I am so tired of the double speak.
sometimes I just have to turn it off.

As a professional in the field of mental health, I applaud the
renewed emphasis on health care. But we shall see whether these are just words, or whether ALL of health care will be part of the Democratic Party agenda, including mental health.

Surely Dean will now remind everyone how little care was
given in mental health, especially in its diagnosis, when
the troops returned home. Chairman Dean will be able to
articulate exactly how Democrats, who control Congress, will be able to search out every returning vet from Iraq who got discharged for mental issues instead of treated for them.

I shall look forward to reading it, and will make the same
request with every candidate until I also read what their plans are for this aspect of health care.

Did everyone see Norah O'Donnell in her role as Dem nanny? She was warning Democrats not to become the "party of investigation." Who does she think she is?

Here's the video:
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1224

Also Wonkette had a neat sighting of Governor Dean on the train from Philly to NY. Thrifty and doing a crossword puzzle and talking to his wife on the phone.

Our party is lucky to have a chairman like him.

http://wonkette.com/politics/wonk%27d/wonkd-a-soft-moist-shapeless-mass-of-matter-248567.php

"Sat across the aisle from Howard Dean tonight (3/29) on a New York bound train. Wasn’t sure it was him at first, but his voice is unmistakable. He got on at Philly and didn’t speak to anyone but his wife on the phone, explaining that he was riding coach because it was cheaper. Surprisingly not surgically attached to a Blackberry, he instead read the Financial Times and the business section of the Post, did the crossword, and recycled it all on his way out."

Sunny -

Norah O'Donnell has been a loyal Bushita through both administrations of the lying fascist. There is no surprise in this.

thanks for the story Sunny.
yes, we are lucky to have Howard.

Bush isn't mentioning the abuse of PTSD victims at Ft Carson, and elsewhere.
It might cost the administration some funding to go back and review the less than honorable discharges the system has been giving PTSD victims instead of treating them, so they won't do it. It's part of the scandal of systemic abuse of the military and needs to be made an issue.
Screw Nora O'Donnell.
Where's there's smoke, you have to go see where the fire is and put it out.
If the Democrats become the party of investigations, it's because the rubber-stamp Republicans of the last few Congresses didn't do their jobs and rein in a corrupt administration, but became part of the corruption instead.
The American Voters deserve a clean government!
INVESTIGATE!! IMPEACH!!! INDICT!!!!

INVESTIGATE!! IMPEACH!!! INDICT!!!!

****

http://www.a28.org

A day of CHIMPEACHMENT!

...where recent revelations found that this Administration let down our wounded men and women in uniform and veterans.

I'd like to know where Bush is going to get the money when he's sinking us even deeper in debt with continuing the frickin' war in the first place?

And here's another thing I don't get... "recent revelations"? Didn't anybody watch Ron Kovic's movie "Born on the Fourth of July"? The VA hospitals were bad in the 70s and nothing's changed.

I feel the recent bill passing is a good show of effort, but it's still TOO MUCH MONEY if you're trying to END a war. Take 2/3 of that money and invest in the VA hospital (and I don't mean the administrative salaries!) and help the wounded build their lives back (and that includes their families!)!

Isn't there a Democrat out there who feels this way as I do???

One more thing...

"party of investigation."

I would rather be a party of thorough investigation that seeks the truth about our opponents than to be what the repubs were to the Clintons... seeking to create false implications in order to banish them.

Read "The Hunting of a President" and "Blinded by the Right". Brock's confession says it all.

WatchfulEye i agree with you but you cant jsut take all the money and leave the troops to die there you know what i think what we sould do insted of puting are good guys in war put killers over there then we dont have to worry about anything they wipe each other out
thanks man

Jamie, No, I'm not saying leave the troops there; I'm saying that if you want to end a war, you stop right now, bring the kids home and cut off the cash that continues it. The cash proposed still seems like way more money than would be needed to pull troops out. Why another year? Didn't take a year to get them all over there. They could all be home in 3 months. Just seems like another opportunity for Halliburton to milk us dry again.

Just semi-informed me on a rant today.

My very young red-headed congressman, 32 years old, a Bush devotee, and self-appointed big shot finally got put down for lying about Nancy Pelosi's plane. It took the local paper all this time to figure out he only used the Washington Times as a source.

But they really do go after him, and it is past time.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1230

It's called The Plane Truth, and they should have written it long ago.

WE HAVE MOVED THE OPEN THREAD HERE. WE BELIEVE WE CAN CO-EXIST WITH THE "JUST ANOTHER PHOTO OP".

83 GI's murdered by bush/cheney in January 2007

80 GI's murdered by bush/cheney in February 2007

81 GI's murdered by bush/cheney in March 2007

IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY NOW!!!!!

CHIMP'S SURGE IS A FAILURE JUST AS WE PREDICTED.

Twenty more months of ahole in office will see the deaths of over 1,600 more GI's. NO BLOOD FOR OIL!!!!

BUSH AND CHENEY ARE GUILTY OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST PEACE!!!!!

FROG MARCH THEM TO THE HAGUE!!!!!!

Jesus:

Deadliest bomb in Iraq war kills 152
Sat Mar 31, 2007 1:16PM EDT
By Mussab Al-Khairalla

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi government raised the death toll on Saturday from a truck bomb in the town of Tal Afar to 152, making it the deadliest single bombing of the four-year-old war.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Abdul Kareem Khalaf said 347 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack on a Shi'ite area. There was another truck bomb in the mixed northwestern town on Tuesday, but it was small.

Khalaf said 100 homes had been destroyed in the main blast, which officials have blamed on al Qaeda. The explosion left a 23-meter (75-ft)-wide crater.

carnage

did i hear some ranting here?

hello, chosen people

my sweet lord, if you haven't seen it all yet...

the Democratic strategist that "fell in love with Bush" and flipped, came up with the Kerry is a flip flopper shit and now has a kid in the war has decided to leave (KKKarl fired him?) because he doesn't believe that Bush really is a uniter.

he likes Obama. keep out of here you freak!!! and by the way, let's pay attention here. i think we have some double-duty politicos on the team. the money party players, Carville, etc.

let's connect the dots...

UPN (UPI US & World)
Date: Wed, Apr 1, 1998
WASHINGTON, April 1 (UPI) -- The Senate commerce committee has approved a sweeping tobacco settlement bill, freeing it for a floor vote sometime in May.
Committee members voted 19-1 tonight in favor of the bill, which proposes a $1.10 hike in cigarette taxes, promises sharp restrictions on tobacco advertising and marketing, and outlines hefty fines for companies if youth smoking is not reduced by 60 percent within the next decade.
Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., was the lone voice of dissent, objecting that the bill could destroy the tobacco companies -- and with them the tobacco farmers in his state.

2005
Lead Gov't Tobacco Lawyer Quits
Leaves After 22 Years; Says She Lacked Political Bosses' Support

(AP) The lead trial lawyer in the government's landmark lawsuit against the tobacco industry, including three North Carolina-based companies, has quit the case and left the Justice Department. The move comes at a particularly sensitive time when the companies and the department could still negotiate a settlement.

Sharon Eubanks, who had aggressively pursued the racketeering case against the tobacco industry, was withdrawing effective Thursday, the government said in a one-sentence filing in U.S. District Court.

LAST WEEK

Prosecutor Says She Was Pressured On Case
Sharon Eubanks Tells Bob Schieffer That Political Appointees Interfered With Tobacco Ruling

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2007
(CBS) A career Justice Department lawyer — not a political appointee, but a career prosecutor who had been at the department for two decades — has come forward to say she wasn't fired, she quit a year and a half ago because high-level political appointees at Justice forced her to do what she didn't want to do: Go easy on the tobacco companies in a lawsuit that may yet cost those companies billions of dollars.

"They actually drafted for me for a position to take on a smoking-cessation remedy, which would reduce what the government had been seeking in the case from $130 billion to $10 billion, without any explanation," former federal prosecutor Sharon Eubanks tells CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schief

lettuce prey: Ashcroft the lobbyist

what was he doing with this just-us department

besides trying to cope his unwelcome reactions to statuary...

what kind of favors might one receive if they save big tobacco $120 billion?

maybe a nice weekend gig on Cheney's yacht with Dusty Foggo's hookers?

evening fade,

This administration has set back our justice system to the same system that Hitler created in 1934 Germany. Changing the tobacco verdict to save them $120 Billion is downright disgusting and treasonable.

When is this crap going to end?

gone-zalis is smirking all the way to the bank. I would like to slap that smile off the MF's face and kick his ass.

okay, just wanted to get that out before i forgot...what else--besides the USA's that have been promoted to serve on the bench--needs scrutiny?

Sandy reminded me of the tobacco issue in Missouri, which is an important key...

In 1999, Wisconsin's republican governor Tommy Thompson spent the state's portion of the tobacco settlement through the general fund, while AG Jim Doyle (the current Democratic governor) wanted to reserve the money for a trust fund to cover public health costs associated with smoking.

i'm perplexed about the different figures regarding the tobacco settlement...more homework

John, we need Ashcroft's ass in front of the committee hearings, too:

In May 2005, Ashcroft laid the groundwork for a strategic consulting firm which bears his name. The Ashcroft Group, LLC officially opened its doors in the Fall of 2005 and as of March 2006 had lined up 21 clients, turning down two for every one accepted.

In 2005 year-end filings, Ashcroft's firm reported collecting $269,000, including $220,000 from Oracle Corporation, which won Department of Justice approval of a multibillion-dollar acquisition less than a month after hiring Ashcroft. The income totals that Ashcroft has reported so far represent in some cases only initial payments.

According to government filings, Oracle is one of the Ashcroft Group’s five clients which seek his help in selling data or software with homeland security applications. Another client, Israel Aircraft Industries International, is competing with Chicago's Boeing Company to sell the government of South Korea a billion-dollar airborne radar system. The Ashcroft Group is also registered to represent ChoicePoint, eBay, Exegy, Alanco Technologies, LTU Technologies and Trafficland, Inc.

In March 2006, the New York Times reported that Ashcroft was setting himself up as something of an "anti-Abramoff", and that in an hour long interview, Ashcroft used the word integrity scores of times. In May 2006, based on conversations with members of Congress, key aides and lobbyists, The Hill magazine listed Ashcroft as one of top 50 "hired guns" that K Street had to offer. In August 2006, the Washington Post reported that Ashcroft's firm had 30 clients, many of which made products or technology aimed at homeland security, and about a third of which the firm has not disclosed, to protect client confidentiality. The firm also had equity stakes in eight client companies. It reported receiving $1.4 million in lobbying fees in the past six months, a small fraction of its total earnings.

[edit] CIA leak conflict of interest allegation

Main article: CIA leak grand jury investigation

When Karl Rove was being questioned by the FBI over the leak of a covert CIA agent's identity in the press, Ashcroft was personally briefed about the investigation. U.S. Representative John Conyers described this at the time as a "stunning ethical breach that cries out for an immediate investigation." Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter asking for a formal investigation of the time between the start of Rove's investigation and John Ashcroft's recusal.

This pig

{{{David}}}

great tunes

goodnight, chosen people

y'all, keep it lit~

I would simply say that we all need to take responsibility for our countries actions. Remember, we the people elect our Presidents and because of that share the responsibilities. Please let your voice be heard. http://www.ineedapresident.com

On March 13, 2007 GAO official Joseph A. Christoff in a prepared statement to the House Armed Services subcommittee said that the Department of Defense is refusing to provide the Government Accounting Office and Congressional committees with their Transition Readiness Assessments of Iraqi Security Forces. This resistance provides a major impediment to Congress role in oversight of the monies they allocate in the Defense Department budget for training and arming the Iraqi Security forces.

What the GAO Found

As of February 2007, DOD reported that it had trained and equipped 327,000 Iraqi security forces—a substantial increase from the 142,000 reported in March 2005. The Iraqi security force level is double that of the 153,000-strong U.S.-led coalition currently in Iraq. While the Iraqi security forces are increasingly leading counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, they and the coalition have been unable to reduce the levels of violence throughout Iraq. Enemy-initiated attacks per day have increased from about 70 in January 2006 to about 160 in December 2006.

Several factors affect the development of effective Iraqi security forces and help explain why the reported growth in Iraqi security forces has not decreased violence. First, the Iraqi security forces are not a single unified force with a primary mission of countering the insurgency in Iraq. About 40 percent of the Iraqi security forces have a primary mission of counterinsurgency—specifically, the Iraqi army. The other major component—the Iraqi police—has civilian law enforcement as its primary mission.

Second, high rates of absenteeism and poor ministry reporting result in an overstatement of the number of Iraqi security forces present for duty. The Ministry of the Interior does not maintain standardized reports on personnel strength. As a result, DOD does not know how many coalition-trained police the ministry still employs or what percentage of the 180,000 police thought to be on the payroll are coalition trained and equipped.

Third, sectarian and militia influences have divided the loyalties of Iraqi security forces. In November 2006, for example, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency stated that the Ministry of Interior and the police were heavily infiltrated by militia members of the Badr Organization and Mahdi Army. According to the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, sectarian divisions have eroded the dependability of many Iraqi army units.

Fourth, as we previously reported, Iraqi units remain dependent upon the coalition for their logistical, command and control, and intelligence capabilities. As of December 2006, the coalition was providing significant levels of support to the Iraqi military, including fuel and ammunition.

The extent of these problems cannot be fully assessed without detailed information on the readiness of each Iraqi unit. While DOD captures this information in its Transition Readiness Assessments (TRAs), it does not provide this critical information to Congress. These data provide information on capabilities and gaps in Iraqi units’ manpower, equipment, and training levels, and as of late 2006, assess each unit’s operational effectiveness. Congress needs this information to make informed appropriations decisions and engage in meaningful oversight. Despite repeated attempts over many months, we have yet to be provided the TRA information we are seeking.

Senator, This is the last straw. Right in the middle of the debate over the requested $100 billion dollars for continued combat operations in Iraq our DoD refuses to inform Congress on the State of Prepardness of the Iraqi Security Forces.
As a former United States Marine after four years I could train a baby to lock, load aim and shoot. What can not be taught is the will to fight. Its time to cut off the money and come home.

On March 13, 2007 GAO official Joseph A. Christoff in a prepared statement to the House Armed Services subcommittee said that the Department of Defense is refusing to provide the Government Accounting Office and Congressional committees with their Transition Readiness Assessments of Iraqi Security Forces. This resistance provides a major impediment to Congress role in oversight of the monies they allocate in the Defense Department budget for training and arming the Iraqi Security forces.

What the GAO Found

As of February 2007, DOD reported that it had trained and equipped 327,000 Iraqi security forces—a substantial increase from the 142,000 reported in March 2005. The Iraqi security force level is double that of the 153,000-strong U.S.-led coalition currently in Iraq. While the Iraqi security forces are increasingly leading counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, they and the coalition have been unable to reduce the levels of violence throughout Iraq. Enemy-initiated attacks per day have increased from about 70 in January 2006 to about 160 in December 2006.

Several factors affect the development of effective Iraqi security forces and help explain why the reported growth in Iraqi security forces has not decreased violence. First, the Iraqi security forces are not a single unified force with a primary mission of countering the insurgency in Iraq. About 40 percent of the Iraqi security forces have a primary mission of counterinsurgency—specifically, the Iraqi army. The other major component—the Iraqi police—has civilian law enforcement as its primary mission.

Second, high rates of absenteeism and poor ministry reporting result in an overstatement of the number of Iraqi security forces present for duty. The Ministry of the Interior does not maintain standardized reports on personnel strength. As a result, DOD does not know how many coalition-trained police the ministry still employs or what percentage of the 180,000 police thought to be on the payroll are coalition trained and equipped.

Third, sectarian and militia influences have divided the loyalties of Iraqi security forces. In November 2006, for example, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency stated that the Ministry of Interior and the police were heavily infiltrated by militia members of the Badr Organization and Mahdi Army. According to the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, sectarian divisions have eroded the dependability of many Iraqi army units.

Fourth, as we previously reported, Iraqi units remain dependent upon the coalition for their logistical, command and control, and intelligence capabilities. As of December 2006, the coalition was providing significant levels of support to the Iraqi military, including fuel and ammunition.

The extent of these problems cannot be fully assessed without detailed information on the readiness of each Iraqi unit. While DOD captures this information in its Transition Readiness Assessments (TRAs), it does not provide this critical information to Congress. These data provide information on capabilities and gaps in Iraqi units’ manpower, equipment, and training levels, and as of late 2006, assess each unit’s operational effectiveness. Congress needs this information to make informed appropriations decisions and engage in meaningful oversight. Despite repeated attempts over many months, we have yet to be provided the TRA information we are seeking.

This is the last straw. Right in the middle of the debate over the requested $100 billion dollars for continued combat operations in Iraq our DoD refuses to inform Congress on the State of Prepardness of the Iraqi Security Forces.

As a former United States Marine after four years I could train a baby to lock, load aim and shoot. What can not be taught is the will to fight. Its time to cut off the money and come home.

Good evening.

It's time to discuss this ill-fated occupation in terms that the Republicans can understand. It's not about a military victory in Iraq. It's about a reliable source of foreign oil and continued profits for our oil industry.

Let's face facts. Bush couldn't get the oil running in Texas. He's failed in Iraq, too. So maybe we should leave the task to those in the region who have had more success in this area...like the Iranians or the Saudis?

Bush and his Texas oil buddies have had four years now to get those fields up to full capacity. They are now producing less that before we invaded. We need to make a business decision here.

Do we continue to pump money into an enterprise that is inefficient and losing money? Or do we allow a hostile takeover?

I believe it's time to terminate the contract with Halliburton and allow regional suppliers to take over the operation. There is no reason to continue sending in troops to protect an investment that would be better sold off for future stock options.

I'm sure the fiscal conservatives understand the ramifications of letting this situation to continue. Let's encourage them to pressure the current CEO to bring in the merger specialists.

failure has no friends in politics:

Bush's chief campaign strategist says 'Kerry was right' on Iraq
RAW STORY
Published: Saturday March 31, 2007
Print This Email This

The chief strategist for President George W. Bush's 2004 reelection campaign wrote an editorial that said Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry was right in calling for a withdrawal from Iraq -- "Kerry Was Right" -- but never submitted it, according to an article to be published in Sunday's New York Times.

The article, "Ex-Aide Details a Loss of Faith in the President," details the disenchantment of one of Bush's most senior campaign aides, Matthew Dowd.

Dowd was a keystone in the Administration's effort to portray Sen. Kerry as a flip-flopper "who could not be trusted with national security during wartime." He is the first of Bush's inner circle to break so publicly with him.

According to the Times, Dowd was a top strategist for Texas Democrats "who were disappointed by the Bill Clinton years" and "was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington. He switched parties, joined Mr. Bush's political brain trust and dedicated the next six years to getting him to the Oval Office and keeping him there."

He was appointed Bush's chief campaign strategist in 2004. Dowd now says his faith in Bush was "misplaced."

Excerpts follow.

He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared sense of sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approached governing with a "my way or the highway" mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides.

Dowd... said his decision to step forward had not come easily. But, he said, his disappointment in Mr. Bush's presidency is so great that he feels a sense of duty to go public given his role in helping Mr. Bush gain and keep power.

"I'm a big believer that in part what we're called to do -- to me, by God; other people call it karma -- is to restore balance when things didn't turn out the way they should have," Mr. Dowd said. "Just being quiet is not an option when I was so publicly advocating an election."

drove into manhattan today. beautiful weather and central park was in perfect early spring mode with magnolias beginning to bloom and lots of strollers and joggers and roller bladders and little music combos playing here and there among the kid's parks and trails and lawns. spring comes two to four weeks faster in metro new york than here in the hudson valley. the city and burbs have the atlantic ocean to keep them warm at night.

anyhow the skyline was clear as a bell against the blue sky. see you in the morning.

What can not be taught is the will to fight. Its time to cut off the money and come home.

Posted by RobertPike on March 31, 2007 at 11:19 PM

I think that pretty well explains the situation from the military perspective. It was over before it ever started. The Iraqi troops will never turn on their own to further the goals of the foreign invaders.

I thought Rove was Bush's brain, which makes him lame, too.

gregg,

We're sending along some pretty strong spring storms out of the Mississippi Valley tonight. I hope they don't hit a cold front up your way and it ends up chilling those magnolia's just as they begin to bloom.

Sleep well.

Good night, all.

I'm going to bed, but on my way out I couldn't help but checking out some Genesis and came upon this drum duet (Phil Collins and Chester Thompson). Beat for beat unison. Check it out!

Good night.

:D

Posted by TheHonorableBoinky on April 1, 2007 at 03:44 AM It’s painful to read

You're a moonbat, Boinky. That was painful to learn. Because on the backside of the dollar (where the eagle is), hidden away so small that I can't even read it anymore with my reading glasses, it says "e pluribus unam". And if I had my choice, I wouldn't be e pluribus unam with a moonbat.

There won't be any peace in Iraq until we leave.

When we leave, the violence won't go away, but it will diminish to a point where the Iraqis have a chance to control it.

That's an opportunity that they deserve. That's why we liberated them. They'll do just fine. You may have lost faith in the Moslems of Iraq but I haven't.

You seem more interested in proving to us here on the DNC blog that you were "right" and we were "wrong" fool hippies

More concerned about YOU than you are concerned about Iraq (or even our country I suppose).

I don't save your posts, and I'm not going to look it up, but you did agree with me once that what we're doing in Iraq is not really good for the Iraqis.

Your goals, our goals, the President's goals, the Iraqi's goals, are what's good for the Iraqi's.

So we're going leave Iraq. And we'll begin that before we elect the next president (who will be a Democrat).

But some day, the free and prosperous people of Iraq will construct a memorial of sorts that commemorates, instructs, and honors this period of their history.

If history is fair and just, it will bring to the front and center the people, American and Iraqi that lost their lives.

If not, it will be a statue of George W. Bush.

Posted by TheHonorableBoinky on April 1, 2007 at 04:39 AM I don't think they had muslims in mind when they adopted that motto. I am also sure that freedom of religion was to include variations of Christianity and Judiism or atheism. Not Muslims because their religion is incompatable with free society.

Than you (and the President) made a mistake by supporting the liberation of 20 million Muslims.

Sweet dreams, Sally.

Ann Coulter is not lovely....Poor,sick woman looks like a scare crow.....it would be embarrassing to have to look at her without her clothes on....uggg!!!!.....talented?....no, she's not talented, she's polically oportunistic, writing trash that will appeal to the Republican base..... a sure money maker, in that regard, she is smart, she knows her market and how to promote herself for it to make money.
As far as your "Part A" goes, you have not done that. There are another 10 million radicalized Moslems out there, any and all of whom are capable of assuming a "leadership" role.....As far as converting them to Christianity, if you think that is ever going to happen, you have no understanding of Islam....as usuall, you are just posting here to see yourself in print.....

morning goodfoe. how ya doin?

time to get to work on this problem. time to get to work hard and fast.

Global warming could bring hunger, melt Himalayas
Sun Apr 1, 2007 6:43AM EDT
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming could cause more hunger in Africa and melt most Himalayan glaciers by the 2030s, according to a draft U.N. report due on Friday which also warns that the poorest nations are likely to suffer most.

The U.N. climate panel, giving the most authoritative study on the regional impact of climate change since 2001, also predicts more heatwaves in countries such as the United States, and damages corals including Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

"We are talking about a potentially catastrophic set of developments," Achim Steiner, the head of the U.N. Environment Programme, said of the likely impact of rising temperatures, widely blamed on greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.
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"Even a half meter (20 inch) rise in sea levels would have catastrophic effects in Bangladesh and some island states," he told Reuters.

Scientists and officials from more than 100 countries meet in Belgium from Monday to review and approve a 21-page summary for policymakers in the report amid disputes on some findings, including on how far rising temperatures may contribute to spreading disease.

Among the gloomy forecasts, the report predicts that glaciers in the Himalayas, the world's highest mountain range, will melt away, affecting hundreds of millions of people.

"If current warming rates are maintained, Himalayan glaciers could decay at very rapid rates, shrinking from the present 500,000 square kilometers to 100,000 square kilometers by 2030s," according to a draft technical summary.

time to stop arguing and get to work

NYTimes Editorial:

Published: April 1, 2007

Turn over a scandal in Washington these days and the chances are you’ll find Karl Rove. His tracks are everywhere: whether it’s helping to purge United States attorneys, coaching bureaucrats on how to spend taxpayers’ money to promote Republican candidates, hijacking the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives for partisan politics, or helping to organize a hit on the character of one of the first people to publicly reveal the twisting of intelligence reports on Iraq.

Whatever the immediate objective, Mr. Rove seems focused on one overarching goal: creating a permanent Republican majority, even if that means politicizing every aspect of the White House and subverting the governmental functions of the executive branch. This is not the Clinton administration’s permanent campaign. The Clinton people had difficulty distinguishing between the spin cycle of a campaign and the tone of governing. That seems quaint compared with the Bush administration’s far more menacing failure to distinguish the Republican Party from the government, or the state itself.

This was, perhaps, the inevitable result of taking the chief operative of a presidential campaign, one famous for his scorched-earth style, and ensconcing him in the White House — not in a political role, but as a key player in the formation of policy. Mr. Rove never had to submit to Senate confirmation hearings. Yet, from the very start, photographs of cabinet meetings showed him in the background, keeping an enforcer’s eye on the proceedings. After his re-election in 2004, President Bush formally put Mr. Rove in charge of all domestic policy.

In that position, as David Kirkpatrick and Jim Rutenberg reported in The Times, Mr. Rove took a lead role in selecting federal judges and the hiring — and firing — of United States attorneys. Mr. Rove’s staff maneuvered to fire the prosecutor in Arkansas and replace him with a Rove protégé, and also seems to have been involved in the firing of a United States attorney in New Mexico who refused to file what he considered to be baseless charges of election fraud against Democrats.

Mr. Rove’s efforts to maintain one-party rule go deep into the government. Last week, we learned about a meeting set up by Mr. Rove’s staff with officials of the General Services Administration that was wildly inappropriate and perhaps illegal. The aim, as outlined by Mr. Rove’s deputy, Scott Jennings, seems to have been to take advantage of the billions of dollars in contracts put out by the agency every year to return Republicans to the majority in Congress in 2008. It included PowerPoint slides on vulnerable House and Senate seats.

This sort of behavior should not be all that surprising. It was not that long ago that the Bush White House embraced the priorities of the Republican governor of Mississippi and virtually ignored the far greater needs of Louisiana’s Democratic governor after Hurricane Katrina.

Mr. Rove retreated a bit from the public eye in the heat of the Lewis Libby trial, but after avoiding indictment, he seems to have regained his confidence. Take a look at YouTube to see his bizarre, humor-challenged gyrations as “MC Rove” at an annual media dinner in Washington the other night.

The investigation of the firings of the United States attorneys seems to be closing in on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who should have been fired weeks ago. But Congress should bring equal scrutiny to the more powerful Mr. Rove. If it does, especially by forcing him to testify in public, it will find that he has been at the vortex of many of the biggest issues they are now investigating.

more carnage in iraq. nice that bush and rove and cheney are working on their comedian skills, hope they get to use them in a supermax federal prison for the world into this nightmare:

Blast shakes hospital as violence tears across Iraq
POSTED: 12:44 a.m. EDT, April 1, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Car bombs and gunfire killed more than two dozen civilians and wounded more than 60 in attacks throughout Iraq on Saturday, officials said.

The attacks came as the Interior Ministry said that more than 1,800 Iraqi civilians died in sectarian and insurgent violence in Iraq in March. There were 226 more civilian deaths in March than in February, the data show.

On Saturday, five civilians were killed and 22 wounded in a car-bomb explosion near Sadrayn Hospital in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood at 10 a.m., a Baghdad police official said.

South of Baghdad in Hilla, four people were killed and 20 were wounded when a car bomb exploded near people lining up at a gas station, Babil police said.

A car bomb killed two day laborers and wounded 11 others who were gathered north of the capital in the Salaheddin province city of Tuz Khurmatu on Saturday morning, a Tikrit police official said.

Eight people were killed and one wounded about 1:30 p.m. Saturday when gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying workers on a road near Hawija, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of Tikrit. The workers were employed at a U.S. military base near Hawija, an Interior Ministry official said.

Three people were killed and five wounded in a roadside bombing about noon at a shopping area in Suwayrah, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Baghdad, according to an Interior Ministry official. Police also found five other bodies in Suwayrah.

Six people were hurt when a bomb in a parked car exploded in Mosul.

In Baghdad, an employee of Iraqiya state television was gunned down Saturday while driving his car. Another person died and one was wounded when gunmen opened fire on people standing outside a house in southwestern Baghdad's Amil neighborhood. Thirteen bullet-riddled bodies were found across the capital.

Two people -- a contractor working at a U.S. base and his son -- were killed when gunmen stormed a shop in Diwaniyah about noon Saturday.

nightmare

Good morning, Dems. Sunday talk lineup from Kos:

Sunday Talk Meet the Press: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT); Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY).

Face the Nation: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA).

This Week: WH Counselor Dan Bartlett; Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL); ex-HHS Sec. Tommy Thompson (R-WI); Cal Ripken, Jr.; roundtable of Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria, ABC's Martha Raddatz and George Will.

Fox News Sunday: Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE); FCC Chair Kevin Martin

Late Edition: Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO); Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); WaPo's David Ignatius; Rev. Al Sharpton; Michael Ware; roundtable of Candy Crowley, Jeff Greenfield, and Joe Johns.

$2 per pack in Minnesota.

Posted by TheHonorableBoinky on March 31, 2007 at 10:24 PM

The addicts will find a way to fund their legal habit.

US death toll for March near double of Iraqi forces

The U.S. military death toll in March, the first full month of the security crackdown, was nearly twice that of the Iraqi army, which American and Iraqi officials say is taking the leading role in the latest attempt to curb violence in the capital, surrounding cities and Anbar province, according to figures compiled on Saturday.

According to the AP count 3,246 U.S. service members have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

At least 83 American forces died in January and 80 in February, according to the AP tabulation

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070331/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_march_casualties

Good mornin ... here's where you are all at.

Did you hear that faux news is buying the sludge drudge report:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/4/1/11044/98936

****

I think it's good that they make official what we knew has been going on all along. Sludge makes up lies and faux broadcasts them.

good morning esmeralda dna cyn. nice day in nyc yesterday. but regular gas is just about three dollars a gallon now.

Excellent piece by Lobo on Jen's blog:

Press Secretary Tony Snow has cancer, and the White House is very worried about that. Fine. They’re always disingenuous, but it’s fine with me. Snow’s health troubles don’t change all he’s done. I don’t take pleasure in a bastard’s suffering, but he’s still a bastard.

In one day I heard more expressions of concern out of this White House for Snow than was ever expressed for all the suffering Iraqis combined, and at least as much as given all our military members. And Tony will get much better medical treatment than any of us.

http://donkeyod.wordpress.com/2007/03/28/coldhearted-white-house-only-warm-for-snow/#more-2614

Partying Down with Bush in His Radio Address
by SusanG
Sat Mar 31, 2007 at 06:14:49 PM PDT

If the President of the United States goes on a stark raving mad lunatic partisan word salad spree in a purportedly non-partisan venue in which he is—at least on paper—supposed to represent all of America, would anyone notice? Apparently not.

In this morning’s radio address, Bush lashed out at Congress for not giving him the exact supplemental bill he demanded with no strings or Iraq timetable attached. Problem is, you’d hardly know his gripe is with a co-equal branch of government. His beef, his framing, his frothing-at-the-mouth stymied Endless War and Endless Suck of Money rant is aimed entirely at "Democrats." See, it’s a malicious political party that’s not giving Little Boots what he wants, not a duly elected and legitimate legislative body.

Think I’m exaggerating? Hardly. He mentioned "Democrats" or "Democratic" 22 times, in almost every instance linking the chosen term to America’s biggest bugaboo, taxes. Check it out – and remember that this is just a sampling:
Each of the Democrats' bills would substitute the judgment of politicians....

The Democrats loaded up their bills....

Democrats would raise taxes....

... even larger than the tax increase the Democrats passed....

And that’s just him getting warmed up. Take a look at this roll he gets on:

Let me explain what it will mean for your annual tax bill if the Democrats get their way. If you have children, the Democrats would raise your taxes by $500 for each child. If you're a family of four making $60,000 a year, the Democrats would raise your taxes by more than $1,800. If you're a single mother with two children working to make ends meet, the Democrats would raise your taxes by more than $1,000. If you are a small business owner working to meet a payroll, the Democrats would raise your taxes by almost $4,000. And more than five million low-income Americans who currently pay no income taxes because of our tax relief would once again have to pay. Whether you have a family, work for a living, own a business, or are simply struggling to get by on a low income, the Democrats want to raise your taxes.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/31/21747/2014

****

Hey Bush you degenerate ahole, take the money with the timetable or leave it. As far as I am concerned, I would just assume not give you one more dime for iraq. The money is on the table, take it as given or leave it.

rj, I listened to that Bush radio address yesterday while driving to Utica. It pissed me off to no end.

gregg, regular gas here yesterday was 2.899.

From boinky:

As the lovely and talented Ann Coulter said right after 9/11 "We need to kill all their leaders and convert them all to Christianity".
****

Hey Oinky Boinky, I see you are still quoting the degenerate harpy ann coldsore on this blog. That's good! It shows that conservatives are dangerous lunatics who have no respect for the rule of law, the constitution and other people in the world. The GOOPERS will lose real bad with these lunatics as their mouthpieces.

Way to go Oinky Boinky

Morning all good Democrats,

It is 33 degrees here in central NM and I am freezing my ass off. It's supposed to be spring.

"The Foreign Office and Blair's Downing Street office said it welcomed President Bush's intervention - calling Saturday for the release of the sailors and marines and labeling their capture by Tehran "inexcusable behavior."

"Iran must give back the hostages," Bush said. "They're innocent, they did nothing wrong, and they were summarily plucked out of waters."

Why don't we apologize for the Iranians we arrested in Iraq. We are saying they were arrested in Iraq. They were probably arrested in one of our military commando raids into Iran. We also need to apologize for torturing them. They have disappeared into the bowels of the earth.

British Hostages

"They're Saying, 'Get Out of Iraq'"
by mcjoan
Sat Mar 31, 2007 at 03:39:42 PM PDT

Former Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd is breaking publically with his old boss, admitting that Kerry was right in calling for a withdrawal from Iraq last year.

In a wide-ranging interview here, Mr. Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s leadership.

He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared sense of sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approached governing with a "my way or the highway" mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides....

He said he thought Mr. Bush handled the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks well but "missed a real opportunity to call the country to a shared sense of sacrifice."

He was dumbfounded when Mr. Bush did not fire Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld after revelations that American soldiers had tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib....

His views against the war began to harden last spring when, in a personal exercise, he wrote a draft opinion article and found himself agreeing with Mr. Kerry’s call for withdrawal from Iraq. He acknowledged that the expected deployment of his son Daniel was an important factor....

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/31/183846/956

****

All of the rats are jumped off the good ship Bush-it.

rj, I listened to that Bush radio address yesterday while driving to Utica. It pissed me off to no end.
****

cyn, Bush is making an idiot of himself. At this point, no one takes anything he says seriously. He is the lamest lame duck we ever had.

The GOOPERS have a simple choice. They can either go up in flames with Bush in 2008 or they can part company from his insanity.

Ann Coulter is not lovely....Poor,sick woman looks like a scare crow.....it would be embarrassing to have to look at her without her clothes
****

Please I am having breakfast!

rjsnj,

bush is an utter incompetent and must be removed, preferably to the Hague.

Gene Taylor (D) Sticks Up for Katrina Victims, GOP Crybabies Whine for Apology
by DavidNYC
Sat Mar 31, 2007 at 10:56:00 AM PDT

As we've long known, the GOP has no problem writing blank checks for Bush's indefensible war. But as soon as it comes to domestic spending on anyone but the ultra-rich, they pretend to be the party of fiscal responsibility. Indeed, it's a pretension they relish whenever it gives them the opportunity to stick it to the less well-off.

This familiar story played out once again in the debate last week over H.R. 1227, a bill aimed at helping victims of Hurriance Katrina return home by providing more money for affordable housing. But the retrograde reactionaries from the mouth-breathing wing of the Republican Party can't abide helping people, so Rep. Tom Price (GA-06) offered an amendment to weaken this bill - all in the name of "fiscal responsibility."

Fortunately, Democrat Gene Taylor (MS-04) had no problem calling Price on his bullshit:

"Mr. Price, I wish you would have the decency if you are going to do that to the people of South Mississippi, that maybe you ought to come visit South Mississippi, and see what has happened before you hold them to a standard that you would never hold your own people to, and that you failed to hold the Bush administration to."

In typical GOP fashion, Price couldn't handle Taylor's criticism and cried to the parliamentarian, whining that Taylor's remarks should be stricken from the record. Apparently, you aren't allowed to question a fellow Congressman's "decency" on the floor of the House. How could we ever abide such harsh rhetoric! What will we tell the children?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/31/13161/6381

****

GOOPERS are pigs. They can continue being pigs and lose in 2008 OR they can part company with the head pig bush.

JohnE - it's 28 here and sunny. I'm enjoying the "heatwave". :-)

I'm off to do chores. I promised my husband homemade gnocchis for dinner so it's time to start the sauce.

Have a great day, all!

Taylor confirmed he declined to apologize to Price, explaining that he did not feel that he had misspoken. ... "I didn’t feel the need to apologize to him," Taylor told The Hill....
****

Way to go Gene Taylor! Call the GOOPERS what they are really are - disgusting pigs. They have no problem throwing billions at bush's war for Exxon-Mobil OR giving tax breaks to Exxon-Mobil BUT help the poor people who want to return to their home land in New Orleans (even if it means starting from nothing) that the GOOPERS can't support.

bush is an utter incompetent and must be removed, preferably to the Hague.
****

John,

Impeach Da Chimps Bush & Cheney.

Send them both to the Hague for war crimes.

According to the AP count 3,246 U.S. service members have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

At least 83 American forces died in January and 80 in February, according to the AP tabulation
****

The "surge" is a failure!

And this story even has a happy ending. Taylor's well-justified passion carried the day - HR 1227 passed, 302-125. Meanwhile, Tom Price's crybaby routine got him nowhere. His amendment tanked, 333-98, with even a majority of Republicans voting against it. Just another example of how whining will get you nowhere, but passion, fortitude, and standing up for what you believe in can make all the difference.
****

Target Price in 2008!

when i was a kid growing up on long island in order to get a summer job at jones beach emptying trash barrels and taking parking lot tickets from carloads of beach goers you had to have some political connection with a town or county official. it was unfair ( i of course had no connections and mowed lawns instead ) but not really too injurious to the state of the state. the bush administration has approached all of it's appointments as if those selected would be emptying trash barrels and if fact in alot of cases has selected people to do things like run the stock exchange in iraq who wouldn't have succeeded at the trash barrel task:

Prosecutor posts often go to Bush insiders
Less deference shown for locals, senators' choices than in past
By Amy Goldstein and Dan Eggen
Updated: 12:44 a.m. ET April 1, 2007

About one-third of the nearly four dozen U.S. attorney's jobs that have changed hands since President Bush began his second term have been filled by the White House and the Justice Department with trusted administration insiders.

The people chosen as chief federal prosecutors on a temporary or permanent basis since early 2005 include 10 senior aides to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, according to an analysis of government records. Several came from the White House or other government agencies. Some lacked experience as prosecutors or had no connection to the districts in which they were sent to work, the records and biographical information show.

The new U.S. attorneys filled vacancies created through natural turnover in addition to the firings of eight prosecutors last year that have prompted a political uproar and congressional investigations.
Story continues below ↓advertisement

No other administration in contemporary times has had such a clear pattern of filling chief prosecutors' jobs with its own staff members, said experts on U.S. attorney's offices.

would you believe federal prosecutors who have never prosecuted anything?

No other administration in contemporary times has had such a clear pattern of filling chief prosecutors' jobs with its own staff members, said experts on U.S. attorney's offices.
****

gregg, see this journal as well:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/31/1749/88209

The Bush DoJ has been investigating Democrats seven times more often than Republicans since 2001. 7 to 1. The link takes you to the study which explains how they've been getting away with this enormous, gaping and insidious discrepancy for so long:

By keeping political profiling at the local level -- in this way the story is most likely not to be viewed nationally -- it makes it harder for reporters to connect the dots between corruption investigations in say Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, or Philadelphia let alone towns like Carson, Colton, East Point, or Escambia, or counties like Cherokee, Harrison, Hudson, or Lake. Each local report of a corruption investigation appears as only an isolated incident rather than as a central example of a broader pattern created by the Bush Justice Department's unethical practice of political profiling.

So they have been going after local ordinary city and county Democrats at a baffling rate: 85% Democrats, 12% Republicans. To hide this, they go after politicians at the Statewide and National level about the proportional amount their overall numbers.
****

So, now I wonder ... when KKKarl Rove boasted in 2006 that he had "the math", did he have this in mind? Knowing that the deck was stacked against Dems by manipulating the legal system, did Rove calculate that the GOP would win in 2006?

The amazing part is that Dems won anyway! That shows how disgusted the country was with the GOOPERS. By the way, recent polls indicate they are even more disgusted as far less people now self-identify as GOP. If the GOOPERS continue their arroganace into 2008, they are toast.

Truth
by One Pissed Off Liberal
Sat Mar 31, 2007 at 01:37:25 PM PDT

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/31/15557/6775

Another great photo journal blog.

Many neoconservatives like Paul Wolfowitz are disciples of a philosopher who believed that the elite should use deception, religious fervor and perpetual war to control the ignorant masses.

http://www.alternet.org/story/15935

GOOPER neocon filth.

Bush Approval Jumps Back Up to 52%
by Senate 2008 Guru
Sun Apr 01, 2007 at 05:43:16 AM PDT

With the situation in Iraq finally turning the corner and the insurgency in its last throes, coupled with the Bush administration having perfectly reasonable proposals for how to deal with the numerous scandals it has found itself amid, the American people have apparently offered President Bush the benefit of the doubt; and, as David Broder predicted, Bush's approval has rebounded back up to a healthy 52%.

When reached for comment, all anybody with a calendar nearby could say is "April Fool's!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/4/1/83238/27154

With poll at the end for who is the biggest April Fool. Personally, I don't care much about April 1th BUT April 28th is coming up. April 28th - a day of Chimpeachment for the killer chimps Bush & Cheney:

http://www.a28.org

US Death Toll in March Is Twice Iraq Forces
By Steven R. Hurst
The Associated Press

Saturday 31 March 2007

Baghdad - The U.S. military death toll in March, the first full month of the security crackdown, was nearly twice that of the Iraqi army, which American and Iraqi officials say is taking the leading role in the latest attempt to curb violence in the capital, surrounding cities and Anbar province, according to figures compiled on Saturday.

The Associated Press count of U.S. military deaths for the month was 81, including a soldier who died from non-combat causes Friday. Figures compiled from officials in the Iraqi ministries of Defense, Health and Interior showed the Iraqi military toll was 44. The Iraqi figures showed that 165 Iraqi police were killed in March. Many of the police serve in paramilitary units.

According to the AP count 3,246 U.S. service members have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

At least 83 American forces died in January and 80 in February, according to the AP tabulation.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040107Z.shtml

The Drudge Retort!

http://www.drudge.com/weblog

Much better than the Sludge drudge report ...

American Mugabe
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-03-30 16:59. Media

By David Michael Green

Most Americans really don’t understand their president.

And, no, I’m not even talking about the thirty percent or so who still give him a positive approval rating. I’m not sure those folks understand anything.

Among the remaining seventy percent, however, I would estimate that the vast bulk still have not fully apprehended what we’re dealing with here. Because what we’re dealing with is nothing short of an American Mugabe.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/20678

Read on my friends. Read on. To see Bush as simply incompetent is to miss the big picture. It's just just the laziness, the stupid speaking style, the bumbling that makes Bush miserable; it's his intentkons, it's his ideology and it's how he is ripping off Americans. He is the most dangerous chimp, along with the other dangerous chimp Cheney, to ever occupy our WH. He is indeed a traitor to our constitution, guilty of high crimes and worthy of impeachment.

Committee Requests Secretary of State Rice to Testify
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-03-30 16:47. Congress

From the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

[This is the first investigation of war lies since the Democrats took the majority!]

The Committee has formally requested Secretary Rice to testify before the Oversight Committee on April 18th regarding the Administration’s claims that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, White House treatment of classified information, the appointment of Ambassador Jones as "special coordinator" for Iraq, and other subjects.

March 30, 2007
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Madam Secretary:

On March 12, 2007, I sent you a letter renewing, as formal requests of the Committee, prior letter requests that I sent to you between 2003 and 2006. These requests sought information on the claim that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, White House treatment of classified information, the appointment of Ambassador Jones as "special coordinator" for Iraq, and other subjects. My March 12 letter is attached.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/20677

****

Yee Haaa! Let the sparks fly. Put that neocon Condi Rice on the record.

Waxman is cleaning the Puggies clocks!

Given Plamegate, it's about time the Bushies answer for their lies on WMD in iraq.

Watching the talking heads pontificate about Iraq, AG's, Iran or anthing is very frustrating. They say things like, "the American people believe", or whatever other moronic statement to prove whatever point they are trying to spin. Instead of the steady diet of media elites these "news" shows should actually get the average citizen's opinion rather than these fools. They have no real clue how "average" Americans think but this is all we get every week, the same idiots who have been wrong about everything telling us what we believe. ARRGGH!!!!

Fallujah Fears a 'Genocidal Strategy'
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-03-30 16:11. Media

By Ali al-Fadhily, Inter Press Service
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

FALLUJAH, Mar 30 (IPS) - Iraqis in the volatile al-Anbar province west of Baghdad are reporting regular killings carried out by U.S. forces that many believe are part of a 'genocidal' strategy.

Since the mysterious explosion at the Shia al-Askari shrine in Samara in February last year, more than 100 Iraqis have been killed daily on average, without any forceful action by the Iraqi government and the U.S. military to stop the killings.

U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces working with them are also executing people seized during home raids and other operations, residents say.

"Seventeen young men were found executed after they were arrested by U.S. troops and Fallujah police," 40-year-old Yassen of Fallujah told IPS. "My two sons have been detained by police, and I am terrified that they will have the same fate. They are only 17 and 18 years old."

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/20674

****

dahr Jamail isn't wrong very much. Dems need to haul the military in and explain what they are doing in Anbar province. Genocide is an international war crime. These are serious charges.

They say things like, "the American people believe"
****

wldj, I agree with you. They have no clue what americans believe. Look at the people who are the pundits. Take David Broder for instance who predicted just a few weeks ago that Bush's popularity rating were going to soar despite the "surge". How rong could Broder have been? That shows they don't have a good sense of popular opinion. As pundits, I expect them to give their own opinions but don't insult us by falsely using public opinion to back up their assertions.

Posted by TheHonorableBoinky on April 1, 2007 at 02:29 AM

sally*, don't know what fairy tales Faux News has been reading to you. But I'm happy, if you now feel good enough about conditions over in Iraq to consider allowing our troops to come home. Having to support Bush for all these years when he was screwing up so badly must have been hard.

Whatever it takes to "let our people go."

If you want to break out the marshmellows, fine. By all means join McCain and Graham as they stroll around the Green Zone...not outside of it...with a full force of Blackwater bodyguards and ready to dive for cover with the next incoming round of shoulder-propelled missles.

It doesn't matter who is doing what to who. There are record numbers of Iraqi civilians and American troops being blown up daily. If this is the "victory" you envision, by all means let's grab it before it gets worse and get our troops the hell out of there.

rjsnj

Look at Hume, Kristol, O'Reilly, Limpballs...good grief the list is almost endless and they are never right about anything. The only they are good at is twisting the truth to support their failed hero GWB. They dominate both sides of every issue and how anyone can believe a word they say is mind numbing to me. This Kristol idiot has no business being anywhere near a camera but fox noise has this fool on everyday giving his worthless opinions credibility. But, but, but Clinton is their only excuse and if that doesn't prove how stupid they are nothing will.

Look at Hume, Kristol, O'Reilly, Limpballs..
****

wldj, do I have to? They are pretty ugly!

Kristol is a dedicated neocon. In fact, his father was one of the charter members of the neocon movement. Hume is just a GOP water boy.
Limpballs and the Luffa Boy are just in it for the money. They will say and do anything if they think it keeps their rascist war-mongering red-meat audience happy. There just aren't many good journalists in the media these days. That's why we have become so reliant on the Internet to shed truth on the right wings lies.

I just watched Sen.hatch say Gonzales is incapable of lying then said his statements were inaccurate. Talk about having both sides of a debate! I guess being inaccurate is not lying......my head is starting to hurt.....maybe I am stupid.....for some reason I've been led to believe an "inaccurate" statement implies being untruthful but I guess not if you are an ignorant republican Senator....pathetic

I just watched Sen.hatch say Gonzales is incapable of lying then said his statements were inaccurate.
****

wldj, I am watching it too. Orrin Hatch is one of the most disgusting liars in GOOPER party.

Leahy is making him into the GOOPER fool that he is.

Mornin all,

This is a good chart that shows how Clinton and Obama have not been very far apart on their votes for this war. They threw in Lieberman , and notice how back last year, right before the election, to continue this lies about how he wanted this war to end, he MISSED ALL THE VOTES on it.

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/mar/30/compare_and_contrast_hillary_and_obama_and_liebermans_votes_on_iraq

Only in GOOPER world does lying become inaccuracy?

These GOOPERS are criminals. If they aren't lying why does Goodling, Gonzo's assistant, need to take the 5th?

they threw in Lieberman
****

Pam,

I like to throw Lieberman somewhere ... like in the trash bin.

sally*, don't know what fairy tales Faux News has been reading to you. But I'm happy, if you now feel good enough about conditions over in Iraq to consider allowing our troops to come home. Having to support Bush for all these years when he was screwing up so badly must have been hard.

Hi Sandy,

Don't you know that all these Republicans, (including Bush and Cheney) are trying to find SOME little glimmer that they can use, to say "VICTORY", and then get the hell out of there before Bush and Cheney are taken out and tarred and feathered ! To have those numbers add up each day for dead troops, and then photo ops of bush shaking hands with those with artifical hands, etc, really annoy the hell out of them. They wish the media would just keep all this hidden, so the public does not know the truth what this illegal occupation has cost. No sacrifice of course in their own ranks, because Republicans sit back and cheer on war as long as it is someone else's kid in it.

If and when that Draft gets voted in, I hope the Dems put in the requirement, that FIRST all those who voted for Bush and Republicans, are the first ones on the list. And all those older than draft age who voted Reublican, should be required to go over and do cooking, cleaning, nursing, and be bodyguards when Petraus and others DO wander out of Green Zone!

Of course they are lying it seems to be the only thing they are good at..so to speak! I actually kinda sorta feel a little, just a wee bit, sorry for this Goodling person. Apparently she is a brain-washed disciple of Pat Robertson, a religious zealot who is too young to know better. Her conscience must be getting to her after all isn't it supposed to be wrong to lie? Goodling is just another example of Bush putiing unqualified partisan supporters in jobs they cannot handle.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

He firmly espoused a secular nation, embracing citizens who worshiped different faiths or those who beleived in NONE.

Among many other weighty objections to the Measure, it has long been suggested, that it[appointing chaplains] has a tendency tointroduce religious disputes into the Army, which above all things should be avoided, and in many instances would compel men to a mode of worship which they do not profess.---Letter to John Hancock, then president of Congress, expressing opposition to a congressional plan to appoint brigade chaplains in the Continental Army (1777)

I am not less ardent in my wish that you may succeed in your plan of toleration in religious
matters. Being no bigot myself, I am disposed to indulge the professors of christianity in the
church that road to heaven to them shall seem most direct....Letter to Lafayette, 1787

Happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectivesupport.---Letter to the Jewish Congregation of Rhode Island, 1790

Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the
difference of sentiment in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated.---Letter to Sir Edward Newenham, 1792

Fighting Words
A Toolkit for Combating the Religious Right
by Robin Morgan

Charlie Rangel is on. He did a great job defending the budget.

Don't you know that all these Republicans, (including Bush and Cheney) are trying to find SOME little glimmer that they can use, to say "VICTORY", and then get the hell out of there before Bush and Cheney are taken out and tarred and feathered !
****

Pam,

That would work fine for me. If the GOP wants to declare "victory" and use that as a reason to bring the troops home, clearly the antiwar movement has already won! It may very well be just a matter of time.

watching talk shows this morning, rj, it IS only a matter of time.

They were saying on Chris Matthews this morning, that Republicans were against this surge too, and that by August/Sept, if things have not changed dramatically, they will ALL be DEMANDING that Bush cut out this farce !

You know, the trolls love to act like it is just those of us on this blog, as well as some other Extreme wing Democrats who want this war ! What they do not remember is, THE AMERICAN PUBLIC overwhelmingly are against this occupation and want our troops home! That consists of Dems, Independent, and yes, even those who are registered Republicans! Failure is now accepted!

They were saying on Chris Matthews this morning, that Republicans were against this surge too, and that by August/Sept, if things have not changed dramatically, they will ALL be DEMANDING that Bush cut out this farce !
****

Pam, I agree. The military won't get a second chance to say ... be patient, give us another chance.

It's over! You can see the violence building Iraq on all sides. The Iraqi people want us out. The neighboring nations want us out. Even the Saudi King has called us illegal occupiers when speaking in front of the Arab League.

If Bush had the slightest bit of sense, and I don't think he has, he would accept the budget and abide by the timetable.

But, I expect he will be defiant. I also suspect what's coming next is Bush's impeachment. The GOP may just be more than happy to get rid of him (off the record of course).

Impeach Da Chimp

Bush is surging toward impeachment.

Impeach Da Killer Chimps Bush & Cheney

We do not have the moral high ground here, Bill!
by TXsharon
Sun Apr 01, 2007 at 09:13:20 AM PDT

Ann Wright said, "Bill, I served 29 years. How many did you serve?"

"Cut her mike off!" Bill O demanded.

NOTE TO BILL: Don't attempt a battle of wits with Ann Wright. You are unarmed.

Watch Bill O'Reilly try to put words in the mouth of Ann Wright, who taught the Geneva Conventions to troops at Fort Bragg, on his "Fair and Balanced News Entertainment Show." It embarrasses and sickens me that this stupid bastard who sexually harassed one of his employees is allowed to air his farce of a show on American television and call it "News."

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/4/1/11449/07617

The Luffa boy is just another right wing thug.

Good Morning, ALL!

WASHINGTON -- The White House has renominated three people for top jobs affecting the environment who previously were blocked in Congress because of their pro-industry views.

(...)

All three nominees have ties to industries that face costly Environmental Protection Agency restrictions, and all have bypassed or questioned EPA's scientific process.

3 that Congress had blocked are tapped anew by White House

According to News Hounds:

The banner beneath the Colonel at the beginning read "U.S. Army (Ret.) Col. Ann Wright" changed to "Col.Ann Wright retired from State Dept. in opposition to Iraq war" and ended with "Anti-war activist Col. Ann Wright."

AMERICA DOES NOT HAVE THE MORAL HIGH GROUND

Because:

Our president lies to the American people who are too lazy to seek the truth so they believe the lies and we enter a war that will kill and maim hundreds of thousands and will make us less safe.
We torture prisoners and call it a Sex Ring and hold suspects in prisons without a trial.
We allow the worst president ever to continue this disaster in the Middle East.
The Iraq Story the GOP doesn't want you to see
100 Americans Soldiers Dead this Month, 14,000 Weapons Missing - & Bush wants to talk about Queers
Iraq war fuels terror - US report
CIA Officers Warn of Iraq Civil War, Contradicting Bush's Optimism
Iraq's civil war nightmare

We don't even take care of our own people:
Bush Photo Essay of 9/11 & Katrina
Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility

Did I mention scandals? An endless, never-ending stream of scandals too numerous for me to even begin to list

This is what happens, Bill O, when fake news is allowed to call itself "Fair and Balanced." Part of this mess that America has become is your falut, Bill, you stupid bastard.
****

Hey Billo, you are a joke!

All three nominees have ties to industries that face costly Environmental Protection Agency restrictions, and all have bypassed or questioned EPA's scientific process.
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dpd, isn't amazing that in the face of poll numbers that remain in low 30's, a complete rejection in 2006 by voters that the Bush WH remains defiant. The reason is the man himself. Just consider the defiant speech he made this Saturday on he budget where he howled like Hitler from a high podium. The man is deranged. So, it's hardly a surprise that he'll keep playing this game of "in yer face" Democrats ...

I think we need to impeach him. Andrew Johnson was impeached with only months left in his term. There is no evidence that the party which impeaches is hurt in the subsequent election - in fact, just the opposite is true! Bush is a mad rabid dog and he needs a muzzling now.

The 'I-word' is starting to circle around Bush
by Ed Tant | Apr 1 2007 - 9:51am | permalink
article tools: email | print | read more Ed Tant

Arrogance, ignorance, incompetence and irresponsibility are just four of many words which could describe the White House misadministration of President Bush and his crew, who have so rapidly transformed the ship of state into a pirate ship. Now Bush's ship is riddled with cannon fire and deservedly sinking, and one conservative Republican already is hinting at the possibility of impeaching this president.

Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a Vietnam War veteran and a possible presidential contender in 2008, said in the April edition of Esquire magazine that Bush blithely considers himself unaccountable for his mistakes, mendacity and misadventures.

"You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment," said the Republican stalwart.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/6487

Posted by PamB on April 1, 2007 at 11:01 AM

Hi, Pam.

They want Essie to be on her local draft board. Pass along your recommendations. She might have some say on who goes first...if it comes to that.

I'm not going to question too closely the motives of those Republicans who are now moving toward getting our troops out of Iraq. Whatever it takes to get them on board. But I want them to realize that we are the ones who are going to plan and sponsor the victory parades.

It wasn't necessary to continue this sorry drama this long. Shame on those who supported this irrational President for years as he re-deployed our National Guard units and Reserves time and again.

I can't stop thinking about that little boy crying inconsolably at his father's homecoming this week.

How has his mother kept it together during these long separations knowing how much her child has missed his father...and what he would have to endure if he didn't come back at all? Think about all the children affected by these cruel separations...and all their fathers and mothers needlessly placed in peril?

The futility of this unwarranted and mismanaged foreign entanglement stands as a testimony to the blind ambition and greed of those politicians who tricked us into it.

Let's set up committees and plan those local homecoming parades now. I will not accept anything less than all our Vietnam and Korean vets being included in these honors. They never got a parade.

And I don't want one single politician involved in these parades...in any way. Let them sit home and contemplate what they allowed to happen.

Humor on the Right: Liberals Hate America
by Steve Young | Apr 1 2007 - 9:28am | permalink
article tools: email | print | read more Steve Young

Time For Dennis Miller To Put Up Or Shut Up

"Liberals hate America."

Wait a minute. I need to catch my breath. Hard to speak when you're laughing uncontrollably. No. Not Laughing. Gagging. Yep, that's it. That's what I'm doing.

Evan Sayet is a "satirist, lecturer, writer" who's got a YouTube speech at the Heritage Foundation" wending its way though the conservative email forwards. (Find it yourself. I'm not giving it any more promotion than I have to).

Humor is so subjective so it's not for me to tell you whether Sayet is really funny. I could tell you what I think, but then what kind of blogger would I be. What I can tell you is that much of his "standup" is based on the truism that "Liberals Hate America."

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/6483

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This mantra is obviously playing big within the conservative ranks as Billo tried to pull the same on Ann Wright.

Okay conservatives I admit it - I hate the conservative policies that you advocate. I hate Presidents who think they are Kings. I hate the erosion of our civil liberties. I hate wars that are waged just to benefit corporation such as Exxon-Mobil. If that's what you mean by "America" then you are right liberals hate you sort of "America" because we don't believe it's American at all. We think you are traitors to our constitution and our ideals. Indeed, we do hate you traitorous right wing villians and thank goodness someone is opposing your evil ways.

And I don't want one single politician involved in these parades...in any way. Let them sit home and contemplate what they allowed to happen.
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Sandy,

Agreed! Democrats are included as well. They have responsibility in this debacle as well. If they challenged the Boy King in 2002/2003 this may never have happened. I know many have apologized for their votes in 2002, Kerry and Edwards for instance, but still the politicians should sit at home and let the troops have their homecoming in peace.

Bob Geiger cartoon:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/6475