Drinking Liberally®

I got this email from Rep. Louise Slaughter, (D-NY) today. She is a KY native and long time former Louisville resident who moved to New York with her husband many years ago.

Do you think any of our Reps. would demand that the WH quit spying on us illegally? Hahahahahahaha.

Time for Bush to turn over his papers re. Spying on Americans
Friday December 23, 2005

By the way, thanks to all of you for all the feedback and comments to my email when I urged you to sign my petition to hold Hearings in the House demanding answers on Bush’s spying on American citizens. Believe me we are going over all of your comments and feedback. If you haven’t signed my petition yet, please join thousands of other Americans who have signed it already, by going here.

Anyways, here is the text of the resolution (H.RES. 644) I submitted in the House:

RESOLUTION

Requesting the President and directing the Attorney General to transmit to the House of Representatives not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution documents in the possession of those officials relating to the authorization of electronic surveillance of citizens of the United States without court approved warrants.

Resolved, That the President is requested and the Attorney General is directed to transmit to the House of Representatives not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution all documents in the possession of the President and the Attorney General relating to the authorization of electronic surveillance of United States persons (as such terms are defined in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801)) conducted without warrants approved by a court of the United States and any instructions for handling such documents, including—
(1) all records setting forth or discussing policies, procedures, or guidelines regarding the authorization by the President or other officials of the Federal Government of electronic surveillance of United States persons without court approved warrants;

(2) all records pertaining to the Constitutional prohibition on unreasonable searches as it relates to the authority to conduct electronic surveillance of United States persons with out a court approved warrant;

(3) all records pertaining to the authority to conduct electronic surveillance of United States persons without court approved warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978;

(4) all records relating to the authorization of electronic surveillance of United States persons by an official of the Federal Government other than the President without a court approved warrant;

(5) all records of communication between the President or other officials of the Federal Government and Congress, or a member or committee of Congress, pertaining to the authorization of electronic surveillance of United States persons without court approved warrants;

(6) all records indicating or discussing the number of United States persons for which electronic surveillance was authorized without a court approved warrant;

(7) all records indicating or discussing the number of citizens of the United States for which electronic surveillance was authorized without a court approved warrant;

8) all records indicating or discussing the budget or cost of carrying out electronic surveillance of United States persons without court approved warrants; and

(9) all records indicating or discussing the number of staff involved in the authorization or execution of electronic surveillance of United States persons without court approved warrants.

Thank you again for making me feel so welcome to this community. Keep up the good fight. Happy Holidays to y’all.

Posted by vicki at 05:15 PM

W thinks he's Queen of DL all of a sudden. He crashes us every week. Well we've got news for that punk! WE'RE the Kings and Queens of DL, and not the kind GW appears to be in that pic. Heh.

What next, is he going to show up like some super secret spy agent or something?

Posted by vicki at 11:59 PM

James Wolcott answers the nagging question about what is behind the intensely rabid reaction from the right wingnuts to liberals who are anti-war and anti-torture. His explanation is quite insightful.

Headhunters
Posted by James Wolcott

The dainty stench of burnt envy drew me to the comments section of Little Green Footballs, where I found my reputation and personhood under mass grubworm assault. I don't know you've ever ventured into the subterranean underworld that is LGF's comments section, but it's sort of like a disorganized Nuremberg Rally, a lot of angry ruffians with nowhere to go lacking something better to do.

The catalyst for this impromptu rally was my clinical diagnosis of Daniel Pipes as "a patronizing little shit," which seemed to displease the footballers, not that any of them bothered to acquaint themselves with the causus belli (Pipes' pipsqueak character smear of Muhammed Ali). Then again, the poor dears don't seem to know the difference between an ocelot and an ocicat, another indictment of the limitations of home schooling.

This one sentence amid all that writhing distemper leapt out at me:

"May he [i.e., me] be kidnapped by 'insurgents' in Iraq then appear on an ugly net broadcast. I wonder, if in the moment before the knife started sawing into his fleashy neck if he might rethink his opinions on the GWOT."

He later corrected the spelling to "fleshy," lest anyone think I possess a flashy neck.

This sentence leapt out not only because it was directed at yours truly but because it fits a pattern of measel spots I've discerned.

More and more the rightwing militant "anti-idiotarians" (as they deludedly think of themselves)have been relishing the prospect of antiwar figures undergoing the Daniel Pearl treatment. They keep bringing it up as the retribution that'll deliver certain choice heads on a platter. In a sick irony, Daniel Pearl's marytrdom has provided a negative inspiration to certain super patriots professing to fight for truth, justice, and the American way.

For example, Anna Benson, the bodacious wife of a Mets pitcher, recently burst her bodice giving full lusty cry to an aria painting the glorious prospect of Michael Moore's neck being used as a log.

"You are a selfish, pathetic excuse for an American, and you can take your big fat ass over to Iraq and get your pig head cut off and stuck on a pig pole. Then, you can have your equally as fat wife make a documentary about how loudly you squealed while terrorists were cutting through all the blubber and chins to get that 40 pound head off of you."

And just this morning, the day after Christmas and the second day of Hannukah, blogdom's zestiest Zionist party girl elevated the discourse by dismissing the concerns of legal scholars perturbed about Bush's domestic spying thusly:

"Someone ought to tlell those legal scholars not to worry.......it's smooth sailing once those Radical Islmonazis saw through their jugulars."

(Her excitable italics.)

Civilized people were appalled, disgusted, and sobered by the vicious execution of Daniel Pearl, and the beheadings that followed. But many of the warbloggers are not civilized people. It is clear that despite their sincere protestations of horror, rage, and pity, the execution of Daniel Pearl aroused them on some primitive, subconscious level. They got off on it. It functioned as death porn to their seething, frustrated psyches. (Frustrated, because the war in Iraq simply hasn't gone the way they thought it would or should. They have been denied the glorious clearcut victory they craved.) The beheading ritual tapped into their sadistic impulses, and excited their own fantasies of torturing their foes. When rightwing bloggers and posters conjure that under Islam, Democrats--which they've come to call dhimmicrats--will get what's coming to them (i.e., the business end of a butcher's blade), it's as if it's a horrible fate that couldn't possibly happen to them*--because it's a death wish directed outward. The Islamic terrorists serve as proxies and stand-ins in this imaginary theater of cruelty, enacting what they (the warbloggers) would like to mete out to us (their domestic adversaries). Sometimes the punishment they seek is more Jacobean, as when Michael Fumento greeted Cindy Sheehan's threat to tie herself to the fence in Crawford, Texas to protest the 2000th military death in Iraq with the sentiment, Good, let her lash herself to the fence: "Leave her there and maybe the crows will do the world a favor and eat her tongue out."

It's no accident that it is the rightwing bloggers and pundits who have been avid about defending the use of torture against suspected terrorists. Nor is it an accident that many of them pooh-poohed Abu Ghraib, sluffing it off as no more harmless than fraternity hazing. But what their decapitation odes reveal is that what they'd really like to do is permit torture closer to home. Domesticate it. Trivialize it. Completely destigmatize it as a tool of the state.

I don't worry about this being actually implemented, though I worry fractionally more every day. I'm interested in it more as a pathological rash afflicting the more rabid warbloggers. It's a sign of impotence, this lurid fury of theirs. It bugs the hell out of them that those of us who opposed the war have turned out to be right. It thwarts the hell out of them that Ward Churchill still has tenure, that they couldn't convict Sami Al-Arian down in Florida, and that their latest purple-finger festival fizzled out so soon. If postwar Iraq swirls down the drain, they'll be looking for someone to blame, and since they never blame themselves for anything (a bedrock neoconservative trait), they leaves nobody here but us chickens. I dread to think of the imaginary punishments they'll devise for us appeasers, turncoats, and traitors; I'm sure they'll be quite vivid. I may have to quarantine myself from these sites to preserve my serene disposition.

(*as another LGF poster put it: "Funny thing, the liberal mindset: expend all energy on phantom 'enemys', meanwhile the real enemy pounds at the fucking gate, ready to chop off their heads." Note: "their," not "our." LGF'ers have a touching faith in the undetachablility of their own heads under the grisly Islamofascism they spend so many hours daydreaming about.)
12.26.05 5:04PM

Posted by vicki at 02:26 PM

I've been meaning to mention this book store for months now, but just ran accross it now in trying reign in my massive email spread over several accounts. Oy. I'm not organized.

ops@destinationsbooksellers.com

This is the website of one of our friends from Rich O's. It is really cool. Check it out.

Posted by vicki at 12:22 AM

Bush Confidante Finds Latest Role to Be Uphill Battle

By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Published: December 26, 2005

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 - Eager for a chance to spread good news from Iraq, Karen P. Hughes, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, sent a team to Baghdad last month to promote Iraq's elections to the world's news media. This past week, at a senior staff meeting, she outlined the limits of the team's success.

Analysts monitor Arab news media in a response program started by Karen P. Hughes, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy.

"Would any of you like to guess what was driving the commentary and all the chatter in all the talk shows in Western Europe that weekend?" Ms. Hughes said she asked. "You know what it was? It was the death penalty case in California!"

She was referring to Stanley Tookie Williams, the Los Angeles gang leader turned peace activist who was executed on Dec. 13, two days before a booming turnout of 11 million Iraqis went to the polls in what the administration said was a major vindication of its policies.

It was a reminder that Ms. Hughes's job - to improve the image of the United States and expand support for its policies abroad - is an uphill battle. A poll by the Pew Research Center this year found that the United States remained "broadly disliked" not only in the Middle East, but also in Europe and Asia.

"This is a big job with a lot of different moving pieces," Ms. Hughes, President Bush's confidante and former communications director, said in an interview four months after taking office. "Ed Murrow once famously said that there's no cash register that rings when a mind is changed. But I think over the long haul we can begin to shape a better perception in the Middle East."

Mr. Murrow, the legendary CBS News journalist, headed the United States Information Agency, which was folded into the State Department in the late 1990's. That is the function Ms. Hughes now fills, with unusually strong political credentials that have made some at the State Department worry that she might try to spin complex foreign policy issues to enhance American standing overseas.

In some ways, the job got harder after she took it, with the widespread concern in Europe over torture and the American practice of rendition, or transferring terrorist suspects to other countries.

These practices are based on policies set by the Defense Department and intelligence agencies but left for the State Department to defend around the world, even though the facts are classified and impermissible for Ms. Hughes to talk about in much detail.

"This involves something that is primarily administered by another agency, O.K.?" Ms. Hughes said. "It's a challenging issue, and there's disagreement about it." In general, she said, "it's fair to say that public diplomacy is now at the table at all high-level policy discussions."

There were mixed reviews for Ms. Hughes's first Middle East trip, in September, where she repeated talking points, introduced herself as "a mom" and was confronted by criticism of the war in Iraq and American support for Israel. Some regional commentators described her as patronizing.

Ms. Hughes, on the other hand, said some colleagues told her that her main mistake was having taken American reporters. Breaking into laughter that reached serious decibel levels, she added: "I went home to Austin and my friends, they were all like, 'Are you O.K.?' I said I thought it was a great trip. They were all very worried about me. People in my church said they were praying for me!"

Still, some students of public diplomacy gave her credit for trying and for listening to her critics.

"I think she's doing far better than her predecessors," said Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland. "Because of her closeness to the president, she has real influence on policy. The problem is that she and her staff still lack real expertise in the Middle East."

Mr. Telhami noted that most of the hostility toward the United States was reaction to its policies, but that Ms. Hughes was to be commended for trying to provide more forceful explanations for those policies.

According to its own records, the number of media interviews at the State Department in Arabic has doubled to about 100 this year, and the department has increased its budget for cultural and educational exchanges by 20 percent, including sending New Orleans jazz bands to 15 countries to thank them for their help after the hurricanes.
[/end snip]

You can read the rest here.

What I find all too familiar is the fact that this WH never corrects mistakes or tries to right wrongs. Instead, they try to change perspective (reality) by "spinning" and planting false stories in the media. How scary is that? They even monior chat rooms in the Middle East. They probably pay people there to plant talking points on them, too.

Posted by vicki at 10:32 PM

This is the life sized cutout of Boosh that Steffi and Brandon gave me for the HOLIDAYS. We've been writing Drinking Liberally grafitti and defacing that idiot to great hilarity. Hell, he's abused the Constitiuion, ruined our country's good name and screwed our children's future, so why shouldn't we take out our frustrations on him?

The funny thing is, this cut-out is in the office area of the basement where I do my "work" and our dogs are always at my side. After the kids brought the Bu$h man down, the dogs howled, barked and acted frightened of that crazy man. It was a riot for a while until my smallest dog howled for the longest time and then began shaking uncontrolably. We had to put the preznit in the bathroom (how appropriate) to calm them down. They still won't enter any room where that scary man is. Heh. I understand perfectly.

Posted by vicki at 09:44 PM

Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report

By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN [New York Times]
Published: December 24, 2005
WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity, according to current and former government officials.

The volume of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks, without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged, the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries, they said.

As part of the program approved by President Bush for domestic surveillance without warrants, the N.S.A. has gained the cooperation of American telecommunications companies to obtain backdoor access to streams of domestic and international communications, the officials said.

The government's collection and analysis of phone and Internet traffic have raised questions among some law enforcement and judicial officials familiar with the program. One issue of concern to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has reviewed some separate warrant applications growing out of the N.S.A.'s surveillance program, is whether the court has legal authority over calls outside the United States that happen to pass through American-based telephonic "switches," according to officials familiar with the matter.

"There was a lot of discussion about the switches" in conversations with the court, a Justice Department official said, referring to the gateways through which much of the communications traffic flows. "You're talking about access to such a vast amount of communications, and the question was, How do you minimize something that's on a switch that's carrying such large volumes of traffic? The court was very, very concerned about that."

Much more in the article. I knew we were being spied upon.
Read it here

Posted by vicki at 09:50 AM

As soon as I can figure our why I can't upload the GW in drag pics, I'll put them up. In the meantime here's an oldie.

Posted by vicki at 03:58 PM

As some of you may now know, Democrats have a candidate to run against U.S. Rep. Anne Northup, R-3rd District.

Louisville lawyer Andrew Horne, 44, a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve who served in the Iraq War and the Persian Gulf War, said at the Democratic Holiday Party on Wednesday that he will take on the five-term congresswoman next year.

As you may also know, Northup has over one million dollars in her war chest, and is ready to brutally suppress any and all challengers. An initial look at Lt. Col. Horne’s views indicates that he is much more progressive than Rep. Northup. Lt. Col. Horne is a common sense alternative to Northup. Northup has repeatedly voted with the fiscally irresponsible policies of the Republican Congress and the corrupt Bush administration. She has blindly supported his
flawed policies, and has taken money from the corrupt political machine run by Tom Delay.

It is in the interests of any 3rd District citizen to be represented by an elected official who is not controlled by corporate special interests. Unfortunately Northup has chosen over the years to make her stand with the big money, cutting taxes for the wealthy and well-connected while cutting services for common folks like us.

I believe that the only way the folks in this district will win back this seat and get true representation is to put up or shut up. We have to back a candidate who will speak with our voice, not the megaphone of the rich and powerful. We have to put up our own hard-earned money against theirs; ten bucks here, a twenty there, and with thousands of us donating, we can counter the piles of political monies that are being used to control our community. We have to donate a few hours every week all the way up to the 2006 election so that our hard work and conviction can defeat the hired muscle that the elites will be sending into our town.

Because I believe these things, I am launching a grassroots fundraising campaign for the last few days of December. It is called “A Little Something under the Tree for Lt. Col. Horne.” I am asking all grassroots activists, Democrats, Greens, Independents, and anyone who believes in fiscal responsibility, justice, and good government (including ticked-off Republicans) to slip a few bucks under the tree for a challenger who will represent the people.

The best way to make your donation now: You can make a check payable to the Louisville Jefferson County Democratic Party and write a separate note asking the party to support Lt. Col. Horne and mail it now. (Do not write in the comments section on the check.) By law, you must supply your full name, address, specific occupation, and employer. Please also supply your phone number so that if you have left any information out, the party can call you to
get it. Ordinarily we would prefer that you send donations directly to
candidates rather than a party, but Lt. Col. Horne's campaign does not yet have donation options.

Your Christmas present to Lt. Col. Horne will really be a present to yourself. Why? We know the old saying that “those who give shall receive” doesn’t seem to come true as often as we would hope, but in Christmas 2006 when you have real representation by the people’s candidate instead of the oligarchs’ candidate, you will have reaped the rewards of your early giving.

Furthermore, a strong progressive candidate at the top of the ticket will help good candidates all the way down the ticket, so your gift is one that will keep on giving – to a lot of good candidates, and in turn, to you.

I hope you will see things my way and put a little something under the tree this year for Lt. Col. Andrew Horne, the next 3rd Congressional District Representative!

Michael Bailey
co-organizer DFA Change for Louisville

(Some notes about donating to the candidate: The contribution must be made
from your own funds and not those of another; and not made from the general
treasury funds of a corporation, labor organization or national bank. You
should not be a Federal government contractor, or a foreign national who lacks
permanent resident status in the United States. If using a credit card, this
contribution must be made on a personal credit or debit card for which you
have the legal obligation to pay, and made neither on a corporate or business
entity card nor on the card of another.

Until we hear otherwise from the Horne campaign, I recommend that all
donations be sent to Democratic HQ, 901 Barret Ave., Louisville KY 40204,
502-582-1999. Make sure to include the additional note mentioned above, and to
make the check out to the Louisville Jefferson County Democratic Party.)

Posted by vicki at 01:17 PM

The Times just wished us a Merry Christmas....errr happy hollandaise.

Lobbyist Is Said to Discuss Plea and Testimony


By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: December 21, 2005

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist under criminal investigation, has been discussing with prosecutors a deal that would grant him a reduced sentence in exchange for testimony against former political and business associates, people with detailed knowledge of the case say.

Mr. Abramoff is believed to have extensive knowledge of what prosecutors suspect is a wider pattern of corruption among lawmakers and Congressional staff members. One participant in the case who insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations described him as a "unique resource."

Other people involved in the case or who have been officially briefed on it said the talks had reached a tense phase, with each side mindful of the date Jan. 9, when Mr. Abramoff is scheduled to stand trial in Miami in a separate prosecution.

What began as a limited inquiry into $82 million of Indian casino lobbying by Mr. Abramoff and his closest partner, Michael Scanlon, has broadened into a far-reaching corruption investigation of mainly Republican lawmakers and aides suspected of accepting favors in exchange for legislative work.

Prominent party officials, including the former House majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, are under scrutiny involving trips and other gifts from Mr. Abramoff and his clients. The case has shaken the Republican establishment, with the threat of testimony from Mr. Abramoff, once a ubiquitous and well-connected Republican star, sowing anxiety throughout the party ranks.

At issue is the complicated structure of the case against Mr. Abramoff. In August, he was indicted by federal prosecutors in Miami on charges of fraud stemming from his purchase of a fleet of casino boats in 2000. He pleaded not guilty in that case, and his lawyers say they are preparing him to stand trial. Mr. Abramoff has also been under investigation here in connection with his lobbying. No charges have been brought against him in that inquiry. The existence of what amounts to two separate but overlapping investigations partly explains why the plea negotiations for Mr. Abramoff have been so protracted and tough, said people with inside knowledge of the case.

With the trial in Miami fast approaching, and coming on the heels of plea agreements from Mr. Scanlon and another close associate of Mr. Abramoff, pressure has mounted to reach his own agreement. Mr. Abramoff has also told associates that he is broke, making the prospect of an extended jury trial even less appealing.

Mr. Abramoff's the lead defense lawyer, Abbe D. Lowell, said he would not comment.

Several people involved in various aspects of the case agreed to be interviewed as long as their names and affiliations were not made public. Justice Department officials are prohibited from discussing continuing cases as a matter of course. A spokesman for the department, Bryan Sierra, declined to comment.

Although the Miami case is ostensibly separate from the Washington inquiry, the overlapping elements include occasions when Mr. Abramoff flexed his political muscle to enhance his business deal in Florida.

While he and a partner, Adam Kidan, were angling to buy the SunCruz boat fleet in 2000, Mr. Abramoff had Mr. Scanlon persuade Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, to insert negative comments about a business rival of Mr. Abramoff into The Congressional Record, under to a scheme outlined in documents filed in Mr. Scanlon's criminal case.

The rival, Konstantinos Boulis, was murdered a short time later in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a twist that heightened the profile of the Miami case.

Florida prosecutors are also investigating corruption in that case, focusing on Mr. Ney and his chief of staff at the time, Neil Volz, according to people involved in the case. Mr. Volz reportedly agreed to put negative remarks about Mr. Boulis in The Congressional Record, even though Mr. Ney had no obvious reason to comment on Mr. Boulis.

Mr. Volz went on to work for Mr. Abramoff as a lobbyist.

Mr. Ney has said he was tricked by Mr. Scanlon and Mr. Abramoff into participating, and no charges have been brought against him.

In his financial paperwork in the Miami deal, Mr. Abramoff listed Tony C. Rudy, a deputy chief of staff to Mr. DeLay at the time, as a reference.

He also listed Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Republican of California, who has since defended the decision to support the lobbyist.

Lawyers for Mr. Volz, Mr. Ney and Mr. Rudy did not return calls for comment. A lawyer for Mr. DeLay declined to comment, but spokesmen for Mr. DeLay have repeatedly said he had done nothing improper.

Such ties are only at the periphery of the investigations, according to people briefed on the case. Mr. Scanlon, who worked on public affa irs for the SunCruz casinos and is familiar with the inner workings of many of Mr. Abramoff's deals, is cooperating in the Miami case as well as in Washington, his lawyer has said.

Prosecutors are also looking at how some former Congressional staff members landed their lucrative lobbying positions and at the role the wives of several lobbyists and lawmakers may have had in any influence scheme, a piece of the puzzle that investigators have begun referring to privately as the wives club.

[/end article]

Wow. This is powerful They have the real goods on these folks. Our local rep, ANNE THE TERRIBLE, is close to Delay. Her fundraising often includes a follow up message from Tommy boy.

Posted by vicki at 11:01 PM

This week is shaping up to be a VERY Merry Christmas...

The House HAS INTRODUCED THREE resolutions by John Conyers, et. al.
mostly based on the following very exhaustive report and info..
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/iraqrept.html

the three are.. From the BRAD BLOG

The three House Resolutions created along with the report, were filed in the House on Sunday. Links to the complete draft text of each Resolution, and the introductory paragraph for each follow:

-- H.R. 635 [PDF], Resolution calling for creation of a "Select Committee":
http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/hres635.pdf
Creating a select committee to investigate the Administration's intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, retaliating against critics, and thwarting congressional oversight, and to make recommendations regarding grouns for impeachment.

-- H.R. 636 [PDF], Resolution calling for Censure of George W. Bush:
http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/hres636.pdf
Censuring President George W. Bush for failing to respond to requests for information concerning allegations that he and others in his Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq, misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for the war, counteananced torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of persons in Iraq, and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of his Administration, for failing to adequately account for specific misstatements he made regarding the war, and for failing to comply with Executive Order 12958.

-- H.R. 637 [PDF], Resolution calling for Censure of Richard B. Cheney:
http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/hres637.pdf

Censuring Vice President Richard B. Cheney for failing to respond to requests for information concerning allegations that he and others in the Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq, misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for the war, countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of persons in Iraq, and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of the Administration and for failing to adequately account for specific misstatements he made regarding the war.

With this added pressure from Congress, the Repugs can kiss thier agenda goodbye.. If this pressure holds until next fall, then the house could swing to the Dems and Bushie is in REAL peril of impeachment...

It's a GREAT time to be a liberal....

Posted by Mojo at 03:43 PM | Comments (1)

I found this at Attywood.com

Read it and weep. Or Cry. Or Flip out.

"All the news that's fit to print" -- except when it's about us

The New York Times has been scooped (again) tonight -- on a big national story with sweeping significance. But now, it's not on CIA black prisons (that was the Washington Post) or the Pentagon's paid propaganda in Iraq (broken by the L.A. Times).

This time, the scoop is about a top secret meeting in the Oval Office, involving President Bush...and the two top officials of the New York Times. For the last four days, the Times has been writing about the domestic spying program of the Bush Administration, and they did indeed report that the newspaper's story was held for a year, give or take.

But not once in its coverage did the Times mention that publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and executive editor Bill Keller were summoned to the White House on Dec. 6, 13 days ago, in a last-ditch bid to get the newspaper to kill the story, which tonight has some members of Congress talking about impeachment.

No, for that morsel of news, we had to go to Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, who is reporting this tonight:

No wonder Bush was so desperate that The New York Times not publish its story on the National Security Agency eavesdropping on American citizens without a warrant, in what lawyers outside the administration say is a clear violation of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. I learned this week that on December 6, Bush summoned Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger and executive editor Bill Keller to the Oval Office in a futile attempt to talk them out of running the story. The Times will not comment on the meeting, but one can only imagine the president’s desperation.

Maybe it's because we don't operate at such exalted levels of journalism, but we can't imagine why Keller and Sulzberger (a former reporter) would agree to meet Bush off-the-record, which is the only "excuse" we could imagine for not reporting on -- or even commenting on -- the meeting.

Of course, they wouldn't want to discuss it before the spying story appeared on Friday -- but what's the reason now? Scooter Libby, Ahmed Chalabi, George W. Bush -- is there anyone connected with the White House that they haven't covered for at some point? As we said last week, didn't the Judy Miller matter teach them anything about transparency.

What's more, this strikes us as yet another bizarre case of secrecy at "the paper of record." Remember when Miller was finally released from jail? Remember reading about it, on all places, on the web site of the Philadelphia Inquirer?

Of course, there's a flip side to this. The Times is to be congratulated for finally not buckling to pressure from the White House -- direct pressure, as it turns out -- and for running the story. It's just a damn shame that their scoop is so tarnished by the year's delay and now by the paper's excessive secrecy.

Since the article was published, Bush has given two speeches and answered questions in a lengthy news conference. Keller has issued a short written statement.

When George W. Bush is now more open than you are, that's a problem.

Posted by vicki at 02:23 AM | Comments (3)

I don't know who is advising Boosh to give all these moronic speeches, but they frighten me. The guy is mad as a hatter. One minute he is contrite, the next he is combatitive and threatening. He actually had the gall to rant about how irresponsible it was for the Times to leak info that he was illegally spying on U.S. citizens.

Here is an editorial for your reading pleasure:

Editorial: Big Brother Bush / The president took a step toward a police state
Sunday, December 18, 2005

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Bush administration is continuing its assault on Americans' privacy and freedom in the name of the war on terrorism.

First, in 2002, according to extensive reporting in The New York Times on Friday, it secretly authorized the National Security Agency to intercept and keep records of Americans' international phone and e-mail messages without benefit of a previously required court order. Second, it has permitted the Department of Defense to get away with not destroying after three months, as required, records of American Iraq war protesters in the Pentagon's Threat and Local Observation Notice, or TALON, database.

Both practices mean that a government agency is maintaining information on Americans, reminiscent of the Johnson and Nixon administrations' approach to Vietnam War protesters. The existence of those records should be seen against a background of the Bush administration's response to criticism of the Iraq war by retired Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson. His wife's career at the CIA was ended in revenge for an article he wrote unmasking a dodgy piece of intelligence that President Bush had used in a State of the Union message to seek to support his decision to go to war.

It appears that the phone and e-mail messages of thousands of Americans and foreigners resident in America have been or are being monitored and recorded by the NSA. Such action is not supposed to be taken without an application to and an order approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Mr. Bush issued an executive order in 2002, months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack, removing -- secretly -- that legal safeguard of Americans' privacy and civil rights.

The Pentagon's action as part of TALON will be put forward as an oversight, but the idea of the Department of Defense maintaining files on American war protesters, perhaps with easy cross-reference to the NSA's records based on the results of their monitoring of phone calls and e-mails of potentially those same protesters, makes possible a very serious violation of Americans' civil rights.

Without a serious leap of imagination, particularly with the list of those under surveillance not available to anyone outside the NSA and the Pentagon, it is also possible to project that political critics of the Bush administration could end up among those being tracked. The Nixon administration, a previous Republican administration beleaguered by war critics, maintained "enemies lists."

The White House needs to tell the Pentagon promptly to destroy the records of protesters as required, within three months. It also needs promptly to tell the NSA to return to following the rules, to get the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before monitoring Americans' communications. The idea that all of this is being done to us in the name of national security doesn't wash; that is the language of a police state. Those are the unacceptable actions of a police state.

Posted by vicki at 04:20 PM | Comments (1)

Well, the site is finally back up. Woo Hoo! Don't know what happened but we're back in business just in time to document the latest Boosh atrocities.

Here is the most unusual take I've seen on W's admission that he spies on American citizens without seeking court ordered warrants.

by Larry Johnson

The revelation that the National Security Agency was allowed to conduct non-FISA intercepts of American citizens should bring last summer's hearing on John Bolton's nomination to the United Nations back into focus. As Legal times noted in September of this year, "During the confirmation hearings of John Bolton as the U.S. representative to the United Nations, it came to light that the NSA had freely revealed intercepted conversations of U.S. citizens to Bolton while he served at the State Department. . . . More generally, Newsweek reports that from January 2004 to May 2005, the NSA supplied intercepts and names of 10,000 U.S. citizens to policy-makers at many departments, other U.S. intelligence services, and law enforcement agencies."
We still don't know who he was looking at and what information was contained in those intercepts. More importantly, were they legally obtained? In light of the latest revelation, we have another possible explanation why the Bush Administration fought so strenuously to keep those intercepts secret and out of the hearing. Snooping without judicial review is wrong and must be punished.

Dec 16, 2005 -- 02:26:20 PM EST

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/12/16/142620/20

Posted by vicki at 08:56 AM | Comments (2)

Man, does he love to drink, or what? *Dive* right in, George!

I saw this in the CJ. Id' add BuSh to the top of the list!

The Buzz
Star picks tackiest of 2005
Is anyone surprised that Bobby & Whitney top Star magazine's list of tackiest celebrity couples? Readers chose Tom & Katie for the second-place "honors." They must have missed W making an ass of himself at DL last week.

Posted by vicki at 04:57 PM

We couldn't keep *W* away from the white stuff last week. Maybe he'll be under better control this week. Or not.

Thanks for the pic, Debby!

Posted by vicki at 10:48 AM | Comments (2)

W. Won't Read This


By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: December 14, 2005
WASHINGTON

Never ask a guy who's in a bubble if he's in a bubble. He can't answer.

'Cause he's in a bubble.

But the NBC anchor Brian Williams gamely gave it a shot, showing the president the Newsweek cover picturing him trapped in a bubble.

"This says you're in a bubble," Brian told W. "You have a very small circle of advisers now. Is that true? Do you feel in a bubble?"

"No, I don't feel in a bubble," Bubble Boy replied, unable to see the bubble because he's in it. "I feel like I'm getting really good advice from very capable people and that people from all walks of life have informed me and informed those who advise me." He added, "I'm very aware of what's going on."

He swiftly contradicted himself by admitting that "this is the first time I'm seeing this magazine" - his version of his dad's Newsweek "Wimp Factor" cover - and that he doesn't read newsmagazines.

The anchor and the anchorite spent a few anodyne moments probing the depths of what it's like to be president. "I just talked to the president-elect of Honduras," W. said. "A lot of my job is foreign policy, and I spend an enormous amount of time with leaders from other countries."

Brian struggled to learn whether W. read anything except one-page memos. Talking about his mom, Bubble Boy returned to the idea of the bubble: "If I'm in a bubble, well, if there is such thing as a bubble, she's the one who can penetrate it."

"I'll tell the guys at Newsweek," the anchor said impishly.

"Is that who put the bubble story?" W. asked. First he didn't know about it, and now he's forgotten it already? That's the alluring, memory-cleansing beauty of the bubble.

The idea that W. is getting good advice from very capable people is silly - administration officials have blown it on everything from the occupation and natural disasters to torture. In the bubble, they can torture while saying they don't. They can pretend that Iraqi forces are stronger than they are. They can try to frighten people with talk of Al Qaeda's dream of a new Islamic caliphate - their latest attempt to scare Americans into supporting the war they ginned up.

"Whether or not it needed to happen," the president told the anchor, "I'm still convinced it needed to happen." The Bubble Boy can even contradict himself and not notice.

W.'s contention that he's informed by people from all walks of life is a joke, as is his wacky assertion that he can "reach out" to the public more than Abraham Lincoln because he has Air Force One. Lincoln actually went to the front in his war, with Minié balls whizzing by. No phony turkey for him.

The president may fly over all walks of life in Air Force One or drive by them and hide behind dark-tinted windows. In his bubble, he floats through a comforting world of doting women, respectful military audiences, loyal Republican donors and screened partisan groups - with protesters, Democrats, journalists, critics and coffins of dead soldiers kept at bay.

(He has probably even been shielded from the outrage of John and Stacey Holley, both Army veterans, who were shocked to learn that their only child, Matthew, killed in Iraq, would be arriving in San Diego as freight on a commercial airliner.)

Jack Murtha, a hawkish Democrat close to the Pentagon who supported both wars against Iraq waged by the Bushes, has been braying against the Bush isolation. He told Newsweek that a letter he wrote to the president making suggestions about how to fight the Iraq war was ignored for seven months, then brushed off by a deputy under secretary of defense. Even after he went public, he still did not get a call from the White House.

"If they talked to people," he said, "they wouldn't get these outbursts."

Mr. Murtha told Rolling Stone that the administration's deafness had doomed Iraq: "Everything we did was mishandled. Plans that the military and the State Department had in place - they ignored 'em. The military tells me that when they were planning the invasion, the administration wouldn't let one of the primary three-star generals in the room."

The president's bubble requires constant care. It's not easy to keep out huge tragedies like Katrina, or flawed policies like Iraq. As Newsweek noted, a foreign diplomat "was startled when Secretary of State Rice warned him not to lay bad news on the president. 'Don't upset him,' she said."

Heaven forbid. Don't burst his bubble.

Posted by vicki at 07:56 AM | Comments (1)

Prosecutor issues subpoenas in DeLay case

SUZANNE GAMBOA

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A Texas prosecutor has issued subpoenas for bank records and other information of a defense contractor involved in the bribery case of a California congressman as part of the investigation of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

District Attorney Ronnie Earle issued subpoenas late Monday afternoon for California businessmen Brent Wilkes and Max Gelwix, records of Perfect Wave Technologies LLC, Wilkes Corp. and ADCS Inc. in connection with a contribution to a fundraising committee at the center of the investigation that led to DeLay's indictment on money laundering charges.

Perfect Wave contributed $15,000 in September 20, 2002 to Texans for a Republican Majority, a fundraising committee founded by DeLay, R-Texas.

Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned in late November after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes to steer defense contracts to companies.

On Tuesday, Earle subpoenaed written testimony DeLay and two others gave in a 1994 lawsuit brought by DeLay's former pest control business partner. Ex-partner Robert Blankenship alleged in the suit that he was unjustly cut out of the business by DeLay and another man. The lawsuit ended in a confidential settlement in 1995.

DeLay gave differing stories about whether he was an officer of Albo Pest Control Co. during his deposition and when he filed a financial disclosure document with the House.

"He can subpoena all he wants, there's nothing there," said DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin. "I think he's trying to dig himself out of a hole. We're not concerned about it."

The subpoenas also seek correspondence and internal accounting records.

Wilkes, head of Wilkes Corp., is one of four unnamed coconspirators listed in Cunningham's plea agreement, Wilkes' attorney, Michael Lipman of San Diego, has said. Lipman did not immediately return calls for comment.

Defense contractor ADCS and Perfect Wave Technologies are subsidiaries of Wilkes Corp.

Gelwix was listed in federal campaign records last year as president and CEO of Perfect Wave Technologies. A message left at his office was not immediately returned.

Wilkes' company also hired Alexander Strategies, a consulting firm that employed DeLay's wife Christine. His private jet company, Group W Transportation, provided flights to DeLay three times. DeLay reimbursed Group W as required, records show.

DeLay was forced to step aside as majority leader in late November after he was indicted on state charges of conspiracy to violate Texas election laws. A second grand jury indicted him on charges of conspiracy to launder money and money laundering charges.

The initial charges have been dismissed, but a judge has let stand the latter charges and DeLay faces possible trial on them.

Earle alleges that DeLay and two coconspirators funneled $190,000 in corporate contributions through the Texas political committee and an arm of the National Republican Committee to seven GOP state legislative candidates.

Earle alleges DeLay and his two associates were trying to circumvent Texas' law prohibiting spending corporate money on campaigns, except for administrative expenses.

DeLay, who denies wrongdoing, has been pressing for a quick resolution to his case so he can regain his majority leader job before his colleagues call for new leadership elections.

But Earle on Monday asked a judge to halt DeLay's trial while he appeals the dismissal of the conspiracy charge. The judge in the case has said he is unlikely to move forward with the case while the district attorney appeals, but set a pretrial hearing for Dec. 27.

__

Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.

Oh, these guys are filthy.

Posted by vicki at 12:59 AM | Comments (1)

The Fat headed Gov. of Caleefonya has denied a stay of execution for reformed gang member, "Tookie" Williams. Ahhhnold would rather see a guy fry than show that justice can be rendered with mercy. He could have commuted the sentence to life without the possiblity of parole, but he chose to show how "tough" he is. What a coward.

Under our so called system of justice, many, many brown folks have been lynched before trial in the past and denied decent represention at their trials to this day. That alone should give Gov. Steroid something to think about.

The poster boy for all that is wrong with being a gang member will no longer have a voice to speak out to young gang member wannabes. Way to go, muscle boy. You chose vengence over leadership. Don't even bother running for re-election, loser.

Stanley "Tookie" Williams' execution will serve no other purpose than to satisfy the blood lust of death penalty proponents. He will write no more children's books, warn no future generations away from gang membership/violence and bring no murdered people back to life.

Some "Culture of Life" crowd we have. Will Bu$h and Sen. Frist rush to pass legislation to save his life as they did a brain dead woman, Terri Shiavo? Hahahahahahahaha.

And one last thing to think about: Look at how many people who have been exonorated by DNA evidence who were set for execution. It's a sure thing innocent men and women have gone to their death over false convictions. And they where nearly always poor and without expert lawyers. It makes me ashamed of our unequal *justice* system. Can we really live with that?

Posted by vicki at 03:37 PM | Comments (2)

OMG. I keep claiming I can no longer be shocked by anything Bu$hCo does and then I read this in the NYTimes.

[snip]

by Jeff Gerth

The media center in Fayetteville, N.C., would be the envy of any global communications company.

In state of the art studios, producers prepare the daily mix of music and news for the group's radio stations or spots for friendly television outlets. Writers putting out newspapers and magazines in Baghdad and Kabul converse via teleconferences. Mobile trailers with high-tech gear are parked outside, ready for the next crisis.

Bundles of newspapers await readers at a Baghdad newsstand. Iraqi readers expressed surprise some articles were written in the United States.

A group of Aghans listened to iPod-like devices, made by Zvox. They were paid for by the United States and contain civic messages consistent with American interests.
The center is not part of a news organization, but a military operation, and those writers and producers are soldiers. The 1,200-strong psychological operations unit based at Fort Bragg turns out what its officers call "truthful messages" to support the United States government's objectives, though its commander acknowledges that those stories are one-sided and their American sponsorship is hidden.

"We call our stuff information and the enemy's propaganda," said Col. Jack N. Summe, then the commander of the Fourth Psychological Operations Group, during a tour in June. Even in the Pentagon, "some public affairs professionals see us unfavorably," and inaccurately, he said, as "lying, dirty tricksters."

The recent disclosures that a Pentagon contractor in Iraq paid newspapers to print "good news" articles written by American soldiers prompted an outcry in Washington, where members of Congress said the practice undermined American credibility and top military and White House officials disavowed any knowledge of it. President Bush was described by Stephen J. Hadley, his national security adviser, as "very troubled" about the matter. The Pentagon is investigating.

But the work of the contractor, the Lincoln Group, was not a rogue operation. Hoping to counter anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world, the Bush administration has been conducting an information war that is extensive, costly and often hidden, according to documents and interviews with contractors, government officials and military personnel. [my emphasis]

The campaign was begun by the White House, which set up a secret panel soon after the Sept. 11 attacks to coordinate information operations by the Pentagon, other government agencies and private contractors.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the focus of most of the activities, the military operates radio stations and newspapers, but does not disclose their American ties. Those outlets produce news material that is at times attributed to the "International Information Center," an untraceable organization.

[/snip]

It gets much, much worse. The article is very long and detailed. You can read the entire article

here.

The WH can claim shock and awe all they want, but they've publicly stated (Rummy) that they intended to use propaganda, including false and misleading tales since shortly after 9/11. This article reads like Kafka meets Orwell.

Posted by vicki at 07:31 PM | Comments (1)

From the Guardian of London:

Oil industry targets EU climate policy

· US lobby seeks to derail Kyoto measures
· Documents show plan to sway post-2012 agenda

David Adam in Montreal
Thursday December 8, 2005
The Guardian

Lobbyists funded by the US oil industry have launched a campaign in Europe aimed at derailing efforts to tackle greenhouse gas pollution and climate change.

Documents obtained by Greenpeace and seen by the Guardian reveal a systematic plan to persuade European business, politicians and the media that the EU should abandon its commitments under the Kyoto protocol, the international agreement that aims to reduce emissions that lead to global warming. The disclosure comes as United Nations climate change talks in Montreal on the future of Kyoto, the first phase of which expires in 2012, enter a critical phase.

The documents, an email and a PowerPoint presentation, describe efforts to establish a European coalition to "challenge the course of the EU's post-2012 agenda". They were written by Chris Horner, a Washington DC lawyer and senior fellow at the rightwing thinktank, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which has received more than $1.3m (£750,000) funding from the US oil giant Exxon Mobil. Mr Horner also acts for the Cooler Heads Coalition, a group set up "to dispel the myth of global warming". [my emphasis]

The PowerPoint document sets out plans to establish a group called the European Sound Climate Policy Coalition. It says: "In the US an informal coalition has helped successfully to avert adoption of a Kyoto-style program. This model should be emulated, as appropriate, to guide similar efforts in Europe."

During the 1990s US oil companies and other corporations funded a group called the Global Climate Coalition, which emphasised uncertainties in climate science and disputed the need to take action. It was disbanded when President Bush pulled the US out of the Kyoto process. Its website now says: "The industry voice on climate change has served its purpose by contributing to a new national approach to global warming."

In January Sir Robert May, the former government chief scientist who stepped down as president of the Royal Society last week, warned in the Guardian that US lobby groups with links to the oil industry were turning their attention to the other side of the Atlantic. He wrote that a "lobby of professional sceptics who opposed action to tackle climate change" were targeting Britain because of its high profile in the debate.

Countries signed up to the Kyoto process have legal commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Oil and energy companies would be affected by these cuts because burning their products produce most emissions.

The PowerPoint document written by Mr Horner appears to be aimed at getting RWE, the German utility company, to join a European coalition of companies to act against Kyoto.

The document says: "The current political realities in Brussels open a window of opportunity to challenge the course of the EU's post-2012 agenda." It adds: "Brussels must openly acknowledge and address them willingly or through third party pressure."

It says industry associations are the "wrong way to do this" but suggests that a cross-industry coalition, of up to six companies each paying €10,000 (£6,700), could "counter the commission's Kyoto agenda". Such a coalition could help steer debate, it says, by targeting journalists and bloggers, as well as attending environmental group events to "share information on opposing viewpoints and tactics".

RWE says it met Mr Horner earlier this year but that they have not taken the idea forward.

In the email, dated January 28 this year, Mr Horner describes Europe as an "opportunity". He says it "would be like Neil Armstrong, it's a developing untapped frontier". He adds: "US companies need someone they can trust, and it's just a den of thieves over there." [end article]

Heh. It's nothing but a den of thieves, indeedy. How much more shame and destruction can we endure under Bu$hCo? Planting fake news and lying seems to be the only things they do competently. I am so ashamed of my government I wouldn't dare step foot on foreign soil again till this crackpot admin leaves office in shame. I'll gladly witness their trials in the Hague, though.

Posted by vicki at 10:42 PM | Comments (2)

This guy better not show up if he knows what's good for him.

Can't make it to the BBC? Starting at a few minutes after 7:00 drop a comment and we'll reply. Virtual DL!

Posted by vicki at 03:29 PM | Comments (7)

Has it really been 25 years since John Lennon was murdered? Where were you when you heard the news?

Here's a nice opinion piece from the Times:

A Final Record

By JACK MITCHELL
Published: December 8, 2005
TWENTY-FIVE years ago today, John Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This previously unpublished photograph was taken a little more than a month before his death.

Back in the 70's and 80's, I took many pictures of people in the arts, and I had been asked by The Times to photograph Lennon and Yoko Ono for a story about their new album, "Double Fantasy."

The session was to take place in my studio on East 74th Street on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 8 p.m. The couple, who had not been in a photography studio for five years, had insisted that I be alone - with no assistant, or anyone else, in my studio during the session. I put up a gray seamless backdrop because I had no idea what they would be wearing.

The two arrived about 15 minutes late, rang my buzzer and walked up to my second-floor studio. They were wearing sweaters, and they were by themselves.

In an effort to gauge how much time I was going to have, I asked John if this was a stop en route to dinner. He replied, laughing: "Dinner? I've not had breakfast yet!"

When we started the shoot, John and Yoko both kept their glasses on - she was wearing dark sunglasses and he had on tinted lenses. After four long-shot takes, I asked that the glasses be removed. I explained that I wanted to take some tight close-ups and needed to show their eyes.

They agreed - and from that point on the photographing went easily. They were both relaxed and agreeable to the poses I suggested. John was especially spontaneous and loose. He seemed to be having fun and laughed a lot.

During breaks John looked at the pictures hanging on the studio walls, admiring especially some portraits I'd done recently of Meryl Streep. He said he was a Meryl Streep groupie. He also liked, and petted, my ginger studio cat, Red.

It was apparent that John and Yoko were enjoying being photographed and were in no hurry to leave. But at 10:45 p.m., with eight rolls of black-and-white film and a half roll of color film shot, I suggested we had more than enough pictures and should stop.

I was scheduled to process the black-and-white rolls by midnight so a photo editor from the Times could pick up the contact sheets. But I was well over an hour late - largely because the couple stayed a while after the shoot.

John mentioned how comfortable he was in my simple, home-like studio and asked if he and Yoko could come back after the first of the year to do a personal sitting. (I said yes.) Then they took the time to draw a self-caricature. John drew himself first, then Yoko drew her face adjacent to his. They both signed it. We never discussed music.

After a photograph from the shoot was published in The Times on Nov. 9, Yoko telephoned to ask if she and John could use the picture on their 1980 Christmas card. I gladly gave permission. Given what happened on Dec. 8, I'm not sure if the card was ever produced.

Over the years, many Lennon fans have asked why I didn't take any solo pictures of John. My reply has always been this: First, my assignment was to photograph John and Yoko together. And second, they were just so together that it simply never occurred to me.

Jack Mitchell is the author of "Icons and Idols: A Photographer's Chronicle of the Arts, 1960 to 1995."

Posted by vicki at 09:56 AM | Comments (1)

Drinking again, George? We thought so.

It's enough to make you Drink Liberally just knowing that clown is in charge.

Posted by vicki at 03:43 PM | Comments (3)

The more Bu$h and Big Dick use the *troops* for props in their speechifying, the more frightened I get. Their bizarre claims of progress in Iraq despite clear evidence that the exact opposite is true is down right scary. Just now Cheney gave a speech linking Iraq and 9/11 In light of the 9/11 commision report out yesterday, which handed out F's liberally to the WH, you'd think they'd give it a rest. You'd be wrong. Here's the NY Times take on it:

Editorial

The former members of the 9/11 commission issued a report card yesterday that gives the federal government shockingly low grades on protecting the nation from another terrorist attack. These disastrous marks, which apply to both Congress and the Homeland Security Department, came at a crucial moment. Right now, Congress may be about to make more terrible decisions in two important areas: the homeland security financing formula and chemical plant security.

There can be little doubt that New York is at the top of Al Qaeda's target list - unless, apparently, you are the Homeland Security Department and you are handing out port security money. In the most recent fiscal year, the department gave the port of New York and New Jersey just $6.6 million in port security grants, almost exactly what it gave to Memphis. Houston got $35.3 million, or more than five times as much.

On antiterrorism funds, experts uniformly agree that money should be allocated based on the risk of an attack and the risk of casualties.

But the Senate - led by Susan Collins of Maine, the Republican chairwoman of the homeland security committee, and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat - is fighting for a formula based not on risk, but on pork. Senator Collins's home state, and other rural states that face little threat, would get a piñata of new programs and equipment under the Senate formula. New York and California would get less money for vitally important programs.

The House has passed a formula pushed by two New York representatives - John Sweeney, a Republican, and Nita Lowey, a Democrat - that would put much more emphasis on risk-based allocation. The Senate and House will have to work out their differences, but so far the Senate is still holding out for its pork-based formula.

In its report card, the former 9/11 commission, now known as the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, gave the current financing formula an F, but said the grade would change to an A if the House provision was passed.

When it comes to failing performances, it's hard to match Congress's thoroughly irresponsible actions on securing chemical plants, where any terrorist attack could cause enormous casualties. To the delight of the chemical industry, a generous contributor to political campaigns, Congress has refused since Sept. 11 to impose reasonable safety standards. Now there is a real danger that Congress will do worse than nothing: it may pass a bill that actually weakens protections.

Congress is considering legislation that would invalidate state laws on chemical plant security. This comes just days after New Jersey, a major chemical manufacturing state, adopted mandatory plant security rules - and shortly after Jon Corzine, a leading supporter of chemical plant safety measures, was elected governor.

It's hard to imagine that Washington will go to war against the states attempting to protect their residents from a potential toxic disaster. If that federal bill is passed, it will be strong evidence that Congress cares more about the chemical plant industry and its political clout than about ordinary Americans at risk in a terrorist attack.

Posted by vicki at 12:21 PM

Posted by vicki at 01:34 AM

Posted by vicki at 01:11 AM | Comments (1)

Ms. Dowd is in full, snarky glory as she easily takes apart the grand wizzards behind the curtain at the White House. The New York Times presents:

By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: December 3, 2005

In the Christmas spirit, the time has come for the reality-based community to reach out to the White House.

The Bush warriors are so deluded, they're even faking their fakery.

This week, the president presented a plan-like plan for "victory" in Iraq, which Scott McClellan rather pompously called the unclassified version of their supersecret master plan. But there would be no way to achieve victory from this plan even if it were a real plan. If this is what they're telling themselves in the Sit Room, we're in bigger trouble than we thought.

Talk about your unknown unknowns, as Rummy would say.

The National Strategy for Victory must have come from the same P.R. genius who gave President Top Gun the "Mission Accomplished" banner about 48 hours before the first counterinsurgency war of the 21st century broke out in Iraq.

It's not a military strategy - classified or unclassified. It's political talking points - and not even good ones. Are we really supposed to believe that anybody, even the most deeply delusional Bush sycophant, believes the phrase "Our strategy is working"?

The president talked about three neatly definable groups of insurrectionists. But as Dexter Filkins reported in yesterday's New York Times, there are dozens, perhaps as many as a hundred, groups fighting the U.S. Army in Iraq, and they have little, if anything, in common.

Mr. Bush's presentation claimed that the U.S. was actually making progress in Iraq. But outside the Bush-Cheney-Rummy bubble, 10 more marines were killed by a roadside bomb outside Falluja, for a total of 2,125 U.S. military deaths so far.

The administration must realize it needs a real exit strategy, because it's advertising for one. The U.S. Agency for International Development is offering more than $1 billion for anyone - anyone at all - who can come up with a plan to pacify and rebuild 10 Iraqi cities seen as vital in the war.

Maybe the White House should apply - Usaid's proffer says the "invitation is open to any type of entity."

When Bush officials weren't telling us fairy tales about the big, bad W.M.D. in Iraq, they were assuring us that the unprovoked war would be a kindness for Iraq, giving it democracy. But they are not just failing to bring democracy to Iraq as they help Iranian-backed mullahs install an Islamic republic with Saddamist torture chambers. They are also degrading democracy in America.

They've tarnished American moral leadership with illegal detentions, torture, secret C.I.A. prisons in countries only recently liberated from the Soviet gulag, and Soviet-style propaganda both at home and in Iraq.

Guess the Bush administration didn't learn anything this fall when federal auditors said it had violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of its education polices. Bush officials got right back into the fake news business, paying to plant propaganda in the Iraqi press. They outsourced this disinformation campaign to something called the Lincoln Group - have they no shame?

You have to admire Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman. He kept a straight face when he called the U.S. "a leader when it comes to promoting and advocating a free and independent media around the world." He added, "We've made our views very clear when it comes to freedom of the press."

Exceedingly clear. The Bushies don't believe in it. They disdain the whole democratic system of checks and balances.

At the Naval Academy, President Bush talked about how well the Iraqi security forces were fighting. He claimed that 40 Iraqi battalions were taking the lead in the fight against insurgents, and that in the battle of Tal Afar this year, "the assault was primarily led by Iraqi security forces - 11 Iraqi battalions backed by 5 coalition battalions providing support."

Anderson Cooper of CNN swiftly produced Time magazine's Baghdad bureau chief, Michael Ware, who was embedded with the U.S. military during the entire Tal Afar battle. "With the greatest respect to the president, that's completely wrong," Mr. Ware said, adding: "I was with Iraqi units right there on the front line as they were battling with Al Qaeda. They were not leading."

He also told Mr. Cooper: "I have had a very senior officer here in Baghdad say to me that there's never going to be a point where these guys will be able to stand up against the insurgency on their own."

Mr. Ware recalled that in a battle two weeks ago, he saw an Iraqi security officer put down his weapon and curl up into a ball when he was under attack. "I have seen that on - on many, many occasions," he said.

Curling up in a ball. Good National Strategy for Victory.

Posted by vicki at 12:09 PM | Comments (3)

Not satisfied with allowing a fake journalist access to WH press conferences and being warned 3 times that planting covert propaganda in the media is illegal, Bu$h is now taking the show on the road. From the NY Times:

U.S. Is Said to Pay to Plant Articles in Iraq Papers

By JEFF GERTH and SCOTT SHANE
Published: December 1, 2005

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 - Titled "The Sands Are Blowing Toward a Democratic Iraq," an article written this week for publication in the Iraqi press was scornful of outsiders' pessimism about the country's future.

"Western press and frequently those self-styled 'objective' observers of Iraq are often critics of how we, the people of Iraq, are proceeding down the path in determining what is best for our nation," the article began. Quoting the Prophet Muhammad, it pleaded for unity and nonviolence.

But far from being the heartfelt opinion of an Iraqi writer, as its language implied, the article was prepared by the United States military as part of a multimillion-dollar covert campaign to plant paid propaganda in the Iraqi news media and pay friendly Iraqi journalists monthly stipends, military contractors and officials said.

The article was one of several in a storyboard, the military's term for a list of articles, that was delivered Tuesday to the Lincoln Group, a Washington-based public relations firm paid by the Pentagon, documents from the Pentagon show. The contractor's job is to translate the articles into Arabic and submit them to Iraqi newspapers or advertising agencies without revealing the Pentagon's role. Documents show that the intended target of the article on a democratic Iraq was Azzaman, a leading independent newspaper, but it is not known whether it was published there or anywhere else.

Even as the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development pay contractors millions of dollars to help train journalists and promote a professional and independent Iraqi media, the Pentagon is paying millions more to the Lincoln Group for work that appears to violate fundamental principles of Western journalism.

In addition to paying newspapers to print government propaganda, Lincoln has paid about a dozen Iraqi journalists each several hundred dollars a month, a person who had been told of the transactions said. Those journalists were chosen because their past coverage had not been antagonistic to the United States, said the person, who is being granted anonymity because of fears for the safety of those involved. In addition, the military storyboards have in some cases copied verbatim text from copyrighted publications and passed it on to be printed in the Iraqi press without attribution, documents and interviews indicated.

In many cases, the material prepared by the military was given to advertising agencies for placement, and at least some of the material ran with an advertising label. But the American authorship and financing were not revealed.

Military spokesmen in Washington and Baghdad said Wednesday that they had no information on the contract. In an interview from Baghdad on Nov. 18, Lt. Col. Steven A. Boylan, a military spokesman, said the Pentagon's contract with the Lincoln Group was an attempt to "try to get stories out to publications that normally don't have access to those kind of stories." The military's top commanders, including Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, did not know about the Lincoln Group contract until Wednesday, when it was first described by The Los Angeles Times, said a senior military official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

President Bush's chief spokesman, Scott McClellan, was besieged with questions about the propaganda campaign at this afternoon's White House news briefing. "We're very concerned about the reports," he said. "We have asked the Department of Defense for more information. General Pace has asked people to look into the matter and get the facts." [end of snip]

Give me a break! When is someone going to jail for repeatedly breaking the law? Bu$h is the commander of this mess and he needs to be held accountable.

Posted by vicki at 04:59 PM | Comments (1)