Detached from REALITY Sis-boom-ba

Bush thinks he's back cheerleading at the big game! In his speech today he stumbled off script and said "our guys played" and then corrected himself and said "performed great".

In the summer of 2004, we discussed the growing problem in Najaf with Iraq's
political leaders -- and the coalition and Iraqi government decided to
retake control of the city. And we did. Together, coalition and Iraqi forces
routed out the militia in tough, urban fighting. It was an intense battle,
our guys (played per) performed great, and so did the Iraqi forces. Together with the
Iraqi government and the Shia clerical community, we forced the militia to
abandon the shrine and return it to legitimate Iraqi authority. The militia
forces agreed to disarm and leave Najaf.

Click the link in the quote to hear the audio clip.

c-span has audio of the whole speech. [02/08/07 Update: the c-span audio is no longer online - Video of the speech is available on the Whitehouse website]

Citizensteve's 15 seconds of fame

Early Monday morning, I got a mention on Air America Radio's "The Rachel Maddow Show". Rachel took a comment I'd made on her show blog and developed it into a news commentary. And what's more, she said I'm one of her favorite bloggers. (Aah, gee whillikers)

letter to the editor

citizen steve weighs in after a local spews lies about the "do nothing" left......

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Says Democrats countered terrorists
The writer of the letter headlined "Says left's policies caused deaths too" had a lot to say, but as Sen. Patrick Moynihan said, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
The "Butler Report" found "the intelligence available was 'insufficiently robust' to prove Iraq was in breach of the United Nations' resolutions."
On Sept. 21, 2001, Bush was told in a briefing that there was no evidence linking Saddam to the attacks nor Iraq to al-Qaeda.
Results of the "Bush Doctrine": Osama bin-Laden and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi still on the loose, Iraq in chaos, 2,100 Americans dead.
Claiming Democrats don't respond to terrorist attacks is just plain silly:
Response to USS Cole attack: The planner killed with a hellfire missile. Three sentenced to death, four others sent to prison.
African embassy bombings: Four sentenced to life.
1993 World Trade Center bombing: Six sentenced to 240 years each.
Millennium bombing plot: thwarted! The "bomber" sentenced to 22 years.
We know about the August 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing entitled "Bin Laden determined to strike in U.S." and that after reading it Bush did nothing.
The "do-nothing policy" that resulted in 3,000 deaths on 9/11 was Bush's policy.
citizen steve


original letter-
Says left's policies caused deaths too
The dishonest coordinated assertion is, "Bush lied, people died." The British "Butler Report," which overviewed British intelligence leading up to war with Iraq - even now - asserts that Iraqi officials sought uranium in Niger. This supports Bush's infamous "16 words" in his State of the Union address.
Also the war against "militant Islam" is a war we were losing, because these extremists remained nomadic and claimed no national affiliation while enjoying insulation in de facto host countries from Syria to Pakistan - across the Middle East. Addressing these terrorist gangs effectually required engaging the host countries directly (the Bush Doctrine). That was obvious when Congress supported the war in Iraq and before Monday-morning quarterbacking became an art form of elected leaders of the Democratic Party.
Why Iraq: a) The Bush Doctrine. b) Saddam had used biological and chemical weapons that were not verifiably deactivated as called for in United Nations sanctions.
Not responding to attacks: the USS Cole, embassies in Kenya, the World Trade Center (1993), etc. - do-nothing policy ad infinitum resulted in 3,000 deaths on 9/11.
Doing nothing was and remains a policy decision favored by the redundantly described "far left" ... and people died.
Stuart Andrews
Bellingham

BushCo - rotten to the core

FBI reopens its inquiry into forgery leading to Iraq war

By Peter Wallsten, Tom Hamburger and Josh Meyer

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON - The FBI has reopened an inquiry into an intriguing aspect of the pre-Iraq war intelligence fiasco: how the Bush administration came to rely on forged documents linking Iraq to nuclear-weapons materials as part of its justification for the invasion. ...

Report Accuses EPA of Slanting Analysis
Hill Researchers Say Agency Fixed Pollution Study to Favor Bush's 'Clear Skies'

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 3, 2005; Page A08
The Bush administration skewed its analysis of pending legislation on air pollution to favor its bill over two competing proposals, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Oct. 27 analysis of its plan -- along with those of Sens. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) and James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.) -- exaggerated the costs and underestimated the benefits of imposing more stringent pollution curbs, the independent, nonpartisan congressional researchers wrote in a Nov. 23 report. The EPA issued its analysis -- which Carper had demanded this spring, threatening to hold up the nomination of EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson -- in part to revive its proposal, which is stalled in the Senate. ...

State Department using ideological litmus tests to screen speakers

BY WARREN P. STROBEL AND JONATHAN S. LANDAY

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The State Department has been using political litmus tests to screen private American citizens before they can be sent overseas to represent the United States, weeding out critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, according to department officials and internal e-mails. ...


Gonzales Defends Approval of Texas Redistricting by Justice

By Dan Eggen

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 3, 2005; Page A04

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales yesterday defended the Justice Department's 2003 decision to overrule a staff recommendation and approve a congressional redistricting map for Texas, arguing that subsequent court rulings and election results show that the plan did not harm minority voters.

A December 2003 internal memo shows that eight members of the Justice Department's voting section unanimously concluded that the Texas plan would violate the Voting Rights Act by diluting the electoral power of blacks and Hispanics. Political appointees in the department disagreed and allowed the plan to go forward. ...

Summarizing bushes America

oh man, this guy nailed it......
Tom Gilroy 12-1-05

What would you do if your country was under attack? If your government was under siege by an occupying force with utter disregard for the well-being of your fellow citizens? Would you ‘cut and run’? Or would you take up arms against the invaders as a true patriot?
No, this is not some clever peacenik defense of the Iraqi ‘insurgency’—common citizens using the dire means at their disposal to eject an occupying enemy.

I’m talking about America; what if some foreign force that supported torture and opposed human rights and your constitution—a force not unlike say Kuwait, or Saudi Arabia, or Turkey—suddenly invaded Washington. What would you do? Act like a patriot or a girly-man?

Well, it’s happened.
read full article

No more lies - Time to "Stop the War"

The Harris Poll. Nov. 8-13, 2005. N=1,011 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
.

"Do you favor keeping a large number of U.S. troops in Iraq until there is a stable government there OR bringing most of our troops home in the next year?"


Wait for Stable Government - - - 35%
Bring Home In Next Year - - - - - 63%
Unsure - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3%

Protest Reassembles in Crawford
Opponents of War in Iraq Plan to Remain Near Bush Ranch

By Rosalind S. Helderman

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 26, 2005; Page A05

CRAWFORD, Tex., Nov. 25 -- Cindy Sheehan has returned to the dusty town of Crawford, where she was transformed from a grieving mother into a symbol of the movement against the Iraq war. ...

"Are you confident that Iraq will be successful in developing a stable and reasonably democratic government?"

Yes - - 32%
No - - 61%
Unsure - 7%

Santa Rosa lawmaker heralded movement to withdraw troops
By Jim Puzzanghera

Mercury News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Long before the issue of withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq exploded in Congress earlier this month, a Bay Area congresswoman had been leading a sometimes lonely fight to bring the troops home.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Santa Rosa, was the first to introduce legislation calling for withdrawal, on Jan. 26, making the 68-year-old grandmother the unofficial matriarch of the movement in Congress. ...

"Do you believe the insurgents in Iraq are being contained by security forces or are they getting the upper hand?"

.
Being Contained - - - - 41%
Getting Upper Hand - - 44%
Unsure - - - - - - - - - - 14%

Defense hawk Dicks says he now sees war as a mistake

By Alicia Mundy

Seattle Times Washington bureau

...

...Dicks says the Pentagon should begin a phased withdrawal and leave some troops to help maintain order and train a new Iraq army. "We've got to be very concerned that Iraq comes out of this whole," he said.

But he added, "We can't take forever."

Some people say it takes eight to nine years to control an insurgency, Dicks said.

"I don't think the American people will give eight to nine years, and I sure as heck won't."

Can we be a "SuperPower" if our economy sucks rocks?

... I noticed this story

U.S. to cut Canada lumber tariffs

MATTHEW DALY
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Commerce Department said Tuesday it will comply with a NAFTA panel's order to drastically cut U.S. duties on imports of Canadian softwood lumber.U.S. officials said they disagree with the rationale behind the ruling but respect the panel's authority. Canada supplies about one-third of the U.S. market for softwood, which is easily sawed pine, spruce and other wood used in homebuilding. ...

And, I couldn't help but wonder why the Busheviks would suddenly start honoring international agreements. A little pondering brought me to the conclusions that it's an effort to off-set rising mortage rates and keep the 'Housing Market' from going (excuse the expression) teets-up... and dragging the rest of the economy with it.

As housing market cools off, so does employment growth

By DANIEL GROSS The New York Times

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2005

There's a growing consensus that the housing market is cooling off. This month, Toll Brothers, the luxury home builder, warned that sales of McMansions were falling, and its highflying stock fell to earth. Last Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that housing starts, a reliable gauge of present activity, fell 5.6 percent in October from year-ago levels, while building permits, a reliable gauge of future activity, fell 6.7 percent. ...

... If the frothy regional markets go flat or if prices simply stop rising at the rates of recent years, there will surely be wide-ranging economic effects on consumer spending and on jobs. "Housing and the job markets are joined at the hip," Mr. Zandi said. "And if housing cools, so too will hiring and the job market more broadly, particularly in the more juiced-up housing markets."

If housing prices are flat in 2006 and residential investment falls 5 percent, there could be a direct loss of a few hundred thousand jobs related to real estate, Mr. Hatzius said. And the indirect effects will certainly be larger, Mr. Zandi said: "Housing is going to go from being a key contributor to the job engine to being a significant drag on job growth." ...

The biggest sectors of our economy are the "Housing Market" and "Consumer Spending". Consumer spending has remained high because House prices have been inflating, allowing people to keep 'refinancing' their homes to fuel their consumer spending... House prices stop inflating, consumer spending drops off.

McGovern

i really loved Dick's comment, an excerpt from the new movie "One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern"
DICK GREGORY: Nixon was good for black folk, because he scared white folk.

hear/read Amy Goodman interview with George McGovern at Democracy Now

Mark Morford

George W. Bush Gives Me Hope The astonishing collapse of the Bumbling One surely means healthy change is imminent, right?
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, November 18, 2005 now part of stylesheet -->

Here's the good news: It really can't get much worse.
We cannot afford any more wars. The environment has been sold to the bone. The national spirit has been beaten like an Alaskan baby seal and the GOP has worked our last nerve, passed through the karmic blood-brain barrier, reached saturation to the point where even moderate Repubs and gobs of intelligent Christians are finally saying, Oh my God, what have we done, and how did it all go so wrong, and how much Prozac and wine and praying to a very disappointed Jesus will it take to fix it?
full article
Mark's archive

dicked again.....

it never stops....they steal from us to steal from us...jez!!!!!!

Cheney Sidesteps Travel Disclosure Rules
Unlike the rest of the White House, Cheney refuses to make his outside travel public

WASHINGTON, November 16, 2005 — Vice President Dick Cheney and his staff have been unilaterally exempting themselves from long-standing travel disclosure rules followed by the rest of the executive branch, including the Office of the President, the Center for Public Integrity has discovered.

Cheney's office also appears to have stuck taxpayers with untold millions in travel costs rather than accepting trip sponsors' funds that the rules would require to be disclosed.
full article

yikes!!!

US Congress moves to cut delays in death sentences
Thursday, November 17, 2005--
Web posted at: 11/17/2005 2:19:28Source ::: Reuters

WASHINGTON: Republicans in the US Congress said yesterday they were moving ahead with legislation that would speed up executions in the United States by limiting the ability of those sentenced to death to appeal to federal courts.
Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter said he intended to bring the so-called "Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005" to a vote today in the Judiciary Committee which he chairs. A similar bill is also moving forward in the House of Representatives and could clear the committee stage soon.
full article

Riverbend

what a concept....an Iraqi's opinion on Iraq

............Americans constantly tell me, “What do you think will happen if we pull out of Iraq- those same radicals you fear will take over.” The reality is that most Iraqis don’t like fundamentalists and only want stability- most Iraqis wouldn’t stand for an Iran-influenced Iraq. The American military presence is working hand in hand with Badir, etc. because only together with Iran can they suppress anti-occupation Iraqis all over the country. If and when the Americans leave, their Puppets and militias will have to pack up and return to wherever they came from because without American protection and guidance they don’t stand a chance.

We literally laugh when we hear the much subdued threats American politicians make towards Iran. The US can no longer afford to threaten Iran because they know that should the followers of Sadr, Iranian cleric Sistani and Badir’s Brigade people rise up against the Americans, they’d have to be out of Iraq within a month. Iran can do what it wants- enrich uranium? Of course! If Tehran declared tomorrow that it was currently in negotiations for a nuclear bomb, Bush would have to don his fake pilot suit again, gush enthusiastically about the War on Terror and then threaten Syria some more.

Congratulations Americans- not only are the hardliner Iranian clerics running the show in Iran- they are also running the show in Iraq. This shift of power should have been obvious to the world when My-Loyalty-to-the-Highest-Bidder-Chalabi sold his allegiance to Iran last year. American and British sons and daughters and husbands and wives are dying so that this coming December, Iraqis can go out and vote for Iran influenced clerics to knock us back a good four hundred years.

What happened to the dream of a democratic Iraq?

Iraq has been the land of dreams for everyone except Iraqis- the Persian dream of a Shia controlled Islamic state modeled upon Iran and inclusive of the holy shrines in Najaf, the pan-Arab nationalist dream of a united Arab region with Iraq acting as its protective eastern border, the American dream of controlling the region by installing permanent bases and a Puppet government in one of its wealthiest countries, the Kurdish dream of an independent Kurdish state financed by the oil wealth in Kirkuk…

The Puppets the Americans empowered are advocates of every dream except the Iraqi one: The dream of Iraqi Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen… the dream of a united, stable, prosperous Iraq which has, over the last two years, gone up in the smoke of car bombs, military raids and a foreign occupation.
complete post Sunday, November 06, 2005

Republicans to investigate... Republicans!

The American people don't like people who expose our secret agents

WASHINGTON - The recent indictment of Vice President Cheney's top aide has struck a nerve with the American public. Four in five, 79 percent, said the indictment of former Cheney aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on perjury and other charges is important to the nation, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Pew noted that in September 1998, 65 percent said President Clinton's lies under oath were important.

In an attempt to change the subject and thinking they can smear Democrats, Frist & Delay want to investigate who told about CIA secret prisons... They're NOT interested in the secret prisons or what goes on inside.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Tuesday called for a congressional leak investigation into who told the news media about previously undisclosed U.S. interrogation centers abroad.

"If accurate, such an egregious disclosure could have long-term and far-reaching damaging and dangerous consequences, and will imperil our efforts to protect the American people and our homeland from terrorist attacks," Frist and Hastert said in a letter. ...

Nancy Pelosi says 'good' lets really get into abuses of classified information.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in reaction to news reports that Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Frist have called for a congressional investigation into who leaked to The Washington Post the existence of secret U.S. prisons abroad:

"If Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Frist are finally ready to join Democrats' demands for an investigation of possible abuses of classified information, they must direct the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to investigate all aspects of that issue. That includes the possible manipulation of pre-war intelligence on Iraq, and the disclosure for political purposes of classified information involving the identity of the CIA officer. There is plenty to investigate about the Bush Administrations' use and misuse of intelligence; the American people deserve the truth."

... And then! Trent Lott says 'Republicans done it'!!

CNN's Ed Henry: "Trent Lott stunned reporters by declaring that this subject was actualy discussed at a Senate Republican luncheon, Republican senators only, last tuesday the day before the story ran in the Washington Post. Lott noted that Vice President Cheney was also in the room for that discussion and Lott said point blank "a lot of it came out of that room last tuesday, pointing to the room where the lunch was held in the capitol." He added of senators "we can't keep our mouths shut." He added about the vice president, "He was up here last wek and talked up here in that room right there in a roomful of nothing but senators and every word that was said in there went right to the newspaper." He said he believes when all is said and done it may wind up as an ethics investigation of a Republican senator, maybe a Republican staffer as well. Senator Frist's office not commenting on this development. The Washington Post not commenting either."

Watch for record breaking back-peddling as the Republicans try to un-screw themselves.

brace yourself effie

here it comes again.
I just heard an interview Thom Hartmann did with Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans united for separation of church and state. He warned that the Delay crowd would be putting forward legislation to allow tax-exempt status to churches that endorse candidates within the next few months. No other charitable organizations would be receiving this status. And that doesn’t even go to the issue of how important it is for both( government and religion) to be separate. It is vital for both to thrive. Just hoping we can be out ahead on this disastrous proposal. These people are power hungry, morally bankrupt thugs. and that's the nicest thing i can think of to say about them...........

kick em' when they're down

this whole demonizing of the "other" got into full swing in the reagan years with the welfare queens and their caddies.....in a recent conversation with a lock-step republican loyalist "they" were referred to as if, well, everyone knows who we are talking about. the right wing hate mongers have provided a megaphone to get this message out and they have done their job. so now, as they borrow from future generations and steal, they have planted in many people's minds where to look for the blame. wake up sheeple, they are stealing all our treasure!

.............If the budget cuts passed by the US senate on Thursday are anything to go by, the whole thing will end in tears. Republicans - disgracefully - targeted most of the cuts on the elderly and the poor through restructuring (ie cutting) some Medicare and Medicaid programmes. Worst of all, part of the cuts originally aimed (creditably) at cutting America's ludicrously high agriculture subsidies was amended so the brunt would be taken by chopping $844m from food stamps for the poor rather than from farm subsidies. Meanwhile, Republicans are hoping to pass yet more tax cuts for the wealthy. An administration that can tackle a serious budget problem in this way deserves all that may be coming to it.

more.......
.......Race and gender discrimination may not be the most screwed-up thing about welfare deform, but it is one of the few areas in which legal rights exist. These rights give us some handles and could give us a legitimate opening into the welfare reauthorization debate. We could initiate actions to put race and gender discrimination on the welfare reform radar screen, demand and win resolution to key individual cases, and secure new regulations from state welfare agencies and federal agencies responsible for civil rights enforcement. After all, if work is going to be the "solution" to all that is wrong with welfare, then the work arena has to operate fairly.

the coming generational wars

or so they bush crime family would have us believe......as they borrow and spend/steal, they are charging our children and their children and then pitting us against them. how much longer will Americans stand by and watch them transfer our wealth to the haves and have-mores.(they make no bones about calling them "their base" )

The perfect economic storm
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Froma Harrop / Syndicated columnist
E-mail article Print view Search
Most e-mailed Most read RSS
America should prepare for a big fat war between the generations. It's going to be ugly. On one side is the baby-boom generation, which retires and claims a ton of government benefits. On the other are younger workers, forced to fund those benefits plus pay the bills their elders left them.
When the war comes, the Federal Reserve chairman will have to be general. That person will likely be Bush nominee Ben Bernanke. The question is, for which side will he fight?

Huffington Post bloggers index

great list!

Harry

watch Harry give em' hell

David Sirota on Harry's stand..........the timeline published in 2004 is meticulously sourced....beautiful!!!!!

...........The questions - still unanswered nearly 3 years after the war started - can be found in an article my former Center for American Progress colleague Christy Harvey and I wrote back in 2004 called "They Knew." It was an article that took forever to write because it meticulously and chronologically detailed how the Bush administration was selling the country a false bill of goods when it came to Iraq - and how they clearly KNEW they were selling America a false bill of goods. There's been many attempts to deflect attention from this core fact by conservatives - they want the public to believe that the Bush administration may have gotten the facts wrong about Iraq, but that the Bush administration didn't actually KNOW it was getting its facts wrong. But as the article shows, the cold, hard evidence shows that THEY KNEW.
full article

Declining support for Bush war

So much for the idea that the Military is more "Republican" than the rest of America.

Military shares public's declining support for Bush, war

10/28/2005

Associated Press

More than half the North Carolina military members surveyed in the latest Elon University poll don't like the way President Bush is handling his job and the war in Iraq.

The survey results were released today.

Of the 539 adults surveyed, nearly 53 percent of military members said they strongly disapproved or disapproved of Bush's handling of his job. And 56 percent of that same group said they strongly disapproved or disapproved of his handling of the Iraq war.

Overall, slightly more than 53 percent of those surveyed did not approve of Bush's job performance, while 57 percent didn't approve of his handling of the Iraq war.

The telephone poll was conducted between Monday and Thursday and has a margin of error for the entire sample of plus or minus four-point-three percentage points.

It's unforgivable that the Busheviks lied us into a war of aggression and it's even more unforgivable that their management of the war is totally incompetent.

200 words

published (bellingham herald)friday oct 28...the same day the "scooter"was indicted....

I hope Bush's declining approval ratings means that people are waking up. A recent USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll put it at 39%. "Freedom on the march" sounds hollow and the newly coined "seeds of freedom" continue to get a lot of people killed. There is plenty to be afraid of. It's just not what the administration is peddling. America's precious resources are being squandered. The middle class is in a race to the bottom. The new bankruptcy bill in effect makes it harder for average citizens to get bankruptcy relief if they suffer a catastrophic health problem. At the same time corporations enjoy plenty of loopholes. They move on with "golden parachutes" for CEO's and dump their pensions responsibilities. At a time when all people of the earth should be coming together to address global warming and the earths resources, we have "kiss up, kick down" John Bolton representing us at the United Nations. The"culture of life" turns out to be the "culture of corruption" and lies. The"milestone" rhetoric about Iraq is a worn out substitute for real progress. Innocent Iraqis are dying. I hope we soon come together as if our children's and grandchildren's lives depend on it.
jpeg

Bellingham Herald oct 21,05

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Characteristics of a corrupt nation
Imagine a country...
...where dissidents and even groups potentially harmful to business interests are surveilled and infiltrated, the reading habits of its citizens are scrutinized, photos and damaging news stories are suppressed or buried by the government and a complacent media, land can be seized for the "common good," citizens are routinely roughed up by a brutal police force.
Imagine a country with questionable elections, a growing myriad of state secrets and outright lies, where citizens are held in jail indefinitely without benefit of trial, a country that invades other countries under pretext to grab natural resources, and practices war crimes in the eyes of most of the world and unbeknownst to its citizens.
Is this a Soviet, totalitarian regime?
No, it is Bush's United States of America.
When a frog is placed in a pot of slowly heating water, it doesn't notice until it boils to death.
It's getting hotter in here.
Diana Conover
Bellingham

Hypocricy Watch

And the winner of the Ms. Hypocricy U.S.A. contest isssss:

Hutchinson: Indictments Should Be “On a Crime and Not Some Perjury Technicality”

On Meet the Press, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson picks up where Bill Kristol left off:

I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn’t indict on the crime so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation were not a waste of time and dollars.

Why is she the winner you might ask... Wellllllllll; back on Feb. 12, 1999 Senator Hutchinson voted to Impeach Pres. Bill Clinton based on two Articles alleging that the President had provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony !!!

Stephanie Miller

Stephanie Miller....documenting the apocalyspe and making it sound fun.

Mama on the rethugs reaching out to blacks....."It's kind of like the one finger victory salute."
hear her live on am 1090(seattle) 9am-noon

Still Looking for Answers - Friday Edition

Juan Cole is very busy this morning and sharp as a tack... as usual. He spotted this article about the feasibility of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq

'US can withdraw from Iraq while Army is being created'

Washington, Oct 14 (PTI) Former Secretary of Defence Melvin Laird has said the United States can withdraw from Iraq while Iraqi army is being created, as happened in case of Vietnam.

Laird noted in an article in Foreign Affairs that the United States managed to withdraw American forces while creating a viable South Vietnamese army.

The same approach, he claims, could work in Iraq today.

"I believed then and still believe today that given enough outside resources, South Vietnam was capable of defending itself, just as I believe Iraq can do the same now.

"For me, the alleged prison scandals reported to have occurred in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and at Guantanamo Bay have been a disturbing reminder of the mistreatment of our own PoWs by North Vietnam.

" The minute we begin to deport prisoners to other nations where they can legally be tortured, when we hold people without charges or trial, when we move prisoners around to avoid the prying inspections of the Red Cross, when prisoners die inexplicably on our watch, we are on a slippery slope toward the inhumanity that we deplore." PTI

And he expands on how lies that got us into war with Iraq went unquestioned

Miller and the Neocons

- at many levels.

More WMD Pie in the Sky

... How to explain Bush's strange agenda? Well, when someone doesn't read the newspapers and doesn't know anything about the wider world, and just accepts whatever close aides tell him, then he might easily believe 10 impossible things before breakfast. The real question is who his aides are really working for, who wants Bush to believe these dangerous fantasies.

Audio commentary

be sure to check out the "Pap Attack" for some really great short commentary.......the photo links are worth it!! Pap makes every word count!
can be heard on "Ring of Fire" with Bobby Kennedy Jr.....
Saturdays 5-7pm ET • Rebroadcast: Sundays 3-5pm ET

brownie to investigate brownie

brownie will be lookin' up brownie's brown growler ...hmmmm...boy that is sooooo reassuring. keep it up you arrogant, incompetent, criminal, bullies....... people are starting to notice.

6:44 p.m. (CBS) — CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports that Michael Brown, who recently resigned as the head of the FEMA, has been rehired by the agency as a consultant to evaluate its response following Hurricane Katrina.

and this is an interesting piece.....

CRONYISM in the Bush Administration
HOW MANY MORE MICHAEL BROWNS ARE OUT THERE? TIME Probe Finds the Bush Administration is Putting Connections Before Experience For Some Positions

Posted Sunday, Sep. 25, 2005
New York – The Michael Brown debacle – the resignation of President’s former point man on disasters -- has raised questions about whether political connections, not qualifications, have helped an unusually high number of Bush appointees land vitally important jobs. ONLINE: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1109345,00.html
Among TIME’s examples:
-- At the Food and Drug Administration, TIME obtained internal e-mail messages that show scientists’ drug-safety decisions are being second-guessed by a 33-year-old doctor-turned-stock picker, Scott Gottlieb.
full article

and this from david brooks
.........And as I say that, you always got to go back to competence. And sometimes in my dark moments, I think he's "The Manchurian Candidate" designed to discredit all the ideas I believe in. And so he has to follow through on that. That's the crucial thing for the next two years for him.

and so it goes as they destroy our federal government... not suprising since they never liked it much....with the exception of all that military hardware and "assets", as they like to refer to the patriotic, brave citizens they use for their personal adventures. oh and the cash flow...they have really been enjoying that....wheeeeeeeee.......how much more will we put up with!??!

wake up sheeple!

Peace is on the march

here are some photos of the peace march in bellinham sept 21(till the batteries gave out..oops)
http://kali.memes.com/~ware/peggy/peacebhamsept/

and here is the seattle march of the nationwide march sept 24
http://kali.memes.com/~ware/peggy/peacesept24/

mark nails bushworld

mark just sums up where we are here in America with these thugs in charge.......

Fine Wine For A Big Quake Sure a quake kit is a great thing -- if you can afford it. Too bad about everyone else
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, September 21, 2005


............As Katrina proved in no uncertain terms, if you're poor or from the lower classes and a massive natural disaster strikes, you are, of course, screwed, given how you do not have extra money, no cash reserves to spend on motels or plane tickets, no credit card numbers to keep written down in a safe place. You do not have a car. You do not own a cell phone. You do not have wealthy relatives in Miami with a few spare rooms in their beach house. When disaster hits, you simply do not have anywhere to go.
All of which means the Bush administration will consider you, essentially, trash, disposable, invisible -- except for when the TV cameras find you floating face down in the flooded street and suddenly Bush's poll numbers collapse and Dubya comes on to pretend he understands your plight and will have his mom send you cookies and a warm condescending hug ASAP.
full article

All the News that fits their agenda

Another prime example of the MSM being a day late and a dollar short (as it were).

TIME MAGAZINE - Sep. 26, 2005
Saddam's Revenge
The secret history of U.S. mistakes, misjudgments and intelligence failures that let the Iraqi dictator and his allies launch an insurgency now ripping Iraq apart
By JOE KLEIN

Why didn't TIME take up this story when Scott Ritter wrote about it over a year ago?

Published on Friday, July 23, 2004 by Tribune Media Services
Saddam's People are Winning the War
by Scott Ritter

Anybody got any theories?

Emotional Rather blasts 'new journalism order'
By Paul J. Gough

... occasionally forcing back tears, he (Dan Rather) said that in the intervening years, politicians "of every persuasion" had gotten better at applying pressure on the conglomerates that own the broadcast networks. He called it a "new journalism order."

He said this pressure -- along with the "dumbed-down, tarted-up" coverage, the advent of 24-hour cable competition and the chase for ratings and demographics -- has taken its toll on the news business. "All of this creates a bigger atmosphere of fear in newsrooms," Rather said. ...

cheers all over again

here come the compassionate conservatives again....cheers
hope all will stand with barbara boxer for this new assault

Exceptions in new EPA rules would allow testing pesticides on children
By Andrew Schneider
Sun National Staff
Originally published September 14, 2005

.........."For the first time in our nation's history, the EPA has proposed a program to allow for the systematic and everyday experimentation of pesticides on humans," Rep. Henry A. Waxman, a California Democrat and leading critic of the testing policies, said in a statement yesterday. "Moreover, the proposed program is riddled with ethical loopholes."
Sen. Barbara Boxer, another California Democrat, who also demanded improvements in protecting human test subjects, voiced similar criticism.
"The EPA proposed rule on human testing has several large loopholes that undermine the very purpose of the rule. No wonder the pesticide companies are saying such nice things about it," Boxer said.
"This is unethical and contrary to recent direction from Congress."

full article

more bush's America....

great article by Thom on bush's disasterous "energy policy"....

Carter Tried To Stop Bush's Energy Disasters - 28 Years Ago
by Thom Hartmann

In his recent news conference, George Bush Jr. suggested that our nation's "problem" with high gasoline prices was caused by the lack of a national energy policy, and tried to blame it all on Bill Clinton. First, Junior said, "This is a problem that's been a long time in coming. We haven't had an energy policy in this country."
This was followed by, "That's exactly what I've been saying to the American people -- 10 years ago if we'd had an energy strategy, we would be able to diversify away from foreign dependence. And -- but we haven't done that. And now we find ourselves in the fix we're in." As is so often the case, Bush was lying.
Consider President Jimmy Carter's April 18, 1977 speech. Since it was given nearly three decades ago, when many of the reporters in Bush's White House were children, it's understandable that they don't remember it. But it's inexcusable that Bush and the mainstream media (which, after all, has the ability to do research) would completely ignore it. It was the speech that established the strategic petroleum reserve, birthed the modern solar power industry, led to the insulation of millions of American homes, and established America's first national energy policy. "With the exception of preventing war," said Jimmy Carter, a man of peace, "this is the greatest challenge our country will face during our lifetimes."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0503-22.htm

bush's America

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. does a great job of outlining the perilious times we live in......the bush crime family is taking us full speed ahead over the cliff....the only conclusion i can come to is they must be criminally insane cuz they have children and grandchildren too. how can so many be affected by such severe anti-social personality disorder????? i hope they can be stopped......


Published on Friday, September 16, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
Those of Us Who Know That America’s Worth Fighting for Have to Take It Back Now from Those Who Don’t
by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.Speech delivered at the Sierra Summit 2005San Francisco, CaliforniaSeptember 10, 2005

..........This is the worst environmental president we’ve had in American history.
If you look at NRDC’s website you’ll see over 400 major environmental roll backs that are listed there that have been implemented or proposed by this administration over the past four years as part of a deliberate concerted effort to eviscerate 30 years of environmental law.
It’s a stealth attack.
The White House has used all kinds of ingenious machinations to try to conceal its radical agenda from the American people including Orwellian rhetoric. When they want to destroy the forests, they call it the Healthy Forest Act. When they wanted to destroy the air, they called it the Clear Skies Bill.
But most insidiously, they have put polluters in charge of virtually all the agencies that are supposed to protect Americans from pollution.
full article

riverbend returns

after no posts since july 15 riverbend has returned!!! her post on sept 11 puts our criminal foreign policy into words......
.......I remember almost immediately, Western media began conjecturing on which Islamic group it could have been. I remember hoping it wasn’t Muslims or Arabs. I remember feeling that way not just because of the thousands of victims, but because I sensed that we’d suffer in Iraq. We’d be made to suffer for something we weren’t responsible for.E. looked at me wide-eyed that day and asked the inevitable question,
“How long do you think before they bomb us?”
“But it wasn’t us. It can’t be us…” I rationalized.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s all they need.”

......It has been four years today. How does it feel four years later? For the 3,000 victims in America, more than 100,000 have died in Iraq. Tens of thousands of others are being detained for interrogation and torture. Our homes have been raided, our cities are constantly being bombed and Iraq has fallen back decades, and for several years to come we will suffer under the influence of the extremism we didn't know prior to the war. As I write this, Tel Afar, a small place north of Mosul, is being bombed. Dozens of people are going to be buried under their homes in the dead of the night. Their water and electricity have been cut off for days. It doesn’t seem to matter much though because they don’t live in a wonderful skyscraper in a glamorous city. They are, quite simply, farmers and herders not worth a second thought. Four years later and the War on Terror (or is it the War of Terror?) has been won:Score:
Al-Qaeda – 3,000
America – 100,000+

Congratulations.

sept 11,2005 post

the flood of katrina is followed by a tsunami of compassion!

after another quarter of record profits for these thugs the corporate welfare and looting continues.....the people need relief from this compassionate conservatism.....


Bush lifts wage rules for Katrina
President signs executive order allowing contractors to pay below prevailing wage in affected areas.
September 9, 2005: 11:43 AM EDT

........Bush's action came as the federal government moved to provide billions of dollars in aid, and drew rebukes from two of organized labor's biggest friends in Congress, Rep. George Miller of California and Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, both Democrats.
"The administration is using the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to cut the wages of people desperately trying to rebuild their lives and their communities," Miller said.
"President Bush should immediately realize the colossal mistake he has made in signing this order and rescind it and ensure that America puts its people back to work in the wake of Katrina at wages that will get them and their families back on their feet," Miller said.
"I regret the president's decision," said Kennedy.
"One of the things the American people are very concerned about is shabby work and that certainly is true about the families whose houses are going to be rebuilt and buildings that are going to be restored," Kennedy said.
full article

Is it pay back time, yet?

Okie dokie... In Bush's FEMA appointments we've got a shining example of how utterly corrupt the Republicans are: political patronage, ultra-cronyism. I think we need an investigation by an independent council/prosecutor(meaning someone who hates Bush with a passion). The investigation should be in depth, reporting it's findings in mid-Nov. 2008. The staff could leak give progress reports to the press every week. With subpoena power, an unlimited budget and years to dig, there should be plenty of dirt uncovered. The person chosen to head the investigation should have certain Starr-like qualities. The investigation should have a name; hmmm, lets see.... Oh, I know!... we could call it; the BrownieWater Scandal. [/satire]

his mother's son

this crime family that has seized power and taken over our resources for their own personal use again show their contempt for the people of the country they exploit........mommie bush shows her true colors as she walks by people suffering and pronounces them "lucky"..... her son, when left to his own devices, reverts to cocktail party banter as rescue efforts were shut down to orchestrate the photo-op bush needed to rescue his tattered image.....


HOUSTON Former first lady Barbara Bush is getting attention for some of the comments she made about New Orleans evacuees who are now in Houston. In an interview with the American Public Media program "Marketplace," she said the relocation is "working very well" for some of those forced out of New Orleans. She noted that many of the people at the Astrodome were "underprivileged anyway."
and......
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

also

and incompetence is the nicest thing that can be said.......

By Paul Krugman - The New York Times - 09/06/05
Each day since Katrina brings more evidence of the lethal ineptitude of federal officials. I'm not letting state and local officials off the hook, but federal officials had access to resources that could have made all the difference, but were never mobilized.
Here's one of many examples: The Chicago Tribune reports that the USS Bataan, equipped with six operating rooms, hundreds of hospital beds and the ability to produce 100,000 gallons of fresh water a day, has been sitting off the Gulf Coast since last Monday — without patients.

what the hell is going on??????

FEMA's Crime Spree - September 6th, 2005
Just take a look at this list:FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations
FEMA turns away experienced firefighters
FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks
FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel
FEMA won't let Red Cross deliver food
FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans
FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid
FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board
FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck
FEMA turns away generators
FEMA: "First Responders Urged Not To Respond"

wake up sheeple!!!!!!!!!!!!

BushCo's response - incompetence or crime?

As the days pass without an adequate response to the disaster,
BushCo is more interested in covering their ass and shifting the blame
than in saving peoples lives! 

... Last week, Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told CNN his agency had recently planned for a Category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans.

Speaking to "Larry King Live" on August 31, in the wake of Katrina, Brown said, "That Category 4 hurricane caused the same kind of damage that we anticipated. So we planned for it two years ago. Last year, we exercised it. And unfortunately this year, we're implementing it."

Brown suggested FEMA -- part of the Department of Homeland Security -- was carrying out a prepared plan, rather than having to suddenly create a new one. ...

... But Chertoff seemed unaware of all the warnings.

"This is really one which I think was breathtaking in its surprise," Chertoff said. "There has been, over the last few years, some specific planning for the possibility of a significant hurricane in New Orleans with a lot of rainfall, with water rising in the levees and water overflowing the levees," he told reporters Saturday. ...

... Chertoff also argued that authorities did not have much notice that the storm would be so powerful and could make a direct hit on New Orleans. ...

... As far back as Friday, August 26, the National Hurricane Center was predicting the storm could be a Category 4 hurricane at landfall, with New Orleans directly in its path. Still, storms do change paths, so the possibility existed that it might not hit the city.

But the National Weather Service prediction proved almost perfect.

Katrina made landfall on Monday, August 29. ...http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/

And as if that isn't damning enough! 

CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE AND KATRINA?

By Larry Johnson | bio

From: Politics

The provocative title is intentional. Why did the Bush Administration fail to act according to the National Response Plan they created in December of 2004 to deal with an incident like Katrina? ...

...

The current effort by the Bush Administration to blame the victims in Louisiana and Mississippi is bad enough, but they are in big trouble once Americans take the time to understand that they the Administration ignored it's own plan for dealing with a threat like Katrina. Why did they fail to implement the plan until it was too late to save lives along the Gulf Coast?

Don't take my word for it, read the plan yourself. You can download it at http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRPbaseplan.pdf

...

But it isn't just what wasn't done, BushCo's Homeland Security representatives have blocked the most basic help for hurricane survivors!

Reporter's notebook: Treating those left behind
By Robert Davis, USA TODAY

... I headed to City Hall, where Jullette Saussy, the city's director of emergency medical services, is based. This involved another walk through blocks of waist-high, waste-filled water. I found her and her colleagues in the midst of intense discussions about the situation at the convention center.

At that point, the plight of the citizens at the Superdome had gotten the most media attention, but the 20,000 people at the convention center had even fewer supplies and emergency medical officials had been unable to reach them because of the lack of medical supplies, the absence of any means of evacuation and security concerns.

Saussy's desire to set up a mobile hospital at the convention center had been blocked by Homeland Security representatives who wanted people to be shipped out, not treated there. But she finally found an ally in Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, commander of the 1st Army, who is coordinating the military rescue operation. He issued a "make it so" type declaration and loaded Saussy, her associates and me into a military truck bound for the center. ... (emphasis added by me)

the "uniters" strike again

makes ya think they want us to be fightin' with each other. as we experience Hurricane Katrina (well, as randi says, some very red states do) and bush avoids Hurricane Cindy, using perfectly good rescue helicopters to go golfing, bikeriding, and safe stating(idaho) the question still remains.
HOW MANY MORE INNOCENT AMERICANS AND IRAQIS WILL DIE FOR WHAT "NOBLE" CAUSE?????


Why I'm Leaving the American Legion

An Open Letter to the National Commander
A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Sean T Lewis
Thomas P. CadmusNational CommanderThe American Legion700 North Pennsylvania St.P.O. Box 1055Indianapolis, IN 46206

Dear Commander Cadmus:
I write today as a very distressed member of The American Legion.
I enlisted into the Regular Army in 1988 to fulfill my idealist's sense of duty -- a duty to do my part to preserve the freedom of my nation and the liberties of my countrymen. After five years of service, including duty in the Persian Gulf War, I was discharged in 1993 to join the swollen ranks of America's disabled veterans.
...........That your address to the National Convention this week repeated as fact the lies by which this country was led down the path to war in Iraq is despicable, but of only secondary importance to me. Passage of Resolution #3, and your statement that anti-war demonstrations should be suppressed "by any means necessary" is taken directly from playbooks written by Goebbels, Marcos and Duvalier.
........The American Legion's stance, and your attitude that Americans opposed to the war should be silenced as "unpatriotic," is an affront to great Americans whose lives and sacrifices I have lived to honor.
General Smedley Butler: "War is a Racket."
President George Washington: "My first wish is to see War, this plague to mankind, banished from off this earth."
President Dwight D. Eisenhower: "When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war. War settles nothing."
President Theodore Roosevelt: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
full article

Answer the Question, George!

Published on Saturday, August 20, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

Hypocrites and Liars

by Cindy Sheehan

... "I got an e-mail the other day and it said, 'Cindy if you didn't use so much profanity '. There's people on the fence that get offended.'

And you know what I said? 'You know what? You know what, god damn it? How in the world is anybody still sitting on that fence?'

"If you fall on the side that is pro-George and pro-war, you get your ass over to Iraq, and take the place of somebody who wants to come home. And if you fall on the side that is against this war and against George Bush, stand up and speak out." ...

Cindy Sheehan - Real American

A portrait of Cindy Sheehan holding a photo of her son, Casey, is on display as supporters of the California woman hold vigil in Portland, Ore., Friday, Aug. 12, 2005. Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq last year, has been holding vigil outside President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch since the beginning of the month and is requesting to meet with the President. Her Portland supporters vow to continue the daily downtown vigils as long as she does in Texas.(AP Photo/Don Ryan)




jpeg's photo's of the Memory Flags in the making

greasing the skids

here they go.....although august is "no time to roll out a new product" they are laying the groundwork....will the American people fall for it this time????? can they be sold?? what will it take to sell a new war to the American people???? hmmmm..... where...ohhh, where did the weapons go?????


..........The commander of the British-led multinational division in southern Iraq - where an Australian force is based - on Friday told reporters here there has been "a lot of speculation," but not many facts, about Iranian activities in his sector.
But Major General James Dutton said an Iraqi border enforcement unit in southern Iraq found a major arms cache about two weeks ago near Route Six, which runs from Basra to al-Amarah.
"We don't know exactly where that came from. We are keen to find out, and investigations are ongoing," he said.
"There have been suggestions that they could have come from Iran, but I certainly can't prove that."
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused Iran of allowing the weapons to be smuggled across its border, warning that "ultimately, it's a problem for Iran".

Bullyworld

aint' it great livin' in bullyworld.....it would be one thing if they were kickin' up some dust at the local saloon...these guys never met a good fight they didn't enjoy watching....unfortunately these ole' boys got their hands on a cash flow....so now we get to live in their world of incompetence and cruelty....welcome to the "kiss up, kick down" world of john bolton....many previous employees and associates testified in congress to this behavior...to you john i say..."when you don't feel like you're much on the inside, you have to work twice as hard to look like someone on the outside" (ClancyImuslind 1977) GET SOME HELP! you don't have to live like this....and the rest of the world shouldn't have to. oh well just when i think it's sooooooo bad a new bully gets elevated..........
Daily Kos Mon Aug 1st, 2005 at 09:33:02 PDT

Critic says Bolton a 'kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy'
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The former head of the State Department's in house intelligence bureau Tuesday described President Bush's nominee for United Nations ambassador as "a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy" whose attempt to intimidate a mid-level analyst raises "real questions about his suitability for high office."
Bolton faced strong criticism Tuesday from a former intelligence colleague.
Mark Wilson, Getty Images
Carl Ford, who headed the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) in the State Department from 2001-2003, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that nominee John Bolton is "a serial abuser" of subordinates who berated an analyst and sought to have him fired in 2002 because he disagreed with Bolton's assessment that Cuba has a biological weapons program.
full article

my latest letter to the editor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Calls for Bush impeachment
I continually hear our leaders and media pundits say we are fighting the terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them here.
Before we started this war Iraq had no terrorist groups. It's true they had a brutal dictator who we armed and supported in the 1980s. Who can forget the picture of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam in 1983?
In President Bush's latest speech he made several references to 9/11 as if that was the justification for our attack, invasion and occupation of Iraq. Bush himself has said "we have no evidence Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11."
Iraq never threatened us, our allies, or any of their neighbors. No WMDs have been found.
Now the Downing Street memos show the intelligence was fixed to fit the policy. They wanted to invade Iraq and lied to Congress and the American people to justify it.
There should be an immediate inquiry and move to impeach. What has been done in our name is criminal. All responsible should be held accountable.
We should begin immediate withdrawal and reparations. How arrogant and inhumane suggesting the people of Iraq should host a war so we don't have to "fight them here." jpeg

What we're up against

- The Rabid Rights Media Menagerie -

From 'The Nation'

article |posted July 8, 2005 (web only)
M is for Moronic
Max Blumenthal

... The conservative media game was neatly summarized by Matt Labash, a former senior writer for The Weekly Standard who now writes for National Review, in a 2003 interview on the website journalismjobs.com. Labash explained: "The conservative media likes to rap the liberal media on the knuckles for not being objective. We've created this cottage industry in which it pays to be un-objective.... It's a great way to have your cake and eat it too. Criticize other people for not being objective. Be as subjective as you want. It's a great little racket." ...
-

- And as examples of that "great little racket" -

From 'Media Matters'

CNN, ABC offered unchallenged legal analysis on Plame leak from Novak's partisan friends
Reporting on White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove's alleged involvement in the leaking of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity, CNN and ABC News presented unchallenged legal analysis from Victoria Toensing and Joseph E. DiGenova, respectively, both of whom defended Rove and were identified only as a "legal analyst" and a "former US attorney." Toensing and DiGenova, however, are partisan Republicans and personal friends of CNN host and columnist Robert D. Novak, who originally outed Plame in July 2003.

CNN's Malveaux plays White House correspondent, mind-reader, judge, and jury

CNN's Kyra Phillips: "definitely a major smear campaign going on" against Rove

Fox's Cameron parsed Bush's past statements on the fate of the CIA leaker: Bush "never actually said the word 'fired'"

ABC News, Wash. Post, Newsweek: Rove did not actually disclose Valerie Plame's name

...but a five-minute Google search would have produced it

anti-Gas-Tax Loonies

The Barbarians are at the gates... and they're filing a law suite!

Anti-gas-tax group asks judge to keep state from collecting new
tax

By RACHEL LA CORTE - The Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Opponents of the new gas tax hike have asked a judge to prevent the state from collecting the added revenue prior to a deadline for signatures on an initiative aimed at overturning the 9.5-cent-per-gallon increase. ...

The No New Gas Tax Group is trying to collect 275,000 signatures on Initiative 912 and force a public vote this fall — something the tax foes hope will result in a rollback of the overall 9.5-cent increase.

At this year's legislative session, state lawmakers approved a 16-year, $8.5 billion transportation package anchored by the gas tax, currently at 28 cents per gallon. Automatic increases are authorized annually: an additional 3 cents in July 2006, 2 cents more a year later, and a final 1.5 cents in July 2008.

If it's all imposed, the average motorist will pay $1 a week more in gas taxes. The average impact of the first 3 cents is $16 a year. ...

The Legislature's plan is backed by the governor, key lawmakers, labor, environmentalists, and many business and civic leaders. Advocates have formed a
campaign called Keep Washington Rolling.

"I understand how frustrated a lot of citizens are," said Senate Transportation Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, an architect of the tax package. "Nobody ever wants to raise taxes but how do these people expect us to make these safety improvements? The longer you wait the more expensive it is."

Last week, while leading a trade mission to Europe, Gov. Christine Gregoire told reporters on a conference call that Washington's economic future depends in large part on fixing its transportation mess.

"To turn back now would be a terrible mistake," she said.

[ full article ]

These Rabid-Right-wing loonies want to "stick it to" Christine Gregoire and could care less if they ruin our states economy in the process. You can get some REAL FACTS at Keep Washington Rolling.

Anti-Gas Tax petition Gives me Gas

There are people wondering about with petitions, trying to get signatures to put I-912 on this falls ballot. The purpose of the Initiative is to repeal the increase in the Gas Tax. What a damned stupid idea!

Nobody loves a tax increase of any kind; but if you're an adult, you realize taxes are just part of paying your own way in life.

Projects in the new State Transportation Bill tackle problems that have been put off for many years, but can't be put off any longer without courting disaster. The State Legislature hammered out this bill and it passed by a pretty sizable margin.

TRANSPORTATION REVENUE--FUEL TAX

Passed by the Senate April 20, 2005

YEAS 26 NAYS 22

Passed by the House April 24, 2005

YEAS 54 NAYS 43

The people behind the anti-gas tax initiative [ Whoever they are!... they sure don't make it easy to find out. ] Say, 'the people didn't get to vote on the tax increase' ... but that's just plain silly! We elect our representatives to the State Legislature and they spend time looking into issues and making informed decisions.

The argument that we're paying for Seattles roads is kinda ditsy.
#1 Whatcom County is slated to get $56.6 million in transportation funds
#2 Seattle/King county is the economic engine of Washington state; if they don't do well, we don't do well up here.
#3 If you really crunch the numbers, King county always pays more in taxes than they get back in services.

But hey; If you don't believe me, read up on the subject for yourself.

• News: Tuesday, May 10, 2005
  Governor signs gas tax increase, transportation package
  
  
• 2005 Transportation Partnership Projects
  What does the 2005 Funding Package promise for future transportation investment in Washington?
  
  
• Thursday, June 16, 2005 - Editorial
  I-912 is backward policy on roads
  
  
• Washington State Council of Fire Fighters
  Think Before You Ink: Union Members Urged Not to Sign I-912
  
  
• Washington State Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO
  Decline to Sign I-912
  
  
• Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
  Initiative 912: Don't sign it!
  
  
• 2005 Washington Defense.
  A project of the Northwest Progressive Institute
  DECLINE TO SIGN I-912
  
  
• Fighting Initiative 912

how did we get here?

oh man! this is a great compilation! The Path of War Timeline - By Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane, Raw Story

i loved what randi said today....the reason they always want to talk about the future is they haven't lied yet in the future!

simple scottie in his snippy way dismisses questions...

Q Scott, on another topic, has the President or anyone else from the administration responded to the letter sent last month by Congressman John Conyers and signed by dozens of members of the House of Representatives, regarding the Downing Street memo? Has the President or anyone else responded?
MR. McCLELLAN: Not that I'm aware of.
Q Why not?
MR. McCLELLAN: Why not? Because I think that this is an individual who voted against the war in the first place and is simply trying to rehash old debates that have already been addressed. And our focus is not on the past. It's on the future and working to make sure we succeed in Iraq.
These matters have been addressed, Elaine. I think you know that very well. The press --
Q Scott, 88 members of Congress signed that letter.
MR. McCLELLAN: The press -- the press have covered it, as well.
Q What do you say about them?
Q But, Scott, don't they deserve the courtesy of a response back?
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, this has been addressed. Go ahead.

made in America!!!!!

wake up sheeple! the life they have in mind for you is not pretty...... absolute power corrupts absolutely....as my friend Dorothy used to say, "they always tell you who they are" and she claimed it was usually one of the first things they did. now randi always "when they tell you who they are, believe them"

Backbone Campaign has a wealth of info collected.....



Who paid for Tom DeLay’s trips? The more interesting question is why he went to Saipan at all -- and what happened after he returned.
By Garance Franke-RutaIssue Date: 06.06.05


..........And the congressional rules that may yet ensnare DeLay suggest another truism: Congressional ethics operate according to the reverse-sieve effect -- instead of catching major ethical lapses that have injured the public interest for years while allowing piddling matters to slip through unmolested, the system captures small, technical rule violations. When it comes to substance, ethics rules have little to say, because in the strange Beltway calculus of right and wrong, engaging in flagrant acts of ethical turpitude is often known simply as policy making.

and this is how "hot tub tom" the bug man sees indentured workers, forced abortions after being forced to prostitution, living in squallor with no way out........

................."A free market success," DeLay calls Saipan's indentured worker system. If the Republicans take a drubbing at the polls in 2000, however, DeLay shouldn't be surprised if vengeance is in the air, even from his fellow Texas fat cats. Scores of textile plants in cities like El Paso and Dallas have had to shutter their doors in the face of cutthroat competition from companies like those in Saipan.

Ferndale > Pioneer Plaza?

A phone call to the Ferndale Planning Dept. produced the following information about the Pioneer Plaza Mall development:

• The Mall developers representatives have submitted an incomplete S.E.P.A. checklist to the City.
  
• Since there are missing element to the S.E.P.A. checklist and no development plan was submitted along with the checklist (as required) - the permitting process is not progressing.
  
• The Mall developers have met with other authorities (state & fed.) about wetland impact mitigation issues - No details known.
  
• The developers are required to submit a development proposal and have a neighborhood information meeting before the permitting process can go forward.
  
• There will (also) be multiple public meetings/hearings held by the City as part of considering the proposed mall development.
  
• Permits for a Mall development the size of the proposed Pioneer Plaza will not be rubber-stamped... There will be an extensive public process to considering the proposal.

Will we be run over by development?

Coming Soon to Ferndale?

Riverbend rips Friedman a new one!

i love her!!!!

............One thing I found particularly amusing about the article- and outrageous all at once-was in the following paragraph:"Religiously, if you want to know how the Sunni Arab world views a Shiite's being elected leader of Iraq, for the first time ever, think about how whites in Alabama would have felt about a black governor's being installed there in 1920. Some Sunnis do not think Shiites are authentic Muslims, and they are indifferent to their brutalization."Now, it is always amusing to see a Jewish American journalist speak in the name of Sunni Arabs. When Sunni Arabs, at this point, hesitate to speak in a representative way about other Sunni Arabs, it is nice to know Thomas L. Friedman feels he can sum up the feelings of the "Sunni Arab world" in so many words. His arrogance is exceptional. Sunday, May 29, 2005 post.

what is your eco footprint?

this simple little quiz will give you a ball park on how you measure up.

THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN THIS COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON. WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.
my score was 12. if everyone in the world lived like i do we would need 2.7 planets. oops!

http://ecofoot.org/

Depleted(not)Uranium

What if you knew there was nothing depleted about “depleted uranium? It is the by-product of processing natural uranium. It is 88% as radioactive as the original uranium. We have about 1.5 billion pounds, of "depleted uranium" at H-bomb factories in the US. It is used to make uranium bullets, shells, land mines and regular bombs. As we spread tons of DU in war zones, our troops get a heavy dose and it spreads throughout the world in the atmosphere. Uranium, one of the heaviest elements found in nature, increases in radioactivity as it decays. As we spread more and more of it in Iraq and Afghanistan it will be the “gift that keeps on giving”. The Lonestar Iconoclast has provided some very informative interviews at:
http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/xArchives/19_Issue/default.htm
Support Congressman Jim McDermott’s (D-WA) legislation to study the health and environmental impacts from the militaries use of depleted uranium in combat zones and clean-up of sites in the U.S. H. R. 2410 We should demand the truth about what is being done in our name. This is not a partisan issue. Most of us have children and grandchildren. I will let Representative Rick Larsen know I strongly support this legislation. http://www.house.gov/larsen


other links about DU...

Depleted uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty bullets
A death sentence here and abroad
by Leuren Moret

“Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” - Henry Kissinger, quoted in “Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POW’s in Vietnam”

Vietnam was a chemical war for oil, permanently contaminating large regions and countries downriver with Agent Orange, and environmentally the most devastating war in world history. But since 1991, the U.S. has staged four nuclear wars using depleted uranium weaponry, which, like Agent Orange, meets the U.S. government definition of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Vast regions in the Middle East and Central Asia have been permanently contaminated with radiation.
full article

Depleted Uranium:The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War
LEUREN MORET /
World Affairs – The Journal of International Issues
1jul04

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself.William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
The use of depleted uranium weaponry by the United States, defying all international treaties, will slowly annihilate all species on earth including the human species, and yet this country continues to do so with full knowledge of its destructive potential.
full article

Hmmm...Ohio again....

Howard Dean renews call for Bush to return money raised by Noe
By STEVE EDERBLADE STAFF WRITER

COLUMBUS - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean yesterday charged President Bush with using money during last year's campaign that was "tainted" by Toledo-area coin dealer Tom Noe, who is being investigated for allegedly misappropriating millions of dollars in Ohio money.The prominent Republican gained a special "pioneer" fund-raising status during Mr. Bush's re-election campaign last year because he helped collect $100,000 to $250,000 for the President. But now, Mr. Noe, who has received $50 million from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation since 1998 to invest in rare coins, could be facing civil and criminal charges for allegedly misappropriating at least $10 million of the state's money.

and the repugs respond.....
"Howard Dean's diatribe today illustrates that the Democrat Party not only lacks leadership but is overflowing with anger. His comment that a lot of Republicans have never made an honest living in their lives makes it clear that Dean's priority is to generate mudslinging headlines rather than engage in substantive debate. The record number of hard working Americans who voted for President Bush prefer leaders who address their concerns as opposed to attack their work ethic."