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And, yes, I DO take it personally: 03/11/2007 - 03/18/2007
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- Noam Chomsky
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And, yes, I DO take it personally

Saturday, March 17, 2007

How about accountability for the WaPo?

hillary isn't the only one that needs to apologize and sampson isn't the only one that needs to walk the plank...
In a normal world, a newspaper would praise Joe Wilson for his dedication and patriotism – both for undertaking the CIA mission and blowing the whistle on the President’s abuse of intelligence to lead the nation to war.

A newspaper also might be expected to demand stern accountability from the Bush administration for not only damaging national security by exposing Valerie Plame’s identity but for then misleading the public and mounting a cover-up of the facts.

To this day – closing in on four years since the White House started its anti-Wilson campaign – political adviser Karl Rove retains his security clearance and neither Bush nor Cheney have issued an apology to the Wilson-Plame family or to the country for damaging an important national security operation.

But the [Washington Post] editorial board can’t seem to get past its own gullibility in buying into the administration’s bogus WMD claims in 2002-03. Rather than apologize for enabling Bush and Cheney to lead the nation into a disastrous war, Hiatt and his boss, Washington Post publisher Donald Graham, apparently think they can ignore their responsibility to the readers and to the nation.

That immunity – and hubris – should end with, at minimum, the firing of Fred Hiatt.

media complicity in an illegal war is, at minimum, aiding and abetting...

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Why they're REALLY stalling

they are truly between the proverbial rock and a very, very hard place...
The White House has delayed until next week a decision on whether to release additional documents and to permit top aides to President Bush, including Karl Rove, the chief political adviser, to testify in a Congressional inquiry into the dismissal of federal prosecutors.

Fred F. Fielding, the chief White House counsel, spent Friday evaluating the request and conferred with President Bush about it before Mr. Bush left for Camp David, a White House official said.

Mr. Fielding had initially told Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee that he hoped to have an answer by Friday, but he now expects to report back to the panel after the weekend.

“Given the importance of the issues under consideration, and the presidential principles involved, we need more time to resolve them,” Dana Perino, the deputy White House press secretary, said Friday.

hey... i'd be stalling as well... here's the big picture...



Bush WITH Gonzales



Bush WITHOUT Gonzales

when gonzales gets dumped - and he will - fully one-third of bush's front line disappears... i stick with my prediction of yesterday... the floodgates will open and the crap that will come flooding out will be staggering...

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An Argentine views Chávez, Latin America, and U.S. hegemony



this op-ed was prompted by the chávez rally here in buenos aires last weekend as bush was visiting in montevideo, just across the rio de la plata... it's as articulate and rational a view as i've yet read...
While many in Argentina would, nevertheless, not hesitate to call the Venezuelan president a clown or a madman, it’s worth keeping in mind that a very heady dose of megalomania is a prerequisite for even dreaming of confronting a rival as overwhelmingly powerful as the United States — which is also led by a president viewed, in many quarters, as a clown and a madman.

[...]

Two major Argentine characteristics are in play here: intrinsic distrust and the need for immediate gratification. Mr. Chávez awakens both of these inclinations, and it’s interesting to see them balance each other out. The dream of a single-currency Latin American Union, modeled on the European Union, to create, insofar as possible, a buffer against the hegemony of the United States no longer seems so impossible.

for many years i have thought that if latin american, certainly one of the largest, richest, and most beautiful areas of the world, and one which, with the exception of brazil, shares a common language, could put aside its endless bickering and work together, it would be an incredibly potent global force... and, yes, they would like to accomplish that without having to toady to the united states to do it...

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Friday, March 16, 2007

Oh, puh-l-e-e-e-e-eze... If WE had resigned, it would be "that's all she wrote"

WTF...?
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales planned to install his former aide Kyle Sampson as a lawyer in the Justice Department’s environment division even after Sampson’s “resignation,” NPR reported today.

[...]

In fact, Gonzales “started to set up a new office for Sampson” in the Justice Department, and Sampson only resigned on Tuesday when “the scandal surrounding eight fired U.S. Attorneys continued to grow.” A Justice official told NPR that “there were discussions about whether or not he would be detailed elsewhere as he was transitioning out and ultimately it was decided not to go that direction.”

you know goddam good and well that, if it had been you or i resigning being fired, we would have been relieved of our building access cards and escorted out of the building by armed guard... must be nice...
(thanks AGAIN to think progress...)

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If you like Iraq, you'll LOVE Iran



MoveOn, Washington Post, 16 March 2007

(thanks to think progress...)

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Tony defines "loyalty"

ok... now, read carefully, and keep count of the categories of importance...
[T]here's been a lot of conversation about loyalty. So let me -- I don't want to -- we'll just begin with a caveat: I do not know precisely what Kyle Sampson had in mind when he used the term.

But let me tell you how the term applies in this White House, which is that certainly we all serve at the pleasure of the president. We're loyal to the president in that sense. But the president's charge to each one of us is to do our jobs -- to do our jobs, to perform the public trust.

That also means to follow the principles and the priorities of the administration.

ready...? didja get 'em all...?

covering bush's ass and kissing it as required...


1) [W]e all serve at the pleasure of the president
2) We're loyal to the president in that sense
3) [We] follow the principles and priorities of the administration (see #'s 1 & 2)

serving as stewards of the commonwealth...


1) [P]erform the public trust

are we clear...? good...

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The Friday night document dump? We're all waiting!

let's have 'em...
Sources say the judiciary committee may post another trove of WH-DOJ emails this afternoon.

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AG Fitz?

from jeralyn...
CBS legal analyst and author of the Washington Post's Bench Conference blog makes the case today for replacing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales with Patrick Fitzgerald.

seriously, one of the best ideas i've heard in a long, long time...

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So, THAT'S why Karl still has his security clearance

i just LOVE big news days, especially when you can almost HEAR the bush administration sluicing down the drain...
BOMBSHELL: White House Security Chief Reveals -- No Probe of Plame Leak There

By E&P Staff

Published: March 16, 2007 1:00 PM ET

NEW YORK Dr. James Knodell, director of the Office of Security at the White House, told a congresisonal committee today that he was aware of no internal investigation or report into the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The White House had first opposed Knodell testifying but after a threat of a subpoena from the committee yesterday he was allowed to appear today.

Knodell has testified that those who had participated in the leaking of classified information were required to attest to this and he was aware that no one, including Karl Rove, had done that.

He said that he had started at the White House in August 2004, a year after the leak, but his records show no evidence of a probe or report there: "I have no knowledge of any investigation in my office," he said.

Rep. Waxman recalled that President Bush had promised a full internal probe. Knodell repeated that no probe took place, as far as he knew, and was not happening today.

Knodell said he had "no" conversations whatsoever with the president, vice president, Karl Rove or anyone about the leak.

Asked by chairman Rep. Henry Waxman if he knew this was an issue of concern, he said "yes." Asked if he learned this from the White House or the press, he said, "through the press."

so THAT explains why karl still has his security clearance...

(thanks to john at americablog...)

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Christians for peace - what a concept!

'bout time we saw some major affirmation of what jesus REALLY taught...
Christian Peace Witness for Iraq has organized a worship for Friday night at Washington's National Cathedral to be attended by 4,000 people who will then hold a candlelight procession to the White House, the anti-war group said.

A vigil will take place in front of US President George W. Bush's official residence and 700 people have indicated their readiness to be arrested in an act of civil disobedience, the group said.

The group has billed the event as the biggest Christian peace demonstration since the March 20, 2003, US-led invasion of Iraq, but rain and possible snow forecast for Washington could dampen attendance.

the far right, extreme christian fringe, over the past years, has given christianity a black eye... i'm one that believes that christ, buddha, mohammed, and all the major spiritual figures throughout history were all about love, refraining from judgment, and affirming the dignity and worth of every living thing... with the intolerance and hate that's been the hallmark of false christians like dobson, tony perkins, pat robertson, jerry falwell, and the like, it's been as easy to lump all christians into the same pile as it has been to do the same with muslims - and doing EITHER is simply wrong... it's nice to see REAL christian principles being put into practice...

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Gonzales perjures himself

think progress has the video...

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Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

the vips group consists of the following former intelligence analysts...
Ray Close, Princeton, NJ
Larry Johnson, Bethesda, MD
David C. MacMichael, Linden, VA
Ray McGovern, Arlington, VA
Coleen Rowley, Apple Valley, MN

they offer their key judgements on iraq over at robert parry's consortium news... it's part of a memo that they sent to congressional leaders offering an assessment on how best to wind down the iraq war... well worth reading...

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She's lucky she hasn't been assassinated

until you've spent time walking the streets of another country, particularly a country in the developing world, you have no idea what it feels like to be truly exposed and vulnerable... it's not like you aren't exposed and vulnerable when you're in the u.s., but at least you can rely on a semblance of law and order and, hopefully, until bush and his buddies wipe it out completely, due process... but in a foreign country, you're pretty much on your own, and whatever happens, happens... you're basically SOL...
"I was a covert officer for the CIA," Plame said, until her cover was blown in a July of 2003 article by conservative columnist Robert Novak. Plame testified that her "career path was terminated prematurely" due to the revelation, because she could no longer do the work that she was trained to do, such as traveling overseas.

Plame said that her "name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior officials in the White House and State Department."

"Politics and ideology must be stripped from our intelligence services," Plame said, after accusing Bush Administration officials of releasing personal information about her deliberately in order to damage the credibility of her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson. "The harm that is done when a CIA cover is blown is great," Plame added.

Plame said that she was "surprised at how carelessly" White House officials had acted in regards to her cover, and said that her exposure left her feeling like she was "hit in the gut"

"They should have been diligent in protecting me and every CIA officer," Plame testified.

i would surmise that valerie's opportunities to enjoy vacations outside the u.s. are now about nil...

naturally, we have fox doing its level best to spin and discredit testimony given under oath...

During its coverage of the hearing, Fox News Channel cut down the sound to feature commentary by Novak who labeled Plame's contention that she was a "covert operator" as "absurd." Novak also brought up Plame's political contributions to the Democratic Party, to imply that she was partisan.

novak really ought to look into cryogenic preservation... if he could be brought back in 50 or 60 years, he would be a genuine fossil, and the subject of much public interest... right now, he's just another senile, empty suit...

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The twittering of the pundits

i love this line... "what will it take to get republicans defending the white house again..."
This morning on Good Morning America, ABC’s Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos predicted that Alberto Gonzales will resign to end the criticism of the White House coming from some Republican members of Congress.

“He’s in the fight of his life,” Stephanopoulos said. “I think it will be very, very difficult for him to survive it.” He said the “key political question for the White House right now” is, “what will it take to get Republicans defending the White House again? And from all of my reporting, I don’t believe that’s going to happen until Alberto Gonzales resigns.”

i stand by my prediction... the gonzales mess is going to open the floodgates and all KINDS of interesting trash is going to come pouring out...

(thanks to think progress...)

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No problem, everything's just fine... Trust me...



last year, wanting to see a movie but not seeing anything playing that i liked, i stumbled into a documentary about civil aviation in argentina, called fuerza area s.a. (air force, incorporated)... as a regular flier in and out of buenos aires, i was horrified... this little snippet from the movie web site gives you some of the background but, naturally, nothing like the impact of the movie...
In this documentary the director shows the behind-the-scenes of the disastrous state of civil aviation in Argentina. Much of this is due to the inexplicable situation in which civil aviation is entirely militarized and under total control of the Air Force since the last military coup thirty years ago. Argentina is the only country with this rare privilege.

With hidden cameras in the control tower and 3D animations to convey the true version of two fatal air crashes in Argentina, the director (an aircraft accident investigator himself) makes his point on how corruption within the Air Force is directly affecting air safety. We see and understand many incredible close calls of aircraft on the verge of a fuel emergency and almost hit by rockets, and the recordings of their real conversations. Television footage depicting corruption of Air Force officials poses a strong warning on would be accidents.

so, today, i read this...
Pilots at Argentina's largest domestic airline, Austral, ended a short strike late on Thursday over a faulty radar system after the government guaranteed the safety of air traffic control.

The unionized pilots had said the radar system was not showing the exact coordinates of planes landing at or leaving the country's two biggest airports, both in the Buenos Aires area -- a claim disputed by [Defense Minister Nilda Garre].

i live close to one of the two arrival and departure flight paths for aeroparque jorge newberry, the airport that serves most of the domestic flights in and out of buenos aires... when i am bicycling over at parque de los niños, i often watch the austral flights on approach and the movie almost always comes to mind... so, reading the above was especially interesting, but this part even more...
At the news conference, Garre unveiled a decree creating a new national civil aviation administration, in the first step toward putting air traffic control in the hands of civilians.

She said the announcement was unrelated to the strike and that the transition from military to civilian control would be gradual, without specifying any time frame.

how interesting... i remember her making that very same announcement last year, very shortly after the movie was released, but, hey... as they say here with a shoulder shrug, "it's argentina..."

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THIS is the guy who's gonna hafta save George's ass



Fred Fielding, White House counsel

THIS is the guy who stands between george bush and those leading the charge against him, principally john conyers and henry waxman... does he look like a politico or what...?
Mr. Fielding’s real task is ...: to serve as the point man for the White House as it decides the future of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales...

i don't often do predictions, but i'm going out on a limb with this one... i predict mr. fielding is going to be doing a lot more than helping decide the future of alberto gonzales and deciding on whether or not white house staffers will be allowed testify before congress... i think the gonzales mess is going to open the floodgates to a torrent of crap that has been lying out of public sight and growing bigger every day that george bush has been in office... sibel edmonds' case, for instance, and a number of others (jesselyn radack diaries about herself and some of the others on kos)... lukery has been tirelessly working to bring sibel's case to light, and, if what she says is true, the resulting tide of outrage will sweep bush right out of office... let the games begin...

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Not happy about the "WAY" they were fired

ok... here's what i don't get... george and the spinmeisters keep saying the firings were "mishandled," that it's the WAY they were fired... do they honestly think THAT'S the problem...? i'm tired of being spoonfed crap like i don't have the good sense to come in out of the rain... the whole deal is about "WHY" they were fired...
President Bush says he's "not happy" about the way the firing of eight U.S. attorneys was "mishandled." He says the dismissals were "entirely appropriate," but "the fact that both Republicans and Democrats feel like that there was not straightforward communication troubles me." If so, ensure that lawmakers get the full story. That means allowing White House staff members to be interviewed if the Senate deems necessary.

what if just the democrats felt there "was not straightforward communication...?" would he STILL be "troubled...?"

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"...if Karl thinks..." What else would you need to know?

i don't know how much more incriminating it can get...
"[W]e would like to replace 15-20 percent of the current U.S. Attorneys -- the underperforming ones . . . The vast majority of U.S. Attorneys, 80-85 percent, I would guess, are doing a great job, are loyal Bushies, etc., etc."

But in regard to the idea of firing all U.S. attorneys, Sampson wrote: "That said, if Karl thinks there would be political will to do it, then so do I."

karl rove runs neck and neck with cheney as one of the darkest forces in american political history... (i've posted on rove frequently, most notably (imho), here ...)let's go back and re-visit the chilling quote that sidney blumenthal shared with us in his article reporting on rove's visit accompanying george bush at the opening of the clinton library in arkansas...
According to two eyewitnesses, Rove had shown keen interest in everything he saw, and asked questions, including about costs, obviously thinking about a future George W Bush library and legacy. "You're not such a scary guy," joked his guide. "Yes, I am," Rove replied. Walking away, he muttered deliberately and loudly: "I change constitutions, I put churches in schools ..." Thus he identified himself as more than the ruthless campaign tactician; he was also the invisible hand of power, pervasive and expansive, designing to alter the fundamental American compact.

rove is a very bad man... what's coming to light in this latest episode only serves to underscore just HOW bad... here's another one, this from a ron suskind interview with rove back in bush's first term... suskind was sitting outside rove's office prior to doing the interview...
Rove was talking to an aide about some political stratagem in some state that had gone awry and a political operative who had displeased him. I paid it no mind and reviewed a jotted list of questions I hoped to ask. But after a moment, it was like ignoring a tornado flinging parked cars. "We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him!" As a reporter, you get around—curse words, anger, passionate intensity are not notable events—but the ferocity, the bellicosity, the violent imputations were, well, shocking. This went on without a break for a minute or two. Then the aide slipped out looking a bit ashen, and Rove, his face ruddy from the exertions of the past few moments, looked at me and smiled a gentle, Clarence-the-Angel smile. "Come on in." And I did. And we had the most amiable chat for a half hour.

there's no other way to describe it but pathological...

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Thursday, March 15, 2007

Is that the sound of an axe being sharpened?

there's a lot of newspapers preparing career obituaries for gonzo tonight...
[Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)] told reporters, “I know, from other sources, that there is an active and avid discussion in the White House whether [Gonzales] should stay or not,” adding that “the odds are very high that he will no longer be the attorney general.”

Schumer also revealed that the emails leaked today came from a disgruntled Bush administration official. “One of the reasons everything is getting out here is that there are people, particularly in the Justice Department, who have been so disgusted with what’s happening that information is getting out,” Schumer said. “And I think the White House and the Justice Department know it’s gonna get out whether they release it or not.”

if bush thinks that dumping gonzo will make this all go away, he's got another think coming... he and he-who-must-not-be-named are in this up to their flabby white asses...

(thanks to think progress...)

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Conyers wastes no time

he's jumping right on the dynamite murray waas national journal piece that i posted on earlier today...
Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales demanding he answer allegations that he may have advised the President to shut down an Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) inquiry into the Administration’s domestic wiretapping surveillance program because of his role in the program.

[...]

"It would be an extraordinary abuse of authority if you advised the President on this matter after learning that your own conduct was to be investigated," Conyers wrote. "The decision by the President to shut down the OPR investigation by denying security clearances to key Department personnel was itself extremely unusual, controversial and, in our view, improper. But the issue of your role in advising the President on this question raises what may be even more serious concerns."

ah... this is all heating up REAL nice...

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And, while you're at it, throw 'em a concrete life preserver

sinking like a stone...
New unreleased e-mails from top administration officials show that the idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys was raised by White House adviser Karl Rove in early January 2005, indicating Rove was more involved in the plan than the White House previously acknowledged.

The e-mails also show that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales discussed the idea of firing the attorneys en masse while he was still White House counsel, weeks before he was confirmed as attorney general.

they're screwed, blued, and tatooed... the r's may have delayed a subpoena for rove but they're gonna find it hard to stonewall it for much longer...

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Another nail in Hillary's coffin

at least as far as i'm concerned...
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a “remaining military as well as political mission” in Iraq, and says that if elected president, she would keep a reduced but significant military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military.

[...]

She said in the interview that there were “remaining vital national security interests in Iraq” that would require a continuing deployment of American troops.

The United States’ security would be undermined if parts of Iraq turned into a failed state “that serves as a petri dish for insurgents and Al Qaeda,” she said. “It is right in the heart of the oil region. It is directly in opposition to our interests, to the interests of regimes, to Israel’s interests.”

oh, yes, by all means, let's not forget ISRAEL'S interests... we wouldn't want to do THAT... perish the thought...

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More rope to hang Gonzo with (and Bush too, maybe)

tell me, does this sound like routine bush administration behavior...? never mind... silly question... of COURSE it does... using your executive power in the most potentially criminal ways is only to be expected from this president...
Shortly before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales advised President Bush last year on whether to shut down a Justice Department inquiry regarding the administration's warrantless domestic eavesdropping program, Gonzales learned that his own conduct would likely be a focus of the investigation, according to government records and interviews.

Bush personally intervened to sideline the Justice Department probe in April 2006 by taking the unusual step of denying investigators the security clearances necessary for their work.

It is unclear whether the president knew at the time of his decision that the Justice inquiry -- to be conducted by the department's internal ethics watchdog, the Office of Professional Responsibility -- would almost certainly examine the conduct of his attorney general.

Had it not been quashed, a Justice Department inquiry into the domestic eavesdropping program would likely have examined the actions of Alberto Gonzales.

Sources familiar with the halted inquiry said that if the probe had been allowed to continue, it would have examined Gonzales's role as his subsequent oversight of the program as attorney general.

i truly hope this utterly damning story by murray waas gets the traction it deserves... as i've said nauseatingly often, the best gift i could possibly receive is for bush, cheney, and the whole goddam cabal to be sent packing...

(thanks to atrios...)

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Patrick Fitzgerald's ethics

fitz is such an impressive guy... it's entirely the right thing to do to turn down a request to testify...
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has turned down requests from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to testify on the Valerie Plame leak case. Fitzgerald said he did “not believe it would be appropriate for me to offer opinions…about the ultimate responsibility of senior White House officials for the disclosure of Ms. Wilson’s identity.”

i trust, however, he would have no qualms about turning over "sealed vs. sealed..."

(thanks to think progress...)

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The Daily Kos front page wakes up to the need for heads to roll

it's about time something like this was front-paged on kos... i have nothing against daily kos... i visit the site numerous times during an average day... i have, however, been consistently disappointed at the "head-in-the-sand" stance of the major front-pagers regarding the grave constitutional crisis the country faces... yes, it is critically important that there be a strong focus on supporting good, people-powered, grassroots and netroots candidates to help insure that this kind of governmental criminality never happens again, but, the fact remains, it is STILL happening, and the most important thing for the nation right now is to get it to STOP while we still have a country left... reading the kos front page is too often like reading the racing form or sitting in a casino sports book... i take this post by kagro x as a sign some people are starting to wake up...
For the balance of this "administration," then, and for the foreseeable future, the serious prosecution of public corruption may be all but impossible. And that is the true measure of the gravity of this crime.

But the crime is more than just a grave one, it is also evidence of a depravity not seen since Nixon. Veteran watchers of Karl Rove's operations will instantly recognize his infamous m.o. in all of this: make your own weakness a strength, and accuse the opposition of doing precisely what you're actually doing behind the scenes. While Republican corruption was running rampant, Rove's machinations made it appear that it was actually Democratic corruption that was the problem. While Republicans at the federal level were literally looting the Treasury, handing out bricks of cash in Iraq, laundering Abramoff's "lobbying" fees, forcing through illegal redistricting plans, jamming phone lines on election day, suppressing the minority vote, etc., Republican prosecutors were digging for any scraps they could find to use against their political opposition at the local level, where they hoped no one would connect the dots, but which would still have a corrosive effect on the public perception of Democrats. And when Republicans were caught in the act, as DeLay was, what was the first thing he accused the Democratic District Attorney of? Conducting a "partisan witch hunt."

The long term effects of this scandal are incalculable.

[...]

Heads must roll, and they must roll in numbers.

these heads have needed to roll for a very long time... the lies, the outright crimes, the shredding of the u.s. constitution, and the destruction of the very fabric of the united states have been there for all to see for six-plus years... we have to stop it now...

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The Justice Department CEO

one of those illuminating little squibs that nevertheless tells you a great deal...
Philip B. Heymann, a deputy attorney general under Ms. Reno and now a professor at the Harvard Law School, said the term that Mr. Gonzales used to describe his position at a news conference on Tuesday, “chief executive officer,” demonstrated his lack of appreciation for the discretion presidentially appointed United States attorneys have to have.

“He seems to regard the U.S. attorneys as if they are the equivalent of the noncareer employees of the Interior Department,” Mr. Heymann said.

i would say it differently... he regards the u.s. attorneys as republican political operatives...

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"Mistakes" = getting caught telling lies

as we know, mistakes WERE made...
"We should gum this to death," Sampson wrote to a White House aide on Dec. 19. "[A]sk the senators to give Tim a chance . . . then we can tell them we'll look for other candidates, ask them for recommendations, evaluate the recommendations, interview their candidates, and otherwise run out the clock. All of this should be done in 'good faith,' of course."

lots of them, apparently...
Last week, senior Justice official William E. Moschella told a House Judiciary subcommittee that the White House was not consulted on the firings until the end of the process.

But the documents released this week show that the plan began more than two years ago at the White House counsel's office, which initially suggested firing all 93 U.S. attorneys. Gonzales rejected that idea, and Sampson wrote back in January 2006 that Justice and the White House should "work together to seek the replacement of a limited number of U.S. Attorneys."

one can only conclude that the "mistakes" gonzales was referring to involved getting caught telling lies...

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The 9/11 "confession"

when your method of extracting information is torture, when the suspect has been kept in secret cia black site prisons since march 2003, and when the credibility of the administration responsible for perpetrating these criminal practices is less than zero, we now have a "confession" from the 9/11 "mastermind" that was, of course, issued with no independent means of ascertaining the condition or even the actual presence of the man himself...
...delivered Saturday to a closed-door military tribunal...

why do i suspect that the man himself might not have been present...? read this...
Mohammed presented evidence, in the form of a written statement, in which he appears to allege abuse.

and this...
The other hearings were for Abu Faraj al-Libi, who did not appear at his hearing, and Ramzi Binalshibh, who allegedly played a direct role in the Sept. 11 attacks. He also did not participate in the hearing.

what kind of justice is being served when the accused are not present at their own hearings...?

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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Sununu: "I think the attorney general should be fired"

uh-oh... and here bush was all excited to be coming back from mexico so he could show off his new sombrero...
"We need to have a strong, credible attorney general that has the confidence of Congress and the American people," Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) told The Associated Press. "Alberto Gonzales can’t fill that role."

"I think the attorney general should be fired," he said.

and he thought the crowds in latin america were tough...

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A "neutered" minority party, a one-party state, and a "managed democracy"

as he always does, robert parry provides THE illuminating perspective, this time on purgegate...
[I]n early 2005, when the White House began the back-and-forth that eventually led to the firings, the Republican thinking was focused on how to solidify GOP control of national politics and perpetuate what some conservatives hoped would be effectively a one-party state, with the Democrats consigned to a weak minority status.

Leaders on the Right boasted of Bush’s “transformational” role in bringing about this permanent realignment in American politics, giving conservatives control of all branches of the U.S. government as well as consolidating their strong bond with major corporations and expanding their influence within right-wing and mainstream news organizations.

By pulling these various levers of power, Republican victories in the future supposedly would be a foregone conclusion. The idea had traces of the “managed democracy” that President Vladimir Putin has built in Russia, with his opposition kept around to maintain the appearance of democracy but never within reach of real power.

As right-wing activist Grover Norquist explained after Election 2004, the way for the Democrats to fit in to Republican-run Washington was to accept their permanent lot as a marginalized minority party.

“Once the minority of House and Senate are comfortable in their minority status, they will have no problem socializing with the Republicans,” Norquist said in an interview with the Washington Post. “Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant, but when they’ve been fixed, then they are happy and sedate. They are contented and cheerful. They don’t go around peeing on the furniture and such.”

funny, grover... very funny...

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Let the constitutional crisis begin!

the sooner, the better...
During a press briefing yesterday, presidential counselor Dan Bartlett signaled that the White House will fight congressional efforts to have Karl Rove testify about his role in the U.S. Attorney purge.
I find it highly unlikely that a member of the White House staff would testify publicly to these matters, but that doesn’t mean we won’t find other ways to try to share that information.

Press Secretary Tony Snow was also resistant:
Well, as you know, Ed, it has been traditional in all White Houses not to have staffers testify on Capitol Hill. So I think what we have been trying to do is to work in a way to be as forthcoming with members of Congress — you saw all the emails coming out today — give them all the information so that they can make a fair judgment about it.

fortunately, we have leahy...
Thankfully, Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VA) isn’t backing down. Last night on PBS, Leahy referred to Tim Griffen as Rove’s “acolyte,” and said he will “insist” that senior White House officials testify “in public, in sworn testimony, under oath“:
I intend to bring the attorney general up here. I am requesting several other people to come up here, certainly Mr. Sampson, Ms. Miers, I assume eventually Karl Rove. If they don’t come, then I’ll seek to subpoena them up here, because the story changes almost every time we pick up the newspaper. […]

What I want to find out is what happened, why we’ve been given different stories. And I want those answers, not in an informal briefing; I want those answers in public, in sworn testimony, under oath before my committee. As chairman, that’s what I insist.

< rubs hands together in fevered anticipation > can't wait...

(thanks to think progress...)

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Senate to debate a bill with teeth - NOW we're talkin'!

this is precisely the goddam dialogue that ought to be taking place and should have taken place a very long time ago... it's about friggin' time our folks in congress started talkin' about what they REALLY ought to be talkin' about rather than quibbling over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin...
The Senate has voted 89-9 to debate a resolution proposed by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to withdraw most troops in 30 days.

Sixty votes were needed to defeat a filibuster.

AP reports that "despite the vote, most Republicans opposed the Democratic bill and it was expected to eventually fall short of the 60 votes it will need to pass. Even so, the debate would give Democrats a chance to put Republicans on record as opposing a timetable on the war at a time when most American voters oppose."

i don't give a flying goddam WHO OPPOSES or WHO SUPPORTS... start TALKIN', for real, up-front, out in public... let those who still support the illegal war in iraq show their true colors, and defend, if they can, why we went there, why we've stayed there, and why we should continue to throw away our last shreds of national honor over bush's lies...

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If Bush asks for Gonzales' resignation, he'd have to resign himself



'splainin', 'splainin', 'splainin', 'splainin'...
Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Wednesday it's up to President Bush whether he remains in the administration and said he wants to stay and explain to Congress the circumstances surrounding the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

Amid an escalating political row and calls from some Democrats for his resignation, Gonzales said, "I work for the American people and serve at the pleasure of the president."

"I think you can look at the record of the department in terms of what we've done ... going after child predators, public corruption cases," he said on NBC's "Today" show. "I think our record is outstanding."

[...]

Bush retains full confidence in the attorney general, spokesman Dan Bartlett, traveling with Bush in Mexico, said Wednesday. "He's a standup guy," Bartlett said of Gonzales.

alberto has so much dirt on george, he CAN'T let him resign... bush is going to sit tight, let gonzo keep on 'splainin', and letting tony snow and dan bartlett keep on issuing statements of presidential support... the only way anybody is going to do any truth-telling is under subpoena, and, if subpoenas are issued, it will spark the consitutional crisis we've been expecting for so long... bring it on, i say...

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The WaPo jumps off the deep end

wow... if it's bad enough to cause the wapo to jump ship, it must be REALLY bad...
[The administration is not] entitled, any longer, to the benefit of the doubt about the propriety of its conduct.

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What’s the point of having power if you don’t use it to get more power?

once again, i'm staggered at how people are reeling over a revelation of something that has been so obvious for so long... you didn't have to be a genius to see what these people were up to - grasping for unfettered power, reducing the united states to the level of a totalitarian regime, and channeling rivers of cash into their own and their cronies' pockets... these have been the top agenda items from day one, and they still are, and will remain so until these crooks are removed from office...
Time and again, President Bush and his team have assured Americans that they needed new powers to prevent another attack by an implacable enemy. Time and again, Americans have discovered that these powers were not being used to make them safer, but in the service of Vice President Dick Cheney’s vision of a presidency so powerful that Congress and the courts are irrelevant, or Karl Rove’s fantasy of a permanent Republican majority.

[...]

[T]he governing philosophy of this administration: What’s the point of having power if you don’t use it to get more power?

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U.S. Attorney performance criteria

and here ya have it...
Bold=Recommend retaining; strong U.S. Attorneys who have produced, managed well, and exhibited loyalty to the president and attorney general,” the e-mail message from Mr. Sampson said. “Strikeout=Recommend removing; weak U.S. Attorneys who had been ineffectual managers and prosecutors, chafed against administration initiatives, etc.”

any questions...?

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Political and current events satire

juan cole has a post up with some wry and sadly ironic humor... a sample...
Item: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales presided over the firing of 8 federal attorneys, apparently for political reasons. His chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, has resigned over the scandal. The attorney general maintained that he presided over 130,000 employees and couldn't know everything that was going on. Senator Charles Schumer is threatening to subpoena Mr. Gonzales for an investigation.


In other news, Congress demanded that Mr. Gonzales resign for having authorized the use of torture in contravention of the US constitution and of the Geneva Conventions, to which the US is a signatory. "His influential memo led to the Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib scandals that have forever besmirched the fair name of the United States," Senator Trent Lott lamented.

go read the rest for yourself...

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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

A litany of falsehoods greases a fast track out?

courtesy of senator chuck schumer and tpm muckracker...
Schumer: Here are some of the falsehoods we've been told that are now unraveling.

First, we were told that the seven of the eight U.S. attorneys were fired for performance reasons.

It now turns out this was a falsehood, as the glowing performance evaluations attest.

Second, we were told by the attorney general that he would, quote, "never, ever make a change for political reasons."

It now turns out that this was a falsehood, as all the evidence makes clear that this purge was based purely on politics, to punish prosecutors who were perceived to be too light on Democrats or too tough on Republicans.

Third, we were told by the attorney general that this was just an overblown personnel matter.

It now turns out that far from being a low-level personnel matter, this was a longstanding plan to exact political vendettas or to make political pay-offs.

Fourth, we were told that the White House was not really involved in the plan to fire U.S. attorneys. This, too, turns out to be false.

Harriet Miers was one of the masterminds of this plan, as demonstrated by numerous e-mails made public today. She communicated extensively with Kyle Sampson about the firings of the U.S. attorneys. In fact, she originally wanted to fire and replace the top prosecutors in all 93 districts across the country.

Fifth, we were told that Karl Rove had no involvement in getting his protege appointed U.S. attorney in Arkansas.

In fact, here is a letter from the Department of Justice. Quote: "The department is not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the decision to appoint Mr. Griffin."

It now turns out that this was a falsehood, as demonstrated by Mr. Sampson's own e-mail. Quote: "Getting him, Griffin, appointed was important to Harriet, Karl, et cetera.

Sixth, we were told to change the Patriot Act was an innocent attempt to fix a legal loophole, not a cynical strategy to bypass the Senate's role in serving as a check and balance.

It was Senator Feinstein who discovered that issue. She'll talk more about it.

So there has been misleading statement after misleading statement -- deliberate misleading statements. And we haven't gotten to the bottom of this yet, but believe me, we will pursue it.

the carpetbagger...
If there’s a way Alberto Gonzales survives this scandal, I don’t see it.

[...]

How soon until he resigns? A week? A month?

i just can't feature gonzales voluntarily resigning... as one of the charter members of bush's true inner circle, his departure would be way too close to home for bush's comfort... bush could pull it off with rummy... it was just after the election, and, well, a change needed to be made, dontcha know... but gonzo has been one of the solid bricks in the wall around george, karl, and dick... if he goes, their vulnerability increases dramatically... the blood in the water will attract the piranhas from all quarters, not that that would seriously distress me, i might add...

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Speaking up: something we all can do





(thanks to arthur via nicole at crooks and liars...)

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Anybody believe him, raise your hand

"mistakes WERE made..."
At a press briefing this afternoon, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales acknowledged that mistakes were made in the firing of US attorneys.

"I'm responsible for what happens in the Department of Justice," Gonzales said. "I pledge to find out what went wrong, so it won't happen again."

and precisely what might those "mistakes" have been...?
Gonzales continued to assert that he stood by the decision to fire the attorneys.

"I stand by the decision and I think it was the right decision," he said.

< cough > and precisely what might those "mistakes" have been...? (other than the fact that you've allowed it to spin completely out of your control...)

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Sign PFAW's petition to remove Alberto Gonzales

you've nothing to lose and everything to gain...
As scandal after scandal emerges, each one shedding new light on the Bush administration’s abuse of power, violations of Americans’ civil liberties and contempt for the Constitution, People For the American Way is calling for the resignation or removal of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as the first step in holding the White House and Department of Justice accountable to the rule of law.

Please sign our petition calling on congressional leaders to demand the resignation or removal of Attorney General Gonzales now!

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Bloggers' long memories: Abramoff, Guam, and Purgegate

i remember reading this back when it first came out...
A US grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor, and the probe ended soon after.

hmmm... whaddaya think...? interesting, no...?

(thanks to nicole at crooks and liars...)

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The "dead cat bounce"

when you drop a dead cat cheney talking point from a 10-story building, the cat cheney talking point may bounce, but it's still dead...

Cheney: Antiwar Lawmakers Hurt Troops

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Is Alberto swirling around the drain?

could be...
The White House suggested two years ago that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, a proposal that eventually resulted in the dismissals of eight prosecutors last year, according to e-mails and internal documents that the administration will provide to Congress today.

when your chief of staff makes a hasty exit, things aren't looking good...
The aide in charge of the dismissals -- [Alberto Gonzales'] chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson -- resigned yesterday, officials said, after acknowledging that he did not tell key Justice officials about the extent of his communications with the White House, leading them to provide incomplete information to Congress.

josh marshall has this to say about sampson's resignation...
Believe me, his boss won't long outlast him.

and, of course, bush doesn't want anybody to think HIS hands are dirty...
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that "it doesn't appear the president was told about a list nor shown a list" of U.S. attorneys at any point in the discussions.

ya gotta keep up that front of "plausible deniability..."

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Why are the Dems stripping the war authorization provision?

why is this happening...?
Democratic leaders are stripping from a military spending bill for the war in Iraq a requirement that President Bush gain approval from Congress before moving against Iran.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other leaders agreed to remove the requirement concerning Iran after conservative Democrats as well as other lawmakers worried about its possible impact on Israel, officials said Monday.

do you suppose it has anything to do with cheney saying THIS to aipac yesterday...?
Congress does, of course, play a critical role in the defense of the nation and the conduct of a war. That role is defined and limited by the Constitution. After all, the military answers to one commander-in-chief in the White House, not 535 commanders-in-chief on Capitol Hill.

and here's the wussiness in action...
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in an interview that there is widespread fear in Israel about Iran, which is believed to be seeking nuclear weapons and has expressed unremitting hostility about the Jewish state.

"It would take away perhaps the most important negotiating tool that the U.S. has when it comes to Iran," she said of the now-abandoned provision.

"I didn't think it was a very wise idea to take things off the table if you're trying to get people to modify their behavior and normalize it in a civilized way," said Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y.

Several officials said there was widespread opposition to the proposal at a closed-door meeting last week of conservative and moderate Democrats, who said they feared tying the hands of the administration when dealing with an unpredictable and potentially hostile regime in Tehran.

i don't think anybody is under any illusion that leaving such a provision in the bill will prevent bush from acting against iran... he's made it perfectly clear that he does what he goddam well pleases... and besides, as juan cole makes clear...
Those who said that such a provision would take the military option off the table with regard to Iran are simply wrong. It just required that the president make the case for a war to the legislature, which declares war. The option was still there if the legislature wanted it to be.

and, like me, professor cole is flummoxed at the ceaseless drum-banging for a war against iran... furthermore, he doesn't see that ultimately it will help israel either...
[A]fter the Iraq fiasco it is amazing to me that Washington is still talking about going to war against Middle Eastern countries that pose no threat to the US mainland. The US got where it is after World War II by mostly avoiding direct military campaigns and occupations. The US does not have the resources to occupy two Middle Eastern oil states, and trying to do so will break it as surely as imperial overstretch broke its predecessors among the great powers. Those who think all this is good for Israel are being short-sighted. If the US spirals down into a non-entity over the next 30 years as a result of over-stretch, Israel will be left without a great power patron and might well not survive. The Europeans are fed up with its militarism and itchy trigger finger, and it hasn't made any friends in its own region.

but, meanwhile, israel keeps adding to the drum-banging by encouraging the united states to "stand firm..."

olmert at the same aipac conference...

[Israel's Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert called Iran the greatest threat to the Jewish state and said it was building sophisticated weaponry systems and trying to create nuclear capacity.

[...]

Israel is widely assumed to have the region's only nuclear arsenal and Olmert has refused to rule out military strikes as a last resort for denying Iran the bomb.

Olmert told AIPAC, a Washington-based Israel lobbying group, that diplomacy was the preferred solution to forcing the Iranians to reconsider their nuclear position.

[...]

"All of you who are concerned about the security and the future of the state of Israel understand the importance of strong American leadership addressing the Iranian threat and I'm sure that you will not hamper or restrain that strong leadership unnecessarily," Olmert said.

don't worry, ehud... the dems have got your back...

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Monday, March 12, 2007

Cheney reverses course, advocates Iraq withdrawal

just kidding... not about the cheney part, tho'... too bad it's from 1991...
I think for us to get American military personnel involved in a civil war inside Iraq would literally be a quagmire. Once we got to Baghdad, what would we do? Who would we put in power? What kind of government would we have? Would it be a Sunni government, a Shi’a government, a Kurdish government? Would it be secular, along the lines of the Ba’ath Party? Would be fundamentalist Islamic? I do not think the United States wants to have U.S. military forces accept casualties and accept the responsibility of trying to govern Iraq. I think it makes no sense at all.

(thanks to think progress...)

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Undermining constitutional governance by not responding to minority party requests

well, i guess... 11 letters ignored since 2003...? that looks like undermining to me...
The Chairman of the House's Oversight and Government Reform Committee today demanded that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice respond to 11 outstanding requests for information sent by his office since 2003. The letters primarily concerned claims later proved erroneous on the threat posed to the United States by Saddam Hussein's government in the run up to the Iraq War.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) warned Dr. Rice that a failure to respond to his committee's inquiries undermined Constitutional governance.

"Refusing to allow officials to testify before Congress...or ignoring congressional requests for information, as you apparently ignored my inquiries, are not consistent with our constitutional system of government," said the Committee's Chairman in a letter released today.

along with the story comes this interesting factoid...
The California Democrat also explained that he had sent Dr. Rice 16 inquiries since 2003. But only 5 of the letters that were also signed by committee Republicans had received responses because "Under the Bush Administration, several agencies followed a policy of not responding to minority party requests," he stated.

the arrogance of the bush administration is breathtaking...

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Bush in Guatemala

(thanks to der spiegel international newsletter...)





not exactly a love fest...

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Bush preaches compassion in Guatemala, but forget about the United States

the entire 6+ years of king george's reign has been, among other abominations, devoted to destroying any implied or explicit social contract... preaching compassion in latin america is nothing but massive hypocrisy...
Frame-by-frame, the images of President Bush in Guatemala on Monday will depict sharp contrasts.

The leader of the richest nation reaching out to the impoverished. A smiling vegetable farmer benefiting from a free trade deal that Bush had trouble selling to Congress. Bush touring Mayan ruins and speaking out against social injustice suffered by Guatemala's indigenous citizens of Mayan ancestry, who have protested his visit.

and to show just how MUCH hypocrisy, you need go no further than today's headlines to prove it...
Citizens Who Lack Papers Lose Medicaid

Under a 2006 federal law, the Deficit Reduction Act, most people who say they are United States citizens and want Medicaid must provide “satisfactory documentary evidence of citizenship,” which could include a passport or the combination of a birth certificate and a driver’s license.

Some state officials say the Bush administration went beyond the law in some ways, for example, by requiring people to submit original documents or copies certified by the issuing agency.

“The largest adverse effect of this policy has been on people who are American citizens,” said Kevin W. Concannon, director of the Department of Human Services in Iowa, where the number of Medicaid recipients dropped by 5,700 in the second half of 2006, to 92,880, after rising for five years. “We have not turned up many undocumented immigrants receiving Medicaid in Waterloo, Dubuque or anywhere else in Iowa,” Mr. Concannon said.

social justice, for george bush, is only words, words to be spoken in a country other than his own...

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The American workplace - one of the most repressive in the developed world

i remember an anecdote told by a world-class guy about his experience with the japanese national director of quality... he asked my friend what was the difference between the united states and japan... he knew immediately it was a loaded question, so he played along and said, "why, no, tell me..." the japanese smiled and this is what he said...

"japan has the most regimented, repressive society of anywhere in the world, and the united states has the freest, most tolerant society in the world... in japan, the workplace is the freest, most open, most employee-friendly in the world, but in the united states, the workplace is the most repressive, most rigid, least employee-friendly imaginable... why IS that...?"

yeah, why IS that...?

barbara ehrenreich writing in alternet...

With the Employee Free Choice Act heading toward a Senate vote, conservative columnist George F. Will has suddenly developed a tender concern for workers' rights. The act "strips all workers of privacy," he fumed in the Washington Post last week, and will repeal "a right -to secret ballots -- long considered fundamental to a democratic culture ..." As Will sees it, the unions are backing the act out of sheer desperation: Since they can't seem to win a fair fight for workers' allegiance, they want government to take away the workers' rights and help herd them into union membership.

OK, now let's leave Will-land and enter an actual American workplace. Are you punched in? Good. The first thing to notice is that you've checked your basic civil rights at the door. Freedom of speech? Forget about it: Some employers bar speech of any kind with your fellow employees. I saw this firsthand at a chain restaurant and a Wal-Mart store. Wanna work? Zip your lips.

How about those privacy rights that Will so concerned about? Nada -- they don't exist outside of Will-land either. You probably had to pee in a cup to get your job in the first place, which constitutes a very intimate chemical invasion of privacy. In most states, your purse or backpack can be searched by the employer at any time; your emails and web activity can be monitored.

Right of assembly? Sorry, you don't have that either. In my experience, most managers see a group of three or more employees talking together as an insurrection in the making. Shut up and get back to work!

barbara ehrenreich, imho, hits the nail precisely on the head...

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Sunday, March 11, 2007

Halliburton's move (cont'd)

(Karen Tumulty posting on Time's Swampland blog...)
Is this about tax breaks? Getting beyond the reach of congressional subpoenas? And what about all that sensitive information that Halliburton has had access to? At a minimum, reincorporating in Dubai would mean that Halliburton will be paying less taxes to the U.S. Treasury, even as it collects billions from government contracts.

[...]

UPDATE: Henry Waxman is already planning to hold a hearing on this, an aide tells me.

like i said earlier...
there are implications here that i'm not sure i can make sense out of, but, my guess is, they're HUGE...

(thanks to think progress...)

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This is one cloud that AIN'T goin' away

(thanks to think progress...)

when bill kristol looks in the mirror, is there a reflection...? i think not...
In this week’s Weekly Standard, editor Bill Kristol writes that Bush must pardon Libby immediately. “If the president does intend to pardon Libby, there is no reason to wait,” he writes.

Asked to comment further on his editorial, Kristol claimed this morning that pardoning Libby would remove the “cloud hanging over his White House and over the war.” He added that if Bush waits, “Fitzgerald will keep repeating that there’s a cloud over the White House, and Bush will be passive, and it will demoralize his supporters.”

here's the cloud over the white house... this is one cloud that AIN'T goin' away...

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What are we to make of Halliburton moving its HQ to Dubai?

indeed... what ARE we to make of it...? they are forsaking their houston digs and moving right out of the u.s... how very interesting...
Halliburton to Move Headquarters To Dubai, Keeping Office in Houston

DUBAI -- U.S. oil services giant Halliburton Co. will shift its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai, Chief Executive Dave Lesar said Sunday.

Halliburton will maintain a corporate office in Houston, but the company will be controlled from its office in the United Arab Emirates, company spokeswoman Cathy Mann explained.

"Halliburton is opening its corporate headquarters in Dubai while maintaining a corporate office in Houston," Ms. Mann said in an email to the Associated Press. "The chairman, president and CEO will office from and be based in Dubai to run the company from the UAE." She clarified "he will work from and his office will be in Dubai."

jerome a paris, posting at daily kos, speculates...
For a company that gets such a significant portion of its income from the US government, this is quite a stunning move, to say the least. Unless it means that they expect that this revenue stream will end soon - or that there is so little oil left in the USA that this is no longer where business will be? Or that it is suddenly becoming safer to stay away from US law enforcement authorities?

yes, i agree... it is stunning news... there are implications here that i'm not sure i can make sense out of, but, my guess is, they're HUGE...

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Another Gitmo tragedy

these are real people we're talking about here, with mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, and, now, very little in the way of a decent life left to them...
Mishal al-Harbi's brain was deprived of oxygen for several minutes on the evening of Jan. 16, 2003, while he was in U.S. detention at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. As a result, he cannot stand, his speech is slurred, and he has a twitch that periodically causes his head to shake and his legs to jerk.

U.S. authorities say Mishal's brain was damaged when he tried to hang himself at Guantánamo. But his brother Fahd says a beating by prison guards cut off the flow of oxygen, leaving Mishal unable to walk or talk properly. Fahd said his brother needs intensive physical therapy and costly medicine to control his seizures and hallucinations -- side effects of the injury -- and he wants the U.S. government to help pay for them.

whether it's a beating or a suicide attempt is entirely beside the point... neither would have happened had the u.s. not intervened in this young man's life and changed it unalterably for the worse... and, clearly, it's not just about compensation, it's about answers...
Mishal's family says it is seeking not only financial compensation but also concrete answers from the U.S. government -- either an admission that Mishal was injured by guards or proof that he tried to kill himself. But given the intense secrecy surrounding the detainees at Guantanamo, finding out exactly what occurred that day in 2003 appears almost impossible.

if i was mishal's parent, i would want to know... they deserve to know... and so does mishal...

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Looks like Vietnam, sounds like Vietnam...

W.T.F. are we doing there...?
The US has been slow adapting to the military problems presented by insurgents, says the Observer. The insurgents, on the other hand, are characterized by American generals as being able to quickly adapt to changes in US strategy and equipment.

"The world's only superpower is in danger of being driven back by a few tens of thousands of lightly armed irregulars, who have developed tactics capable of destroying multimillion-dollar vehicles and aircraft," continues the article.

the article contains this quote...
Top US officials are describing foes in Iraq and Afghanistan as "smart, agile and cunning" and say the US is locked in a conflict that is the "biggest challenge since Korea 50 years ago."

korea...? how quickly they forget... this is precisely what was happening in vietnam, and, ya know what...? there is no way to defeat a determined insurgency, short of nuking the entire countryside and shaving the ground with a razor, which we aren't prepared to do, and which the world would condemn even more vociferously than the current illegal war...

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If...? IF...??

Defending his network, [Mort] Kondracke claimed, “If Fox was embarrassingly right wing or something like that, it would be plain for all to see.”

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Gonzo the consigliere

well, poppy has james baker...

check the nyt op-ed headline...

The Failed Attorney General

During the hearing on his nomination as attorney general, Alberto Gonzales said he understood the difference between the job he held — President Bush’s in-house lawyer — and the job he wanted, which was to represent all Americans as their chief law enforcement officer and a key defender of the Constitution. Two years later, it is obvious Mr. Gonzales does not have a clue about the difference.

He has never stopped being consigliere to Mr. Bush’s imperial presidency. If anyone, outside Mr. Bush’s rapidly shrinking circle of enablers, still had doubts about that, the events of last week should have erased them.

a failed attorney general for a failed president... it fits, eh...?

looks like gonzo's serving as somewhat of a lightning rod for the r's frustrations... personally, i wish they'd put 'em where they belong - with george...

[Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.)] said before meeting with Gonzales on Thursday that "one day there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later." He added later that he did not mean to imply that Gonzales should resign.

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) said "there ought to be some heads that roll" over the FBI scandal, and he complained about "the ham-handed dismissal" of U.S. attorneys.

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), whose U.S. attorney was one of those pushed out, told reporters: "I cannot tell you how upset I am at the Justice Department."

[...]

"This attorney general doesn't have anybody's confidence," said one GOP adviser to the White House, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so he could be candid. "It's the worst of Bush -- it's intense loyalty for all the wrong reasons. There will be other things that come up, and we don't have a guy in whom we can trust."

it strikes me as so funny... it was clear from the get-go that this guy was nothing but another bush toady... but, n-o-o-o-o-ooo... he sailed right through the confirmation hearings...

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How credit card companies screw you

among others, two-cycle billing...
Under this method, the interest is calculated on the balance you carry over the previous two months. In a simplified example, let's say you start the first billing cycle with a zero balance and then charge $1,000. You make a payment of $900, leaving you with a balance of $100. You would expect to pay interest only on that remaining balance. However, with a two-month billing cycle, you pay interest not only on the $100 balance, but also on the $900 from the first month.

another cute little ploy is moving the due date... i was preoccupied with the holidays, getting ready for christmas, and not thinking of much else... i am accustomed to having my payment due date fall between the 28th and the 30th...i logged on to my account on the afternoon of the day after christmas only to find that the due date had been moved up to the 26th by 2 p.m. est and i was already late... i sent them a message raising hell... they didn't apply a late charge but i've been super-alert since then...

oh, and by the way... don't forget the democratic congressional representatives (see below) who solidly backed the credit card companies... these are the folks who pushed for the passage of the bankruptcy reform legislation in 2005, legislation that greatly reduced risk for the credit card companies and led to this...


(thanks to markos...)
In 2006, the credit industry responded by mailing out 8 billion credit card solicitations--up 30% from 2005.

[...]

With about 110 million households in the US, that's about 73 card offers per household. If the average card offers is about $5,000 in pre-approved credit, that about $365,000 in offers for every American household--or about $1000 a day, every day of the year.

By comparison, median household income is about $46,000, or about $127 a day. It wouldn't be unreasonable to speculate that many families are offered about seven times their annual incomes in credit card debt.

your friendly credit card company supporters, the new democrat coalition...
Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher
Rep. Adam Smith
Rep. Ron Kind
Rep. Artur Davis
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy
Rep. John Larson
Rep. Stephanie Herseth
Rep. Dennis Moore
Rep. Mike McIntyre
Rep. Joe Crowley
Rep. Jay Israel
Rep. David Wu
Rep. Diane Hooley
Rep. Melissa Bean
Rep. Jim Davis
Rep. Harold E. Ford, Jr.
Rep Ed Case
Rep. Jay Inslee
Rep. Shelley Berkeley
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks

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WaPo: naive or disingenuous?

the wapo chugs along with either (take your choice) 1. a tremendous naivete or, 2. staggering disingenuousness, and then is oh-so-surprised when dear leader disappoints them...
Abuse of Authority
The FBI's gross misuse of a counterterrorism device

THE EXPANSION of law enforcement powers approved by Congress after Sept. 11 and contained in the USA Patriot Act was conditioned on the notion that these new authorities would be carefully used and closely monitored. An infuriating report released Friday by the Justice Department's inspector general, Glenn A. Fine, demonstrates that the Federal Bureau of Investigation treated its new powers with anything but that kind of restraint. The report depicts an FBI cavalierly using its expanded power to issue "national security letters" without adequate oversight or justification.


as i posted yesterday, if they'd just dug this out every once in a while, the abuse of expanded law enforcement powers is simply to be expected... if ya got it, you're gonna use it...
When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying [...]
"The executive branch shall construe the provisions . . . that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch . . . in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information..."

they might also have kept this glenn greenwald comment handy...
When a country is ruled by an individual who repeatedly and openly arrogates unto himself the power to violate the law, and specifically proclaims that he is under no obligation to account to Congress or anyone else concerning the exercise of radical new surveillance powers such as NSLs [National Security Letters], it should come as absolutely no surprise that agencies under his control freely break the law. The culture of lawlessness which the President has deliberately and continuously embraced virtually ensures, by design, that any Congressional limits on the use of executive power will be violated.

or this one from steve clemons...
We should also expect that the Patriot Act would be misused, misapplied, and distorted beyond the intention Congress and the White House had for it.

it's really sad when a one of the nation's major newspapers has to be hit upside the head with a 2x4 to get 'em to wake the hell up...

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A tale of two headlines

your challenge... guess the source for each...
Bush SEEKS 8,200 more troops for wars

President Bush ASKED Congress on Saturday for $3.2 billion to pay for 8,200 more U.S. troops needed in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of the 21,500-troop buildup he announced in January.

Additional Troop Increase APPROVED

President Bush APPROVED 8,200 more U.S. troops for Iraq and Afghanistan on top of reinforcements already ordered to those two countries, the White House said Saturday...

[emphasis added]

aw, c'mon... it's easy don't you think...? what major national newspaper consistently supports george even though they've just as consistently been proven to be idiots for doing so...? YES...! that's RIGHT...! the WAPO...!

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