Open thread

Nothing to add. Read More......

UN blasts "outrageous and dishonest" House intel report on Iran

The UN is a little late to the "House intel report on Iran is ridiculous" party, but a hearty welcome anyway. The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) publicly disputed much of the report, and did so vociferously.

U.N. inspectors investigating Iran's nuclear program angrily complained to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman yesterday about a recent House committee report on Iran's capabilities, calling parts of the document "outrageous and dishonest" and offering evidence to refute its central claims.

And just for those keeping score at home, this is from AMERICABlog over three weeks ago:

The House intel committee is right to say that we don't have enough information on Iran, but analysts have to work with what they have, not politicized conjecture. There's a difference between connecting and explaining the dots and creating new ones to reach a preordained conclusion [...] The bottom line is, it's not that analysts are trying to downplay the threat of Iran . . . it's that the threat doesn't meet the "SCARY!" threshold that these Republicans are hoping for.

As a fun little add-on, the end of the article indicates that the author of the Iran report (Fredrick Fleitz, a onetime CIA officer and lackey of Ambassador Bolton) is currently working on a report on North Korea. I can hardly wait. Read More......

There's something rotten in Prince George's County

Donna Edwards is challenging the results of balloting that took place in the primary on Tuesday:

Congressional candidate Donna Edwards announced plans yesterday to file a lawsuit over apparent voting irregularities in Tuesday's primary election in Prince George's County, while defeated county executive challenger Rushern L. Baker III demanded an independent investigation of the process.

The separate announcements signaled that Tuesday's voting, a flawed process by many accounts, may not conclude the close primary contests for a seat in Congress and the county executive's office. The election itself was "horrendous," the Prince George's elections administrator said yesterday. And the victorious Democratic county executive candidate, incumbent Jack B. Johnson, said it warranted investigation.

"The integrity of the election is at stake," said Edwards, who ran against Rep. Albert R. Wynn in the 4th District Democratic primary and is waiting for the race to be decided when provisional ballots are counted next week in Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

No surprise, but the only major candidate in Prince George's county who isn't concerned about voting irregularities is "Landslide Al" Wynn. (And, yes, for you history buffs, that is a comparison to "Landslide Lyndon" and his 1948 primary victory)

It's 2006. This was a Democratic primary. Yet, Donna's right: the integrity of this election is at stake. If the integrity of an election is at stake, it is not an understatement that the integrity of democracy itself is at stake. The system in Prince George's County lost its integrity when voting machines were left unsecured.

Montgomery County also had its fair share of voting problems last Tuesday. There are still votes to be counted there.

This election is not over -- and there cannot be a winner named until the actual votes that were cast on Tuesday are counted. Read More......

Hey Disney/ABC, it seems the Pope agrees with Rosie O'Donnell

Should be interesting to see if the religious right is going to demand that the Pope apologize and be fired for saying that radical religious people are evil, be they Muslim or Christian.

He said the pope's speech ended with "clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence, from whatever side it may come."

That's not very different from what Rosie O'Donnell said, that radical Christians and radical Muslims are equally bad.

I can't wait to see if Disney/ABC decides to side with the religious right and adopt the position that Muslims are worse people than Christians. In view of the recent Mohammad satire brouhaha, I'd love to see what happens if Disney/ABC decides to offend a billion Muslims. And they thought the "Path to 9/11" fallout was brutal. Ha! Read More......

The Jersey Hustler

Tom Kean, just another corrupt politician. Read More......

Open thread

Joe just sent me this, had to share. It's stupid, and funny. And totally not political.

Read More......

Outrage against Pope continues

Who could have predicted such outrage when the pope decided to read quotes from the medieval text? Well, just about anyone who is following world events. Is the Vatican ever going to move on from being hate-mongers or is that going to continue being the focus of the Vatican? It's 2006, almost 2007 so let's think about how we are going to bridge cultural divides instead of making them larger. Haven't we had enough?

Salih Kapusuz, deputy leader of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party, said Benedict's remarks were either "the result of pitiful ignorance" about Islam and its prophet or, worse, a deliberate distortion.

"He has a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages," Kapusuz told Turkish state media. "It looks like an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades."

The outrage has forced an apology of sorts from the Vatican:

``The Holy Father is very sorry that some passages of his speech may have sounded offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers,'' said Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone in a statement.

Read More......

Bush facing "Republican Revolt" and "GOP Infighting" against "GOP rebels"

The battle between Bush and GOP Senators (and Colin Powell) greatly escalated yesterday when Bush did the kind of press conference he usually does to bash Democrats against his fellow Republicans. The media has clued in to the fact that Bush and Rove's well laid plans to use the torture issue against Democrats has backfired because, believe it or not, some Republicans are finally standing up to him.

AP called it a "Republican revolt""

The president called a Rose Garden news conference to confront a Republican rebellion led by Sens. John Warner of Virginia, John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine.

To the administration's dismay, Colin Powell, Bush's former secretary of state, has joined with the lawmakers. Powell said Bush's plan to redefine the Geneva Conventions would cause the world "to doubt the moral basis" of the fight against terror and "put our own troops at risk."

The Washington Post called it "GOP Infighting":

President Bush warned defiant Republican senators yesterday that he will close down a CIA interrogation program that he credited with thwarting terrorist attacks if they pass a proposal regulating detention of enemy combatants, escalating a politically charged battle that has exposed divisions within his party.

An irritated Bush, raising his voice and gesturing sharply at a Rose Garden news conference, excoriated legislation passed by a Senate panel Thursday that is intended to conform U.S. detainee practices with the Geneva Conventions. Bush insisted on legislation more specifically defining what is banned so intelligence officers would not worry about being charged with war crimes.

The New York Times headlines blares "Bush Says G.O.P. Rebels Are Putting Nation at Risk" :

President Bush made an impassioned defense on Friday of his proposed rules for the interrogation and prosecution of terrorism suspects, warning that the nation’s ability to defend itself would be undermined if rebellious Republicans in the Senate did not come around to his position.

Probably the most striking revelation was Colin Powell's assertion that Bush's plan will put American soldiers at even greater risk. Bush has already sent soldiers unequipped to an ill-planned war. Now, a former top military official stated that Bush is devising policy that will unnecessarily endanger the troops.

Bush is playing politics with the safety and security of America's armed forces. Could it be that the media and some Republicans have finally realized that Bush really is that craven? There's still plenty of time for these GOPers to cave. But, they've made it clear: Bush cares more about politics than he does about solid policy. Read More......

Saturday Morning Open Thread

There's a lot swirling around -- what happened over night? Read More......

More Diebold problems in Maryland

Who even came up with this rollout plan for the new Diebold machines in Maryland? They bought new technology for $18.4M during the summer, give limited hands-off training and then they expect that by some miracle, a bleeding edge solution is going to work in time for the elections.

Anyone who has ever spent any time at all on new technology knows that buying the technology is just a part of the costs and plan. Rolling out something new, especially a system that has not been used anywhere before, is going to require plenty of training and hand holding. No, the team in Maryland fell for the "plug and play" pitch from someone and now the voters are stuck paying the price.

At one Baltimore precinct, poll worker Al Samples, a 38-year-old computer scientist, said he could not prevent the three small check-in stations made by Diebold Election Systems Inc. - called e-poll books - from suddenly turning off. The machines crashed about 40 times, he said.

The governor's office said yesterday that it might ask state election officials to abandon the new equipment during November's general election or at least have a backup paper list of registered voters on hand.

"It should have been disclosed that we were the guinea pigs," said Joseph M. Getty, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s policy director.

Guinea pigs? Diebold ought to be giving this away if they are looking for a guinea pig. That is typically more common in the tech business when you are looking for a guinea pig.

It took Samples, who installs and maintains computer networks for Agilent Technologies, an hour and a half to figure out that the units in his precinct weren't talking to one another and to discover that a cord had not been plugged in all the way. Even after the correction, the computers continued to crash.

"The training was pathetic," said Samples, who has volunteered as an election judge since 1992 and who was responsible for checking in voters on the e-poll books. "I'm sitting there bored out of my mind, and they never let you work on the machines. A person just stands up front showing it to you."

And to think there were problems. Go figure.

Read More......

1200% inflation in Zimbabwe

Can you even imagine? The former breadbasket of southern Africa, a once thriving economy, has come to this. Poverty, starvation, political arrests, intimidation and torture, demolitions of opposition housing...it's all there for us to ignore. And the response from the "democratic" powers? Not much. I'm almost surprised that we have not heard the classic American line of "if they want to be free, they will rise up on their own like we did" missing the ever-so-slight point of the massive financial and military aid by Beaumarchais and the French. By no means am I suggesting yet another foreign adventure but just to say that it's not quite as clear or simple as many would suggest.

Forget about politics and focus on the human suffering in countries such as Zimbabwe. So how does the world help with a situation like this? Read More......

McCain says Bush proposals put "our military personnel and others directly at risk in this and future wars"

Thank God someone is standing up against this dangerously incompetent man:

"Weakening the Geneva protections is not only unnecessary, but would set an example to other countries, with less respect for basic human rights, that they could issue their own legislative 'reinterpretations,' " McCain said in a written statement. "This puts our military personnel and others directly at risk in this and future wars."

George Bush wants to put our troops at risk.

But it gets even more interesting. According to the article, Olympia Snowe has joined the rebel Republicans, and the Army's judge advocate general appears to have backed off of supporting Bush:

late yesterday, Maj. Gen. Scott C. Black, the Army's judge advocate general, sent a new letter to McCain and other senators, saying "further redefinition" of the conventions "is unnecessary and could be seen as a weakening of our treaty obligations, rather than a reinforcement of the standards of treatment."

It appears, ladies and gentlemen, that our entire federal government outside of the White House may have actually come back to live after 5 years of accepting whatever the hell Bush shoved down their throats. Read More......

More polar bears drowning due to global warming

Not waving but drowning.

(Okay, for those who didn't get the reference...) Read More......

Senate Republicans kill proposed $2bn for 9/11 first responders

The Republicans only really care about September 11 on November 7.

What the Daily News story doesn't tell you is that it was the Bush White House, along with Giuliani's city hall, that lied to the 9/11 first responders about how the air was totally safe around Ground Zero so they shouldn't worry about it. In fact, the White House knew perfectly well that the air was not safe and they edited several reports and press releases to hide that fact from the first responders.

So, basically, George Bush lied to the thousands of Americans who chipped in at Ground Zero, and now their health is at risk. And after all that, the Republicans don't want to help them.

Think I'm exaggering, do your own research - it's been widely reported what the White House did. It's sickening.

Though in all fairness to the White House, if the police and firemen who are sick in NY had only been Iraqi, I'm sure they'd have gotten $300 billion. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

I've had this guy for a few years now. It's a Brassia "Eternal Wind." It's terribly easy to grow - it likes its water, and a lot of sunlight. Otherwise, doesn't take much. Though, like all orchids, you need to repot it every few years, and NOT in potting soil. Repotting is the only real trauma involved, otherwise this one is easy. At least for me. This time I got two very large spikes of flowers, each one about 18 inches long, with probably ten flowers per spike. It's really a stunning plant, and it's lightly fragrant, which you don't really notice with just one spike - but now that I have two (a first for me), you notice it a bit more.

Enjoy. Read More......

Cliff's Corner

The Week That Was 9/15/06

Another week. More preposterousness to report.

Or should I say another day, another Republican heading to the pokey? Ho-hum. This time it is Bob Ney’s turn, for colluding with Jack Abramoff to basically be a venal reprobate. Yet, nobody can deny Ney’s political talent. It’s tough to so closely attend to the interests of the residents of Zanesville, Ohio while using laundered money from a Native American tribe in Texas to play golf in Scotland. Now that’s impressive.

Not to mention that you’ve got to give the Republican Party credit for being the only entity able to produce a guy who’s so white he gets sunburned in the United Kingdom.

But Ney was not the only lying GOP malcontent on display this week. I know, shocking. Anne Coulter’s goiter also un-holstered itself to claim that Disney/ABC’s docu-Pravda was based on the 9/11 report, which is about as accurate as claiming she was born blonde. Or that Walt Disney didn’t molest wallabies on a tour of the Australian Outback.

You mean you never heard about that? Well don’t worry, I chronicle this entire sordid episode of American history in my new “docudrama,” Walt Disney: The Path to Bestiality.

And luckily for us, because I was beginning to miss the guy, Bob Novak stuck his head up out of the earth once again this past week (three words Bob: hunting, you and Cheney) to come up with story #4 about how he used his column to sell out a United States operative and enable America’s enemies. His lies even have lies resting comfortably inside of them at this point. He lies so much he has to hide them in his Depends. He lies…well you get the point.

So I’m waiting for the inevitable promotion to Washington Post editor.

But as is often the case, the biggest liar among a cast of thousands, from Coulter to ABC to Novak, is once again our humble president. This time he made a major speech blabbering on about how important it is that we get bin Laden, right before our Pakistani “allies” made a deal with the remnants of the Taliban to essentially provide indoor plumbing and conditioned air for his grotto.

And then the Bush we know and love came out to play. He told the slack-jawed, corporate-humping, super-dork Republican-operative-in-journalist’s-clothing Fred Barnes that capturing bin Laden is “not a top priority use of American resources.” Amazing. Bush knows what resources means?

Seriously, so the guy who is Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin and Skeletor all wrapped into one tidy 6’4 package, who has been as difficult to find as WMDs in Iraq or a Dashiki in George Allen’s closet is now not worthy of using our assets? Is Bush trying to privatize anti-terrorism and war in addition to Social Security? (well actually, yes, go buy Robert Greenwald’s fantastic new film Iraq For Sale to get all the disgusting details).

So let me get this straight. Mr. Zap, who liked setting records for executions in Texas, doesn’t think killing the guy who mass-murdered Americans and is most definitely planning to kill many more merits our “resources,” but thinks Paris Hilton needs those very resources in the form of another tax cut?

If that is not a campaign commercial for every Democrat running for Congress right now, I really don’t know what is.

You can catch my new articles on the future of Republican Senate Leadership in this month’s Washington Monthly Magazine, here and here.

My take on Keith Olbermann’s fantastic commentary the other night on Bush’s politicization of 9/11 at The Huffington Post here.

And if you feel like watching some TV on Sunday, I'll be on MSBNC debating a Republican to named later on Bush, terrorism and opposition within his own party. I'll be on twice, from 12:00-12:15 pm and 12:45-1:00 pm Eastern Time.

Read More......

Republican Senator George "Macaca" Allen to attend event with shunned GOP extremist

Perhaps George Allen can explain to Virginia voters why he feels the need to attend an event with someone who has admitted to the Anthrax attacks, someone who has called Muslim's "ragheads," and who has welcomed terrorists killing US Supreme Court judges.

If James Webb attended a conference with Michael Moore or Whoopi Goldberg he'd be asked to comment on anything and everything they've ever said - hell, the media (and the Bush campaign) did just this to John Kerry repeatedly. Fine, fair is fair. It's time for the media to ask George Allen to comment on Ann Coulter and why he's attending an event with her. Or does the media only hold Democrats accountable?

What is George Allen doing lending credence to this kind of bigoted, hate-filled gathering?

Sept. 22 - 24. VOTERS-VALUES SUMMIT _ Family Research Council's legislative action arm holds ``Washington Briefing: Values Voter Summit 2006,'' with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Ann Coulter, Newt Gingrich, Bill Bennett, others.

Highlights:

7:15 a.m. Breakfast for pastors, with Dr. Jerry Falwell.

9 a.m. Morning session, with Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA), Dr. James Dobson, Tony Perkins and Alan Sears.

10:40 a.m. Morning session on traditional marriage and other issues. Marilyn Musgrave; Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS); Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR), others.

2:35 p.m. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

3 p.m. Senator George Allen (R-VA)

7:30 p.m. Evening session, with Ann Coulter, others.

Location: Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St. NW

Macaca, Part II? Read More......

Does George Bush agree with Pope Ratzinger that the Prophet Muhammad was "evil and inhuman"?

Funny, cuz Ratzinger always seemed like such a nice guy.

Some journalist should ask George Bush if he agrees with his buddy Ratzinger. Then watch Bush squirm because America's religious right, the folks who Rosie criticized, hate Islam, hate Muslims, and freak out whenever Bush says anything even faintly positive about their religion.

So watch him squirm, ask the question. Read More......

Bush's IRS takes down leading religious right anti-abortion group right before the election. Coincidence? I don't think so.

If it's election time, it's time for Bush and the Republicans to once again Sista Souljah the religious right.

I'm no friend of Operation Rescue, but it's hardly a coincidence that with all the tax status investigations going on in this administration, the one that finally bears fruit is the one slapping down a religious right anti-abortion group - the group that led the battle to "save" Terri Schiavo, no less. Holy swing voter, Batman!

Man, I'm enjoying watching the Republicans eat their own in an effort to show the voters who can be more anti-Republican. But honestly, if the voters want to vote for someone who "isn't Republican," they might as well vote for the real thing. Read More......

They're building a moat around Baghdad as a last-ditch effort to keep it safe

Good God. They're building trenches around Baghdad to try to stop the out of control violence. Good God. They're building the functional equivalent of a moat around the city and Bush is still telling us things are going great. He just said on TV that "the Baghdad security plan is making progress." Yeah, so much progress you're now building a moat. What a disaster. Read More......

Bush says Powell is "unacceptable" for comparing the United States to Al Qaeda

Well, so much for that. Bush just told the nation that Colin Powell thinks America acts just like Al Qaeda.

Does Colin Powell really think that?

It's great to see Bush starting to Swift Boat his fellow Republicans by calling them un-American traitors who don't understand the battle we face.

Powell doesn't listen to the words of the enemy, Bush says.

Oh God, now Bush is criticizing the Geneva Conventions, "it's very vague, what does that mean?" Bush wants to "clarify" the Geneva Conventions. Excuse me? We want this idiot to be clarifying the Geneva Conventions, something that has existed for 60 years or so without Bush's help, thank you very much.

How dare he tell the world that he is going to reinterpret the Geneva Conventions, and not expect other countries to do the same thing when they get a hold of our soldiers and have them in custody? As Colin Powell and John McCain have said, George Bush is putting our soldiers' lives at risk, and he doesn't care or even understand the reason for these protections.

Oh, and now Bush is endorsing the McCain anti-torture law, the one that Bush issued a signing statement saying he wouldn't obey. And now he's wrapping himself in the law he won't obey?

I'm going to lunch, lest I throw something at my TV. For the love of God, will some Republican with a conscience please step forward and stop this madman? Read More......

The p.r. offensive continues -- Bush doing press conf. at 11:15 am

Bush is doing a press conference at 11:15 a.m. this morning. His full blown campaign to scare Americans hasn't had the results he's wanted yet according to the latest AP/Ipsos poll:

By a double-digit margin, likely voters say they still are more inclined to put Democrats in control of Congress after a dozen years of Republican rule.

The marginal shifts in public sentiment toward Republicans follow a campaign-season span in which Bush, members of his Cabinet and rank-and-file lawmakers pounded Democrats on national security. In the days surrounding the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Republicans have vilified war critics as defeatists who embolden terrorists, and likened them to Nazi appeasers.

The President and his people have been in full campaign mode these past few weeks throwing everything they could at the Democrats. The culmination was his blatantly political speech on September 11th. While Bush's approval rating increased a bit, GOP candidates are still in trouble:

The AP-Ipsos poll asked Americans if the election for the House were held today, would they vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate in their district.

Democrats had a 14-point edge among likely voters, 53 percent to 39 percent. That's narrower than last month but still a wide gap. Since August, the GOP has attracted more married men, young people and those who live in the Northeast.

Republicans also have drawn even on the question of who would best protect the country, with 43 percent of likely voters siding with Democrats and 41 percent choosing Republicans, numbers within the poll's margin of error.

While Bush has been playing politics with terrorism, seven U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq during the past 48 hours. Read More......

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You like it, support it.

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Whether it's an ad for your own site or organization, or an ad for your favorite organization (why not buy a premium ad and donate it to CREW or some other great organization?) Just do it. :-)

Thanks, JOHN Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

What's Bush doing to today to endanger the lives of our troops? When Bush's torture policies put American soldiers "at risk," to quote Colin Powell, he's not supporting the troops.

The media is confused because they thought Bush and Rove were going to use the torture debate against the Democrats. But, this battle is between Republicans with military credentials (Warner, McCain, Graham and Powell) and Republicans who use the military and terrorism for partisan politics (Rove, Bush, Cheney). Of course, Hill Republicans usually cave to Bush and they still could.

Okay, what else? Read More......

Sectarian killings increasing in areas where troops are unavailable

So let me understand this "new" yet often repeated situation. The US has had a security campaign going on since 7 August to clamp down on violence in Baghdad so the violence just moves to another part of town or nearby area, out of reach of the program. That sounds to me like we do not have enough troops on the ground. Haven't we seen this kind of movement around the country since almost the beginning? Send troops into location X and violence moves to location Y. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Yes, Bush is consistent alright. Hoo ha, hooray for being consistent. Too bad for everyone that the guy is consistently wrong. As Newt suggested, had enough? Read More......

A question for Disney/ABC: Are Christo-fascists better than Islamo-fascists?

Just curious if one breed of religious extremism is considered worse than the other because one guy is white and the other is brown. Or are fascists only fascists when they're non-Americans?

• Was the Inquisition really kinder and gentler than Al Qaeda terrorism?
• Was Hitler the Christian really a better guy than Osama the Muslim?
  
• When Christian conservatives quoted the Bible to justify racism (and let's not even talk about lynchings in the south, since I'm sure the lynchers were probably all Muslims), were those Christians any better than Osama citing the Koran to justify violence?
• In the grand scheme of things, should blacks consider themselves lucky they only had to endure 300 years of slavery rather than the unthinkable burden of having to turn in your lip gloss at the airport?
• Were Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson any better than the 9/11 hijackers when they said that America brought September 11 on itself?
• When religious right leaders call the prophet Mohammad a pedophile, and Islam a religion of hate, how does that make them more tolerant than radical Islamists who hate all Christians?
• When Christian right followers murder American abortion providers is that less wrong than when Islamic right followers murder American tourists?
  
• Is Fred Phelps really a nicer guy than Mohammad Atta? Was Timothy McVeigh?

Rosie O'Donnell is being attacked by, well, Christian fascists for saying, correctly, that hate wrapped in the guise of religion is just as wrong and just as evil when the source is Muslim or Christian or Arab or American. And she's right - hate is hate, and no amount of wrapping oneself in the mantle of God will change that simple fact. We real Christians have had it with the phonies.

It will be interesting to see if ABC/Disney, which refused to censor historical revisionist lies about September 11, now tries to censor Rosie for simply telling the truth about intolerance.

Stay tuned. Read More......

GOP Rep. Bob Ney to plead guilty and he's going to jail

Bob Ney, one of the leading Republicans in Congress, will plead guilty tomorrow to charges stemming from his relationship with Jack Abramoff:

A guilty plea would make Mr. Ney, a six-term congressman, the first member of Congress to admit to criminal charges in the Abramoff investigation, which has focused on the actions of several current and former Republican lawmakers who had been close to the former lobbyist.

People with detailed knowledge of the investigation said Mr. Ney had entered an in-patient rehabilitation facility in recent days for treatment of alcoholism, making it uncertain whether he would appear at a court hearing to announce the plea. Lawyers and others would speak only anonymously because of concern they would anger prosecutors.

They said the agreement with the Justice Department — and the exact criminal charges, which are expected to include conspiracy and false statement — would be disclosed in Washington as soon as Friday and would probably require Mr. Ney to serve at least some time in prison.

Yep, the Mayor of Capitol Hill is going to jail. Maybe he can share a cell with Duke Cunningham -- or Tom DeLay. Read More......

Senate Republicans protect terrorists

Not really, but it's what George Bush would say, and after 6 years of listening to his moronic pronouncements on issues he can't possibly understand, it's fun to turn his idiotic assertions on his own party once in a while.

Now that that's out of the way, this is important. For five years this administration has poo-poo'd laws, both international and domestic, that are in place to protect us from harm by others. They are not in place to protect furners, they're in place to protect our soldiers and our citizens.

Case in point, the Geneva Conventions. We didn't sign them because we're nice guys. We signed them because we don't want other people abusing OUR troops. Same logic applies to why we let foreign diplomats do bad things in America yet still don't charge them with a crime. We don't want bad governments to trump up charges against OUR diplomats.

But all of that is far too complicated of logic for a president who is an idiot. If you're simple-minded, it's understandable that you can't quite fathom why we'd want to let suspected terrorists have rights so that our troops and citizens are offered their rights in return.

And a word about suspected terrorists. The operative word there is suspected. In America, you're innocent until proven guilty - something that Republicans don't like much. Or rather, they like to demean the concept for partisan reasons - it's good fodder to attack "criminals" and the Democrats who defend them. Or in the case of George Bush, he doesn't believe in protecting the rights of possible criminals because he's simply too stupid to understand why such rights exist in the first place.

Again, we believe in the concept of innocent until proven guilty NOT to protect murderers, but to protect the rest of us innocents when we're accused of being murderers falsely.

It's a concept Bush, and far too many Republicans can't understand, either because they're simply too dim, or worse, because they don't really believe in democracy, or America. George Bush Republicans believe that the state knows all and knows best, and if a government official wants to charge you with a crime, or even investigate you for a crime, that government official can do whatever it wants, to hell with the law. You have no rights as a suspect because government knows best.

That's what the military tribunal debate is really about. It's about whether we think US troops deserve to be treated like human beings when they're captured by the enemy.

The sickest part of all. It's entirely possible that George Bush actually understands the reason we have such laws in place IS to protect our own troops. The reality is, he simply may not care. Read More......

Creation of the next generation of conflict, in Gaza

Anyone who asks how anybody could possibly hate America should read this article about the imminent collapse of the economy in Gaza. Not that it's our fault -- it's not -- but perception is everything, and millions of people will see the videos and the pictures and blame the U.S. The current situation is ugly, and it's likely to get worse. Malnutrition, civil strife, and increasingly angry citizens are all worrisome indicators, politically and morally. The problems inherent in lack of electricity (since Israel bombed the only power plant, Gaza gets between 7 and 12 hours of power a day, at unpredictable times) include shutdown of any modern commerce, inability to keep food from spoiling, and, worst, lack of running water, which depends on electric pumps.

Palestinian leadership certainly deserves some blame for the current disaster, as the article indicates:

Hamas promised security in its victorious election campaign. But it has failed at that, said Hamdi Shaqqura of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. "There is security chaos and no respect for law," he said, and a prime reason is the involvement of the police and security forces, many of them from Fatah, in the lawlessness, and the constant clashes with militia and gunmen affiliated with Hamas. "People who are supposed to protect the law are the people who break it," he said, "and no one is brought to justice." For this chaos, he said, "I must blame the Palestinian Authority," not Israel.

I'm sure, however, that this isn't the majority opinion. After all, the U.S. trumpeted democracy, practically calling it the cure for all ills in the Middle East. So Palestinians went to the polls and elected a political party that they felt best represented their concerns, rejecting the corruption of the Fatah party and going with the one that provided goods and services, as well as a sense of pride: Hamas. Hamas, of course, happens to be a terrorist group, which the West (rightly) dislikes, though the will of the people was indisputable. As a result, however, the international aid Gaza depended on was cut off.

It is difficult to exaggerate the economic collapse of Gaza, with the Palestinian Authority cut off from funds by Israel, the United States and the European Union after Hamas won the legislative elections on Jan. 25. Since then, the authority has paid most of its 73,000 employees here, nearly 40 percent of Gaza’s work force, only 1.5 months’ salary, resulting in a severe economic depression and growing signs of malnutrition, especially among the poorest children.

Unemployment is reportedly nearing 50%, which means you have lots and lots of Palestinians with nothing to do all day, leaving plenty of time to contemplate ways to avenge their situation. Having thousands of people without jobs, without hope, and without something to occupy their time and energy is a recipe for disaster, and in this age of globalization, the results of that disaster, as we've seen repeatedly, aren't likely to stay localized. One of the greatest motivations for human action is humiliation. If you want to make an enemy for life, all you have to do is humiliate someone, and the themes of humiliation and impotence are hugely influential in Arabic literature and thought.

His son Muhammad is a Palestinian Authority policeman who is supposed to make $340 a month, but who has been paid only $500 since Feb. 1. Now, Fatma says, "he spends little time at home, because he hasn’t a shekel in his pocket, and he’s ashamed."

The one percent doctrine shouldn't be that we attack a country if there's a one percent chance they could harm us, it should be that we try to alleviate the conditions that cause shame and humiliation and despair because -- aside from vaild humanitarian considerations -- there's a one percent chance it might keep someone from becoming a terrorist down the road (literally and figuratively).

But the Bush administration can't even put together a consistent policy when it comes to this stuff. We're for elections, except when we're not. We're for human rights, except when we're not. We're for democracy, except when we're not. A little bit of diplomacy, a little bit of aid, and a little bit of hope would go a long way in Gaza. As it is now, we're helping cultivate the next generation of Middle East conflict. Read More......

Conservatives continue to claim that Disney/ABC mockumentary was "based on the 9/11 Commission Report"

Here's what widely-read GOP pundit Ann Coulter has to say about the mockumentary:

If you wonder why it took 50 years to get the truth about Joe McCarthy, consider the fanatical campaign of the Clinton acolytes to kill an ABC movie that relies on the 9/11 Commission Report...

See, the right-wingers are claiming that the TV show's defamation is based in fact. (And you do have to love the fact that Coulter throws in a quick defense of Joseph McCarthy's devastating rampage of defamation. How many different levels of irony can you put in a single sentence?) That means that Disney/ABC's damages when Clinton, Berger, Albright and American Airlines sue them will be all the bigger because the message is being spread across the land (well across the entire English-speaking world) that the tv show's defamation is based in fact.

PS We don't link to skank. Read More......

Open thread

News? Read More......

Chertoff: If we inspect cargo for nukes, the terrorists win

Well that's a unique argument, even from the always-creative Bush administration.

You see, Osama's goal is to bankrupt us - or so we hear. And that means that if we scan cargo coming into the US to make sure it doesn't contain a nuclear bomb, well, that would cost money, and spending money is what Osama wants us to do. So, wise man that Chertoff is (you'll recall, he was in charge of Hurrice Katrina response), we're going to outsmart Osama and not spend much money at all on checking for nukes.

Take that, Tall One!

Of course, if Chertoff and Bush were serious about not bankrupting the country, they'd figure out what to do about Bush's great adventure in Iraq that's costing us nearly $100 billion a year. That would buy a lot of anti-nuke protection.

But hey, no one ever accused Republicans of wanting to spend money on anything other than tax cuts and invading small countries. And no one ever accused the Bush administration of actually making us safer. Read More......

GOP Senate Leader Bill Frist is trying to put special interest gambling amendment on Iraq and Afghanistan funding bill

Our soldiers are dying in a foreign quagmire - two actually - and the Republicans' top priority is putting pork on our defense bill for special interest lobbyists that have nothing to do with defense or foreign policy or anything even vaguely related.

In fact, this is the same legislation in which House Republicans earlier this year carved out special rights for horse race gambling online. Yes, the House legislation included specific language, inserted by lobbyists, to ensure that horse race gambling stays legal on the Internet. Does Senator Frist's bill include the same?

Now, how does gambling have anything to do with the defense of our country? It doesn't. But this is what our country has come to. Somhow Republicans want us to believe that handing out bennies to the religious right and to special gambling interests is actually helping us defend the homeland, when in fact, they're defending their wallets and their rich donors at the expense of our troops.

If you think gambling legislation helps us fight Al Qaeda, then please do vote Republican in the fall. Read More......

Novak says Armitage is lying about Plame leak

Well this is getting interesting. Novak says Armitage lied to CBS - his revelation about Plame was not just idle chatter. Which begs a very large question - who put Bush's Deputy Secretary of State up to the task of taking down Plame and Wilson? I have a very hard time believing Armitage just did it out of the wickedness of his own heart, with no prompting.

You're going down, Dicky. Time to fess up. Read More......

Powell joins McCain, Warner and Lindsey opposing Bush's torture plan

Bush is on the Hill today to push his pro-torture agenda. Colin Powell just undermined Bush's plan:

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday endorsed efforts by three Republican senators to block President Bush's plan to authorize harsh interrogations of terror suspects.

The latest sign of GOP division over White House security policy came in a statement that Powell sent to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the rebellious lawmakers. Powell said that Congress must not pass Bush's proposal to redefine U.S. compliance with the Geneva Conventions, a treaty that sets international standards for the treatment of prisoners of war.

Bush and Rove intended to use this issue against Democrats. Instead, it's the White House chicken hawks against the GOPers with actual military experience. Let the games begin:

“The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism,” said Powell, who served under Bush and is a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk.”

Bush is putting our troops at risk -- not supporting them. Read More......

Novak, Armitage fighting over who said what about Plame

The Washington Post reports on the battle between Novak (who is looking out for Cheney, Rove and Scooter) and Armitage (who never was quite right wing enough for the hard core). Let's face it, not like you can trust any of this crowd to really be honest about this. And, let's remember what happened here: During the time of war, these Bush administration officials leaked the name of an undercover CIA operative for purely partisan political reasons. In World War II, Roosevelt would have had them in the brig. Under Bush, there are no ramifications:

Columnist Robert D. Novak, who first revealed Valerie Plame's employment by the CIA and touched off a lengthy federal leak investigation, is accusing his primary source of misrepresenting their conversation to make the source's role in the disclosure seem more casual than it was.

In an unusual column that appears today, Novak says his initial source, former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage, was more sure of Plame's ties to the CIA than the source has indicated. Novak adds that Armitage linked her directly to her husband's CIA-sponsored trip to Niger and suggested the disclosure would be a good item for Novak's column.

This differs from Armitage's assertions last week that his disclosure was made in an offhand manner and that he did not know why Plame's husband was sent to Niger.

Armitage, in an interview yesterday, said he stood by his account and disputed Novak's.

The right wing punditry in unison are trying to downplay and dismiss this issue. Some in the traditional media have fallen for it. These guys all did something very wrong. Just imagine how apoplectic the wingnuts would be if this had happened during a Democratic administration. There would have been impeachment hearings already. Read More......

GOP Senator George Allen voted against giving our troops the body armor they needed

Read More......

Bolton's nomination is "dead as far as the Senate is concerned"

Last year, Bush did a recess appointment to get Bolton to the U.N. This year, Bolton actually needs Senate confirmation -- and it looks like he's not going to to get it. Republicans on the Hill are conceding defeat:

President Bush's nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations appears increasingly endangered in the Senate, prompting the administration to explore other ways to keep him in the job after his temporary appointment expires in January, officials said yesterday.

The situation represents a sharp turnaround from two weeks ago, when the White House was confident it could finally push through Bolton's long-stalled nomination. But last week's surprise move by Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.) to delay a vote convinced Republicans on Capitol Hill that the nomination may be doomed, prompting a search for alternatives.

It all depends on Chafee. The Bush team wants payback from Chafee for all they did for him in the primary so he's going to be under enormous pressure. They must know that supporting Bolton will endanger Chafee's re-election chances when he faces a very strong Democratic opponent. Looks like the White House wants Bolton more than they need Chafee. But Chafee wants to keep his Senate job so Bolton's nomination is over:

"It's dead as far as the Senate is concerned," said one Republican official at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Chafee holds the decisive vote. "Chafee made it a 9 to 9 vote, and that's not going to change." A Senate Republican leadership aide added: "Chafee holds Bolton's future in his hands, and people are very worried he's going to squeeze and never let go."

This is a major loss for Bush. Read More......

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Let's get it started... Read More......

Diebold voting machines hacked

Ahh, democracy in the age of special interests. Diebold has strongly criticized the study on the ease of hacking Diebold machines, but Diebold always has an answer when a new fault is publicized, don't they? Surely any correction today means no problems ever again with Diebold machines, right? How many times per year/month/week does Microsoft (or any tech company) produce a new urgent hot fix to correct a new hole in their product that could easily allow hacking or destruction? Maybe Diebold has corrected some of the issues, but this still does not sound like it is ready for prime time. Their cozy relationships with the GOP hardly make me any more confident in their ability to deliver a neutral solution.

A Princeton University computer science professor added new fuel Wednesday to claims that electronic voting machines used across much of the country are vulnerable to hacking that could alter vote totals or disable machines.

In a paper posted on the university's Web site, Edward Felten and two graduate students described how they had tested a Diebold AccuVote-TS machine they obtained, found ways to quickly upload malicious programs and even developed a computer virus able to spread such programs between machines.

Read More......

Military in Afghanistan asking for more troops - will Bush listen and respond?

OK, Bush has always said that he listens when commanders on the ground ask so why not send more troops? Afghanistan is becoming another tough battleground and we need more feet on the ground, guns, equipment, etc so why is Bush hanging our troops out to dry? Hell, why did Bush not listen before and let bin Laden slip away? Read More......

Open thread

Gnite Read More......

Ann Richards died today

Very sad news from Texas. Former Texas Governor Ann Richards died today. She had cancer. I always liked this woman... she was tough and feisty. Do re-read her incomparable speech to the 1988 Democratic Convention.

Condolences to her family. Read More......

Jimmy Carter says Lieberman should not be re-elected

Strong stuff. Read More......

Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame add Armitage to their lawsuit

Good. Read More......

Senator Reid calls on White House to stop cover-up of Cheney's Iraq lies

September 13, 2006

The Honorable William H. Frist
Majority Leader, U.S. Senate
U.S. Capitol
Room S-230
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Leader Frist:

Late last week the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on a bipartisan basis released reports that discussed Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program and its links to terrorism and the intelligence community’s use of information provided by the Iraqi National Congress. These reports provided the American people with important insights into these critical issues.

Unfortunately, the Administration chose to classify certain important portions of these reports that should have been released to the public. A bipartisan majority of the Intelligence Committee disagreed with the Administration’s decision to classify certain portions of the report’s findings and conclusions and said that classifying this information is
“without justification.”

In my view, the Administration’s decision to classify one particular portion of the report – a section discussing a CIA document about the alleged meeting in Prague between 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta and an Iraqi intelligence officer – is especially troubling and lacking in justification.

As you may know, as recently as this Sunday on national television, Vice President Cheney left open the possibility that such a meeting may have occurred. However, a bipartisan majority of the Intelligence Committee, after thoroughly reviewing relevant intelligence reports and assessments, concluded “no such meeting occurred.” The continued classification of sections referencing this meeting only serves to prevent the American public from knowing the full facts about this matter.

The classified version of the Intelligence Committee’s report, including the sections dealing with the alleged Atta meeting, are available for all Senators to review in the Committee’s offices in room SH-211. I urge you to join with me to encourage all members to review this text so they understand its importance and why that text can and should be made available to the American people.

In light of the importance of this issue, I also think it is important that the Senate act to declassify those portions of the text on pages 96, 97, and 98 of the Intelligence Committee’s report that are currently redacted but do not involve sources and methods.

I plan to offer an amendment on that subject to the legislation currently pending in the Senate. Notwithstanding the procedural situation on the floor, I hope you will join with me to offer this important amendment, permit the Senate to act on it, and support its swift adoption.

While I understand that S. Res. 400 spells out a process for the Senate to declassify information, that process is a lengthy one that is likely to take us well beyond your announced adjournment date for the U.S. Senate.

Therefore, in light of the importance of this issue, I think it is appropriate that the Senate act expeditiously to declassify this material.

Sincerely,

Harry Reid
U.S. Senate Read More......

Bush thinks that as commander-in-chief he's now leading a "third awakening" of Christianity in America

There is so much wrong with what Bush said today, it's difficult to begin.

First off, I don't need to get my Christianity lessons from my president.

Second, he sure as hell isn't the messiah, predicting the future of Christianity and implying he's one of its leaders, and for him to speak that way is downright scary. It's scary from a foreign policy perspective, from my perspective as a Christian, and my perspective as an American.

Third, it is completely inappropriate to talk about the war on terror being linked to some alleged Christian revival in America. I thought the war was on terror, not on other religions. Not to mention, is Bush somehow implying that we will win the war on terror by spreading Christianity? Is this a crusade now? It's one thing to talk about the origins (at least part of the origins) of the current terror battle being in radical Islam, it's quite another to say that somehow Christianity is also involved in this battle. We are not fighting the war on terror on behalf of Christianity.

And fourth, the real world implications of what Bush just said are the following:

- poke a nice stick in the eye of one billion Muslims, guaranteeing another large handful join up with Osama in order to blow up a few more American airplanes.

- Bush puts himself on an even higher pedestal, this time as leader of the new wave of Christianity, so he becomes even more untouchable and more impervious to reason. Meaning, he'll do what he wants, no matter how crazy. Where has that logic gotten us so far?

It's really time for more Republicans and/or conservatives to start speaking up. This man is your president. He's quickly moving from incompetent to delusional, all the while endangering our entire nation. Read More......

Newly Banned Items Often Fly Past Airport Screeners

Heck of a job, Bushie. Read More......

Comrade Cheney

From EJ Dionne in the Washington Post:

Perhaps Vice President Cheney should quit his current job and work within a political system more to his liking, the kind in which those in charge can protect national security by telling everyone what not to say and what not to think.

Cheney seemed terribly impatient with democracy Sunday on "Meet the Press" when he suggested that those who oppose President Bush's Iraq policies are helping -- excuse me, validating -- the terrorists.

Read More......

Christopher Buckley says it's time to hand over the Congress to the Democrats. He also eviscerates Bush.

Read the entire thing

Bob Woodward asked Bush 43 if he had consulted his father before invading Iraq. The son replied that he had consulted a higher father. That frisson you feel going up your spine is the realization that he meant it. And apparently the higher father said, Go for it! There are those of us who wish he had consulted his terrestrial one; or, if he couldnt get him on the line, Brent Scowcroft. Or Jim Baker. Or Henry Kissinger. Or, for that matter, anyone who has read a book about the British experience in Iraq. (18,000 dead.)

Who knew, in 2000, that 'compassionate conservatism' meant bigger government, unrestricted government spending, government intrusion in personal matters, government ineptitude, and cronyism in disaster relief? Who knew, in 2000, that the only bill the president would veto, six years later, would be one on funding stem-cell research? A more accurate term for Mr. Bush's political philosophy might be incontinent conservatism....

Despite the failures, one had the sense that the party at least knew in its heart of hearts that these were failures, either of principle or execution. Today one has no sense, aside from a slight lowering of the swagger-mometer, that the president or the Republican Congress is in the least bit chastened by their debacles. George Tenet's WMD 'slam-dunk,' Vice President Cheney's 'we will be greeted as liberators,' Don Rumsfeld's avidity to promulgate a minimalist military doctrine, together with the tidy theories of a group who call themselves 'neo-conservative' (not one of whom, to my knowledge, has ever worn a military uniform), have thus far: de-stabilized the Middle East; alienated the world community from the United States; empowered North Korea, Iran, and Syria; unleashed sectarian carnage in Iraq among tribes who have been cutting each others' throats for over a thousand years; cost the lives of 2,600 Americans, and the limbs, eyes, organs, spinal cords of another 15,000 -- with no end in sight. But not to worry: Democracy is on the march in the Middle East....

What have they done to my party? Where does one go to get it back? One place comes to mind: the back benches. It's time for a time-out. Time to hand over this sorry enchilada to Hillary and Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden and Charlie Rangel and Harry Reid, who has the gift of being able to induce sleep in 30 seconds....

My fellow Republicans, it is time, as Madison said in Federalist 76, to Hand over the tiller of governance, that others may fuck things up for a change.

Read More......

Dick Cheney's relationship with Mohammad Atta

The Senate Intelligence Committee, run by Republicans, issued a report on Friday saying that there was no relationship between Saddam and Zarqawi, a senior Al Qaeda operative - and in fact, Saddam tried to capture Zarqawi. Also, the CIA reached the same conclusion last fall. But that hasn't stopped the Dick Cheney and White House spokesman Tony Snow from repeating the lie over the past few days.

What's particularly odd about today's outburst from Snow is that he claims the simple fact that Al Qaeda was operating in Iraq, even though it was without Saddam's okay, is proof that there was a relationship between Saddam and Al Qaeda.

Which means, of course, that there was a relationship between Dick Cheney and Mohammad Atta. Read More......

Wash Post columnist slams "Path to 9/11"

The column includes some errors and omissions that even we missed. Read More......

65 bodies discovered across Iraq, 30 more killed

We will have to ask the Pentagon if the 30 killed today were actually killed though since I have not yet figured out this new Pentagon math. What another gruesome day in Iraq.

Police said 60 of the bodies were found overnight around Baghdad, with the majority dumped in predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhoods, police said. Another five were found floating down the Tigris river in Suwayrah, 25 miles south of the capital.

The bodies were bound, bore signs of torture and had been shot, said police 1st Lt. Thayer. Such killings are usually the work of death squads -- both Sunni Arab and Shiite -- who kidnap people and often torture them with power drills or beat them badly before shooting them.

And the connection to 9/11 is what? This sounds like brutal infighting or civil war but certainly not a war against global terrorism. Read More......

What you say when you have nothing left to say

Reuters

"I listen to my Democratic friends and I wonder if they're more interested in protecting the terrorists than protecting the American people," House Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters.

Funny, because I listen to my Republican friends and I wonder if they're more interested in protecting the president than protecting the American people. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

It's Meredith's first day on the Today Show.

Lots of primary election news to ponder today. The race in Maryland's Fourth Congressional District is still up in the air. With 75% reporting, Donna Edwards is AHEAD of Al Wynn. There were some problems with voting in Montgomery County that have delayed counting. (UPDATE via CQ Politics is the the uncounted votes are in Prince Georges County which is Wynn's base.)

55 days til Election Day. It's going to be a bumpy ride. Read More......

Some primary updates and overseas ballots

Chafee knocks off wingnut candidate in Rhode Island in GOP primary and Benjamin Cardin appears to have defeated Kweisi Mfume for the Maryland Senate in the primary race. Both now prepare for very tough battles in November. In Tucson Arizona, the GOP extremist candidate is leading the moderate for an open Congressional seat. Lots of campaigning, surely a lot more fear coming from the GOP, but I wish November was here today.

Overseas, ballots for November should have been received by now or will be coming out soon so we can all start the process of sending in our ballots via certified mail (which is not cheap) and have them dumped in an obscure basement somewhere to be forgotten. Ahh, the taste of democracy. Luckily we have worthless overseas political organizations who can never get any interest in DC to change things despite the millions of Americans living abroad. As a group, we are larger than many states but thanks to the well oiled machines that want to represent us (or at least pretend like they want to represent us so they can get an audience because they lack a social life) overseas, our ballots seem like they are so worthless, but ours will be heading out soon enough anyway. Ugh. Read More......

Adrian Fenty wins DC Democratic mayoral primary

Which means he's the next mayor. Good for him. Read More......

NYC open thread

Gnite. Man I love this town. Read More......

Elections Open Thread

At dinner, what's happening? We need numbers... Read More......

American Airlines prepared to pull its advertising from ABC over "Path to 9/11" defamation

UPDATE: Considering Disney/ABC is most certainly going to be putting this tv show on DVD and selling it to the public - and airing the defamatory show again in the future - American, and all interested parties, have a strong incentive to get this problem addressed now.

It's not just Democrats complaining anymore.

American Airlines is prepared to pull its advertising from ABC in order to protest its portrayal in the network's recently aired movie The Path to 9/11, according to a source. The carrier also said it is considering legal action against the network....

The airline spends $25 million annually on broadcast TV ads; it could not immediately determined how much is spent on ABC, but according to one source, "It's extensive."

Roger Frizzell, vice president, corporate communications and advertising, American, confirmed that the client is mulling its legal options.

More from TV.com. Interestingly, last night American was backing off talking publicly about legal options, whereas now they're talking publicly and legal options and possibly pulling their advertising. That, to me, suggests that ABC wasn't exactly nice in its response to American. Read More......

Cheney on Iraq and "what if"

From Hotline's blog:

Cheney on going to war with Iraq: "If on 9/11 they'd had a nuke instead of an airplane, you'd have been looking at a casualty toll that would rival all the deaths in all the wars fought by Americans in 230 years. That's the threat we have to deal with, and that drove our thinking in the aftermath of 9/11 and does today."

You know, I've often felt this way about my neighbor. If he had had a nuke instead of a really loud stereo, I'd be looking at millions of deaths instead of simply being woken up early this morning.

So, can I kill my neighbor? Read More......

Anbar report reveals continued failures in Iraq

The intelligence report written by a Marine Colonel in Iraq's Anbar province is a uniquely ominous sign amidst the recent torrent of bad news coming from Iraq. The report essentially says that we've lost Anbar, a Sunni-dominated province about the size of Louisiana, both militarily and politically. The insurgency is strongest in Anbar and Baghdad provinces, but the size and landscape of Anbar makes it an especially attractive and useful base for militant activity and organization. Anbar lacks the oil reserves of the Kurdish north or the Shia south, and without that lucrative resource, and facing a Shia government that seems intent to ignore (at best) the Sunni minority, the Sunni region is descending into a kind of Mad Max environment. They're likely to turn to anyone who can establish a modicum of stability and governance, and so far, is hasn't been the U.S. or the Iraqi government.

For a long time, I thought it unlikely that transnational terrorist groups like al-Qa'ida would be able to set up shop in Iraq because the Islamists in Iraq are usually Shia (whereas al-Qa'ida is overwhelmingly Sunni) and the Sunnis are generally secular, far more nationalist than Islamist. But through U.S. incompetence and Iraqi neglect, terroristic groups are apparently using the Hamas/Hezbollah strategy of providing basic services to establish themselves within the social structure. Previously comprised of mostly foreign fighters, al-Qa'ida in Iraq (AQI, a.k.a. al-Qa'ida in the Land of Two Rivers, or QJBR) is gaining indigenous support. This has very little to do with historical disposition and everything to do with desperation and anger from the past few years.

As the situation has deteriorated, insurgent attacks have increased. The report describes Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as an "integral part of the social fabric" of Anbar. The organization, which is predominantly made up of fighters who are native Iraqis, is flush with cash, much of it earned from black market or criminal activity.

Even if we had the manpower, I'm not convinced the U.S. could effectively root out these fighters; this is the kind of issue that Iraqis will have to deal with themselves -- understanding the language and the culture is crucial to that kind of operation. Still, even if we had the expertise, we don't have the troops, despite the Bush administration's continued claim that they respond to commanders in the field.

"What we recommend and what we get is going to be two different things," Colonel Gridley said. "In our perfect world, we could use some more infantrymen to be able to patrol the streets and partner with the Iraqi Army." Since the intelligence assessment was prepared in August, however, no reinforcements have been sent. To the contrary, the strain on the American troops in Anbar has increased. An American Stryker unit, which was under the overall Marine command, has been sent from Rawa to Baghdad to help with the operation there. Also, military police who had been earmarked for training the Iraq police in Anbar have also been sent to Baghdad. The Marines have sought to make up the shortfall by using existing troops.

This is what the Bush administration strategy is in reality: deny, deceive, demagogue . . . and then clap harder. In November, Americans will have one day, one chance to tell this administration and its backers what we think of their policies and practices, one chance to hold them accountable. Let's do it. Let's change the course. Read More......

We just had lunch in NYC with a real president

We just finished a two hour blogger lunch with President Clinton at his NY office in Harlem. He had reached out to a group of us a few weeks ago, before the Disney/ABC blow up, simply because he wanted to meet some bloggers. Much of the lunch was off the record, but some was on. And while the policy discussion was fascinating, for me these kind of get togethers are far more interesting on a personal than substantive level. Meaning, it's fascinating to see someone like Clinton in person. How his brain works, what he's like personally, and just as importantly, to meet and get to know his staff so we can all help each other in the future (we are, after all, Democratic bloggers).



My impressions? He looks a little older than I expected, though befitting someone who was president for eight years (and he was first elected 14 years ago). He's got beautiful blue eyes (this isn't something I normally notice, but in his case I did, and he does, and I suspect he uses it to good effect). The man is smart as hell. He knows a lot about everything, and he gets it, he gets politics, he gets people, he understands what's going on and knows how to get things done. His political advice is no-nonsense and straight forward - he'd rather take an issue on than run from it (oh for the days of that in a Democratic politician).



Among those attending, that I can recall, were Atrios, Joe in DC and me, Chris Bowers and Matt Stoller from MyDD, McJoan from DailyKos, John Amato from Crooks & Liars (by phone from CA), Jane and Christy from FDL, Liberal Oasis, Steve from CarpetBagger, Jeraly and son from TalkLeft, Dave Johnson from Seeing the Forest, and I'm sure a few others I'm forgetting.



The lunch was only scheduled to go for an hour and he stayed with us for two. I think that means he enjoyed himself, which is good. It's of course fascinating to be in the presence of someone like Clinton. You feel for a moment a part of history, a witness to history. And you get a small glimpse at greatness. For a politico, this kind of lunch is a life's dream. But on a more practical side, as I said at the beginning, these kind of meet-and-greets are what make politics work when it works - the importance of the personal cannot be overstated. We get more done working together than working separately, and that's one of the main messages we delivered.



Joe in DC is really lucky his best friend is a good photographer.

Read More......

Bush won't help fight the terror of crime in US cities

Bush is too worried about terrorism to worry about Americans being terrorized in their own neighborhoods:

Americans were robbed and victimized by gun violence at greater rates last year than the year before, even though overall violent and property crime reached a 32-year low, the Justice Department said on Sunday.

The increases buttress reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and from mayors and police chiefs that violent crime is beginning to rise after a long decline. Bush administration officials expressed concern but said it was too soon to tell if a new upward trend had begun.

a couple weeks ago, a top Bush Justice Department Official recently told a group of Mayors and Police Chiefs that all the money was being spent on fighting terror:

"I wish I could stand here and say all that will be restored in the next year or two," McNulty said. "We are facing some big challenges. I see the challenges in fighting the war on terror. I see it is very expensive to fund soldiers overseas. At the same time, we have to find ways to get resources to win here at home."

So, the message from Bush is tough luck for you if you get robbed or shot or attacked in the your city or town. They're too busy to help. Read More......

Political Wire asks a good question

This is an important question:

If the war on terror is really a "struggle for civilization" itself, as President Bush claimed last night, why do we have just 130,000 troops in Iraq?

Bush rhetoric doesn't match reality -- again. Read More......

The White House is "delusional" on Iraq

Today's editorial in the New York Times does something Bush and Cheney don't and won't do. They tell the truth about Iraq -- and the Times seriously challenges the credibility of the White House:

Iraq had nothing to do with the war on terror until the Bush administration decided to invade it. The president now admits that Saddam Hussein was not responsible for 9/11 (although he claimed last night that the invasion was necessary because Iraq posed a risk). But he has failed to offer the country a new, realistic reason for being there.

There is no plan for Iraq, only speeches. And there is no sense of reality coming from the White House either:

Its hard to figure out how to build consensus when the men in charge embrace a series of myths. Vice President Dick Cheney suggested last weekend that the White House is even more delusional than Mr. Bushs rhetoric suggests. The vice president volunteered to NBCs Tim Russert that not only was the Iraq invasion the right thing to do, if we had it to do over again, wed do exactly the same thing.

Bush's White House can't make a plan for Iraq, they're too obsessed with the next election in the U.S. Read More......

Remember when war profiteering was unpatriotic?

How soon some forget. Funny how the GOP doesn't find anything wrong with taxpayer funded war profiteering. I guess when it comes back via campaign contributions, it's somehow OK. Some values... Read More......

Lindsey Graham: we screwed up Iraq

Bush and Rove aren't going to like this. One of their own Republicans is blasting them:

"I know Iraq is a mess and we have screwed up seven ways from Sunday," the South Carolina senator told about 300 people at the College of Charleston on Sunday.

Now when Lindsey says "we have screwed up," he means, of course, Bush, Cheney and the GOP. Read More......

Bush's p.r. offensive is facing skepticism

We'll start to have a sense later this week from polling whether Bush's full-scale offensive to politicize terror has had an impact. But, based on the New York Times article today, Bush is up against some intense initial skepticism -- at least in Colorado's Seventh Congressional District:

Mr. Bush has plenty of supporters in this Denver suburb and the surrounding cities, an evenly divided swing district that is a bellwether in the battle for control of the House. But interviews over the last three days here found Republicans, Democrats and independents all expressing degrees of skepticism about Mr. Bush’s motives in delivering a set of high-profile speeches on terrorism and the war in Iraq two months before Election Day.

While it is too early to know whether the White House will succeed in winning over enough voters to make a difference in what is shaping up as a tight race, the interviews suggested that Mr. Bush’s newest efforts to cast his party as better suited than Democrats to defend the country had yet to overcome concern and anger among many voters about Iraq and a more generalized sense of discontent with the administration.

If this latest political ploy by Bush doesn't work, the GOP is in big, big trouble. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

It's a big primary day across the country. Some of the key contested races to watch are Massachusetts Democratic Governor, Rhode Island Republican Senate, New York Democratic Governor and Attorney General, DC Mayor, Maryland Democratic Senate and the Democratic primary for Maryland's Fourth Congressional District where Donna Edwards is going to be the big surprise today.

Any other races to watch?

Anything else we need to know? Read More......

Attack on US Embassy in Damascus leaves 3 dead

It is very strange to see something like this happen in Syria. Details are light at the moment but more should be coming out as the day progresses. One of the attackers is in custody.

Gunmen apparently blew up a car outside the U.S. Embassy and exchanged fire with Syrian guards on Tuesday in a brazen attack on Damascus' diplomatic neighborhood. Syrian security forces killed three of the attackers, the government said.

Read More......

How to battle high murder rates in Iraq

It's an easy process really: you change the rules. Telling the truth is so old fashioned and really has no place in our democratic society today. I mean, what really constitutes a murder anyway? Is a person who was blown to bits really the same as someone who was shot or tortured? Uh huh, it's all so clear now, isn't it?

The U.S. military did not count people killed by bombs, mortars, rockets or other mass attacks when it reported a dramatic drop in the number of murders in the Baghdad area last month, the U.S. command said Monday.

The decision to include only victims of drive-by shootings and those killed by torture and execution, usually at the hands of death squads, allowed U.S. officials to argue that a security crackdown that began in the capital August 7 had more than halved the city's murder rate.

Hmmm, I see.

At the end of August, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, said violence had dropped significantly because of the operation. Caldwell said "attacks in Baghdad were well below the monthly average for July. Since August 7, the murder rate in Baghdad dropped 52 percent from the daily rate for July."

However, Caldwell did not make the key distinction that the rate he was referring to excluded a significant part of the daily violence in and around the capital. On Monday, for example, at least 20 of the 26 people slain in the capital were killed in bombings.

Read More......

Just saw this on the corner

I'm in New York, and was walking home from dinner with my friend Kevin when I noticed the floodlights in the southern sky. I asked what that was about, and suddenly it hit us, the World Trade Center.

I've just read Bush's speech he gave this evening, supposedly commemorating the fifth anniversary of the attacks. It's all about Iraq. Surprise. What a pathetic little man. Rather than give a speech that Ronald Reagan might give, about our sorrow and the hope for our future, Bush decided to go political, giving the nation a laundry list of how great he is, how wonderful HE has done, and by implication, why everyone should vote Republican in the fall. The man is simply pathetic. Today isn't about Iraq. It's about the dead. It's about our grief. And about our future. It's about all of us. But it is most certainly not about Iraq nor George Bush's personal report card.

With all of that in mind, it was nice to turn the corner and see the lights. They reminded me of the beauty and energy and life of this city. Of what we've lost as a nation, and of the future that still awaits us.

Click the photo to see a larger version. Read More......

American Airline: ABC/Disney show "inaccurate and irresponsible"

UPDATE 9:47 pm. Just saw that ABC/Disney again kept in the scene showing American Airlines' check-in people at Logan Airport letting Mohammad Atta board the flight in spite of a warning coming up on the screen, and worse yet, the American check-in supervisor apparently ignoring the concerns of another staffer. That never happened.

American's press release from earlier today via Atrios:

"The Disney/ABC television program, The Path to 9/11, which began airing last night, is inaccurate and irresponsible in its portrayal of the airport check-in events that occurred on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

"A factual description of those events can be found in the official government edition of the 9/11 Commission Report and supporting documents.

"This misrepresentation of facts dishonors the memory of innocent American Airlines employees and all those who lost their lives as a result of the tragic events of 9/11."

Strong stuff. It was all fun and games for the right wingers and the media when they thought it was just the Clinton team that was portrayed badly in the ABC/Disney movie. This is now a clash of two business titans. Maybe in some parts of American culture, facts do matter after all.

More coverage of growing American Airlines scandal from Editor & Publisher, and the Star-Telegram. Read More......

For Bush "everything's political"

If you're torturing yourself by watching Bush give his "September the 11th" speech, give yourself a break and read Dan Froomkin's column today:

The White House would like you to believe President Bush is putting politics aside as he leads the nation in remembrance of the September 11 terrorist attacks of five years ago.

But it's not true.

Froomkin is right. It's all political. Most of the media are fawning over Bush today...it's disgusting. They're playing right in to his (and Rove's) hands. As Froomkin points out, what Bush isn't saying is key. He's laying out their game-plan for the next eight weeks. Exploiting "September the 11th" (as Bush calls it, count how many times he says it during the speech) is the GOP campaign plan:

What's also telling, as usual, is what Bush didn't say yesterday, and doesn't say, period.

He doesn't say we won't allow ourselves to be terrorized, and we won't be afraid. (That would run counter to the central Republican game plan for the mid-term election.) He doesn't say that in our zeal to fight the terrorists, we won't give up the qualities that make America great. He acknowledges no mistakes, he calls for no sacrifice, he refuses to reach out to those who disagree with him.

Bush needs Americans to be afraid because it's the only way the Republicans can win.

It truly is amazing that reporters don't just guffaw when Bush and his White House flunkies say they are not being political. It's all they do. Read More......

Part II Open Thread

If you can bear to watch, document the inaccuracies. John's watched it already so we know there are plenty. How does ABC/Disney treat American Airlines tonight, one wonders?

And don't forget, at 9:00 pm EST, the President is giving another political speech about 9/11. It's not part of the Disney movie, but it will be filled with the same falsehoods and blurring of reality. Read More......

Disney/ABC appears to praise Bush reaction to PDB with meeting that never happened

The film shows a scene, dated September 4, 2001, in which Condi Rice tells Richard Clarke and George Tenet that President Bush is very worried about the contents of the Presidential Daily Briefing from August, the one that says bin Laden is determined to strike the US, and that the president is tired of swatting at flies.

Only problem? It was back in March of 2001 that the president was tired of swatting at flies, with regards to terrorism. I can find no record of Condi Rice bring up Bush's supposed concern about the PDB at any September 4 principals meeting. Note that the movie also does not show Bush receiving the memo a month earlier and doing nothing about it - what a convenient ommission.

I'm in NYC, can you guys do a bit more research about this supposed Sept 4 meeting and see if Condi Rice ever said anything about Bush being very worried about the PDB and wanting a new strategy to take on bin Laden as a result? If Disney/ABC made this scene up, it's incredibly damning to their credibility as this is the main scene, so far, that seems to suggest Bush was on the ball. Read More......

Disney/ABC shows scene defaming American Airlines AGAIN in second half of mockumentary

Well, I'm almost done watching the second half of Disney/ABC's "The Path to 9/11" and they replay the entire scene at the end of the show. That would be the scene showing American Airlines' check-in people at Logan letting Mohammad Atta board the flight in spite of a warning coming up on the screen, and worse yet, the American check-in supervisor apparently ignoring the concerns of another staffer. It never happened. Well, not only does it appear in the first half of the movie, and it did air last night, but Disney/ABC replays the scene about an hour and 21 minutes (or so) into the second half.

I've called American's corporate communications office and informed them to get ready for part II.

The fun never stops. Read More......

Open Thread

So, ''Are we safer?'' seems to be the question of the day. For Bush and Rove, the question is: are Americans more scared?

FOX News says we are safer, Think Progress reports. Read More......

A day of infamy

There is no shortage of remembrance and insight today, plenty of discussion about what we've lost and where we're going, and I honestly have little to add, as I don't particularly want to speak for others and it seems a little self-indulgent to just speak for myself. Still, in our ADD culture it's helpful to have self-imposed moments of reflection if only because they allow us to step outside the yesterday-today-tomorrow focus that tends to preclude strategic thought and overall understanding. In that spirit, there are two things that particularly strike me now, five years after our lives were divided into before and after periods.

The strategies and tactics of our nation's leaders have greatly harmed overall American interests. I must give credit where credit is due: we have not suffered a significant terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 2001, and that is a relief and a success. It is also in spite of, not due to, the strategic efforts of our counter-terrorism strategy. Osama bin Laden, the most wanted man in the history of the U.S., remains free to taunt us and plot against us, and the fact that he still breathes the same air as the rest of us is a continued affront and a national embarrassment. Our military is bogged down and discouraged in Iraq, not due to lack of popular or media support, but thanks to incompetent leadership and obstinate strategy. The U.S. government is hated throughout the world, partly for its policies, but perhaps more so because of its attitude and posture. We have squandered the opportunity to build a grand coalition of allies against authoritarianism, desparation, and humiliation, the major causes of hatred towards a West so far ahead of much of the world that we have little capacity to understand these concepts on more than a superficial level. I worry our failures since 2001 will haunt us for years to come.

Then there's our domestic response. Terrorism is designed to cause terror. The tactic is often used to further a political end -- which may be as specific as statehood or as nebulous as greater popular support -- but those are goals for the ones who are not terrorized; the point is to achieve those aims through fear created in the targets. In the days and months and years after that fateful day, we heard a great deal about the importance of continuing to live our lives, how if we didn't go about our daily routine (shopping, flying, having that 14th beer, whatever) the terrorists would "win." Somehow, though, continuing to embody American ideals became conflated with continuing to spend money and avoid introspection or sacrifice. While we made sure we still attended football games, bought gas-guzzling cars, and ignored anybody who said anything should change, millions of people lost sight of the changes happening before our eyes.

The true American values, the ones that have carried us for over two centuries, slowly eroded. Privacy. Speech. Assembly. Dissent. Cooperation. Debate. I believe in strong and effective national defense, as does virtually every American, and I believe part of that defense means staying true to our historical values. How is it that our quest for normalcy has brought us to spying on our own citizens without cause or judicial oversight, to torture, to warning against dissent, to accusations of treason against those who disagree with our leaders, and to the kind of hysterical fear that is the very aim of those we hope to defeat? What happened to "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself" and "Give me liberty or give me death"? Do we only hold fast to American values if they're threatened by outside forces? Someone else said it better than I:

"Different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful . . . if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The questing before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country . . . Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it."

Most people remember the words with which Patrick Henry closed this speech, in 1775, but the entire statement is something to behold. In his spirit, and the spirit of the millions of brave and committed Americans who followed him, let us fight for our values. Against terrorism, against oppression abroad, against our own fears, and against the menacing specter of willful blindness at home. There are greater American values than shopping, and to hold onto them, I, too, am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. Read More......

American Airlines is threatening to sue Disney/ABC

An email American just sent out:

Mr. xxxxxx,

I think it is important for you to know that ABC had factual errors in
its dramatization, and we are looking at possible legal actions as a
result. According to the 9-11 Commission report, it was not American
Airlines, nor was it even the right airport that was depicted. In
reality, it was another airline, flying out of Maine. Please know this
was a tragic incident in our company's history and we hope you will be
sympathetic to our employees and our airline on this day especially.
Again, we are outraged by this situation, and we alerted ABC about its
gross error. It is very unfortunate.

Roger

Roger Frizzell
Vice President, Corporate Communications & Advertising
American Airlines

Read More......

The lessons of September 11

• The Constitution only applies when the going gets easy.
• War is the answer, even when you forget the question.
• The truth is for sissies.
• America has never faced an enemy as dangerous and as intent on killing us as King George, the Civil War, World War I, the Germans, the Japanese, a nuclear Soviet Union Al Qaeda.
• The real September 11 story was badly in need of editing.
• Just because they say it makes it so.
• We have always been at war with Oceania.
• A fool is born every election day.
  
• Due process is for the innocent.
• Patriotism means never having to say you're sorry.
• It's all Sandy Berger's fault.

Read More......

He's been treading on it for six years

Read More......

Please call American Airlines and ask them why they let Mohammad Atta kill 3,000 people

At least that's what Disney/ABC told us last night. According to "The Path to 9/11," American flight attendants had a big warning light flash when Atta tried to check in at Logan Airport on September 11, but the American employees shrugged it off and let Atta board the flight to Los Angeles, apparently in violation of the rules (at least that's what the show implied). What does American have to say about that?

• 817-967-2945 - Gerard Arpey, CEO, gerard.arpey@aa.com
• 817-931-9351 - Dan Garton, VP of Customer Service, dan.garton@aa.com
• 817-967-2974 - David Cush, VP of Global Sales and Marketing, david.cush@aa.com

Read More......

ABC, history the way the world has never seen it before

Read More......

Dems. need the NY House seats

The Democrats need 15 seats to take control of the US House. They need 15 seats in order to rein in George Bush. New York has several seats that should be in Democratic hands. According to today's NY Times, chances of picking up those seats are looking less and less likely:

In a year when Democrats hope to take control of the House of Representatives, New York would appear to be fertile ground for toppling Republican incumbents. Democrats have a statewide edge in enrollment, and a popular incumbent, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, is at the top of the party’s ticket.

In fact, just a few months ago, Democrats envisioned significant gains in New York, perhaps picking up as many as four seats, possibly even five. But that goal now seems increasingly remote, and there is an emerging consensus among political analysts that the party’s best chance for capturing a Republican seat is the battle to succeed Representative Sherwood L. Boehlert, one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress, who is retiring.

At the same time, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee plans to spend roughly $50 million on advertisements for races around the country, according to Republican estimates. But none of that money has been set aside for New York races, except for Mr. Boehlert’s seat in the 24th District in the Utica area, according to Democrats involved in the races.

The shifting local fortunes for Democrats could have serious political implications beyond New York. The party needs 15 seats to take control of the House. Even one victory in New York would be an important step toward that goal, giving the Democrats a cushion if they lose elsewhere in the nation.

We need more than one victory in NY....if the DCCC doesn't have the resources to pour in to that state, it's incumbent on the top of the NY Democratic ticket -- Eliot Spitzer and Hillary Clinton -- to make it happen. Both of them are going to win big. Hopefully, they are setting up a get-out-the-vote operation that will benefit Democratic House candidates. Picking up the State Senate would help, too, so NY can re-district the congressional seats to make sure the state's congressional delegation is as Democratic as the state is.

It should be a big Democratic year in New York -- up and down the ticket. It's not just about NY this year. There are major national implications. Read More......

Cheney attacks majority of Americans as well as GOP candidates

Why does Dick Cheney hate America? Why does Cheney prefer a Soviet style government where freedom of speech is banned? Armed with his classic finger-wag and arrogance, Cheney, the man who has lied about key facts related to entering the war in Iraq, is now telling America that they love bin Laden and al Qaida.

He also must have missed the reports from Iraq that say nothing of a pitched battle with al Qaida as we might have seen in WWI or WWII. Catching up on recent world history must be difficult. If Cheney can't even grasp the most simple reality that fighting al Qaida is not a "stand up fight" then we are completely screwed. How is the US supposed to fight an enemy when the VP can't comprehend what kind of war is being fought? Maybe Cheney can just ask al Qaida to change their style of fighting so the US forces can wipe them out. Is that what he's suggesting?

"They can't beat us in a stand-up fight -- they never have -- but they're absolutely convinced they can break our will, [that] the American people don't have the stomach for the fight," Cheney said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The vice president said U.S. allies in Afghanistan and Iraq "have doubts" the United States will finish the job there. "And those doubts are encouraged, obviously, when they see the kind of debate that we've had in the United States," he said. "Suggestions, for example, that we should withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq simply feed into that whole notion, validates the strategy of the terrorists."

Cheney also continued with his fantasy about Saddam and al Qaida even though the GOP Senate report proves that the assertion is a lie. In the face of the truth, we can always count on Cheney to stay the course, no matter how many facts get in the way. Fortunately, the American public sees things differently. Read More......

Monday Morning, September 11th, Open Thread

It's a sad day for many Americans. It's a political day for George Bush and his team. They've been on a spin offensive for weeks now. Tonight's speech marks the culmination of that effort. But, like the Disney/ABC movie, much of what Bush says these days is fiction.

It's sick the way Bush, Cheney and the other members of the Bush administration exploit this tragedy for their partisan political purposes. By the end of this week, we'll have a good idea as to whether the American people have fallen for it again.

Thoughts? Read More......

Webb has caught up to Allen in VA

Pretty impressive considering he was down 16 points.

The Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. found 46 percent of those interviewed supported Allen in his bid for a second term and 42 percent backed Webb. Twelve percent were undecided.

Because the margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 4 percentage points, the race could be seen as about even.

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Open thread

Well, that was a rather boring TV show. Other than the defamatory stuff, I learned that I have no idea what was fact and what was fiction in the thing - so I learned absolutely nothing. Also, Arab guys have bad accents and cry a lot when you capture them. And their little children like to play the drums. Oh, and FEMALE cops are very good people - emphasis on FEMALE. And two more things. Sandy Berger hates America, and American Airlines is responsible for September 11. Yep, that's what I learned from Disney/ABC.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I learned that neither Disney nor ABC has any scruples whatsoever. Read More......

Disney/ABC burns American flag

I just think it's kind of interesting that they did. Read More......

Disney/ABC defames Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger

Disney/ABC just broadcast a scene that never happened. Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger refuses to give the order to capture or kill bin Laden, even though our guys had him in their sights. Only problem, it never happened. This scene was the biggest problem in the entire show, Disney/ABC has known about this problem since early last week. But they chose to leave the scene in, simply cutting the part where Sandy Berger hangs up the phone. Gee, big change.

Disney/ABC just lied to the American people about Sandy Berger being responsible for Osama bin Laden being alive today. And there was no indication in the broadcast, by Disney/ABC or the local affiliate, that the scene was fictitious.

I cannot think of a greater libel than to tell millions of people worldwide that you are responsible for Osama bin Laden not being stopped before September 11. Disney/ABC just put the blood of 3,000 Americans on Sandy Berger's hands.

May he sue them for millions. Read More......

Would it kill the Los Angeles Times to do REAL reporting?

Apparently the answer is: Yes.

Their article on the "The Path to 9/11" is FAIR and BALANCED. That means they talk about "alleged" inaccuracies, rather than actually stating that there are inaccuracies. Because, after all, it would be BIASED journalism, and not journalism at all, if the reporter for the Los Angeles Times, his editor, or a college intern, picked up a free copy of the 9/11 Commission Report online and simply read the pages that flatly contradict the Disney/ABC film. Hell, I've even cited which pages of the report prove that the film is wrong.

No, that would entail actual reporting and actually giving your readers the facts. And real journalism nowadays isn't about giving your readers facts, it's about giving them what both sides claim, even if you know that one side is correct and have the evidence to prove it. You don't tell your readers that. You simply sit on your fat ass and call everything alleged.

The Los Angeles Time is one of the most important newspapers in America. And their shoddy journalism is symptomatic of the larger problem with news in America today. Reporters know the truth, they know how to find the truth, but they refuse to report the truth because somewhere along the way it became "biased" to include the truth.

Pathetic. Read More......

Disney/ABC defames American Airlines in worldwide broadcast

Well, so much for edits. Disney/ABC just blamed American Airlines, falsely, for ignoring a warning on their computers about Mohammad Atta boarding their flight. It's a lie. The warning came up on US Airways' computers for his Portland flight, American at Logan had nothing to do with it. We wrote this up two days ago and Disney didn't change a thing.

I hope American sues them because the entire world just got told that American Airlines loves hijackers. And tomorrow morning, guess what we're all going to be doing? Calling up American Airlines and asking them if they let Mohammad Atta fly even though a warning came up on their computers - and we're going to tell them that that's what Disney and ABC told us last night. Read More......

Live blogging "Path to 9/11"

Document the defamation in the comments.

What's been cut, what's still in, what's right, what's wrong?

Here's the entire 9/11 Commission Report, for fact-checking.

Favorite part so far? Pregnant lady rubbing her stomach in 3 different clips to emphasize that she's pregnant and about to die - how sad, and forced.

PS I know Haloscan is screwing up, there's nothing I can do about it. Read More......

Sushi gets his final revenge

It all started early this summer when the pigeon began taunting Sushi up in the trees out back. When Sushi chased the pigeon, the pigeon would just jump over to another branch that was just out of reach or too thin for Sushi to walk on. The day after one especially dramatic day of chasing while innocently watering my trees, the pigeon dropped a little gift from above that landed on my back. Ugh. Everything calmed down for weeks until John arrived and there was the infamous "pigeon in the salad spinner" incident which John chronicled, photo and on. The pigeon lived to fight another day.

Well, that day was early this morning. Minutes after arriving home at 2AM and just on the verge of falling asleep I woke to a light growling sound from the hallway. Hmm. The last time I heard that sound was when Sushi dragged in a live pigeon and paraded him around the flat. Oh dear, same thing last night. There was sushi on the Moroccan throw rug, proud kill and all. The three month battle between Sushi and the pigeon is officially over.

If you want to see his prize, click on the image above - it's not gross, I've spared you the "after" photos (he started with the head). Read More......

The life of Mickey

AMERICAblog reader Plisko takes another stab at the biography of Mickey Mouse.

Read More......

WASH POST: After letting bin Laden escape in late 2001, Bush called off the hunt for Osama and instead prepared for war in Iraq

Bush should be run out of town on a rail. Bush called off the hunt for bin Laden only 6 months after September 11 because Bush wanted to invade Iraq. So much for 3,000 dead Americans. Bush gave up on them before the smoldering ashes at Ground Zero had barely gone cold. We are literally in greater danger as a country because of the incompetence of the man running our nation. God help us.

From today's Washington Post

On the videotape obtained by the CIA, bin Laden is seen confidently instructing his party how to dig holes in the ground to lie in undetected at night. A bomb dropped by a U.S. aircraft can be seen exploding in the distance. "We were there last night," bin Laden says without much concern in his voice. He was in or headed toward Pakistan, counterterrorism officials think.

That was December 2001. Only two months later, Bush decided to pull out most of the special operations troops and their CIA counterparts in the paramilitary division that were leading the hunt for bin Laden in Afghanistan to prepare for war in Iraq, said Flynt L. Leverett, then an expert on the Middle East at the National Security Council.

"I was appalled when I learned about it," said Leverett, who has become an outspoken critic of the administration's counterterrorism policy. "I don't know of anyone who thought it was a good idea. It's very likely that bin Laden would be dead or in American custody if we hadn't done that."

Several officers confirmed that the number of special operations troops was reduced in March 2002.

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Disney/ABC gets Sec. of State Albright's name wrong in 9/11 mockumentary

They didn't even get Secretary of State Albright's name right. Her first name is Madeleine, not Madeline. Geez. For $40 million could these guys have at least hired a copy editor? They don't even get the small things right. What a total negligent disaster.

You can watch this clip, and several of the other defamatory ones, at RedState. Read More......