Bottom of the Pork Barrel

If they're good enough for soccer mommies, they're good enough for expendable soldiers. Who knew Rummy's vision of a technically advanced, lean, mean murder machine would include 24,000 Chrysler minivans and Pacifica's? America-hating liberals will be relieved to learn they're only approved for "light duty" in Iraq (because there's so much of that, right?). Armor optional, as always.

Thanks to Everett Volk of The Public Trust for the heads up.

Lying for Fun & Profit

Rep. Robin Hayes:

via Brilliant At Breakfast via Americablog

A Republican congressman from North Carolina told CNN on Wednesday that the "evidence is clear" that Iraq was involved in the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.

"Saddam Hussein and people like him were very much involved in 9/11," Rep. Robin Hayes said.

Told no investigation had ever found evidence to link Saddam and 9/11, Hayes responded, "I'm sorry, but you must have looked in the wrong places."

Hayes, the vice chairman of the House subcommittee on terrorism, said legislators have access to evidence others do not.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said that Saddam was a dangerous man, but when asked about Hayes' statement, would not link the deposed Iraqi ruler to the terrorist attacks on New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.

"I haven't seen compelling evidence of that," McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN.

Words fail me. Congressman Hayes - and every other stooge peddling the lie that Saddam is responsible for September 11th - deserve an extended evening of tarring & feathering, but I'll (have to) settle for heaping naked contempt and scorn on them for the duration of their sorry careers.

Jill at Brilliant At Breakfast expressed some disappointment in McCain's "tepid" response, but the old [ostensible] straight shooter never recovered his 'nads after the Bush Smear Machine castrated him back in 2000. He's just another Republican tool who would sell the shards of his soul for another fucking gimmee to the telecom and banking industries. In fact, he already did. Moderate? There's nothing moderate about anyone remaining in a Republican Party so enthralled with theofascism.

Meet me in New Mexico

Growing Hallucinogenic Mushrooms Not Illegal in N.M.

SANTA FE — Growing hallucinogenic mushrooms isn't prohibited by a New Mexico law against manufacturing an illegal drug.

That's the legal conclusion of the state Court of Appeals, which has overturned the felony drug trafficking conviction of an Alamogordo man for growing psilocybin mushrooms in his home.

Under state law, drug trafficking includes the manufacturing of illegal drugs.

However, the court said growing mushrooms was not covered by the drug trafficking law's definition of "manufacture.''

..."Genetic material in a seed or spore, brought to fruit by provision of soil and water, is not 'manufacturing' as contemplated by the Legislature'' in the drug trafficking law, Friedman wrote.

The Court of Appeals agreed.

"Because there is no evidence that defendant engaged in 'extraction from substances of natural origin or ... chemical synthesis' as defined by (the drug trafficking law) ... his acts of cultivating or growing mushrooms, even if by artificial means, are not prohibited'' by state law, the court said in an opinion written by Judge James Wechsler.

The court pointed out New Mexico's anti-drug laws are patterned after a federal law. However, state law does not include a federal provision that makes clear the "planting, cultivation, growing or harvesting of a controlled substance'' is illegal because those are defined as the production of a drug.

The court said "we believe the Legislature acted intentionally when it omitted a similar definition'' of production in New Mexico's law against drug trafficking.

Attorney General Patricia Madrid will ask the state Supreme Court to consider overturning the appeals court's ruling, said spokesman Sam Thompson. She said Wednesday it was uncertain whether the attorney general would ask the Legislature next year to change the state's drug trafficking law because of the court ruling in the mushroom case.

What a diffference a war makes.

From our friends at Think Progress:

“The administration should clarify its intent in Viet Nam,’ he said. ‘People lack confidence in the credibility of our government.’ Even our allies are beginning to suspect what we say, he charged. ‘It’s a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy,’ he said. ‘With the secrecy, it’s impossible. The American people will do what’s right when they have the information they need.” [Chicago Tribune, 4/13/66]

Rusmfeld entered into the Congressional Record an article from the Chicago Sun-Times entitled “Why U.S. Viet Policy Lacks Friends—Our Credibility Destroyed” Rumsfeld stated: “I do, however, believe it is important to the future of our Nation to recognize that there is a problem of credibility today.” [Congressional Record, 89th Cong. Pg. A1454, 3/15/66; Chicago Sun-Times, 12/5/65]

“I believe the following significant and timely editorial which appeared in today’s issue of the New York Times and which discusses our involvement in Vietnam merits wide attention. I concur in the conclusion expressed therein that the people of the United States must know not only how their country became involved but where we are heading.” [Congressional Record, 89th Cong. Pg. 21081, 8/19/65; New York Times, 8/19/65]

“Accurate judgment is predicated on accurate information. Government has an obligation to present information to the public promptly and accurately so that the public’s evaluation of Government activities is not distorted. Political pundits speak of the ‘credibility gap’ in the present administration. Indeed, this appellation is so widespread that it has become a household word.” [Congressional Record, 90th Cong. pg A792, 2/21/67]

Three cheers for honesty, candor and transparency.

Let me guess: Nine eleven changed everything.

Just in time for 2006

Pledge or die.

STFU

... if you're not prepared for the rough trade of truth-telling.


Dick Durbin: Not as sorry as I am.


I've been told I'm not being fair to Senator Durbin - that he's a good guy who received no moral support from the Democratic Party following his condemnation of torture. True enough, but on what planet has he been residing for the last twenty years? Support? To put it kindly, it's a little early to expect support from this crowd.

Never apologize for speaking the truth.

When a Dem politician speaks the truth and later apologizes for it, he or she is perpetuating the party's subjugation to the NeoCon Monolith. I'm not altogether unsympathetic to Durbin's position, but his actions make the difficult job of the rank & file liberators that much more difficult. My criticism of Durbin has nothing to do with his character - it's the strategy (or lack thereof) that concerns me. And it's time for Dems - thoughtful and otherwise - to start paying strict attention.

GOP Governor Solves Healthcare Problem

Mitt Romney: Criminalize the Uninsured

From Boston.com:

Massachusetts residents who choose not to obtain health insurance would face tax penalties and even the garnishing of their wages under a proposal Governor Mitt Romney unveiled yesterday.

...Romney's plan would require all residents in Massachusetts to have some form of health insurance or agree to pay their medical bills out of their own pockets. No other state has such a requirement, and if Romney manages to make it law, it would be a compelling accomplishment he could point to if he runs for president.

Currently, people without health insurance often go to hospitals and receive care they never pay for, because the hospital and the state pick up the tab. Under Romney's proposal, uninsured Massachusetts residents would be asked to enroll in a plan when they seek care.

If they refuse, the state could recoup the medical costs in several ways, Romney said yesterday: The state might cancel the personal tax exemption on their state income taxes, which is worth about $175. It could withhold some or all of their state income tax refund and deposit it in what Romney called a ''personal healthcare spending account." Or, it might take money out of the person's paycheck, as it does now to collect child support.

''No more 'free riding,' if you will, where an individual says: 'I'm not going to pay, even though I can afford it. I'm not going to get insurance, even though I can afford it. I'm instead going to just show up and make the taxpayers pay for me,' " Romney told reporters after a healthcare speech at the John F. Kennedy Library.

...''I am delighted that Governor Mitt Romney is serious about providing affordable healthcare to all citizens of this state," said Philip W. Johnston, chairman of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation and of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

US Senator Edward M. Kennedy described Romney's call for an individual mandate as ''a healthy step forward," but added that ''details of the benefits offered and the level of cost-sharing individuals will face are crucial to understanding this proposal."

Senate president Robert E. Travaglini, the other leading figure in Beacon Hill's healthcare debate, said of the individual mandate, ''I wouldn't rule it out." Travaglini's own plan sets aside $100,000 to study the idea of an individual mandate.

''Nothing is going to be dismissed outright; this is too important of an issue," Travaglini said.

...Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that supports research on health and social issues, said: ''The sticking point has always been the affordability of coverage. It's one thing to tell people they have to buy it. If they can't afford it, what do you do? Fine them? Put them in jail?"

Mitt Romney is so convinced he'll make healthcare affordable in Massachusetts that no one need be uninsured - and, if they are, they need to be punished.


The usual suspects -- the GOP and its CATO & Heritage henchmen, plus the corrupt, corporate-enthralled Democratic Party -- have made debt relief inaccessible to the very people who are already being destroyed - or soon will be - by unaffordable healthcare. Isn't it encouraging Democrats find this a step forward?

Can there be any doubt a resurgence of The Poor House is at hand?

Big Man on Campus

Cribbed from Wonkette:

THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate the Secretary of Energy joining me today. He's a good man, he knows a lot about the subject, you'll be pleased to hear. I was teasing him -- he taught at MIT, and -- do you have a PhD?

SECRETARY BODMAN: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, a PhD. (Laughter.) Now I want you to pay careful attention to this -- he's the PhD, and I'm the C student, but notice who is the advisor and who is the President.

Setting aside for a moment that George W. Bush is the most small-minded executive sock puppet in history, isn't it amazing how there is never a shortage of people willing to shed their self-respect to become a cog in the bowels of The Machine?

How I Spent My Monday Vacation

The Wrath of the Centrists

I've seen a fair share of silliness this weekend in Left and Right Blogistan... exaggeration of the 'real' number of US casualties in Iraq on the left, e.g., and talk of the DSM being fakes on the right (despite authentication by the Brits who were in a position to know). But one of the least likely of possibililities to come out of this is impeachment. There's been some thought on why this is unlikely based on imprachment-fatigue, but until there's either a Democratic House or a video of Bush planning the Iraq invasion pre-9/11 while having sex with the proverbial live boy or dead girl, impeachment is going nowhere.

I'm not exactly sure why some blog posts get my goat and others don't, but it may be the smarm factor. Although responding may seem like a colossal waste of time, something good did come from it: my inspired coinage of the term Biden-esque circle jerk.

Snarkage d'jour

at Table Talk

Proud Liberal - 09:30 am Pacific Time - Jun 17, 2005 - #6909 of 6914
Well, I THOUGHT it couldn't happen here.

From the Sunday Portland Oregonian:

"Other than telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest, educate our children and, now, die, I think the Republicans have done a fine job of getting government out of our personal lives."

Revenge of the Republican Ghouls

Now that they've been proven shameless fools by Terri Schiavo's autopsy, Jeb Bush tells his base Michael Schiavo must be destroyed.



Michael Schiavo, marked man.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Gov. Jeb Bush asked a prosecutor Friday to investigate why Terri Schiavo collapsed 15 years ago, calling into question how long it took her husband to call 911 after he found her.

In a letter faxed to Pinellas-Pasco County State Attorney Bernie McCabe, Bush said Michael Schiavo testified in a 1992 medical malpractice trial that he found his wife collapsed at 5 a.m., and he said in a 2003 television interview that he found her about 4:30 a.m. He called 911 at 5:40 a.m.

"Between 40 and 70 minutes elapsed before the call was made, and I am aware of no explanation for the delay," Bush wrote. "In light of this new information, I urge you to take a fresh look at this case without any preconceptions as to the outcome."

Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Friday from The Associated Press. In comments in The Miami Herald, he said Terri Schiavo would not have survived if her husband had not immediately called 911.

"It's absolutely preposterous," Felos said. "If he had waited 70 minutes she would have been dead."

Terri Schiavo died March 31 from dehydration after her feeding tube was disconnected at her husband's request, despite unsuccessful efforts by her parents, Bush and others to keep her alive.

An autopsy released Wednesday concluded that she had been in a persistent vegetative state and revealed no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused before she collapsed.

It left unanswered the question of why Terri Schiavo's heart stopped, cutting oxygen off from her brain. The autopsy showed she suffered irreversible brain damage and her brain had shrunk to half the normal size for her age.

This is nothing short of a Republican fatwah against a private citizen. Jeb won't be h-a-p-p-y until one of his theofascist minions murders Michael Schiavo.

Real Estate

Pentagon Math

We all know the King is served by keeping images of flag-draped caskets out of the public consciousness. But after pondering a repressed casualty count, I find myself wondering if the primary reason the Bush Machine prohibits photos of returning caskets is to prevent news organizations from doing any unofficial counting.


When it comes to propaganda, I don't put anything past this crowd.

Book 'em, Dano

The Bush Machine should be disassembled and its components jailed for any number of crimes, but its successful campaign to normalize torture takes the prize. They can't say they were never warned.

Jun. 15, 2005 - The interrogation techniques used at Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in 2002 triggered concerns among senior Pentagon officials that they could face criminal prosecution under U.S. anti-torture laws, ABC News has learned.

Notes from a series of meetings at the Pentagon in early 2003 -- obtained by ABC News -- show that Alberto Mora, general counsel of the Navy, warned his superiors that they might be breaking the law.

During a January 2003 meeting involving top Pentagon lawyer William Haynes and other officials, the memo shows that Mora warned that "use of coercive techniques ... has military, legal, and political implication ... has international implication ... and exposes us to liability and criminal prosecution."

Mora's deep concerns about interrogations at Guantanamo have been known, but not his warning that top officials could go to prison.

In another meeting held March 8, 2003, the group of top Pentagon lawyers concluded -- according to the memo -- "we need a presidential letter approving the use of the controversial interrogation to cover those who may be called upon to use them."

No such letter was issued.

Today, the White House insisted that tactics used at Guantanamo Bay are now -- and have been -- legal.

"All interrogation techniques that have been approved are lawful and consistent with our obligations," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan.

Could be worse. It could be raining.

And the good news is...

However, [Rumsfeld] said that the Iraqi forces were growing in numbers, expressing confidence that the anti-occupation rebels in Iraq will soon be defeated.

Asked if the security situation in Iraq had improved, Mr. Rumsfeld admitted: "Statistically, no."

But he claimed that "it has been getting better as we've gone along".

"A lot of bad things that could have happened have not happened."


"The important thing ... is to recognise that this insurgency is going to be defeated not by the coalition - it's going to be defeated by the Iraqi people and by the Iraqi security forces, and that it's going to happen as the Iraq people begin to believe they've got a future in that country," he said.

Donald Rumsfeld could sell water by the side of the river. Statistically safer? No? Could it also be true Iraqis are statistically LESS safe than before the invasion? Let me guess: "Free people are free to do a lot of things, including be killed by occupation forces and murder each other."

So now it's reached the point - well past absurdity - at which we're supposed to consider Iraq a success because the daily catastrophes aren't worse than they are. Only a Bush official get away with such blatant cynical opportunism.

Latest on the cakewalk

The Turning

In the Gallup Poll, 56% say the Iraq war wasn't "worth it," essentially matching the high-water mark of 57% a month ago.

• Of those who say the war wasn't worth it, the top reasons cited are fraudulent claims and no weapons of mass destruction found; the number of people killed and wounded; and the belief that Iraq posed no threat to the United States.

• Of the 42% who say the war was worth it, the top reasons cited are the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the need to stop terrorism and a desire to end the oppression of the Iraqi people.

Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that an "incredible gap between the reality on the ground and the rhetoric back here" is costing Bush support on the war.

On ABC's This Week, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., an ardent supporter of the invasion, called on Bush for a timetable for withdrawing troops. "I feel that we have done about as much as we can do," he said.

"I feel that we have done about as much as we can do." Don't bet on it, Freedom Fry Boy. When it comes to sheer destruction, we can always plunge a little lower.

from the Dept. of Solidarity

German police baffled by Bush poo-flags

"We have sent out extra patrols to try to catch whoever is doing this in the act," said police spokesman Reiner Kuechler. "But frankly, we don't know what we would do if we caught them red handed." Legal experts say there is no law against using feces as a flag stand and the federal legal experts say there is no law against using feces as a flag stand and the federal constitution is vague on the issue.

A damn fine idea. Probably a Gitmo offense here in the home o'the brave... or at least Taser-worthy.

Snark o'the Day

(overheard on an elevator somewhere in Iowa)
"When Drudge dies, even the maggots won't eat him -- professional courtesy."

A non-epiphany

Chris Floyd's second thoughts on the filibuster deal:

Listen: if Bush wants to appoint Lynndie England to the U.S. Supreme Court, he will do it, and Frist and the Republicans will kill the filibuster and vote her in, and there won't be a damn thing the Democrats can do about it -- except strike huffy poses for the cameras on their way to the corporate jet that's flying them to their next fundraiser.

Uh-huh.

Bring Out Yer Dead

...just wait until they're out of Iraq.

From Simbaud at King of Zimbla:

"The sad fact, even sadder than the way I feel right now after having read those names, is that we may not even have the real story. We may not know the true costs of this war. I am told U.S. military personnel who died in German hospitals [or] en route to German hospitals are not counted. So, in addition to the more than 1,000 Americans who have lost their lives in this war, there are an additional 6,210 who died in German hospitals or en route to those hospitals.
~ Cynthia McKinney

What do we know about how American war dead are counted? And doesn't the American public have an absolute right to know?

Bush lied to get us in Iraq, lies to keep us there and lies to keep his sorry ass outta hot water. I'm so accustomed to being lied to by the criminals of the Bush malAdministration that I have a hard time believing Bush henchmen wouldn't lie in order to minimize American casualties in Iraq and possibly Afghanistan. Like the delusional half-wits who helped bring them to power, these are people who much prefer a comforting lie to an uncomfortable truth.


Does anyone in the House or Senate care enough to insist on an accurate count of American casualties? Probably not. Their complicity may well be a strong motivation for denial.

But I get the distinct impression there's a very ugly story here.

Shhhh! Don't use the * E * word...

It sounds like espionage. It looks like espionage . It smells like espionage. But since the players are The Pentagon and AIPAC (Israel's strong-arming lobby machine), let's call it something else.

June 13, 2005 | Washington -- A Pentagon analyst has been indicted on charges that he leaked classified military information to employees of a pro-Israel lobbying organization and an Israeli official, federal authorities said Monday.

The six-count indictment charges that Lawrence A. Franklin conspired to disclose national defense and classified information to people not entitled to receive it, including information about potential attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq.
click here

None of the charges involves espionage. An FBI agent's affidavit that accompanied the criminal complaint against Franklin last month did not suggest that the disclosure endangered U.S. troops, but it said intelligence sources could have been compromised.

Nice work, FBI. Dissemble much?

From the Belly of the Beast

Photojournalist Alan Chin drops by BAGnews Comments for spirited discussion on embedding, photo manipulation and his work.

Saturday Eavesdropping

Lindsay Beyerstein prefers being a pack rat to a flag burner, but there's hope for her yet.


Everett Volk rips on Janice Rogers Brown and economic kleptocracy.


I had no idea Shining Path Republican James Sensenbrenner - hereafter refered to as Congressman Kotex - was spawned from the Kimberly-Clark empire. Man, would I love to see a list of the people in the House & Senate who are scions of the corporate elite (the devil's in the details).

Compulsory Reads

It’s not true that the Conservatives I know don’t give a damn so much as they are terrified that they were wrong.

Deeply, primally terrified. Their whole psychological infrastructure is cobbled together out of half-baked conservative bumper-sticker ideology, gun lust, socially illiterate hatred of “welfare cheats” and other largely fictional or apocryphal lazy people (read: niggers and other swarthy folk) who want to leech off of them while they work harder and harder for less and less. Despite a lot of bluster about Freedom and Individuality they are, at heart, happiest when they are conforming to the wishes of the Strong Man; when they know exactly their place in the hierarchy.

Security and Enforced Orderliness is their idea Heaven and Doubt is their Hell, which is why they swarm like mayflies towards simple-minded sloganeering instead of actual, y’know, thinking…and why many of them fall madly in love with Fundamentalism. It’s this anti-Faustian bargain where they get the perfect peace of mind that comes from absolute, swaggering certainty that they are completely right about every single thing. And thrown in at no extra charge, they get Paradise after they die, with the promise that they’ll get to see my sorry ass screaming in agony in a lake of fire on Basic Cable for all eternity.

But in exchange for all of this wonderfulness, they have to hand over their souls to truly evil men.

(continued here)

I've been a fan of Driftglass' unique voice, humor and wicked prose since reading his comments at Gilliard's blog. In the interest of full disclosure and self-aggrandizement, I will note that the driftglass excerpt was posted in response to Steve Gilliard's defeatist blather about the effort behind publicizing the Downing Street Minutes being a wasted one -- a point which I took issue with here, here and here.


Don't miss this creepy post in which idyllopus breaks down the visuals found on the "Watch Ride Report" poster published by MARC, the metro rail between Baltimore and DC. As someone who's long been fascinated by the propaganda posters, [insert shiver here].

Kind of like the 10 o'clock news

From Cursor.org

Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD – Forget the worm-eating contestants on "Fear Factor." And don't look for teen singers trying to become the next "Iraqi Idol." Here in Iraq, reality TV has a grittier visage.

In one recent opening scene of "Terrorism in the Grip of Justice," viewers see a group of tired, scruffy men sitting on bare ground, squinting in the glare of floodlights and waiting to confess.


The camera then pans to Abul Waleed, the mustachioed, red-bereted commander of the elite Wolf Brigade police squad. Waleed is addressing about 30 terrorism suspects hauled in during Operation Lightning, a massive Iraqi-led sweep (now in its second week) aimed at rooting out car bombers and other insurgents in Baghdad.

"Grip of Justice" dominates the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. time slot in Iraq - at least anecdotally. There are no Nielsen ratings here.

If they want to televise something useful, I would suggest the trials of those captured so the world can witness how well the justice system is faring in post-Saddam Iraq.

Ooops. I forgot: Human rights issues are so Jimmy Carter.

SHAC 7 and terrorism (the new communism)

From Cursor.org

As New Jersey prepares to try the SHAC 7 for "animal enterprise terrorism" and "interstate stalking," the group says that "specifically, these activists are alleged to have operated a website that reported on and expressed ideological support for protest activity ... For this they are charged with 'terrorism' and face an aggregate of 23 years in Federal Prison."

I don't know much about the details of this case, but I look forward to watching Uncle Sam's dog & pony show. The designation of animal rights activists as Public Enemy #1 is absurdist in the extreme, and I can't escape the sense we're about to see the unchecked bluster and tail-chasing bravado we've all come to expect from the Bush Administration on full display in the courtroom.

This is another one of those monoliths King George is building: The ludicrous idea that anything which intentionally causes economic harm is de facto terrorism. It's hardly surprising the Bush Machine places such a premium on making sure a resurgence of organized protests (like those which shaped the labor and civil rights movements in the 20th Century) doesn't impinge on the NeoCon Utopia. In all likelihood, this is nothing more than another naked attempt by Bu$hCo to further squash dissent.


No doubt the terminally cranky and increasingly boorish Steve Gilliard is due for another one of his monthly PETA spasms. Something tells me he's going to have a hard time resolving his glee at animal activists being tried as terrorists with that pesky voice in the back of his mind saying "You're next." Let's hope so, anyway.

See also: America's War on Speech and the SHAC 7 Trial

Hitting The Right Note

Ted Kennedy on Downing Street Memo

“The contents of the Downing Street Minutes confirm that the Bush Administration was determined to go to war in Iraq, regardless of whether there was any credible justification for doing so. The Administration distorted and misrepresented the intelligence in its attempt to link Saddam Hussein with the terrorists of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden, and with weapons of mass destruction that Iraq did not have.

In addition, the Downing Street Minutes also confirm what has long been obvious – that the timing of the war was linked to the 2002 Congressional elections, and that the Administration’s planning for post-war Iraq was incompetent in all its aspects. The current continuing crisis is a direct result of that incompetence.

Many of you have worked hard for the American people, the media and those in government to speak out about the Downing Street Minutes and the Iraq war. You can join me in speaking out as well.

The policy of “shoot first, ask questions later” took us into an unjustified war, and without a clear concept of what “winning the war” actually means.

And we would do well to remember Congressional Dems gave Bush a very long leash from which to wreak havoc on the rest of the world. Making the case against Bush now is the least they can do.

06-08 Addendum: A thoughtful reader helpfully points out Kennedy voted against the Iraq invasion. I couldn't remember whether he did or didn't and didn't lift a stone to find out, although I had fully intended to do so (hence, the broad brush language, Congressional Dems and they). Thanks very much for the heads up. Those who opposed this war from the start deserves some refreshed kudos.

Akaka (D-HI)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Chafee (R-RI)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dayton (D-MN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Bob Graham (D-FL)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Wellstone (D-MN)
Wyden (D-OR)

Solid as a Rock

The rumblings continue.

Rice Wants It--But in Draft Form:

Political associates of Secretary of State Condi Rice are stirring the 2008 presidential pot on her behalf. While she takes the high road, they're pushing her name out there. "She definitely wants to be president," said one. But, the friend added, Rice isn't planning on quitting to run. "She wants to be drafted," he said.

It's not difficult to imagine today's architects of conventional wisdom proclaiming Rice the successor to the Bush Legacy. In a way, it only seems fitting Rice follow the most hated president in American history. She has a better shot at the crown than the ghoulish Bill Frist, though I can't say for sure which one would be worse. (Which begs the question: Who would be worse - Biden or Lieberman?)

And what would a majority of Americans think? Who cares. As long as votes continue to disappear into the black hole of Republican-crafted computer screens, consensus isn't much of an issue, is it?

Edwards vs. Dean vs. Mothra

In the course of yesterday's subversive information gathering activities, I encountered eRobin's post at American Street about reports of Joe "Everybody Look At Me" Biden and John "Am I Presidential Yet" Edwards distancing themselves from a statement made by Howard Dean.

Dean at Take Back America Conference: "You know, the idea that you have to wait on line for eight hours to cast your ballot in Florida -- there's something the matter with that. You think people can work all day and then pick up their kids at child care or wherever, and get home and then have a -- still manage to sandwich in an eight-hour vote? Well, Republicans, I guess, can do that, because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives. (Light applause.) But for ordinary working people, who have to work eight hours a day, they have kids, they got to get home to those kids, the idea of making them stand for eight hours to cast their ballot for democracy is wrong. We ought to make voting easier to do. Mail -- Oregon has got it right."

Edwards on his blog: "What a flap has arisen over a disagreement about the way something is said! I was in Nashville over the weekend, thanking the good people of Tennessee who supported the Democratic presidential ticket this year, when I was asked whether I thought that it was fair to say that people who were Republican hadn't done a good day's work. Of course, I didn't think so, and I said that. I don't think our DNC chair, Howard Dean, would put it that way again if asked either. I disagreed with him, and I said so. And, I want to be clear, I would have to say so again if I were asked again. I said a lot of good things about Howard's outreach program and invigoration of the internet as a communication and fundraising tool, but no one wrote about that. Instead the headlines blared that I disagreed with Howard. And then the flap arose: A chasm! A split! A revolt!"

Steve Gilliard and Kos were a little too generous with the mea culpas. This is about more - much more - than "trusting the media." It's about trusting the Democratic Party to do what it's always done, which is to stick knives in the backs of those who most aggressively challenge the Republican Party.

It's up to Edwards and other Dems to speak in unambiguous terms. Here's some cogent advice: Don't concede the validity of the question.


For all too long, Dems have excelled in ambiguity, and John Edwards is neither unfamiliar with nor immune to the phenomenon. (Listening to Edwards discuss the invasion & occupation of Iraq damages the lining of my stomach.)

The fundamental issue behind this little eruption transcends Edwards, Dean and even the corporate news media. The problem is the degraded, amorphous character of Democratic Party leadership. Overcoming that legacy will require the adoption of a shared and unflinching understanding of contemporary corporate media - what it is and what it serves.


If the Democratic Party didn't have such a LOUSY record and well-earned reputation for being duplicitous and unprincipled, perhaps more of us might not get so worked up over media portrayals - both disingenuous and otherwise - which merely reflect what we've come to expect.

One for the Storm Troopers

USSC Strikes Blow Against Medical Marijuana

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt advocates of medicinal marijuana a major setback Monday. The high court ruled that federal authorities may prosecute people who smoke marijuana on advice of their doctors to ease the effects of various diseases.

By a vote of 6-3, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal law banning the drug takes precedence over laws in 10 states that legalized use of marijuana to treat illnesses.

What is there left to say except - being the heartless, justice-oriented person I am - may their departure from this mortal coil be very slow and bring them pain. Lots and lots of extremely intense pain. No matter how much it is, it won't come close to the sentence this court just imposed on millions of Americans just like me.

Downing St. Memo Interrupts D.C. Wurlitzer

I was listening to The Diane Rehm Show this morning while en route to an appointment. PBS has been a rare event for me since BushCoup2000 when that organization took on an unequivocal "Kent Brockman and the Ants" vibe. Today, however, I tuned in to hear the latest from Conventional Wisdom Central on Poodle Blair's upcoming visit to his master. Guests were Martin Walker (UPI Editor in Chief) and Adrian Wooldridge, Washington correspondent for The Economist and author of "The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America".

I got the distinct impression they would have avoided the Downing Street memo altogether had doing so been an option, but apparently Ms. Rehm said she'd been deluged with email & calls about it. Walker admitted he, too, had been flooded with email in recent days but took the tack that he personally had written about it extensively and had done all a reporter could be expected to do. Still, he downplayed its significance by adopting the view (paraphrased) "Hey, sometimes governments [have to] lie." I noticed administration defenders have a tendency to shrink from using the word lie even when pressed, but have no reservations about using the words "sexed up" or "massaged" in relation to the information used as a pretext for war.


John Conyers didn't miss the opportunity to call in with his concerns and compared today's environment similar to the one Nixon found himself in following his re-election in '72 with Watergate breaking.

Considering the Downing Street memo wasn't assigned much significance on the program, it was interesting to see how much time was committed to its discussion.

To hear the ice breaking using Real Player, click here.

Perfect Pitch

George is a "right weirdo"

Church, 19, said gaffe-prone Bush had no idea where Wales was when she met him after performing for outgoing President Bill Clinton in Washington in 2000.

“Clinton was lovely, in tune with everyone else, but George Bush just hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing,” she said, according to the Daily Record.

“He asked me what state Wales was in. I said: ‘It’s its own country next to England, actually Mr Bush."

Bravo, Miss Church. Talented, adorable and beautifully plainspoken.

Were I concert promoter, I'd put her on tour with this guy:

the * i * word

From Wingnut-ville:

We're already seeing rumblings of the Next Big Thing for the Democratic Party. It's the I-word....impeachment. (See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here) It makes sense, doesn't it? Democrats are still mad about the impeachment of Bill Clinton. They want a little revenge. So how are they going to do it? What evidence could they possibly have to even think about starting any such proceeding against George Bush?

What's making the rounds is a Downing Street memo from 2002 (10 Downing Street is the official prime minister's residence in Great Britain, for those who don't follow such things.) In this memo, which was drafted by a foreign policy aide to Tony Blair, it allegedly includes minutes from a July 2002 meeting where Tony Blair allegedly admitted that the Bush administration fixed Iraq intelligence in order to go to war. Oh boy...this is a doozy! It's the smoking gun....George Bush is doomed! Well, not really.

I happen to agree the Downing Street memo is not a smoking gun. At it's core, it is one person's impression and little more. But I'm for anything - anything whatsoever - which serves to garner attention on the crimes of the Bush Regime.

If a smoking gun is what one is after, might I point to a little place called Iraq? That's the thing about the brazen George W. Bush: His crimes are conducted largely right out in the open under the guise of normalcy, an illusion recreated each day by a toadying corporate media which exists solely to protect America's corrupt power structure. And normalcy, by definition, is not an impeachable offense.

Like Hugo Zoom, I concur Republcians have set the bar for impeachment so low as to render it virtually meaningless - that is, at least to the Constitutionally-minded among us - but it still matters to them. Maybe that damn Democratic Party Progress Scale really does work.

What Neil Boortz's little monkeys would have us believe is that no one but those patchoulli donning, Birkenstock-wearing lefties support impeachment. So check out what Ronald Reagan's Assistant Treasury Secretary, himself a highly decorated member of the Flying Monkey Right, has to say about impeaching King Bush:

A Reputation in Tatters

George W. Bush and his gang of neocon warmongers have destroyed America’s reputation. It is likely to stay destroyed, because at this point the only way to restore America’s reputation would be to impeach and convict President Bush for intentionally deceiving Congress and the American people in order to start a war of aggression against a country that posed no threat to the United States.

America can redeem itself only by holding Bush accountable.

As intent as Republicans were to impeach President Bill Clinton for lying about a sexual affair, they have a blind eye for President Bush’s far more serious lies. Bush’s lies have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people, injured and maimed tens of thousands more, devastated a country, destroyed America’s reputation, caused 1 billion Muslims to hate America, ruined our alliances with Europe, created a police state at home, and squandered $300 billion dollars and counting.

Abundant evidence now exists in the public domain to convict George W. Bush of the crime of the century. The secret British government memo (dated July 23, 2002, and available here), leaked to the Sunday Times (which printed it on May 1, 2005), reports that Bush wanted “to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. . . .

Paul Roberts is obviously more than a little concerned about the long term impact a possible Bush Backlash could have on his party. I can't allow myself the level of optimism required to ponder such a phenomenon, but it's nice to see a conservative reaching for the club.

Guilt-free Theocracy

Gov. Rick Perry plans to visit a Christian school on Sunday to sign legislation that drew strong support from religious organizations.

The bill he plans to sign restricts abortion late in a pregnancy and requires minor girls to get parental consent for an abortion. Perry also plans to talk about a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages, which goes before Texas voters in November.

Supporters praise the event at Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Worth as a major victory for conservative Republicans, but critics say the ceremony is inappropriate.

"I think it's wrong," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which describes itself as a mainstream voice to counter the religious right.

"As I recall, Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple, and I wonder how long it will be before people of faith get fed up with opportunistic political campaigning in their houses of worship," she said.

The governor will not sign the bill from a pulpit, but in the school gym, said Perry spokesman Robert Black.

"It's interesting. No one seemed to protest the governor signing a bill at a business or a hospital," Black said. "It's not a political event. It's a bill-signing."

Perry will sign a bill that requires parental consent for girls younger than 18 to undergo abortions. He also will sign a resolution to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriages. That signature is only ceremonial since voters must approve it in November before it can become law.

Perry, who signed a workers compensation bill at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth on Wednesday, said the church school is the appropriate venue for values-related issues.

"The two issues talk about values," he said. "A church is an appropriate place to come together and celebrate a victory for the values of the people of Texas."

Don't ya love how Rick Perry doesn't even have to pretend he ain't a theocrat?

The age of consent for females in Texas is seventeen years old. But if a consenting 17-year old gets pregnant - and let's remember there are plenty of 17-year old married females in Texas - parental authorization for an abortion will be mandated if Perry and the Texas cultists have their way.

Any bets as to when Governor "Good Hair" Perry will be signing the Parents For Genital Mutilation Act? Perhaps by then the contentious political climate will have cooled enough for Perry to climb right into the pulpit and briefly genuflect for the press corp before signing that one.

Aggravations

1. Feelings of policymakers is not news. Even if you're Dirty Dick Cheney. Even if the feeling is offense. Even if you're being fellated by Larry King. You know what IS news? The fucking policy - not to mention things which occur as a result of that policy - is news... or, at least, used to be.

2. Absurd is the reckless George W. Bush not facing impeachment.

3. E.J. Dionne is still a gutless, mealy-mouthed wuss.

Department of Inspiration