Obama to keep another campaign promise-No more raids in California by DEA

This bit of news this week had me smiling don't cha know:

In response to a question at a Wednesday news conference, US Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department will no longer raid medical marijuana dispensaries in states where they are legal under state law. The announcement marks the fulfillment of a President Obama campaign promise, and it marks the end of 13 years of stubborn federal resistance to state medical marijuana programs.

DEA raids of medical marijuana facilities in California continued after Obama's election in November and even after his inauguration last month. Holder was asked if those raids represented Justice Department policy under the new administration.

"Shortly after the inauguration there were raids on California medical marijuana dispensaries. Do you expect these to continue?" the reporter asked, noting that the president had promised to end the raids in the campaign.

"No," Holder responded. "What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing in law enforcement. He was my boss during the campaign. He is formally and technically and by law my boss now. What he said during the campaign is now American policy."

Praise Buddha! The reason this is grand news here in Bakersfield is that all our dispensaries were raided so they all have been closed for over a year, do to fear of another DEA raid, which btw all raids were sanctioned by our redneck DA and Head Sheriff. Only one dispensary owner was charged with federal crimes, the rest just lost all their inventory and money in the bank.

Nothing like a four hour trip to pick up a prescription, ya know?

Now, watch him actually say the words.

Tweety and Barney Frank rip Darryl Issa

Today's Hardball show really goes after Issa's "Democrat" party bullshit. Tweety calls Issa on his use of the word and reminds him that it's the "Democratic" Party. Barney Frank holds his own with Issa.

Tweety then goes after the Rethugs for bitching and not offering anything new. No shit Sherlock!

Who exactly was Jindal talking to?

It sure wasn't the folks in the center and it damn sure wasn't me. His whole shtick, aka his speech, was that government is bad and tax cuts are good. Check out this quote:

Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us.

Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina -- we have our doubts.

Horseshit. It was a REPUBLICAN-led Congress and Administration that fucked Louisiana and the gulf region before and after Katrina. Does this nitwit think people are going to forget that fact?

He also lied his ever-lovin ass off. Spreading bullshit about what is in the stimulus plan, which has been a Republican staple:

But Democratic leaders in Congress -- they rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history, with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a "magnetic levitation" line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called "volcano monitoring." Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.

There is NO SPECIFIC language regarding highspeed rail and the locations to fund. That determination will be made by Ray LaHood, a fucking Rethug and Obama's Transporation Secretary.

As for the 'volcano monitoring..Mother Jones has a good point in their article on Jindal's lies and fabrications:

The 'volcano monitoring' part is almost as misleading. According to ProPublica, the relevant portion of the stimulus money is for "U.S. Geological Survey facilities and equipment, including stream gages, seismic and volcano monitoring systems and national map activities." It seems obvious that employing geologists, building facilities, buying equipment, and paying people to map the country all have a stimulative effect. But more importantly, why does Bobby Jindal think monitoring volcanoes is a bad thing for the government to be doing? There doesn't seem to be any immediate way for private enterprise to profit from monitoring volcanoes (maybe selling volcano insurance?), but there is obviously a huge public benefit from making sure volcanoes are monitored: warning people if a volcano is going to erupt. Isn't that obvious?

It's the same Rethuglican bs...it's was just being spouted by a new face. How they expect to win hearts and minds with this fuckery is beyond me.

Did he mention the San Francisco salt marsh mouse? That is another favorite lie of the Rethugs. If he did, I missed it.

UPDATE: For the nimrods, that still believe the salt marsh mouse story...here is a news link debunking it.

There is more crapola in his speech but frankly I don't have the stomach for it this morning as my back is screaming at me.

Tonight the Big O speaketh.

Lately he resembles The Shrub, with his support of various Shrub bullshit policies...like the hell hole called Bagram, trying to quash the wiretapping court case and last but not least, the missing White House emails. WTF dude?

Needless to say, he isn't on my list of top ten good humans recently. He is scaring me to tell the truth.

So, today he will address both houses of Congress Critters. Sort of a rookie State of the Union speechifying moment.

The Domestic Agenda has everyone's attention...but the issues I list at the top are important too. We can not forget them...or let Obama continue business as usual regarding them.

Cuteness defined!

I love Meerkats. I have always been enthralled with the little guys. These two were born at the Australia Zoo. Just a little cuteness to brighten up a day that will be filled with bad, horrible, depressing news.

US Army Sgt convicted of murdering Iraqis

From Jurist:

US Army Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr. was convicted Friday on charges stemming from the 2007 deaths of four Iraqi detainees, and was given a life sentence at a court-martial at a US military base in Germany. Leahy will have a possibility of parole after being dishonorably discharged, having his rank reduced to private, and forfeiting his pay. The medic from Illinois had admitted to shooting one of the prisoners but pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, and obstruction of justice, claiming his lack of sleep and long-term presence in a war zone had made him unable to reason properly.

On Tuesday, a military judge ruled that Staff Sgt. Jess Cunningham, who had been accused as a co-conspirator before his charges were dropped, would be allowed to testify against Leahy. Leahy was among six members of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry accused in killings that took place between March 10 and April 16, 2007. The prisoners were allegedly shot in the head while bound and blindfolded before being dumped in a canal. Fellow unit members Spc. Belmor Ramon and Spc. Steven Ribordy pleaded guilty to conspiracy and accessory to murder, respectively, in connection with the incident.

Has justice been served? Partially since not all the perpetrators will do jail time. His defense leaves me wondering if he cracked and PTSD had set in for this Sgt. They did kill humans that were bound and gagged. How many tours did Michael Leahy do before he went off the deep end??

Maj Gen.Taguba supports a torture commission.

Retired Maj. Gen. Tony Taguba investigated the abuses at Abu Gharib for the military and the Bush Administration. He now supports a commission to investigate all the horseshit done in the name of George Bush, with regard to torture and other abuses of prisoners. Salon has an interview up with Major General Taguba, who was treated horribly after his report was issued. Below is an exerpt from the writeup. It's a worthwhile read folks, check out the whole article.

On Thursday, 18 human rights organizations, former State Department officials and former law enforcement and military leaders asked the president to create a nonpartisan commission to investigate those allegedly abusive detention practices.

Retired Maj. Gen. Tony Taguba, who investigated the famed abuses at Abu Ghraib, signed on to the effort. He explained his support in an interview with Salon. Taguba agrees with many attorneys who think it would be difficult, and perhaps impossible, to prosecute former Bush administration officials. A nonpartisan fact-finding commission, however, might provide some degree of accountability for official U.S. detention and interrogation policies that Taguba called misguided and illegal.

Taguba would like to see a broad mandate for the commission, including a study of administration claims that abuse gleans good intelligence, which he fervently disputes. And while he believes the commission should look at the decisions of military and civilian policymakers, he has a particular interest in getting to the bottom of civilian leaders' claims for the legality of the administration's interrogation and detention policies, which he called "despicable and questionable." The retired general would also like to see the commission empowered to make recommendations for the future, to help ensure such abuses never occur again.

You are best known for doing an honest investigation of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. You suffered some consequences for that. Is that fair to say?

As far as consequences are concerned, the report and testimony were not going to be well received. I followed my conscience and integrity -- the best I could do to honor the Army uniform I had the privilege of wearing for over 34 years.

They parked you at the back of the Pentagon in retribution, right?

I was disappointed in my assignment back to the Pentagon to be on Rumsfeld's staff. I was suspicious about the assignment. But I served at the pleasure of the president and performed as expected. It was conveyed to me by close friends that I had to be watched closely by senior leaders.

Can you describe this torture commission that you and others are advocating?

I would not refer to it as a torture commission. [It remains to be decided] if it is to be a truth and reconciliation commission, or a presidential commission, or a congressional commission, or a private commission ... Interest groups have talked about establishing a special prosecutor in that regard. I feel we have to come to terms with policies that have gained such notoriety and have been debated about whether they were in the best interest of our national security, and whether those who created these policies were pressured by their senior leadership.

Personally, I advocate putting them ALL on trial for war crimes and after they do the perp walk on national tv, they spend the rest of their lives and the afterlife in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. This place should not be confused with the Penitentiary at Ft. Leavenworth, although I really don't care which of the facilities Bush and his cronies end up in.

Click graphic for larger, readible image.

Tags: Tony Taguba, Torture Commission

Ah yes, Baseball season is here!

So there is another post about the continuing saga of A-fraud, aka Arod over on my sports blog here. He has been caught lying...again...already...

Not all my 10 readers appreciate sports, so I am using the old non-political blog for that endeavor.

Tags:
Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Primobolan, steroids in baseball

Alan Keyes-"Obama is a radical communist"

The entire quote from the wingnut, per Khastv:

"Obama is a radical communist and I think it is becoming clear. That is what I told people in Illinois and now everybody realizes it is coming true. He is going to destroy this country and we are either going to stop him or the United States of America is going to cease to exist,"

Ain't that a freaking doozy? Jaysus Friggin Christ what a bag o' batshit Alan Keyes is. It gets worse m'dear reader. He is still preaching that Obama isn't a U.S. citizen. When the reporters snickered, he chastised them.

I dare you to watch the entire 3 minute bitchfest by Keyes below.

In the wine country of Temecula...

I am at the mansion folks, for the second leg of my trip..pet sitting! Praise Jeebus and pass the vino!

FYI, that wasn't my bro in the picture below. ;)

What have I missed in the political sphere for the last three days? You know I don't get to watch any news whilst at my sisters house. She doesn't allow it. Nor, do I get to use my 'puter.

I will check the over 700 emails and put up a post later on.

I missed you all, and Jim...those pot plants look mahvelous ;p

On the road again...

Heading out to Sandy Eggo for a couple of dayz then Temecula for another round of pet sitting folks.

Make sure to keep the pot plants watered for me ok?

I will post sporadically as I can't use my 'puter at the sista's house..will wait until I get to the mansion in the wine country..I surely will have tales to tell by then.

AMF! ;)

the graphic is my bro...ain't he cute?

This just in - ARod is full of sh*t.

I love baseball and have since I was a young girl. I had the displeasure today of watching Alex Rodriguez’s presser. Christ what a lying sack of bat guano. He left more holes in his ’story’ than he answered for starters. Add to that, his teammates were all lined up in the front row.

Why were they there? Support I am sure, but why in the blue hell were they supporting him? Arod is a wealthy man, the highest paid in the game of professional baseball, he doesn’t need or deserve their support. From Deadspin:

So, New York Yankee players, line up behind a man who cheated; who lied; who shamed the game. Line up behind someone who has shown you and your profession no respect.

At some point, clean ballplayers must take action. No more support for disgraced teammates; no more “We just need to move past this” BS monologues; no more calls for fresh starts and short memories.

No, somebody like Jeter or Johnny Damon or Mark Teixeira needs to make clear that steroids are a disgrace, and those who use are damnations to the game.

It’s time to stop supporting Alex Rodriguez-and start supporting baseball.

I am tired of these overpaid bastards giving us a shallow apology and asking us all to move on and leave them be. They are cheaters of the worst kind in sports.

They are dumb as a fucking rock, not to mention self-serving as hell. They willingly ingested drugs which could ultimately kill or maim them. He was injected twice a month for three years yet he never thought about the consequences? If nothing else it shrinks their balls, causes hair loss and I am sure that’s a big deal to a self-absorbed sumbitch like Bonds or Arod.

So that makes Arod and his teammates fucking morons too. No one ever said you had to be a rocket scientist to play baseball….but I would think common sense was expected of men readily given millions of dollars a year to play a child’s game.

Online Privacy-Google and Microsoft suck.

Google and Microsoft-the cyber world's Big Brothers?



From ARS:

Yahoo today announced an "industry-leading approach" to online privacy under which it will anonymize its log data after 90 days. The move comes only months after Google cut its own retention period for personal data by 50 percent, and it gives Yahoo by far the strongest anonymization policy of the big three search engines.

The announcement also scored points with Congress. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), a powerful voice on tech issues, this morning applauded the company, essentially placing the privacy crown atop its corporate head. "Today, Yahoo voluntarily sets a new standard for such privacy protection, a standard against which Microsoft, Google, and others will now be compared," he said. "I urge other leading online companies to match or beat the commitments announced by Yahoo."

That's exactly the message Yahoo wants to convey. In its announcement, the company stressed that it had just made the TRUSTe/Ponemon Institute Top 20 list of "Most Trusted Companies for Privacy." Yahoo came in 14th after previously being off the list; Google and Microsoft did not make it.

Under the new policy, log data can be retained, but IP addresses will be anonymized after 90 days. The data affected isn't just search logs, either, but "page views, page clicks, ad views, and ad clicks." Yahoo makes exceptions to the policy for "fraud, security, and legal obligations," so if any jurisdiction in which it operates passes mandatory data retention laws, the 90-day guarantee is overridden there.

I never use Microsoft for online searching or their email system. Again from the ARS writeup:

Google has been cutting its own retention period for personal information, though not quite so dramatically. Google at first agreed to anonymize its server logs after 18-24 months; after pressure from the European Union, Google agreed to anonymize its logs after 18 months. In September, it cut that to nine months.

Microsoft keeps the identifying information in its logs longest of all, at 18 months. Some smaller search engines, like Ask.com, offer even more control over information collection.

What you leave behind can come back to haunt you.

Tags: Online Privacy, search engine information retention

Video of the Day-Banks vs Credit Unions.

From Wimp.com:

Rebranding military weapons programs as jobs..

It's total bullshit folks. From Real News:

As unemployment in the US rises, old War on Terror appeals to national security are taking a backseat to economic justifications. The US military industry has adjusted to this new reality by crafting its requests for government funding on the basis of its capacity to provide employment. This despite evidence that military spending is one of the least effective means of job creation.

Don't you just love 'the spin' of it all?



Tags: Military Industrial Complex, Military Weapons Programs

What would you say to someone...

...primarily your 'significant other', that gave you an ultimatum? Especially if you thought it was self-serving, misogynistic and a host of other negative things?

Usually, I call their bluff. That is my first reaction and I usually go with that. Negotiation is something I am fairly good at, having done it for a living for over a decade.

But this time, the 'other' party states this is not negotiable. It's his way or we cease to exist as a couple.

I do not take being told what to do, simply because someone else wants their way, lightly.I am reviewing my options as far as residing in other areas of the country and the state. No time like the present to reassess my residence ya know?

Some might call that a personality fault...I call it looking out for myself. In any case, the shit has hit the fan in my household..sigh.

A little Warren Zevon for your listening pleasure.

Politicians work up compromise on Stimulus Plan…yeah right.

The Senate version actually had an amendment that would give a $15k tax incentive to upper class folks to buy more homes and cars. Forget that people are becoming homeless at an alarming rate and folks on fixed incomes are having to choose between staying warm and buying their meds. From the NYT:

Negotiations had been going on all day, following extensive talks on Tuesday night, to close the gap between the Senate and House versions. In the end, the agreed-upon package will pare back Democrats’ proposed spending on education and health programs in favor of tax cuts that were needed to win Republican votes in the Senate.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a centrist Republican whose support was crucial to the outcome, said the final package includes $150 billion in spending on infrastructure, including transportation facilities, and considerable tax relief. Moreover, she said, it includes significant money to aid state governments.

Despite intense lobbying by governors, the final deal slashed $35 billion from a proposed state fiscal stabilization fund, eliminated $16 billion in aid for school construction and sharply curtailed health care subsidies for the unemployed.

But the final bill retained a $70 billion tax cut that would spare millions of middle-class Americans from paying the alternative minimum tax in 2009, which some Democrats decried as wasting a large chunk of the bill on something that would do little to lift the economy and that Congress would have approved regardless of the recession.

Fucking tax cuts…jesus they love those damn tax cuts. As for Pork….here is Specter’s amendment…pure pork:

For instance, even as negotiators accepted many of the Senate’s reduced spending provisions, they were careful to maintain an additional $6.5 billion for medical research that was inserted at the insistence of Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, who is a cancer survivor.

I approve of medical research but that doesn’t have a friggin thing to do with the economy or the recession. I mean..wtf dude?

California must release up to 57,000 inmates

A special panel of Federal Judges has ruled that CA must remedy the massive overcrowding in our state prisons by releasing up to 57k worth of jailed inmates. From Jurist:

A special panel of federal judges tentatively ruled (pdf) Monday that California must reduce its prison population in order to relieve overcrowding. Based on the evidence presented, the panel concluded that overcrowding has resulted in the state's failure to deliver constitutionally-adequate mental and physical health care to inmates. The panel found that a release order is the only appropriate remedy for the unconstitutional prison conditions, stating:

Other forms of relief suggested by various participants are without adequate evidentiary support or appear infeasible as well as incapable of curing the violations presently existing in the California prison system.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown opposed the decision, commenting, "The court’s tentative ruling is not constitutionally justified. Therefore, the state will appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court when the final order is issued." The release order would mean that prisons could only hold 120-145 percent of design capacity, requiring the early release of an estimated 36,000 to 57,000 inmates. Those opposed to the release order fear that the state does not have the funds for the support programs associated with the release of such a large number of inmates, but the panel asserted that decreasing the number of inmates could save the state $900 million annually in prison costs.

I am hoping that means a lot of the folks in jail for cannabis will be set free. This has been on going for years now. The Federal government has been ordering CA to properly care for it's inmates but the rulings fall on deaf ears evidently.

The reason is ironically healthcare and the disgusting lack of basic healthcare for state inmates. They are packed in like friggin sardines as witnessed below. Rats overcrowded like this go crazy...
So do humans...

Tags: Prison Overcrowding, CA State Prisons

He just had to move to tornado alley...

I have never experienced a tornado. So I am probably more hyper about them than folks who actually been through them.

Oklahoma is full of bad weather today and it will only get worse tonight according to the folks on the weather channel. Two, possibly three tornado's have touched down this afternoon already.

My son works out of town, so his kitteh, Frankie, is alone in the fifth wheel...otherwise known as a 'wobbly box' by locals I am told by my son. When Brian told a friend he was moving to OK and taking his fifth wheel to live in, his friend said, and I quote:

Your taking a wobbly box to tornado alley son? Are you crazy?

It was funny at the time. Guess you had to been there.

So I will watch the weather channel all evening and call the kid at least 20 times. I also have radar up in my browser. I have never seen such nasty looking radar in my life... so many red and pink spots...all bad.

Give me a good ol' earthquake over a tornado anyday..

Obama TownHall in Elkhart Indiana-video

For those of you that didn't get to see it because you are lucky to have a job.

The Congress Critters guaranteed no filibuster today in the Senate on the stimulus pkg with a 61 yea vote in the Senate. Three Rethugs voted with the dems: Snow, Specter and Collins. ;)

Doin' the Perpwalk by Jim Hinde

Filched this funny little vid from One Fly's blog. It's short so check it out! All our favorite love-to-hate neocons are featured. ;)

Good News from the survivors of Bad Newz

Bad Newz Kennels was owned by Michael Vick. Pretty much all you have to say is his name and most people in America know what your talking about...the Pit Bulls that survived the horrors committed there under the guise of fun and games for humans.

The Humane Society wanted them destroyed. PETA wanted them destroyed. A quote from a PETA spokesman says it all:

"The cruelty they've suffered is such that they can't lead what anyone who loves dogs would consider a normal life, We feel it's better that they have their suffering ended once and for all."

But that is a fallacy, its a bullshit line from folks that don't get it or even want to attempt to understand the psyche of an abused animal. 51 dogs survived the horrific treatment of Michael Vick and his..cough..friends.

It's been almost a year now since the Feds rescued the 51 living dogs from Vick's home in VA.

Only ONE had to be put down because she was unable to cope with humans on any level. Only one.

The Sports Illustrated story is a 5 page history of many of the dogs from Bad Newz Kennels. It will make you smile, it will make you cry and sometimes it will make you cuss in anger that human beings can be so fucking mean to an animal that only wants love, affection and the occasional kiss and hug.

Sports Illustrated was so impressed with how the Vick dogs have turned out they made them the December cover story. SI is a sports magazine so to me, that says volumes. A quote from the story:

Zippy is proof that pit bulls have an image problem. In truth these dogs are among the most people-friendly on the planet. It has to be. In an organized dogfight three or four people are in the ring, and the dogs are often pulled apart to rest before resuming combat. (The fight usually ends when one of the dogs refuses to reengage.) When separating two angry, adrenaline-filled animals, the handlers have to be sure the dogs won't turn on them, so over the years dogfighters have either killed or not bred dogs that showed signs of aggression toward humans. "Of all dogs," says Dr. Frank McMillan, the director of well-being studies at Best Friends Animal Society, a 33,000-acre sanctuary in southern Utah, "pit bulls possess the single greatest ability to bond with people."

I am a pit bull owner, or was until I had to put Baby down a couple of summers ago when her body was riddled with cancer. She was an abused pit who loved every living thing inspite of what had been done to her. I haven't gotten another dog because I want another pit that was abused.

I know that sounds weird as shit, but I want to give my love to another dog that has come out the 'other side' of a horror story such as Baby's or Vick's dogs. We have two little dogs and a whole lotta cats...so it's not like I don't have animals to love and enjoy. But Baby will only be replaced with another abused pit who needs a good home.

Some of you will shake your heads and still believe that all pit bulls are bad dogs that can never be trusted with human beings or other living creatures.

But they are not m'dear reader. I can testify to that fact and so can BadRap. They were given some of the Vick dogs to rehabilitate. They did a magnificent job, go to their site and watch the videos and read their blog. See how they are now living with families that have cats, kids and other dogs in the home.

The SI story gives you the background and brings you to the present on these dogs. Its a heartwarming story that will give you chills...at least it did to me.

As Gandhi once said: The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

And in closing I just want to thank the Judge that had the balls to say no to putting these dogs down. Thank You Judge Henry E. Hudson. I heart you dude.

Now, I can also put up a shot of my Baby and Brian, a gratuitous shameless plug for the dog I loved and who loved me back... and my son whom I miss very much:

If your someone with disposable income that would like to help the organizations that took on the challenge of Vicks dog’s..here are their websites:

www.badrap.org, www.bestfriends.org,www.recycledlove.org and http://www.ourpack.org/.

Best Friends is the group that has a show on National Geographic called DogTown.

Tags: Bad Rap, Michael Vicks Pit Bulls, Judge Henry Hudson

598k worth of jobs lost in January

Unemployment is almost at 8% nationally, give or take a few hundred thousand unemployed workers. Some states and regions...like mine, are already into double digit unemployment. 3.6 million Americans are unemployed by government standards...which are usually way off the mark as it is.

Yet the friggin Rethugs and the Blue Dogs keep pissing into the wind on a stimulus package.

They had the audacity to offer a package of nothing but tax cuts...which haven't worked and won't work according to any economist worth his degree.

Paul Krugman has a good read up this morning. He, of course, is a recent Nobel Prize winner of Economics.

Krugman states that the abyss is near and the damn neocons do nothing but fiddle, play fuck-around and demand cuts to Obama's stimulus plan whilst not offering a fucking thing that has worked so far in their plan.

Where were those bastards the last eight years? They never saw a BushCo bill they didn't like, they created a deficit of a trillion dollars and NOW they get religion?

Give me an effin break. It's all political fuckery and nothing more from the right side of the aisle and the Blue Dog Dems. Assholes and drama queens like Lindsey Graham make me physically ill...

Robert Reich says many of the same things as Krugman on his blog here. Tax cuts won't cut it this time folks.

So why are the Rethugs and Blue Dogs so hung up on them? Are they suicidal or just stupid?

They are playing politics with our lives those sumbitches.

KO-A Special Comment on The Big Dick Cheney

The Big Dick Cheney is such a douche. And he relishes that role methinks.

77 Drilling leases canceled in Utah

Good News! One of BushCo’s Midnight Regs has been stopped. From MSNBC:

The 77 leases were for areas near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Dinosaur National Monument, and Nine Mile Canyon, which is sometimes called the world’s longest art gallery for its collection of ancient rock-art panels.

In its first action to overturn Bush administration policies on energy, the Obama administration on Wednesday said it will cancel oil drilling leases on more than 130,000 acres near two national parks and other protected areas in Utah.

“In the last weeks in office, the Bush administration rushed ahead to sell oil and gas leases near some of our nation’s most precious landscapes in Utah,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters. “”We need to responsibly develop our oil and gas supplies to help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but we must do so in a thoughtful and balanced way that allows us to protect our signature landscapes and cultural resources.”

Below is one of the areas where leases had been sold to drill nearby..Canyonlands National Park.

Did that Jackass really say that???

Wow....The Big Dick Cheney is either insane or just a fear-mongering fuckwit without a clue. Your choice. His recent interview with Politico really...really...really is something else.

Direct quotes from the jackass himself:

“When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,” Cheney said.

“I think there are some who probably actually believe that if we just go talk nice to these folks, everything’s going to be okay,”

There are more, but they are just too fuckwitted to post. Watch the Countdown video for more.

Rove waving the white flag of surrender?

Could it be??? Nah, I don't trust that doughy white boy as far as I can toss his flabby ass. Professor Turley discusses the latest on Countdown last night.

As an added bonus, Gonzo blames the economy on his inability to find a job..LMAO!! Remember, this man was the highest official in the Dept of Justice...and he can't get a job selling pens...that should tell everyone, including our Congress, something.

Gee, we have shady contractors in Afghanistan...who knew?

The title is tongue in cheek, but then...not really since the government evidently has just discovered how crooked and lousy American contractors are over in Afghanistan.

Personally, I have to wonder where in the blue hell their heads have been. From ProPublica:

The congressionally mandated Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan [1] met for the first time in Washington D.C. today, the start of a two-year long probe into corruption, abuse and fraud in the ongoing conflicts that may one day top a trillion dollars in cost.

Front and center was a 456-page report on greed and waste [2] in Iraq written by the Special Inspector General of Iraq [3], Stuart Bowen. The draft of Bowen’s report, entitled “Hard Lessons,” was first revealed in December in a joint reporting project [4] between ProPublica and the New York Times.

The final version contained much of the same details [5] about poor planning and oversight that led to billions of dollars wasted in the $50 billion effort to rebuild Iraq. But the director’s cut included some notable new sound bites.

Christ, are these government inspectors retarded or what? Did they think the same companies wouldn't screw us in Afghanistan after years of hosing us in Iraq? Again from ProPublica:

But nobody seemed quite able to answer the question of who was watching the store in Afghanistan, where some $32 billion has already been spent. While the Inspector General for Iraq presented his hundreds of pages of learned lessons, his newly appointed counterpart for Afghanistan, the retired Marine Corp Major General Arnold Fields, wasn’t even invited to the hearing. Hearing Chairman Mike Thibault said that the Special Investigator for the Reconstruction of Afghanistan [8] organization was so new, it wouldn’t have been fair to expect expect testimony on their findings.

It's a must read over at ProPublica folks...sure to chap your ass and jerk your evah-lovin chain.

Taxes and kittens..

WTF is the deal with Obama's nominations and their taxes? The latest is the nomination for OMB, Nancy Killefer. Her problems have something to do with unemployment taxes, and the amount is minimal..a thousand bucks.

But she withdrew her nomination anyway. Daschle however won't withdraw his, even though his tax problems are around 130k.

Some folks are screaming sexism. I just don't know at this point. But I do know it's fucked up that these high-profile people have scammed the taxman.

As for kittens...I have a very sick cat, my little Pumpkin is on meds and refuses to eat or drink. She is primarily an outdoor cat that comes in when the weather is cold and nasty, as it has been this winter. I love this little girl and hope you folks who are cat lovers will keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I am feeling good finally so a hug to all that frequent my little blog and have inquired as to my bout with antibiotic-resistant strep.

UPDATE: Daschle withdraws.

It was close right?

At least AZ gave them a run for their money right?

Meanwhile...life goes on..and that means politics....

Forgive me if I don't have a thought in my head...

Damn Cardinals....damn them.

Long live GoldSchlager!

Super Sunday...

It's super for several reasons.

I am home from Sandy Eggo after 5 days visiting my mum before she takes off on her broom and heads back to Missouri.

The biggest hype in sports happens today too...Duh Superbowl starring the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. There is a friggin five hour pre-game show...I shit you not.

My hope is the Cards win, even though I hate and totally despise their owner Bill the fucktard Bidwell.

The visit with Mommy Dearest went well, I didn't clock her and we spent untold hours together coughing up a lung and smoking cigarettes. Btw, I attempt to quit the cigs this coming week...pray for my husband please...that poor sot has to live with me during the process.

Since I have been computerless and didn't get to watch politics on MSNBC once for 3 straight days...you could fill me in on what I missed ok?

Hugs to all...oh, and Go Kurt Warner, you bible-thumping fool! ;)

Stolen from Bob, the best evah Superbowl commercial: