What we should all get Bush for the 5th Anniversary of the Iraq War

I don't want to blow the surprise..so go here and look at what we all should be sending that bag of batshit. Peter always has a way with words and pictures..and this one is the best of all.

He also has a beautiful post up about the death of Dith Pran. If you don't know who that is..you friggin should damn it.

Peter thank you, kind sir, for being part of my blogging life. I heart you so much.

The Boo birds were active last night..

My favorite time of the year is here..BASEBALL!!!!!

Now, I know many of you probably aren't big fans of professional sports. Well, I can only say..my condolences..its a wonderful diversion to the day to day hell we live as political bloggers..and citizens of these here United States. The Washington Nationals..aka the gNats..opened their season last night in their brand-spanking-new stadium. Guess who tossed out the first pitch..go ahead..guess..

Ok..It was Georgie boy..yes, our Idiot-in-Chief. And the sumbitch was booed like there was no tomorrow folks!

Warms the cockles of my little black heart don't ya know?

At least he didn't put a hex on the gNats..they won in the bottom of the ninth inning on a homer by Ryan Zimmerman. Damn, I knew I should of picked him up in one of those nine friggin leagues I am in. Damn it!

i just hope my Padres win tonight...I had enough bad news last week to last me the rest of the friggin year. Go PADRES!

We will now resume our normal political bitchfest m'dear reader :) A hug and a hat tip to Betmo for turning me on to Bush's boofest ;)

The Job Market we will be seeing soon..

A tip of the hat to Tom over at Bring it On! for this video ;)

Brzezinski's WaPo OpEd

He is known as a realist. To that end, his OpEd today in the Washington Post is interesting and well written. He seems to agree that we must end our occupation of Iraq, but there are of course inherent consequences to that action no matter when we get the fuck outta there. Some choice quotes I latched onto:

The contrast between the Democratic argument for ending the war and the Republican argument for continuing is sharp and dramatic. The case for terminating the war is based on its prohibitive and tangible costs, while the case for "staying the course" draws heavily on shadowy fears of the unknown and relies on worst-case scenarios. President Bush's and Sen. John McCain's forecasts of regional catastrophe are quite reminiscent of the predictions of "falling dominoes" that were used to justify continued U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Neither has provided any real evidence that ending the war would mean disaster, but their fear-mongering makes prolonging it easier. (Emphasis mine)

And then there is this:

Contrary to Republican claims that our departure will mean calamity, a sensibly conducted disengagement will actually make Iraq more stable over the long term. The impasse in Shiite-Sunni relations is in large part the sour byproduct of the destructive U.S. occupation, which breeds Iraqi dependency even as it shatters Iraqi society. In this context, so highly reminiscent of the British colonial era, the longer we stay in Iraq, the less incentive various contending groups will have to compromise and the more reason simply to sit back. A serious dialogue with the Iraqi leaders about the forthcoming U.S. disengagement would shake them out of their stupor.

He ends with this:

We started this war rashly, but we must end our involvement responsibly. And end it we must. The alternative is a fear-driven policy paralysis that perpetuates the war -- to America's historic detriment.

I still say..we will have substantial amounts of troops there five years from now. What say you m'dear reader?

Remember those missing arms shipments..I think we have found them..

Back as far as 2004, plenty of stories came out about the millions of weapons that went missing in Iraq. Check out the crazy bastard in the photo..I think his boys are well-armed at this point in time.

So, I do believe those weapons have been found. They are in the hands of the...cough..militia in Basra and of course that batshit crazy sumbitch Al-Sadr and his wingnuts known as the Mahdi Army. Although we were told that nothing big was missing back then..that appears to be bullshit my dear reader as the Green Zone is currently under siege. Rockets are blasting away at American zones like the Embassy there. From the Salon link:

Reuters reported that a giant column of black smoke could be seen near the U.S. Embassy after what was believed to be a mortar strike on a former palace of Saddam that is being used as a headquarters for American civilian and military personnel. However, an embassy spokeswoman said there had been no serious injuries or deaths as a result of the attack. Four people, including two U.S. civilians, were wounded by mortar attacks in the Green Zone Wednesday.

Then of course, there is the mini-war taking place in Basra. Al-Sadr has told Maliki to fuck off and refuses to disarm his militia as noted in the picture above.

A Channel 4 news report out of England. At the Five minute point..the British dude admits that the city of Basra has always been controlled by the militias. Isn't that just fucking grand? From one of the damn links in this post:

In an interview on Al Jazeera TV, Sadr said Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's U.S.-backed government was worse than the regime of Saddam Hussein, who is believed to have ordered the assassination of Sadr's father, Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq Sadr, in 1999.

Sadr did not renounce a cease-fire he called for his Mahdi Army militia in August, but he said anyone facing foreign occupation had the right to armed resistance.


The bat guano is hitting the fan in Iraq. How is that hand-over to Iraqi's going for ya Bush? Are they standing up so we can stand down? If King George tells us one more time how great it's going in Iraq, I will throw something at my tv. When it's Shiite vs Shiite..it ain't good.

In Basra, where masked, heavily armed militiamen ruled most streets, residents remained afraid to venture out, even though a curfew was eased during the day. One said they risked being caught in cross-fire, or shot by Iraqi army snipers who could mistake them for militiamen or shot by gunmen guarding the areas they controlled.

Send Lawyers Guns and Money..the shit has hit the fan...again.

Update: Al-Sadr sees the writing on the wall apparently and has issued a statement that he wants all his batshit crazy compadres released..then he will call an end to the fighting..yeah right. I think we have heard this one before..

BushCo wants a tad more power..

From the NYT we get this:

The Treasury Department will propose on Monday that Congress give the Federal Reserve broad authority to oversee financial market stability, in effect allowing it to send SWAT teams into any corner of the industry or any institution that might pose a risk to the overall system.

Check out the writeup if you have a strong stomach and constitution. I do not today.

As for me, The Doctor said NO. He only took two minutes out of his busy life to do that. I am still trying to process his short and very arrogant response, so forgive me for the brevity I exhibit here today. He said all the other doctors who told me my back was whacked don't know what they are talking about. Evidently I don't either, as I am the one with daily pain..was he calling my pain phantom pain? I don't know..hell, I know nothing today as I am quite the mess. Oh, to have Bush's power...

Hillary shills on Fox Noise..

If your so inclined..you can read about it here on Fox's website. This line really caused me to laugh my ass off and spit bottled water all over the laptop:

"People don't want this to be over," she said. "That is what people are telling me."

Which people is she talking to for the love of GAWD? Everyone I know is tired of her tactics and when you look at ALL the fucking numbers..no way in Hell is she winning shit without a back-room deal.

I thought about looking for the video of it..but my stomach is bothering me today and frankly I don't think I could take watching any of the assholes at Fox Noise wonking on her and her taking it.

Another federal contractor getting rich while providing crap

They got a $300 Mil contract to supply munitions. Some of them are..cough..40-fucking-years old. From the link:

But to arm the Afghan forces that it hopes will lead this fight, the American military has relied since early last year on a fledgling company led by a 22-year-old man whose vice president was a licensed masseur.

With the award last January of a federal contract worth as much as nearly $300 million, the company, AEY Inc., which operates out of an unmarked office in Miami Beach, became the main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan's army and police forces.

Since then, the company has provided ammunition that is more than 40 years old and in decomposing packaging, according to an examination of the munitions by The New York Times and interviews with American and Afghan officials. Much of the ammunition comes from the aging stockpiles of the old Communist bloc, including stockpiles that the State Department and NATO have determined to be unreliable and obsolete, and have spent millions of dollars to have destroyed.

In purchasing munitions, the contractor has also worked with middlemen and a shell company on a federal list of entities suspected of illegal arms trafficking

.

Jaysus-friggin-Christ. Don't they check these bastards out at all? Read the article..I only listed part of the bullshit they are pulling.

Hillary in bed with the Neocons? You betcha!

From Jet over at Bring it On! we get the following news today, complete with proof via the picture to the right:

Is there anybody this Ho won't schlep with? I don't know about you, but when somebody has it in for my family, does everything in their considerable power to destroy everything we've worked to achieve, does it publically and does it dirty, I would NOT be pals. I would not forget, and I damn sure wouldn't pander.

Of course, I'm not Hillary Clinton. The picture is priceless.

That’s Richard Mellon Scaife! Yesterday! Jeebus, I need a shower after looking at that. For those with short memories, Scaife was THE MAN orchestratin g the Clinton attacks. From Salon, 4/7/1998:

The man whom Time magazine, in its latest issue, calls “the ultimate patron” of the Clinton haters has been identified by Salon and the New York Observer as a key funder of the $2.4 million Arkansas Project, a four-year effort organized through the American Spectator magazine to discredit the president. Scaife foundation money, as Salon has reported, has also allegedly been used to pay key Whitewater witness David Hale and to help bankroll Paula Jones’ sexual harassment case against Clinton. — Salon

I am speechless..totally and completely speechless..read the rest of Jet's writeup at BIO here. Evidently Hillary will do anything to win..including sleeping with the enemy. Disgusting. Carville needs to use his Judas line on Hillary..because this bullshit is outrageous! She has sold out the Democrats and her supporters.

Tags: Richard Scaife, Hillary Clinton, Sleeping with the enemy

PBS presents: Bush's War

You can view the two part series online here at PBS' Frontline site. I just watched the first part and its very good..starting with 9/11 and moving forward to today. There are also timelines and other materials to check out.

It's worth your time..believe me.

Tags: PBS, Frontline, Bushs War

The 10 Worst Corporations on the planet

By abusers, the report means companies that run afoul of economic and environmental laws. Corporate Accountability International (CAI), picked the companies and they invite everyone to vote on which ones they think are the worst of the worst. From the CommonDreams writeup:

The eight corporations named by CAI are accused of influencing elected officials, undermining democratic decision-making, and endangering the environment and public health. Global warming, war profiteering, and predatory lending figure prominently in the polls.

In other words, some real smarmy bastards my dear reader. Hang on to your hats, here they are:

ADM-Archer Daniels Midland

BlackWater

Countrywide

Mattel

Nestle

Toyota

Walmart

Wendys

The CommonDreams piece has a short explanation of why each corporation was included, as does the voting site. You can vote for the worst offender here. Vote early and often! ;) As we all know, The Corporatocracy has had 8 banner years under BushCo.

Hillary landing in Bosnia under fire? LMAO..

I don't think so lady Clinton..



So, this means she isn't any more battle-tested than Obama..

Bear Stearns shareholders don't like "The Deal"

They want more. Well, too damn bad I say, let the damn bank collapse then. Gawd this crap is jacking my jaw, would they rather get nothing? From the NYT:

The sweetened offer is intended to win over stockholders who vowed to fight the original fire-sale deal, struck only a week ago at the behest of the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department.

Under the terms being discussed, JPMorgan would pay $10 a share in stock for Bear, up from its initial offer of $2 a share — a figure that represented a mere one-fifteenth of Bear's going market price.

Greed..its such a nasty thing. It will blind people to the truth. And the truth of the matter is that Bear Stearns shareholders are going to get the sharp end of the stick..one way or another.

I would be happy if our tax dollars stayed out of JPMorgan's hands. To hell with Bear Stearns shareholders, it sucks to be them but its really not our problem. Corporate Bailouts are not the job of the federal government for Christs sake!

Bear Stearns has gone from $159 a share down to $2 in a years time. It puts into perspective why their shareholders are highly peeved..but still..why should our country's tax dollars save them? We have to put food on our tables, buy medications and put gas in our cars. WaPo has some interesting numbers for the average Joe and Jill American:

By the end of 2007, 36 percent of consumers' disposable income went to food, energy and medical care, a bigger chunk of income than at any time since records were first kept in 1960, according to Merrill Lynch.

Less trash is being set on the curbs of Mesa, Ariz., where surging home foreclosures are leaving more houses empty. That means fewer homeowners paying the city $22.60 a month for pickup. And William Brown, the city's solid-waste management director, says people aren't throwing out as many appliances and bulk items, like furniture. They're sticking with what they have.

Nearly 9 million households now have upside-down mortgages, and for the first time ever, aggregate mortgage debt is bigger than the total value of homeowner equity--bigger by $836 billion, according to research by Merrill Lynch.

Simply put..we, as a nation, can't afford to bail out Bear Stearns..or any other Corporation. They should be left to twist in the wind, and sink or swim on their own merits...just like the American taxpayers who are struggling make ends meet right here and now.

UPDATE: It's a go..the new offer is for $10 bucks a share. Of course that news sent Bear Stearns stock upwards..even though it has billions in debt at this point, of which the federal government will be responsible for $29 Billion of it..with OUR tax dollars. Fucking outrageous!

Tags: Bear Stearns, Corporate Bailout, JPMorgan

Soldiers killed in Iraq hits the 4000 mark.

Perhaps it shouldn't bother me as much as it does, but I cried when I saw it in my news alert this evening:

U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 4,000
Grim milestone reached when IED kills 4 U.S. soldiers in Baghdad

Grim doesn't even begin to cover it folks. We should never of been there. Our soldiers should be home with their families watching their children hunt for Easter eggs, or spending time with loved ones.

I have no more words to describe my pain and my anger.

China tries to do damage control in Tibet uprising

The government of China, who has tossed all media from Tibet and imposed a news blackout, is trying now to spin a little damage control

on what is happening in Tibet. A Thai torchbearer for the 08 Olympics, to be held in China, has withdrawn in protest of China's actions in Tibet. Who exactly is to blame for the unrest in Tibet?

Why the Dalai Lama of course! At least that is the way the Chinese media is spinning it. From the AP writeup linked above:

"The Dalai clique is scheming to take the Beijing Olympics hostage to force the Chinese government to make concessions to Tibet independence," it said.

The attacks on the Dalai Lama have been aimed at further demonizing him in the eyes of the Chinese public, which strongly supports the Olympics. The Dalai Lama, who advocates nonviolence and denies being behind the March 14 riots in Lhasa, asserted Sunday that he has supported China's hosting of the summer Games.

If that doesn't do it, they are also blaming..cough..Nancy Pelosi for all that ails China with regard to Tibet. From the AP article:

The official Xinhua New Agency, meanwhile, published a commentary bashing Pelosi, a fierce critic of China who on Friday visited the Dalai Lama at his headquarters in India, where she called China's crackdown "a challenge to the conscience of the world."

Xinhua accused Pelosi of ignoring the violence caused by the Tibetan rioters. "'Human rights police' like Pelosi are habitually bad tempered and ungenerous when it comes to China, refusing to check their facts and find out the truth of the case," it said.

The Human Rights police? Damn skippy..China is one of the worst offenders of human rights on our planet. Sick bastards can't accept the responsibility of their own actions. Reminds me of a drug addict..its always someone else's' fault.

Tags: Tibet, China, Dalai Lama

Crossposted at Sirens Chronicles

If this isn't criminal..I don't know what is.

White House tells judge hard drives were destroyed. This has to be criminal..how could it not be?

Older White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to 2005.

The White House revealed new information about how it handles its computers in an effort to persuade a federal magistrate it would be fruitless to undertake an e-mail recovery plan that the court proposed.

"When workstations are at the end of their lifecycle and retired ... the hard drives are generally sent offsite to another government entity for physical destruction," the White House said in a sworn declaration filed with U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola.

Body of War

Tonight's Bill Moyers Journal is devoted entirely to the documentary entitled Body of War. It was co-directed by Phil Donohue and Ellen Spiro. Its about the War in Iraq and one soldiers nightmare, Tomas Young, who was shot and paralyzed less than a week into his tour of duty. He is paralyzed from his nipples down. He is still coming back to life and he is now staunchly anti-war.

The clips shown from the movie on Bill Moyers Journal ripped my heart out. It took three years for this documentary to be completed. Ms. Spiro literally became part of the family, filming during all hours of the day and night to show what Tomas and his family deal with to bring him back from the hell created by George Bush's war in Iraq. Tomas found life again in becoming an anti-war activist. The irony of the family situation is this:

His step-father and brother are both still supporters of the war. Tomas and his mother are not. Tomas' brother is now in Iraq for his second tour of duty.

The documentary is slowly being released nationwide now. I am still emotionally affected by Tomas' story so this post won't go into much detail. I urge you to watch Bill Moyers Journal this weekend, you can find the broadcast time in your area here. The link to the movie website is above in the Title of the movie. The music was done by Eddie Vedder.

Its a moving, emotional Bill Moyers Journal..the movie clips were as well. Below is a YouTube clip of the movie.



Tags: Body of War, Tomas Young, Bill Moyers Journal

Soldier dies as a result of KBR shoddy work in Iraq

From Editor&Publisher:

The mother of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq this past January filed a lawsuit yesterday in a Pennsylvania state court against KBR, the defense contractor that was in charge of inspecting the wiring at the base where Sgt. Ryan Maseth died -- from electrocution. This has brought to attention a 11 other fatal electrocutions in Iraq, leading to both a congressional investigation and a Pentagon inquiry.

An yet this company will still be allowed to collect millions upon millions of American taxpayer bucks for their contracts in Iraq. Its unconscionable, and KBR needs to be banned from getting any federal contracts..ever. This soldier isn't the first person to die in Iraq because of KBR and he certainly won't be the last.

The 4th Branch of our Federal Government: Contractors

With the news that federal contract employees were snooping around the passport records of all three Presidential candidates, I thought it prudent to repost this item from my recent past.

The 4th Branch of our Federal Government: Contractors

The federal government has outsourced more and more of its duties. By doing this, they can claim they have lowered their workforce, thus saving us millions of bucks in benefits that would have to be paid to these employees if they were on the federal government payroll, among other things.

What also happens is that oversight, transparency and auditing of the work is lost. The government just writes checks out to companies like Halliburton, CACI, KBR, Blackwater and a host of other corporations figuring the job is being done correctly and it saves us all lots of money in the long run.

Wrong, carpetbagger breath. The billions paid to companies like I have named above is many times just wasted. Since the federal government no longer has their finger in a specific pie, they also give these companies carte blanche to charge us whatever they want, and workmanship is a dirty little word to these corporations..they just want their check. They create their own work standards without any oversight by the federal government, who is now relegated to just being a “customer”. The contractor can now sub-contract part, if not the entire job, to another contractor with little or no oversight by the federal government or the original company who was given the contract. Where do you think their loyalties lie? The following is a quote from David M. Walker, who as comptroller general of the United States, said this about contractors and their loyalty: “There’s something civil servants have that the private sector doesn’t, and that is the duty of loyalty to the greater good — the duty of loyalty to the collective best interest of all rather than the interest of a few. Companies have duties of loyalty to their shareholders, not to the country.”

What is the biggest and scariest part of this whole “contract out the government” scheme is, as the NYT writes, these contractors have slowly become the 4^th branch of our federal government.

To continue reading please click here.

Tags: Congressional Oversight, Politics, Federal Contractors, Waxman

Your Friday corruption post

TPMmuckraker has a post up about HUD Director Alphonso Jackson. Seems Mr. Jackson is a loyal Bushie to the max. He didn't blink an eye at punishing Philadelphia's public housing director Carl R. Greene for refusing to transfer a piece of city property to a business friend of Jackson's. From the TPM writeup:

Federal investigators are currently probing the limits of Jackson's cronyism and whether he lied to congressional and HUD investigators when he proclaimed that he doesn't touch contracts. Besides that, a suit by Philadelphia's public housing director has exposed some of the embarrassing goings-on under Jackson. In testimony before Congress, Jackson has refused to comment on any of this, saying that he won't comment on an ongoing investigation.

To read the emails which started this probe, check out this article at WaPo. Just a taste of the email's which show how HUD officials plotted against Mr. Greene's agency:

"Would you like me to make his life less happy? If so, how?" Orlando J. Cabrera, then-assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, wrote about Philadelphia housing director Carl R. Greene.

"Take away all of his Federal dollars?" responded Kim Kendrick, an assistant secretary who oversaw accessible housing. She typed symbols for a smiley-face, ":-D," at the end of her January 2007 note.

Cabrera wrote back a few minutes later: "Let me look into that possibility."

Friggin amazing..this crap never ceases to amaze me.

Gov Bill Richardson endorses Obama

This is a huge deal. Just this past January, Richardson was watching the SuperBowl with Bill Clinton, his former boss as part of the Clinton administration. Richardson is also Hispanic, which might help Obama’s campaign as well.

Obama's passport records breached at the State Department.

This is a breaking news story..saw it on Countdown about half an hour ago. Two employees at the State Dept have been fired over this breach..both federal contractors.

Who would want to peruse Obama's passport file? Hillary and McCain for starters..

More as this develops..

Update: Three separate employees on three different occasions accessed Obama's passport records..The State Department is saying..cough.. "this is not political"..and they know this how?? I call bullshit on that one.

Update: The dates his file was breached: Jan 9th, Feb 21st, Mar 14th..all of this year.

Update: MSNBC now has a story up about this online here.

Scooter Libby loses his license to practice law.

Finally the sumbitch pays some dues for his 'indiscretion'. From the FindLaw writeup:

The disbarment order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia was issued Thursday. The appeals court said that when a lawyer "is convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, disbarment is mandatory."

I wonder if ol' Scooter was actually going to practice law? I doubt it..somehow I see him becoming a lobbyist or on the board of a big corporation ala John Ashcroft and the big Dick Cheney.

The NYT has a writeup here..the ruling is here (pdf). WaPo gives us their take on it here and MSNBC tells us all about it here. The NYT writeup states Scooter didn't expect to keep his license any how..so I could still be right about his next career move...

As for his smirk..well, the last picture tells us why he is smirking I think..

Tags: Libby, PlameGate,

Protests yesterday were pretty light..why?

United for Peace and Justice signaled that they had folks going to DC from 36 states, so I really expected a great turnout. I kept an eye on their website off and on all day yesterday..sadly, there were very few updates to be found, even this morning as I checked it to write this post. When I googled for ‘protests’ I had a hard time finding anything either, even from the Independent Media. I found San Francisco of course as well as LA, and then New Haven CT?

The DC event, had hundreds not thousands in attendance according to WaPo. WTF? From the WaPo writeup:

Organizers downplayed the low turnout. “This is a different type of action than the peace movement has done before,” said Ted Glick of the No War, No Warming Coalition. “It’s more edgy. . . . We think this is actually an important step forward for the peace and justice movement.”

But demonstrator Gary Krane, of Oakland, Calif., expressed dismay.

“The apathy of my fellow Americans is very frightening, very horrific,” he said. “I thought there would be hundreds if not thousands of people getting arrested.”

It saddens me too. Why are the people so apathetic? Are they spending all their energy on the friggin election? Why was a sickening anniversary largely ignored?

This time around there were civil disobedience actions..which are good..but only if such actions are taken by thousands of people..not just a handful. The LAT writeup was the most comprehensive:

While about 1,000 protested in Washington on Wednesday, larger rallies were organized in Chicago, New York and San Francisco.

Antiwar demonstrators gathered in downtown Chicago’s Federal Plaza on Wednesday evening for a rally and march. Organizers were expecting thousands of demonstrators.

At one event in New York City, women sang and counted the war dead outside the Times Square military recruiting station, which was recently the target of a bomb.

In Miami, half a dozen antiwar protesters dressed in black placed flowers outside the U.S. Southern Command during the morning rush hour.

In San Francisco, police arrested about 100 protesters by early afternoon for blocking traffic and chaining themselves to buildings, police said.

The LAT writeup said MoveOn was sponsoring the LA protest..yet when I went to the MoveOn site..there were no pictures or writeups about their protest this morning.

The last event I attended in LA..thousands were there protesting this war..but yesterday..it was just sad.

The Cost of the War in Iraq

Support our Troops by bringing them home NOW!

Its not too late to join an action/protest near you..over 660 planned across these United States, with people from 36 freaking states making the trek to DC for todays actions. Last year I participated..sadly, my back doesnt' allow me that luxury these days :(

Tags: Iraq War Blogswarm, Five years of War, Cost of Iraq War

What does the war in Iraq cost American$?

First..a list of all of the Blogswarm Participants can be found here..but bring your lunch..its a grand list :)

In dollars and cents the United States has spent roughly $522 Billion, with at least $70 Billion allocated for the beginning of this year alone.

As an aside, what could all that money buy us as taxpayers? What else could we of spent that money on here in America that we desperately need? Try these numbers on for size:

With just the amount of the Iraq budget of 2007, $138 billion, the government could instead have provided Medicaid-level health insurance for all 45 million Americans who are uninsured. What's more, we could have added 30,000 elementary and secondary schoolteachers and built 400 schools in which they could teach. And we could have provided basic home weatherization for about 1.6 million existing homes, reducing energy consumption in these homes by 30 percent.

Another use for Iraq War money could be to pay down the federal deficit. The federal deficit in 2007 (the year, not the budget year) was $244 billion. If we ended the Iraq War and used the fiscal savings to cut that horrendous deficit we could reduce it by 57 percent. But we know that will not happen until 2009 at the earliest, so the deficit keeps moving ever upwards, but I digress.

The War Profiteers are getting fat and happy off federal government contracts, but here in the United States, we are looking a recession straight in the eye. In fact, the total dollar value of all federal government contracts, with regard to Iraq, handed out since the war began is staggering. Just look at these numbers starting in late 2006:

Value of ALL Contracts Since Tracking Began on October 30, 2006: $306,196,099,735

Yes, my dear reader, that is in billions. MilitaryIndustrialComplex.com has recorded a total of 4,046 publicly-reported defense contracts, just since October 2006. To date, that is an average of $1,008 for every member of the US citizenry. And the key word there is publicly-reported. Another factor to consider is that not all that money stays in the United States. Not all contractors are corporations on American soil.

Another troubling fact regarding federal contracts is the method in which they are awarded:

Most of the Iraq reconstruction contracts have been awarded through a particular type of troubled contracting vehicle, the Orwellian-sounding "Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity" (IDIQ). IDIQs allow the government to award an unspecified amount of future work to approved contractors. Once companies get on this list of approved contractors, they do not have to compete for work, nor is that future work ever publicly announced.

Not only are these IDIQ contracts never publicly announced, their dollar value is usually hidden from the public and Congress:

An IDIQ contract, which is made up of task and delivery orders, does not define a firm quantity of services or goods that the government needs. It is not until goods or services are required that the government places an order. The General Accounting Office stated that those types of contracts "were not attaining the level of competition Congress had initially envisioned." For example, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) and Bechtel have received task and deliver orders worth billions. Those task and delivery orders fall below the procurement radar screen and are not open for bidding or available to Congress or the public.

Our government also continues to award contracts to companies that violate federal laws and regulations during the course of fulfilling their contracts. What this means is they cheat us, as an example, by over-billing or providing shoddy equipment among other things. A short list of these contractors:

Iraq reconstruction contracts that have been awarded to contractors with problematic contracting track records, include:

Lockheed (84 incidences of misconduct);

Northrop Grumman (36 incidences of misconduct);

Fluor (15 incidences of misconduct);

Computer Sciences Corporation/DynCorp (9 incidences of misconduct),

Bechtel (6 incidences of misconduct);

SAIC (5 incidences of misconduct)

By continuing to award contracts to unethical companies, the government is rendering its own laws, established for the protection of the taxpayers, toothless. See .POGO's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database.

The citizens of the United States are worse off since George Bush took office and the war in Iraq began. But the Corporations are much better off. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy my dear reader?

I didn't think so..

Crossposted at UnCapitalist Journal

Obama's address today in its entirety.

If you missed it..as I did..here is his entire speech today on race and the United States.



The transcript can be read here.

FL Dem's will NOT redo primary

Such a hateful bunch those FL folks, don't cha think? After all, the MI voters are this close to redoing theirs..From MSNBC:

Facing strong opposition, Florida Democrats on Monday abandoned plans to hold a do-over presidential primary with a mail-in vote and threw the delegate dispute into the lap of the national party.
While the decision by Florida Democrats left the state's 210 delegates in limbo, Democrats in Michigan moved closer to holding another contest on June 3. Legislative leaders reviewed a measure Monday that would set up a privately funded, state-administered do-over primary, The Associated Press learned.

Tsk..tsk..sounds like its gonna be a shitstorm at the convention..wear your raincoats and hipwaders if you are planning to attend!

Fed approves bailout money to shore up Financial markets

Its not a small loan either..$30 Billion. Of course "the people" won't be seeing any of that money..just those Corporations that got greedy and fucked themselves..from the NYT:

Hoping to avoid a systemic meltdown in financial markets, the Federal Reserve on Sunday approved a $30 billion credit line to engineer the takeover of Bear Stearns and announced an open-ended lending program for the biggest investment firms on Wall Street.

*snip*

After a weekend of intense negotiations, the Federal Reserve approved a $30 billion credit line to help JPMorgan Chase acquire Bear Stearns, one of the biggest firms on Wall Street, which had been teetering near collapse because of its deepening losses in the mortgage market.

Someone explain to me how using our tax dollars to save greedy investors is a good thing..anyone? No one is worrying about the elderly on fixed incomes, the working poor or the disabled in the same boat. Oh..thats right..they get a whopping $600 bucks in two months..my bad.

Tags: Bear Stearns, JPMorgan, Corporate Bailout

China blocks YouTube after Tibet protests posted on site.

From Jurist:

The Chinese government on Sunday blocked Internet users in the country from accessing the video-sharing website YouTube after videos of a recent government crackdown on Tibetan protesters challenging Chinese rule were posted on the site. The protests over degradation of Tibetan culture and a flood of new Chinese immigrants into the region escalated into violence in the capital Lhasa on Friday with reports that as many as 80 protesters had been killed. Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Sunday deplored the use of violence by both the protesters and the government, but said that the region is facing “cultural genocide”. AP has more. CBC News has additional coverage.

Tags: Tibet, China, YouTube blocked

Video of yesterdays protest in Labrang Amdo Tibet

Video of yesterdays protest in Labrang Amdo Tibet. Phayul.com has comprehensive video and up to the minute news of what is going down in Tibet. From a news story on Phayul:

March 16 - Hundreds of Tibetans are arbitrarily arrested in the ongoing house-by-house raid by Chinese security forces in Lhasa beginning from 15 March 2008. All former political prisoners have already been rounded off and thrown into prisons by the security forces according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

With streets filled with patrolling Chinese armed troops and tanks in Lhasa city, the security agencies comb each and every house in Lhasa and pick up all suspected Tibetans, especially youth, from their houses accompanied by severe beatings by the armed forces. In testimonies received by TCHRD, mothers and elderlies in the families helplessly plea at security forces upon seeing their sons and loved ones being beaten and dragged away.





According to AP:Violence in Tibet spilled over into neighboring provinces Sunday where Tibetan protesters defied a Chinese government crackdown. The Dalai Lama warned Tibet faced "cultural genocide" and appealed to the world for help.

Protests against Chinese rule of Tibet were reported in neighboring Sichuan and Qinghai provinces and also in western Gansu province. All are home to sizable Tibetan populations.

The demonstrations come after protests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa escalated into violence Friday, with Buddhist monks and others torching police cars and shops in the fiercest challenge to Beijing's rule over the region in nearly two decades.

Shades of Myanmar..

Tags: Tibet, Monks, China

Sunday morning..

I have nothing to post today..we have been having horrible thunderstorms complete with hail and heavy winds since yesterday. The cable keeps going out..so while I have a chance..I would love to direct you to some wonderful posts by our writers over at Sirens Chronicles:

The folks at the Coalition for a Democratic America have an enlightening series going about PTSD. The title: Lives and Families Destroyed.

Fran has a good post up about the bs contained within the military contracts signed by recruits entitled Information subject to Change. She has also posted on the Tibetan Monks protest and how China is dealing with it.

Betmo has an interesting post up which wonders outloud about the rift between white folks and people of color. It's called The Audacity of Hope.

Also, Karen Zipdrive has a very interesting poll up on her blog this morning. Please take the time to check it out and vote in her comments section.

Have a good Sunday m'dear friends and compatriots. Keep fighting the good fight.

The Buck sucks..

Lots o’ economic news this week..Bear Stearns, an investment/banking firm that made some stupid decisions is getting a bailout. The Buck has dropped to it’s lowest value against other currency in the history of our nation. The Carlyle Groups investment division, Carlyle Capital is sucking pond scum as well. What ever happened to that investment cry of Diversify Young Man!!!

Why in the blue hell should it be our job, as taxpayers, to bail out idiots that made bad investments? These funds and equity groups dig their own graves by playing fast and loose with other people's money in the hope that they will make lots of money quickly.

Yet, our Idiot-in-Chief still thinks his retarded ’stimulus package’ will get Americans to spend and spend and invest and invest.

I used to have a part time job wherein I went to various banks and lending institutions acting as if I was a women with a shitload of cash to invest. I did this in order to determine if the investment consultants were following the weak-ass laws regarding disclosure to customers. The lack of oversight by our federal government is horrible..thanks in large part to Bill Clinton’s deregulation of the banking industry. There was very little they had to disclose to me, such as how risky the investment market really had become with hedge funds and equity groups.

What pisses me off is that all this bullshit about the collapse of the markets and various investment groups was caused by the deregulation that has been going on in the modern era. Most of these regulations were put in place after the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was put in place for a fucking reason! Did we learn nothing from that part of our history?

I guess not. Economic growth happens when people are working..when everyone is working. Shoring up the damn investment banks and firms won’t pull America out of this mess.

News..both mine and of a political bent..

I got my MRI, and I saw my regular orthopedic Doc today. The MRI shows more damage than was there two years ago..well, DUH..Workers Compensation has done nothing but treat the symptoms..that is..until recently when they cut me off all medications except for a sleeping med and an anti-inflammatory. Seems I am not supposed have pain according to the idiots at W/C. How they figure that when nothing has been done fucking amazes the shit out of me. (image to the right is NOT me, but it shows a real fucked up nerve root).

I am now waiting for the MRI report to be read by the UCLA doctor that will do the surgery if he agrees to take my case. My regular Ortho said today he would be surprised if the UCLA Doc refused to take my case. The spinal cord is pinched so badly because of the missing discs and those ones that are breaking down above, that he understands how I can be in constant pain..too bad the dipshits at the Workers Comp Review Board don't see that..well, they do see it but they are trying to save money and force me off of W/C because financially I am in the toilet..ah, enough of that crap..I have been on the phone for two hours this morning trying to straighten out their fuck-ups. They want an outside doctors opinion of my condition..yet do not want me to see one of their own doctors because he usually sides with the patient, yet they put him on the friggin list!

On the Political front..one of the editors at Slate, Jacob Weisberg, has written a book on Bush's politics and how he applies his evangelical bullshit to his job as President of these here United States.

Now, I know what your thinking..Bush, our Idiot-in-Chief only says he is an evangelical..and I believe that too. But if you check out the three part series they have running over on Slate, it really hands Bush his ass..in a tuna can. The book is called: The Bush Tragedy. A short blurb from the first series:

Graham and Bush surely did have conversations in Maine that subsequently took on meaning for George W. But on closer examination, this story too turns out to be a parable, crafted to convey an idea about the subject rather than to relate the literal truth of what happened. Like almost every other detail about his spiritual life that Bush has chosen to reveal, it shows evidence of being shaped and packaged.

Its a great piece that examines how Bush sold his evangelical belief to the masses. Sold is the correct word according to Mr.Weisberg, because once again..Bush was lying his ever-lovin ass off. The fact that Bush has lied about pretty much everything in his entire life is brought full-circle in Mr. Weisberg's book.

I look at it this way..if the sumbitch can lie about his beliefs in God, he will lie about anything. From the third installment:

If Bush's theology is free of content, his application of it to politics is sophisticated and artful. Evangelical politics is a subject on which he has exercised his intellect, and perhaps the only one on which he qualifies as an expert. Bush began his study in 1985 on behalf of his father's effort to become president. George H.W. Bush regarded televangelists like Pat Robertson as snake handlers and swindlers. Reflecting his parents' attitude, Neil Bush referred to evangelical Christians in a speech for his father in Iowa as "cockroaches" issuing "from the baseboards of the Bible-belt." For their part, the evangelicals felt no affinity for Bush Sr. They found his patrician background off-putting and suspected the sincerity of his conversion to the pro-life cause.

Cockroach..its a good description of Georgie Bush and his daddy don't you think?

graphic pirated from Jolly Roger over at Reconstitution. :)

Hillary apologizes finally for Ferraro flap.

She did it in her own special way of course.. and it was in front of 200 African-Americans at the National Newspaper Publishers Association. From AP:

Of Ferraro's comment, Hillary Clinton told her audience: "I certainly do repudiate it and I regret deeply that it was said. Obviously she doesn't speak for the campaign, she doesn't speak for any of my positions, and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee."

She also apologized for Billy's comments in SC regarding Obama and Jesse Jackson. She was on a roll last night..apologizing her butt off for racial gaffs, saying there was nothing intentionally racist in any of the nasty..cough..racial..remarks.

It gives one pause to wonder..would she even bring up these statements if her audience was anything other than people of color. Her comments on unifying the party really made me bite a hole in my lip:

"Once one of us has the nomination there will be a great effort to unify the Democratic party and we will do so, because, remember I have a lot of supporters who have voted for me in very large numbers and I would expect them to support Senator Obama if he were the nominee," she said.

Sure Hillary..right..what-friggin-evah.

Olbermann takes on the Clinton camp..

First time for him bbqing a Democrat..but it was due..Ferraro and hopefully the Clinton Camp will take notice.


H/T to C&L for having it up so quickly..I heart them. BTW..she tendered her resignation from the Clinton campaign today.

Also..the wonderful folks at TPM have a great video post about this whole sordid friggin mess here. Called Send in The CLOWN..I love it..its also on my sidebar.

The audacity of an African-American Male..

The bold-faced audacity of Obama to think for one minute that he is where he is because of his intellect, his education and his hard work..its(slaps forehead) because he is a black man! Why the fuck didn't I think of that!..Geraldine did howevah!

I hate that I have to even consider taking sides in this fight. Who is more put-upon..a Woman or an African-American? I have said from the get-go that between the two Democratic candidates, I do not have a horse in this race. Neither of these candidates are progressive my dear reader.

I feel that there is very little difference between the programs offered up by HRC and Obama. What differs is the person behind the campaign and the message.

What changed for me is Geraldine Ferraro’s comments the last two days. WTF is she trying to say? Is she saying women are less discriminated against than African-Americans or the opposite because at this point..its hard to say. Is she saying that because Obama is both an African-American and a male, he has no idea what it’s like to be discriminated against just as a woman? Because if the truth be told..

Both women and people of color are discriminated against here in these United States of America. It’s a fucking fact jack. Both are held to a different standard and both are treated as second-class citizens. But back to Geraldine and her sick point of view..

For Ms. Ferraro, a former female candidate for the office of Vice President, to say Obama was getting a ‘gimme’ based solely on his color and sex.. I am fucking pissed beyond recognition my dear reader. As a brown bitch I know both types of bigotry and discrimination..that as a woman and a minority. Lets, just to be clear, revisit what Ms. Ferraro said:

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

There it is..one can not pretend what was said..there it is in black and fucking white..ironically so my dear reader.

What pisses me off beyond words is that Ms. Ferraro makes color and sex an issue all by herself.. Her words are divisive in an important contest where we do not need to do that to ourselves..the Republican’s will do it to us all by themselves when both parties choose their candidates and the final race for President starts in earnest. The Republicans will fling the dirt and make race or sex an issue..you can take that to the fucking bank my dear reader.

In essence..Ms. Ferraro did the heavy lifting for the Republicans. And Hillary isn’t discrediting her words. Hillary isn’t disavowing her bullshit and bravado. And I am so fucking pissed.I could spit nails.

Ms. Ferraro didn’t make this about qualifications..she made it about something that shouldn’t matter in this day and age..she made it about the color of someone’s skin or their gender..or as she so eloquently put it..both.

What pisses me off is that women and minorities are fighting against each other in her world. In my world we all stand together to fight this narrow-minded bullshit. As a woman of color, the color brown, I know what the hell it’s like to fight both of these friggin battles..make no mistake about that my dear reader.

Geraldine Ferraro does not. Lets not make any mistake about that. She is a privileged white woman. Instead of making this a campaign about issues and how each candidate will deal with them..for whatever reason and perhaps on purpose, she changed the subject and made it about something that really doesn’t have a damn thing to do with the job of running our nation.

So when Geraldine Ferraro says that people are discriminating against her and her fuckwitted statement because she is a women..I call bullshit on that crap here and now. She is using the tried and true battle cry of the Republicans..reverse discrimination. Kiss my brown female ass Geraldine. Twice even. This campaign does not need any more divisiveness..no bitch, it does not, especially from the inside of the Democratic party.

If her candidate is so weak that she needs to make the case for gender bias coupled with racial bias..then bitch..we got a problem. But she is not contributing to the ‘conversation’ by pointing her tired-ass finger at Obama for being a Black Male as the reason that her candidate is sucking pond scum at this point and using all types of dirty tricks to turn the tide.

I am sicker by the minute of the methods Hillary and her minions, which of course include Geraldine Ferraro, are using to attempt to turn the tide in her favor. Ms. Ferraro is so full of shit at this point, her eyes better be brown. She is making statements that will only harm the Democratic candidate in the fall…because when it’s all said and done Geraldine..

Your a racist and a misogynistic bag of shit in my humble brown bitch opinion. The only thing you care about at this point..is to make sure HRC wins..at all costs. These codes for racist remarks have got to stop or we will get another four more years of Republican rule.

And Lady Ferraro..the cost is too high if we allow you to spew your garbage and get away with it. So I for one, am calling bullshit on your bullshit here and now.

Update; Now, she goes on Fox Noise to explain her bullshittery below:

She just makes it worse in the video. God, someone shut this woman up please!

Crossposted with brown female pride at Sirens Chronicles Bring it On! and UnCapitalist Journal

Tags: Geraldine Ferraro, Racism, Misogyny

FINALLY! Pelosi pushes for something that will help our economy and infrastructure.

From CQPolitics we get this gem which makes me ecstatic since I blogged about this bill awhile back:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she wants the House to take up a Senate bill to create a national infrastructure bank to develop public-private investments into large transportation projects.

At a news conference, the California Democrat said she is committed to overhauling the nation's infrastructure to mirror such historical achievements as President Eisenhower's interstate highway system 50 years ago.

She said she foresees some infrastructure spending in a future stimulus bill, but that her vision is, "much bigger than a stimulus."

Pelosi met with House Democrats and economic and infrastructure experts before the news conference to discuss the role the federal government should play in meeting transportation goals.

Eliot...even ET can't help ya now.

I am finally getting my all important MRI this afternoon. This will put in motion, hopefully, a surgical consult on my hosed-up back, and..its only taken two fucking years!

In the meantime..El-li-ot...your being summoned dude. Seems the NY GOP wants your ass to resign or face impeachment within 48 hours.

Dude are you stupid? Why did you leave a trail straight to your inbox and cell phone?

Have a good day my faithful few..I will report back later.

What the NSA has access to about you and me..without a FISA warrant

Surely it won't be a surprise to most folks that follow what is going on, it wasn't to me. The TPM muckraker has a WSJ piece up this morning that they explain well enough that it opened my eyes pretty wide before I even had a cuppa coffee. Just the opening salvo from the WSJ piece:

Five years ago, Congress killed an experimental Pentagon antiterrorism program meant to vacuum up electronic data about people in the U.S. to search for suspicious patterns. Opponents called it too broad an intrusion on Americans' privacy, even after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But the data-sifting effort didn't disappear. The National Security Agency, once confined to foreign surveillance, has been building essentially the same system.

The central role the NSA has come to occupy in domestic intelligence gathering has never been publicly disclosed. But an inquiry reveals that its efforts have evolved to reach more broadly into data about people's communications, travel and finances in the U.S. than the domestic surveillance programs brought to light since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

See, silly me, I thought those assholes needed at least a friggin FISA warrant for all that information. Here is what Paul Kiel surmised over at TPM:

Gorman describes the NSA's effort (elements of which have been reported before) as basically a resurrection of the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness program, which of course was de-funded by Congress once the details became public. This time around, of course, the details have remained secret. Although the budget for the NSA's driftnet is classified, Gorman cites one official as estimating it at $1 billion.

Ah yes..the TIA program. I remember hearing Gonzo talk about that when he was being grilled by the folks in the Congressional hearing many moons ago. The ability to know all things about all Americans..and so cheaply too! Only a billion? Hell, with the war costing millions a day..what's another billion?

MSNBC canceling Tucker's show

No one I know will be weeping over this news, but if you think Carlson will disappear from the MSNBC airwaves, think again.

The nimrod will be an 'on the road' campaign reporter..oh well..

No word on what will replace him, but there should be an announcment sometime today according to TVNewser and other sources reporting on this.

Update: Sadly, it isn't Rachel Maddow replacing the fuckwit Carlson..its David Gregory. :(

What is in your water can hurt you.

I posted this Sunday morning at Sirens..but I think both stories are important..and besides I don't think most of my half dozen readers..cept Jim, goes to Sirens.

I have two different articles to bring up today..both address the issue of water supplies and what is in them. First is this AP writeup about a new report that will come down this week about how KBR is making our soldiers sick because the quality of their bathing and washing water is not up to snuff. From the writeup:

A report obtained by The Associated Press said soldiers experienced skin abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses after using discolored, smelly water for personal hygiene and laundry at five U.S. military sites in Iraq.

The Defense Department’s inspector general’s report, which could be released as early as Monday, found water quality problems between March 2004 and February 2006 at three sites run by contractor KBR Inc., and between January 2004 and December 2006 at two military-operated locations.

It was impossible to link the dirty water definitively to all the illnesses, according to the report. But it said KBR’s water quality “was not maintained in accordance with field water sanitary standards” and the military-run sites “were not performing all required quality control tests.”

KBR was busted last week with their smarmy-assed method of screwing the government and KBR’s own employees by not paying payroll taxes that went to unemployment benefits, Social Security Trust funds and other govt programs. That KBR is now cutting corners when it comes to taking care of our soldiers doesn’t surprise me, and in fact I do recall the stories AP did two years ago about the water filtration problems KBR had on many of the bases in Iraq.

Second, is this article also by AP, that tells us what exactly is in the water American’s are drinking, bathing or washing their dishes and clothes in. Its about the drugs in our water..yes, my dear reader..drugs. From the writeup;

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

See, what gets me is that no one considers the ‘long term effects’ of these concentrations of drugs coursing through our livers. Our livers process everything we take in, everything people..every little thing. It can not be good in the long term for our liver and hence our bodies to be constantly hit with even something as simple as acetaminophen..which has already been shown to have more health problems that it’s worth in my humble opinion. When you toss all those other drugs into the mix..drugs which by themselves have problems with our livers breaking them down and the half-life of it sitting in our livers..well it can’t be fucking good now, can it?

Just because it isn’t at a level to hurt you NOW, doesn’t mean it won’t hurt you years down the road. But Big Pharma and our public water systems really don’t want you to make that connection do they?