The Eagle Has Almost Landed

IMPEACH BUSH/CHENEY PETITION:

655,000 signers so far

http://www.impeachbush.org

And honestly...

The way the things are going, even continued British rule would've been better than what we have now. They do have better separation of church and state (despite the Church of England), better class mobility, legalized gay marriage, and everything.

But then, I digress. I can't stand Tony Blair.

Ally
The way I've had it explained, they had to vote for Blair or would have a Tory, which would be more hawk-like yet (maybe like Lieberman or McCain instead of Bush).

My letter regarding impeachment to my Republican Congressman:

The Bush administration lied to the people and Congress about the justifications for going to war in Iraq. It has now been revealed that Bush, like Nixon three decades ago, has carried out an illegal wiretapping program against the people of this country. These are serious offenses which constitute High Crimes and Misdemeanors. I urge you to support impeachment immediately, in order to save the Constitution.

I also believe that Bush and his Vice President Mr. Cheney, deliberately, illegally and malaciously revealed the identity of an undercover CIA agent, Valerie Plame. Not only is this wrong and immoral, it is a criminal offense and, I would say, an impeachable offense. Moreover, the administration has improperly and illegally released classified information to the media (selectively of course) - and actually used government funds to pay for favorable news coverage.

Finally, President Bush's ties to convicted felon and Republican fundraiser/lobbyist Jack Abramoff bears closer scrutiny as does the administration ties to Halliburton and the secret and enormous, no-bid contracts. If these ties do not reveal illegalities, they are nonetheless improper and are not consistent with good governing.

(I could go on about the possibility of election fraud in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 - and perhaps other states, but I will leave my comments to the above mentioned points.)

Sincerely,

Posted by: DiAnne at February 13, 2006 12:14 PM

I understand... though Blair, when first elected, was supposed to be a mirror of Bill Clinton, not W. But seeing the human rights abuses the Brits are starting to engage in Iraq, as well as the British connections to the DeLay scandal, it's disgusting.

The UK used to be my preferred vacation destination, but until Blair is replaced, I am not going back.

Ally
Well Labour (his Party) was theoretically better than the Convervatives (Tories), but I was really rooting for the Lib Dems (kind of like if we had a separate party for the "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party" instead of the "huge umbrella").

I'd visit England anyway (with Blair there) and did. The problem is mostly that it's too expensive because of the shrinking dollar, which is the thing that makes it hard to travel.

Check this out: Brokeback Economy

http://img49.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brokebackeconomy1fr.gif

"A wise Tory and a wise Whig, will, I believe, agree. Their principles are the same, though their modes of thinking are different. A high Tory makes government unintelligible; it is lost in the clouds. A violent Whig makes it impracticable: he is for allowing so much liberty to every man, that there is not power enough to govern any man. The prejudice of the Tory is for establishment; the prejudice of the Whig is for innovation."
-- Samuel Johnson (1826)

the less things change the more they stay insane,
Otter

Otter!
Excellent - & the 2 parties have switched places over the years. My son was explaining it to me.
The Republicans were originally the cool guys, I guess.

Back to reality .. 4 US troops killed in Afghan Blast

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-02-13-afghan-blast_x.htm

There was a good bio piece on Patrick Fitzgerald in yesterday's Sunday Observer -- well worth the read, especially in re his earlier Pre-Shrubya background & activities:

===============

[snip]

Few Chicagoans would recognise Patrick Fitzgerald on his jogs. The same cannot be said of some of the most powerful, the most violent and the most deadly people in the world. To them, he is clearly a dangerous man. For Fitzgerald has carved out a career in American law enforcement that has earned him the nickname 'The Untouchable', after the legendary Chicago lawman Eliot Ness. It is a good comparison -- like Ness, Fitzgerald is ruthless and unrelenting. But unlike Ness, who put Al Capone behind bars, Fitzgerald's enemies go far beyond Chicago gangsters. They stretch from the caves of Afghanistan to the corridors of the White House. They include the Gambino mob family; the blind sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who masterminded the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993; Osama bin Laden, and a generation of Chicago politicians, bloated on a culture of corruption that Fitzgerald is seeking to eradicate.

Now, they also include the Bush administration, for Fitzgerald is the man investigating 'Plamegate'. In his hands an obscure investigation into the public unmasking of CIA agent Valerie Plame has become the most far-reaching political scandal since Whitewater, perhaps even Watergate. It was the ticking time bomb under George W. Bush that blew up last October, when top White House official Lewis 'Scooter' Libby was indicted on perjury charges.

Plamegate was not really about who leaked what and when; it was about the war in Iraq. It was about how mythical weapons of mass destruction led to the bloody loss of tens of thousands of Iraqi lives and the death of more than 2,000 US soldiers. It was about a political spin machine that brooked no criticism and smeared its critics in the rush to war.

Now, after two years of probing, even grilling Bush in the Oval Office, the Untouchable has achieved what the Democratic party could not: a direct hit against the White House. And it is not over yet. Libby's trial is yet to come; the investigation is ongoing. Other high-ranking officials might yet be charged.

[snip]

Full article here: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1707291,00.html

===============

your W decal won't keep you out of prison any more,
Otter

ralph,

If Schwartz replies to you with a "I'm working to protect the integrity of the gov't and I'm with you on this..." then I'll be amazed.

But knowing how Schwartz's office works, expect to see a form letter in the mail about 3 months from now thanking you for your interests and telling you that he votes with his heart...

ralph,

If Schwartz replies to you with a "I'm working to protect the integrity of the gov't and I'm with you on this..." then I'll be amazed.

But knowing how Schwartz's office works, expect to see a form letter in the mail about 3 months from now thanking you for your interests and telling you that he votes with his heart...

Posted by: suz at February 13, 2006 01:32 PM

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

I don't expect much of a response - it is just a shot across the bow. I think I will send a copy of the letter to REps. Kildee, Dingell, Levin and Stupak - to give them a little encouragement.

BTW we now have FOUR DEMOCRATS running in the 7th Congressional:

Daryl Campbell (D) - Police Officer

Chuck Ream (D) - Scio Township Trustee, Retired Teacher & Medical Marijuana Activist

Sharon Renier (D) - Paralegal, Organic Farmer, '04 Nominee & '02 State Rep. Candidate

Fred Strack (D) - Auto Industry Executive & Navy Veteran

Every Dem insider says that this district is not winnable by a Democrat... go figure

Posted by: Otter at February 13, 2006 01:12 PM

Excellent article, Otter. Thanks for posting it and the link.

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Polly. We sure need them.

Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
Today's Press Briefing with White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has concluded. Video from the Press Briefing will be available on the web site shortly.

Ok, so where is it - I've been waiting 3 hours.
Nedra Pickler of AP says Bush knew about Cheney incident Saturday night but McClellan didn't.

A Shout-out for this organization

http://www.complacent.org/sedition.html

culture jammers using art & action - be sure to run your mouse
over the squares

overwhelming selection today but highly recommended - note the 2nd entry

Marjorie Cohn | Spinning Fear
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306J.shtml
Marjorie Cohn writes: CBS newscaster Edward R. Murrow was one of the few journalists who had the courage to stand up to the fear-mongering and bring the truth to the American people. Describing the omnipresent fear that the government was fostering, Murrow told his colleagues, "The terror's in the room." It's dejá vu with the Bush administration ensuring that terror is always in the room.

Thousands Would Die in US Strikes on Iran, Says Study
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306K.shtml
A surprise American or Israeli air strike on Iranian nuclear sites could cause a large number of civilian as well as military casualties, says a report published today.

Dean: Cheney Should Resign If He Authorized Leak
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306L.shtml
Howard Dean, the Democratic Party chairman, said Sunday that Vice President Dick Cheney would need to resign if he had ordered a leak that resulted in the public exposure of an undercover CIA officer.

Innocent, but in Limbo at Guantanamo
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306M.shtml
Five Muslim detainees from China's western Xinjiang province are stranded in a legal no man's land at the US terrorism prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. They shouldn't be there.

Political Heat Rising over Disasters
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306N.shtml
President Bush faces increasing pressure to prove that he is on top of his game as the nation's protector in chief, against both terrorists and natural disasters, and that his party can continue to outshine the Democrats on the central issue of homeland security.

Allegations Cloud Haitian Vote Count
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306O.shtml
The slow pace of counting ballots has tipped what was seen as Haiti's most successful election ever - a huge, peaceful turnout of voters despite a chaotic start to balloting - into another volatile crisis.

Nick Turse | The Bureaucracy Strikes Back: Fallen Legion 3
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306P.shtml
Nick Turse writes: In the first installment of this series, I offered 42 names to begin what now seems an endless - and ever-growing - list of top officials as well as beleaguered administrators, managers, and career civil servants who quit their government posts in protest or were ridiculed, defamed, threatened, fired, forced out, demoted, or driven to retire by Bush administration strong-arm tactics, cronyism, and disastrous policies.

Cheney Shoots Fellow Hunter in Mishap on a Texas Ranch
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306Q.shtml
Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a prominent Austin, Tex., lawyer on Saturday while the two men were quail hunting in South Texas, firing a shotgun at the man while trying to aim for a bird, a member of the hunting party said.

UN Report: US Is Torturing Prisoners
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306Z.shtml
A draft United Nations report on the detainees at Guantanamo Bay concludes that the US treatment of them violates their rights to physical and mental health and, in some cases, constitutes torture.

UN Report: US Is Torturing Prisoners
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306Z.shtml
A draft United Nations report on the detainees at Guantanamo Bay concludes that the US treatment of them violates their rights to physical and mental health and, in some cases, constitutes torture.
Posted by: DiAnne at February 13, 2006 04:16 PM

The details known (and many aren't because of administration secrecy and denying monitors access to prisoners) made me physically ill to read about. It is my hope that the rest of the world will very publicly and loudly and universally condemn Bu$hCo's authorization of torture and prison camps - and that the rest of the world will be able to shut them down and accomplish what American citizens can not because of the dictatorship now installed in DC (writing to my legislators has not helped)... and shame on both the Dem and Repuke legislators - and Lamestream Media! - for their silent complicity in allowing Bu$hCo free reign to build camps and illegally detain people while depriving them of their civil rights!!! Shame on them, shame on them, shame on them!!! They (Bu$hCo) are the ones responsible for authorizing the torture and the building of the camps, which does NOT reflect any of the moral and ethical values of the majority of Americans who are horrified by Bu$hCo's actions.

CHENEY HIDES BEHIND MRS. ARMSTRONG'S SKIRT

During Scotty McClellan's press briefing about the Cheney hunting accident, McClellan said that the Vice President decided that Mrs. Armstrong (a land-owner in Texas) should be the one to tell the world about Cheney's accident. Cheney, apparently, spoke with Mrs. Armstrong and agreed that she should contact the local Corpus Christi press. It would appear that Mr. Cheney is lying very low.

It was not clear who, presisely, contacted the White House about the accident or when Bush was notified. On this point, McClellan was as vague and waffling as humanly possible for a presidential press secretary. Scotty keep telling the press corps that "details kept trickling in" over the night about the shooting - as if it were an extremely complicated and fluid story. McClellan also vaguely added that a "team" was "on the ground" gathering the facts about the accident. It would seem that the simplist, easiest and best way to notify the White House would be for Cheney to call Bush.

The press asked about whether Cheney actually had a valid hunting license or had taken a gun safety course. The local police were going to interview Cheney about the accident but apparently (again) were prevented by the Secret Service.

osted by: ralpheh at February 13, 2006 01:39 PM

Why not?

Do they have a reason or is it just melodramatic b.s?

Ray McGovern | Who Will Blow the Whistle Before We Attack Iran?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306A.shtml
With no perceptible demurral from inside the government, George W. Bush launched a war of aggression, defined by the Nuremberg Tribunal as "the supreme international crime." If this doesn‚t qualify for whistle blowing, what does? Let us hope that administration officials, or analysts ˜ or both ˜ will find the courage to speak out loudly, and early enough to prevent the "disconnected-from-reality" cabal in the Bush administration from getting us into an unnecessary war with Iran, writes Ray McGovern.

Bush Spent Over $1.6 Billion on Advertising and Public Relations Contracts
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306B.shtml
Today Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Representative George Miller, Representative Elijah E. Cummings, and other senior Democrats released a new Government Accountability Office report finding that the Bush Administration spent more than $1.6 billion in public relations and media contracts in a two and a half year span.

GOP Panel Blasts Bush on Katrina Response
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306C.shtml
House Republicans plan to issue a blistering report on Wednesday that says the Bush administration delayed the evacuation of thousands of New Orleans residents by failing to act quickly on early reports that the levees had broken during Hurricane Katrina.

Michael Hirsh | Where's the Oversight?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306D.shtml
The untold tale of the latest Pentagon budget is the wastage and overpricing that continue to lard it up to the tune of perhaps $100 billion ˜ with Congress scarcely paying attention remarks Michael Hirsh.

The New York Times | The Trust Gap
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306E.shtml
We can't think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers ˜ and just trust him. We also can't think of a president who has deserved that trust less, writes The New York Times.

Into the Valley of Death: UK Troops Head into Afghan War Zone
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306F.shtml
With the Army in a new abuse scandal and no exit strategy from Iraq in sight, UK troops head into another war zone: Afghanistan.

Iraqi Shiites Nominate Jafari for Top Position
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306G.shtml
Ibrahim Jafari, the soft-spoken Shiite Muslim doctor and Iraq's current interim leader, won his coalition's nomination for the post of prime minister by a single vote Sunday, putting him on course to head the country's first full-term government since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

This America Where People Burn Churches
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306H.shtml
Ten Baptist churches were burned down in a single week in the rural area around Tuscaloosa. French reporter Philippe Gelie tries to find out why.

I think I forgot something:

"911, What is your emergency?"
"Hello, Dick here, I just shot a man, I think he's dead!"
"Dead! What happened"
"Well we were quail hunting, I followed a bird and shot and he kind of came from behind. Anyway I think he's dead, what should I do?"
"Ok, are you sure..., I mean. first thing to do is to make sure he really is dead."
"Ok, wait a minute..."
"Sir, are you there ..."
Pang!!!
"Ok, now what?"

Duck Cheney (Guardian Blog Blogs the Blogs)
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2006/02/13/duck_cheney.html

Surgeon tells what happens after facial trauma
from shotgun pellets, typically
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/13/144435/044

the story was on p. 2 of our paper but it ain't over

From the Mortal Jivester, a new song:

~snip~

The last time I shot you
Man, that was the best
I wore my favorite glasses
You wore that orange vest
I saw the birds in heaven
I turned and fired away
Tears corrupt the night time
I laugh the day away

~snip~

http://www.correntewire.com/cheneys_gunplay_an_instant_legend_blam_blam

Here is the McClellan press briefing:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060213-4.html

My concern is not whether this was a major or minor story or getting too much or too little coverage or even where it falls in the great scheme of things.

To me, this is just another illustration of the administration's constant attempt to keep things from us that we have a right to know and even pay for with our tax money - are we going to war? why? with whom? why did 9/11 happen? are we spied on? are there warrants? how are our officials conducting themselves?

If Clinton has to open up about his sex life, what's wrong with Cheney having to open up about his hunting life?

Posted by: DiAnne at February 13, 2006 12:24 PM

Love the poster... thank you (especially the Gannon part).

UN Report: US Is Torturing Prisoners
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306Z.shtml
A draft United Nations report on the detainees at Guantanamo Bay concludes that the US treatment of them violates their rights to physical and mental health and, in some cases, constitutes torture.

Posted by: DiAnne at February 13, 2006 04:16 PM

Just got a glimpse of today's Los Angeles Times (one of the Lamestream Media), and even they are carrying this article on the front page.

Into the Valley of Death: UK Troops Head into Afghan War Zone
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306F.shtml
With the Army in a new abuse scandal and no exit strategy from Iraq in sight, UK troops head into another war zone: Afghanistan.
{{{Dang. I should never ask stupid questions. The answers always come. I wondered how the US could invade Iran since the US military is already over-extended. A new group of Brits (also over-extended with their military) is going to Afghanistan. This article doesn't say so ('cuz it's from a Brit press), but I get the feeling that the current US troops will be 'downsized' in Afghanistan, and 'redeployed' to Iran (if no one stops the Idiot-in-Chief from invading Iran).}}}

Posted by: nmvp at February 13, 2006 05:36 PM

Bush Spent Over $1.6 Billion on Advertising and Public Relations Contracts
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306B.shtml
{{{This info represents only what is known about, per the last paragraph.}}}

The New York Times | The Trust Gap
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306E.shtml
{{{NYTimes has a credibility gap and a trust gap of their own to overcome. This 'feels like' token anti-Bu$h rhetoric, but it's still nice to see in print.}}}

Ray McGovern | Who Will Blow the Whistle Before We Attack Iran?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306A.shtml

{{{Okay.... I have this daydream.... that the government employees (earning salaries paid for with US tax dollars) will rise up and start talking about the oversights and abuses, and the false propaganda from the WH, and that their evidence will be so overwhelming that no one can dispute the amount of evidence that says what we know: that The Cretin and Vice Cretin and their Criminal Cabal are a bunch of LYING crooks.... Such a pretty little daydream....}}}

osted by: ralpheh at February 13, 2006 01:39 PM

Why not?

Do they have a reason or is it just melodramatic b.s?

Posted by: sparrow at February 13, 2006 05:29 PM

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

I would call it Bushie Unitary Executive Paranoia. THE BUSHIES DON'T LIKE TO TELL THE PRESS OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ANTHING - NOT ABOUT WMD, OR THE WAR, OR THE BUDGET, OR INTELL, OR NSA WIRETAPPING, OR WHO LEAKED PLAME'S NAME OR WHETHER AND HOW OFTEN BUSH MET WITH FELON ABRAMOFF (RIGHT NOW THE BUSHIES A BUSY FINGING AND DELETING ALL PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF ABRAMOFF MEETING WITH BUSH) OR WHO DID WHAT AND WHEN ETC....

It is just like the Nixon administration.

Cleveland news is reporting that Paul Hackett has withdrawn from the Ohio senate race to clear the way for Sherrod Brown. He was urged by national Dem. leaders to withdraw from the race and take a second shot at winning the Ohio 2nd Congressional district which he narrowly lost to Jean Schmidt in August. Chances of winning the congressional district are slim without Hackett.

Why not?

Do they have a reason or is it just melodramatic b.s?

Posted by: sparrow at February 13, 2006 05:29 PM

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

No, the press finally came alive on this story - I think they smelled the fishyness and the vagueness and inappropriateness of Mrs. Armstrong giving an account of what had happened (hey, what about the third hunter - perhaps he even had a better view of the accident the Mrs. Armstrong did).

The press asked a pretty good hypothetical of Scotty - What would have happened had the man been fatally shot instead of just wounded? Would the details have "trickled out" Sunday morning? 15 hours after the fact?

Ralpheh

Reporters get sick of this runaround. It's insulting.

Q Scott, there's a report coming out of a Sheriff's deputy there who said that he was prevented from interviewing the Vice President by the Secret Service. Do you know anything about that? And is that appropriate?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I don't know anything about that. You ought to direct that to the Secret Service. My understanding was that Secret Service took the appropriate steps to inform law enforcement. But, again, check with Secret Service.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2006/02/13/duck_cheney.html
Posted by: nmvp at February 13, 2006 05:40 PM

(1) Don't read the comments while drinking coffee or eating food. You'll splutter all over your computer monitor and have to clean it up. (i.e. Don't do what I did!) Funny, funny comments!!!

(2) Well, it was funny until I came to this entry in the comments section [edited to pertinent sentences here]: Cheney....the man described by former President Ford aide, Robert Hartmann, as being to the right of Genghis Khan. The man who, when he headed the Department of Defense,gave a Halliburton subsidiary nearly nine million dollars in 1992 to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of privatizing military operations in hot spots around the world, then promptly went to work as their CEO, when Ford was not re-elected." [Bloggers name was Loretta, posted at 9:22]

DoD > Halliburton, 1992 [after the first Gulf War] > Nine million dollars... analyze the strengths and weaknesses of privatizing military operations....

Ka-Ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.... Dots connected for the reason why DynCorp & KBR, both Halliburton subsidiaries, came into existence, and why they play such a prominent role providing mercenaries in Iraq....

Mercenaries whose salaries are paid for with US tax dollars. No oaths of loyalty to the Constitution... their only loyalty is to the corporations (heads of corporations)....

No, the press finally came alive on this story - I think they smelled the fishyness and the vagueness and inappropriateness of Mrs. Armstrong giving an account of what had happened (hey, what about the third hunter - perhaps he even had a better view of the accident the Mrs. Armstrong did).

Posted by: ralpheh at February 13, 2006 06:23 PM

Per TalkLeft (& Raw Story)...
The four in the hunting party were: Cheney, Whittington, the divorced Katharine Armstrong and as Raw Story wrote earlier, Pamela Willeford, the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland.

Before you say it's sleazy to ask this, think about what the press would be reporting if it were John Kerry instead of Dick Cheney.

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/014016.html

What bothers me the most about this whole thing is how it has been handled by the WH... I hope like hell that something like this will be the tipping point for some people. As trivial an incident as it may seem to some, there's a 78 year old man in the hospital in ICU because of the VP's desire to shoot birds...

Every Dem insider says that this district is not winnable by a Democrat... go figure

Posted by: ralpheh at February 13, 2006 01:39 PM

Ralph,

I'm sorry, I didn't post clear enough. I meant why are the dem insiders saying this?

Cheney and Bush are very happy about this shooting as Cheney can't go to jail for this one,however he could be put away for years with telling Scooter to go after Wilson. The news is all over the damned shooting,but that's not the story !!

And BTW, David Gregory is quickly becoming one of my favorite journalists.

Posted by: Patti F. at February 13, 2006 07:30 PM

You're right. The shooting incident isn't punishable by jail. But I believe this incident will resonate with more people than the Valerie Plame case. Hence, the tipping point...

I just watched the press conference here:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/02/13.html#a7142

What a farce. Scotty trying to tell us that "all the details" filtered in through the night, so they couldn't tell anyone about the shooting for....15 hours? What a load of crap.

The shooting incident right now on Countdown with Keith Olberman. MSNBC,

"tipping point"???,I doubt it. Nothing less than a haliburton bulldozer can take down these thiefs and cheats.
My guess is the reps are waiting it out to distance from B/C and George Allen so far fits their bill. He's getting "press" and a lot of of it from MSM.
I've just had my 3rd letter fromn Bill this week for Hillary,and I'm not giving them a damned dime.

Frist plans June vote on gay marriage
Aides say election-year push for constitutional ban likely to fail

From Ed Henry
CNN

Monday, February 13, 2006; Posted: 7:17 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday he plans a vote in early June on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, a move likely to fail but sure to spark a fiery election-year debate.

Frist, a Tennessee Republican, told CNN he's planning the vote for the week of June 5 because he wants to deal with the issue "as early as possible" before the Senate calendar fills up in a busy election year.

Frist said he doesn't know how many votes the ban will receive, but Republican and Democratic aides privately acknowledged the vote will probably fall far short of the 67-vote supermajority needed to advance a constitutional amendment.

When the Senate last voted on the issue in July 2004, a procedural motion to consider the ban received 48 votes -- well short of the number needed to send it on to the House of Representatives and then to all 50 states for ratification.

A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, charged that Frist is wasting valuable time on the Senate floor in order to rally conservative voters in the midterm elections.

"At a time when we have so many other pressing issues facing the country, I'm not sure where this falls in the list of priorities," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley. (ironic name btw)...

more... http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/13/gay.marriage/index.html

Transcript from the WH press briefing today...See Scotty try to dodge bullets...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060213-4.html

Oh, my. Alice, we've finally toppled all the way through the looking glass.

Was I watching 'The Daily Show' or 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' just now? Jeez. It was so hard to tell. I had to look down at the channel setting, just to be sure.

Nope. There we were on MSNBC, not the Comedy Channel... and there was Dana Milbank, not Robb Corddry, reporting in from Washington wearing a bright-orange hunter's vest and hat combo, ostensibly because he was reporting from near the vice-president's office and as he said, "well, you can never be too careful..."

And there, right at the bottom of the screen, as Keith Olbermann reported on the unexpected but not entirely inappropriate media kerfluffle over the White House's apparently having hushed up the vice-presidential gun-oops moment for nearly 24 hours -- which actually does make one go "hmmm... whyzat?" -- was the enviable, unbeatable segment headline:

"Cheney's Got A Gun"

Yowzers. Even the background image behind Milbank during his remote was strongly reminiscent of that used for Jon Stewart's so-called "fake news" remote report segments.

Accidental coincidence? Deliberate homage? You take the shot... er, I mean, you make the call...

the shining surreality quotient of this whole bizarre scenario is enough to totally croggle one's widdle haid,
Otter

REINING IN THE PRESIDENT
Brendan Smith, Jeremy Brecher, TheNation.com
Members of Congress -- on both sides of the aisle -- are working to limit Bush's exercise of executive power are gaining momentum.
http://www.alternet.org/story/32168/

PERMANENT ENERGY CRISIS
Michael Klare, Tomdispatch.com
There are many reasons to believe that, unlike the gas and electricity crises of the 70s, 80s and 90s, the energy troubles we now face will last for decades.
http://www.alternet.org/story/32077/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Posted by: Carol at February 13, 2006 08:06 PM

I think I agree with some of the blog comments I've seen on the Cheney shooting incident: the story is not in the shooting incident itself (since it seems the guy will pull through, even if some think that because the fellow is still in ICU it indicates the wounds were more serious than superficial), but in the excessive amount of time it took for the press (thus the American people) to be notified. Unless Bubble Boy is in such an insulated space that not even the VP has his nonpublished phone number, that should have been the first call placed (if Chinkster was sober enough to do so). It smells of a cover-up for some reason... and indicates the lengths to which this administration will go to avoid adverse publicity, since they always control the content of their propaganda, and they control when that propaganda reaches the media. Someone else pointed out it was two old men out hunting with two women (none married to each other), and one of the women owned the property where they were hunting. Perhaps the spouses needed to be prepared for the publicity, too.... (Yes, I know. Eeeoowwww!) The "story" is in the cover-up and the delay in media attention, not what led up to the shooting itself....

Still, the blogger comments about the story are hysterically funny! :-)

http://www.opensecrets.org info on Ambassador Pamela Willeford, hunting with Cheney

SWITZERLAND
Pamela Willeford
$23,200 to the GOP

Texas education official Pamela Willeford received one of the world’s most coveted diplomatic posts when President Bush nominated her to serve as ambassador to Switzerland in July 2003.

The posting to Bern was not the first honor Willeford had received from Bush. In 1995 then-Governor Bush appointed her to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and two years later he elevated her to chairwoman. Willeford also serves as president of the Breckenridge-based Pico Drilling Co.

Willeford and her immediate family contributed a total of $23,200 to Republicans during the 2000, 2002 and 2004 election cycles, including $7,000 to the Bush campaigns and an additional $500 to the Bush-Cheney recount fund established after the 2000 election.
(edited, and credit due to the Center for Responsive Politics)

Flashback: Cheney hushing up and being secreted away from the customary local law enforcement personnel until the proper cover story could be concocted...

Flashback: A certain young lady and a certain car and a certain bridge and a certain auto accident in Chappaquiddick, lo those many years ago...

Foreflash: There Be Dragons... Danger, Will Robinson...

[And an extra bonus backflash, for those pop-culturally-challenged enough to have not grokked Olbermann's headline reference earlier this evening:

"Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Because Janie's got a gun"

(From Aerosmith's so-last-century breakthru comeback album, ironically enough entitled 'Pump')

shoot first duck questions later,
Otter

FWIW... it's now official...

... Five-time-draft-dodger Dick "I had other priorities in the 1960's" Cheney has now been put on the public record as having shot more people right here at home in America than the similarly-privileged "rich kid" soldier/journalist Al Gore that Cheney so scathingly reviled back in 2000 did during his entirely honorable period of service in Vietnam.

you decide what's relevant about that particular factoid,
Otter

Don't discount the significance of the seemingly-trivial when it comes to the final tipping point. One never knows what will turn out to be the critical element. Remember, it only took one tiny little extra straw to finally break the elephant's, er, I mean the camel's back.

who did they shoot and when did they shoot them,
Otter

I don't think the press appreciate being gone around. I hope there will now be more honest
journalists than just Helen Thomas.

Conservative group that monitors the media for "liberal bias" is having a cow because the Cheney hunt story got much coverage:

http://newsbusters.org/node/4022

EXCLUSIVE: CLINT CURTIS EYEING RUN FOR CONGRESS AGAINST TOM FEENEY!

Whistleblowing Computer Programmer Seeking to Challenge GOP Congressman Charged With Asking Him to Create Vote-Rigging Software!

The BRAD BLOG can now reveal that computer programmer turned electronic vote-rigging software whistleblower Clint Curtis is officially planning a run for the U.S. Congressional seat in Florida's 24th District. The 24th Congressional District seat is currently occupied by Rep. Tom Feeney, the very man who Curtis has alleged once asked him to create a vote-rigging software prototype program back when both men worked for the software firm Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) in Oviedo, Florida. Curtis' startling allegations that then-State Senator Feeney had sought to have such a program built was first broken nationally by The BRAD BLOG in a story based on his sworn affidavit [PDF] which "rocked the vote from Tallahassee to Capitol Hill" when it was originally published in early December of 2004. Indeed, it was so popular that it took down our blog entirely for four straight days. Since filing his original allegations, Curtis has given stunning sworn, video-taped testimony about the matter to members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in a public hearing, and later, successfully passed a polygraph test in regard to the charges.

Feeney, who was once Jeb Bush's running-mate during his first ill-fated run for Governor in 1994, was also the Speaker of the Florida Legislature who infamously promised to award Florida's electoral votes to George W. Bush during the 2000 Election Debacle -- no matter what the state Supreme Court would ultimately decide about the matter. He later went on to run for the U.S. Congress in 2002 in Florida's conservative 24th District, which is said to have been carved out expressly by Feeney for himself during his time in the statehouse. Rep. Feeney now sits on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and continues to face charges of ethical transgressions concerning his conduct during his tenure as a U.S. Congressman where was recently reported to be Tom DeLay's #1 supporter. Said Feeney at a "Salute to Tom DeLay" last May, "Tom DeLay is the most effective leader the House has seen in 50 years."

And so the fight begins...

http://www.bradblog.com/

from Chatanooga Tennessee:

Cheney Is Trigger Happy

I think Vice President Dick Cheney should have his hunting privileges revoked for at least a year and ordered to attend a hunting safety class.

This should be true for any hunter who shoots a person. He could have killed his hunting companion or shot his eyes out.

As it was, he hit him in the face, neck and chest. Some of the wounds were so deep the doctors elected to leave the pellets in rather than dig them out.

The thing that makes it even worse is that Cheney is an experienced hunter but apparently has not yet learned even the basic fundamentals of gun safety, or has no use for them.

I think an intelligent person that has never even been quail hunting before would have the sense not to shoot until the bird was high enough in the air so that anyone on the ground within range would not be hit.

Obviously this great white hunter is not a safe hunter, but is a danger to anyone within the range of his shotgun.

And what about the White House spin that it was the victim’s fault for not announcing his presence, as if that takes Cheney off the hook and frees him from guilt?

I believe that Cheney is guilty of this same "trigger happy" behavior when it comes to foreign policy and following the rule of law. He’s reckless when it comes to the lives of others and thinks of himself and the president as being the law rather than followers of the law.

Also, I don’t like the idea that Cheney takes a medical team and an ambulance around with him on his hunting trips and other escapades at taxpayer expense.

He’s not a king or the Queen of Sheba. He should pay for that stuff himself and every last penny of his victim’s medical expenses.

Apparently he has sent a $7 check to cover the cost of an upland game bird stamp which he failed to have on his hunting license as the law required at the time of the shooting.

That seems like an inadequate price to pay for the reckless shooting of another human being and putting him in the hospital.

Every Dem insider says that this district is not winnable by a Democrat... go figure

Posted by: ralpheh at February 13, 2006 01:39 PM

Ralph,

I'm sorry, I didn't post clear enough. I meant why are the dem insiders saying this?

Posted by: sparrow at February 13, 2006 07:29 PM

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

In order to explain this defeatist attitude by the Dems, I have to tell you a little about the 7th Congressional district of Michigan - it is the Southern tier counties with the cities of Battle Creek, Albion, Jackson, Chelsea and part of Ann Arbor. Although much of the district is urban-blue collar-poor, or rural-blue collar-poor, with high unemployment and fairly large Afro-American and immigrant communities, the Dems have given up on the district.

I was told by two extremely clever and brilliant people from the Dem party state central committee THAT THE DISTRICT IS NOT WINNABLE - IMPOSSIBLE - REPUBLICANS HAVE A LOCK ON IT ETC.... I asked them, "Why bother to even run a Dem candidate then?" Why not just raise the white flag and say to the Repubs "here is your congressional seat, we give up" and give it to them on a silver platter.

Let me say something more about the Dumb and Lazy Unions in my district - much of their membership votes Republican and sometimes the union leadership even endorses Republican candidates and gives them money. The union bigshots NEVER attend a county Dem party meeting. I guess they have more important things to do.

Our state of Michigan is bleeding jobs to Mexico and China and people here will still vote Republican (Ford and GM just announced another big round of layoffs and cut-backs). To be frank about it, a big reason why we have a Dem Governor and TWO Dem Senators is our large African American population which votes 7 to 1 or 8 to 1 Democrat. But the Republicans have done such a good of redistricting in both the Congressional districts and the state districts that they control the state house, state senate and the Congressional delegation by 9 seats to 6.

Basic training in the Marine Corp would probably do him good.

Comment from my ailing mom, who's cognitive abilities vary from day to day:

"I wish he would have finished him off. It's HARD to get rid of those guys!"

Well, mom, I knew what you were trying to say! LOL!

"She said Cheney stayed "close but cool" while the agents and medical personnel treated Whittington, then took him away via ambulance to the hospital. Later, the hunting group sat down for dinner while Whittington was being treated, receiving updates from a family member at the hospital"

I thought this was a telling piece of the story...everyone sits down to a nice meal after shooting your buddy in the face.

The Compassion and Humanity is overflowing.

Mountain and Pacific time people:

I don't normally watch Letterman (and I don't get NBC, so can't watch Leno - don't like him anyway), but I knew the late-nite comics would have a field day with this Cheney shooting.

There's a redheaded announcer on Letterman (don't know his name) who did a schtick talking to Lynne Cheney about fifteen minutes into the show, and it's hysterically funny! ROTFLMAO! Plus there's another guy (Biff?) who runs around two or three times the first half hour shooting and stuffed (obviously fake) bodies falling from the ceiling, and the Top Ten all had to do with Cheney. I got the references on everything except the #1 reason which made no sense to me....

That idiot Regis Philbin - who makes just about as many grammatical and mispronunciation errors as the Idiot-in-Chief - was on after that, so I haven't been watching that part, but the first half hour is a riot. Catch it if you can....

Here is the story that is not getting the attention as Americans are distracted by Elmer Fudd's misadventures in Texas:

Report: Katrina response a 'failure of leadership'
Homeland Security secretary described as 'detached'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A congressional report to be released this week slams the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, calling it a "failure of leadership" that left people stranded when they were most in need.

"Our investigation revealed that Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare," the report said. "At every level -- individual, corporate, philanthropic and governmental -- we failed to meet the challenge that was Katrina. In this cautionary tale, all the little pigs built houses of straw."

CNN obtained advance excerpts from a draft of the lengthy report titled "Failure of Initiative," which gives 90 recommendations for changes in the wake of the Katrina disaster.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/13/katrina.congress/index.html

I suspect that the White House wants us to keep talking about Cheney as much as we possibly can.

nolies32fouettes wrote a peice about Cheney for her blog. Here's a link:
http://www.progressiveu.org/160000-cheneys-hunting-accident-a-convenient-distraction-from-other-crimes-and-scandals

Seems she's gotten some right-winger commenters over there.

ralph,
yes, Shwatz is proud of the support from the unions.

BUT which of those dems have a record that's viable to you? Do you have to live in that district to run?

Well, I think the talking about Cheney (hunting) and his misadventures with Halliburton, Katrina, and everything since his days with Nixon - are all one ball of wax, so it's all good. Anything that gets people thinking ..

Strange weather here .. someone sent me a long article about a professor (lifelong Republican) in, of all places, Utah - who presented a 9-11 conspiracy-sounding talk to a packed auditorium of breathless listeners. As I was reading, the sky filled with thunder, lightning, hard hail and horrific wind. Within about 5 minutes, we had gone from calm, still and green grass to white all over the yards, sidewalks, cars. It was very surreal.

This reminds me of the Vietnam era. Things were so strange that we took drugs to make it seem more normal. We don't need that again.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060214/ap_on_go_pr_wh/rove_abramoff
Abramoff Said to Claim Close Ties to Rove

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060214/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_hunting_accident
Cheney Apparently Breaks Key Hunting Rule
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney apparently broke the No. 1 rule of hunting: Be sure of what you're shooting at. He also violated Texas game law by failing to buy a hunting stamp.

US Group Implants Electronic Tags in Workers
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0213-07.htm
{{{Creepy....}}}}

Bush-Bashing on the Rise within GOP
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0213-06.htm
{{{I'll take the good news where I can find it... but I also know that this is temporary, and that if/when another disaster happens that the neoCons will go right back into lock-step goose-step formation with the party, 'cuz their loyalties lie with the party and to the so-called 'leaders' of their party, and not to this country or its Constitution.}}}

Posted by: oncall at February 14, 2006 12:21 AM

It's kinda hard to know which crimes to focus on as the most important things to talk about nowadays. Sometimes one is just as important as three others. There are so MANY crimes that have happened since the installation of the Resident in 2000 that one needs a diagram on a flow chart the size of half a mountain to see how they affect people, and directional arrows that show how the people involved are all tied together in one huge venomous arachnid's web....

As long as people keep talking about the crimes of this administration (any and all of them committed by the various people who all seem to be connected together since the Nixon era forward to the present), instead of Lamestream Media ignoring or glossing over the crimes and the people who have committed them, it will serve to remind people how badly - and how often - this country was LIED to since 2000.

The Cheney thing wasn't mentioned on the local noon news today until eight minutes into the broadcast, just before the first commercial. I didn't watch any evening news, except for some of the 10 pm news on the local CBS affiliate. As I said before about the Cheney thing, the 'story' isn't in the offense (since the person shot didn't die), but the cover-up, and the cover-up indicates the standard operating procedure used for other things more serious that have killed tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people. It speaks to modus operandi across the board.

So, I'll take any talk of any neoCon crimes and cover-ups as a 'good' thing for the American people as a whole. Talk of one crime leads to talk of two or five or ten other crimes, in a kind of snowball effect.... Katrina; illegal wiretaps & spying; Iraq; torture & detention camps & renditions; over-extended military; more war talk about invading Iran; voting reform & rigged elections; Abramoff; Plamegate; (pick a topic for anything the administration does not want us to talk about).... they really all deserve daily headlines on page one. If I were an editor devoted to telling the truth I wouldn't know which one to pick to put as the top headline of the day.

And isn't talk of any crimes and cover-ups committed by this administration better than the pall of silence - or worse, war propaganda talk that's made to seem a good thing - that's held sway in Lamestream Media for five long years? Better that than to be distracted by the talk of the latest reality show personalities or celebrity make-ups and break-ups....

As long as people are talking about neoCon crimes and cover-ups, maybe they will be more willing to listen to Dems in the run-up to this fall's election.....

February 13, 2006 -- Click here to read a letter from the parents of wrongfully-convicted former NSA intern-analyst Kenneth Ford, the author of a signals intelligence report that questioned Iraqi nuclear WMD components, which ultimately brought down the wrath of the neo-con apparatus in the Bush administration.

This editor will be present at the March 1 sentencing at the US District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland in a show of support for Ken Ford and his parents. How many among the whistleblower community, civil and human rights communities, Congressional Black Caucus, antiwar movement, Democratic Party, and intelligence agency and military veterans will join me there to support an individual who faces up to 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for telling the truth about WMDs in Iraq?

Ken Ford Jr., was a uniformed member of the U.S. Secret Service who worked in the Clinton White House. He was trained to take a bullet for President Clinton or the First Lady. Will either President Clinton or Senator Clinton be present in Greenbelt in gratitude and in solidarity?

How many will stand idly by as this administration brings back virtual "lynching" of an innocent black man who was merely trying to do his job and was set up by a Federal prosecutor lickspittle for the White House who has a not-so-hidden neocon agenda?

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

Five Agencies Review Libby Case Evidence

By TONI LOCY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Feb 13, 5:03 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Five government agencies are reviewing classified evidence that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby may want to use at his trial to fight perjury and obstruction-of-justice charges, according to a court transcript made public Monday.

During a Feb. 3 hearing, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald told a federal judge that the review of classified materials is being done by the CIA, National Security Council, National Security Agency, State Department and several components within the White House, including the offices of the president and vice president.

The outcome of those reviews will determine whether the case against Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, gets bogged down in a legal battle pitting the government's desire to protect national security secrets against a defendant's right to a fair trial.

Libby, 55, was indicted late last year on charges that he lied about how he learned CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity and when he subsequently told reporters.

Plame's identity was published in July 2003 by columnist Robert Novak after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the administration of twisting intelligence about Iraq's efforts to buy uranium "yellowcake" in Niger. The year before, the CIA had sent Wilson to Niger to determine the accuracy of the uranium reports.

Libby's trial is set for January 2007.

The case against Libby is on two tracks — one public, one secret. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton and lawyers for both sides went into a secret session after a public hearing Feb. 3 to discuss classified evidence that could play a role in the case.

The 11-page transcript released Monday showed that the judge and lawyers didn't discuss anything in the secret session worth keeping from the public.

To speed up declassification of evidence, Walton asked Fitzgerald to ensure that the intelligence agencies send a representative to each court hearing to deal with issues as they come up.

Defense attorney John Cline and Fitzgerald also told the judge that they were working on an agreement that would allow Libby to help prosecutors translate about a hundred pages of his handwritten notes.

Fitzgerald said Libby's notes "by and large cover predominantly topics other than the issue of Mr. Wilson's wife."

Libby's handwriting is difficult to read, the lawyers said, and has slowed down the reviews by the intelligence agencies.

Under the agreement, the lawyers said, Libby would translate his scrawlings but would not be held responsible if he were to make a mistake.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060213/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/cia_leak

Popular Ohio Democrat(Paul Hackett) pulls out of race....-NYT
By IAN URBINA
Published: February 14, 2006
Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran and popular Democratic candidate in Ohio's closely watched Senate contest, said yesterday that he was dropping out of the race and leaving politics altogether as a result of pressure from party leaders.

Mr. Hackett said Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Harry Reid of Nevada, the same party leaders who he said persuaded him last August to enter the Senate race, had pushed him to step aside so that Representative Sherrod Brown, a longtime member of Congress, could take on Senator Mike DeWine, the Republican incumbent.

Mr. Hackett staged a surprisingly strong Congressional run last year in an overwhelmingly Republican district and gained national prominence for his scathing criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq War. It was his performance in the Congressional race that led party leaders to recruit him for the Senate race.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/politics/14ohio.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Cheney Team's Plame Leak Sabotaged America's Iran-Watching Intelligence Effort

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001246.php

Posted by: rossiann at February 14, 2006 06:10 AM

That's really too bad. Just received an email from him confirming that he is leaving politics altogether. He's not even going to run against Mean Jean again in the 2nd District in Ohio.