Mar 31, 2007
Mar 30, 2007
David Hicks must serve an additional 9 mos.
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A U.S. military tribunal sentenced Australian David Hicks Friday to seven years in prison but he will only have to serve nine months of the sentence.
He already fucking did 5 years of it. They act like its a gift that he only has to serve 9 more months.In the immortal words of John D. Hutson, the Navy's top uniformed lawyer from 1997 to 2000:
"We know you're guilty. We can't tell you why, but there's a guy, we can't tell you who, who told us something. We can't tell you what, but you're guilty."
Oversight committee requests deposition of Former White House Aide Susan Ralston
Today the Committee sent a formal request to former White House aide Susan Ralston to appear for a deposition on April 5th. The deposition is part of the Committee’s investigation, begun last spring, into lobbying contacts between lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House.
Cspan has become my favorite channel lately.
Tags: Politics, Waxman, Oversight, Abramoff, Susan Ralston
And the hits just keep on coming...Condi on the clock
From Waxman's Oversight Committee website:
The Committee has formally requested Secretary Rice to testify before the Oversight Committee on April 18th regarding the Administration’s claims that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, White House treatment of classified information, the appointment of Ambassador Jones as "special coordinator" for Iraq, and other subjects.
More Must See TV!!! Will BushCo try to weasel out of this? Stay tuned :)
Tags: Politics, Waxman, Oversight, Niger, Condi
Mar 29, 2007
Bottom line: Gonzo lied
Ok..one thing..the methods for determining who should go and who should stay was made by not looking at their stat's with regard to their prosecution records..the decisions were made by political people and their loyalty to BushCo. Every single time Sampson tried to toss out a reason for firing one of them..the Senators blew his ass out of the water with facts and figures on their prosecution records.
Its outrageous that the administration is trying to cover this up. All they had to do was say they fired these folks to provide others with a chance to serve the government.
Say it with me now...
Amazing..simply friggin amazing.
Round one of the Sampson testimony. Doesn't look good for Gonzo
"I don't think the attorney general's statement that he was not involved in any discussions of U.S. attorney removals was accurate,"
Sen. Specter hammered Sampson about the timing of the email that stated Lam had to go asap. The email was the day after Lam had notified DOJ that she had search warrants for Foggo and Wilkes residences and businesses. Sampson said there wasn't any tie-in..she was let go because of her inability to persue immigrant cases.
Sen. Feinstein also hammered Sampson about the Foggo case and his email, then read a letter from the Border Patrol head of the SoCal division, which you can read here. It applauds her work in the area of prosecuting immigration cases. She also stated that the FBI chief of the SoCal division called Sampson to complain that Lam was being fired.
Sampson had a case of CRS on many issues raised by the Senators, including the Letter from the Border Patrol regarding Lam's prosecution of immigration cases.
They are at lunch now...wonder if Sampson is having a roll of Tums..
Mar 28, 2007
Five great blogs I read..
PeaceTrain: I love this group blog with all my heart and soul. Its a wonderful collection of fantastic writers and the subjects they write about are as different as their personalities. Their forum offers you even more good writing on subjects that span the globe as well from other members on timely issues or topics. Stop by and check out what Earl, Glenda and Bluegrrrl put out..its amazing stuff indeed.
UpdateAmerica: I love Anthony's POV. Anthony makes me think about what it means to be a progressive..or liberal. He holds our progressive feet to the fire and we need that more often than it happens. He is an honest progressive who realizes we don't know everything and play political games just like the conservatives do on occasion.
OutOfTheBlue: This is a blog from my hometown. Sadly, I didn't know bluegrrrrl when I lived there, or I might not of ever left..she is smart, sassy, intelligent and one of the folks that gives us the remarkable PeaceTrain group blog. Like me, she is an activist and never misses a march or protest.
MoronCowboy: The Demon Princess is a lawyer. She can rip BushCo a new ass and not break a nail in the process. This is one awesome woman people!
Republispin: Scott is a great read. He isn't always political..most times he is..but not always. He has a sense of humor as well and is very eclectic..I mean, check the man's musical tastes for proof of that! I don't get around the blogosphere as much as I should...but I do read Scott's blog every chance I get. Sometimes..he just asks questions..and I love that about his blog. He admits he doesn't always have the answers.
LazyIguana: Lazy is a funny guy with a wicked sense of humor. He makes me laugh while he makes his point. Thats a great gift to have. He never fails to entertain and although his posts are not always political..they are well worth the trip to his blog. The man does love his boat..no doubt about that.
Of course no list from moi would be complete without Bring it On! and The Blue Republic. There are wonderful writers on both staffs that I love to read, and yes, I do stop by both of these group blogs daily. I am proud they asked me to join them because I think they both are wonderful one-stop group blogs where you can get a plethora of opinions and lots of informative posts. They give me one thing I really crave..discussion of the issues. Blogging should be entertaining and educational and I find both of those things daily at BIO and TBR. It's hard to find blogs that keep a discussion going all day or even for days on end..but BIO writers do that in aces. TBR has a quirky humor to it, that gives you a laugh along with a good, firm bitchslap of the right or the idiots running our government.
There you have it..some good blogs and some good writers..I hope you check them all when you get the chance. They are worth the trip :)
”I honestly don’t have a recollection”
This was the response of Ms. Doan when asked about the powerpoint presentation that Scott Jennings, Rovers right hand man, held at the GSA in January that was about helping the Republicans win the next election .
She must be a Reaganite no? Doesn’t matter, its still a violation of the Hatch Act.
The hearing today from Waxman’s Oversight Committee was about allegations that GSA Administrator Lurita Doan failed to follow proper procedures for awarding federal contracts, attempted to intervene in contract negotiations, and engaged in partisan political activities on federal property.
The Sun Microsystems contract was discussed heavily..she didn’t remember much on that one either. The taxpayers got bilked out of $27 million according to testimony later in the hearing by the Inspector General.
Bush withdraws 'swiftboater' nominee for ambassador post
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Wednesday withdrew the ambassadorial nomination of businessman Sam Fox after Democrats denounced Fox for giving money to a controversial conservative group that undermined Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.
Kerry, D-Mass., had criticized Fox because of a $50,000 contribution that Fox made in 2004 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Many Democrats blame the group for sinking Kerry's presidential hopes that year after it aired a series of controversial ads that impugned Kerry's military record in the Vietnam War.
"Sam Fox had every opportunity to disavow the politics of personal destruction and to embrace the truth," Kerry said Wednesday. "He chose not to. The White House made the right decision to withdraw the nomination. I hope this signals a new day in political discourse."
Complete article is here. BushCo is screaming that the Dem's are playing Politics..gee, using politics? Didn't the Repubs do the same thing for the last 12 years and counting? Sam Fox is not qualified for an ambassadorship unless you count his political fundraising for BushCo..interesting..no?
Tags: Politics, Sam Fox, Swiftboaters
Mar 27, 2007
Let the pissing contest begin!
WASHINGTON - Defying a veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Senate narrowly signaled support Tuesday for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by next March.
Republican attempts to scuttle the non-binding timeline failed on a vote of 50-48, largely along party lines. The roll call marked the Senate’s most forceful challenge to date of the administration’s handling of a war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,200 U.S. troops.
Three months after Democrats took power in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the moment was at hand to “send a message to President Bush that the time has come to find a new way forward in this intractable war.”
The Prez will of course veto and piss and moan and threaten the Democrats. They need to send him the same damn bill every week until he figures it out. Thats my story and I am sticking to it.
Words to live by: I'D RATHER HAVE A PRESIDENT WHO SCREWED HIS INTERN THAN ONE WHO SCREWED HIS COUNTRY
Tags: Politics, Bush, Iraq War spending, Bureaucratic Bullshit
Mar 26, 2007
Two key principles at Wikipedia resign
Two top employees of the Wikimedia Foundation have resigned, citing disagreements with the board. Both publicly tendered their resignations to the community yesterday on a foundation mailing list, but say their resignations are unrelated and the timing coincidental.
Danny Wool, who has worked out of the foundation's St. Petersburg, Florida, office since October 2005 under the title of grants coordinator, and who is widely regarded as the number two guy at Wikimedia, discussed his resignation first in a message to the foundation list.
That note was later followed by one from Brad Patrick, general counsel and interim Executive Director of the foundation, who resigned formally to the foundation earlier this month but decided to announce it publicly to the community after seeing Wool's note go up. Patrick will continue with the foundation until March 31 and has retained executive headhunting firm Phillips Oppenheim to help find a permanent director for the foundation.
The heart of the article at Wired addresses some major concerns. I have used Wiki since it's inception...but lately I have found articles which were misleading or were incorrect. I now check their citations if I feel unsure about something and if they have NO citations I won't use the wiki writeup at all. Another WiredNews article cites how the founder of Wiki has changed his own Bio 18 times. Seems he had a problem with the co-founder of Wiki receiving credit for what he contributed to the site.
Change is good, but its not easy and personalities can ruin a good thing. Good luck to Wiki..a great idea that gives knowledge to the world for free.
Tags: Wikipedia
Bill Maher has 'new rules', Slate has 'new oaths'
1. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, but not necessarily the whole truth, maintaining an overall average of at least 70 percent truth, subject to later verification by an independent panel, so help you God?
2. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, but in ways that are carefully cloaked in metaphor and allegory, so they require lengthy interpretation, in a Zen sort of way, so help you Buddha?
3. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, unless in your opinion we are not worthy of it, in which case you shout like Jack Nicholson in that movie, "The truth? You can't handle the truth!" so help us all?
4. Do you solemnly swear to answer all questions in a semitruthful fashion and not claim things that are totally ridiculous, such as that George Bush actually reads a book every week, so that we all don't have to sit here and feel embarrassed by what you're saying, so help you God?
5. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, except for when you claim that you can't remember, in which case we promise not to press the issue and later bring forth Tim Russert to testify that you are nothing but a dirty liar?
6. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, with the understanding that—hey, who are we kidding here?—there is no real truth, life is an illusion, and let's all get together later and smoke up a doobie, so help you God?
7. Do you solemnly swear to tell lies, damned lies, and nothing but lies, and thus we will have cleverly lured you into our trap, because then, by reversing your answers, we will figure out what the hell is going on, so help you God?
8. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, unless you have an answer that makes for a really cool sound bite, in which case we all understand, because we've been there?
9. Do you solemnly swear to tell us something, anything, whether it's true or not, so that we can cut to the chase and get rid of Alberto Gonzales?
Now..I found these funny in a sick, ironic sort of way...just to be clear.
Mar 25, 2007
The history of executive officials testifying before Congressional committees
I know it's a long title. But its the title of a very valuable tool that congress can use if they have to take BushCo to court in order to get Harriet and Rover to testify. The report was prepared by the Congressional Research Service. This report was last updated October 6th 2004. Just a little about the CRS:
The Congressional Research Service is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a confidential, nonpartisan basis.
Congress created CRS in order to have its own source of nonpartisan, objective analysis and research on all legislative issues. Indeed, the sole mission of CRS is to serve the United States Congress. CRS has been carrying out this mission since 1914, when it was first established as the Legislative Reference Service. Renamed the Congressional Research Service by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, CRS is committed to providing the Congress, throughout the legislative process, comprehensive and reliable analysis, research and information services that are timely, objective, nonpartisan, and confidential, thereby contributing to an informed national legislature.
The short of it is..the CRS is the legal research brain of Congress. They have provided Congress with a fairly good oral argument, imho, they can use when Bush's latest bullshit move is taken through the court's. But on to their report.
Since 1944, 74 members of the Presidents inner circle have testified before congress or their committee's. Only 8 have refused or weren't compelled to testify. Thats a LOT of friggin precedence sportsfans...lots of it. Guess who the guy is that currently is playing advisor to the Prez on this topic...go ahead..guess already.
Fred Fielding. Freddy was a legal counsel to Nixon. During WaterGate. We know how that turned out..nuff said. But I digress...
Don't buy Tony Snow's latest round of horseshit that Congress has no oversight when it comes to the President. Mr. Snowjob used the words 'unprecedented' and 'highly unusual'. We are calling bullshit on that right here and now.
Tony Snow had the audacity to state in a press conference last week that if Harriet and Rove went into the lions den known as Congress, under the terms set by Congress, it would set a precedence. His exact words were:
Q If it's behind closed doors, what's the problem?
MR. SNOW: The thing that we have said all along is, we think that you ought to have the ability for members of Congress to get information in a way that also does not create precedence, and is going to have a chilling effect for presidential advisors to be able to give their full and fair advice to the President of the United States. We think that the compromise we shaped enables us to fulfill that obligation to the President, and to the public in terms of first-rate advice from the White House and the people working in the White House, and at the same time, allows Congress to do what it has to do, which is conduct oversight. There is nothing that says Congress has to have television; it says that Congress does have oversight responsibilities and needs to get at the facts.
In his next breath..he said this:
Q They get to be in public, but you want your guys behind closed doors.
MR. SNOW: There are -- in this particular case, the Department of Justice -- the Congress does have legitimate oversight responsibility for the Department of Justice. It created the Department of Justice. It does not have constitutional oversight responsibility over the White House, which is why by our reaching out, we're doing something that we're not compelled to do by the Constitution, but we think common sense suggests that we ought to get the whole story out, which is what we're doing.(emphasis mine)
If Congress thinks the executive branch is pulling a fast one or lying their asses off, you bet your left nut(or tit) they have oversight responsibility over the White House. I don't give a shit what Tony Snow says. Yes, they could have a Special Prosecutor..but why waste time? Do it yourself Congress, cut out the damn middle man ok? Thanks, now stick to your guns please.
Another question everyone should be asking is why in the blue hell did BushCo slip in that little amendment to the fucking Patriot Act that said they could appoint who ever they friggin wanted without Congressional approval? You know they backed their asses down from that one as soon as everyone on the Hill thought about it. But a bigger question is..
Why would they put a mindless fuckwit like Tim Griffin in one of the USA's post? This man has never done a fucking thing that mattered unless you count being a Republican operative and a good bud of Karl Rove. Thats part of the job description for US Attorney now? No shit?
I doubt it. But Rove thought he was perfect for Bud Cummins job in Arkansas. And guess what? Timmy got it..without being confirmed by the Congress, thanks to that g-d Patriot Act provision I mentioned earlier.
Another point of fact. Rove is known for using the RNC email system instead of the government email system. Perhaps part of the missing email trail is there. Its worth a look, its worth asking him about. As Froomkin points out here, It's against the law to use the RNC email system while your working for the executive branch. Its something about accountability. That pesky accountability thing..damn I just know Bush and Rove hate that.
As Salon writer Joe Conason points out, Rove is a liar. He calls him a proven liar, but I won't go that far. Four trips to the Grand Jury say he wasn't sharing recipes and frankly I do believe Conason when he says the reason Rover had 4 trips to the GJ is because he narrowly skirted an indictment his OWN self and finally fessed up that he was involved in outing Valerie Plame.
I have laid out enough reasons that Harriet and Rove should testify in front of Congressional committees. They should testify under oath and with a transcript of the hearing. Nothing less should be accepted. I would also like to see it on Cspan, but I will sit and read the transcript if I have to.
You can bet your sweet ass that I will read the transcript. Bush hasn't seen the last of Congressional oversight. Fuck that bastard, the shit hasn't even started to be flung. Get those raincoats and rubber boots on boys..your ass and your bullshit are about to be exposed.
Tags: Politics, Bush, Rove, Executive Privilege, Congressional Oversight, GonzoGate
Mar 23, 2007
Bush thinks he is the Godfather..watch the video of the "Bad offer"
Tags: Politics, Bush, GonzoGate, Executive Privilege My Ass, US Attorneys, USAs
Mar 21, 2007
The Hill is alive, with the sound of hearings...
"As the Democrats approach their 100th day in control of Congress, one thing has already set them apart from their Republican predecessors: the large number of oversight hearings on issues relating to foreign and national security policy."
Isn't it like a breath of fresh air after having inhaled nothing but stale smoke filled air for 12 freaking years? Its a good read, if you want to be enlightened..please check it out my dear reader. It looks at whats been happening regarding the precious Oversight duties of our legislative branch and if we should expect any real changes. Take this for instance:
"Whether this surge in congressional oversight ultimately produces wiser policies and more effective implementation remains to be seen. While the constitutional arsenal of Congress is powerful, it has a limited ability to quickly reverse the course set upon by a determined president. Steps taken through the power of the purse and legislation are both blunt and subject to a presidential veto. But over time, an equally determined Congress can leverage public and expert opinion, initially through committee hearings but eventually through ever-stronger legislative steps, to bring about a change in course. Oversight, even more than direct legislation, is key to movement. Oversight keeps an administration on its toes; the lack of oversight, and the expectation that there will be none, leads to complacency, arrogance, and maladministration."
So..at least we got one thing going for our side..this administration can't sit on its arse and expect all their bullshit laws and sleazy amendments to go marching right through the halls of Congress. Not while the Dems are in charge anway.
Tags: Politics, Bush, Democrats, Congressional Hearings
BP saves money, kills 15 people..all in a day’s profit margin.
March 23, 2005: Explosion kills 15 people and injures more than 170 in the worst accident in the nation's gas and chemical industry in nearly 15 years. This explosion was at the British Petroleum (BP) plant in Texas City, TX. As noted, this explosion happened 2 years ago this week.
The investigative arm of the Federal Government for this type of explosion, the U.S. Chemical Safety Investigation Board(CSB), released it’s report final report today on the Texas City explosion. Its 374 pages long, which should give you an idea of the detail involved in this report,or…the amount of bullshit they are laying on since it seems they might have been paid by the page, I must admit I haven’t slogged through the entire report. The man that headed this 11-member group? Why none other than James Baker! You remember Jimmy..he headed the Iraq Study Group, but I digress.
Thankfully, the CSB released something a lot shorter in their press release today. A couple of small blurbs from there:
In a 335-page final report released today, federal investigators from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) conclude that "organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation" caused the March 23, 2005, explosion at the BP Texas City refinery, the worst industrial accident in the United States since 1990. The report calls on the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to increase inspection and enforcement at U.S. oil refineries and chemical plants, and to require these corporations to evaluate the safety impact of mergers, reorganizations, downsizing, and budget cuts.—Please bear in mind that the Shrub has cut OSHA’S budget yearly and oversight abilities every chance he gets since he took office.
“The independent Baker panel, formed and funded by BP in response to an urgent CSB safety recommendation, issued its final report in January 2007. It found "material deficiencies" in the safety of BP's five U.S. refineries in Texas, California, Indiana, Ohio, and Washington. The 11-member panel also issued ten safety recommendations, including calling on BP's corporate board to closely monitor safety performance at its facilities. The Baker panel was not charged with determining the root causes of the March 2005 explosion.”-Notice my dear reader that they have the nads to call it an “independent” panel but in the same sentence says it was funded by BP. One can only hope that this panel was truly independent and not just a shill for the Oil Business and their best friend..George Bush.
CSB chairman Carolyn Merritt delivers the bottom line to us:
"The combination of cost-cutting, production pressures and failure to invest caused a progressive deterioration of safety at the refinery," – BP was making billions prior to the explosion but could not put a dime into rehabbing the plant. BP chose to put lives at risk, ultimately causing the deaths of 15 and injury to over 170 people and keep their money in their ‘pocket’.
Failure to invest in safety and working conditions could also be called willful homicide in my opinion. But we know that’s not going to happen..afterall, it’s a Big Oil Corporation and BushCo would never find a business culpable in killing their workers would they? It’s just the cost of doing business…no more, no less.
Beginning in 2002, BP commissioned a series of audits and studies that revealed serious safety problems at the Texas City refinery, including a lack of preventative maintenance and training, but the CSB found that senior executives ordered 25 percent cost cuts in 1999 and another 25 percent in 2004, the year before the blast.
British Petroleum was cutting costs and allowing the Texas refinery to slip into disrepair. And THEY KNEW IT. They, my dear reader, did it on purpose. Bear in mind that in 2005 BP had reported a 25% increase in annual profits. In 2004, their profit was a paltry $17.5 BILLION dollars. It should also be noted that BP was bitchslapped with a record $21.4 million fine after finding more than 300 willful violations resulting from the explosion, but even that fine is a drop in the profit bucket. You know what stands out to me?
It was cheaper to get fined than fix the problems prior to the blast, I mean really..look at their profit margin for the year prior to the blast my dear reader.
Now, BP has released their statement on the CSB report. As expected, they..ahem..disagree with substantial parts of the CSB report as witnessed by this little blurb:
Notwithstanding the Company’s strong disagreement with some of the content of the CSB report, particularly many of the findings and conclusions, BP will give full and careful consideration to CSB’s recommendations, in conjunction with the many activities already underway to improve process safety management. BP and its employees are ready, willing and able to achieve the goal of becoming an industry leader in process safety management. I am biting a hole in my lip to keep from screaming at this point at the obvious bullshittery in the last sentence.
Now, you might ask..as I did..why in the blue hell would BP allow this refinery to go to shit when they had some *cough*decent*cough* profits within the last 6 years and it’s the third largest plant of its kind in the U.S.?
Money..it’s all about the money for Big Oil.. As for workers lives..they can be replaced by the folks in Human Resources by placing a new ‘help wanted” ad in the newspapers and the local unemployment office.
As for OSHA having the funds to police all these huge industrial plants and enforce fines and work stoppage until they are fixed..once again..say it with me now people..
Money, its all about the money that BushCo keeps cutting from their budget. Oh, and having a pro-Oil “bidness” President doesn’t hurt either. The last line in the Houston Chronicle article I link to earlier is scary too:
"This report has a lot of implications beyond chemical processing," said Meshkati, human factors consultant to CSB investigators. Among the industries that could benefit are transportation and nuclear energy, he added.
Don’t get me started on the nuclear industry..I am warning you now.
Crossposted at
Tags: Politics, BP, Oil Industry, British Petroleum, Texas City Refinery
Mar 20, 2007
Bush calls Dem's USA probe a partisan job and a show trial.
He also said he is sorry that these decent USA's are being held up to scrutiny, but thats the way it is.
He used the "political points" line and the phrase "show trials" numerous times. You know Bush, he loves his slogans.
It lasted about 3 minutes. When the WH website has the speech up, I will enlighten as to its direct quotes.
The DOJ Document drop is quite interesting..
I will post up some of the finer emails when they start to panic later..back to the DOJ emails :)
Conyers and his group will subpoena Rove and Miers, Schumer and his group aren't buying what BushCo is selling
| March 20, 2007 | |
| The House Judiciary Committee announced Tuesday that Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law Chairwoman Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) would seek the authority to subpoena White House adviser Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. The subcommittee will meet Wednesday to consider the subpoenas for Rove, Miers and three other administration officials. In addition, the panel will also discuss subpoenaing White House and Department of Justice documents. Schumer just spoke on MSNBC and reiterated that the WH position of Rove and Miers speaking off the record and behind closed doors won't friggin cut it. Tags: Politics, Rove, US Attorneys, AlbertoGate |
Mar 19, 2007
The DOJ and Carol Lam
Ain't that a bitch? Well, not really :)
Here is an email that was sent by now infamous Kyle Sampson regarding Ms. Lam's investigation into what became the biggest corruption case involving a sitting elective representative...and was still going strong when she was shit-canned:
Seems the DOJ was sweating the soon to be executed search warrants at former CIA Executive Director Mr. Foggo's humble abode.
AlbertoGate might get pretty interesting..or they could just fire Uncle Al and pray to God it all goes away.
LOL.
EDIT: Politico is saying that BushCo is seeking replacements already. God, Chertoff is being considered..
Tags: Politics, Alberto Gonzalez, Bush, USA, AlbertoGate
Mar 18, 2007
Global protests around the world yesterday
Tags: Politics, Protests, Marches, Antiwar Protests, Antiwar Marches, Iraq
Mar 17, 2007
March on LA today thousands turn out to Protest the War
We were 6,000 strong according to estimates..All colors and ages along with the rich and the poor..we all spoke as one voice today..our voices echoing in the concrete valley of Hollywood Blvd. We showed our solidarity with the March on the Pentagon and it felt great to be among thousands of people of like mind and spirit.
It was a long day and it ended with some dickwad smashing into my car less than five miles from home. Ain't that a bitch folks, I ask..Ain't that a bitch?
Anyway..here is my lil essay..We had stars like Martin Sheen, but I only took pics of the folks like you and I. They aren't the best pics..but hey..it was a LONG day. Oh..I wasn't the only nutjob from here..our usual suspects went..I pick them out in the video for you :)
I have culled pics from all the worldwide marches today..and brothers and sisters..there were plenty! I will make a video of that one for tomorrow. I think Neil Young's Impeach the Prez will go quite well with that one..don't you?
tags: Bush, Protest, Get out of Iraq NOW, March, Impeach Bush Now
Iraq Veterans Memorial
I am taking off for the march in L.A...
Mar 16, 2007
The Gonzo-gone pool starts NOW!
Seems Uncle Al is in some deep caca..he is getting hit from all sides now. First it was the firing of the ‘great 8′ USA’s..then it was the FBI lying about their numbers. Now..we hear that BushCo shut down an investigation by the Justice Departments Office of Professional Responsibility into Bush’s domestic wiretapping without warrants. Uncle Al was going to be investigated during this process and what did the Shrub do to save Uncle Al’s ass?
He denied the investigators security clearances that they needed in order to conduct the investigation. Once he did that..he killed the investigation, thereby saving Uncle Al the embarrassment of being investigated.
Wotta guy!
The link above goes to a National Journal article on the subject of the OPR investigation. After the NJ article broke..there was a letter sent to Uncle Al about his role in this newest of “fresh hells” for the Bush White House by John Conyers.
The National Journal raises the question..did the Shrub know that Uncle Al was going to most likely be investigated when he killed the investigation? Another point is, did Uncle Al know it and thereby advise the Shrub to kill the investigation. A couple of short blurbs from the NJ piece:
Sources familiar with the halted inquiry said that if the probe had been allowed to continue, it would have examined Gonzales’s role in authorizing the eavesdropping program while he was White House counsel, as well as his subsequent oversight of the program as attorney general.
*snip*
Current and former Justice Department officials, as well as experts in legal ethics, question the propriety of Gonzales’s continuing to advise Bush about the investigation after learning that it might examine his own actions. The attorney general, they say, was remiss if he did not disclose that information to the president. But if Gonzales did inform Bush about the possibility and the president responded by stymieing the probe, that would raise even more-serious questions as to whether Bush acted to protect Gonzales, they said.
Oh, my dear reader..it gets curiouser and curiouser doesn’t it?
I say Uncle Al will be gone before the end of the month..place your bets now! But, before you do..make sure to read the National Journal article and the Dear Al letter ok?Tags: Politics, Alberto Gonzalez, National Journal, Bush
Crossposted at Bring it On!
Valerie Plame's testimony highlights on YouTube
The written testimony is not available yet. The second highlight video is here. Editor and Publisher has a writeup here.
Thanks to PoliticsTV for the video's.
Mar 15, 2007
Waxmans Oversight committee will hold hearings on PlameGate tomorrow.
"Chairman Henry A. Waxman announced a hearing on whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. At the hearing, the Committee will receive testimony from Ms. Wilson and other experts regarding the disclosure and internal White House security procedures for protecting her identity from disclosure and responding to the leak after it occurred. The hearing is scheduled for Friday, March 16, 10:00 a.m. in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building. Click here for the witness list."
The hearings are always available live, online at the Oversight Committee website, the first one I link to in this blog.
Tags: Politics, Plamegate, Oversight Committee, Waxman
Mar 14, 2007
Senate Judiciary Set To Vote On Subpoenas For Rove And Miers
Tags: Politics, Karl Rove, US Attorneys
March on the Pentagon again, 40 years after the 1st one.
On the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam war's March on the Pentagon, there will be another March on the Pentagon. This Saturday the event will be held. Watch the press conference held this morning in DC here. There are plenty of events this Saturday to mark the anniversary of the Iraq War, check out this site to find one near you. I will be attending the one in L.A.
In case your not "old" enough to remember the first one...here is a great video of it;
General Peter Pace is a mook.
In case you have been under a rock this week, Peter waxed poetic about his personal feelings regarding gays in the military. He called them immoral. He basically gave a free pass to every homophobe that is a member of the military, to react negatively if they suddenly come across the fact that a fellow member of the military is...gasp...gay.
He refused to apologize for his comment. He backpedaled by saying he should of concentrated his comments on his support for the DADT (Don’t ask, don’t tell) law. It’s fairly pathetic that the U.S. is the only country, besides Turkey to have laws banning gays from military service. I would hazard a guess that our ‘allies’ serving in Iraq have service personnel that are gay..and do not hide it. Have our soldiers had problems with ‘those’ gay men and/or women? Has morale hinged on the fact that an American soldier might actually have to fight next to a known gay soldier from ….say...Hungary, England or Australia?
The other issue with DADT is that America’s military has lost roughly 10,000 valuable service personnel. The really disgusting numbers are as follows:
Research demonstrates that Don't Ask, Don't Tell is harming military readiness. DADT is costing the military valuable, mission critical personnel. This policy has lead to the discharge of over 10,000 service members in the last ten years with 653 in 2004 alone. The GAO reports 757 of individuals discharged from 1994-2003 were in "critical operations." 730 discharged service individuals had intelligence-related occupations. Another 322 people were translators fluent in foreign languages critical to the War on Terrorism, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Korean. 41% of those discharged from "critical operations" positions had 30 or more months of service. 38% of those with intelligence-related occupations had over 30 months of service. Moreover, the number of service members lost due to this policy is much greater because many qualified and experienced gay service members choose not to re-enlist rather than serving with the DADT policy.
The phrase “cutting off our nose to spite our face” comes to mind. Our government is so desperate for individuals to serve in the military that we are allowing 42-year old men to enlist and...this is really rich…we are sending injured soldiers back into Iraq. We take people that can not pass a test with a score above 33% and have criminal backgrounds even...for the love of god...we let ANYONE join the military right now.
Yet we can not allow gay individuals, who are qualified to perform important jobs stay in the military...wtf is wrong with this picture?
Barry Goldwater addressed the issue of gays in the military...way back when it was brought up during the Clinton administration. Yes, he was retired...but he was a respected member of the good ol’ boys club. Here are some of the old man’s words on the subject:
After more than 50 years in the military and politics, I am still amazed to see how upset people can get over nothing. Lifting the ban on gays in the military isn't exactly nothing, but it's pretty damned close.
Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of Julius Caesar. They'll still be serving long after we're all dead and buried. That should not surprise anyone.
But most Americans should be shocked to know that while the country's economy is going down the tubes, the military has wasted half a billion dollars over the past decade chasing down gays and running them out of the armed services.
It's no great secret that military studies have proved again and again that there's no valid reason for keeping the ban on gays. Some thought gays were crazy, but then found that wasn't true. Then they decided that gays were a security risk, but again the Department of Defense decided that wasn't so-in fact, one study by the Navy in 1956 that was never made public found gays to be good security risks. Even Larry Korb, President Reagan's man in charge of implementing the Pentagon ban on gays, now admits that it was a dumb idea. No wonder my friend Dick Cheney, secretary of defense under President Bush, called it "a bit of an old chestnut"
We are perpetuating the whole fucking discrimination thing by making an issue of someone’s sexuality. It has nothing to do with doing their job, no matter what that damn job is. To have General Peter Pace announce to the world that he is homophobic and damn proud of it...well...its downright embarrassing. America has enough image problems in the world...and now...to make it abundantly clear our military doesn’t allow gay individuals to serve? I mean really…
WTF? Does anyone have a friggin' brain in the Bush administration? You want to be a homophobe in private...go for it Petey.
But do not allow your personal shortcomings to be fodder for people like me. That’s felony dumb ya dipshit. I will finish up with more Barry, and then I will take my leave:
“What should undermine our readiness would be a compromise policy like "Don't ask, don't tell." That compromise doesn't deal with the issue - it tries to hide it. The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people's private lives. Government governs best when it governs least - and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someone's version of morality is exactly what we do by perpetuating discrimination against gays.
Someone’s sexual preference has no bearing on their job performance...even an old white-haired Republican knew that.
Crossposted at The Blue Republic
Mar 13, 2007
Uncle Alberto holds a news conference..sort of..
Since the revelation that the Bush WH added a little power play to the Patriot Act which would allow him to appoint US Atty’s instead of going through the normal congressional approval process,Uncle Al Gonzalez has been taking some heat. Add to that the FBI screwup which is also splattering on Uncle Al, and you have a news conference scheduled within the hour..
Uncle Al even canceled a trip to enlighten the nation today..should be a goodie.
From Uncle Al’s lips today we hear the following..Alberto is ‘going to look into it’ regarding the whys and wherefor’s of why the 8 US Atty’s were fired. His Chief of Staff has resigned over this ‘issue’…Uncle Al doesn’t know what exactly, was the criteria for deciding who should stay and who should go.
Uncle Al said he supports wholeheartedly the process of approving US Atty’s by the Congress..then one might ask..why did the WH push through that little addition to the Patriot Act which removed the oversight of Congress..hmmmm.
He wasn’t directly involved in the firing of the “Great 8″..he had delegated that duty to an underling..meaning his COS I assume. His COS was to drive the process..Uncle Al did use the word ‘mistake’ in describing the procedure for determing who was going to get the axe in the US Atty’s office.
He is fielding questions now..
Al is back pedaling his ass of now..stating there is a lack of communication between the Justice dept and the US Atty’s offices. There was a mistake in providing the fired Atty’s with the rationale for firing them.
Then Uncle Al said he stands by the decision to fire them all.
And hot footed it out of there….
The whole thing lasted less than 5 minutes..lots of info given out there Al..ya fuckwit.
From MSNBC, we get this:"I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility,"
"Obviously I am concerned about the fact that information — incomplete information was communicated or may have been communicated to the Congress," Gonzales said. "I believe very strongly in our obligation to ensure that when we provide information to the Congress, it is accurate and it is complete. And I very dismayed that that may not have occurred here."
“I stand by that decision and I think it was the right decision. Thank you very much,” he said at the end of the news conference, turned and briskly walked away.
I told ya..he damn near ran out of the place...
Tags; Politics, Alberto Gonzalez, Federal Fuckwits at the helm
Mar 12, 2007
Kiley canned and other Walter Reed news.
The Army has figured out it needs to check ALL it's hospitals and outpatient services at other locations:
The VA is ordering its 1,400 hospitals and clinics to report on the quality of their facilities to determine if squalid conditions found at Walter Reed exist elsewhere.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson issued the directive in an internal memorandum sent last week to the VA's medical center directors. He said "recent events" compelled him to redouble efforts to improve the physical environment at outpatient center and medical facilities.
Hagle makes his big announcement.
Thanks Chuck..that clears up everything perfectly..its as clear as mud now:
"The announcement, which was billed by Hagel and his staff as a definitive answer to questions about his political future, left far more questions than answers.
Hagel offered no insight into whether a presidential candidacy would preclude a run for a third Senate term, saying only that he would continue to raise money for both his Senate campaign committee and his political action committee."
WaPo has more of the non-story here.
Mar 11, 2007
Depleted Uranium-The gift that keeps on giving.
When it comes to supporting our troops and veterans, there are many bloggers who walk the walk as they talk their talk. Charlie, Tammara and REB 84 are three who I have the pleasure of knowing, if only on the ‘internets’ through emails and their blogs. These are individuals that spend much of their lives educating the public and our elected officials about the human cost of the wars our country wages. Tony Snow might call dead soldiers ‘just a number’ and Bush may call them ‘a comma’ , but I choose to believe that most people inherently care about the human cost of war and human suffering. I might be deluded and god knows that is entirely possible, but I just couldn’t go through life thinking people are cold, calculating, unfeeling individuals by nature. If I wanted to feel that way, I would watch the local TV News.
No, uncaring and warmongering are learned emotions and responses. Unless of course you happen to be Dick Cheney, but I digress.
Tammara and the two gents I named have raised my awareness of DU-Depleted Uranium. It’s something our military has labeled a ‘necessary evil.’
Well, Depleted Uranium is outright fucking evil if you listen to scientists who know what this nasty shit really does. The United States government sent Dr. Doug Rokke to the Middle East during and after the first Gulf War. He was sent to investigate the effects and amounts of DU left there by our military.
Upon returning home, Dr. Rokke became sick from the very substance he was sent to investigate. He was put on 40% disability due to his hazardous service. His reward, our government keeps putting him back into action checking the latest DU rounds are troops are exploding all over Iraq. At least he is supporting our troops. The problem is, he submits his reports and the federal government does nothing with them.
Doug Rokke now lectures on Depleted Uranium and its tragic effects, one of which is available here as a podcast to download. The podcast is a lecture from last year. His lecture is very blunt. Dr. Rokke doesn’t mince words. He says that war’s objective is to kill, and that DU weapons are the cream of the ever-lovin crop…he doesn’t deny that fact. What he tells us is…DU is the “gift that keeps on giving”….years and decades after the War is won or lost, casualties continue to mount up long after the tanks have left and the soldiers are back home…safe in their own beds.
By the way, the only way to remove the hazards of DU is to totally encase the ‘thing’ blown up and the surrounding topsoil. To wrap it up like a ‘huge hershey’s kiss’. Then you dig down 6 inches at least and remove the topsoil for roughly 1000 feet around. It’s a process the military isn’t willing to do. Seriously, they removed 25 blown up vehicles from the Gulf War I…shipped them back to the states…and it took them 3 years to figure out how to totally destroy the vehicles and remove all trace of DU.
What did our government do after this? They decided not to do THAT again. It is too expensive and too messy to think about, or deal with. How does our government plan to deal with the health problems of the Iraqi citizen’s that have been exposed to DU in Iraq? I mean, think about it..we used those ‘bunker busters’ in the cities.
Officially, the US Government does not recognize overexposure to Depleted Uranium as a medical illness. They won’t treat our men for it…because basically they say it doesn’t exist. Its not on the books, sorry…come back later after you have developed cancer or another of the side effects of DU overexposure.
We have left a toxic wasteland all over the world. DU has been used in one form or another since the 40’s. The level of use during the 1st Gulf War was the highest…before the current one anyway…
Dr. Michael Kilpatrick is the medical man for the military. This guy is the one who states overexposure to Depleted Uranium isn’t on the books, therefore it must not exist. It would be prudent to note that US Military does have a training film about exposure to DU. The problem is, much of the equipment issued to deal with an instance of exposure to DU is faulty. It is old. It is outdated, like so much of the equipment we sent our soldiers off to this war with. Most of the time, our soldiers are exposed to DU without their knowledge. Many have actually picked up pieces of contaminated, melted equipment and fashioned jewelry and other memorabilia out of it.
There are hundreds of miles of blown-up-shit all over Iraq. The Depleted Uranium won’t go away and neither will the costs of dealing with its victims. The military’s healthcare budget is off the charts. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. But cutting corners on this issue and burying our head in the sand is fuckwittery at its worst my dear reader. If they governments makes our troops use these weapons of mass destruction, they have the obligation to take care of them when they get sick.
Truth is hard to find if it’s not on the books, and it just wouldn’t do, to tell on yourself if you’re the U.S. military. But the following statistics from the VA tell us part of the story:
“At the completion of the Gulf War, when we came back to the United States in the fall of 1991, we had a total casualty count of 760: 294 dead, a little over 400 wounded or ill. But the casualty rate now for Gulf War veterans is approximately 30 percent. Of those stationed in the theater, including after the conflict, 221,000 have been awarded disability, according to a Veterans Affairs (VA) report issued September 10, 2002.”
It is not that complicated. It isn’t friggin rocket science. If you were/are in the military in Iraq and breathed in the desert air, you were breathing in radioactive bullshit, especially in the combat theatre. The question about your health is how often and for how long you were exposed. The great your exposure, the more likely DU will take lasting effects on a your body. The government however…does not even care enough to publish the findings of Dr. Doug Rokke and other experts. This problem is not a question for either the republicans or democrats. They both share the blame. All administrations, including both the Bush administrations have been complicit in hiding the problems and illnesses associated with Depleted Uranium by refusing to admit they exist in any appreciable numbers.
Ain’t that a shitty way to support the troops?
If your interested in learning more, please visit GulfWarVets and APFN
Tags: Politics, Depleted Uranium, Gulf War, Veterans Administration, Doug Rokke, Michael Kilpatrick
Crossposted at TheBlueRepublic, Progressive Blogwire, Question It Now and Bring it On!
Mar 10, 2007
Saturday wingnut roundup..
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Slapped even by GOP allies, the Bush administration is beating an abrupt retreat on eight federal prosecutors it fired and then publicly pilloried.
Just hours after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales dismissed the hubbub as an "overblown personnel matter," a Republican senator Thursday mused that Gonzales might soon suffer the same fate as the canned U.S. attorneys.
A short time later, Gonzales and his security detail shuttled to the Capitol for a private meeting on Democratic turf, bearing two offerings:
Screw the fuckwits good gents. Take Uncle Al down if you can over this bs.
Then...we have the FBI flap..lol..its almost sad how bad Uncle Al and his minions look lately...but then I wake up and smell the reality of it all.
Uncle Al and the boys at the Justice Dept, and the FBI are crooks and liars..supposing to go after the crooks and liars..oh..the irony. Of course the following quote from the WaPo article just jacked my jaw:
WASHINGTON -- The nation's top two law enforcement officials acknowledged Friday the FBI broke the law to secretly pry out personal information about Americans. They apologized and vowed to prevent further illegal intrusions. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales left open the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against FBI agents or lawyers who improperly used the USA Patriot Act in pursuit of suspected terrorists and spies.
GIVE ME A FRIGGIN' BREAK!!! They apologized and promised never to do that again?
And people believe them? Possible criminal charges my ass. If they do go after these assholes, then I might buy them turning over a new leaf..until then..
Its all bullshit rhetoric.
Then we have the wingnuts at the CPAC convention of wingnuts..Coultergeist and Cpl. Matt Sanchez, the ..ahem..gay male prostitute. But please..enjoy the video below of a lefty that actually went to the CPAC ball and interviewed Malkin, among others..hilarious!
tags: Politics, Matt Sanchez, Ann Coultergeist, FBI, Alberto Gonzalez, CPAC, Michelle Malkin