Don and Dick's Cabal from TomPaine.com

This lovely diagram is courtesy of TomPaine.com I love their newsletter, it always holds tons of information about the Bush regime and the corruption those lovely gents ,Miller, Karen Hughes and Condi are trying to pull at every turn. This map shows all the players in the "Cheney and Rumsfeld War Machine" and their respective roles in the planning of this bullshit war. Click on it to enlarge. If you would like to download the PDF version the link is HERE.

Cheney's role and his power.

I always thought Cheney was the brains behind much of the political strategy for the Bush Whitehouse. I also believe he was an integral part of the "war machine" and the selling of it to congress and the public. Cheney has years on Capitol Hill, Bush has bascially none. The indictment of his "main man" Scooter Libby has put a chink in Tricky Dick's armor. Repubs are starting to talk off the record, even more than before the indictment. The NY Times has a nice lil article on the rise and fall of Dick Halliburton Cheney throughout the investigation into Plamegate. About the power he welds within the oval office. How the conservatives were ACTUALLY considering him for the next Presidential candidate. There are a few juicy quotes on the record, most are off the record and unidentified. One of my favorite quotes in the article is regarding a statement attributed to Larry Wilkerson: "The indictment comes as other parts of the wall that was built around Mr. Cheney's defense of the war have come tumbling down. Earlier this month, Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to Colin L. Powell while he was secretary of state, complained in a speech of a "cabal" between Mr. Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld when it came to Iraq and of a "real dysfunctionality" in the administration's foreign policy team. " If your inclined to read the article entitled: "In Indictment's Wake, a Focus on Cheney's Powerful Role", the link is here.

Turnabout is fair play isn't it?

I had culled a few of the repubs impeachment ,perjury and obstruction of justice quotes lately, and I was trying to figure out how to use their own words against them. Lucky for me, I read Karen Zipdrive's blog faithfully. The talented Ms.Zipdrive is a journalist in her own right I believe. Her writing is awesome. She has on her blog, a great post full of quotes by some of our FAVORITE republicans regarding impeachment,perjury and obstruction of justice in the oval office and the people that advise the President. ITS DELICIOUS!!! If you didn't see who said these puppies you would swear to god it was current..they were said this week..but they werent!!!! They were said by the "other"side during the Clinton sex saga(CSS). If they felt SO fucking outraged by the CSS, they should be pissin down both legs over Plamegate. At least intelligent, realistic folks would..

The link to Karen Zipdrives blog is here. Do yourself a favor and read it. The title of the Post: Suck On THIS, GOP: Republicans on Perjury & Obstruction of Justice.

The link to her glorious blog is on the right as well. God I hate saying that. I gotta move my sidebar to the left side..thats all there is to it...

What should we expect next in Plamegate?

The following excerpts(in blue) appear in an article written by Elizabeth de la Vega. Ms. de la Vega has recently retired after serving more than 20 years as a federal prosecutor in Minneapolis and San Jose. During her tenure, she was a member of the Organized Crime Strike Force and Chief of the San Jose Branch of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. This article appeared originally on TomDispatch.com also..for a copy of the NY Times OpEd piece by Joe Wilson, you can go here.

We should expect the Bush regime to start attacking Joe Wilson and Fitz..with great vigor I believe. They have no other way to discredit the main players in this drama other than to call Wilson a liar and Fitz's motives political. I am in agreement with Ms. de la Vegas' article: We should expect more attacks on Joseph Wilson, even though they represent a very large red herring (more the size of a mackerel). These will be meant only for the court of public opinion. Since the White House has already admitted, repeatedly, that it had insufficient evidence to mention that Saddam Hussein was seeking Niger "yellowcake" uranium in thepPresident's State of the Union address in 2003, claims that Wilson went to Niger on a boondoggle or that he is merely a partisan critic (both of which appear to be untrue) have never been the least bit relevant. If you don't dispute the essence of the testimony of a witness, then undermining his credibility is pointless in a court of law. Regarding Fitz's motives the right will attack them as political and that he is exceeding his authority. Regarding his authority Ms. de la Vega states this: Out of an apparent abundance of caution, Fitzgerald requested clarification of the term "all" and was advised, again by Comey, that it included both underlying crimes and crimes that stemmed from the investigation of the underlying crimes. At no time did Fitzgerald seek, or receive, an expansion of his authority: It was there all along, as it would be in any investigation of federal crimes.

I feel this will not end any time soon, maybe not even within the next 12 months. Fitz is known to be a meticulous man and according to Ms. de la Vega: This mirrors his approach to previous cases. In December 2003, for example, Fitzgerald announced the indictment of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan on corruption charges in Operation Safe Road, which began in 1998. In that year, the investigation of a fatal accident revealed that truckers were purchasing commercial licenses from state officials. Indictments were announced in stages, culminating in the indictment of Ryan, who was the 66th defendant in the case. In the Libby case, the allegations suggest he was merely one of many officials—including an unnamed undersecretary of state and "Official A," a senior White House official—who were involved in revealing classified information about Joseph Wilson's wife Valerie Plame. No other individuals are named as defendants, and they should not be considered so at this point, but the complexity of the indictment suggests that the investigation may follow a pattern similar to that used by Fitzgerald in the Illinois corruption case.

We should expect the right wing to downplay the indictments against Scooter. Again I refer to, Ms. de la Vega's article: We should expect another red herring, one that should have been thrown back in the river long ago: that perjury, obstruction of justice and false statements charges are not "substantive," and so somehow less serious. "Substantive" is a legal term, referring to a crime that can be proved without reference to the elements of another crime. For example, bank robbery is a "substantive crime" and conspiracy to commit bank robbery is not. (But they're both crimes.) Perjury, obstruction of justice and false statements may arise out of the investigation of other crimes, but they stand on their own. So they too are "substantive" crimes. More to the point, as Patrick Fitzgerald eloquently explained in his press conference, lying in an investigation is extraordinarily serious, because it undermines the integrity of the process. Fitz stated numerous times in his press conference that these actions undermined the security of our country and the safety of CIA employees, even though he did not elaborate or charge anyone with the crime of outing Plame.

The right will also state that there is nothing more to indict anyone on, that nothing can be proven or Fitz would of indicted someone for outing Plame. We can only hope this is not true and we will see additional indictments of some or all of the following individuals: Cheney, Rove and the most recent addition to the lineup...Grossman.

Scooter hit w/5 counts

Perjury twice to the GJ, obstruction of justice and giving false statements to FBI officials. The link to the official indictment docs are here.

at last..some justice! Fitz will explain it all at 2pm..

Also...Lewis "Scooter" Libby has resigned as expected and Bush accepted it.

The indictments are only about lying and obstructing the investigation. There has got to be an extension of the Grand Jury. Perhaps Krazy Karl will give up Dick Halliburton Cheney in order to save his own hide..

The sentence maximums are 30 long ones at a federal pen and 1.25 million bucks..of course none of that will happen if he sings like a bird.

Stay tuned...

Fitz has a 2pm press conference planned.

He already told Rove's atty. they are still investigating Rove and wouldnt announce an indictment against Krazy Karl today.

that time is east coast time..for us left-coasters its 11am..

Vietnam, the sequel

Today as I reflect on last nights events...I get real pissed..seriously I want the other shoe to drop in the latest saga of: Bush, As the world turns. A few people were in my same frame of mind last night, somber,reflective and fucking pissed that nothing has been done regarding the multitude of sins committed by Bush and his cronies.

Lets recap shall we?

Plamegate: Major offenders are Rove,Scooter and Cheney aka the Three Stooges.

Tommy DeLay: The bugman cometh..and he was smiling his ass off like he had his hands in someones pocket in that mug shot. Lets see him grin behind bars.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist: HCA insider trading: and he said its a blind trust..Laughing my ever-lovin ass off!

Ozzies non-wife Harriett throws in the towel. Guess the heat in the kitchen was getting to her.

A few of us whispered about it last night..the anticipation, its driving us nuts. Reminds me of the Nixon days. I refuse to count Clinton because having sex in the whitehouse, although very tacky did not cost hundreds of lives or billions of dollars.

Next time we take the gloves off. Next time we get vocal..I know I will.

The vigil across america.

Cindy Sheehan got arrested in Washington. We here in the Republican stronghold of Bakersfield, CA read all the names of the dead service men and women. Our turnout was larger than expected, 35-50 people, families, young and old came. We took turns reading the names state by state, city by city. It took us a little over two hours. It was also the lead story on 3 of the 4 networks in my redneck city.

It felt good to have that bond with complete strangers again. It felt good to know people across the US felt the same way and were doing the same thing.

It was fucked up that we even had to do it in the first place. Less than 150 service men and women died TAKING control of the country. All the rest have died since Bush declared we won the war.

Bring em home jackass, dont make us read another 2000 names.

The 2000th American has died in Iraq

There are vigils everywhere tomorrow because people such as myself had pledged in advance to do this when the death toll hit 2000. Even in BAKERSFRIGGINFIELD we have one..we only have 10 people..but hell ya gotta start somewhere..If your tired of the lies from Bush and his cronies, if your sick of the bullshit please attend one. this link will tell you where one will be held in your area, all you have to do is put in your zipcode.Here it is again: http://political.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=29

show your support if you can. Every person counts..both here and the dead in Iraq. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be doing this again..I figured we learned something from Vietnam..STOP BUSH NOW..TELL HIM WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS WAR BUILT UPON HIS LIES..do it tomorrow..please..

The "Climate Mash"

Its a cute little ditty, brought to us by the folks over at Clear the Air.org I got it in my morning newsletter from Tom Paine.com Its sung to the tune of the "Monster Mash". Its a very short video with all the usual suspects, pick out your favorite. The link to the animation is here.

Rosa Parks passes

She was 92 when she died of natural causes yesterday. This woman, who refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955, is considered the "mother" of the civil rights movement. Her arrest triggered a boycott of the Montgomery, AL bus system for over 300 days. The boycott was orchestrated by a baptist minister named Martin Luther King Jr. Rosa and her family were forced to move out of the state to Michigan afterwards, due to death threats and harrassment by white racists intent on keeping discrimination alive. Rosa was sitting in the "black" section of the bus when the driver demanded that her and three other blacks give up their seats to a white man since the white section was full. She refused and the rest they say..is history. She was charged and found guilty of disorderly conduct. A year later, the City of Birmingham was served with papers declaring bus segregation unconstitutional.

Rest in peace dear woman, god knows you earned it. She will hopefully meet up with those that went before her, such as MLK Jr., the children who died in the church bombings, the voter registration trio killed for attempting to register blacks to vote and her husband Ray who died in 1977.

The real price of that golden bauble..

Some of the information contained in this rant was obtained from a NY Times article which you can read here.

My vanity side likes to wear a small amount of jewelry, a couple of rings at the most. I choose to wear silver jewelry. I realize that gold is very expensive which means to me its hard to come by. It means that for a simple gold bauble that weighs an ounce, miners dig up and haul away 30 tons of rock and sprinkle it with diluted cyanide. Cyanide ain't a good thing. The piles of earth moved daily in one quarry alone can reach a half a million tons..thats one day. They are of the size of the Great Pyramids and they are irrigated with a cyanide solution for years or decades.

Most of the gold is mined in the poorest of the third world countries.Hard-rock mining in general generates more toxic waste than any other industry in the good ol US of A sportsfans..according to the EPA. These mines must be tended in perpetuity, unless its a third world country..then god if I know what they do with this near-toxic mess.

Remember..Bush supports and in some cases aids business's whose interests are to weaken the EPA and increase their profit margin..even if it jeopardizes our health and that of our children's children.

The article mentioned is a good one, its a nice expose on the mining industy and its horror-filled legacy. It is a very detailed, long one so be prepared for a long read..but hell..thats what your doing right now anyway..isnt it?

Joseph Wilson spoke here tonight..And I had to work!

He is also known as Mr. Valerie Plame..God I was so pissed I couldn't go hear him speak..there was a 30 second soundbite on the local news. He appeared at the Kegley Center for Ethics at Cal State Bakersfield tonight..ETHICS sportsfans!..he did say that he was familiar with the right leanings of the area and figure he would get a pie in the face..but he didn't..anything but!

An excerpt of the local rag's write up:

The audience overflowed the overflow room at Cal State Bakersfield's Doré Theatre on Thursday night and people had to settle for standing in the hall to hear former U.S. ambassador to Iraq Joseph Wilson speak.

Starlene Parson was one of more than 600 people who attended the free event, which was part of the Kegley Institute of Ethics' lecture series.
"It was interesting that the audience was supportive of him," Parson said.
Even Wilson thought his visit to such a conservative town might be more problematic than the welcome reception he received.
"I figured that if I was going to get a pie in the face, this would be the town," Wilson joked. Duh..Bakersfrigginfield is so rightwing its suffocating.
After a career of working with Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Wilson wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times in July 2003 disputing information current President Bush used to justify a war in Iraq.
"I had a civic duty, and that civic duty was to call my government to account for what my government had said and done," Wilson said Thursday.
Days after Wilson's article, columnist Robert Novak revealed that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA agent. The revelation prompted a nearly two-year federal grand jury investigation because Plame's role with the CIA was classified, and it may have been illegal to disclose it.
He called ruining his wife's cover a "tawdry, cheap, dirty political trick."
Wilson's speech delved into the details of his work during the first Iraq war in the early 1990s, his investigation in Niger and his personal fight with the Bush administration after he came forward.
Wilson also stressed that while he may find himself more a friend to the left than the right these days, he has never seen national security as a partisan issue.
"The real implications in all this are to our country and our status and stature in the world," Wilson said. "It is our national status that is at play here, not our partisan status."
Attendee Harriet Morris was struck by how calmly Wilson presented his information and point of view.
"What I liked about him is he was kind of low-key. There wasn't any anger," Morris said. "There wasn't any angry rhetoric. He just kind of told the story, and the story is scary."
Before opening the floor to questions, Wilson ended his prepared speech with a call for vigilance from all Americans.
The TV soundbite also showed this remark as well as the article:
"If you lay back ... and you allow others to make your decisions for you, then the chances are pretty good that you will find you have lost your republic," Wilson said.

I am glad the conservatives filled the hall to listen to Mr. Wilson..It means Bush's dirty little secret is trickling down to the masses..everyone knows..or will soon..we can only hope sportsfans..

Arrest Warrant issued for Tom DeLay

Tommy DeLay is now a wanted man..literally. He of course is set to turn himself in, but he will be fingerprinted and post bail for 10K. His attorney's had hoped to avoid a spectacle.Sorry but that isn't going to happen. Tommy is scheduled to appear Friday morning.

Alive in Truth...an oral history of our time.

This is some raw stuff..its from the people that lived there..in New Orleans..its what they are going through NOW and THEN..and what they went through to get HERE and NOW...its more than some folks might be able to handle because its all true, the Oral Histories of the people that survived this act of nature..no News blips, no sound bites..just the "Alive Truth", an oral history of our times..in all its glory..or rather..all its depressing reality..the worst natural disaster in our history as a country...read it if you dare..if you can't, then, admit that you don't want to know the truth,what happened to the residents, what went down..cuz here it is folks..read it and weep..if you can..the link is here. I personally refuse to let it die..and I dont know ANYONE that went through the hurricane..but it has affected me for the rest of my adult life..like the killings of John and Bobby Kennedy...the gay men and lesbians that only want the same rights as hetero's, like the deaths for nothing in Vietnam and Iraq, like the black men and women that only wanted something better than being subservient to the white folks and the ability to vote for their representatives..

I am tired of people blaming the residents for their misfortune..I am tired of the right wing bitching about rebuilding an entire region and the cost involved..I am just tired of it all..but I can not escape the sense of horror that I know the people of the mississippi delta feel..they did nothing wrong...other than live below sea level and in some cases below the poverty level..which as far as I am concerned is a crock. When you do the best you can, and its not good enough..what do you do then?..an entire region was almost wiped off the face of the earth..and we are doing what to restore their sense of dignity? All humans deserve dignity..I dont give a rat's ass who or what they are..

Thank you and now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Good Read over at Karen Zipdrives blog..

For the hundreds..ok, the two people that read this blog, I would like to direct your attention to Ms.Zipdrives most recent post which is a reprint(I believe) from Bloomberg.com. Its dated Monday the 17th. Dick "Halliburton" Cheney might be involved pretty deep in the Plame-gate cover up. Its a detailed account of who said what about whom and when along with the possible charges..its a good wrap-up of the whole sordid affair.

My favorite part is at the end regarding the Supreme Court's 1997 ruling which allowed Paula Jones' sexual harrassment suit to go ahead while Clinton was in office, the irony is that this same ruling will allow Valerie Plame and her husband to sue any and all of the Bush Cronies for the damage done to her career..who knew that stupid ruling would come in so handy during this administration?

Todays heartburn for the Bushie's..

Tommy boy Delay's phone records have been supoenaed by the Texas State Prosecutor..and his daughters phone records also,remember she,along with her mother are on the payroll of that Texas Pol. Action Committee that Tommy created to launder his cash.. good luck jackass....your gonna need it.

Karl Rove testifies tomorrow..friday..actually today lol..its after midnight..A new Poll from the non-partisan group Pews shows Bush's rating at an all time low..38 percent..no shit..gee..thats a surprize..*smirks* rumblings are running rampant that Dick 'Halliburton" Cheney is going down for Plame-gate, not Rove..I cant' wait for the Grand Jury leak..the time runs out Oct 28th on indicting someone over this debacle..

From our friends over at The Smoking Gun..

The Harriet and George letters..evidently Ms.Miers is quite fond of exclamation points..as well as our fearless leader. She calls him the "best governor ever--deserving of great respect!" in a birthday card of all things. Some of these make her sound like a groupie in the truest form..the link to all this gushiness is here.

Now, its time for a little Bush-foolery..

This is so cute!!!! And took quite abit of work..but you have to see it..and fill out the application so you get to the end..lol..its cronyjobs.com..thanks to folks at this blog called the immoralminority for giving me the heads up on this site..god knows i needed a freakin laugh..

Jack Abramoff's ties to the Bush Boyz runs deep..

Like the rest of the BB's..Timothy Flanagan was in Jack's pocket..so deep that he was either pushed or jumped from the nomination wagon for Deputy AG..hard to say which..but dropping him like a hot rock was one of the few smart moves this administration and its minions have orchestrated in some time..

Flanagan who was also the Senior Lawyer for Tyco Intl. (see my post about the Tyco top brass being sentenced for stripping said company of millions of dollars)said in his letter of withdrawal that he just wanted to end the talk about his ties to Jackie A...Tim Flanagan told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Abramoff, subject of a federal investigation into his lobbying activities, began lobbying on behalf of Tyco in spring 2003 and bragged about his ties to Tom DeLay and Karl Rove, Bush's top political aide. Now I just want to know what kinda ties Jackie A and Tommy D have together..besides the fact that they are corporate carpetbaggers of the worst kind..Those two in the same room can not be a good thing for America..not by a long shot sportsfans..

And let us not forget about the arrest of David Safavian, the Bush administration’s top procurement officer. Among other allegations, Safavian reportedly gave sweetheart deals on federal office space to Abramoff AND the federal grand jury has indicted his lying ass on five counts of "making false statements and obstructing investigations into high-powered Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff." . Like Abramoff, Safavian is well connected to Republican power circles; his wife serves as counsel to the congressional committee investigating the Hurricane Katrina debacle.

There is a good post on who the possible snitch is on Tommy Boy DeLay over at talkingpointsmemo.com ...Josh seems to think its Warren RoBold..the link to his post on the subject is here.

Thats all, it was a grueling sports day for moi..

Big Brother watching?? Perhaps..

I was over at the blog of a blogbud who was telling all the lurkers to post a comment since her hits were high but comments not even close..so for the hell of it I checked mine..most bloggers have a site meter which provides lots of useless information..On this blog I do not get squat for hits which is fine. I blog here for my personal right to express my beliefs and opinions on our government..I almost just closed the site meter page cuz it only had a few hits in the last 24 hours when one ISP caught my eye..atfonline.gov..alcohol,tobacco and firearms came to mind..so I clicked on the hit to see more...kinda got my attention at 11:36 am on a Sunday, which is when they came to visit over here..Specifically my post about the latest bs on Karl Rove..this is what I saw:

Domain Name (I removed the website address)(United States Government)
IP Address 199.196.144.# (Executive Office of Asset Forfeiture)199.196.144.16
ISP :Executive Office of Asset Forfeiture
Location:Continent :North America Country : United States (Facts)State:Virginia City :Dulles

Its a restricted site for the Department of Justice. Bunch of government mumbo jumbo on the webpage so I closed the window quickly,but it pissed me off and gave me a chill all at the same time. The city location is very important. Dulles is quite close to the Pentagon..I know because I lived down the road from the Pentagon for years in Northern VA. I never went to the Pentagon, I never had a desire or reason to go there..plus its not like you can tour the friggin place..Now a blogger friend said..bfd..she gets hits all the time with dot gov in the domain name..bored civil servants reading blogs..everyone does it at work now...but the DOJ..and a restricted site to boot..usually you can not surf the web when you work in a restricted capacity..they dont want hackers getting the web address and fucking up the servers and such..or worse yet, taking information from them..and since I am not a hacker, I would not have a clue on what to do or how to do it..

I just hope those sumbitches arent' monitoring my blog and I hope to hell they enjoyed the shit out of my commentary about Karl Rove :)..as Zombieslayer and others like to point out..we got the First Amendment on our side..freedom of speech..but that doesnt stop the Bush Administration from attempting to curtail our freedoms and our rights using the Patriot Act as their free hall pass. Bush calls those that oppose the war in Iraq evil and Unamerican..I call it my right to be left of the center and to speak my mind.

The White House tries to push through some oilman protectionism.

Before the folks on Capitol Hill take another week off, Tom DeLay and his cronies had to beg, back-slap and threaten fellow Repubs into passing an oil refinery bill that the White House was quite fond of. Sadly for the Bush cronies however, the part of the bill which removed the teeth of the EPA regarding pollution control upgrades was removed or the bill would have died a slow painful death. The final vote: 212-210..shit that's close..goes to show ya not all's rosey in Republican Land..13 count em 13 Repubs voted alongside the Democrats anyway to defeat the bill outright, regardless of the changes made at the last minute. The Repubs called what was supposed to be a 5 minute break, turning it into a 40 minute break to get the 2 final votes that put it over the top. A quote from minority leader Nancy Pelosi: "It took that long for the indicted leader of the House of Representatives to twist the arms necessary to get a vote against the American people, against the consumer, against the taxpayer and against the environment - in favor of the energy companies," Ain't that some shit..

I call it progress..the evil empire known as the Bush Administration damn near shit down both legs over this bill's inability to pass thru Congress. DeLay must of called in a helluva lot of favors..although its hard to believe anyone takes his calls these days..13 REPUBLICAN Senators said FUCK YOU DUDE..to the Prez..makes me smile dont cha know :)

Karl Rove gets grilled again..I love it!

The prosecutor in the Valerie Plame case has called Ol Karl back for another round of questioning before the Federal Grand Jury. This makes four trips for our lying sack of shit chief of staff..The GJ is in session until Oct 28th, which gives the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald,21 days to shit or get off the pot. According to the article he needs to make up his little mind about whether to charge anyone in this case..HUH? the jackass needs to make up his mind?? It should be made up, but hell, its not MY call..the NY Times has a write-up on this latest twist, the link to said article is here.

New Supreme Court Nom has NEVER been a judge..

this makes no sense to me..it's like hiring a guy with a degree in animal husbandry to run your material control department for a large aerospace conglomerate..which happened to me in a previous life and he fucked shit up majorly..but she IS a cronie from Texas and a current White House counsel so it makes perfect sense for those assclowns in the White House to put her up.. None of those jackass's have any experience at anything other than boozing and coking it up, and spending their inheritence and taxpayers cash..the lovely Ms. Miers' big claim to fame was the first woman to serve as president of the Texas State Bar and the Dallas Bar Association. BIG FUCKING WHOOP! I see NO correlation to running a friggin Bar Assoc and ruling on points of law..none..nada..zip..zilch..those gents from Texas are batting a thousand when it comes to making hair-brained decisions..god it pisses me off..plus shes 60 freaking years old..jesus christ in a thong couldn't he find someone just a tad this side of social security?