More of Your Liberal Media

Over at the Huffington Post, Jane Smiley presents us with a gut-wrenching analysis of what's really been going on the last 5 years.

Too long to reproduce here but very much worth your time...

Read it here...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/a-tenstep-program_b_12451.html

Sen. Reid calls US Congress 'most corrupt in history'
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid called the Republican-led Congress "the most corrupt in history" on Sunday, and distanced himself from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, at the center of an escalating probe.

The Justice Department is investigating whether Jack Abramoff directed illegal payoffs to lawmakers, including Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, who was forced to step down as House Republican leader in September after indicted in his home state of Texas on unrelated charges.

"Don't lump me in with Jack Abramoff. This is a Republican scandal," Reid told Fox News Sunday, saying he never received any money from Abramoff.

Reid, like many members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, has received campaign contributions from Abramoff clients. Some lawmakers have returned those donations, but Reid gave no indication he would do so.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051218/pl_nm/congress_ethics_dc

This is a bit long, but I loved it so I thought I'd post it anyway. It's from Elizabeth Trever Buchinger's column in my local paper, so I'm assuming she's the author:

The Grinches who Stole Christmas for Political Gain

Every shopper in Shoppeville loved holidays a lot
But O'Grinchy, who lived on the news channel, did not
He didn't begrudge the purchase of toys
But every holiday season, from left and from right
People gathered together to laugh through the night.
Christians and Jews and Muslims and Buddhists
Hindus and Bandoos and Lufzoos and Fleuzhits.
All came to the table with their own celebration
And warmed the cold nights throughout every nation.
Where's the divisiveness?Where's the hullabaloo?
"Humpf" grouched O'Grinchy, "This simply won't do"
Some say he hated fraternity because his heart was too small.
Others say he rejected it because he wasn't that tall.
Maybe, in his hometown, the streets were too tough
Or maybe his father never hugged him enough.
Whatever the cause, from wherever it came
O'grinchy always found someone to blame.
So when signs went up "Season's Greetings to All"
Old Sourpuss asked , "Just who is this all?"
Then he got an idea, an awful idea
I know just what to do, he cooed and he croaked.
And he called up some other disgruntled old blokes.
They worked out their talking points, ever last one,
And when finally their nasty work was quite done,
They chuckled and clucked "We'll make them think twice
About spending their Christmases being so nice."
They got on the televisions and radios too
They wrote in their newspapers and blew their kazoos.
"It's not kindness," they barked, "you're all PC slaves
If you acknowledge the Happiness of any other holidays."
So they got a little press, and a little attention
Even Jon Stewart decided to give them a mention.
But the people knew better, at least most of them did.
And when friends came around, they waved and they bid
"Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Season's greetings,
Happy Hanukkah.
Dreamy Gorgelfrump , Joyful Eating.
Glad tidings to you, to you and your kin
Whatever you celebrate when Year's at its end."
Light your candles each night with thanks for the light.
Trim your trees with ribbons and baubles so bright.
Soak your turkeys in brine or polish the menorah
Dance on the solstice or roast your fedora.
Do it with happiness and spread your good cheer.
Spread it to the Grinches so they'll shut up next year.

Casey... What ever are you getting at? I need a better hintler than that!

Eh, Dolf? Speak up, you'll get no hearing.

Feel safer, Morely?

... and in related news...

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was taken to Jerusalem's main hospital today, a source in his office told CNN. The 77-year-old leader was wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher and was not lucid, according to CNN Correspondent John Vause, citing Israeli media. The hospital's deputy director said doctors were trying to determine whether Sharon had suffered a stroke but said he was conscious.

I have been waiting for a long time to hear from this woman. Salon did a big story on her well before the last election, & she made some big revelations but has been hushed.

FOCUS | Karen Kwiatkowski: Violating the Constitution
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121805X.shtml
Retired USAF lieutenant colonel Karen Kwiatkowski, who spent two years at NSA headquartes, discusses the fact that President Bush signed an executive order that allegedly allowed the collection and operational intelligence use of international telephone or electronic mail conversations, even if one or more participants were Americans. She says many questions must be asked and answered, including the most important one: "Is it right?"

Posted by: Linda Enterkin at December 18, 2005 02:51 PM

Linda,

I love it. I read it out loud. Sounds even better that way!

And as I told someone else, 'tis a season of holidays no matter which one you celebrate, enjoy and my best wishes for a happy new year.

dwahzon

Also

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20051209/cm_huffpost/011975;_ylt=AjODVorzoIjAPXcHQPjFJaP9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

"The Constitution is just a piece of paper" GWB

(*pssst!* Hey, DiAnne! This website is your friend: http://www.tinyurl.com )

smiling, always smiling,
Otter

And in the It's Only Funny Because It's True Department... here's another item from the Huffington Post:

-----

Is Bush in a bubble? Is Bush a dry drunk? Is Bush a drunk drunk? Is Bush a narcissist? Is Bush an idiot? Is Bush a madman? Does Bush have an “Authority Problem”? Theories abound about why Bush does the things he does, but most of them assume that he is making mistakes that he could or would correct if he understood how misguided he was.

[snip]

The Bushies have a pattern and they stick to it in spite of every apparent reason to change course. It’s not as if we don’t know what pattern it is, and it’s not as if they haven’t advertised what the pattern will be--it is to break down the government so completely that it can’t be put back together again. Let’s take a look at the “mistakes” the Bush administration is said to have made, and, instead, ask ourselves if they are actually realized intentions:

1. Hobbling the government with debt by combining an expensive, prolonged war with perennial rounds of tax cuts.

2. Destroying the bureaucracy by making it impossible for neutral, expert, or objective bureaucrats to keep their jobs, replacing them with incompetents.

3. Destroying the integrity of the election system, state by state, beginning with Florida and Ohio.

4: Defanging the media by paying fake reporters, co-opting members of the MSM (why did the New York Times refrain from publishing stories unfavorable to the Bush administration before the 2004 election?) and allowing (or encouraging) huge mergers and the buying up of independent media operations by known conservative media conglomerates.

5. Destroying the middle class by changing the bankruptcy laws and the tax laws.

6. Destroying the National Guard and the Army by deploying them over and over in a futile war, while at the same time failing to provide them with armor and equipment.

7. Precipitating Iraq into a civil war by invading it.

8. Accelerating the effects of global warming by putting roadblocks in the way of mitigating its effects.

9. Denying healthcare and prescription medication to an increasing number of Americans, most specifically by ramming the prescription drug legislation through Congress, but also by manipulating Medicare and Medicaid so that fewer and fewer citizens are covered.

10. Encouraging the people in the rest of the world to associate the US with torture, military incursion, and fear, by a preemptive attack on a sovereign nation, by vociferously maintaining the right of the US to do whatever it wants whenever it wants, and by refusing to accept international laws.

Or, to put it another way, the Bush administration apparently wishes for and is working toward a chaotic Iraq, a corrupt American election structure with openly corrupt influence-peddlers like Delay and Abramoff in charge of policy, a world in which people suffer and die from weather-related catastrophes, a two-tiered economic structure in the US (with most people in the lower tier), and the isolation of the US as a rogue state from the other nations of the world.

-----

For the rest of the story: http://tinyurl.com/ax8nk

gimme back my country dammit,
Otter

Oops posted on wrong page...

Otter:

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=96667&ran=61927

My hometown paper. They have been following the 5th Fleet for quite some time. If you type in "5th Fleet" to the search bar at the Pilotonline.com site, you can pull several of them up.

Here's the article about the yanked credentials:

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=96943&ran=140857

The lead story in the Virginian-Pilot today is about a recently returned National Guardsman who has PTSD. It's a sobering story and puts a face on the condition. One out of every 25 soldiers who had returned from Iraq/Afghanistan has been diagnosed with PTSD. That doesn't count all those who haven't been diagnosed yet. And our local area has the fourth-largest concentration of vets returning from Iraq/Afghanistan. These soliders are broken inside even if they are intact on the outside.

Posted by: Otter at December 18, 2005 05:15 PM

Exactly. I think it's giving the Bushies too much credit to call them inadequate and inept. Granted, George Dubya acts that way, and maybe he is, but he is none the less "part of it", and if he wants the power and fame of being the POTUS, he should be able to take the responsibility and stewardship, which he obviously isn't, or isn't willing.

Same goes for Condi. I am greatly troubled when I hear that (not) my Secretary of State spends time buying a $250.00 pair of shoes when people are starving and dying from dehydration, rape and murder, and drowning in NOLA. I also cringe when she steps off a plane wearing black spiked heels, and more recently, a foo-foo coat with faux fur on the trim. She is part of an administration who makes life and death decisions every day, and supports corporate interests above those of every day hard working Americans.

I mentioned to a friend that I think she is very naive. That friend reminded me that Condi is a very intelligent well educated woman, and that she also has been friends of the Bush family for YEARS. Is she an airhead? Or in on it with them?

How possibly can they NOT KNOW?

"A rogue state is a political entity that, contrary to the stated desires of other powers, attempts to acquire weapons that other countries seek to prevent from appearing under their custody; use weapons in domestic or international warfare that other powers consider abominable; commit crimes against humanity; harbor terrorists; tolerate activities such as drug trafficking that other countries combat; or seek to overthrow or corrupt the political processes of other countries." [Wikipedia]

Hmmm. Hmmm, hmmm.

(a) Nuclear bunker busters, recently designed and allegedly even tested here, added to an arsenal of nuclear weapons of mass destruction that is well more than ten times larger than the entire total of such weapons distributed across the rest of the planet;

(b) White phosphorus projectiles targeted specifically against other humans, not just as illuminatory devices -- also used as incendiary devices intended to burn down non-military targets in key areas;

(c) Abu Ghraib, among other well-known examples;

(d) Secret forces operating outside the law to eavesdrop on citizens; 'rendition' of both citizens and foreign nationals; operation of torture prisons in multiple locations; use of remote-controlled weapons to kill persons in non-combatant countries; etc. etc. etc.;

(e) Never even mind that whole pesky US/Noriega/Iran/Contra business -- what about the record-sized opium poppy crops in Afghanistan?

(f) We invaded Iraq so that we could depose its existing leader and replace him with a government cast more in our own model -- or so they say now, anyway;

Inescapable conclusion: the United States of America, according to its own definition, is clearly a Rogue State.

My country is a Rogue State.

My country:

A Rogue State.

My country. Your country. Our country.

A Rogue State.

The land of the free and the home of the brave??!!

Wowzers.

*impeach* the bam dastards,
Otter

correction, GWB didn't merely call the constitution JUST a piece of paper... ahem, attention Fundies (using Lords name in vain, personal foul)...

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7779.shtml

I got another "goddamned piece of paper" in mind for the Chimpanderer In Chief.

This one, however, is called a "subpoena."

... Soon to be followed by another piece of paper called a "warrant".

chimpeach!,
Otter

Okay.

I say we all play the drinking game tonight during Bush's speech pro-Iraq war.

Get out your favorite choice of liquor.

Every time Bush says "terrorists" tonight take a straight shot.

Every time he says "war on terror" take two shots.

Every time he says "fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here" take two shots.

Every time he says "freedom and democracy" take a shot.

Every time he says "cut and run" take a shot.

Every time he says "sacrifice" take a shot.

Every time he says "goal" take a shot.

Every time he says the words "safe and secure" take a shot.

And remember, he is milking the heck out of this "holiday" season, knowing that people are in a generous and sentimental mood during the "holidays".

Are we meeting in the IRC for our "drinking game"?

My bet is this..

Tonight in his speech the monkey boy will take time to adress 'new and imminant threats'

He almost HAS to so his approval ratings will come back up

Sheee-ucks, truthie, if them's the rules, then we'll all be too dang pie-eyed to reach for the remote by the time he's even ten minutes into the dang speech!

you don't have to be drunk to listen to a republican but it sure does help,
Otter

Ok TSP, every time he says "stay the course" take a drink of water...in order to stay the course with this game...otherwise we'll be passed out by paragraph two.

"Hard work" you gotta get up and walk a straight line (that'll be hard work)

"I have a plan" you get up and pour someone ELSE a drink

hahahahahaha

holiday cheer

In all seriousness, don't be at all surprised if Shrubya stands up and takes at least a smidgeon of responsibility and admits at least a modicum of error during tonight's speech.

He's been doing that a lot in just this last week or two, remarkable as it may seem, and imho that may be the first tiny glimpse that practically all of us Amurrkins have had into what Shrub himself might really be thinking and feeling as president.

Whyzat, you axe? Because over the course of the last several weeks Rove and Cheney and even Rumsfeld, along with the rest of their neocon cabal, have been so forcibly discredited that they have had to shrink away from any more contact with BubbleBoy.

In other words, his strings have been cut. No puppeteers in charge. Think Pinocchio after he turned into a so-called real boy.

But even so... remember that nose-growing-longer thing. It still applies.

when shrub lies thousands die,
Otter

Well, I'm not much of a drinkin' woman, but it might be the only way I can watch the dang thing. LOL!!!

You guys are too funny!!!!

Hey, 60 minutes on CBS just started, they are doing a MAJOR bit on the Bush planes and torture.

And they are also doing a bit on the blocking of the only escape route out of New Orleans being blocked by police men.

Christy,

I'll bet you might be right. The only thing he has left going for him is the safety and security threat.

I've Got No Strings
by the puppet formerly know as Pinocchio

I've got no strings
To hold me down
To make me fret, or make me frown
I had strings
But now I'm free
There are no strings on me

Hi-ho the me-ri-o
That's the only way to go
I want the world to know
Nothing ever worries me

I've got no strings
So I have fun
I'm not tied up to anyone
They've got strings
But you can see
There are no strings on me

Dutch puppet:
You have no strings
Your arms is free
To love me by the Zuider Zee
Ya, ya, ya
If you would woo
I'd bust my strings for you

French puppet:
You've got no strings
Comme ci comme ca
Your savoire-faire is ooh la la!
I've got strings
But entre nous
I'd cut my strings for you

Russian puppet:
Down where the Volga flows
There's a Russian rendezvous
Where me and Ivan go
But I'd rather go with you, hey!

Little White Lies
Frank Sinatra

The moon was all aglow and heaven was in your eyes
The night that you told me those little white lies.
The stars all seemed to know that you didn't mean all those sighs
The night that you told me those little white lies.
I try but there's no forgetting when evening appears,
I sigh but there's no regretting in spite of my tears.
The devil was in your heart but heaven was in your eyes
The night you told me those little white lies.

Interesting post here about how the right-wing blogs are deliberately mis-quoting the FISA law to say that the NSA spying is legal from Glenn Greenwald...

Sunday, December 18, 2005
Purposely misquoting FISA to defend the Bush Administration

Defenders of the Bush Administration are resorting to outright distortions and deliberate falsehoods about the Foreign Intelligence Security Act (FISA) in order to argue that the Administration's warrantless eavesdropping on U.S. citizens complies with the mandates of that statute. To do so, they are simply lying -- and that term is used advisedly -- about what FISA says by misquoting the statute in order to make it appear that the Administration’s clearly illegal behavior conforms to the statute.

This is a real case study in how total falsehoods are disseminated by a single right-wing blogger who is then linked to and approvingly cited by large, highly partisan bloggers, which then cause the outright falsehoods to be bestowed with credibility and take on the status of a conventionally accepted talking point in defense of the Administration.

read the rest here...
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2005/12/purposely-misquoting-fisa-to-defend.html

Interestingly, the more corporate American has gotten, the less "Christmasy" downtown Seattle seems. I moved here in 1978 and most of the department stores were locally owned. There were traditions, such as a giant star, fabulous window displays & trees. Now it's hard to tell the difference between Walmart and Target, as Macy's has prepackaged things in boxes rather than personally chosen gifts that are then giftwrapped. It's comparatively sterile, feels neither secular nor religous, in fact it doesn't "feel" much of anything. It's hard to tell there's a holiday going on. Another Gap, Another Abercrombie and Fitch, Another Old Navy - really hard to discern what city we're in or to tell it's not a big suburban mall.

There is no way I would watch Bush's speech, tonight or any other night. He is not really
President.

DiAnne:

Sounds like downtown Seattle has developed the same problem that most of my impassioned blogspeeches already have -- the real thing is there in the heart of it all, but there are way too many subordinate Clauses...

arbusto-inc. delenda est!,
Otter

Bit DiAnne, I thought corporatism was good? p.s. bushies are stupid...

Presidential Pipeline: Bush's top fund-raisers see spoils of victory
First of a series
Sunday, December 18, 2005

By Jim Tankersley, Joshua Boak and Christopher D. Kirkpatrick, The Toledo Blade

President Bush's corporate champions see the spoils of his administration in coal. And timber. And credit-card payments, Afghan electric lines, Japanese bank transfers and fake crab.

America's business leaders supplied more than $75 million to return Mr. Bush to the White House last year -- and he has paid dividends.

Bush administration policies, grand and obscure, have financially benefited companies or lobbying clients tied to at least 200 of the president's largest campaign fund-raisers, a Toledo Blade investigation has found. Dozens more stand to gain from Bush-backed initiatives that recently passed or await congressional approval.

The investigation included targeted tax breaks, regulatory changes, pro-business legislation, high-profile salaried appointments, and federal contracts.

Mr. Bush's policies often followed specific requests from his 548 "Pioneers" and "Rangers," who each raised at least $100,000 or $200,000 for his 2004 re-election. The help to business fund-raisers sometimes came at the expense of consumers or public health concerns.

The beneficiaries span industries and the nation. Examples include:

Timber barons who pay lower tax rates on logging sales and face fewer barriers to harvesting trees in national forests because of administrative changes and laws Mr. Bush signed.

Energy producers who dodged potential legal fees and cleanup costs after federal officials revised clean-air standards.

Heads of stock brokerages and other multinational firms, which, under a special tax incentive in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, are bringing hundreds of millions of dollars they earned or stored abroad back into the United States this year at reduced rates.

sadly, theres more... http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05352/624259.stm

Wowzers!

Just watched Da Prez give his Sunday speech -- one of the only ones he's ever given from the Oval Office -- and you know what? He done good.

His speechwriters were *brilliant*, his sincerity seemed genuine, and he didn't dodge and duck.

In other words, he looked like and sounded like and acted like a genuine President tonight.

*Finally*.

Maybe it's because Rove and Rummy and Cheney have had their puppeteer's strings cut off... but what I just watched on TV was, yes, an actual President.

It's gonna take me a while to wrap my widdle otter haid around that one.

who'd'a thunk it,
Otter

Otter did you start the drinking game *before* you watched the speech?

Sorry Otter, I often agree with you, and you always make me think, but this time... you played the drinking game too well I think.

This was a man on the ropes.. and dragging in that Holiday Carol at the end was the last straw..

He was still trying to defend him self thru the whole thing.. which still reminds me of my kids saying "I'm sorry Mom.. but it was David's fault"

You've been right all along.. He's dangerously near an impeachable act.. and he knows it.

Amazing what can be found on the internets - a pretense to Godliness is not a guarantee of goodness -

Favorite Third Reich Christmas Songs from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich home front on CD!

Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess sends his heartfelt Christmas greetings to all Germans both at home and abroad. He thanks all those who are helping with the winterhilfswerk both poor and rich. Hess thanks the Führer for fighting the evil Bolsheviks. And finally Germany can now celebrate national unity and comradeship brought about by the NS revolution.

Contents:

1. Die Glocken des Berliner Doms (Bells from the Berlin cathedral)

2. Heilig, helig (Holy holy)

3. Lobert den Herrn (Praise the Lord)

4. Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe (Honor God in the highest)

5. Die Glocken der Marienkirche zu Danzig (Bells from th Marien cathedral of Danzig)

6. Rudolf Hess: Weihnachtsansprache 1936 Speech (Rudolf Hess’s 1936 Christmas greetings 21.11 minutes - German Language Only)

7. Ave Maria (Avia Maria)

8. So nimm’ denn meine Hände (So then take my hands, and lead me to the end Jesus)

9. Die Glocken des Salzburger Doms (Bells from the Salzburg cathedral)

Christma-Hanu-Rama-Ka-Dona-Kwanzaa
by Roy Zimmerman

The mortal world is languishing in deep December snows
The road to hope is froze-
Zen over, so's my nose

And even as all nations strive the others to destroy
One holiday brings every nation joy:

It's Christma-Hanu-Rama-Ka-Dona-Kwanzaa
What a merry multicultural time of year
I'm sure no matter where
They celebrate over there
The time of year we celebrate over here

No matter what your creed or color
You're sure to have a real good time
A definite "yes" to answer the question, "Can't we all get along?"
Let's sing a Christma-Hanu-Rama-Ka-Dona-Kwanzaa song

Humanity is drifting in an icy sea of strife
The giant quilt of life
Is crazy, so's my wife

But even as all things are dying, one event can steer
The moribund toward more abundant cheer

It's Christma-Hanu-Rama-Ka-Dona-Kwanzaa
What a happy heterogeneous holiday
In places near and far
Wherever the heck you are
You'll find that they can revel the day away

No matter what your race or religion (or lack thereof)
You're sure to have a festive night (or eight or twelve)
A seasonal way for neighbors to say, "How could we have been so wrong?"
Let's sing a Christma-Hanu-Rama-Ka-Dona-Kwanzaa song

So don a party hat
And kill the calf that's fat
And throw a Roman Saturnalia

And when winter turns to spring
And nature does her thing
You'll be wearing frilly frocks,
Resetting all your clocks
For Floralia-Holi-Easter-Passo-Vernal-Equinox

What a pan-humanic extravaganza
What an ethni-cultu-religio jubilee
They're all joining hands in disparate lands to form a harmonious throng
And sing a Christma-Hanu-Rama-Ka-Dona-Kwanzaa song

So lay aside your crushing load of earthly misery
To sing a Christma-Hanu-Rama-Ka-Dona-Kwanzaa song with me

I watched the speech - thought it was pretty well crafted to make it's jabs subtle enough that they could slide under lots of radars.

None of us who are suggesting we leave Iraq are saying we should leave because we've lost. We're saying we should leave because we're done. They don't want us there. They are relying too heavily on our forces (or we're not letting them take the lead enough to get trained). The reasons we went no longer exist.

He implied we wanted to leave because we've lost. Way to deepen the divide, George.

And how about "I'm open to 'honest' debate". Implication being that the debate from those who want us out of Iraq is somehow less than honest - somewhere in there he implied we all disagreed with the war because we don't like HIM.

Can you say narcissist?

The Hanukkah Song [Adam Sandler]
Intro: This is a song, that uh, there's a lot of Xmas songs out there, but not too many about Hanukkah, so I wrote a song for all those nice little Jewish kids who dont get to hear any Hanukkah songs--here we go...

Put on your yalmulka, here comes Hanukkah
Its so much fun-akkah to celebrate Hanukkah,

Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights,
Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights.

When you feel like the only kid in town without a Xmas tree,
Here's a list of people who are Jewish, just like you and me:

David Lee Roth lights the menorrah,
So do James Caan, Kirk Douglas, and the late Dinah Shore-ah

Guess who eats together at the Karnickey Deli,
Bowzer from Sha-na-na, and Arthur Fonzerrelli.

Paul Newman's half Jewish; Goldie Hawn's half too,
Put them together--what a fine lookin' Jew!

You don't need Deck the Halls or Jingle Bell Rock
Cause you can spin the dreidl with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock--both Jewish!

Put on your yalmulka, its time for Hanukkah,
The owner of the Seattle Supersonic-ahs celebrates Hanukkah.

O.J. Simpson--not a Jew!
But guess who is...Hall of Famer--Rod Carew--(he converted!)

We got Ann Landers and her sister Dear Abby,
Harrison Ford's a quarter Jewish--not too shabby!

Some people think that Ebeneezer Scrooge is,
Well, he's not, but guess who is: All three stooges.

So many Jews are in show biz--
Tom Cruise isn¹t, [tacit] but I heard his agent is.

Tell your friend Veronica, its time you celebrate Hanukkah
I hope I get a harmonica, on this lovely, lovely Hanukkah.

So drink your gin-and-tonic-ah, and smoke your marajuanic-ah,
If you really, really wanna-kah, Have a happy, happy, happy, happy Hanukkah.

Springtime for Hitler
from The Producers
Mel Brooks

CHORUS:
Germany was having trouble
What a sad, sad story
Needed a new leader to restore
Its former glory
Where, oh, where was he?
Where could that man be?
We looked around and then we found
The man for you and me
LEAD TENOR STORMTROOPER:
And now it's...
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Deutschland is happy and gay!
We're marching to a faster pace
Look out, here comes the master race!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Rhineland's a fine land once more!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Watch out, Europe
We're going on tour!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany...
CHORUS:
Look, it's springtime
LEAD TENOR STORMTROOPER:
Winter for Poland and France
CHORUS AND STORMTROOPER:
Springtime for Hitler and Germany!
CHORUS:
Springtime! Springtime!
Springtime! Springtime!
Springtime! Springtime!
Springtime! Springtime!
STORMTROOPER:
Come on, Germans
Go into your dance!
STORMTROOPER "ROLF":
I was born in Dusseldorf und that is why they call me Rolf.
STORMTROOPER "MEL":
Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi party!
ULLA:
The Fuhrer is coming, the Fuhrer is coming, the Fuhrer is coming!
STORMTROOPER #1:
Heil Hitler!
STORMTROOPER #2:
Heil Hitler!
LEAD TENOR STORMTROOPER:
Heil Hitler!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
ALL:
Heil Hitler!
ROGER:
Heil myself
Heil to me
I'm the kraut
Who's out to change our history
Heil myself
Raise your hand
There's no greater
Dictator in the land!
Everything I do, I do for you!
CHORUS:
Yes, you do!
ROGER:
If you're looking for a war, here's World War Two!
Heil myself
Raise your beer
CHORUS:
Jawohl!
ROGER:
Ev'ry hotsy-totsy Nazi stand and cheer
CHORUS:
Hooray!
Ev'ry hotsy-totsy Nazi...
ROGER:
Heil myself!
CHORUS:
Ev'ry hotsy-totsy Nazi...
ROGER:
Heil myself!
CHORUS:
Ev'ry hotsy-totsy Nazi...
ROGER:
...stand and cheer!
THE HEIL-LOs:
The Fuhrer is causing a furor!
He's got those Russians on the run
You gotta love that wacky hun!
The Fuhrer is causing a furor
They can't say "no" to his demands
They're freaking out in foreign lands
He's got the whole world in his hands
The Fuhrer is causing a furor!
ROGER:
I was just a paper hanger
No one more obscurer
Got a phone call from the Reichstag
Told me I was Fuhrer
Germany was blue
What, oh, what to do?
Hitched up my pants
And conquered France
Now Deutschland's smiling through!
But it wasn't always so easy...
It was 1932. Hindenburg was working the Big Room and I...
I was playing the lounge. And then I got my big break.
Somebody burned down the Reichstag. And, would you believe it?
They made me Chancellor. Chancellor!
It ain't no myst'ry
If it's politics or hist'ry
The thing you gotta know is
Ev'rything is show biz
Heil myself
Watch my show
I'm the German Ethel Merman
Dontcha know
We are crossing borders
The new world order is here
Make a great big smile
Ev'ryone sieg heil to me
Wonderful me!
And now it's...
CHORUS:
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Goose-step's the new step today

ROGER:
Springtime!
Goose-steps!
CHORUS MEN:
Bombs falling from the skies again
CHORUS:
Deutschland is on the rise again
ROGER & CHORUS:
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
U-boats are sailing once more
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
ROGER:
Means that...
CHORUS:
Soon we'll be going...
ROGER:
We've got to be going...
CHORUS:
You know we'll be going....
ROGER:
You bet we'll be going...
ROGER & CHORUS:
You know we'll be going to war!!

During his speech, Bush acknowledged that the war has proved to be more thorny than the administration had projected. "The work has been especially difficult in Iraq -- more difficult than we expected," Bush said. "Reconstruction efforts and the training of Iraqi security forces started more slowly than we hoped. We continue to see violence and suffering."

Despite the problems, Cheney, speaking in an interview scheduled to air Monday on ABC's "Nightline," refused to back off of his assertion made before the invasion of Iraq that the United States would be greeted as liberators by the Iraqi people.

"I don't think I got it wrong," he said. "I think the vast majority of the Iraqi people are grateful for what the United States did. I think they believe overwhelmingly that they're better off today than they were when Saddam Hussein ruled."'

War Propaganda & Public Opinion

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.propaganda18dec18,1,4680914.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines

CNN QuickVote

How do you feel about the U.S. mission in Iraq after President Bush's series of speeches?

Optimistic 20%

Pessimistic 80%

Bush acknowledged the doubts of many Americans who opposed the invasion, but said the United States now faces just two outcomes: "victory or defeat."

"I do not expect you to support everything I do, but tonight I have a request: Do not give in to despair, and do not give up on this fight for freedom," he said.

Bush held out the prospect that some U.S. troops might be able to come home before long as Iraq's fledgling government and military take on more responsibilities.

"As these achievements come, it should require fewer American troops to accomplish our mission," he said.

Bush cautioned that Thursday's election for a permanent Iraqi government will not mean the end of the conflict and that the United States could not withdraw its troops from Iraq "before our work is done."

"We would abandon our Iraqi friends -- and signal to the world that America cannot be trusted to keep its word," he said. "We would hand Iraq over to enemies who have pledged to attack us -- and the global terrorist movement would be emboldened and more dangerous than ever before."

November 15, 2002

Rumsfeld: It Would Be A Short War

(CBS) There will be no World War III starting with Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared Thursday, and rejected concerns that a war would be a quagmire.

"The idea that it's going to be a long, long, long battle of some kind I think is belied by the fact of what happened in 1990," he said on an Infinity Radio call-in program.

He said the U.S. military is stronger than it was during the Persian Gulf War, while Iraq's armed forces are weaker.

"Five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last any longer than that," he said. "It won't be a World War III."

Meanwhile, two Iraqi state-controlled papers, Al-Thawra and Al-Iraq, condemned the Security Council resolution that Iraq accepted Wednesday, with Al-Thawra saying it could be the worst motion on Iraq that the world body had ever passed.

The resolution strengthened the mandate of U.N. inspectors charged with searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, giving them unrestricted access to presidential compounds and warning Iraq of "serious consequences" if it obstructs the disarmament process. The United States and Britain have said they will attack Iraq if it breaches the resolution.

And, as U.N. weapons inspectors prepare for their return to Iraq, the White House is warning Baghdad not to "play games."

In the words of Deputy Press Secretary Scott McClellan, Saddam Hussein "better not go back to his history of cheat and retreat, and deceive and deny, and playing rope-a-dope in the desert."

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says inspectors won't be sounding the alarm over the odd Iraqi omission or mistake on forbidden programs -- only if there's a pattern of obstruction and deceit.

But McClellan says the administration's motto is "zero tolerance" -- and whatever the Security Council may decide, President Bush remains free to react to Iraqi defiance.

On the Infinity Radio call-in program, Rumsfeld sidestepped a question on whether the United States would respond with nuclear weapons if Iraq were to use chemical or biological weapons.

"The United States government, the president and others, are communicating with people in Iraq, in the military, very forcefully that they ought not to use those weapons," Rumsfeld said. "Anyone in any way connected with weapons of mass destruction and their use will be held accountable, and people who helped avoid that would be advantaged."

The weapons inspectors are to resume their search for illegal caches by Dec. 23 and are to report to the Security Council 60 days after they start looking. Iraq has until Dec. 8 to give a full accounting of all its banned weapons programs as well as programs to develop long-range missiles and remote-controlled aircraft to deliver them.

Rumsfeld also told radio listeners it is impossible Iraq does not have weapons of mass destruction. "What it would prove is that the inspections process had been successfully defeated by the Iraqis if they find nothing."

The conflict with Iraq is about weapons of mass destruction, Rumsfeld insisted.

"It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil. It has nothing to do with the religion."

Rumsfeld defended the notion of a pre-emptive strike, saying the world has changed since the Sept. 11 attacks. The danger, the defense secretary warned, is that countries such as Iraq might give terrorist groups weapons of mass destruction, producing imminent threats can't always be seen.

"People say 'Where's the smoking gun?' Well, we don't want to see a smoking gun from a weapon of mass destruction," he said. "With a weapon of mass destruction you're not talking about 300 people or 3,000 people being killed, but 30,000 or a hundred thousand."

Rumsfeld said the U.S. military at present is capable "to do the job and finish it fast.

"There is absolutely no need for the present for us to even think about returning to a draft."

The newspaper Al-Iraq defended the government's decision to accept the resolution. Earlier this week, Iraq's parliament, which is packed with pro-government legislators, recommended it be rejected.

"Iraq's acceptance of the resolution is an attempt to save our people from any harm. This is the most important thing," Al-Iraq said Friday.

Al-Thawra, the organ of the ruling Baath party, said the resolution was "ill-intentioned, unjust and bad resolution."

"In fact, it could be the worst resolution ever issued against our country. It represents a breach of the U.N. Charter," the paper said in a front-page editorial.

from a friend in Germany:

Another thing: All of these Christmas songs are still sung in Germany today. I've actually sung some of them with a choir--in German. It's very depressing to see Hitler's name associated with songs praising the Prince of Peace. One that's missing is a fave: "Stille Nacht, Heilig Nacht." Silent night.

 
Rumsfeld: Use of force less than five months.
Nov. 14, 2002  Donald Rumsfeld, Sect. of Defense"I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won't last any longer than that." (popNote) .
 
A Short War
Nov. 15, 2002  Donald Rumsfeld, Infinity Radio call in show"The idea that it's going to be a long, long, long battle of some kind I think is belied by the fact of what happened in 1990," he said on an Infinity Radio call-in program. "Five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last any longer than that." (popNote) .
 
May 1, 2003  Mission AccomplishedG.W. Bush: "Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, May 1, 2003, p. 516.  (46k PDF)
 
Address to Nation from the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln
May 1, 2003  George W. BushUnder the Banner "Mission Accomplished": "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended." (popNote) .
   Richard Perle, adviser to the USA government:

"If we let our vision of the world go forth and we embrace it entirely, and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy but just wage a total war ... our children will sing great songs about us years from now."

Feb. 7, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, to U.S. troops in Aviano, Italy: "It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

* March 4, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a breakfast with reporters: "What you'd like to do is have it be a short, short conflict. . . . Iraq is much weaker than they were back in the '90s," when its forces were routed from Kuwait.

* March 11, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars: "The Iraqi people understand what this crisis is about. Like the people of France in the 1940s, they view us as their hoped-for liberator."

* March 16, Vice President Cheney, on NBC's Meet the Press: "I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . . I think it will go relatively quickly, . . . (in) weeks rather than months." He predicted that regular Iraqi soldiers would not "put up such a struggle" and that even "significant elements of the Republican Guard . . . are likely to step aside."

Name: Ken "Cakewalk" Adelman
Notes: “I believe demolishing Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk.” - Washington Post, February 13, 2002

Posted by: not my president at December 18, 2005 10:28 PM

That's a nice list. Do you have a link for that list?

the link for the list:

http://zfacts.com/p/87.html

Then:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,968581,00.html June 2 2003

Much of the initial information for Mr Powell's speech to the UN was provided by the Pentagon, where Paul Wolfowitz, the US deputy defence secretary, set up a special unit, the Office of Special Plans, to counter the uncertainty of the CIA's intelligence on Iraq.

Mr Powell's team removed dozens of pages of alleged evidence about Iraq's banned weapons and ties to terrorists from a draft of his speech, US News and World Report says today. At one point, he became so angry at the lack of adequate sourcing to intelligence claims that he declared: "I'm not reading this. This is bullshit," according to the magazine.

Presented with a script for his speech, Mr Powell suspected that Washington hawks were "cherry picking", the US magazine Newsweek also reports today.

Today: http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2428462005

Powell says Europeans knew about CIA rendition practices

COLIN Powell, the former US secretary of state, has stepped into the row over extraordinary rendition, saying the controversial practice is not new and European governments should not be surprised by it.

Mr Powell was speaking after his successor, Condoleezza Rice, was forced to defend the practice during a recent trip to Europe.

The trip was overshadowed by claims that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ran secret prisons in eastern Europe and covertly transferred suspects via European airports. "Most of our European friends cannot be shocked that this kind of thing takes place," Mr Powell said.

"The fact [is] that we have, over the years, had procedures in place that would deal with people who are responsible for terrorist activities, or suspected of terrorist activities.

"And so the thing that is called rendition is not something that is new or unknown to my European friends," he added.

Ms Rice also said rendition was a decades-old instrument used by the US when governments could not detain or prosecute a suspect and traditional extradition was not an option. In such cases, that government could make a sovereign choice to co-operate in a rendition.

Mr Powell also defended the US against charges that it was unilateralist, but he acknowledged it did not have a good global image at the moment and was going through a period where "public opinion worldwide is against us".

He continued: "I think that's a function of some of the policies we have followed in recent years, with respect to Iraq and in not solving the Middle East's problem and perhaps the way in which we have communicated our views to the rest of the world. We have created an impression that we are unilateralist; we don't care what the rest of the world thinks. I don't think it's a fair impression."

Mr Powell also said the US administration was not aware of doubts about secret intelligence used to justify the war with Iraq. He was "disappointed in what the intelligence community had presented to me and to the rest of us".

"What really upset me more than anything else was that there were people in the intelligence community that had doubts about some of this sourcing, but those doubts never surfaced up to us."

Also in the Scotsman:

Drunk Santas in Christmas rampage

FORTY drunken Santas rampaged through Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, at the weekend, stealing from stores and assaulting security guards in a protest against the commercialisation of Christmas.

Police said some of the Santas threw beer bottles, one tried to climb the mooring rope of a cruise ship and a security guard was punched. "They came in, said: 'Merry Christmas' and helped themselves," said one shop worker.

Police said identification was a problem as they tried to sort out which of the 40 men and women did what.

"With a number of people dressed in the same outfit, it was difficult for witnesses to confirm the identity of who was doing what," said an officer.

Which reminds me - Bert finally has the story up with pictures & mp3 audio - about Reverend Billy & his choir and their escapades at Mall of America!! Don't miss it!!

http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/2005/12/six_more_shoppi.html

Ladytechie, Veritas, et al:

I never said that he seemed like a *good* president... only that for a change he finally appeared to be one.

In point of fact, there were many times during tonight's speech when I could not help but feel that Shrub was subconsciously channeling Richard Nixon.

And we know how well *that* turned out, nu?

But still. What we saw tonight might well have been a flawed and failed president... but at least it wasn't the monkeyboy in the bubble for a change.

I'm serious, I honestly think that having had his Rovian puppeteers' strings cut in recent weeks has marked a noticable change in the man's demeanor.

I still believe he's a hopeless screwup. But I can't help myself from wondering if maybe he's finally gotten the chance to be his *own* hopeless screwup, rather than his previous puppetmasters' hopeless screwup.

chimpeach 'em anyway,
Otter

Rachel Maddow had a great show a night or two ago saying:"The Bush Adm won't tell us the truth about Iraq as Americans won't buy the FACT we will be there ad infanitum r/t oil and the build up of our arms is coming, not going away any time soon!" She and her guest made it quite clear that's why bushieboy won't ante up any troops to come home and they made a bet when he does it will only be the 20,000 sent over for elections skewing the people to believe he's drawing down. Sorry,maybe next year kids. Notice he didn't even address withdrawal tonight. Probably afraid to utter the word with the right wingers already in a spititual" Christmas mood. For sure they got that one,but certainly not much more substance on Iraq. Sorry chimpy prez,we want enchmarks! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Today I contacted all my Senators & Representatives & both newspapers about this.

TELL CONGRESS WE NEED REAL HEARINGS ON SPYING IN THE U.S. WITHOUT WARRANT

Considering that virtually every word out of the president's mouth for the last five years has been a certifiably pathological lie, one cannot fault those who suspect his angry and defiant defense of his secret campaign to spy on Americans is just another elaborate fiction. What has been the point of packing our courts with their reactionary partisan cronies if not to have them available to rubberstamp such an operation? The fact that they could not trust even one of their own handpicked legal kangaroos to authorize this is proof of just how out of control this rogue presidency is.

Remember this is from an administration that considers a handful of Quakers holding a peace meeting to be a "threat". It is but sheer, unmitigated gall to assert that this is in any way permissible under our Constitution, which for Bush is nothing more than a bothersome, inconvenient piece of toilet paper. In fact, according to White House insiders, in one of his recent abusive personal tirades Bush did indeed refer to our Constitution as "just a [profane expletive] piece of paper". It's long past time for Congress to pull this president back into the ballpark of democracy.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.millionphonemarch.com/fisa.htm

Otter
I think Rove is still behind this. If Bush seems more confident, maybe they let him have a nip.
& watch Cheney's tour of the mideast - he's going to a bunch of countries. Consider the wheeling & dealing (bribes) that are probably going on behind the scenes. Think of an oilman who is making promises so he can get his hands on more oil & remember that he's an expert, who started a war there in 1991 to try to get his hands on more oil. Halliburton. Cheney pays no taxes. All his funds are in tax-free investments. You can get that at the Center for Public Integrity site. There is only one Senator who can approach him for money & the election was stolen from him with electronic voting machines in Ohio.

Is Bush trying to exploit schisms between Jewish factions?

Bush Says Iraq War Is Good for Israel
By FORWARD STAFF
December 16, 2005

In sharp contrast to the growing consensus of Jerusalem's security and political establishment, President Bush argued this week that Israel's safety depends on democratization of the Arab world.

"If you're a supporter of Israel, I would strongly urge you to help other countries become democracies," President Bush declared Monday, in a major address defending American policy in Iraq and his wider vision for the region. "Israel's long-term survival depends upon the spread of democracy in the Middle East."

Israeli security officials argued the opposite view at this month's American-Israeli strategic dialogue, warning that regime change and democratization threatened to destabilize the Middle East. Israel sees its security tied to regimes such as Egypt and Jordan, and fears that democratization could turn those countries against Israel.

"I am skeptical when it comes to the supposition that democracy is a panacea. Not all democracies are good," said General Shlomo Brom, former chief of the Israeli army's strategic planning division. "What about a democracy in Egypt — let's say — which is governed by the Muslim Brotherhood? Would Egypt then have better relations with Israel than under Mubarak's regime?"

As the American-Israeli debate quietly heats up, the Bush administration's approach is creating fault lines within the Jewish community. On Tuesday, the Republican Jewish Coalition took out a full-page advertisement attacking the Reform synagogue movement over its recent call for the United States to develop an exit strategy for the war in Iraq.

Neither the Republican Jewish Coalition ad nor the Reform statement mentioned Israel. But some pro-Israel activists and Israeli observers criticized Bush's comments, saying they could end up fueling claims that Jerusalem and Jewish groups pushed the United States into an unpopular war.

"American Jews don't want American soldiers to be dying for Israel," said Martin Raffel,
associate executive director of the Jewish Council of Public Affairs, a public-policy coordinating umbrella group consisting of 13 national organizations and 123 local community-relations councils.

"Would Israel benefit from democracy in the Middle East? Yes. But so would Europe, and America and the whole international community," Raffel said. "So why would the president select supporters of Israel? Supporters of Western civilization would want to see democratization in the Middle East, along with Israel."

Israeli experts voiced similar concerns.

"It could put Israel in a very awkward situation with the American public, if Israel would be the excuse for losing more American soldiers every day," said Danny Rothschild, a retired major general who once served as the Israeli army's top administrator in the West Bank.

In a speech on Wednesday, Bush criticized anti-war opponents who would suggest that America went to war for Israel. At the same, he and other Republicans defending his foreign policy by linking it to Israel's security needs.

Senator John Warner of Virginia, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, recently argued in an interview with MSNBC that a premature American pullout would "put Israel in a very tenuous and vulnerable position." And a GOP activist, Bruce Blakeman, told the Forward that Israel's security has always played a key role in the president's thinking on Iraq.

"The president realized not only that Saddam Hussein was a danger to America, but that Saddam Hussein had designs on attacking Israel," said Blakeman, whose brother Brad is a former Bush aide. "There was a concern that an attack on Israel would turn into a regional war, with Syria and Iran joining in on Iraq's side."

While some Israelis and Jewish communal leaders worried about Bush's remarks, Blakeman told the Forward that "concern for the well-being of Israel is not confined to the Jewish community."

"The vast majority of Americans realize that Israel is a strong democracy in a region where there has been no democracy and an ally that shares our values," Blakeman said.

But several Israeli experts insisted that any pro-war argument — even a valid one — linked to Israel's security could end up undermining American public support for the American-Israeli relationship. And while most Israeli experts contacted by the Forward predicted that an American withdrawal would unleash a wave of terrorism directed at American allies in the region, several still challenged the premise that the United States should remain in Iraq.

"I maintain that the U.S. presence there actually causes harm to some of our interests," said Brom, who is currently a guest scholar at the federally funded United States Institute of Peace in Washington. "Take Iran. America's presence in Iraq does not allow an appropriate dealing with the Iranian problem. It also erodes, over time, the powerful image of the United States. That's not good for Israel, as an ally of the U.S."

Still, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice-chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said few dispute that a premature pullout would create instability, threatening several U.S. allies, including Israel, and several Arab states. "That is not to say that we went to war because of Israel or we stayed at war because of Israel," Hoenlein said, "but one of the consequences of making the wrong step of leaving Iraq prematurely would be Israel.... I don't think that there is any division in the Jewish community that I know of on that."

A very public dispute did erupt this week between Jewish groups over Iraq, with the Union for Reform Judaism and the Republican Jewish Coalition exchanging rhetorical blows. At issue was the Reform union's resolution last month calling for a strategy to end America's presence in Iraq.

On Tuesday, the Republican group published a full-page ad in The New York Times, addressing the Union for Reform Judaism and stating: "Freedom is worth fighting for." The ad was signed by several prominent Jewish Republican elected officials, former ambassadors, senior military officers, rabbis and former senior officials with Jewish groups. The Republican ad argues that it is "misleading and wrong" for the Reform movement to suggest that "American Jews oppose the president on Iraq."

By Tuesday evening, the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Rabbi David Saperstein, had sent a scathing open letter to the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Matt Brooks. The Reform union's president, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, and its chairman of the board, Robert Heller, sent a letter to Bush.

"Respectfully but firmly, Mr. President, we want our leaders to tell us the truth, the whole of it, and we therefore call on your administration to adopt a policy of transparency," Yoffie and Heller wrote. "With regard to troop withdrawal, we call not only for a clear exit strategy but also for specific goals for troop withdrawal to commence after the completion of parliamentary elections scheduled for later this week and then to be continued in a way that maintains stability in Iraq and empowers Iraqi forces to provide for their national security."

With reporting by Ori Nir in Washington, Guy Leshem in Tel Aviv, and Ami Eden and E.J. Kessler in New York.

http://www.forward.com/main/printer-friendly.php?id=7020

Pushing the Limits of Wartime Powers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/17/AR2005121701233_pf.html
file under: dictatorship

Powell: US Will Stay in Iraq for years
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5487193,00.html

What is this American "dark prison" in Afghanistan that I am reading about in British papers - uncovered by Human Rights Watch?

I didn't listen to Bush's speech because he is a no good lying son of a bitch, and I can't believe a word he says. My time is more valuable.

Nuff said.

On call
Likewise

"While I appreciate the president's increased candor, too much of the substance remains the same and the American people have still not heard what benchmarks we must meet along the way to know that progress is being made."
-- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

---

"It's wrong for (Bush) to attempt to silence his critics by calling them defeatists. And it's wrong for him to gloss over the cherry picking of intelligence that led us to this war. ... The president should acknowledge, as his own generals do, that the Iraq war has emboldened the terrorists and increased their ranks. He should acknowledge, as his own generals do, that our overwhelming presence in Iraq is putting our soldiers, and American citizens, at greater risk."
-- Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

---

"Tonight the president acknowledged more of the mistakes he has made in Iraq, but he still does not get it. Iraq did not present an imminent threat to the security of the United States before he began his war of choice. The president's speech tonight was further evidence that after almost three years, he still does not understand that crucial fact."
-- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

---

"The president needs to realize that his misguided, Iraq-centric policies are draining our military and intelligence capabilities and are undermining our efforts to combat al-Qaida and its allies."
-- Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

CNN QuickVote

How do you feel about the U.S. mission in Iraq after President Bush's series of speeches?

Optimistic 28% 11979 votes

Pessimistic 72% 31102 votes
Total: 43081 votes

Cheney says Sept 11 attacks could have been averted with wiretaps

12.18.2005, 08:38 PM

WASHINGTON (AFX) - Vice President Richard Cheney said the September 11 attacks on the United States could have been averted, if the government had the power to monitor electronic communications inside the country.

'It's the kind of capability if we'd had before 9/11 might have led us to be able to prevent 9/11,' Cheney said in an interview with ABC's 'Nightline' program.

President George W. Bush admitted Saturday that he had authorized secret wiretaps by the National Security Agency on US and foreign citizens in the United States just after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, without the need for approval from a special court.

In his weekly radio address, Bush confirmed a New York Times report that he had authorized eavesdropping on overseas communications by people living in the United States who were suspected of terrorist activities.

The admission has drawn outcry from human rights groups while some lawmakers have accused the president of breaking the law because normally a court warrant is needed for such action under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

But Cheney reminded that two of the Sept 11 terrorists were in San Diego, California before the attacks and communicating with Al-Qaeda sources outside the United States.

'We didn't know it,' he said. 'The 9/11 Commission talks about it. If we'd had this capability, then we might well have been able to stop it.'

He said that the communications that are being monitored involved only known terrorist suspects.

'And in fact, it is consistent with the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief,' he insisted. 'It's consistent with the resolution that was passed by the Congress after 9/11.'

http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/12/18/afx2400383.html

Bush to hold press conference shortly
Unexpected announcement follows his speech to nation Sunday

NBC News and news services
Updated: 8:26 a.m. ET Dec. 19, 2005

WASHINGTON - The White House unexpectedly announced Monday morning that President Bush will hold a news conference at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Details were not immediately available, though the question and answer session will be held at the White House.

The president has traditionally made an opening statement at news conferences, but it was not clear if he would do so at this one.

Sunday night, Bush addressed the nation on his Iraq policy, asking that Americans “not give up on this fight for freedom.”

SCOTUS 1972: Prez May NOT Authorize Warrantless Surveillance
by Rhonda [Subscribe]
Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 03:46:33 AM PDT
In a 1972 case, the Supremes held that even in the face of great harm, the President is not allowed to authorize warrantless surveillance. U.S. v. U.S. District Court, 407 US 297

The case was regarding 3 suspects that were planning to bomb something in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The government surveillance was conducted without a warrant and the DOJ argued that should be acceptable because of the potential danger to national security. The Supremes rejected that argument.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/19/54633/975

Please Recommend

Love me, please love me. I'm going to stay on your TV screen until you do......
Will I ever get my TV set back? It seems to be in George W's control ever since his ratings went down. He was just on last night- why do they even have to cover him this morning? He can't have thought up anything of any significance to say since last night, when he said nothing of any significance at all. Maybe he thinks he'll charm us with his good looks and off the cuff brilliant answers this morning ??????? Good luck Georgy.
It's Monday morning- LEAVE US ALONE!!!!!!

Monkey
by Counting Crows

All dressed up
No place to go
Hey monkey, when you gonna show your face around me?
I know all the wrongs and rights
And I just want a little light to fall on me

Hey monkey, where you been?
This lonely spiral I've been in
Hey monkey, when can we begin?
Hey monkey, where you been?

We'll I'm all messed up
That's nothing new
Hey monkey, when you open up your blue eyes
I don't know if I'm wide awake or dreaming
But all I ever need is everything

Hey monkey, where you been?
This lonely spiral I've been in
Hey monkey, when can we begin?
Hey monkey, where you been?
Just get the world off your shoulders
And close your pretty blue eyes
Hey monkey, what's life without an occasional surprise?

Got nowhere but home to go
Got Ben Folds on my radio right now
I'm in trouble for the things I need
Hey monkey don't you want to be needed too?

Hey monkey, where you been?
This lonely spiral I've been in
Hey monkey, when can we begin?
Hey monkey, where you been?

Linda
I quit watching in 1991 because I couldn't stand his dad, so I've missed as much of it as possible, but still can't avoid the mug.

I thought Bush's speech was perfect-I was asleep inside of two minutes.