Drinking Liberally®

So many hacks, so few *Bu$hies* This week has been a virtual gold mine for potential award winners, but the votes are in and it's a tie. This week's winners are Katherine "Cruella" Harris and Don "Rummy" Rumsfeld. The cosmetics queen of the bizarre gets her award for this sparkling gem:

"If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," Harris said. Whew!

The clinically insane Rummy scored his *Bu$hie* for this masterpiece:

Rumsfeld portrayed the administration’s critics as suffering from “moral or intellectual confusion”
“Can we truly afford to believe somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased?” he asked.

That's a strange bit of projection coming from Rummy. Congratulations, wankers of the week!

Posted by vicki at 01:23 PM

In some Southern States, being a profound racist wins over voters. Just ask Haley Barbour of Mississippi. Will the same hold true for George "Macaca" (a type of Asian monkey and a racial slur in some foreign countries) Allen? You be the judge. From The Nation

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

In 1996, when Governor Allen entered the Washington Hilton Hotel to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservative movement organizations, he strode to a booth at the entrance of the exhibition hall festooned with two large Confederate flags--a booth operated by the CCC, at the time a co-sponsor of CPAC. After speaking with CCC founder and former White Citizens Council organizer Gordon Lee Baum and two of his cohorts, Allen suggested that they pose for a photograph with then-National Rifle Association spokesman and actor Charlton Heston. The photo appeared in the Summer 1996 issue of the CCC's newsletter, the Citizens Informer.

According to Baum, Allen had not naively stumbled into a chance meeting with unfamiliar people. He knew exactly who and what the CCC was about and, from Baum's point of view, was engaged in a straightforward political transaction. "It helped us as much as it helped him," Baum told me. "We got our bona fides." And so did Allen.

Descended from the White Citizens' Councils that battled integration in the Jim Crow South, the CCC is designated a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In its "Statement of Principles," the CCC declares, "We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races."

The CCC has hosted several conservative Republican legislators at its conferences, including former Representative Bob Barr of Georgia and Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi.

Posted by vicki at 10:23 AM

Whew! Score one for the good guys. Read On

With paper ballots from the 2004 presidential election in Ohio scheduled to be destroyed next week, the secretary of state in Columbus, under pressure from critics, said yesterday that he would move to delay the destruction at least for several months.

Since the election, questions have been raised about how votes were tallied in Ohio, a battleground state that helped deliver the election to President Bush over Senator John Kerry.

The critics, including an independent candidate for governor and a team of statisticians and lawyers, say preliminary results from their ballot inspections show signs of more widespread irregularities than previously known.

The critics say the ballots should be saved pending an investigation. They also say the secretary of state’s proposal to delay the destruction does not go far enough, and they intend to sue to preserve the ballots.

In Florida in 2003, historians and lawyers persuaded state officials not to destroy the ballots in the 2000 presidential election, and those ballots are stored at the state archive.

Lawyers for J. Kenneth Blackwell, the Ohio secretary of state, said although he did not have the authority to preserve the ballots, Mr. Blackwell would issue an order in a day or two that delays the destruction and that reminds local elections officials that they have to consult the public records commissions in each county.

Federal law permits, but does not require, destroying paper ballots from federal elections 22 months after Election Day.

Posted by vicki at 09:56 AM

I hope you Liberals have been watching "Countdown" with Keith Olberma. (MSNBC ought to pay me for all the promotion I do!) He gave a total smack down to Rummy's disgraceful attacks on anti-Iraq invasion critics. The best part comes after this snip so keep checking the website for the full transcript later. Here it is: Oh, and he quotes Edward R. Murrow, too. Woo Hoo! Send Keith some love!

"It demands the deep analysis—and the sober contemplation—of every American.

For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence - indeed, the loyalty—of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land;

Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants - our employees—with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve.

Dissent and disagreement with government is the life’s blood of human freedom;

And not merely because it is the first roadblock against the kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as “his” troops still fight, this very evening, in Iraq.

It is also essential. Because just every once in awhile… it is right—and the power to which it speaks, is wrong."

Comments? Email KOlbermann@msnbc.com
Watch “Countdown” each weeknight at 8 p.m. ET on MSNBC TV

UPDATE Entire transcript Here

Posted by vicki at 08:48 PM | Comments (1)

The Latest news in the Coruier-Journal offers new insight into the breakdown that led to the crash. Oy, oy, oy!

KEY FINDINGS

FAA broke policy by staffing airport with one controller instead of two.

Lone air traffic controller was doing more than one job the morning of the crash.

Controller told investigators he thought plane was heading for Runway 22, not Runway 26, which was too short for a plane of that size and weight.

Controller said he had a clear, unobstructed view of the runway.

Controller cleared plane for takeoff but was performing administrative duties and did not watch takeoff attempt.

Crew had not used airport since taxiway route to the correct runway was changed.

Captain was steering the plane on the taxiway and maneuvered it onto the wrong runway, not the co-pilot, who was crash's lone survivor.

Controller said pilot did not seem disoriented or confused.

Crew initially boarded wrong plane.

Posted by vicki at 08:59 AM | Comments (1)

Jeepers H. Christmas! The WH is begining a concerted effort to slime Iraq *war* critics. Once again, Rummy is using soldiers and Vets as props in his crusade to turn reality on its head and paint the invasion of Iraq a success. He is mad as a hatter, I tell ya. Here is a sample of some of his ravings

In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration’s critics as suffering from “moral or intellectual confusion” about what threatens the nation’s security and accused them of lacking the courage to fight back.

. . . Rumsfeld spoke to the American Legion as part of a coordinated White House strategy, in advance of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. . .

“But some seem not to have learned history’s lessons,” he said, adding that part of the problem is that the American news media have tended to emphasize the negative rather than the positive.

He said, for example, that more media attention was given to U.S. soldiers’ abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib than to the fact that Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith received the Medal of Honor.

“Can we truly afford to believe somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased?” he asked.[/end snips]

Ummmmm, Rummy? YOU are a vicious extremist.

Posted by vicki at 08:26 AM | Comments (1)

Hoo, boy! Get a load of the latest insanity from that great stealer of the 2000 election, Katherine Harris. Sadly, she speaks for the GOP's fundie wingnut base. Read on You simply cannot make this s**t UP!

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris told a religious journal that separation of church and state is "a lie" and God and the nation's founding fathers did not intend the country be "a nation of secular laws."

The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate also said that if Christians are not elected, politicians will "legislate sin," including abortion and gay marriage.

Harris made the comments -- which she clarified Saturday -- in the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention, which interviewed political candidates and asked them about religion and their positions on issues.

Separation of church and state is "a lie we have been told," Harris said in the interview, published Thursday, saying separating religion and politics is "wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers."

"If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," Harris said.

Posted by vicki at 12:47 PM | Comments (3)

It's just as devastating and inexplicable the second time around. This is from Think Progress The utter lack of concern by Bu$h and company, not to mention response, is nothing short of sociopathic.

Posted by vicki at 09:45 AM | Comments (2)

Good grief. The wingnuttery just cannot stand having women and girls taking control of their own bodies or destinies. The double dose of contraceptive birth control known as "Plan B" prevents the possibility of a fertilized egg implanting itself in a uterus. There is no abortion involved, no possibility of birth defects or any other crackpot notion the anti-women crowd is pushing. It's all about contoling women. The Bitch PhD explains:

Just in case you thought that, hey, getting Plan B available over-the-counter (to legal adults) meant you couldn't wear your swanky new t-shirts any more, don't worry! According to ABC,

the battle will likely now move to the courts and state legislatures. Nine states had already made Plan B available without a prescription to women of all ages; more conservative states may now try to impose new controls on the drug. Gaul says [the Family Research Council] is exploring "legislative and legal options" to fight the decision going forward.

I don't know if the Republican party is going to jettison its anti-abortion base, but whether or no, the impetus behind this entire anti-Plan B thing is the lie belief belief, based on a lie, that Plan B is a form of abortion. Without even getting into the question of how one feels about abortion, Americans need to internalize the fact that Plan B, like all contraceptives, prevents abortion--which is good whether you look at it from the "saving babies" point of view or the "avoiding unnecessary invasive surgery, thankyouverymuch" point of view.

Posted by vicki at 07:14 PM | Comments (2)

Count me as one who was completely unimpressed by Bu$h's "Bull Horn Moment" three days after the Twin Towers were destroyed by terrorists. Reading, "The Pet Goat" is what stands out in my mind as the Bu$h reaction to that tragedy. Far more true to the Preznit's real inner workings was his utter lack of concern about the disaster unfolding before his eyes (when he was finally forced to see it) after returning from another carefree month of vacation. The Times has more

Year After Katrina, Bush Fights For 9/11 Image

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 — When the nation records the legacy of George W. Bush, 43rd president and self-described compassionate conservative, two competing images will help tell the tale.

The first is of Mr. Bush after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, bullhorn in hand, feet planted firmly in the rubble of the twin towers. The second is of him aboard Air Force One, on his way from Crawford, Tex., to Washington, peering out the window at the wreckage of Hurricane Katrina thousands of feet below.

If the bungled federal response to Hurricane Katrina called into question the president’s competence, that Air Force One snapshot, coupled with wrenching scenes on the ground of victims who were largely poor and black, called into question something equally important to Mr. Bush: his compassion.

Posted by vicki at 11:23 AM | Comments (1)

These PNAC idiots are worse than the Nazi's. Did you know that the American Army, 60 years ago defeated Hitler's War machine AND the Japanese Empire in LESS TIME than these bastards have had to CLEAN UP BAGHDAD ??

Bush Adopts Classic Characteristics of Tyrants

By Sherwood Ross

Increasingly, President Bush is demonstrating how much he has in common with history’s tyrants. Here are 10 areas worth examining for their similarities:

First, tyrants believe themselves superior to others. Hitler considered Germans “the master race.” President Bush and his backers would deny it, but their actions show they think they are inherently superior. Republicans at their Convention jeered the mention of the United Nations. Bush rejects the global warming treaty and his wars and torture violates The Hague Regulations, the Nuremberg Charter, and the Four Geneva Conventions. They are above the laws, get it?

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/13963

Posted by Mojo at 01:24 PM | Comments (1)

There is a growing sense of righteous outrage at lawless Republican politicians and the Democrats who refuse to rein them in. Attorney General Stumbo admits that he let Fletcher off the hook without seeing all the evidence of alleged wrong doing. Both Fletccher and Stumbo are unfit for office.

Stumbo isn't sure he saw all evidence

Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo and his top deputy said yesterday they agreed to dismiss political patronage charges against Gov. Ernie Fletcher before they were sure they had seen all the evidence.

And Stumbo said the public probably will never know for sure Fletcher's role in meetings that prosecutors say centered on how to use civil service jobs to reward political allies and punish others.

Stumbo and Deputy Attorney General Pierce Whites said they gave up their pursuit of evidence after a judge ruled that Fletcher did not have to stand trial until he was impeached or left office.

"When the possibility of trial is removed, the impetus for that fight is removed," Whites said in an interview.
"And at that point, the office of the attorney general made a determination we could accomplish a lot of good, protect merit workers, and protect the public's right to know ultimately through a grand jury report -- if a grand jury chooses to issue one -- by entering into this agreed order," Whites said.

Some critics, including the president of the Kentucky Association of State Employees, questioned whether Stumbo, a Democrat, gave up too soon on prosecuting Fletcher, the first Republican governor since 1971. [. . . ]

Former U.S. Attorney Steve Reed, now a lawyer in Louisville, said Fletcher should "hang his head in shame," and said pundits are missing the point when they try to assess whether Stumbo or Fletcher won.

"I know who lost," Reed said. "Those who believe in good government lost."

Reporter Tom Loftus contributed to this story. Reporter Elisabeth Beardsley can be reached at (502) 875-5136.

Posted by vicki at 10:09 AM | Comments (2)

Fletcher, Bu$h and other republicans, have repeatedly been given a pass on lawbreaking. Stumbo has let the people of this state down hard and should never hold elective office again. Shame!

Fletcher-Stumbo deal: Public be damned

Together, Gov. Ernie Fletcher and Attorney General Greg Stumbo have managed to disserve the people of Kentucky, frustrate the justice system, set all the wrong precedents for dealing with official wrongdoing and make the already foul merit hiring scandal smell even worse.

Their deal, revealed yesterday, was struck in the political interest of two people -- and the public be damned. As a result of their joint sellout and coverup, Mr. Stumbo will now be able to run for governor and Dr. Fletcher can claim vindication and run for re-election.

Mr. Stumbo said, "Our objective was to see that the law was complied with, to see that the truth was brought forward."

He failed, utterly, and by an act of commission, not omission. His surrender, despite all that the grand jury and his office had done, was complete.

Posted by vicki at 12:48 PM

Salon asks the right question

Warrantless wiretaps and 9/11: A tacit admission from Karl Rove

Karl Rove headlined a fundraiser for Ken Blackwell in Toledo, Ohio, this week -- let's just call it a big favor returned -- and he used the opportunity to scare up the terror vote by railing against a U.S. District Court's injunction against the president's warrantless wiretapping program.

As the Associated Press reports, "Rove said the government should be free to listen if al-Qaida is calling someone within the U.S. 'Imagine if we could have done that before 9/11. It might have been a different outcome.'"

Just one problem here. Under at least one of the Bush administration's legal theories, George W. Bush "could have" ordered warrantless wiretapping before 9/11 if he'd had any interest in doing so.

While the Justice Department has argued that the use-of-force authorization approved by Congress just after 9/11 implicitly allowed the warrantless spying, it also insists that Bush had "inherent" authority to institute the program himself.

"The NSA activities are supported by the president's well-recognized inherent constitutional authority as commander in chief and sole organ for the nation in foreign affairs to conduct warrantless surveillance of enemy forces for intelligence purposes to detect and disrupt armed attacks on the United States," the Justice Department argued in its "white paper" in defense of the program. "The president has the chief responsibility under the Constitution to protect America from attack, and the Constitution gives the president the authority necessary to fulfill that solemn responsibility."

Got that? The Justice Department says that even without Congress, Bush has the authority to order warrantless spying to "protect America from attack." Rove says that there "might have been a different outcome" on 9/11 if he had done so. As another 9/11 anniversary approaches, we'll take that as an admission that Bush didn't, in fact, do everything he could to avoid the attacks. Either that, or Bush doesn't actually have the inherent power to engage in warrantless spying without congressional approval. It's got to be one or the other; the White House can't -- but probably will -- have it both ways.

-- Tim Grieve

Posted by vicki at 12:03 PM

Our clowning, hacktacular Governor, Ernie Fletcher.

By ROGER ALFORD Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A judge dismissed all charges against Gov. Ernie Fletcher in a state hiring scandal Thursday after the governor and attorney general agreed to a settlement that involves zero punishment for Fletcher personally.

The Republican governor took responsibility for his administration in the settlement, but he did not admit any criminal wrongdoing.

"The governor acknowledges that the evidence strongly indicates wrongdoing by his administration with regard to personnel actions with the merit system," the judge said in a five-page order dismissing the charges. . .

"It's over, and I think the people all across the Commonwealth of Kentucky will be very pleased that this sad ordeal is over," Fletcher said while at the Kentucky State Fair Thursday.

The agreement Melcher signed calls for the resignations of four people who were appointed by Fletcher to the state Personnel Board so employees can have grievance hearings free of the appearance of impropriety. Fletcher will have to select replacements from lists supplied by Stumbo.

Posted by vicki at 03:10 PM | Comments (3)

From left to rignt: Dear Leader, queen Bu$h and Jimmy.

Woo Hoo! It's a big week for DL faves in Leo this week. Jimmy has a guest commentary article, where Mike Bailey is prominently mentioned as MoveOn's Louisville co-ordinator. There's an article about Helen Thomas and our buddy, Robin Garr, writes his column about State Fair grub. If you can't wait to pick up your copy tonight at DL, you can read it online here. Just click and read. I've been writing about how full of crap Courier-Journal's David Hawpe is for months now and in Leo, Jimmy breaks bad on Mr. Old School as well. Here's a snip:

David Hawpe of The Courier-Journal loves to spout the old Mitch McConnell line that money equals free speech. Now, it seems, Mr. Hawpe is trying to assert that free speech is a time-limited commodity as well. In his Aug. 16 column, Hawpe chided local members of MoveOn.org for moving “too quickly” with efforts to highlight Anne Northup’s close ties to big oil. Read on

Posted by vicki at 09:38 AM | Comments (2)

Mike discusses the "Caught Red-Handed" Project with radio personality Denton Randall. MP3 provided by the courtesy of Jimmy Moore and the Jimmy Squad.

http://dfa.meetup.com/220/files/

Just right click on the interview file on the DFA site. Then choose "save
target as" and save the file to your hard drive. You can then double-click the
file to play it. (Some folks have had problems playing the whole file if they
simply clicked on it, but if they saved it to their hard drive first, it
worked fine.)

Posted by vicki at 04:53 PM | Comments (3)

No kidding. Try it yourself and see. Let's keep W at the top of the list!

Posted by vicki at 09:29 AM | Comments (1)

OMG. I realy think there should be heavy consequences for drivers who kill either due to aggressive driving or inattentiveness. There is no excuse for this.

CHICAGO, Aug. 22 — A lieutenant in the Indiana State Police and a retired Lake County, Ind., police chief were killed Tuesday afternoon during a charity bike tour of Indiana when their accompanying van was hit by a small truck and crashed into several cyclists just east of the Illinois border.

“Doesn’t make sense,” Tim Downs, president of the Indiana Fraternal Order of Police, said when he was reached by phone as he headed to the accident scene in Vermillion County, on Indiana 63 north of Terre Haute. “It’s not supposed to happen this way. You think of what these officers were doing, and where the one officer had just been, and it’s cruel.”

The victims, Lt. Gary Dudley and Gary Martin, the retired Lake County chief, were riding in a bike relay across the state to raise money for the families of officers killed in the line of duty. Just three days earlier, Mr. Martin had walked his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.

“Does it get more tragic?” Mr. Downs asked.

Indeed!

Posted by vicki at 09:18 AM

Hank was good enough to pass the Washington Post article along. Louisville gets high praise from the Washington Post. Read our Valentine here The photo above is of Proof on Main restaurant.

Louisville Old and New: Either Way, It's a Knockout

By Gary Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 20, 2006; Page P01

Posted by vicki at 09:54 AM | Comments (1)

I find it terribly sad that a person would feel "stabbed in the heart" at having a loved one associated with Peace. I suppose it's only natural to be in denial when a loved one died in a "war" based entirely on lies and deception. Remember, 50% of the people of this country falsely believe Saddam/Iraq played a role in 9/11. I never want to hear "the voters are pretty sharp" again. No, they're not. More here

Peace group takes down dead servicemen's names

When Lisa Henderson of Bowling Green saw her dead husband's name on a peace display at the Kentucky State Fair on Sunday, "It was like someone stabbed me in the heart."

The Louisville Peace Action Community, which opposes the war in Iraq, had posted the names of 52 Kentucky servicemen who died in the war, including Henderson's husband, Rob, who was killed in 2004.

The names were listed in the South Wing beneath a sign that read "Support the Troops Stop the War." Above the names was a piece of paper that read, "In honor of their sacrifices."

"My husband went over there and was supportive of the military and of going over there," said Henderson, 27, the mother of a 2-year-old. "For someone to use his name to end the war and ask to pull all the troops out, my husband would not have been in support of that."

After learning of concerns from Henderson and other relatives of the fallen, the peace group removed the names and is calling survivors to ask permission to display them.

Posted by vicki at 09:14 AM | Comments (2)

Is there anything left this WH and republican Congress hasn't lied about? My head hurts.

The sticker looks mighty tempting -- a full-size, seven-passenger SUV with a V-8 engine rated at a hybrid-like 33 mpg!

Too bad it's a sham.

Unfortunately, the shuck and jive isn't well-known, or apparent to consumers -- who might be gulled into believing they're helping cut down on energy consumption (and saving the planet to boot) when in fact all they're doing is supporting the latest government boondoggle for the benefit of the politically powerful ethanol lobby.

Here's how it works:

Under the cover of promoting "renewable" energy, the federal government has put into place a loophole in its Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements -- which require the automakers to achieve a "fleet average" of 27.5 mpg for cars and 21.5 mpg for trucks or face so-called "gas-guzzler" taxes that are passed on to the consumer. This loophole distorts the truth about a vehicle's actual mileage capability -- but only if it's a vehicle made to run on either gasoline or a gasoline-ethanol blend known as E85.

Such "flex fuel" vehicles are credited with much higher miles-per-gallon capability than they actually get -- on the theory that when they burn E85 (which contains 85 percent corn alcohol and 15 percent gasoline) they are using less gas. Thus, a full-size, V-8 powered SUV like the GMC Yukon is rated at 33 mpg for CAFE purposes -- higher than the current passenger car CAFE minimum of 27.5 mpg -- when in fact it only gets 15 mpg in city driving and 20 mpg on the highway, according to the EPA (which is just below the 21.5 mpg minimum mileage for trucks and SUVS under current CAFE rules).

The E85 Yukon and vehicles like it get even lower mileage when running on fuels containing large concentrations of ethanol -- since alcohol-based fuels contain less energy per gallon equivalent than straight gasoline.

As a result of this loophole, GM, Ford and other automakers have been given a strong incentive to build large numbers of E85-burning "flex-fuel" vehicles -- vehicles which might not make the CAFE cut otherwise and thus be less economic to produce because of "gas guzzler" taxes that jack up the price of a given vehicle by as much as $1,000 or more.

But the idea is to create market demand for the heavily-subsidized ethanol industry -- not produce more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Posted by vicki at 11:45 PM | Comments (1)

I found this alarming story on AlterNet Two mysterious deaths of European security experts who discovered highly sophisticated telecom bugging appear to have a C.I. A. connection. It's well worth a read.

Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, BND, recently snooped on investigative journalists. According to parliamentary investigations, the spying may have been carried out using the United States's secretive Bad Aibling base in the Bavarian Alps, which houses the American global eavesdropping program dubbed Echelon.

Were the two alleged suicides more than an eerie coincidence? A few media in Italy -- La Stampa, Dagospia and Feltrinelli, among others -- have noted the unsettling parallels. But so far no journalists have been able to overcome the investigative hurdles posed by two entirely different criminal inquiry systems united only by two prime ministers not eager to provoke the White House's wrath. In the United States, where massive eavesdropping programs have operated since 9/11, investigators, reporters and members of Congress have not explored whether those responsible for these spying operations may be using them for partisan purposes or economic gain.

As more troubling revelations come out of Europe, it may become more difficult to ignore how easily spying programs can be hijacked for illegitimate purposes. The brave soul who pursues this line of inquiry, however, should fear for his or her life.

Posted by vicki at 02:01 PM

OMG. You HAVE to read this entire article. It will make your day. click here Here's a little snip:

“Something political will not get played on country radio unless it’s on the conservative side,” he added. “If you show both sides, it’s not good enough. It’s got to be just on the right.”

Country music, the genre of lonely hearts and highways, lost jobs and blue-collar woes, has become a cultural battleground. Conservatism is widely seen as having the upper hand, a red-state answer to left-leaning Hollywood.

Democrats on Music Row, the country music capital here, have grown frustrated with that reputation. A group of record-company executives, talent managers and artists has released an online compilation of 20 songs, several directly critical of Mr. Bush and the Iraq war.

[. . . ]

Mr. Scott recently recorded a new song, “W Cheese,” in a basement studio at Famous Music on Music Row. One verse ends, “They filled our plate with freedom fries, red, black and blue, white lies/And a helping, heaping, hating size of stinkin’ W cheese.”

“I’ve never thought of myself as very political,” he said. “It just seems like in the current environment even I have to write about it.” [end snip]

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Posted by vicki at 09:56 AM | Comments (2)

David Corn has a good blog entry at "The Nation" website. He lists several passages from judge Taylor's ruling against Bu$h's self proclaimed imperial powers that have not been noted in any reports on the ruling I have read or heard in the media. Read the whole peice here Note that the judge cited Jones v Clinton in her ruling. Hahahahahahahaha.

Taylor wrote:

It was never the intent of the Framers to give the President such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights. The three separate branches of government were developed as a check and balance for one another. It is within the court's duty to ensure that power is never "condense[d]...into a single branch of government." Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507, 536 (2004) (plurality opinion). We must always be mindful that "[w]hen the President takes official action, the Court has the authority to determine whether he has acted within the law." Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 703 (1997). "It remains one of the most vital functions of this Court to police with care the separation of the governing powers....When structure fails, liberty is always in peril." Public Citizen v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, 491 U.S. 440, 468 (1989) (Kennedy, J., concurring). And

The Government appears to argue here that, pursuant to the penumbra of Constitutional language in Article II, and particularly because the President is designated Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, he has been granted the inherent power to violate not only the laws of the Congress but the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, itself.

We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all "inherent powers" must derive from that Constitution.

Once again, a court has told Bush that he is not all-powerful. He cannot create military tribunals on his own. He cannot detain American citizens as enemy combatants without affording them some elements of due process. Taylor's decision will probably be appealed by the Bush administration, and the case will wind its way toward the Supreme Court. But this decision reaffirms--and puts into practice--the bedrock principle that a president's power does not trump the workings of a republican government, even when it comes to war. Weeks before he took office in 2001, Bush quipped, "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." Democracy, though, is not easy. And a commander in chief has to abide by the rules, as various courts have now ruled. The administration's King George approach to governance has taken another blow. But it's royally unlikely this president is going to accept the decision and give up his claim to the throne.

Posted by vicki at 02:23 PM | Comments (1)

Jeepers H. Christmas. Let's hear another sermon from the wingnuts on values and morals. This is yet another example of twisted *justice* by Abu Gonsales' Justice Department. It's beyond reprehensible that a stinking C.I.A. contractor could torture and kill a man and only be charged with felony assault. I also find the reporting on this incident way lacking. Read this Times article and decide for yourself. My head hurts.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 — A C.I.A. contractor accused of severely beating an Afghan prisoner who died the next day was convicted Thursday of felony assault.

The former contractor, David A. Passaro, 40, a onetime Special Forces medic who went to work for the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan in 2003, is the only civilian ever charged as a result of accusations of prisoner abuse there, in Iraq and in the broader campaign against terrorism. He faces a maximum of 11½ years in prison.

The trial, in federal court in Raleigh, N.C., near Mr. Passaro’s hometown, Lillington, included testimony from clandestine C.I.A. officers who wore disguises to protect their identities. It drew close attention from human rights advocates.

Using a flashlight and his fists, witnesses said, Mr. Passaro repeatedly hit Abdul Wali, a 28-year-old farmer suspected of firing rockets at American troops. Mr. Wali was in such pain, they said, that he pleaded to be shot, and he died the day after a second day of abuse by Mr. Passaro.

Mr. Passaro’s lawyers said he had not been trained in interrogation and had been under pressure to stop frequent rocket attacks on a remote base near the Pakistan border. They said Mr. Passaro had tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Mr. Wali after he lost consciousness.

Defense lawyers also tried to mount a “public authority defense,” asserting that in statements and legal opinions, top officials from President Bush on down had implicitly authorized harsh treatment for potential terrorists. But Judge Terrence W. Boyle would not allow the defense to call senior officials, including George J. Tenet, former director of central intelligence, as witnesses.

[Why? On what grounds? Serious reporters would have asked and answered that question.]

Posted by vicki at 10:35 AM | Comments (2)

Sen. George Allen, (W-ingnut, Mars)

"This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great," Allen said, as his supporters began to laugh. After saying that Webb was raising money in California with a "bunch of Hollywood movie moguls," Allen said, "Let's give a welcome to macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." Allen then began talking about the "war on terror." {typical B.S. when you can't speak to "issues."]
He made these racist remarks shortly after promising to run a "positive campaign."
Hahahahahahahaha. What a loathsome little man!

Posted by vicki at 04:33 PM | Comments (3)

Israel has learned the hard and deadly lesson that following Bu$h leads down the road to disaster. Sid Blumenthal has an excellent article in Salon describing the U.S./Israeli defeat.

"We simply blew it," ran the headline on another column in Haaretz.

Israel's strategic debacle was a curiously warped and accelerated version of the U.S. misadventure in Iraq. It used mistaken means in pursuit of misconceived goals, producing misbegotten failure. Rather than seek the disarmament of Hezbollah, Israel sought to eliminate it permanently. If the aim had been to disarm it, in line with United Nations Resolution 1559, Israel might have initiated a diplomatic round, drawing in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, to help with the Lebanese government. But, encouraged by the Bush administration, Israel treated Lebanese sovereignty as a fiction. With U.S. support, Israeli unilateralism was unfurled. The possible consequences of anything less than stunning and complete triumph in a place where Israel had long experienced disaster were dismissed.

Posted by vicki at 09:14 AM

How much longer does the Bu$h Administration, Holy Joe and other civil war deniers think they can keep on B.S.ing an ignorant public that all is not lost in Iraq? The Times has a lengthy article here but the last few paragraphs carried this bombshell:

The newest accounts of the risks of civil war may already be altering the political dynamic in Washington. After General Abizaid’s testimony, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, said that if Iraq fell into civil war, the committee might need to examine whether the authorization provided by Congress for the use of American force in Iraq would still be valid. The comments by Senator Warner, a senior Republican who is a staunch supporter of the president, have reverberated loudly across Congress.

Bush administration officials now admit that Iraqi government’s original plan to rein in the violence in Baghdad, announced in June, has failed. The Pentagon has decided to rush more American troops into the capital, and the new military operation to restore security there is expected to begin in earnest next month.

Yet some outside experts who have recently visited the White House said Bush administration officials were beginning to plan for the possibility that Iraq’s democratically elected government might not survive.

“Senior administration officials have acknowledged to me that they are considering alternatives other than democracy,” said one military affairs expert who received an Iraq briefing at the White House last month and agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity.

“Everybody in the administration is being quite circumspect,” the expert said, “but you can sense their own concern that this is drifting away from democracy.”

Posted by vicki at 08:41 AM

Whew! This term has been around for a while, but I'd not seen it written up before. Do NOT click on the link below if you are adverse to pungent language. Rated "X" Hahahahahahaha.

Brought to you by The Desmoines Register

Glen Keenan got his shiny new personalized license plates on Aug. 1 [ITMFA]
The polite, but firm, letter from the Iowa Department of Transportation arrived a week later.

If he would be so kind, the state told him, please "voluntarily surrender" the new plates. Within 10 days. In other words, pronto.

"I don't know what to do, but I don't think so," said Keenan, a lifelong Iowan from Jefferson County. "It's not an obscene message. I really don't understand why I wouldn't be allowed to keep them."

Keenan tells me this is what his personalized Iowa license plates say: ITMFA.

... Click here for the answer.

Posted by vicki at 08:11 PM | Comments (4)

The C-J has an article (see above) on Moveon.org's "Red Handed" campaign, in which Anne Northup was duly targeted. Northup's peeps want everyone in her opposition camp to just go away (while her family deals with their grief over the loss of their family's treasured member.) While we are in deep sympathy over the Northup family's loss, Anne must choose to either drop out of the race, or run on her record. It's her choice.

She has rubber stamped every single disastrous Bu$h policy; be it the Terri Shiavo intervention, privatization of SS, wellfare for suffering BIG PHARMA (WITH RECORD PROFITS), corrupt Defense contractors, tax breaks for Oil and Gas Corporations....you get the picture. What will it be, Anne? Will you defend your record, or just throw darts at your opposition? You don't get a pass for years of screwing your constituents.

Mike Bailey has more on the Kos site here: Click and read We need to vote into office people who will take care of OUR interests. Had enough?

Posted by vicki at 10:25 AM | Comments (1)

DL has reserved a table for 10. We also have 2 *orphaned* members who will be there. If 8 more of you have an interest in attending, let me know and we'll get a second table. The deadline to reserve is Monday.

If you plan to go, leave a message in the comments section or email me at Vicki@drinkingliberally.org

I just got notice in the mail today of a tremendous event coming up on Thursday, August 31 at the convention center downtown.

That evening Helen Thomas will be the guest speaker at the ACLU Bill of Rights Dinner. Dinner tickets are $50 each, a table of 10 is $500. Separate private reception tickets are also available at $100 each. Special table rates are available for community groups, so if we fill one up maybe we can get a break on that $50.
Ms. Thomas has been such a beacon during these trying times, and she's kept her sense of
humor enough to make a classic video with Stephen Colbert which was shown at the famous White House Correspondents' Dinner, that I myself would love to go and hear her speak and pay homage to what a true American journalist used to be.

Because of the night, that would be that week's meeting, and I can't think of a better way
to share some time together than having a "Front Row at the White House."
Reply deadline is Monday, August 21, and you can call 581-9746 for reservations and more
information. If we get enough folks for a table, I'll be glad to act as facilitator and get the table. Those
with PayPal accounts could pay me direct, or I could get checks or cash at one of the DL
meetings. As Mike Myers' alter ego used to say on "Saturday Night Live," discuss amongst yourselves.

June

PS: Of course, Helen has a book coming out--doesn't everyone?--and Carmichael's will have hers available for sale and for her to sign following the dinner.

Posted by vicki at 09:39 AM

Way to go, Mike! Well done! It's about damned time Northup's horrible voting record gets a thourough airing. It's not one to be proud of. Read the whole C-J article here

MoveOn.org rally targets Northup, campaign funds

About 15 supporters of MoveOn.org, an Internet political advocacy group, donned giant red foam hands yesterday in front of a gas station to demonstrate against Republican U.S. Rep. Anne Northup's acceptance of campaign contributions from oil company interests.

The demonstration was the first of four planned in the next two weeks with a "caught red-handed" theme to draw attention to Northup's voting record and campaign fund sources, said Mike Bailey, a computer technician and volunteer coordinator for MoveOn.org in Kentucky.

Patrick Neely, Northup's campaign manager, issued a statement yesterday saying Bailey staged "this bit of political theatre" knowing that the campaign was inactive and observing a period of mourning following the death on July 11 of Northup's 30-year-old son from a heart condition.

The statement added, "Soon enough, the campaigns will re-engage in a spirited debate, and the two candidates will have plenty of opportunities to personally discuss with the voters their ideas and differences," a reference to Democratic opponent John Yarmuth.

Bailey, 31, said he respects Northup's loss but felt her campaign could address the issues he was raising even if she is not actively campaigning.

Both campaigns have been quiet, he said, and he felt it was time to draw attention to issues with less than three months before the Nov. 7 election.

Jason Burke, campaign manger for Yarmuth, said he wasn't notified of the event and didn't have enough information to comment. Yarmuth has been focusing on fundraising and campaigning at community events in recent weeks.

In the past, Yarmuth has criticized Northup for accepting political contributions from oil companies and voting in favor of energy legislation that gave them tax benefits.

Fliers handed out by the demonstrators cited the $288,077 the five-term congresswoman has received in campaign contributions from oil and gas interests, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political contributions.

In the next two weeks, Bailey said, demonstrators will target Northup's record on Medicare issues and veterans benefits, and her contributions from defense contractors.

Posted by vicki at 09:45 AM | Comments (1)

This is interesting. With all the bellowing about radical Liberals kicking "moderate" (hahahahaha) Leiberman out of the Dem primary, very little has been said about NE Republican candidates being in big trouble. Maybe if they had stood up to Bu$h's disasterous policies they wouldn't be in this position. Screw 'em. The WaPo has all the sad details of voter frustration with rubber stamping Republicans.

The Iraq war and Bush's low approval ratings have created trouble for Republicans in all regions. But nowhere is the GOP brand more scuffed than in the Northeast, where this year's circumstances are combining with long-term trends to endanger numerous incumbents.

Sounding very much like Gerlach, state Sen. Raymond Meier, a Republican running for an open seat in Upstate New York, observed: "People around here are anxious and concerned not just about the national state of affairs, but also their personal state of affairs. As a Republican candidate, the challenge is to show you have even a clue about what their lives are like."

Also sounding very much like Gerlach is Rep. Rob Simmons. His eastern Connecticut seat is the most Democratic-leaning district in the country still held by a Republican. "My friend calls me Salmon Simmons . . . because I am always swimming upstream" against a Democratic current, he said.

Last week's defeat of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut moderate who has supported the Iraq war, in the Democratic primary gave Republicans a vivid look at some of the same angry currents likely to buffet them this fall. A Washington-Post ABC News poll this month found Bush's approval rating at 28 percent in the Northeast -- 12 points below his national average. The Republican Congress fared no better.

Republican losses in the region could echo well beyond the 2006 campaign. Because much of the region is tilting Democratic, history suggests Republicans would find it hard to recapture seats once lost.

That is why GOP operatives in Washington are alarmed not just about Gerlach's predicament, but about that of two congressional neighbors in suburban Philadelphia: Reps. Michael G. Fitzpatrick and Curt Weldon, both in tough districts.

In Connecticut, Republican Reps. Nancy L. Johnson and Christopher Shays -- like Simmons -- are in highly competitive contests. And several New York Republicans are facing their most difficult reelection fights ever.

Posted by vicki at 08:54 AM | Comments (2)

OMG! This has got to be the most unethical administration Frankfort has ever known, and there have been some ddoozies. The greed and cronyism is a towering example of a Republican party that has become utterly tone deaf to ethics and morals.

Former Fletcher aide registers as lobbyist
Lexington client enlists Groves

By Tom Loftus
tloftus@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Ernie Fletcher's former chief of staff, Daniel Groves, is now lobbying the Fletcher administration.

Groves registered this month as an executive branch lobbyist for one client, Artemetrx, LLC, of Lexington.

Groves said Artemetrx advises clients on how to cut health-care costs after analyzing their health-care claims data. Artemetrx is seeking a contract with the Department of Medicaid Services, he said yesterday.

Groves left state government in September 2005. State ethics law prohibits a former state official from lobbying for one year on matters with which he or she was involved.

"That doesn't apply because this is a new subject; Artemetrx is pursuing a brand-new contract," Groves said.

He also said there is no conflict with his wife's job as a staff assistant to the secretary of Health and Family Services because Danelle Groves has no role in deciding policy or awarding contracts.

John Steffen, lawyer for the Executive Branch Ethics Commission, said Groves disclosed these matters to the commission and was advised the arrangement would not violate state ethics law.

But Richard Beliles, chairman of citizen lobbying group Common Cause Kentucky, said, "Legally, this may be OK. But I think it's bad, and down the road questions could be raised if this company appears to get favorable treatment."

Soon after he resigned from Fletcher's staff, he was indicted on three counts of conspiracy by the special grand jury investigating alleged illegal patronage in the administration.

Groves denied wrongdoing and his indictment was dismissed when a judge ruled he was covered by Fletcher's Aug. 29, 2005, pardon.

Posted by vicki at 07:21 AM

Nothing gets my knickers in a twist more than Democrat politicians running away from the L word. I have no respect for pols who treat it like a dirty word. Conservatives ought to be ashamed of the "C" word, seeing how they drove this country over a cliff, destroyed the economy (if you're not a millionare) and back a failed, radical foreign policy. I'm really, really dissapointed in Evan Bayh.

Fathers Defeated, Democratic Sons Strike Back
By ROBIN TONER
Published: August 14, 2006

In the history of the Democratic Party, the election of 1980 looms large: the year the party lost the White House, the Senate, a generation of Midwestern liberals and, in some ways, its confidence that it was the natural, even inevitable, majority party.

Now, that election has a sequel.

Call it the return of the sons: Chet Culver, the Iowa secretary of state and the son of former Senator John C. Culver, is running for governor of Iowa. Senator Evan Bayh, son of former Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, is organizing and testing the waters for a possible presidential bid in 2008. And Jack Carter, the son of former President Jimmy Carter, has decided at the age of 59 to run an uphill race for the Senate in Nevada, his first foray into electoral politics. . .

They say their values are the same as their fathers’, but their political approach is adapted to a different time. In one measure of the difference, the elder Mr. Bayh and Mr. Culver were invariably described as liberals; the sons, in recent interviews, avoided the term.

“I find the world just too complex to embrace a single ideological point of view,” Evan Bayh said. Moreover, he argued, conservative strategists like Karl Rove like nothing better than to push Democrats into an ideological corner.

“It shouldn’t be about ideology,” Mr. Bayh said. “It ought to be about practical progress, ideas that make sense to people in their daily lives.”

Chet Culver, who is running against Representative Jim Nussle in the Iowa governor’s race, one of the most competitive in the country, describes himself as “a proud, progressive Democrat.” He added: “Labels aren’t what matters. It matters what you believe in.” . . .

While Birch Bayh was known as a classic “Great Society liberal,” as Evan Bayh has put it, and as a champion of causes like the equal rights amendment, the son has long been a careful centrist, a former chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council and a founder of the Third Way, a centrist research group.

Visiting 22 states over the past year, he has argued that the way for Democrats to win is to reach out to the middle class, demonstrate credibility on national security and show respect for faith and values issues. [my bold]

“The world has changed a lot” since his father’s day, Mr. Bayh said. “So it’s natural that how we solve our problems changes, too.” For example, he said, the importance of fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets has become increasingly apparent over the years. And from a political standpoint, Democrats have learned over and over since 1980 the power of an ideological campaign when waged against them.

Posted by vicki at 04:02 PM | Comments (1)

While I was working at Democratic Hdq. today, the gal who "runs the store" there said: "Hot off the wire...Barak Obama will be coming to Louisville on Sept.14th for a fund-raiser. He has also agreed to address the crowd at Fourth Street Live on the afternoon of the 14th. It will be free. I thought you and some of the other D-Lers would be interested. You heard it first from me. I plan to go!

Treva

Thanks, Treva We'll see you there.

Posted by vicki at 12:22 PM

What will it take for the dim wits in KY (and country at large) to realize that Republicans are incapable of actually governing? Another humiliation for us splashed in the pages of the New York Times

FRANKFORT, Ky., Aug. 11 (AP) — A judge ruled Friday that Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who is embroiled in a hiring scandal, is protected by executive immunity and cannot be prosecuted while in office.

Governor's Troubles Threaten G.O.P. in Kentucky (June 20, 2006)

Mr. Fletcher, Kentucky’s first Republican governor in three decades, was indicted in May on charges that his administration rewarded political supporters with protected state jobs. He has accused the state’s attorney general, Greg D. Stumbo, a Democrat, of conducting a politically motivated investigation.

The judge, David E. Melcher, essentially stayed the case until Mr. Fletcher’s term expires, or unless he is removed through impeachment by the Legislature. He did not dismiss the case, though, as Mr. Fletcher’s lawyers had requested.

Posted by vicki at 12:46 PM | Comments (2)

We simply cannot wait 2 more years to throw the Republican bums out. The breathtaking corruption and incompetence at every level of government in this administration must not be allowed to continue. This Times article will make you sick.

An Audit Sharply Criticizes Iraq’s Bookkeeping
By JAMES GLANZ
Published: August 12, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 11 — An audit by the international accounting firm Ernst & Young portrays Iraq as a country that cannot keep its books straight, where elementary accounting errors of up to a billion dollars are routine and where no one can say how much of the country’s oil revenues end up in government coffers.

An auditing board sponsored by the United Nations, which had hired Ernst & Young to carry out the work, posted a summary of the findings on its Web site late Thursday. The audit focused on the nearly $22 billion that Iraq generated in 2005 from oil revenues, which form the basis for virtually the entire national economy.

But in a country in need of every dollar it can generate to restore a crumbling infrastructure, pay government salaries and train its security forces, the auditors found enormous sums simply deposited in the wrong government account or counted differently by various official agencies. The actual oil exports could not be determined accurately because Iraq still does not have modern equipment for measuring what its pipelines pour into tankers.

The panel, the International Advisory and Monitoring Board of the Development Fund for Iraq, was created by the United Nations to supervise an account dominated by Iraqi oil revenues but also including interest payments and money seized from Saddam Hussein’s government.

Referring to the tracking of money from the development fund, sometimes called the D.F.I., the board said in statement that “overall control systems are ineffective,” and that the government’s financial institution suffered from a “lack of written policies and procedures” and “staff who are not properly trained to deal with the nature and complexity of D.F.I. transactions.”

Posted by vicki at 12:25 PM | Comments (1)

You would think that the disasterous invasion of Iraq, Israel's nightmare invasion of Lebanon and erosion of progress in Afghanistan would shut up these blood thirsty neocons. Yet they are barking about dropping nukes in Iran and Syria. Somebody save us from this madness! Read the entire Nation article and weep.

Neocon Dreams, American Nightmares
Eric Alterman

Taking what might be considered the moderate neocon position on the Israel/Hezbollah war, the editors of The New Republic demand that the Bush Administration "move ruthlessly to prevent Iran from acquiring the deadliest arsenal of all," while their contributor Michael Oren calls only for an Israeli, rather than an American, attack on Syria. Next door at The Weekly Standard, William Kristol sees no point in playing coy. Having already called for an American attack on Syria twenty months ago, he is now beating his bongo for an immediate "military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities." Concerned about retaliation against American citizens in the form of terrorist attacks around the world? Don't worry. Any and all "repercussions," he promises, "would be healthy ones." Kristol even imagines that such an attack could cause the Iranian people "to reconsider whether they really want to have this regime in power," as if the natural reaction of people who see their country attacked, their families killed and their property destroyed is to side with the people who are bombing them (just like in, um... Iraq). . .

One does not need to take a position on the wisdom--or lack thereof--of Israel's current invasion of Lebanon to question whether Israel's interests are in fact identical to America's. Kristol can title his editorial "It's Our War," but Hezbollah was not shooting missiles into Manhattan. And while we may not like its sponsor, Iran, last I checked we were not at war with that nation either. (In fact, we're doing its dirty work, destabilizing antagonist Iraq and preparing the way for a Shiite ascendancy led by an Iranian cleric.) But whenever one raises the issue of just how large Israel's perceived well-being looms in the minds of those who seek to risk America's blood and treasure for actions that happen to be at the top of AIPAC's wish list, one is immediately accused of either anti-Semitism or, as the case may be, self-hatred. New York Times columnist David Brooks, for example, has argued that those who use the very term "neoconservative" are anti-Semites, "full-mooners" living on "Planet Chomsky." TNR senior editor (and William Kristol's writing partner) Lawrence Kaplan claims that "invoking the specter of dual loyalty to quiet criticism and debate amounts to more than the everyday pollution of public discourse." ...

What's most immediately worrisome about the neocons' long march through our institutions of government is the possibility that they may succeed a second time. According to Sidney Blumenthal's reporting in Salon, neocon staffers for Dick Cheney and the NSC's point man on the Middle East, Elliott Abrams (Norman Podhoretz's son-in-law), "have discussed Syrian and Iranian supply activities as a potential pretext for Israeli bombing of both countries." They are looking, according to this NSC source, "to widen the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and Israel and Hamas into a four-front war."

Four wars simultaneously? Led by this crew? After what we've seen in Iraq and Afghanistan? Is it me, or are the people who run this country dangerously out of their minds?

Posted by vicki at 05:29 PM | Comments (2)

Dear Friends,

As the awful civilian death toll rises above 1000 in Lebanon and Israel, people around the world are seeking a place to voice their frustration and concern. Over the last 4 days, 200,000 people from 148 countries have signed the ceasefire petition. At this rate, we could soon be the largest global online petition in history.

The pressure is working. The global outcry over this crisis has pushed the Ambassadors to the UN Security Council to work around the clock to achieve an immediate ceasefire.

The latest word is that the Council may be close to a final vote today or tomorrow, but we’ve been this close before and negotiations have fallen apart. We need more pressure now to close the deal.

Please forward this email on, spread the word to your friends, family and colleagues, post a link on your blog, bring up the campaign in discussions, and urgently encourage people around you to join this global wave of protest by signing up at the link below:

http://www.ceasefirecampaign.org/mo/en.html

The pressure is working. Let’s ratchet it up.

With hope,

Ricken Patel, Ceasefire Campaign

Posted by vicki at 09:03 AM

It's mortifying to see/hear Leiberman blabbing WH talking points against Democratic primary winner, Ned Lamont. And it's unforgivably dishonest to link Iraq and al Qaeda. By doing so, Leiberman is contributing to the false notion that Saddam anything to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York. How telling that Joe's only fans are the WH, Faux Newz and Republican operatives.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut seized on the reports of a terror plot yesterday to attack Ned Lamont, his Democratic opponent for re-election, saying that Mr. Lamont’s goal of withdrawing American troops from Iraq by a fixed date would constitute a “victory” for extremists.

“If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England,” Mr. Lieberman said at a campaign event in Waterbury, Conn. “It will strengthen them, and they will strike again.”

Mr. Lamont, who rode an antiwar message to defeat Mr. Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary on Tuesday, has called for removing frontline American troops from Iraq as early as next July. Mr. Lieberman, a Democrat who is now running as an independent, opposes setting a deadline.

Mr. Lamont denounced Mr. Lieberman’s remarks, and some other Democrats and political analysts questioned the senator’s use of a national security hazard to buttress a political attack, especially against another Democrat.

Yet Mr. Lieberman has accused Mr. Lamont of distorting the senator’s record on Iraq, and the Connecticut race has turned into an increasingly bitter fight between two Democrats over issues of war and national security.

In a telephone interview yesterday from his vacation home in Maine, Mr. Lamont said he was disappointed by Mr. Lieberman’s tone, and he questioned whether the war in Iraq had any bearing on terrorists’ designs on Western nations. Mr. Lamont also hit back by again connecting Mr. Lieberman to President Bush, whose war plans he has endorsed at times.

“Wow,” Mr. Lamont said, after twice asking a reporter to read Mr. Lieberman’s remark about him. “That comment sounds an awful lot like Vice President Cheney’s comment on Wednesday. Both of them believe our invasion of Iraq has a lot to do with 9/11. That’s a false premise.”

Posted by vicki at 08:33 AM | Comments (5)

If you plan to go, leave a message in the comments section. We can get a group discount rate!

I just got notice in the mail today of a tremendous event coming up on Thursday, August 31 at the convention center downtown.

That evening Helen Thomas will be the guest speaker at the ACLU Bill of Rights Dinner. Dinner tickets are $50 each, a table of 10 is $500. Separate private reception tickets are also available at $100 each. Special table rates are available for community groups, so if we fill one up maybe we can get a break on that $50.
Ms. Thomas has been such a beacon during these trying times, and she's kept her sense of
humor enough to make a classic video with Stephen Colbert which was shown at the famous White House Correspondents' Dinner, that I myself would love to go and hear her speak and pay homage to what a true American journalist used to be.

Because of the night, that would be that week's meeting, and I can't think of a better way
to share some time together than having a "Front Row at the White House."
Reply deadline is Monday, August 21, and you can call 581-9746 for reservations and more
information. If we get enough folks for a table, I'll be glad to act as facilitator and get the table. Those
with PayPal accounts could pay me direct, or I could get checks or cash at one of the DL
meetings. As Mike Myers' alter ego used to say on "Saturday Night Live," discuss amongst yourselves.

June

PS: Of course, Helen has a book coming out--doesn't everyone?--and Carmichael's will have hers available for sale and for her to sign following the dinner.

We have enough peeps for a table if Anne and Charters let me know if they're in and send a check. I hope to finalize this in the next few days. 2 tables woundn't be a bad thing. Get BUSY! Woo Hoo!

Posted by vicki at 10:30 PM | Comments (3)

Joe Leiberan, who gave us this little gem: “For the sake of our state, our country and my party, I cannot, I will not let this result stand,” Mr. Lieberman said of the Lamont victory.

The runner up is Big Dick Cheney who had this to say: "President Dick Cheney, who went so far as to suggest that the ouster of Mr. Lieberman might encourage “al Qaeda types.”

“It’s an unfortunate development, I think, from the standpoint of the Democratic Party, to see a man like Lieberman pushed aside because of his willingness to support an aggressive posture in terms of our national security strategy,’’ Mr. Cheney said

Posted by vicki at 02:51 PM | Comments (1)

Hahahahaha. This is rich. Big Time Dick and other *leading* Republicans are making dark threats that a vote for Lamont (sounds French) equals a vote for the terrorists. You simply cannot make this s**t up. It's telling that the loudest Leiberman backers are the hosts of hate radio and the WH.

Democrats Back Lamont in Race in Show of Unity

With promises of both money and personal campaign appearances, Democratic leaders rallied yesterday behind the campaign of Ned Lamont, the antiwar challenger who defeated Senator Joseph I. Lieberman in the Connecticut primary, leaving Mr. Lieberman increasingly isolated as he pledged to forge ahead as an independent candidate.

At the same time, Republicans began a concerted effort to use Mr. Lieberman’s defeat to portray Democrats as weak on national defense, reprising a theme that they made central to the last two national campaigns.

The attacks came in searing remarks from, among others, Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee and Vice President Dick Cheney, who went so far as to suggest that the ouster of Mr. Lieberman might encourage “al Qaeda types.”

“It’s an unfortunate development, I think, from the standpoint of the Democratic Party, to see a man like Lieberman pushed aside because of his willingness to support an aggressive posture in terms of our national security strategy,’’ Mr. Cheney said in a telephone interview with news service reporters.

Posted by vicki at 08:19 AM | Comments (1)

“For the sake of our state, our country and my party, I cannot, I will not let this result stand,” Mr. Lieberman said of the Lamont victory.

Posted by vicki at 11:21 AM | Comments (3)

Joe Leiberman is a very poor loser. He needs to get the message, loud and clear, that the Democrats he rejected have now rejected him. Get out of the way, Joe. You're not wanted.

Ned Lamont, a Connecticut millionaire whose candidacy for the United States Senate soared from nowhere on a fierce antiwar message, won a narrow victory in the Democratic primary last night over the incumbent, Joseph I. Lieberman.

Senator Lieberman, a national party leader and the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, conceded defeat in a phone call to Mr. Lamont shortly before 11 p.m. But then, in a combative speech to supporters in Hartford that was carried live on television news, the senator declared that he was not dropping out of the race, but would instead run for re-election as an independent this fall.

“As I see it, in this campaign, we’ve just finished the first half and the Lamont team is ahead — but in the second half, our team, Team Connecticut, is going to surge forward to victory in November,” Mr. Lieberman told cheering supporters.

Shut up and go away, warmonger.

Posted by vicki at 06:13 AM | Comments (3)

Another day, another embarrassment from our clowning Governor. I wish he and his pal Bu$h would just go away, but only elections will make that happen, since the GOP refuses to hold party members responsible for the cronyism, incompetence and corruption.

Finally, truth pops out

The clown car is in the middle ring of the Kentucky political circus, and bodies keep popping out. One after another, they say the same thing: Gov. Ernie Fletcher probably can't be re-elected, so he needs to bow out.

Senate President David Williams, Lt. Gov. Steve Pence, Jefferson County Republican Chairman Jack Richardson and now, at the Fancy Farm political picnic, Secretary of State Trey Grayson -- all have warned that somebody else should be their party's 2007 nominee.

Of course, Mr. Grayson is no clown. He's a bright, accomplished, careful young political comer, and the most important part of his message was quite serious. He said something that needed saying, especially by a major Republican figure.

Mr. Grayson recalled that Republicans promised in the last gubernatorial election to "clean up the mess in Frankfort." And, he added pointedly, "We didn't mean justifying questionable behavior because the other guy did it, too."

Of course that's precisely what Gov. Fletcher and his remorseless, hang-tough allies have done as the merit hiring scandal has deepened.

The Governor is personally responsible, but neither he nor they will accept the need for consequences. . .
The Governor discounts criticism from other Republicans by saying, "We're a maturing party, and those things are going to happen."

But at Fancy Farm, it was the Governor who was playing a game of hide and seek. It was Mr. Grayson who was the adult.

The Governor's chief of staff, Stan Cave, tried to spray a little seltzer on Mr. Grayson, by reflecting, airily, "Many a young person has gotten carried away at Fancy Farm."

But once they took over in Frankfort, it was Gov. Fletcher and his self-important, self-righteous acolytes who got carried away.

They forgot what got them elected. At Fancy Farm, Trey Grayson reminded them.

Posted by vicki at 01:14 PM | Comments (1)

This is a message from Steph:

Hi Friends,

P.S. In keeping with the low key and last minute nature of this event, please help us by passing the invite to all our friends that we may have missed inadvertently!

Posted by Maria at 10:19 PM

I had no idea that the wingnuts were pretending all the carnage in Lebanon was "fake" and "propaganda." They clearly understand the propaganda their Dear Leader feeds them and lap up, so I guess they think "everybody does it."

Dry Eyes, Girded Loins
Posted by James Wolcott

Digby notes the fungus spread of the right wing's new talking point regarding the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon: the scenes of civilian casualties are staged photo ops by Hezbollah intended to prey upon the squeamish consciences of the Western media. Therefore we shouldn't be guiled or swayed by shots of limp, dead children in grieving arms. They're just propaganda props, bloody ragdolls served up for camera consumption ("The Palestinians, and by extension their rollicking sidekicks around the Muslim world, are the masters of dead-child porn"), and that pretentious quack Shrinkwrapped, for one, refuses to mourn the dead children in Qana, because that would only serve to weaken the will, milken the coffee, and soften our resolve to See This Through: "Our mourning, the appeal to the best within us, is a weapon that our enemy uses to weaken our ability to fight. The Arab propaganda machine, schooled in the ways of Goebbels, aided and abetted by fools in the Western media, are doing all they can to create the illusion of moral equivalence and stop the Israelis from their systematic destruction of Hezbollah's terror capabilities."

Yes, the warbloggers have taken their extra-strength Krauthammer fortitude pills this week, and it's matters nil whether the civilian casualties in Lebanon are innocent victims or Hezbollah crash dummies, for they shall not be moved nor distracted, their eyes shall remain fixed on the horizon, intent on victory.

So when word came of an Israeli strike on a farm warehouse in northeastern Lebanon that killed over thirty Syrian Kurds who were loading fruits and vegetables on to trucks, I wondered how long it would take for the Pajamas Media droogies to starting hanging ironic quotation marks about the Lebanese "farm" and its "workers."

Didn't take long. That moral paragon Roger L. Simon immediately poked his head right through a hole in the boardwalk, ironic quotes dangling from his ear lobes:

"Another Israeli 'massacre' is being reported this morning, this time of 'farmers' on the Syrian border, according to Reuters. Will this be Qana II? The media sharks are undoubtedly circling.

Posted by vicki at 07:39 PM | Comments (1)

What can you say about a country that is this ignorant? My head hurts.

Half of U.S. still believes Iraq had WMD

By CHARLES J. HANLEY
AP Special Correspondent

Do you believe in Iraqi "WMD"? Did Saddam Hussein's government have weapons of mass destruction in 2003?

Half of America apparently still thinks so, a new poll finds, and experts see a raft of reasons why: a drumbeat of voices from talk radio to die-hard bloggers to the Oval Office, a surprise headline here or there, a rallying around a partisan flag, and a growing need for people, in their own minds, to justify the war in Iraq.

People tend to become "independent of reality" in these circumstances, says opinion analyst Steven Kull.

The reality in this case is that after a 16-month, $900-million-plus investigation, the U.S. weapons hunters known as the Iraq Survey Group declared that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991 under U.N. oversight. That finding in 2004 reaffirmed the work of U.N. inspectors who in 2002-03 found no trace of banned arsenals in Iraq.

Posted by vicki at 10:13 AM

This is hardly the only shockingly terrible crime being committed in Iraq by U.S. soldiers, but it is hideous beyond measure. It's difficult to read.

The soldiers knew the house. They had been there only the day before, military prosecutors now say, committing the crime.

Those soldiers, along with others from their checkpoint, walked over and took detailed forensic photographs of the charred and bullet-riddled bodies, as if it were a routine investigation of an insurgent attack, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Now, those photographs are likely to serve as evidence in the military’s prosecution of the case, which opens a new chapter tomorrow when an Article 32 hearing, the rough equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, begins in Baghdad for five soldiers accused in the crime.

The case, which was first widely reported in June, raised alarm about the military’s conduct, infuriating Iraqis and setting off a public bout of shame and soul-searching for the American command. And as details trickle out, a troubling picture is emerging of an Army unit numbed by months of extreme combat stress and left at one of the deadliest security checkpoints in Iraq without experienced leaders — a point that will be central in building a legal defense, lawyers in the case say.

Many questions persist about the crime in Mahmudiya. Prosecutors initially said that only two of the accused soldiers had raped the girl, and that Steven D. Green, a private who was discharged in May after a psychiatric evaluation, was the ringleader. It now appears that at least three soldiers, including Mr. Green, raped her, according to a legal memo filed by a military magistrate.

And then there's This
Prosecutor Calls Accused G.I.’s War Criminals

TIKRIT, Iraq, Aug. 4 — A military prosecutor called four American infantrymen “war criminals” on Friday for killing three Iraqi men in a raid in May after handcuffing them, “cutting them loose, telling them to run and shooting them.”

Posted by vicki at 01:48 PM

Whew! This is one tough ad. Watch it here

Posted by vicki at 04:01 PM | Comments (3)

DL was pleased to have Rev. Todd Eklof and his lovely wife Peggy join us last night. And a bonus joy was seeing his letter to the editor in today's paper. Here is is:

Terror in the Middle East

'Aren't both the same?'

Why do you refer to the Israeli "military," yet call Hezbollah's soldiers "guerillas" and "militants"? Isn't all killing with rockets and guns the same?

What's the difference between "Hezbollah," which means "Party of God," and "Israel," which means "Prince of God?" Isn't their God one and the same?

Why are people who use smuggled or homemade bombs to indiscriminately kill innocents called "terrorists," while those using bombs made in the USA called "allies" and "soldiers?" Isn't all terror the same?

What's the difference between killing innocent Americans in skyscrapers and killing innocent Iraqis and Lebanese in apartment buildings? Aren't all people the same?

Why are Americans being bombarded with wall-to-wall coverage of the war in Lebanon, yet so little of the war in Iraq? … Aren't both wars the same?

Posted by vicki at 11:13 AM

I read this with a bit of amusement. Has anyone seen Anne lately? She's never bothered to have a single town hall meeting and when she's in town I'm never aware of it. What public appearances?

Representative Northup is on the run from her record—trying to separate herself from her right-wing votes, President Bush and her big-money special-interest contributors. Together, we can make sure she doesn't get far.

We're forming a team of MoveOn members to show up at Rep. Northup's public appearances to remind voters whose side she is really on. Will you join your local Project Red-Handed team? Click the link to join:

Team: Louisville Team Red-Handed
Sign up here: here
When MoveOn members expose the corruption of the Republican Congress through local media events, it makes a huge difference. Together, we've helped make sure that voters know what Republicans are up to in Washington—supporting big corporations over us. Now we're taking the message of corruption to the most competitive races in the country, including your district.

Here's what Project Red-Handed looks like: armed with giant red hands and signs, MoveOn members will follow Representative Northup to town hall meetings, appearances and fundraisers to let fellow voters know she's caught red-handed protecting special interests in Washington—not yours.

We'll fill the newspapers with letters to the editor and call into local talk radio with more examples. And we'll back it all up with a database of voting records and campaign contributions. The "red-handed" metaphor provides an iconic image to link the charges we're making and helps them stick in the minds of the media and the public.

We'll connect you with other MoveOn members in your district and provide you with materials. All you need is a bit of time this summer, and an urgent desire to change the direction our country's heading in. Sign up here:

Team: Louisville Team Red-Handed
click here

The upcoming November elections are looking more and more like a real opportunity to end Republican domination in Congress, but it will take thousands of us stepping up and taking on new and important roles.

Posted by vicki at 10:40 AM

Jeepers H.Christmas! How on Earth can U.S. citizens tollerate the hijacking of our Democracy by this bizzare, ruthless administration? Shame! The Times presents the sad fact of life in elections under Bu$hCo.

Strong-Arming the Vote

President Bush’s Justice Department has been criticized for letting partisanship guide its work on voting and elections. And party politics certainly appears to have been a driving force in a legal maneuver it just pulled off in Alabama, where it persuaded a federal judge to take important election powers away from the Democratic secretary of state and give them to a Republican governor. The Justice Department says it is trying to enforce the election law, but that is unconvincing. There are plenty of ways to enforce the law without creating the impression that it is tilting the electoral landscape in favor of Republicans.

Alabama is one of many states that have been late in meeting a federal requirement to create a computerized statewide list of voters. Secretary of State Nancy Worley says the delay is due to factors outside her control. Her critics disagree. But whatever the reason, the Justice Department has every right to try to speed things along. The trouble is, rather than work with Ms. Worley to get the job done, it decided to go to court to take away her authority and hand it to Gov. Bob Riley.

Sadly, a federal judge agreed yesterday to do just that, in a one-sided proceeding that felt a lot like a kangaroo court. The Justice Department and the Alabama attorney general, Troy King, both argued that Governor Riley should control the voter database. Mr. King, a Republican, was appointed to his job by Governor Riley after serving as his legal adviser, and when Ms. Worley realized that Mr. King would not represent her interests, she asked him to let her hire a lawyer to argue her side. He refused. The Alabama Democratic Party tried to intervene in the case, so it could argue against giving control of the voter rolls to the governor. The judge, who was recently named to the bench by President Bush, would not let the Democrats in.

Posted by vicki at 11:16 AM | Comments (1)

Read this Vanity Fair report on what really happened on 9/11 from the raw tapes and be very afraid. The gutless 911 Commission and Congress have known for 5 years that a government cover up has been in place to mask Bu$hCo's incompetence and ineptness in the face of terrorism on U.S. soil. My head hurts.

Posted by vicki at 10:33 AM | Comments (3)

This is amazing. The cowardly 911 commission again appears to have let the Pentegon and Bu$hCo off the hook. And our fearless Congress? They're not interested in getting to the bottom of the White House's obstruction of the commissions work. The WaPo has more.. Lie to Congress under oath? Not a problem. I'm sure Ken Starr will be right on it.

Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public rather than a reflection of the fog of events on that day, according to sources involved in the debate.

Suspicion of wrongdoing ran so deep that the 10-member commission, in a secret meeting at the end of its tenure in summer 2004, debated referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, according to several commission sources. Staff members and some commissioners thought that e-mails and other evidence provided enough probable cause to believe that military and aviation officials violated the law by making false statements to Congress and to the commission, hoping to hide the bungled response to the hijackings, these sources said.

In the end, the panel agreed to a compromise, turning over the allegations to the inspectors general for the Defense and Transportation departments, who can make criminal referrals if they believe they are warranted, officials said.

"We to this day don't know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us," said Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. "It was just so far from the truth. . . . It's one of those loose ends that never got tied."

Although the commission's landmark report made it clear that the Defense Department's early versions of events on the day of the attacks were inaccurate, the revelation that it considered criminal referrals reveals how skeptically those reports were viewed by the panel and provides a glimpse of the tension between it and the Bush administration.

Posted by vicki at 12:01 PM | Comments (3)

If you support a cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah, please sign the petition here

In the entire world, only the U.S., Britian and Israel are against an immediate end to the carnage.

Posted by vicki at 08:44 AM

HIGHlarious! While you're there, click on the Ned Lamont video. Click here for your comedy relief

Posted by vicki at 08:11 AM | Comments (1)

If you plan to go, leave a message in the comments section. We can get a group discount rate!

I just got notice in the mail today of a tremendous event coming up on Thursday, August 31 at the convention center downtown.

That evening Helen Thomas will be the guest speaker at the ACLU Bill of Rights Dinner. Dinner tickets are $50 each, a table of 10 is $500. Separate private reception tickets are also available at $100 each. Special table rates are available for community groups, so if we fill one up maybe we can get a break on that $50.
Ms. Thomas has been such a beacon during these trying times, and she's kept her sense of
humor enough to make a classic video with Stephen Colbert which was shown at the famous White House Correspondents' Dinner, that I myself would love to go and hear her speak and pay homage to what a true American journalist used to be.

Because of the night, that would be that week's meeting, and I can't think of a better way
to share some time together than having a "Front Row at the White House."
Reply deadline is Monday, August 21, and you can call 581-9746 for reservations and more
information. If we get enough folks for a table, I'll be glad to act as facilitator and get the table. Those
with PayPal accounts could pay me direct, or I could get checks or cash at one of the DL
meetings. As Mike Myers' alter ego used to say on "Saturday Night Live," discuss amongst yourselves.

June

PS: Of course, Helen has a book coming out--doesn't everyone?--and Carmichael's will have hers available for sale and for her to sign following the dinner.

Posted by vicki at 07:28 PM | Comments (5)

The media focus on the Israeli/Hezbollah battle has left the ongoing carnage in Iraq all but ignored. For example:

At least 52 dead in latest Iraq carnage

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Bombings and shootings across Iraq killed at least 52 people Tuesday, including 24 people in a bus destroyed by a roadside bomb. The attacks further damage the U.S.-backed government's efforts to establish control over the country.

The bus, carrying many Iraqi soldiers, was struck in the northern industrial city of Beiji, killing everyone on board, said Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari. [. . .}

On Monday, gunmen dressed in military fatigues burst into the offices of the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and a nearby mobile phone company, seizing 26 people in a daylight raid in a mostly Shiite area of the capital. The same day, a millionaire businessman and his two sons were abducted from their car in Baghdad.

All the victims were believed to be Iraqis. The Iraqi-American Chamber is an independent organization not affiliated with the U.S. government, and maintains branches throughout Iraq and in Amman, Jordan.

The Interior Ministry denied that the kidnappers were police - despite the uniforms - and blamed the attack on "terrorists," Iraqi state television reported.

U.S. officials estimate an average of 30-40 people are kidnapped each day in Iraq, although the real figure may be higher because few families contact the police. Security officials believe most of the ransoms end up in the hands of insurgent and militia groups.

Many abductions are believed to be tied to the ongoing violence between Sunni and Shiite extremists who target civilians of the rival Muslim communities.

On Monday, the government said that since February, 30,359 families - or about 182,000 people - had fled their homes due to sectarian violence and intimidation. That represented an increase of about 20,000 people from the number reported July 20.

Posted by vicki at 11:56 AM | Comments (1)

Senator Levin is to be commended for taking on these tax cheats. God knows the Republicans (who have aided and abetted wealthy tax cheats for decades) have no interest in reigning them in. Instead, Bu$h decides to fire half the I.R.S. auditors who chase down corporate and super rich tax cheaters.

Big Tax Cheats Called Out Of Control

So many superrich Americans evade taxes using offshore accounts that law enforcement cannot control the growing misconduct, according to a Senate report that provides the most detailed look ever at high-level tax schemes.
[. . .]
The investigation, which took 18 months, involved 74 subpoenas, 80 interviews and the collection of more than two million documents, and yet Senator Levin said “the six cases we present are just examples, just a pinhole look.”

The 400-page report recommends eight changes, some of them aimed at going after the law and accounting firms, banks and investment advisers that the report says enable tax schemes that rely on complexity, secrecy and compartmentalizing information so that advisers can claim they had no idea that the overall transaction was a fraud.

“We need to significantly strengthen the aiding and abetting statutes to get at the lawyers and accountants and other advisers who enable this cheating,” Senator Levin said, adding that “we need major changes in law to stop the use of tax havens” by tax cheats.

It also recommends new rules that strip away the underlying legal presumptions that make offshore tax havens like the Cayman Islands, Nevis, the Isle of Man and Panama attractive places for Americans to hide assets and income from the Internal Revenue Service.

Senator Levin said the law “should assume that any transaction in a tax haven is a sham.”

He said that during the investigation he grew angry as he learned how common cheating had become and how existing government rules aided tax cheats. He said that complex schemes were broken into discrete pieces, allowing professional advisers working on each piece to assert that they had no idea that, taken as a whole, a scheme was improper.

“I get incensed by people who use tax havens to not pay their taxes while the average guy has to pay his taxes because they are taken out of his pay before he gets it,” he said.

Posted by vicki at 09:45 AM | Comments (1)