as a covert operative for the CIA (tongue in cheek, firmly)? The law doesn't define "serving" because only a certifiable dingbat would try to parse the word "serving." That is almost as funny as you guys giving money to Joe Lieberman, oops, I mean Loserman. I know the rightwing came up with that name for Joe and I don't want to confuse them. And you whine about Liberals playing name games? Hilarious! Stop. You're killing me. Seriously, though. Give to Joe. Give till I die laughing.

And if Happy isn't funny enough to knock you out, check out Le Douchbag himself. He takes on that bastion of Left Wing Liberalism, that smug bastard, Jon Stewart.

Glenn Greenwald, Syndey Blumethal?

Jeanne, some people write and talk in a way that scumbags and slime balls do not like but because of their position are kind of off limits for on going attacks.

How Bush Rules: Torture and The Quest For Unfettered Power

"We do not torture," President Bush has said time and again. But Bush has approved techniques that are defined as torture under the Geneva Conventions. In fact, he abrogated U.S. compliance with Article 3 of the Conventions that specifically prohibits torture. Indeed, his then White House counsel and now attorney general Alberto Gonzales contemptuously referred to the Conventions as "quaint."

In the infamous memo of August 1, 2002 written by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, the so-called "Bybee memo," after Jay Bybee, its director and since appointed by Bush to a federal judgeship, the Conventions were shoved aside and the definition revised. Rather than the Conventions stipulations against "cruel, inhumane and degrading" treatment of prisoners and "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment," the administration adopted new standards: "Physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent to intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." The Bush administration's new torture policy prompted the export of torture technique from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib.

Bush's torture policy is a centerpiece of his effort to concentrate unfettered power in the executive, an overarching change justified by an executive order declaring that in his role as commander-in-chief in wartime he can make and enforce laws at will. In my new book, "How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime," I present and analyze the history of Bush's radical attempt to impose an imperial presidency.

More HERE

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

Speaking of Sydney. . .

capt

#110 capt, please give me a short bio.

I am going to add Jon Stewart to the Hall of Honor.

Has this article been posted?

New Clues in the Plame Mystery
By Robert Parry

A well-placed conservative source has added an important clue to the mystery of the Bush administration's "outing" of CIA officer Valerie Plame after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, became one of the first Establishment figures to accuse George W. Bush of having "twisted" intelligence to justify the Iraq War.

The source, who knows both White House political adviser Karl Rove and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, told me that the two men are much closer than many Washington insiders understand, that they developed a friendship and a working relationship when Bush was recruiting Colin Powell to be Secretary of State.

In those negotiations, Armitage stood in for Powell and Rove represented Bush - and after that, the two men provided a back channel for sensitive information to pass between the White House and the State Department, the source said.

The significance of this detail is that it undermines the current "conventional wisdom" among Washington pundits that Armitage acted alone - and innocently - in July 2003 when he disclosed Plame's covert identity to right-wing columnist Robert Novak, who then got Rove to serve as a secondary source confirming the information from Armitage.

This new revelation that Armitage and Rove worked together behind the scenes also lends credence to Novak's version of his contacts with Armitage and other administration officials, both as Novak sketched out those meetings in 2003 and then filled in the details in a column on Sept. 14, 2006.

A week after Novak revealed Plame's identity in a July 14, 2003, column, he told Newsday that "I didn't dig it out, it was given to me," adding that Bush administration officials "thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it." [Newsday, July 22, 2003]

...But the new information from Novak's column and my conservative source points to a very different conclusion: that Armitage was much more part of the White House team than the "conventional wisdom" understood and that Broder and other big-time pundits were snookered again.

...In other words, just as Bush's operatives were launching their smear campaign against Wilson by briefing "friendly" reporters, Armitage reversed his longstanding refusal to meet with Novak and "without explanation" granted an interview. During that interview, according to Novak, Armitage encouraged him to write about Plame's identity, much as Rove and Libby were doing with other journalists simultaneously.

After the Armitage interview, Novak got confirmation about his highly sensitive tip - a covert CIA officer's identity - from Rove, who - according to my conservative source - had been working behind the scenes sharing sensitive information with Armitage since the earliest days of the Bush administration.

Despite all that's been written on the Plame affair, there has never been an adequate explanation of why the President's political adviser would ever have been granted access to a detail as discrete and dangerous as the identity of a CIA officer, the kind of information that is traditionally disseminated only on a strict need-to-know basis.

In this case, that "need to know" may have been that the Bush administration put discrediting and damaging Joe Wilson ahead of protecting the identity of a covert officer and her undercover operation, which involved investigating the spread of dangerous weapons in the Middle East.

These new clues in the Plame mystery suggest that - contrary to Washington's "conventional wisdom" which holds that Armitage's confession clears Rove and the White House of wrongdoing - Armitage may have simply been another participant in the ugly scheme.
-----------
Very long post...very sorry.

Jeanne, we are having our second rainstorm in the last month! We are under Stage I water restrictions (watering the yard only once a week). The rain is helping to keep my brown yard from blowing away in the wind. We'd been in a severe drought since August of 2005. The heat? It must be all those "hot Latin women" that the Governor of California is always talking about.

Don't you just love folks like "Brian" coming to Mr. Corn's blog to question his credibility. They accuse him of bias and partisan spinning. Crazy thing is they never put up any facts to dispute what he writes. Proving that he has the facts wrong would seem a prerequisite for proving that he is lacking credibility. These rightwing dingbats aren't so much for accuracy as they are for balance. They need their lies to balance the facts provided by "Reality"... given Reality's known liberal bias.

#109
That novak interview was sooooo out there. That man is very odd.

#113 Gerald, also add Bob Woodward and Fred Hiatt of the Wash. Compost.

Let share with you why I have Bishop Gumbleton and Father Dear added to the Hall of Honor.

Bishop Gumbleton is co-founder of Pax Christi USA. He is kind of a maverick and the church hierarchy has isolated him and could not wait for retirement.

Fr. Dear, I believe, lives in the Los Alamos, New Mexico area. The federal government has him under surveillance for his peace activism.

We know why David Corn is part of the Hall of Honor because he is a thorn in the side of scumbugs and slime balls. Maybe that is a key criteria for the Hall of Honor - a thorn in the side of scumbags and slime balls.

#115
Obviously Brian didn't have the same teachers I had. I had to back up my statements or my final was worthless. It could even be the right answer but if I didn't back it up with facts I didn't get he credit. Simple. So why don't they get it?

#118
Gerald,
Sort of like...Murtha.

Oh I love this title.

George Bush, Whirling Dervish
By Larry C. Johnson

... What in the hell? Bush has been on so many sides of this issue that he is giving new meaning to flip flop.

Bad enough that you HAVE Novak's book...I hope you didn't PAY for it...

I saw Robert Novak away from television and the make-up scene. He is a sad character because he really looks like someone in his 70s and he walks with a cane. He may have some health problems.

Maybe I am too much of an idealist but I feel with age should come some mellowing of character. A person should also try to be honest with himself and other people. I guess Robert Novak is too embedded with the Nazis.

#120 Jeanne, exactly!!!

Sidney Blumenthal is a former senior adviser to President Clinton

He has written (is an editor?) at Salon.com and writes for the Guardian including the "Comment is Free" blog.

October 02, 2004

All Hail Sydney Blumenthal
Posted by Lew Rockwell

When, as a Clinton aide, Sydney Blumenthal warned of a "vast, right-wing conspiracy," we all made fun of him. But he was talking about the neocon-religious right cabal, which vibrates with hatred of him. Drudge even smeared him as a wife-beater(!), and then had to retract. Drudge continues to call him "Sid Vicious."

For a taste of why the axis of evil wants to demonize him, see Blumenthal's brilliant analysis of the debate.

****

I used to think he was kind of a tool. He spoke on some issue and I was less than impressed (a decade ago) but as I read more from him I liked him better. Now I always read what he writes.

He has written some very good articles. I might be liking him better these days because he has been pissing off the right people. (Reich people)

It is a good indicator these days. I think the more people from the opposition whine and bellyache (as they have about parts of Hubris) the better it is for all of us, like free-advertising.

capt

Another criteria could be a person who really enjoys pissing off scumbags and slime balls.

#125 capt, thank you for the information and Sidney Blumenthal will be added to the Hall of Honor.

Cornposters, thank you for your help! I can barely keep my eyes open and it is time for sleep.

"Proving that he has the facts wrong would seem a prerequisite for proving that he is lacking credibility."

And there is the rub, the accusing poster impeaches himself by way of lacking any proof.

What is with some people. Do they really think because they say something we all just assume they are right?

A few of the LTSP's have come here with "prove me wrong" (spelled "PROOF me wrong") it is just too funny. Reminds me of the picture of a guy holding a sign that says "Get A Brain! Morans" - HA! The moron lacks the prerequisite spelling ability to make a point without being a oxymoron himself.

Then posts something idiotic like he thinks more than others! ROTFLMAO on that one too!

capt

Factchecker, ever hear of the blog "Powerline?" They were named Time Magazine's 2004 "blog of the year." They have this crazy Assrocket guy that's always going on about the most inane things. He's got this post from June of 2005 that has John Kerry's Form 180s. There's even some commentary about how it was obtained:
"Via the Freedom of Information Act, a reader obtained copies of the Form 180s that were recently signed by John Kerry to permit, at long last, the release of his military records. Here are the three documents that Kerry signed"

You can click and read the Form 180s and see Mr. Kerry's siggy on the dotted line.

On this post, there's some commentary about how his records are complete and have not been hidden away by some archivist to protect Mr. Kerry.

The records have been available for a long time. The reason that rightwingers have stopped writing about them is that there is nothing there that wasn't available ages ago. Turns out the Swift Boat Vets were *gasp* lying. Go figure. Even Mr. O'Neill has given up the dispute over the form 180:
"Gerstein quotes John O'Neill, who no longer raises any question about the manner in which the forms were filled out...."

You promised to leave if Caspar or I unearthed these documents? Or if we got the records themselves? I can't tell; your syntax is almost as bad as Happy's. Either way, the forms are out. Everyone's seen them. FOIs have been filed and there hasn't been a problem getting them out in the open.

I don't want you to leave. I would rather have Caspar leave. Just kidding, Chuco. We all know the kids come running when you drive into the neighborhood cause they think it's the ice cream man. Pop goes the weasel....

Factchecker, seriously. Don't go. Having you around is a sure way to make the rest of us look smarter and better-informed. We'd all like a better set of "Trolls" on this site. But as Field Marshal von Rumsfeld might say, you go to blog with the idiotic Trolls you have, not the informed, well-read adversaries that you wish you had.

I'll be out in the hill country, camping with inner-city kids for most of the week. I'm coming in for soccer practice and then heading north again. I fully expect to see you sharing your dingbatty goodness with us when I get back, Factchecker. It might bother some folks if you disappeared from the CornBlog. Then again, some folks like me would be rolling around in their den giggling their asses off. I'll give you that much. You're always good for the laughs... though not as good as the TNFs.

Nazis or "Not Sees"

Same thing I guess.

capt

As of now!

Hall of Honor

Dear Cornposters:

I am announcing a new category for worthwhile people. Recognition is given to persons who have been attacked verbally and criticized by Nazis, fascists, scumbags, slime balls, neocons, and religious right groups. The new award is called Hall of Honor. I will add more names as they become available to me and as I can recall more names. You may assist with names as well. Politicians' names are excluded because most politicians are attacked verbally and criticized by some group or groups. I am also excluding names of my foxes. They are very special and deserving of a separate place for honors and accolades. Members of the Hall of Honor are persons who are a thorn in the side of the above mentioned groups.

Here are the names of the recipients of this award.

David Corn
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Father John Dear
Greg Palast
Al Franken
Michael Moore
Bill Moyers
Jon Stewart
Sidney Blumenthal

Sincerely,

Gerald

Pande,

What is with the LTSP's saying "I will leave forever" or "If I am right you will never post ever again"

What is this the seventh grade yearbook club?

HA!

I know David is doing us all proud when the trolls come here and try to talk about stuff from 2004, Kerry and such. I hear that and I think about Nixon and Tea Pot Dome!

capt

I have added Glenn Greenwald to my list of regulars:

Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald

About Me
Name:Glenn Greenwald

For the past 10 years, I was a litigator in NYC specializing in First Amendment challenges, civil rights cases, and corporate and securities fraud matters. I am the author of the New York Times Best-Selling book, How Would A Patriot Act?, a critique of the Bush administration's use of executive power, released May, 2006.

*****

GG can speak to legal issues like very few can. He can make some complicated issues easy to understand. His book is damn good too. I recommend "How Would A Patriot Act" - It will make your blood boil (at times) as he speaks to real American values and beliefs that have been trampled by these necons.

capt

Novak was not content to assail me for concocting a scandal (would if I could!);

ya i'm sure that you're looking real hard.

Death Made In America
Wondering if your conscience is still anesthetized

So we've never made the case, or argued the case that somehow Osama bin Laden [sic] was directly involved in 9/11. That evidence has never been forthcoming.
~~VICE PRESIDENT dick cheney

So the US bombed Afghanistan and killed tens of thousands of people and turned the country into a uranium hellhole on a hunch?
Obviously so, and that is why, they could never produce an ounce of proof of his complicity in the attacks.

Capt, I was wondering the exact same thing. The whole "get outta Dodge" routine is hilarious. As my sister used to say (in her High School years), "as if!"

I'm still waiting for Happy to have another hissy fit cause Spy reminded him that I helped Al Gore to invent the Internet.

Have you seen the movie "Little Miss Sunshine?" The initial setting is ABQ, I believe. It's one of those "road trip" flicks that would have made Kerouac smile. To say that the plotline is absurd is a little like saying that Factchecker has no facts. You just have to see it to appreciate its wackiness.

For Gerald's list, I suggest the following:

Al Gore
John Kerry
Jack Murtha
Corky
Capt
Jeanne
Haji
Cindy Sheehan
Corn Posters

These slime balls will Swift Boat anyone that gets in the way of their Campaign of Fear and Manipulation.

"Little Miss Sunshine?"

Not yet but will look for it.

Titchaba - Thanks!

Kind words are always the best.

capt

"Novak Slimes Me"

Anybody else get a visual of Slimer attacking Bill Murray and it does rremind me of Bob Novak - especially the sucking sound he makes and his sickening sneer?

Maybe it is just me?

capt

#138 capt, "Maybe it is just me?" Who is "slimer" (Novak???) and are you sure you have the right "Bill" there? And why the follow-up question? Do you fear you're losing your "mind"? ;-)

bush' bullying, erratic behavior spurs more GOP defections

On John Kerry:

UPDATE: The apparent anomaly in the Form 180s is that they only authorize the release of Kerry's active duty records, not his reserve records. This could well be important, in that Kerry's antiwar activities occurred when he was a member of the reserves.

THE OTHER ANOMALY IS THAT JOHN KERRY ONLY AUTHORIZED THE RELEASE OF CERTAIN RECORDS TO ONLY THE BOSTON GLOBE
The people who know, of course, are the reporters to whom the documents were sent. This is a very weird procedure--authorizing the records to be released, but only to specified reporters. It raises obvious questions: did the reporters discuss their role with Kerry or his representative before they were designated to receive the records? Were they required to agree not to make the records public, but only to report on them? What other discussions did they have with Kerry or his representatives? Are they willing to release the records, or at a minimum give an inventory of what they received so that people can assess the completeness of the disclosure?

MR. PANDEMONIAC, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM EVER POSTING HERE AGAIN.

PANDEMONIAC, ARE YOU STUPID, GULLIBLE, OR BOTH?

Did Kerry really release Navy records?

June 9, 2005

BY THOMAS H. LIPSCOMB

A front page story in the Boston Globe claimed that: "Senator John F. Kerry, ending at least two years of refusal, has waived privacy restrictions and authorized the release of his full military and medical records." In another Globe story Kerry had promised "The truth in its entirety will come out." But did it?

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth head John O'Neill, who raised many of the charges against Kerry during the campaign, was challenged by Kerry on "Meet the Press" in January. Kerry promised he would sign his Standard Form 180, but he wanted former Swift Boat officer O'Neill to sign as well.

O'Neill did sign it and provided copies to the Chicago Sun-Times. According to O'Neill, "The Standard Form 180 could release 'the full military and medical records.' Or it could release just a few. It all depends on how it is filled out and where it was sent."

"There is nothing magic about signing a SF 180," said former Naval Judge Advocate General Mark Sullivan. "It is sort of like your checkbook. You can fill out a check for one dollar or a million. It is the same check form."

"And the Globe story says Kerry sent it to the Navy Personnel Command, which is only a limited storage location. So it is not surprising that the Globe then notes that what they received was largely 'duplication' of records previously released. The Navy Personnel Command primarily stores a subset of service records rather than a person's full military records. There is no doubt there are a lot of after-action records missing from what Kerry has released," said Sullivan.

Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs has already found a discrepancy confirmed by the Department of the Navy of "at least a hundred pages" missing from those already disclosed by Kerry.

O'Neill made Kerry an offer. "I'll be happy to bring one to Kerry's office and help him fill it out. And then we can take mine and his and deliver them to the right place together to make sure, as Kerry puts it, 'the truth in its entirety will come out.' "

Now that the Boston Globe has in its possession what it claims are Kerry's "full military and medical records," is the Globe ready to make these records available to the public? Wilkinson replied, "It is my understanding that Kerry will release these papers to anyone else now that he has signed the Form 180. The Boston Globe is not going to make available the papers we have received."

Pandemoniac,

I must give you credit for perseverance. You just keep getting bitch-slapped on logic, you just keep getting bitch-slapped on the facts, and yet you keep returning for more.

You are far more fun than a punching bag, and not nearly as expensive.

There two kinds of people in this world - good and bad. The good decide which is which.

For some reason Novak sees himself as being good and since he is angry, the "bright young journalist" must be bad.

For ideologues there are no gray areas only the usual, "I'm right and if you disagree with me you must be wrong."

Let Novakula rant and rave. He will always be on the wrong side simply by being of the right. (I do not think that right wingers are always in the wrong but they do have a penchant for it.)

Nice job on Washington Journal this morning David. You found your pace and delivered the goods with confidence and humor.

138 C-SPANs Washington Journal showed the DavidCorn.com website and the current thread "Novak Slimes Me"

We know Novak watches TV when he's at his computer and we know he wasn't watching reruns of the Daily Show this moring. Ha! Payback's a bitch Novakula.

115 Don't you just love folks like "Brian" coming to Mr. Corn's blog to question his credibility. They accuse him of bias and partisan spinning. Crazy thing is they never put up any facts to dispute what he writes. Proving that he has the facts wrong would seem a prerequisite for proving that he is lacking credibility. These rightwing dingbats aren't so much for accuracy as they are for balance. They need their lies to balance the facts provided by "Reality"... given Reality's known liberal bias.

Posted by: Pandemoniac at September 18, 2006 01:12 AM

Badda bing badda boom.

David you were right on target on C-span this morning!

It is so alarming that people question (the guy from Oklahoma) why the outing of Valerie Plame is important. These are many of the same people who found it critically important to hold a President accountable for lying about a blowjob and then impeachment proceedings followed. Yet somehow holding those responsible for the outing of an agent following the path of WMD's and serving our nation by putting her own life on the line is not important. These are the same folks who do not want to see those responsible for creating and dessiminating false pre-war intelligence held accountable. They support Republican Senator Dewine who sits on the Intelligence committee and the rest of the Republican controlled congress who led the way on the BLowjob scandal yet refuse to hold anyone accountable for an Intelligence snowjob given to the American public that has resulted in tens of thousands of dead.

What twisted priorities and values. Very very sick.

Brace yourselves for an onslaught of troll-ish incursions.

Who wants to talk about there favorite parts in the book HUBRIS? It'd be good for business and it'll keep the thread on point.

O'Reilly:

I wasn't going to comment, but your gracious invitation at # 149 was just too good to ignore.

Timing is everything. Unfortunately for Messrs. Corn and Isikoff, they were caught with a book coming out just when it was found that there was no "conspiracy", as we learned that there was no "Karl Rove connection", just as we learned that Joe Wilson, per the Washington Post, was more responsible for "outing" his wife, if you want to call it that, than anyone else.

We learn from the attorney who helped draft the legislation in 1982, Victoria Toensing, that Valerie Plame wasn't even considered covert.

You libs need to learn that, when you find yourselves in a hole, the first rule is:

QUIT DIGGING!!!

You know, there are so many legitimate issues for which to assail Republicans (spending, Iraq, border security, etc.), it baffles me why you progressives would choose a non-starter like the Plame matter. It is not even a breakeven matter for you, what with all the Armitage revelations.

Don't you understand that the more of the Blackhawk helicopters you profess to see, the less the American public is willing to trust you with their lives and the lives of their loved ones?

Robert Novak vs. Jon Stewart

Novak: Jon Stewart is a "self-righteous comedian taking on airs of grandeur." Stewart: "Novak is a douchebag."

On C-SPAN's Washington Journal, right-wing columnist Robert Novak discussed his television viewing habits (top video to the right). After saying that he doesn't watch the Chris Matthew's show, he attacked Jon Stewart:

"Somebody mentioned the Jon Stewart program, I’∂e never seen that in my life and I will go to my grave never having seen it I don't see any reason for it. It's a comedian, self-righteous comedian taking on airs of grandeur and I really don't need that."

Why would Novak go after Jon Stewart?

Probably because Novak has been the target of many of Stewart's jokes. Here we take a look back at some of the Daily Show's Novak clips:

The second clip in this post features Stewart awarding Novak the "Congressional Medal of Douchebag."

The third video features a Daily Show segment on Novak's televised meltdown on CNN.

And the fourth video features Stewart's famous appearance on Crossfire. Novak was a regular on the show before it was cancelled. Many believe that this segment was the final nail in the show's coffin.

Check'em out and pass'em on.

More HERE

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

Complete with four videos!

Douchebag is an accurate description, more accurate than "Slimer" I had forgotten that the Douchebag did receive the "Congressional Medal of Douchebag."

capt

No one wants any part of the drivel that spills out of your lips. Buy a copy of Corn's book and then we'll talk.

No one wants any part of the drivel that spills out of your lips. Buy a copy of Corn's book and then we'll talk.

Britain warns US over torture bill

LONDON: Britain's Attorney-General has warned the US that its bill to try to limit its obligations under the Geneva Conventions while interrogating and trying detainees risked international condemnation.

Lord Goldsmith waded into the row after a US Senate committee rejected the bill and backed alternative legislation proposed by a Republican senator, John McCain, and supported by George Bush's former secretary of state, Colin Powell.

The Attorney-General's comments, delivered in a lecture to lawyers in Chicago, signal an attempt by Britain to bring the US back in line with international law. Lord Goldsmith said he had thought hard about whether to interfere in a "live and sensitive, domestic political debate", but "this is an international standard of very considerable importance and its content must be the same for all nations".

Guantanamo Bay had become a symbol which "the long American tradition of justice and liberty deserves to see removed at the earliest moment".

More HERE

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

Interesting, the Brits see the issue as one of international importance. I guess if we have 14,000 people spread all over the globe and Crusader Bunnypants want to be able to torture any and all - it really is an international scandal of his making, eh?

Bumper Sticker (h/t Pat)

GEORGE W. BUSH: MAKING TERRORISTS FASTER THAN HE CAN KILL THEM

capt

bush is a lying puppet, nothing less, nothing more.

Posted by: Saladin at September 17, 2006 10:17 PM

Yes Sally, just like your a Jew and Christian hating puppet. I'm sure that nun in the Sudan deserved to die for the Popes remarks. Muslims just like 3 year olds, say something they don't like and they throw a hissy fit.

Nice post David, everyone is out to get you. Paranoia will destroy ya

Click
|
V
here to buy HUBRIS: THE INSIDE STORY OF SPIN, SCANDAL AND THE SELLING OF THE IRAQ WAR
by Michael Isikoff and David Corn

To Saladin and/or kathleen:

What are your thoughts on the execution of Sister Leonella Sgorbati in Somalia by Muslims who claimed it was in retaliation for the Pope's remarks?

Novak, Toensing, et al. may be ramping up to SLIME someone else, too...

From Editor & Publisher....

Daniel Ellsberg Urges Insiders to LEAK DETAILS of Alleged War Plans

Ellsberg's challenge is found in the October issue of Harper's magazine, to appear next week. E&P has obtained an advance copy.

The article is titled, "The Next War," with the conflict in question a possible face-off between the U.S. and Iran. Ellsberg, based on unconfirmed reporting by Seymour Hersh and others, believes there is a "hidden crisis," with government insiders aware of "serious plans for war with Iran" while "congress and the public remain largely in the dark."

His remedy: "Conscientious insiders" need to leak hard evidence to the press and public, while risking their current and future employment, as he did in the early 1970s.

Apparently Euro Trash didn't watch Novak on C SPAN.

A question of Fact:

After watching the C-Span saga unfold, the distillation of query I have is...

Toensing claimed that Valerie Wilson had not been overseas for six years, and that the law (which she claimed to have authored) had an expiration of five years after leaving covert status. So according to Toensing, Wilson had been covered at one time, but was no longer.

David, this morning, mentioned that Mrs. Wilson had been going overseas in her position as head of the WMD group she worked for, but did not specifically mention the six year limit that Toensing had mentioned.

#54, Petr:

Corn contends that Novak's use of "operative" implies Plame's classified employment, but Victoria Toensing in her 17 Sep rebuttal [in National Review Online] asserts that "operative" does not imply classified employment. Having helped frame the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, Toensing should know.

Corn's premise was an if/then statement. If Novak's contentions were accurate, then it could only mean she was covert. She was working in the Directorate of Operations, not the analysts division.

Hope everyone is well.

Micki,

While we're at it, why don't we divulge our nuclear secrets and troop movements?

Fortunately, the grownups are in charge.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg would have loved you.

Why sanctions on Iran will fail

Finally, and most important, it is almost certain that Iran would react to any UN or coalition-of-the-willing sanctions by cutting oil exports by at least 50%, driving oil prices above $100 per barrel, with Americans paying close to $5 a gallon (about $1.30 per liter) for gasoline; a total stoppage of Iranian oil exports (3.2 million barrels per day) would drive oil prices above $150 per barrel, with Americans paying $6-$7 a gallon ($1.60-$1.85 a liter) for gasoline.

There are about a million barrels per day of global excess capacity today (largely in the Persian Gulf countries), but Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait will think "thrice" before they try to make up any shortfall in Iranian oil exports. And if there is another conflict in the Middle East, Arab rulers could be driven by public sentiment to join Iran in cutting oil exports. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez could lend them a hand too, with even more ominous implications for the global energy market and in turn for the world economy.

There is a viable alternative to imposing more sanctions: stop threatening Iran, especially in public. And the United States should try to understand (not necessarily agree with) the Iranian perspective, minimize hubris and engage in true dialogue. Iran would be instrumental in allowing the US to solve most of the problems it faces in the Middle East, including achieving peace and stability in the region, saving US lives and treasure, and enhancing global energy supplies.

More HERE

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

Of course sanctions will not work. Commander Codpiece is not one for trying to do things that work. That would be too much hard work, eh?

capt

Robert Schwartz @ 162:

You're too smart for this. Change the subject.

Quit digging!!

While we're at it, why don't we divulge our nuclear secrets and troop movements? - fc

Better yet, why don't we keep OUR treaty obligations and negociate the elimination of these dastardly WMDs.

The neo-cons, always quick to notice others faults and ambitions, never seem to allow that we have been in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty for years, and that the Iranians are still within the the treaty, even as they continue to enrich uranium.

Gerald, I think you should add Daniel Ellsberg to your list. See my post @160. Hope you agree!

Going to war on false pretenses once is enough for this two-term presidency. The IAEA was right the first time around. Let's hope the American people ask for their expert opinion rather than rely on evidence cited by Cheney, Bush and Rice.

HUBRIS: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War

Also Available in:

Audio CD (Unabridged)

Audio Cassette (Unabridged)

MP3 CD (Unab MP3)

AND

Available as an "eBook"

#125
I have just found a new hero. Sidney Blumenthal is his name.

Robert:

Is that the same Iran that calls for the eradication of Israel?

So, you are now siding with the Islamofascists?

And you probably think that the execution of Sister Leonella was justified, also.

I am not only a Jew hater but a Christian hater as well? HA!! Crack me up.

Robert:

Get your facts straight. From the New York Times, no friend of this administration:

September 25, 2005
Nuclear Agency Votes to Report Iran to U.N. Security Council for Treaty Violations
By MARK LANDLER
VIENNA, Sept. 24 - Iran's showdown with the West over its nuclear ambitions entered a new, more volatile phase on Saturday, as the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report the country to the United Nations Security Council for violating its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Mr. Whatever is drunk again.

Graham Nails Geneva Conventions Argument

While most progressives disagree with Mr. Graham on most issues, he delivers a nearly perfect performance in defense of not tinkering with the Geneva Conventions.

Video -WMP

Video -QT

John Amato:

I'm suspicious over the outrage by Republicans because they usually twist and shout for a while and then rubber stamp Bush. Digby feels the same way and calls this a kabuki dance The main reason I know this is kabuki is more than just instinct read on

More HERE

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

I think it is all more kabuki theater. I have agreed with Graham on one or two things once in a while but the conflicts within the GOP are mostly orchestrated to achieve the ultimate ends of this misadministration.

capt

Robert,

Please, please do not include yourself among the wackos who believe we are in violation of the NPT, per below:

Citizens Charge US With Nuclear Treaty Violation

"Today at a press conference at the United Nations, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League charged the United States with violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and called for international inspections of weapons facilities in South Carolina."

These folks are certifiable nutjobs, and if you align yourself with them, you make yourself a nutjob, also.

By the way, there is also a report on Aljazeera that we are in violation of the NPT.

Aljazeera also airs old videos of OBL and his cohorts. Or so they claim. And they love bushco so much they do it right when he needs it most, very considerate.

Mr. Whatever is so concerned about Mr Schwart's well being. . . "Please, please" Wow. Drunk or high?

The tensions of my favorite Far Left Partisan under attacks needs more capitalist respite. David's is in the form of book sale (Congrats) and mine here, a company that makes scary RFIDs that `trouble' some Cornuts:

Symbol Technologies seeks to sell itself
-WSJ Sun Sep 17, 2006 2:54pm ET
Market View

NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Symbol Technologies Inc. (SBL.N: Quote, Profile, Research), a maker of bar code and inventory scanning technology, is auctioning itself, and mobile phone company Motorola Inc. (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is the most likely buyer, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

.....Pricing details were not available but one person said the deal could come in at a per-share price of roughly $15, it said.

Symbol shares closed at $12.71 on Friday.

....Symbol's second quarter profit was $27.2 million, or 11 cents per share, compared to a loss of $30.5 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter was $453.1 million.

Symbol, based in Holtsville, New York, makes bar code scanners such as those found in supermarkets. It also makes radio-frequency identification tags that store information in tiny microchips and can be scanned to track inventory.

? Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
===============================================
I read a shit-load but well balanced in content! Beyond reading is where (higher-order) thinking kicks in! Thinking in turn, is followed by concrete actions that on the whole, lead to desired & superior results.

My reading/thinking leads to buying stocks like Symbol which is currently trading around $14.50; a Double for yours truly in about a year or so. Now, the qeustion of some urgency is do I sell now or wait for the wild card of a higher offer?

It's astounding that FC apparently admires the work of Bob Novak. Novak deliberately gets things wrong because he loves to repeat incendiary stories that have been proven false -- think of Mary Landrieu's win over Woody Jenkins; his charges against Indians in the 2002 South Dakota election; his remarks about Tom Foley, to name just three. (FC, if you don't know what I'm talking about, look it up.)

But, Novak is also a slithering, ethics-challenged snake -- his son, Alex Novak, is a flack for Regnery Publishing and good ole dad routinely promotes Regnery's right-wing, propaganda-based books with his positive reviews on TeeVee, in his column, and in conservative mags. But, good ole dad never mentions the connection that his son works for Regnery. The same guy who owns Regnery Publishing, Tom Phillips, owns the publishing company that sells Novak's Political Report -- yet, Novak fails to mention the cozy relationship. Novak is the one of the slimiest, smarmiest BUSINESSMEN in America.

On getting facts straight, on conceding one point, and missing the big picture.

From: The Security Council on Iran: Fiddling While the Middle East Burns?
Daniel Joyner

Resolution 1696 is notable because it is the first time that the Security Council has acted on the Iran nuclear issue using its mandatory powers under Chapter VII of the Charter. Until then, declarations from the Council to Iran had been issued as Presidential statements, or as hortatory, non-binding entreaties for Iran to abide by the decisions of the IAEA Board of Governors, which have called on Iran to cease enrichment activities, and provide a fuller account of its nuclear programs as confidence building measures to convince the world that its nuclear ambitions are in fact aimed at civilian energy production and not weapons development.

In using its Chapter VII powers to back up these statements, the Council has substantively changed the legal issues presented in the Iranian nuclear case. Iran has always claimed that it has a right to conduct enrichment activities and research on its own soil, pursuant to Article IV of the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), of which it is a member. It claimed, quite persuasively, that this right could not be abridged or restricted, even by the demands of the IAEA, whose role is limited to monitoring state compliance with its safeguards agreements.

Until Monday, Iran had been quite correct in its legal interpretation. However, the U.N. Charter in Article 103 specifies that “In the event of a conflict between the obligations of the Members of the United Nations under the present Charter and their obligations under any other international agreement, their obligations under the present Charter shall prevail.” The charter is thus a super-treaty, its obligations superior to all other treaty obligations by its own terms. One of the substantive obligations United Nations members undertake in the Charter is spelled out in Article 25, which states that “The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter.”

Thus, with the passage of Resolution 1696, the Council has invoked Iran’s obligation as a U.N. member to abide by its decisions under Article 25, which is an obligation superior to all other treaty obligations pursuant to Article 103, inclusive of the rights and duties contained in the NPT. Iran is now legally obligated to comply with Resolution 1696, which includes a suspension of all enrichment activities, including research and development.

So, I'd concede that with the passage of the UN resolution, Iran is in violation, not of NoN-Proliferation treaty, but of its UN obligations. The article you referenced is more about whether Iran was leting in inspectors at the time in question, as I recall, I didn't llok it up, as you didn't provide the link, as usual.

So, you are now siding with the Islamofascists?

And you probably think that the execution of Sister Leonella was justified, also.
fc

Both are profoundly stupid comments. The first usage of the term Islamofascist I had heard was by David Emory, whose basic premise is that the corporate fascist interests survived the second world war and find themselves within the GOPher party, and elsewhere.

All the Kings Men:

First, I think you need an apostrophe in your name to make the "Kings" possessive. I assume you only refer to one king, so the apostrophe would precede the "s".

Other than that, no I don't drink at all or do any type of drugs (save the odd antihistamine during allergy season), although I don't have anything against the former in moderation.

Why get high on substances when you can get high on life?

Islam forming a partnership with corporate entities? Isn't that what you'd call a "conspiracy?" Who makes this shit up anyway?

#176 -

Article VI

Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.

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

Happily aligned with wacko nutjobs against nuclear weaponry.

Natural Disaster

Speaking of natural disasters, I notice George W. Bush seems to be shrinking.

It's as if a little girl has thrown a bucket of water on the wicked witch of the West, er our little President, and lo and behold, instead of fire and brimstone, we see his impotent flailing rage and catch the stench of his nervous sweat.

Maybe that sounds a little harsh. After all, Georgie Boy remains the unitary executive; all hail the Commander-in-Chief, genuflection (at this time) optional. Happily, Tony Snow keeps saying "Freedom of speech is a glorious thing," and I sincerely believe him.

But our dwindling el presidente is indeed under duress. He is accused of being dull and tiresome, reading books about goats when he should be reading his intelligence daily briefs. He is accused of wanting war, when all he ever wanted was peace and freedom and Saddam Hussein's head on a platter.

More HERE

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

George Castanza on Seinfeld : "There is shrinkage!"

capt

Probably the BEST Big-Picture op-ed coming from the Left! A bit long, even after minor Happy surgery!

Head-in-the-Sand Liberals
By Sam Harris
September 18, 2006
Los Angeles Times

TWO YEARS AGO I published a book highly critical of religion, "The End of Faith." In it, I argued that the world's major religions are genuinely incompatible, inevitably cause conflict and now prevent the emergence of a viable, global civilization.....

.....I am here to report that liberals and conservatives respond very differently to the notion that religion can be a direct cause of human conflict.

Perhaps I should establish my liberal bone fides at the outset. I'd like to see taxes raised on the wealthy, drugs decriminalized and homosexuals free to marry. I also think that the Bush administration deserves most of the criticism it has received in the last six years.....

But my correspondence with liberals has convinced me that liberalism has grown dangerously out of touch with the realities of our world —†specifically with what devout Muslims actually believe about the West, about paradise and about the ultimate ascendance of their faith.

On questions of national security, I am now as wary of my fellow liberals as I am of the religious demagogues on the Christian right.

This may seem like frank acquiescence to the charge that "liberals are soft on terrorism." It is, and they are. [boldface mine]

A cult of death is forming in the Muslim world —†for reasons that are perfectly explicable in terms of the Islamic doctrines of martyrdom and jihad. The truth is that we are not fighting a "war on terror." We are fighting a pestilential theology and a longing for paradise.

.....we are absolutely at war with those who believe that death in defense of the faith is the highest possible good, that cartoonists should be killed for caricaturing the prophet and that any Muslim who loses his faith should be butchered for apostasy.

Unfortunately, such religious extremism is not as fringe a phenomenon as we might hope. Numerous studies have found that the most radicalized Muslims tend to have better-than-average educations and economic opportunities.

Given the degree to which religious ideas are still sheltered from criticism in every society, it is actually possible for a person to have the economic and intellectual resources to build a nuclear bomb —†and to believe that he will get 72 virgins in paradise. And yet, despite abundant evidence to the contrary,liberals continue to imagine that Muslim terrorism springs from economic despair, lack of education and American militarism.

At its most extreme, liberal denial has found expression in a growing subculture of conspiracy theorists who believe that the atrocities of 9/11 were orchestrated by our own government....

Such an astonishing eruption of masochistic unreason could well mark the decline of liberalism, if not the decline of Western civilization. There are books, films and conferences organized around this phantasmagoria, and they offer an unusually clear view of the debilitating dogma that lurks at the heart of liberalism: Western power is utterly malevolent, while the powerless people of the Earth can be counted on to embrace reason and tolerance, if only given sufficient economic opportunities.

I don't know how many more engineers and architects need to blow themselves up, fly planes into buildings or saw the heads off of journalists before this fantasy will dissipate. The truth is that there is every reason to believe that a terrifying number of the world's Muslims now view all political and moral questions in terms of their affiliation with Islam. This leads them to rally to the cause of other Muslims no matter how sociopathic their behavior. This benighted religious solidarity may be the greatest problem facing civilization and yet it is regularly misconstrued, ignored or obfuscated by liberals.

....liberals can find much to lament in the conservative approach to fighting the war on terror. Unfortunately, liberals hate the current administration with such fury that they regularly fail to acknowledge just how dangerous and depraved our enemies in the Muslim world are.

.....In their analyses of U.S. and Israeli foreign policy, liberals can be relied on to overlook the most basic moral distinctions. For instance, liberals ignore the fact that Muslims intentionally murder noncombatants, while we and the Israelis (as a rule) seek to avoid doing so. Muslims routinely use human shields, and this accounts for much of the collateral damage we and the Israelis cause; the political discourse throughout much of the Muslim world, especially with respect to Jews, is explicitly and unabashedly genocidal.

Given these distinctions, there is no question that the Israelis now hold the moral high ground in their conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah. And yet liberals in the United States and Europe often speak as though the truth were otherwise.

We are entering an age of unchecked nuclear proliferation and, it seems likely, nuclear terrorism. There is, therefore, no future in which aspiring martyrs will make good neighbors for us. Unless liberals realize that there are tens of millions of people in the Muslim world who are far scarier than Dick Cheney, they will be unable to protect civilization from its genuine enemies.

.....While liberals should be the ones pointing the way beyond this Iron Age madness....liberals should be especially sensitive to the dangers of religious literalism. But they aren't.

The same failure of liberalism is evident in Western Europe,......

To say that this does not bode well for liberalism is an understatement: It does not bode well for the future of civilization.

- SAM HARRIS is the author of "The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason." His next book, "Letter to a Christian Nation," will be published this week by Knopf. samharris.org.

Sources: August terror plot is a 'fiction' underscoring police failures
Nafeez Ahmed
Published: Monday September 18, 2006

[...]

Terror plot scenario "untenable"

"The idea that these people could sit in the plane toilet and simply mix together these normal household fluids to create a high explosive capable of blowing up the entire aircraft is untenable," said Lt. Col. Wylde, who was trained as an ammunition technical officer responsible for terrorist bomb disposal at the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in Sandhurst.

After working as a bomb defuser in Northern Ireland, Lt. Col. Wylde became a senior officer in British Army Intelligence in 1977. During the Cold War, he collected intelligence as part of an undercover East German "liaison unit," then went on to work in the Ministry of Defense to review its communications systems.

"So who came up with the idea that a bomb could be made on board? Not Al Qaeda for sure. It would not work. Bin Laden is interested in success not deterrence by failure," Wylde stated.

"This story has been blown out of all proportion. The liquids would need to be carefully distilled at freezing temperatures to extract the required chemicals, which are very difficult to obtain in the purities needed."

[...]

Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed is the author of The London Bombings: An Independent Inquiry (Duckworth, £9:99) and The War on Truth: 9/11, Disinformation and the Anatomy of Terrorism (Arris, £12:99). He testified in US Congress about his research on international terrorism in July 2005. He teaches International Relations at the University of Sussex, Brighton.

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

One wonders, one does, indeed.

#186 -

So then, let me ask, is warfare the way to combat ignorance?

Add RS to your list Capt. Let's also give him the CornBlog 'Exemplar Post of the day' for 181.

Add RS to your list Capt. Let's also give him the CornBlog 'Exemplar Post of the day' for 181.

Dear Mr. Corn,

CONGRATULATIONS! I've been offline since a week before you're book came out due to computer problems, but I've got to say WOW! This is a work chock full of facts and evidence, well-researched, concise, tidy, eloquent and all framed around the most important factor in the upcoming elections--the illegal sale of the Iraq war and occupation and the misdirection of Bush policy away from the fight against terrorism.

It is apparent to those even offline that the book has touched many nerves and that effect is quite far-reaching. There are reactions to Hubris without mention of the book. I'm not even sure people know they're reacting to it when they spout off. Or perhaps they are and don't want to draw attention to a book that will be used down through history to indict the Bush administration on high crimes and misdemeanors. More than once I've heard news anchors and reporters make reference to the issues raised poignantly in Hubris without due citation. That's the sign of just how wide the book's effects have become, isn't it? I can only assume it is the hot topic in the Beltway. Hubris along with Lies has become part of the lexicon in discussion of Bush's radical administration and it's legacy.

As to Novak, as Capt. Kirk said in the beginning, all publicity is good publicity. No one really pays attention to the merit of Novak's outlandish statements anyway. I can say that if I had seen that particular edition of Washington Journal last Friday I would have been all over the phone. You've obviously touched a very raw nerve.

Hubris together with Sidney Blumenthal's new book will be used in every history classroom. And its contribution to the current debate, seminal. Again, CONGRATULATIONS!

thank ya, kindly...

liberals ignore the fact that Muslims intentionally murder noncombatants, while we and the Israelis (as a rule) seek to avoid doing so

ya right. just keep looking the other way patriot.

O'Reilly,

RS is always one of the best!

Always has been.

capt

Another bumper-sticker (h/t Pat)

BLIND FAITH IN BAD LEADERSHIP IS NOT PATRIOTISM

the world according to whitey who has the stick.

188
#186 -

So then, let me ask, is warfare the way to combat ignorance?

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at September 18, 2006 12:06 PM
==============================================
RS,

You read but didn't think more about what you just read!

What Sam Harris was saying is that the Islamo problems are led by educated Nuts, like OBL, Dr. Zawahiri, Atta (engineer).....and NOT by the Muslim masses who are susceptible (like Libs' favorite name for ordinary Americans: `sheeples') to such `leaders'!

Combat is most certainly a way to eliminate such Nutty `leaders' and their inner circles who have taken numerous concrete actions to attack Western (our) civilization! Had Hitler been eliminated before becoming Chancellor of Germany, how diffent would World History have been? or Clinton's eliminating OBL in his First Term?

Combat is most certainly a way to eliminate such Nutty `leaders' and their inner circles who have taken numerous concrete actions to attack Western (our) civilization! Had Hitler been eliminated before becoming Chancellor of Germany, how diffent would World History have been? or Clinton's eliminating OBL in his First Term?

A way, perhaps, but, not the most effective way, to my mind. It appears that combat has exacerbated the problem, rather than eliminating it.

Targetted assasination is closer to effective policing than it is to full scale combat, though, of course it is still illegal under law.

Osama bin Laden is strangely not wanted by the FBI for 9/11, although when asked directly on C-Span's Washingtoon Journal, Alberto Gonsales made some incomprehensible noises about "sometimes there are sealed indictments" - not that there existed one for Osama for 9/11.

Many people seem to think that Clinton did nothing about OBL. He had an order to have him assassinated at first sight. The orders were never followed up on. But, Clinton did the right thing.

While I am often guilty of HUBRIS when I buy a given stock, I never count my `chicken$$' until they hatch and are actually SOLD!

Panty, the article below is for you! Nothing really new except a reflection of recent trends. Are you still salivating and licking your Panty over the landslide that is retreating uphill? Remember a very early prediction of mine, a loss of 5~10 GOP House seats and only an even chance the Dems will take control of House!

BTW, bravo to Joe being Loserman when it didn't count! Want to bet Joe will be the Winnerman come Nov. 7th?

Oh, being all correct w/syntax and spelling don't mean shit to me! It's not worth my time!

Republicans gain in midterm polls
By Donald Lambro
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
September 18, 2006

Republicans appear to be gaining on the Democrats in the 2006 midterm campaign because of growing confidence in the economy, falling gas prices and President Bush's sustained political offensive on the terrorist threat, according to pollsters and campaign strategists.

The most significant political movement....show Republicans have narrowed the once-substantial lead Democrats held and are now trailing them by three percentage points, independent pollster John Zogby said Friday.

Mr. Zogby credited the Republican Party's sudden political turnaround to "the president's focus on the war on terrorism, a rebound among his own base," and the Democrats' failure to lay out a clear plan of their own on "how are we're going to get out of Iraq and what they would do about terrorism that's better than the Republicans."

Democrats "are not giving their Democratic base what it needs to hear on those issues," Mr. Zogby said. "Republicans are severely wounded. The Democrats should be crushing them, and they are not."

....Mr. Zogby said, "I don't see the landslide that others are seeing. That doesn't mean it can't materialize, but as of today, it's not happening and this is mid-September."

.....The Republican Party's improving polls coincide with a number of positive developments on the economic front.....

....the stock market was rising, with the Dow Jones industrial average soaring to 11,560 Friday, 162 points from its all-time high, that boosted worker pensions -- and a consumer confidence survey showed Americans were "in a decidedly more optimistic mood," the Ipsos poll reported Friday.

The Republicans' improving poll numbers were also reflected in a number of tighter House and Senate races,......

Now, we're hearing that "compromise is possible" on the Geneva Conventions argument. The GOPers -- McCain, Warner, Graham -- will buckle to the bushies. Wait and see.

I think McCain is the WH's "stalking-horse" on this issue -- General Rove has come up with a convoluted plan to bait the Democrats to support McCain on this and make them do battle with the White House's position, so the WH can ramp up their charges that the Dems are "weak on terrorism" and tie it to "Democratic politics as usual" in the minds of the American sheeple. And McCain, as usual, is the bushies' willing aider and abetter.

Then, following the November elections when the House & Senate remain in Repug hands, Rummy "resigns" and bush names John McCain Secretary of Defense, and McCain's seat is gifted to another Arizona Repug slug.

US War Prisons Legal Vacuum for 14,000
By Patrick Quinn
The Associated Press
Sunday 16 September 2006

In the few short years since the first shackled Afghan shuffled off to Guantanamo, the U.S. military has created a global network of overseas prisons, its islands of high security keeping 14,000 detainees beyond the reach of established law.

Disclosures of torture and long-term arbitrary detentions have won rebuke from leading voices including the U.N. secretary-general and the U.S. Supreme Court. But the bitterest words come from inside the system, the size of several major U.S. penitentiaries.

"It was hard to believe I'd get out," Baghdad shopkeeper Amjad Qassim al-Aliyawi told The Associated Press after his release - without charge - last month. "I lived with the Americans for one year and eight months as if I was living in hell."

Captured on battlefields, pulled from beds at midnight, grabbed off streets as suspected insurgents, tens of thousands now have passed through U.S. detention, the vast majority in Iraq.

Many say they were caught up in U.S. military sweeps, often interrogated around the clock, then released months or years later without apology, compensation or any word on why they were taken. Seventy to 90 percent of the Iraq detentions in 2003 were "mistakes," U.S. officers once told the international Red Cross.

Defenders of the system, which has only grown since soldiers' photos of abuse at Abu Ghraib shocked the world, say it's an unfortunate necessity in the battles to pacify Iraq and Afghanistan, and to keep suspected terrorists out of action.

More.

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

As the Wush continues to push for the ability to use "alternative methods" of interrogation, it might be useful to remeber how we treated an American citizen who joined with the Taliban.

#71 Jeanne

Hi. Olbermann drew my attention to that possibility, but you saw Jonathan Turley on the overall consequences of such a torture policy. It would undermine our very foundation and meaning as a free country ruled by law. I think mostly this is an expedient election season Rovian ploy to draw attention to the GOP mainstay--that Democrats are wusses on terrorism. It backfired, didn't it? When Sen. Warner jumped into the fray, the White House had problems they did not foresee.

#66 Jeanne and all,

This is nothing unexpected regarding Diebold corruption, but verifies it once again with authority.

Hack the Vote? No Problem

Diebold, the e-voting machine maker, has long sworn its systems are secure. Not so, says a new Princeton study. Converting votes from one candidate to another is simple.

While previous reports on security in electronic voting systems examined a limited set of vulnerabilities, the Princeton study looked at the entire voting machines over an extended period. "These are, by far, the most serious, electronic vulnerabilities that have been published to date," [Edward W.] Felton said.
_________________________________________________

A giant puhleease to the penultimate paragraph!
Apologies to anyone who may have already posted this. I've been away.

So we've never made the case, or argued the case that somehow Osama bin Laden [sic] was directly involved in 9/11. That evidence has never been forthcoming.
~~VICE PRESIDENT dick cheney

198
Happy: "Combat is most certainly a way...."

RS: A way, perhaps, but, not the most effective way, to my mind. It appears that combat has exacerbated the problem, rather than eliminating it.

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at September 18, 2006 12:51 PM
===============================================
See my coypied article at 200....

I'm all ears to hear what the Dems can offer on what to me (and I suspect many Americans), is the single most important global issue of our time!

I personally won't get all bent out-of-shape if Dems take over control of the whole kaboodle IF they do not lose focus on the West's IslamoFascist problem!

Bush, dispite having `sold' the Iraq War on less than rock-solid ground, is dead-on correct on the need for this War on Terror. I've read through 6 Chapters of HUBRIS and find myself in agreements w/some of his points. But even before ever knowing Corn existed, I'd associated Saddam w/WMD and terrorism of the Palestinian and Abu Nidal variety. Post9/11, it seems logical that OBL and Saddam did have meetings and more than likely, little came of it (David's book do report possibly two dozen such contacts in ~10 years)! I do subscribe to the concept of "your enemy is my friend".

You should really hear Dave Emory before throwing the term Islamofascism around...

With apologies to Gerald and other Catholics on this blog:

This is late, I know, but it's been killing me to be unable to post anything about the Pope's speech last week. I'm sure all manner of commentary has been written on it. Suffice it to say, the speech was absolutely intentional, there's no doubt. Apology yesterday? NOT! "I'm sorry for the reaction." But not your words and intent? Again, placing the onus on Muslims and perhaps meant to only prove his point.

Those who live in glass houses should not cast stones. Where did he get off speaking of other religions' violent histories? MY GOD!

As I told Capt yesterday, what I find most dismaying is that no one outside of the Muslim religion has spoken out against this incredible speech full of incitement.

Thank you for the interesting read Mr. Corn.

I think Novak is chafing at his legal bills, and that your book will soon be on my shelf.

However, as good a reporter/columnist that you are, I do wonder about the company you keep. "Depends" bedwetter Media [Pajamas] doesn't add to your reputation as a reporter as much as it tells us a great deal of your apparently limitless toleration of fools. So, I am sure we will soon see loud fleering from the fellow members about your "liberal elitism."

Carey @203, re Geneva Conv, interrogation, etc. -- I think the whole Warner, McCain, et al. stance is Rovian-inspired theatrics, which I pretty much said @201.

Welcome back!

While your dissertation on Novak, doesn't quite rise the the magnificence of Cole's eating of Goldberg's lunch, http://www.juancole.com/2005/02/goldberg-v.html
It is, nevertheless, a thing of beauty to see a wingnut, who masquerades as a journalist, dissected with truth. Well done.
Gug

#202
Robert and all. Just got done watching Democracy Now from last Friday. Exhaustive research on torture and extraordinary rendition for the took Torture Taxi and the documentary Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture and Disappearances in the 'War on Terror'. The more I read, the more I watch on this subject, the more obvious it is that this administration is criminal. There is no legit reason for the action. Anyone who thinks of this behavior as legit is an accomplis to it because it will continue as long as this nation condones it. If McCain fines it acceptable in any way he becomes part of the problem. He is a roadblock in the way of ending this torture.

Outlawed

And

Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights

A.C. THOMPSON: And Dr. Bidar down in Gardez, Afghanistan is completely frustrated because he's been trying to get in there for years, and he can't get in there. They won't let him in there, and this is a respected, prominent guy who is pro-American. So he's interviewed scores and scores of people who had been held in these prisons. And I tell you, the things that these men had to say when we interviewed them were really chilling. I mean, they were absolutely terrifying, and they sounded just like Abu Ghraib.

They loosed dogs on the men, snarling German Shepherds. They were held naked for days. They weren't fed for days. They were put in stress positions that were horribly painful and beaten if they broke from those positions. They were beaten over and over again. They weren't told why they were there. They were interrogated relentlessly for days for being supposed Taliban or al-Qaeda sympathizers. They weren't given the things they needed to properly practice their religion. I mean, all kinds of just horrendous stuff.

Dr. Bidar told us about one man who was forced to sit on a chair, he said, that penetrated his anus, that something was forced into his rectum torturously while he was tied to this chair. I mean, it was really revolting stuff. As we were talking to these gentlemen, I mean, some of them would start crying. Our driver, who was a tough Afghan former boxer left the room and started crying. I mean, it was really brutal.

AMY GOODMAN: So what do you make of President Bush famously saying we don't engage in torture, Trevor?

TREVOR PAGLEN: Well, when he says, "We don't torture," he is not using the common sense definition of torture. When he says the word 'torture,' he means something that was concocted by people like Alberto Gonzales and John Yoo. And the thing that -- the definition that they made of 'orture' is something far beyond what we would normally consider torture in our everyday language. So he's not using the same definition that most of us would use.

AMY GOODMAN: Would you say sitting on a chair with something inserted in your rectum would be considered torture by that definition?

TREVOR PAGLEN: I think most people would consider that torture. I think Bush would not consider that torture, according to the legal memos that have been produced around this.

So Novak, who is close to Rove,

Belated comment, since most of this thread has gone on to other off topic subjects. However, one can suppose that these two friends have discussed much concerning the release of information. Reports this weekend put Rove and Armitage very close to one another, and we now know that Novak makes it a threesome. Thus it is well within the parameters of higher degrees of probability, that Novak has been assigned the task of fomenting personal attacks against David, Jon Stewart, and Chris Mathews. This is, afterall, the typical Rovian strategy; swift boat Corn!..

#87 Micki

Are you refering to the military judges who wrote a letter to the Senators on the committee that voted for the McCain/Warner bill advocating Bush's proposal? If so, I read in the NY Times yesterday that they adamantly claim there was no coercion even though there was an intense meeting with Cheney from which they came forth with the letter.

"Happy off to lunch. . . Happy with foot out the door. . . Happy found a stock. . . Happy wants war with inslamo-fascists. . . Happy doesn't like liberals"

Is anyone else thinking this folksy pabulum is less than interesting?

It implies other people here care about Happy's whereabouts or political musings. That and the 2000 word cut and paste opinion pieces from townhall.com are just about enough.

Doesn't anybody else in this guy's life, like hios family or a friend want to spend time talking with him? Puh-lease?

I meant Jeanne at #87.

#114 Jeanne

Over the weekend I was beginning to suspect just that. That Armitage was in with Rove on this and he's not so innocent. Yet my memory of Armitage and his typical machinations goes back to the Reagan era. Armitage is not, at any time, an innocent man.

Mr. Corn, it becomes more apparent that this was not just idle gossip, doesn't it?

214
"Happy (this and that)....

....Doesn't anybody else in this guy's life, like hios family or a friend want to spend time talking with him? Puh-lease?

Posted by: Carrie at September 18, 2006 02:04 PM
============================================
Carrie, I'm back and I'm ALL ALONE!

YOU, dear, obvioulsy care about my comings & goings on the Corn blog! Are you young (less than 35) and attractive! Email me your photo, even if you don't look like that stunning teacher who seduced some 14-yr old student. Her look make Ann Bancroft looks downright homely!

As long as we are at it, clear up something, what differentiate you from Carey? I don't pay enough attention to know the difference! Terrible thing to admit, but how else can I make time to read what David has to say and post my own musings? Time is money!

#125 Capt

I know what you mean about Blumenthal's seeming coming of age. However, different roles, different times. I have come to greatly admire his work and am currently reading his new book.

If you like him, then you'll certainly like this. It's a review of an excellent book on the CPA's real history and Blumenthal's added commentary. Quite revealing.

Emerald City Exposed

Journalist Rajiv Chandraskaran pulls back the curtain on the Green Zone in Baghdad to reveal the flops and failures of the Bush war team.

Iraq was a dreamland for Bush and the Republicans, a utopian experiment where nearly every Republican panacea, nostrum, and magic potion was applied....

_____________________________________________________

This nicely tails in with David Corn's Hubris. By the way, I always do a double-take when you and others use the word Reich to describe the radical right-leaning of the current right wing. I frequently think first of Robert Reich, one of my all time favorite economists and populists.

"Depends" bedwetter Media [Pajamas] doesn't add to your reputation as a reporter as much as it tells us a great deal of your apparently limitless toleration of fools."

And since some think Mr. David Corn is a left wing partisan? Removing PJ ad's would prove that point. So he is damned if he does and damned if he does not, eh?

Enough with the PJ advice, if the ad's are bugging you get an ad blocker. I have one and have yet to ever see a single ad on this site other then the offer to buy HUBRIS: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War

Also Available in:

Audio CD (Unabridged)

Audio Cassette (Unabridged)

MP3 CD (Unab MP3)

Buy the book, read it instead of the ad's.

Mr. Corn's reputation is not effected by what ad's run on his site and as he is not a partisan nor the liberal or progessive banner carrier his reputation will survive any opinion good or bad.

capt

#209 Micki

Excellent point. It is mostly intended to first get the discussion off of how badly the occupation is going and on to how GOPers are the ones chasing terrorists.

For those Cornuts that read but are thinking-deficient, more....What does Sam Harris know that most Libs just don't? (Carrie: Now, I've got to get to work!)

Updated: 02:02 PM EDT

Al-Qaida Group Says Pope, West Are 'Doomed'
Pontiff's Apology for Comment Fails to Quell Muslim Anger
By ANNA JOHNSON, AP

CAIRO, Egypt (Sept. 18) - An al-Qaida-linked extremist group warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that he and the West were "doomed," as protesters raged across the Muslim world to demand more of an apology from the pontiff for his remarks about Islam and violence.

Vatican officials insisted the pope did not intend to be offensive and expressed regret over any hurt caused to Muslims.

The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, issued a statement on a Web forum vowing to continue its holy war against the West. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified.

The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross" saying "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword."

Islam forbids drinking alcohol and requires non-Muslims to pay a head tax to safeguard their lives if conquered by Muslims. They are exempt if they convert to Islam.

In Indian-controlled Kashmir, meanwhile, shops, businesses and schools shut down in response to a strike call by the head of a hard-line Muslim separatist leader to denounce Benedict. For the third day running, people burned tires and shouted "Down with the pope."

Protests also broke out......

- Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Aijaz Hussain in Srinigar, India, Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul, Turkey, and Slobodan Lekic in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Tee-hee. Capt. What a salesman you are. Good for you.

An updated list!

Hall of Honor

Dear Cornposters:

I am announcing a new category for worthwhile people. Recognition is given to persons who have been attacked verbally and criticized by Nazis, fascists, scumbags, slime balls, neocons, and religious right groups. The new award is called Hall of Honor. I will add more names as they become available to me and as I can recall more names. You may assist with names as well. Politicians’†names are excluded because most politicians are attacked verbally and criticized by some group or groups. I am also excluding names of my foxes. They are very special and deserving of a separate place for honors and accolades. Members of the Hall of Honor are persons who are a thorn in the side of the above-mentioned groups.

Here are the names of the recipients of this award.

David Corn***Bishop Thomas Gumbleton***Father John Dear***Greg Palast
Al Franken***Michael Moore***Bill Moyers***Jon Stewart***Sidney Blumenthal
Glenn Greenwald***Daniel Ellsberg

Sincerely,

Gerald

#133 capt, I have added Glenn Greenwald to the Hall of Honor.

#136 titchaba, Hall of Honor will not go to foxes and politicians. The Cornposters' names are excellent but we know them by their great posts.

NOVAK IS A DOUCHEBAG!

#167 micki, I have added Daniel Ellsberg to the Hall of Honor.

#207 Carey, I cannot say whether or not the Pope's speech was intentional? He should have left out names of some thousand years ago. Information from that far back is always suspect from the historians of those days. My concern is to deal with the here and now. We can remember the past but why dwell on it. The central theme of his speech, I believe, was that we should look in the mirror and reflect on our life and what we are doing to our brothers and sisters in God.

Pope Gets it Wrong on Islam

Pope Benedict's speech at Regensburg University, which mentioned Islam and jihad, has provoked a firestorm of controversy. The address is more complex and subtle than the press on it represents. But let me just signal that what is most troubling of all is that the Pope gets several things about Islam wrong, just as a matter of fact.

He notes that the text he discusses, a polemic against Islam by a Byzantine emperor, cites Qur'an 2:256: "There is no compulsion in religion." Benedict maintains that this is an early verse, when Muhammad was without power.

His allegation is incorrect. Surah 2 is a Medinan surah revealed when Muhammad was already established as the leader of the city of Yathrib (later known as Medina or "the city" of the Prophet). The pope imagines that a young Muhammad in Mecca before 622 (lacking power) permitted freedom of conscience, but later in life ordered that his religion be spread by the sword. But since Surah 2 is in fact from the Medina period when Muhammad was in power, that theory does not hold water.In fact, the Qur'an at no point urges that religious faith be imposed on anyone by force. This is what it says about the religions:

More HERE

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

Juan Cole has a very balanced view and is a middle east expert.

capt

I think that the Pope probably intended to say what he did. I think he is backing away from it because the papacy generally is not political (in name - anyway). This Pope has made a few blunders - his background is circumspect.

In Defense of Pope Benedict

The Catholic Church is an enemy of the War Party

What is an erudite and perhaps overly scholarly pope to do in the face of a news media that insists on cherry-picking his pronouncements – buried amidst references to obscure Byzantine emperors and abstruse theological constructs – and making of them blazing headlines?

There isn't much he can do, and perhaps this is for the best. Benedict XII is blunter and more assertive than his predecessor, and if I were a practicing Catholic – which I am not – I would be glad of it. In an era dominated by relativism and political correctness, where all religions are supposedly equal and truth is a matter of opinion (usually someone else's), it is refreshing to see someone uphold what they believe and defend it against all comers.

Clearly, Benedict had no idea that, in returning to the University of Regensburg, where he once taught theology, and delivering a lecture with the supremely inoffensive title of "Faith, Reason, and the University – Memories and Reflections," he would be charged with launching the Tenth Crusade. Yet that is plainly happening.

More HERE

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

Justin has a different take but both he and Juan expressed the opinion that it is the press that have gone about blowing the issue out of proportion. The media seem to think it sells to foment trouble.

The media strikes again, eh?

capt

"I think that the Pope probably intended to say what he did."

As the remarks were part of a prepared speech and not off the cuff, I am sure the words were intentional. The reaction or overreaction may not have been predicted so the effect may not have been as intentional. If the pope compounds these remarks with more of the same in the near future we will know much more about the intent.

capt

217 ....Doesn't anybody else in this guy's life, like his family or a friend want to spend time talking with him? Puh-lease?

Carrie, I'm back and I'm ALL ALONE!

No Shit, git yerself a pet rock.

Carrie,

You made me chortle! Snort! and Tee-Hee!

capt

Hinderaker shows us the central defect in the mindest of Bush followers

Greg Sargent conclusively documents today's Daily Dose of Dishonesty from John Hinderaker. Powerline's latest deceit involves the detention and imprisonment by the U.S. military in Iraq of an AP photographer, Iraqi citizen Bilal Hussein. According to the AP, the military claims that Hussein has a "close relationship" with insurgents and is "afforded access to insurgent activities outside the normal scope afforded to journalists conducting legitimate activities.

"But the military has brought no charges of any kind against Hussein and refuses to have any public hearing. Instead, it is doing to Hussein what the Bush administration did in the U.S. to American citizens Jose Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi -- imprisoning him based solely on the unreviewable and unchallengeable say-so of the administration that they are guilty, while refusing to bring charges. As Sargent reports, AP has protested this state of affairs by insisting: "'We want the rule of law to prevail. He either needs to be charged or released. Indefinite detention is not acceptable,' said Tom Curley, AP's president and chief executive officer."

More HERE

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

The clip does not do justice. You have to read the whole linked piece it is always good over at Glenn Greewald.

capt

David Corn, Co-Author, Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War
C-SPAN 9/18/2006: WASHINGTON, DC: 47 min. (link to video)
David discusses his new book on the Iraq war, and his description of the role played by columnist Robert Novak and Richard Armitage in outing former CIA employee Valerie Plame Wilson. On Friday, the 15th, Mr. Novak discussed his own thoughts on the role of David Corn.

Re: #18
"...he is better off just attacking his critics and feigning insult than dealing with the facts."

Have you lost your mind???

David Corn was making reference to remarks made by one of the most traitorous individuals in America's recent history. I don't care what you want to say about David Corn...in NO WAY does he measure up to the level of sinister and evil that Robert Novak oozes in the name of "journalism." Yeah, right. I'm surprised that he hasn't done the perp walk already, but his slimy butt was already in Fitzgerald's office trying to cut whatever deal he could because he KNEW that what he did put him in hot water, and he went to that office to sing like the coward he is, but not out loud. No sir. Not until he knew that his butt wouldn't be out on the line for everyone to see, but to try to slice 'n dice Mr. Corn, or even to put a measuring stick to him in comparison to Robert "The Prince of Darkness and Traitor to America" Novak, is something that I can describe in one word: LAUGHABLE. Get real, and YOU try dealing with the facts.

Novak is a turd that will not flush, someone call a plumber!

Carey, I am also having major computer headaches, the main one is down and my new one isn't quite ready for action and this laptop I am using is a pain in the ass. I got your email but it was erased accidently before I could reply, I HATE mousepads! Anyway, if you will resend I will get back to you.

Saladin,

I just did quite a bit of computer maintainence myself. I got all the audio connections right, then started testing all the equipment for my continuing analog-digital transfer project.

Twenty-five years is a loooong time. I'm up to Laurie Sergent live at Necco Place. Making old cassettes sound good enough to play on discs is tough, but Adobe Acrobat's workin' hard for me.

'Course I'll spend the rest of the day re-mastering instead of laundry or house-cleaning, but so be it.

Somebody let me know when I can watch Corn on Washingtoon Journal again...came about far too early here.

-T

Novak is a rat - No Doubt - The kind of rat below:

Newton: There's a huge rat in the toilet, it's all stopped up so you're gonna have to pee in the sink.

From: Men in Black II

"Bush is shrinking..." Hmmm, maybe like the Wicked Witch of the West? Just pour a bucket of wash water on him and ...

Novakula

he may be shrinking but his nose is still growing

Juan Cole

has a guest today. The piece is stunning. Everyone will appreciate what is being communicated.

Re Corn's statement -

"Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald filed court papers earlier this year noting that senior White House officials (meaning Rove and Libby) mounted a campaign to discredit or punish Joseph Wilson, who had criticized the administration's handling of the prewar intelligence on Iraq's WMDs."

So ... Corn names Rove and Libby ... that means Fitzgerald did too, right? I mean, that must be so - he even put their names in parentheses! And, mounting a campaign to discredit Joe Wilson is PROOF POSITIVE that both Libby and Rove are guilty of outing Valerie Plame.

Wow - Corn should find some legitimate journalist (albeit a tarnished one) to co-author a book to expose this!

UB40 Rat in me kitchen

There`s a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
There`s a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna go?
I`m gonna fix that rat thats what i`m gonna do,
I`m gonna fix that rat.

When you open your mouth you don`t talk, you shout
And you give every body the blame,
But when they catch you up,
They will shut you up
And you got no one to blame

(chorus)

There`s a rat in me kitchen ........

When you out on the street,
You practice lies and deceipt
And you scandalize my name
But when I catch you up
I`m gonna pull you up
I`m gonna check-out inside your brain

(chorus)
There`s a rat in me kitchen .......

When yo deh pon the scene,
You make everyone scream
Because they know your so unjust
But when they catch you up
They will kick you up
Because you someone they cannot trust

(chorus)

There`s a rat in me kitchen .......

You invade my space
Make me feel disgraced
And you just don`t give a damn
If I had my way
If I had my say
I`d like to see you hang

(chorus)

There`s a rat in me kitchen .....

(repeat chorus and fade)

Hajji - Washingtoon Journal

Rising Costs for Scarce Water --- On Tompaine.com today...

King of Pain
By Paul Krugman
The New York Times
Monday 18 September 2006

We know that the world would see this action as a U.S. repudiation of the rules that bind civilized nations. We also know that an extraordinary lineup of former military and intelligence leaders, including Colin Powell, have spoken out against the Bush plan, warning that it would further damage America's faltering moral standing, and end up endangering U.S. troops.

But I haven't seen much discussion of the underlying question: why is Mr. Bush so determined to engage in torture?

Let's be clear what we're talking about here. According to an ABC News report from last fall, procedures used by C.I.A. interrogators have included forcing prisoners to "stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours"; the "cold cell," in which prisoners are forced "to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees," while being doused with cold water; and, of course, water boarding, in which "the prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet," then "cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him," inducing "a terrifying fear of drowning."

And bear in mind that the "few bad apples" excuse doesn't apply; these were officially approved tactics - and Mr. Bush wants at least some of these tactics to remain in use.

I'm ashamed that my government does this sort of thing. I'd be ashamed even if I were sure that only genuine terrorists were being tortured - and I'm not. Remember that the Bush administration has imprisoned a number of innocent men at Guantánamo, and in some cases continues to imprison them even though it knows they are innocent.

Is torture a necessary evil in a post-9/11 world? No. People with actual knowledge of intelligence work tell us that reality isn't like TV dramas, in which the good guys have to torture the bad guy to find out where he planted the ticking time bomb.

What torture produces in practice is misinformation, as its victims, desperate to end the pain, tell interrogators whatever they want to hear. Thus Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi - who ABC News says was subjected to both the cold cell and water boarding - told his questioners that Saddam Hussein's regime had trained members of Al Qaeda in the use of biochemical weapons. This "confession" became a key part of the Bush administration's case for invading Iraq - but it was pure invention.

So why is the Bush administration so determined to torture people?

To show that it can.

More.

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

Hey, Where have you heard that before...

"I think I did something for the worst possible reason -- just because I could." - Bill Clinton

#223 Gerald

That's just it though. The Pope should look in the mirror also. The Catholic past is full of warfare too. The Vatican is still ultimately dogmatic, just as hard-line Islamists are. (Not meaning the militant violent ones.)

#225 Joe

I think you meant to say the Pope's background is suspect, not circumspect. That may be the case, but I'm still rather sure the speech was intentional, just not well thought-out or researched as Capt. has pointed out.

#227 Capt

I don't know. The Pope's choice of quotes was pretty questionable. Of course the media likes a battle to up their ratings. Still....You are right that we shall see what the future holds in his upcoming speeches. Do you think Turkey will let him in? Probably.

#235 Hajji

O'Reilly provides the link to CSAN's video of David Corn's appearance this morning at #231 and now Robert Schwartz also at #242.

Robert, I really enjoyed that little ditty.

Just watched Corn on the CSPAN video. Excellent appearance. So concise and tailored to a television audience. Damn you're good Mr. Corn.

Innocent Man Was Deported and Tortured, Inquiry Finds
By REUTERS
Published: September 18, 2006

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian police wrongly identified an Ottawa software engineer as an Islamic extremist, prompting U.S. agents to deport him to Syria, where he says he was tortured, an official inquiry concluded on Monday.

Maher Arar, who holds Canadian and Syrian nationality, was arrested in New York in September 2002 and accused of being an al-Qaeda member. Arar, 36, says he was repeatedly tortured in the year he spent in Damascus jails. He was freed in 2003.

More

Texas Energy Czar candidate hard at work? or is it hardly working, w/enough of a stash for two dozen lids, plus organic goodies!

Willie Nelson hit with drug charges
Mon Sep 18, 2006 3:03pm ET163

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Country singer-songwriter Willie Nelson and several fellow musicians were charged with misdemeanor drug possession by Louisiana police after a search of their tour bus on Monday turned up marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms.

State police spokesman Willie Williams said the bus was stopped early on Monday morning about 7 miles east of Lafayette, Louisiana, for a routine commercial inspection, and a state trooper smelled marijuana inside the bus.

State Police seized about 1-1/2 pounds (0.7 kg) of marijuana and two-tenths of a pound (91 grams) of mushrooms from the bus, Williams said.

Nelson and four other passengers on the bus were cited for possession and released, while the driver had his commercial driving privileges suspended in addition to being cited for possession. Nelson faces possible jail time of up to six months and an unspecified fine, police said.

....Nelson, 73, has been an advocate for the legalization of marijuana. He became famous in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement that included influences from rock, jazz and folk music.

- Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

http://pol.moveon.org/dontpardon/

A petition begs for signatures.

Who is Happy Nelson?

The Pope's choice of quotes was pretty questionable. - Carey

I thought the Vatican's choice of Pope was pretty questionable.

SALADIN

All I said was that I will watch the 9/11 tower collapsing video that James sent as soon as I iron out my computer access problems. Shouldn't be long. I also said something nasty about the Pope that was not for public display.

250,

That is what I thought as well.

capt

#230 Capt

Now that's just downight scary.

No Carrie. Happy that Willie Nelson is on the road again. It is confusing at first. You make me laugh too. (Jeanne).

Another ditty, one for Willie:

Free Mexican Air Force - Peter Rowan

1. In the Morenos Mountains campesinos are planting their fields
While the ghost of Zapata rides a horse that can still outrun the wind
While free in the sky high above, nearly clear out of sight
It's the Free Mexican Air Force flyin' tonight.
In the City of Angels a cowboy is cooling his heels
Remembering that God gave us herbs and the fruits of the fields
But a criminal law that makes outlaws of those seeking light
Made the Free Mexican Air Force, Mescalito riding his white horse --
Yeah the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight!
(After every verse:) Flying so high - yi - hiyeeeee! ...

2. How strange that an innocent herb causes money to burn
They'll jail you or kill you for making those rich fat cats squirm.
They're the fools who make rules with no difference between wrong and right
That's why the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight.
Uncle Sam in his misery put a Nix on the fields of (Herreros, Guerreros?)
Sayin' shoot down all gringos and wetbacks who dare wear sombreros
Either run for your life, surrender, or stand up and fight --
Or join the Free Mexican Air Force, Mescalito riding his white horse,
Yeah the Free Mexican Air Force is flying tonight!

3. It is not marijuana destroying the minds of the young
But confusion continued for power and greed in all forms
Well, the borders of evil will fall to the smugglers of light
We're the Free Mexican Air Force and we're flyin' tonight!
In San Antonio they tell me that power and money are one
They can buy us or sell you to keep you afraid, on the run
But no one can stop us! My vision is clearly in sight
And the Free Mexican Air Force, Mescalito riding his white horse,
Yeah the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight

4. Some were smoking (falitas, Colitas?) while other were loading their guns
Blowing smoke from their six-shooters, spinning their barrels for fun
Contrabandistas, banditos alike --
We're the Free Mexican Air Force and we're flyin' tonight.
High in the hills we are harvesting sweet sensemilla (?)
Yeah the law wants it all 'cause they know that the wild weed can free ya
And freedom for us is a prison for the rulers of might
That's why the Free Mexican Air Force -- Mescalito riding his white horse --
Yeah, the Free Texican Air Force is flyin' tonight
Flyin' so high- yi- yee...Flyin' tonight!

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

We know Bush MALministration is lying evildoers already, so forget...

244 Thank you RS.

All I can say is Gosh, I wish I were on that bus, 'cept for the arrest part.

"The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool." : Stephen King

=
Alliance: In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted into each others' pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third: Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary

=
There is nothing so powerful as truth, and often nothing so strange." : Daniel Webster

=
"False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil." : Socrates

=
To save your world you asked this man to die; Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?: W. H. Auden: "Epitaph for an Unknown Soldier"

===

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

Oh shoot. Carrie, I meant to second Capt, not Jeanne on the chortle comment.

Escapin through the lily fields
I came across an empty space
It trembled and exploded
Left a bus stop in its place
Bus came by and I got on
That's when it all began
There was Cowboy Neal at the wheel
On the Bus to Never-ever land

Comin' Around! - GOGD

PWWFFTT............CHNK!....CHNK!......AAAHHHH!

Aw man....Willie got busted??

PWWFFTT............CHNK!....CHNK!......AAAHHHH!

Bummer man!, HEEZA COOL DUDE MAN!

!

is the lonliest number?

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

Gonzales Defends Interrogation Methods
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 18, 2006
Filed at 6:08 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House told lawmakers it would send Congress a revised proposal late Monday for dealing with terrorism suspects as the number of GOP senators publicly opposing President Bush's initial plan continued to grow.

More.

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

How quaint, that Gonzales would defend the indefensible - but, there is no mention of Gonzales in the article.

#244 Robert S.

Wow. Paul Krugman really gets to the heart of it. That's it, isn't it? It's not about covering their asses, since when have they ever cared about that? It's about the assertion of ultimate executive power--Bushco will do what it wants, when it wants, how it wants and to who it wants to do it to, period. Of course it also has to do with winning this election.

Just finished the Juan Cole piece. Impressive as always.

Now I've got to go tackle sixth grade math. It's not as easy as you might think. Adios.

David,

Keep this thread up UNTIL Novak gets a chance to read it.

Novakula is a nasty piece of ideological crap, the kind of fecal matter that sticks to the bowl and refuses to be flushed.

#258 Capt

On Daniel Webster's quote, ain't that the truth.

"Novakula is a nasty piece of ideological crap, the kind of fecal matter that sticks to the bowl and refuses to be flushed."

I heard an ad on AAR about a colon cleanser? I thought of Bob when they were talking about impacted colons.

I just had to share.

capt

Representative Hotstettler? Nice job, Hotstettler, help deprive us of our liberties. Nice job...

The Pope says Islam is a religion of violence.

Muslims react by murdering a catholic nun.

Hmmm, what part of murdering an innocent nun not in line with Islam being a religion of violence?

Cornnuts say Pope is over the line for making such harsh remarks. However, murdering a nun isn't over the line according to corn-theology.

Corn should rename his blog:

"In defense of Corn lies"

The more Corn opens his mouth, the bigger the hole gets.

"The Wilsons are screwing us, we're going to screw the Wilsons"
- Karl Rove (according to Chris Matthews reported in HUBRIS by Corn and Isakoff)

PRESIDENT BUSH was emphatic in July 2003: ''If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action." According to a federal prosecutor this week, the president himself authorized the leaking of classified CIA material. This whole affair cries out for a congressional investigation into the leak, and also into the broader question of how President Bush and Vice President Cheney used intelligence to draw the United States into war with Iraq.

#270 LBH wrote: "Corn should rename his blog:
"In defense of Corn lies"

LBH,

That's quite a statement, any verifiable facts to back it up?

LBH

No one on this blog has defended the killing of the nun.

Moreover, I'll condemn it right here and now.

Now, will you condemn the torture and killing of many nuns, priests and laypersons orchestrated under John Negroponte during the Reagan years?

Re #273: Speaks for me, as well...

On HuffingtonPost just now, a 'walking' shark. Enjoy it now, 'cause it'll be gone in a few years...

BEFORE Novak's piece was published, multiple senior White House officials disclosed the confidential information about Valarie Plame's status at the CIA including;

Libby (goverment official) told Judy Miller (reporter)

Armitage (goverment official) told Novak (reporter)

Rove (goverment official) confirmed it for Novak (reporter)

Hadley (government official) told Woodward (reporter)

Rove (goverment official) told Cooper (reporter)

Armitage's disclosure does not contradict the claim there was a coordinated effort to undermine the credibility of Joe Wilson.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald stated in a court filing in the CIA leak case (April 5, 2006) that his investigators have obtained evidence during the course of the two-year-old probe that proves "multiple" White House officials conspired to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a critic of the administration's pre-war Iraq intelligence.

Fitzgerald wrote in the filing, "There exist documents, some of which have been provided to defendant and there were conversations in which defendant participated, that reveal a strong desire by many, including multiple people in the White House, to repudiate Mr. Wilson before and after July 14, 2003."

Although Fitzgerald makes it abundantly clear that Libby is not charged with conspiracy, he argues that Libby's suggestion that there was no White House plot to discredit Wilson is ludicrous, given the amount of evidence Fitzgerald has in his possession that suggests otherwise.

"Once again, defendant ignores the fact that he is not charged with participating in any conspiracy, much less one defined as a 'White House-driven plot to punish Mr. Wilson,'" the filing states. "Moreover, given that there is evidence that other White House officials with whom defendant spoke prior to July 14, 2003, discussed Wilson's wife's employment with the press both prior to, and after, July 14, 2003 - which evidence has been shared with defendant - it is hard to conceive of what evidence there could be that would disprove the existence of White House efforts to 'punish' Wilson."

Bush has argued that the "war on terror" is a new kind of war, justifying these extraordinary tactics. But military historians say the conflict is actually similar to many irregular wars fought over the centuries, including the anti-colonial wars in the 1950s and 1960s and Latin American "dirty wars" against leftist "terrorists" in the 1970s and 1980s.

In those conflicts, too, government security forces resorted to extensive use of torture, "disappearances" and detentions without trial. Excerpted from:
Bush's Way or the Highway
By Robert Parry
Consortium News
Monday 18 September 2006

In Novak's paradigm, would we consider it "deliciously" ironic that the Pope's words set off a firestorm in the Muslim world that culminated in the murder of a nun?

RS

No one on this blog has defended the killing of the nun.

Then you must agree that killing a nun in the name of Islam is admitting what the Pope said, about Islam being a religion of violence, to be true.

Why is this such a hard concept for liberals to grasp?

Then you must agree that killing a nun in the name of Islam is admitting what the Pope said, about Islam being a religion of violence, to be true.

Why is this such a hard concept for liberals to grasp? - LBH

That is easy. It is because it is flawed logic. Come back when you figure out the the flaw - Or when you wish to condemn the torture and disappearances that occured under John Negroponte.

Pope's words set off a firestorm in the Muslim world that culminated in the murder of a nun?

Carrie

Muslims, according to Carrie, aren't responsible for there own actions- it's got to be the work of Rove and the evil Zionists. I'm sure Corn will be be putting out a book soon to blown the lid off this conspiracy!

Sorry for stuttering on "the"

Novak is just another lying subhuman right wing nut job who ought to be skinned with a bullwhip

Understanding is a virtue
Hard to come by
You can teach me how to love
If you only try
So please
Don't give up so soon

Fly Jefferson Airplane - It's quicker than the bus.

LBH --- I ususally ignore you, but not this time. How many murders are committed in those states of the U.S.A. with the highest proportion of Christian church goers? Voila, Christianity 'must' be a religion of violence by your lack-of-reasoning.

Instead, I suggest you start actually learning something about Islam. Today's guest on Informed Comment would be an excellent start...

'Day of Rage': Anger Not Jihad

Muslim Leaders Worldwide Call for a 'Day of Rage' Over the Pope's Comments, Do They Mean Violence?

By MIKE LEE, ABC NEWS

LONDON, Sept. 18, 2006 ó Three words suddenly have a lot of Westerners worried and, it must be said, likely making some wrong assumptions about modern Islam. "Yaum al Ghadab" is Arabic for "Day of Rage."

When the Qatari Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi called for a Day of Rage this Friday in response to Pope Benedict XVI's remarks about Muslims, it might have sounded like a call for street violence.

But if there is trouble Friday, and there could well be, it will not be because of language but because of what some people choose to do after they have answered the call for "Yaum al Ghadab."

Political manipulation of protest crowds is not a uniquely Islamic idea. It happens in the West, as well.

But why do Islamic leaders use what many Westerners regard as inflammatory language?

Because it is not inflammatory, at least not in the context of Islamic culture. "We must not try to interpret Islamic terms and cultural signals by using our Western ideas," said Fawaz Gerges, a professor in the department of international affairs and Middle Eastern studies at Sarah Lawrence College, and an ABC News consultant. Gerges pointed out that in Islamic culture "ghadab" means anger or frustration. A day of rage does not mean a day of jihad (war), added Gerges.

Mimi Daher, a Muslim woman working in the ABC Jerusalem bureau, explained that the Grand Multi in Jerusalem reflected this cultural mindset today when he said, "Muslims have to express their anger. Was the pope expecting Muslims to clap their hands to him while hurting their faith and prophet? Of course not. We call on Muslims throughout the world to react in a disciplined manner, according to our Islamic faith."

"Disciplined manner" is a repeated theme among Islamic moderate leaders who encourage people to protest. As Gerges reminded me, when the cleric al-Qaradawi called for a day of rage, he stressed repeatedly that it should be civilized, urging Muslims to behave with civility and dignity. "We must show the world that we are still civilized even when we are aggrieved," he said.

MORE LINK

RS

Or when you wish to condemn the torture and disappearances that occured under John Negroponte.

The catholic nun forgave the Muslims that murdered her. If only you could be of such courage to forgive the neo-cons you hate so dearly.

Imagine an America in which school officials could strip search every student in their school based on the unsubstantiated tip that one of them might have a joint. Congress is voting on a bill Tuesday or Wednesday that could make these police state tactics more common.

I think LBH is having his own 'Day of Rage'. He premise and conclusions are wildly irrational. He comes in guns blazing and wonders why he cant get a conversation here. It's becuase he cannot make conversation here. Ciao!

#276 Robert,

Interesting article. I find it amazing that the president of the United States can get on T.V. and say if I don't get my way; the "war on terror" will be compromised. I mean that is essentially what he is saying: "that this program won't go forward". He says this and the press seems unwilling to call him on it. It seems the decider has decided that his political battles are more important than: real security, real intelligence gathering, the well being of our troops, and the Geneva conventions. His supreme court told him no, his former secretary of state told him no, senior republican senators have told him no, It seems he's not listening. Reminds me of a spoiled rotten 10 year old boy, what a piece of work this guy is.

Stay Out the Bu$hes

The catholic nun forgave the Muslims that murdered her.

Ach and only because it is part of the logic puzzle....

You mean posthumously?

Of course, you must mean that she forgave the Individuals that were in the process of murdering her.

But, your language is just so sloppy, as is your thinking.

"It is now time to start killing them in large quantities."

Posted by: factchecker at August 13, 2006 11:41 PM

*******

Murderous Kkkristo-fascists.

"Christianity" trashes itself here under some of the LTSP's.

capt

The catholic nun forgave the Muslims that murdered her.

Posted by: LBH at September 18, 2006 07:27 PM

Based on what report? Or are you just making things up again because they fit nicely into your view of the world, your own personal narrative?

If only you could be of such courage to forgive the neo-cons you hate so dearly.

I try to remember, as I heard the Dalai Lama say, that your enemies are your best teachers, and you must show them compassion.

However, I stop short of agreeing with their tortuous and murderous ways.

?It is now time to start killing them in large quantities."

Posted by: factchecker at August 13, 2006 11:41 PM

Condemn this. If you don't it will be deliciously ironic.

PS. Do you think Novak ever passes on the dessert tray?

capt --- What is an 'LTSP'?

How many murders are committed in those states of the U.S.A. with the highest proportion of Christian church goers?

DB

As far as I know, not one murder has been committed because someone would not convert to christainity. Not one person has been murdered because Muslims have called christianity a violent religion. Not one murder has been committed because of a cartoon published about Christ in poor taste.

You say I need to read more about Islam - no I don't. Actions speak louder than words and Islams actions are of violence.

However, I stop short of agreeing with their tortuous and murderous ways.

RS

Don't fret it RS, I never expected you to have the courage of a nun!

Carrie, I know it's hard for cornnuts to believe christians can actually forgive their enemies so this ones for you girl!

Colleagues: Nun Forgave Somalia Killers
By ANTHONY MITCHELL
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -

A nun shot four times at the Somali hospital where she worked forgave her killers as she lay dying, colleagues said Monday in the wake of her slaying, which has focused attention on Islamic radicalism in the Horn of Africa.

Sister Leonella, 65, muttered the words "I forgive, I forgive" in Italian after being shot by gunmen Sunday, the Rev. Maloba Wesonga told The Associated Press at a memorial Mass for the nun in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Her killing was not a random attack and could have been sparked by remarks by Pope Benedict XVI about Muslims that have sparked angry reaction from Muslims around the world, said Willy Huber, regional head of the Austrian-funded hospital where Sister Leonella worked.

Sister Leonella, whose birth name was Rosa Sgorbati, had lived and worked in Kenya and Somalia for 38 years, her family said.

She was shot as she left the S.O.S. hospital. Her bodyguard also was slain. The two had been walking the 30 feet from the Mogadishu hospital to the sister's home, where three other nuns were waiting to have lunch with her.

"She had no chance," Huber added. "It was like an execution."

Abdurahman Mohamed Farah, the deputy leader of the Supreme Islamic Courts Council, said the nun's killing was unrelated to the pope's speech, blaming it instead on Somali warlords who lost control of Mogadishu in June after intense fighting with the Islamic militia.

"We will punish the culprits behind this nasty killing," he told journalists in the capital. One man has already been arrested.

A powerful, radical Islamic group, which is accused of having ties to al-Qaida, has all but wrested control from the weak and factional Somali government. With it has come a hard-line Taliban-style rule complete with public floggings and executions. Its leaders have pledged to wage holy war against an African peacekeeping force that is supposed to arrive early next month to help stabilize the country.

In recent months, the Islamic group has extended its control over much of southern Somalia, challenging the weak, U.N.-backed government that hasn't been able to exert any power outside Baidoa.

The rise of the Islamic militants has coincided with a wave of killings of both foreign workers and moderate Somali intellectuals.

Among them were Swedish journalist, Martin Adler, who was killed in June during a demonstration in Mogadishu and prominent Somali peace activist Abdulkadir Yahya Ali, who was slain a month later. BBC journalist Kate Peyton was shot to death last year.

The United States has accused the Islamic group of sheltering suspects in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden has portrayed Somalia as a battleground in his war on the U.S.

Matt Bryden, a regional analyst, said a renegade Islamic militia or warlords could be behind the killings, hoping to taint the image of the Islamic Courts.

Sister Leonella was aware of the dangers in Somalia and used to joke that there was a bullet with her name engraved on it. "But this never deterred her or discouraged her," Wesonga, who is secretary of the Archdiocese of Nairobi, told the AP at the memorial service.

Yin: How did you overcome the pains from the torture that you went through? Do you think "truth and reconciliation" can help former tortured victims overcome their pain (the pain in their mind)?

Sister Dianna Ortiz: First of all, if you've noticed, we have referred to ourselves as survivors. During our torture, our perpetrators made us victims. We are alive, and we have survived hell, a hell that we hope nobody will ever experience in his or her life.

I also think it is very important to mention that a person never heals completely from torture. We live with the experience day and night. Something as innocent as a cigarette, the sound of a dog barking, or seeing someone in a uniform can trigger a memory and take us back to that experience. Even a simple question can take us back to that period when we were interrogated. I think it's important that holding perpetrators accountable for their crimes is of essence. It's one way of helping the healing process.

In my case, people ask me if I've healed. My response is, I've learned to deal with it. My perpetrators included three Guatemalan officials — men who were involved with death squads — and a US citizen who gave death orders. It's hard for me to consider myself healed when the government won't even acknowledge that the crime has been committed against me. I'm just one survivor. There are millions of survivors of torture around the world.

Roberto Rodriguez: Let me add this: truth and justice might be more satisfactory, though it doesn't preclude forgiveness. I can forgive my tormentors while I'm trying to lock them up. Most survivors that I come into contact with don't feel reconciliation is good enough because the torturers remain free, unpunished.

Mugisho Bazibuhe: It has been very difficult for me to go through this situation that I have gone through, especially seeing the way the world is treating it, and the way they ignore our situation. I was fortunate that my life was saved at the last second, and it is very unfortunate to see that nobody talks about my own brother who has been killed, and not only him, but many people in the nation. Nobody is talking about that.

I have a statement from the Boston Globe on May 6. There were an estimated 700 reporters in and around Iraq during the final assault on Baghdad, but no one was anywhere around the massacre in the Congo. It is a systematic genocide attack. That is why I wonder why the media and the international community has been silent and it is so painful to be in my situation to see this. The only healing which can comfort my heart is to see a process of prosecution to end this aggression.

Excerpts from:

Truth and reconciliation

(July 1, 2003) In honor of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 27, the Digital Freedom Network recently held an online meeting with three survivors of torture: Sister Dianna Ortiz, Roberto Rodriguez and Mugisho Bazibuhe.

Sr. Dianna Ortiz is the executive director of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC), the only organization founded by and for survivors of torture. Sr. Dianna, an American born survivor of torture in Guatemala and the author of The Blindfold's Eyes, works with other survivors of torture on various programs sponsored by TASSC to put an end to the use of torture around the world.

Roberto Rodriguez, who is from the US, and his wife, Patrisia Gonzales, write the nationally syndicated Column of the Americas for United Press Syndicate. In 1986, he was honored by the California Chicano News Media Association for the defense of the First Amendment. He was severely beaten by Los Angeles deputy sheriffs for photographing a brutal beating by law enforcement personnel.

Mugisho Bazibuhe is from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is a former teacher and torture survivor.

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

Any word of condemnation of the use of torture by the U.S. under John Negroponte yet from LBH?

DB,

L - Less
T - Than
S - Super, Styling, Smart or Stellar
P - Poster

capt

However, I stop short of agreeing with their tortuous and murderous ways.

RS

Don't fret it RS, I never expected you to have the courage of a nun! LBH

By that inference, a nun would be couragous for agreeing with torture and murder.

In January, 2002 I decided to face fear and travel to northern Afghanistan with a humanitarian relief organization.

But, not as couragous as a nun, certainly a nun such as Sister Diana Ortiz.

#296 - Seems the man has never heard of the Spanish Inquisition, who could have expected that, on this blog no less!

On another note, cornnuts have you seen the latest election polls?

Bush is up to 45%

Repubs are within 3% to the Dems

Dems still have no agenda

Santorum cleaned Casey's clock on Meet The Press

Michelle Steel is looking like a shoe in

Economy is reving along -spending at a all time high in Sept

Stock market is up

Gas prices down

Corn is trashed for outing Plame

Liberals are being accused of ruining the Dem party

OMG life is great!!

Dumb as a lamppost. Bipolar. Nuns, muslims, gas and presidential approval. OMG life is great!

296 - Seems the man has never heard of the Spanish Inquisition, who could have expected that, on this blog no less!

Hey RS

If you want to go back all the way to the SI then I'm sure some of your relatives were guilty of torture and murder as well.

Seems to be the same problem with muslims, they can't let history go and move on to the year 2006 which is why they are still, and always will be, a religion of violence.

"He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it."
~ Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001), "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

capt --- Thanks. Now that I have the drift, I can read 'LTSP' in several even less complimentary ways...

Islam is a religion of violence? Now that's a stretch. Because there are extremists in most every religion I guess that makes all Catholics guilty of the inquisition? LBH, every once in awhile you say something so horrible I have to speak up. You are a vile and racist jerk, and your double standards stink to high heaven, and yes, I am calling you a name you richly deserve. Now go start killing them in large numbers psycho. capt, I've always thought the Vatican a questionable entity in general, I never could imagine the humble Jesus dressed up in those ridiculous costumes and surrounded by such obvious wealth.

RS

In January, 2002 I decided to face fear and travel to northern Afghanistan with a humanitarian relief organization.

Wouldn't have ever thought you had it in ya RS, but I give you props for action.

Rasmussen: Post-election Senate 'balance' of power
RAW STORY
Published: Monday September 18, 2006

The struggling campaigns of Republican Senators Conrad Burns (MT), Lincoln Chafee (RI) and Mike DeWine (OH) have led Rasmussen Reports to modify their election ratings to yield almost an even split in the post-election Senate.

"The battle for control of the U.S. Senate is getting closer—much closer," Rasmussen declared. Recently they had summarized the Senate with Republicans leading 50-45 but now give it as 49-48, the GOP only a seat ahead with three races still considered "toss-ups."

Saladin

Call me what you want, like I care! I never said go kill them in large numbers, but your friendly terrorists have. I believe 3000 is the last number they threw out. The extremist Islamics at least aren't afraid, like you, to call Islam what it is; a religion of force that wants to rule the world and convert or kill non-believers.

I not that LBH still hasn't commented on actions by the USG in Central America.

LTSP! (But this is MUCH less complimentary than capt's version.)

But then, I suppose it is nice not to be burdened by overly much wits, knowledge, or wisdom. Kinda like George XLIII, the whiney decider...

In which gated community would Jesus live?

In which mansion?

I repeat:

Any word of condemnation of the use of torture by the U.S. under John Negroponte yet from LBH?

Oops! "note", not "not".

Islam is a religion of violence? Now that's a stretch. Because there are extremists in most every religion I guess that makes all Catholics guilty of the inquisition?

Why is it you guys always have to go back centuries to give an example?

How many Catholics have murdered a Muslim nun in the name of Christ?

Oh wait Muslims don't give women such status- there second class citizens next to donkeys.

RS

I have no idea what your rambling about John Negroponte is all about. I am sure that if he is guilty of such a crime then Mr Corn, being such a great investigative reporter that he is, would have written extensively about this. If it is true, then sure, I'll condem it. I still don't see why your deflecting the murder of a nun and the violence by Muslims with some non-news worthy story of Negroponte.

How liberating it must be to free ones self from facts and all things factual. Say anything that comes to mind. Take any pot shot, speak any insult, and be as arrogant as one pleases without any regard for civilty or social graces.

Once freed from these silly mortal strictures one can be anything they want, no reason to ever worry about anybody else.

The only problem I see with that type of character defect is the "egg" issue. You know when somebody is so full of themselves they are like an egg (little room for anything else in their shell)

capt

LBH --- Planned Parenthood Clinics. Southern Black Churchs. Southern Blacks. Etc.

Oh wait Muslims don't give women such status- there second class citizens next to donkeys.

There is a process of modernization. It is occuring across the globe, in fits and starts, and sometimes the tide reverses, but it usually, gradually comes.

It wasn't so long ago in the occident when women couldn't vote, and were legally considered property in marital situations.

As the Imam told me, at the door to the Mosque in Dashti Q'aleh:

"We want our women to be educated. We want them to grow up to be doctors, lawyers and engineers."

Unfortunately, he did not include Imams in that list.

Slowly, slowly turns the tide.

LBH,

Have you lost your mind? Occasionally you can be counted on for at least a "spirited debate" but it seems you have gone off on a complete right-wing uninformed religious tangent. Maybe it was bu$hco telling you about his fictional 3rd religious awakening? Let me give you a little advice: keep your apparent religious zealotry to yourself, your not doing yourself or your "religion" any favors.

Novak = ideological wingnut

DB

Yes there have been a couple of crazy Christians that liked to blow stuff up. This is not representative of Christianity as a whole. There have been no decrees from the Pope or religoius leaders to kill other humans, just a few of individuals that took it upon themselves to be judge and jury.

The blacks and black churches was a race issue not a religious issue. The deomcratic party has more history here of burning black churches than religion.

I think you need to do some reading friend!

Why is the fact that our CURRENT DNI, John Negroponte, covered up for torturers, Battalion 316 to be specific, not CURRENTLY NEWSWORTHY?

Close Relations with Honduran Military,
Contra "Special Project" Against Nicaraguan Sandinistas
Dominated Cable Traffic
Reporting on Human Rights Violations Nonexistent between 1982 and 1984

[...]

The 392 cables and memos record Negroponte's daily, and even hourly, activities as the powerful Ambassador to Honduras during the contra war in the early 1980s. They include dozens of cables in which the Ambassador sought to undermine regional peace efforts such as the Contadora initiative that ultimately won Costa Rican president Oscar Arias a Nobel Prize, as well as multiple reports of meetings and conversations with Honduran military officers who were instrumental in providing logistical support and infrastructure for CIA covert operations in support of the contras against Nicaragua -"our special project" as Negroponte refers to the contra war in the cable traffic. Among the records are special back channel communications with then CIA director William Casey, including a recommendation to increase the number of arms being supplied to the leading contra force, the FDN in mid 1983, and advice on how to rewrite a Presidential finding on covert operations to overthrow the Sandinistas to make it more politically palatable to an increasingly uneasy U.S. Congress.

Conspicuously absent from the cable traffic, however, is reporting on human rights atrocities that were committed by the Honduran military and its secret police unit known as Battalion 316, between 1982 and 1984, under the military leadership of General Gustavo Alvarez, Negroponte's main liaison with the Honduran government. The Honduran human rights ombudsman later found that more than 50 people disappeared at the hands of the military during those years. But Negroponte's cables reflect no protest, or even discussion of these issues during his many meetings with General Alvarez, his deputies and Honduran President Robert Suazo. Nor do the released cables contain any reporting to Washington on the human rights abuses that were taking place.

What happened to the "Law and Order" conservatives?

They were wound a bit tight but they understood that if a person commits a crime and is not caught the crime was still committed.

If a person is a murderer (robs someone and kills the victim) and no person is ever charged with the crime the dead guy is still the victim of a crime and the murderer still guilty of a crime even if he is never charged or convicted.

Crimes exist when someone breaks the law not when they get caught or prosecuted.

To make it easier to understand: Clinton was guilty of getting a BJ. The fact that the articles of impeachment were not sustained he still got the BJ.

That binary thinking must be a bear, eh?

capt

howdy capt!

"Extremes meet and there is no better example than the haughtiness of humility." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Maybe it was bu$hco telling you about his fictional 3rd religious awakening? Let me give you a little advice: keep your apparent religious zealotry to yourself, your not doing yourself or your "religion" any favors.

Uncledad

That's rich coming from a cornnut that lets Gerald rant all day long about religion and then lets saladin lie about Islam being a peacful religion while slamming Jews for being Zionist.

Uncle- don't be an ass, I never said I was religous. I'm just pointing out what is right before your very eyes on national TV showing Muslims doing exactly what the Pope accused them of doing. Open your eyes, as eyes wide open would say.

I read the Pope's apology and I accept his words. The Pope has been working to stop the violence. Muslims must look at their deeds in the whole picture. The Pope looks in the mirror on a daily basis. A good man has replaced John Paul II.

I signed a MoveOn petition to stop the GOP from pardoning Bush for breaking the law. When Clinton was in office, the GOP said that he was not above the law. Now, the GOP is saying that Bush is above the law. Something smells in Washinton, D.C.!

Hey Uncledad

Slowly, slowly turns the tide.

You better hurry up-theres not much time left with global warming and all!

Before a muslim women can show her face in public the world will be under water by your pace!

Politicians are like diapers and you know why we need to change them frequently.

It's been fun here in fantasy land but now I'm off to watch my Steelers kick some Jag ass!

Greatness

[..]

Extremes meet, and there is no better example than the haughtiness of humility. No aristocrat, no prince born to the purple, can begin to compare with the self-respect of the saint. Why is he so lowly, but that he knows that he can well afford it, resting on the largeness of God in him? I have read in an old book that Barcena the Jesuit confessed to another of his order that when the Devil appeared to him in his cell one night, out of his profound humility he rose up to meet him, and prayed him to sit down in his chair, for he was more worthy to sit there than himself.

Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: Every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him. The .populace will say, with Horne Tooke, "If you would be powerful, pretend to be powerful." I prefer to say, with the old Hebrew prophet, "Seekest thou great things? seek them not;" or, what was said of the Spanish prince, "The more you took from him, the greater he appeared," Plus on lui ote, plus it est grand.

More HERE

Before a muslim women can show her face in public the world will be under water by your pace! LBH

In Tajikistan, we had dinner with a retired couple whose daughter worked for the humanitarian agency that I had traveled with.

Both of her parents were doctors, educated in Moscow, one a cardiac specialist, and the other a neurologist. The Tajiks were all practicing Muslims, in a modern fashion. There were no veils, and there was a choice of Vodka or Cognac after dinner.

You protest that not all Christians are such as would resort to violence, and in the same breath, you describe all Muslims as such.

Ignoramus!

Do I vent, yes? Do I rant, probably? Have I been critical of my religion and other religions, most definitely!!! Have I tried to be fair and balanced in my criticism on several issues and topics, most definitely!!! Do I loathe the WH, Congress, and the Supreme Court? Do you have doubts?

Indiana Sues Swift Boater's New Attack Group

The state of Indiana sued the right-wing Economic Freedom Fund today, to stop it from harrassing residents with automated "robo calls" supporting a GOP congressional candidate. The suit, by Indiana Attorney General Mike Carter (R) seeks a preliminary injunction stopping the calls immediately.

The Economic Freedom Fund was responsible for an unknown number of calls last week in Indiana's ninth district, attacking the Dem challenger, Baron Hill. His opponent, Rep. Mike Sodrel (R-IN), who trails Hill by nine points according to the latest polls, has denied knowing anything about the calls. (For details and a recording of the call, see our story last week.)

As we reported last Thursday, Bob Perry, the money man behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has put $5 million into a new organization to attack House Democrats. In addition to TV and print ads run in four different districts across the country, the group is behind a slew of robo calls that are in the form of push polls -- phony polls that serve to attack an opponent rather than collect data.

Staci Schneider, Carter's press secretary, said that the group notified the AG last week that they had halted the calls. But it was too late. At least seven Hoosiers filed complaints with the state, according to Schneider. The statute allows for a penalty of up to $5,000 per violation, meaning that the group could be hit with a $35,000 fine, based on the seven complaints, although the AG has not yet decided on the penalty it will seek. A hearing is scheduled for September 27th.

Update: TPM Reader DK writes: "The penalty would be assessed based on the number of violations, not just the number of complaints. So the AG could through discovery, etc. acquire the call records, billing records etc and see just how many calls were made. Never would anyone get nailed for every last call in court or in a settlement, but it means that the AG's negotiating position would start out much higher than $35,000."

More HERE

*****end of Article*****

The Swiftboat liars are not as swift as they think, eh?

capt

#328 LBH wrote: "That's rich coming from a cornnut that lets Gerald rant all day long about religion and then lets saladin lie about Islam being a peacful religion while slamming Jews for being Zionist." end.

We'll I try to be tolerant of other peoples religious views. Gerald’s religious musings are of a peaceful nature. I don't recall him putting down other religions. Saladin never slams "Jews" for being Zionist; Saladin slams Zionist for the obvious land grab that they have been undertaking for the last few decades. I'd bet that if Zionism had a different religious bent, Saladin would call it out. This "religious" conflict is a non starter. Don’t let bu$hco suck you in to his desperate last chance appeal. Your argument is circular. You condemn what you perceive as extremism, by spewing more extremism. You counter what you see as Islamic hate, with your own special brand of “Christian” hate. Extremism in any form will always be defeated, not by hate, not by murder, not by defaming religion. It will be defeated by common sense and our need for truth. Good always wins in the end, didn’t you ever watch “Batman”.

Yeah, it's true. Republicans do war right. Especially illegal wars. A few Iran-Contra criminals work for "President" Bush.

John Negroponte, Elliot Abrams, Otto Reich--all directly responsible for terrorizing Nicaragua and El Salvador during the 1980's.

What's this??? A central American nation displaying national pride and self-determination? Sorry. Your system of government does not meet our level of acceptability in terms of our economic interests in the region.

Enter the GOP. Reagan, Bush I, Ollie and Company. Cocaine, arms, right wing death squads--all acceptable policy for these "gentlemen." Liars, killers, and thieves.

Hell, if Nixon was still alive he'd have a job with Georgie Boy too.

9/11 antisemitic theories still abound

Dr. Benson, #255, that was an interesting article. Thank you for the link. However, the author seems to suggest that the 9/11 conspiracy theorists sit mainly to the left on the political spectrum. I would disagree with that. The far left and the far right are back-to-back, IMO.

OMG...LBH get a clue please. My God. Your statements have more holes than a screen.

Maybe this is why LBH and others are so lacking in real facts.

Second Secret Study Surfaces at FCC

Another Federal Communications Commission study on the negative impacts of media consolidation came to light Monday after being buried at the agency for at least two years -- the second suppressed FCC ownership study to surface in as many weeks.

It's clear that FCC's top brass are willing to deep-six any research that contradicts the media industry's pro-consolidation claims.

In fine bureaucratic fashion, neither former Chairman Michael Powell nor current Chairman Kevin Martin has accepted responsibility for the alleged cover-up. In the minds of both of them, it's better we all forget about it so the FCC can return to its work of handing out billions of dollars in monopoly privileges to massive media firms.

The recently spiked study, a "Review of the Radio Industry" conducted by the FCC Media Bureau, found that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 had led to a drastic decline in the number of radio station owners -- even as the actual number of commercial stations in the United States had increased.
------------
Radio was so hot in the sixties. Look at how it changed us. Wouldn't want that to happen again now would we? We'd rather be forced to listen to disc jockies make racial slurs and homophobic comments. That's all I've been hearing for years. That's why I stopped listening.

LBH, you are a fool, how many so-called Christians are murdering innocent Muslims in the name of your religion "demockracy" as we speak? SICK. I only have to go back one day. uncledad 338, thank you so much for that comment. I don't care about religion, I only care about violent measures used against innocent victims, it doesn't matter what religion you claim, they all must accept some measure of guilt in the long run. I will state here and now that I do not have a racist bone in my body, I am a mutt if there ever was one, I was raised by a racist and I was in trouble constantly with my own father for my defense of those he considered inferior, and HE was a half-breed Cherokee! Caroline, the anti-semite excuse has grown old, it has nothing to do with 9/11 and the fact that it is being used against Professor Jones is beyond the pale. Can't they come up with something more substantial than that? And, what the fuck are they bitching about anyway? The Jewish people are no more responsible than the Christians. The guilty are what they are and it does not reflect on one group or another just because they may claim a membership to such. The anti-semite card is wearing thin, especially considering the fact that the semitic people of Palestinian and Lebanese origin have suffered greatly of late. What have you suffered? Maybe a trip to Lebanon is in order.

#168 All the Kings Men..Don't count on it.

Listening to Davids spot on C-span again. Corn you stayed on topic, did not attack Victoria Toensing or Novak when you had the opportunity ( I did get an e-mail in today..Anna from Kilvert Ohio). I asked " why Bob Woodward, Victoria Toensing, and Novak have all attacked Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation? And "will we ever know how the leaking of Plame's identity effected our National Security?" Thanks for the answers. But you did not address whether the report as to how the outing of Plame effected U.S. National Security will ever be publicly released?

David you did not personally attack Toensing, Novak or Woodward. You questioned their thinking, reporting and efforts to undermine the investigation, but did not attack them personally. What a pro!

I am still bothered by the guy from Oklahoma's comments on the program. He called the show and said "who cares about Valerie Plame" he also said "get over how we got there (Iraq)"

Can you imagine if someone said "who cares about the American soldiers" the American people would go into a frenzy if anyone said such a thing. Yet somehow it is acceptable to write off, disregard, make fun of ,undermine the work and position of Valerie Plame. Valerie Plame/Wilson put her own life on the line for our nation over and over again. She gathered intelligence around the world in endangering her own life.

I would put money on it that this same guy from Oklahoma probably got terribly upset about the lies about Clintons blowjob and he cares less about the outing of an agent who put her own life on the line for this country, and he could care less about how many people have died due to the false intelligence used to sale us into a war.

THOSE ARE SOME VERY TWISTED AND SICK VALUES.

Yes LBH the killing of that nun was wrong! It is also very wrong that tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed in this unnecesary war!

The Flames of Religious Hatred
The pope, the Koran & Andrew Sullivan.

By Michael Potemra

For anybody who wishes to reduce the amount of religious hatred in the world, the last few days have been dispiriting. Angry mobs have been ginned up across the globe, incited by self-appointed Muslim leaders to protest a few sentences in a lecture by Pope Benedict XVI (unless, of course, one believes the protests are a completely spontaneous reaction by millions of people who read papal lectures closely on a regular basis). The story has now reached the predictable stage of asking, How much blame does the pope himself bear for the street violence? Andrew Sullivan cites a London Times report saying the pope got the Koran wrong. The pope said that the Koran passage —†Sura 2:256 forbidding compulsion in religion was a product of Muhammad’≥ early period, when he was still powerless and under threat. The Times’≥ Ruth Gledhill says the passage was actually written when Muhammad was in Medina and in control of a state and in a position of strength, not weakness and Sullivan comments that this undercuts [the pope’≥] point almost completely.

at national Review

Sources: August terror plot is a 'fiction' underscoring police failures

British Army expert casts doubt on 'liquid explosives' threat, Al Qaeda network in UK Identified

Lieutenant-Colonel (ret.) Nigel Wylde, a former senior British Army Intelligence Officer, has suggested that the police and government story about the "terror plot" revealed on 10th August was part of a "pattern of lies and deceit."

...According to security sources, the terror suspects were planning to board up to ten civilian airliners and detonate highly volatile liquid explosives on the planes in a spectacular terrorist operation. The liquid explosives -- either TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide), DADP (diacetone diperoxide) or the less sensitive HMTD (hexamethylene triperoxide diamine) -- were reportedly to be made on board the planes by mixing sports drinks with a peroxide-based household gel and then be detonated using an MP3 player or mobile phone.

But Lt. Col. Wylde, who was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for his command of the Belfast Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit in 1974, described this scenario as a "fiction." Creating liquid explosives is a "highly dangerous and sophisticated task," he states, one that requires not only significant chemical expertise but also appropriate equipment.

Terror plot scenario "untenable"

"The idea that these people could sit in the plane toilet and simply mix together these normal household fluids to create a high explosive capable of blowing up the entire aircraft is untenable," said Lt. Col. Wylde, who was trained as an ammunition technical officer responsible for terrorist bomb disposal at the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in Sandhurst.

...Despite the implausibility of this scenario, it has been used to justify wide-ranging new security measures that threaten to permanently curtail civil liberties and to suspend sections of the United Kingdom's Human Rights Act of 1998. "Why were the public delicately informed of an alleged conspiracy which the authorities knew, or should have known, could not have worked?" asked Lt. Col. Wylde.

"This is not a new problem," he added, noting that 'shoe-bomber' Richard Reid had attempted to use this type of explosive on a plane in December 2001. "If this threat is real, what has been done to develop explosive test kits capable of detecting peroxide based explosives?" asked Wylde. "These are the real issues about protecting the public that have not been publicised. Instead we are going to get demands for more internment without trial."

Global Protests Call for UN Intervention in DarfurBy Paul Majendie
Reuters Monday 18 September 2006

London - Demonstrators around the world staged a day of action Sunday to highlight the war in Darfur, a region of western Sudan where hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million have been driven from their homes.

In New York, a crowd in Central Park estimated by organizers at about 20,000 demanded that the Bush administration pressure the Sudanese government to stop the killings and displacements in Darfur and to allow a U.N. peacekeeping force to enter the country.

"The world must act and it must do so now because time is not on our side," former secretary of state Madeleine Albright said.

In London, Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders delivered a plea and said prayers outside the residence of Prime Minister Tony Blair, and demonstrators rallied outside the Sudanese Embassy.

A string of protests and events to coincide with a "Day for Darfur" were held in several other European and U.S. cities, in Canada, Cambodia and around east Africa.

Dr. B, excellent article at 255 !

Retired Colonel: 'We Are Conducting Military Operations Inside Iran Right Now. The Evidence Is Overwhelming.'

Just now on CNN, Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner (Ret.) said, "We are conducting military operations inside Iran right now. The evidence is overwhelming."

Gardiner, who taught at the U.S. Army's National War College, has previously suggested that U.S. forces were already on the ground in Iran. Today he added several additional new points:

1) The House Committee on Emerging Threats recently called on State and Defense Department officials to testify on whether U.S. forces were in Iran. The officials didn't come to the hearing.

2) "We have learned from Time magazine today that some U.S. naval forces had been alerted for deployment. That is a major step."

3) "The plan has gone to the White House. That's not normal planning. When the plan goes to the White House, that means we've gone to a different state."

--------------
Who ok'd another war? The torture president?

Hillbilly Haiku:

1. Gas prices down.
2. Terrorism up.
3. How about some religion.
4. Leaves are turning
5. It must be getting close.

Robert, (#234)

Thank you, for many things.

I've spent the better part of the day with some of my favorite singer/songwriter/friends, many of who've gone on to very interesting and sucessful careers.

Listening to these old Lauri Sargent/Angelo Petraglia songs, I'm reminded of a strangely more convoluted yet infinitely more hopeful time.

And sometimes a line from one is what it takes to remember having enough hope to get through the day.

"There's a weed in the city, pushin' up through the street.
One tiny blade of grass against the cold concrete.
You're gettin' trampled and tossed by unforgiving feet.
But the hope of Glory knows no defeat."

Kinda like the line from Jethro Tull's "Jack in the Green".

"...Jack, do you never sleep, does the green spell run deep in your heart? Or will these changing times, motorways, powerlines keep us apart?

No, I don't think so...I saw some grass growing through the pavement today."

Anywhoo...

G'nite!

-T

What Would War Look Like?
A flurry of military maneuvers in the Middle East increases speculation that conflict with Iran is no longer quite so unthinkable. Here's how the U.S. would fight such a war--and the huge price it would have to pay to win it
By MICHAEL DUFFY
Posted Sunday, Sep. 17, 2006
The first message was routine enough: a "Prepare to Deploy" order sent through naval communications channels to a submarine, an Aegis-class cruiser, two minesweepers and two mine hunters. The orders didn't actually command the ships out of port; they just said to be ready to move by Oct. 1. But inside the Navy those messages generated more buzz than usual last week when a second request, from the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), asked for fresh eyes on long-standing U.S. plans to blockade two Iranian oil ports on the Persian Gulf. The CNO had asked for a rundown on how a...

Jesus Camp with a Cardboard Bush

Jesus Camp is a new movie that I posted about recently. Here's a video report on the flick and it's quite disturbing.

Pastor Fisher: I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are over in Pakistan and Israel and Palestine and all those different places.

Kid: You know a lot of people die for God and stuff and they're not even afraid...
They couldn't forget their cardboard George Bush to worship with either.
-------------
Watch this video. I get tired of reading about fanatical Muslims. This is no different. These kids are being psychologically abused. This is sick.

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

Sept. 12, 2006 -- According to sources who worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at Ground Zero on and after 911, residents of southern Manhattan and rescue and clean-up workers involved in the recovery operations at the site of the former World Trade Center are experiencing an unusually high rate of non-Hodgkin lymphoma -- a cancer that is common among individuals who have been exposed to extremely high levels of ionizing radiation, such as that from nuclear blasts and major nuclear reactor leaks. In addition to the respiratory problems among rescue workers at Ground Zero who breathed toxic "pulverized" concrete and other debris into their lungs, the radiation cancer is of extreme interest to researchers who suspect that the World Trade Center towers and Building 7 were brought down with the help of high energy releases. WMR spoke to a number of individuals who were at Ground Zero on 911 who are now experiencing symptoms resulting from severe damage to their immune systems -- a condition that is common among those exposed to high levels of radiation.

Sources close to FEMA in New York confirmed to WMR that the lymphoma cases are believed to be the result of a release of extremely high levels of radiation from a series of nuclear events on the morning of 911. They believe that explains the reason for the "pulverization" of concrete, molten metals, pyroclastic surges and fallout, and other anomalies resulting from the catastrophe. It was also pointed out that some vehicles parked on the west side of the World Trade Center were "fused" on the sides facing the towers -- the doors being melted into the body frames. Other cars parked nearby were not similarly affected. There is also evidence of explosions and fires on top of the Woolworth Building, three blocks away from the World Trade Center, during the attack on the towers.

Fatty,

Increases in thyroid cancer would be most telling.

-T

Why Did Iron Boil in the Rubble of the World Trade Center?

The plumes of bluish smoke that rose for weeks from the rubble of the destroyed World Trade Center contained unprecedented amounts of toxic ultra-fine particles which are created only when metal boils.

Unlike the much larger dust (pulverized concrete) particles from the destruction of the twin towers, these ultra-fine and nano-particles are particularly hazardous because of their extremely small size, which allows them to pass throughout the body and penetrate into the nucleus of the human cell.

sampling began on October 2 and continued until late December, after the last fires were finally extinguished. (fires burned for 3 months despite being doused with water continuously)

data showing high levels of ultra-fine particles in the smoke plume prove that incredibly intense hot spots, capable of boiling and vaporizing metals and other components from the debris, persisted beneath the rubble for weeks.
"As of 21 days after the attack, the fires were still burning and molten steel was still running," Leslie Robertson, structural engineer responsible for the design of the WTC, said at the National Conference of Structural Engineers on October 5, 2001.

AFP reported in 2002 that pools of "literally molten steel" were seen in the basements of the collapsed twin towers and WTC 7 by contractors hired to remove the rubble.

The official reports by NIST, FEMA and the 9-11 Commission, however, omit any mention of the large quantities of molten metal observed in the basement areas of WTC 7 and the towers.

Try to purchase some stock, or some futures, a mutual fund or some put options, without providing your identity. Go ahead and try it! See if you get anywhere. Find out what happens when you tell the investment firm that you want to make a huge investment anonymously. It can't be done.

Then ask yourself this question: How could someone have placed anonymous put options on American Airlines and United Airlines just prior to the attacks of 9/11? Then ask yourself why no one has investigated this suspicious deal. Ask yourself why there has been no attempt by the US government to identify the person who anticipated huge profits from a disaster that was yet to occur.

Millions of dollars in such options were placed. If the perpetrators had been Islamic terrorists or fellow plotters, wouldn't Americans have heard by now? Logically then, the co-conspirators were high officials in banking, finance or tied to the US government.

How embarassing for the US government and the mainstream media if those who sought to profit from the massacre of nearly 3,000 people were Americans? Curiously, neither the US government nor the media chooses to investigate, thus implicating them both in the plot.

In any great crime---except this one---the Justice Department and the local police officials would work tirelessly to find and punish the mass murderers. Instead they have relied on circumstantial evidence (fuzzy videotapes of OBL, Korans, charred passport) that would be laughed out of any honest court in the land. If one could be found.

Behind every great crime are great criminals who planned it well.

Buildup to World War III

by Bill Sardi

Objective: Seize oil fields and destroy military in Arabic countries

Step #1: Raise oil prices to unprecedented levels so the economic impact of any withdrawal of oil from the world market by Middle-Eastern countries will be blunted by existing high oil prices.

Step #2: Warn the public, in this instance in a State of the Union Address, that the nation must become less oil dependent.

Step #3: Raise funds for the war in Congress before war is announced. The President requested the military budget be raised by $70 billion (Feb. 5, 2006).

Step #4: Provoke the people in target countries to respond with anger by humiliating them. Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Danish newspapers have provoked outrage and demonstrations throughout Middle-Eastern countries. An Associated Press report says "images of abuse by American soldiers at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and reports of deplorable conditions at the Guantanamo Bay prison also have reinforced suspicions that Arabs in general have become targets of the anti-terror war."

A Knight-Ridder news report said: "Muslims also took to the streets in Afghanistan, the West Bank, Iraq and New Zealand on Sunday. The most violent protests occurred in Asian and Middle Eastern capitals. In London, some protesters carried placards warning that those who defame Islam would pay with their blood."

Fawzi al-Jasem, Kuwait's ambassador to Austria, said: "At first it was just Denmark, but it keeps spreading," al-Jasem said. "We don't know what we can do to stop this."

Somehow a vast cache of Danish flags have appeared in Muslim countries, to be publicly burned, while green and black Islamic flags were waved by demonstrators worldwide. The outrage is being well orchestrated.

Step #5: Find a fall guy. Jamal Ahmed Badawi, the so-called mastermind of the USS Cole attack in 2000, is reported on Feb. 5, 2006, to have escaped from prison in Yemen with other al Qaeda terrorists. He is now free to attack the West.

The problem with this story is that Associated Press released a similar story that Badawi escaped from prison on April 11, 2003. Certainly the news media is aware of this, which means they are complicit in the propaganda buildup to the next war.

Step #6: Contrive or provoke a threat. In this instance, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, seeing US military bases being built in countries neighboring Iran and elsewhere, may feel the only negotiation card Iran has left is nuclear weapons.

Step #7: Ignite the world against the Middle-Eastern countries in order to recruit the vast number of military troops required for WW III. US forces are short on man power. Whatever country doesn't go along with the agenda won't have oil supplies restored.

Step #8: Now all that is needed in this powder keg environment is an alarming event, which is scheduled for…â…â

Olbermann: "The President of the United States owes this country an apology"

Keith Olbermann delivered another stunning special comment tonight, this time attacking Bush's Rose Garden press conference from last Friday.

Video - WMV

Video - QT

Olbermann: Finally tonight, a Special Comment about the Rose Garden news conference last Friday. The President of the United States owes this country an apology. There are now none around him who would tell him - or could. The last of them, it appears, was the very man whose letter provoked the President into the conduct, for which the apology is essential. An apology is this President's only hope of regaining the slightest measure of confidence, of what has been, for nearly two years, a clear majority of his people.

More HERE

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

Some good stuff from KO.

capt

If you want to go back all the way to the SI then I'm sure some of your relatives were guilty of torture and murder as well.

Posted by: LBH at September 18, 2006 08:08 PM

I'm sure too.

David,

Look on the bright side, Novak didn't tell you to go to Hell! I wonder who will pen a `post-Armitage confession' piece and take apart Wilson, the only true instigator of this whole mess!

I read your descriptions in Hubris of this "flamboyant" showboat; little wonder he sought to capitalize on his `pro bono' Niger trip! His int'l finance consulting `career' must not have brought home much bacon!

Why would an anti-Bush retired diplomat go to Niger to find evidence to help Bush? and, amazingly, to do it for free!

Loose Canons
A Special Place in Hell
By Jed Babbin
Published 9/18/2006

Greater self-love hath no man than to sacrifice a friend's life for his own. Our grateful nation awards the Medal of Honor to those few whose valor in combat is above and beyond the call of duty. But what is the polar opposite of the Medal? It is essential we decide, because Richard Armitage -- former Deputy Secretary of State -- has earned it for his uncommon treachery, beneath and beyond the call of knavery.

Begin with the fact that Armitage -- and his boss, Colin Powell.....both were high-ranking members of the administration and owed it political loyalty.

For reasons I have theorized before, the CIA sent anti-war activist Joe Wilson to Niger.....Novak's July 14, 2003 column disclosed that Mrs. Wilson -- Valerie Plame -- was a CIA employee whom Novak described imprecisely as a CIA "operative." What followed was....

Wilson bellowed -- and the media and the Democratic leadership chimed in --....

....(For the record, the Libby indictment says Plame's employment was "classified." Not covert; classified. Between the two is the gap between a "NOC" -- a "not official cover," covert agent -- and any desk jockey at Langley.)

Long before the indictment, Wilson's story had fallen apart.....

Now we know, as Paul Harvey might say, the rest of the story......when Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed on December 30, 2003, he knew there was no crime to investigate. No covert operator's name had been divulged.....

Armitage is doing an elaborate CYA dance.....

It was an act of supreme disloyalty for Armitage....

Armitage's leak was not innocent, idle chatter.....

What medal shall we give the man who leaked and remained silent? Hester Prynne wore the scarlet letter. For the leaker who hid while the political lynch mob hoisted his president and Scooter Libby, there has to be a special reward. There's only one name for it: the Armitage Award.

K.O.

Bush Hit Men Running Scared

by Chris Floyd

Like a gang of twitchy hit men afraid they've botched the job, the Bush Regime is creeping back to the scene of the crime: the Congressional backrooms where they thought they'd put the kibosh on the American Republic once and for all.

But it seems there is still a flicker of life in the victim –†and thus a threat that the gangsters might have to face the music somewhere down the line. So they went back to the bagmen on Capitol Hill this week, ordering their minions to provide retroactive legal cover for the rank offenses committed by the big boys at the top when they devised their torture regimen –†in knowing, deliberate violation of the U.S. War Crimes Act, which was passed by acclamation in the Republican-led Congress in 1996, and toughened up the following year with the support of the Pentagon, the Washington Post reports.

The moribund Republic, which the Bush gangsters had slowly tortured for years, was thought to have been finally bludgeoned to death when the Bushists brought out the blunt instrument of the "unitary executive" earlier this year. After the Regime's patently illegal domestic spying programs were revealed, the Regime at last dropped all pretense and openly declared a presidential dictatorship, insisting that any action ordered by the "Commander-in-Chief" is beyond the reach of law.

When this extraordinary usurpation of the Constitution did not produce angry crowds in the street demanding the return of their liberties –†and nothing more than a prissy "Well, I never!" from the oozing invertebrates in the Democratic opposition –†it seemed that the Republic was well and truly dead. But then last month, the Supreme Court's decision in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case effectively overturned the Bushists' "unitary executive" fantasies by ruling that the Geneva Conventions –†which have been incorporated into U.S. law and are the basis of the War Crimes Act –†applied to Bush's Terror War.

This was the nightmare scenario that Attorney General Alberto "The Fixer" Gonzales and Dick Cheney's capo, David "The Enforcer" Addington laid out in legal memos for George W. Bush in early 2002, when Bush, Cheney and Pentagon warlord Don Rumsfeld were signing off on the various tortures they would inflict on their captives. The legal minions told Bush that they could all be prosecuted, even executed, under the War Crimes Act for what they were doing –†if the Geneva Conventions were upheld. Gonzales thus advised Bush to issue a presidential order stripping Terror War captives of the Geneva protections, the Post reports. Only this bit of weasel-wording could provide a "defense against future prosecution," Gonzales wrote.

What he forgot to say was that this defense would only work in a presidential dictatorship under the legally baseless "unitary executive"; otherwise, the president would still be bound by America's strict laws against torture. Thus any president who ordered interrogation techniques that violated those laws could be prosecuted; and if those techniques resulted in the murder of prisoners, then that president, and his minions, could be executed. So far, at least 35 Terror War captives have been killed in military or CIA custody, Human Rights Watch reports.

But Bush duly wrote the unconstitutional presidential order anyway, thereby committing himself to full, personal responsibility for the criminal system that followed. For the U.S. War Crimes Act not only forbids "murder, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture," it also specifically criminalizes "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment." Gonzales and the other Bushist legal perverts have tried to define away torture, claiming that anything less than outright murder or "pain approaching, but not equal to, that experienced during organ failure" is not really torture, but just a kind of extending tickling or good-natured horseplay. Thus, they say, there is no torture in the gulag.

Yet even if you accept these ludicrous and frankly evil formulations, and even if you ignore the overwhelming evidence of systematic beating, water-boarding, hostage-taking, deprivation and other actions acknowledged by any sentient human being as torture, there is no escaping the fact that the Pentagon and the CIA have openly instigated interrogation techniques centered around outrages upon personal dignity and humiliating, degrading treatment. Indeed, they're proud of it; they brag about it. And yet these techniques –†planned, approved and celebrated at the highest levels of government –†are patently illegal.

The military's own lawyers know this –†and have long known it. Albert Mora, the Navy's general counsel throughout the Terror War until last December, told the Pentagon that some of the specifically approved techniques "violated domestic and international legal norms," with legal responsibility for the crimes running "along the entire length of the chain of command," the Post reports. And just last month, the Air Force's chief counsel, Major General Jack Rives, told Congress, under oath, that "some of the techniques that have been authorized and used in the past have violated" key portions of the Geneva Conventions: the very portions that are the foundations of the U.S. War Crimes Act. As the Post noted, "the top military lawyers for the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, who were seated next to Rives, said they agreed" with his analysis.

That's why the Bushists are now roaming the back alleys of Congress again, looking to fire a few more slugs into their victim. Bush wants the "unitary executive" autocracy he created in secret to be restored –†in public –†by Congress. There is brutal arrogance behind this of course –†but blind panic too. For the bloodsoaked thugs of the Bush Regime now realize they have no choice: if law and the Constitution are allowed to prevail, they could all be doing hard time –†or even find themselves strapped down and stretched out, waiting for the executioner's needle. To save their hides, the Republic must die, for good this time, forever.

August 2, 2006

Trust me, George Bush says, perched on the remains of Geneva Conventions, the Constitution and habeas corpus.

From this moral high ground, the United States is assuring the world that a new facility for researching a horror shop of weaponized infectious diseases will be used purely for defensive purposes. The National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center’s (NBACC) $128 million, 160,000-square-foot facility is under construction at Fort Detrick, Md. There, the United States has already weaponized more than a dozen diseases—including anthrax, plague, botulism and ebola—and bioengineered war-friendly “improvements.” Scientists are also using DNA-synthesizing techniques to fabricate genetically altered or man-made viruses, and to study the feasibility of creating germ weapons targeting particular ethnicities.

What has become painfully obvious is that there are a number of people on this blog who prefer the Islamofascists over the Judeo-Christian culture. You seem somehow willing to equate a religion that glories in martyrdom, the intentional killing of innocents, to religions that have made many mistakes, but look to the salvation of all the world.

Think of this logic. "We don't like what the Pope said about Muslim violence, so we must kill him for his statements."

The difference between Muslims and JudeoChristians is that, when some JudeoChristians commit an abomination, other JudeoChristians condemn the act; the Muslims glorify that act.

Come to think of it, that follows the sordid logic of many of you posters here.

It is time to continue killing large numbers of Islamofascists. It was also right to kill large numbers of Japanese and Germans. (By the way, as there were no Iraqis at 9/11, there were no Germans at Pearl Harbor.) It was also required to kill English and Hessians, Southerners, Mexicans, etc., in various wars.

Or do my harsh words offend your tender sensiblities?

You cowards at this site have nothing to live for, so you have nothing to die for. You were all probably part of the "Better Red Than Dead" brigade.

What I also notice is a great resentment to the American way of life. Is it because you have not enjoyed the benefits of this system? Is it because you are jealous and resentful of those who have succeeded?

Israel and the Israeli Lobby here in the states still pushing hard for military strikes on Iran.

Just how is it that Israeli Foreign Minister Livni knows more about Iran's nuclear program than Iaea's Mr. El Bardei.

Livni: World may have only 'few months' to avoid nuclear Iran
By Reuters
WASHINGTON - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday that the world may have as little as "a few months" to avoid a nuclear Iran and called for sanctions.

"The crucial moment is not the day of the bomb. The crucial moment is the day in which Iran will master the enrichment, the knowledge of enrichment," she said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Livni said she did not want to identify a point of "no return" in the controversy over Iran's nuclear program.

The Iranians, she said, "are trying to send a message that it's too late, you can stop your attempts because it's too
late. It's not too late. They have a few more months," she said.

at haartz

You say I need to read more about Islam - no I don't.

Posted by: LBH at September 18, 2006 07:44 PM

Fear is Ignorance's twin brother.

#365 Checkered Facts. I prefer no FASCIST. Christian..Islam or Zionist Fascist are dominating the world stage at this time. I would like to see them all put back in their corners.

Rush says that the only women who become feminists are the really ugly ones who can't get dates or get married.

It has also become painfully apparent that about the only people who become liberals are those who see themselves as failures in life and/or cowards. They want the government to support them from the fruits of others' labors, but are afraid they might be called on one day to support that same country in time of war.

Don't fret it RS, I never expected you to have the courage of a nun!

Posted by: LBH at September 18, 2006 07:47 PM

Obscure reference to Da Vinci code.

LBH, you are a fool, how many so-called Christians are murdering innocent Muslims in the name of your religion "demockracy" as we speak?

Saladin

What a dumb beeeeeitch

September 17, 2006
A shift in U.S. policy toward Israel?
Leesburg, Virginia - The first sign came late last week when an Israeli official told me to pay careful attention to Philip Zelikow's key note speech at the Washington Institute's "Weinberg Founders conference". Zelikow is Condoleezza Rice's senior advisor - and he was speaking here Friday night. The next day, people were still struggling to put his speech into the proper perspective. Does it really mean a major shift in U.S. policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict?

Zelikow was quite clear, and what remains to be seen is the way in which his words translate into policy. He said that in order to keep the European allies and the moderate Arab states on board, as the U.S. tries to confront Iran's nuclear plans, the Israeli-Arab peace process will have to show signs of progress. It's the "give us Iran and we will give you Israel" policy, one evidently unhappy attendant of this conference told me. Others were playing it down, saying it was just rhetoric - and that no plans for real, meaningful, negotiations exist anyway. "What will they ask Israel to do, meet with Abu Mazen? - so you'll meet with Abu Mazen," one experienced American said.

at Rosners Blog

Checkered facts...Rush is a drug addict and a pathological liar...are you a devotee?

369

It has also become painfully apparent that about the only people who become liberals are those who see themselves as failures in life and/or cowards.....

Posted by: factchecker at September 19, 2006 12:02 AM
============================================
Excellent! But they are welcome to pretend to be us and `borrow' our names and our Happiness!

Oh wait Muslims don't give women such status- there second class citizens next to donkeys.

Posted by: LBH at September 18, 2006 08:21 PM

What the deal with LBH and donkeys?

September 15, 2006 The Hoekstra-Harman Hoax
How the War Party plans to lie us into war – again by Justin Raimondo

For the War Party, deception isn't just a tactic, or even a strategy – it's a lifestyle. That's why they're indifferent to getting caught. Like a hardened criminal arrested for his umpteenth felony, the neocons see brazen lying as just a routine procedure. Caught red-handed, they just move on to their next subterfuge, one invariably designed to drag us into war.

That is the only way to explain what Reps. Peter Hoekstra and Jane Harman thought they were doing when they released their "report" [.pdf] on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program, which – as the International Atomic Energy Agency puts it – is chock full of "erroneous, misleading, and unsubstantiated information." In a letter [.pdf] to House Intelligence Committee chairman Hoekstra, IAEA official Vilmos Cserveny takes "strong exception" to "incorrect and misleading" claims in the report that the IAEA fired an inspector, one Christopher Charlier, for giving the Iranians a hard time. He was let go, says the Hoekstra-Harman report, because he went up against an alleged policy "barring IAEA officials from telling the whole truth about the Iranian nuclear program," as Hoekstra-Harman put it. This conspiracy theory is put to rest by Cserveny, who curtly informs the American Congress that Iran is fully within its rights, under the Nonproliferation Treaty, to ask for the replacement of one inspector out of over 200 which it has accepted.

at anti-war.com

factchucker again reveals his racist nature, equating all Muslims as extremists while ignoring the fact that Christians have been murderers extraordanaire since Jesus was hung for sedition by his own people. But only a minority. Keep it up you freak, murder is the answer and endless blame on a few brings guilt on the rest, that's the KKKristian way, isn't it? The "American way" is only the way YOU envision it, other visions are not acceptable to you because you enable murderers and liars, and that makes you equally guilty.

LBH, I wish I could offer thanks (thanks is my non-religious offering to you) to LBH, but it seems not, no thank-you for your hatred. Cntrl-F LBH, cntrl-f, you'll find what you say, you'll hear what you said, but do you say what you mean? Do you even know what you say? And do you mean it? And if you really mean it than why are you here? Go away, stay away, take your narrowness and run. Go hang out with your upside-down friends. Go F#@k yourself. I wish I could offer something else. But you give me no choice. LBH the last troll, we expected better from you.

Good Night.

Here's an impressive multimedia page showing relics from the WTC towers held at the hangar. Theres one of the 52-ton core columns they call "the last beam" and ironworkers and firefighters signed it. Awesome pictures of some beams where the ironworkers cut crosses and stars of David into the beams before they were removed. Lots and lots of pictures you can go through, or watch several short videos.

Relics of WTC

Look also at the chunk of metal pancaked into a lump. This is one example that Jones said was melted into this chunk. But ahhh, they show closeups of it where you can see pieces of paper and carpet that would've burned if Jones was telling the truth.
Check out the site/pictures/videos for the wonderment of it all, not for the proof that it wasn't a government conspiracy.

I'm just pointing out what is right before your very eyes on national TV showing Muslims doing exactly what the Pope accused them of doing. Open your eyes, as eyes wide open would say.

Posted by: LBH at September 18, 2006 08:43 PM

I saw the Beastie Boys on TV doing a rap show. They are white guys from Long Island. I said to my friend, The Beastie Boys prove white people can rap. He said, no, they prove the Beastie Boys can rap.

There are less than six Beastie Boys and millions of white people in the world. Categorical thinking comes easy but it leads to incorrext conclusions.

RS is right. Read and learn before you spout off with vehement 'certaintude'.

*my bad They said it is a 62-ton column, not 52.

To visitors who have ventured this far down the thread, I'll give you a treat: a commentary by a Conservative reader of HUBRIS, Mr. Corn's latest book, co-written by Michael Isikoff. I am into Chap. 8, about a third of the way into it.

Mr. Corn's book is packed with second- and third-hand accounts of dozens of meetings that took place, often accompanied by dates and the names of some attendees. Objectively read, most readers would assume that Corn & Iskoff's accounts of many, perhaps most, events are close to being truthful or factual.

That being said, a reader will also quickly realize that a good many sources the authors relied upon, have axes to grind or asses to cover......especially if the discord among the key cabinet departments and intelligence agencies of our country were as extensive as chronicled.

I did read to a major revelation (for me) that would be discomfitting to the Dem/Libs! The huge role played by Dick Gephardt (and some aids who were Clinton-era `operatives'), that were key to Congress' granting war powers to Bush!

I could go on but my bed is calling me!

Saladin wrote:
"Equating all Muslims as extremists while ignoring the fact that Christians have been murderers extraordinaire since Jesus was hung for sedition by his own people."

Saladin, stay-out-the-bushes, your starting to sound like them; I know you are reacting, but your reaction sounds like their offensive. Blaming religion is a cop out. We can only blame ourselves for the discourse, once "religion" is injected than all bets are off. Once religion is leaned on than we can't stand straight.

Good Night. Again.

Mr Cornball! Please do another whine ... errr, entry ... this one takes about five minutes to download. How about one on how you WEREN'T the one who "outed" the serial liar's wife? ;-)

Gore Calls For Immediate Freeze on C02 Emissions, Elimination of Payroll Taxes

Today, Former Vice President Al Gore gave a major speech on global warming at NYU law. Notably, he called for an immediate freeze on CO2 emissions:

Well, first of all, we should start by immediately freezing CO2 emissions and then beginning sharp reductions. Merely engaging in high-minded debates about theoretical future reductions while continuing to steadily increase emissions represents a self-delusional and reckless approach. In some ways, that approach is worse than doing nothing at all, because it lulls the gullible into thinking that something is actually being done when in fact it is not.

An immediate freeze has the virtue of being clear, simple, and easy to understand. It can attract support across partisan lines as a logical starting point for the more difficult work that lies ahead.

Gore also called for the complete elimination of the payroll tax. It would be replaced by a tax on CO2:

For the last fourteen years, I have advocated the elimination of all payroll taxes including those for social security and unemployment compensation and the replacement of that revenue in the form of pollution taxes principally on CO2. The overall level of taxation would remain exactly the same. It would be, in other words, a revenue neutral tax swap. But, instead of discouraging businesses from hiring more employees, it would discourage business from producing more pollution.

Gore concludes:

This is an opportunity for bipartisanship and transcendence, an opportunity to find our better selves and in rising to meet this challenge, create a better brighter future a future worthy of the generations who come after us and who have a right to be able to depend on us.

Read the full text of the speech HERE.

More HERE

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

Watch out! Here come Gore. Sound more like a fresh idea than a retread.

I have posted before that no politician talks about payroll taxes, I have been humbled and corrected.

capt

I read my pet goat. it's gud. no comfurt to libs. chapter 8. nitey nite.

Mr Cornball! Please do another whine ... errr, entry ... this one takes about five minutes to download.

Why dontcha head on over to little green footballs, or powerline... I bet those load real fast.

#343 My dear, I have been to Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, Somalia, Kenya, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, China, and numerous other interesting -- and hospitable, at one time -- places around the globe. Have you? I have a distinct impression you see the world through the foggy lens of Bishop, CA, which I believe even you have described as a redneck area. You should get out more.

#383 Oh, someone is finally noticing this about Miss Saladin, other than the "trolls"...

Saladin, stay-out-the-bushes, your starting to sound like them

BTW, it's you are or you're, not your...

Off-topic, but I must share. I just back from seeing Roger Waters at the Palace. Fan-fucking-tastic. He played songs from as far back as Piper at the Gates of Dawn, along with selections from Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall for the first hour before performing Dark Side of the Moon in it's entirety. The stage show was what one would usually expect from Pink Floyd, and the huge band was TIGHT.

The show was at times politically provocative. The flying pig appeared during "Sheep," and it was covered with political graffiti: "Don't be led to the slaughter: Vote in November!" as well as an "Impeach Bush" on the pig's rear. Images of Bush in his "Mission Accomplished" codpiece appeared on the screen during "Eclipse" (as Waters sang the lyric All you destroy).

Perhaps the most daring moment was when Waters performed his new song, "Leaving Beirut." As a young man, Waters was picked up hitch-hiking in Lebanon by a poor man who took him home and treated him as an honored guest. Waters uses the experience to frame a song in which the lyrics strongly castigate Blair, Bush, and US/UK policy in the Middle East.

There was an uncomfortable silence as (what we thought were) the song's final notes rang out. There was some scattered applause and a few negative shouts, one of them from a guy near us who appeared to be about 40 ("YOU SUCK!" - some things never change!). Fortunately, the song had a short guitar coda, and when it was finally finished, the applause overwhelmed any jeers. Personally, I thought the song's lyrics were somewhat forced and clunky. However, I could certainly appreciate the passion.

I do wonder, though, about the people who saw fit to boo the song. Do they listen to Pink Floyd? Don't they have any clue what kind of man Roger Waters is? After all, this is the guy who wrote:

Forward he cried from the rear
And the front rank died
And the generals sat, and the lines on the map
Moved from side to side

- "Us and Them"
Dark Side of the Moon

Anyway, it was an awesome show. Oh, and I got the tee with the silkscreened b/w photo of a young Waters jammin' on the bass. So cool!

I'm a big fan of their music. I enjoyed your review. Thanks Don.

It has also become painfully apparent that about the only people who become liberals are those who see themselves as failures in life and/or cowards. They want the government to support them from the fruits of others' labors, but are afraid they might be called on one day to support that same country in time of war.

Who knew George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and all their Carlyle/Haliburton buddies were liberals?