J's Political Thoughts

I hate irresponsibility

2006-09-12T03:16:00.000-04:00

The damage has been done by the mini-series and millions of people are now going to think this is how it actually happened.

CNN.com

American Airlines calls 9/11 miniseries 'inaccurate and irresponsible'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- American Airlines on Monday blasted ABC's docudrama on the history of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, calling scenes involving lead hijacker Mohammed Atta "inaccurate and irresponsible."

The first half of of the film, "The Path to 9/11," aired Sunday night. Its opening scenes depicted American ticket agents at Boston's Logan International Airport issuing a boarding pass to Atta despite a warning that pops up on their computer, which would have required them only to hold his bags until he boarded the aircraft.

Atta actually cleared security in Portland, Maine, and boarded a US Airways flight to Boston before transferring to American Flight 11, the first of two jets that slammed into the World Trade Center, the independent commission that investigated the attacks concluded. (Posted 5:28 p.m.)

Help me with this one

2006-09-08T03:12:00.000-04:00

Judge halts Bible giveaway at Mo. school

By JEFF DOUGLAS, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 7, 7:56 PM ET

ST. LOUIS - A federal judge ordered a small-town school to suspend a program that gives free Bibles to students, saying it improperly promotes Christianity.
ADVERTISEMENT

U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Perry also scolded school officials for continuing the program after warnings that it violated the Constitution.

South Iron Elementary in Annapolis, a town of 300 in southeastern Missouri, has quietly allowed Gideons International to hand out Bibles to fifth-graders for years. After concerns were raised last year, the then-superintendent consulted with the district's attorneys and insurance company and recommended that the handouts stop, but the school board voted to continue them.

Acting on behalf of two sets of parents from the district, the
American Civil Liberties Union sued in February in federal court in St. Louis.

"The defendants were repeatedly told that their actions violated the Constitution, but they chose not to heed those cautions," Perry wrote in the preliminary injunction issued Wednesday.

A final ruling is not expected for months.

Eastern Missouri ACLU legal director Anthony Rothert said the injunction was "a victory for parents who want to direct the religious upbringing of their children without interference from public schools."

Erik Stanley — an attorney for Liberty Counsel, part of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., which represented the school district — called the ruling unconstitutional and said it would continue to fight the case.

Gideons, based in Nashville, Tenn., distributes more than 63 million pocket-sized Bibles each year in hotels, prisons, hospitals and schools worldwide, according to the organization's Web site. A spokesman for the organization declined to comment.

So, a judge stops something that is unconstitutional (seperation of church and state) and now people are going to sue saying that it's unconstitional to stop something unconstitional? Or have I missed something?

More proof

2006-09-07T04:02:00.000-04:00

that there should be some kind of intellegence test in order to be a registered voter:

"There are some people, and I'm one of them, that believe George Bush was placed where he is by the Lord," Tomanio said. "I don't care how he governs, I will support him. I'm a Republican through and through."

Yahoo News

Well blow me down!

2006-09-07T00:19:00.000-04:00

They actually admitted to the secret CIA prisons they had been saying didn't exist.

Yahoo News

Bush admits the CIA runs secret prisons

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer 5

President Bush on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that the CIA runs secret prisons overseas and said tough interrogation forced terrorist leaders to reveal plots to attack the United States and its allies.

Bush said 14 suspects — including the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and architects of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania — had been turned over to the Defense Department and moved to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for trial.

"This program has been, and remains, one of the most vital tools in our war against the terrorists," Bush said.

"Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al-Qaida and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland."

Releasing information declassified just hours earlier, Bush said the capture of one terrorist just months after the Sept. 11 attacks had led to the capture of another and then another, and had revealed planning for attacks using airplanes, car bombs and anthrax.

Nearing the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11, Bush pressed Congress to quickly pass administration-drafted legislation authorizing the use of military commissions for trials of terror suspects. Legislation is needed because the Supreme Court in June said the administration's plan for trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law.

The president's speech, his third in a recent series about the war on terror, gave him an opportunity to shore up his administration's credentials on national security two months before congressional elections at a time when Americans are growing weary of the war in Iraq.

Democrats, hoping to make the elections a referendum on Bush's policies in Iraq and the war on terror, urged anew that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld be made to step down. They argued that the White House has mishandled the war, mismanaged the detainee system and failed to prosecute terrorists.

"For five years, Democrats have stood ready to work with the president and the Republican Congress to establish sound procedures to bring terrorists to justice," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "Unfortunately, President Bush ignored the advice of our uniformed military and set up a flawed system that failed to prosecute a single terrorist and was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court."

With the transfer of the 14 men to Guantanamo, there currently are no detainees being held by the CIA, Bush said. A senior administration official said the CIA had detained fewer than 100 suspected terrorists in the history of the program.

Still, Bush said that "having a CIA program for questioning terrorists will continue to be crucial to getting lifesaving information."

Earlier this year, an anti-torture panel at the United Nations recommended the closure of Guantanamo and criticized alleged U.S. use of secret prisons and suspected delivery of prisoners to foreign countries for questioning. Some Democrats and human rights groups argued that the CIA's secret prison system did not allow monitoring for abuses and they hoped that it would be shut down.

"He finally acknowledged the elephant in the room that everybody had always been talking about," said Jumana Musa, advocacy director for Amnesty International USA.

"I think what surprised me is he seemed to be asking Congress to legalize it through statutes, essentially allowing him to continue to detain people in secret by sort of putting forth all this information that they got from these folks and somehow using that to justify what has been recognized by U.N. committees as an unlawful act and contrary to our treaty obligations."

The president declined to disclose the location or details of the detainees' confinement or the interrogation techniques.

"I cannot describe the specific methods used — I think you understand why," Bush said in the East Room, where families of some of those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks heartily applauded him when he promised to finally bring the perpetrators to justice.

"If I did, it would help the terrorists learn how to resist questioning and to keep information from us that we need to prevent new attacks on our country. But I can say the procedures were tough, and they were safe and lawful and necessary."

Bush insisted that the detainees were not tortured.

"I want to be absolutely clear with our people, and the world: The United States does not torture," Bush said. "It's against our laws, and it's against our values. I have not authorized it, and I will not authorize it."

Bush said the information from terrorists in CIA custody has played a role in the capture or questioning of nearly every senior al-Qaida member or associate detained by the U.S. and its allies since the program began.

He said they include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused Sept. 11 mastermind, as well as Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be 9/11 hijacker, and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells.

He said interrogators have succeeded in getting information that has helped make photo identifications, pinpoint terrorist hiding places, provide ways to make sense of documents, identify voice recordings and understand the meaning of terrorist communications, al-Qaida's travel routes and hiding places,

The administration had refused until now to acknowledge the existence of CIA prisons. Bush said he was going public because the United States has largely completed questioning the suspects, and also because the CIA program had been jeopardized by the Supreme Court ruling.

The Supreme Court ruled that prisoner protections spelled out by the Geneva Conventions should extend to members of al-Qaida. In addition to torture and cruel treatment, the treaties ban "outrages against personal dignity" and "humiliating and degrading treatment."

Administration officials said they were concerned the ruling left U.S. personnel vulnerable to be prosecuted under the War Crimes Act because the language under the Geneva Conventions was so vague.

The Supreme Court ruling put a damper on the CIA's program, virtually putting the interrogation of detainees on hold until such prohibitions like "outrages against personal dignity" could be defined by law.

"We're not interrogating now because CIA officials feel like the rules are so vague that they cannot interrogate without being tried as war criminals, and that's irresponsible," Bush said in an interview with "CBS Evening News."

The administration-drafted legislation would authorize the defense secretary to convene a military commission with five members, plus a judge to preside. It would guarantee a detainee's access to military counsel but eliminate other rights common in military and civilian courts. The bill would allow reliable hearsay and potentially coerced testimony to be used as evidence in court, as well as the submission of classified evidence "outside the presence of the accused."

Senate Republican leaders hailed Bush's proposal.

"It's important to remember these defendants are not common criminals," said Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "Rather, many are terrorists, sworn enemies of the United States."

But Democrats and GOP moderates warned that the plan would set a dangerous precedent, ensuring the legislation would not likely sail through Congress unchanged.

Republican Sens. John Warner, John McCain and Lindsey Graham have drafted a rival proposal. Unlike the administration's plan, the senators' proposal would allow a defendant to access to all evidence used against them. The plan by Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, also would prohibit coerced testimony.

Graham, R-S.C., said withholding evidence from a war criminal sets a dangerous precedent other nations could follow. "Would I be comfortable with (an American service member) going to jail with evidence they never saw? No," Graham said.

Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon put out a new Army field manual that spells out appropriate conduct on issues including prisoner interrogation. The manual applies to all the armed services but not the CIA. It bans torture and degrading treatment of prisoners, for the first time specifically mentioning forced nakedness, hooding and other procedures that have become infamous during the war on terror.

It's official - we're staying.

2006-06-11T00:04:00.000-04:00

Iraq war bill deletes US military base prohibition

By Richard CowanFri Jun 9, 4:59 PM ET
Yahoo News

Congressional Republicans killed a provision in an Iraq war funding bill that would have put the United States on record against the permanent basing of U.S. military facilities in that country, a lawmaker and congressional aides said on Friday.

The $94.5 billion emergency spending bill, which includes $65.8 billion to continue waging wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is expected to be approved by Congress next week and sent to President George W. Bush for signing into law.

As originally passed by the House of Representatives, the Pentagon would have been prohibited from spending any of the funds for entering into a military basing rights agreement with Iraq.

A similar amendment passed by the Senate said the Pentagon could not use the next round of war funding to "establish permanent United States military bases in Iraq, or to exercise United States control over the oil infrastructure or oil resources of Iraq."

The Bush administration has said it does not want to place any artificial timelines on a U.S. presence in Iraq and that it wants to begin withdrawing troops when Iraqi security forces are better able to protect the country. But it has not ruled out permanent bases in Iraq.

While the Pentagon does not necessarily plan to use any of the emergency funds to establish a permanent military presence in Iraq, congressional Democrats wanted Congress to be on record against such a long-term military arrangement.

Doing so, they argued, could help overcome Middle East fears that the United States intended to control the region militarily, at least in part to oversee foreign oil reserves.

"The perception that the U.S. intends to occupy Iraq indefinitely is fueling the insurgency and making our troops more vulnerable," said Rep. Barbara Lee (news, bio, voting record), a California Democrat who won House approval of her amendment on permanent bases.

"The House and Senate went on record opposing permanent bases, but now the Republicans are trying to sneak them back in the middle of the night," Lee said.

Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, authored the Senate language.

Senate aides said Republican staffers removed the provisions from the bills before House and Senate negotiators convened this week in a late-night work session to write a compromise spending bill.

Wisconsin Rep. David Obey, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, tried to reinsert the language, but it was opposed by Rep. Jim Kolbe (news, bio, voting record), the Arizona Republican responsible for foreign affairs portions of the spending bill.

Next week, the House is scheduled to have a wide-ranging debate about the Iraq war at which time Democrats are likely to raise this issue again.

I don't get this

2006-06-06T02:53:00.000-04:00

What they're saying is that legal immigrants that have worked in the US and paid taxes for many years are not eligible for Medicaid because they haven't taken on US citizenship? Have I missed something? If not, then it doesn't sound fair.

Medicaid recipients will need citizenship

By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press WriterMon Jun 5, 6:13 PM ET
Yahoo News

Tens of millions of low-income Americans will soon have to show their birth certificates or U.S. passports if they want to obtain health care through their state Medicaid programs.

The requirement that beneficiaries provide proof of citizenship goes into effect July 1. It's designed to root out cases of illegal immigrants getting their health care paid for by the government.

Health analysts say they fear the provision could prevent some citizens from getting health care.

Advocacy groups for the homeless and mentally ill have asked the Bush administration to presume that beneficiaries seeking care are eligible for the health insurance program for the poor. Then, they would be given time to get the necessary documents.

"They may not have kept the best records, particularly those with serious mental health disorders," said Kirsten Beronio, senior director of government affairs for the National Mental Health Association. "For them, there needs to be some accommodations made that other types of records could be used."

Mark McClellan, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said he was sensitive to the concerns cited by various consumer groups. He said the agency was crafting a process for exceptions.

"We want to provide a reasonable amount of leeway," McClellan said. "Not everyone, at least in a timely way, can produce one of the statutory documents. We do expect that the vast majority of people will have little difficulty given enough time. We want to make sure we have processes that can work for others."

He did not provide specifics about how much time beneficiaries may be given to gather documents, or what other types of documents might be allowed. He said such guidance will be issued to the states soon.

"The challenge in the Medicaid program is making sure the dollars go where they're intended to go without imposing any undue burdens on states and beneficiaries," McClellan said. "That's what we're looking for here."

The citizenship requirement was attached to a bill that President Bush signed into law in February spelling out $35 billion in spending cuts over a five-year period. Much of the focus was on slowing the growth in Medicaid.

The provision will save federal taxpayers an estimated $220 million over the next five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Last year, the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services found that a majority of states don't verify claims of U.S. citizenship by those seeking Medicaid. The practice creates the potential for illegal immigrants to access the health care program.

The inspector general's report did not address to what extent there is a problem with illegal immigrants accessing Medicaid, only that the potential exists.

Federal law says a person must be a citizen to receive Medicaid benefits. However, emergency care cannot be denied.

States now can accept a signed declaration as proof of U.S. citizenship. Forty-six states do.

Only Montana, New York, New Hampshire and Texas require applicants to submit documents verifying citizenship.

The bill required that Medicaid applicants show a birth certificate or U.S. passport but gives the administration leeway in saying other documents could be acceptable. An example might be a sworn affidavit that describes why documentary evidence does not exist or cannot be obtained.

Directors of community health centers, which specialize in helping the poor access health care, have asked the administration to accept as proof of citizenship report cards, voter registration cards, tribal documents and military ID cards.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank, said disaster victims and elderly African-Americans may have difficulty accessing records such as birth certificates. Several black lawmakers have signed onto bills that would repeal the proof of citizenship requirement for participating in Medicaid.

The group said many elderly blacks were born in a time when racial discrimination in hospital admissions kept their mothers from giving birth at hospitals, so their births often were not officially registered. The center conducted a survey showing 9 percent of black adults reported they lack a passport or birth certificate, compared to 5.7 percent of all adults surveyed.

The new requirement will apply to all Medicaid applications submitted after July 1, as well as all applications to renew Medicaid coverage.

Is there anything they haven't denied?

2006-05-06T17:26:00.000-04:00

White House Denies Bush Lost Faith in Goss

Yahoo News

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

The White House on Saturday denied that President Bush had lost confidence in just-resigned CIA Director Porter Goss, saying there was a "collective agreement" the agency needed a new leader now.

Bush planned to act quickly, perhaps as early as Monday, to nominate Goss' successor. The leading candidate was Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, the top deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, a senior administration official said.

Goss played an important role in the fight against terrorism and "helped transform the agency to meet the challenging times we're living in," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters Saturday as Bush flew to Oklahoma State University for a commencement address.

She said Goss "made significant steps in order to put all those transitional pieces in place and there was a collective agreement that now would be a time that we could have a new CIA director come in and take the ball and move the agency forward."

Goss, who met with Bush on Friday to tender his resignation, has offered little explanation for quitting after just 19 months. Goss was to deliver a commencement speech Saturday at Ohio's Tiffin University, one of a growing number of schools that offers programs in national security studies.

Negroponte, with the backing of the White House, recently raised with Goss the prospect that he should leave, and the two men talked about that possibility, a senior administration official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to give a fuller account of events.

"Reports that the president had lost confidence in Porter Goss are categorically untrue," Perino said.

An intelligence official, speaking only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his position, said Goss had stood up for the agency when there were differences with Negroponte's office, which was created about a year ago.

Goss was taking a stand against "micromanagement," the official said, and wanted the agency to "remain what its name says, the 'Central' Intelligence Agency."

Negroponte, Goss' classmate at Yale University, said in a statement that Goss worked tirelessly during a CIA transition period. "As my friend for almost 50 years, I will miss Porter's day-to-day counsel," he said.

Goss spent 40 years in federal and local government, including 16 years as a congressman and 10 years as a CIA operative in the 1960s and 1970s. While he was CIA chief, the agency struggled to forge a new identity in an era of government overhauls stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks and the flawed prewar intelligence on Iraq.

"CIA remains the gold standard," Goss said in a statement. "When I came to CIA in September of 2004, I wanted to accomplish some very specific things, and we have made great strides on all fronts."

Goss' departure was the White House's third major personnel move in just over a month, aimed at reinvigorating Bush's second term.

Republicans said Friday night that Hayden was thought to top Bush's short list of candidates to replace Goss. Among others mentioned: Bush's homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend; David Shedd, Negroponte's chief of staff; and Mary Margaret Graham, Negroponte's deputy for intelligence collection.

Hayden was National Security Agency director until becoming the nation's No. 2 intelligence official a year ago. Since December, he has aggressively defended the administration's warrantless surveillance program. He was one of its chief architects.

CIA officials dismissed suggestions that Goss' resignation was tied to controversy surrounding the CIA's executive director, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo. The FBI is investigating whether Foggo's longtime friend, defense contractor Brent Wilkes, provided prostitutes, limousines and hotel suites to a California congressman who pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Wilkes and others in exchange for government contracts.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said Goss' resignation also was not related to the recent firing of a CIA officer that Goss said had unauthorized contacts with the press; the firing that found support within the agency and the White House.

Bush nominated Goss in 2004, in the midst of a re-election campaign that was riddled with accusations about the botched prewar intelligence. Bush said he would rely on the advice of Goss on the sensitive issue of intelligence overhaul.

Goss, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, came under fire almost immediately, in part because he brought with him several top aides from Congress who were considered highly political for the CIA. They developed particularly poor relations with segments of the agency's clandestine service.

By December, Congress passed the most sweeping intelligence overhaul in 50 years, relegating the CIA to a crowded second tier of 15 other agencies.

Hayden, the highest-ranking military intelligence officer, has been brought into management challenges before. In 1999, he was tapped to shake up the NSA as the Internet and new communications tools were frustrating the agency's eavesdroppers.

Were Hayden's nominated, Democrats would be sure to seize on his intimate connection to Bush's anti-terrorist surveillance program, which has drawn the ire of even some Republicans.

Bush aides have been looking for ways to rescue his presidency from sagging poll ratings and difficulties with the Iraq war and his agenda in Congress.

The shake-up began with the resignation of Andrew Card as chief of staff and his replacement by Joshua Bolten. Other changes have included the replacement of press secretary Scott McClellan with Fox News commentator Tony Snow.

It wasn't immediately clear what's next for Goss, 67. He was supposed to retire after representing a Republican district on Florida's West Coast for 16 years, but he became CIA director when Bush called in 2004.

Many former directors take consulting positions on corporate boards. Goss and his wife own a central Virginia farm, where they raise cattle, sheep and chickens.

The Patrick Kennedy thing:

2006-05-05T16:54:00.000-04:00

Yahoo News

First this

"I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police, or being cited for three driving infractions," Kennedy said. "That's not how I want to live my life. And that's not how I want to represent the people of Rhode Island."

Then later, this (notice the word 'apparently')

Kennedy had said in a statement Thursday that he had taken a sleeping pill and another drug that can cause drowsiness, but had not been drinking alcohol before the accident. "Apparently, I was disoriented from the medication," Kennedy said.

However, there's no question in his mind about this:

"I never asked for any preferential treatment," Kennedy said to reporters as he left his congressional office Thursday night."

That seems to be the ONLY thing he is sure of.

What a load of shit!

What a stupid idea!

2006-03-08T23:50:00.000-05:00

Yahoo News

House Moves to Strip Food Warning Labels

By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer 41 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The House voted Wednesday to strip many warnings from food labels, potentially affecting alerts about arsenic in bottled water, lead in candy and allergy-causing sulfites, among others.
ADVERTISEMENT
click here

Pushed by food companies seeking uniform labels across state lines, the bill would prevent states from adding food warnings that go beyond federal law. States could petition the
Food and Drug Administration to add extra warnings, under the bill.

Lawmakers approved the bill on a 283-139 vote. Supporters expect a Senate version of the bill to be introduced soon.

"This bill is going to overturn 200 state laws that protect our food supply," said Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif. "Why are we doing that? What's wrong with our system of federalism?"

The bill's supporters argue that consumers deserve the same warnings on supermarket shelves across the country. The bill would allow a state to seek a nationwide warning from FDA.

"We ought to do it in all 50 states," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. "Chicken grown in Louisiana is going to end up on a plate in Michigan."

Rogers mentioned a warning his own state about allergy-causing sulfites: "If they're bad for Michigan citizens, I think they're bad in all of the other 49 states," he said.

Nationwide, as many as 200 state laws or regulations could be affected, according to the
Congressional Budget Office. They include warnings about lead and alcohol in candy, arsenic in bottled water and many others.

The government would spend at least $100 million to answer petitions for tougher state rules, according to CBO.

Opponents of the bill scored one victory Wednesday: State warnings about mercury in fish would remain. Lawmakers amended the bill to let states keep those warnings. That amendment, sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., passed on a 253-168 vote.

About a dozen states have safety and labeling rules for fish. In California, white signs with "WARNING" in red letters tells grocery shoppers about high mercury levels in certain fish. Rep. Anna Eshoo (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., displayed the placard during debate Wednesday on the House floor.

Eshoo noted the bill's supporters have personal ties to food industry lobbyists.

"This is not about consumers. This is about special interests," she said.

California is a primary target of the legislation. There, the voter-passed Proposition 65 requires companies to warn the public of potentially dangerous toxins in food. California has filed lawsuits seeking an array of warnings, including the mercury content of canned tuna and the presence of lead in Mexican candy.

Of particular concern to the industry is acrylamide, a chemical linked to cancer that forms in starchy food cooked at high temperatures, such as french fries and potato chips.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has sued to force Burger King, Frito Lay, McDonald's, Wendy's and other companies to warn consumers that acrylamide is present.

There is widespread opposition among state officials. Attorneys general in 39 states are opposed, as are the National Conference of State Legislature and the associations of state food and drug officials and state agriculture departments.

Good to see the No Fly List

2006-01-10T03:49:00.000-05:00

is keeping us safe from 4 year olds on their way to see their grandmas.

CNN.com

4-year-old boy shows up on 'no-fly' list

Friday, January 6, 2006; Posted: 4:20 p.m. EST (21:20 GMT)

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- Edward Allen's reaction to being on the government's "no-fly" list should have been the tip-off that he is no terrorist.

"I don't want to be on the list. I want to fly and see my grandma," the 4-year-old boy said, according to his mother.

Sijollie Allen and her son had trouble boarding planes last month because someone with the same name as Edward is on a government terrorist watch list.

"Is this a joke?" Allen recalled telling Continental Airlines agents December 21 at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport. "You can tell he's not a terrorist."

She said it took several minutes of pleading and a phone call by the ticket agent to get on the plane to New York.

etc

Oh, so that's what it is.

2005-12-13T00:39:00.000-05:00

A push for democracy. It's nice to know that it's not a country defending itself from invaders.

Bush Estimates 30,000 Iraqis Killed in War
Yahoo News

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA - In a rare, unscripted moment, President Bush on Monday estimated 30,000 Iraqis have died in the war, the first time he has publicly acknowledged the high price Iraqis have paid in the push for democracy.

Stifling criticism does nothing to help soldiers

2005-11-27T01:57:00.000-05:00

By Michael Kinsley
the Baltimore Sun
Originally published November 25, 2005

"One might also argue," said Vice President Dick Cheney Tuesday, "that untruthful charges against the commander-in-chief have an insidious effect on the war effort."

That would certainly be an ugly and demagogic argument, were one to make it. After all, if untruthful charges against the president hurt the war effort (by undermining public support and soldiers' morale), then those charges will hurt the war effort even more if they happen to be true. So one would be saying, in effect, that any criticism of the president is, essentially, treason.

Mr. Cheney generously granted critics the right to criticize, as did the president this week. Then he resumed hurling adjectives like an ape hurling coconuts at unwanted visitors. "Dishonest." "Reprehensible." "Corrupt."

"Shameless." President Bush and others joined in, all morally outraged that anyone would accuse the administration of misleading us into war by faking a belief that Saddam Hussein possessed nuclear and/or chemical and biological weapons.

Interestingly, the administration no longer claims that Mr. Hussein had such weapons at the time Mr. Bush led the country into war in order to eliminate them. "The flaws in intelligence are plain enough in hindsight," Mr. Cheney said Tuesday. So-called weapons of mass destruction were not the only argument for the war, but the administration thought they were a crucial argument at the time. So the administration now concedes that the country went to war on a false premise. Doesn't that mean that the war was a mistake no matter where the false premise came from?

Mr. Cheney and others insist that Mr. Bush couldn't possibly have misled anyone about WMD since everybody had assumed for years that there were WMD in Iraq. That's why any criticism of Mr. Bush on this point is corrupt, reprehensible, distasteful, odoriferous, infectious, etc.

But this indignation is belied by Mr. Cheney's remarks in the 2000 election campaign. In the vice-presidential debate, Mr. Cheney was happy to agree with Mr. Bush that Mr. Hussein's possession of WMD would be a good enough reason to "take him out." But he did not assume that Mr. Hussein already had such weapons. And he certainly did not assume that this view was the consensus.

Until last week, the anti-war position closely resembled the pro-war position in the ancient debate over Vietnam. That is: it was a mistake to get in, but now that we're in, we can't just cut-and-run. That was the logic on which Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger took over the Vietnam War four years after major American involvement began, and kept it going for another five.

American "credibility" depended on our keeping our word . In the end, all the United States wanted was a "decent interval" between our departure and the North Vietnamese triumph - and we didn't even get that. Thousands of Americans died in Vietnam after America's citizens and government were in general agreement that the war was a mistake.

We are now very close to that point of general agreement in the Iraq war. Do you believe that if Misters Bush, Cheney and company could turn back the clock, they would do this again? And now, thanks to Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha, it is permissible to say, or at least to ask, "Why not just get out now?"

There are arguments against this - some good, some bad - but the worst is the one delivered by Mr. Cheney and others with their withering scorn. It is the argument that it is wrong to tell American soldiers risking their lives in a foreign desert that they are fighting for a mistake.

One strength of this argument is that it doesn't require defending the war itself. The logic applies equally whether the war is justified or not. Another strength is that the argument is true, in a way; it is a terrible thing to tell someone he or she is risking death in a mistaken cause. But it is more terrible actually to die in that mistaken cause.

The longer the war goes on, the more Americans and "allies" and Iraqis will die. That is not a slam-dunk argument for ending this foreign entanglement. But it is worth keeping in mind while you try to decide whether American credibility or Iraqi prosperity or Middle East stability can justify the cost in blood and treasure. And don't forget to factor in the likelihood that the war will actually produce these fine things.

The last man or woman to die in any war almost surely dies in vain: The outcome has been determined, if not certified. And he or she might die happier thinking that death came in a noble cause that will not be abandoned. But if it is not a noble cause, he or she might prefer not to die at all. Stifling criticism that might shorten the war is no favor to American soldiers. They can live without that kind of "respect."

Someone seems to have forgotten

2005-11-07T23:44:00.000-05:00

about Abu Ghraib.

Yahoo News

Bush Declares: 'We Do Not Torture'

By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer

PANAMA CITY, Panama -
President Bush on Monday defended U.S. interrogation practices and called the treatment of terrorism suspects lawful. "We do not torture," Bush declared in response to reports of secret CIA prisons overseas.

Bush supported an effort spearheaded by Vice President Dick Cheney to block or modify a proposed Senate-passed ban on torture.

"We're working with Congress to make sure that as we go forward, we make it possible, more possible, to do our job," Bush said. "There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again. And so, you bet we will aggressively pursue them. But we will do so under the law."

Cheney is seeking to persuade Congress to exempt the Central Intelligence Agency from the proposed torture ban if one is passed by both chambers.

etc.

Go to bed! Now!

2005-11-07T16:43:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm sure that'll work!

French to Impose Curfews, Deploy Forces

By ANGELA DOLAND
Associated Press Writer

PARIS - France will impose curfews "wherever it is necessary" and call up 1,500 police reservists to stop rioting, the prime minister said Monday, as civil unrest erupted for a 12th night with youths setting fire to an empty bus and attacking police in Toulouse.

The announcement came as similar violence was reported in neighboring Belgium and Germany and the French government faced growing criticism for its inability to stop the violence in its tough suburbs. Governments worldwide urged their citizens to be careful in France.

Oh, get a life!

2005-11-07T16:22:00.000-05:00

If the holidays of one religious/social/ethnic/whatever group are going to be celebrated, then the holidays of ALL religious/social/ethnic/whatever groups should be celebrated. The USA DOES NOT HAVE an official religion, only a dominant one. It should be either all or none. Do you disagree with my opinion? If so, why? Christmas should not be a battle.

Yahoo News

Tension Over Christmas Observance Begins

By RICHARD N. OSTLING
AP Religion Writer
Fri Nov 4, 6:23 PM ET

It's weeks before Thanksgiving but already interest groups are preparing for an intense year of conflict over Christmas observances by cities and public schools, with one conservative group lining up hundreds of attorneys to work on the issue.

Pot, kettle, black

2005-11-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

Enough said.

The other, Bush said, "seeks to roll back the democratic process of the past two decades by playing to fear, pitting neighbor against neighbor and blaming others for their own failures to provide for the people."

Bush Urges Latin Americans on Democracy

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 23 minutes ago

President Bush on Sunday urged Latin Americans to reject efforts to reverse democratic progress in the region while choosing representative governments and building constructive ties with other nations.

Bush's speech in Latin America's largest nation, which has immense influence on its neighbors, did not mention any leaders by name as heading up an anti-democracy charge. But it was clear his remarks were aimed at Venezuela's leftist leader Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro, Bush's biggest foes in the region.

"Ensuring social justice for the Americas requires choosing between two competing visions," Bush said in the Brazilian capital.

One of those choices, he said, "offers a vision of hope. It is founded on representative government, integration into the world community and a faith in the transformative power of freedom in individual lives."

The other, Bush said, "seeks to roll back the democratic process of the past two decades by playing to fear, pitting neighbor against neighbor and blaming others for their own failures to provide for the people."

Bush also continued his push for a free-trade zone for the Western Hemisphere, stretching from Alaska to Argentina. The president argues that more trade between the United States, Brazil and other nations in the Western Hemisphere would help create jobs, spread democratic values and lift people out of poverty.

"Our goal is to promote opportunity for people throughout the Americas, whether you live in Minnesota or Brazil. And the best way to do this is by expanding free and fair trade," Bush said.

He urged Brazil to use its influence to "help make this vision for the Americas a reality."

But Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was instrumental at a just-ended summit of Latin American leaders in preventing an agreement to restart stalled talks on forming such a trade bloc.

"He's got to be convinced, just like the people of America must be convinced, that a trade arrangement in our hemisphere is good for jobs, it's good for the quality of life," Bush said at a joint appearance with Silva after the two leaders met.

The division on trade among the 34 nations gathered in Argentina for the Summit of the Americas came after Brazil hedged at setting a firm date for new talks. Silva said Brazil preferred to wait for worldwide trade negotiations to proceed first, a view that was shared by Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay and Paraguay.

The United States and 28 other countries supported setting a date for new, hemispheric negotiations.

Brazil and the other countries want the United States to reduce farm subsidies that they say crowd out other countries' products.

At Bush's side, Silva repeated his view that resolving those issues through separate negotiations for a global trade deal — known as the Doha round — must come first.

"We agree that the reduction, with a view toward the elimination, of agricultural subsidies will be a key to balance," he said.

Though postponing the hemispheric talks was not how Bush wanted to proceed, he seemed to accept Silva's approach.

"The president said, `Let's work together on Doha and see how that goes and we'll continue working on the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas,'" Bush said after their meeting. "Such an agreement will not be done if the president thinks it's (not) in the interest of the people."

In his speech, Bush said he agreed with Brazil on agricultural subsidies and that the U.S. is "leading the way" by promising to cut them. He urged others, such as the European Union, to follow suit.

"Only an ambitious reform agenda in agriculture and manufactured goods and services can ensure that the benefits of fair and free trade are enjoyed by all people in all countries," he said.

As Bush's motorcade passed the entrance to the Granja do Torto presidential retreat where he met with Silva and was treated to Brazilian barbecue, about 150 demonstrators shouted "Fora Bush" — which means "Get out Bush." They burned a small effigy of Bush while chanting "Bush fascist, you are a terrorist."

Elsewhere in Brasilia, about 40 students peacefully occupied a McDonald's, saying they had come to "one of the symbols of capitalism" to protest Bush's visit.

At Bush's meeting with a group of young leaders, Carlos Pio, a professor of international relations at the University of Brasilia, asked Bush to respond to some Latin Americans' belief that the United States exploits democracies, markets and civil rights.

Congressman Joao Batista de Oliveira Araujo also said Sunday that by inviting Bush, Silva "showed how subservient he is to the Americans."

Bush and Silva met as both are dealing with scandals that have involved top aides and driven down the leaders' popularity.

White House adviser I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was recently indicted on charges of perjury and obstructing justice and top aide Karl Rove is under investigation for his role in revealing the identity of an undercover CIA agent. Top Silva aides have resigned in a kickback scandal.

Arnie's hero must be W

2005-11-06T06:48:00.000-05:00

since he's copying W's technique of sticking his head in the sand.

Yahoo News

Schwarzenegger's appearances were tightly controlled, with audiences picked from local Republican groups and reporters and political opponents kept at arms length. He started his "bus tour" riding in an SUV with the media following on buses.

This really wouldn't surprise me

2005-11-04T00:03:00.000-05:00

My favorite part is this:

U.S. officials have refused to confirm or deny the claims

Usually refusing to confirm or deny something = guilty.

EU to Investigate Allegations of CIA Jails
By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 3, 6:38 PM ET
Yahoo News

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union and the continent's top human rights group said Thursday they will investigate allegations the CIA set up secret jails in eastern Europe and elsewhere to interrogate terror suspects, and the Red Cross demanded access to any prisoners.

Human Rights Watch said it has evidence, based on flight logs, that indicate the CIA transported suspects captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania. But the two countries — and others in the former Soviet bloc — denied the allegations. U.S. officials have refused to confirm or deny the claims.

Such prisons, European officials say, would violate the continent's human rights principles. At work may be a complex web of global politics, in which eastern European countries face choices between the views of the European Union and their interest in close ties with the United States.

Oh god, what next?

2005-10-31T13:43:00.000-05:00

"I want the president to look across the country and find the best man, woman, or minority that he can find." - Senator Trent Lott

Anyone remember this?

2005-10-27T00:44:00.000-04:00

I think we may well have some kind of presence there over a period of time," Cheney said. "The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline. I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.

CNN.com

If this is the "last throes," where soldiers are still dying on a daily basis, I wonder what "the end" of the war will be like.

How many thousand more will it take

2005-10-26T01:18:00.000-04:00

for them to admit we're not winning?

Yahoo News

U.S. Military Deaths Reach 2,000 in Iraq

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

The American military death toll in the Iraq war reached 2,000 Tuesday with the announcements of three more deaths, including an Army sergeant who died of wounds at a military hospital in Texas and two Marines killed last week in fighting west of Baghdad.

The 2,000 mark was reached amid growing doubts among the American public about the Iraq conflict, launched in March 2003 to destroy Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction. None was ever found.

In Washington, the U.S. Senate observed a moment of silence in honor of the fallen 2,000. "We owe them a deep debt of gratitude for their courage, for their valor, for their strength, for their commitment to our country," said Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist.

Critics of the war also acknowledged the sacrifice, even as they questioned the policies of those who lead it.

"Our armed forces are serving ably in Iraq under enormously difficult circumstances, and the policy of our government must be worthy of their sacrifice. Unfortunately, it is not, and the American people know it," said Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), the Massachusetts Democrat.

Sen. Robert Byrd (news, bio, voting record), a veteran Democrat from West Virginia, said Americans should expect "many more losses to come."

"More than 135,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq. They did not ask to be sent to war, but each day, they carry out their duty while risking their lives. It is only reasonable that the American people, and their elected representatives, ask more questions about what the future holds in Iraq," Byrd said.

President Bush warned the U.S. public to brace for more casualties in the fight against "as brutal an enemy as we have ever faced, unconstrained by any notion of common humanity and by the rules of warfare."

"No one should underestimate the difficulties ahead," Bush said in a speech Tuesday before the Joint Armed Forces Officers' Wives' luncheon in Washington.

As a sign of those challenges, one of Iraq's most ruthless terror groups — al-Qaida in Iraq — claimed responsibility for Monday's suicide attacks against hotels housing Western journalists and contractors in Baghdad, as well as suicide bombings Tuesday in northern Iraq.

In the latest casualty reports, the Pentagon said Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander Jr., 34, of Killeen, Texas, died Saturday in San Antonio of wounds suffered Oct. 17 in a blast in Samarra, a city 60 miles north of the Iraqi capital.

Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two unidentified Marines in fighting last week in a village 25 miles west of Baghdad. Those announcements brought the U.S. death toll to 2,000, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

It was unclear who was the 2,000th service member to die in Iraq since the U.S. military often delays death announcements until families are notified. On Monday, for example, the U.S. command announced that an unidentified Marine was killed in action the day before — after the deaths of the three service members reported Tuesday.

In an e-mail statement to Baghdad-based journalists, command spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Boylan said media attention on the 2,000 figure was misguided and "set by individuals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives."

He described the grim statistic as an "artificial mark on the wall" and urged news organizations to focus more on the accomplishments of the U.S. military mission in Iraq.

For example, Iraqi officials announced Tuesday that voters had approved a new constitution in the Oct. 15 referendum, laying the foundation for constitutional, democratic Iraqi government after decades of Saddam's tyranny.

"I ask that when you report on the events, take a moment to think about the effects on the families and those serving in Iraq," Boylan wrote. "The 2,000 service members killed in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom is not a milestone."

Boylan said the 2,000th service member to die in Iraq "is just as important as the first that died and will be just as important as the last to die in this war against terrorism and to ensure freedom for a people who have not known freedom in over two generations."

He complained that the true milestones of the war were "rarely covered or discussed," including the troops who had volunteered to serve, the families of those that have been deployed for a year or more, and the Iraqis who have sought at great risk to restore normalcy to their country.

"Celebrate the daily milestones, the accomplishments they have secured and look to the future of a free and democratic Iraq and to the day that all of our troops return home to the heroes welcome they deserve," Boylan wrote.

In the latest fighting, U.S. and Iraqi troops raided insurgent safe houses Tuesday northwest of Qaim, a tense town near the Syrian border along a major infiltration route for foreign fighters. At one safe house, where women and children were also staying, an exchange of fire detonated an insurgent's suicide vest, causing the roof to collapse, a U.S. statement said.

"The women and children were rescued from the rubble and treated by medical personnel," the statement added. U.S. aircraft then destroyed three buildings after the survivors were taken to a safe area, the statement said.

Elsewhere, suicide car bombs exploded Tuesday in the generally peaceful Kurdish province of Sulaimaniyah, killing 12 people. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility in an Internet statement.

The group also said it was behind the three suicide car bombs aimed at the Palestine and Sheraton hotels in Baghdad. Deputy Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal said 17 people were killed — mostly hotel guards and passers-by — in Monday's attack, which involved bombers driving two cars and a cement truck.

The U.S. soldier who shot and killed the truck driver said he initially had a hard time seeing the truck drive through the breach that the first car explosion had created in the concrete wall.

"Once the dust and the debris settled down, I noticed the truck had already breached through our perimeter," Spc. Darrell Green told CNN American Morning. "He backed up and then pulled forward. As he was doing that, I engaged in machine gun and took out the driver. If he had made it through, he could have done a lot more damage, a lot more casualties than what actually happened."

In a Web posting, al-Qaida in Iraq said it carried out the hotel attack to target a "dirty harbor of intelligence agents and private American, British and Australian security companies." The hotel complex houses offices of the AP and other media organizations.

Also Tuesday, insurgents killed six Iraqis — a 7-year-old boy, two Iraqi soldiers and three policemen — and wounded 45 others in a series of attacks in Baghdad.

A video posted on an Islamic extremist Web site showed a U.S. soldier being shot in Iraq while guarding an armored vehicle. The militant Islamic Army in Iraq said one of its snipers killed the soldier in Baghdad on Monday, but the U.S. military said it could not verify the authenticity of the claim.

The scary thing is

2005-10-14T01:20:00.000-04:00

that they probably thought nobody would find out.

Yahoo News

Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer

It was billed as a conversation with U.S. troops, but the questions President Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were choreographed to match his goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on a new Iraqi constitution.

"This is an important time," Allison Barber, deputy assistant defense secretary, said, coaching the soldiers before Bush arrived. "The president is looking forward to having just a conversation with you."

Barber said the president was interested in three topics: the overall security situation in Iraq, security preparations for the weekend vote and efforts to train Iraqi troops.

As she spoke in Washington, a live shot of 10 soldiers from the Army's 42nd Infantry Division and one Iraqi soldier was beamed into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building from Tikrit — the birthplace of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"I'm going to ask somebody to grab those two water bottles against the wall and move them out of the camera shot for me," Barber said.

A brief rehearsal ensued.

"OK, so let's just walk through this," Barber said. "Captain Kennedy, you answer the first question and you hand the mike to whom?"

"Captain Smith," Kennedy said.

"Captain. Smith? You take the mike and you hand it to whom?" she asked.

"Captain Kennedy," the soldier replied.

And so it went.

"If the question comes up about partnering — how often do we train with the Iraqi military — who does he go to?" Barber asked.

"That's going to go to Captain Pratt," one of the soldiers said.

"And then if we're going to talk a little bit about the folks in Tikrit — the hometown — and how they're handling the political process, who are we going to give that to?" she asked.

Before he took questions, Bush thanked the soldiers for serving and reassured them that the U.S. would not pull out of Iraq until the mission was complete.

"So long as I'm the president, we're never going to back down, we're never going to give in, we'll never accept anything less than total victory," Bush said.

The president told them twice that the American people were behind them.

"You've got tremendous support here at home," Bush said.

Less than 40 percent in an AP-Ipsos poll taken in October said they approved of the way Bush was handling Iraq. Just over half of the public now say the Iraq war was a mistake.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday's event was coordinated with the Defense Department but that the troops were expressing their own thoughts. With satellite feeds, coordination often is needed to overcome technological challenges, such as delays, he said.

"I think all they were doing was talking to the troops and letting them know what to expect," he said, adding that the president wanted to talk with troops on the ground who have firsthand knowledge about the situation.

The soldiers all gave Bush an upbeat view of the situation.

The president also got praise from the Iraqi soldier who was part of the chat.

"Thank you very much for everything," he gushed. "I like you."

On preparations for the vote, 1st Lt. Gregg Murphy of Tennessee said: "Sir, we are prepared to do whatever it takes to make this thing a success. ... Back in January, when we were preparing for that election, we had to lead the way. We set up the coordination, we made the plan. We're really happy to see, during the preparation for this one, sir, they're doing everything."

On the training of Iraqi security forces, Master Sgt. Corine Lombardo from Scotia, N.Y., said to Bush: "I can tell you over the past 10 months, we've seen a tremendous increase in the capabilities and the confidences of our Iraqi security force partners. ... Over the next month, we anticipate seeing at least one-third of those Iraqi forces conducting independent operations."

Lombardo told the president that she was in New York City on Nov. 11, 2001, when Bush attended an event recognizing soldiers for their recovery and rescue efforts at Ground Zero. She said the troops began the fight against terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and were proud to continue it in Iraq.

"I thought you looked familiar," Bush said, and then joked: "I probably look familiar to you, too."

Paul Rieckhoff, director of the New York-based Operation Truth, an advocacy group for U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, denounced the event as a "carefully scripted publicity stunt." Five of the 10 U.S. troops involved were officers, he said.

"If he wants the real opinions of the troops, he can't do it in a nationally televised teleconference," Rieckhoff said. "He needs to be talking to the boots on the ground and that's not a bunch of captains."

It's not looting when the cops do it

2005-09-29T16:02:00.000-04:00

He rejected the use of the term "looting," and said authorities were investigating "the possibility of appropriation of nonessential items during the height of Katrina, from businesses."

Yahoo News

This is today's America,

2005-09-24T02:00:00.000-04:00

sad as it may be.

School Expels Girl for Having Gay Parents
Fri Sep 23, 7:05 AM ET
Yahoo News

A 14-year-old student was expelled from a Christian school because her parents are lesbians, the school's superintendent said in a letter.

Shay Clark was expelled from Ontario Christian School on Thursday.

"Your family does not meet the policies of admission," Superintendent Leonard Stob wrote to Tina Clark, the girl's biological mother.

Stob wrote that school policy requires that at least one parent may not engage in practices "immoral or inconsistent with a positive Christian life style, such as cohabitating without marriage or in a homosexual relationship," The Los Angeles Times reported in Friday's edition.

Stob could not be reached for comment by the newspaper. Shay and her parents said they won't fight the ruling.

School administrators learned of the parents' relationship this week after Shay was reprimanded for talking to the crowd during a football game, Tina Clark said.

Clark and her partner have been together 22 years and have two other daughters, ages 9 and 19.

Damn, I’m good!

2005-08-08T22:47:00.000-04:00

A break from political posts to relay something that happened on Saturday evening.

I was in a (straight) pub last weekend with Best Friend, a straight male homophobe, and Friend (straight male), that likes to flirt shamelessly with everyone when he’s both drunk and sober (we were all very drunk). He looked at Best Friend and drunkenly mentioned something about kissing him. Opportunity knocked, so I said to Friend, ‘Go on, do it! You know you both want to!’ and he did! On the lips! Best Friend didn’t seem too reluctant either.

Before you suggest it, no, I don’t think either of them are anything but straight. However, seeing a homophobe getting kissed by a guy totally made my evening.

Coward!

2005-08-01T13:54:00.000-04:00

Perhaps if he had a candidate that was ACCEPTABLE to the REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE OF THE USA, the post wouldn't still be vacant. Bush was too afraid to let Bolton go through the normal channels of appointment.

Yahoo News

Bush Appoints Bolton, Bypassing Senate

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON - President Bush sidestepped the Senate and installed embattled nominee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, ending a five-month impasse with Democrats who accused Bolton of abusing subordinates and twisting intelligence to fit his conservative ideology.

"This post is too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war and a vital debate about UN reform," Bush said. He said Bolton had his complete confidence.

Bush put Bolton on the job in a recess appointment — an avenue available to the president when the Congress is in recess. Under the Constitution, a recess appointment during the lawmakers' August break would last until a newly elected Congress takes office in January 2007.

etc.

They'll be fired, unless

2005-07-11T23:23:00.000-04:00

they're someone important. After all, no one on the administration could have done something like this, right?

W R O N G ! ! ! ! !

Yahoo News

WASHINGTON - For the better part of two years, the word coming out of the Bush White House was that presidential adviser Karl Rove had nothing to do with the leak of a female CIA officer's identity and that whoever did would be fired.

But Bush spokesman Scott McClellan wouldn't repeat those claims Monday in the face of Rove's own lawyer, Robert Luskin, acknowledging the political operative spoke to Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, one of the reporters who disclosed Valerie Plame's name.

McClellan repeatedly said he couldn't comment because the matter is under investigation. When it was pointed out he had commented previously even though the investigation was ongoing, he responded, "I've really said all I'm going to say on it."

Democrats jumped on the issue, calling for the administration to fire Rove, or at least to yank his security clearance. One Democrat pushed for Republicans to hold a congressional hearing in which Rove would testify.

"The White House promised if anyone was involved in the Valerie Plame affair, they would no longer be in this administration," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "I trust they will follow through on this pledge. If these allegations are true, this rises above politics and is about our national security."

Hey Bella,

2005-07-08T16:54:00.000-04:00

You go, girl!

HA HA HA HA!

2005-07-06T16:54:00.000-04:00

Didn't he fall of a bike a few years ago?
Yahoo News

Bush Falls Off Bike in Scotland

President Bush collided with a local police officer and fell during a bike ride on the grounds of the Gleneagles golf resort while attending a meeting of world leaders Wednesday.

Bush suffered scrapes on his hands and arms that required bandages by the White House physician, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

The police officer was taken to a local hospital as a precaution, McClellan said. Police said the officer suffered a "very minor" ankle injury.

It was raining lightly at the time.

The officer was on a security detail. He is a member of the police department of Strathclyde, a nearby town, McClellan said.

The president was concerned about the officer's condition, and talked with him for some time after the collision, McClellan said. The president also asked White House physician Richard Tubb to monitor the officer's condition at the hospital.

The fall did not affect the president's schedule. Dressed in a tuxedo, he attended a dinner hosted by Queen Elizabeth at the annual Group of Eight economic summit. He showed no signs of distress.

Happy 4th

2005-07-04T14:49:00.000-04:00

anyone who may actually read my blog.

Don't they have better things to do?

2005-06-22T23:59:00.000-04:00

Why do we need an ammendment that limits freedom of expression? It's just a flag.

House Approves Move to Outlaw Flag Burning

WASHINGTON - A constitutional amendment to outlaw flag burning cleared the House Wednesday but faced an uphill battle in the Senate. An informal survey by The Associated Press suggested the measure doesn't have enough Senate votes to pass.

The 286-130 outcome was never in doubt in the House, which had passed the measure or one like it five times in recent years. The amendment's supporters expressed optimism that a Republican gain of four seats in last November's election could produce the two-thirds approval needed in the Senate as well after four failed attempts since 1989.

Oh shut up.

2005-06-20T16:28:00.000-04:00

Why should a plan be 'touted' a national model? Let me know when the plan becomes the reality and the final cost after corrupt politicals are done giving handouts to their friends and family members.

Denver Transit Plan Touted as Nat'l Model

Livid

2005-06-15T22:30:00.000-04:00

I received a comment on my June 12 post (thanks Geoff) bringing this to my attention. It's a bill to repeal the 22nd Amendment! The amendment that limits presidents to two terms! This is the first I've heard of it and I haven't seen anything about it on other blogs. I've checked Snopes and it doesn't appear to be a joke (the website referenced is a US gov't website).

So, we have a president who wants to amend the constitution so that gays can't get married and also change it so that he can 'reign' as long as he wants to. THIS HAS TO BE STOPPED!

Serves them right!

2005-06-12T03:19:00.000-04:00

Do the math, Army. If you wouldn't keep throwing gays out with dishonorable discharges, you'd need less new recruits.

US Army's recruitment numbers down for fourth month

File under WTF?

2005-06-07T23:07:00.000-04:00

Okay, perhaps I'm missing something here, but what the hell is the purpose of a privacy act that can't be enforced? Also, why the hell is the government encouraging people to STEAL private medical record IN THEIR CARE that are supposed to be kept private under a privacy law? Theft is theft! If they steal, they should be prosecuted!

U.S. Limits Prosecutions Under Privacy Law

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has decided that most health care employees can't be prosecuted for stealing personal data under a privacy law intended to protect medical information.

Learning?

2005-06-01T17:55:00.000-04:00

My guess is that either he had barely heard anything about it before, or he's waiting for his puppetmasters to tell him what to say.

"It's hard for me to judge," President Bush told reporters. "I'm learning more about the situation."

Yahoo News
Deep Throat' Draws Praise, Criticism

Clouds = the real enemy.

2005-05-24T18:46:00.000-04:00

Give me a break! After all the money spent on this, the terrorists have to be below the cloudine?

Weather Impairs New D.C. Warning System
Yahoo News
By LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - A new system of lasers designed to warn pilots they have entered restricted airspace over Washington can't be used on planes flying in or above the clouds.

Trouble is, clouds cover most of the sky almost half the time in the nation's capital.

The limitations of the laser warning system were evident during an airspace violation Monday, when military F-16s escorted a small plane from a restricted area to a nearby airport.

The laser system wasn't engaged because it couldn't penetrate the layer of clouds over which the pilot was flying, said 1st Lt. Lisa Citino, a spokeswoman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD.

People are finally coming to their senses.

2005-05-04T01:43:00.000-04:00

CNN.com

Poll: Most in U.S. say Iraq war not worthwhile

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A majority of Americans do not believe it was worth going to war in Iraq, according to a national poll released Tuesday.
Fifty-seven percent of those polled said they did not believe it was worth going to war, versus 41 percent who said it was, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of 1,006 adults.
That was a drop in support from February, when 48 percent said it was worth going to war and half said it was not.

Don't get it.

2005-04-28T15:10:00.000-04:00

100 hours of guaranteed debate and guaranteed confirmation? If they have guaranteed confirmation, why the hell do they have to debate it?

Yahoo News

Frist Won't Budge on Filibuster Demands
By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - With a showdown looming, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist refused to budge Thursday on his demand that Democrats forgo filibusters against all of President Bush's past or present nominees to federal appellate court benches or the Supreme Court.

"Throughout this debate, we have held firm to a simple principle, judicial nominees deserve up-or-down votes," Frist said.

But Frist offered to retain the right to filibuster district court nominees in exchange for 100 hours of debate and guaranteed confirmation votes on the nation's highest judgeships. The Senate's top Republican also said that under his plan, senators would no longer be able to block nominees in the Judiciary Committee.

What sense does this make?

Reid said that Frist's offer would mean that Democrats would lose their ability to block Bush nominees, a condition he is not willing to accept. "After 100 hours the rights of the minority are extinguished," he responded in a corresponding Senate speech. "This has never been about the lengths of the debate. This is about checks and balances."

Why should ANY minority, not just political, have to "extinguish" their rights?

Hooray! We finally won one!

2005-04-28T14:52:00.000-04:00

Yahoo News

House Votes to Reverse GOP Ethics Rules
By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
Thu Apr 28, 8:26 AM ET

WASHINGTON - Democrats wanted to investigate Majority Leader Tom DeLay and have the House ethics committee run as it had since 1997. They won on both counts.

The minority party forced Republicans on Wednesday to vote for reversal of new GOP rules for investigating House members and staff. Reversal was the Democrats' price for ending a deadlock on the evenly divided committee.

etc.

Does anybody really care?

2005-04-24T11:39:00.000-04:00

Who cares if an unknown Canadian singer didn't know the words to the Star Spankled Banner? I sure has hell don't and neither does anyone else I've asked about it. She most likely knew the words, but did this as a publicity stunt to kick of her career. GMA should be ashamed of themselves for showing it.

This is unbelieveable!

2005-04-24T05:02:00.000-04:00

Video Shows Police Handcuffing 5-Year-Old Girl

Oh, and notice the last bit

After being placed in the back of a police cruiser, police released the girl to her mother after prosecutors informed them they wouldn't bring charges against a 5-year-old.

How gracious of them not to charge a 5 year old. What the fuck would they charge her with? Having a temper tantrum in public? Missing her mother? SHE'S A 5 YEAR OLD GIRL, forchrissakes!

How odd

2005-04-18T21:21:00.000-04:00

Monday Night Football moves to cable

I wonder why they decided to make people pay for Monday Night Football? I hope it hurts their viewership.

At least they didn't choose "Suthun"

2005-04-12T17:07:00.000-04:00

If they want English to be their official language, so be it. I'm not one to tell them how to run their state. However, where's the money that'll be needed for immigrants to learn their official language or did they conveniently forget that? Don't they want immigrants? Not to mention the fact that it was put in

the last night of the 60-day legislative session.

W.Va. Makes English Its Official Language
Yahoo News
Tue Apr 12, 9:55 AM ET
By ERIK SCHELZIG, Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Two days after the end of the legislative session, state lawmakers are discovering something few were aware of: They voted to make English the official language of West Virginia.

The language amendment was quietly inserted into a bill addressing the number of members that cities can appoint to boards of parks and recreation. Among mundane details about record-keeping, the amendment adds the provision that "English shall be the official language of the State of West Virginia."

Senate Majority Whip Billy Wayne Bailey successfully offered that change to House Bill 2782 amid a flurry of bills moving back and forth between the House and Senate on Saturday, the last night of the 60-day legislative session.

etc.

Another episode of "there's gotta be a scapegoat"

2005-04-07T14:16:00.000-04:00

There's no way in hell a Rep Congressperson could ever be responsible for something like this. It's got to be somebody else. Right. I wonder what his reward will be for taking the fall?

Yahoo News

Counsel to GOP Senator Wrote Memo On Schiavo

By Mike Allen, Washington Post Staff Writer

The legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) admitted yesterday that he was the author of a memo citing the political advantage to Republicans of intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo, the senator said in an interview last night.

Brian H. Darling, 39, a former lobbyist for the Alexander Strategy Group on gun rights and other issues, offered his resignation and it was immediately accepted, Martinez said.

etc

Xenophobia is still alive and well in the good ole USA.

2005-04-07T02:42:00.000-04:00

This article, as it is, disgusts me as it should any American (Muslim American implies to me that they are US citizens). However I might change my mind about that if more facts are shown and probably cause is determined (real facts, not like the "Iraq has WMD" "facts").

Muslim Americans Question Border Screening

A group of Muslim Americans on Monday pressed a Department of Homeland Security official to explain why they were fingerprinted, photographed and held at the border after a religious conference in Canada.

Ismael Memon, 70, described how he, his son and a third person were made to surrender their credit cards, cell phones, watches and other belongings before being searched, questioned, fingerprinted and photographed.

Some in the group were handcuffed.

Yes to internet, no to cell phones

2005-04-06T01:56:00.000-04:00

High speed internet capabilities are being planned for airplanes for 2006, and I’m in favor of that. Actually, I’m wondering how we’re going to be able to make the jump from “no use of electronic devices” to “high speed internet available for laptops” on airplanes, but that’s not for me to worry about. I’d probably spend most of the time watching DVDs instead of using the internet on flights, but at least I’d have the option.

Cell phones on airplanes? NO WAY IN HELL!!!! I don’t want to listen to some lawyer talking to his client, a 12 year old talking to his friend, a lovesick man/woman talking to the partner s/he just left OR ANYONE ELSE yakking away. I don’t want to hear 1000 cutsey ring tones while I’m enjoying my flight.

KEEP THE NO CELL PHONES ON FLIGHTS BAN ON!

2 down, 1 to go

2005-04-03T04:49:00.000-04:00

Schiavo has passed away as has the Pope (rip to both) so hopefully all we have to endure is the Michael Jackson thing and then the media circus will end.

Actually, it probably won't. I wonder what they'll pick up on next? My guess is they'll go back to the Blake thing, which we haven't heard much about since the above-mentioned have been filling the headlines.

Fogetting a gun

2005-03-23T19:52:00.000-05:00

The Blake thing

Bakley was shot twice as she sat in the couple's car in 2001 outside a restaurant where they had just dined. Blake contended that he had gone back inside to retrieve a gun he carried for protection and that some unknown assailant killed his wife in the few minutes he was away.

Yahoo News

HOW THE HELL COULD ANYONE FORGET THEIR GUN IN A RESTAURANT?

You've got to be kidding me!

2005-03-23T19:42:00.000-05:00

Can it get anymore idiotic?

Gov. Bush Seeks to Take Custody of Schiavo
Yahoo News

By JILL BARTON, Associated Press Writer

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Terri Schiavo's parents saw their options vanish one by one Wednesday as a federal appeals court refused to reinsert her feeding tube and the Florida Legislature decided not to intervene in the epic struggle. Refusing to give up, Gov. Jeb Bush sought court permission to take custody of Schiavo.

The desperate flurry of activity came as President Bush suggested that Congress and the White House had done all they could to keep the severely brain-damaged woman alive.

etc

Jeb Bush and the state's social services agency filed a petition in state court to take custody of Schiavo and, presumably, reconnect her feeding tube. It cites new allegations of neglect and challenges Schiavo's diagnosis as being in a persistent vegetative state. The request is based on the opinion of a neurologist working for the state who observed Schiavo at her bedside but did not conduct an examination of her.

etc

No wonder why their unemployement rate is 10%.

2005-03-21T21:07:00.000-05:00

I especially like how the loan manager suggested she might quit because of having to work more hours in a country that has such a high unemployment rate. Go ahead, chickadee, put up or shut up.

France Dismantles Its 35-Hour Workweek
Yahoo News

By LAURENCE FROST, AP Business Writer

PARIS - Sophie Guilbaud not only holds a full-time job, she also helps run her son's nursery and treats herself to regular weekdays of shopping, movies and art shows. The secret to her balancing act is a remarkable piece of social engineering — France's 35-hour workweek. Introduced under the Socialists but headed for effective abolition by lawmakers Tuesday, "les 35 heures" have been a boon for some but, critics argue, a big drain on the economy.

Heated debate over dismantling the working time law has fed into wider political and literary soul-searching in France, on themes ranging from the country's economic frailty and bureaucratic office culture to whether quality of life should be measured in time or money.

For Guilbaud, a Parisian who works as a loan company manager, that last question is a no-brainer.

"Work is not the only thing in my life," she said, suggesting she might quit rather than work more hours.

But with unemployment at 10 percent, politicians of all stripes acknowledge that the country's unique 35-hour law has failed in its original ambition: to force employers to hire massively. What's more, there are strong signs that it hurt living standards as employers froze salaries to make up for lost labor.

Let Schiavo rest in peace

2005-03-20T16:27:00.000-05:00

Give it a break already! Let Schiavo die with what dignity she has left! Stop making it a media circus. The Florida and US governments should have no say in this, it should be up to her legal guardian, aka her husband.

Give me a break!

2005-03-17T13:17:00.000-05:00

"Persons of interest"

Either they're a suspect or they're not.

Whiners

2005-03-15T09:47:00.000-05:00

I’m sick and tired of the large air carriers (Delta, American, etc) threatening bankruptcy, or protection from bankruptcy. You never hear Southwest Airlines doing that, just the whiney large companies. I remember all the major airlines threatening to go out of business after Sept 11th if they didn’t get loans, concessions from unions and other hand-outs, while Southwest just tooled along as they always were (granted, other small airlines like Midway went out of business). Now they want fuel surcharges due to the price of fuel!

I say Fine! Let the bigger carriers go out of business if they can’t manage their money properly. Let one of them fold to serve as a message to the others that they need to get their acts together. That might even force them to redo their business models to be profitable. Heaven forbid.

Yahoo News

Delta Warns on Bankruptcy Protection

Thu Mar 10, 4:45 PM ET Business - AP

By HARRY R. WEBER, AP Business Writer

ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines Inc. shares plunged Thursday after it warned it will post another substantial loss this year despite a recent round of pay cuts and other cost reductions. It also said a bankruptcy filing remains a possibility.

The disclosure in a regulatory filing fueled talk that the nation's third-largest carrier may need to sell one or more of its feeder carriers.

etc

Oh fuck me silly

2005-03-10T13:54:00.001-05:00

Gee, who would have expected this? Of course, who would have thought that the upper levels of the military could have done something wrong? No way, it had to have been the lowlife recruits.

Pentagon Clears Senior Officials in Prison Abuse
Yahoo News
By Vicki Allen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military failed to react to early signs of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and missed opportunities to correct lapses that caused prisoner abuse elsewhere but its own policies and top officials were not directly to blame, a Pentago report said on Thursday.

The report, by Navy inspector general Vice Adm. Albert Church, was billed by the Pentagon as the broadest of its investigations into the treatment of detainees by the U.S. military, particularly in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo.

etc

Not quite political,

2005-03-07T13:51:00.000-05:00

but still fun. From thephoenixnyc's blog:

You have 5 minutes to pack and meet at the dock for the boat that will take us to the deserted island for a weekend...besides a bathing suit, here is what you need to decide to bring:

1) One music CD you want to wake up listening to....
   The Copland Collection, 1936-1948

2) One book you want to spend the lazy afternoons reading...
   Crime and Punishment

3) One movie DVD you want to watch as the sun goes down...
   The Cure

4) One MP3 song *not* on the above CD you want to play (and sing along to) endlessly on repeat...
   Feel - Robbie Williams

5) One snack food you want to eat whenever you want, with no one making fun of you about it or telling you how many calories are in it..
   Tortilla chips and jalapeno cheese sauce. Yum!

Avoiding fines

2005-03-06T10:42:00.000-05:00

Here's how the rich avoid paying fines.
Yahoo News

The GAO studied five unidentified federal cases in which executives and business owners found guilty of fraud were ordered to pay a total of $568 million to investors and shareholders. Only about $40 million, or 7% of what was owed, was ever collected, the study found.

Shifting bank and brokerage accounts to family trusts and foundations. Suspects did so after they were arrested but before they were sentenced.

Giving a company to a minor child, then joining the company as a salaried employee.

Transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars to a trust for a minor child, which the criminal effectively controlled.

Placing a multimillion-dollar residence in a trust.

Deeding a home to a relative, then renting it back.

Oh look, more secrecy

2005-03-05T04:13:00.000-05:00

who would have guessed? It must be nice not having to be accountable for anything.

Bush wielding secrecy privilege to end suits

Thu Mar 3, 9:40 AM ET Top Stories - Chicago Tribune
By Andrew Zajac Washington Bureau
Yahoo News

The Bush administration is aggressively wielding a rarely used executive power known as the state secrets privilege in an attempt to squash hard-hitting court challenges to its anti-terrorism campaign.

How the White House is using this privilege, not a law but a series of legal precedents built on national security, disturbs some civil libertarians and open-government advocates because of its sweeping power. Judges almost never challenge the government's assertion of the privilege, and it can be fatal to a plaintiff's case.

The government is invoking the privilege in an attempt to wipe out the heart of a lawsuit that seeks to examine rendition, the secretive and controversial practice of sending terror suspects to foreign countries where they might be tortured.

Use of the secrets privilege also could eliminate a suit by a former FBI (news - web sites) contract linguist who charges that the bureau bungled translations of terrorism intelligence before and after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Bush administration is also using the secrets privilege to seek dismissal of a third case not related directly to terrorism. And the administration has invoked the privilege in less sweeping ways on several other occasions.

etc.

Anti-Tobacco Treaty Going Into Effect

2005-02-27T07:45:00.000-05:00

ABC News

GENEVA Feb 26, 2005 A global anti-tobacco treaty that comes into force Sunday needs strengthening fast if it is to curb a killer that claims 5 million lives a year, a leading expert said.

This is the first I've heard about it, and I love it. I'm a non-smoker, have been all my life and will be until the day I die. I don't hate smokers, but I do hate smoke. I hate going to bars and coming home smelling like smoke. I hate stopping in the local deli for a sandwich on my lunch break and being deluged with smoke when I open the door.

The US hasn't ratified it yet. Why? Anyone with a brain knows that it's because of the money that the tobacco industry gives to politicians.

Ratify it, you idiots in DC!

2005-02-21T16:10:00.000-05:00

Social Security

Calculate how much less you'll be getting on W's new plan.

2005-02-17T03:20:00.000-05:00

How much lower can W sink?

Using fear tactics to get the war budget passed!
Yahoo News
Wed Feb 16,11:20 PM ET
By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

Officials Warn of Future Terror Attacks

WASHINGTON - Speaking with one voice, President Bush's top intelligence and military officials said Wednesday that terrorists are regrouping for possible new strikes against the United States.

They said the best defense was for Congress to approve the president's military and anti-terror budget.

2005-02-15T18:12:00.000-05:00

Financial Advisors Needed In DC.

Please bring dictionary that includes the word "budget."

War budget request loaded with extras
Yahoo News
The Bush administration asked Congress on Monday to provide $82 billion to cover unbudgeted costs in the global war on terrorism, but the request includes funds for a long-planned military reorganization and for activities such as tsunami aid that are seemingly unrelated to terrorism.

The president's supplemental request seeks $42.5 billion that would pay for military activities in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites) through September, the end of the 2005 federal fiscal year, as well as $12 billion more to refurbish and replace worn-out vehicles, weapons and equipment used in those operations.

The request includes $3 billion that is unrelated to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and $19 billion more that is not directly related to U.S. military costs there.

etc

That omission has raised bipartisan concerns among members of Congress, who criticized the president for using the supplemental request to further bolster an already escalating defense budget, and to fund programs that are unrelated to military operations.

etc

It also asks Congress to fund international aid and relief efforts that have nothing to do with Iraq and Afghanistan, including:
- $950 million for the victims of the Dec. 26 Southeast Asian tsunami;
- $342.4 million for those suffering in the Darfur region of Sudan; and
- $780 million for the U.S. share of peacekeeping efforts in Haiti, Ivory Coast, Burundi and Sudan.

etc

Some $22 billion of the proposed $82 billion supplemental funding that President Bush has requested for the war on terrorism would go toward projects not directly related to U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill is the fourth Bush has proposed since April 2003, bringing the total supplementary requests to $275 billion.

etc

Several military analysts have noted that more outside spending is creeping into the supplemental military requests, and more still may be added by Congress.

"It seems as though they're using the supplemental as a standard part of the budgeting process and it is becoming institutionalized," said Loren Thompson, who directs the Lexington Institute, a Washington-area think tank. "It's partly because the administration isn't eager to admit that it's spending half a trillion a year on defense. But it's also because it has discovered that it will meet no resistance on Capitol Hill if it's spending that is characterized as being for the troops."

etc

Among the funds not directly related to U.S. military action:

Bill not entirely for U.S. military action
AMOUNT / REASON FOR FUNDING
$7.4 billion: Training/equipping Iraqi and Afghan military and police.
$5.3 billion: Restructuring Army and Marine units.
$1.85 billion: Countering drugs, paying for security and supporting reconstruction in Afghanistan.
$950 million: Helping areas affected by the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
$1.38 billion: Constructing/operating a new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
$400 million: Economically assisting nations that have taken political and economic risks to join the U.S.-led coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan
$342 million: Providing aid to promote peace for people in civil war-stricken Sudan.
$200 million: Funding education and border security for the Palestinians.
$300 million: Providing economic and military aid in Jordan.
$150 million: Providing military aid for Pakistan.
$60 million: Aiding Ukraine
$780 million: Funding international peacekeeping activities

2005-02-14T23:58:00.000-05:00

Put it in the budget you morons

Bush Requests $82B for Iraq, Afghan Wars
Yahoo News
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush asked Congress on Monday to provide $81.9 billion more for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other U.S. efforts overseas, shoving the total price tag for the conflicts and anti-terror fight past $300 billion.

Republicans hope to push the package through Congress by early spring, reflecting both parties' desire to finance U.S. troops in the field and give Iraqis more responsibility following their national elections.

Bush asked lawmakers to pay for the new spending by borrowing the money — which will make huge federal deficits even larger.

etc

2005-02-09T23:19:00.000-05:00

What W's budget will mean for you and me

and mind you, this is without money for the "war" and social security overhaul.

Bush's budget cuts would fall near Main Street

Yahoo News
Wed Feb 9, 9:57 AM ET

From fewer Head Start programs to outdated police gear, the proposed federal budget calls for spending cuts close to home.

By Ron Scherer, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

NEW YORK - Chief Joseph Estey in Hartford, Vt., won't be replacing the 15-year-old guns worn by his officers or buying new digital cameras for his police cruisers.

In New York, the Head Start program on the Upper West Side may have to start laying off staff members and eliminate the program for children with special needs.

In Seattle, the fire department, already constrained by a tight city budget, won't be getting federal funding to put more firefighters on each truck as it had hoped.

More than at any time in the four years of the Bush administration, Main Street will be feeling the impact of the federal budget if the president's spending plan is adopted.

From Altoona, Pa., where Amtrak stops, to the nation's congested airports, Americans could be looking at changes that will affect their everyday lives - everything from after-school programs to cotton harvests - as a result of bigger-than-normal cutbacks.

etc

2005-02-09T02:39:00.000-05:00

W wants another blank check?

I'd say that those things are kind of important to put in the budget, wouldn't you?

Mr. Bush's budget plan seeks deep cuts in a wide array of government programs, from farm subsidies to education programs. Yet it does not list projected costs of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which will easily top $80 billion this year. Nor does it reflect the price of introducing private investment accounts within Social Security, the administration's top domestic legislative priority.

2005-02-08T17:01:00.000-05:00

So much for yesterday's post!

Right, Condi, whatever! Play the 'poor segregated black woman' card as much as you can. Idiot.

First of all, I want to say that I agree 100% with what Rosa Parks did and think she's a damn fine and brave woman. No questions needed. Condi, however, left out a few facts

In my own experience, a black woman named Rosa Parks was just tired one day of being told to sit in the back of the bus," Rice said. "So she refused to move, and she launched a revolution for freedom in the American South."

The problem is that many people (including Americans) will take that for the misleading information that it is. Rosa was a member of the NAACP when that happened, and they were having a publicity problem (link)

After attending Alabama State Teachers College, the young Rosa settled in Montgomery, with her husband, Raymond Parks. The couple joined the local chapter of the NAACP and worked quietly for many years to improve the lot of African-Americans in the segregated south.

"I worked on numerous cases with the NAACP," Mrs. Parks recalled, "but we did not get the publicity. There were cases of flogging, peonage, murder, and rape. We didn't seem to have too many successes. It was more a matter of trying to challenge the powers that be, and to let it be known that we did not wish to continue being second-class citizens.

Also, according to this website she was in the "colored" section of the bus when asked to give up her seat. Why the hell should she have had to give up her seat? Odd how Condi conveninetly forgot to mention that. Update on this part: It turns out that there was a movable sign as to where the 'colored' section started and the bus driver moved it, so she was supposed to get up.

On December 1 of that year she boarded a city bus and sat in a row at the front of the "colored" section. The whites only section in the front of the bus filled up and a white man was left standing. The bus driver demanded that Mrs. Parks and three other patrons in the colored section give up their seats so the white man could sit. The other three people moved but Mrs. Parks had been pushed around enough and refused to yield her seat.

2005-02-07T18:44:00.000-05:00

Rice

I'm still undecided about Rice and her new position. Her tone seems to have changed from the "the President thinks" to, from time to time "we think". She still sounds like a puppet, though.

2005-02-01T17:13:00.000-05:00

It needs to be said

I belong to the mailing list for the former Just Another Soldier website and have been reading, with fascination, about a soldier who decided to blog about his mission to Iraq.He was discovered about a year ago and was asked to discontinue his blog, but continued it through an email list. Here's an email that I feel everyone should know about:

Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 16:29:46 -0500
Subject: Just Another Soldier - How to Turn a Blog Into a Demotion and a $1000 Fine

Mr. Chenelly-

I realize you probably have already written your piece on bloggers in Iraq for the Army Times, but I'd like to respond to your email anyway.

First a quick background. My unit (2/108 Infantry from New York) returned from Iraq on New Years Day. We spent a week at Fort Drum with the demobilization process and we are now all back to being citizen Joe again. All told, we spent fifteen months on this deployment, about eleven of it in Iraq in the Sunni Triangle.

I started my blog at the beginning of our deployment and had it online for a few months during our training-up period before my commander asked me to take it down. Our Family Readiness group knew about the blog who eventually leaked it to my commander. He flipped out. So I took it down, but continued to write, emailing my stories to those who wanted to continue to read. I successfully flew under the radar like this for most my deployment.

Once there were about two months left on our deployment, I put the blog back online with everything I had written. It took less than two weeks for someone from the New York National Guard stateside to inform my command. That's when things got bad.

My commander decided to court martial me. Then he said he saw how the court martial against the soldiers who refused to go on a fuel convoy mission was thrown out, so he changed the request for a court martial to a field-grade article 15 because he wanted to be certain he "could see me punished". My commander is an assistant district attorney in Manhattan in real life and is an expert when it comes to bullying people. I suspect once he cooled off a little he realized that a court martial was a bit much, so gave me the fuel convoy story as an excuse for changing his mind. I also suspect he just wanted to scare me as much as possible by telling me he wanted me court martialed.

My battalion S2 section made a hard copy of my blog and there was an investigation. It concluded that I had violated OPSEC, violated the Geneva convention (for photos of detainees), and that I was guilty of conduct unbecoming an NCO (primarily for a photograph of me sitting on a shitter, among other things). Then I sat around for a month after being transferred from my job as a rifle squad leader (about to be promoted to E-6) to our headquarters platoon doing absolutely nothing while I waited for the other shoe to drop. I was taken off missions altogether (which is the ultimate punishment for a soldier-- to not let him work). Waiting for my article 15 hearing and not knowing what was going to happen to me was one of the worst experiences of my life. I wanted to demand a court martial because I felt I had done nothing wrong, but the thought of being kept on active duty in legal limbo while the rest of my unit went back to their homes weighed very heavily on me. I was ready to be off active duty like I can't explain. Sitting around for that month while anxiety consumed me was far worse than combat. Call me a wimp, but it really sucked.

Apparently our brigade JAG guy (2 BCT 1 ID) was too busy with his own blog (daggerjag.blogspot.com or something like that) to process my article 15 while we were in Iraq, so it didn't get resolved. Instead it was handed over to the garrison support unit at Ft. Drum upon our return. The article 15 I was given charged me with violating a direct order and violating OPSEC. The JAG lawyer I spoke with at Drum was little help and I was in no shape emotionally at that point to deal with a court martial, so I took the hit. I was given a field-grade article 15 by a colonel I never met in my life who didn't know me from a bucket of paint except for an investigation that made me sound like a traitor. I was demoted to E-4 and fined $1000.

The most interesting aspect of this entire fiasco is how OPSEC is defined, or rather not defined. Since there is no concise legal definition of what constitutes a violation of OPSEC (or at least not one anyone could produce for me when I requested it), it's impossible to determine when something crosses the line from "not a violation" to "a violation". It's like trying to define what pornography is or bad taste in music. To make a convincing argument how OPSEC has been violated is trivial. You pretty much only have to smarter than the person you are trying to convince, or just instill in him enough fear, uncertainty, and doubt that he'll have no choice but to agree. It's like accusing someone of being a communist. If you disagree with the person making the accusation, you'll be considered a communist sympathizer, or maybe even a communist yourself. The fight is over before the gauntlet is even dropped.

To answer the rest of your questions: My advice for soldiers who want to blog is to retain legal counsel before you start blogging. Have every legal detail worked out beforehand in regards to what you can and can't blog about. That way when your commander tells you to take your blog down, you can tell him to take the matter up with your lawyer. I had no idea my blog would become such a big issue, but if I had to do it over again, I would have gotten a lawyer before I started or at least made a call to the ACLU.

There is no way to blog about Iraq without your unit finding out about it. The guys in my unit knew about my blog within a month or two from the time I started it, but it took a few months before my commander found it. The only way for a soldier to not get in trouble is to write nothing but insipidly agreeable and conspicuously patriotic content that is reviewed by his or her leadership before posting. So yes, I do feel as though my First Amendment rights were violated. My article 15 was officially about my supposed violations of a direct order and OPSEC, but the ass-chewings I received focused a lot more on my penchant for explicating on the abundant absurdities of military life and combat. This was the real issue moreso than the supposed OPSEC violations and this is why the First Amendment exists-- to protect speech, even unpopular speech.

Everyone has a vision of how they want to remember their combat experience and particularly how they want others to view their combat service. Most soldiers, and especially infantrymen, want to realize all their Jerry Bruckheimer-fueled fantasies with macho military fervor. All I did was include more details in hopes of providing a more honest and humorous perspective of what soldiering is typically like. I could write "We went on a raid tonight. We smashed the gate down and cleared the house, but the guy we were looking for wasn't home." But instead I'd write "Tonight we went on a raid. It wasn't till 3am and I couldn't sleep so I masturbated before we left. On the way to the raid we got lost, but after driving around for a while we finally found the house. We tried to breech the gate of the outer wall, but in the process accidentally ended up knocking the entire wall over. After clearing the house, we realized it was the wrong one. Once we figured out where the correct house was, we raided it. But the guy we were looking for wasn't home. As I was pulling security on an alley, I realized that the chow we had for dinner wasn't agreeing with me and when I tried to fart ended up shitting my pants a little. Once we finished searching the house, we hopped back in our Humvees and took what we thought was our planned egress route, but instead found ourselves on a dead end canal road. While turning around, one of the Humvees got stuck in the mud. Most raids do not go this badly. We eventually made it back to our base safe and sound. My ass had started to chafe from when I 'sharted', so I took a shower, masturbated, and went to bed." (This, by the way, is a true story.) If I wrote a story like this, my commander would spend thirty minutes condemning me for portraying our unit as incompetent and unprofessional, but charge me with violating OPSEC because I disclosed tactical details on how we perform breeches.

All in all, I think Army leadership can't grasp that it's possible for a soldier to be critical or satirical of the Army but still be pro-Army. I've been in the Army 14 years. I love being an infantryman. But there are so many great stories that don't get told because there are so many people who don't want their illusions molested. Or because telling them apparently constitutes a violation of OPSEC.

If you have any more questions, I'd be happy to write more for you.

- Jason

p.s. I hope you don't mind but I've bcc'd this email to my mailing list.

Joe Chenelly wrote:

> Hello,
>
> My name is Joe Chenelly with the Army Times. I was wondering if you'd answer a few questions for us? I am looking at writing about the service members blogging in Iraq.
>
> I've was wondering if you could expand on why you stopped posting? Did it all blow over after you stopped blogging? Were you ever told how you violated OPSEC?
>
> How did your command find out you were blogging?
>
> What kind of advice do you give other soldiers thinking about starting their own blog?
>
> OK, here is the question you're probably expecting me to ask: Do you feel your free speech rights have been violated by the military? I had to ask.
>
> Are you still in Iraq?
>
> Although I have a lot more I'd like to ask, I fully understand how incredibly busy you must be, so I will toss one last question your way: If you had it all to do over again, what would you do? I hope that last question wasn't too cliché for you.
>
> Thanks in advance for your time and assistance. I certainly would understand if you cannot get back to me for a while or even at all, but I really hope you have some time in the future to shoot me an e-mail. If you don't while you're over there, please let me know when you're back in the ole U.S. of A.
>
> Take care of yourself,
> Joe
>
> ---------------------------------------------
> Joseph R. Chenelly
> Deputy News editor, Army Times

2005-01-29T03:03:00.000-05:00

About damn time!

Diebold to Market Paper-Trail E-Voting System
Yahoo News
Thu Jan 27, 6:00 PM ET

Grant Gross, IDG News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Diebold Election Systems, a target of many electronic-voting critics during the 2004 U.S. election, announced Thursday it has completed the design for a printer that would give its e-voting machines a paper trail.

Diebold's printer, submitted for federal government approval several weeks ago, would create a so-called voter-verified paper trail, a function that many critics have demanded of e-voting machine manufacturers.

2005-01-19T17:41:00.000-05:00

The Puppetry Continues

Yahoo News
Re: The Rice hearing:

But she also told the committee not to expect her to reveal any differences with Bush as secretary of state. "I want to be clearly understood — we are one administration, with the president in the lead," she said.

Powell, the last voice of dissent in a high position, is gone. Now we're stuck with a bunch of puppets.

2005-01-17T03:00:00.000-05:00

Say what?

I don't remember voting in a referendum on Iraq. I remember voting in an election for US President based MANY DIFFERENT ISSUES, like the economy, etc. Iraq was only a part of the vote. No need to hold anyone accountable for torture? Why doesn't that surprise me. Yes, W & Co, keep violating the Geneva Convention, but don't whine when the idiots on the other side do the same to US prisoners.

Bush Says Voters Ratified Iraq Policy
Yahoo News
Sat Jan 15,11:25 PM ET

WASHINGTON - President Bush says there is no need to hold anyone in his administration accountable for what has happened in Iraq because the voters have already spoken.

"We had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 elections," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post for Sunday's editions. "The American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates, and chose me."

2005-01-17T02:33:00.000-05:00

Just when you thought you heard it all

WTF? A gay bomb?

Pentagon Spurned Plan to Initiate Enemy Homosexuality
Yahoo News
Sun Jan 16, 5:00 PM ET U.S. National - Reuters

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military rejected a 1994 proposal to develop an "aphrodisiac" to spur homosexual activity among enemy troops but is hard at work on other less-than-lethal weapons, defense officials said on Sunday.

The idea of fostering homosexuality among the enemy figured in a declassified six-year, $7.5 million request from a laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for funding of non-lethal chemical weapon research.

The proposal, disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request, called for developing chemicals affecting human behavior "so that discipline and morale in enemy units is adversely affected."

2005-01-14T00:47:00.000-05:00

The inauguration

$40 million in 'donations' will be used for it. I have a problem with that.

Think of the good that money could do. It could help fight AIDS, help Tsunami victims, pay down part of the national debt, etc. What do the Repubs want to use it for? To let a bunch of millionaires prance around in black, drink champagne and boast about the "mandate" the think they have.

If W really is the "war president" he claims to be, he'll follow the examples of Roosevelt and Wilson, real war presidents, and tone it down.

2004-12-15T10:17:00.000-05:00

Yo! You with the bible in your hand! Listen up!

The USA is NOT a Christian country. The USA has no official "state religion."

In case you haven't noticed yet, we have people from all over the world here. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddists, etc. You name it, we have it here.

Something else you may not know is that the USA has something called "Seperation of Church and State." I don't want your religion in my schools, courtrooms, or anywhere else where you can attempt to force it down my throat. Religion is a personal choice. Keep it that way.

What do I think? Personally, I have no problem with Merry Christmas. I love Christmastime even though I'm not a religious person. No, I don't shop til I drop, but I love the lights and the atmosphere. However, I do respect the fact that there are people in our country that don't celebrate Christmas. Do you?

Just because W won again DOESN'T GIVE YOU A MANDATE TO ATTEMPT TO TURN THE USA INTO A CHRISTIAN COUNTRY!

Deal with that fact.

2004-12-15T10:06:00.000-05:00

Not a surprise

White House Plugs 10 Commandments Displays

By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
Yahoo News

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to allow Ten Commandments displays on government property, adding a federal view on a major church-state case that justices will deal with early next year.

2004-12-15T10:02:00.000-05:00

Seperation of Church and State, anyone?

Ala. Judge Wears Ten Commandments on Robe

By BOB JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
Yahoo News

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A judge refused to delay a trial Tuesday when an attorney objected to his wearing a judicial robe with the Ten Commandments embroidered on the front in gold.

2004-12-11T15:31:00.000-05:00

Another (Repubican) case of "Do as I say, not as I do"

How a man can insult his own daughter by not including him in his family baffles me.

Thurmond's Daughter Tells Story in Book
Yahoo News
By AMY GEIER EDGAR, Associated Press Writer

COLUMBIA, S.C. - "I always thought I had a fairly normal childhood, until I found out my parents weren't who I thought they were." So begins the autobiography of Essie Mae Washington Williams, the daughter of longtime U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond and a 16-year-old black maid who worked at his family's home.

Williams, now 79, came forward a year ago, after Thurmond's death, with the secret she had held for more than 70 years. Her upcoming book, "Dear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond," deals frankly with her relationship with the one-time segregationist who privately acknowledged her as his child but never spoke of her publicly.

Williams confronted Thurmond about his support of segregation, but watched with disappointment as his political star rose in the 1940s and '50s. "He became an outright racist, cloaked in the ancient doctrine of states' rights," she wrote.

The book, co-written with William Stadiem, is set to be released Jan. 27 by ReganBooks, a division of HarperCollins Publishers.

Williams was raised in Coatesville, Pa., by Mary and John Washington. Her world changed at age 13 when Mary Washington's sister, Carrie Butler, told Essie Mae that she was her biological mother.

A few years later, when she returned to Edgefield for a funeral, Butler took her to a local law office where she first met Thurmond.

"He never called my mother by her first name. He didn't verbally acknowledge that I was his child. He didn't ask when I was leaving and didn't invite me to come back. It was like an audience with an important man, a job interview, but not a reunion with a father," Williams wrote.

It was the first of many visits between Thurmond and Williams. He provided for her financially, but their meetings were always formal events where Thurmond — a health fanatic — asked more questions about her exercise and eating habits than her personal life.

During one visit around 1946, Thurmond offered to pay her tuition at an all-black college in Orangeburg, now known as South Carolina State University.

Moving to the school in the South meant she had to adapt to a segregated culture. The black students rarely left campus and, when they did, they were forced to sit in the backs of buses and visit only certain restaurants and shops.

Many of her classmates came from prosperous black families. While they talked about their fathers' jobs, Williams held back.

"With all the family comparisons, I was tempted to brag about my father. ... But the temptation quickly passed. I wasn't crazy. And I was very grateful to my father for making it possible to come here to State. I couldn't afford to lose the opportunity in front of me. For me, it was a state of grace."

During her college years, Thurmond visited Williams a couple times, meeting privately in the school president's office.

"Our surface dealings were precisely that, all superficial and completely unemotional, despite my inner turmoil."

Williams watched her father's career from afar. She attended his gubernatorial inauguration in January 1947 with her classmates. She watched her father and his family.

"This was my family, but I didn't know them and they didn't know me. In time, in time, I prayed to myself. If my father could change this state, with its Confederate flags flying and its Confederate soldiers standing vigil atop their obelisks, I had reason to hope he could change his own house," she writes.

Thurmond said segregation laws were needed to protect the purity of the races.

"I wasn't sure if this was my father talking or the ghost of Adolf Hitler," she wrote.

When Thurmond ran for president as the State's Rights Party candidate during the 1948 election, he said: "All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the army cannot force the Negro race into our theaters, our swimming pools, our schools, our churches, our homes."

Nearly a decade later, he set the Senate record for filibustering when he spoke against a bill to end discrimination in housing.

On one visit, Williams asked Thurmond how he could say such things about blacks. She said blacks were treated unfairly, but he defended it as the culture and custom of the South.

Over the decades, Williams tried to reconcile the fiery politician with the man who treated her kindly, providing money for her and her family.

"It's not that Strom Thurmond ever swore me to secrecy. He never swore me to anything. He trusted me, and I respected him, and we loved each other in our deeply repressed ways, and that was our social contract," she wrote.

Thurmond eventually softened his political stance and renounced racism.

Williams, who taught in public schools for 27 schools, said Thurmond's death in 2003 at age 100 left her unsettled. Her own daughter encouraged her to make her story public, and Thurmond's family soon acknowledged her heritage.

"In a way, my life began at 78, at least my life as who I really was, without the subterfuges of the previous 65 years," Williams wrote. "I may have called it 'closure,' but it was much more like an opening, a very grand opening."

2004-12-07T00:07:00.000-05:00

Silencing more dissent

Bush Replaces Outspoken Civil Rights Chair
Yahoo News

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) on Monday moved to replace Mary Frances Berry, the outspoken chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission who has argued with every president since Jimmy Carter appointed her to the panel a quarter century ago.

But Berry balked at leaving now, arguing through a spokesman that she and vice chairman Cruz Reynoso, who also is being replaced, have terms that run until midnight Jan. 21, 2005. The White House maintained that their six-year terms expired Sunday and that Berry and Reynoso had been replaced.

2004-12-05T10:11:00.000-05:00

Give me a break!

There is nothing dangerous about traveling in Europe at this time.

Mormon Choir Cancels Overseas Trips

SALT LAKE CITY - The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has canceled its planned tour of northern Europe next year because of concerns about terrorism, and the choir will instead tour the Northwest.

The 360-voice choir was scheduled to make a summer tour by ship of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

However, Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, decided the trip would make the group an easy target for terrorists.

etc.

2004-11-30T00:05:00.000-05:00

Go Canada

Canada braces for Bush protests
Monday, November 29, 2004 Posted: 8:19 PM EST (0119 GMT)
Cnn.com

TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- Organizers expect up to 15,000 activists to march on the Canadian capital Ottawa on Tuesday to protest the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush during his two-day visit to the country.

The spokesman for a coalition of protest groups said he expected 10,000-15,000 protesters, including about 4,000 out-of-towners who have already signed up for buses from as far away as Windsor, near Detroit.

2004-11-17T16:11:00.000-05:00

Payback for ranchers/famers with lots of land

GOP Looking to Repeal Food Labeling Law

By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer
Yahoo News

WASHINGTON - Telling consumers where their meat, fruit and vegetables came from seemed such a good idea to U.S. ranchers and farmers in competition with imports that Congress two years ago ordered the food industry to do it. But meatpackers and food processors fought the law from the start, and newly emboldened Republicans now plan to repeal it before Thanksgiving.

As part of the 2002 farm bill, country-of-origin labeling was supposed to have gone into effect this fall. Congress last year postponed it until 2006. Now, House Republicans are trying to wipe it off the books as part of a spending bill they plan to finish this month.

2004-11-17T16:03:00.000-05:00

The House...Protector of it's own criminals

House GOP Changes Rules to Protect DeLay

Yahoo News

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - House Republicans approved a party rules change Wednesday that could allow Majority leader Tom DeLay to retain his leadership post if he is indicted by a Texas grand jury on state political corruption charges.

2004-11-15T22:59:00.000-05:00

Secretary of State Rice

I've always liked Condi, but have felt that she was held back by her current puppet position. Let's see if she's the smart and saavy woman I thought she was. I liked Powell, but feel that he wasn't given the freedom he needed to do his job to the best of his ability. Of course, he was no Madeline Albright, but he still could have done a better job if he had been allowed. Albright was great. Smart, funny, sassy. A real class act.

Yahoo News

Bush Chooses Rice to Replace Powell
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush has selected Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser and trusted confidant, to replace Colin Powell as secretary of state, officials said Monday, in a major shakeup of the president's national security team. Three other Cabinet secretaries also resigned.

2004-11-15T16:23:00.000-05:00

The Depressed Democrat's

guide to recovery

2004-11-11T12:10:00.000-05:00

Pulling Private Ryan?

My god, what's going on in this country? There's no reason a good movie like this need to be pulled. Put disclaimers on it warning people not to watch it, but don't censor it! This is not what the US is about!

ABC affiliates pulling 'Private Ryan'
CNN.com

Stations in 8 states will pre-empt broadcast of award-winning film due to concerns about indecency.
November 11, 2004: 11:53 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - ABC affiliates in at least eight states will not televise the network's broadcast of the World War II film "Saving Private Ryan" because they fear repercussions from U.S. regulators.

2004-11-11T03:31:00.000-05:00

Internet buzz on vote fraud is dismissed

By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | November 10, 2004
Boston.com
WASHINGTON -- As they ricochet around the country on the Internet, the details seem aligned to raise the eyebrows of suspicious Democrats.

President Bush recorded 4,258 votes to Senator John F. Kerry's 260 in one suburb of Columbus, Ohio -- where only 638 ballots were cast. Across Ohio, some 76,000 punch-card ballots did not register votes for president, and officials have only begun to comb through 155,428 provisional ballots.

etc.

2004-11-11T03:25:00.000-05:00

Warren Co. defends lockdown decision

FBI denies warning officials of any special threat.Click here or here

2004-11-11T02:47:00.000-05:00

Arafat dies

Hopefully there'll be a better chance for peace in the Palestine/Isreal conflict.
--------------------------------------
Palestinian Leader Arafat Dies at 75
Yahoo News
By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), the guerrilla leader turned Nobel Peace Prize winner who forced his people's plight into the world spotlight, died Thursday at age 75 — still reviled by many as a terrorist.
etc.
--------------------------------------

Notice how completely different the statements were from W and Blair:
President Bush issued a statement of condolence to the Palestinian people.

We express our condolences to the Palestinian people. For the Palestinian people, we hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfillment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors,

British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent condolences to the Palestinian people.

President Arafat came to symbolize the Palestinian national movement. ... (and) led his people to an historic acceptance and the need for a two-state solution,

2004-11-09T23:45:00.000-05:00

Rummy, you're next!

Ashcroft, Evans Resign From Bush Cabinet
Yahoo News
By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites), a fierce conservative who generated controversy with his tough tactics in the war on terror, and Commerce Secretary Don Evans, one of President Bush (news - web sites)'s closest friends, resigned Tuesday, the first members of the Cabinet to quit before the start of a second term.

Ashcroft and Evans have served all four years of Bush's administration, which has been marked by little turnover. Ashcroft said he would remain until a successor is confirmed, which could take months. Evans said he would stay well into January.

In a five-page, handwritten letter, Ashcroft told Bush, "The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved. Yet I believe that the Department of Justice would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration." Ashcroft, who suffered health problems earlier this year and had his gall bladder removed, dated his letter Nov. 2, Election Day.

Ashcroft's critics cheered his departure. "We wish John Ashcroft good health and a good retirement. And we hope the president will choose a less polarizing attorney general as his successor," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, "Mr. Ashcroft's legacy has been an open hostility to protecting civil liberties and an outright disdain for those who dare to question his policies."

Bush issued statements of praise for Ashcroft, 62, and Evans, 58, and for the policies they advanced.

"John Ashcroft has worked tirelessly to help make our country safer," the president said. "John has served our nation with honor, distinction, and integrity."

A preacher's son, former Missouri governor and one-time U.S. senator, Ashcroft was a favorite of the religious conservatives who make up a key part of the Republican political base. At the same time, he has been a lightning rod for criticism of his handling of the U.S. end of the war against terror, especially the detention of terror suspects.

A former Ashcroft aide sought to dispel talk that health was a factor in the attorney general's departure, saying the decision to leave came only after discussions with the president.

"He would have been pleased to consider staying in the Cabinet," said Juleanna Glover Weiss, who worked for Ashcroft in the Senate and is also a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. White House officials said neither Ashcroft nor Evans was asked to leave.

2004-11-09T15:09:00.000-05:00

Go Ralphie!

November 5, 2004

Via fax: 603-271-6316
To The Secretary of State of New Hampshire:

The Nader/Camejo campaign requests a hand recount of the ballots in the presidential election in New Hampshire. Numerous voting rights activists have requested that we seek a recount of this vote.

We have received reports of irregularities in the vote reported on the AccuVote Diebold Machines in comparison to exit polls and trends in voting in New Hampshire. These irregularities favor President George W. Bush by 5% to 15% over what was expected. Problems in these electronic voting machines and optical scanners are being reported in machines in a variety of states.

We are requesting that the state undertake this recount or a statistically significant sample audit of these vote counts.

We would like to make sure every vote counts and is counted accurately.

Sincerely,

Ralph Nader

2004-11-09T15:04:00.000-05:00

Irregularities

I've just started a new page for the voting irregularities that are starting to come in. The short term future should be interesting.

2004-11-08T16:08:00.000-05:00

Fascinating Map

I found this on the USA Today website. It's a map of how different counties all across the US voted. I had never realized just how Republican/conservative the country was.

I'm a Second Class Citizen That Doesn't Deserve To Have Rights

2004-11-08T05:23:00.000-05:00

"If we want to have a hopeful and decent society, we ought to aim for the ideal, and the ideal is that marriage ought to be, and should be, a union of a man and a woman," Bush political aide Karl Rove told "Fox News Sunday."

Rove said Bush would "absolutely" push the Republican-controlled Congress for a constitutional amendment, which he said was needed to avert the aims of "activist judges" who would permit gay marriages.

I'm gay.

Who the hell has the right to tell me that I can't be part of a "hopeful and decent" society? Who the hell as the right to take away my consititutional right to fight for equal rights? How absurd is W wanting to push ahead with his plan to ban me from ever getting married by a constitutional ammendmentthat? The consititution is supposed to be used to PROTECT US citizens, not to seperate them for being different.

Diva, fold out the couch. Here I come!

Blindly Continuing On

2004-11-08T05:19:00.000-05:00

The Hill

It’s an affirmation of the direction we’ve been going," said Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (Va.), who predicted that the GOP agenda in the 109th Congress will look "pretty much like it did - tort reform and the usual.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), new chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said: "There’s a mandate for conservative leadership in the outcome of this election. The American people have spoken in deafening terms that they want Republican leadership in the White House and Capitol Hill.

Deafening terms? 55 million people voted AGAINST Republican leadership in the White House! Can't the Bush Administration see that? They didn't win by a landslide. The popular vote was 51% to 48%! (59,117,523 and 55,557,584). How is that deafening?

Logic would tell them that they had ALMOST LOST the election, and they need to change their policies to satisfy more of the American people. Sorry, there I go using logic again. For a brief second, I forgot that W's administration doesn't use logic and also doesn't want to represent people that don't agree with them. Apparently the 48% of us who didn't vote for W are invisible.

2004-11-08T05:15:00.000-05:00

More BS

“Free-Speech Zone”

The administration quarantines dissent.

By James Bovard

On Dec. 6, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft informed the Senate Judiciary Committee, “To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty … your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and … give ammunition to America’s enemies.” Some commentators feared that Ashcroft’s statement, which was vetted beforehand by top lawyers at the Justice Department, signaled that this White House would take a far more hostile view towards opponents than did recent presidents. And indeed, some Bush administration policies indicate that Ashcroft’s comment was not a mere throwaway line.

When Bush travels around the United States, the Secret Service visits the location ahead of time and orders local police to set up “free speech zones” or “protest zones” where people opposed to Bush policies (and sometimes sign-carrying supporters) are quarantined. These zones routinely succeed in keeping protesters out of presidential sight and outside the view of media covering the event.

When Bush came to the Pittsburgh area on Labor Day 2002, 65-year-old retired steel worker Bill Neel was there to greet him with a sign proclaiming, “The Bush family must surely love the poor, they made so many of us.” The local police, at the Secret Service’s behest, set up a “designated free-speech zone” on a baseball field surrounded by a chain-link fence a third of a mile from the location of Bush’s speech. The police cleared the path of the motorcade of all critical signs, though folks with pro-Bush signs were permitted to line the president’s path. Neel refused to go to the designated area and was arrested for disorderly conduct; the police also confiscated his sign. Neel later commented, “As far as I’m concerned, the whole country is a free speech zone. If the Bush administration has its way, anyone who criticizes them will be out of sight and out of mind.”

At Neel’s trial, police detective John Ianachione testified that the Secret Service told local police to confine “people that were there making a statement pretty much against the president and his views” in a so-called free speech area. Paul Wolf, one of the top officials in the Allegheny County Police Department, told Salon that the Secret Service “come in and do a site survey, and say, ‘Here’s a place where the people can be, and we’d like to have any protesters put in a place that is able to be secured.’” Pennsylvania district judge Shirley Rowe Trkula threw out the disorderly conduct charge against Neel, declaring, “I believe this is America. Whatever happened to ‘I don’t agree with you, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it’?”

Similar suppressions have occurred during Bush visits to Florida. A recent St. Petersburg Times editorial noted, “At a Bush rally at Legends Field in 2001, three demonstrators—two of whom were grandmothers—were arrested for holding up small handwritten protest signs outside the designated zone. And last year, seven protesters were arrested when Bush came to a rally at the USF Sun Dome. They had refused to be cordoned off into a protest zone hundreds of yards from the entrance to the Dome.” One of the arrested protesters was a 62-year-old man holding up a sign, “War is good business. Invest your sons.” The seven were charged with trespassing, “obstructing without violence and disorderly conduct.”

Police have repressed protesters during several Bush visits to the St. Louis area as well. When Bush visited on Jan. 22, 2003, 150 people carrying signs were shunted far away from the main action and effectively quarantined. Denise Lieberman of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri commented, “No one could see them from the street. In addition, the media were not allowed to talk to them. The police would not allow any media inside the protest area and wouldn’t allow any of the protesters out of the protest zone to talk to the media.” When Bush stopped by a Boeing plant to talk to workers, Christine Mains and her five-year-old daughter disobeyed orders to move to a small protest area far from the action. Police arrested Mains and took her and her crying daughter away in separate squad cars.

The Justice Department is now prosecuting Brett Bursey, who was arrested for holding a “No War for Oil” sign at a Bush visit to Columbia, S.C. Local police, acting under Secret Service orders, established a “free speech zone” half a mile from where Bush would speak. Bursey was standing amid hundreds of people carrying signs praising the president. Police told Bursey to remove himself to the “free speech zone.”

Bursey refused and was arrested. Bursey said that he asked the policeman if “it was the content of my sign, and he said, ‘Yes, sir, it’s the content of your sign that’s the problem.’” Bursey stated that he had already moved 200 yards from where Bush was supposed to speak. Bursey later complained, “The problem was, the restricted area kept moving. It was wherever I happened to be standing.”

Bursey was charged with trespassing. Five months later, the charge was dropped because South Carolina law prohibits arresting people for trespassing on public property. But the Justice Department—in the person of U.S. Attorney Strom Thurmond Jr.—quickly jumped in, charging Bursey with violating a rarely enforced federal law regarding “entering a restricted area around the President of the United States.” If convicted, Bursey faces a six-month trip up the river and a $5000 fine. Federal magistrate Bristow Marchant denied Bursey’s request for a jury trial because his violation is categorized as a “petty offense.” Some observers believe that the feds are seeking to set a precedent in a conservative state such as South Carolina that could then be used against protesters nationwide.

Bursey’s trial took place on Nov. 12 and 13. His lawyers sought the Secret Service documents they believed would lay out the official policies on restricting critical speech at presidential visits. The Bush administration sought to block all access to the documents, but Marchant ruled that the lawyers could have limited access. Bursey sought to subpoena John Ashcroft and Karl Rove to testify. Bursey lawyer Lewis Pitts declared, “We intend to find out from Mr. Ashcroft why and how the decision to prosecute Mr. Bursey was reached.” The magistrate refused, however, to enforce the subpoenas. Secret Service agent Holly Abel testified at the trial that Bursey was told to move to the “free speech zone” but refused to co-operate. Magistrate Marchant is expected to issue his decision in December.

The feds have offered some bizarre rationales for hog-tying protesters. Secret Service agent Brian Marr explained to National Public Radio, “These individuals may be so involved with trying to shout their support or non-support that inadvertently they may walk out into the motorcade route and be injured. And that is really the reason why we set these places up, so we can make sure that they have the right of free speech, but, two, we want to be sure that they are able to go home at the end of the evening and not be injured in any way.” Except for having their constitutional rights shredded.

Marr’s comments are a mockery of this country’s rich heritage of vigorous protests. Somehow, all of a sudden, after George W. Bush became president people became so stupid that federal agents had to cage them to prevent them from walking out in front of speeding vehicles.

The ACLU, along with several other organizations, is suing the Secret Service for what it charges is a pattern-and-practice of suppressing protesters at Bush events in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas, and elsewhere. The ACLU’s Witold Walczak said of the protesters, “The individuals we are talking about didn’t pose a security threat; they posed a political threat.”

The Secret Service is duty-bound to protect the president. But it is ludicrous to presume that would-be terrorists are lunkheaded enough to carry anti-Bush signs when carrying pro-Bush signs would give them much closer access. And even a policy of removing all people carrying signs—as has happened in some demonstrations—is pointless, since potential attackers would simply avoid carrying signs. Presuming that terrorists are as unimaginative and predictable as the average federal bureaucrat is not a recipe for presidential longevity.

The Bush administration’s anti-protester bias proved embarrassing for two American allies with long traditions of raucous free speech, resulting in some of the most repressive restrictions in memory in free countries. When Bush visited Australia in October, Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mark Riley observed, “The basic right of freedom of speech will adopt a new interpretation during the Canberra visits this week by the US President, George Bush, and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao. Protesters will be free to speak as much as they like just as long as they can’t be heard.” Demonstrators were shunted to an area away from the Federal Parliament building and prohibited from using any public address system in the area.

For Bush’s recent visit to London, the White House demanded that British police ban all protest marches, close down the center of the city, and impose a “virtual three day shutdown of central London in a bid to foil disruption of the visit by anti-war protesters,” according to Britain’s Evening Standard. But instead of a “free speech zone”—as such areas are labeled in the U.S.—the Bush administration demanded an “exclusion zone” to protect Bush from protesters’ messages.

Such unprecedented restrictions did not inhibit Bush from portraying himself as a champion of freedom during his visit. In a speech at Whitehall on Nov. 19, Bush hyped the “forward strategy of freedom” and declared, “We seek the advance of freedom and the peace that freedom brings.” Regarding the protesters, Bush sought to turn the issue into a joke: “I’ve been here only a short time, but I’ve noticed that the tradition of free speech—exercised with enthusiasm—is alive and well here in London. We have that at home, too. They now have that right in Baghdad, as well.”

Attempts to suppress protesters become more disturbing in light of the Homeland Security Department’s recommendation that local police departments view critics of the war on terrorism as potential terrorists. In a May 2003 terrorist advisory, the Homeland Security Department warned local law enforcement agencies to keep an eye on anyone who “expressed dislike of attitudes and decisions of the U.S. government.” If police vigorously followed this advice, millions of Americans could be added to the official lists of “suspected terrorists.”

Protesters have claimed that police have assaulted them during demonstrations in New York, Washington, and elsewhere. Film footage of a February New York antiwar rally showed what looked like a policeman on horseback charging into peaceful aged Leftists. The neoconservative New York Sun suggested in February 2003 that the New York Police Department “send two witnesses along for each participant [in an antiwar demonstration], with an eye toward preserving at least the possibility of an eventual treason prosecution” since all the demonstrators were guilty of “giving, at the very least, comfort to Saddam Hussein.”

One of the most violent government responses to an antiwar protest occurred when local police and the federally funded California Anti-Terrorism Task Force fired rubber bullets and tear gas at peaceful protesters and innocent bystanders at the port of Oakland, injuring a number of people. When the police attack sparked a geyser of media criticism, Mike van Winkle, the spokesman for the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center told the Oakland Tribune, “You can make an easy kind of a link that, if you have a protest group protesting a war where the cause that’s being fought against is international terrorism, you might have terrorism at that protest. You can almost argue that a protest against that is a terrorist act.” Van Winkle justified classifying protesters like terrorists: “I’ve heard terrorism described as anything that is violent or has an economic impact, and shutting down a port certainly would have some economic impact. Terrorism isn’t just bombs going off and killing people.”

Such aggressive tactics become more ominous in the light of the Bush administration’s advocacy, in its Patriot II draft legislation, of nullifying all judicial consent decrees restricting state and local police from spying on those groups who may oppose government policies.

On May 30, 2002, Ashcroft effectively abolished restrictions on FBI surveillance of Americans’ everyday lives first imposed in 1976. One FBI internal newsletter encouraged FBI agents to conduct more interviews with antiwar activists “for plenty of reasons, chief of which it will enhance the paranoia endemic in such circles and will further service to get the point across that there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox.” The FBI took a shotgun approach towards protesters partly because of the FBI’s “belief that dissident speech and association should be prevented because they were incipient steps towards the possible ultimate commission of act which might be criminal,” according to a Senate report.

On Nov. 23 news broke that the FBI is now actively conducting surveillance of antiwar demonstrators—supposedly to “blunt potential violence by extremist elements,” according to a Reuters interview with a federal law enforcement official. Given the FBI’s expansive defintion of “potential violence” in the past, this is a net that could catch almost any group or individual who falls into official disfavor.

The FBI is also urging local police to report suspicious activity by protesters to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is run by the FBI. If local police take the hint and start pouring in the dirt, the JTTF could soon be building a “Total Information Awareness”-lite database on those antiwar groups and activists.

If the FBI publicly admits that it is surveilling antiwar groups and urging local police to send in information on protestors, how far might the feds go? It took over a decade after the first big antiwar protests in the 1960s before the American people learned the extent of FBI efforts to suppress and subvert public opposition to the Vietnam War. Is the FBI now considering a similar order to field offices as the one it sent in 1968, telling them to gather information illustrating the “scurrilous and depraved nature of many of the characters, activities habits, and living conditions representative of New Left adherents”—but this time focused on those who oppose Bush’s Brave New World?

Is the administration seeking to stifle domestic criticism? Absolutely. Is it carrying out a war on dissent? Probably not—yet. But the trend lines in federal attacks on freedom of speech should raise grave concerns to anyone worried about the First Amendment or about how a future liberal Democratic president such as Hillary Clinton might exploit the precedents that Bush is setting.
______________________________________________

James Bovard is the author of Terrorism & Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the World of Evil.

December 15, 2003 issue
The American Conservative