Gonzales resigns. Good riddance to bad, very bad, rubbish.
Now the dems need to seriously work at removing the remaining fetid trash of this filthy administration.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Neutralizing hate.
"The terrorists hate us for our freedom." -- George W. Bush.
That would certainly explain the assault on amendments 1, 4 & 6 by this, the most vile administration in the history of our nation. They are merely trying to eliminate that which the terrorists hate about us.
Ok, that was a joke. A tasteless joke but a joke nonetheless. The fact remains that we have the most lawless administration in the history of our nation with the presidency taking on the mantle of an emperor, choosing which laws to obey and which to ignore, all in the name of "protecting" us from terrorists.
The Attorney General, testifying before the congress, engages in a course of serial perjury and the congress does little more than wring their hands and issue meaningless warnings, which is bad enough but that is not the worst of the existing situation. To republicans, lying under oath is only very bad when lying about a consensual sex act between adults, while lying under oath, about the facts regarding the politicizing of the Justice Department is not a big deal.
The President decides that regardless of the laws enacted by the congress in accordance with the Constitution, he and he alone will decide which to follow and which to ignore. While a president failing to act IAW the law is a grave and present danger if that president happens to be a democrat, republicans of today do not feel that it is that big a deal if the president in question is a republican.
The congress, republicans and democrats alike, had best finally awaken to the grave danger their inaction and, at times, acquiesence in the face of the unamerican power grab and throttling of of the Bill of Rights by this administration of cowards and fools.
I fear we have come to a momentous fork in the road on the path to our future as a nation. One way leads to a renewed respect for the nation handed down to us by The Founders, with the liberty of the people restored by the healthy application of the checks and balances they put in place with the Constitution. The other path leads to the destruction of their dream of freedom for the people and of the shining light they created called The United States of America.
The terrorists don't hate us for our freedom. The terrorists don't hate us, the people. The terrorists hate George W. Bush and his band of neocon imperialists for what they have done, and continue to do, to their homelands.
Somewhere The Founders are surely weeping at what has become of their great experiment.
That would certainly explain the assault on amendments 1, 4 & 6 by this, the most vile administration in the history of our nation. They are merely trying to eliminate that which the terrorists hate about us.
Ok, that was a joke. A tasteless joke but a joke nonetheless. The fact remains that we have the most lawless administration in the history of our nation with the presidency taking on the mantle of an emperor, choosing which laws to obey and which to ignore, all in the name of "protecting" us from terrorists.
The Attorney General, testifying before the congress, engages in a course of serial perjury and the congress does little more than wring their hands and issue meaningless warnings, which is bad enough but that is not the worst of the existing situation. To republicans, lying under oath is only very bad when lying about a consensual sex act between adults, while lying under oath, about the facts regarding the politicizing of the Justice Department is not a big deal.
The President decides that regardless of the laws enacted by the congress in accordance with the Constitution, he and he alone will decide which to follow and which to ignore. While a president failing to act IAW the law is a grave and present danger if that president happens to be a democrat, republicans of today do not feel that it is that big a deal if the president in question is a republican.
The congress, republicans and democrats alike, had best finally awaken to the grave danger their inaction and, at times, acquiesence in the face of the unamerican power grab and throttling of of the Bill of Rights by this administration of cowards and fools.
I fear we have come to a momentous fork in the road on the path to our future as a nation. One way leads to a renewed respect for the nation handed down to us by The Founders, with the liberty of the people restored by the healthy application of the checks and balances they put in place with the Constitution. The other path leads to the destruction of their dream of freedom for the people and of the shining light they created called The United States of America.
The terrorists don't hate us for our freedom. The terrorists don't hate us, the people. The terrorists hate George W. Bush and his band of neocon imperialists for what they have done, and continue to do, to their homelands.
Somewhere The Founders are surely weeping at what has become of their great experiment.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Enough!
An email I sent to Pelosi and Reid this morning.
May I tell you how disappointed I am with you and the rest of the democrats for allowing the deranged cretin in the White House even more latitude in violating our civil liberties? Suffice it to say that as of today, I no longer consider myself a democrat and will change my registration to Independent at my first opportunity.
You, and the rest of the democrats, are enablers of the first order and when our republic is destroyed by the psychopath at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, it will be you and your cohorts who will have made it possible.
May I tell you how disappointed I am with you and the rest of the democrats for allowing the deranged cretin in the White House even more latitude in violating our civil liberties? Suffice it to say that as of today, I no longer consider myself a democrat and will change my registration to Independent at my first opportunity.
You, and the rest of the democrats, are enablers of the first order and when our republic is destroyed by the psychopath at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, it will be you and your cohorts who will have made it possible.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Bush's colonoscopy.
Bush's colonoscopy went as planned, with a number of polyps being excised. Upon his emergence from the light sedative, hospital staff were somewhat perplexed by his behavior and so ordered a battery of tests, both psychological and physical.
Doctors were mildly surprised to learn that Bush's IQ dropped 5 points as a result of the procedure.
Doctors were mildly surprised to learn that Bush's IQ dropped 5 points as a result of the procedure.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Iraqistan
Iraq is doing to us what Afghanistan did to the USSR. If we don't get out of Iraq, and soon, our army will be destroyed, our economy will be in shambles and, like the USSR in the late 80s, we will have become irrelevant. We shall be despised but we shall be irrelevant.
Such will be the legacy of George W. Bush and his band of bungling, incompetent and arrogant neocons.
Perhaps the one good thing that will come out of this disaster will be a democratic majority for another 40 years, but only if the democrats get their act together and listen to the people who put them back in control of congress.
If it takes stopping the funding to stop the war, then stop the funding. That is what the people elected democrats to do.
Such will be the legacy of George W. Bush and his band of bungling, incompetent and arrogant neocons.
Perhaps the one good thing that will come out of this disaster will be a democratic majority for another 40 years, but only if the democrats get their act together and listen to the people who put them back in control of congress.
If it takes stopping the funding to stop the war, then stop the funding. That is what the people elected democrats to do.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Stain
Much has been written and said about how much shame and ridicule the stain on The Blue Dress brought to The United States. I would suggest that whatever shame and ridicule associated with The Stain was directed at the reaction to it by those conservatives of virtue.
How much shame and ridicule has been caused by the current administration because of their arrogance, most especially after the events of 09-11-01, in dealing with the following?
How large a stain on the reputation of the United States was caused by the current administration abrogating the Kyoto Treaty because of its belief that Global Warming was a hoax? How much scorn has come our way because of this administration allowing faith based laymen the final say over reports dealing with global climatic research from scientists at NASA, NOAA, etc.?
In the immediate aftermath of 9-11, when virtually the entire planet was behind us, how long did it take for this administration with its attitude of hubris and contempt for any opinions but its own, to begin to reduce, dramatically, the number of countries willing to aid us in the effort to punish those responsible for 9-11? How large a stain did that represent?
Can the size of the stain on our honor, morality and ethics as a nation be imagined after this administration declaring that the Geneva Accords were quaint and outmoded possibly be quantified?
How large was the stain resulting from the unwarranted war in Iraq, a country with absolutely no connection to those responsible for 9-11 and with no means whatsoever to attack or otherwise harm us? The lies told in an attempt to justify the war brought a stain beyond measure upon the honor and integrity of the United States. The lies that continue to be told in an attempt to hide the stunning incompetence, unpreparedness and ineffectiveness in dealing with the growing insurgency, a result of the continuing occupation of Iraq has shown us to be something less than invincible much in the manner that the adventure of the USSR in Afghanistan during the 80s did for their reputation. How large the stain of our Iraq misadventure of preemptive war?
The list goes on. Renditions. Arrest and detention without charges or benefit of counsel. Torture as an interrogation technique. Widespread spying on American citizens, in direct violation of the laws and constitution. The attempted politicization of the Justice Department to an extent never seen in the United States, in fact only seen in despotic governments such as the old USSR and the much maligned Banana Republics, for example. Implementing measures designed to hold down voter turnout in areas with populations historically aligned with the Democratic Party.
Can the size of the stain caused by the assault upon our civil rights and the very foundations of our nation be even imagined? Can the amount of ridicule and disdain caused by the ignorance, hubris and incompetence of this administration be overstated?
The unfortunate lapse of judgement that produced the Blue Stained Dress pales to insignificance by the unrelenting assault on international order, our civil rights, on the very foundations of our nation by the petty, arrogant and incompetent members of this administration. Easily the most inept and corrupt group ever to have held the reins of power in the United States. Worst. Ever.
How much shame and ridicule has been caused by the current administration because of their arrogance, most especially after the events of 09-11-01, in dealing with the following?
How large a stain on the reputation of the United States was caused by the current administration abrogating the Kyoto Treaty because of its belief that Global Warming was a hoax? How much scorn has come our way because of this administration allowing faith based laymen the final say over reports dealing with global climatic research from scientists at NASA, NOAA, etc.?
In the immediate aftermath of 9-11, when virtually the entire planet was behind us, how long did it take for this administration with its attitude of hubris and contempt for any opinions but its own, to begin to reduce, dramatically, the number of countries willing to aid us in the effort to punish those responsible for 9-11? How large a stain did that represent?
Can the size of the stain on our honor, morality and ethics as a nation be imagined after this administration declaring that the Geneva Accords were quaint and outmoded possibly be quantified?
How large was the stain resulting from the unwarranted war in Iraq, a country with absolutely no connection to those responsible for 9-11 and with no means whatsoever to attack or otherwise harm us? The lies told in an attempt to justify the war brought a stain beyond measure upon the honor and integrity of the United States. The lies that continue to be told in an attempt to hide the stunning incompetence, unpreparedness and ineffectiveness in dealing with the growing insurgency, a result of the continuing occupation of Iraq has shown us to be something less than invincible much in the manner that the adventure of the USSR in Afghanistan during the 80s did for their reputation. How large the stain of our Iraq misadventure of preemptive war?
The list goes on. Renditions. Arrest and detention without charges or benefit of counsel. Torture as an interrogation technique. Widespread spying on American citizens, in direct violation of the laws and constitution. The attempted politicization of the Justice Department to an extent never seen in the United States, in fact only seen in despotic governments such as the old USSR and the much maligned Banana Republics, for example. Implementing measures designed to hold down voter turnout in areas with populations historically aligned with the Democratic Party.
Can the size of the stain caused by the assault upon our civil rights and the very foundations of our nation be even imagined? Can the amount of ridicule and disdain caused by the ignorance, hubris and incompetence of this administration be overstated?
The unfortunate lapse of judgement that produced the Blue Stained Dress pales to insignificance by the unrelenting assault on international order, our civil rights, on the very foundations of our nation by the petty, arrogant and incompetent members of this administration. Easily the most inept and corrupt group ever to have held the reins of power in the United States. Worst. Ever.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
The Veto
This evening George W. Bush, with the stroke of his veto pen, delays funding for the troops in Iraq, funding allocated by the supplemental spending bill passed by democrats and republicans.
Let it be known that the only person interested in cutting funding is the coward who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The democrats should pounce on this like a cat on a bit of cheese!
Let it be known that the only person interested in cutting funding is the coward who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The democrats should pounce on this like a cat on a bit of cheese!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
The War
The congress will send the Iraq emergency-funding bill, with mandates for withdrawal, to the White House on Tuesday. Bush has said he will veto the bill. Let him, after which put the override to a vote and make the Republicans in the congress go on record as supporting the continuation of the bloodletting debacle in Iraq. When the override effort fails, as it will, enact the same bill and send it down Pennsylvania Avenue Again making much public questioning as to how a Bush veto is "supporting the troops" and who is truly responsible for the war funding emergency. Do this with each veto and sooner rather than later, the veto will be overridden because republicans will not wish to lose their congressional offices in November 2008.
If the republicans do not come around they risk doing to their party what they thought they were doing to the Democrats in 2002 & 2004, IE: driving the party towards extinction.
Bush will never accept the congress telling him "no" on anything, let alone Iraq. He is a spoiled, self centered child who has always gotten his way and when things didn't work out, as they have not his entire life, he could always rely on Poppy or Poppy's friends to come to his rescue and pick up the pieces.
His cousins have said,, that as a child playing games, when Bush found himself at a disadvantage he would change the rules so that he would come out on top. My question is, what changes to the rules (IE: The Constitutional form of government) is he planning now that it becomes increasingly obvious that with each passing day his disadvantage grows by leaps and bounds?
This, then, is the greatest danger to our republic. Not Iraq, not Iran, not Radical Islamists, not a global war on terror, not evens the misnamed Islamo-Fascism. No, the greatest danger to our republic sits in the Oval Office, a mentally unhinged George W. Bush, a man devoid of a sense of honesty, ethics or morality
If the republicans do not come around they risk doing to their party what they thought they were doing to the Democrats in 2002 & 2004, IE: driving the party towards extinction.
Bush will never accept the congress telling him "no" on anything, let alone Iraq. He is a spoiled, self centered child who has always gotten his way and when things didn't work out, as they have not his entire life, he could always rely on Poppy or Poppy's friends to come to his rescue and pick up the pieces.
His cousins have said,, that as a child playing games, when Bush found himself at a disadvantage he would change the rules so that he would come out on top. My question is, what changes to the rules (IE: The Constitutional form of government) is he planning now that it becomes increasingly obvious that with each passing day his disadvantage grows by leaps and bounds?
This, then, is the greatest danger to our republic. Not Iraq, not Iran, not Radical Islamists, not a global war on terror, not evens the misnamed Islamo-Fascism. No, the greatest danger to our republic sits in the Oval Office, a mentally unhinged George W. Bush, a man devoid of a sense of honesty, ethics or morality
Friday, April 20, 2007
AttorneyGate
Gonzales prepared two weeks for his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday? Did it really take that long to prepare to answer "I don't recall" over 70 times during the course of the questioning?
It was hard not to feel embarrassed for Alberto, such was his display of forgetfulness. One could imagine that perhaps he was suffering from early onset dementia. What we saw was a living, breathing example of Sgt. Schultz, from the old "Hogan's Heroes" television show of the 60s. "I know NOTHING!"
His performance in and of itself demonstrated that he is not qualified, likely never was qualified to be Attorney General. Had he any sense of decency and ethics he would have announced his recognition on the spot. That he did not speaks volumes to his deficiencies of character.
Only Senator Hatch, in full pucker mode, gave him any respite from the heavy questioning from the members on both sides. Senator Coburn (R-OK) pointedly suggested he resign.
It was hard not to feel embarrassed for Alberto, such was his display of forgetfulness. One could imagine that perhaps he was suffering from early onset dementia. What we saw was a living, breathing example of Sgt. Schultz, from the old "Hogan's Heroes" television show of the 60s. "I know NOTHING!"
His performance in and of itself demonstrated that he is not qualified, likely never was qualified to be Attorney General. Had he any sense of decency and ethics he would have announced his recognition on the spot. That he did not speaks volumes to his deficiencies of character.
Only Senator Hatch, in full pucker mode, gave him any respite from the heavy questioning from the members on both sides. Senator Coburn (R-OK) pointedly suggested he resign.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Attorneygate
Eight US Atorneys fired for ever changing reasons. Why? Were seven of these people collateral damage so that this corrupt administration could get rid of the real target, Carol Lamm? Talking Points Memo has begun to follow the trail of the money used to buy Cunningham his yacht.
Think on it. Carol Lamm was continuing the Cunningham investigation with an eye towards Dusty Foggo, Brent Wilkes and Mitchell Wade. Was she getting too close to someone in the White House? The answer seems quite obvious from here.
Think on it. Carol Lamm was continuing the Cunningham investigation with an eye towards Dusty Foggo, Brent Wilkes and Mitchell Wade. Was she getting too close to someone in the White House? The answer seems quite obvious from here.
History to repeat?
Is the sorry episode from the Nixon administration, namely, the resignation of VP Spiro Agnew about to be repeated with Dick Cheney?
Cheney once again has life threatening medical episodes, this time recurring blood clots in his legs. Is this a prelude to giving credence to his resignation, for medical reasons? What would be the advantages to such a scenario?
With Cheney out of the way, a republican of sterling reputation could be chosen to replace him. I understand that the chance of finding a republican, as Nixon did in Gerald Ford, with a reputation for honesty and ethical conduct from the current crop party faithful would be a tall order, indeed, but such action would solve many problems facing the Republican Party in 2008.
Who knows, perhaps the few republicans in the senate that place country above party, would follow the example of their predecessors in 1974, and give George W. Bush the same ultimatum given to Nixon.
Republicans, those who haven't imbibed the Kool-Aid to excess, know that every day the disaster that is Iraq continues, their chances to avoid electoral disaster in 2008 diminish. They know that every week that goes by brings the likelihood that yet another scandal within in this most corrupt of administrations will come into public view, an outcome that will also greatly diminish their prospects for 2008.
Cheney once again has life threatening medical episodes, this time recurring blood clots in his legs. Is this a prelude to giving credence to his resignation, for medical reasons? What would be the advantages to such a scenario?
With Cheney out of the way, a republican of sterling reputation could be chosen to replace him. I understand that the chance of finding a republican, as Nixon did in Gerald Ford, with a reputation for honesty and ethical conduct from the current crop party faithful would be a tall order, indeed, but such action would solve many problems facing the Republican Party in 2008.
Who knows, perhaps the few republicans in the senate that place country above party, would follow the example of their predecessors in 1974, and give George W. Bush the same ultimatum given to Nixon.
Republicans, those who haven't imbibed the Kool-Aid to excess, know that every day the disaster that is Iraq continues, their chances to avoid electoral disaster in 2008 diminish. They know that every week that goes by brings the likelihood that yet another scandal within in this most corrupt of administrations will come into public view, an outcome that will also greatly diminish their prospects for 2008.
Friday, January 26, 2007
The Libby Trial
The opening days of the Libby trial have been interesting and enlightening. The witness testimony thus far, seem to show a number of things:
1. Cheney was up to his neck in this sorry, sordid affair.
2. Libby was being tossed under the bus by the WH in order to protect Karl Rove.
3. The sacrificing of Libby to protect Rove has driven a wedge between the VP and the WH.
Speaking of Karl Rove, where has he gone? Into seclusion? Abducted by aliens? Iranians? Does anyone know? Has anyone seen him?
Regarding Cheney, the manner in which he is being portrayed in the Libby trial could mean that Bush and his defenders have decided to throw him under the bus in an effort to get him to resign for "the good of the president and the party."
This will not work. Cheney will have to be dragged kicking and scowling from this administration. On the bright side, as long as Cheney is out there in an official capacity, making his delusional statements, it can only benefit those who are relatively sane, which is to say moderate republicans and more importantly, democrats come 2008.
1. Cheney was up to his neck in this sorry, sordid affair.
2. Libby was being tossed under the bus by the WH in order to protect Karl Rove.
3. The sacrificing of Libby to protect Rove has driven a wedge between the VP and the WH.
Speaking of Karl Rove, where has he gone? Into seclusion? Abducted by aliens? Iranians? Does anyone know? Has anyone seen him?
Regarding Cheney, the manner in which he is being portrayed in the Libby trial could mean that Bush and his defenders have decided to throw him under the bus in an effort to get him to resign for "the good of the president and the party."
This will not work. Cheney will have to be dragged kicking and scowling from this administration. On the bright side, as long as Cheney is out there in an official capacity, making his delusional statements, it can only benefit those who are relatively sane, which is to say moderate republicans and more importantly, democrats come 2008.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
James Baker, Bush Road Ranger
Why "Road Ranger" you ask? Simple, here in Florida there is a service for motorists in distress called Road Rangers. Out of gas, broke down? The Road Rangers will assist you as they are constantly on patrol looking for drivers in need on Florida highways.
Is there anyone in greater need of assistance than George W. Bush? Who better to provide it James Baker, the Bush Family Fixer Extraordinary? Ever there to bail out the Bushes in their many screw ups and embarrassments, there could be no other choice.
Everything George W. Bush has attempted in his entire life has ended in failure, from Arbusto to the presidency George W. Bush has been responsible for running the operation into the ground. Every failure he engineered always ended the same way, with Poppy Bush's friends riding over the hill to rescue the boy who couldn't do anything right.
So now James Baker is trying to work his magic one more time by finding a way to get the idiot child of George and Barbara off the hook in Iraq and with him, hopefully, the country as well.
I wonder if Baker will lead the defense when George W. Bush finds himself on trial as a war criminal?
One can only hope for that scenario to play out and allow us to see for ourselves.
Is there anyone in greater need of assistance than George W. Bush? Who better to provide it James Baker, the Bush Family Fixer Extraordinary? Ever there to bail out the Bushes in their many screw ups and embarrassments, there could be no other choice.
Everything George W. Bush has attempted in his entire life has ended in failure, from Arbusto to the presidency George W. Bush has been responsible for running the operation into the ground. Every failure he engineered always ended the same way, with Poppy Bush's friends riding over the hill to rescue the boy who couldn't do anything right.
So now James Baker is trying to work his magic one more time by finding a way to get the idiot child of George and Barbara off the hook in Iraq and with him, hopefully, the country as well.
I wonder if Baker will lead the defense when George W. Bush finds himself on trial as a war criminal?
One can only hope for that scenario to play out and allow us to see for ourselves.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Dems take control of House & Senate.
We are now at the beginning of ending the nightmare that is Bush's America.
Halleluja!!
It's time to put right what Bush's enablers have done to America.
Halleluja!!
It's time to put right what Bush's enablers have done to America.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Keith Olbermann on the GOP response to the Kerry joke.
Is it any wonder why Keith Olbermann's audience is on the upswing?
Keith Olbermann on the Kerry joke.
Keith Olbermann on the Kerry joke.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Exercise your right to vote.
I just exercised my right, no, my obligation to vote in the 2006 midterm elections by taking advantage of the early voting system here in Florida.
To say that this election is important would be an understatement of immense proportions. Suffice it to say that this is the most important election in my lifetime, which spans 65+ years.
It is not hyperbole to cast this midterm election in a "Custer's Last Stand" light, for the flame of liberty and freedom, as envisioned by The Founders, flickers ever so feebly in the strengthening gale that is the assault on The Constitution and The Bill of Rights by George W. Bush and his republican enablers.
It is past time to bring congressional oversight back to the congress and accountability to George W. Bush for his unabashedly unamerican assault on the foundations of our republic. Foundations that have withstood the rebellion of civil war, two world wars and a cold war that threatened to obliterate us during the last half of the 20th Century.
The time for change is now, it is not too late... yet. On November 7 exercise your right to vote and save our great republic from the neo-fascists of the Bush Regime.
To say that this election is important would be an understatement of immense proportions. Suffice it to say that this is the most important election in my lifetime, which spans 65+ years.
It is not hyperbole to cast this midterm election in a "Custer's Last Stand" light, for the flame of liberty and freedom, as envisioned by The Founders, flickers ever so feebly in the strengthening gale that is the assault on The Constitution and The Bill of Rights by George W. Bush and his republican enablers.
It is past time to bring congressional oversight back to the congress and accountability to George W. Bush for his unabashedly unamerican assault on the foundations of our republic. Foundations that have withstood the rebellion of civil war, two world wars and a cold war that threatened to obliterate us during the last half of the 20th Century.
The time for change is now, it is not too late... yet. On November 7 exercise your right to vote and save our great republic from the neo-fascists of the Bush Regime.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Hastert and the corrupt GOP
What more can one say regarding the morally corrupt thugs that form the House leadership that hasn't been said already?
A measure of the seriousness of the scandal is the fact that they have not a clue as to what to do to make it go away. HINT: Stop using the democrats usual tactic of the circular firing squad.
They cannot do the right thing because it would involve tossing the entire leadership of the house under the bus and what would that do for their chances on November 7? HINT: Republicans are already toast, the only thing they can do is limit just how carbonized they become and the finger pointing, denial and counter accusations currently taking place is not they path they need to take.
This is a scandal that everyone can understand. No political slogans about "Standing up, standing down" or "Staying the course" or "Fight them there, fight them here" to be argued over but the stark fact that one of the senior members of the "values" party has been sexually stalking congressional Pages, male congressional Pages for at least 10 years. The fact that Pages were male is enough to get the steam coming out of the so called Value Voter's ears but the stalking and the subsequent and coninuing, coverup is causing them to rethink their plans for November 7, as well they should.
As I have said before, so called conservative republicans have far sunk lower in the pit of corruption and immorality in twelve years of power then that did democrats after holding the reins of congress for forty years.
Bring back a modicum of decency, competence and yes, morality to the congress and throw the bums out by voting democratic on November 7.
A democratic majority will bring honor, morality and ethics back to the leadership of a congress that has been lacking in such virtues.
A measure of the seriousness of the scandal is the fact that they have not a clue as to what to do to make it go away. HINT: Stop using the democrats usual tactic of the circular firing squad.
They cannot do the right thing because it would involve tossing the entire leadership of the house under the bus and what would that do for their chances on November 7? HINT: Republicans are already toast, the only thing they can do is limit just how carbonized they become and the finger pointing, denial and counter accusations currently taking place is not they path they need to take.
This is a scandal that everyone can understand. No political slogans about "Standing up, standing down" or "Staying the course" or "Fight them there, fight them here" to be argued over but the stark fact that one of the senior members of the "values" party has been sexually stalking congressional Pages, male congressional Pages for at least 10 years. The fact that Pages were male is enough to get the steam coming out of the so called Value Voter's ears but the stalking and the subsequent and coninuing, coverup is causing them to rethink their plans for November 7, as well they should.
As I have said before, so called conservative republicans have far sunk lower in the pit of corruption and immorality in twelve years of power then that did democrats after holding the reins of congress for forty years.
Bring back a modicum of decency, competence and yes, morality to the congress and throw the bums out by voting democratic on November 7.
A democratic majority will bring honor, morality and ethics back to the leadership of a congress that has been lacking in such virtues.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Kieth Olbermann!!
A textbook definition of cowardice
Keith Olbermann comments on Bill Clinton's Fox News interview
SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, 'Countdown'
MSNBC
Updated: 8:29 p.m. ET Sept 25, 2006
The headlines about them are, of course, entirely wrong.
It is not essential that a past president, bullied and sandbagged by a monkey posing as a newscaster, finally lashed back.
It is not important that the current President’s portable public chorus has described his predecessor’s tone as “crazed.”
Our tone should be crazed. The nation’s freedoms are under assault by an administration whose policies can do us as much damage as al Qaida; the nation’s marketplace of ideas is being poisoned by a propaganda company so blatant that Tokyo Rose would’ve quit.
Nonetheless. The headline is this:
Bill Clinton did what almost none of us have done in five years.
He has spoken the truth about 9/11, and the current presidential administration.
"At least I tried," he said of his own efforts to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. "That’s the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They had eight months to try; they did not try. I tried."
Thus in his supposed emeritus years has Mr. Clinton taken forceful and triumphant action for honesty, and for us; action as vital and as courageous as any of his presidency; action as startling and as liberating, as any, by any one, in these last five long years.
The Bush Administration did not try to get Osama bin Laden before 9/11.
The Bush Administration ignored all the evidence gathered by its predecessors.
The Bush Administration did not understand the Daily Briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S."
The Bush Administration did not try.
Moreover, for the last five years one month and two weeks, the current administration, and in particular the President, has been given the greatest “pass” for incompetence and malfeasance in American history!
President Roosevelt was rightly blamed for ignoring the warning signs—some of them, 17 years old—before Pearl Harbor.
President Hoover was correctly blamed for—if not the Great Depression itself—then the disastrous economic steps he took in the immediate aftermath of the Stock Market Crash.
Even President Lincoln assumed some measure of responsibility for the Civil War—though talk of Southern secession had begun as early as 1832.
But not this president.
To hear him bleat and whine and bully at nearly every opportunity, one would think someone else had been president on September 11th, 2001 -- or the nearly eight months that preceded it.
That hardly reflects the honesty nor manliness we expect of the executive.
But if his own fitness to serve is of no true concern to him, perhaps we should simply sigh and keep our fingers crossed, until a grown-up takes the job three Januarys from now.
Except for this.
After five years of skirting even the most inarguable of facts—that he was president on 9/11 and he must bear some responsibility for his, and our, unreadiness, Mr. Bush has now moved, unmistakably and without conscience or shame, towards re-writing history, and attempting to make the responsibility, entirely Mr. Clinton’s.
Of course he is not honest enough to do that directly.
As with all the other nefariousness and slime of this, our worst presidency since James Buchanan, he is having it done for him, by proxy.
Thus, the sandbag effort by Fox News Friday afternoon.
Consider the timing: the very weekend the National Intelligence Estimate would be released and show the Iraq war to be the fraudulent failure it is—not a check on terror, but fertilizer for it.
The kind of proof of incompetence, for which the administration and its hyenas at Fox need to find a diversion, in a scapegoat.
It was the kind of cheap trick which would get a journalist fired—but a propagandist, promoted:
Promise to talk of charity and generosity; but instead launch into the lies and distortions with which the Authoritarians among us attack the virtuous and reward the useless.
And don’t even be professional enough to assume the responsibility for the slanders yourself; blame your audience for “e-mailing” you the question.
Mr. Clinton responded as you have seen.
He told the great truth untold about this administration’s negligence, perhaps criminal negligence, about bin Laden.
He was brave.
Then again, Chris Wallace might be braver still. Had I in one moment surrendered all my credibility as a journalist, and been irredeemably humiliated, as was he, I would have gone home and started a new career selling seeds by mail.
The smearing by proxy, of course, did not begin Friday afternoon.
Disney was first to sell-out its corporate reputation, with "The Path to 9/11." Of that company’s crimes against truth one needs to say little. Simply put: someone there enabled an Authoritarian zealot to belch out Mr. Bush’s new and improved history.
The basic plot-line was this: because he was distracted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Bill Clinton failed to prevent 9/11.
The most curious and in some ways the most infuriating aspect of this slapdash theory, is that the Right Wingers who have advocated it—who try to sneak it into our collective consciousness through entertainment, or who sandbag Mr. Clinton with it at news interviews—have simply skipped past its most glaring flaw.
Had it been true that Clinton had been distracted from the hunt for bin Laden in 1998 because of the Monica Lewinsky nonsense, why did these same people not applaud him for having bombed bin Laden’s camps in Afghanistan and Sudan on Aug. 20, of that year? For mentioning bin Laden by name as he did so?
That day, Republican Senator Grams of Minnesota invoked the movie "Wag The Dog."
Republican Senator Coats of Indiana questioned Mr. Clinton’s judgment.
Republican Senator Ashcroft of Missouri—the future attorney general—echoed Coats.
Even Republican Senator Arlen Specter questioned the timing.
And of course, were it true Clinton had been “distracted” by the Lewinsky witch-hunt, who on earth conducted the Lewinsky witch-hunt?
Who turned the political discourse of this nation on its head for two years?
Who corrupted the political media?
Who made it impossible for us to even bring back on the air, the counter-terrorism analysts like Dr. Richard Haass, and James Dunegan, who had warned, at this very hour, on this very network, in early 1998, of cells from the Middle East who sought to attack us, here?
Who preempted them in order to strangle us with the trivia that was, “All Monica All The Time”?
Who distracted whom?
This is, of course, where—as is inevitable—Mr. Bush and his henchmen prove not quite as smart as they think they are.
The full responsibility for 9/11 is obviously shared by three administrations, possibly four.
But, Mr. Bush, if you are now trying to convince us by proxy that it’s all about the distractions of 1998 and 1999, then you will have to face a startling fact that your minions may have hidden from you.
The distractions of 1998 and 1999, Mr. Bush, were carefully manufactured, and lovingly executed, not by Bill Clinton, but by the same people who got you elected President.
Thus, instead of some commendable acknowledgment that you were even in office on 9/11 and the lost months before it, we have your sleazy and sloppy rewriting of history, designed by somebody who evidently read the Orwell playbook too quickly.
Thus, instead of some explanation for the inertia of your first eight months in office, we are told that you have kept us "safe" ever since—a statement that might range anywhere from zero, to 100 percent, true.
We have nothing but your word, and your word has long since ceased to mean anything.
And, of course, the one time you have ever given us specifics about what you have kept us safe from, Mr. Bush, you got the name of the supposedly targeted Tower in Los Angeles wrong.
Thus was it left for the previous president to say what so many of us have felt; what so many of us have given you a pass for in the months and even the years after the attack:
You did not try.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your predecessor.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your own people.
Then, you blamed your predecessor.
That would be a textbook definition, Mr. Bush, of cowardice.
To enforce the lies of the present, it is necessary to erase the truths of the past.
That was one of the great mechanical realities Eric Blair—writing as George Orwell—gave us in the book “1984.”
The great philosophical reality he gave us, Mr. Bush, may sound as familiar to you, as it has lately begun to sound familiar to me.
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power...
"Power is not a means; it is an end.
"One does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
"The object of persecution, is persecution. The object of torture, is torture. The object of power… is power."
Earlier last Friday afternoon, before the Fox ambush, speaking in the far different context of the closing session of his remarkable Global Initiative, Mr. Clinton quoted Abraham Lincoln’s State of the Union address from 1862.
"We must disenthrall ourselves."
Mr. Clinton did not quote the rest of Mr. Lincoln’s sentence.
He might well have.
"We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country."
And so has Mr. Clinton helped us to disenthrall ourselves, and perhaps enabled us, even at this late and bleak date, to save our country.
The "free pass" has been withdrawn, Mr. Bush.
You did not act to prevent 9/11.
We do not know what you have done to prevent another 9/11.
You have failed us—then leveraged that failure, to justify a purposeless war in Iraq which will have, all too soon, claimed more American lives than did 9/11.
You have failed us anew in Afghanistan.
And you have now tried to hide your failures, by blaming your predecessor.
And now you exploit your failure, to rationalize brazen torture which doesn’t work anyway; which only condemns our soldiers to water-boarding; which only humiliates our country further in the world; and which no true American would ever condone, let alone advocate.
And there it is, Mr. Bush:
Are yours the actions of a true American?
© 2006 MSNBC Interactive
Olbermann is on a roll... could be the Edward R. Murrow of our times.
Keith Olbermann comments on Bill Clinton's Fox News interview
SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, 'Countdown'
MSNBC
Updated: 8:29 p.m. ET Sept 25, 2006
The headlines about them are, of course, entirely wrong.
It is not essential that a past president, bullied and sandbagged by a monkey posing as a newscaster, finally lashed back.
It is not important that the current President’s portable public chorus has described his predecessor’s tone as “crazed.”
Our tone should be crazed. The nation’s freedoms are under assault by an administration whose policies can do us as much damage as al Qaida; the nation’s marketplace of ideas is being poisoned by a propaganda company so blatant that Tokyo Rose would’ve quit.
Nonetheless. The headline is this:
Bill Clinton did what almost none of us have done in five years.
He has spoken the truth about 9/11, and the current presidential administration.
"At least I tried," he said of his own efforts to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. "That’s the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They had eight months to try; they did not try. I tried."
Thus in his supposed emeritus years has Mr. Clinton taken forceful and triumphant action for honesty, and for us; action as vital and as courageous as any of his presidency; action as startling and as liberating, as any, by any one, in these last five long years.
The Bush Administration did not try to get Osama bin Laden before 9/11.
The Bush Administration ignored all the evidence gathered by its predecessors.
The Bush Administration did not understand the Daily Briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S."
The Bush Administration did not try.
Moreover, for the last five years one month and two weeks, the current administration, and in particular the President, has been given the greatest “pass” for incompetence and malfeasance in American history!
President Roosevelt was rightly blamed for ignoring the warning signs—some of them, 17 years old—before Pearl Harbor.
President Hoover was correctly blamed for—if not the Great Depression itself—then the disastrous economic steps he took in the immediate aftermath of the Stock Market Crash.
Even President Lincoln assumed some measure of responsibility for the Civil War—though talk of Southern secession had begun as early as 1832.
But not this president.
To hear him bleat and whine and bully at nearly every opportunity, one would think someone else had been president on September 11th, 2001 -- or the nearly eight months that preceded it.
That hardly reflects the honesty nor manliness we expect of the executive.
But if his own fitness to serve is of no true concern to him, perhaps we should simply sigh and keep our fingers crossed, until a grown-up takes the job three Januarys from now.
Except for this.
After five years of skirting even the most inarguable of facts—that he was president on 9/11 and he must bear some responsibility for his, and our, unreadiness, Mr. Bush has now moved, unmistakably and without conscience or shame, towards re-writing history, and attempting to make the responsibility, entirely Mr. Clinton’s.
Of course he is not honest enough to do that directly.
As with all the other nefariousness and slime of this, our worst presidency since James Buchanan, he is having it done for him, by proxy.
Thus, the sandbag effort by Fox News Friday afternoon.
Consider the timing: the very weekend the National Intelligence Estimate would be released and show the Iraq war to be the fraudulent failure it is—not a check on terror, but fertilizer for it.
The kind of proof of incompetence, for which the administration and its hyenas at Fox need to find a diversion, in a scapegoat.
It was the kind of cheap trick which would get a journalist fired—but a propagandist, promoted:
Promise to talk of charity and generosity; but instead launch into the lies and distortions with which the Authoritarians among us attack the virtuous and reward the useless.
And don’t even be professional enough to assume the responsibility for the slanders yourself; blame your audience for “e-mailing” you the question.
Mr. Clinton responded as you have seen.
He told the great truth untold about this administration’s negligence, perhaps criminal negligence, about bin Laden.
He was brave.
Then again, Chris Wallace might be braver still. Had I in one moment surrendered all my credibility as a journalist, and been irredeemably humiliated, as was he, I would have gone home and started a new career selling seeds by mail.
The smearing by proxy, of course, did not begin Friday afternoon.
Disney was first to sell-out its corporate reputation, with "The Path to 9/11." Of that company’s crimes against truth one needs to say little. Simply put: someone there enabled an Authoritarian zealot to belch out Mr. Bush’s new and improved history.
The basic plot-line was this: because he was distracted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Bill Clinton failed to prevent 9/11.
The most curious and in some ways the most infuriating aspect of this slapdash theory, is that the Right Wingers who have advocated it—who try to sneak it into our collective consciousness through entertainment, or who sandbag Mr. Clinton with it at news interviews—have simply skipped past its most glaring flaw.
Had it been true that Clinton had been distracted from the hunt for bin Laden in 1998 because of the Monica Lewinsky nonsense, why did these same people not applaud him for having bombed bin Laden’s camps in Afghanistan and Sudan on Aug. 20, of that year? For mentioning bin Laden by name as he did so?
That day, Republican Senator Grams of Minnesota invoked the movie "Wag The Dog."
Republican Senator Coats of Indiana questioned Mr. Clinton’s judgment.
Republican Senator Ashcroft of Missouri—the future attorney general—echoed Coats.
Even Republican Senator Arlen Specter questioned the timing.
And of course, were it true Clinton had been “distracted” by the Lewinsky witch-hunt, who on earth conducted the Lewinsky witch-hunt?
Who turned the political discourse of this nation on its head for two years?
Who corrupted the political media?
Who made it impossible for us to even bring back on the air, the counter-terrorism analysts like Dr. Richard Haass, and James Dunegan, who had warned, at this very hour, on this very network, in early 1998, of cells from the Middle East who sought to attack us, here?
Who preempted them in order to strangle us with the trivia that was, “All Monica All The Time”?
Who distracted whom?
This is, of course, where—as is inevitable—Mr. Bush and his henchmen prove not quite as smart as they think they are.
The full responsibility for 9/11 is obviously shared by three administrations, possibly four.
But, Mr. Bush, if you are now trying to convince us by proxy that it’s all about the distractions of 1998 and 1999, then you will have to face a startling fact that your minions may have hidden from you.
The distractions of 1998 and 1999, Mr. Bush, were carefully manufactured, and lovingly executed, not by Bill Clinton, but by the same people who got you elected President.
Thus, instead of some commendable acknowledgment that you were even in office on 9/11 and the lost months before it, we have your sleazy and sloppy rewriting of history, designed by somebody who evidently read the Orwell playbook too quickly.
Thus, instead of some explanation for the inertia of your first eight months in office, we are told that you have kept us "safe" ever since—a statement that might range anywhere from zero, to 100 percent, true.
We have nothing but your word, and your word has long since ceased to mean anything.
And, of course, the one time you have ever given us specifics about what you have kept us safe from, Mr. Bush, you got the name of the supposedly targeted Tower in Los Angeles wrong.
Thus was it left for the previous president to say what so many of us have felt; what so many of us have given you a pass for in the months and even the years after the attack:
You did not try.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your predecessor.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your own people.
Then, you blamed your predecessor.
That would be a textbook definition, Mr. Bush, of cowardice.
To enforce the lies of the present, it is necessary to erase the truths of the past.
That was one of the great mechanical realities Eric Blair—writing as George Orwell—gave us in the book “1984.”
The great philosophical reality he gave us, Mr. Bush, may sound as familiar to you, as it has lately begun to sound familiar to me.
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power...
"Power is not a means; it is an end.
"One does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
"The object of persecution, is persecution. The object of torture, is torture. The object of power… is power."
Earlier last Friday afternoon, before the Fox ambush, speaking in the far different context of the closing session of his remarkable Global Initiative, Mr. Clinton quoted Abraham Lincoln’s State of the Union address from 1862.
"We must disenthrall ourselves."
Mr. Clinton did not quote the rest of Mr. Lincoln’s sentence.
He might well have.
"We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country."
And so has Mr. Clinton helped us to disenthrall ourselves, and perhaps enabled us, even at this late and bleak date, to save our country.
The "free pass" has been withdrawn, Mr. Bush.
You did not act to prevent 9/11.
We do not know what you have done to prevent another 9/11.
You have failed us—then leveraged that failure, to justify a purposeless war in Iraq which will have, all too soon, claimed more American lives than did 9/11.
You have failed us anew in Afghanistan.
And you have now tried to hide your failures, by blaming your predecessor.
And now you exploit your failure, to rationalize brazen torture which doesn’t work anyway; which only condemns our soldiers to water-boarding; which only humiliates our country further in the world; and which no true American would ever condone, let alone advocate.
And there it is, Mr. Bush:
Are yours the actions of a true American?
© 2006 MSNBC Interactive
Olbermann is on a roll... could be the Edward R. Murrow of our times.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Torture USA
What can be said regarding the total capitulation of Senators McCain, Warner and Graham on the torture bill? A reading of the compromise seems to indicate that the primary function of rewriting the bill, and with it our non-compliance with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Accords, is to relieve those individuals at the top of the chain of command, who actually issue the guidelines for interrogation, from all culpability in the torture of prisoners, leaving that responsibility to those low level people in the ranks who actually perform the torture.
Let us understand this, we are not talking about "playing loud music" or "depriving prisoners of sleep" (although that is quite inhumane) or any of the other ridiculous acts that those on the right are saying this legislation is about. No, we are talking about torture by any standard, for who among us is willing to concede that 'waterboarding' is not torture, knowing that the act entails covering the head of a prisoner with plastic wrap or cellophane, etc. then running water over his face in an effort to simulate drowning? Who among us has had their sense of morals so warped by the fear mongering of Bush and his enablers that they cannot see 'waterboarding' for what it is, torture plain and simple?
When Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al agree to endure "waterboarding" or any other of the "alternative interrogation" methods (read torture), then, perhaps then will I rethink my opposition to such unamerican methods. There is no chance that such a scenario will come to pass because first and foremost Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al are morally bankrupt cowards who would never submit themselves to that which they wish to impose on others.
Somewhere The Founders surely weep at what has become of the dream that was America, certainly the citizens of this great country whose moral and ethical compasses still read true to the ideals of those great men are outraged at the path this cowardly and corrupt administration has taken the nation.
As for the Democrats, sorry to say that it seems they are only concerned with keeping their positions rather than standing up to those who would corrupt the American ideals of ethics, morality and above all, fair play. Democrats have not earned the right to retake the halls of congress for they have shown themselves to be as cowardly as the Republicans they wish to replace.
A pox on both their houses.
Let us understand this, we are not talking about "playing loud music" or "depriving prisoners of sleep" (although that is quite inhumane) or any of the other ridiculous acts that those on the right are saying this legislation is about. No, we are talking about torture by any standard, for who among us is willing to concede that 'waterboarding' is not torture, knowing that the act entails covering the head of a prisoner with plastic wrap or cellophane, etc. then running water over his face in an effort to simulate drowning? Who among us has had their sense of morals so warped by the fear mongering of Bush and his enablers that they cannot see 'waterboarding' for what it is, torture plain and simple?
When Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al agree to endure "waterboarding" or any other of the "alternative interrogation" methods (read torture), then, perhaps then will I rethink my opposition to such unamerican methods. There is no chance that such a scenario will come to pass because first and foremost Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al are morally bankrupt cowards who would never submit themselves to that which they wish to impose on others.
Somewhere The Founders surely weep at what has become of the dream that was America, certainly the citizens of this great country whose moral and ethical compasses still read true to the ideals of those great men are outraged at the path this cowardly and corrupt administration has taken the nation.
As for the Democrats, sorry to say that it seems they are only concerned with keeping their positions rather than standing up to those who would corrupt the American ideals of ethics, morality and above all, fair play. Democrats have not earned the right to retake the halls of congress for they have shown themselves to be as cowardly as the Republicans they wish to replace.
A pox on both their houses.
What he said!
RE: The Torture Agreement
Hullabaloo: "Kudos to Digby for calling this exactly right from the start. Shame, shame, shame on the cowards in both parties that permitted this disgracefully grotesque farce to happen. This is as inexcusable a stupidity as the neglect that permittted the 9/11 attacks, the idiotic reasoning and intellectual blindness that advocated and executed the Bush/Iraq war, and the failure to prepare for Katrina. What the hell is going on, that a country that prides itself on its heritage of freedom and liberty, that fought such an awful war over the degrading enslavement of human beings - that such a country would vote to permit some of the most repulsive and evil practices human beings are capable of and place the power to do so directly in the hands of a moral midget?"
The shame and anger at what has become of America is overwhelming this day. The anger is not only focused on the republicans who went along with this farce because they are republicans after all. No, the lion's share of the anger and shame is reserved for the democrats who would not, could not find the backbone to stand for America and say ENOUGH!
There is not much pride in being an American this day.
Hullabaloo: "Kudos to Digby for calling this exactly right from the start. Shame, shame, shame on the cowards in both parties that permitted this disgracefully grotesque farce to happen. This is as inexcusable a stupidity as the neglect that permittted the 9/11 attacks, the idiotic reasoning and intellectual blindness that advocated and executed the Bush/Iraq war, and the failure to prepare for Katrina. What the hell is going on, that a country that prides itself on its heritage of freedom and liberty, that fought such an awful war over the degrading enslavement of human beings - that such a country would vote to permit some of the most repulsive and evil practices human beings are capable of and place the power to do so directly in the hands of a moral midget?"
The shame and anger at what has become of America is overwhelming this day. The anger is not only focused on the republicans who went along with this farce because they are republicans after all. No, the lion's share of the anger and shame is reserved for the democrats who would not, could not find the backbone to stand for America and say ENOUGH!
There is not much pride in being an American this day.
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