Drinking Liberally®

Woo Hoo! Hit him with the chair, Andrew! Our DLer pal Lt. Col. Andrew Horne will give the Democratic party's response to Bu$h's radio address tomorrow morning. Here are the Details:

KENTUCKY IRAQ WAR VETERAN, ANDREW HORNE, TO DELIVER NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE TO PRESIDENT’S RADIO ADDRESS

In his address, Horne will discuss recent legislation passed in the U.S. House and Senate for U.S. troop re-deployment and funding of American combat troops.
Horne, who ran in the Democratic primary election for Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District, has been a frequent and outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s mishandling of the war in Iraq. He now serves on the board of VoteVets, a national advocacy group of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.

Saturday, March 31, 200 following the President’s address at 10:06 a.m. (EDT) All the cable channels carry it live and the major networks will air it too.

Posted by vicki at 06:50 PM | TrackBack (0)

On Saturday, March 31, DLers Larry, Brad, Debby, Dear Leader Vicki and Jon will put up a $1,000 pledge to NPR and challenge members of Drinking Liberally, Louisville to match it. If you support Public Radio and would like to donate, here's a chance to do so and promote Drinking Liberally at the same time! Here's how it will work:
Tomorrow evening at 5:00, DLer Larry Cooper will call WFPL (our local NPR station) and offer up the pledge and challenge you to try and match it. As it happens, Dear Leader Maria will be working the phones at that time, so you might get to give her your pledge. The number to call is 814-6565 Thanks so much!

UPDATE! DL more than met the challenge Congratulations LIBERALS. You are the best.

Posted by vicki at 06:18 PM | TrackBack (0)

My head is really going to explode if Congress doesn't get off its ass and do something about the travesty of the military denying proper care to injured Vets. This is totally unacceptable.

Eventually the rocket shrapnel was removed from Town's neck and his ears stopped leaking blood. But his hearing never really recovered, and in many ways, neither has his life. A soldier honored twelve times during his seven years in uniform, Town has spent the last three struggling with deafness, memory failure and depression. By September 2006 he and the Army agreed he was no longer combat-ready. But instead of sending Town to a medical board and discharging him because of his injuries, doctors at Fort Carson, Colorado, did something strange: They claimed Town's wounds were actually caused by a "personality disorder." Town was then booted from the Army and told that under a personality disorder discharge, he would never receive disability or medical benefits.

Read the rest of the despicable tale in The Nation and then contact the White House +1 202 456 1414 (voice; ask for the Comment Line unless you have a specific Executive Branch office already in mind) and Congress to demand action. Find your Reps numbers here http://www.vote-smart.org/ce/.

Posted by vicki at 11:18 AM | TrackBack (0)

The Bu$h hack who called the Geneva Conventions "quaint" and is pro-torture is the same guy who ran away during this week's presser in Chicago and who told Congress he had almost no role in the firing of 8 USAs. He lied.

— The former chief of staff to Alberto R. Gonzales testified on Thursday that he had consulted regularly with the attorney general about dismissing United States attorneys, disputing Mr. Gonzales’s public account of his role as very limited. The former aide, D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned two weeks ago, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Mr. Gonzales’s statements about the prosecutors’ dismissals were inaccurate and that the attorney general had been repeatedly advised of the planning for them.

How many times is Congress gonna let Bu$h administration officials lie to them before they take action? Read the rest of the story in this Times piece

Posted by vicki at 08:18 AM | TrackBack (0)

Hahahahahahaha. Jim at The Hillbilly Report searches for Mitch McConnell's teeth and balls! Too funny. Click here for the video

Posted by vicki at 09:47 AM | TrackBack (0)

I watched the exchange between Wolf Blitzer and John McCain on CNN twice yesterday and marveled at Mr. "Straight Talk's" delusional and combatitive insistance that there are peaceful neighborhoods in Baghdad and the flat out lie that General Patreaus (sp?) rides around Baghdad in an un-armored Humvee. Hahahahahahaha. Check out the video of reporter Michael Ware's response on this Crooks and Liars video

"Honestly, Wolf, you'll barely last twenty minutes out there. I dont know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad."

Posted by vicki at 10:27 AM | TrackBack (0)

Aieeeeee! You know something scary is underway when Andrew Sullivan scoops the MSM in unmasking the deep seated corruption of tthe Justice system by the Bu$h WH.

But what is the actual pattern of prosecutions by U.S. Attorneys under the Bush administration? Here's a month-old statistical study that seems to me to be worth wider examination. The authors of the study notice a fascinating wrinkle: there is not much partisan disparity in prosecutions at the state-wide or federal level, where the national press keeps tabs. But when you look at the local level, below the radar of the national media, you find something much more striking. If you remove Justice Department investigations of State-wide and federal elected officials from the tally, and look solely at investigations of local officials, you're left with a stunning disparity:

From 2001 through 2006 the Bush Justice Department investigated elected Democratic office holders and office seekers locally (non-state-wide and non federal offices) at a rate more than seven times greater (nearly 85 percent to 12 percent) than they investigated local Republican elected office holders and seekers. [my bold] This was so even though, throughout the nation, Democrat elected officials outnumber Republican elected officials at the rate of only 50 percent to 41 percent. Nine percent of elected officials are Independent/Other.

This strikes me as classic Rove. He works below the radar, using the U.S. Attorney system to throttle the opposition party, knowing that only local media will pick up on the local stories and that the pattern likely won't emerge in the national media. Hence the panic from Gonzales when the media started pulling at the thread. Pull some more, guys. We may have deep, deep corruption of the justice system, all designed to foment unstoppable, uncheckable one-party rule.

This country is under siege from the most top-down corrupt government in our nation's history.

Posted by vicki at 09:37 AM | TrackBack (0)

We simply don't have 2 more years to waste riding out this WH and their bastardization of every arm of government. Congress needs to act before it's too damned late.

FBI agents repeatedly provided inaccurate information to win secret court approval of surveillance warrants in terrorism and espionage cases, prompting officials to tighten controls on the way the bureau uses that powerful anti-terrorism tool, according to Justice Department and FBI officials. The errors were pervasive enough that the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, wrote the Justice Department in December 2005 to complain. She raised the possibility of requiring counterterrorism agents to swear in her courtroom that the information they were providing was accurate, a procedure that could have slowed such investigations drastically. A internal FBI review in early 2006 of some of the more than 2,000 surveillance warrants the bureau obtains each year confirmed that dozens of inaccuracies had been provided to the court. The errors ranged from innocuous lapses, such as the wrong description of family relationships, to more serious problems, such as citing information from informants who were no longer active, officials said.

The FBI contends that none of the mistakes were serious enough to reverse judges' findings that there was probable cause to issue a surveillance warrant. But officials said the errors were significant enough to prompt reforms bureau-wide.
"It is clear to everybody this is a serious matter. This is something that has to happen quickly. We have to have the confidence of the American people that we are using these tools appropriately," said Kenneth Wainstein, the Justice Department's new assistant attorney general for national security.
The department's acknowledgment of the problems with the FISA court applications comes nearly two weeks after a blistering inspector general's report revealed widespread violations of the use of "national security" and "exigent circumstances" letters, which allow FBI agents to collect phone, e-mail and Internet records from telecommunications companies without review by a judge. The problems included failing to document relevant evidence, claiming emergencies that did not exist and failing to show that phone records requests were connected to authorized investigations.

Heck of a job, Mueller.

Posted by vicki at 03:25 PM | TrackBack (0)

Thanks for sharing, Maria!

A RELIGIOUS VIEW OF LIFE

TV Evangelism: Send money. I will prevent shit from happening.

Posted by vicki at 01:14 PM | TrackBack (0)

Celebrating two glorious years of Drinking Liberally goodness in Louisville!!

Two years ago when I checked out the DL bottle ad on a "leftie" blog, I was stunned to learn that Liberal Louisville--or the entire state of KY, for that matter-- didn't have a single Drinking Liberally chapter. That could not stand, so I started the first DL chapter in the backward State of KY. Today we have over 450 members of the Louisville chapter. We also have gone from zero to 3 chapters in the State and helped start a chapter in New Albany, with our DL friend Rich initiating the chapter and our friend Lacy taking over as Dear Leader there. As I type this, there is a pending chapter in Frankfort, thanks to DLer, Erick, who invited some friends from Frankfort (Capitol Hill of KYpolitics) to check out the Louisville Chapter. We look forward to their inclusion.

Over the last 2 years we have hosted political candidates, (including the only Republican to ask to meet with us), environmentalists, and authors to speak to our members. We tabled at the annual ACLU dinner and partnered with peace orgs to spread our vision of a vibrant, Liberal America. We socialize together on weekends and support our members in their causes. It's a wonderful life!

I feel blessed to have made so many exceptional new friends through DL and to have met so many passionate activists across the social spectrum. I really feel that we are "Promoting Democracy, One Pint At A. Time" throughout our organization. I love you all more than beer, and Dear Leaders Maria, Ron and I will always hold a seat for you every Thursday night at the BBC on Shelbyville Rd. at 7:00 in the non-smoking bar.

Peace!
Vicki

Posted by vicki at 09:19 PM | TrackBack (0)

These jerks fired a popular city manager because he's undergoing a sex change. Any claim that he lost their trust is just bullshit. Here's the latest shameful episode from Florida. What is UP with that state?

— The longtime city manager here was fired early Saturday, one month after he disclosed his plans to seek a sex change.

The City Commission voted 5 to 2 to dismiss the man, Steven B. Stanton, after a six-hour hearing in which he and his supporters argued that he could do his job just as well once he became a woman. Some commissioners said they had voted to fire Mr. Stanton not because he wanted to become a woman, but because he had violated their trust and caused a major disruption.

Any appeal to reason with these bigots was futile. He's the same human being today as he'll be in the body of a woman tomorrow.

Posted by vicki at 11:24 AM | TrackBack (0)

This is just amazing. We all suspected that we were bein spied upon and infiltrated, but this article suggests a far more politically coordinated effort than imagined.

For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and interviews. From Albuquerque to Montreal, San Francisco to Miami, undercover New York police officers attended meetings of political groups, posing as sympathizers or fellow activists, the records show. They made friends, shared meals, swapped e-mail messages and then filed daily reports with the department’s Intelligence Division. Other investigators mined Internet sites and chat rooms. [. . .]

“The police have no authority to spy on lawful political activity, and this wide-ranging N.Y.P.D. program was wrong and illegal,” Mr. Dunn said. “In the coming weeks, the city will be required to disclose to us many more details about its preconvention surveillance of groups and activists, and many will be shocked by the breadth of the Police Department’s political surveillance operation.”

You just have to read the rest of the story here.

Posted by vicki at 10:23 AM | TrackBack (0)

Yesterday's press conference by John and Elizabeth Edwards was truly heart wrenching. I admire them both greatly and know in my heart I do not have the courage they both possess, The most devastating statement was this: Her cancer is "no longer curable" but "completely treatable." As further reading of this post shows, Rush Limpballs and other professional haters find a way to ATTACK THEM. It's a sick world on the right.

American Character Re-emerges With a grace that most of us can only dream of achieving, the couple talked of their recent discovery that Elizabeth's breast cancer had migrated to her bones. It was the kind of news that chills and changes the direction of lives. And yet, for the Edwards, it redoubled their resolve to stay on course. Summoning the voice of a mature statesman in an age where none are to be found, John Edwards summed up their decision--and the moment--as follows:

if you're not able, in a focused, thoughtful way, to deal with this kind of pressure, you're not ready to be president

It was John who uttered this phrase, but the voice was John and Elizabeth combined. In this time where politicians invent ailments to give themselves cover, the Edwards reminded us of the true meaning of public service: dedication and idealism even in the face of unimaginable obstacles.

Read more here

Posted by vicki at 10:42 PM | TrackBack (0)

Woo Hoo! Jon Shaw scored this autograph for Dear Leader. Way to go, Jon!

Posted by vicki at 12:22 PM | TrackBack (0)

Jon took this pic last night at the home of a client in Cinncinati who is a friend and fundraiser for Bill and Hill. Mr. Dear Leader, Jon Shaw, also scored a DL autograph from President Clinton for me. Woo Hoo!

Posted by vicki at 03:07 PM | TrackBack (0)

Woo Hoo! Mainstream Jews go public against the Iraq fiasco and the bullies at AIPAC. Power to the people!

Aryeh Cohen, Asst. Prof. of Rabbinic Literature, University of
Judaism-Los Angeles, 310-569-9193 or 310 440-1262
Shaul Magid, Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Religious Studies, Indiana
University 812-856-1469 or 812-334-2133
Coalition Announces Launch of "Jews Against the War" to Give Voice to Anti-War Jewish Majority - New Gallup Poll Shows 77% of American Jews Oppose War

The problem JAW sees is the disparitybetween these poll numbers versus the lack of an active and united
Jewish effort to end the war. JAW will seek to give voice to this emerging consensus among Jews that America's occupation of Iraq must end, something that hasn't been done by leading pro-Israel lobby groups.

Posted by vicki at 11:05 AM | TrackBack (0)

Al Gore: International Man of Integrity.

Gore introduces the YAHOOS in Congress to the very real global warming crisis.

Click Here for the video

Posted by vicki at 09:19 PM | TrackBack (0)

The politicizing of US attorneys is a deeply undemocratic practice, unprecidented in US history. Even Nixon didn't fire USAs looking into Republican political scandals. TPM has the BEST info on this scandal. Here's a link to the DoJ interfering in the Republican phone jamming (of Dem party HQ) in New Hampshire: click here And here is the question of whether the DoJ tried to hamper the Abramoff corruption investigation.

Today, the nonpartisan congressional watchdog Democracy 21 sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty asking whether there had been political interference in the investigation and prosecution of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "Based on issues that have been raised in the firing of the eight U.S Attorneys , we're all in a position to want some assurance that there hasn't been political interference in the case," Fred Wertheimer, Democracy 21's president, told me. "This still remains the worse congressional corruption scandal in 30 years. There are lesser players who have been convicted. But there are still big players here, including sitting and former members of Congress whose cases apparently have not yet been resolved. " Citing concerns about the slow pace of the investigation and high turnover of prosecutors and supervisors working on the case, Wertheimer also asks Gonzales what resources the Justice Department has committed to the investigation.

And it's just getting started. The GOP talking point seems to be, "We're at WAR and this is what the Dems are wasting time over this?" Nice try.

Posted by vicki at 07:00 PM | TrackBack (0)

I'm pretty sure you've all seen the very professionally composed "1984" style anti-Hillary ad by now. The latest in that little war is a new, anti-Obama ad that is just as professionally done. If the intention is to make Obama look bad, it falls on its face. Take a look.

Clinton v Obama Youtube video

Posted by vicki at 11:14 AM | TrackBack (0)

Hahahahahaha. The GOP hacks and the WH must think they still have an iron grip on Congress. This latest move to have secret meetings with Congress to spin the firings of the US Attorneys is laughable. And insulting. Take a look at what TPM has up on their site:

Here is the letter from White House counsel Fred Fielding laying out the White House's offer to the House and Senate judiciary committees.

In it, Fielding says that the documents and interviews from the Justice Department are providing Congress "a virtually unprecedented window into personnel decision-making within the Executive Branch." The interviews (private, no oath, no transcript) with White House officials, therefore, "should be conducted, if needed, only after Congress has heard from Department of Justice officials about the decision to request the resignations of the U.S. Attorneys."
Fielding also offers to provide certain documents related to the decisions, including White House documents between White House staff and third parties -- but not internal White House communications.

You really cannot make this s**t UP!

Posted by vicki at 03:33 PM | TrackBack (0)

Our friend Jim, author of The Hillbilly Report blog sent me this link to the video he took yesterdy of LPAC's War Dead Memorial. It is chilling in its simplicity and makes a quiet and respectful tribute to the terrible loss of life. Thank you, Jim, for documenting that solemn occasion.

Click here to view

Posted by vicki at 12:53 PM | TrackBack (0)

Sam Avery was giving out flowers to people to put down at flags set up at the memorial. "This is a way for those of us who are still alive to appreciate the individuals who have passed," he said. "I disagree with the politics of the war, but I still want to honor those who have died fighting it." (By Kylene Lloyd, The Courier-Journal)

Click here to read more Quotable quote:

The group also says the war has resulted in more than 600,000 Iraqi deaths.

"I believe it is necessary, even vital, to remember the dead," said the Rev. Todd Eklof, a minister at Clifton Unitarian Church, who spoke during the evening ceremony.

Posted by vicki at 09:35 AM | TrackBack (0)

As I was Googling around looking for a transcript of Arlen Specter's interview on CNN's "The Situation Room," I came upon this Newsweek Article about the "situation" Gonzales finds himself in regarding the firings of 8 US Attorneys. At the end of the article is this remarkable exchange: Read the entire article here.

Recently, a trio of senators—Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy; Arlen Specter, the senior Republican on the committee, and Democrat Charles Schumer—sat down with Gonzales in his wood-paneled conference room to discuss the firings of the U.S. attorneys. Gonzales was initially combative and defensive. "Why do I have to prove anything to you?" he demanded at one point, according to a source who was in the room but does not wish to be identified revealing a private conversation. He insisted that only poor performers had been fired. "Everyone was in the bottom tier," he said. "Everyone?" asked Schumer. What about David Iglesias of New Mexico? (The department's internal evaluations had given Iglesias glowing marks.) Gonzales hesitated. "I believe so," he said, but he seemed uncertain. As the meeting was breaking up, Gonzales suddenly switched tacks and seemed to want to be cooperative. "How can we make this better?" he asked. "What can we do?" According to this source, the attorney general seemed to some in the room to be genuinely befuddled.

He's as stupid and incompetent as his boss, Dumbya.

Posted by vicki at 11:48 PM | TrackBack (0)

Iraq is in a civil war. 3,200 US military dead. 2 million displaced Iraqis. Hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis and many thousands more are "missing." Why? There never were any WMD, as the UN weapons inspectors told us before Bu$h rushed into his *war.* The Iraqis have no freedom and their living conditions are far worse than before we invaded. Our military is broken and service members are returning mentally and phisically broken and ignored and abused by this maladministration. Makes you wanna holler.

Visit the Memorial on the Great Lawn downdown today until 6 P.M. and pay your respects

Posted by vicki at 10:41 AM | TrackBack (0)

I've been in France, (surrender monkeys!) so the only coverage I saw of the protests on Saturday were of the hundreds of thousands who turned out in Spain to denounce Bu$h's war of aggression in Iraq. Here in the US, our intrepid press calls them "hundreds" or "thousands." If any of you DLers who went to the March on the Pentagon have pics, I'd love to post them. Coverage of the event on the web was spotty and light. This was how Salon reported it. Read the rest here

-- Denouncing a conflict entering its fifth year, protesters across the country raised their voices Saturday against U.S. policy in Iraq and marched by the thousands to the Pentagon in the footsteps of an epic demonstration four decades ago against another divisive war.

Thousands crossed the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial to rally loudly but peacefully near the Pentagon.

Posted by vicki at 09:07 PM | TrackBack (0)

Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama tried their hardest to avoid answering reporters questions about whether they think being homosexual is immoral, as that ass General Pace proclaimed. Eventually they issued statements saying they did not agree with Pace. Hardly a couple of "profiles in courage"

So which leading Democratic presidential contender has shown the small amount of courage to say, right out of the box, that Pace is wrong and that homosexual relationships aren't immoral? That would be John Edwards. CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Edwards Tuesday: "In your opinion, is homosexuality immoral?" His response: "I don't share that view. And I would go further than that ... I think the 'don't ask, don't tell' [policy] is not working. And as president of the United States I would change that policy."

Was that so damned hard?

Posted by vicki at 08:24 AM | TrackBack (0)

The following is from LPAC. Good for them! Let's offer our support.

Help Build a Memorial to Commemorate the Iraq War Dead

We need volunteers to sign up to help set up the display early Monday morning, and take it down after 6:00pm.
We'll set up a schedule for time slots throughout the day so people can sign up to work at the memorial:
greeting visitors, taking comments, guiding people through the display of flags, handing out flyers about the War.
If you can help, contact jjmcmillin@insightbb.com or jmunroleighton@gmail.com

Posted by vicki at 02:24 AM | TrackBack (0)

Steffi and Dear Leader in front of Notre Dame in Paris. Wish you were here!

Posted by vicki at 08:13 AM | TrackBack (0)

I'm still waiting for Congress to investigate how an Arlen Spector's staffer slipped in the ammendment to the Patriot Act (oxymoron), supposedly without his knowlege or approval, that gave Bu$h the power to ignore Congress. Is it legal for staffers to do that? Anyway, the Times slams the WH for their many abuses of power.

We wish we’d been surprised to learn that the White House was deeply involved in the politically motivated firing of eight United States attorneys, but the news had the unmistakable whiff of inevitability. This disaster is just part of the Bush administration’s sordid history of waving the bloody bullhorn of 9/11 for the basest of motives: the perpetuation of power for power’s sake. Time and again, President Bush and his team have assured Americans that they needed new powers to prevent another attack by an implacable enemy. Time and again, Americans have discovered that these powers were not being used to make them safer, but in the service of Vice President Dick Cheney’s vision of a presidency so powerful that Congress and the courts are irrelevant, or Karl Rove’s fantasy of a permanent Republican majority.

Posted by vicki at 03:40 AM | TrackBack (0)

This is classic Republican *projection.* The GOP always projects its sins onto their Democratic opponents. This is rotten to the core. The very idea that Dems are involved in voter fraud is laughable. McClatchy news is buzzing with this nifty story

[WH spokeswoman] Perino offered Rove's account of his dealings with the Justice Department after talking with him by telephone. She said Rove routinely passed along complaints about various U.S. attorneys to the Justice Department and then-White House counsel Miers.

Among the complaints that Rove relayed were concerns among Republican Party officials in various jurisdictions that the Justice Department was not being aggressive in pursuing allegations of election fraud by Democrats. Such allegations by Republicans were a particular concern in New Mexico and Washington.

Rove acknowledged that he personally complained to Miers that "voter fraud cases were not being treated as a priority" by the Justice Department, Perino said. He also passed along complaints about Iglesias that he had heard going back as far as 2004.

UPDATE Josh Marshall, at TPM, who is even more obsessed with this story than I had this to say on his blog:

And here's the piece in the Post story which should lead to Sen. Domenici's departure from the senate ...

One e-mail from Miers's deputy, William Kelley, on the day of the Dec. 7 firings said Domenici's chief of staff "is happy as a clam" about Iglesias. Sampson wrote in an e-mail a week later: "Domenici is going to send over names tomorrow (not even waiting for Iglesias's body to cool)."

As has happened so many times in the last six years, the maximal version of this story -- which seemed logical six weeks ago but which I couldn't get myself to believe -- turns out to be true. Indeed, it's worse. We now know that Gonzales, McNulty and Moschella each lied to Congress. We know that the purge was a plan that began at the White House -- and it was overseen by two of President Bush's closest lieutenants in Washington -- Miers and Gonzales. Sampson is the second resignation. There will certainly be more.

And remember this key point: The 'document dump' is meant to get bad news out of the way fast. But it's always a hedge. It never includes the really bad stuff. And if you're not in deep crisis mode, ya' never do it on a Monday.

Wow.

Posted by vicki at 02:26 AM | TrackBack (0)

File this under, "you really can't make this s**t UP!" Dear Leader Rafi from Columbia, S.C. passed along this link to Think Progress for your dailey dose of outrage.

Yesterday, Halliburton announced that it would be moving its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai. Reincorporating in Dubai would mean that Halliburton — which earned $2.3 billion in profits last year — “will be paying less taxes to the U.S. Treasury, even as it collects billions from government contracts.”

House Government Oversight Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) said he will soon hold a hearing on the matter to “understand the ramifications for the U.S. taxpayer and national security.” One lobbyist said, “If there’s a huge tax shift, then it’s taking money from U.S. taxpayers while they’re taking no-bid contracts.”

Reacting to Halliburton’s announcement, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) told ABC News it was “an insult to the U.S. soldiers and taxpayers.”

Never mind that Haliburton already ripped us taxpayers off for billions of dollars in no-bid contracts in Iraq.

Posted by vicki at 01:37 AM | TrackBack (0)

OK. This moron, who is allegedly running the best and the brightest country in the world, is still using "the troops" as props in a *war* gone bad. Somebody help me. If there is a God, (s)he will show us mercy and be done with this ass. From Salon

"This is not right," said Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, who has been ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem that doctors say would be damaged further by heavy Army protective gear. "This whole thing is about taking care of soldiers," he said angrily. "If you are fit to fight you are fit to fight. If you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight."

No hell is too hot for that AWOL punk.

Posted by vicki at 10:01 AM | TrackBack (0)

Ann Coulter, AKA "she who must not be ignored" is but a small part of the wingnut hate machine. This excellent Media Matters article lays out what the true Axis Of Evil really is. These folks are purveyors of hate, intollerance, and total fiction. They lie on a daily basis to a cheering right-wing mob. Sad.

If Coulter's seething hatred was hers alone, she might best be ignored. But that ugly and unthinking hatred isn't unique to Coulter.

Instead, Coulter's anger and venom are illustrative of the modern conservative movement. Her vitriol is embraced and rewarded by right-wing audiences far and wide. Her intellectual and rhetorical peers -- Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck, among others -- are, like Coulter, anything but "marginalized." They unleash vicious tirades against gays, women, minorities, and liberals -- and are paid handsomely for it. And they are paid not only in cash, but in respect: Vice President Dick Cheney, for example, sometimes seems to be auditioning to be Limbaugh's co-host, while President Bush opens the Oval Office to the likes of Neal Boortz and Sean Hannity.

Ann Coulter's bigotry and hostility, her public fantasies about violence against Democrats, progressives, and journalists -- and those of countless others like her -- demand more attention, not less. They illustrate the irrational anger that has long driven and sustained the conservative movement.

Read the entire, excellent article here

Posted by vicki at 10:54 AM | TrackBack (0)

This is so NOT surprising. Makes you wanna weep.

Whistle-blower AT&T technician Mark Klein says his effort to reveal alleged government surveillance of domestic Internet traffic was blocked not only by U.S. intelligence officials but also by the top editors of the Los Angeles Times.

In his first broadcast interview, as seen tonight on Nightline, Klein describes how he stumbled across "secret NSA rooms" being installed at an AT&T switching center in San Francisco and later heard of similar rooms in at least six other cities, including Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, San Jose and Seattle.

"You needed an ordinary key and the code to punch into a key pad on the door, and the only person who had both of those things was the one guy cleared by the NSA," Klein says of the "secret room" at the AT&T center in San Francisco.

Read the whole dirty story here

Posted by vicki at 01:25 PM | TrackBack (0)

Right now Robert Muller is testifying before Congress on the failure of the FBI to obtain National Security Letters, by his count, 20% of the time it spied on Americans. I'm sure we all trust that figure, right? The FBI has been breaking the law by spying on US citizens without a warrent or National Security Letters (NSLs) thanks to Bu$h. In one of his infamous "signing statements" Bu$h declared (when he signed the 2006 re-authorization of the Patriot Act, an oxymoron) that he'd do what he damned well please and disregard Congress and the law because he is the *decider* of the Constitution. What the hell is impeachment for, if not to prevent this kind of Constitution shattering? Glen Greenwall writes in Salon:

When a country is ruled by an individual who repeatedly and openly arrogates unto himself the power to violate the law, and specifically proclaims that he is under no obligation to account to Congress or anyone else concerning the exercise of radical new surveillance powers such as NSLs, it should come as absolutely no surprise that agencies under his control freely break the law. The culture of lawlessness which the President has deliberately and continuously embraced virtually ensures, by design, that any Congressional limits on the use of executive power will be violated.

Posted by vicki at 12:15 PM | TrackBack (0)

Video supplied by Chuck at Black Wednesday. Thanks! Here is the Colbert Report, starring Congressman John Yarmuth He did Louisville proud. Click here to view it

Posted by vicki at 11:40 AM | TrackBack (0)

This is ever so rich. Spector's office is responsible for inserting the language into the Patriot Act that allowed Bu$h to by-pass Congress's confirmation process when replacing US Attornies! How dare he show indignation over Bu$h and Abu Gonsales's thuggery. He aided and abetted the whole switcheroo. WaPo has this:

Senior Senate Republicans today delivered scathing criticism of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales for his handling of the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, joining Democrats in charging that the prosecutors were dismissed without adequate explanation. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested that Gonzales's status as the nation's leading law enforcement officer might not last through the remainder of President Bush's term, pointedly disputing the attorney general's public rationale for the mass firings "One day there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later," Specter said at a committee hearing where a new round of subpoenas to the Justice Department was considered. After the meeting, Specter declined to elaborate on that remark, but told reporters that most of the blame for the ongoing controversy rests with the attorney general.

He always sounds tough in public but acts like a Bu$h henchman behind the scenes.

Posted by vicki at 06:06 PM | TrackBack (0)

Woo Hoo! Snaps to Desi and Jack for passing this along!

[. . .] By an overwhelming voice vote, Middlebury called for impeachment.

So it has gone this week at town meetings across Vermont, most of which were held Tuesday.

Late Tuesday night, there were confirmed reports that 36 towns had backed impeachment resolutions, and the number was expected to rise.

In one town, Putney, the vote for impeachment was unanimous.

In addition to Governor Douglas's Middlebury, the town of Hartland, which is home to Congressman Peter Welch (news, bio, voting record), backed impeachment. So, too, did Jericho, the home of Gaye Symington, the speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives.

Read the rest here in The Nation

Posted by vicki at 04:48 PM | TrackBack (0)

Just as the Walter Reed scandal is the tip of the iceburg of neglect by the military to care for wounded Vets, so is the recent spate of the political firings of federal prosecutors. Isn't it odd that so many of them were prosecuting Republican corruption?

— The former federal prosecutor in Maryland said Monday that he was forced out in early 2005 because of political pressure stemming from public corruption investigations involving associates of the state’s governor, a Republican. “There was direct pressure not to pursue these investigations,” said the former prosecutor, Thomas M. DiBiagio. “The practical impact was to intimidate my office and shut down the investigations.”

Wow. He doesn't mince words. Read the rest here

Posted by vicki at 08:34 AM | TrackBack (0)

The WaPo continues to investigate the deplorable conditions in VA facilities around the country. It is sickening that this has been going on without a single response from the republican controlled 109th Congress. Support OUR troops, my ass! This just shows yet another Katrina-like indifference to the suffering of others by this administration.

Several forces converged to create this intense reaction. A new Democratic majority in Congress is willing to criticize the administration. Senior retired officers pounded the Pentagon with sharp questions about what was going on. Up to 40 percent of the troops fighting in Iraq are National Guard members and reservists -- "our neighbors," said Ron Glasser, a physician and author of a book about the wounded. "It all adds up and reaches a kind of tipping point," he said. On top of all that, America had believed the government's assurances that the wounded were being taken care of. "The country is embarrassed" to know otherwise, Glasser said. [. . .]

From Fort Campbell in Kentucky: "There were yellow signs on the door stating our barracks had asbestos."
From Fort Bragg in North Carolina: "They are on my [expletive] like a diaper. . . . there are people getting chewed up everyday."
From Fort Dix in New Jersey: "Scare tactics are used against soldiers who will write sworn statement to assist fellow soldiers for their medical needs."
From Fort Irwin in California: "Most of us have had to sign waivers where we understand that the housing we were in failed to meet minimal government standards."

Read the whole horrific Post article here

Posted by vicki at 11:27 AM

Woo Hoo! Thanks to sharp-eyed Maria for catching this in our Local Rag Catch Yarmuth on Colbert Thursday The article points out that the 90 minute interview had to be halted several times due to "excessive laughter." Hahahahaha. Set your VCR or TiVo, or hurry home from DL to catch it.

Posted by vicki at 09:28 AM

Hoo, boy! "The Bridge" is running Jim's Hillbilly Report video of the Ditch Mitch/Bu$h rally on his site. See Judy, Todd, Andrew and a slew of DLers give Mitch and Bu$h a smack down here: Click and enjoy! Awesome!

Posted by vicki at 08:41 AM

UPDATE More here from the Hillbilly Report

Here's a video of the DITCH MITCH Rally yesterday from Chuck at *Black Wednesday.* As anyone who went knows, the traffic was insane. The expressway was a parking lot and a ridiculous number of streets near the Seelbach were blocked. It's a miracle anyone made it to the rally.

Click here to view the protest/rally featuring Andrew Horne and Rev. Todd!

Posted by vicki at 09:45 AM

Woo Hoo! Congressman Waxman (John Yarmuth sits on his committee) is doing what the Rebublic Party has refused to do for 6 long years--overseeing the government. I forgot what that was like. From ABC News Blog

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Henry Waxman, D-Calif., wants to ask Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman about a contract to manage the medical center awarded to a company that had documented troubles fulfilling a government contract to deliver ice to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The Pentagon has refused to allow Weightman to testify. Waxman's staff has confirmed the congressman has issued his first subpoena as a committee chairman this session to legally compel Weightman's testimony.

According to a letter from Waxman to Weightman posted today on the committee's Web site, the chairman believes the Walter Reed contract may have pushed dozens of health care workers to leave jobs at the troubled medical center, which he says in turn threatened the quality of care for hundreds of military personnel receiving treatment there.

Weightman had been slated to testify before Congress on Monday. The Army has tried to withdraw him from the hearing. Waxman's office confirmed the congressman plans to force the officer to appear by issuing a subpoena for his testimony.

Posted by vicki at 06:25 PM

Here's the latest on the protest this evening. Steph Horne sent this update:

Here is some info on free parking and free trolley ride to 4th Street: TARC bus and Trolley schedule here

There is no cost to participate, you can start at any location, the trolleys run every 15 minutes!

Posted by vicki at 10:34 AM

Seems the US forgot to tell the Afghans guarding the first of two gates that there was a suicide bomber on the loose in Bagram. Whoops!

NATO and American forces knew that a suicide bomber was at large in the Bagram area before the suicide bomb attack on Tuesday that killed 23 people at the main gate of the United States air base where Vice President Dick Cheney was staying, a NATO spokesman said Wednesday. But despite the vice president’s presence, the Afghan police chief in the area said he had not been informed of the possible threat.

Posted by vicki at 12:10 PM