Wednesday Open Thread
Happy 4th! Chat away...
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What's on your table?
by Kagro X
Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 08:37:53 PM PDT
Via the AP and WQAD News:
Jackson: Put impeachment back on table
Associated Press - July 3, 2007 11:04 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressman Jesse Jackson Junior wants his fellow Democrats to reconsider impeaching President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
The Illinois Democrat today reacted to Bush's decision yesterday to commute the sentence of former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
I chose that one for the headline, obviously.
For a fuller quote, we'll go with John Nichols at The Capital Times:
"In her first weeks as leader of the Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi withdrew the notion of impeachment proceedings against either President Bush or Vice President Cheney," announced Jackson. "With the president's decision to once again subvert the legal process and the will of the American people by commuting the sentence of convicted felon Lewis Scooter' Libby, I call on House Democrats to reconsider impeachment proceedings."
It's enough to make a fella wanna shoot another guy in the face, I'd bet.
Bush Impeachment – Libby Commutation Makes it Imperative
by StevenLeser [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 03:11:59 AM PDT
A President cannot be allowed to take such a brazen act to impede an investigation in which he is one of the potential suspects. Congress should ALWAYS respond to acts like these with impeachment hearings otherwise Presidents will feel like they can live above the law and take action to prevent any consequences.
StevenLeser's diary :: ::
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 4, 2007
Bush Impeachment – Libby Commutation Makes it Imperative
By Steven Leser
When Richard Nixon fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox as part of the October 23, 1973 "Saturday Night Massacre", he did it to prevent information being released that could directly implicate him in wrongdoing. Cox had issued Nixon a subpoena requesting the now infamous Nixon tapes and Nixon acted to protect himself and in doing so obstructed justice in the ongoing Watergate investigations. This is not entirely different from what we have with Bush and his commutation of Libby’s sentence. Patrick Fitzgerald filed obstruction of justice charges against Libby because he believed that Libby had information relevant to the investigation and lied or refused to divulge that information. A jury agreed, found him guilty and Libby received 30 months in prison. One of the things prosecutors hope happens in situations like this is when the person obstructing justice is faced with a lengthy prison term, in exchange for avoiding prison they start providing the information they were withholding. Bush’s commutation takes the threat of prison away from Libby and is thus an act of obstruction of justice.
Nixon’s actions in the Saturday Night Massacre lead directly to several articles of impeachment being filed against him in congress in the ensuing days. A President cannot be allowed to take such a brazen act to impede an investigation in which he is one of the potential suspects. Congress should ALWAYS respond to acts like these with impeachment hearings otherwise Presidents will feel like they can live above the law and take action to prevent any consequences.
I wonder if the public realize another important aspect of this. The commutation is a virtual admission of guilt by Bush that the outing of Plame was part of a generalized conspiracy in the White House that involved major players, i.e. either Bush or Cheney themselves. There is no other reason the President would intervene. It was not a matter of, as Bush tried to suggest, "the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive". As of the morning of July 2, a few hours before Bush would commute the sentence, Libby had six to eight weeks before he had to report to prison and concurrently as of July 2, the appeals process would take a few months. If Libby was innocent and the administration had nothing to hide and Libby nothing to tell prosecutors, Libby would do a month or two in prison before the appeals process got into full swing and then he would have a strong shot at being set free. Bush’s commutation of Libby’s sentence shows that none of this was true and that Libby was close to breaking and telling Fitzgerald everything he knew.
Fred Thompson and other prominent Republicans eye-deep in the cover-up
As I write this, I note another article with similar themes by the esteemed Amy Goodman who directs us to another important point. Bush claimed in his statement about the commutation that Libby still faces a stiff fine and probation. You can kiss the fine goodbye. There is a fund to pay the fine that has been raised by many prominent Republicans including Fred Thompson. Thompson and other Republicans know what kind of a mess it would be for their party if the real facts regarding Plamegate came out so they are paying Libby’s fine for him. Now Libby has no repercussions and nothing to fear at all, the jail sentence is gone, the fine has been paid, and next I am sure will come a cushy job courtesy of the Republican good old boy network.
Happy Independence Day! Let's get ourselves independent of the right wing death machine, impeach bush and cheney!
hillary swings for the fences. good to see it:
Clinton Slams Bush Over Libby Maneuver
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 4, 2007
Filed at 7:09 a.m. ET
KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) -- Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton drew a distinction between President Bush's decision to commute the sentence of White House aide I. Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby -- which she has harshly criticized -- and her husband's 140 pardons in his closing hours in office.
''I believe that presidential pardon authority is available to any president, and almost all presidents have exercised it,'' Clinton said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. ''This (the Libby decision) was clearly an effort to protect the White House. ... There isn't any doubt now, what we know is that Libby was carrying out the implicit or explicit wishes of the vice president, or maybe the president as well, in the further effort to stifle dissent.''
there is a cloud over the white house
impeach bush and cheney!
Posted by gregg on July 4, 2007 at 07:38 AM
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mornin gregg,
You betcha. The first step is getting HRES 333 passed.
money, money changes everything...
"Put together, the results for the three leading Republicans amounted to a stark indication of a gap in enthusiasm and confidence between the two parties, driven in part by President Bush’s low approval ratings, the war in Iraq and the failure of any of the Republican candidates to emerge as a clear front-runner, strategists in both parties said.
The top three Democrats, including former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, raised $68.5 million over the past three months, compared with $48.7 million for the top three Republicans, according to the reports. Since the start of the year, the Democrats raised nearly 50 percent more than the Republicans, $144.3 million compared with $101.7 million. That includes money that the candidates can use in the primary and in the general election."
enthusiasim
James Madison, who is rightly referred to as "the father of the Constitution," wrote extensively about the times in which impeachment would be necessary. "(If) the president be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty," observed the man whose notes provide the essential outline of the deliberations of the constitutional convention.
Madison's Virginia compatriot, George Mason, who was an even more ardent advocate of impeachment, was similarly concerned about abuses of the power of the president to keep the law from touching his associates. The man now remembered as "the father of the Bill of Rights" feared that a future president might attempt to shield himself by preventing the prosecution or jailing of an aide who could testify to the president's involvement in a high crime or misdemeanor.
Mason suggested that impeachment would surely be in order were a president to attempt "to stop inquiry and prevent detection" of wrongdoing within his administration -- as the Bush White House is currently doing with its use of executive privilege to undermine congressional investigations of the politicization of federal prosecutions.
Equally, the thoughtful founder suggested, impeachment would be in order were a president to "pardon crimes which were advised by himself," as Bush has essentially done with the commutation of the sentence of his own former counselor and the chief of staff of his vice president.
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Impeach Chimpo
Impeach Shotgun
There were detractors in the president's own party, including north suburban Congressman Mark Kirk (R-Northbrook), who expressed his disappointment.
“He was indicted by a grand jury and convicted beyond the shadow of a doubt by one of the best prosecutors in America, Patrick Fitzgerald, and didn’t have a single member of a 12-member jury stand up with him,” Kirk said. “At that point, if you’ve done the crime, you should do the time.”
July 4th 2007 – The Day America realized the many hidden Powers and Majesty of the Power to Impeach
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2007-07-04 03:50. Impeachment
www.BillyJack.com
Impeachment contains in it surprising freedoms – startling powers, abilities and ways – to take power directly back from the government to the people in ways not yet imaginable, and make Lincoln’s ideal of a “government of the people, by the people, for the people” finally a reality.
The powers that people don’t realize are contained in our Freedom of Impeachment range from:
· the monumental removing a President, to as mundane as giving the people the power to directly determine the outcome of a bill before Congress;
· to ending a war or preventing a president from unilaterally starting one;
· to ending the control of the lobbyists, special interests, and multinational corporations over Congress, the White House and the military;
· to giving the people a check over Congress and Congress a check over the White House and the military that is not now possible.
All of these powers – and more – are available to the people right now once they understand the use of the Power of Impeachment.
I accuse you, Mr. Bush, of lying this country into war.
Story continues below ↓
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I accuse you of fabricating in the minds of your own people, a false implied link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.
I accuse you of firing the generals who told you that the plans for Iraq were disastrously insufficient.
I accuse you of causing in Iraq the needless deaths of 3,586 of our brothers and sons, and sisters and daughters, and friends and neighbors.
I accuse you of subverting the Constitution, not in some misguided but sincerely-motivated struggle to combat terrorists, but to stifle dissent.
I accuse you of fomenting fear among your own people, of creating the very terror you claim to have fought.
I accuse you of exploiting that unreasoning fear, the natural fear of your own people who just want to live their lives in peace, as a political tool to slander your critics and libel your opponents.
I accuse you of handing part of this Republic over to a Vice President who is without conscience, and letting him run roughshod over it.
And I accuse you now, Mr. Bush, of giving, through that Vice President, carte blanche to Mr. Libby, to help defame Ambassador Joseph Wilson by any means necessary, to lie to Grand Juries and Special Counsel and before a court, in order to protect the mechanisms and particulars of that defamation, with your guarantee that Libby would never see prison, and, in so doing, as Ambassador Wilson himself phrased it here last night, of becoming an accessory to the obstruction of justice.
-- Keith Olbermann
Worst White House Press Conference Ever?
by Bill Prendergast [Subscribe]
Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 11:54:43 PM PDT
You could almost—(almost)—feel sorry for some of the Bush administration guys, if they hadn’t caused the deaths of so many people, so needlessly. Including our own troops.
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post chronicles what must be Tony Snow’s worst press conference, ever. (Including his first one, where he refused to take any questions about foreign policy.) (Continued)
Bill Prendergast's diary :: ::
Milbank uses a somewhat overwrought Jabberwocky metaphor to highlight the fact that the administration’s statements have now degenerated into outright nonsense.
He needn’t have. Here’s the juicy bits...
Through the Looking Glass, Darkly
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, July 4, 2007; A02
..."I'm sure that the vice president may have expressed an opinion, but the fact is, the president understands the -- and he may have recused himself; I honestly don't know."
-- (Tony Snow) White House press briefing, yesterday.
(WTF?)
...President Bush, fielding questions yesterday after visiting wounded soldiers at Walter Reed, declared that "the jury verdict should stand" -- and then, in answer to the same question, said he was open to vacating the verdict by granting Libby a full pardon.
("I believe in the rule of law--uh, no, wait a minute, I don't.")
Logic suffered a more serious challenge when Bush press secretary Tony Snow, in his briefing, made the following points about Libby's case:
• That Bush wasn't "granting a favor to anyone" but that the case got his "special handling."
• That it was not done for "political reasons" even though "it was political."
• That it was handled "in a routine manner," yet it was also "an extraordinary case."
• That "we are not going to make comments" on the case, even though Bush had already issued a 655-word statement commenting on the case.
(Jee-zus...remember in 2004, when Bush's main argument against a Kerry presidency was that he was a flip-flopper?)
...That Snow was standing there at all was an act of courage. His hair is thinning and his frame is gaunt from his battle with cancer, and he has a port in his chest into which chemotherapy drugs are injected. And Bush has made things increasingly difficult for Snow since the press secretary took the job 15 months ago. The president's popularity has plunged into the 20s, he has lost both houses of Congress, the Iraq war is a debacle, and his vice president has attempted to remove himself from the executive branch. Richard Nixon had been the standard by which presidential failures are measured, but even Nixon was not this low this long...
(Yes, it takes courage for a man with cancer to stand up there and spout nonsense to the press. He's a sick man; why the hell can't they find someone else to stand up there and spout bullshit to the press? Is this part of the new Bush "go for the pity fuck" public relations strategy?)
...(Snow) crossed his ankles behind the lectern and established his opening position: that "the president does not look upon (the commutation of Libby's sentence) as granting a favor to anyone."
(Yeah, he looks on it as way to keep the other indictable henchmen from spilling their guts.)
"Why shouldn't it be thought of as a bestowal of a favor," asked Plante, "when there are dozens of other people who would probably make the same case that their sentences were too heavy and should have been commuted?"
"Well, I'm not sure that there are dozens of others," the spokesman ventured.
Indeed, there aren't dozens. "There are more than 3,000 current petitions for commutation," ABC's Ann Compton informed the spokesman. "Will all 3,000 of those be held to the same standard?"
Snow cut his losses. "I don't know," he demurred.
("I don't know, I just don't know..." I think he does know the answer to that one. If those 3,000 petitioners can't put the finger on Cheney, their sentences ain't gonna be commuted.)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/25134/29483
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Yep it's hard work, hard work lying all the time.
Private contractors outnumber U.S. troops in Iraq
New U.S. data show how heavily the Bush administration has relied on corporations to carry out the occupation of the war-torn nation.
By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer
July 4, 2007
The number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds that of American combat troops, newly released figures show, raising fresh questions about the privatization of the war effort and the government's capacity to carry out military and rebuilding campaigns.
More than 180,000 civilians — including Americans, foreigners and Iraqis — are working in Iraq under U.S. contracts, according to State and Defense department figures obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
Including the recent troop buildup, 160,000 soldiers and a few thousand civilian government employees are stationed in Iraq.
The total number of private contractors, far higher than previously reported, shows how heavily the Bush administration has relied on corporations to carry out the occupation of Iraq — a mission criticized as being undermanned.
"These numbers are big," said Peter Singer, a Brookings Institution scholar who has written on military contracting. "They illustrate better than anything that we went in without enough troops. This is not the coalition of the willing. It's the coalition of the billing."
Tony Goebels should step down as propaganda minister. chimp is insane with power just like Hitler.
I read in Izvestia that they now think that Hitler acquired syphillis at a young age in Vienna. As a result of the infection, he went mad in later years. Could this be the case with chimp?
Danny Schechter's "A WORK IN PROGRESS: PUTTING THE ME IN MEDIA"
Submitted by Linda Milazzo on Wed, 2007-07-04 08:21. Activism | General Discussion | Media
Today I received an in-depth blog (http://www.newsdissector.org/blog/) from Danny Schechter (The News Dissector), reporting from Durbin, South Africa where he's screening his film, "In Debt We Trust." This was the second blog Danny has sent from South Africa in a little over a week. The blog was typical Danny. Not a superficial account of the customs and terrain. Not a self-indulged travelogue on the effects of the environs on "me." You don't get that from Danny. He's not about sensory conjecture. He's about facts. He's a journalist. He doesn't write. He reports.
Better yet, he informs.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24291
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Danny Schechter is very good. Strongly recommend his writing.
Liberty News TV Is Ahead of the Curve on Impeachment Coverage
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2007-07-03 23:38. Impeachment | Video and Audio
Watch the latest edition (wmv).
http://www.libertynewstv.com/RAW%20CLIPS%20and%20STILLS/JULY2007CLIPS/LNTVjul07WEBfinal_01.wmv
As a result of the infection, he went mad in later years. Could this be the case with chimp?
Posted by Johnedwrd on July 4, 2007 at 08:26 AM
****
Hi John,
Chimp is a drunken drug fiend. He's brain damaged by his years of being the town drunk.
"Call out the instigators
Because there's something in the air
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here,
And you know it's right
And you know that it's right"
- Something In The Air by Thunderclap Newman
****
Cindy Sheehan is back! And she is planning a march on the WH. I knew she couldn't stay away for long ... not with the criminals and thugs still running around the WH.
Impeach Chimpo
Impeach Shotgun
Throw in Gonzo for good measure
Throw out tony snow too. On top of that, take away his federal health insurance so he can see what it is really like to live like the other 40,000,000 Americans and pay the bill himself.
Lane Smith Set to Run for President?
I’ve finally put my finger on what fascinates/disturbs me so much about the concept that Republican Fred Thompson is a frontrunner for president, beyond the fact that he has spent a third of his life on the planet as a corporate lobbyist. It’s basically accepted fact that Thompson was an entirely lackluster - and lazy - U.S. senator, and that his current status as a presidential frontrunner really has primarily to do with his side career as a small-time character actor on the TV show Law & Order and in a spate of B Movies, including those memorable gems of cinematic history like Baby’s Day Out and Iron Eagle III. We know Thompson’s acting career is by far the most important factor in his billing as a major frontrunner because if someone of a similarly thin political resume without the Hollywood bit parts floated his name for a run - say, someone like former Republican Senator Lauch Faircloth (NC) or Peter Fitzgerald (IL) - that person would be utterly ignored by the media and political Establishment.
Now, it’s true - we’ve had an actor president before named Ronald Reagan. But what’s different is that while Reagan was a B movie actor, he was also a LEAD actor. That is, he actually starred in movies, which at the very least explains the fame he used to ascend to the White House. Thompson, by contrast, has never ever been a star in any movie (other than that massive nationwide blockbuster that nobody saw apparently called Last Best Chance). And yet, somehow, this man is now universally billed in the media as a Very Famous Actor. Even if you do count his bit-part appearances on Law & Order, this billing is absolutely absurd, to the point where I’ve got to believe his Beltway media billing him as a “well-known actor” accounts far more for his current notoriety than anything he’s ever done in his modest acting career.
Look, I wouldn’t dare argue that people don’t know Fred Thompson’s face from his various uninspiring movie and television cameo appearances.But what I am saying is that there’s something pathologically insane about the media and political elites attempting to ordain a man as a frontrunner for Most Powerful Person on Earth by manufacturing the concept that this man possesses ubiquitous “fame” somehow derived from a mediocre collage of single-epsiode bit parts on shows like Matlock and Roseanne 15 years ago. It’s fine to become President having once appeared on a few installments of Matlock. It’s entirely not fine to become President primarily BECAUSE you appeared on a few installments of Matlock.
The insanity inherent in this makes me wonder really how ridiculous could it all get? There are a lot of actors exactly like Fred Thompson - that crew of middle-aged white men who seem to have been in every single movie you’ve ever seen. People like Maury Chaykin, Joe Don Baker, Lane Smith, and Bruce McGill (the most famous of this crew for his throat-strumming role as D-Day in Animal House). What’s next? Will one of these fine thespians run for president and enjoy a coronation as a Very Famous Actor and thus Very Serious Candidate for President from the Beltway media and the national Republican Party elite?
Hell, these guys have at least as much on-screen experience in movies about politics as Thompson does, and as we all know, that’s what’s really important. Take the Distinguished Gentleman - the 1992 comedy making fun of corrupt Washington. This movie is a keeper when playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, as it features a virtual cornucopia of these ubiquitous character actors that seem to appear everywhere. Same goes for My Cousin Vinny, a flick which is, at its core, about the breakdown of America’s legal system and whose ensemble again features a strange convergence of Fred Thompson-ish nobodies.
I mean come on all you reporters, RNC operatives and Serious Pundits cloistered there in Washington - you’ve gotta start being fair. If Fred Thompson’s breakthrough performance as Bernard Oxbar in Curly Sue qualifies him to become the most powerful person on the Planet Earth, doesn’t Lane Smith’s performance as a congressional chairman in Distinguished Gentleman and his spellbinding appearance as a hard-nosed county prosecutor in My Cousin Vinny give him at least as solid credentials for billing as a serious presidential contender?
UPDATE: I’ve been informed that Lane Smith sadly passed away in 2005. That’s unfortunate, but thankfully that’s no problem for Republicans and the Beltway media looking for the new new 2008 presidential frontrunner. I’m sure the Draft Bruce McGill for President campaign has already started…
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freddy cheeseball is a second rate actor and a corporate bag man. Now the corporate vulture freddy and ghoulian have endorsed the libby pardo - they will pay for that in 2008!
Romney thinks Libby commutation was "reasonable"
by Chris in Paris · 7/04/2007 03:36:00 AM ET
Discuss this post here: Comments (20) · digg it · reddit · FARK · · Link
Remember, this is the man who as governor of Massachusetts did not issue one single pardon, including from an Iraq war vet who as a young kid shot another with a BB gun which hardly broke skin, yet despite his efforts to move on from the mistake and serve the US with honor, Romney saw no reason at all to reflect those changes and held firm in his belief that this war vet was definitely a criminal for life and should be labeled as such. Whether this is a characteristic of his Mormon beliefs or just a Romney being inflexible and stubborn is hard to say because while he wants to talk about his all-so-important beliefs without telling America what exactly that means or what they are and then goes crazy if anyone talks about Mormonism.
Such inability to bend comes as no surprise since this is a man who cruelly strapped his family dog in a cage on the roof of his car for a twelve hour road trip, showing no mercy for the dog who was unable to control itself over the long journey and then robotically hosed down the messy car and carried on.
If only that soldier had been important enough in right wing circles, but hey, the guy only went to Iraq to fight for his country while Libby was back home exposing CIA agents for political gain. Romney consistently shows he's a man who is so desperate to win he will say just about anything. He's also a man who can easily brag about showing no mercy to anyone. Except now, Libby.
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That frosts it for tricky mitty as well.
Snopes debunks religious right lies
by John Aravosis (DC) · 7/03/2007 07:22:00 PM ET
Discuss this post here: Comments (142) · digg it · reddit · FARK · · Link
You have to be a mighty big liar to make your way on to the pages of Snopes, the Internet's biggest "urban myth"-buster Web site. But the religious right, which wouldn't know Jesus or the Bible from a fat juicy donation to the GOP, specializes in the kind of un-Christian whoppers that make Satan himself blush. These folks think that if it doesn't involve bashing someone or some thing they hate, then it's just not God's work. And we wonder why so many die and have died in the name of religion.
This time, Snopes caught the American Family Association lying about the hate crimes bill.
http://www.americablog.com/2007/07/snopes-debunks-religious-right-lies.html
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"religious" righties lying? Oh my ...
It`s time to start impeachment proceedings.Call it the final nail in the coffin or whatever.As far as I`m concerned it is way past time,but whatever.The people of this country by a large margin want both w&shotgun gone.All they are going to do is create more damage to this country. They should both be in prison for what they have done to this country!
From the [New York] Times' Tuesday editorial: "Mr. Bush’s assertion that he respected the verdict but considered the sentence excessive only underscored the way this president is tough on crime when it’s committed by common folk ...
"Within minutes of the Libby announcement, the same Republican commentators who fulminated when Paris Hilton got a few days knocked off her time in a county lockup were parroting Mr. Bush’s contention that a fine, probation and reputation damage were 'harsh punishment' enough for Mr. Libby.
"Presidents have the power to grant clemency and pardons. But in this case, Mr. Bush did not sound like a leader making tough decisions about justice. He sounded like a man worried about what a former loyalist might say when actually staring into a prison cell."
The [Washington] Post, which had often mocked the court case, declares today: "We agree that a pardon would have been inappropriate and that the prison sentence of 30 months was excessive. But reducing the sentence to no prison time at all, as Mr. Bush did -- to probation and a large fine -- is not defensible. ... Mr. Bush, while claiming to 'respect the jury's verdict,' failed to explain why he moved from 'excessive' to zero.
"It's true that the felony conviction that remains in place, the $250,000 fine and the reputational damage are far from trivial. But so is lying to a grand jury. To commute the entire prison sentence sends the wrong message about the seriousness of that offense."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "President Bush's commutation of a pal's prison sentence counts as a most shocking act of disrespect for the U.S. justice system. It's the latest sign of the huge repairs to American concepts of the rule of law that await the next president."
The Denver Post found that "such big-footing of other branches of government is not unprecedented with this administration. The president's abuse of signing statements show his disrespect for Congress' power to make law. His insistence that terror detainees at Guantanamo Bay be denied Habeas Corpus rights mocks legal tradition. It's a shame that his actions in the Libby affair will add to that list. Libby should be held accountable for his crimes."
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's editorial declares that "mostly this commutation fails on the most basic premise. There was no miscarriage of justice in Libby's conviction or his sentence. The trial amply demonstrated that he stonewalled. Like President Clinton's 11th-hour pardons of an ill-deserving few, this commutation is a travesty."
New York's Daily News: "However misbegotten was the probe by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, the fact is that Libby did commit a federal crime and the fact is also that he was convicted in a court of law. Thankfully, Bush did not pardon Libby outright, but time in the slammer was in order. Sixty days, say, wouldn't have hurt the justice system a bit."
Chicago Tribune believes that "in nixing the prison term, Bush sent a terrible message to citizens and to government officials who are expected to serve the public with integrity. The way for a president to discourage the breaking of federal laws is by letting fairly rendered consequences play out, however uncomfortably for everyone involved. The message to a Scooter Libby ought to be the same as it is for other convicts: You do the crime, you do the time."
The Arizona Republic: "We thought Scooter Libby was going through the criminal justice system. Just like anyone else. Then, President Bush whipped out a get-out-of-jail-free card. This is the wrong game to play on a very public stage."
San Jose Mercury News: "Other presidents have doled out pardons and the like, usually on the way out of office. It's never pretty. But few have placed themselves above the law as Bush, Cheney and friends repeatedly have done by trampling civil liberties and denying due process. Chalk up another point for freedom. Scooter's, at least."
The Sacramento Bee: President Bush, a recent story in the Washington Post tells us, is obsessed with the question of how history will view him. He has done himself no favors on that count by commuting the prison term of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby."
It`s time to start impeachment proceedings.Call it the final nail in the coffin or whatever.As far as I`m concerned it is way past time,but whatever.
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virgo, I agree. It's time for the Speaker to at least say that she won't stop her caucus from considering impeachment. Let's take this one step at a time. It's also time to pass HRES 333 and get impeachment hearings into the Judiciary Committee.
God help you when your COBRA health insurance runs out
by nyceve [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 06:06:49 AM PDT
On July 4th--Independence Day, remember there is no liberty when you are mired in debt, worried about your rising mortgage payments and unable to secure affordable healthcare. Remind yourselves that millions of Americans have absolutely no economic freedom
What follows is a case in point.
Some of you may have your health insurance through what is known as COBRA. COBRA stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan for limited periods of time under certain circumstances such as voluntary or involuntary job loss, reduction in the hours worked, transition between jobs, death, divorce, and other life events. Qualified individuals may be required to pay the entire premium for coverage up to 102 percent of the cost to the plan.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/9649/13577
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Just thumb down to the rates you pay when you are on your own. This country truly is SICKO. Health care is out of reach for people without jobs that offer some coverage. The rich get all the privileges and avoid even serving time for the crimes they commit. If Libby was well connected, if he was just an average "joe" or "jane", he/she would be sitting in prison (and not a country club prison) right now. This is not democracy, this is not a republic, this is plutocracy. Yep, I have the day off like most workers but no I don't see any reason to celebrate what our country has become.
Good Morning, fellow Dems.
Did you all write LTE's about Bush and Fibby Libby? Did you all contact your Representatives again?(they have fax machines and voice mail so do it today if not. )
Tell them there is too much more destruction that this administration can do in the remaining 17 months they are in office, and they must stand up and do something. that we the American people have their backs!
I had a tear run down my cheek, as I read the posts from the couple of Nut cases here , as they were wrapped in their flag afghans, with their hands over their hearts, telling us to FORGET all that this administration has done today, and to Thank God for the bad things and places that our administration has placed our boys in.
IF ANYTHING, this is the day to say NO MORE ! Run this administration out of town. Make sure not another single Republican ever gets in office. Devote yourself to a local candidate or two and work your asses off for them. Use your donation money wisely, and direct it to the place it will do the most good. (Moveon, TrueMajority, 50-State strategy are some ideas)
Write your LTE's, and write your congressmen. Write TV media. Work for Voting and Election processes which will thwart the Republicans efforts to cheat on them.
look up your local Dem branch, and go to the next meeting and tell them you are volunteering for any jobs they have. (I helped get the State Dem committee's Voter base in order by going to local towns and copying their voter records, then helping input into their machines.)
(look up where to contact them:
http://www.democrats.org/local.html
Become an Activist. It costs nothing. Attend Rallies ESPECIALLY if they are Republicans! Ask the tough questions in front of everybody. (Dawnie, as a disabled Vet, you are a prime example of someone who can put them on the hot seat of the cuts they have coming for Veterans in 2009 which Bush signed).
The more we bring out in the open the truth of what this Party and these neo-cons have done, the easier it will be to get rid of this party for all time. (only 26% left to go)
REMIND PEOPLE, this is not just a vote for a Candidate---it is a vote for how the Complexion of the SCOTUS looks in the future, and what it will do to our laws, rights and rules.
So do not sit around this 4th, instead use it to focus. To make your plan. Your goals on the next 16 months before we walk into that Election booth ! Write it out, THEN DO IT!
Fred Thompson and Watergate
by Elwood Dowd [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 06:21:44 AM PDT
It was an electrifying moment. Republican counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee Fred Thompson asked witness Alexander Butterfield:
Are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the President?
The "Yes" answer would eventually provide the smoking gun that brought down Richard Nixon.
That moment is a big part of the Fred Thompson story today: the gritty prosecutor who fought for justice against a corrupt administration, even though it was led by his own party.
I remember watching that during the televised hearings. I figured at the time that it wasn't a lucky guess: Thompson was a good lawyer and must have already known the answer, probably from earlier off-camera questioning by other staffers.
But I didn't know the rest of the story.
Elwood Dowd's diary :: ::
Today's Boston Globe provides it. The information has been public for decades, but it hasn't received much notice.
The day before the hearing, Thompson had -- acting on his own, without informing the Committee -- tipped off the White House.
"Thompson was a mole for the White House," [Democratic Committee staffer Scott] Armstrong said in an interview. "Fred was working hammer and tong to defeat the investigation of finding out what happened to authorize Watergate and find out what the role of the president was."
"Even though I had no authority to act for the committee, I decided to call Fred Buzhardt at home" to tell him that the committee had learned about the taping system, Thompson wrote. "I wanted to be sure that the White House was fully aware of what was to be disclosed so that it could take appropriate action."
...
Armstrong said he thought the leaks would lead to Thompson's firing. "Any prosecutor would be upset if another member of the prosecution team was orchestrating a defense for Nixon," said Armstrong, who later became a Washington Post reporter and currently is executive director of Information Trust, a nonprofit organization specializing in open government issues.
Thompson serves on the I. Lewis Libby Defense Fund, and has praised the commutation of his sentence.
He earned his membership in the Republican Crime Syndicate decades ago.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/9723/47296
****
What a criminal thug this freddy boy thompson is.
Here's another thing to do. Especially if you have some friends who are twittering and teeheeing over Fred Thompson, move star.
Send articles like rj's at 9:31 and others around on your email lists and let people know exactly that these Republican candidates are just more same ole, same ole. Culture of Corruption! Do they want to keep up the slime of the last 6 years!
This country is in indeed sicko, and it won't get well until the criminals are impeached, indicted and locked in the slammer.
BUSH/CHENEY LEAVENWORTH IN 2008!!!!! HOOOAH!!!!
and don't forget to include this little photo of what the charming First Couple will look like while standing in the White House greeting dignataries from around the world !
Do they want to keep up the slime of the last 6 years!
Posted by PamB on July 4, 2007 at 09:36 AM
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Hi PamB,
Freddy is a low life. He's on the "dark side" of the worst GOP causes. He's basically a GOP hit man besides being a second rate cheeseball actor. He is also a corporate lobbyist goon.
We don't even have to go into that he was one of the laziest Senators ever. Makes sense when you are a bag man.
BUSH/CHENEY LEAVENWORTH IN 2008!!!!! HOOOAH!!!!
Posted by Butte on July 4, 2007 at 09:38 AM
****
Hi Butte, that sounds about right for those two goons.
gonna go cook my honey a big breakfast.
back later, Dems.
(Get that fire in your belly lit, and 'Keep it Lit' ) :)
Did you all write LTE's about Bush and Fibby Libby? Did you all contact your Representatives again
****
Hi PamB, indeed I did. I told Pallone that it's time for him to get to work on HRES 333. I told him that Bush's pardon of Libby proves this admin. has no respect for the rule of law and that they are covering up their illegal impeachable offenses.
More Libby Statements Late Night Open Thread
by Todd Beeton, Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 03:05:34 AM EST
Rudy Giuliani released this statement on his website:
"After evaluating the facts, the President came to a reasonable decision and I believe the decision was correct."
And Fred Thompson's official statement is as follows:
"While for a long time I have urged a pardon for Scooter, I respect the president's decision. This will allow a good American, who has done a lot for his country, to resume his life."
Both of which lead nicely into this prediction from Craig Crawford on today's Hardball:
On the political front, this is going to be a huge battering ram for Democrats in 2008. I think this will be the Jack Abramoff lobbyist scandal of the 2008 campaign as Democrats rally their own activists and grassroots supporters.
Let's make sure of it.
****
We also know that Flipper Mitt supports it. I say this just about frosts it for the GOP. They will pay for this in 2008 just as Ford paid for pardoning Nixon.
Had Enough?
by WesClarkJr [Subscribe]
Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 01:29:35 PM PDT
Enough of seeing the Constitution trashed? Enough of the corruption? Enough of the war? Enough of the gutless response of our elected Democratic representatives?
WesClarkJr's diary :: ::
I don't think our reps read our e-mail or listen to our phone calls. Hell, they didn't even listen to the 2006 election in which we told them to stop the war. Scooter Libby is the last straw and I'm not going to take it anymore. I've had enough.
Cenk Uygur and I were talking this morning about what to do. We've decided it's time to tell America we've had enough. We'll be standing outside the Federal Building in West L.A. at the corner of Veteran and Wilshire for one hour this Sunday. If you'd like to join us, just wear a t-shirt or bring a sign that says you've had enough.
If you're not in L.A., just go to whatever the most common protest site is in your home city with a shirt or sign that says you've had enough from noon to one p.m. this Sunday. You don't have to march, chant, play drums, pass out pamphlets or build puppets (not that we're against those things). All you have to do is stand there with one word: enough.
Cenk and I don't care if we're the only two people there. We don't care because the next Sunday, each of us has pledged to bring two more people with us, and we'll ask them to make the same pledge. And we'll keep standing out there every single Sunday, doubling our numbers, from now until we've got so many people with us that we cannot be ignored.
So how about it? Have you had enough? Will you stand with us?
Impeach Bush and Cheney NOW!!
By his weasel pardon of Scooter Libby the president may have now obstructed justice in shielding his own offenses and those of vice president Cheney. Has any ordinary citizen EVER received such a "commutation" before serving even a single day of their convicted prison sentence? What IS excessive is the way they have abused our Constitution. THERE WERE ALREADY MORE THAN 80,000 VOTES IN THE NATIONAL CHENEY IMPEACHMENT POLL. Add your voice to that and call to impeach Bush as well . .
http://st.blogads.com/795249859/266600652/click?d=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usalone.com%2Fimpeach_both.php
g'morning everyone. hope you all have a great 4th. i posted this last night, but i thought i'd post it again since today is the 4th.
A PROMISE BROKEN -- A PROMISE KEPT
As young people growing up in America, we are told we live in the greatest country on earth, a country where all men are created equal and each has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We are told that if we go to college and work hard the ’American Dream’ will be ours, we will be able to live our lives with dignity and pride and we will want for very little. We are told our government is comprised of three separate branches with checks and balances to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful. God is inserted into our national anthem, put upon our currency, invoked in our official ceremonies, and we are told ‘He’ is on our side. These and a great deal more we are told while we are yet naïve to the treacherousness of greed and the powers of great wealth.
As we mature into young adults, we become increasingly aware of the ’ifs and buts’ working to moderate our expectations. We begin to realize that not all we were told was exactly correct and that, indeed, much was cruel lies. We lose the twinkle in our once childish eyes as we become aware of the pervasive reality of social injustices imbedded deep within the fabric of our country’s institutions. We realize there are those among us who profess to be our leaders who manipulate these injustices to their own advantage, seeking to increase their personal wealth and power while diminishing both for others. Confronted by obstacle upon never ending obstacle, many of us lose hope and sink into despair. Many others in acts of not so quiet desperation, lash out violently and indiscriminately, seeking ‘revenge’ for all the broken promises.
The dark cloud which shadows our nation’s future is that we are, in fact, ‘our own worst enemy’. The realization of this leaves open the possibility of restored hope. Thru our own thoughtfulness, intelligence, and compassion for the lives of others we can correct the inequities of the past, change the course of our country, and lead the way to a brighter day. What more fitting way to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of our country than to pledge our unending opposition to adversity. And what better way to keep the promise of a better tomorrow than to promise to cast the light of truth into all the dark places of our world.
Happy Birthday America!
BoilerMan
Olbermann’s Worst Person In The World & Special Comment Preview
By: Logan Murphy @ 7:01 AM - PDT
Holy Joe gets the Bronze, the Silver goes to Sean Hannity for his upcoming Freedom Concert sponsored by the…wait for it… Hong Kong Tourism Board!, and the Gold goes to….was there any doubt?
****
The Hong Cong Tourism board? Hannity is a sleaze bucket.
No Joy This Fourth Of July
by Bob Geiger | Jul 4 2007 - 9:48am | permalink
article tools: email | print | read more Bob Geiger
"A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." ~ Declaration of Independence
I've always enjoyed the Fourth of July.
It's summer, it's a festive holiday about celebration -- not mourning or remembrance -- and, as a military Veteran, it has been a time to feel good about whatever miniscule role I've played in maintaining our country's strength and freedom.
But I'm going to skip the barbeques and just go to work today. I do this because the state of my country under the reign of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their entire cabal of crooks and non-patriots, leaves me with a feeling so hollow and barren that I simply cannot use drinking a beer, eating a hot dog or watching fireworks as a soothing balm.
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/8505
****
I am with Bob Geiger. There is nothing to celebrate given the treasonous Bush crime family.
One has to wonder what Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Hancock and the other Founding Fathers would think of where we're at, 231 years later, if they could see the vision of Democracy they cherished so soiled and the 43rd president known not at all for his wisdom and entirely for his outrageous abuse of power.
George W. Bush has taken our country and made us despised throughout the world, ruined our global reputation in a way that may take a generation to salvage and made us far less safe in a dangerous world. Indeed, he has used our nation's wealth and power to make the world a more dangerous place.
His administration has also found a way to diminish a great holiday like our Independence Day, to make us feel less like proudly waving our flag and to even cause many like me, who have worn our country's uniform, to wonder what the hell it was for.
And, for that, every American who voted for Bush, should take time this July Fourth to perform a truly patriotic act and be profoundly ashamed.
-- Bob Geiger
Happy Birthday America!
BoilerMan
Posted by BoilerMan on July 4, 2007 at 09:56 AM
****
Nice post Boilerman
Nice post Boilerman
Posted by rjsnj on July 4, 2007 at 10:05 AM
Thanks, rj...now i've really gotta get some breakfast. see ya later.
Call Out The Instigator
by Cindy Sheehan | Jul 4 2007 - 9:52am | permalink
article tools: email | print | read more Cindy Sheehan
Call out the Instigator
Because there's something in the air
We got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here
You know it's right!
-Thunderclap Newman
I'm not backing off. I tried to remove myself from the political realm of the US, what BushCo is turning into an Evil Empire, but the blatant audacity of George commuting Scooter's sentence (he's not ruling out a full pardon --and you know he will) has dragged me kicking and screaming back in. I can't sit back and let this BushCo drag our country further down into the murky quagmire of Fascism and violence, taking the rest of the world with them!
No Jail Time for Libby? It's Impeachment Time for Cheney and Bush!
Submitted by Bob Fertik on July 2, 2007 - 5:09pm. ImpeachForChange
So Paris Hilton will spend more time in jail for a DUI misdemeanor than Scooter Libby will spend for 4 felony convictions of perjury and obstruction of justice. AP reports:
President Bush commuted the sentence of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Monday, sparing him from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case. Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for Libby...
Bush's commutation came just hours after 3 Republican judges ruled Libby's appeal had a snowball's chance in hell.
Bush says the fine is significant - but who will actually pay it? Cheney's rich friends at Halliburton, of course - with chump change from the billions they've stolen from us, the taxpayers.
There's one reason why Bush kept Libby out of jail: not because the sentence was excessive, but simply to keep him from ratting on Cheney. In mob circles, that's called silencing a witness. Here's Marcy Wheeler:
Well, George did it. Made sure that Scooter wouldn’t flip rather than do jail time. He commuted Libby’s sentence, guaranteeing not only that Libby wouldn’t talk, but retaining Libby’s right to invoke the Fifth. This amounts to nothing less than obstruction of justice.
Bush has now joined Libby and Cheney in the criminal coverup of the felonious outing a covert CIA agent.
Baghdad car bomb death toll rises to 18 - police
Tue 3 Jul 2007 18:10:23 BST
BAGHDAD, July 3 (Reuters) - The death toll from a car bombing in a Shi'ite neighbourhood of Baghdad on Tuesday rose to 18, with 35 people wounded, Iraqi police said.
They said the toll was expected to rise.
***
This is what Chimpo, Shotgun are justifying! The surge is complete farce and a failure.
In his book, Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Krankl recalls enormous pain and injustice to which he was subjected while in the the Nazi Concentraion camp, Auschwitz. At one point, he was lying on an operating table, undergoing serilization surgery with no anesthiesia. The pain was unbearable, so Frankl began doing whatever he could to escape it in his mind.
He thought about the enormous difference between "liberty" and "freedom." Liberty was having an abundance of choices in your environment, the ability to come and go at will and to do whatever you pleased. Freedom was simply the ability to choose.
Frankl realized that, although his pain was excruciating and he had no liberty, he actually had more freedom than the men who were operating on him. He could say to himself, "I exercise my freedom to choose my thoughts and emotions. I choose to pity those men rather than to hate them." The men who were operating had many liberties, but they had given away their freedom, the freedom not to perform these inhuman acts on other human being. They had to believe that "the system" was making them perform these acts and that they had no choice in the matter.
Thoughts become things, choose the good ones.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
- Galatians 5:13-14
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enjoy the day, everyone.
Hey Jersey
You're doin a fine job!
I can't believe the bible thumpers were already at my door this morning (bible in hand) and with her KID!! I couldn't believe it! I said, "are YOU soliciting for Jesus?" she said "as a matter of fact I am" and I said "no thanks" and shut the door. WTF is WRONG with people???? ARGH anyway, I thought I'd read up here since they woke me up.
Nice posts but I swear you need to be paid or something cuz no one else is as busy as you! Well maybe Pammay! ;-)
Peace and enjoy the day if you can!
You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Esme, if only we could get the Republicans to follow THIS one. To quit equating Muslims with terrorists. To quit their hatred of blacks, gays, women, other races, illegals, etc.
What a much better world we would have.
rj,
thanks for all your fine posts, btw. We have many people who do nothing but lurk, or come to see what Dems are all about. Continually showing them what is TRULY going on in this country is a great way to inform them.
AND HERE'S MY ADDITION TO 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION:
PLAY IT AND READ THE WORDS TO "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL !" OUR BELOVED COUNTRY, DESPITE THE EFFORTS OF NEO CONS AND REPUBLICANS TO DESTROY IT !!!!!
Secretary Gates says the troops will have to stay in Iraq for years.Warren Buffet says he wants to pay more taxes.I guess Gates thinks the troops are needed to protect Buffet's Kirby salesmen, and if Buffet wants to buy body-guards, he'll oblige.
Somebody needs to point out to the media that, in America, a "good economy" means multi-millions of happy workers, not a few happy multi-millionaires.
Happy Fourth of July. Impeachment is just around the corner. Get Active!
Nice posts but I swear you need to be paid or something cuz no one else is as busy as you! Well maybe Pammay! ;-)
Peace and enjoy the day if you can!
Posted by Dawnie on July 4, 2007 at 10:42 AM
****
Hi Dawn,
Nah, I am just sharing with you all what I think is of common interest ...
I will indeed as always enjoy the day but I will NOT celebrate the 4th as long as the Bush-Cheney crime family are in the WH.
Posted by rjsnj on July 4, 2007 at 10:46 AM
yea they make it rrrrrrrreal difficult to celebrate a n y thing! Everything has a sour taste to it.
(especially when the wretched fundie RIGHT shows UP at my DOOR before I wake UP, arghhhhhhh)
shameful
Posted by PamB on July 4, 2007 at 10:43 AM
I can't make myself play it yet Pam. Sorry.
Remember I don't drink coffee so it takes me a few HOURS to gather my strength! :-]
Are you going to picnic today?
especially when the wretched fundie RIGHT shows UP at my DOOR before I wake UP, arghhhhhhh)
****
Dawn, that is a bad way to start a day!
Well, put it aside. It's a day off for most of us. In that spirit, enjoy the day.
Good morning and Happy Independence Day, everyone.
We are now free to think the very worse of this president. Thank you very much, Mr. Corrupt Hypocrite, for doing the politically incorrect thing...yet again.
So I thought I'd post an earlier story about our esteemed criminal opportunist, from Tucker Carlson no less, giving us then Governor Bush's thoughts on granting clemency back in Texas in the 1990s.
This is the arrogant, sarcastic comment from the most renowed American, born-again Chrisitan on the quality of mercy:
In pondering the relationship between governors and the prisoners over whom they have power of life and death, I find myself remembering the single worst thing I ever heard about President Bush.
It was something Bush, then governor of Texas, said to a reporter during his first presidential campaign. The reporter in question was Tucker Carlson—hardly a hostile figure—and Carlson reported it in Talk magazine in 1999.
It was about Karla Faye Tucker, a convicted murderer whose execution Bush, as governor, had refused to stay. Here is what Carlson wrote (as quoted in National Review, another source hardly known to be hostile toward Republicans):
In the week before [Karla Faye Tucker's] execution, Bush says, Bianca Jagger and a number of other protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Tucker. "Did you meet with any of them?" I ask.
Bush whips around and stares at me. "No, I didn't meet with any of them," he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. "I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with [Tucker], though. He asked her real difficult questions, like 'What would you say to Governor Bush?' "
"What was her answer?" I wonder.
"Please," Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me."
The ugliness of a sitting governor mocking a prisoner's plea to spare her life horrified Carlson, especially after he looked up the transcript of Karla Faye Tucker's appearance on Larry King Live and discovered that nowhere did it show the prisoner asking Bush to stay the execution.
It horrified a lot of other conservative journalists, too, including George Will, Richard Brookhiser, and the editorial page of the Manchester Union Leader in New Hampshire.
What Bush said to Carlson was so obviously awful that he had no choice but to deny he ever said it, however unconvincingly:
Mr. Carlson misread, mischaracterized me. He's a good reporter, he just misunderstood about how serious that was. I take the death penalty very seriously. I take each case seriously. I just felt he misjudged me. I think he misinterpreted my feelings. I know he did.
A subsequent report, long after the election, that Laura Bush had dressed down her husband for his wisecrack to Carlson reduces to the vanishing point the probability that Carlson "misread" or "mischaracterized" Bush. Why scold someone for something he never said?...
//www.slate.com/id/2131451/
So this is Bush's idea of mercy for anyone outside his close circle of associates...or shall we say, those who may have enough evidence to get him impeached or thrown in jail?
Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Apparently, your handlers at the Heritage Foundation or the American Enterprise Institute taught Ann Coulter much better than you in how to avoid the truth...and to treat serious human issues as vehicles to make cruel sadistic insults. Was Bush a guest lecturer?
No matter, Bush is going to kill the Republican Party with his kindness.
Let's make sure this episode is circulated extensively again in the blogesphere.
PLAY IT AND READ THE WORDS TO "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL !" OUR BELOVED COUNTRY, DESPITE THE EFFORTS OF NEO CONS AND REPUBLICANS TO DESTROY IT !!!!!
****
But of course, I will celebrate the day by doubling my efforts to impeach the Chimp and Blimp.
FYI for some and a reminder for others of us! Another potential problem VETS will face when they return home. It may take a few years but their thyroids could kick into overdrive just like mine did. And no one wants to end up disabled. Trust me.
Depleted uranium (DU) is extensively used in military munitions. It volatilizes on impact and mixes with dust that people breathe. DU is poisonous and radioactive. Another source of information on depleted uranium is the Uranium Medical Research Center.
The ugliness of a sitting governor mocking a prisoner's plea to spare her life horrified Carlson, especially after he looked up the transcript of Karla Faye Tucker's appearance on Larry King Live and discovered that nowhere did it show the prisoner asking Bush to stay the execution.
****
Bush and Cheney are twisted and evil. Until these befoulers of people's house are gone, there's no reason to celebrate.
At the very least, we need to impeach Cheney now before he finds some way to manipulate Bush into attacking Iran. These criminals will stop at nothing to cover their own asses. Moveon.org sent me an email, didn't read it fully yet, but I believe they're getting out a petion to Congress on all this caca Bush is pulling. As soon as I have time, I'll read in detail and report back on it....Thanks to all for the great posts today....
(WAVING) Happy 4th O'July goodfoe and Sandy! Where's that boilerman? lol
The movie "The Ref" proves true
By Last Night in Little Rock, Section Lewis Libby Indictment
Posted on Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 07:49:09 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Anybody remember this priceless line from "The Ref" (1994)?
Connie Chasseur: Who would catch a criminal, and then let him go free?
Mary Chasseur: Republicans.
I had a conversation with a prosecutor today about a two level enhancement for obstruction on a client in custody. I told her that the Executive Branch doesn't count obstruction as a jailable offense, so he should not get the two level enhancement.
She was not amused.
None of us are.
Paul Wolfowitz Has A New Job
By: Logan Murphy on Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 at 7:02 AM - PDT
AP Via Yahoo:
Former World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz, who resigned amid a furor over his handling of a bank pay package for his girlfriend, has joined the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank, as a visiting scholar.
AEI’s president, Christopher DeMuth, made the announcement Monday. Wolfowitz will work on entrepreneurship and development issues, Africa and public-private partnerships, the group said in a release.
Wolfowitz’s last day as head of the World Bank, a major poverty-fighting institution, was on Saturday, ending a stormy two-year run.
He was essentially forced to step down from the World Bank after a special panel found that he broke bank rules in arranging a hefty pay raise for Shaha Riza, his girlfriend and bank employee. Wolfowitz’s handling of the pay package prompted a staff revolt and calls by Europeans and others for him to resign. Read more…
****
AEI - that fits the Wolf well.
Main Entry: troll
Function: noun
Etymology: Norwegian troll & Danish trold, from Old Norse troll giant, demon; probably akin to Middle High German trolle lout
Date: 1616
: a dwarf or giant in Scandinavian folklore inhabiting caves or hills
oo we could include old Bin Forgotten in that troll catagory too! aw the honker is in such great company!
Sandy...As a Texan, I followed the Karla Fay Tucker case closely. The crime that she participated in was especially horrific, no doubt about that. Carla had come to terms with it and was at peace with herself and her God. Had she lived, she was prepared and qualified to do a lot of good for young people by speaking out about the mistakes she had made in her own life. Just my opinion of course, but I believe she would have been a force for good. The fact that Bush did not spare her life was another tragic murder for which he will answer some day...
Bill Maher
What Was the Downside?
Posted July 3, 2007 | 08:21 AM (EST)
Besides the obvious -- that you can't, as the president claimed, honor the verdict of the jury and then basically overturn it -- what was the downside for him? The twenty-something percentage of people who still back him probably know Scooter Libby, most of them socially, and appreciate his pardon; and the rest of the country probably has never heard of Scooter Libby. This is not a country that pays attention to anything complicated, and even has a hard time with the simple. Outside of the bloggers, it's not something that will upset Joe Sixpack.
And speaking of bloggers, may I take this moment to thank the bloggers and columnists who pointed out that what I said about Dick Cheney earlier this year was in no way parallel to what Ann Coulter said about John Edwards. Gosh, sometimes it seems like the far right just lies blatantly and on purpose. Which brings us back to Scooter Libby...
(has this been posted yet)
The fact that Bush did not spare her life was another tragic murder for which he will answer some day...
Posted by goodfoe on July 4, 2007 at 11:43 AM
****
goodfoe, whether he commuted her sentence or not is a tough issue. I sure it could be debated from many different perspectives.
What is disgraceful is the way Bush mocked her. That should have told voters that this man is not qualified to lead our nation. There is a streak of sadism in him that does not belong in a president's character. Cheney is exactly the same way.
rj...You are correct of course. It could be debated and has been...However, I stand by my comments.
(has this been posted yet)
Posted by Dawnie on July 4, 2007 at 11:48 AM
****
I don't think it was posted. There was a good response to Maher ... I think on Smirking Chimp.
I'll post it if I find it again.
I think it's time that the media stop classifying the people of this country as Joe / Jane Six-packs. That stereotype just doesn't make much sense.
Sure, there are many people who are uninformed and most of them don't vote. So, the issue does matter to the informed.
MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. — A fisherman looking to catch a catfish for dinner instead reeled in a fish that flashed its teeth and bit his knife.
Jerry Melton, 46, was fishing in the Catawba River last week when he caught what state wildlife officials later identified as a piranha, a South American carnivorous fish that lives in freshwater.
YIKES! (my words)
Bill & Hillary:
Worse than you thought & worth remembering, and this came from a Democrat
Dear ( Ex) President Clinton:
I recently saw a bumper sticker that said, "Thank me, I voted for Clinton-Gore." So, I sat down and reflected on that, and I am sending my "Thank you" for what you have done, specifically:
1. Thank you for introducing us to Jennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, Dolly Kyle Browning, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broderick. Did I leave anyone out?
2. Thank you for teaching my 8 year old about oral sex. I had really planned to wait until he was a little older to discuss it with him, but now he knows more about it than I did as a senior in college.
3. Thank you for showing us that sexual harassment in the work place (especially the White House) and on the job is OK, and all you have to know is what the meaning of "it" is. It really is great to know that certain sexual acts are not sex, and one person may have sex while the other one does NOT have sex.
4. Thank you for reintroducing the concept of impeachment to a new generation and demonstrating that the ridiculous plot of the movie "Wag the Dog" could be plausible after all.
5. Thanks for making Jimmy Carter look competent, Gerald Ford look graceful, Richard Nixon look honest, Lyndon Johnson look truthful, and John Kennedy look moral.
6. Thank you for the 73 House and Senate witnesses who have pled the 5th Amendment and 17 witnesses who have fled the country to avoid testifying about Democratic campaign fund raising.
7. Thank you, for the 19 charges, 8 convictions, and 4 imprisonment's from the Whitewater "mess" and the 55 criminal charges and 32 criminal convictions (so far) in the other " Clinton " scandals.
8. Thanks also for reducing our military by half, "gutting" much of our foreign policy, and flying all over the world on "vacations" carefully disguised as necessary trips.
9 Thank you, also, for "finding" millions of dollars (I really didn't need it in the first place, and I can't think of a more deserving group of recipients for my hard-earned tax dollars)
for all of your globe-trotting. I understand you, the family and your cronies have logged in more time aboard Air Force One than any other administration.
10. Now that you've left the White House, thanks for the 140 pardons of convicted felons and indicted felons-in-exile. We will love to have them rejoin society. (Not to mention the scores you pardoned while Governor of Arkansas)
11. Thanks also for removing the White House silverware. I'm sure that Laura Bush didn't like the pattern anyway. Also, enjoy the housewarming gifts you've received from your "friends."
12. Thanks to you and your staff in the West Wing of the White House for vandalizing and destroying government property on the way out. I also appreciate removing all of that excess weight ( China , silverware, linen, towels, ash trays, soap, pens, magnetic compass, flight manuals, etc.) out of Air Force 1. The weight savings means burning less fuel, thus less tax dollars spent on jet fuel. Thank you!
13. And finally, please ensure that Hillary enjoys the $8 million dollar advance for her "tell-all" book and you, Bill, the $10 million advance for your memoirs. Who says crime doesn't pay!
14. The last and most important point - thank you for forcing Israel to let Mohammed Atta go free. Terrorist pilot Mohammed Atta blew up a bus in Israel in 1986. The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him. As part of the Oslo agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, Israel had to agree to release so-called "political prisoners". However, the Israelis would not release any with blood on their hands. The American President at the time, Bill Clinton, and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, "insisted" that all prisoners be released. Thus Mohammed Atta was freed and eventually thanked the US by flying an airplane into Tower One of the World Trade Center . This was reported by many of the American TV networks at the time that the terrorists were first identified. It was censored in the US from all later reports. Why shouldn't Americans know the real truth?
What a guy!!
If you agree that the American public must be made aware of these facts, pass this on. God bless America and THANK YOU (once again) for spending my taxes so wisely and frugally.
SINCERELY,
A US Citizen
PS.
Please pass along a special thank you to Al Gore for "inventing" the Internet, without which I would not be able to send this wonderful, factual e-mail.
AND THE REST OF THE STORY Hillary Rodham Clinton, as a New York State Senator, now comes under the "Congressional Retirement and Staffing Plan," which means that even if she never gets reelected, she STILL receives her Congressional salary until she dies. (Would it not be nice if all Americans were pension eligible after only 4 years?)
If Bill outlives her, he then inherits HER salary until HE dies. He is already getting his Presidential salary until he dies. If Hillary outlives Bill, she also gets HIS salary until she dies. Guess who pays for that?
WE DO!
It's common knowledge that in order for her to establish NY residency, they purchased a million dollar-plus house in upscale Chappaqua , New York . Makes sense. They are entitled to Secret Service protection for life. Still makes sense.
Here is where it becomes interesting. Their mortgage payments hover at around $10,000 per month. BUT, an extra residence HAD to be built within the acreage to house the Secret Service agents.
The Clintons charge the Federal government $10,000 monthly rent for the use of that extra residence, which is just about equal to their mortgage payment. This means that we, the taxpayers, are paying the Clinton 's salary, mortgage, transportation, safety and security, as well as the salaries for their 12 man staff -- and, this is all perfectly legal!
When she runs for President, will you vote for her?
How many people can YOU send this to?
I have been a republican all my life, but Bush, Cheney and their drones in the republican party have managed to insure that my vote goes to the democratic party for many years to come.
Bush's commutation of Libby's sentence was a direct slap in the face to Valerie Plame. The exposure placed her life in jeopardy, and somebody needs to be held accountable for it. If Bush wants to pardon Libby, then he should serve the sentence. I hardly think 30 months in prison is exessive for placing a persons life in jeopardy. The actual charges levied should have been for attempted murder and treason!
I am absolutely sick of the lies and corruption coming out of this administration! Bush has clearly shown that he has NO repect for the will of the american people. His statement a couple of weeks ago about not caring what congress has to say concerning "his government" was a slap in the face to every american! Our goverment was formed "By the people, for the people," not by the people for George W. Bush!
If Mr. Bush cannot abide by the will of the american people, thehn Mr. Bush SHOULD NOT BE IN OFFICE!
Bush will go down as one of the worst presidents in american history, and his legacy will take years if not decades to clean up.
On a final note: Mr. Bush declared war on terrorism. There is no clearly defined enemy, no possibility of an enemy surrendering, and no clear objective. How can this war every be won, or ended, without the U.S. admitting defeat?
Some Joe Sixpacks are one issue voters. Ignorant about the REST and only care if candidate A is pro or con this or that............ and that's ALL they are concerned with.
I used to know some of those. We don't chat anymore. doh.
Posted by EX_REPUBLICAN on July 4, 2007 at 12:11 PM
Welcome Home to Sanity and Common Sense!
Please ignore the trolls. Their days are numbered and they know it. ;-)
Impeaching both Cheney and Bush is totally a do-able thing!
Nancy you should be considering it back on the table now. You can't deny all this evidence. Gather your strength Lady and pull the plug on this Criminal Bunch!
Jerry Melton, 46, was fishing in the Catawba River last week when he caught what state wildlife officials later identified as a piranha, a South American carnivorous fish that lives in freshwater.
****
Nasty surprise. More and more of these predators are making their way into our rivers. Besides giving fisherman fits, these predators kill off the fish that normally live in the rivers.
4th Of July Open Thread: On Patriotism and Liberty
By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 11:34:08 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Given our President's stunning disregard for the rule of law this week, and that it's the Fourth of July, I'm wondering what thoughts you all have on patriotism and liberty and on how this Administration has driven a stake in the heart of both.
For opposing the war, we're called unpatriotic. Our civil liberties have been disregarded by everything from the NSA warrantless monitoring program to no-fly lists, the Real I.D. Act, and federal immigration raids on workplaces.
Scooter Libby, convicted of lying and obstructing justice at a trial conducted openly and with full due process, who was sentenced in accordance with, not outside the law, has been given a get-out-of jail card based on cronyism at best and fear that if he talked, he'd sell out others in the corrupt administration, at worst.
So, what are you celebrating today? And if you haven't read it in a while, here's the Declaration of Independence.
Jersy they think it was someone's pet ...... then they dumped it in the river.
YIKES! My daughter goes tubing!
Chris Matthews Goes After Kate O’Beirne’s Hypocrisy
By: Nicole Belle @ 9:02 AM - PDT
(thanks to CT Blogger for the vid)
Chris Matthews points out the inconsistency of Kate O’Beirne’s support of Bill Clinton’s impeachment for High Crimes for being found guilty of committing perjury and obstruction of justice and her support of a pardon for Libby.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/04/chris-matthews-goes-after-kate-obeirnes-hypocrisy/
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Hard to believe that Tweety is going after anyone. I guess Kato Burn brings out the worst in him.
Happy 4th to all enjoy the fireworks festivities tonight and welcome to the blog EX-R.
Bush, Joe Wilson and Hillary on Scooter Libby Commutation
By Jeralyn, Section Lewis Libby Trial Coverage
Posted on Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 11:15:02 AM EST
Tags: Libby Trial (all tags)
A two minute AP video clip with Bush's statement defending Scooter Libby's prison sentence commutation and Joe Wilson and Hillary's reaction.
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/7/4/12152/99362
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Impeach Chimpo
Impeach Shotgun
Impeach Gonzo
Gather your strength Lady and pull the plug on this Criminal Bunch!
Posted by Dawnie on July 4, 2007 at 12:18 PM
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Dawn, initially all we need is for Nancy Pelosi and Steney Hoyer to tell their caucus that they won't interfere. They will let them do what is right. I accept that each and every Rep must be convinced by the information at hand. Impeachment is NOT partisian politics; it's Congress playing it's role as mandated by the constitution to check an excutive branch that is abusing power.
Jersy they think it was someone's pet ...... then they dumped it in the river.
****
Yipes indeed! That happened in a couple of other places. It takes a long time to root out the predators (hmmm ... sorta like Bush-Cheney ...) and lots of damage is caused (hmmm ... also like Bush-Cheney ...).
Posted by rjsnj on July 4, 2007 at 12:28 PM
seems simple enough! ;-)
TODAY'S SHOW: TUESDAY JULY 3rd 2007
by krislopresto on July 3, 2007 - 5:07pm.
On today's show we will talk with Jeralyn Merritt, Criminal Defense Attorney, about the President's decision to commute Scooter Libby's sentence.
Also on the show today is ASK A VET! Call in and ask our vet a question at 866-303-2270! Today's vet is Captain Jessica LeValley, Medical Service Corp Officer 67th Combat Support Hospital.
Heard on today’s show
Cindy Sheehan
She’s back! 5 weeks ago Cindy Sheehan announced she was leaving public life as an activist but now she has announced she is back in. She wrote “I’m not backing off. I tried to remove myself from the political realm of the US, what BushCo is turning into an Evil Empire, but the blatant audacity of George commuting Scooter’s sentence (he’s not ruling out a full pardon —and you know he will) has dragged me kicking and screaming back in. I can’t sit back and let this BushCo drag our country further down into the murky quagmire of Fascism and violence, taking the rest of the world with them!...The recent commutation of I. Scooter Libby’s sentence, however, was the straw that broke my camel’s back of exhausted ennui.” She is also going to be apart of a march from Atlanta, GA to Washington beginning July 13th and ending up in DC on July 23rd.
seems simple enough! ;-)
Posted by Dawnie on July 4, 2007 at 12:34 PM
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Dawn, it would be a change n direction for both of them. They have been actively keeping their caucus away from consideration of an impeachment hearing. I don't think they can do it anymore.
There are now 14 supporters of HRES 333. It will continue to grow as Bush really added fuel to the fire.
Good day July 4,
Was it symbolically astute to put American Independence Day on the day of the apogee of earth's orbit around the sun? The day we're the furthest from the sun, 93m miles away?
Here's a bit of the 4th for ya:
231 Years and a Constitution to Save - Impeach the Criminals!
by TX AG Candidate Van Os [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 09:08:31 AM PDT
Two hundred thirty-one (231) years ago our nation’s Founders issued the momentous Declaration of Independence from Great Britain and its tyrannical king. Never before in the history of the human race had a new nation been founded for the purpose of protecting the unalienable rights of the individual to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; never before on this globe had a nation’s very birth been based on the principle that government derives its powers only from the consent of the governed.
This world-shaking declaration announced more than a new country. It was not only a revolution against one particular tyrannical king; it was a revolution against all the old ways and in favor of unprecedented new ways. It set forth the vision of a new society. It was to be a society without monarchs, royalty, titles of nobility, lords or castes. It was to be a nation of self-government, wherein every citizen was a 100% equal part owner of the government, and wherein the rule of law was to be the only king.
TX AG Candidate Van Os's diary :: ::
When the Founders wrote the new nation’s Constitution eleven years after the great Declaration, they began the instrument with the three powerful words that solemnly recognized a democracy’s only legitimate source of authority: that "We the People of the United States.... do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." In Article I, Section 9 they concisely restated the core of egalitarian democracy: "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States." The entire Constitution created a marvelous interlocking relationship of checks and balances to ensure to themselves and future generations the preservation and blossoming of liberty and democracy under the rule of law.
Dear friends and fellows, at this 231st anniversary of our Founders’ Declaration of Revolution, we who are their successors find ourselves in a time in which their Vision is in mortal danger. The highest officers of our national government have so consistently, continuously, and repeatedly demonstrated their contempt and defiance of the rule of law that we must admit to ourselves and to our posterity the monstrous fact that We the People have permitted a criminal gang to occupy the executive branch of our government, from where they have sought to abolish the checks and balances, discard the Bill of Rights, and transform the chief executive of our self-government into a new form of monarch with the divine right of command.
To quote one of the great pamphleteers (of whom today’s bloggers are the successors) of the Revolution, Thomas Paine,
"These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." COMMON SENSE, December 23, 1776.
lets see if we can elevate the discourse past the demented and lame fantasies of the troll brigade. this is a report on an interesting research piece done at cornell and brought to us for free by the web site of the american scientist magazine:
Evolution, Religion and Free Will
The most eminent evolutionary scientists have surprising views on how religion relates to evolution
Gregory W. Graffin, William B. Provine
During the 20th century, three polls questioned outstanding scientists about their attitudes toward science and religion. James H. Leuba, a sociologist at Bryn Mawr College, conducted the first in 1914. He polled 400 scientists starred as "greater" in the 1910 American Men of Science on the existence of a "personal God" and immortality, or life after death. Leuba defined a personal God as a "God to whom one may pray in the expectation of receiving an answer." He found that 32 percent of these scientists believed in a personal God, and 37 percent believed in immortality. Leuba repeated basically the same questionnaire in 1933. Belief in a personal God among greater scientists had dropped to 13 percent and belief in immortality to 15 percent. In both polls, beliefs in God and immortality were less common among biologists than among physical scientists. Belief in immortality had dropped to 2 percent among greater psychologists in the 1933 poll. Leuba predicted in 1916 that belief in a personal God and in immortality would continue to drop in greater scientists, a forecast clearly borne out by his second poll in 1933, and he further predicted that the figures would fall even more in the future.
Edward J. Larson, professor of law and the history of science at the University of Georgia, and science journalist Larry Witham, both theists, polled National Academy of Sciences members in 1998 and provided further confirmation of Leuba's conjecture. Using Leuba's definitions of God and immortality for direct comparison, they found lower percentages of believers. Only 10 percent of NAS scientists believed in God or immortality, with those figures dropping to 5 percent among biologists.
evolution, religion and free will
The day we're the furthest from the sun, 93m miles away?
Posted by TomN on July 4, 2007 at 12:48 PM
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Careful TomN, your scientific observations may upset the "fundies" ... they think the solar system really revolves around the earth and that Galileo was probably one of them lib-rals.
Evolution, Religion and Free Will
The most eminent evolutionary scientists have surprising views on how religion relates to evolution
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gregg, fundies don't even believe that the earth revolves around the sun! They think it's flat as well and of course that people once kept dinosaurs as pets.
fuel to the fire.
Posted by rjsnj on July 4, 2007 at 12:37 PM
Hey rj, light it up. The reps and senators in congress are proving to be calculating cowards towards the drastic actions that have been made necessary, and seem to be playing it safe, as before:
DANIEL ELLSBERG: There were 7,000 pages of top secret documents that demonstrated unconstitutional behavior by a succession of presidents, the violation of their oath and the violation of the oath of every one of their subordinates -- I, for one -- who had participated in that terrible, indecent fraud over the years in Vietnam, lying us into a hopeless war, which has, of course -- and a wrongful war -- which has, of course, been reproduced and is being reproduced right now and may occur again in Iran. So the history of that, I thought, might help us get out of that particular war.
Let me skip over the intervening twenty-two months then, really, which passed after I first copied the Pentagon Papers, when I was trying to get them out, and the senators and others who were not up to the task of putting them out, people who were otherwise very admirable and very credible in their antiwar activities: Senator Fulbright, Senator McGovern, Gaylord Nelson, Senator Gaylord Nelson, various others. Except for Nelson, Fulbright, McGovern and Senator Mathias, some of the best people in the Senate, had, in fact, contrary to the way it’s often reported, not refused to bring out these papers when I discussed them with them. Each one agreed to bring them out and then thought better of it over a period of time, said they just couldn’t do it, take the risk -- in effect, in other words, “You take the risk, but I’ve got an important position here, and I can’t ruffle the waters here.”
www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/02/1331255
“You take the risk, but I’ve got an important position here, and I can’t ruffle the waters here.”
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TomN, that is the problem with our Reps. I think on the 4th they should have to read Tom Paine and others from his time. They knew how fragile representative forms of government were and how easy it was to subvert them.
free_turd doesn't realize there is no market for turds free or otherwise around here. now i believe little baby harpie the war zero and pUSs are in the market for some cow pie burgers to put on the gear box oil fueled bbq grill sally lent them.
rjsnj, i just think its important that the vacuous ones don't set the agenda here. and just mentioning evolution gets them all upset. plus the piece is quite interesting.
just mentioning evolution gets them all upset. plus the piece is quite interesting.
Posted by gregg on July 4, 2007 at 01:03 PM
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gregg, it's a good article - thx for posting it. No objections to pointing out the absurdity of these fundies. It's truly comical when the luddites comment on science.
Harpo,...Your nasty language marks you for what you really are: an uneducated lout. "What I have written, I have written"
When she runs for President, will you vote for her?
Posted by watchdog on July 4, 2007 at 12:07 PM
you betcha, dog! She is far better than any of the dog dirt the Reublicans have dug up.
And before you embarass youself with Falsehoods on here, know that we are smarter than you and know the truth! Next time, check out your lies on Snopes.com or any of the other fact check lists.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/search.htm
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_clinton_body_count.htm
lots and lots of corrections to the Republicans lies and emails on these lists. So No thanks to your Red koolaid. It makes me sick to my stomach, you can have my share.
Oh, the non-American from Germany is here to wish us Happy Birthday. Thank you Ex Patriot!
back again later, Dems. KEEP IT LIT! :)
Happy Independence Day, ALL!
NUMBER 14.
EVERY falsehood in that chain e-mail has been fact checked, and NONE of it is true. ONLY the incredibly stupid fall for it. That must explain the last 26%- ers.
Happy 4th of July OHIO!
Are we PROUD yet? Same group of crooks, different day, same SHIT!
just a fly by - a reminder of what we are STILL fighting against. Same bad actors, same BAD play!
so the trolls are not working the creationism museum today? they probably got fired from their no pay docent jobs for putting those "whites only" signs up on the water fountains...
boy the libby commutation is really blowing up in bush's face...what an asshole he didn't even ask his own asshole ag if what he was doing made any sense...impulsive little turd he is he keeps screwing up the repelicans chances in 08...in a way ya gotta love him for that:
'L.A.Times': Libby Sentence Was Far From 'Excessive'
By E&P Staff
Published: July 04, 2007 10:15 AM ET
NEW YORK A Los Angeles Times report on Wednesday challenges President Bush's claim that the 30-month prison sentence for "Scooter" Libby, now commuted, in the CIA leak case was "excessive."
Records cited by the paper "show that the Justice Department under the Bush administration frequently has sought sentences that are as long, or longer, in cases similar to Libby's. Three-fourths of the 198 defendants sentenced in federal court last year for obstruction of justice — one of four crimes Libby was found guilty of in March — got some prison time. According to federal data, the average sentence defendants received for that charge alone was 70 months.
"Just last week, the Supreme Court upheld a 33-month prison sentence for a decorated Army veteran who was convicted of lying to a federal agent about buying a machine gun. The veteran had a record of public service — fighting in Vietnam and the Gulf War — and no criminal record. But Justice Department lawyers argued his prison term should stand because it fit within the federal sentencing guidelines."
Separately, The Times, one of the few major papers to not carry an editorial on the case on Tuesday, weighed in Wednesday, and like nearly all of the others (beyond the Wall Street Journal and New York Post) it hit the Bush decision.
Here is an excerpt.
*
President Bush's carefully calibrated decision to commute the prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby without granting a pardon may prove politically wise. But it epitomizes the moral obtuseness that has so handicapped his administration....
No meaningful investigation is possible if high-placed people can get away with lying to investigators. And prison time is the only meaningful deterrent to perjury by the rich and powerful.
Bush's presidential statement brushes aside the enormity of the offenses that merited such a sentence: perjury in an attempt to obstruct a national security investigation. In order to convict Libby, the jury had to conclude not only that he knowingly and repeatedly lied to the FBI and to a grand jury, but that he leaked classified information about a CIA operative to reporters on orders from Vice President Dick Cheney. Such obstruction and obfuscation are particularly heinous offenses when committed by a senior government official — and a lawyer, no less — to serve or protect his boss.
The larger problem in commuting Libby's sentence is the message it sends to his unfortunately unindicted co-conspirator, Cheney. The message isn't precisely, as the Democrats claim, that the administration in general, and the vice president and his office in particular, are above the law. It is that the laws can always be finagled so as not to apply unfavorably to them. ...
That Cheney and his backers managed to obtain a presidential commutation before Libby served even a Paris Hilton-sized stint behind bars reinforces the perception of favoritism. Bush's refusal to rule out a pardon for Libby makes things worse.
Presidential pardons can correct miscarriages of justice; they can even serve political goals if those goals coincide with a broader national interest. This was President Ford's justification for his pardon of President Nixon. But the national interest is damaged when pardons are used to spare erring political loyalists. The Fourth of July language in the presidential statement did not disguise the corruption of a fundamental American value: that all must be equal before the law.
A Pardon on the Installment Plan; An Investigation Sabotaged
by Hunter
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 10:05:04 AM PDT
It should be noted, for future record, that the President of the United States has just used his power of clemency to sabotage an active criminal investigation into the office of his own Vice President. In some parallel universes, I have heard tell that such a thing was once itself considered corruption, or obstruction. It seems at minimum useful to put a footnote in the history books, somewhere, that such a remarkable thing could happen and still receive not merely praise, but unsheepish celebration among people who pretend nightly to be serious about such things.
I think almost everyone involved sees this as what it almost certainly is: Scooter Libby, loyal to the last, is getting his pardon on the installment plan. There is little advantage -- and distinct disadvantage -- for Bush to pardon the charges entirely, at the moment, but Bush indeed came through with an impeccably timed effort to ensure Libby faced no actual material consequences from his actions. Facing immediate jail time? Then kill the jail time. All of it, from day one onward. If Libby was in any actual danger of having to pay his $250,000 fine, there seems little doubt he would have seen that part of his sentence commuted as well.
Good afternoon, all.
Sorry I just left without signing off. It's a holiday and I'm enjoying the freedom and liberty we still have before the Sadist-in-Chief tries to take it away from us with another one of his signing statements.
I hope that Tucker Carlson story is circulating extensively throughout the Islamic world. They need to know what kind of people they are dealing with in this Bush crime family, as well as recognize the same insane traits among the fundie nutjobs in their own countries.
There will be no mercy for innocent Muslims caught in the cross fire in the Middle East as long as the neocons control the United States and Bin Lauden the worldwide Islamic community. We are doing our bit to rid our nation of this cancer. What are they doing to stop Bin Lauden?
Impeach Cheney
by Batfish [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 09:52:49 AM PDT
To the impeachonistas (if that's the right word) on dkos who know me as a persistent critic of fanciful ideas about rushing the ramparts to impeach Bush, I offer some consolation in the form of an encouragement toward impeaching Cheney. There is good reason to believe that Cheney committed conspiracy and obstructed justice in the Valerie Plama case. The natural reluctance of the Congress to start impeachment hearings on Cheney while the Fitzgerald enquiry and the Libby trial was in progress can now be laid aside. It is time to start hearings for Cheney to be removed for the commission of at least 2 felonies: conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/12248/44577
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HRES 333 - start the impeachment process on Cheney.
Another Runaway Quarter For MSNBC And Olbermann
by KingOneEye [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 09:48:37 AM PDT
The 2nd quarter of 2007 (PDF) has delivered another in a string of victories for MSNBC. The network's growth of 50% over its 2006 performance far outshines CNN (4%) and Fox (5%).
This chart tells the story for the past four quarters. While still in third place, there is no cable news network that is growing faster than MSNBC in primetime (Mon-Fri).
Brought to you by...
News Corpse, The Internet's Chronicle Of Media Decay.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/12232/56847
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So much for the Faux Noise channel.
Why won't we call a duck a duck?
This deal for libby to lie and cover for Cheney throughout the court proceedings seems crystal clear. The die was set when they stopped at Libby.
If any of you out there thought Libby was going to prison and you are democrats you need to wake up and smell the corruption in the White House.
Libby did his job and was repaid with no prison, and call me a republican if he doesn't get the pardon.
the trolls have nothing of consequence to say. not just here but i am sure in their whole lives. you can picture their parents and neighbors drawing the curtains, turning off the lights and hiding in the basement until they stop knocking on the door. soon they will be ousted from here as well and then its down to hanging out at the bus station pretending to be going somewhere while not actually having a ticket and flushing small rodents down the public toilets....boy i hope they are ready for the 08 elections!
George W. Bush and the demise of American character
by Boxer7 [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 10:45:02 AM PDT
The assaults by the Bushies on fundamental American constitutional and political principles are well-chronicled (embracing torture, unilaterally abrogating treaties, shredding the Bill of Rights, destroying federalism, etc. etc.) In addition, it is beyond debate that the "foreign policy" schemes and artifacts of these self-important and deluded incompetents have weakened our military and undermined our intelligence community - the front lines in the so-called war on Terror.
So it is not now my purpose to further argue about the rampant anti-Americanism loosed by the Republicans in the legal, political and national security spheres. Rather, this argument goes to the character of America and how the Bushies, and the degree of idolatry he enjoys in large segments of what we think of as the media, have subverted so many of the characteristics of America - the very traits that made us great.
Liberty
Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia
Saw a bird with a tear in his eye
Walking to New Orleans my oh my
Hey, now, Bird, wouldn't you rather die
Than walk this world when you're born to fly?
If I was the sun, I'd look for shade
If I was a bed, I would stay unmade
If I was a river I'd run uphill
If you call me you know I will
If you call me you know I will
Ooo, freedom
Ooo, liberty
Ooo, leave me alone
To find my own way home
To find my own way home
Say what I mean and I don't give a damn
I do believe and I am who I am
Hey now Mama come and take my hand
Whole lotta shakin' all over this land
If I was an eagle I'd dress like a duck
Crawl like a lizard and honk like a truck
If I get a notion I'll climb this tree
or chop it down and you can't stop me
Chop it down and you can't stop me
Ooo, freedom
Ooo, liberty
Ooo, leave me alone
To find my own way home
To find my own way home
Went to the well but the water was dry
Dipped my bucket in the clear blue sky
Looked in the bottom and what did I see?
The whole damned world looking back at me
If I was a bottle I'd spill for love
Sake of mercy I'd kill for love
If I was a liar I'd lie for love
Sake of my baby I'd die for love
Sake of my baby I'd die for love
Ooo, freedom
Ooo, liberty
Ooo, leave me alone
To find my own way home
To find my own way home
I'm gonna find my own way home
****
love that chorus,
aloha
Harpo...It's been fun planing with your minuscule, little brain today. You're soooo easy!..But alas, I have some other things to attend to, plus, you bore me!!
Once Upon America
By John Cory
t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributor
Wednesday 04 July 2007
"No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices."
- Edward R. Murrow
And so it goes. The 4th of July is here with its parades and "what America means to me" essays, and picnics and fireworks, and all those pretty speeches about freedom and democracy and the true meaning of Independence Day. But it is all a facade. A lie.
Modern America now spies on its citizens, conducts warrantless wiretaps, suspends habeas corpus, creates "free speech zones" to corral protestors out of sight of sensitive royal eyes, and politicizes the very justice system meant to protect people's rights by turning it into a fraternity of God-fearing Republican conservatism. Neocon America rewards hate speech with celebrity, reviles the very immigration that built this country, and sells out to the highest lobbyist while poisoning its people. Preemptive war trumps truth, and death is glorified by those who never have to sacrifice an ounce of flesh. America has become the personal ATM machine of Bush and the GOP while their corporate cronies line their pockets with the lives of our loved ones.
Washington is no longer that "shining city on the hill," but rather a dismal swamp cloud of shadows that slink about in swirls of deception. The people's house is a piceous cavern of razor black secrets that shred the Constitution with every breath. And those charged with defending the Constitution - defending the Bill of Rights - scurry around in frantic search for the cheese of compromise and campaign contributions.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
Americans have become orphans of the great silence.
Hey jakethedog,
Couldn't have said it better. In Iraq we hung Saddam, then hung his henchmen for following orders issued by their leader.
In the Bush administration, we let everybody involved off the hook.
I did not like Clinton, never agreed that his private life should be private, as it is my belief that the presidential position does and should carry with it an expentancy that the person holding that position should be of the highest morals and ethics, and felt that his sex scandals and perjured testimony directly affected our youth, and not in a good way. Having the highest instances of teen pregnancy in the free world says something about our youth.
However, That's the only bad thing I can say about Bill Clinton. I cannot think of a single thing that I like about George W. And I'm from Texas. Hated him as governer, and knew before he was ever elected that the wannabe cowboy would have us at war throughtout his entire term, if elected.
The guy was a loser in the oil and baseball business, now he's fucked up America! Excuse the language, but there's no other way to put it.
House Balks at Bush Order for New Powers
By Jim Abrams
The Associated Press
Tuesday 03 July 2007
Washington - President Bush this month is giving an obscure White House office new powers over regulations affecting health, worker safety and the environment. Calling it a power grab, Democrats running Congress are intent on stopping him.
The House voted last week to prohibit the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs from spending federal money on Executive Order 13422, signed by Bush last January and due to take effect July 24.
The order requires federal officials to show that private companies, people or institutions failed to address a problem before agencies can write regulations to tackle it. It also gives political appointees greater authority over how the regulations are written.
The House measure "stops this president or any president from seizing the power to rewrite almost every law that Congress passes, laws that protect public health, the environment, safety, civil rights, privacy and on and on," said Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., its sponsor.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070407Z.shtml
****
Bush wants new powers? Ha!!! In fact, Bush wants anything? The answer is NO.
Here's what Bush gets - Impeachment.
Excuse the language, but there's no other way to put it.
Posted by EX_REPUBLICAN on July 4, 2007 at 02:10 PM
****
ex_republican,
"colorful" when it comes to one GW Bush is more than understandable. You are quite right, the man is a complete loser and has ruined this country for decades to come.
boy i hope they are ready for the 08 elections!
Posted by gregg on July 4, 2007 at 01:40 PM
{{{gregg}}} I STILL have to smile when I remember back to November 2006 election night! Gawd, I LMAO more and more as the night went on, and they showed those results rolling in! WOW. I needed a cigarette at the end of all of that. And the very last election to get recounted a week later, and go to the Democrat was the one right here in CT, between Joe Courtney whom I worked for against Rob Simmons, now out mowing lawns for a living!
hehehe.
(ps, did you notice how I got harassed by jealousy from the trolls, because I dared to mention I had a pool, yet there little kraut friend has to brag every time he comes in here, because HE HAS NOTHING ELSE! A little redneck hillbilly making fun of the Clintons! Laughable! Like anybody believes the ex-american owns anything his in laws didn't give him, but 2 sheep and a cow to take their fat daughter off their hands! LOL!
Arctic Ponds Disappear Due to Global Warming, Scientists Say
By Alex Morales
Cape Herschel Lagoon is seen dried up
July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Arctic ponds that date back thousands of years are disappearing as global warming increases evaporation rates, a development that may alter the ecological balance in the frozen north, scientists said.
The researchers at Canada's Queen's University and University of Alberta examined two dozen ponds on Ellesmere Island, beginning in 1983. By 2006, they found many of the ponds were drying up over the summer, and others were shrinking.
``It's clear that it's warming and drying and the ponds are evaporating much more,'' John Smol, professor of geography at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, said in a telephone interview. ``The ponds are smaller: Some are completely dry. The changes are happening much faster than we thought and it's going to start cascading through the ecosystem.''
The ponds provide a habitat for insect larvae, and their loss could affect birds and other animals that prey on the insects, as well as mammals that rely on the ponds for drinking water, Smol said. The findings are published in this week's online edition of the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Of 24 ponds studied, 23 were drier in 2001, 2004 and 2006 than in 1983, 1984 and 1986. The only pond unaffected was one that receives snowmelt from two high plateaus via several streams, the scientists said in the paper.
Thawing Permafrost
The loss of ponds adds to other effects of climate change being felt in the Arctic, including thawing permafrost, melting sea ice, and average temperatures that the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says are warming at about double the global rate.
As well as keeping a visual record of the ponds over the years, the Canadian scientists analyzed the ionic chemistry of the water, establishing the balance between precipitation and evaporation. By studying the sediment, they determined that many of the ponds had been there for thousands of years.
``We have no evidence of these ponds being anything but permanent,'' Smol said. ``We're altering an ecosystem and very rapidly,'' he said, referring to the man-made emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that the UN panel blames for the bulk of global warming.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net .
And coming from an ex-republican too! He and his followers have killed my belief in my previously chosen party.
In reality, I am actually a liberatarian, but doesn't look like the party will gather enough steam anytime soon to be an actual contender, so I have to settle.
Disappearing ponds bad news for High Arctic
Contributed by: Dr Caleb
Last Updated: Monday, July 2, 2007 | 5:20 PM ET
CBC News
Ponds in Canada's High Arctic are drying up because of global warming, two researchers say.
"The final ecological threshold for an aquatic ecosystem is loss of water," said biology Prof. John Smol of Queen's University. "These sites have now crossed that threshold."
Before 2005, Beach Ridge Pond was 100 metres by 60 metres. In July 2006, it had completely dried up.Before 2005, Beach Ridge Pond was 100 metres by 60 metres. In July 2006, it had completely dried up.
(M.S.V. Douglas)
"A key 'tipping point' has now been passed: Arctic ponds that were permanent water bodies for millennia are now ephemeral," Smol and co-author Marianne Douglas, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at the University of Alberta, said in an article in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The two scientists have been studying shallow ponds on Cape Herschel on Ellesmere Island since 1983.
When they went back last year, after an absence of a year, permanent ponds which previously had been up to a metre deep were drastically shrunken or even dry.
Their measurements had shown the water had been going down, but they were taken aback to find that about 40 well-studied pools — among them Camp Pond, Cape Herschel Lagoon and Beach Ridge Pond — were fractions of their former size, or totally gone.
These ponds were substantial bodies of water; Cape Herschel Lagoon, once 160 metres by 35 metres and a metre deep, "had only a small shallow puddle" (23 metres by 11 metres and 10 centimetres deep) in one basin when the scientists sampled it on July 13, 2006. Camp Pond, 20 metres by 40 metres, and Beach Ridge Pond, 100 metres by 60 metres, were completely dry.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/07/02/onds-arctic.html
Global warming could increase U.S. death rate
Mon Jul 2, 2007 5:58PM BST
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An increase in summertime heat waves from global warming could mean more deaths among Americans each year, a study by Harvard researchers suggests.
It's well known that extreme temperatures, whether in the form of heat waves or cold snaps, can be deadly. However, the new findings suggest that any increase in heat-related deaths from global warming would not be offset by a drop in cold-related deaths.
Using weather data and death rates for 50 U.S. cities between 1989 and 2000, researchers found that, on average, a two-day cold snap increased death rates by 1.6 percent. Heat waves, on the other hand, triggered a 5.7 percent increase.
"We saw that the effects of cold temperatures are not as big as the effects of hot temperatures," said lead study author Dr. Mercedes Medina-Ramon, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
This means that relatively milder winters attributable to global warming are unlikely to make up for the health effects of summertime extremes, she told Reuters Health.
Medina-Ramon and colleague Joel Schwartz report their findings in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
Deaths related to extreme cold are often from heart attacks or cardiac arrest. Extreme heat, along with causing deaths from heatstroke, can contribute to deaths from other causes, like heart attacks.
The elderly and people with known heart disease are among those most at risk during temperature extremes.
Cold snaps, though, are not as deadly, and that may be because most Americans have adequate heat in their homes, according to Medina-Ramon. Air conditioning is less ubiquitous.
Indeed, the study found that heat extremes had the greatest impact on death rates in cities that typically had milder summers, and in those with fewer air-conditioned homes.
"If we spread the use of air conditioning, that would actually decrease deaths," Medina-Ramon said.
However, lower-income families are not necessarily able to bear the cost of air conditioning. What's more, Medina-Ramon said, all of that electricity consumption increases carbon dioxide emissions -- the very thing blamed for global warming.
All of this, she said, points up the need for more-efficient air conditioning systems that eat up less energy.
Less "air conditioning abuse" would also be helpful, Medina-Ramon said, referring to climate-controlled buildings that feel closer to "freezing" than comfortable.
Talk about letting Freedom ring, Nancy Pelosi has added a "Questions and Comments" section to her Blog. You can directly ask her things, or tell her what you think.
The Gavel
Ex-Republican, sorry to disagree, but go down 15 on this list: Bill Clinton, Best President in Modern Day History!!
The Clinton Presidency: A Historic Era of Progress and Prosperity
Longest economic expansion in American history
The President’s strategy of fiscal discipline, open foreign markets and investments in the American people helped create the conditions for a record 115 months of economic expansion. Our economy has grown at an average of 4 percent per year since 1993.
More than 22 million new jobs
More than 22 million jobs were created in less than eight years -- the most ever under a single administration, and more than were created in the previous twelve years.
Highest homeownership in American history
A strong economy and fiscal discipline kept interest rates low, making it possible for more families to buy homes. The homeownership rate increased from 64.2 percent in 1992 to 67. 7 percent, the highest rate ever.
Lowest unemployment in 30 years
Unemployment dropped from more than 7 percent in 1993 to just 4.0 percent in November 2000. Unemployment for African Americans and Hispanics fell to the lowest rates on record, and the rate for women is the lowest in more than 40 years.
Raised education standards, increased school choice, and doubled education and training investment
Since 1992, reading and math scores have increased for 4th, 8th, and 12th graders, math SAT scores are at a 30-year high, the number of charter schools has grown from 1 to more than 2,000, forty-nine states have put in place standards in core subjects and federal investment in education and training has doubled.
Largest expansion of college opportunity since the GI Bill
President Clinton and Vice President Gore have nearly doubled financial aid for students by increasing Pell Grants to the largest award ever, expanding Federal Work-Study to allow 1 million students to work their way through college, and by creating new tax credits and scholarships such as Lifetime Learning tax credits and the HOPE scholarship. At the same time, taxpayers have saved $18 billion due to the decline in student loan defaults, increased collections and savings from the direct student loan program.
Connected 95 percent of schools to the Internet
President Clinton and Vice President Gore’s new commitment to education technology, including the E-Rate and a 3,000 percent increase in educational technology funding, increased the percentage of schools connected to the Internet from 35 percent in 1994 to 95 percent in 1999.
Lowest crime rate in 26 years
Because of President Clinton’s comprehensive anti-crime strategy of tough penalties, more police, and smart prevention, as well as common sense gun safety laws, the overall crime rate declined for 8 consecutive years, the longest continuous drop on record, and is at the lowest level since 1973.
100,000 more police for our streets
As part of the 1994 Crime Bill, President Clinton enacted a new initiative to fund 100,000 community police officers. To date more than 11,000 law enforcement agencies have received COPS funding.
Enacted most sweeping gun safety legislation in a generation
Since the President signed the Brady bill in 1993, more than 600,000 felons, fugitives, and other prohibited persons have been stopped from buying guns. Gun crime has declined 40 percent since 1992.
Family and Medical Leave Act for 20 million Americans
To help parents succeed at work and at home, President Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993. Over 20 million Americans have taken unpaid leave to care for a newborn child or sick family member.
Smallest welfare rolls in 32 years
The President pledged to end welfare as we know it and signed landmark bipartisan welfare reform legislation in 1996. Since then, caseloads have been cut in half, to the lowest level since 1968, and millions of parents have joined the workforce. People on welfare today are five times more likely to be working than in 1992.
Higher incomes at all levels
After falling by nearly $2,000 between 1988 and 1992, the median family’s income rose by $6,338, after adjusting for inflation, since 1993. African American family income increased even more, rising by nearly $7,000 since 1993. After years of stagnant income growth among average and lower income families, all income brackets experienced double-digit growth since 1993. The bottom 20 percent saw the largest income growth at 16.3 percent.
Lowest poverty rate in 20 years
Since Congress passed President Clinton’s Economic Plan in 1993, the poverty rate declined from 15.1 percent to 11.8 percent last year — the largest six-year drop in poverty in nearly 30 years. There are now 7 million fewer people in poverty than in 1993. The child poverty rate declined more than 25 percent, the poverty rates for single mothers, African Americans and the elderly have dropped to their lowest levels on record, and Hispanic poverty dropped to its lowest level since 1979.
Lowest teen birth rate in 60 years
In his 1995 State of the Union Address, President Clinton challenged Americans to join together in a national campaign against teen pregnancy. The birth rate for teens aged 15-19 declined every year of the Clinton Presidency, from 60.7 per 1,000 teens in 1992 to a record low of 49.6 in 1999.
Lowest infant mortality rate in American history
The Clinton Administration expanded efforts to provide mothers and newborn children with health care. Today, a record high 82 percent of all mothers receive prenatal care. The infant mortality rate has dropped from 8.5 deaths per 1,000 in 1992 to 7.2 deaths per 1,000 in 1998, the lowest rate ever recorded.
Deactivated more than 1,700 nuclear warheads from the former Soviet Union
Efforts of the Clinton-Gore Administration led to the dismantling of more than 1,700 nuclear warheads, 300 launchers and 425 land and submarine based missiles from the former Soviet Union.
Protected millions of acres of American land
President Clinton has protected more land in the lower 48 states than any other president. He has protected 5 new national parks, designated 11 new national monuments and expanded two others and proposed protections for 60 million acres of roadless areas in America’s national forests.
Paid off $360 billion of the national debt
Between 1998-2000, the national debt was reduced by $363 billion — the largest three-year debt pay-down in American history. We are now on track to pay off the entire debt by 2009.
Converted the largest budget deficit in American history to the largest surplus
Thanks in large part to the 1993 Deficit Reduction Act, the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, and President Clinton’s call to save the surplus for debt reduction, Social Security, and Medicare solvency, America has put its fiscal house in order. The deficit was $290 billion in 1993 and expected to grow to $455 billion by this year. Instead, we have a projected surplus of $237 billion.
Lowest government spending in three decades
Under President Clinton federal government spending as a share of the economy has decreased from 22.2 percent in 1992 to a projected 18.5 percent in 2000, the lowest since 1966.
Lowest federal income tax burden in 35 years
President Clinton enacted targeted tax cuts such as the Earned Income Tax Credit expansion, $500 child tax credit, and the HOPE Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits. Federal income taxes as a percentage of income for the typical American family have dropped to their lowest level in 35 years.
More families own stock than ever before
The number of families owning stock in the United States increased by 40 percent since 1992.
Most diverse cabinet in American history
The President has appointed more African Americans, women and Hispanics to the Cabinet than any other President in history. He appointed the first female Attorney General, the first female Secretary of State and the first Asian American cabinet secretary ever.
Don't just accept facts you are thrown by Republicans anymore. We did that for too long.Check them out.
Republicans have NO answer for the Truth!
Talk about letting Freedom ring, Nancy Pelosi has added a "Questions and Comments" section to her Blog. You can directly ask her things, or tell her what you think.
****
Well, she asked and now I will tell!
Hey PamB,
As I said Ithe only bad thing I could say about Bill Clinton was the sex scandals.
I can agree with everything you pointed out, except the teen pregnancy rate and highest home ownership rates in american history.
Teen pregnancy skyrocketed, and the highest rate of home ownership was before the great depression in 1929
two pigs and a truck load of corn to get you married off and moved out.
Posted by _Best-is_US on July 4, 2007 at 02:28 PM
And one of those pigs is now your wife ! How you enjoying her???
You never DID answer when I asked what she said when you told her your new hobby was! Does Ms. Porko even care, as long as you are away from her??? :)
see ya later Dems. We are working outside today, in between the rain showers.
Posted by rjsnj on July 4, 2007 at 02:28 PM
Let me guess...Impeach??
Oh, and just once last thing, Dems.
You know the Republican BS that Democrats are Tax and Spend, pay special attention to this one in that list above!!!!
Lowest federal income tax burden in 35 years
President Clinton enacted targeted tax cuts such as the Earned Income Tax Credit expansion, $500 child tax credit, and the HOPE Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits. Federal income taxes as a percentage of income for the typical American family have dropped to their lowest level in 35 years
tah, tah, see ya later.
Posted by rjsnj on July 4, 2007 at 01:30 PM
rjsnj,
No matter how shrewd and opportunitstic this is for Bush and Cheney, it's spells the death knoll for the Republican party's hopes in 2008...and the Far Rights great white hope Fred Thompson.
This man has become the center of the biggest political corruption "fix" of this young century.
There is now a bigger cloud over Thompson's future than Scooter's.
Putting in the fix is not a complex idea for voters to understantd like the DOJ scandal. It's more like the GOP's Male Intern affair. Bush has effectively done for Thompson what Foley did for Hastert and the GOP in the 2006 election.
Thompson's fall from grace with the American moderates and Independent voters is now underway if not complete. Let the Republican Right Wing nominate him and give us the Presidency on a silver platter.
Thank you, you corrupt Texan bastard. May you find many more other ways to screw your own paty in the next 15 months. Why don't you nominate DeLay for something?
Why Conviction, Post-Impeachment, Is Achievable
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2007-07-04 18:28. Congress
Republican Senators May Back Contempt Charge
By Elana Schor, The Hill
As Democrats tangle with the White House over executive privilege, Senate Republicans must decide whether to block a criminal contempt charge against the administration or allow it and thus bring the constitutional clash before a federal judge.
Both chambers' judiciary committee chairmen have given the White House a July 9 deadline to explain in detail its executive-privilege claim to withhold subpoenaed documents on the mass firing of U.S. attorneys. If their deadline is not met, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) likely will pursue a contempt citation - and some Republicans are unlikely to bail out President Bush.
Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), vice chairman of the GOP conference, told The Hill on Friday that he thinks Republican cooperation with a criminal contempt finding will be required.
"It's just a formal process that sets up a legal challenge," Cornyn said. "We've got to cut out some of the politics and get this to the courts."
started raining again. damn. We cut down a bunch of trees, and are laying top soil and grass seed. PITA in the rain.
I can agree with everything you pointed out, except the teen pregnancy rate and highest home ownership rates in american history.
Teen pregnancy skyrocketed, and the highest rate of home ownership was before the great depression in 1929
Posted by EX_REPUBLICAN on July 4, 2007 at 02:34 PM
uhmmmm, I hate to disagree with a person who just opened their eyes, BUT THOSE FACTS I PRIINTED CAME OFF THE WHITE HOUSE ARCHIVES FOR PRESIDENTS. IT IS NOT SOME BIASED PIECE. IT WAS NOT MADE UP BY CLINTONS NOR THE DEMOCRATS. YOU ARE WRONG, I AM SORRY TO SAY.
Oh well, I guess it will take a little while for you to lose all of that Red Koolaid they pumped into your blood stream. Just keep an open mind, and let me know if you need some facts to back up bull crap your old republican buddies are trying to tell you.
http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/Accomplishments/eightyears-01.html
July 9 at Congressman Nadler's Office to Demand Impeachment
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2007-07-04 17:21. Activism | Impeachment
2008 IS TOO LATE!
At the New York City Town Meeting, former Congressman Major Owens presented a proposal for action. He suggested that if 2008 really is too late, then it is time to demand action. We must go to the offices of local members of the House of Representatives to argue for impeachment. If the Representative is not amenable to the idea, then we must be
committed to stage a "sit-in for impeachment."
On Monday, July 9, a number of constituents of Congressman Jerrold Nadler will meet at his office to argue for impeachment. Our World Can't Wait delegation will gather in the lobby of 201 Varick Street at 11 a.m. We invite you to join us!
The Cheney impeachment bill, H Res 333, has been submitted by the House Judiciary Committee to the Constitution subcommittee headed by Rep. Nadler. There are therefore very particular reasons for going to his office at this time.
World Can't Wait will have some prepared statements making the case for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. We anticipate that those who join us will be prepared to sit in until our Congressman agrees to act on our behalf.
Pam, during the Clinton years the abortion rate also plummeted, and since the Chimp was appointed to office by his father's cronies they have gone UP EVERY YEAR.
Evidence that Bush Bought Libby's silence
by maxschell [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 11:23:29 AM PDT
Circumstantial evidence of a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice can include evidence of motive and opportunity, especially the timing of particular acts.
So, for instance, if the government is prosecuting an individual for money laundering or tax evasion, evidence concerning the timing of money tranfers can be quite significant, even if there is no direct proof that the money was used for an illegal purpose.
An article in this morning's NY Times discusses the legal basis of Bush's communtation of Scooter Libby. As one expert said, "there is none." In fact, as the article notes, the SCOTUS just decided a case on very similar facts against Victor A. Rita and upheld the sentence (33 months to Libby's 30 months). In other words, they found that Rita's sentence was NOT excessive.
The article also discusses the timing of Bush's commutation. Why now? I believe the timing of this decision is good evidence that Libby and Bush made a deal.
Follow me on the flip for some further thoughts on this.
maxschell's diary :: ::
The NY Times article got me thinking about how we would prove that the Libby pardon is part of an ongoing criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice. To my mind, one excellent way to do this would be to show that Bush and Libby made a deal during Libby's trial. The timing of Bush's commutation may be strong evidence that such a deal was made, and that Bush had to act immediately in order to hold up his end of the bargain.
To my knowledge, the first person to hypothesize such a deal was Dan Froomkin at WaPO. In an article entitled Did LIbby Make a Deal? published the day after Libby was convicted on four felony counts, Froomkin makes clear that Ted Wells, Libby's attorney, essentially declared war on the White House in his opening statement:
In LA? Support Impeachment? Join Maxine Waters today!
by vernonlee [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 11:21:18 AM PDT
Here's a friendly message I got this AM from SoCal Grassroots (over the flip):
vernonlee's diary :: ::
SoCal Grassroots has stood for all actions, investigations and congressional hearings that support both censure and the possible impeachment of President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
On July 4th, many of our fellow actviists are reminding us the what Independence Day represents, asking us to remember:
"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."
Join Congresswoman Maxine Waters and others at our picnic to celebrate the inauguration of the LA Impeachment Center!
Dawnie is a disabled who is a vet.
Duh
gonna make me put you in your place again, there simple simon? sighhhhhh, so easy to show you up for the idiot you are!!!
Dawnie is disabled, Dawnie is a vet. Dawnie can get medical coverage from the Vets. BushCo wants to CUT Vets benefits, particularly for Health care, drugs, etc! Dawnie at a Republican Rally, can discuss cuts to Veterans benefits !
Now go back to your corner, stick your finger back up your butt, and stay there until we call you!
rain eased up, work a calling.
Obviously, Scooter Libby. He was part of a conspiracy to commit TREASON.
Posted by _Best-is_US on July 4, 2007 at 02:42 PM
Oh, and Pus Gut, tell your wife OINK OINK!
HAHAHAHA
GOP wanted to impeach Clinton for perjury but claim Libby committed no crime.
GOP have failed the country.
GOP pundits are all liars.
GOP waterboz are all low lives.
Bush and Cheney should be impeached now.
Gonzo as well.
Support HRES 333 to start the Cheney investigation.
ush failed at everything he did.
He is a town drunk and a drug fiend.
Bush is a no good stinking liar who will be impeached.
He wasn't. He "received" oral sex. That ain't boinking, and some people don't even consider it sex (i.e. the Fundies who sign those "Chastity Pledges")
Bush was AWOL.
He didn't even qualify as a pilot.
Bush is a coward, a drunk and a tin-plaited dictator.
Freddy Boy Thompson is a cheeseball second rate actor.
Freddy spent over 10 years as a bloodsucking lobbyist.
Freddy was one of the laziest Senators in history. Showing
up was hard work for Freddy cheeseball.
Posted by DPD on July 4, 2007 at 03:01 PM
****
DPD, remember the basis for impeachment was not sex. It was perjury. These waterboz are hypocrites. They wanted to convict Clinton for perjury but will pardon Libby for 4 counts of perjury and obstruction of justice. Disgraceful.
John Edwards and ACORN
by be inspired [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 11:37:51 AM PDT
On Monday, I was in Philadelphia to see John Edwards speak at both the NEA annual meeting and the ACORN presidential forum. Yesterday, I posted a diary on his speech about education to the NEA. Today's diary covers his speech at the ACORN presidential forum. I can't think of anything more patriotic I could do for the fourth of July than publish a diary about John Edwards's and ACORN's efforts to help working Americans.
be inspired's diary :: ::
ACORN is a community organization that works to support the needs of low and moderate income families and promote social justice. They are well acquainted with John Edwards, who traveled around the country with ACORN President Maude Hurd, long before he announced his campaign for the presidency, trying to get the minimum wage raised in various states. They were successful in six states. When the New York Times recently smeared John Edwards with nasty innuendo about his poverty work, in an article where they refused to talk to any of the beneficiaries of that work, ACORN president Maude Hurd stood up strongly for John Edwards. This is her statement:
Press stories that question Senator John Edwards’ commitment to ending poverty require a strong response from those of us who spend our lives in that fight. ACORN is the nation’s largest grassroots community organization working to eliminate poverty in America.
As ACORN’s president, I can personally attest that Senator Edwards has been a steadfast ally in this struggle – from raising wages to rebuilding the Gulf Coast.
One of the best ways to end poverty is to pay workers fair wages. In the summer of 2005, I traveled with Senator Edwards to cities and states across the country, launching ballot initiative campaigns to raise the minimum wage above the shamefully low $5.15 an hour.
While Senator Edwards could have chosen to do anything else with his time, he chose to spend it on the road with low-wage workers and their allies who were fighting to lift workers out of poverty. Edwards worked directly with grassroots community-faith-labor coalitions on the ground, leading rallies and press conferences to galvanize public support and working outside the spotlight to help organize support and raise funds to bring wage increase proposals to the ballot.
Last November, voters rewarded the efforts of Edwards, ACORN and our allies by resoundingly approving six state ballot measures to raise the minimum wage. As a result, more than 1.5 million of the country’s lowest-paid workers will get a raise. The ballot measures were just the most high-profile victories in a year that saw an unprecedented 17 states raise their minimum wage – many for the first time – including Edwards’ home state of North Carolina.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/141918/3741
****
Edwards is a good man.
so I have to settle.
Posted by EX_REPUBLICAN on July 4, 2007 at 02:23 PM
So settle in...and help us shape policy after we win in 2008. There is about to be a big populist push within our party that will overtake the multinationalist wing. It could play to your advantage.
But in the meantime, help us get those corrupt Bushie incompetents out of power before they send the NSA and Blackwell to get you...and your little dog, too.
These fundie/multinational/neocons have no love for civil libertarians...or fiscal conservatives for that matter. They actually fear you. And you know to what lengths they will go to get what they want.
Oh, and don't bring any of your racist/homophobic GOP cousins with you. They cast their lot with the devil and there they can rot.
You'll have safe haven with us...but don't think for a minute that we won't be keeping a close eye on you. Just some friendly advise for the wise.
These fundies are all nuts.
They think the sun rotates around the Earth.
They think the earth is flat.
They think that people once had dinosaurs as pets.
Bush's approval rating has stayed at the lowest level of any President.
Bush will likely leave office with less than 20% approval.
Bush has cemented his position as worst President in history.
A Great American Hero Discusses Impeachment
by Turkana [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 11:27:12 AM PDT
First of all, why impeach? Aren't you just letting your anger get ahold of you?
Has the President committed offenses, and planned, and directed, and acquiesced in a course of conduct which the Constitution will not tolerate? That's the question. We know that. We know the question. We should now forthwith proceed to answer the question. It is reason, and not passion, which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision.
My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution.
Turkana's diary :: ::
But if we don't have the votes to convict, today, isn't it wrong to even begin impeachment proceedings? Even if we get this through the House, it'll never get through the Senate. Wouldn't it reflect badly on the House to vote impeachment when it still might fail in the Senate?
It is wrong, I suggest, it is a misreading of the Constitution for any member here to assert that for a member to vote for an article of impeachment means that that member must be convinced that the President should be removed from office. The Constitution doesn't say that. The powers relating to impeachment are an essential check in the hands of the body of the legislature against and upon the encroachments of the executive. The division between the two branches of the legislature, the House and the Senate, assigning to the one the right to accuse and to the other the right to judge, the framers of this Constitution were very astute. They did not make the accusers and the judgers -- and the judges the same person.
Well, wouldn't it be better to just wait for the President's term to expire, rather than taking this extraordinary step? I mean, with so little time remaining in this President's term, what's the point?
We know the nature of impeachment. We've been talking about it awhile now. It is chiefly designed for the President and his high ministers to somehow be called into account. It is designed to "bridle" the executive if he engages in excesses. "It is designed as a method of national inquest into the conduct of public men." The framers confided in the Congress the power if need be, to remove the President in order to strike a delicate balance between a President swollen with power and grown tyrannical, and preservation of the independence of the executive.
"No one need be afraid" -- the North Carolina ratification convention -- "No one need be afraid that officers who commit oppression will pass with immunity."
But won't impeachment only further inflame political tensions in this country?
"Prosecutions of impeachments will seldom fail to agitate the passions of the whole community," said Hamilton in the Federalist Papers, number 65. "We divide into parties more or less friendly or inimical to the accused." I do not mean political parties in that sense.
But aren't you really talking impeachment because you just hate this maladministration?
The nature of impeachment: a narrowly channeled exception to the separation-of-powers maxim. The Federal Convention of 1787 said that. It limited impeachment to high crimes and misdemeanors and discounted and opposed the term "maladministration."
Okay, but the impeachment of President Clinton demonstrated how impeachment can be abused- and what happens to the party that so abuses it.
"It is to be used only for great misdemeanors," so it was said in the North Carolina ratification convention. And in the Virginia ratification convention: "We do not trust our liberty to a particular branch. We need one branch to check the other."
The drawing of political lines goes to the motivation behind impeachment; but impeachment must proceed within the confines of the constitutional term "high crime and misdemeanors." Of the impeachment process, it was Woodrow Wilson who said that "Nothing short of the grossest offenses against the plain law of the land will suffice to give them speed and effectiveness. Indignation so great as to overgrow party interest may secure a conviction; but nothing else can."
These fundies claim to be pro-life but they are nothing but murderers.
They couldn't care less what happens to children once they are born.
They start wars for no reason other than their blood lust and religious bigotry.
They don't care for the poor. They only care about their miserbale selves.
They are not pro-life; they are pro-death.
Bill Clinton is cooking pies and sweeping up behind his wife these day. It's truly quaint and endearing to women voters who will decide this next election.
Why is there such an obsession among the trolls for a man who clearly peaked too soon and now has to ride on his wife's petticoat? I guess there is "that" recurring nightmare among some Republicans that he could somehow still be the Come Back Kid?
The more you blame Clinton for your woes, the more you are taking your eye off the real problem: Cheney and Bush. The smartest thing the GOP could do now is set them off to drift in the Atlantic without a paddle.
But then none of you have shown any brains since Katria. You just keep backing these unpopular fools.
Secret Service to Hire 103 New Agents To Protect Bush
by Hornito [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 11:18:06 AM PDT
If this doesn't fall into the "I am not surprised" category, then nothing does.........
The Secret Service, charged with protecting presidents and their families, ex-presidents and their families, as well as candidates running for the office and their families, are also responsible for other areas of our nation's security, like anti-counterfeiting efforts.
The Secret Service is now a part of the Department of Homeland Security, so its departmental efforts have been linked to all of the other agencies under the DHS umbrella.
More on this, after the fold....
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/101854/5198
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The Chimp probably needs them.
Bush Commutation Flashback: "Please Don't Kill Me"
by Avenging Angel [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 11:37:41 AM PDT
Enough has been made by this (and virtually every other center-left) blog about President Bush's outrageous endorsement of his administration's law-breaking and ongoing obstruction of justice with the Libby commutation. But it is worth remembering that this is merely Bush being Bush, consistent in his own inconsistency. That is, a gleeful vengeance towards criminals occupies a high place in George W. Bush's pantheon of values. Just not as high, as we all should long have since known, as rewarding personal loyalty and ensuring his own survival.
Avenging Angel's diary :: ::
No doubt, Bush's pardon-power schadenfreude is legendary, dating back to his days as Texas Governor. Never spending more than 15 minutes on a death row review, Governor Bush calmly sent 152 of 153 inmates to their executions. In this one area of public policy, George W. Bush believes in equal opportunity: the underage, the infirm and the developmentally-disabled all deserve a chance at execution. And when his allies on the religious right pressured him to spare murderess turned jailhouse born-again Christian Karla Faye Tucker, Governor Bush displayed his trademark resolve - and compassion. As Time recounted in 1999:
Tucker Carlson of Talk magazine described the smirk Bush wore as he mimicked convicted murderer turned Christian Karla Faye Tucker begging, "Please don't kill me," something she never actually did.
As you may recall, Bush's seeming bloodlust towards criminal defendants almost derailed his 2000 presidential campaign. During his second debate against Al Gore in October 2000, Bush was asked about his position on hate crimes laws in the wake of the brutal dragging death of African-American James Byrd in his home state of Texas. His disturbing response - accompanied by a sickening grin - produced gasps among the audience:
"The three men who murdered James Byrd, guess what's going to happen to them? They're going to be put to death. A jury found them guilty. It's going to be hard to punish them any worse after they get put to death.
Even the tone-deaf Bush sensed he had crossed the line. In the third debate, he wisely retreated, acknowledging he was "not proud" of Texas' number one ranking in executions.
As President, George W. Bush has maintained his hard line towards criminals and upholding their punishments. His administration argued - unsuccessfully - before the Supreme Court that developmentally-disabled and under 18 death row inmates too deserve their chance at the gallows. In June, Attorney General Gonzales announced that the Bush department of Justice would push for new, harsher mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines in the wake of the Supreme Court's Booker decision.
When it comes to his presidential pardon power, George W. Bush has been stingy, indeed. President Bush has issued 111 pardons and just three other commutations. And back in Texas, Governor George W. Bush "issued fewer pardons than any Texas Governor since the 1940s (16 up to January 2000, as opposed to 70 for his immediate predecessor Ann Richards, 822 for 2-term governor Bill Clements, and 1048 for John Connally, Texas governor from 1963-69)."
Which is why the blogosphere is all the more outraged by Bush's commutation of Libby's 30 month prison sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice on Monday. It's not just the President has now made himself an accessory to obstruction of justice in effectively stonewalling Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into the White House campaign against Valerie and Joseph Wilson. And it's not just the cronyism is giving a friend and close aide a get out of jail free card. It's the seeming inconsistency when other comparable cases of felons convicted for obstruction of justice, such as Victor Rita and Jamie Olis, receive no special dispensation from President Bush.
But his critics in the mainstream media and blogosphere alike fail to appreciate that George W. Bush is the Asterisk President. His apparent inconsistency in the Libby commutation fades away with the realization that Bush's is the "yes, but" presidency, where "always X, unless Y" is the modus operandi. For example, the Bush Doctrine dictates that the United States will promote the expansion of democracy to every nations, unless the nation is Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, China, etc. President Bush will pursue and prosecute those who leak national security secrets*, unless they in fact work for the administration or the Republican Party. And George W. Bush's America, criminals will always do the time*, unless personal relationships and Bush's political survival dictate otherwise.
Ralph Waldo Emerson famously declared, "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." Of George W. Bush, truer words were never spoken.
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Bush is a POS.
But then none of you have shown any brains since Katria. You just keep backing these unpopular fools.
Posted by SandyH on July 4, 2007 at 03:20 PM
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Sandy, these trolls never will have any sense. All they know how to do is oink like good little piggies.
Froomkin: James Madison says we must impeach Cheney
by Joe Buck [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 11:06:47 AM PDT
Dan Froomkin's latest column treats us to a little history from the Constitutional Convention and the Watergate era:
"In the [Constitutional] convention George Mason argued that the President might use his pardoning power to 'pardon crimes which were advised by himself' or, before indictment or conviction, 'to stop inquiry and prevent detection.' James Madison responded:
"[I]f the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds [to] believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty. . . .
The same reasoning applies to the Vice President, and it seems clear that Libby was acting at Cheney's direction when he leaked Plame's name, and that he was protecting Cheney when he lied about it.
More...
Joe Buck's diary :: ::
John Conyers should grant Libby use immunity for his testimony, subpeona him as a witness, and get the goods. He should do what the Watergate committee did, and have majority and minority counsels (that is, lawyers who specialize in questioning witnesses) handle the bulk of the questioning. None of this crap where every committee member gets five minutes to make a speech and ask a question.
Any attempt by the White House to impede that questioning of Libby should be answered, in public, with the Madison quote: the President and Vice President are connected in a suspicious matter to Libby, and are sheltering him.
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Bush and Shotgun will be impeached.
What happens when the Media realizes the "Jig is Up"?
by jamess [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 11:15:39 AM PDT
Even without Impeachment, this "Libby Arrangement" should be the "wake up call" to get the general public riled up enough that maybe it will finally dawn on them that the Media has been the "Great Enabler" for Bush, all along!
I wonder if what polls have to say about the "Public's Trust in their Media"?
jamess's diary :: ::
The Press At The Polls
CBS' Meyer On Repairing America's
(Mis)Trust Of The Press During The 2008 Election
June 7, 2007
[Emphasis added:]
...
In April, 1974, four months before Nixon’s resignation, Gallup’s new "State of the Nation" poll showed trust and confidence in the executive branch had crashed down to 40 percent. Trust in the media had actually gone up a point.
Trust in government in this country has never really recovered from Watergate.
In September 2005 Gallup repeated its questions from the 70s, just about verbatim. The executive branch scored 52 points, up somewhat from Watergate. But trust in the news media had plummeted to 50 percent. And there are much worse poll numbers out there — trust me, I'm a journalist.
The fall of the press in public opinion was gradual, and almost all major institutions in American public life have suffered, too. For journalism, the single biggest factor was almost certainly the advent of cable television and the attendant 24/7 news cycle, complete with argutainment-style programming.
...
http://www.cbsnews.com/...
----
In addition, to having to keep "his tidy Pact" with Libby in exchange for Scooter's silence ... Just WHAT will the Prez have to give up to GE, News Corp, Disney, CBS, Time Warner, etc. in order to keep them the "compliant little lap-dogs" they are?
These Media Conglomerates may finally realize, (just in the nick of time) that the "Jig is Up" for them too -- and all of a sudden "start barking" again, like the "watch-dogs" they are supposed to be (according to the Constitution, anyways)
If even a little bit of that "IMUS Outrage" can be ginned up and directed at ... Who? Either "Bush and Cheney", or the "DO Nothing Media" -- America, YOU Decide! Who do you think the Media will choose, given those targets?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/133851/9286
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I did notice that the media was all over Tony Snow Joe and the usual GOP apologists such as Kato Burn. Those are easy targets. Let's see them do some real digging ...
Independence from King George Day Message
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2007-07-04 18:49. Impeachment | Video and Audio
AUDIO: Here's a podcast Independence from King George Day message from Washington State Senator Eric Oemig, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, AfterDowningStreet.org Cofounder David Swanson, and author/journalist Dave Lindorff
Posted by rjsnj on July 4, 2007 at 03:20 PM
Is this on top of the 322 they have commissioned for when Bush retires? Wow.
If left to me, I'd just make Cheney Bush's sole bodyguard with his trusty blunderbuss and let the terris take their chances.
It's sad in a way. Neither of the Bush twins will ever live a normal life. I fear for the safety of their innocent children. These Islamic fundamenalists will never forgive or forget what Bush did to Iraq or their holy places there.
Perhaps they all should move to a compound in Paraquay. The drug lords could be paid a kind's ransom to protect them.
Sad.
Happy Independence Day
by Brady Bonk | Jul 4 2007 - 2:23pm | permalink
article tools: email | print | read more Brady Bonk
Snipped from our own Declaration of Independence, grievances against another George in another time:
"He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation."
The more things change...
Happy Independence Day.
Is this on top of the 322 they have commissioned for when Bush retires? Wow.
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Yep, that's because Chimpo is just so popular!
Tee, Hee, Hee
He be well advised to move to his fort in Paraguay.
Bush - First President caught raping a country.
Bush - First President caught being a total jerk-off.
Bush - First President with his head permanently up his nether region.
The Libby Cover-up Completed
by Robert Parry | Jul 4 2007 - 10:49am | permalink
article tools: email | print | read more Robert Parry
President George W. Bush’s decision to spare former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby from jail marks the final act of a crime and cover-up that began four years ago when Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials launched a campaign to discredit a critic of the Iraq War.
That campaign started with the leaking of sensitive classified information, the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, destroying her career and jeopardizing the lives of her agents in other countries. That was followed by White House lies being told to both investigators and the public in order to shield the President from dangerous political fallout.
By commuting Libby’s 30-month jail sentence on July 2 – and dangling the possibility of a full pardon later – Bush has moved to ensure that Cheney’s former chief of staff keeps his mouth shut and that the full story is never told.
The Plame/Libby cover-up also demonstrates the modern techniques available at least to a Republican president who wants to minimize damage from embarrassing or incriminating information. Bush was able to tap into the ideologically committed right-wing news media to confuse the issue and create political space for his final decision.
Ever since July 2003 – when Plame’s husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, revealed that he had conducted a fact-finding trip for the CIA which helped debunk allegations that Iraq had been seeking uranium from Africa – the right-wing media has kept up a steady assault on Wilson
Posted by FrostySureWasRightAboutLibbySkating on July 4, 2007 at 03:26 PM
Surely you jest? Any number of presidents could qualify for any number of those distinctions. I suppose you think the rest saved themselves for the marriage bed? We are talking about politicans here. Only rock stars have less temptation.
Come on, Frosty. I know it's a holiday, but you're not trying hard enough here. Why don't you blame Clinton for global warming and that guy on the plane with TB?
Tell us now, what did he give her in return??? Money? A better job in the Whitehouse???? Or did he force her to do it???
Posted by free_burd on July 4, 2007 at 03:17 PM
You'd probably know! Seems to me that's what Republipigs do to get to get their career, or "to get a-head" that is! Followed by running to church to beg forgiveness for their sins. it's the cycle of conservatism I guess!
rj, you left out:
First President to go AWOL
First President to Desert the Military
First President to "entertain" a male prostitute in the Lincoln bedroom
First "First Lady" to ever murder someone.....
Soldiers Die for Bush's Friends Right to Make Cars in China - The Connection is Outed
by n00161 [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 12:37:11 PM PDT
When I first started The Command T.O.C. back in 2004 I commented how I thought it was interesting that Bush was sending kids to die yet American business was sending more and more manufacturing overseas. American business had little allegiance to America as a Country and rather moved their capital and labor dollars to any Country where they could make money. American business totally disregarding whether that Country was run by Communists or dictators or whether that Country employed slave labor or followed event he basic environmental regulations. The stock holder was to make a fortune as the American soldier died defending.. I am not sure what.
n00161's diary :: ::
The theme has continued that Bush and his friends are getting very very rich while soldiers die and they sell out our Country to other Countries, mostly China (A communist dictatorship I might add). Now, today, we learn (on July 4th) that the new company (Cerberus Partners) which bought Chrysler is announcing they will be importing Chinese made cars (Dodges to start) by 2010. So, who are these "partners"?
Well, the chairman is none other than Mr. Danforth Quayle. Yes, you heard it. The guy who could not spell potato knows enough about business to buy Chrysler and begin moving production to China. He was the 44th Vice President of the United States serving for George W. Bush's dad.
On the board of directors is Dr. John Snow. This person, if you remember, was the current President Bush's Secretary of the Treasury. It must have been at this job where he honed his skills in shutting down US manufacturing and sending it to Communist Countries like China.
In George Bush like fashion, these executives have learned to lie directly to the camera to get what they want. In an interview reported by Business Week, John Snow remarked that they bought Chrysler as a way to help participate in "saving American manufacturing." Perhaps someone could tell me how building cars in China "saves" American manufacturing.
First "First Lady" to ever murder someone.....
Posted by DPD on July 4, 2007 at 03:43 PM
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Got it now DPD. I am cataloging their filth. I'll need more disk storage though ...
it's the cycle of conservatism I guess!
Posted by davidual on July 4, 2007 at 03:42 PM
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Hi David,
I like that one "the cycle of conservatism":
Lie, steal, cheat (even murder)
Go to Church for absolution
When all else fails get your sentence commuted by Chimpo.
it's the cycle of conservatism I guess!
Posted by davidual on July 4, 2007 at 03:42 PM
It is sort of like watching a dog running around in a circle chasing after its tail, isn't it?
It is sort of like watching a dog running around in a circle chasing after its tail, isn't it?
Posted by SandyH on July 4, 2007 at 03:49 PM
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Yep, instead of calling it the culture of corruption, we should call it the never ending circle of corruption.
The weather today, here in New York State, is very fitting for the day in which we celebrate. Six years of trashing of our Constitution by our current Executive administration must have our founding fathers rolling in their graves.
All the tears of those that died in battle in defense of our Constitutional freedoms are indeed felt here today where I sit in New York State. Such a sad day through which should be such a happy day for our country and our citizens.
Tears of anguish of seeing their lives laid down for naught, as our constitutional freedoms are torn asunder. Gone is the happiness of knowing that these brave men and women died for their country, so we could enjoy the freedoms that our founding fathers envisioned for all of us.
Let it rain! Let it rain on me the pity that is today. Let that pity strengthen our hearts and our resolve to create a better tomorrow. A better tomorrow as envisioned through the hearts of our founding fathers eleven score plus eleven years ago.
Posted by free_burd on July 4, 2007 at 03:46 PM
You can fill us all in on how impressed The Almighty was when we're all in purgatory comparing notes someday. In the meantime, give Spunky my regards the next time he commutes your sentence.
Bush, Nixon are most unpopular presidents ever.
Only 1% lower to go!! GO CHIMPY (straight to Hell).
A better tomorrow as envisioned through the hearts of our founding fathers eleven score plus eleven years ago.
Posted by davidual on July 4, 2007 at 04:03 PM
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David, it does seem appropriately dismal. I wonder if Chimpo picked this time just to stick it to the nation that has rejected him. It fits with his overall lack of character.
Only 1% lower to go!! GO CHIMPY (straight to Hell).
Posted by DPD on July 4, 2007 at 04:07 PM
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dpd, Chimpo has a lock on busting 20%. He'll set new records unless he's impeached first.
Afternoon all good Dems,
A while back Hershey shut down their plant in Oakdale, California putting thousands of people out of work. They moved the operation to Mexico. No telling how many other companies have moved to Mexico but it appears to me this is payback for California not supporting him in 2000.
I firmly believe he got enron to rape California in 2001.
chimp is just a huge asshole. He doesn't give a shit about America or Americans. Talk about a treasonous POS.
Chimpy had better watch out, or Pickles may mow him down with a rusty Chevy (after all, she has a history of doing that).
Laura Bush Rebukes President On Abstinence-Only Requirement For AIDS Relief
Declaration of Independence:
http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration_transcript.html
We need to declare independence from the tyranny of King George the Chimp and Viceroy Vlad Cheney the Impaler.
Posted by davidual on July 4, 2007 at 04:03 PM
david,
It's only a sad day if you let it be. Bush has now exposed himself as the central figure in a criminal coverup case. He's now placed himself in jeopardy. I would think he would be the one concerned with what might come next.
It doesn't end with his term in office. He's got problems ahead and a special prosecutor determined enough to perhaps chase him till he gets the truth.
This president will never know any freedom from this day on. He dishonored his office and himself. That makes him the subject of one of the biggest manhunts in history. He will be dogged by investigators all the way to Paraquay and back till the day he dies.
And be dogged by Bin Lauden and his wretched band of malcontents even into hell. May the Lord have mercy one who has none for others.
bbl.
rj,
chimp and cheney are such huge POS's that they will never resign no matter how low their poll numbers drop. At the present rate, it appears that they both will be in negative territory very soon.
Why do we still tolerate these POS's. When enough people become fed up with these two bastards, they will be forced to resign.
The President's July 4th Message
by grog [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 01:04:19 PM PDT
Here's a blurb from President 26%'s July 4th message to a unit of the WV Air National Guard:
"Our first Independence Day celebration took place in a midst of a war -- a bloody and difficult struggle that would not end for six more years before America finally secured her freedom. More than two decades later, it is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming out any other way."
Another brilliant example of simply how ignorant this man is. So many mistakes, where to begin?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/15549/04806
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Chimp!!!
Sandy,
I hadn't thought about that. Maybe Bin Laden will follow him to Paraguay and solve our problem for us.
Rid the U.S.A. of G.W. Bush
by roxnev [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 12:58:17 PM PDT
It is time to declare our independence of Bush. He will not obey the laws of the land. so as the The Declaration of Independence says We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/152718/5369
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The blogs are on fire today with one theme:
Impeach Shotgun
Impeach Chimpo
rj,
Why has the ahole never talked to the American people? He always has a staged event. Maybe he is afraid that we would kick his ass.
I hadn't thought about that. Maybe Bin Laden will follow him to Paraguay and solve our problem for us.
Posted by Johnedwrd on July 4, 2007 at 04:20 PM
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John, the reasonous Chimp should be at home with his friends the Bin Ladens. He did after all fly them out of country when everyone else was grounded. Hey, might as throw in the crook Bandar Bush. They can all be one big happy crime family.
Posted by DPD on July 4, 2007 at 04:13 PM
My, my. First Laura went after Spunky on his callous remarks concerning the plight of a death row felon and now she's defying him on abstinence.
Looks like things are not so rosy down on the ranch. Maybe those reports of an impending divorce in the tabloids are not so far off the mark after all?
Spunky maybe King George in the Oval Office but apparently isn't Lord of the Ponderosa anymore.
I'd have him committed if I was her. She could take Grand Daddy's Prescott Bush's trust fund and move to France where she could live la vie en rose and smoke as many cigarettes as she wants there.
later.
Chimp!!!
Posted by rjsnj on July 4, 2007 at 04:18 PM
Yep, there he goes again trying to compare his Iraq travesty to a war for our independence. Oil independence is not the same as personal independence from a monarchical, or dictator/despotic leader. For that matter, this chimp's independence will only last forty years (as that's all the oil reserves we have left) and is really only independence for the wealth class. Everyone else will be significantly be under the oppression, by definition enjoy no independence.
I'll be back later. Watcha movie, or something!
I'm surprised noone has ever choked to death at this foolish "event".
End of a dynasty
before I go have my hot dog and potato salad, want to Re Post this Action Post:
"had a tear run down my cheek, as I read the posts from the couple of Nut cases here , as they were wrapped in their flag afghans, with their hands over their hearts, telling us to FORGET all that this administration has done today, and to Thank God for the bad things and places that our administration has placed our boys in.
IF ANYTHING, this is the day to say NO MORE ! Run this administration out of town. Make sure not another single Republican ever gets in office. Devote yourself to a local candidate or two and work your asses off for them. Use your donation money wisely, and direct it to the place it will do the most good. (Moveon, TrueMajority, 50-State strategy are some ideas)
Write your LTE's, and write your congressmen. Write TV media. Work for Voting and Election processes which will thwart the Republicans efforts to cheat on them.
look up your local Dem branch, and go to the next meeting and tell them you are volunteering for any jobs they have. (I helped get the State Dem committee's Voter base in order by going to local towns and copying their voter records, then helping input into their machines.)
(look up where to contact them:
http://www.democrats.org/local.html
Become an Activist. It costs nothing. Attend Rallies ESPECIALLY if they are Republicans! Ask the tough questions in front of everybody. (Dawnie, as a disabled Vet, you are a prime example of someone who can put them on the hot seat of the cuts they have coming for Veterans in 2009 which Bush signed).
The more we bring out in the open the truth of what this Party and these neo-cons have done, the easier it will be to get rid of this party for all time. (only 26% left to go)
REMIND PEOPLE, this is not just a vote for a Candidate---it is a vote for how the Complexion of the SCOTUS looks in the future, and what it will do to our laws, rights and rules.
So do not sit around this 4th, instead use it to focus. To make your plan. Your goals on the next 16 months before we walk into that Election booth ! Write it out, THEN DO IT!
OH, and also this is an interesting tidbit! We KNOW where GWB will be located in the future. BOTTOM !
Truman has always fared well in polls ranking the Presidents. He has never been listed lower than ninth, and most recently seventh in a Wall Street Journal poll from 2005
Spunky maybe King George in the Oval Office but apparently isn't Lord of the Ponderosa anymore.
****
Sandy, Cheney is the head hoss (or is horse?) on the raunch.
Posted by FrostySureWasRightAboutLibbySkating on July 4, 2007 at 04:18 PM
So we have the prospect of looking forward to Bush dropping an atomic bomb on your mink skinning operation? (He'll be aiming at Iran but hit Minnesota instead? With Cheney running any new war we know what can happen.)
I can't see Spunky allowing anyone including Truman to beat him...even for the distinction of being the most unpopular.
Yep, there he goes again trying to compare his Iraq travesty to a war for our independence.
*****
David, Chimp never gets it right. The Iraqi people's struggle is now for independence from US!
Posted by PamB on July 4, 2007 at 04:32 PM
Hear, hear, Pam.
Enjoy the potato salad and fireworks.
John Edwards is on Oprah right now. They are discussing her breast cancer. She would be a fantastic first lady. Their daughter is with them. She doesn't appear to be a drunken slut like chimp's daughters.
Why didn't chimp use the atomic bomb on Afghanistan? He is so hot for these weapons. If he had used an atomic bomb on the then known whereabouts of bin laden, he most likely would have taken him out.
The only explanation is that chimp's buddy bin laden is being protected since cheney arranged with bin laden to stage the 9/11 atrocity. That would explain why they flew them all out of the country immediately after 9/11.
Oops, sorry, rj. I'm not going any where for a while, I thought it was you who was going to watch a movie. It was davidual. 'Bye, davidual.
Were having left over cold chicken that we grilled last night. The big cook out starts around dusk where it'll be dogs and cheeseburgers, etc. So it's just "hang around and have a few cool ones, while we burn a CD of 'groovy' 60's music" time right now.
I think I'll do a few tunes from the Dead's "American Beauty" next.
Oops, sorry, rj. I'm not going any where for a while,
****
I was taking a break anyway dpd.
So, about that Chimpo ...
He's stepped into it now. I never seen the impeachment movement this energized. I think he
even drew Chindy Sheehan back! Thx Chimpo for being ... a Chimp!
Why I now support impeachment of Bush, and Olbermann's Special Comment
by Eric Hopp [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 02:03:32 PM PDT
On July 3, 2007, Keith Olbermann presented his Special Comment on Countdown, asking for President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to resign from office. I watched Olbermann's Special Comment, and agreed that Bush and Cheney should resign. But what is more interesting here is that in the aftermath of President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence, I have changed my own position on the issue of supporting the impeachment of President Bush. You will find my reasoning for this change below the fold.
Eric Hopp's diary :: ::
Going through the liberal blogs, I've seen a lot of commentary by Americans demanding that President Bush should be impeached. I never really supported the impeachment of Bush here. It is not that I don't believe that Bush should not be impeached--there is plenty of evidence supporting an investigation into impeachment proceedings of President Bush on a number of scandals--the Valerie Plame scandal, the intelligence failures, the Bush lies and propaganda run-up to the Iraq war, the illegal NSA domestic spying program, the suspension of habeas corpus and incarceration of prisoners without due process, the reports of torture of prisoners in American military prisons, the U.S. attorney firings--have I named all the scandals yet? The problem I had with impeachment is that I believed it could not be successfully pursued to a conviction. Once the Democrats gained control of Congress, there was not enough time to conduct the oversight investigations and gather evidence of this administration's wrongdoings to support impeachment--and remember that this administration would do everything it can to stall the congressional investigations, just as they are currently doing now. Any impeachment trial would take place in 2008--right in the middle of a presidential elections, making the issue political for the candidates such as Democratic Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or Republican Senator John McCain. Even more, I don't believe that the Senate has the two-thirds votes it needs for a conviction, and that the Senate is so closely divided between the Democrats and Republicans. And finally, looking at all these scandals on Valerie Plame, the intelligence failures, the domestic spying program, or even the U.S. attorney firings, they are all very complicated scandals which do not directly implicate President Bush in these scandals. There is a direct implication of the president's men in these scandals, which certainly calls for congressional demands for impeachments and removals of these "president's men," but not for the president himself.
That all changed two days ago, when President Bush directly implicated himself in the commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence. Bush directly implicated himself in the cover-up of the administration's involvement in the Valerie Plame outing, and the president himself obstructed justice with the scandal. Scooter Libby was tried by a jury of his peers, convicted, and sentenced to prison. Once Libby was sitting in that jail cell, federal prosecutors would have offered Libby a deal of reducing Libby's sentence in exchange for his cooperation in telling the prosecutors what he knows about the White House involvement in the Plame scandal. President Bush did not want Libby to sing to the feds here, so he abused the law in commuting a prison sentence of one of his own administration's staff members in order to keep him quiet on the scandals. President Bush obstructed justice here. He abused the law here for his own personal gain of covering up this administration's scandals. President Bush decided that he would act above the law in this sentence commutation to protect one of his own cronies who lied to the courts and the law in order to protect Bush. The Valerie Plame scandal has been simplified here, where President Bush has directly implicated himself into the scandal. That is an impeachable offense. It is why I now support the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. This is an issue that can be clearly explained where the president, and perhaps the vice president, have shown themselves to operate outside of, and with contempt, for the law. I still don't believe that there are enough votes in the Senate to convict Bush, or that there is enough time for a trial and conviction. But I feel that it is important for impeachment investigations to commence into this president's commutation of Libby's prison sentence, and evidence gathered to support the conviction of this president. Even if impeachment proceedings do not take place, the evidence gathered against Bush on this latest Libby scandal, may be enough to force the Republicans to abandon Bush, and perhaps force Bush and Cheney to resign from office. I know it is a long shot, considering how both Bush and Cheney will refuse to give up power, but it is another option to impose more pressure on this administration.
WOW! Heck of a job, Chimpy!
Scary
GoogleMaps Mashup Of Minneapolis Foreclosures
On Our 231st Birthday, a Republic in Danger
by Yosef 52 [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 02:01:21 PM PDT
America has never really fully lived up to its ideals. The early nation countenanced human slavery and maintained a powerful, unquestioned patriarchy. But the great words of Jefferson's Declaration and the noble goals laid out in the Preamble to the United States Constitution told of the aspiration to a future where all humans could live in freedom and dignity. Lincoln understood that the Civil War was about this issue, giving voice to it in his immortal Gettysburg Address ("a new birth of freedom"). America, in short, was always a place that was in the process of becoming. Its people often acted foolishly or cruelly and they showed all the weaknesses and shortcomings of people everywhere. And yet the best part of our ideas always inspired most of us with the vision of a nation headed to a new kind of greatness, a greatness not just of military power but of justice and opportunity.
Yosef 52's diary :: ::
There were always the crooks and the conmen, always the people who only paid lip service to the ideals, but they never really seemed to be running the show, at least not for long. They would always be exposed and ultimately defeated. It really seemed, therefore, that the United States might some day be the great example for humanity, a startling and unique aggregation of all the elements of humanity bound together by a set of ideas into a new kind of society, one in which the rule of law was above all and the preservation and expansion of human well-being and freedom were the ultimate objectives. That was the hope, the dream, the vision, that stirred the best in us.
Now, that vision is in the gravest danger it has faced in more than 140 years. Our nation has been captured by a set of individuals so fanatical, so ruthless, so ill-equipped to govern, and so contemptuous of our traditions, laws, and ideals that the very survival of our nation is in question. Driven by greed and cronyism, they are systematically bankrupting our nation and imperiling the economic future of our descendants. Led by the truly frightening and dangerous Dick Cheney, they are destroying the system of checks and balances which is one of the crown jewels of the system of government James Madison so carefully constructed for us. A bizarre coalition of laissez-faire ideologues, religious fanatics, cynical business leaders, and what can only be called neoimperialists has seized power, aided and abetted by a media that has been compromised to the point of paralysis. Many in the media are now the outright allies of and collaborators with this coalition, clouding every public issue in a mist of lies, distortions, and misdirections. The very institutions on which our country rests are under assault. A movement to transform America into a theocratic empire is well under way.
rj,
You have the best posts. I really enjoy reading them. Where on earth do you get all the great stuff?
WOW! Heck of a job, Chimpy!
****
Whoa! Looks like more than 50% of the town.
The Chimpo phoney economy has become unglued.
It will get way worst from here.
You have the best posts. I really enjoy reading them. Where on earth do you get all the great stuff?
Posted by Johnedwrd on July 4, 2007 at 05:13 PM
****
John,
Mainly I run through the journals on Daily Kos, Smirking Chimp and America's blog. I also like truthout.org and going through google news.
There are other really good blogs - TPMmuckracker,
Liberal Oasis, FiredogLake.
Try starting here:
You can find links to other blogs on the right hand side toward the bottom.
WOW! Heck of a job, Chimpy!
Posted by DPD on July 4, 2007 at 05:06 PM
All the foreclosures are exactly according to plan.
Now all these people are unable to file bankruptcy. Their only option will be debtor's prison.
Has cheney opened his series of cheneyburton debtor's prisons yet? Talk about slave labor. They can force these people to work and not have to pay them a dime just like Hitler.
As Skippy said this morning, "maybe he can get the name of a good rehab outfit from noelle bush."
Or, he could get the Paris Hilton overnight sentence, or the Linsay Lohan "rehab at the Disco" treatment.
Hell, Chimpy should just pardon him. It's not like he committed TREASON or obstructed Justice or anything. And as we all know, those are pardonable offenses.
His cell phone will be ringing like crazy with the 2 Bush booze whores looking to score.
Now all these people are unable to file bankruptcy.
****
John, you noticed that - good! yes, I think part of the plan was to make bankruptcy hard so that when the housing bubble did burst, people would not be able to get out of debt. It's kinda like a virtual debtors prison. I don't think anyone will be thrown in jail per se but it will keep these people in a constant state of paying out every dime.
Suggestions for Judge Walton on Libby's Supervised Release
By Jeralyn, Section Lewis Libby Trial Coverage
Posted on Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 01:18:07 PM EST
Tags: Libby Trial (all tags)
There's a lot of buzz about Judge Walton's order (pdf) asking for briefs on whether Scooter Libby can be placed on supervised release since supervised release follows the service of a prison sentence and Libby didn't serve a prison sentence. [See,Scotus Blog, Sentencing Law and Policy, Big Tent Democrat and don't miss Christy at Firedoglake]
Howard Keiffer, who runs the excellent BOP Watch List-Serv, to which scores of criminal defense lawyers subscribe, has the response printed below.
Shorter version: The day Libby was booked is counted as a day in custody. He served (got credit) for his one day in prison and therefore can be put on two years of supervised release.
REPORT: The Iraq War Architects Revisited
More than four years after the initial invasion, the decision to go to war in Iraq has come to be widely viewed as the “worst foreign policy mistake” in our nation’s history. But the architects of the Iraq war have largely avoided taking accountability for their respective roles in that terrible decision.
In April 2006, ThinkProgress produced a report reviewing the key architects of the Iraq war. ThinkProgress has updated the report with the latest information on where the key architects are now, expanding it to include a few more integral planners of the conflict.
The original thesis remains the same: President Bush still has not fired any of the architects of the Iraq war; instead, they continue to reap rewards for their disastrous incompetence. Just this week, we witnessed two glaring examples of this fact:
Paul Wolfowitz: As deputy secretary of defense, he aggressively pushed for war, repeatedly making false assurances about the ease of victory in Iraq. Bush later rewarded him with a post at the World Bank, which he was forced to resign in disgrace after becoming embroiled in a corruption scandal. But last week, Wolfowitz announced he was landing at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank that “has the President’s ear” on national security issues.
Scooter Libby: Even though the administration had failed to hold him accountable, a jury of his peers did. But, like many of his Iraq war architects, Libby was given safe refuge by President Bush and spared from serving any prison time, despite lying and obstructing justice in a federal investigation that had its roots in the decision to go to war.
Check out the updated report HERE.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/04/iraq-war-architects-revisited/
Gee, and ALL the Chimp's multiple DUI's and Pickles' vehicular homicide paperwork miraculously vanished.
Along with Chimpy's TANG records that were "accidentally" damaged beyond recognition, and "disappeared" into the memory hole.
Go figure.
Oh, and Scooter is innocent too?
Repubs are going to be SO disappointed after being all atwitter that they are getting a GEN-U-INE movie star for a candidate !
"Expect Fred Thompson to vault to the top of the polls as soon as he enters the Republican race for president later this month. The former Tennessee senator and actor has hired his production staff, orchestrated the advance publicity and carefully worked his audience, which is desperate for a star to lead the GOP out of its funk. Many of the conservatives who make up the core of the party -- and who are most likely to vote in the primaries next year -- think Thompson is just what they need.
Already, Thompson scores second in most polls of GOP candidates, ranking behind former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani but ahead of Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Though he has yet to declare, Thompson has been making campaign-style appearances in early-primary states, especially in the South, where he is most popular. Several southern states have primaries in early February that will be crucial to the nomination.
But don't assume Thompson will stay at the top of the polls or in the good graces of conservatives. The push for his candidacy includes more than a little wishful thinking. None of the existing candidates has excited conservatives, and they're looking wherever they can for someone who will. That has made them more willing to gloss over some Thompson qualities that will take a bigger toll as time goes on and he comes under closer scrutiny. For example, on July 2, the New York Times published a front-page story on the lobbying activities of Thompson's sons. Look for more intense coverage in the weeks ahead.
Who'll feel the heat if Thompson runs? Take our poll.
The GOP hope is that Thompson will be another Ronald Reagan, a likable character with a simple but compelling message that renews a spirit of optimism and faith in the American dream. And there are plenty of similarities -- the acting background, the aw-shucks demeanor and the down-home, one-of-us image.
Thompson is no Reagan. For one thing, he's not a conservative ideologue. He's much more of a pragmatist: During his eight years in the Senate, he crossed conservatives on abortion, campaign finance reform and the Clinton impeachment effort. He's not an outsider, either, though he'll cast himself as one. He'll dust off the red pickup truck he used in his Senate campaigns and don his cowboy boots to play the part of a modest country lawyer running to shake up Washington. But it will be hard for the TV star to gloss over more than a dozen years as a high-priced lobbyist or the fact that he now lives in a wealthy suburb of Washington.
Democrats, in turn, have already launched attacks on Thompson, calling him the inside-outsider and pointing to a lack of major legislative accomplishments during his time in the Senate. There are also questions about whether Thompson has enough personal motivation to endure the grueling campaign process. His reputation in the Senate was of one who didn't like to work long hours.
Thompson will need to quickly articulate a policy agenda that's more specific than anything he has said so far on issues such as Iraq and health care, and as he does, he's likely to lose some of his admirers. And he'll have to raise lots of cash fast and set up a national organization to compete in dozens of states simultaneously. Plus the other Republican candidates won't just fade away. Most have more than enough money to stay in the race until February, when a raft of early primaries and caucuses may decide the nominee.
bwhahahaha, you can tell you don't come around very often, numb ones!
I am salivating waiting for Thompson. I have a library filled with tidbits to start doing LTEs, send links to TV reporters, to Dem candidates, etc.
OH, and of course this picture has already made the rounds of the country, as well as some internationally. LMAO, is this the first couple who will greet dignataries?
(thanks for giving me the opportunity to post it again!) :)
Special "tasty treat" time. I was told to stay out of MY kitchen. (And t'all KNOW how I LOVE MY kitchen, there had better not be a mess in there). Hmmm, what could possibly replace martini time?
I'll soon find out. BBL.
IRAQ: ULEMA COUNCIL ISSUES FATWA ON OIL LAW
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2007-07-04 20:07. Media
Baghdad, 4 July (AKI) - Iraq's Council of the Ulema, a group of senior Sunni Muslim clerics led by Sheikh Harith al-Darri, has emitted a fatwa (religious edict) forbidding members of parliament from ratifying a draft law on oil and gas which has already been approved by the government of prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. The crucial oil law that the United States is pressing Baghdad to pass to boost reconciliation between the country's Sunnis and Shiites now goes to parliament for debate.
The council which is the leading Sunni religious authority in Iraq said in a statement Wednesday that "the approval by members of the government of this terrible law is forbidden and null, and anyone who does [vote for it] will be probed and called to account [for this]."
Sparing Libby Cuts Two Ways
By John D. McKinnon and Evan Perez
Word Count: 788
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's decision to commute the prison sentence of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby aroused the ire of critics on the left, but the move's practical impact on the president's diminished popularity is likely to be minor.
While prominent conservatives applauded the move, it could wind up putting pressure on some Republican presidential candidates to defend the commutation for the remainder of the campaign. And some rank-and-file Republican foot soldiers were disappointed that Mr. Bush didn't go further.
The decision was likely to become another mark in the Bush administration's troubled record in conducting the ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118339742298855519.html?mod=politics_first_element_hs
(thanks for giving me the opportunity to post it again!) :)
Posted by PamB on July 4, 2007 at 05:57 PM
****
Ah!!! The fred dork and mrs silicon ...
did you tell your wifey OINK! OINK!, PUS GUT?
I hear you got a nice little herd from your inlaws ! Of course you now have her sisters to feed too!
(don't you know with your low IQ, you can't keep up here?)
L@@@KY here folks !
Republican sens. may back contempt charge
As Democrats tangle with the White House over executive privilege, Senate Republicans must decide whether to block a criminal contempt charge against the administration or allow it and thus bring the constitutional clash before a federal judge.
Both chambers’ judiciary committee chairmen have given the White House a July 9 deadline to explain in detail its executive-privilege claim to withhold subpoenaed documents on the mass firing of U.S. attorneys. If their deadline is not met, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) likely will pursue a contempt citation — and some Republicans are unlikely to bail out President Bush.
Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), vice chairman of the GOP conference, told The Hill on Friday that he thinks Republican cooperation with a criminal contempt finding will be required (hmmm, Cornyn! From Texas. Isn't he one of those BIG BUSH supporters?)
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/republican-sens.-may-back-contempt-charge-2007-07-03.html
now heading out for some fireworks.
Have a good one, fine dems!
Cheney Declares Himself National Monument
Posted July 4, 2007 | 11:49 AM (EST)
Read More: Breaking Politics News, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Tony Snow, Michael Chertoff, Andy Borowitz
In a bold new strategy to avoid a congressional subpoena, Vice President Dick Cheney today declared himself a national monument.
Mr. Cheney took the unorthodox step only after failing in his attempt to invoke a little-known legal principle called the separation of Cheney and state.
Aides to Mr. Cheney confirmed that being a national monument gives the vice president not only immunity from subpoenas, but also a draft deferment in perpetuity.
President George W. Bush presided over a solemn White House ceremony this morning in which a plaque documenting Mr. Cheney's status as a national monument was affixed to the vice president's midsection.
Joining the ranks of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, Mr. Cheney is believed to be the only landmark in the nation's capital not made at least partially out of marble.
But even as his attempt to evade a subpoena appeared to have succeeded, the vice president's new status as a national monument created unexpected problems, as Independence Day tourists lined up around the block to get a glimpse of Washington's latest historic attraction.
Perhaps in an effort to control the crowds, Mr. Cheney announced today that the admission price for seeing him would be set at $75,000.
White House spokesman Tony Snow defended the $75,000 price tag, saying that it was an appropriate price to see a national monument of Dick Cheney's stature.
"Seventy-five thousand dollars is what it costs to see Dick Cheney," Mr. Snow said. "Just ask any lobbyist."
Elsewhere, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that everyone in the U.S. should go about their normal activities, "except you terrorists."
Andy Borowitz is a comedian and writer whose work appears in The New Yorker and The New York Times, and at his award-winning humor site, BorowitzReport.com.
****
Cheney could declare himself a crypt. He is after the undead.
Global Warming Imperils 4th of July
Global warming threatens our White Chistmases with winter heatwaves. And our Arbor Days with record wildfires. And now it imperils our Independence Day fireworks with ever worsening droughts.
The Drudge Report headline blares “No Fireworks.” As USA Today reports:
Dozens of communities in drought-stricken areas are scrapping public fireworks displays and cracking down on backyard pyrotechnics to reduce the risk of fires.
“From a fire standpoint and a safety standpoint, it was an easy call,” Burbank Fire Chief Tracy Pansini says. He recommended calling off fireworks at the Starlight Bowl because they’re launched from a mountainside covered with vegetation that’s “all dead.”
The record droughts around the country have nixed fireworks in a half dozen states. What will happen to July 4th’s over much of the country if as predicted in an April Science article, we have “a permanent drought by 2050 throughout the Southwest“?
Here are some of the places canceling fireworks this year:
http://climateprogress.org/2007/07/03/global-warming-imperils-4th-of-july/
****
Sludge Drudgery worries about global warming too ...
Severe Weather Forces Evacuation Of National Mall
(CBS) WASHINGTON CBS 2 has learned the National Mall in Washington has been evacuated due to severe weather.
Severe weather prompted authorities to evacuate thousands of people gathered at the National Mall on Wednesday for a holiday concert and a fireworks show until severe storms pass through the area, according to Rob Lachance, of the U.S. Park Police.
Crowds are being moved to nearby museums, which will provide shelter. Smithsonian buildings and the Commerce Department are opening up for people to use as shelter.
Police asked tens of thousand of people to leave the mall and go into nearby buildings as the sky turned dark and winds picked up.
Families packed their picnic gear and streamed off the grassy area that was to host a concert by the National Symphony Orchestra and fireworks viewing a few hours later.
Authorities said the evening's activities would continue as planned, and expected the crowds to be allowed back at about 7:30 p.m.
The storm of note was moving through the suburbs of Washington and was expected to hit our nation's capital between 6 and 7 p.m. With the impending severe weather was expected heavy rain, dangerous lightning and 50-60 mph winds.
Please stay with CBS 2 and wcbstv.com for more on this developing story.
****
Nasty weather ... must be that global warming ...
Looks like it's clouding here in NY and rain is expected tonight i guess no fireworks for the city oh well.
Judge's powers over Libby? TalkLeft has ideas
by teresahill [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 03:16:40 PM PDT
My idea of a great July 4th holiday -- looking for ways Judge Walton can still screw with Bush & Libby (Yes, I enjoyed it. So what?). Jeralyn at TalkLeft has an article full of legal talk. For the whole thing, see ttp://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/7/4/14187/26315
I'll try to summarize. Basically, Bush has unlimited powers to commute the sentence and apparently, to do away with Libby's prison time but keep the "supervised release" (like parole) in place for two years, despite what the statute says.
But the judge, apparently, has powers of his own under the "supervised release" statute which include:
-Ordering Libby into custody for nights, weekends or any period of time that's less than one year.
-Keeping him from associating with certain people, say Dick Cheney, Karl Rove?
-Home confinement, with or without monitoring.
I cant understand why anybody can be mad at Bush for commuting Scooter cause in my hands i have 142 pardons from Clinton, which include drug dealers, and almost every thing else that most people would not let out on the streets or even want in our United States.
Posted by _Best-is_US on July 4, 2007 at 06:09 PM
Posted by HypocritesRawk on July 4, 2007 at 06:04 PM
Posted by FrostySureWasRightAboutLibbySkating on July 4, 2007 at 05:32 PM
Posted by Harpo_Salutes_America_231_years on July 4, 2007 at 03:48 PM
Posted by free_burd on July 4, 2007 at 01:59 PM
goodness. looks like we had a regular hitler youth meeting up in here today. ja? international brownshirt convention in town? maybe a tractor-pull? or a demolition derby? somebody giving out free shotgun blasts to the face? lessons in fashioning a hemp-necktie perhaps?
in any event, welcome republican posters. thanks for demonstrating to all those here what republicans have to offer:
lies, hate, ignorance, and an obsession with bill clinton's sex life.
that seems to be the platform. good luck with that.
CREW catalogues Bush/Cheney administration's abuses of power and overreaching in new report, Crossing the Line
Submitted by crew on 2 July 2007 - 3:16pm. Bush Administration Crossing the Line Dick Cheney
Today, CREW released a new report entitled Crossing the Line: The Bush Administration's Efforts to Expand Its Powerful Reach. The title pretty much sums it up. Based on several specific specific developments, several where CREW has direct involvement, we detailed the Bush administration’s repeated constitutional overreaching and abuse of executive power and prerogative. The full report can be found here.
Crossing the Line makes two major findings:
1) Vice President Dick Cheney, who recently asserted that he's not subject to Executive Orders because of his unique "fourth branch" status, is quietly, but diligently, working to establish case law that equates the power of the vice presidency with the power of the presidency; and
2) the Bush administration is intent on expanding the power of executive privilege well beyond constitutional bounds.
CREW's Melanie Sloan said that Vice President Cheney and Bush administration officials "are working hard to reconfigure the executive branch to conform with their preference for absolute power rather than with clearly established constitutional boundaries. CREW’s report depicts an administration out of control.”
We drew upon several of our own cases to document these findings and back up the assertion that the Bush administration is "out of control":
Recently it was revealed that the vice president has unilaterally exempted himself and his office from the executive order that governs the safeguarding of classified national security information.
In response to a suit filed by Valerie and Joseph Wilson against Vice President Cheney and other top administration officials, Mr. Cheney argued that as vice president he is entitled to absolute immunity from suit.
In response to a CREW suit over visitor logs, the administration is attempting to reclassify Secret Service documents as presidential documents under the exclusive control of the White House. The vice president has argued that the constitutional protections afforded the presidency apply with equal force to his office.
In a suit filed by CREW over a FOIA request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Hurricane Katrina-related documents, the government invoked the presidential communications privilege, suggesting an attempt to cover-up what President Bush actually knew before, during and after the hurricane devastated the Gulf Coast.
During the course of CREW’s FOIA lawsuit against the White House Office of Administration (OA) for documents relating to five million missing White House emails, the OA claimed that it was responding “as a matter of administrative discretion,” not because the OA is an “agency” bound by the FOIA.
Crossing the Line does indeed document an administration that is "out of control" and trying to usurp the constitution.
Because those people ALREADY served some time and weren't involved in TREASON!
It's a pathology of the corrupt Pugs to allow their cronies to break ANY law they want and then get a pardon. Just like the alcoholic coke head's father pardoning the Iran / Contra TRAITORS BEFORE they even had a trial. In BOTH cases, (Chimpy and his Daddy) the pardons were done to buy silence and keep THEMSELVES out of the slammer.
BOTH of these asswipes are thus accessories to Obstruction of Justice, and the Chimp is an accessory to TREASON!
Get it? That "Clinton did it too" BS don't fly any more.
P.S. the addle brained Ray-Gun pardoned MORE people than Clinton.
Dirty Tricks 2006: GOP Spends $600k on Late Night Attack Phone Calls
Dirty Tricks 2006: GOP Spends $600k on Late Night Attack Phone Calls
Republicans Caught Making Calls to Democratic Voters in the Dead of Night to Anger and Turn Them Off to Voting and Dampen Turnout
NRCC Has Spent $2.1 Million on Calls, Nearly $600,000 on Attack Calls in the Last Week Alone.
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, with memories of past intimidation in the minds of voters, national Republican operatives are phoning voters at all hours of the night, especially at 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. to try and dampen Democratic turnout. Reports of these calls have come in from New Hampshire, where the GOP has been forced to stop the calls, and FCC complaints have been filed in Pennsylvania because of the calls. Republicans have spent $2.1 million on calls like these, targeting 46 Democrats in the last week alone. In terms of precedent, in 2002, Republican Party officials in New Hampshire and Washington with ties to the White House jammed phones to prevent Democrats from voting. This is just the latest example of why it’s time for a change in Washington.
“With no record of accomplishment on the economy or border security and no strategy to speak of in Iraq, the only thing Republicans have left to sell is fear itself and Americans aren’t buying,” said Bill Burton, communications director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “It’s time for a new direction in Washington because Americans deserve bipartisan solutions to the problems we face, not more dirty tricks and illegal calls meant to intimidate.”
Illegal Phone Calls By GOP Designed to Turn Off Voters. The Republican National Congressional Committee has agreed to end its automated calling campaign that left the state Democratic Party swamped with phone calls from voters who believed the messages were coming from Democrats. New Hampshire residents had been complaining to the Democrats, party Chairwoman Kathleen Sullivan said, because they thought the calls are coming from congressional challenger Paul Hodes. Instead, they were coming from the National Republican Congressional Committee, on behalf of Rep. Charles Bass, but sound, at first, as though they may be from the Hodes' campaign. Under state law, delivering prerecorded political messages to numbers on any federal do-not-call list is punishable by a fine of $5,000 per call. [AP, 11/5/06, LINK]
Pennsylvania Voters Filed FCC Complaints on Misleading NRCC Ads. According to the Associated Press, “Bruce Jacobson, a software engineer from Ardmore, Pa., received three prerecorded messages in four hours. Each began, ‘Hello, I'm calling with information about Lois Murphy,’ the Democrat running against two-term incumbent Rep. Jim Gerlach in the Philadelphia-area district. ‘Basically, they go on to slam Lois,’ said Jacobson, who has filed a complaint with the FCC because the source of the call isn't immediately known. FCC rules say all prerecorded messages must ‘at the beginning of the message, state clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call.’ During or after the message, they must give the telephone number of the caller. ‘The way they're sent is deceptive. The number of calls is harassing. The way her stances are presented in these stories is deliberately misleading and deceptive,’ said Karlyn Messinger, another Murphy supporter from Penn Valley, Pa., who filed a complaint with the FCC.” [Associated Press, 11/2/06]
NRCC Spends Thousands on Calls Attacking Hayhurst Record on Immigration from Callers with Foreign Accents. According to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, “The telemarketing business used by Republicans to flood northeast Indiana with phone calls attacking Democratic congressional candidate Tom Hayhurst promises its political customers ‘a geographically neutral dialect’ to drum up voters. But many people who received the calls said the messages were delivered by voices with Indian or Hispanic accents. Many telemarketing companies hire call centers in India and other countries because of cheap Internet-based telephoning. A representative at FLS headquarters did not respond to a request for an interview. The NRCC paid $13,747 to the telemarketing firm to make thousands of calls this week describing Democrat Hayhurst as ‘bad on immigration’ or an advocate of higher taxes.” [Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, 11/5/06]
NRCC Has Spent $2.1 Million on Calls, Nearly $600,000 on Attack Calls in the Last Week Alone. As of last week, the NRCC had spent $2.1 million on phone banks. From 10/30 to 11/3, the NRCC spent $597,232.75 on phone calls solely designed to attack 46 Democratic candidates. [www.fec.gov]
Last week alone, the NRCC spent the following money on attack phone calls on the following Democratic candidates. One news report estimated each call costs only 5 cents each.
AZ-05: Harry Mitchell: $8210.76
CA-04: Charlie Brown: $16,617.24
CA-11: Jerry McNerney: $4120.28
CA-50: Francine Busby: $2641.68
CO-04: Angie Paccione: $10,456.32
CT-02: Joe Courtney: $12,844.56
CT-04: Diane Farrell: $44,964.56
CT-05: Chris Murphy: $17,494.08
FL-13: Christine Jennings: $24,638.82
FL-16: Tim Mahoney: $16,428.72
FL-22: Ron Klein: $3813.36
GA-08: Jim Marshall: $10,546.68
GA-12: John Barrow: $16,087.86
IA-01: Bruce Braley: $8386.26
IA-03: Leonard Boswell: $13,812.12
ID-01: Larry Grant: $23,752.26
IL-06: Tammy Duckworth: $11,474.31
IL-08: Melissa Bean: $14,134.38
IN-03: Tom Hayhurst: $13,746.88
IN-09: Baron Hill: $12,852.36
KS-02: Nancy Boyda: $4,093.74
KY-02: Mike Weaver: $1,510.74
KY-04: Ken Lucas: $15,242.10
MN-06: Patty Wetterling: $21,053.90
NC-11: Heath Shuler: $11,843.70
NE-03: Scott Kleeb: $3,492.66
NH-02: Paul Hodes: $19,321.98
NM-01: Patricia Madrid: $6,702.42
NV-02: Jill Derby: $10,934.16
NV-03: Tessa Hafen: $12,197.70
NY-19: John Hall: $16,123.62
NY-20: Kirsten Gillibrand: $11,143.38
NY-24: Mike Arcuri: $6,824.82
NY-25: Dan Maffei: $17,183. 46
NY-29: Eric Massa: $10,855.26
OH-01: John Cranley: $9,236.64
OH-02: Victoria Wulsin: $7,953.84
OH-15: Mary Jo Kilroy: $11,826.84
PA-04: Jason Altmire: $23,111.61
PA-06: Lois Murphy: $14,253.66
PA-08: Patrick Murphy: $18,969.36
PA-10: Chris Carney: $3,942.00
TX-22: Nick Lampson: $2,258.61
VA-02: Phil Kellam: $14,345.58
WA-08: Darcy Burner: $14,992.80
WI-08: Steve Kagen: $20,794.68
Get it? That "Clinton did it too" BS don't fly any more.
P.S. the addle brained Ray-Gun pardoned MORE people than Clinton.
Posted by DPD on July 4, 2007 at 07:02 PM
****
dpd, all of the GOP-PERS are liars and psychopaths. They fall into two categories:
The fascist skin-headed authoritarians.
The fundies lunatics who think they will be raptured and anyone who isn't like them are dead anyway.
they are a sick bunch. They can not be reasoned with.
More REDSTATE Lunacy -- "Glasgow Attack Makes Iraq War Right"
by chrisj [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 03:24:20 PM PDT
Un-Be-Lievable! A front page post at REDSTATE makes the dubious claim that a story from CBS about how Al Qaeda in Iraq may have been involved in the recent, mostly botched, attacks in Britain may support the much Bush-touted claim on Iraq that we are “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here”.
From REDSTATE (sorry to subject you to it):
The idea that al Qaeda will follow us to Western shores if we do not fight it in Iraq has been widely ridiculed by the bien pensant community. Perhaps, however, the idea ought to be given a bit more credence:
Is this more conservative intentional ignorance? How is that one can look at glaring evidence that a policy and theory has turned into a failed bunch of putrid garbage and conclude the opposite?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/173954/6994
****
RedStaters, Freepers, right wing fundies .. they are all nuts. All they know how to do is lie and steal. They are most certainly not pro-life and are in fact proponents of death and destruction.
This shows the lies and madness of the GOP. Hitler was a liberal? ba-wa-wa ... that's really funny:
Conservapedia and the Third Reich: Truth as Vandalism
by Pamela Troy | Jul 4 2007 - 10:59am | permalink
article tools: email | print | read more Pamela Troy
Now how exactly could Hitler, a man who was a strong supporter of social welfare programs, gun control, animal rights, government funding for the arts and bans against smoking in public get away with being called a "conservative"?
-- From "Hitler Was a Liberal," Christian Hartsock, March 1, 2006
One of the more surprising myths that has sprung up on the Internet in recent years is the premise that National Socialism was a leftist rather than a right-wing political movement. It’s a form of historical revisionism, rooted in cultural illiteracy, that’s been spreading like a rash through the worldwide web, popping up in comments pages, surfacing in the occasional blogger essay, and triumphantly being presented as an argument on online forums. Following the pattern of many such myths, it seems to be on the verge of breaking into the print media. Jonah Goldberg has a book coming out this December, LIBERAL FASCISM, that apparently offers a similar argument.
Anyone familiar with the history of Hitler’s National Socialist Party knows that the word “Socialism” in the party name was less an honest reflection of Nazi policies than a cynical attempt by party leadership to lure working class Germans into its ranks. As William Shirer points out:
The party had to play both sides of the tracks. It had to allow Strasser, Goebbels, and the crank Feder to beguile the masses with the cry that the National Socialists were truly “socialists” and against the money barons. On the other hand, money to keep the party going had to be wheedled out of those who had an ample supply of it. (“Triumph and Consolidation,” THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH, William Shirer)
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/8497
****
the sad truth is that this sort of Orweilian double talk now dominates the GOP. They are a sick bunch. Their only concern is power. They use the power to make themselves rich while they delude sheep such as the waterboz who make excuses for them. What a sad bunch of saps.
Please note one of my lies
How about he was impeached (ANYBODY can be impeached by a gang of partisan hacks) and found NOT GUILTY. An impeachment is a formal inquiry by the House, followed by a trial in the Senate, presided over by the Chief Justice. PERIOD. Did I mention NOT GUILTY?
Kerry's daughter "appearing" on a web site. OOH, that MUST be true. I've seen pictures of Cheney eating a live baby. (Actually, that may NOT be photoshopped).
Byrd said he joined due to "herd mentality" and recanted years ago, and has received a 100% rating from the NAACP every year.
Gore WON Florida but lost the Supreme Court (of Bush cronies) in the ONLY (scratch that, the Schiavo case became the second) time the Supreme Court made a ruling TOTALLY IGNORING the tenet of "Equal Justice Under Law", and even stated FOR THE RECORD that their ruling in the Florida election case was 'A ONE TIME APPLICATION OF THIS RULING", meaning in the future Dems can't use it as legal precedent.
Therefore, LIES.
Marsh, your best bet is to ignore these ignorant lying cry babies. They want to draw you into an argument mainly to irritate you. There is no debating pathological liars who are simply dissembling and can't discuss even one relevant issue.
dpd, of course the attacks on Clinton are stupid. That's the entire point is to distract the discussion. They can't defend Chimpo so instead they attack someone who hasn't been President for 6 years. How ridiculous is that?
Pretty darn ridiculous.
Therefore, LIES.
Posted by DPD on July 4, 2007 at 07:16 PM
****
dpd, it's a waste of time. Ignore them. They get really steamed when they are ignored. It's a bunch of children stomping their feet until someone acknowledges them.
Posted by lobbyreid on July 4, 2007 at 07:03 PM
well, as usual, i'm posting here while stuck at work, so i may be slow to respond. in the case of republicans like yourself, i may not respond at all, i often don't.
anyway.
wasn't talking to you. do you see your name anywhere in my post? (unless, of course, u r being a clever little fellow and posting under different names) wasn't even aware of you until after i'd posted it. u r not especially interesting or substantially different from the other republicans who regularly post here.
as far as i can tell, you haven't said very much at all. a couple of posts...
...mainly about clinton's sex life.
garden variety troll.
The NRCC needs to be exposed for what they are and listed as a subversive organization. They are a bunch of godamn fascist pigs like bush and cheney.
Hell Cools a Few Degrees
by mcjoan
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 04:10:51 PM PDT
Via Yglesias, check out what the Moonie Times has to say:
Perjury is a serious crime. This newspaper argued on behalf of its seriousness in the 1990s, during the Clinton perjury controversy, and today is no different. We'd have hoped that more conservatives would agree. The integrity of the judicial process depends on fact-finding and truth-telling. A jury found Libby guilty of not only perjury but also obstruction justice and lying to a grand jury. It handed down a very supportable verdict. This is true regardless of the trumped-up investigation and political witch hunt. It is true regardless of the unjustifiably harsh sentence.
Had Mr. Bush reduced Libby's sentence to 15 months, we might have been able to support the decision. Alas, he did not.
Bush has received criticism from a few surprising corners, including Fred Hiatt and FoxNews/LieberDem Lanny Davis, who has a somewhat tortured post at The Hill's blog arguing that Bush is a flip-flopper on the pardon issue.
So he's lost Fred Hiatt, the Moonie Times, and Davis. Who is supporting Bush's decision? The wingnuts, neocons, the Beltway gasbags, and those Republican candidates who feel they must cater to the winguts, neocons, Beltway gasbags and various and sundry dead-enders.
That would be the people who for the war in Iraq, who want to go to the war with Iran, and who support the surge. Kudos to Lanny for breaking away from the neocon orbit on this one.
Hey George, Ask Me a Question...
by keechi [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 04:22:48 PM PDT
George Bush - the only President, perhaps since the days of Nixon, who will not speak to the American people - in person, in real time & place. Today was just another Forth of July speech by George, before a carefully selected, "Invitation Only," crowd pulled mostly from families of our (Inter)Nation Guard.
keechi's diary :: ::
Why can't the president of the United States speak before a crowd of real Americans - a "Public Call" to any-town USA. A speech that any American citizen could come to, and hear George Bush speak (to us) in person. I'll be happy to check my weapons (pocket knife, pens, and pencils) at the door - my voice is all I need to speak to George Bush.
Bush said today, again, that if we don't beat Al-Qaeda, they will, "Not put down their guns, when we leave Iraq, they'll follow us home..."
Since he audience was only made up of family members and friends of our Nation Guard - his insinuation was that terrorism will only come to America if our National Guard gives up - or is sent home.
Bush's speech - in a 'Different Context,' such as, one being given to a free gathering of any Americans who heard they could go see the president speak - say, at their local town hall, or some other gathering place - well, that would have changed the meaning of Bush's words entirely.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/183930/5209
****
The reason the Chimp will not talk to regular people is the same reason he hates press conferences - he can't control the message.
What a coward! I can't imagine Bush surviving even one day in the British parliamentary system where he would have to stand in from of Parliament and answer questions without Rove, Snow and others to spin for him.
P.S. the addle brained Ray-Gun pardoned MORE people than Clinton.
Posted by DPD on July 4, 2007 at 07:02 PM
I used to have some respect for king bush the first because I didn't know any better.
It turns out that nixon, ray-gun, king bush the first, king bush the last and Rasputin (shooter) are total losers and have taken America back to the 18th century.
America can do so much better, but greed and arrogance have become the touchstone of the neocons. They have destroyed whatever respect that America had in the World with their arrogance, war mongering, stealing natural resources and utter corruption.
This bullshit must end NOW!!!!!!!!!
marsh, da trollies lubbs da Clinton penis. Can't stop talking about it.
Why don't they drool over Jeff Gannon / Guckert's "unit" like that? He's available, and can probably use the unmarked cash (which I'M SURE was reported as income. HAHAHAHHA). I bet his part time gig trolling "Pugs For Jesus" meetings leaves him a lot of time to do his "REAL" "Lord's work".
(P.S. The ONLY people who sat down and used the chairs were tourists who decided to rest a bit and eat lunch).
Oh, YEAH. Male HOOKER HOSANNAS!!
GOP Pervert Hall of SHame
GOP PERVERT HALL OF SHAME NOW CONTAINS OVER FIFTY FIVE NAMES
A RECOVERING LIBERAL EXCLUSIVE Last week’s arrest of the fourth highest person in the vaunted Department of Homeland Security, Brian Doyle, brought back memories of other notable folks on the right who preached the Good Book but were really, really bad boys. You remember them, guys like Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggert who never flinched at taking their flocks’ money but somehow managed to use at least part of it for some sweet young stuff.
That got me thinking about other Republican holier than thou folks who might be in the same boat. I asked a friend to do a bit of research on that subject, and here is the list that he put together;
http://recoveringliberal.com/?page_id=765
****
Oh and plenty more names can be added to the list. Immediately, a couple of names come to mind:
Mark Foley - that GOP pervert from Florida who assaulted teenage pages.
GOP Governor candidate Jim Ryan who dropped out of race because a report on his frequently of sex clubs.
If the GOP-PERS want to get into sleaze they have plenty of it in their history.
Now, what does any of that have to do with the Chimp's trashing of the constitution? Nothing ... absolutely nothing.
DPD,
The trolls sound like frustrated little shits who don't get enough at home and have to live in an imaginary world of blow-up cheney dolls and stimulating lotions.
I imagine that these days with the state of his "marriage" in such decline that chimp is using a blow-up cheney doll with dirty pictures of little girls.
Posted by lobbyreid on July 4, 2007 at 07:31 PM
what i think about this site is irrelevant. it's the dnc site, they can do whatever the hell they want to with it. i've had my account deleted a couple of times myself. bfd. don't like it? get the fuck out.
of course i take issue with your posts.
i don't give a damn about bill clinton's sex life. i didn't care then. i don't care now.
you and i care about different facts:
i care about the fact that every vote was not counted in 2000. you care about a blowjob.
i care about the fact that 2 million more americans lost thier health care coverage last year. you care about kerry's daughter alleged weblife.
i care about the fact that we were lied into a disasterous war with no way to win. you care about byrd's past over 40 years ago.
i care about the fact that we went from a record surplus under clinton to a recort deficit under bush. you care about whether or not clinton took a toke off a joint. (but, for some reason, not about bush's alcoholism or cocaine use).
it's all about priorities.
I doubt that it's little girls. IS there really a reason he waited until he decided to launch a political career that he didn't have his turkey baster babies when he was 40? Other than being an alcoholic cocaine abuser, that is.
Just WHY was Gannon / Guckert having overnight "pajama parties" in the White House every time Laura was in Crapfest TX?
WHY ARE THE OWNERS OF THIS BLOG AFRAID OF REPUBLICANS
Posted by lobbyreid on July 4, 2007 at 07:07 PM
Afraid is too subjective of a word.
Let's just say we are "sickened" by the corruption, criminal activity, and attempts to circumvent the Constitution...often for personal gain and sometimes indecent pleasures.
You guys are repulsive.
Oh, YEAH. Male HOOKER HOSANNAS!!
Posted by DPD on July 4, 2007 at 07:38 PM
****
Gannon-Guckert ... now there's a GOP disgrace. They manufacture press credentials for this person and then call on him constantly to ask softball questions.
Happy 4th, {{good Dems}}!
And for you especially, {{Marsh}}, since you are stuck at work: International Freedom Festival fireworks show finale.
Off to see the local fireworks show. BBL, maybe.
I imagine that these days with the state of his "marriage" in such decline that chimp is using a blow-up cheney doll with dirty pictures of little girls.
Posted by Johnedwrd on July 4, 2007 at 07:45 PM
****
What a horrifying thought.
Luv it when the skin headed right wingers yap about Byrd being in the KKK 40 years ago. Hey skin-heads, you all are still in the KKK and are proud of it. Maybe what the skin headed authoritarians are really upset about is that Byrd denounced the KKK a long long time ago ... wee!!!
Posted by rjsnj on July 4, 2007 at 04:18 PM
Bush is speaking in Biblical terms here. A decade in his god's time is equal to a century or two of combat in Iraq.
Hi, {{BARBI}} Happy belated Canada Day and Independence Day to YOU too!
I remember when they wanted to do a concert on the Ambassador Bridge with Count Basie or Duke Ellington (the one with honorary Canadian citizenship) with one hand in each Country, and they nixed it for some reason.
Joining Windsor's and Detroit's fireworks into one show is AWESOME!
I gave up on going to Grant Park with a MILLION of my CLOSEST friends years ago.
There you go Marsh.
Posted by _Best-is_US on July 4, 2007 at 07:53 PM
That is very offensive to the fags who post here. Are you one of them homophobic mofos?
Posted by FrostySureWasRightAboutLibbySkating on July 4, 2007 at 07:47 PM
there you go, us.
seriously. you dimwits come in here and say the stupid, repulsive, hateful shit you do, then get all upset when there is a backlash?
"oh boo hoo! they called me names! and all i did was question thier patriotism, repeatedly. all i did was post stories about bestiality and talk about interns with cigars up thier twats. all i did was call you commies and babykillers. all i did was call you "fags" and "hags" and make diaper jokes. all i did was come in here uninvited and track shit all over the place...why are you so mean to poor me?"
hypocrasy as an artform, courtesy of the republican party.
Bush is speaking in Biblical terms here. A decade in his god's time is equal to a century or two of combat in Iraq.
****
Sandy, I heard that before. So, he really thinks we are going to fighting a "war" in Iraq for 100-200 years? Not likely. I don't know of any historic analogy except the 100 year Roman war against Cartharge (modern day Ethiopia approximately). The reason that war lasted so long is the nature of how wars were fought back then - armies would fight a couple of months and then go home and tend to the crops for months. Also, it turned rather nasty for Rome when Hannibal invaded ... Bush is a madman and Cheney is just downright evil. We will be busted in 10 years if this level of spending continues.
{{{DPD}}}!!! Smoooches, m' luv!
I have decades of memories anchoring in the river just south of the Ren-Cen and near the Canadian side, right near where this video was taken, to view and hear this most awesome show. It's an experience I can't describe. You'd have to be there to understand!
Of COURSE you are "right". That doesn't EVER mean that you are "correct".
Barbi, I've been there several times (Hart Plaza is a zoo, so I usually went to Windsor). Better view, IMHO. Did you ever notice that Detroit looks better from a different Country? It's nice that they FINALLY stopped turning their back on the Riverfront and are adding parks, trails, and plazas, instead of loading docks and cement factories.
Posted by _Best-is_US on July 4, 2007 at 08:11 PM
no, you are not right. in fact, i'd have to say your trademark is an astounding level of ignorance coupled with a pathological need to demonstrate that ignorance.
you may be the "wrongest" troll i ever met.
I NEVER called anyone a fag. I just mentioned Gannon / Guckert's primary line of employment, and the FACT that he never seems to leave the White House whenever Pickles is at the Luxury Estate in Crapfest, TX.
Posted by _Best-is_US on July 4, 2007 at 08:11 PM
and, of course, you certainly do not remember correctly. you started the name calling.
you arrived and immediately said something to the effect of "hello america-haters" or something like that.
for the record, being an america-hater is more offensive than being called a fag. i've been called fag by people like you and frosty since i was too young to know what the word meant.
questioning my patriotism is much more outrageous and offensive to me.
them's fightin' words. you dig?
Edwards Evening News Roundup: July 4th Edition
by clarkent [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 05:36:26 PM PDT
Welcome to another edition of the Edwards Evening News Roundup! Today is the 4th of July, and I'll be your guest host for the evening. We'll talking about John and Elizabeth's Independence Day announcement, continue with Senator Edwards' recent appearance at the ACORN Presidential Forum, and bring it home with a recent Silicon Valley fundraiser.
clarkent's diary :: ::
John Edwards' Independence Day announcement:
"Elizabeth and I want to wish everyone a happy Independence Day. Today, we celebrate our freedom—the freedom that has allowed our country to prosper and that allows each of us to make a difference in our country. The great movements in our country haven't started in the Oval Office—they've started with the American people, who have for stood up for centuries to protect our cherished values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
"Today, let us remember all of those who have given up so much to ensure that freedom continues to reign throughout our great country. The strength of America lies in the people of America and the great possibility of what we can do together."
It's worth noting that Senator Edwards realizes that movements are not about one person, but instead are about the American people standing up for one another. In Monday's ACORN Presidential Forum, Senator Edwards recognized this in the assembled activists. He praised them for their dogged pursuit of equality on behalf of the voiceless, from helping to rebuild poor neighborhoods in New Orleans to going door to door to help families in low-income neighborhoods around the country.
How U.S. policy missteps led to a nasty downfall in Gaza
By Warren P. Strobel and Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy Newspapers
Wed Jul 4
WASHINGTON — Officials in the Bush administration awoke on the morning of January 26, 2006 to catastrophic news.
Hamas , a violent Islamist movement whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel , had won Palestinian parliamentary elections— elections that were deemed free and fair and a cornerstone to President Bush 's initiative to bring more democracy to the Muslim world.
For the next 17 months, White House and State Department officials would undertake an all-out campaign to reverse those results and oust Hamas from power.
Instead of undermining Hamas , though, the strategy helped to exacerbate dangerous political fissures in Palestinian politics that have delivered another setback to the president's vision of a stable, pro- Western Middle East.
The administration's drive to change the political facts on the ground foundered on opposition in Congress , the differing goals of Middle East allies such as Saudi Arabia , and an inability to provide Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with the full backing he needed to confront Hamas .
Three weeks ago, Hamas leaders outmaneuvered everyone else and seized the Gaza strip in a swift military campaign that vanquished secular Fatah forces loyal to Abbas. Abbas, with U.S. encouragement, responded by dissolving the Hamas -led government and declaring emergency rule. Now, with Palestinians divided into two mini-states in Gaza and the West Bank , mediating a peace deal with Israel will be harder than ever.
The strategy toward Hamas was overseen by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and carried out largely by Elliott Abrams , a leading neoconservative in the White House, and Assistant Secretary of State David Welch .
At its heart was a plan to organize military support for Abbas for what opponents of the strategy feared could have become a Palestinian civil war, according to officials in Washington and the Middle East , and documents...
//news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20070704/wl_mcclatchy/20070704bcmideastgaza_attn_national_foreign_editors_ytop;_ylt=Aoo0Wr6PzOnUya.CvGbvqxDMWM0F
Read on to learn more about how this fiasco unfolded...and just where it may be going next. Sounds like the Jordians want al Quaeda to invade them.
Posted by marsh_supports_bong_hits_for_jesus on July 4, 2007
FFFFfffffff...(cough, cough) Pass it on. No Bogarting...(cough, cough). Watch out, it's Creeper.
i would think the real "america-haters" are those who would deny our country the best interpreters, just because they are gay...
This Fourth: Freedom, Crispus and Gay Linguists
Crispus Attucks was born a slave in the colony of Massachusetts.
Maybe he was born in Mass.
He might've been born around 1723. Perhaps he was born a couple of years prior. Or could it have been a couple of years after? Hard to be exactly sure. Crispus was born a slave. In the early 1700s nobody was much keeping stats on slaves beyond the quality of their teeth, the thickness of their hide and whether or not they had the audacity to make a run to freedom.
Crispus ran. Was never caught. Fell off the 18th Century version of the grid for twenty years.
The next significant event in Crispus's life was his last. March 5th, 1770. A fight broke out in Dock Square between a few good, upstanding Colonists and some nasty Brit soldiers. Crispus took up a stick, rallied a crowd and rolled out to back up the Colonists against the King's lackeys.
It was true then as it is now: don't bring a stick to a shooting match. The soldiers opened fired. Hit Crispus twice. Killed him, killed four others and wounded six.
Though the event was five years prior to the open rebellion, the Boston Massacre was one of the bloody precursors to the American Revolution. It was citizens rising up to physicalize their displeasure with the Crown. In giving his life, Crispus is considered to be the first patriot of the Colonial revolt. Born a slave, he died fighting for ideals society itself didn't extend to him. But, you know, sometimes those without freedom are precisely the ones who cherish it most.
It's a lesson that's been re-taught to the populace by the Tuskegee Red Tails and the Fightin' 442nd: that the desire to secure liberty, a sense of honor and duty are not the sole domain of any race, or gender, or faith.
Nor are they limited by sexual orientation.
And yet . . .
Since 1998 the US military has discharged 58 Arabic and Farsi translators because -- wait for it -- they were gay.
Fired.
Sent packing despite the shortage of individuals skilled in speaking middle-eastern tongues. Here we are in the hard heart of the war on terrorism. We are told again and again that this will be a decades-long struggle to secure Western civilization which will require shared sacrifice from all.
So, isn't it ironic that securing freedom for all is not open to all?
Why is "Don't ask..." still our policy when it is the enemies of liberty who don't check a list and mark the particulars of their vics? There was no type of individual that was not laid low by the attacks of September 11th or the bombings in Bali and Madrid and London. Why, then, would we place restrictions on those willing to stand against our attackers? Because of their sexual preference? Tell that to the dead left in the wake of the next successful Al Qaeda attack; actionable intel could not be verified because we could not abide the private lives of those who offered to help.
Fifty-eight willing to fight despite the bigotry some in the country level against them.
Fifty-eight willing patriots kicked to the curb among 11,000 uniformed men and women similarly set-aside since the early nineties. That's nearly a surge in itself.
This Fourth of July, consider the true cost of freedom. Beyond spilled blood and loss of life, it is tolerating those not like us, who wish to defend us.
Bush cites ongoing debate about George Washington's Legacy: No longer concerned about his own, Damn!
by jmsjoin [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 05:02:40 PM PDT
Bush cites ongoing debate about George Washington's Legacy: No longer concerned about his own, we're in trouble!
First I want to say Happy 4th of July! I was not aware Washington's legacy was still being debated. Bush's will be debated for years if we are lucky. However his destruction of our American and world order has already settled his Legacy as the worst President in History.
In the past I am sure I am not the only one that being very disgusted and greatly disappointed with Bush's corruptive ineptitude as he blindly discards our societal and world order to replace it with his version of new order.
All along his perverted course he has always been outspoken as to his concern for his Legacy. That has always been mind blowing watching every detrimental move he has made. Anyway not anymore. I saw an interview last night that I cannot find and hope someone can help me. But he is no longer concerned about his legacy and it will speak for itself for many years into the future. As we see it everyday, It is speaking now and getting worse with every corruptive move.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/195852/6535
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I luv it when Chimp says that people are still debating George Washington's presidency so there will be plenty of time to decide on his.
Don't worry Chimpy, it's already been cast in concrete that you are the absolute worst.
Fifty-eight willing to fight despite the bigotry some in the country level against them.
says it all.
lol, pass it to the left, dpd.
always to the left:)
The strategy toward Hamas was overseen by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and carried out largely by Elliott Abrams , a leading neoconservative in the White House, and Assistant Secretary of State David Welch .
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Eliott Abrams - an architect of Iran-Contra, organizer of Latin American death squads. Yep, all the trash and riff-raff work for Chimpy.
BS, asswipe. Gannon / Guckert ADVERTISED on SEVERAL web sites. I didn't "accuse" him of anything. I mentioned what HE was SELLING. In fact, when YOU partake of his "services" I think I should get a "finders fee" from da bode uh yuzz. (Chicago - speak).
Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles, members of local Green and Progressive Democratic party organizations will be joined by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) to inaugurate an 'Impeachment Center.' The Center will serve as "a [Los Angeles] countywide resource for advancing the impeachment of George W. Bush & Richard Cheney," with "phonebanking, letterwriting and other Impeachment related resources available for distribution." The facility will be open on a weekly basis.
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An Impeachment Center - I like that!
Impeach Shotgun
Impeach Chimpy
Posted earlier but worth mentioning it's a GOP pollster reporting this:
Republican Pollster Finds Nixon and Bush Jr. Neck and Neck in Contest for Least Popular President
Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2007-07-05 00:29. Media
Here are the results.
Chimpy and Blimpy are going down.
IS THE UNITED STATES KILLING 10,000 IRAQIS EVERY MONTH? OR IS IT MORE?
Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2007-07-05 00:17. Evidence
By Michael Schwartz
A state-of-the-art research study published in October 12, 2006 issue of The Lancet (the most prestigious British medical journal) concluded that—as of a year ago—600,000 Iraqis had died violently due to the war in Iraq. That is, the Iraqi death rate for the first 39 months of the war was just about 15,000 per month.
That wasn’t the worst of it, because the death rate was increasing precipitously, and during the first half of 2006 the monthly rate was approximately 30,000 per month, a rate that no doubt has increased further during the ferocious fighting associated with the current American surge.
The U.S. and British governments quickly dismissed these results as “methodologically flawed,” even though the researchers used standard procedures for measuring mortality in war and disaster zones. (They visited a random set of homes and asked the residents if anyone in their household had died in the last few years, recording the details, and inspecting death certificates in the vast majority of cases.) The two belligerent governments offered no concrete reasons for rejecting the study’s findings, and they ignored the fact that they had sponsored identical studies (conducted by some of the same researchers) in other disaster areas, including Darfur and Kosovo. The reasons for this rejection were, however, clear enough: the results were simply too devastating for the culpable governments to acknowledge. (Secretly the British government later admitted that it was “a tried and tested way to measuring mortality in conflict zones”; but it has never publicly admitted its validity).
Reputable researchers have accepted the Lancet study’s results as valid with virtually no dissent. Juan Cole, the most visible American Middle East scholar, summarized it in a particularly vivid comment: “the US misadventure in Iraq is responsible [in a little over three years] for setting off the killing of twice as many civilians as Saddam managed to polish off in 25 years.”
there's nothing pejorative about pointing out a the ridiculousness of a homophobe's obsession with another man's penis.
there's nothing pejorative about questioning the sexuality of people who attack gays in the political arena then employ male escorts as political hit-men.
it's about the hypocracy, not the gayness.
typical frosty to use a gay slur (with such gusto! frosty, such relish) then lecture someone else about sensititivy.
Impeach Action at the Ball Park
Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2007-07-05 00:01. Impeachment
Report Back from Renay:
If you'd like a quick report-back about our Take Me Out to the Ballgame action, read on:
Saturday, June 30 found four of us CodePink women and one auxiliary member at the Giants vs. Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game. Martha arrived with the huge, freeway size IMPEACH banner, Dianne and Tim with a Baseball Fans for Peace banner and a second IMPEACH banner, Susan with pins and pink hat, Renay with seven individual black patches with hot pink letters spelling IMPEACH (ever creative, however, since there were only five of us, we re-designed the patches to spell PEACE and shamelessly advertised our message throughout the game and afterwards, too) and flyers providing the phone numbers to the congressional switchboard and the White House comment line, urging people to call for the impeachment of the VP.
In perfect coordination with the singing of the national anthem before the start of the game, up we went to the Kiddie Arcade and up went the huge IMPEACH banner, in perfect position just below the coke bottle and the giant baseball glove above leftfield in the stadium...It was a truly inspirational and beautiful moment. By the time security arrived with a mild admonishment of "you can't tie that banner there, you have to hold it!", the national anthem was finished and off we went, banner intact, back to our front row bleacher seats....before we reached our seats, however, we were met by Dori, a CodePink activist attending the game separately. She was so excited at having seen the banner that she had rushed from her seat on the opposite side of the stadium to greet us and thank us for our work. Back at our seats, Tim told us that, due to the camera focused on the singer (and maybe to a supportive camera person?), the IMPEACH banner was displayed on jumbo-tron (the huge TV screen in center field) for all the park to see during the entirety of the national anthem! (Even if half of the people at the game were watching jumbo-tron at that moment, 20,000 people got the message.)
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24308
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Chimpy it's over for you and Blimpy.
That's O.K., you can spend what little money you have any way you want. I STILL want my "finders fee", though.
Bill Clinton blasts commutation of
Libby's prison sentence
Story Highlights
Bill and Hillary Clinton campaigned in Iowa for the July Fourth holiday
On radio, ex-president said Libby case differed from his own pardon controversy
He said it's "wrong that no one was ever fired" from White House in CIA leak case
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, convicted of lying to federal agents, won't serve time
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/04/clinton.libby/index.html
Heading outside shortly.
Lake is practically across the street. Talk about a view! Kinda cloudy though.
Lake Julian Park - 4th of July Fireworks
{{Marsh}} good to read you!
Fed up with war, some won't pay taxes
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - When the United States invaded Iraq more than four years ago, war opponent David Gross asked his bosses for a radical pay cut, enough so he wouldn't have to pay taxes to support the war.
"I was having a hard time looking at myself in the mirror," Gross said. "I knew the bombs falling were in part paid with my tax dollars. I had to actually do something concrete to remove my complicity."
The San Francisco technical writer was making close to $100,000 a year. He didn't know exactly how big of a pay cut he would need to fall below the federal tax threshold, but later figured out he would have to make less than minimum wage.
In any event, his employer turned him down and he quit. Gross, 38, now works on a contract basis, and last year he refused to pay self-employment taxes.
War tax resistance, popularized by Henry David Thoreau in the 19th century and by singer Joan Baez and others during the Vietnam War, is gaining renewed interest among peace activists upset over the Iraq war.
"Clearly this year we definitely had more people calling, sending e-mails about how they decided to start resisting," said Ruth Benn, coordinator of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee in New York.
Based on the committee's mailing list and reports from numerous groups it works with around the country, Benn estimates 8,000 to 10,000 Americans refuse to pay some or all of their federal taxes over war objections. Internal Revenue Service officials say they don't have figures for that specific category, but earlier this year reported an overall noncompliance rate of 16.3 percent and estimated the annual tax gap at about $345 billion.
Peace activists are considering a mass tax resistance campaign next April to step up pressure to end the war in Iraq, Benn said.
Many tax protesters say they redirect the money they withhold to charities. Some, like Joanne Sheehan of Norwich, keep their income below taxable levels.
"I don't see the point of working for peace and paying for war," Sheehan said.
Gross said he now manages to live on about $15,000 per year by carefully tracking his spending.
He acknowledged the tax resistance movement is too small to stop the war.
"But I think what we're doing is showing the way for people in the anti-war movement," Gross said. "I can look myself in the mirror and say at least I'm not supporting it, at least I'm not part of the machine."
The IRS said that while taxpayers have a right to express their opinions, they still have an obligation to pay their taxes. Tax resisters place an undue burden on taxpayers who pay their fair share of taxes, IRS spokeswoman Dianne Besunder said.
John Ubaldi, spokesman for Move America Forward, which supports the military and the war on terror, said the government would not be able to function if everyone opposed to a program stopped paying taxes.
"They're showing the terrorists that America is not committed," Ubaldi said.
The IRS considers it a frivolous argument when a taxpayer cites disagreement with the government's use of tax money as the reason for not paying taxes.
A new federal law increases the penalty for frivolous tax returns from $500 to $5,000. The IRS says it investigates promoters of frivolous arguments and refers cases to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.
Unlike the days when Thoreau was sent to prison in a tax protest against the Mexican-American War, modern war tax protesters rarely go to prison, according to tax resisters. The IRS may take their money from wages and bank accounts — with penalties and interest — after sending a series of letters.
"They're very polite, which makes it a little boring," said Rosa Packard of Greenwich, a longtime anti-war tax protester.
But Randy Kehler, who has refused to pay federal income taxes since 1976 to protest U.S. military policy, was evicted with his wife from their home in Colrain, Mass., in 1989 for nonpayment of more than $45,000 in taxes, interest and penalties. Kehler was also jailed for nearly three months for contempt of court.
Their tax fight was the subject of a 1997 documentary called "An Act of Conscience," narrated by actor Martin Sheen.
War protesters have been pushing for a law called the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund that would allow designated conscientious objectors to have their income, estate, or gift taxes used for nonmilitary purposes. After years of efforts, they hope a Congressional hearing will be held on the proposal next year.
"People fear the IRS more than they fear God," said Alan Gamble, executive director of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund. "They're paying under a tremendous burden."
6 soldiers killed by massive roadside bomb
A roadside bomb explosion ripped through the armoured vehicle of six Canadian soldiers Wednesday, killing them as they returned to their base after a heavy day of fighting in Afghanistan. Full Story:
Bush threatens D.C. funding veto over gays
In what the Human Rights Campaign called "a new low" of "anti-gay zeal," President Bush has threatened to veto this year's routine appropriations bill to the District of Columbia over the district's recently strengthened recognition of domestic partners.
The district, governed by a city council, gets about 25 percent of its funding directly from Congress, giving that body control over local affairs far greater than it has on other cities. Congress' Democratic takeover in the 2006 elections heartened the district's gay activists, out D.C. Council member Jim Graham told the Washington Post this month.
Graham, one of two out council members, told the Post that he plans to introduce a bill in the next two years for the district to recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions.
The District of Columbia first recognized domestic partnerships in 1992 and greatly strengthened them last year. The registry is open to same- and opposite-sex unmarried couples and confers hospital visits, medical decisions, joint tax filings and inheritance rights, among other rights, according to the local Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance. D.C. public employees also can get health and other benefits for their partners. About 80 percent of the registered partners are gay.
Said the White House in its June 27 policy statement on the bill:
"Under federal law, legal marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Federal tax dollars are not used to extend employment benefits to domestic partners of federal employees, and D.C. should not enjoy an exception to this rule. If the final version of HR 2829 does not include this longstanding provision, the president's senior advisers would recommend he veto the bill.
"With his popularity at an all-time low, this president has yet again dipped his cup into the well of anti-gay bigotry," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which like many advocacy groups is based in the district.
"He has issued a veto threat on funding for the District of Columbia because long-term, committed couples want to have such basic rights as visiting each other in the hospital and making medical decisions for their partner," Solmonese said.
"The anti-gay zeal of this administration has reached a new low."
Iraq checkpoint attack kills 15
At least 15 people have been killed and 17 others injured in a suicide car bomb attack on a checkpoint near the central Iraqi city of Ramadi, police have said.
Full Story:
Well, kiddos, I'm heading out to my "secret spot" (which I tell EVERYONE about, I have NO idea why they insist on going to a park with a few thousand people, but they do.) It's an abandoned railroad right - of way that was turned into a bikikg and jogging path as part of the "Rails to Trails" program, and from there we can see the displays from SEVERAL suburbs, with ZERO obstructions.
BBL
"People fear the IRS more than they fear God," said Alan Gamble, executive director of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund. "They're paying under a tremendous burden."
Posted by marsh_supports_bong_hits_for_jesus on July 4, 2007 at 09:15 PM
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marsh, this happened during the Vietnam era too as a tool of protest.
sweet.
US Democrats open fundraising gap on Republicans
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democratic White House hopefuls have opened a fundraising gap of tens of millions of dollars over Republicans, with the 2008 race on course to become the first billion dollar US election.
Latest figures show candidates are raking in stunning hauls in campaign cash, with top Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton rewriting record books, while Republicans cope with a malaise afflicting their party.
In what the Human Rights Campaign called "a new low" of "anti-gay zeal," President Bush has threatened to veto this year's routine appropriations bill to the District of Columbia over the district's recently strengthened recognition of domestic partners.
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Bush is a freaking madman. This is what you get when a drunk coked up sadist who was supposedly "saved by fundies" becomes prez. Bush is unqualified to even be a dog catcher.
Prosecutors to Seek Death for Ex-Soldier in Iraq Slayings
By Brett Barrouquere
The Associated Press
New US data show how heavily the Bush administration has relied on corporations to carry out the occupation of the war-torn nation.
Private Contractors Outnumber US Troops in Iraq
By T. Christian Miller
The Los Angeles Times
F*ck You King George
by shannanc [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 06:17:24 PM PDT
As we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, I want to post this excerpt from Thom Hartmann's book, What Would Jefferson Do? A Return to Democracy in which Hartmann describes the sacrifices that the signers of the Declaration made:
shannanc's diary :: ::
The cost to those who fought for democracy
The Declaration of Independence was the logical extension of the Revolution initiated by the Boston Tea Party, and was signed by a group bearing similar diversity to those in the various states who later ratified the Constitution.
A dozen of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were politicians, physicians, or Protestant ministers; 11 were merchants; 9 were farmers. Ben Franklin was hard to define, although at the time he was referred to as a printer and a Renaissance man; another was a musician, and one was a teacher. They ranged in age from their 20s to the octogenarian Franklin, although he was the only one who was truly elderly. Thomas Jefferson, at 33, represented the average age.
These men were the most idealistic and determined among the colonists. While the conservatives of the day argued that America should remain a colony of England forever, these liberal radicals believed in both individual liberty and societal obligations. A nation must care for the lives of its own, guarantee liberty, and ensure its citizens "happiness"--a radical concept that had never before appeared in any nation's founding documents.
....The day they each signed that document, each legally became a traitor and was sentenced to death for treason by the legal government that controlled their lands and their homes. As Ben Franklin pointed out, they stood at a point of no return, and, "Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/4/205659/8495
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King George the Chimp!
Made in China: tainted food, fake drugs and dodgy paint
World's biggest exporter faces a global crisis of confidence as scandals grow over the quality of many of its goods
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
thanks gregg. freedom of speech is a beautiful thing.
"Hot fuel" controversy hits Capitol Hill
by a gnostic [Subscribe]
Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 06:11:33 PM PDT
According to CBSNews, you pay $.30-$1.30 more per fill-up at the pump during the summer than you should due to a well-known facet of the oil and gas industry called "hot fuel."
a gnostic's diary :: ::
Hot fuel boils down to simple physics: when temperatures rise, gasoline expands. So on hotter days, you're getting less usable fuel from a gallon of gas.
But gas is bought by retailers based on a standard temperature of 60 degrees. When it's hotter than that, the argument goes that drivers end up paying the difference.
On a 90-plus degree day, McGinnis decided to take a measurement of the gasoline's temperature – the thermometer settled at 78.5 degrees, a lot higher than the 60 degree standard.
Consumer groups say the difference could cost drivers three to nine cents a gallon more at the pumps, totaling more than $1.5 billion this summer, $2.3 billion for the year.
That's making it a hot issue from the highways to Capitol Hill, where hearings recently got heated over the issue. And about 20 federal lawsuits have accused retailers and distributors of unfairly profiting from hot fuel.
Bill Younger is one of the plaintiffs. "It should be 60 degrees, that's what the government says it's supposed to be," he says. "You're not getting what your paying for."
There you have it.
And you thought you were just getting screwed from the oil industry by their limiting refinery capacity and by their causing massive loss of life of foreign nationals, not to mention the loss of life of your beloved men and women in uniform, due to oil wars!
Add this up over the history of the oil and gas industry and we're talking about billions upon billions of dollars bilked.
Keep in mind that Canadians have special equipment installed at the pumps to deal with this issue so it CAN be fixed...
California activists inaugurate Impeachment Center on Independence Day
A group of progressive and Democratic activists in California will be using the July 4 holiday to inaugurate a nerve center that will work to bring more Congress members around to supporting the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The Impeachment Center's opening comes as one House Democrat took aim at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's statement that impeachment remained 'off the table.'
Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles, members of local Green and Progressive Democratic party organizations will be joined by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) to inaugurate an 'Impeachment Center.' The Center will serve as "a [Los Angeles] countywide resource for advancing the impeachment of George W. Bush & Richard Cheney," with "phonebanking, letterwriting and other Impeachment related resources available for distribution." The facility will be open on a weekly basis.
Matthew Gerbasi, the Impeachment Working Group Coordinator of the Progressive Democrats of America, described the Impeachment Center's mission to RAW STORY on Tuesday.
"The center's mission will be to get the LA City Council, and Santa Monica to pass pro-impeachment resolutions, and also to get all of the Congressional representatives in the Los Angeles-area to either sign on to Rep. Dennis Kucinich's [Cheney impeachment] bill or to introduce Articles of Impeachment on their own," the California-based activist said.
Gerbasi wasn't sure that the funding existed to support similar resource center in any other locations in the country. But he didn't rule out the possibility that progressive activists might devise similar strategies of their own.
"We don't have nation-wide reach to make anyone do anything like this, but we've been hearing about impeachment from a lot of Progressive Democrat chapters," he told RAW STORY. "A lot of chapter meetings turn into impeachment meetings after 15 or 20 minutes, and everyone there wants to impeach these guys, to hold them accountable, and they don't feel that the House is doing their jobs."
The launch of the Impeachment Center comes on the heels of the commutation of the sentence of convicted former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) is the latest House member to contemplate impeachment, and has taken aim at one of his party's top leader's unwillingness to consider the possibility.
"I certainly hope Nancy Pelosi will withdraw her initial remarks that impeachment is completely off the table," Jackson said, according to a Tuesday report from CBS News in Chicago.
However, it is not yet known if Jackson will become a co-sponsor of H. Res. 333, the Articles of Impeachment for Cheney that Rep. Kucinich introduced in April. To date, 12 House Democrats have signed on to the Ohio Democrat's bill according to the website After Downing Street.
More information about the Impeachment Center can be found at its website.
More information about the Impeachment Center can be found at its website.
Posted by marsh_supports_bong_hits_for_jesus on July 4, 2007 at 09:35 PM
****
Now that's a beautiful thing - an Impeachment Center.
This is just immoral. What the neocons and multinationals have done and continue to do to the people of Iraq is so unethical and unholy. They are just laying waste to that country and then picking their bones bare.
Iraq draws up plans for privatisation gold rush
By Helen Power, Sunday Telegraph
05/07/2007
The Iraqi government has begun preparing the groundwork for what could be one of the biggest privatisations of state-owned assets.
The Sunday Telegraph has learned that officials from the government have recently held talks with banking and legal advisers in London. City sources said Iraq's minister for industry, Fawzi Hariri, was looking to appoint advisers to draw up a memorandum of understanding to sell off the country's non-oil assets, ranging from petrochemical plants to construction companies, hotels and airlines, as early as this month.
Quds electricity plant, Iraq draws up plans for privatisation gold rush
Quds electricity plant: Iraq's reconstruction will be a building bonanza
The privatisation proposals could also include a massive extension of foreign participation in the oil industry. Sources close to the foreign ministry said the government believed it had struck a deal on the long-awaited hydrocarbon law which could see Parliament vote the legislation through in two weeks' time. If the legislation is passed, arrangements to allow foreign oil majors to enter into production-sharing agreements with Iraq's national oil company could then make it into the memorandum.
An executive at one of the smaller Western oil companies operating in Iraq said: "As you would expect, most of Iraq's non-oil assets are outdated and in pretty bad shape. But this would give people who wanted to operate in Iraq an opportunity to get in." The source added that Iraq's nationalised cement industry could be particularly attractive because the country's reconstruction will require a building bonanza...
//www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/07/01/cniraq101.xml
And this is what the multinationals and their Republican co-cospirators have planned for the United States after they destroy the middle class and our democratic system of govenment?
Traitors. They are traitors and unnatural sons and daughters. They are unholy monsters and blood-thirsty leeches. A pox on them and their false god of hate, hypocricy, and money.
The GOP no longer has any sense of nation or of humanity. What in the hell happened to them in the last 30 years? When did they decide they would turn their backs on the country that allowed them to accumulate so much wealth and power?
Do they really think we have become so afraid of them...and their elusive threats of things that go bump in the night? Do they really think they are so clever? Do they really think their experiment in the rape and looting of Iraq is working or that we will support it another year?
Do they honestly think those millions of highly educated, middle class Iraqi refugees will not return for revenge and continue the fight against the invaders at some point...with the best wishes of the rest of world? And then come after us where we live?
Why are greedy people so stupid? Why are Republicans such incompetent doorknobs?
Happy 4th of July, my friends. May the fireworks we all see this holiday equal the one's that the Republicans have to deal within a little more than a year from now.
We're off to enjoy the music and bombs bursting in air over at the park. God bless American and a curse on those GOP traitors who would willing destroy all this country stands for and for which so many have shed their blood to protect.
Good night, everyone.
yep, he was impeached and the public yawned. they didn't care then and they most certainly don't care now.
While Clinton's job approval rating varied over the course of his first term, ranging from a low of 36 percent in mid-1993 to a high of 64 percent in late-1993 and early-1994,[53] his job approval rating consistently ranged from the high-50s to the high-60s in his second term. Clinton's approval rating reached its highest point at 73 percent approval in the aftermath of the impeachment proceedings in 1998 and 1999.
poor bush, no bj and still the second least popular president in american history. but not to worry, he's catching up to nixon and he's still got over a year left.
he could very well end up being the least popular president ever.
POLITICS-US: Bush Presidency Enters Terminal Phase
WASHINGTON, Jul 2 (IPS) - There may be moments during their summit at his family's compound in Kennebunkport, Maine when U.S. President George W. Bush looks with envy on his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, whose popularity at home guarantees him vast influence even as he prepares to leave office just nine months from now.
Not so for Bush, whose public approval ratings, according to polls released in just the past week, have reached all-time lows and whose influence -- even over his own party -- appears to be declining at warp speed.
The latter phenomenon was demonstrated to devastating effect last week when 37 of the Senate's 49 Republicans deserted the president on a critical procedural vote that appears to have doomed Bush's hopes for comprehensive immigration reform through the remaining 18 months of his term in office.
The vote marked the defeat of the most important and probably the easiest of his second term's four top domestic priorities that also included changing the social security system, easing taxes, and legislation designed to discourage tort litigation and class actions. "He is now almost zero-for four," noted the Washington Post.
But the immigration bill's defeat was just one of a whole series of events last week that appeared to diminish whatever residual political strength Bush enjoyed going into the summer months.
The week began with a declaration of independence -- and total frustration -- by two key Republican senators, former Foreign Relations Committee chairman Richard Lugar and George Voinovich, over Bush's determination to maintain his "surge" strategy in Iraq beyond next fall.
A floor speech by Lugar, which was also hailed by former Armed Services Committee chairman John Warner, appeared to confirm that Bush, his military commanders and diplomatic officers in Baghdad have no more than 75 days -- or until mid-September -- to produce a dramatic turnaround in Iraq or face irresistible political pressure in Congress to begin withdrawing U.S. combat troops by early 2008 at the very latest.
In a subsequent interview, Lugar compared his speech to his break with Ronald Reagan over the latter's veto of anti-apartheid legislation in the mid-1980s. Lugar played a key role in getting Congress to override the veto, the only time Congress did so in Reagan's eight years in power.
The week ended with the expiration Friday of Bush's five-year-old "fast-track" authority to negotiate new trade agreements and a vow by the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives to oppose a pending trade deal with South Korea and another with Colombia.
Renewing fast-track authority, which permits the president to submit new trade accords to Congress for an up-or-down vote without the possibility of any amendments, was another top administration priority that now appears to have fallen by the wayside.
If those setbacks were not enough, the Post ran an unprecedented investigative series during the week on the role of Dick Cheney which depicted the president as essentially the young dauphin to the vice president's Cardinal Richelieu -- something that has long been understood by Washington insiders, but whose operational specifics were until now somewhat elusive.
Monday’s extraordinary commutation by Bush of the prison sentence meted out to Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for lying to federal investigators, will surely add to the impression that Bush, whose insistence that he would not intervene in the case while it was still on appeal, remains in thrall to the vice president and his neo-conservative cheerleaders.
What Post the series disclosed, according to the paper's veteran, if endlessly forgiving, political columnist, David Broder, was "a vice president who used the broad authority given him by a complaisant chief executive to bend the decision-making process to his own ends and purposes, often overriding Cabinet officers and other executive branch officials along the way."
The series, which provided new grist for the mills of the talk-show hosts and comedians who dominate late-night television, served only to further diminish Bush. His approval ratings in successive public opinion polls have now dropped to their lowest level ever and are approaching those of Richard Nixon just before his resignation from office in the wake of the Watergate scandal and his impeachment in 1974.
That the series coincided with Cheney's unprecedented and widely mocked insistence that he did not have to abide by certain secrecy rules because, as president of the Senate, he was not part of the executive branch only added to the derision leveled against the administration.
Indeed, Cheney's own approval ratings, like Bush's, have dropped to historical lows. Just 28 percent said they approved of his handling of his job in a CBS News poll taken late last week, down from 35 percent in early 2006, and a high of 56 percent in August 2002, the same month that he launched the administration's own campaign to rally support for invading Iraq.
The same CBS poll found Bush at a record low of 27 percent, just one percentage point higher than the all-time, all-poll low recorded by Newsweek the previous week. Fox News, whose surveys have generally shown higher approval rates than other polls, also reported its all-time low last week at 31 percent.
Bush's public approval rating fell below 50 percent in most polls between his re-election in November 2004 and his second-term inauguration two months later and has not recovered since, giving him the record for the "longest sustained rejection by the American public" in modern U.S. history, according to the Post.
While vehement right-wing Republican opposition to the immigration bill helped explain the Bush's latest plunge in the polls, Iraq remains the single most important factor to the president's unpopularity.
In last week's CBS poll, 23 percent of respondents said they approved of his handling of the war, while 70 percent, including one-third of all self-identified Republicans, said they disapproved. Moreover, a whopping 77 percent of respondents said the war was going either "somewhat" (30 percent) or "very badly" (47 percent).
A record 40 percent said all U.S. troops should be withdrawn, while another 26 percent said they favoured a decreasing the number of troops there now. A CNN poll taken a few days before showed similar numbers.
With elections 16 months away, Republican incumbents are increasingly aware that Bush/Cheney has become a serious drag on their political aspirations. And, as the election draws near, the pressure to break with the White House -- absent a major change of course, at least in Iraq -- will become irresistible, just as it did last week on the immigration bill.
marsh_supports_bong_hits_for_jesus on July 4, 2007 at 10:51 PM
I love it, marsh, our troll-du-jour definitely eating their hearts out because they just cannot admit the failed policies of the Bush administration, and they continue to go back to the arrogant castigation of President Clinton to justify their ignorance.
Histgory will tell the story of what happened during the William Jefferson Clinton years, and it will not be pretty for the Republicans that chose to put our country through that fiasco.
Our monsoon has finally started. North and west of us there was lots of lightning. The wind blew here a couple of minutes then it started to rain and we are getting a good soaking grain.
Johnedwrd on July 4, 2007 at 11:06 PM
It finally stopped raining here, Johne. I took the boy to the fireworks. Wait one hour and twenty minutes for 20 minutes of fireworks, and they probably cost the nearby city 50 - 75K! Oh, well they were loud at the end.
We watched the Boston Pops fireworks display on our CBS satellite feed. It was spectacular except just as the finale started, we lost the satellite signal due to rain. They had incendiaries that made happy faces and squares. I have never seen that before.
It is a shame for a city to spend so much on fireworks displays. The New York display was sponsored by Macy's. I don't feel so bad when a rich corporation spends their money.
Actually I wasn't sure how much these fireworks cost and was basing past approximations with inflation adjusted present approximations. My estimate was way off as I google searched cost of fireworks and discovered that a typical "main event" show lasting twenty minutes will cost between $7 - $20K. The more expensive music synchronized displays are more.
Looks like the fundies will be happy. The repigs have totally screwed up gender equity in sports.
Another major failure for chimp. Of course he is intentionally screwing up gender equity since it is a repig priority.
"Thirty-five years after Congress passed Title IX, the landmark federal law requiring gender equity in scholastic athletics, the percentage of women's teams coached by women is at its lowest point ever.
More men also are coaching women's teams than at any other time in history, and the average salaries for coaches of women's teams still trail those of coaches for men's teams, according to an Associated Press review of statistics provided by the NCAA and other groups."
Female coaches are leaving collegiate ranks
chimp accomplished nothing with his vacation meeting with Putin in Maine. He is still being a stubborn asshole and will not move the planned missiles in Poland and Czeckoslovakia despite the fact that there is unrest in Poland and Czeckoslovakia about the missile placement.
Bush: "Those ungrateful bastards in Poland and Czeckoslovakia just don't get it."
"Correspondents say Mr Ivanov's comments indicate that US hopes of toning down Russia's Cold War-style rhetoric by hosting a relaxed weekend meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Mr Bush in Maine have not borne fruit.
Russian defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer described Mr Ivanov's comments as an "empty threat".
Russia had no missiles with the right range to be fired from Kaliningrad and hit the proposed interceptors in Poland, he said.
"It's a threat aimed at the Polish people" designed to encourage them to protest against the US plans, Mr Felgenhauer said."
Mr. felgenhauer is obviously a commie hater and a ray-gunite. Looks like chimp is taking orders from him too.
chimp is failing again and is taking America with him this time.
When is this chickenshit bastard going to be impeached?
Russia issues new missile threat
and happy 4th to you john, as well.
wish it would rain here. 118 degrees in the desert today.
bush and cheney's plan for reverie isn't far off. When Pakistan is taken over by bin laden, expect him to blow up Washington with the Pakistani nukes.
Explosions rock Pakistan mosque
marsh,
You must be near Las Vegas. They were saying it was 128 today?
This heat is very unusual. Los Angeles never used to get above 100 until September.
Our temps have been in the 100's here in NM. Tonight with the rain it is already down to 68. It will be easier sleeping tonight.
john, i'm in palm springs, california. this is the second hottest summer on record here i believe.
Alaska seeks bids for North Slope gas pipeline
The proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline could face some competition for southern markets, after Alaska officially announced it's seeking bids to build a North Slope pipeline through the state. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Tuesday that the state is ready to receive applications to build the 5,600-kilometre pipeline, which is expected to cost more than $20 billion US. Full Story:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/07/04/north-slope.html
Tonight on Comedy Central I watched "Lil Bush" and I finally found a bush I could love! I laughed my butt off watching it, if you haven't seen it your missing a good laugh and probably more truth than fiction!
US surge is failing, says UK's Iraq envoy
The "troop surge" by American soldiers in Iraq is not working, one of Britain's senior military officials in Baghdad has said.
Read more . . .
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/20/wirq120.xml
You've seen them as the Sopranos. Now follow Hillary and Bill Clinton across Iowa as they report on their daily travels across the Hawkeye State. Watch the video:
Posted by madfuq on July 5, 2007 at 12:08 AM
i have seen it and it is some truly funny stuff. i love lil' cheney, "eeeerr! eerrrrr!"
Hispanic voters may take immigration revenge in 2008
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Long after President George W. Bush has retired to his Texas ranch, his fellow Republicans may have to deal with Hispanic voter backlash over his failed immigration reform.
In 2008, in presidential and congressional elections, Latino voters, an increasingly important demographic in US politics, will get their first chance to hand out blame for the collapse of the sweeping immigration bill last week.
Conservative Republicans in Congress, who deserted a president from their own party, and squashed the bid to grant a path to citizenship to at least 12 million illegal immigrants, may be caught in the crossfire, analysts said.
"The unified message of the Democratic leadership is that the Republicans blocked the bill -- that's likely to be the way that Hispanic voters remember this," said Adam Segal director of the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University.
According to a recent poll in the USA Today newspaper, only 11 percent of Hispanic voters now identify themselves as Republicans -- down from 19 percent in 2005.
That figure is especially dismaying for the party, as a record 40 percent of Hispanic voters chose Bush in the 2004 election, and the president's political skills had seemed to have found a new seam of Republican support.
The ire of Hispanic voters may be especially pronounced and decisive in 2008 in a clutch of five southern and western states -- Florida, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.
Florida has played a central role in the last two US presidential elections, narrowly going Republican in 2000 and 2004, and on the evolving US political map, New Mexico and Nevada are increasingly significant.
"This immigration issue and other things might give Democrats the best chance that they have had in the last decade to win Florida," Segal said.
Angry by the failure of a previous attempt to tackle immigration reform last year, and dismayed by the war in Iraq, 70 percent of Hispanic voters plumped for the Democrats in 2006 elections, as the party grabbed control of Congress.
"The breach was opened in 2006, it exists, and it is not a myth," said Robert de Posada, president of the Latino Coalition, a policy advocacy group, at a forum last weekend of presidential candidates in Florida.
In one anecdotal sign of the potential of the issue to haunt Republicans, many of whom slammed the bill as an "amnesty" for illegal immigrants, all eight Democratic candidates showed up at the forum.
But only one Republican White House hopeful, long-shot conservative candidate and congressman Duncan Hunter, took the time to attend.
Republicans also lag behind the Democrats in efforts to woo Hispanic voters in their own language on the internet.
Most Democratic hopefuls have posted messages in Spanish on their campaign websites and some, like Senator Hillary Clinton, have started setting up a separate Spanish-language website targeting the Hispanic community.
On the Republican side, only former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney appears to offer Spanish links on his website, including a video on the candidate narrated by his son Craig, in fluent Spanish.
Several Republican presidential candidates, including former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Romney, fiercely condemned the immigration reform bill.
Their rival John McCain was a strong advocate -- but his campaign on Monday partly blamed that stance for a disastrous 2007 second quarter fundraising by the Arizona senator, which has left his campaign hanging by a thread.
Hispanic voters are likely to view the Republicans with even more skeptisism in 2008, if the candidate who emerges from the blizzard of nominating contests, is a hawk on immigration, experts said.
"If that happens, no matter who the Democratic nominee is, the Democrats are going to have a significant advantage," said Segal.
De Posada said simply that candidates who were smart enough to work with the Hispanic community could make the difference in 2008.
Had the immigration bill passed Congress, it would have granted an eventual path to legal status to some 12 million illegal and undocumented immigrants.
It would have replaced the current family-dominated immigration system with a merit-based points formula, and attempted to cut a huge backlog for permanent resident "green card" applicants.
It would also have triggered a four billion dollar drive to strengthen US border defenses.
Hi marsh and johne! I've been out on PB reading, writing, and scoring. Kind of like NCLB, with the exception of the test and the much needed open mind. Oh, well so I guess it wasn't like NCLB, but the reading is good over there!!
marsh_supports_bong_hits_for_jesus on July 5, 2007 at 12:24 AM
Which is why, with the help of the MSM, the demise of this immigration legislation is being placed at the heels of the Congress; the Democratic Congress. There is sixteen months before the next election, that's sixteen months to spin spin spin this against the Democratic Congress.
This is one of the reasons that Harry Reid was stupid to try to manage bipartisan
how's the surge working out?
41% increase in the number of unidentified bodies in the streets of baghdad:
Body count in Baghdad up in June
marsh_supports_bong_hits_for_jesus on July 5, 2007 at 12:24 AM
Which is why, with the help of the MSM, the demise of this immigration legislation is being placed at the heels of the Congress; the Democratic Congress. There is sixteen months before the next election, that's sixteen months to spin spin spin this against the Democratic Congress.
This is one of the reasons that Harry Reid was stupid to try to manage bipartisan legislation on this issue. Now the Republicans can spin this defeat into a congressional defeat, which everyone knows is democratically controlled, henceforth, the Democrats get the blame. Just watch the rhetoric coming out of the Republican campaigns over the next sixteen months.
Posted by davidual at July 5, 2007 12:59 AM
Sorry I involuntarily hit the post button before I was ready to post!!
well, i think the 14 democratic senators who voted against it will have some splainin to do to thier latino constituents.
otherwise, the dems can point to thier vote for the legislation and blame the republicans.
i'm not sure why we haven't heard cries of "obstructionists" from the dems directed at the republicans.
parody alert...
Bush in West Virginia: I Will Pardon Al Gore's Son
George Bush, in West Virginia today to celebrate the Fourth for the fourth straight year, gave a moving speech on the war on terror. After the speech, however, he was in his usual jovial mood. While standing in the sun, he pointed to a shady spot under an umbrella, telling party-goers that he was going to "eat some pigs in a blanket over there, so I don't have to eat them over here." After the speech, a reporter asked him about last night's traffic stop involving Al Gore's son (he had a bunch of weed and enough prescription drugs to knock out Gary Busey). Bush thought for a second and then said, "If he's convicted, I will pardon him. Just to fuck with people." The place erupted with applause.
As the party continued, the hot topic was Gore's kid's arrest. Guests were amazed to hear that a Prius could drive at speeds of over 100 MPH, prompting some West Virginians to say that they might consider getting a Prius after all. In fact, one local man, Randy Crockett, told the president that a Prius had once driven into town and all of the town folk starting shooting at it, thinking it was an alien space ship. Bush belched and then quickly said, "Pardon me." Again, gales of laughter.
The party was rollicking until well into the early evening, when Dick Cheney blew off a guy's face with an M-80.
Bush made it a point to defend himself, even invoking Clinton's pardons. He told reporters that Scooter Libby was no Marc Rich. "This is a national security breach, not a complex and hard-to-understand overseas tax scam. There's a big difference!"
He then turned philosophical for a moment, saying that he had a good reason for commuting Libby's sentence. "That guy knows enough shit about me to put me in the hoosegow for life."
Petition: Stop Executive Overreach
You've probably seen the news that President Bush let Lewis Libby, the one man who was convicted for the lies around the Iraq war, go free. The obstruction of justice doesn't stop there. The Senate recently subpoenaed documents from the Vice President's office around the illegal wiretapping program and so far he has not complied. It's clear this administration thinks it's above the law. "Congress must force Vice President Cheney to respond to its subpoenas. If he continues to obstruct justice and disregard the rule of law, Congress has no choice but to begin impeachment proceedings against him."
Sign the Petition by simply clicking on the link below and pass it around:
http://pol.moveon.org/subpoena
more parody...
"The British are feeling the pinch in relation to recent bombings and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." Londoners have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorised from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666.
Alas, the French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Surrender" and "Collaborate." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.
It's not only the English and French that are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."
The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose."
Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels."
The new group You Don't Speak for Me! formed when Col. Al Rodriguez became fed up watching media coverage of the mass protests of April. "Their leaders were saying it was a march for immigrant rights and a Latino/Hispanic movement," says Rodriguez. "I thought to myself, 'Hey, those are illegal aliens, not immigrants!'" Col. Rodriguez began speaking out to others saying, "I'm of Hispanic ancestry and those people are acting like they speak for me. Well, you don't speak for me!" Read more . . .
Testimonials
My name is Carmen Morales. I am a Puerto Rican, but an American first. I came to the United States at the age of 3 with my grandparents. I am the proud mother of 3 children and they are the main reason that I decided to get involved and speak out against illegal immigration.
Read more . . .
As my final post of the night here are two good songs for the Bush administration:
Conquistador
The Voice
Good night all!
Australians 'are in Iraq for oil'
Australia has admitted that securing oil is a key factor behind its continued troop deployment in Iraq. It is the first time such an admission has been made. Full Story:
Poor Frosty, he could not stand the strain of it all. he had to run off and hide again!
Best is US...Nothing stupid about it. Your buddy Frosty has this "thing" for Pamb and keeps trying to get her attention. When she does not respond, 'ol Frosty then tries to get her attention by insulting her. I Have tried to help him with this problem in the past, but he never learns which is why his futile efforts are SO BORING!!!
Best in US....Good observations. I can see why it might appear that way to you. I don't deliberately wait for Frosty to check out. It just happens that way because I get up between 3 and 4AM. As a matter of fact, I rather enjoy old Frosty and try to engage him any tine I can. I don't think he enjoys it much. Poor thing!!!
Best in US...Have to go for awhile. Time for my wife to go to work and the TV IS REPORTING A SWAT STAND OFF ON THE ROUTE SHE TAKES TO WORK.....Have to check it out.......Later....
Well, the swat stand off ended and "The Boss" took off for work. It's been raining all night. I hope she does not hit any flooded out streets. The ground is saturated, we can't stand much more rain.....
http://voanews.com/english/2007-07-05-voa8.cfm
Australia Says Oil Key Motive for Involvement in Iraq
By Phil Mercer
Sydney
05 July 2007
Australia has admitted for the first time that securing oil supplies has been a key factor behind its involvement in the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Defense Minister Brendan Nelson says maintaining what he calls "resource security" in the Middle East is a priority for Australia, which still has about 1,500 troops in the region. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.
Releasing the government's review of its national security policy, the defense minister acknowledged that the supply of oil has influenced strategic planning.
"The defense update we're releasing today sets out many priorities for Australia's defense and security, and resource security is one of them, and obviously the Middle East itself, not only Iraq, but the entire region, is an important supplier of energy, oil in particular, to the rest of the world," he said.
Nelson says that, although energy concerns are important, the main reason Australian troops are still in the Gulf is to ensure that the humanitarian crisis in the region does not get worse.
Critics have accused the Australian government of telling lies about Iraq.
The main opposition Labor party says that, back in 2003, Prime Minister John Howard insisted the campaign to oust former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with oil. It has chastised Mr. Howard for making up his policy in the Gulf as he goes along. Labor has promised to pull Australian troops out of Iraq if it wins national elections due later this year.
Anti-war protesters say the invasion of Iraq was more of a grab for oil rather than a genuine attempt to uncover weapons of mass destruction as the government has insisted.
Ministers in Canberra have brushed aside the criticism. They say they remain committed to helping the United States stabilize Iraq and combat terrorism. They also stress that there will be no "premature withdrawal" of Australian forces from the region.
It now appears that "Best is OS" has left too. He (She?) does not seen to enjoy a rational, logical conversation. Kinda reminds me of Frosty.
Good morning DICKERSON3870...That's a much more honest statement than we ever got out of our own government
in amazes me that in the minds of the trolls ( do they have minds? ) the rest of us are afraid of them! this is truly deranged thinking...that one would be afraid of faceless, anonymous, fools who only exist as typed letters on a computer screen. what fantasies these cyber world warriors spin...being afraid of them would be akin to being afraid the smurfs were going to steal one's lawnmower from the shed out back.
here is something to be afraid of. and note that the iraq health ministry isn't allowed to release statistics, a government modeled after out own:
MSNBC
By Joshua Partlow
Updated: 11:30 p.m. ET July 4, 2007
BAGHDAD, July 4 - Nearly five months into a security strategy that involves thousands of additional U.S. and Iraqi troops patrolling Baghdad, the number of unidentified bodies found on the streets of the capital was 41 percent higher in June than in January, according to unofficial Health Ministry statistics.
During the month of June, 453 unidentified corpses, some bound, blindfolded, and bearing signs of torture, were found in Baghdad, according to morgue data provided by a Health Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. In January, 321 corpses were discovered in the capital, a total that fell steadily until April but then rose sharply over the last two months, the statistics show.
Good morning Gregg...silly little trolls!
With all the bodies they are finding, it would appear that Bush's surge is not working unless the objective was to get more U.S. troops AND more Iraqi civilians killed. If that was the objective, then the surge is a resounding success.
morning JohnBoy, gregg and DICKERSON3870,
John, It looks like the weather patterns are changing. We finally got a little rain last night and it may be our monsoon starting.
As you can tell, I'm an "old woman", a grandmother, & a great grandmother. But I'm also "new". New to Blogs.
This one is so cool...intelligent, studied, factual, with lots of references. A place where I can become more "learned" myself.
I like the use of the word "Chimp" in the description of our now seated President...it could not only represent his mental capabilities but also his actions with pen & paper.
But here's my question... how do I now convince my family (which has become quite large by now) that they need to vote in this upcoming presidential election?
Their argument to me is "my vote won't count" because of the Electoral vote each state has. They have even told me that the Electoral Designate can choose to vote differently than the popular vote, from his/her state.
If this is true, it appears to me we must fight to remove this from our "Books of Law" and make our Presidential Election purely based on the popular vote....or is this just another conundrum never to be resolved?
Posted by Grannymoe on July 5, 2007 at 10:01 AM
Good morning, and welcome aboard!
In case you haven't seen it, there is a new Thursday Open Thread posted.
Granny,
If every person who thinks their vote will not count, came out and voted they could actually sway elections!
Tell them this. This next election is NOT about which candidate becomes President. It is about who gets to choose the next Supreme Court Justices who will be in for lifetime. Do they want another Right Wing zealot like Roberts or Alito, or someone who will balance out their Religiously based votes and take this country and their rights back 100 years!
If this is not enough to stimulate people to get out and vote, then they do not really care about this country or what is left for their children and grandkids.
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