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And the Snowball Rolls Downhill
As AfterDowningStreet.org's David Swanson reports this morning:
Rep. Dennis Kucinich: "Impeachment May Well Be the Only Remedy"
Remarks on the floor of the U.S. House, March 15, 2007
www.kucinich.usThis House cannot avoid its Constitutionally authorized responsibility to restrain the abuse of Executive power.
The Administration has been preparing for an aggressive war against Iran. There is no solid, direct evidence that Iran has the intention of attacking the United States or its allies.
The US is a signatory to the UN Charter, a constituent treaty among the nations of the world. Article II, Section 4 of the UN Charter states, "all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. . ." Even the threat of a war of aggression is illegal.
Article VI of the US Constitution makes such treaties the Supreme Law of the Land. This Administration, has openly threatened aggression against Iran in violation of the US Constitution and the UN Charter.
This week the House Appropriations committee removed language from the Iraq war funding bill requiring the Administration, under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution, to seek permission before it launched an attack against Iran.
Since war with Iran is an option of this Administration and since such war is patently illegal, then impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran.
Democrats' Resolution on Iraq Reaches Senate Floor
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031507J.shtml
After weeks of delay, Democratic leaders yesterday managed to bring to the Senate floor for the first time a binding resolution that would bring US troops home from Iraq. But Republicans remained confident that they could kill the proposal and the White House threatened a veto, raising Constitutional concerns.
Excerpt:
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), who is seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, said the 2002 authorization is no longer relevant because it gave Bush the authority to destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and, if necessary, to depose Saddam Hussein - neither of which remains a matter of concern. "If you want to be literal about it, this mission no longer has the force of law," he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/14/biden-to-bush-youre-leading-us-off-a-cliff-stop/
Biden to Bush: “You’re leading us off a cliff. Stop!”
{Video of Biden's speech on the floor.}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Democrats are making sense, and getting some publicity - FINALLY!
I'm listening to the speeches on the Senate floor on C-SPAN-2 (online).
As you are all aware, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has -- according to government sources -- confessed to being the mastermind of the 9-11 attacks as well as the death of American journalist Daniel Pearl.
Interesting thing about the Daniel Pearl confession though...That just exposed this confession as a lie.
According to BBC, Pearl was murdered by Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, while tracking a money transfer from Pakistan (on the orders of then Pakistani General Mahmoud Ahmad to Dubai to September 11, 2001 lead hijacker Atta.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1804710.stm
Just more bush*t to divert our attention from what's really happening behind the curtain...
Posted by: madame defarge at March 15, 2007 02:56 PM
I am not surprised at all. Thanks for sharing the BBC link.
Posted by: dwahzon at March 15, 2007 03:09 PM
Nobody told me there was a test today... I didn't study...This better not count on my final grade...
I guess the terrorist guy is having his Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame. He has to compete with Angelina Jolie adopting a 4th baby. If a new video game is being released, he doesn't stand a chance of continuing media attention. All of it is treated on the same level by MSM.
Posted by: madame defarge at March 15, 2007 02:56 PM
B-a-a-ahhh, I'm stunned.
Woolworthless.
Posted by: dwahzon at March 15, 2007 03:09 PM
Nobody told me there was a test today... I didn't study...This better not count on my final grade...
Posted by: madame defarge at March 15, 2007 03:11 PM
Ah, so this was an eye test & I'm the only one who saw it... Does that mean I pass?
Does that mean I pass?
Posted by: madame defarge at March 15, 2007 03:26 PM
Yeah, pass it here.
LOL... damn - thought I'd be fast enough with that, that no one would see it. Obviously I wasn't.
In case everyone is wondering what that post at 3:09 pm said... all it said was... wait for it...
testing
Posted by: monkey at March 15, 2007 03:29 PM
Just for you...
A monkey is sitting in a tree smoking a joint when a lizard walks past and looks up and says to the monkey "Hey! What are you doing?" The monkey says "Smoking a joint, come up and have some."
So the lizard climbs up and sits next to the monkey and they have a few joints. After a while the lizard says his mouth is 'dry' and is going to get a drink from the river.
The lizard is so stoned that he leans too far over and falls into the river. A Crocodile sees this and swims over to the lizard and helps him to the side, then asks the lizard, "What's the matter with you?"
The lizard explains to the crocodile that he was sitting smoking a joint with the monkey in the tree, got too stoned and then fell into the river while taking a drink.
The crocodile says he has to check this out and walks into the jungle, finds the tree where the monkey is sitting, finishing a joint, and he looks up and says "Hey!" The Monkey looks down and says "Faaaaaaark maaan ... how much water did you drink?!!"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/15/152335/081
Please help
madame, too kind...
ah monkey, ya gotta love it
hit me, i'm open...
from the Guardian's blog
Juan Cole notes on his blog that KSM (the enemy combattant) has claimed the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as his idea, and as an al-Qaida operation. This must be very inconvenient for Paul Wolfowitz and other neocons because at the time they were in the business of blaming Iraq.
http://www.juancole.com/2007/03/4-us-troops-killed-9-wounded-1993-wtc.html
Please call Dennis Kucinich's office if you like what he said this morning. Tell him thank you and encourage him to keep going.
Input is critical on all of these issues. As I am talking with Tina Richards, it is clear we are not getting progressive messages inside at all.
Posted at 6:19 pm at http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/15/schumer-gonzales-2/
(complete with transcript and video clip):
---------------
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) held a press conference moments ago to react to new emails showing that Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales had a deeper role in the U.S. Attorney scandal than they originally acknowledged.
Schumer told reporters, “I know, from other sources, that there is an active and avid discussion in the White House whether [Gonzales] should stay or not,” adding that “the odds are very high that he will no longer be the attorney general.”
Schumer also revealed that the emails leaked today came from a disgruntled Bush administration official. “One of the reasons everything is getting out here is that there are people, particularly in the Justice Department, who have been so disgusted with what’s happening that information is getting out,” Schumer said. “And I think the White House and the Justice Department know it’s gonna get out whether they release it or not.”
--------------
BushCo's bridges falling down,
Otter
BushCo's bridges falling down,
Otter
Posted by: Otter at March 15, 2007 06:58 PM
please, God.
Snarky *and* true -- what's not to like?
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-colin0311.artmar11,0,1517703.column
Just saw a headline on yahoo to the effect that "officials suspect terrorist's claims.' I couldn't get through on the link.
Gee, I wonder if someone found the BBC headline about someone else murdering Daniel Pearl. BBC hadn't even found their own story, I believe, 'cuz they reported the story as the US propaganda had it earlier....
*Somone's* gonna have to rely on background facts dug up by bloggers... again....
*Snark*
Posted by: Otter at March 15, 2007 06:58 PM
BushCo's bridges falling down,
Otter
Posted by: karen at March 15, 2007 06:59 PM
Please, please, please, please, please....
Memo to Pelosi: Can we talk IMPEACHMENT NOW?!?
I just watched the Senate Judiciary Committee's business meeting. Leahy, Schumer and Feinstein all agreed to subpoena a bunch of people - and it will get ugly for the Bushies:
Called to testify will be -
Karl Rove
Harriet Meiers
William Kelley (top DOJ official)
Kyle Sampson (already resigned)
Michael Battle (top DOJ official)
Bill Moschella(sp) (DOJ official)
Scott Jenning (aide to Rove)
and others.....
.... and the band played on.....
Posted by: madame defarge at March 15, 2007 02:56 PM
Thanks for this md. I've sent it off to our Minister for Foreign Affairs who used the confession as truth positive that the Guantanamo trials are all above board and reliable.
Posted by: karen at March 15, 2007 04:47 PM
I doubt that I can help, karen. Who is that dreadful edrie person? Anyone can criticise. It takes a lot more energy and intelligence to provide positive suggestions.
Just an update; Lori Perdue is here--she was pushed down by the Capitol Police this morning (she was cooperating with them; this was uncalled for). Gael Murphy tried to intervene--she stood next to Lori while Lori was rubbing her twisted ankle, and then Gael was thrown to the ground, cuffed and arrested.
Lori is here, waiting for the video that was being shot at the time to be downloaded, and about to take a hot soak. Gael is being held overnight.
So it's nice the David Obey moved his supplemental along today. But Barbara Lee's amendment goes unconsidered, Gael Murphy sits in a jail cell, and Lori Perdue tends her aching muscles.
Hardly seems like a democracy, does it?
Richard reading out loud:
The Smokey the Bear Sutra
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bear.htm
reminding us about perspective and truth
Zool now reading Allen Ginsburg's AMERICA
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/america-3/
We are sitting here wondering what neocons do at night after dinner...
All the people arrested this morning have been released, except Gael. The attorney was held briefly too...
The video footage of the whole thing is almost ready to be shared.
frog march!
"There's never been in the entire history of the republic a six year period in which so much power has been concentrated in the hands of a few, and abused so much.
Al Gore
Barbara Cummings will be on Jon Elliott Show on Air America radio in a few minutes, talking about Lori and Gael's adventures this morning.
Impeachment may have to start at the city and state level, like the anti-war resolutions did. I am reading about various impeachment resolutions in Vermont, Washington state and New Mexico. I thought that New Hampshire, town hall meetings were calling for impeachment and the Illinois state legistature was using Jefferson's procedure on impeachment.
Posted by: Ralpheh at March 15, 2007 11:50 PM
I think New Hampshire voted on impeachment last fall. A town in Vermont just got done voting for impeachment (or they're going to vote on it soon; I forget which, but I read about it within the last couple of weeks). California cities voted for impeachment already, starting last fall. There have been several communities and a few states who have already voted for impeachment.
They just didn't get any publicity from Lamestream Media about it, so sheeple are totally unaware of it unless they live in one of the cities or states who have already voted for impeachment, or unless they read it on the internet - and, yes, they did use the Jeffersonian model for their 'grassroots' impeachment proceedings.
It's only Pelosi who "took impeachment off the books."
IMHO, Pelosi's constituents need to tell her that unless she puts impeachment back on the table that she will lose her senate seat in the future....
The function of the House, after all, is to represent "We The People...." And, as Molly Ivins said, 'we are the deciders.' It's the Senate that's supposed to do the debating and wrangling, but the House members serve 'at the pleasure of the people' (so to speak), and they are there to do what we tell them to do. The duties of each body is all spelled out in the Constitution.
Reps Lee, Waters, and Woolsey had a good bill to end that idiocy in Iraq and get the troops home by the end of this year that Pelosi is trying to water down and compromise out of existence - think the last I read a day or two ago that Pelosi talked them into compromising to spring '08, back from fall of '08....
I'm at a point that I don't care if the House and Senate are tied up with impeachment proceedings until Jan. 20 '09 (as long as they also stop the war, stop the torture and close Gitmo, and repeal those bad laws, especially MCA '06 and the Patriot Acts, etc.). The war crimes and other high crimes and misdemeanors committed by the administration are all documented and part of impeachment papers already written by Conyers.
Pelosi is the only one who is stalling....
Why?
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/15/sen-schumer-rove-clearly-involved-wh-statements-have-been-false-false-false/
Sen. Schumer: “Rove Clearly Involved, WH Statements Have Been False False False”
Video.... Go Chuckie!!!
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/15/colberts-w%c3%b8rd-on-gonzos-purge/
Colbert’s Wørd on Gonzo’s Purge
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/15/the-daily-show-blasts-gonzales-for-prosecutor-purge/
The Daily Show Blasts Gonzales for Prosecutor Purge
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2007/03/16/notes031607.DTL&nl=fix
Can George W. Bush Be Purged?
Mayan priests purified their sacred land after Shrub scurried off. Can we do the same?
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ME29Kcrm-jA
footage of Gael Murphy thrown to the ground at around 5:50.
I think that Barbara O'Brien at Mahablog sums the situation up pretty well.
218 votes
http://www.mahablog.com/2007/03/15/218-votes/
CNN QuickVote
Will the controversy over fired U.S. attorneys cost Attorney General Alberto Gonzales his job?
Yes 70% 20116 votes
No 30% 8732 votes
Total: 28848 votes
The One Turd Again
Valerie Plame will be her testimony in a few minutes. You can watch it on CSPAN on tv or here via streaming video.
http://www.c-span.org/watch/cspan_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS
TGIF with this great compilation of political cartoons that are appearing in newspapers all over the country on editorial pages...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x424291
Impeachment may have to start at the city and state level, like the anti-war resolutions did.
Posted by: Ralpheh at March 15, 2007 11:50 PM
I thought that for a long time.
Hmm. Have been watching Valerie Plame read her prepared statement in the Congressional hearings into the CIA leak case, am now watching her field questions. This is the first time I've been able to hear her speak or watch her body language. Despite the undeniable BF component (aka the Babe Factor, so sue me, I'm neither blind nor stupid), there is no question that anybody who had misunderestimated her as being just another pretty blonde in her previous line of work (which was, of course, part of her effectiveness) would have been sorely mistaken. I mean, ya know, like, Fawn Hall she ain't.
Between this and the attorney firings and the FBI over-reaching, all fingers are poking straight upstream thru the fragile DOJ/Gonzales cover and are pointing straight at Rove & ultimately Cheney. The tipping point is being irrevocably passed here. The PNAC neocons' house of cards is finally tumbling down around their ears.
The truth will out. It is inevitable and inexorable that these people are going to be pilloried in the public square. Even though it's taken too many years to get to this point, it's still not too late for the rule of law to triumph and the the secret shadow government of Cheney et al to be publicly dismantled in the glaring light of history.
Those bam dastards are going to keep going down in flames over the next couple or three months. And that is as it should be. These arrogant lying greedheads have earned every bit of their come-uppance. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys. So at the risk of sounding a wee bit too schadenfreudical about it...
Neener, neener, neener, neener, neener.
investigate, indict, impeach, imprison,
Otter
Glancing at news before I start work and Rove is starting to eclipse the terrorist for coverage - their distraction didn't work for long.
frog march!!
Posted by: Otter at March 16, 2007 10:55 AM
Couldn't have said it better myself. She is very impressive, respectful, & thoughtful with her responses.
(Rep. Davis from VA is a jerk. Pass it on.)
Wish you could see Richard sitting here and holding the laptop up to his ear and grinning like a cat with a canary in its teeth.
Valerie Plame is an incredibly powerful witness. Diane Watson--go! go! go!
otter--yes, you read body language accurately!! Good work!
frog march!!
Posted by: not my president at March 16, 2007 10:55 AM
When a problem comes along.
You must ribbit.
Before the cream sits out too long.
You must ribbit.
When something's going wrong.
You must ribbit.
Ribbit good.
I'll bet a nickel the jurors in the Libby trial aren't the slightest bit suprised by the revelations of the last few days re: Rove et al and the lawyer attorney purge.
monkey:
Ribbit, rubbit, whatever works.
just so you whip it, into shape,
Otter
Rumsfeld Hospitalized for Heart Treatment
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was admitted to Washington Hospital Center for a heart procedure, although was released from the hospital earlier today.
--snip--
A source tells The Crypt that the 74-year-old Rumsfeld was held overnight in a VIP section of the hospital, and that he underwent a heart procedure while there.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0307/Rumsfeld_Hospitalized_for_Heart_Treatment.html
Um, wasn't Walter Reed good enough for him?
Well, technically speaking, he's not a veteran.
Update on Plame hearing
Rep. Davis is still a jerk. And he dresses badly.
He's whining about not getting a requisite three days' notice about Knodell (WH Office of Security Director); Waxman answered that the information on Knodell's appearance was available for a week.
And, BTW, Waxman says just yesterday the WH tried to keep Knodell from appearing; Waxman threatened a subpoena and they backed off.
Posted by: Otter at March 16, 2007 12:43 PM
Well, technically, he's not an Army veteran, but Rumsfeld served in the U.S. Navy from 1954 to 1957 as a naval aviator and flight instructor.
Posted by: Otter at March 16, 2007 12:43 PM
... and technically speaking, show me a heart first.
A friend asked me to post this:
Did anyone hear the author of "Bush's Brain", Wayne Slater, on "Countdown" last night? As a Texan and knowing Rove, Gonzales, and Bush for decades, he has a very plausible reason why Rove knocked Bud Cummins out of Arkansas as prosecuting attorney for his White House aide, Tim Griffin. Rove is preparing for Hillary to win the primaries and he wants a pit-bull in there to investigate her and all her actions.
Slater also stated that Karl Rove believed that the GOP lost the 2006 election due to the many GOP corruption charges. Rove does not want that to be the case in 2008. Bumping of the 8 prosecutors, who angered the Republican party and their Republican congressional leaders for failure to bring corruption cases against more Democrats (see article below ), was sending a message for the 2008 elections. They expect their appointed US prosecuting attorneys to step forward with their plan to go after Dems in a more aggressive fashion. He also believes Gonzales will be gone: anyone that comes up against Rove in the White House has been the loser: Scott McClelland and Scooter Libby.
Local Democrats 7 times more corrupt that Local Republicans?
Donald C. Shields and John F. Cragan two retired professors, report that as regards local officials during the administration of George W. Bush
Data* indicate that the offices of the U.S. Attorneys across the nation investigate seven (7) times as many Democratic officials as they investigate Republican officials, a number that exceeds even the racial profiling of African Americans in traffic stops.
Interestingly, on a statewide and national level through 2006 the Bush Justice Department had investigated or indicted 66 officials, 36 Democrats and 30 Republicans. Not a significant discrepancy. During the same period the Bush Justice Department, through it's US Attorneys had investigated 375 local official, 298 Democrats, 67 Republicans and 10 Independents. Why the statistical difference between local, and state or national investigations. Well, Shields and Cragan think the difference has to do with the national press. If the Justice Department were to investigate 7 times as many state or national Democrats as Republicans the Washington Post or the New York Times would notice. That would not be good. Investigating local Democrats is much easier. Local small town reporters don't have the national perspective. If city council member Jones is indicted he is pretty much on his own. The implication of Shields and Cragan's reasoning is that the policy is intentional, not accidental.
I wonder if they are over investigating Democrats or under investigating Republicans. I also wonder what the numbers were during the Clinton years. If they were reversed we might be seeing a long term problem. Of course I am sure hard right Republicans believe their people are just 7 times more honest than Democrats. If that is the case why does the statistic disappear once a politican moves to state wide office.
ribbit good!
While we have generals and senators who are terrified of gays and lesbians, Mexico City is now allowing civil unions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6457929.stm
Waxman ripping Toensing a new one right now...
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1205
Dark clouds over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue right now...
Posted by: karen at March 16, 2007 02:06 PM
OMG that woman is scary. She definitely forgot her HRT this morning...
I love Elijah Cummings right now.
And Toensing reminds me of Ellen Sauerbrey--a face I will never get over...
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/03/election/governors/maryland/sauerbrey.jpg
hahahahah
madame...
Karen, you must be having a field day analyzing her body language & facial expressions. What a piece of...
DUNG!
oh baby~! Diane Watson making Toensing SQUIRM!
I see deceptive behaviors....
Notice how antagonistic & contemptuous she is to the Dem reps & how pleasant she is to the Republic reps...
And her statements that Plame was not covert goes against what Hayden & CIA said... Hmmm, wonder how long it will be before she's thrown under a bus...
I just read a long bio of Rove and am now narrowly focussed.
Ribbit!!
Her argument that she "testified" to something is an empty one. It's clear to me that her testimony is her view of the world, which -- in my view -- is full of bush*t.
She just said she had "heard" that a covert agent would not have a desk job...
Credibility just dropped to...
ZERO.
And for the record, Waxman rocks. He is doing a tremendous job handling this hearing.
And for the finale...In very polite terms, Waxman basically just called her a liar. He said he's going to check the facts on the statements she made.
(snip)
..the CIA Leak scandal showed us how far the Bush Administration will go. Scooter's trial brought out mounds of evidence depicting Rove & Cheney as The Riddler & The Penguin plotting to take down Batman.. er.. Joseph Wilson, who clearly stood for truth and justice. But in the end, while George, Dick, & Karl were the evil masterminds, Scooter took the heat and ended up the fall guy. This time the price paid was our national security, since Valerie Plame was an undercover agent working on non-proliferation of WMD's in the Middle East. The White House sacrificed her, her front company (Brewster Jennings), and all the intelligence assets who were ever associated with them, in an effort to discredit someone who exposed their lies which led us to war.
The Three Stooges (George, Dick & Karl) continue to lie, cheat, & steal their way into the history books, while their underlings pay the price. Then again, even these underlings aren't paying the ultimate price... They're not in Iraq sacrificing their lives for their boss’ profits.
http://scottshuster.blogspot.com
Waxman: "I understand that some of the things you've stated here today with great authority may not be accurate, so we will hold the record open...."
White House in lockdown .. man with package apprehended climbing fence
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6486062,00.html
Keystone Cops
According to the Rove bio, the whole reason for the Iraq war was that Karl believed a wartime President could not be defeated, and it would be better to have a bigger war.
Oh, and BTW, Toensing appeared before the committee "at the request of the minority."
I wonder how hard they're kicking themselves right now...
And it seems that Val Plame testified under oath to the committee today that she did not in fact have anything to do with her husband Joe Wilson being sent to Africa to look for yellowcake anyway. So hmm, hmm.... which little spiders were spinning and re-spinning their tangled webs around that particular fact for the last few years, then?
Great comment from a Kossack RE: Toensing's "testimony":
"I need a drink and a cigarette after that..."
Posted by: Otter at March 16, 2007 02:40 PM
Clearly, being "under oath" doesn't apply to Bushbots.
I feel as if I just ate a nice-sized hot fudge sundae, with whipped cream. The REAL stuff.
n very polite terms, Waxman basically just called her a liar. He said he's going to check the facts on the statements she made.
Posted by: madame defarge at March 16, 2007 02:31 PM
See, HE can read deception too!
Posted by: Otter at March 16, 2007 02:40 PM
Even better, she said she WAS out of the country as a covert operator in the past five years, making Toensing an idiot as well.
Posted by: madame defarge at March 16, 2007 02:41 PM
More like under oaf.
I feel as if I just ate a nice-sized hot fudge sundae, with whipped cream. The REAL stuff.
Posted by: karen at March 16, 2007 02:44 PM
What a great idea! I'm outta here on my way to Ben & Jerry's...I think I'll try Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream with extra hot fudge.
Oh, no, Val didn't make Toensing look like an idiot. That ship sailed on its own a long time ago. All she did was expose him for what he already was.
Posted by: madame defarge at March 16, 2007 02:54 PM
Skip the AmeriCone and go for the monkey in a tree with a lizard...
SuperSmoothie.
Cherry Garcia
(I can't watch but I'll have some anyway)
I'm at work so have to hurry, but......
Sat down to work on some files and turned the tv news on here (we only get CNN - not Headline News but the other CNN) and Wolf Blitzer was on interviewing Donald Trump. Trump said that Bush lies, that he lied about the weapons of mass destruction as an excuse to attack Iraq, that it's turned out badly, and that he lies on other things too.
I think it's still on, and will repeat tonight but I had to turn it off cuz my project was over.
I haven't heard ANYBODY be that blunt over the MSM yet.
Go to CNN.com and they may have it up either on transcript or to watch.
No drink, just give me a cigarette.
press release:
Kerry Announces Support for Strengthened Freedom of Information Act
In Speech to New England Newspaper Association, Kerry Endorses Bill Giving Bloggers New Powers to Pursue FOIA
WASHINGTON, DC - Senator John Kerry today announced his support for a legislative initiative designed to assist the freedom of the press. The bill would make the federal Freedom of Information Act more powerful, primarily by making it harder for the Administration to deny or delay the release of information. It does that by requiring that an agency respond to FOIA requests within 20 business days and establishes a publicly available tracking system for requests. In addition, the legislation would help bloggers, because it would prevent agencies from denying them a waiver on fees just because they are independent or not affiliated with any institutional news organization. In the past, the need to pay fees for FOIA requests discouraged many bloggers or independent journalists from pursuing FOIA requests.
“There is no greater or more important watchdog today than our free press and we should all do everything we can to strengthen the ability of dedicated reporters to do their job,” Kerry said today. “Recent news reports on Walter Reed, the Big Dig, or even the US Attorney firings have reminded us just how important the press’s oversight is to our system of governance. In cases like those, exposure meant the difference between life and death. I am proud to sponsor this bill and look forward to voting on it when it comes before the full Senate.”
tsp
What has Trump got to lose?! LOL
My crazy mom likes Trump & Bill Gates.
New scare - extremists trying to drive school busses - shock appeal of the mean terrorist who did everything is wearing off
Saw a good cartoon about how - oh no - the Plame scandal is eclipsing the lawyer scandal which is eclipsing the Walter Reed scandal
Presidential candidate Brownback: Homosexual acts are immoral
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback is backing the nation's top general over his remarks that homosexual acts are immoral.
The Kansas senator planned to send a letter on Thursday to President Bush supporting Marine Gen. Peter Pace, who earlier this week likened homosexuality to adultery and said the military should not condone it by allowing gay personnel to serve openly.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs also said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune: "I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts. I do not believe the United States is well-served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."
'Unfair and unfortunate'
Lawmakers of both parties criticized the remarks, but Brownback's letter called the criticism "both unfair and unfortunate."
"We should not expect someone as qualified, accomplished and articulate as General Pace to lack personal views on important moral issues," Brownback said. "In fact, we should expect that anyone entrusted with such great responsibility will have strong moral views."
Asked whether he agreed with Pace's comments, Brownback said: "I do not believe being a homosexual is immoral, but I do believe homosexual acts are. I'm a Catholic and the church has clear teachings on this."
-snip-
Brownback: 'We applaud Gen. Pace'
While there is no indication that Pace's job is in jeopardy, Brownback's letter to Bush said "personal moral beliefs" should not disqualify anyone from a position of leadership in the U.S. military.
"General Pace's recent remarks do not deserve the criticism they have received," the letter said. "In fact, we applaud General Pace for maintaining a personal commitment to moral principles."
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/16/brownback.gays.ap/index.html
Who would Jesus exclude?
Bush said he'd fire the leaker but NO internal investigation was done into the matter at the White House.
The White House has "hazy" recollections about firing attorneys or plans to do so. It was bad enough to have Reagan in the White House for 8 years and the guy from whom 43 was spawned. Now this?! How bad can it get?!
Do we REALLY want such people sending our children off to war?! How many Iraqis and Afghanis have had their lives ruined?!
As for Brownback - whenever I hear his name I think of the Silverback gorilla troupe at the zoo and then I think of Bill Frist operating on gorilla hearts. No offense to other primates.
None taken... and mind you, those are words that don't cross this primates lips very often.
Brownback said: "I do not believe being a homosexual is immoral, but I do believe homosexual acts are".
Soooo, being a Republican does not make you a scumbag, but Republican acts do.
Why does Brownback spend so much time fantasizing about homosexual acts? & Santorum?
I think we might have a good suspicion about that answer - after some of the things that have happened to hypocritical politicians and pastors recently.
Wasn't it Freud who talked about the "return of the repressed?"
I've heard of BrokeBack and Bareback - how 'bout BrownBack?!
Remember that night up on BrownBack Mountain?
CHICAGO - On Chicago's tough south side, some kids march to a different drummer. Twenty-five-year-old Jamie Poindexter has a rhythm all his own, putting the "Kaotic" drum line through its paces.
"I don't want them to go through what I've been through," Poindexter says.
They can grow up fast here, where drugs and drink have a dangerous allure.
But from the second floor of the community center comes the rolling thunder of positive change.
Poindexter's love of drums started on his father's knee, something he held onto even as his own life spiraled downward and he dropped out of high school. He started Kaotic to get back on track. No sponsors, no money, just pure determination.
"A lot of people don't have control over themselves, that's why people are in jail, people are locked up, people are out there robbing and killing, ’cause they don't have [any] type of control over themselves," Poindexter says. "Drums helps you gain control over your mind."
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17651089/
http://blogkc.com/images/brownbackountain.jpg
Posted by: not my president at March 16, 2007 09:46 PM
And he cares so much about North Korean human rights.
I've bought my last Samsung and Hyundai. Fix immigration laws so that we will NEVER again have such a special-interest immigrant community as our Koreans!
BEHEAD SUN MYUNG MOON. NOW.
Harold Ford joins Fox news as politicial commentator. The same folks that pushed the racist Harold call me commercial. Is he nuts ot just totally lost it?
KICK OUT ALL KOREANS AND KOREAN-AMERICANS FROM THE US MILITARY. AND SEND THEM HOME!
Posted by: tsp at March 16, 2007 05:07 PM
tsp
I just read this article.
Bush 'worst president 'ever, says Trump
March 17, 2007 - 10:05AM
Real estate mogul Donald Trump today described George W Bush today as the worst US president ever, and said Senator Hillary Clinton could be Bush's White House successor.
"Bush is probably the worst president in the history of the United States," Trump told CNN, lamenting the 2004 Democratic failure to stop Bush's reelection.
"I just don't understand how they could have lost that election."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/bush-worst-president-ever-says-trump/2007/03/17/1174080201133.html
Australian firm wins $65 million Iraq prisoner deal
Simon Mann
March 17, 2007
AN AUSTRALIAN catering and logistics firm has won a $65 million contract to feed prisoners and staff at a high-security jail in Baghdad, three years after being caught up in a row over another US military contract involving a company once connected to US Vice-President Dick Cheney.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/australian-firm-wins-iraq-prisoner-deal/2007/03/16/1173722750266.html
Terror mastermind's confession transforms al-Qaeda cases
Adam Liptak and Michael Gawenda
March 17, 2007
THE admissions made by the mastermind of the September 11 attacks illuminated and transformed the cases against him and the 13 other al-Qaeda leaders transferred last year from CIA prisons to the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In acknowledging his role in more than 30 terrorist attacks and plots, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed certainly simplified the case against himself and may have effectively signed his own death warrant when he eventually faces a military trial.
But those same statements, released this week by the US Defence Department, may complicate the prosecution of his former colleagues.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/terror-confession-transforms-alqaeda-cases/2007/03/16/1173722749100.html
My HP computer fried while I was posting anti-Moon material. I am on my backup computer.
I am well convinced that HP is a Moonie company now.
I will place an order for a Mac tomorrow.
And again, if we can't serve in the military, the Korean fascists shall never be allowed to serve either. I've had it with their elitism, materialism, racism, sexism, and homophobia, all brought to America courtesy of the Republicans.
Ally McRepuke
You will love the Mac. My first one was 128 K and I have had them ever since! I am after a new one myself.
Re the thread topic, I would give anything to see Rove have to testify and I wish they would get to the bottom of his background, funding, link to Jeff Gannon the fake reporter, all the closet gay stuff & then link this yet to the Valerie Plame leak. I know I have been at Conspiracy Planet but the guy whose report I read used to work for the Republicans himself as an Iran Contra insider. It's not that I trust him, but if I were one of the closet case conspirators I wouldn't trust him either.
Mac fan and user here too, since '86. My first was a Mac Plus - 800k.
While at it, I may have to replace my work vehicle too. It's an (ab)used Honda Accord used by my sister's ex (a f'ing Korean patriarch - rot in hell).
I was set on a shoebox Hyundai to save money, but I am so PO'd with the Koreans that I will most likely buy a Japanese hybrid instead.
Better watch my cash flow now...
ribbit
tsp
What has Trump got to lose?! LOL
My crazy mom likes Trump & Bill Gates.
Posted by: not my president at March 16, 2007 06:00 PM
I know, I know, but I thought it was funny because I have never heard anyone put it so bluntly.
Called him the worst president in American history, and said he lied about WMD's as an excuse to attack Iraq. He also got on the Dems and said they never should have lost in 2004. Has anyone ever presented him with the information on voter fraud, I wonder?
He said good things about Hillary and Gulianni (sp).
Dan Rather said last night (he is working for Mark Cuban now - good for him) that someone will come out to the right of McCain and Gulianni. That is a no-brainer. "They" (the dark side) are saving their far right person for later exposure.
I really need a life. Well, back to scrubbing my floors. (I ate dark chocolate tonight and the caffeine has me buzzed.) Like I said, I really need a life!!!
ribbit
Posted by: not my president at March 16, 2007 11:58 PM
I know how it is to have just read a bio of Rove. I was p.o.'d for months after I read it.
ribbit
Back to scrubbing. Nothing like scrubbing a floor on a Friday night. LOL.
TSP
This is from Reuters:
The White House typically argues that officials who are not confirmed by the Senate, like Rove, do not have to appear before Congress.
--- Can they do that? Seems like he'd be in Contempt of Congress. Will he escape again via some loophole?
TSP
I wouldn't be surprised if Gingrich announced, since he has confessed his sins and has been meeting with Falwell, etc.
He knows they like a confessed sinner.
Posted by: not my president at March 17, 2007 12:13 AM
I think the freak (God forgive me) will escape everything, and he knows it. Executive privilege and all that. He is the President, after all, isn't he? Oh, that's right, he's not. Neither's Dub. Cheney is. Or, maybe Rove is after all.
Cracked me up, last night Dan Rather was on Jay Leno and Rather said something about such and such happening, and then they would only have someone who plays the President on t.v.
Leno quipped "We've already had one of those, haven't we?"
Posted by: not my president at March 17, 2007 12:15 AM
Re: Gingrich. I thought the same thing.
That Madame and her black book from D.C. would sure blow some minds, wouldn't it? (good pun too)
To heck with scrubbing the floors, I want what y'all had earlier today. Then I want my cigarette. Life ain't always fair you know, but don't tell Indy. LOL.
(I'm bein' naughty).
The Dems lost in 2004 cause they were too busy preparing for Hillary in 2008 and were too lazy to back up a war hero. And yes, election fraud.
Makes you ask yourself is Bush was so "beatable," "vulnerable" and the worst president, why didn't they all run in 2004? Of course, with Bush not running in 2008 and the road being easy for a Democrat to take the WH, they figured they would let the Bush have four more years and we'll clean up the huge mess left behind.
The Dems lost in 2004 cause they were too busy preparing for Hillary in 2008 and were too lazy to back up a war hero. And yes, election fraud.
Posted by: Indie Liberal at March 17, 2007 01:32 AM
Election fraud? I don't think ANY amount of election fraud would account for W's 3 million vote margin.
No amount of cheating can account for that. W won on fearmongering, and the stupidity of certain immigrant groups he brought in through his biased immigration policies.
I still see lots of VIVA BUSH bumper stickers on the freeways of Los Angeles. I honestly don't think Kerry even carried California.
The White House typically argues that officials who are not confirmed by the Senate, like Rove, do not have to appear before Congress.
Posted by: not my president at March 17, 2007 12:13 AM
I'll say it again and again. Moon and Yoo imposed their primitive Korean "democracy" on us by their idea of "unitary executive." Everything the W White House does smacks of the Park Blue House in the 1970s.
Time to recall our Seoul ambassador, and kick Samsung and Hyundai out of US markets.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/16/open-thread-425/
Video (1 min. 13 sec.). The Donald re: Bu$h administration, final words: "Everything's a lie. It's all a big lie."
Hmmmm.... I'm not The Donald's biggest fan, but if any sheeple hear this on infotainment snooze, maybe his celebrity status will get them to listen to his words and think about what he said and finally ask why he said it, and maybe start asking questions about W....? I said IF. However, The Donald was spot on in these particular statements (as we already well know), so for this particular interview I have to give him credit for being correct in what he said.
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1205
Posted by: karen at March 16, 2007 02:06 PM
I watched that whole video....
Otter's estimation of Valerie Plame Wilson's Babe Factor aside (he's right; she's a beautiful woman), I focused on two other things: her body language and her voice and how she spoke. Her body language told me she was telling the truth, and her voice backed up her body language. She was physically at ease, her hands didn't go into any 'ward off' motions or waving around with distracting motion (which is what Toensing did when she launched into distracting words going totally off track when she didn't want to answer direct questions that only required a yes or no answer). Plame listened intently to the questions, and gave short and very direct answers in a pleasant and respectful tone of voice that was calmly and quietly assertive. She knew what her CIA role was and defined it (well, as much as she could, at least). No long and convoluted and twisted "explanations" we've been used to hearing from so many (Georgie, Dickie, Gonzo, Condisleazy, Rummy, et al). Short, direct, assertive, truthful answers are what I heard. (I even closed my eyes for a while listening to Plame's voice to try to detect the sound of lies; I heard truth.) It was SO refreshing to hear Plame's short and direct answers! We're not used to truthful and direct answers like that to direct questions asked by senators, so that alone just blew me away.
None of the 'I don't know' or 'That was someone else's responsiblity' or 'That happened before I was there' or 'I want to explain this' (with accompanying hysterical hand-waving) nonsense of people who followed her, some with long, convoluted answers that could mean anything (typical Bu$hCo rhetoric that Sunday bobble-heads try to re-interpret or re-explain). Gee, whatever will the Sunday bobble-heads do when they can't re-interpret or re-explain Plame's short, to the point, truthful answers to direct questions?!? (They'll no doubt focus on the other witnesses, not Plame; otherwise there's nothing to talk about.)
Plame was even funny when she talked about the prospect of 'being stuck at home with the twins' when Joe was sent off to Niger! Although she seems to have a spine of pure steel, the idea that that calm and quietly assertive woman who seems so competent and formidable otherwise would be upset by having to handle toddler twins on her own was quite a contrast! (Understandable, but the whole idea was a wild contrast between her career and motherhood.) She must have been one heckuva successful undercover agent before her cover was blown!
Waxman was great at the very end when he put Toensing on notice that he'd check out her statements. Good for him! I noticed a couple of people reminded the witnesses after Plame that they were under oath. Two others (names were hard to read - Watson and Cummins, I think) were also spectacular in their questions. If I read the name right, Davis was an idiot (and clearly a W lackey).
All in all, Plame has 1000% credibility and I'd trust her with my life. The fellow who testified at the same time as Toensing (I didn't write down his name) didn't seem half bad, and he was the most articulate of the witnesses after Plame. But the others have zero credibility.
IMHO, of course.
Yep, Valerie Plame could have been a Bond girl...
Toensing's been carrying the uber-right's water for some time now. She has no credibility whatsoever in my mind.
Memo to Brownback: Preemptive war is immoral. The Romans were doing the same thing in Jesus' era, and the Third Punic War looks about as morally justified to us as Dubya's Iraq war will look to posterity.
But Dubya is an honorable man...
This hasn't come out yet, but by the time American pain technicians finished with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he had also confessed to the Kennedy Assassination and shooting JR Ewing...
After I posted my opinion about the hearing and Plame yesterday, I got mad. I do not like having to doubt those who are public servants. Exceptions noted for bad apples (numerically, they're still the minority, even if they get lots of attention), most public servants like law enforcement officers (CIA included) and firefighters and the like are normally good people, and I don't like the fact that I had to watch and listen to Plame to see and hear for myself whether or not she told the truth. But after all the Bu$h!te hoopla and lies in Lamestream Media, I feel like I was coerced into doubting her and her husband both (altho I've been favorably impressed with Wilson's writing).
Oh, and I looked at one of the videos posted at C&L, and the name of the one fellow who impressed me was Elijah Cummings, so I spelled his name wrong above.
Then I went to the overnight headlines; none were about the hearing or Plame. Stories about the hearing, yes, but no headlines in the e-newsletters' subject lines.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031600276.html
Plame Says Administration 'Recklessly' Revealed Her
Hill Testimony Breaks Ex-CIA Agent's Silence on Leak
Valerie Plame, the former CIA officer at the heart of a four-year political furor over the Bush administration's leak of her identity, lashed out at the White House yesterday, testifying in Congress that the president's aides destroyed a career she loved and slipped her name to reporters for "purely political motives."
{{{"Lashed out"?!?!?!?!? Was Amy Goldstein, author of this piece, watching the same hearing as we did?!?}}}
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-plame17mar17,0,986828.story
Testifying to panel, Plame takes spotlight
WASHINGTON — With a phalanx of cameras awaiting her entrance, Valerie Plame stepped out of the spy-world shadows and into the spotlight.
For nearly four years, Plame had been a silent, Garbo-like figure at the center of one of Washington's most consuming scandals. Her unmasking as a covert CIA officer became a case study of the brutal politics of the Iraq war, and launched a criminal probe that led to the conviction of a top White House official.
~~~~~
But for the first time, she offered her version of the chronology leading up to that breach. Plame said that in early 2002, she was approached by "a young junior officer" who was "very upset" after getting a phone call from Vice President Dick Cheney's office asking about a report that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from the African nation of Niger.
Plame characterized the call as part of a broader effort by Cheney to pressure the CIA into reaching harder assessments on Iraq — a charge that Cheney as well as senior CIA officials who were at the agency at the time have denied.
"Certainly Vice President Cheney's unprecedented number of visits to the CIA in the run-up to the war might be one example" of his efforts to pressure analysts, Plame said.
Asked whether that was a form of intimidation, she said, "Yes, it is."
{More on link.}
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/washington/17testify.html
‘Purely Political Motives’ in Outing, Ex-Agent Says
These were the paragraphs that stuck out with me:
Her instinctive quiet always seemed more pronounced next to the chronic noisemaking of her husband, the unreticent former diplomat, who was glaringly absent from Friday’s proceedings. According to a family friend who attended Friday’s hearing, Mr. Wilson was skiing in Utah with the couple’s 7-year-old twins, awaiting his wife’s arrival. Next week, the Wilsons will begin their new life at their new home in New Mexico.
~~~~~ {Gee, I think the authors of this article don't like Plame's husband! Some of the rest of the paragraphs note Plame's demeanor, so they may have been favorably impressed.}
The audience sat rapt, all eyes fixed on Ms. Wilson, even when congressmen were talking, as if she could vanish at any moment.
And then, all talked out, she slipped out a side door.
And for stories about the attorney firings' probe:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/washington/17attorneys.html
White House Delays Action in Inquiry on Attorneys
WASHINGTON, March 16 — The White House has delayed until next week a decision on whether to release additional documents and to permit top aides to President Bush, including Karl Rove, the chief political adviser, to testify in a Congressional inquiry into the dismissal of federal prosecutors.
Fred F. Fielding, the chief White House counsel, spent Friday evaluating the request and conferred with President Bush about it before Mr. Bush left for Camp David, a White House official said.
Mr. Fielding had initially told Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee that he hoped to have an answer by Friday, but he now expects to report back to the panel after the weekend.
“Given the importance of the issues under consideration, and the presidential principles involved, we need more time to resolve them,” Dana Perino, the deputy White House press secretary, said Friday.
Democrats expressed disappointment with the delay, and Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, the committee chairman, said he would move forward with subpoenas for Mr. Rove and other top officials, including Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, and Scott Jennings, a deputy to Mr. Rove.
Still, Mr. Conyers and Senator Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat who is spearheading the inquiry in the Senate, seemed inclined to give the administration a few more days. Separately, the committees expect to receive additional documents from the Justice Department on Monday.
“The proof of the pudding will be in the eating — if they actually let us interview the witnesses and get the documents,” Mr. Schumer said. “The fact that they’ve delayed makes me worry that they are preparing not to do that.”
{More on link.}
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-usattys17mar17,0,1873299.story
Attorney firing inquiry reaches impasse
The White House delays decisions on documents and testimony; the House Judiciary Committee threatens subpoenas.
Excerpt:
On Capitol Hill, Democrats said they were losing patience with the administration, especially as the release of a separate batch of documents from the Justice Department, expected Friday, was postponed until Monday.
"The White House is playing a dangerous game of chicken," said Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D-Lakewood), chairwoman of the House subcommittee leading the probe. "The White House cannot ignore this investigation."
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said he would schedule votes on subpoenas Thursday for two key players in the burgeoning scandal — Bush political advisor Karl Rove and ex-White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers.
It appears from documents released this week and other White House statements that Rove and Miers were discussing the termination of all or some of the 93 federal prosecutors as early as two years ago.
"The committee must take steps to ensure that we are not being stonewalled or slow-walked on this matter," Conyers said.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is leading the Senate's probe, said: "We hope that this delay is not a signal they will not cooperate. The story keeps changing, which neither does them or the public any good."
At the White House, officials said they were not in a position to respond to the request for documents and witnesses until next week.
"Given the importance of the issues under consideration and the presidential principles involved, we need more time to resolve them," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, adding that officials would get back to the committee Tuesday regarding the House subpoenas.
{{{Translation: They need time to lose information or try to figure out a legal loophole or some sort of non-existent precedent to keep Rove and Miers and whomever else from testifying. More on link.}
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/washington/17assess.html
With Shifting Explanations, White House Adds to Storm
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-feinstein17mar17,0,4255423.story
Why Democrats are raising a stink
Congressional investigations into the firing of U.S. attorneys are about checks and balances, not politics, says Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
By Dianne Feinstein, DIANNE FEINSTEIN is California's senior U.S. senator.
Excerpt:
It is absolutely critical for Congress to restore the approval process in place before 2006. This is the only way to ensure that another administration doesn't travel down the same path.
We also must determine the role played by key White House officials and Gonzales, who has "taken responsibility" for the matter but also said that he did not know what was going on. Five out of eight of the fired U.S. attorneys were involved in investigations into public corruption. What signal does it send to other U.S. attorneys about investigating matters of corruption involving public officials, particularly if those officials are of your own party? It creates a chilling effect.
I recognize that U.S. attorneys are political appointments, but their appointments should require Senate confirmation. And once these prosecutors take the oath of office, they are responsible to the people of the United States — not just the president — and they must be independent and objective.
{More on link.}
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks16mar16,0,3666636.column
Rosa Brooks:
What impeccable timing, KSM!
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed may have diverted attention from Alberto Gonzales, but the 9/11 plotter's testimony exposes the flaws in Bush's 'war on terror.'
WHAT TIMING! Just when the attorney general and the president were coming under fire for the politicized dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys, the Pentagon released a transcript of a March 10 hearing in which Guantanamo detainee Khalid Shaikh Mohammed confessed to masterminding the 9/11 attacks. Now we can get back to the Bush administration's preferred topic: What a heck of a job it's doing in the war on terror.
{More on link. This is a pretty good opinion column.}
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-blogs17mar17,0,4018765,full.story
Blogs can top the presses
Excerpts (more on link):
BLOGGING has famously unleashed the opinions of multitudes. There are, by very rough count, 60 million bloggers around the world today. Some projections have that number nearly doubling again this year. Depending on which side of a vitriolic divide you fall — that is, whether you think this is good or bad — this represents either the end of civilization or the rise of true democracy.
~~~~~
Neither side in the blog-MSM debate seems to have great appreciation for what the other brings to the party. Simply put, while mainstream media does the heavy lifting of careful, day-to-day and occasional in-depth reporting, bloggers have revivified political commentary, mainly through their exuberance.
IF the traditional media see their roles as delivering lectures on the news of the day, blogs are more of a backyard conversation, friendlier, more convivial. Bloggers publish in variable lengths at uncertain and unscheduled times. Blogs tend to be informal, cheap to produce, free to consume, fast, heavily referential, self-referential and vain because of it; profane, accident-prone yet self-correcting.
http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/nq/
NonSequitur
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070317/ap_on_re_us/soldiers_charged
GI guilty in Iraqi detainees' deaths
NonnyO
If it's any comfort, the news on all 4 free to air Australian tv stations began with Valerie Plame Wilson's address and a few questions answered. It is also the highlighted promos during and between programs. If it's like that here, I imagine this particular news is highlighted all over the world. And she certainly comes across as cooler and smarter - and more beautiful - than her moronic detractors.
White House Never Investigated CIA Leak
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031607R.shtml
Dr. James Knodell, director of the Office of Security at the White House, told a Congressional committee today that he was aware of no internal investigation or report into the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame.
{{{Below the story is the full text of the letter Waxman wrote to Josh Bolten as a result of yesterday's hearing, which I think you will find interesting. Go Henry!!! }}}
Posted by: woz at March 17, 2007 07:20 AM
Nice to hear the story is getting press elsewhere in the world, woz, but I'd feel better if the story actually broke in the US and people talked about it in Lamestream Media here....
Rove will be subpoenaed, claim executive privilige, and separation of powers and like Nixon pray that the Judiciary he has tried to stack backs him up. Kerry did not win California in '04. Where in the world did that come from he won California by some 12% points and did not spend a dime there.
My fear is that if Gonzales resigns we will never learn the details of Bush's involvement in Obstruction of Justice of US Attorneys' ongoing criminal investigations. Bush would simply burn the tapes if that scenario happened today, no doubt about it and say oops Barney made me do it.
Bubba, as much as I (and we, I presume) would love to see Little George be investigated, indicted, impeached, & imprisoned, it probably isn't going to happen. We may never learn all the details about how bad this bozo is. And maybe that's a better thing, because I don't think I can hate him anymore than I already do.
I'd be happy if we continue to investigate all those around him & uncover just how incompetent & corrupt they have been.
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Visualize little fat froggies in handcuffs being marched out of the White House.
BTW, the latest issue of Vanity Fair has a good article about the Libby trial. It also has many interesting points to make about the current Republic Party & how they're proving (day by day) how lost they are.
Caught in the Spin Cycle
Around the corner from the trial of Scooter Libby, during a late-afternoon break, Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster, was telling me that the Republican Party is kaput. "The brand isn't just sick—it's dead. The G.O.P. is cracking up." (Luntz is a marketer marketing his new book, Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear, about political marketing, and knows he needs a compelling message. We have a brief discussion about whether his thesis about the end of the Republicans might get him some publicity.) The Bush administration, in other words, could well have brought one of the greatest marketing and P.R. success stories of the modern era—the rise of conservatism and the Republican Party—to an end.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/04/wolff200704?currentPage=1
Astrobuff's new blog, with always an original opinion, but based on being a news junkie and scoop finder who also works in the legal profession:
http://www.radrobin.com/
1/3 of Iraqi children malnourished & 5000 Iraqis leave the country each day
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/carintern/9e9e54eac735cfcd9b98b3a8e031cfa4.htm
This Republican bunch in the Senate Defarge wouldn't impeach Nixon today, so you are right it won't happen. But the investigation needs to reach the oval office, if for no other reason for the history books, for our great grandchildren and to learn the limits of governmental abuse for future generations. We thought that we would never see things like the alien sedition act, Japanese internment camps and the abuse of the IRS and the enemies list ever again but we have. If for nothing else, we need to make sure that future generations learn what the undermining of the Constitution and our civil liberties does to this country to make sure that we never see it again. Impeachment is not the only reason for these investigations, the Rebirth of our Constitution and Civil Liberties, and the importance of an Independent Judiciary ought to be a focal point of the '08 election. I think it might resonate with voters who are beginning to understand how truly important it is to our Democracy, but an issue that doesn't easily fit onto a bumper sticker.
Posted by: Bubba at March 17, 2007 12:50 PM
Oh yeah, Little George will definitely be in the history books. And with the advent of the internets & all its tubes, it will very hard to cover up just how incompetent & corrupt he is. Also remember how the use of political cartoons through history give us an indication of public opinion.
And with that segue, here's one from Politico, a pretty good site:
http://images.politico.com/global/edtoon3-15-600.gif
Bubba
not to mention voter fraud via disenfranchisement, redistricting, media control and electronic/oher tampering
There are already 1000 peace vigils arranged for Monday night - bridges, intersections, etc. My alert came from MoveOn. I'd assume the number is growing and other orgs are/will be involved.
Christians Arrested at White House Opposing War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031707Y.shtml
Dozens of demonstrators, many of them Christian peace activists, were arrested outside the White House late last night and early this morning as part of a protest against the war in Iraq.
** new thread (finally) **
** new thread (finally) **
Posted by: Otter at March 17, 2007 02:24 PM
Yeah. Sheesh. Who do you have to *know* around here to get a new thread up...
Well jeez, madame defarge, maybe if if you'd actually *write* one once in a while...