November 2005 Archives

Wow, just three years into the war, the President has a plan for victory. And it includes training Iraqis.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 - President Bush on Wednesday will put forward for the first time a public version of what the White House calls a comprehensive strategy for victory in Iraq.

In a related effort to begin extricating American forces next year, military officials said Tuesday that they would seek billions of additional dollars to better train Iraqis to defend the country. The military officials in Iraq said they had requested $3.9 billion for next year to help train and equip Iraqi troops, build new police stations and outfit Iraqi soldiers with new uniforms.

I put this question forward on Sunday, as part of a group of 20 or so things to watch. Now I am asking it all by itself, in response to "The Bush Plan":

If the Army is willing to lower its standards to include 12% of the lowest scoring recruits (triple previous numbers), and train them up in thirty to ninety days, then ship them off to fight in Iraq, shouldn't we have, say about a gazillion Iraqis trained by now?

I think that before Congress accepts the newest version of Iraq 3.2 from the Bush administration, maybe they ought to ask what the hell they have been doing about training Iraqis before now?

And before they get another dime, I think Congress ought to be asking what the hell happened to the first 200 billion dollars that we were told was being spent on, among other things, training Iraqis?

And if Congress finds themselves in the mood to ask questions, here's a fine one to start with: Why the hell has it taken the Bush Administration three years, and over two thousand casualties, 22,000 wounded, for them to get off their asses and get out a plan for victory in Iraq?

And if it sounds like I am a little pissed off this morning in anticipation of the Bush speech, it's only because I am.

I am mad as hell that Bush has been flying all over the country using our soldiers as props to prop up his zeppelin-like approval ratings. And since that hasn't worked, I fully expect him to introduce some shell game speech about Iraq that is long on catch phrases, and short on ideas for how to protect our troops and help them to honestly fulfill a mission built on dishonesty.

And most of all, I expect the sickening political arm of this White House to continue to drive the policy in Iraq and elswhere in the world, as it has been all along. If our troops get to leave Iraq, it will be because of the 2006 elections.

We all know it, and it's sick. Period.

So if it seems like I am a little pissed off this morning when I contemplate the newest set of lies to be fed to the American public for political gain at the price of American lives and American treasure, well, it's only because I am.

And I expect all of you are, too.

[Note: In the comments section, K. brought up a point about this piece as originally written being offensive to West Virginians, and a few other folks, which was extremely well taken. I have removed the offensive part, and changed the link to more accurately reflect my point. Thank you, K.]

The DCP began as a learning and teaching community--we are all focused on using the internet to bring democracy back to this country, especially in the realms of voting reform and media reform.

We ARE the media now. And we need to utilize our not inconsiderable skills to inform, train, and motivate concerned citizens to ACT.

Over the next two months, this country needs a massive effort to speak truth to power. It must be the largest and most coordinated effort ever seen.

The pernicious acts that have been perpetrated in our name must end.

We do not believe a single action or event will make the difference; we believe that a series of well-constructed and coordinated actions will provide the backdrop for the natural evolution of political change, and that Congress will have to act to catch up with the people.

We need every single person in the progressive blogosphere to help with these efforts. This means much will be asked of each of us in terms of researching, informing, training, encouraging, writing, blogswarming, emailing, and ultimately, possibly traveling once again to Washington D.C. in January for the largest pushback yet.

There are many organizations coming together for this massive effort, including United for Peace and Justice, The World Can't Wait, Progressive Dems, the BackBone Campaign, Cities for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, and us. We have a role to play, as educators, as writers, and as activists.

Who is in? What role will you take on?

SIGN UP HERE.

Welcome to the 2005 Holiday Season!--time to start thinking ahead--not to Christmas (we hope everyone is avoiding Wal-Mart, for sure!), but to the next few weeks and January.

December 3 is the Climate Change mobilization in Montreal. Find local events or start some.

December 6 is the day Congress resumes after the holidays. Call, email and fax your Congress members to call for an end to the war in Iraq. This National Call-in Day, organized by PDA together with United for Peace and Justice and many other peace organizations, aims to flood Congress members' offices with the message for bringing this war to a close.

January 7, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), After Downing Street, Back Bone Campaign, Democracy Cell Project, and other organizations, including United for Peace and Justice, want to encourage activists to organize public town hall meetings about ending the war, while Congress Members are home in January. These events can be meetings with supportive Congress Members or undecided or pro-war members. They can be held with a Progressive Member in a red district. They can be held without a Congress Member. Smaller groups can hold house parties or other types of events. January 7 is the national day chosen, but you can accomodate the schedules of the Members. SIGN UP HERE.

January 24 or whenever the State of the Union event is, drown out the Bush regime. PLAN NOW for drum circles, choirs singing, tap dancing, noisemakers, etc. during the speech in your local areas.

The following Saturday, come to Washington D.C. for a huge message--the END of the Bush regime.

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Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles.
- Abbie Hoffman

Poor Karl Rove. In such a tough spot. Fortunately, he has Michael Isikoff ready and willing to try to humanize him whenever possible. This week for example, while the rest of the world is busily tying the Viveca Novak subpoena back to Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, Isikoff gives us this bit of tragic comedy about Rove's legal bills:

Deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove recently took out a $100,000 line of credit from Wells Fargo Bank, according to real-estate records obtained by NEWSWEEK. The loan is secured by Rove's vacation home in Rosemary Beach in the Florida Panhandle worth more than $1 million, according to his most recent financial disclosure. Rove signed the loan papers on Oct. 22—just nine days after he testified before the grand jury for the fourth time. A White House spokeswoman said Rove's new line of credit is "unrelated" to his legal expenses. But any Rove legal debts—which won't have to be publicly disclosed until next year—could bring attention to his relationship with Patton Boggs, the D.C. powerhouse lobbying firm, where his lawyer in the leak case, Robert Luskin, is a partner.

Boo hoo. But Isikoff is not able to let well enough alone. He further muddies the waters of just how powerful Rove's reach is, with this bit of foggier than necessary intrigue:

Lobbying records show Patton Boggs represents a battery of foreign governments, corporations and others with interests before the government. Rove has been involved in White House meetings involving at least one big Patton Boggs client: the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which paid the firm $400,000 earlier this year to lobby for a controversial native-Hawaiian recognition bill. Patton Boggs lawyer Ben Ginsberg, a Rove friend and big GOP lawyer who recommended he hire Luskin, is a principal on the case. The White House—which recently ordered all staffers to take an ethics training course—declined to say if there is any policy for Rove to recuse himself from issues involving Patton Boggs clients. "All ethical obligations are being met," said spokeswoman Nicole Wallace.

Everyone clear about that? No? Well, the short version is this: Rove's lawyer, Luskin, IS the law firm Patton Boggs. Rove has LOTS and LOTS of lobbying friends who use Patton Boggs. Anyone gonna bother to ask about the intersection of Rove's attorneys and Rove's political power? Is Rove going to stop meeting with clients of Patton Boggs that he shares a lawyer with?

Who knows? Mike is invoking a clear, "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy here. He just allows Nicolle Wallace to get in a pretty little quote about ethics to end the piece.

Pathetic.

Well, putting aside Mike's attempts to humanize Rove for a moment, here's my question for Nicolle: Nicolle, have you noticed that the people who are giving you assurances that their ethical obligations are being met, are the very same folks who lied to Scott McClellan and then put him out on the podium like a pasty faced pinata for the presscorps to daily bat around? Given that fact, why would anyone believe anything you have to say?

I know I don't.

A sign of the times...

A large chunk of the marble has fallen away from the facade of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington DC. The marble was right above the inscription near the top of the building saying, "Equal Justice under Law."

Insert your own remarks ________________ .

Via the NY Times:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A military vehicle carrying three congressmen overturned on the way to the Baghdad airport, injuring two of them, the U.S. Embassy said Sunday.

Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., was airlifted to a military hospital in Germany for an MRI on his neck, and Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., was sent to a Baghdad hospital for evaluation, said Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Ga., who was also in the vehicle but was not hurt when it overturned Saturday.

Murphy is ''bumped and bruised, but in good spirits,'' his chief of staff, Susan Mosychuck, said Sunday. He will return home from Germany as soon as he is cleared by doctors, she said.

Skelton spokeswoman Lara Battles said she believed Skelton was also doing well. She declined to comment further.

The politicians were riding in a convoy that was driving in the middle of the road, a common practice used by the military in Iraq to deter oncoming motorists. Shortly after dark, an oncoming tanker truck refused to yield, the embassy said in a statement.

''Then all of a sudden brakes get slammed on. Then we hit something and go off the side of the road and tip over,'' Marshall told The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph by phone from Baghdad.

Marshall said that as the vehicle toppled over, he held onto Skelton, who has limited use of his arms due to childhood polio. The embassy said the driver's quick reaction ''probably averted disaster.''

The delegation had traveled to Afghanistan for Thanksgiving with the troops and then on to Baghdad to meet with troops there.

Three years later, we still can't secure the road from the airport into Baghdad.

We wish the Congressmembers a speedy recovery and safe return home to their loved ones.

In watching this morning's Meet The Press, I am struck by a number of things:

1.) If the Republicans want people to believe that they know what they are doing in Iraq, they need to get a better spokesperson than Sen. John Warner(R-VA). Warner just admitted that: We cannot maintain forces in Iraq over the next two years without fundamental changes, he doesn't trust the Pentagon's information so he does his own independent analysis, in his private meetings with flag officers he was told that they do not have enough troops in Iraq now and never have had. Further, he stated that "We need to do everything we can to help troop morale", ipso facto, troop morale is bad. And this is what the supporters of the war are saying?

2.) Biden: "The administration did not get serious about training Iraqis until the last nine months."

3.) They can't put more troops in now, because there is a "Bush-fullfilling prophecy" of 'If we put in more troops, we look like an occupying force, but we need more troops to mount a counter-insurgency'. Once again, there is an emergency, and the White House dithers, Bush dithers, and people die.

4.) In the coming months, more and more members of Congress and the Washington punditry will be calling Cheney a liar, and saying that he duped Bush with shaped intelligence about Iraq.

5.) Has the word "nuclear" actually become "nukuler", among even the educated sycophants?

6.) Biden does a good job of destroying the pre-war "Saddam had nuclear weapons" argument, and the argument that "members of Congress had the same intelligence" as the Bush administration. The Democrats should put him in front on this issue.

7.) Cheney shouldn't expect any support from any member of Congress, based on John Warner's non-support of him. Cheney is so radioactive at this point, Warner wouldn't even say his name.

8.) Somebody needs to push this question: If the U.S. Army can get seventeen-year-olds from East Bumbledirt combat ready in thirty-to-ninety days, what the hell have they been doing with the training program for Iraqis for the last two years? Shouldn't they have, say, a gazillion Iraqis combat ready by now?

9.) I have watched Warner and Biden so you don't have to. I want appreciation and maybe some money for that.

10.) The Round Table this morning is: David Gregory, Eugene Robinson, David Broder, and Judy Woodruff. The presence of Robinson and Gregory gives us something of a break from the usual Washington in-bred cocktail party kool kidz of the beltway crowd. But not much of one.

SPECIAL HOLIDAY GREETINGS FROM
THE POLLY SIGH HEALING CENTER FOR THE LUMPEN

This letter came to me early in the week, in anticipation of the joyous celebration that is Thanksgiving. This poor soul carries the burden of several extreme right-wing relatives, and finds the challenge of civilized conversation quite notable. Naturally, I have come to her rescue with the white light of familial survival. God bless us, every one.

Dear Polly:

I am writing out of complete frustration and a good deal of nervous energy. Thanksgiving approaches, and I will have to spend an entire day with my Uncle Leonid (Lenny) and Aunt Sequoia (Squiggy). They are so far right, they make Jerry Falwell look like a hippy. They are so far right, they make Bill Frist look like a raving liberal. They are so far right… well, you get the idea.

Anyway, I know that at some point in the day, Uncle Lenny will start prattling on about how wonderful the war is going in Iraq, and how President Bush is a great military leader and a brilliant man. I will sit there praying that I do not have a stroke at the dinner table.

I usually don’t respond to him, but this year, I just don’t think I can take it. He’s such a mad partisan that he doesn’t care if we’re really winning the war or not – he just wants everyone to pretend it’s all okay, because the President is a member of his political party. I think we’re Americans before we’re members of a political party, and I think we owe it to our country to be honest about what’s happening in Iraq. But not Lenny and Squiggy… No siree.

It’s so delusional, it makes me wonder if maybe he’s getting a bit loopy in the head, if you know what I mean… Anyway, I’d like some helpful advice on how to keep cool, and not blow a gasket and grab him by his chicken neck and squeeze until his eyes pop out.

Help me.

Terrified of Thanksgiving

"Each word," wrote Jean-Paul Sartre, "has an echo. So does each silence."

Likewise, an image can be mirrored, magnified.

I spent Thanksgiving cooking and eating, but also surfing the internet for political art links. The best were exchanged with Bert in Minneapolis, as we share a blog (http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal), exchange photo links, produce mp3s, collect political posters and art from all eras and even protested Bush's social security cuts. We have enjoyed very much the DCP stories about Banksy's political art, Internet Bloggers, etc. and have also watched certain "flash" productions go viral, such as the JibJab presidential. This phenomenon is especially important to watch in the face of media blackouts, suppressed stories and slanting by news sources. We have watched people "Be the Media."

Kari Lyderson of Infoshop (for more information visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4193) wrote, "The internet has added a whole new dimension and level of artistic sophistication to anti-war and anti-imperialist art and propaganda during the Iraq war and surrounding events. On websites such as http://www.PeacePosters.org, http:/www.MiniatureGigantic.com, http://www.AnotherPosterForPeace.com and http://www.OverMyDeadBody.org, "graphic designers and grassroots propagandists from far-flung corners of the globe (though most heavily concentrated in Europe and the US) have posted their work on web sites and circulated it by email in the hopes that others will reproduce and display it freely."

(We are leaving this thread up for the day, Friday, in order for those who want to post, but who have been dealing with family and travel, to catch up. The Editors)

Albert Schweitzer:
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

The first snowflakes are beginning to fall, in this season of activism. It has been a challenging autumn, what with hurricanes galore, protests and vigils, criminals and incompetent government officials. So here we all are, on Thanksgiving Day, gathering with loved ones and drawn to the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and actions that constitute this particular website/community.

I am thinking today about those who lend me their sparks; who light me up; who charge up my batteries with a sense of possibilities and wonder.

I have my list of folks:

Cindy Sheehan
David Swanson
Howard Zinn
Teresa Heinz Kerry
Dick Bell
the Princeton Fristibusters
Bill Moyers
All of You

(photo by oncall)

Who lights the flame for you this Thanksgiving Day?

As the President prepares to leave for his ranch in Crawford, Texas, local authorities are poised to make sure that the President remains blissfully unaware that some folks won't be spending their Thanksgiving with their children this year. Because those children are dead. Those children died in Iraq. And the President doesn't feel like explaining to the parents exactly why their children died.

From AP:

CRAWFORD, Texas - A dozen war protesters including Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, were arrested Wednesday for setting up camp near President Bush's ranch in defiance of new local bans on roadside camping and parking.

About four hours after the group pitched six tents and huddled in sleeping bags and blankets, McLennan County sheriff's deputies arrested them for criminal trespassing. Many in the group held up signs, including one that said "Give me liberty or give me a ditch."

As a woman in my 50s, I was seriously taken aback when I read this SLATE piece on Maureen Dowd's new book, "Are Men Necessary?".

Like the crude, sexist men she lampoons, Dowd is extremely fond of clever stereotyping. But this strategy is better-suited to satirizing a real person (say, President Bush) than it is to offering insights into the already cartoonish "war" between the sexes.

In Are Men Necessary?, she gravitates toward quotes like this: "Deep down all men want the same thing: a virgin in a gingham dress," or "if there's one thing men fear it's a woman who uses her critical faculties." To support these generalizations, Dowd relies on the faux journalism of women's magazines. She cobbles together anecdotal evidence from people she encounters. The formula is basically this: "Carrie, a 29-year-old publicist, says … " And from Carrie's experience she extrapolates to the universal. The problem with this approach is that one could go out and find a 29-year-old publicist who would say the opposite. It would be one thing if Dowd were writing pure, straightforward polemic, ranting against the people she feels the need to rant against. But Dowd is pretending to cover cultural trends with journalistic accuracy, and it is this pretense that gives her arguments a shoddy feel.

Too bad. But I HAD to check it out.

To be fair to Dowd, she goes on to explain in subsequent articles and interviews that she writes in complaint of younger generations of women who have seen the "overwhelm" of their mothers and aunts, (the kind of overwhelm that overtakes "Superwomen"), and they opt instead for a simpler model of existence in "post-feminist" America. Britney. Jessica. Brangelina. The idol worship of popular culture that does not respect YOUR ordinary life, making you feel desperate to "not to be voted off the island". In other words, more of the SOS feminists have been fighting over the last umpteen years.

I think the tempest about Maureen Dowd should really be a call to arms in the war between the sexes. But "Are Men Necessary?" isn't the war, its the skirmish. And a rather superficial skirmish. A Falklands War versus WW2.

The "war between the sexes" is really The War on Women. Because let's face it--WHOSE RULES of engagement do we live by?

Since last Friday when Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) made his historic call for redeployment of troops from Iraq, people have been wondering why his statement has garnered such attention.

Russ Feingold made a proposal earlier this year. Dennis Kucinich has been calling for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq since the beginning of the war.

Why is John Murtha different?

If you ask Congressman Murtha, he will tell you that even he doesn't know for sure, but he thinks that people know we are losing this war, and they are thirsting for a solution.

That may be close, but I don't think that is quite right.

I think John Murtha has become the tipping point for the moderate Republicans who supported Iraq War for the same reason that Cindy Sheehan became the tipping point for the centrist Democrats who supported the Iraq War. They both have absolute moral authority.

Cindy Sheehan's absolute moral authority arose from her's son Casey's death on April 4, 2004, moving her forever from motherhood to iconic peace activist. She became the voice of all parents in America who question the government's moral authority to send our children to war for a cause that cannot, to this day, be enunciated.

But something was still missing from the fight against the War In Iraq.

We're one year old today!!! Exactly one year ago today, the Democracy Cell Project opened for blog business and Dick Bell welcomed us all with these words...

Every day, we will be here for you, to help and guide you when you have problems, and to learn from your own organizing efforts, whether you have setbacks or successes.

Please take some time out today to look back on this past year and tell us what has worked well, what hasn't worked so well, and what the DCP has meant to you.

First he was under investigation and indicted:

(Jack Abramoff listens to his attorney)

And HE was under investigation and indicted:

(Tom Delay finds getting arrested the next best thing to Disneyland.)

Many people know I've been out canvassing and trying to educate people about a local ballot initiative here where I live. But sometimes you can learn deeper lessons from those you end up meeting on their front porch.

This conversation happened to me earlier last week but it's still holding a place in my heart. It's about the war in Iraq and about how we have to reconcile our feelings against the war with the respect that the soldiers serving there deserve for their dedication to democracy.

Below the fold, I will tell you the story of Eric.

I was at a fundraiser at Schroeder's Bar and Grill in the not only blue, but ultra-violet blue center of the state, San Francisco. I met a few republicans and quite a few democrats banded together to hear from congressional candidates, veterans of Vietnam, the Gulf and Iraq II wars, fighting to gain seats in the Senate and House. All competing to represent "red" districts, and in one case, a red state.

What I heard was a moment suspended in time, and a reminder of a not-too-distant event last year, spoken by the then candidate for Senator from the great state of Illinois:

The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.

The candidates I met at Schroeder's were guys standing blue in a sea of red. Like what Senator Obama said, what they were concerned about was more basic, more essential than partisan politics. They dealt with the politics of COMMON SENSE.

The latest in our series to heal the lumpen masses, and bring light to their dreary lives…this poor sod was disturbed by the massive PR effort that fully occupied the attention of the White House this week. I have reprinted this letter as representative of the 4,328 I received on this subject.

Dear Polly:

I was outraged this week to see the White House spin machine kick into full gear, as the President’s poll numbers plunged to another new low. I think he’s gonna break some kind of record soon, isn’t he? I mean, how bad do things have to get before the Congress or the people or somebody, stand up and say, “you’re fired, you putz?”

And aren’t there one or two other issues that require their attention right now?

But are they talking about a plan for Iraq? No. Are they talking about a deficit that will cripple my grandchildren? No. Their ONLY concern is defending themselves against the increasing public outcry over the failure in Iraq. They offer NO plan to get things on track, but they find the time to attack a decorated war veteran, Jack Murtha, for speaking out against the chicken hawk king, “Deferrment Dick” Cheney. “Deferrment Dick” came out big this week calling people “reprehensible” and accusing them of harming the troops by demanding some kind of plan from the clown club that is this administration.

Who are these people trying to kid? They don’t think the troops have been harmed by not having an actual policy on Iraq? I think the families of the 2000 + American service members who have given their lives for this debacle might disagree.

I’m so disgusted, I just had to blow off some steam. But I don’t think there’s anything I can really do anymore, is there? I mean, we’re stuck with this guy for another 3 years, right? I wish there was something we could do to stop the bleeding and start to fix this mess, but I don’t know what it is…. Please tell me if there’s something to be done.

Worried Man in Detroit

In 1932, the ballet choreographer Kurt Jooss created a piece called “The Green Table.” The opening section has men with large heads, in suits, leaning across a table (it is green); they begin gesticulating at each other, posturing, posing, grandstanding—clearly we are in a world of high-status power brokers. The music (composed by Fritz Cohn) is rich and complex, and reflects the periodic “making nice” that shifts suddenly into discord that the dancers, too, reflect.

Enter Death. Death is immediately demanding and relentless, highly patterned and predictable, but frighteningly strong. Death appears as a solo at first, but eventually makes an appearance within the folk-based and urban scenarios that follow, dancing with a soldier, a weary young woman, and carrying off an older woman, a mother, who is ready to go with him.

The first soldier section is full of flag-waving; young men leap about the stage determined and proud; ready to fight. It is only later in the piece that we see the price paid and Death is a constant reminder of what that price is.

At the end of the piece, the men around the green table reappear and repeat the movement of the opening section. Absolutely nothing has changed.

I think of this piece often lately; it is one of the most beautifully crafted anti-war statements I have ever seen, but moreover, the memory of it chills my bones when I think about the men (and women) of the White House sitting around a table, posturing and grandstanding for each other, planning their profiteering, so deeply unaware of how strong Death is, and how close, and how what they are plotting within affects what happens without.

I thought of it, standing outside the White House for weeks, looking through the fence and wondering, if one day, one of them would reach across the green table and act with reason, or of one of them would grab another by the neck and strangle him until the life drained out of him.

I thought of it last night, as Congress debated the Iraq War and whether we should end it soon. As in the ballet, do the patterns just repeat, and repeat, and repeat, infinitum? Or can we finally begin to understand that we must act?

After Jack Murtha took his brave stand yesterday calling for the immediate redeployment of US troops from Iraq, I expected to hear some stupidity among the various responses. I didn't expect that Scott McClellan would take the prize with this nugget of idiocy:

Congressman Murtha is a respected veteran and politician who has a record of supporting a strong America. So it is baffling that he is endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic party.

Somebody needs to explain to Scott McClellan that this is precisely the point. It is no longer the extreme liberals who are calling for the redeployment of American troops from Iraq. It's the majority of the American public.

And while we are on the subject of the White House picking up the clue phone, someone might tell Karl Rove that the smear and fear campaign that worked in the 2004 presidential election, is no longer operational. Comparing people to Michael Moore, or implying that they are unpatriotic if they take a different stand than the President on the war, just isn't going to work.

Cindy Sheehan's August in Crawford, Texas awakened America to the imperial hubris and staggering incometence of this administration in its conduct of the Iraq War.

It doesn't appear that America will be going back to sleep any time soon.

[Editor's Note: This guest piece comes to us from Daily Kos commentor and diarist, Karateexplosions, who generously let us reprint it in its entirety. Click on the link to read more of K.'s writing. Many thanks Karateexplosions, and please visit us often!]
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A major characteristic of the [United States] media is the extremely skewed sense of providing "balance".

To them, balance = fairness. And usually, they fail at both.

Let's say the Democrats hold a press conference to say that the sky is blue. The story the next day would look like this:

DEMS OBJECT TO SKY COLOR CLAIMS

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats held a press conference late yesterday to dispute President Bush's (News - Links) recent claims that the sky is yellow. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (News - Links) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (News - Links) spoke to reporters from the Capitol steps to proclaim the sky as blue.

"Of course the sky is blue," claimed Reid. "Just look up and you can see it."

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, however, later declared the Democrats' claims to be false, irresponsible, and misleading. "The President has proven -- and I have said -- this office has said that, in fact, the sky is yellow. That question has been asked and we have answered it and I am telling -- the president is saying -- that the sky is yellow. I think the American people understand that the sky is yellow. The Democrats would like to have the American people believe that things are blue, when they are not. That's irresponsible, and they are distorting the facts."

The controversy comes after President Bush visited a kindergarten class in Little Rock last week and colored a picture where he made the sky yellow. When one of the children questioned him on his color choice, the Secret Service removed the child and Bush declared the sky yellow. Following the incident, 49 White House scientists signed onto a letter the the New York Times confirming the color of the sky is, in fact, yellow.

Other Republicans have also weighed in on the matter. At a briefing at the Pentagon (News - Links), Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (News - Links) addressed the issue by asking himself questions and then answering them while reporters silently transcribed. "Do I think the President of the United States has the right to determine the color of the sky? Yes, I do. Do I think the Democrats are filthy liars for suggesting otherwise? Absolutely. Do I think Democrats should find a different sky to live under if they don't like a yellow one? Definitely. Do I think it's racist against Asians to suggest the sky is not yellow? Well, you said it, not me."

In general, the public puts their trust in the Bush administration. "I think the truth might be somewhere in the middle," said one homemaker from Nebraska. "Maybe the sky is actually green. Or, probably closer to a greenish-yellow."

[K nails it exactly. Again, our thanks.]

As Iraq War hawk John Murtha spoke today, calling for the immediate scheduling of redeployment of US forces from Iraq, one could sense the shift in American attitude towards the War in Iraq.

The full text of the statement by the fifteen term veteran Democratic Congressman and 38-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps:

"The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf Region."

"General Casey said in a September 2005 hearing, "the perception of occupation in Iraq is a major driving force behind the insurgency." General Abizaid said on the same date, "Reducing the size and visibility of the coalition forces in Iraq is part of our counterinsurgency strategy."

"For 2 ½ years, I have been concerned about the U.S. policy and the plan in Iraq. I have addressed my concerns with the Administration and the Pentagon and have spoken out in public about my concerns. The main reason for going to war has been discredited. A few days before the start of the war I was in Kuwait - the military drew a red line around Baghdad and said when U.S. forces cross that line they will be attacked by the Iraqis with Weapons of Mass Destruction - but the US forces said they were prepared. They had well trained forces with the appropriate protective gear.

"We spend more money on Intelligence that all the countries in the world together, and more on Intelligence than most countries GDP. But the intelligence concerning Iraq was wrong. It is not a world intelligence failure. It is a U.S. intelligence failure and the way that intelligence was misused.

I have in hand the new Atlantic Monthly, with a long-awaited cover article by James Fallows. It has a long subtitle: Why Iraq Has No Army - we can't leave until the Iraqis have one, the Bush administration says - and they're not even close - so now what. Fallows also was interviewed on "Fresh Air" on Nov. 16, 2005.

This article comes at a time when we need to know more what is going on in Iraq. It comes a time when Bush has been bolstering his case for going into Iraq and once again, questioning the patriotism of those who dissent and even implying they play into the hands of the enemy. It also comes at a time when Bush has the lowest approval rating of his presidency and a majority of Americans say that he is not honest and disapprove of his handling of foreign policy and the war on terrorism. A majority of Senators are asking this administration for quarterly reports, new evidence of torture in Iraq has emerged, and this week has seen unusually high casualties.

Given this framework, I read the article, then listened to the NPR special.

(Stephanie Allen is a young woman from Buffalo who came down to D.C. for the September 24 March and who decided to get arrested, along with Cindy Sheehan and others, in front of the White House on September 26. The group of over 300 protesters were engaged in peaceful civil disobedience. Their arrests were statements of protest against the war in Iraq, and the lies of the Bush Administration. Stephanie came back to D.C. to have her hearing today. It was also Cindy Sheehan's hearing. Here is Stephanie's report.)

Stephanie has returned from her day in court, which will continue tomorrow. Today was a long day of waiting and riding a roller coaster. No one was sentenced today; some of the cases were dismissed (the arresting officer did not show up) but everyone plans to show up tomorrow.

The defendants want to have their say. The group of 34 had requested that they be arraigned and tried together as a group. After opening arguments by Jon Norris and Mark Goldstone, the attorneys, it became clear that the judge and prosecuting attorney wanted to arraign and try each defendant separately, by arresting officer.

A two-hour recess ensued, while the group re-thought their strategies.

Upon returning to the courtroom, and after the chaos settled, the announcement was made that the group would be arraigned and tried together, but grouped by arresting officer.

It was around 2 pm by this time. This was as far as the trial had progressed in five hours...

Then the arresting officers were sworn in and gave testimony. All of them could identify at least some of the people they had arrested, but this task was made easier by the fact that the arrestees for each officer were lined up directly in front of them, neatly in a row.

One officer, in particular, seemed to be confused about what actions he had taken on September 26, and had difficulty defining what it meant to arrest someone. The testimony was jumbled and the details of the day eluded several of the officers.

By 6:30 p.m., the prosecution had one more witness and none of the protestors had made it to the stand. The judge said "We're almost done; the last witness will testify in the morning."

The group headed out for pizza, discussing the strategy for trying to get at least a little time on the stand for their own messages.

Stephanie has a good vibe about tomorrow. She does not think she will be convicted, nor will Cindy Sheehan. She hopes that regardless of the outcome, when they leave the courtroom, the media will hear from them.

Her energy is good. Should her instincts be incorrect, and a conviction results, she will appeal, "definitely."

This is her first glimpse into the vagaries of the judicial system. She said she never understood how easily you can tell what the judge is thinking. The politics of the process are quite clear too.

"We are very positive; thanks to all who are supporting us!"

From his involvement in uncovering Richard Nixon's illegal activities during Watergate, and documented in the book All the President's Men, we would think that Bob Woodward was a muckraker, a truthteller, an investigative journalist of the highest order.

However, today, highly esteemed journalist Bob Woodward completed his free-fall from the idealistic journalist of old--the one who showed tremendous integrity and perseverance while protecting the American public from their corrupt government--to the journalist of today who protects his own self interests and connections to a corrupt White House.

Today, Bob Woodward announced his more than two year involvement and the following coverup of the most devasting spy leak to ever come from the White House...Valerie Plame.

Exerpts from Woodwards statement:

"On Monday, November 14, I testified under oath in a sworn deposition to Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald for more than two hours about small portions of interviews I conducted with three current or former Bush administration officials that relate to the investigation of the public disclosure of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.

The interviews were mostly confidential background interviews for my 2004 book "Plan of Attack" about the leadup to the Iraq war, ongoing reporting for The Washington Post and research for a book on Bush's second term to be published in 2006."

and...

"I was first contacted by Fitzgerald's office on Nov. 3 after one of these officials went to Fitzgerald to discuss an interview with me in mid-June 2003 during which the person told me Wilson's wife worked for the CIA on weapons of mass destruction as a WMD analyst."

Yesterday was a very full day in the land of ever-changing power structures. After a few days off to recuperate from Mr. Chalabi's visit and the Election Day Pushback, the Washington DC progressive community got back in gear for the next phase.

First off, I met Stephanie at the train station--she has returned in order to go to court tomorrow morning. You may remember Stephanie from the September 26 nonviolent civil disobedience actions. Both she and Cindy Sheehan (and many others) will be in court at 9 am to have their say. Stephanie told me she would like to remind the court (and the media) that not only does she have the right to speak up to this country's leadershop, she has the responsibility to do so.

Then we hoofed it over to a reception the Progressive Dems were having. The first person we saw was Rep. Maxine Waters, who was touting a press conference for 9 am tomorrow morning. Stephanie was thrilled to meet her, but told her she had a prior engagement with the DC Court.

Rep. Waters chats with the actress Mimi Kennedy

Rep. Conyers also spoke eloquently and tonight he focused on the problems of organized labor and the corporate takeover of America. The Rev. Lennox Yearwood stepped up to the mike and rocked the place, as usual. He said that PDA does not only stand for Progressive Dems of America; it stands for People Demand Accountability. And accountability has to be there on both sides of the aisles.

We agreed with him. He also told us that he had led a group of activists across the Gretna bridge in New Orleans last week--something he said he was going to do on November 2 when he spoke at the World Can't Wait event. He said they chose November 7 to walk across the Gretna bridge because on November 7, 2006 we will be crossing more bridges, and coming together to build a better America.

Rev. Yearwood of the HipHop Caucus and Mimi Kennedy

The attack on women continues, directly and insidiously at every level--from the demands on SCOTUS to your local stores.

Check out this item from Americablog regarding Target allowing its pharmacists to choose at their discretion, who gets EC (emergency contraception) pills AKA "Plan B".:

...This is part of the religious right's larger agenda to "target" gays, women, and other minorities. They hope to slowly and surely take away all of our rights, one small bit at a time. That is what's going on here. Target is caving to America's Taliban, and it needs to stop.

As you may recall, Target is letting its pharmacists refuse to fill your order for emergency contraceptive pills (Plan B, as it's called) simply because they find your prescription immoral. Target is now saying that they'll fill your prescription in a "timely manner" at another pharmacy, or at their pharmacy at a later time (presumably when their holier-than-thou employee is on break).

In fact, Target is now claiming - quite incredibly - that its employees' religious fanaticism is covered (by) the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Yes, apparently Target employees are allowed to not sell you things based on THEIR religion. That's an absurd, and rather dangerous, legal statement from Target.

So let's ask Target if they also support the following Target employees:

- Checkout clerks who verify how fat you are before selling you that package of potato chips?

- Pharmacists who don't want to fill prescriptions for Jewish customers who killed Christ.

- Pharmacists who don't want to help customers who worship a "Satanic counterfeit" (read: "The Pope," in fundie-speak).

- Pharmacists who only dispense HIV medicine to "innocent victims" of AIDS.

- Pharmacists who want proof that women seeking emergency contraception were really raped, and that they didn't "deserve it."

- Pharmacists (or cashiers) who are Christian Scientists - can they refuse to sell any medicine, even aspirin, to anyone?

- Pharmacists who won't sell birth control pills to unmarried women, condoms to unmarried men, or any birth control at all because God doesn't want people spilling their seed.

- Can fundamentalist Christian employees refuse to interact with gay people in any way, shape or form since gays are sinners, abominations, biological errors, and very likely pedophiles?

Is Target now in the business of deciding, Solomon-like, which religious beliefs are valid and which are not?

Sure sounds like they just did.

And that's not all:

Now the GAO has reported in its investigation of the Food and Drug Administration, that:

What would you say if I told you that one of our government's most trusted, nonpartisan investigative organizations published a report a few weeks ago that confirms the claims of basically all of the critics of electronic voting machines? And that furthermore, none of the government agencies charged with fixing these problems is in any hurry to finish the work before the 2006 election?

Well, the Government Accountability Office did just that, publishing
Elections: Federal Efforts to Improve Security and Reliability of Electronic Voting Systems Are Under Way, but Key Activities Need to Be Completed, GAO-05-956, September 21, 2005.

The GAO identifies dozens of flaws that would allow tampering with election results. And despite the well-known existence of many of these problems, the GAO found a truly remarkable lack of urgency. Many of these problems will not be repaired or eliminated before the 2006 election.

But now comes the real mystery. The mainstream press have virtually blacked out any mention of this report. Bradblog, which broke the news on the GAO report, has pointed out this strange silence. Just this evening, I searched both the New York Times and the Washington Post: nothing. I ran a Google News search, which turned up a handful of online mentions, plus a couple of very small newspapers.

And what exactly does the mainstream press not want you to know (or in a more generous mood, think is not important to bother you with)?

UPDATE: Compromise reached.

A bipartisan group of senators reached a compromise yesterday that would dramatically alter U.S. policy for treating captured terrorist suspects by granting them a final recourse to the federal courts but stripping them of some key legal rights.

The compromise links legislation written by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), which would deny detainees broad access to federal courts, with a new measure authored by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) that would grant detainees the right to appeal the verdict of a military tribunal to a federal appeals court. The deal will come to a vote today, and the authors say they are confident it will pass.

McCain's anti-torture amendment will likely be folded into this as part of the overall package.

Nice work on the phone calls everyone.

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It's hard for me to believe that I have to sit down and write about why its important to preserve the writ of habeas corpus, not just constitutionally, but statutorily as well.

As I was explaining to someone last night, the United States was founded, and is an idea which is largely lived out through two documents; The Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.

The Declaration of Independence is meant to fire us up about why freedom and living by the Rule of Law are the only way for people to be truly free. The Constitution is the instruction manual for how to set up our government and laws in order to carry out that vision of freedom.

One of the cornerstones of that vision is the writ of habeas corpus.

Constitutionally, it means that the government cannot just go about rounding up citizens off the street, without being subject to judicial review for that action. Considering we were breaking away from an absolute monarchy, where the King's soldiers used to do that on a regular basis, one can easily see why this was so important to the founders and the framers.

But what about non-citizens? What rights, if any, should other people have when they are visiting our country?

[Editors Note: We continue our Veteran's Day weekend series of posts. The intrepid Polly Sigh weighs in...]

The latest in our series to heal the politically lame…. I received this letter on Thursday, from a very rightly upset American veteran. It is with great disgust that I reprint it for you today.

Dear Polly:

I am a disabled veteran of the Vietnam war. This week, for the first time in 55 years, the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) were notified that they will no longer be allowed to testify before a joint session of the House and Senate Veteran’s Affairs Committee.

Representative Steve Buyers (R-IN) apparently decided that Veteran’s issues are no longer important enough to merit discussion with the elected leaders of this government.

This is particularly appalling when you consider that the U.S. is currently at war, and that the number of disabled veterans increases daily. This coupled with the recent VA budget cuts has made me so angry that I just have to do something. What do you think is the best approach to this? I intend to contact a lot of my friends, and we are ready to do whatever you think will get some action.

Then on Veteran’s Day, President Bush has the audacity to stand in front of a group of our service men and women, and talk about what we have to do for our veterans. We served our country, and we deserve to be heard in the U.S. Congress. We’ve had it with these hypocrites.

Sincerely,

Disabled American Veteran

Pablo Picasso was not a particularly political person, and disdained political art altogether. But war changes everyone in a society. Everyone. Whether you want it to or not.

This is the story of how the Civil War in Spain changed Picasso and moved him to paint Guernica, one of the most enduringly disturbing images of war to this day.

Spill it here.

[Editor's note: On this Veterans Day, we honor all veterans who have served throughout history and our soldiers who are currently serving in Iraq & Afghanistan with this essay from DCP blogger Hawkeye.]

In Christmas of 1914 a strange thing happened -- something called the Christmas Truce of 1914.

My Belgian grandfather fought in WW1 and he was a part of this Christmas Truce, when enemy soldiers from Germany, France, England and Belgium spontaneously decided not to fight and kill. Instead, for an entire week, they put down their weapons, climbed out of their trenches and met – on common ground – to share food and cigars and games of soccer. They exchanged photos of sons and daughters and wives, of a life beyond the battlefield where they could easily be neighbors, sharing a meal or watching a quiet sunset.

Incredibly, for an entire week, they befriended those whom their governments had demanded they kill.

Now, 90 years later, we are entering another holiday season. And on October 25, 2005, we reached a tragic milestone in America: the 2000th American serviceperson was killed in Iraq.

This is a really interesting piece from Chris Kulczycki in a diary over at Daily Kos, and something that the future leaders of the United States need to be thinking about now, not just when the problem begins to overwhelm the citizenry:

One of the more effective tools in the fight against poverty is renewable energy. Many of the world's poor live in rural areas not served by electricity or even telephone. Though we often think of renewable energy in terms of wind farms, biodiesel plants, or huge hydroelectric works, it is often simple, low cost energy technology that can provide connectivity, cooking fuel, and electricity for millions.

Some of you may have seen my diary about Kiva, a small non-profit providing peer-to-peer microcredit in Uganda. One of the reasons Kiva started their operation in Uganda is the high internet connectivity rate there. Another California-based organization, Inveneo, is furthering Ugandan connectivity by providing a low cost pedal and solar-powered PCs and communications systems. It provides remote villages access to computing, voice calling, e-mail and the Internet. Inoveo has begun installing the systems in a few villages in western Uganda where nothing resembling a telephone system has ever existed. Their software is all open-source and the web site provides info on building low powered rugged computers and a pedal powered generator.

This article also has great pictures, in addition to great information and ideas.

The limos had to sneak up the side alley--he skulked out and into the AEI building...

Code Pink had a banner...and the media responded.

Gael Murphy read the letter you may have signed at http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/chalabi

And last, but not least, OUR PRESIDENT and VICE-PRESIDENT at the American Enterprise Institute. Wave hello, kids!

After uploading the earlier photos, I returned just in time to see everyone lined up along the alleyway. Gael was giving Chalabi a piece of her not inconsiderable mind...

And then they were coming out, they jumped in the cars and came past us--all except for the black limo that went back down the alley to 18th Street...Wave goodbye, kids!

[Editors Note: DCP regular Native Texan sends us this report on the what happened in Texas yesterday. Many thanks go to Native for the time and effort spent so that we may gain a beter understanding and greater insight into Texas politics.]

I teach at a small, secular private high school in Texas. The faculty is almost all liberal, with a few painful exceptions. Since it is Texas, after all, the majority of the students hold the conservative views of their parents. However, there are many smart, dedicated liberal students as well. Yesterday they made us all proud.

For the first time yesterday, our school was being used as a polling place. Texans were voting on a ban on gay marriage.

On Monday, thinking it would be an educational experience, a few other teachers and I took our morning classes to the room where the voting was to take place to hear from the Republican head of the precinct. I honestly do not remember ever being so mad in my life.

This man passed out propaganda from the Free Market Organization and referred to Democrats as “black hats” and Republicans as “white hats.” When a student asked a simple question regarding technicalities of how the precincts are determined, this man opened up a pocket constitution, read the first amendment, declared that “separation between church and state should not exist,” and THREW the constitution at another teacher! Then he passed out an article which he himself had written in support of the ban on gay marriage, which said *DIRECT QUOTE* “Nothing good came out of the 1960s...Everything that was good in the 60s turned bad.” It was disgusting.

The good news is that the students who were there to hear him, excepting just one, recognized how hateful and unjust this was.

The next day, election day, three seniors bought poster board and markers and began making signs in support of equal rights and against Proposition Two, the ban on gay marriage. Others joined in and made more and more signs. During lunch, which happened to be when the most people came by to vote, around 30 students held their own signs outside the school and chanted “Prop. Two will not do!” Some of the best signs said:

All men are created equal. When we say ALL, we mean ALL!

Keep CHURCH and STATE separate!

The CEO's of the five major oil firms will be coming to Capitol Hill this morning, ostensibly to answer questions from the Senate on the difference between record quarterly profits and price gouging. I, for one, will be glued to C-SPAN3 in the vain hopes of hearing anything close to an answer. Or the truth. Whichever gets mistakenly blurted out first.

The hearing begins at 9:30 AM, with C-SPAN3 carrying the live stream.

Just as a sidenote: I will be sending a DCP t-shirt to the first Senator who asks any CEO if there is a relationship between the price of gas dropping fifty-five cents in the last two weeks, and their appearance before Congress.

UPDATE,11:58PM: As I am sure you all know by now, Democrats claimed victory in both key Governor's races, Tim Kaine in Virginia, and Jon Corzine in New Jersey. We congratulate the winners.

I am equally sure that Democrats will try to paint this as spelling epic problems for the Republicans, and the Republicans will vaguely cast about for some memory of an election taking place today ("There was an election?").

Well, in terms of forecasting what this means for 2006, really who knows? All I can give you are the tealeaves' contribution from neck of the upstate NY woods. It's up to you to read them.

The major television station boasting the best "on site team coverage", had reporters in 4 of seven loser headquarters. What do I mean? I mean that there were serious upsets to Republican candidates. The reporters were sent to the headquarter of the person who was clearly expected to win, only to be at the site of the losing candidate.

And Republicans were losing offices on any number of levels. All across the board-from a newly created judgeship that I would have bet money on would have gone to a high profile district attorney, to the one term mayor of Saratoga Springs getting the boot from a political newcomer Democrat.

In what I found to be particularly interesting results, the Mayor of Albany, Jerry Jennings (D), got reelected with 62% of the vote, and the next closest was the Green Party candidate with 26%, and the Republican got only 9% of the vote.

So that's my local election news of interest. What happened where you live?
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It's Election Day.

So go vote already!! And then come back and tell us something we don't know (shoutout to DiAnne!), or an Election Day story from today.

It's democracy-don't miss it!

Last Wednesday marked the beginning of millions of people of America taking charge of their own lives-and putting an end to a criminal Administration.

That was the theme of San Francisco's World Can't Wait peaceful demonstration at 12 noon last Wednesday, one year after the 2004 election, in front of the city's historic City Hall.

Speakers included Cindy Sheehan and State Senator Carole Migden from District 3 (San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma counties).

Migden's fiery speech encapsulated the history of the Bush Administration, starting with its run-up to war, followed by its ineptitude during the Katrina disaster, the failed SCOTUS nomination, and the Fitzgerald indictment last week. What she said rang so beautifully true:

"You couldn't write a script like this".

Just shoot me now.

Bush in Brazil:

At one point, da Silva even exhibited a map of his country, which is larger than the continental United States. "Wow! Brazil is big," Amorim quoted the U.S. president as responding.

Bush in Panama:

"People around here know how to play baseball..."

In order to feel the effects of a long-lasting full-body cringe, you need only imagine what Bush would have to say upon visiting other countries.

Seriously, could he be more condescending?

(hat tip to Atrios)

Takes your breath away, doesn't it?

From Juan Cole:

Vice President Richard Bruce Cheney replaced his indicted chief of staff, Irving Lewis Libby on Monday with two problematic figures-- David Addington and John Hannah.

…Addington is the author of legal memos justifying torture of prisoners held by the US abroad, in direct contradiction of US treaty obligations under international law. I guess Cheney thinks the authors of the US constitution were appalled by cruel and unusual punishment only if American authorities committed it in North America.

In reference to Addington, the Washington Post published an editorial recently calling Cheney the Vice President of torture.

From Political Wire:

Cheney's Office Implicated in Torture of Prisoners   November 04, 2005

Vice President Dick Cheney's office was responsible for issuing the directives which led to U.S. soldiers to abuse prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a NPR interview with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Wilkerson says he traced a trail of memos authorizing the questionable practices through Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's office directly to Cheney's vice presidential staff.

Wilkerson paraphrased the directions given to U.S. soldiers: "We're not getting enough good intelligence and you need to get that evidence, and, oh, by the way, here's some ways you probably can get it. And even some of the ways that they detailed were not in accordance with the spirit of the Geneva Conventions and the law of war."

In recent weeks, Wilkerson has been very critical of the "cabal" run by Rumsfeld and Cheney in planning the Iraq war

At the White House, if you keep asking for the wrong things in a nice way, maybe you’ll get it. There's this:

Cheney Pushes Senate for CIA Exemption By DAVID ESPO

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney made an unusual personal appeal to Republican senators this week to allow CIA exemptions to a proposed ban on the torture of terror suspects in U.S. custody, according to participants in a closed-door session.

Cheney told his audience the United States doesn't engage in torture, these participants added, even though he said the administration needed an exemption from any legislation banning "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment in case the president decided one was necessary to prevent a terrorist attack.

After the Senate first approved a provision banning “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” of detainees by a vote of 90 to 9 adding emphasis a SECOND time by voice vote, the Vice-President still insists they need that exemption.

Pardon the use of the metaphor so often applied with untoward advances, but--when will “no” mean “NO”?

Seems some agendas have to keep being repeated, regardless how repellent or repelled. If it weren’t so awful, one could almost apply the metaphor of the wayward adolescent persistently testing parental limits by asking to use the Mercedes on a Friday night for a cruise with his buddies.

But this time, the Mercedes is our already-wrecked standing in foreign relations policy around the world, and our long-forgotten aspirations for protection of global human rights.

Given the costs borne out by those captured and affected ON THEIR SIDE AND OURS in the event of capture, the price of this cruel insistence, regardless WHOSE hands get bloodied, remains too high a price to pay.

Editor's Note: As we were editing this piece, an article by Newsweek was highlighted which describes Cheney's fierce determination to support the use of torture and the depth of involvement of his new chief of staff, David Addington, in the development and perpetuation of the Bush administration's policy on use of torture.

Amidst the never-ending sturm und drang of politics, we all need to take a breather sometimes, pick up our heads from the papers and websites we track all day long, and find something that fills our hearts, if only for a minute, with pure unadulterated love. For me, at least several times a week, the Washington Post gives me that moment, with the latest photos of our new panda, who finally has a name, Tai Shan, our "Peaceful Mountain."

The latest in our attempt to heal the flailing, lumpen masses continues with this week’s letter…

Dear Polly:

I see that as usual, there are partisan operatives working to undermine our efforts in Iraq, and make the President look bad. George Bush is the best President ever, and I’m really tired of listening to the criticism of our troops. On Saturday, a bunch of veterans (of all things) went to the White House to protest the war in Iraq. What kind of veteran protests a war? These are not real veterans, they are liberal agents of the radical left, and they do not represent the opinions of real Americans.

I’m sick to death of it, and I am going to work to expose their mission. Consider this letter a warning that I will be writing to you quite frequently from now on.

Pissed Off in Southern Ohio Neighborhood.

Yet another Bush appointee is under investigation, Kenneth Tomlinson, recently departed Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. From the NY Times:

Last July, the inspector general at the State Department opened an inquiry into Mr. Tomlinson's work at the board of governors after Representative Howard L. Berman, Democrat of California, and Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, forwarded accusations of misuse of money.

Oh, just go on and shoot me in the head right now. Really, I've fallen under the staggering weight of political irony, and I can't get up.

From WaPo:

Bush Orders Staff to Attend Ethics Briefings White House Counsel to Give 'Refresher' Course By Jim VandeHei Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, November 5, 2005; Page A02

President Bush has ordered White House staff to attend mandatory briefings beginning next week on ethical behavior and the handling of classified material after the indictment last week of a senior administration official in the CIA leak probe.

According to a memo sent to aides yesterday, Bush expects all White House staff to adhere to the "spirit as well as the letter" of all ethics laws and rules. As a result, "the White House counsel's office will conduct a series of presentations next week that will provide refresher lectures on general ethics rules, including the rules of governing the protection of classified information," according to the memo, a copy of which was provided to The Washington Post by a senior White House aide.

Ohhhh, so THAT was the problem with Scooter Libby. He didn't know any better. Or he forgot or something. I get it now. He just needed go to the Harriet Miers School of Ethical Fabulousness, and reread his copy of How Not To Commit Treason For Dummies. And here I was thinking that a with a man that has, say THIS bio on his White House website, might have at least a passing understanding of the handling of classified materials:

Scooter Libby -- White House
Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Vice President

Most recently, Scooter Libby was Managing Partner of the Washington office of the international law firm of Dechert, Price & Rhoads. He also served as the Legal Advisor to the House of Representatives' Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China, commonly known as the 'Cox Committee.' Scooter has held a variety of positions at the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Department of Defense. His previous government position was Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Scooter is a graduate of Yale University and received his J.D. from Columbia.

It's amazing the lengths the Bush Administration will go to change appearences, instead of either changing politics, policy or personnel.

Ethics classes at the White House? What in God's name for?

Why does Karl Rove still have a security clearance?

As Jonathan Alter from Newsweek reminds us, under Executive Order 12958, Rove's security clearance should have been pulled some time ago:

Under Executive Order 12958, signed by President Clinton in 1995, such a disclosure is grounds for, at a minimum, losing access to classified information.

Section 5.1 of Clinton’s executive order prohibits “any knowing, willful or negligent action that could reasonably be expected to result in an unauthorized disclosure of classified information.” While the law against revealing the identity of a CIA operative requires that the perpetrator intentionally disclosed such classified information (a high standard, which may be one reason Fitzgerald did not indict on those grounds), the executive order covers “negligence,” or unintentional disclosure.

That means the only proper answer to a reporter’s questions about Joseph Wilson’s wife would have been something along the lines of, “You know I cannot discuss who may or may not be in the CIA.” The indictment makes clear that this was not the answer Official A provided when the subject was discussed with reporters Bob Novak and Matt Cooper.

The sanctions for such disclosure are contained in Section 5.7 of the executive order. That section says that “the agency head, senior agency official or other supervisory official shall, at a minimum, promptly remove the classification authority of any individual who demonstrates reckless disregard or a pattern of error in applying the classification standards of this order.” Any reasonable reading of the events covered in the indictment would consider Rove’s behavior “reckless.” The fact that he discussed Plame’s identity with reporters more than once constitutes a pattern.

Feel free to write to the members of the media and politely encourage them to ask this question of President Bush, Scott McClellan, Senator Pat Roberts and all of the member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, et cetera...

Here are a few folks to e-mail that might want to do some of the asking:

Tim Russert: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152/
Chris Matthews: hardball@msnbc.com
This Week with George Stephanopolous:thisweek@abc.com
Dan Abrams: abramsreport@msnbc.com
Keith Olbermann: countdown@msnbc
Joe Scarborough: joe@msnbc.com
The Situation Room: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?65
Anderson Cooper 360: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?10
Newsnight: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?13
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