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This Is What Democracy Looks Like?
No!
Tell me what democracy looks like?
This is what democracy looks like!
Tell me what democracy looks like?
This is what democracy looks like!
Tell me what democracy looks like?
This is what democracy looks like!
Tell me what democracy looks like?
This is what democracy looks like!
Tell me what democracy looks like?
This is what democracy looks like!
Tell me what democracy looks like?
This is what democracy looks like!
Tell me what democracy looks like?
This is what democracy looks like!
Tell me what democracy looks like?
This is what democracy looks like!
Tell me what democracy looks like?
THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!
THIS is what democracy looks like! Love the photos, especially Helen. What a great face!
And this is what democracy looks like in my neighborhood...
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t216/madamedefarge_photos/IMG_3179.jpg
(The city still hasn't taken down the sign. I'm looking at it now, even as I type.)
This is what it looks like in my neighborhood:
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r82/kkbradleydc/HealthcareVets013.jpg
That's Rev. Yearwood and Iraq Vet Against the War Adam Kokesh, discussing democracy!
madame defarge
This is residual from the last thread - just checking over lunch. It's a sad reason why I have not committed to a candidate. Alot of it is because of having been burned in 2004. With the cheating that went on and the press that we have and the Swift Boating, I just don't have the heart to give to anyone yet. I do need to start looking more closely at it all. I am still healing. This also happened to me after McCarthy/RFK and after McGovern. The other times I could cope but perhaps didn't feel as strongly or get as involved. On the other hand, I wish I had. If I'd known about Gore and Bush what I know now ..
Terrific photo thread, Rick.
On a different topic, the Judge dismissed the Plame's lawsuit.
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/19/14555/1020
Expect Melanie Sloan to appeal. But if it gets to the Supremes expect Bush's stacked court to rule against them.
Dang! Another ramification of stolen elections and the jerks who refused to Filibuster against Alito.
(Sure...grandstanding they said.)
*$*#)@&
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/19/AR2007071901395.html?hpid=topnews
Judge Dismisses Plame Lawsuit
By Carol Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 19, 2007; 3:30 PM
A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit filed by former CIA officer Valerie Plame and her husband against Vice President Cheney and top administration officials over the disclosure of Plame's name and covert status to the media.
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said that Cheney and White House aides cannot be held liable for the disclosure of information about Plame in the summer of 2003 while they were trying to rebut criticism of the administration's war efforts levied by her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. The judge said such efforts were certainly part of the officials' scope of normal duties.
"The alleged tortious conduct, namely the disclosure of Mrs. Wilson's status as a covert operative, was incidental to the kind of conduct that defendants were employed to perform," Bates wrote in an opinion released this afternoon.
Bates also ruled that the court lacked the power to award damages for public disclosure of private information about Plame. The judge said that was because Plame and Wilson had failed to exhaust other remedies in seeking compensation from appropriate federal agencies for the alleged privacy violations.
The Wilsons' lawsuit claimed that Cheney, his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, senior White House adviser Karl Rove and former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage violated the couple's privacy and constitutional rights by participating in discussions that led to Plame's identity being publicly revealed. They claimed the leaks to reporters were an effort to retaliate against Wilson.
Plame's identity was disclosed in a syndicated column in July 2003, days after Wilson publicly accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence Wilson gathered on a mission for the CIA. He said the White House sought to exaggerate Iraq's nuclear threat and justify an invasion.
Libby was convicted in March of lying to a grand jury and FBI agents investigating the leak, and was sentenced in June to 2 1/2 years in prison. President Bush commuted his sentence earlier this month, eliminating the prison time.
And this is what blogocracy looks like, too.
A certain senator of my acquaintance posted over at FireDogLake earlier this afternoon and is responding to questions there even as we type:
http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/07/19/blogosphere-day
And this is what he had to say in response to a query from a blogger there:
----------
“What is the most effective way for the blogosphere to directly influence Congress?”
Good question. First, it’s not easy and it can be frustrating. In 1971, I felt like I knocked on a lot of doors in Congress and didn’t always see much action to follow some pretty words. In fact I was always struck by the disconnect by some of the Senators who talked a big game about ending the Vietnam War but didn’t come down to The Mall to meet with the vets when we were demonstrating…But, the bottom line is persistence and multiple pressure points. One of the best ways, to be blunt, is to give through ActBlue. Losing elections is a pretty good antidote to inaction. That’s what we did with the Roadblock Republicans campaign. But, more generally, calls and emails and faxes to offices do make a difference. Every Senator wants to know what’s being said and heard on those front phones. So does any effort to influence press coverage, through letters to the editor, calling radio shows, things like that. There’s no magic bullet, but one of my mentors used to always tell me he was succesful as an activist because he was willing to be a pain in the ass - that sums it up pretty well!
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FYI, said senator of my acquaintance will be live on Olbermann's show tonight starting at 8 pm and will also be posting to and commenting at dKos tomorrow as well. Be there or be, um, er, not there!
bush lies and thousands die,
Otter
More from the FDL thread (who says senators never really blog, they just dispatch staff minions to do so in their name?)
----------
"What are the highest priority domestic issues facing us, in your view? How can the blogosphere help move these forward?"
First of all, I’m new to some of this posting so bear with me — I thought I replied to this and Wade tells me I had a Senatorial moment and failed to do so —
OK — in terms of priorities at home, I think the biggest is getting our energy and environmental house in order because it’s directly connected not just to our health, not just to climate change, but to our security itself. Whether it’s kids getting asthma, increasingly strong hurricanes, tornadoes and droughts, the fragile regimes like Saudi Arabia that are front and center in the politics of the Middle East and issues of radicalism/terror, and oil (what a toxic cocktail) — the bottom line here is they’re connected. (Teresa and I tried to tackle some of this in our book this spring, the connectivity is just so compelling.) As for what the blogosphere can do, I’d say just keep the focus on the problems, and, especially, let folks know how important it is. Don’t get distracted or fragmented. Organization and activism is what turns issues into voting issues, and we need to make the environment a major voting issue — and, look I get knocked around for nuance, but you know, don’t be afraid to sell people on the connectedness between these issues, it’s ultimately what screams out for action.
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hey hey double U how many kids just died for you?,
Otter
And the page hits roll on...
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“Senator, given the abysmal work of the MSM in covering the run-up to Bush’s war, the 2004 elections, the criminal and anti-democratic nature of the Bush Administration and the Republican Party do you see the day when the blogoshere will supplant the MSM as the recognized representative of 4th Estate?”
I think some changes are already happening. Look at how the blogosphere put the U.S. Attorneys story front and center by doing good old fashioned reporting — true muckraking. I guess I see it more that the lines are blurred between what people once thought of as “the blogosphere” and the “mainstream media.” Which is generally a damn good thing. (The way a certain false story was laundered through right wing blogs in 2004 and made its way to the mainstream media is a different story for a different day, and a cautionary tale.) I don’t know the answer to how it’ll turn out in the end, no one does, it’s volatile, and the ease with which user generated content and video has already, for example, changed the Senate is instructive — but my gut is this will continue exponentially, and the result will nine times out of ten be more accountability, more transparency, and more scrutiny - all good things.
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impeach 'em all let their god sort 'em out,
Otter
And yes, he does so know what you're up to here:
-----------
“Without betraying any confidences, what do you perceive to be the ways our side of the world is often viewed by those on the “inside?”
Am I on the inside? I’m only kidding.
Well, there’s a range. I think it gets easily oversimplified. Most people here don’t think the Internet is a series of tubes, I can tell you that. A lot of Senators are pretty engaged in the blogosphere. Ted Kennedy and I started out by having our wives — Teresa and Vicki — bringing us home print-outs of diaries they’d found on Kos, etc. (Chris Heinz got his mother hooked on the blogs.) And the Jim Webb race and the Lamont win helped focus a lot of people. The immigration debate did too, in a more vitriolic way. I’d say there’s more interest than understanding, some caricature but less than before, and we’ve got a caucus here with the work Harry has done that I think has helped a lot of Senators understand and get much much more involved in it –
-----------
shrubiana delenda est,
Otter
Speaking of muckraking, look what I found on opensecrets:
BATES, JOHN D
BETHESDA,MD 20816
MILLER & CHEVALIER
6/30/1999
$1,000
Bush, George W
And, since I'm sure some of you have been wondering the same thing...
-----------
"uhhh, the real John Kerry, sitting at the keyboard, or an assistant?
"I only ask because I was once in charge of a U.S. Senator’s legislative correspondence operation, where we gave incoming letters a coding number for the automatic responses. This was long before personal computers, and the machines (for all the Senators) were in the basement of the OSOB. Back then, volume was low, and so when the letters came upstairs, the signatures were applied with a hand-operated signature machine — usually by the Senator’s driver when there wasn’t any driving to be done.
[snip]
"What does it mean to partner with ActBlue on all fundraising, and are there other offices doing the same? It sounds terrific for the progressive blogosphere."
By the way — wanted to respond to this one as well — but then I really do need to rush out of here for a while.
First, yes, it really is me; I get a bit annoyed myself by ‘form letters’ so I have tried to set aside time for blogging and treating it like a town hall meeting rather than a press release.
Second, about ActBlue — more and more Senators are using it — Tim Johnson for example, and we recently did somethings to help Tim through ActBlue —
When I say “partner,” I guess I mean it literally - pick a cause or candidate, set up an account there, email your friends, and watch the small contributions add up — the more people do that, the louder the drumbeat.
-----------
arbusto: mentiroso, mentiroso, pantalones en el fuego,
Otter
For those of you with preferences, the Blogosphere Day post that a certain senator of my acquaintance made at FireDogLake earlier in the afternoon was subsequently x-posted at Daily Kos, where it is of course gathering its own independent comments stream:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/19/153920/221
investigate indict impeach imprison,
Otter
time to shoot the sheriff AND the deputy, not necc in that odor...
More (un)surprising news about Bates, the judge who dismissed the Valerie Plame civil case...
UPDATE II: Flashback — Judge John D. Bates, the judge who dismissed today’s suit, also dismissed the lawsuit over Dick Cheney’s energy task force records:
Judge John D. Bates of Federal District Court found that Comptroller General David M. Walker, the head of the General Accounting Office, did not have sufficient standing to sue the vice president.
Mr. Walker had asked the judge to order the White House to reveal the identities of industry executives who helped the administration develop its energy policy last year.
In declining to do so, and in dismissing Mr. Walker’s suit, Judge Bates said that granting the G.A.O. chief’s request “would fly in the face of the restricted role of the federal courts under the Constitution.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/19/breaking-judge-dismisses-plames-civil-suit
Exxon breaks the 1/2 trillion dollars profit margin.
Congrats to Exxon.
Now will they lower the ### ###@ prices?
Bates should have recused himself. But where have we heard that before?
I would go talk to Kerry but I'm with NMP.
Too damn heartbreaking.
White House privilege claim ruled ‘not legally valid.’
In a 7-3 ruling today, a House Judiciary subcommittee ruled that that the White House’s assertion of executive privilege to block the release of “documents sought in subpoenas issued to White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and the Republican National Committee was not legally valid.” During the 20-minute hearing, Judiciary Committee John Conyers (D-MI) said that “the White House participated in false statements to Congress.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/19/white-house-privilege-claim-ruled-not-legally-valid/
HOLY CRAP.
Is that a spine..?
Actually, if we had a true democracy as the ancient Greeks understood it and wrote about it, our politicians would not have their jobs. Everything would be done by direct vote of the people, no politicians in between, although in a modified version of democracy there might be a figurehead leader or representative who had no authority beyond name recognition, but the power would reside only in the will of the majority of the people. Some ancient Greek philosophers were horrified by democracy, considered it 'mob rule.' They favored an elite class of people be elected to represent the masses... a republic.
More importantly in terms of today's world, if we had a democracy we wouldn't have the electoral college if we had something resembling a true democracy and not a republic. With the advent of instant communication and (where applicable) the ability to count votes by such things as scanners (with paper ballots saved for recounts!), there really is no reason to keep the electoral college.
Somehow, I don't think our politicians will ever banish the electoral college. Retaining it still holds the power to be able to manipulate the system and keep idiots like W "elected" to office, even if the popular vote count reflects that's not who the majority of people voted for across the board; the electoral college still is the body that "elects" our leaders, not 'we the people' directly....
Nice pictures! :-)
Of the top people with any common sense and name recognition with whom I'd like to sit at a round table over coffee/tea and cookies/biscuits, Helen Thomas ranks right up there (would have also included Molly Ivins if she were still alive). I'd also include Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, John Nichols, Bruce Fein... and any constitutional experts well-versed in how impeachment works.
Politicians? Nope. Right now BOTH 'PubliCONS and Dems are hung up about the Iraq Oil Law and NONE will admit that the only reason our troops are still there is the refusal of the Iraqi parliament/congress to vote in favor of the 'hydrocarbon law' or 'oil law' that gives Iraqi oil profits and future drilling rights to US oil corporations (the 'revenue sharing' Kerry mentioned during the filibuster a few nights ago has everything to do with why our troops are still in Iraq, because the 'oil law/hydrocarbon law' is the part the Iraqi parliament refuses to agree to). All that would be doing is "legalizing" the stealing of Iraqi oil for the benefit of greedy US corporations. I suspect if the Iraqis consented to allowing the "legal" stealing of their oil reserves, the US troops would be on the next troop transport planes out of Iraq....
And, of course, that little piece of embarrassing scandal just is not going to be talked about by Lamestream Media OR the politicians (both Cons and Dems!) who are just waiting for the Iraqis to consent to allowing the stealing of their primary resource, which, of course, keeps Dems voting right along with the Cons in favor of funding Georgie's illegal occupation of Iraq to "support the troops"... et cetera and so on and so forth. (Quite aside from the war criminals "leading" this nation and sanctioning war crimes in our names without our permission, our politicians on both sides of the aisle waiting like vultures for the Iraqis to consent to the stealing of their major source of revenue make me embarrassed to be an American!!! I don't know if I will ever get over feeling this much shame.)
It's about the oil. It was always about the oil. And the Dems are just not talking about the fact that they have been in on the scam all along...! THAT's what Georgie is holding over their heads, I believe; THAT's why the Dems keep giving him everything he wants. All the emails and FAXes and phone calls in the world are not going to force our "elected" representatives to vote in favor of getting our troops out of Iraq nor stop Georgie's and Dickie's illegal occupation unless the Iraqis can be coerced into giving away their oil and the control of their oil reserves. If they truly believed in capitalism, wouldn't they just simply advocate buying Iraq's oil, not stealing it and trying to coerce the Iraqis into "legalizing" the theft...?
"We" are greedy little spoiled brats, using oil in prodigious amounts in big vehicles that should never have been built in the first place. We are only one fourth of the world's population, yet we do more polluting than anyone else (yes, I know others are catching up). We are not "sacrificing" for Georgie's and Dickie's illegal war. They and their administration were the ones who told us to go shopping, go to plays, carry on with our lives 'normally' from the top of a rubble heap just days after 9/11. I still remember being horrified by that remark, and then I was shocked senseless when Lamestream Media actually broadcast their lying rationale for an illegal invasion of Iraq without justification, the politicians we "elected" seemed to believe what I knew were lies, and then they all jumped on the bandwagon all gung-ho for the illegal war. I didn't get it then, I don't get it now, and yet even Dems continue to use 'PubliCON talking points when talking about Georgie's and Dickie's illegal war.
When Carter was in office the "in" thing to do was buy smaller vehicles with good gas mileage, so for a while there were numerous small vehicles on the road; it was a status symbol and vaguely patriotic to own a small car.
As a whole, we desperately need to stop acting like Georgie and Dickie, and as a whole we need to get our politicians to act like mature adults who can stop them from taking us all down with them.... If we don't, I very much fear the rest of the world will do it for us. And that holds the potential for a war being fought on our own soil if other nations form an alliance to do a 'pre-emptive strike' against the "leaders" of this nation to stop them from committing more war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Christy,
http://judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFS/Conyers070719.pdf
This letter is to formally notify you that I must insist on compliance with the subpoena, and that Mr. bolten's failure to promptly mitigate his noncompliance could result in contempt proceedings, including, but not limited to proceedings under 2 U.S.C §§ 192, 194 or under the inherent contempt authority of the House of Representatives. In light of Chairwoman Sanchez's ruling, we strongly urge immediate production of the responsive documents pursuant to the subpoena. Please let me know in writing by 10 a.m. on Monday July 23, 2007. whether Mr. Bolten will comply. If I do not hear from you in the affirmative by then, the Committee will have no choice but to consider appropriate recourse.
Posted by: s at July 19, 2007 07:27 PM
All to the good. That's for Bolten.
Now, what about Miers...?
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/19/countdown-the-worst-person-in-the-world-2/
Countdown: The Worst Person In The World
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/19/colbert-puts-a-happy-face-on-the-iraq-war/
Colbert Puts a Happy Face on the Iraq War
I would go talk to Kerry but I'm with NMP.
Too damn heartbreaking.
Posted by: Christy at July 19, 2007 06:08 PM
Yep. Very heartbroken. And the 08 election isn't on my mind yet.
First impeachment of Cheney and Bush.
On Ed Schultz the caller...
It's the people who want Impeachment. Not the Party--not Democrats not Republicans. Ditch the party labels. And stop allowing the media to divide us. There is common ground!
The reason why a Bush/Cheney impeachment will never happen is because nobody wants to have sex with either one.
KO led off tonight's show with a Special Comment, which he does not usually do, and it was a blistering indictment of BushCo's cowardice and pathetically pathological need to blame everybody but themselves for their sins. Big wrap-up line:
"Mr. Bush, it's time for *you* to go there, and fight *your* war, *yourself*."
Wowzers!
10:45am Friday here and I've just read right through. My aging memory only lasts for one post so I need to respond to ......
Otter:
"Mr. Bush, it's time for *you* to go there, and fight *your* war, *yourself*."
Wowzers!
Posted by: Otter at July 19, 2007 08:12 PM
This is what the young American medic said on the documentary I saw earlier this week. He WANTS the president to ride around with him for 3 months. IF the president will do that, he won't complain about having his tour extended for the 4th time. He said, "IF he would do that, then I won't even ask to be paid."
Will it happen? Where are those CIA operatives who have been able kidnap/capture/buy and dress a few journalists, a man waiting for a bus and a 15 year old the Taliban had for sale? You know, the ones who dressed their purchases in dyed orange KKK uniforms and chain-ganged them to various outposts in eastern Europe for loosening up techniques. Can we call upon those people do you think? Wouldn't it be great to give that young medic his wish? I'd better stop - or it will end up being a joint US/Australian *intelligence*-adventure with armed hysteria storming into my little unit brandishing guns and clothing me in one of their dyed KKK uniforms!
Is that a spine..?
Posted by: Christy at July 19, 2007 06:26 PM
Well, it resembles a spine....
To BE a spine means they have to ENFORCE the ruling......
We do not yet have proof positive evidence that the appearance of a spine means that a spine exists.
If/When I see some INHERENT CONTEMPT citations issued (meaning neither the executive branch nor SCOTUS can interfere with the legislative procedure), then I *MIGHT* believe that shadowy thing looking like a spine might exist.
Until/Unless Congress Critters DO SOMETHING other than talk like they might have spines, I still have no proof that such things exist in any of them....
IMPEACHMENT anyone?
Posted by: madame defarge at July 19, 2007 08:10 PM
Heck Madame...Now I'm going to have nightmares after that visual.
eeeuuuwww
Can't we just hire the DC Madam for them?
And - In Australia, the latest GetUp campaign is from a former Prime Minister - on John Howard's side of politics.
The Petition:
"For years your Government has adopted the Bush administration's Iraq policy as our own, even as that policy has repeatedly failed. With Australian troops still at risk and the situation in Iraq deteriorating, Australia urgently needs an independent Iraq policy.
We ask that you announce a plan for a new way forward, including a clearly defined exit strategy for Australia in Iraq." Malcolm Fraser July 2007
He's really helping the opposition to get elected. He damns John Howard for almost every thing he stands for. Back in 1975, if anyone had told me that I would be signing a position that agrees with Malcolm Fraser, I'd have said, IMPOSSIBLE.
Video of tonight's Special Comment is already up on MSNBC's website:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/
Sent 6 post cards to Sen. Lieberman's office today each with the name of a U.S. soldier who had died in Iraq this month. That cost about $1.50 in postage. I will try to send a few post cards every day to the august Senator Lieberman (the moral guide in the Senate).
BTW: if you want some fun, call the young men answering the phones in Lieberman's office and asking why they aren't in Iraq (this is the talking point you get "I am serving my country in other ways......."
Thanks for that Otter. He is so powerful when he's giving those monologues. In fact I'm going to send the transcript to my 89 year old uncle who was a POW of the Japanese in WW2 and worked on the Burma Railway. He has a passionate hatred for all things George W Bush is responsible for. This transcript will give him heart.
DEMOCRACIES? NOT IN OUR COUNTRIES. A couple of weeks ago, John Howard revoked Aboriginal Land ownership in the Northern Territory (self-governing territory - but only if the Federal Government allows it). I remembered him saying we've got room to bury the whole world's nuclear waste, so I sent out emails to the Wilderness Society, MPs and Aboriginal news and current affairs programs about what he wanted to do with that land. Noone wrote back, but the Wilderness Society has obviously looked into it.
Nuke pact sparks dumping fears
July 20, 2007 - 9:29AM
A deal between Prime Minister John Howard and US President George W Bush to join an exclusive global nuclear club would ensure Australia became the dumping ground for the world's nuclear waste, The Wilderness Society (TWS) said today.
The Age today quoted leaked draft plans by Mr Downer and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane to have Australia's involvement in President George Bush's global nuclear energy partnership ready to be announced at the APEC leaders' summit in Sydney in September.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/nuke-pact-sparks-dumping-fears/2007/07/20/1184559994391.html
You better be sitting down & away from anything breakable when you read this...
Found this thread on DU:
In the Senate NOW - complete INSANITY
I think I am the only one here watching, am I? Just to give you a flavor of what is going on at this very moment: a sense of the senate introduced by McConell is being read in its entirety. Purpose of the amendement: to condemn pardons made by Clinton as inappropriate. Just before this: vote on a Salazar amendment expressing the sense of the senate that Bush should not pardon Scooter. I am a very slow typist... as I write this, they are still reading the list of inappropriate Clinton pardons in detail.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1382345
The reason why a Bush/Cheney impeachment will never happen is because nobody wants to have sex with either one.
Posted by: madame defarge at July 19, 2007 08:10 PM
hahahahahaha!!!! This made my day and I had a harrowing day.
Woz:
To answer your question, foreign oil companies are free to invest in US oil and gas plays and in "US" oil companies. And no, I would not like to work for the national company of some of these countries, which is exactly my point.
Chuck in Houston
Hey Chuck...As our resident expert oil man, please tell us what you think about the privatizing of Iraqi Oil.
Apparently, the Iraq war supplemental spending bill has a benchmark that allows the US to demand that the Iraqi Parliament pass the "Iraq Oil Law." The law's primary purpose is to divide oil revenues among Sunni, Shia, & Kurds. But the law also contains provisions that would privatize 70% of Iraq's known oil reserves & all future oil discoveries, primarily for the benefit of the US oil companies. This law would not require the foreign oil companies to invest their own oil profits in the Iraqi economy, hire Iraqi workers, or share new technologies.
From what I've learned, no other nation in the ME has privatized its oil.
I'm interested in your thoughts.
And BTW, that Iraqi Oil Law is absolute proof that this war is only about the oil.
I have always noted the extreme assuredness on Cheney and Libby's faces, and also Rove's. They had it sewed up long ago so they will pay no penalties, and get away with everything. Just MHO.
I don't think democracy looks like this:
US should cut corporate tax rates, Paulson says
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1940195220070719
The United States should cut corporate taxes to spur economic growth and sharpen U.S. companies' competitive edge in the world market, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Thursday.
"The current tax code distorts capital flows, hurting productivity, job creation and our global competitiveness," Paulson in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal. "Next Thursday, I will host a conference that will begin a new, broad examination of our business tax system."...
NO Comment >:(
And BTW, that Iraqi Oil Law is absolute proof that this war is only about the oil.
Posted by: madame defarge at July 19, 2007 09:54 PM
As near as I can tell, every blogger has known that sad fact since they heard the first LIE about the reason for the illegal invasion of Iraq.
Why haven't our politicians known that? Or Lamestream Media?
Why do our politicians on BOTH sides of the aisle insist the Iraq Oil Law has to be passed, since that would just make the Iraqi parliament "legally" allow US oil corporations to steal their only resource...? (This reminds me of when the colonists "legally" stole the land from the Native Americans in the first place.)
Where is the moral outrage on the part of Dem politicians for sanctioning such immoral and unethical and illegal behavior...? We expect it of the Cons... but the Dems?!? Where are their values...?
a little more:
This is what democracy looks like - click on my name
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/opinion/19thur1.html
Twilight Zone Filibusters
Excerpt:
In postponing real action to September and beyond, Republicans laughed off the all-night debate as a “slumber party” of “twilight zone” theatrics by the Democrats. In fact, Bush loyalists seem trapped in the twilight zone, ducking their responsibility to represent constituents by applying credible pressure on the president to come up with an end to his sorry war.
{{{Okay. My head shook the marbles around, and I had to go get my glasses to make sure I was reading that correctly.... "HIS SORRY WAR." Somone on that editorial board is finally labeling it like it is...! Yikes! I need to find the smelling salts. I'm getting light-headed....}}}
Oh, and PS: the Olbermann video is also up on C&L.
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=605
Re: Toxic FEMA trailers.
Dick, in particular, may be very interested in this. I've known about the formaldehyde in trailers and things like fiberboard and plywood and it's toxic effects for years (it's also in women's cosmetics!), but I'm not sure how many people know it's a carcinogen.
Generation Chickenhawk
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/generation-chickenhawk-t_b_56676.html
Is this old news? Is it over?
Anyway..
Sen. Kerry will be on KEITH OLBERMANN TONIGHT (MSNBC)
Madame:
I don't know the particulars of the Iraqi oil law so I can't comment. But I can and will and did testify to the fact that just because an oil law allows for foreign investment doesn't mean it's a bad law. In fact, it's usually the reverse. Usually, internationally accepted operators have a much better record -- by several levels of magnitude -- than national oil companies when it comes to things like wages and other benefits for the LOCAL staff, environmental sensitivity, and OSHA-type considerations. This is just a fact. Any one that disputes this should go to one of these countries and work for the local national oil company like a local for a year and then come back and tell me different. I do actually know whereof I speak on this and none of ourselves do our objectives any good when we work at cross-purposes to reality. Take Saudi Arabia, for example. They nationalized in the 70's. Ask around -- would you rather be a Saudi worker for them or a Schlumberger employee (or Halliburton for that matter) anywhere else. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Chuck, a Liberal Democrat working in the oilpatch in Houston
Well this movie trailer is being forwarded around Thailand, Indonesia, Philipines but it's about America ..
http://www.noendinsightmovie.com/
The planet Earth is shrinking. We are all connected.
Chuck
Well ya can't eat oil. LOL
NMP:
Well, you can't get food to Safeway without it. Heck, you can't even harvest it. So I guess you're right: you can't eat oil; but, on the otherhand, most of our fellow Americans would not eat without it. I guess they would starve to death. Me and mine included.
Chuck in Houston
Bon appetit!
Chuck
We can't get food to Safeway without illegal immigrants either LOL
NMP:
Great point! And to add to that -- we need to take an internationalist perspective. The illegal alien issue with Mexicans in American is a Mexican problem, not a US problem, at heart. If things weren't so bad down there it wouldn't be an issue up here. Just and idea.
Chuck in Houston
I mean "just an idea."
Inherent Contempt watchers:
BY FAX AND U.S. MAIL
Mr. Fred F. Fielding
Counsel to the President
Office of the Counsel to the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Mr. Fielding:
I am disappointed that the President's Chief of Staff Josh Bolten has continued to disobey the subpoena served on him on June 13, 2007, and has not produced the documents called for by that subpoena. Enclosed with this letter is a copy of the text of a ruling by Chairwoman Sanchez at today's meeting of the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law rejecting the claims of privilege that you have sought to raise in response to that subpoena. The ruling was sustained by a 7-3 vote of the Subcommittee.
This letter is to formally notify you that I must insist on compliance with the subpoena, and that Mr. Bolten's failure to promptly mitigate his noncompliance could result in contempt proceedings, including, but not limited to proceedings under 2 U.S.C §§ 192, 194 or under the inherent contempt authority of the House of Representatives. In light of Chairwoman Sanchez's ruling, we strongly urge immediate production of the responsive documents pursuant to the subpoena. Please let me know in writing by 10 a.m. on Monday July 23, 2007. whether Mr. Bolten will comply. If I do not hear from you in the affirmative by then, the Committee will have no choice but to consider appropriate recourse.
(John Conyers)
reported at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/19/172527/680, where the pdf is available)
By the way, O'Reilly demonized Jet Blue and got wingers to right in hate mail but Jet Blue is still a sponsor of YearlyKos. You can communicate with them at their corporate website or buy their tickets. They have great night flights!!
"Don't fix the blane; fix the problem" I like to say
Chuck
True. In Washington state, without their help, fruit will rot on the vine. We don't have enough local pickers.
I happen to like fruit. A lot.
I mean "blame"
DiAnne:
Check out how Pendleton's own Gordon Smith (Church of the LAtter Day Saints) is squirming on a hook right now. Actually, he's probably on our side in the end. Red-Blue Cascades.... Gotta get past that! They did in Montana!
Chuck in Houston (ex-SE Portland)
Chuck
That's good. I'll remember that. It's a wedge issue anyway.
NMP:
We all have to get past wedges -- I think you have it spot on. They are all red-herrings. That is exactly what we have to get past. And when we see them, to my mind, we have to bust them up. That's how we get paradigm-shift as they used to say!
Chuck in Houston
Or framing as they say it now. Or you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, etc. etc.. Dang; ran out of cliches.... I knew I wasn't cut out fcor politics.
Chuck in Houston.
Remember: The Cliche is your friend!
If not, then it is an enemy to be feared....
Chuck
Kerry had it right about "the wrong war at the wrong time" and now it's more apparent. That new report came out that showed that we are less safe - and we are in Iraq, not Afghanistan/Pakistan border. It's a lot of convoluted logic to say "We are fighting them there instead of here." Them? Who? Be sure to watch the "Young Chickenhawks" video! I've been curious since I saw it because I would love to have the words to wake young people up. These kids are busy in college while those with less options are dying and for what? Also check out the "closet case" and I Love the "interpretive dancing"!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/generation-chickenhawk-t_b_56676.html
NMP:
I'm guessing that video is this:
"Victoria Ellen:
That link on '[Posted by: Victoria Ellen at July 18, 2007 05:38 PM' is awesome. Great bumper sticker at the end." (Posted by: Chuck at July 18, 2007 09:50 PM)
Chuck in Houston
Yep -- it is. Great video. "Some folks were born, silver spoon in hand, oh, don't they help themselves, yeah" (or something like that -- CCR)
Actually alot of Mexicos 'problems' are US related.
US Corporations have been using Mexicans as slaves and they have helped the government of Mexico thouroughly loot their resources.
Our corporate policies have always been designed to loot them while simultainiously creating a desperate worker class that will pick fruit for 2.00 a day.
The drugs coming through Mexico are coming to here. There are people here that will make sure Mexico keeps being a pharmacutical supply warehouse. Why, because drugs are MORE PROFITABLE than war.
Money, money, money.
Many of Mexicos problems are not only created by our bad policies, they are a direct result of US Citizens needing cheap drugs and slave labor and our government likes it that way.
After all, it is them making all the money from it.
Maybe it really IS a spine.
Oh My.
70 Congressmen tell Bush no cash without troop withdrawal
In a rare show of defiance, a large group of mostly House Democrats sent a letter to the White House saying that they will not support any military funding for Iraq unless it includes a complete withdrawal of combat troops, reports Politico's "The Crypt" blog.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) was the only Republican to sign the letter
Continues, w/text of the letter.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/70_Congressmen_tell_Bush_no_cash_0719.html
I think I just realized why the Pentagon went after Hillary.
Old-line Republican warns 'something's in the works' to trigger a police state
Thom Hartmann began his program on Thursday by reading from a new Executive Order which allows the government to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies.
He then introduced old-line conservative Paul Craig Roberts -- a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan who has recently become known for his strong opposition to the Bush administration and the Iraq War -- by quoting the "strong words" which open Roberts' latest column: "Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran."
"I don't actually think they're very strong," said Roberts of his words. "I get a lot of flak that they're understated and the situation is worse than I say. ... When Bush exercises this authority [under the new Executive Order] ... there's no check to it. It doesn't have to be ratified by Congress. The people who bear the brunt of these dictatorial police state actions have no recourse to the judiciary. So it really is a form of total, absolute, one-man rule. ... The American people don't really understand the danger that they face."
Roberts said that because of Bush's unpopularity, the Republicans face a total wipeout in 2008, and this may be why "the Democrats have not brought a halt to Bush's follies or the war, because they expect his unpopular policies to provide them with a landslide victory in next year's election."
However, Roberts emphasized, "the problem with this reasoning is that it assumes that Cheney and Rove and the Republicans are ignorant of these facts, or it assumes that they are content for the Republican Party to be destroyed after Bush has his fling." Roberts believes instead that Cheney and Rove intend to use a renewal of the War on Terror to rally the American people around the Republican Party. "Something's in the works," he said, adding that the Executive Orders need to create a police state are already in place.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Oldline_Republican_warns_somethings_in_works_0719.html
I do not care if you like Hillary or not, if he has her arrested, sequestered, or her assests frozen, WE are at WAR.
Not over there.
RIGHT HERE!
President of the Christian Action League, 74, Is Arrested after Paying Hooker with Checks
Privette on two occasions allegedly paid the prostitute with checks then reported the checks stolen.
http://www.pensitoreview.com/2007/07/19/pres-of-christian-action-league-charged-in-prosty-case/
He Wha.. Wha.. wha... What....?
HAHAHAHA!!
Posted by: Christy at July 20, 2007 05:53 AM
Karma. Beautiful.
Mornin' Woz.
Do Aussie hookers take checks...?
Whatever happened to just paying in cash?
Is this old news? Is it over?
Anyway..
Sen. Kerry will be on KEITH OLBERMANN TONIGHT (MSNBC)
Posted by: not my president at July 19, 2007 11:12 PM
--------------
Yes, it was old news. Yes, it was over long before you posted that. Yes, people had already reacted to it in the comments thread, too. In response to which I will only quote this, from yesterday's thread:
--------------
If we read thread headers and then read comments from the top down before posting, we will stay more on-topic and also avoid posting something someone has already posted. Things will flow better. I am going to start with myself but I am not the only offender.
Posted by: not my president at July 18, 2007 10:51 AM
---------------
I'm just sayin',
Otter
This is the America I was raised in.
This is what our kids lives will be like.
After a Brutal Attack, Many Hope for Change but Few Expect It
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., July 16 — The single mothers and children who fill most of the apartments at Dunbar Village — a housing project on the poor, black, north side of this city — are used to nightly gunfire. They are used to theft, assault, murder and the indifference of federal and local authorities.
But nothing could have prepared them for the awfulness of the attack that took place last month, which the local prosecutor called “the worst crime I’ve seen in 37 years in the business.”
After dark on June 18, the police say, as many as 10 armed assailants repeatedly raped a Haitian immigrant in her apartment at Dunbar Village and then went further,
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/us/19palm.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
The more twisted our leaders are, the more twisted our people become.
Posted by: Christy at July 20, 2007 06:40 AM
That happened about 20 minutes from where I (currently) live, on da uddah side of the trax, as it were. Horrible to contemplate.
I wonder if our twisted liter knows how fast he has accelerated the demise, or at least the sudden plummet, of this nation?
I'm guessin no, mon.
"...how fast he has accelerated the demise, or at least the sudden plummet, of this nation?"
He has infected us with a death lust. The kids that did that....it is a reflection of exactly what we have become.
BTW, anyone think it is coincidence the pentagon and Jonh MccAin went after Hillary at the exact same time...?
"With campaign struggling, McCain takes aim at Hillary Clinton "
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/With_campaign_struggling_McCain_takes_aim_0719.html
" They are used to theft, assault, murder and the indifference of federal and local authorities."
Most people believe The War on Drugs is a metaphore, a political catchphrase.
Whatever. It may be both or niether.
But, regardless, it CREATED a war zone. On our own streets. On the lowest classes that have no chance in hell of resisting.
It CREATED terror, as certainly as our invasion of Iraq created more terror.
Drugs are bad, yes. But do you know you can stay supplied with drugs cheaper than you can stay supplied with food? Our streets are flooded with drugs, guns, and young people being raised in the reality where we torture people and that is just ok.
In the end it is not really about race, or class, or even addiction or money.
It is about standards. Simple standards that maintain our soul.
I say we stop 'declaring wars' on their people, on our own people. On everyone and everything. It is WAR that should be taboo.
Testify, sistah!
General needs until November to assess Iraq
Odierno tells lawmaker it’s too soon to gauge the impact of troop ‘surge’
Updated: 44 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - For months September has been cast as a pivotal time for determining the course of the war in Iraq, yet a top general now says a solid judgment on the U.S. troop buildup there may not come until November.
Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno told reporters after a Senate hearing Thursday that he would need beyond September to tell if improvements in Iraq represent long-term trends.
“In order to do a good assessment I need at least until November,” said Odierno, a deputy to Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19864538/
HOLY SH*T!
Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/19/AR2007071902625.html?hpid=topnews
OMFG!
Posted by: Christy at July 20, 2007 05:03 AM
I don't mean to make your blood boil any harder, but have you seen this?
Bush rescinded the 4th and 5th amendments yesterday
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/20/73356/2642
Link to Executive Order
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-3.html
Yup MD saw that one, but this about contempt, he is moving NOW to take absolute power.
Please tell me it is not what it looks like.
Posted by: Christy at July 20, 2007 07:50 AM
Makes the case for impeachment all that stronger...
BTW, Christy, here's a diary at Daily Kos with some good comments about that WaPo article & its implications.
Good Morning. There are only two branches of government today.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/20/72541/3993
Christy, Most Aussie Brothels are legal so they take bankcard, visa, american express - you name it. Cheques also. And cash.
BTW, I'm reading Howard Zinn's "The People's History of the United States" & from what I've read so far (to about 1900), we could be heading for a domestic revolution if things keep going the way they are.
Here's a link to a complete online version of Zinn's book:
http://tinyurl.com/2kezbp = google books online
I like this comment on that Kos Diary...
"What did you expect him to do? (2+ / 0-)
Recommended by:MyBrainWorks, junta0201
When Nancy Pelosi announces -- even before becoming Speaker -- that impeachment was "off the table", what did we all think would happen?
She was essentially saying "There will be no accountability for anything that you say or do, Mr. President."
Tell me exactly what incentive Bush has to listen to anyone else given how impotent this Democratic Congress is. Gee, I'm sure our side will fire off another strongly-worded letter expressing our "disappointment" with the President's position.
You want to know how long they'll keep pulling this shit? As long as no one stops them. That's how long.
Our elected Democrats either need to rally around impeachment or shut up completely. The middle ground here is useless.
I don't care if we can't get 67 votes in the Senate to convict and remove from office. At least history will record that someone tried to stop this madness."
Amen
madame debarge
Thanks for the Zinn!
Is this old news? Is it over?
Anyway..
Sen. Kerry will be on KEITH OLBERMANN TONIGHT (MSNBC)
Posted by: not my president at July 19, 2007 11:12 PM
--------------
Yes, it was old news. Yes, it was over long before you posted that. Yes, people had already reacted to it in the comments thread, too. In response to which I will only quote this, from yesterday's thread:
--------------
If we read thread headers and then read comments from the top down before posting, we will stay more on-topic and also avoid posting something someone has already posted. Things will flow better. I am going to start with myself but I am not the only offender.
Posted by: not my president at July 18, 2007 10:51 AM
---------------
I'm just sayin',
Otter
Posted by: Otter at July 20, 2007 06:33 AM
Thanks Otter
I said I'd ENDEAVOR to read all the comments. I had worked a twelve hour day and got excited about my email. For all I know, someone else was out of the loop. Anyway .. can't read much now as I'm off to work again, 12 more hours. Luckily, I got some sleep. As for what's on tv, I'm about the last expert on that - someone had emailed me the Kerry/Olbermann thing and it wasn't an old email. It hadn't aired yet here, as there is a 4 hour time difference. (I just got an email from D Wade, btw)
We need a landslide in 2008. We need to change the power base a lot more. The pendulum needs to swing back and hard.
Let’s Not Kid Ourselves
The new National Intelligence Estimate is an admission of America’s strategic failure. Only by acknowledging that can we prevent a new 9/11.
July 19, 2007 - Ironically, the most devastating admission of failure came from the president’s No. 1 advocate. When Frances Fragos Townsend, George W. Bush’s homeland security adviser, was asked this week about the resurgence of Al Qaeda detailed in the administration’s new National Intelligence Estimate, she replied: "The fact is, we were harassing them in Afghanistan, we’re harassing them in Iraq … Every time you poke the hornet’s nest, they are bound to come back and push back on you."
Harassing? Poking? That’s the best we can do? This is the small, fractious group of several thousand fighters that launched the worst-ever attack on U.S. continental soil. We knew where they were all the time: in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan (not in Iraq). We had an organization chart of the baddest of the bad: Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Mohammed Atef, Abu Zubaida. We had a lot of support around the world in pursuit of our mission to hunt these men down, kill them or capture them and do with them as we pleased; no one, after all, had much use for Al Qaeda, including much of the Arab world. Indeed, we very nearly caught Osama bin Laden only two months after 9/11, at Tora Bora. (As Gary Berntsen, the CIA officer in charge of the operation, recorded in his 2005 book "Jawbreaker," bin Laden told his followers, "Forgive me," and apologized for getting them pinned down by the Americans; but the Pentagon refused to send in more troops to encircle the trapped "sheik."). It’s nearly six years later. How is it that the mightiest economic and military power in history can’t destroy a mere hornet’s nest?
We know the answer. The needless diversion to Iraq. It’s not just that resources, money and attention were directed to Iraq long before the brutally difficult job of pacifying Afghanistan and transforming the jihadi-infested regions of Pakistan was done. (Jim Dobbins, Bush’s former special envoy to Kabul, now calls Afghanistan the "most under-resourced nation-building effort in history.") The invasion of Iraq also vindicated, in the eyes of Islamists around the world, bin Laden’s once-dubious strategic decision to confront what he’s called the "far enemy," the United States. On the eve of 9/11, according to documents obtained from Al Qaeda’s seized computers, bin Laden and his top aide, Zawahiri, had difficulty persuading their fellow jihadis that the distant superpower should be their real target. Bush ended that debate in bin Laden’s favor when, by invading Iraq for trumped-up reasons, he made the United States the "near enemy" in the Arab world. And now the merger between the old near enemy (the Sunni Arab regimes) and the new near enemy (America) is all but complete, giving Islamists a neatly defined adversary. The president’s newest conception of the global war on terror is that it is a fight that pits him and fellow "moderates" (Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, King Abdullah of Jordan and so on) on one side against the "extremists" (groups like Hamas and Hizbullah that have been further empowered by the president’s democracy campaign).
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19852041/site/newsweek/
Monkey
I just read that on Fox, in discussing the "two sides" of the new report on terrorism, they first showed Bush and his opinion. Then they said, "The Democrats, of course, have a different opinion" but didn't say anything further. It's lead story at HuffPo. Got to run.
Then they said, "The Democrats, of course, have a different opinion" but didn't say anything further.
Posted by: not my president at July 20, 2007 09:29 AM
Yeah, I'm so done with that bullsh*t line of reasoning... I just say to folks, "hey, how do ya think its been goin so far?" ... and a brief follow-up if I may , "whose ideology, opinions and leadership do you think are responsible for such disastorous results????"
Gee, a different opinion from the consistenly WRONG ones that have prevailed unfettered for the last 7 years?
Ya mean THAT different opinion?
Monkey
That is the key to getting the landslide - reframing the debate. But in the mainstream media, there IS no debate. My solution has been to not watch it but that doesn't mean I'm unaware it's going on - that's why I quit watching in the first place. It wasn't news and it wasn't balanced. The media has too large a role in supporting the status quo, perpetuating it. & my frustration is that we can come from behind as "alternative" media, but how can we reach more people? & how do we get people to be hip to the fact that what's supposed to be news is propaganda? Propaganda isn't new, but it is associated with authoritarian regimes isn't it? At least that's what used to be shoved into my brain when I was a kid - about the Soviets, of course, who had direct government media, not corporate media. In our case, how is it different if the corporate media is the mouthpiece of this administration? Who is whose puppet? It doesn't matter - it sucks.
Here's one way they do it
Bush Courts Columnists, Hill
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072007P.shtml
Mike Allen reports for The Politico, "Bush held a long, casual session with nine influential conservative columnists last Friday. The meeting - peppered with mutual compliments - has produced a torrent of laudatory coverage from formerly friendly commentators who had turned skeptical and even hostile on some issues.
We need a landslide in 2008. We need to change the power base a lot more. The pendulum needs to swing back and hard.
Posted by: not my president at July 20, 2007 09:18 AM
@@@@@@
I wouldn't get your hopes up - at least in Michigan the Dem party is still slow, corrupt and clueless. My congressional district, the 7th, which is held by the Republicans is targeted both by the State Dems and and the D.C. Dems. I have just read the press releases from the two leading Dem challengers - boy are they boring and lame. "Jobs, we have to create jobs," One mentioned in his press release (boasting) that he had worked with the Republican governor (who btw was awful). The Dems in Michigan be triangulating their hearts out.
2008, THE YEAR OF THE TRIANGLE...
BUSH CUTS AND RUNS AFTER GIVING ROSE GARDEN SPEECH
Wow!!! Bush gave a 5 minute address today in the Rose Garden flanked by military families who were being shamelessly used as props (for the president's failing policy in Iraq). There looked to be 100 or so press people, camera people, TV people etc., in attendance. IMMEDIATELY, after finishing his prepared remarks, Bush turned his back on the audience and marched back into the White House. I think even the military families were surprised at the president's hasty exit...
Btw: I assume that this was all choreographed by Karl Rove's office - still it looked bad..
Posted by: Ralpheh at July 20, 2007 11:47 AM
Same in CA - I'd be surprised if the Dems ran a candidate in my district. Or actually had propositions that were of interest to SoCal suburbanites and motorists.
Most likely though, I'll be living in a different district by then...
Cheney to become president…briefly
WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Bush will undergo a routine colonoscopy Saturday, and will transfer power to Vice President Dick Cheney during the procedure, expected to take about two and a half hours, the chief White House spokesman said.
Tony Snow said Friday that the procedure, during which a doctor looks for any signs of cancer, will be carried out at Camp David, Maryland, and the president will be placed under anesthesia.
Bush’s last colonoscopy was in June 2002, and no abnormalities were found, Snow said.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/07/20/cheney-to-become-presidentbriefly/
So many jokes, so little time...
Posted by: Chuck at July 19, 2007 11:40 PM
And California has Red-Blue Coast Ranges... the coast (at least Santa Barbara and north) is blue, the Central Valley is bleeding red.
Posted by: Christy at July 20, 2007 07:22 AM
Christy,
I do believe that the "illegal" drug industry in the US is actually a Moon/Unification Church monopoly. He gets to market the South American drugs in the US without impunity, while his "competitors" are all declared illegal and put in jail.
This allows Moon to pocket a huge fortune, which he then uses to buy our political system, specifically the Republicans.
Disgusting.
Posted by: Christy at July 20, 2007 04:35 AM
And the Mexicans need to stop voting for the pigs of National Action Party (PAN), which is no more than a puppet of our Republicans.
They've failed on that count, like we've failed by letting Republicans win (or at least come close enough to enable cheating, whatever the case may be).
Posted by: Christy at July 20, 2007 06:40 AM
And the sickest thing is, if the victim were Cuban or Korean, or some other Republican-favored nationality, the nation would collectively be well up in arms. At least Fox News would be. Of course, it goes without saying that a white American victim would've garnered the same amount of sympathy.
Haitians, by contrast, are completely disposable.
Just got a CodePink alert on peace with Iran, including traveling there as part of a peace delegation, and inviting Iranians to speak in America and Europe.
I, however, must remind myself that this is a country that will stone me on sight. I have no interest in peace with them, as they have no interest in peace with me either.
The real argument for preventing a war with Iran should be that W and Dick are doing it for their selfish ends, not for some "humanitarian" grandiose purpose like "liberation" and "freedom."
I may have to discuss this with Gayle Brandeis, who wrote the alert and also happens to be my writing mentor.
It Stoned Me
by Van Morrison
Half a mile from the county fair
And the rain keep pourin down
Me and billy standin there
With a silver half a crown
Hands are full of a fishin rod
And the tackle on our backs
We just stood there gettin wet
With our backs against the fence
Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Hope it dont rain all day
And it stoned me to my soul
Stoned me just like jelly roll
And it stoned me
And it stoned me to my soul
Stoned me just like goin home
And it stoned me
Then the rain let up and the sun came up
And we were gettin dry
Almost let a pick-up truck nearly pass us by
So we jumped right in and the driver grinned
And he dropped us up the road
We looked at the swim and we jumped right in
Not to mention fishing poles
Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Let it run all over me
And it stoned me to my soul
Stoned me just like jelly roll
And it stoned me
And it stoned me to my soul
Stoned me just like goin home
And it stoned me
On the way back home we sang a song
But our throats were getting dry
Then we saw the man from across the road
With the sunshine in his eyes
Well he lived all alone in his own little home
With a great big gallon jar
There were bottles too, one for me and you
And he said hey! there you are
Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Get it myself from the mountain stream
And it stoned me to my soul
Stoned me just like jelly roll
And it stoned me
And it stoned me to my soul
Stoned me just like goin home
And it stoned me
Bush alters rules for interrogations
Executive order applies to CIA, if it has detention and interrogation
Updated: 6 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - President Bush signed an executive order Friday prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment, including humiliation or denigration of religious beliefs, in the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects.
The White House declined to say whether the CIA currently has a detention and interrogation program, but said if it did, it must adhere to the guidelines outlined in the executive order. The order targets captured al-Qaida terrorists who have information on attack plans or the whereabouts of the group's senior leaders.
"Last September, the president explained how the CIA's program had disrupted attacks and saved lives, and that it must continue on a sound legal footing," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "The president has insisted on clear legal standards so that CIA officers involved in this essential work are not placed in jeopardy for doing their job -- and keeping America safe from attacks."
The executive order was the result of legislation Bush signed in October that authorized military trials of terrorism suspects, eliminated some of the rights defendants are usually guaranteed under U.S. law, and authorized continued harsh interrogations of terror suspects.
The Supreme Court had ruled in June 2006 that trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law, so Bush urged Congress to change the law. He also insisted that the law authorize CIA agents to use tough methods to interrogate suspected terrorists.
The legislation said the president can "interpret the meaning and application" of international standards for prisoner treatment, a provision intended to allow him to authorize aggressive interrogation methods that might otherwise be seen as illegal by international courts.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19873918/
That song just makes me want to roll a big fatty and go swimming.
Bolten faces possible contempt charge
Bush chief of staff may have to turn over papers despite executive privilege
WASHINGTON - The White House chief of staff faces possible contempt charges after a congressional panel on Thursday ruled as invalid President George W. Bush's bid to limit the probe of the firing of federal prosecutors.
On a party-line vote of 7-3, a Democratic-led House of Representatives Judiciary subcommittee rejected Bush's contention that his claim of executive privilege shields the top aide, Joshua Bolten, from having to turn over subpoenaed documents.
"Those claims are not legally valid," said panel Chairwoman Linda Sanchez, a California Democrat.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19865943/from/RS.3/