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Saturday, September 29, 2007

Al Gore Update!

Thank you, whomever invited me to the Google Group "Draft Al Gore 2008!"

Note the new banner on my site, which links to the Al Gore myspace page. Click it and check it out.

Let's make this happen, people! He is a leader the entire world respects and admires. We need him now more than ever.

Nasty, Bad, Naughty State Department!

Since the Democratic Congress took over in January, the House and Senate have been working round the clock to try to, as Speaker Pelosi famously stated, "drain the swamp" of the Bush Administration's incredible corruption.

Representative Henry Waxman (otherwise known as "The Mustache of Justice") and Senator Patrick Leahy (the recipient of Dick Cheney's kind words on the Senate floor) started with the Justice Department, and they have been extremely successful in stopping KKKarl Rove's Lackey, Alberto Gonzales, from stealing the 2008 election by engaging in vote-caging and bogus investigations against strong Democratic candidates. They have also been able to clean out all the most highly-placed political operatives masquerading as public servants (think about 15 "heckuva job" Brownies). Notice that they have not held confirmation hearings on Gonzo's replacement (who, by the way, is much more of a consensus nominee than Bush originally wanted)? That's because Patrick Leahy said those hearings won't happen until the DOJ records he's been requesting for months are turned over.

Now, Waxman has turned his attention to the State Department, the lair of one of my least favorite Fascists, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. As the Democrats investigate how Blackwater and other private military contractors have conducted their operations in Iraq, the State Department has begun to come under intense scrutiny. And as Larry Craig would say...well, they have not been good little boys and girls AT ALL.

WASHINGTON — Aides to State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard threatened two investigators with retaliation this week if they cooperate with a congressional probe into Krongard's office, the chairman of a House of Representatives panel and other U.S. officials said Friday.

The allegations are the latest in a growing uproar surrounding Krongard. Current and former officials in his office charge that he impeded investigations into alleged arms smuggling by employees of the private security firm Blackwater and into faulty construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Krongard has denied the charges and is due to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee next month.

Of course, Krongard is the latest Lackey set up as a fall guy for the Big Kahuna of Korruption, Madame Secretary herself.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Cal., charged Tuesday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her aides are trying to impede congressional probes into corruption in Iraq and the activities of controversial private military contractor Blackwater USA.

Waxman, chairman of the House oversight committee, complained in a letter to Rice that the State Department this week barred its officials from talking to Congress about corruption in Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's government unless those discussions are kept secret.

The department also retroactively classified a study drafted by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that reportedly details extensive corruption in al-Maliki's government, Waxman said.

"Your position seems to be that positive information about the Maliki government may be disseminated publicly, but any criticism of the government must be treated as a national security secret," Waxman told Rice.

"You are wrong to interfere with the committee's inquiry," he wrote.

Something tells me that, although he committed his fair share of crimes for George W. Bush, General Colin Powell would not have put up with the privatization of the Armed Forces by the loyal Bushies. Yet another reason he had to go?

Friday, September 28, 2007

More Debate Thoughts

Okay, I know I was extremely snarky in my little summary yesterday. But in reality, I was pretty impressed with almost everyone on that stage. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd were the ones that came up the most in my estimation. Mike Gravel was just a bit too wacky for me, and Barack Obama, forgive me, is a Hillary clone, and I'd rather have the real thing than the imitation.

I wish I could be really, really excited about my candidate, though. I was a total Deaniac in 2004, and I was thrilled to send him money and promote him any way I could. There is no one that I feel that way about this year, unless...

be still my heart...

AL GORE RUNS FOR PRESIDENT.

Oh please oh please oh please. We need a person of broad, sweeping vision, a person who is scientific rather than faith-based, a person of peace, and Al Gore IS THAT MAN.

I've signed the Draft Al petition - I did it a long time ago. What can I do to make him realize that we're really, really sorry about 2000 and that we'll elect him in the biggest landslide in American history?

Any ideas out there?

Thursday, September 27, 2007

A Summary of the Democratic Presidential Debate

In hommage to the great bobblespeak blogger Culture of Truth:

Tim Russert (removing KKKarl's cock from his mouth):

Hi, Democrats! My job is to prove to everyone that you're weak on national security, fiscally irresponsible, ignorant about religion and social issues, and are warmongers just like the Fascists. MMMMKay?

Democrats: And a hearty Fuck Off to you, Timmeh!

Tim Russert: Now that we've got our parameters straight, tell us why we should vote for you!

Gravel: Vote for me. I'm younger than Senator Byrd and just as fiery!

Dodd: Vote for me. I'm the GOOD Senator from Connecticut and I love the Constitution!

Biden: Vote for me. I know how to fix Iraq and Social Security, and Fascists like me and hate HER!

Kucinich: Vote for me. I may be short, but I'm right about everything!

Edwards: Vote for me. Everyone else is a Washington insider and besides is lying to you!

Obama: Vote for me. I'm a man, I was right about the war, and everything can be solved by joining hands and singing Kumbaya!

Richardson: Vote for me. I'm boring, but I talk to all the evildoers and get results! Plus I'm popular in New Mexico and Bill Clinton loved me!

Clinton: Vote for me. I'm too smart to make campaign promises I can't keep, and I'll consider every option before I make any decisions. Oh, and I'm not Bill even though you might want me to be. And an especially hearty belly laugh at your big pumpkinhead, Timmeh!

Tim Russert: Thank you, Democrats! What a great night it's been for democracy. And by the way, vote Fascist in 2008!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Offense and Defense

I was thinking yesterday about offense versus defense, and trying to figure out why our Congresscritters always seem to be stuck playing D against the incredibly aggressive offense of the Fascists.

Case in point - the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment, which, thanks to our strong defense (thank you, Not-Macaca Senator Webb!), was rendered mostly toothless before it came to a vote today. You have to wonder, however, how the other team always seems to be coming up with more and more outrageous maneuvers that catch our defense off guard. And how are they even bringing these bills to the floor, when Harry Reid can stop them in committee? Guess what - they're not bills, they're AMENDMENTS to bills. There is no procedure that allows him to stop these amendments from coming to a vote. So since there is always a bill to be voted on, they can keep creating havoc until the cows come home, or the Republic becomes the Fourth Reich - whichever comes first.

But then the light dawned. The offense our Congress is playing is this thing called...GOVERNING. You know, making legislation, doing oversight and investigations? Something that the Congress hasn't done for, oh, about 13 years? As they have admitted time after time, the Fascists have zero interest in governing. So what else do they have to do with their time but obstruct, divide and distract with amendments like these ridiculous "Sense of the Senate" resolutions?

One thing I think some Congressional Democrats still don't realize is that there is no way that any Fascists are going to switch sides, at least not on our timetable. For example, Congresswoman Jane Harman, on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night, revealed how the Congress was terrified by falsified reports of an imminent attack on the Capitol into ratifying the overly-broad FISA Amendment last summer before their recess. In her remarks on Countdown, Ms. Harman stated, "I think we can get intelligence right, and I think we can do it in a bipartisan way."

No, Congresswoman. All respect, but we can't do ANYTHING in a bipartisan way, except, apparently, vote that attacking military guys in the press is bad and that Iran is verrry naughty. The only agenda the Fascists now have is to make Democrats look weak, and to hold onto their seats by the skin of their teeth in 2008.

We need to take the offense in another way now: We need to draw a line in the sand. No matter what they do, we need to oppose it, even if we don't have the votes to do so. It doesn't matter if it's a resolution that puppies are cute. Just the fact that it comes from the Fascists means that it's worthless. The sooner our Congresscritters realize this, the sooner the American people will realize that the Democrats understand the true threat to America: Republico-Fascists.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Real Sex Education, For Real People.

I just had to post some good news today. Hooray, Governor Spitzer!

The state has turned down millions of dollars in federal funding for abstinence-only sex-education programs.

State Health Commissioner Richard Daines calls the Bush administration's abstinence-only Program a failed health care policy that's based on ideology and not science.
And thank you, Commissioner Daines, for that clear statement.

Let me take his statement one step further: The Bush Administration and its Fascist enablers and true believers don't want public policy, because really, they don't believe in the public. They believe in cartoon representations of the public, all of them unflattering.

Let me give an example of what I'm talking about. Bill O'Reilly, one of the most reliable Bush apologists on the planet, made the following incredible statement on the O'Reilly Factor:

Discussing his recent dinner with Rev. Al Sharpton at the Harlem restaurant Sylvia's, Bill O'Reilly reported that he "couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship."
I would love to hear Bill O'Really explain what he thought was going to happen at Sylvia's. Body-armor-clad waiters? Scantily-dressed women offering to, um, soap up his loofah? An OTB parlor in the back?

Sadly, ol' Bill knows his audience. They have no interest in educating themselves about other aspects of American life. All you have to do is go on one of the right-wing websites like FreeRepublic.com and look at the comments. You'll see nothing but stereotypes masquerading as cultural understanding. "Welfare queens," "Islamofascists," "illegal immigrants" (used to cover all brown people, legal or not), "faggots," "bitches," etc. etc. etc. A cartoon is so much easier to demonize than a real person, isn't it?

Well, Governor Spitzer has decided that real people need real sex education. Instead of punishing children and teenagers for their lack of knowledge about health issues, he's going to inform and educate them instead.

What a difference a Democrat makes...

Monday, September 24, 2007

Senator Warner Can't Retire Soon Enough

I just heard from Brent Budowsky on the Randi Rhodes Show that the Webb Amendment - you know, the one that would given the troops the same amount of rest as service - had 60 votes last week. That is, until Senator John Warner, the great wonderful super-bipartisan admirer of Senator Webb, stabbed the Democrats in the back and took the Fascist votes away.

Mr. Budowsky said that the Democrats should push their own "Sense of the Senate" resolution to proclaim that Fascists don't support the troops. Here are his suggestions.

From his lips to the Democrats' ears.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Tinfoil Hat Paranoia of the Weekend

I have been wondering and wondering why Nancy Pelosi does not allow John Conyers to impeach Bush and Cheney. I don't think it's a lack of courage - it takes a lot of strength to hold Democrats together, which she has largely succeeded in doing. And certainly she is no Fascist.

In the past year or so, there have been many ominous rumblings about how the Administration is planning on bombing Iran. The drums of war are beating the same rhythm they played in the run-up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. And of course, the reasons are the same: Oil, Pax Americana, and the keeping and holding of power by a regime bent on establishing Fascism in the United States.

Being that Bush and his puppetmaster are clearly willing to do so, why haven't they let the bombs fly? They feel unrestrained by the will of the people, since they veto every popularly-supported bill the Democratic Congress sends them (unless it gives them more money for the war, of course). The media, for the most part, uncritically repeats the RNC talking points of the day, even accepting the burgeoning meme that Iran attacked us on 9/11.

Yes, all signs point to war. So what's holding the Deciderer back?

Could it be that he worked out a deal with Pelosi, that if he didn't bomb Iran, she would not begin the impeachment proceedings? What a Faustian bargain that would be...

Friday, September 21, 2007

Ol' Blackwater, Don't Keep Rollin'

It looks like the lid is finally being pried off the intense secrecy surrounding the biggest military 'contractor' in Iraq, Blackwater. And oh my, are there some nasty creepy crawlies inside.

Armed mercenaries strolling through the streets of Baghdad killing with impunity - golly gee, that's just not the way to win hearts and minds, is it?

And speaking of our troops, it's always encouraging, when you're humping 100 pounds of body armor and supplies in 130-degree heat, to know that the person standing beside you is earning twelve times the amount you are. Talk about ruining morale!

My main thought on this story is that Blackwater has been like one giant Lackey. They were there in New Orleans when the Bush Administration screwed up Katrina so badly. They are there in Iraq to guard all the visiting American "dignitaries" such as Condi, Bush and McCain. But most importantly, they are there to cover up the fact that the Army is broken, and has been broken for some time.

Contrary to what another Lackey, General "Baby Jeebus" Petraeus said about needing to withdraw troops by April 2008 or the troops would suffer irreparable harm, the troops have been stretched to the limit for years. But thanks to the more than 200,000 Blackwater mercenaries now in Iraq, the extent of the damage is being hidden from the American people.

Now the Iraqi government is desperately trying to kick Blackwater out of Iraq. Looks like they are "standing up so we can stand down." Why don't I think the Bush Administration will see it that way?

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Strength

You know, it's a funny thing, but strength seems to mean something very different to conservatives than it does to normal Americans.

Apparently, 28% of Americans look at the Fascists and think, "Ooooh! A Strong Daddy who will tell me what do to and whom to hate. Yay, Daddy!"

When I look at George "Bring 'Em On" Bush, for example, or Rudy "No Brown People Allowed" Giuliani, or Mitt "Double Gitmo" Romney, I see bullies who use their power to oppress the weak and enable the privileged to increase their bounty. A bully, however, is not strong.

Indeed, a bully is a coward who sees threats everywhere. To hide their own inadequacies, bullies swagger and smirk, using the biggest weapons at their disposal to swat the smallest 'enemies.' Their first reaction to any situation is to use force. If that doesn't work, they'll use more force, and more, and more, until, leaving destruction behind them, the balloon of their self-esteem is punctured at last, and they slink away, disgraced and dismissed, into the slimehole from which they oozed.

We have bullies in charge of our government. We need our representatives to stand up to them, and soon, before their insecurities destroy the world.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

No Habla Habeas

42 Republics and one CFL in the Senate have just filibustered the restoration of Habeas Corpus. I don't know how Harry Reid will proceed now, but I certainly hope he will not give up. I'd make those fucking cowards filibuster until they pee their Depends.

From this day forward, I officially refuse to recognize these so-called public servants as belonging to a legitimate political party. They are now designated (by this ZZZZZZZ-list bloggista, at least ) as Fascists and referred to as such. For example, Pete Domenici (F-NM), or Joseph Lieberman (F-CT.)

I don't have an O'Reilly-like vision of my own influence in the world, but taking this small step will make me feel a lot better. And in the face of this vote, I need something to prevent myself from drinking heavily...

Proud of Her Ignorance

I'm beginning to think that in order to be on the teevee these days, you have to have your brain surgically removed and a video of "The Teletubbies" put in its place.

What kind of a person doesn't know that the world is round these days? Well, that would be Sherri Shepherd, guesting on the controversial gabfest The View.

First, the Divine Miss Shepherd stated she did not believe in evolution (as pregnant conservabot Elizabeth Hasselbeck, sure to give birth to a monkey if there's any justice, looked on approvingly.) When Whoopi Goldberg sardonically asked her if the world was flat, here was her response:

"I don't know. I never thought about it Whoopi. Is the world flat? I never thought about ...I...I...No....But I'll tell you what I have thought about. How I'm going to feed my child, take care of my family. 'Is the world flat' has not been an important thing to me."

The worst thing about this, to me, is the arrogance and smugness of her response. Why, she's too busy putting food on her family to know whether the world is flat! When you're cooking barefoot and pumping out the Jeebus-followers, there's no damn time to think!

That preening, jiggling, moronic specimen is proud of her ignorance. My question to La Shepherd is this:

What's the point of having children if all you teach them...is how to be stupid, like Mommy?

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Action!

I got an email from Senators Patrick Leahy and Chris Dodd this morning. Surprisingly, they're not too happy about the fact that the Military Commissions Act has effectively denied Americans their right to Habeas Corpus.

From the letter:

The elimination of basic legal rights undermines, not strengthens, our ability to defeat terrorists. It is from strength that America should defend our values and our way of life. It is from the strength of our freedoms, our Constitution, and the rule of law that we can prevail. We can ensure our security without giving up our liberty.

By joining us as citizen co-sponsors, you will help us show our colleagues -- both Democrats and Republicans -- the strong support that exists for the restoration of habeas corpus rights.
This week, Congress will be voting on whether or not to restore Habeas Corpus and our Constitution. Apparently, some Congresscritters (cough cough Republics cough cough) require convincing.

Become a citizen co-sponsor and help our Senators do what's right.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Not-Lieberman!!!!

It's so nice to know that one of my nightmares will remain unrealized, despite the continuous stream of bad news that comes out of Washington these days.

The Deciderer-in-Chief, a bit bruised from the chair Harry Reid threw at him last week, has apparently decided on a nominee for Attorney General of whom leading Democrats approve. And it's...not Joe Lieberman!

Of course, there is no Bush appointee that would satisfy a rabid liberal such as myself. But Michael Mukasey is a huge improvement over Ted Olson, Joe Lieberman, or the slimy, odious Gonzales. Case in point: he actually, ya know, supports the Constitution. The incomparable Glenn Greenawald explains Judge Mukasey's laudatory actions in the Jose Padilla case.

Judge Mukasey repeatedly defied the demands of the Bush administration, ruled against them, excoriated them on multiple occasions for failing to comply with his legally issued orders, and ruled that Padilla was entitled to contest the factual claims of the government and to have access to lawyers. He issued these rulings in 2002 and 2003, when virtually nobody was defying the Bush administration on anything, let alone on assertions of executive power to combat the Terrorists. And he made these rulings in the face of what was became the standard Bush claim that unless there was complete acquiescence to all claimed powers by the President, a Terrorist attack would occur and the blood would be on the hands of those who impeded the President.
Not bad for a conservative Republic, eh?

Speaking of Hillary....

her health care plan comes out today.

From what I've read, it's thoughtful, practical, and would cover all Americans. Just what you'd expect from the good Senator. However....

I still want what Old Europe has. Kucinich is the only one who's proposing it. It's called 'single payer health insurance.' NOT FOR PROFIT, people. That's where it's at.

How long will it take to break the stranglehold the insurance industry has on our national security? That's right. For-profit insurance has caused hospital closings, a perennial, debilitating shortage of nurses, and a culture of people who make their illnesses more serious by not getting the care they need. We now have in-hospital infections that will kill you faster than the one you wanted treated. Our population is needlessly, scarily vulnerable to a massive terrorist attack of any kind, because we don't have the resources to treat the sick and wounded that would result from it.

If Dennis Kucinich were President, would he be able to implement single-payer health insurance? Would he be able to uncoil the tentacles of Big Pharma and Big Insurance from around the necks of the American people?

I don't know. But I'd sure like to see him try.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Hatin' on Hillary

Why do people hate Hillary Clinton?

I have seen such venom expressed towards the Senator from New York that it beggars belief - and not just by right-wingers. What in the world has she done to deserve this splenetic outpouring?

In my view as one of her constituents, Senator Clinton is an outstanding public servant. Although I am quite active in emailing and calling my representatives, I rarely feel the need to do so in her case, because I am secure in the knowledge that Hillary will almost always vote my interests. How many people can say that about their Congresscritters?

I know that she voted for the AUMF. So did former Senator John Edwards, and so did all the other Senators who are running for President, except for Barack Obama, who was not in the Senate at the time. Certainly, John Edwards now regrets his vote, but so does Senator Clinton. In fact, she has co-authored legislation to sunset the AUMF in October of this year, ensuring that it cannot be used as an excuse for attacking Iran. I believe that shows a deep awareness of the consequences of this legislation that none of the other candidates seem to show.

What has she done to deserve all the hatin'?

It seems obvious to me that the only real reason is that she's a woman. And in America in 2007, we still can't handle the fact that a woman could have enough ambition, intelligence and heart to be President of the United States.

Perhaps in another hundred years...

Saturday, September 15, 2007

I'm Worried, People!

Run, run in terror from the unbeatable electoral juggernaut that is....ALAN KEYES!!!! (via Eschaton)

I'm sure Barack Obama, in particular, is quite nervous about running against Keyes. After all, the Senator only beat Keyes by 43 percentage points in their last matchup! It was close. Too. close.

If I were Keyes' campaign director, my bio might go a little something like this:

The Original Comeback Kid, Alan Keyes has surged to victory in none of the elections in which he has been a candidate! Anti-gay, pro-God and insufficiently medicated, Alan Keyes' supporters include color-blind members of the KKK, Log Cabin Republicans and people who think they're going to win the lottery.

I'm hired, right?

Friday, September 14, 2007

My Bumper Sticker Philosophy


I salute my brethren and sistren who are marching this weekend in DC. I am with you in spirit...

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Why We Are So Powerless

Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day.
-- Thomas Jefferson


If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator," Bush joked.
--
CNN.com, December 18, 2000



Let's face it, the Founding Fathers of our country were incredibly prescient. One of the things they were most afraid of, having just liberated themselves from the grasp of King George, was another king. Thus, they instituted a nearly foolproof system of checks and balances. If a man with dictatorial ambitions became president, voila! The Congress would be able to stop him from doing real harm to the country. If the Congress didn't stop him, well, there was always the Supreme Court.

And of course, in the extremely unlikely event that all three branches of the government were compromised, the press would surely come to the rescue. An informed population would never consent to being railroaded into fascism.

The Bush Administration is very fond of the phrase "No one could have foreseen..." They use it for every situation, including 9/11, and usually in the most disingenuous manner.

But in their own case, they were right. No one could have foreseen the Bush Administration and their conservative allies. No one could have foreseen a decades-long, systematic takeover of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government. No one could have foreseen that this same cabal of determined corporo-fascists would also turn the media into nothing but a giant megaphone for their twisted, anti-American agenda.

And since no one had foreseen it, no one knows what to do to stop it. Extreme measures such as impeachment, or shutting down the government, appear to be the only way to end the war and stop the mad power grab of the Bush Administration. And although many members of Congress would have the courage to take these measures, the support of the dictator is so strong in Congress that every Democrat, and some Republics, would have to have the hearts of lions. And what are the chances of that?

I don't mean to say there is no hope. I do believe that we can find our way out of this terrible morass. But first, we need to recognize just how dire the situation is, and exactly why we are in it. Only then can we come together to make sure that we, the people, are never so powerless again.

Personally, I Prefer THIS Petraeus Report.

I don't know about the Deciderer, but THIS is the "general on the ground" that I'm listening to.

WASHINGTON, Sep 12 (IPS) - In sharp contrast to the lionisation of Gen. David Petraeus by members of the U.S. Congress during his testimony this week, Petraeus's superior, Admiral William Fallon, chief of the Central Command (CENTCOM), derided Petraeus as a sycophant during their first meeting in Baghdad last March, according to Pentagon sources familiar with reports of the meeting.

Fallon told Petraeus that he considered him to be "an ass-kissing little chickenshit" and added, "I hate people like that", the sources say. That remark reportedly came after Petraeus began the meeting by making remarks that Fallon interpreted as trying to ingratiate himself with a superior.
Can I just say, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

But wait - there's more. Lest you think that Fallon's objections are simply based on Petraeus' nose being firmly up the Chimp-in-chief's butt:

Fallon's derision toward Petraeus reflected both the CENTCOM commander's personal distaste for Petraeus's style of operating and their fundamental policy differences over Iraq, according to the sources.

The policy context of Fallon's extraordinarily abrasive treatment of his subordinate was Petraeus's agreement in February to serve as front man for the George W. Bush administration's effort to sell its policy of increasing U.S. troop strength in Iraq to Congress.

In a highly unusual political role for an officer who had not yet taken command of a war, Petraeus was installed in the office of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, in early February just before the Senate debated Bush's troop increase. According to a report in The Washington Post Feb. 7, senators were then approached on the floor and invited to go McConnell's office to hear Petraeus make the case for the surge policy.

Fallon was strongly opposed to Petraeus's role as pitch man for the surge policy in Iraq adopted by Bush in December as putting his own interests ahead of a sound military posture in the Middle East and Southwest Asia -- the area for which Fallon's CENTCOM is responsible.

The CENTCOM commander believed the United States should be withdrawing troops from Iraq urgently, largely because he saw greater dangers elsewhere in the region. "He is very focused on Pakistan," said a source familiar with Fallon's thinking, "and trying to maintain a difficult status quo with Iran."

By the time Fallon took command of CENTCOM in March, Pakistan had become the main safe haven for Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda to plan and carry out its worldwide operations, as well as being an extremely unstable state with both nuclear weapons and the world's largest population of Islamic extremists.
Is it even necessary to point out that Fallon is completely right, and Petraeus can't even state the mission in Iraq, much less state that the occupation is making Americans safer?

Apparently, in Bushbotonia, no reality-based generals need apply.

Blue Virginia!

Calloo, callay!

RICHMOND, Sept. 12 -- Former Virginia governor Mark R. Warner will announce today that he is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican John W. Warner, setting the stage for one of the most competitive races in the country next year, according to sources familiar with his decision.

Warner, 52, a self-described moderate Democrat, will make his announcement in an e-mail to supporters Thursday but won't formally begin his campaign until after the state legislative races in November, according to the sources, who spoke directly with Warner.

Democrats in Virginia and nationally have been courting Warner in the hope that his entry in next year's race would help them retain their majority in the Senate. If Warner succeeded, Virginia would have two Democratic senators for the first time since 1970.
Long, long ago, I thought Mark Warner would have made a wonderful candidate for President, but he decided not to run. Perhaps he was aware of the impending retirement of Senator John Warner?

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Cold War III - Now with Better-Looking Dictators!

Thank the Giant Green Lizard we've already won the War on Terror(TM), because it's now time to prepare for...Cold War III (This Time They're Angry!).
MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin has dissolved the Russian government on the request of the prime minister, the Kremlin said Wednesday, a major political shakeup that comes less than three months before crucial parliamentary elections.

In announcing the dissolution, Putin said "indeed the country is now approaching parliamentary elections, which will lead to presidential election. You may be right that we all must think about how to build the power structure so that it better corresponds to the pre-election period and prepares the country for the time after the parliamentary elections and after presidential elections."

Earlier, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said he made the decision to request the government's dissolution based on "the approaching major political events in the country and a desire to give the president full freedom in making decisions, including personnel."

The shakeup comes ahead of crucial parliamentary elections scheduled for Dec. 2, followed some three months later by presidential elections.

The dissolution is expected to result in a new head of government, who will be seen as Putin's choice to succeed him after he steps down next spring.


Thanks, neocons, for turning our entire world back 40 years. We've got Vietnam going on and Russia is becoming a terrifying nuclear power once more.

Let's hope our very own Dictatoror doesn't get any ideas from his bestest buddy Pooty-Poot.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Remember 9/11?

As I walked through the streets of my town over the weekend, I saw signs advertising an event to memorialize the attacks of September 11th, 2001. I immediately thought, "Why?"

Is there any American, anywhere, that does not remember 9/11? Of course not. The events of that day have been forever burned into our minds by a media and administration bent on keeping us terrified and submissive to their anti-American, fascist, neo-con agendas. Using 9/11 as a cudgel, Bush and his cabal have beaten our plowshares into swords and our Constitution into pulp.

What we need to do is FORGET 9/11. Or at least, put it into some perspective - yes, we were attacked by a terrorist, a non-state actor, but it has happened before, and we responded with appropriate, law-enforcement measures. I understand that 3,000 Americans were killed, and it is a tragedy. But did we really have the right to use our outrage and grief to justify acts of atrocity - shock and awe, Abu Ghraib, hundreds of thousands of dead civilians, depleted uranium - against a nation that never attacked us? Meanwhile, George Bush has killed more Americans than Osama bin Laden.

Does anyone remember the exact day the World Trade Center was bombed during the Clinton years? No. We do remember that the perpetrators that were known at the time, were caught and are imprisoned for life.

But we cannot forget 9/11. The World Trade Center site remains unhealed. Osama Bin Laden remains uncaught. And Al Qaeda is stronger than ever, thanks to our moronic neo-conservative intervention in Iraq and our failure in Afghanistan. Let's not forget that other, non-nuclear nations in the Middle East, like Iran, are now desperately trying to prevent us from attacking them by rushing to speed up their nuclear programs. Can you really blame them, when Bush and Cheney have their fingers on the proverbial button?

No, we don't need to remember 9/11. We need to remember who we were before 9/11, when our foreign policy was focused on diplomacy, and our domestic policy was focused, for the most part, on improving the lives of working Americans, rather than turning billionaires into trillionaires. We need to take back our country for the pre-9/11 thinkers. Only then will we join other nations in moving towards a freer, more progressive, more peaceful 21st century.

The "Report" Formerly Known As Petraeus

General David Petraeus (if that IS his real name!) testifies today instead of September 11th, as was intended by Fear and Loathing, Inc. He will be giving the party line on the escalation, pretending that it is "working." And that will be the end of the much-ballyhooed excuse for Bush and the Republics to roadblock on withdrawing from Iraq.

Unless Iraq became a functioning democracy last night, and the civil war and the insurgency have both ended, I don't see how the Bush Administration can claim "success" in Iraq on any front. We don't even have the oil we came to steal yet! Of course, the non-doctored GAO report that was recently leaked to the media showed that the occupation has been a complete disaster, and that the escalation did not give the government time to build consensus and calm down the population. Quelle surprise.

We took a country that, while run by a dictator, was functioning and hostile to Islamic fundamentalism - supposedly the greatest enemy EVAH! - and have converted it into a seething cauldron of sectarian violence and terrorism. Heckuva job, Bush!

This is the letter I wrote to my Congresscritters today:


I would like to say that the American people are with you, not with Bush, Petraeus and the Republicans. We support YOU and we want you to end this occupation immediately. Please, please use your power of the purse and do not give Bush any more money for Iraq. It is wrong, politically and morally, for one more person to be killed for oil, ego and a failed neo-conservative dream of American world domination.

The Democrats want to end the war, but many are afraid to take drastic measures to do so - such as shutting down any funds to the government until Bush and the Republics agree to a withdrawal date, or begin impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney. We need to send our representatives our support, to give them the strength to go further than anyone should have to go to end this war.

Reasonable measures do not work with sociopaths. It's time to swing the big stick.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Light Posting This Weekend

Being 40 is...hard work!

(Okay, so I've been partying for two days. Sue me.)

I'd just like to say, however, that I feel soooooooo privileged that yet another uninteresting, unprincipled and unqualified Republic candidate entered the 2008 field on my birthday.

And there was much rejoicing...from the 200 people who came to see him in Iowa.

Snicker.

No wonder Ron Paul won the Republic debate on Fox News. He may be a rather extreme libertarian, but at least he says some things that don't sound like they came out of KKKarl Rove's mouth.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Intelligence

Remember how the reason we got everything wrong in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq was bad, naughty, nasty intelligence, and how George Tenet was the most incompetent "Medal of Freedom" winner ever?

Well, maybe it wasn't quite as black and white as all that.

Months before the Iraq invasion, President Bush apparently ignored a 2002 Oval Office briefing in which CIA director George Tenet provided the president with intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction, according to former Clinton advisor and Salon columnist Sidney Blumenthal.

[snip]

Blumenthal also adds that the intelligence from that day was left out of the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002, which definitively stated that had WMD.

"The president had no interest in the intelligence," a CIA officer disclosed. "Bush didn't give a fuck about the intelligence. He had his mind made up."

"No one in Congress was aware of the secret intelligence that Saddam had no WMD as the House of Representatives and the Senate voted, a week after the submission of the NIE, on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq," Blumenthal writes. "The information, moreover, was not circulated within the CIA among those agents involved in operations to prove whether Saddam had WMD."

Blumenthal's sources confirm a 2006 interview with the CIA's chief of clandestine operations for Europe, Tyler Drumheller, who told CBS's 60 Minutes that the his agency had received intelligence from Saddam Hussein's foreign minister, Naji Sabri, indicating Iraq possessed no WMD.

"[The two former CIA officers] have confirmed Drumheller's account to me and provided the background to the story of how the information that might have stopped the invasion of Iraq was twisted in order to justify it," Blumenthal reports. "They described what Tenet said to Bush about the lack of WMD, and how Bush responded, and noted that Tenet never shared Sabri's intelligence with then Secretary of State Colin Powell."

Powell would later present US evidence justifying the preemptive invasion of Iraq to the United Nations--without knowledge of the Sabri information.
Congress didn't have the intelligence. Colin Powell didn't have the intelligence. All they saw was cherry-picked reportage that confirmed the war cheerleaders' propaganda.

Apparently, the 'lack of intelligence'...was Bush's.

And that, I'm sure, surprises no one.

Farewell, Luciano

One of the world's most beloved and gifted tenors has passed into Opera Heaven. (Opera Heaven is where all great singers go when they die, according to my personal mythology.)

Pavarotti's charismatic personna and ebullient showmanship — but most of all his creamy and powerful voice — made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since the great Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar.

For serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti's voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory, especially in the 1960s and '70s when he first achieved stardom. For millions more, his thrilling performances of standards like "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot" came to represent what opera is all about.
I had the incredible experience of seeing Pavarotti as Riccardo in Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" at the Metropolitan Opera. To describe his voice is impossible for me - all I know is that compared to the other stars onstage, his voice was completely present, as if he was using a megaphone. The emotions his glorious vocalism provoked were direct and instantaneous. He was truly one of the greats.

Click here for a YouTube video of Signor Pavarotti's signature aria, "Nessun Dorma." Just try not to cry. I dare ya!

Farewell, Luciano. You will surely be one of the most beautiful and cherished voices in Opera Heaven.

40 and Fabulous!!!

Happy birthday to me, dammit!!!



And a belated "welcome back" to our Congresscritters. It's going to be a very interesting month....

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Is He Crazy?

Okay, I know that Arlen Specter said Senator Larry Craig should fight for...something.

Senator Arlen Specter said Idaho Republican Larry Craig should try to withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct in connection with an incident in an airport men's room and fight the case.

"I think he could be vindicated," Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on the "Fox News Sunday" program.

Specter, of Pennsylvania, said that Craig "hasn't resigned" from the Senate, only that he "intends to resign" as of Sept. 30. That gives Craig a month to fight the case in court, Specter said. If the case went to trial, Specter said Craig "wouldn't be convicted of anything."
Look. When you are in an oppressed minority, as gay men of a certain age feel they are, and you're doing something at the very least sleazy, and in the case of Minnesota law, illegal, you develop little signals that clue in your partners in crime that you are one of them. You tap your foot, you stare into their stall for two minutes, you touch their foot in the stall, you run your hand under the stall divider.

The policeman who was responding to complaints of public sex in that restroom was looking for those particular signals. When Senator Craig gave enough of them, the law was broken, and the police officer presented his police badge. Done, finito, buh-bye, Senator.

What exactly does Senator Craig think he's winning by saying he's not ruling out pursuing the legal case?

In the best possible scenario, would Cher come to his trial and scream, "This man is not gay! I swear it! He doesn't own any of my records!" Would his Republic colleagues suddenly apologize for their relentless insistence on his guilt, admitting that they're not exactly paragons of sexual morality themselves? (Paging David Vitter!) Would the Washington Post print "LARRY CRAIG IS INNOCENT!!!" across their front page in 64-point type?

No. None of those things would happen. Instead, the trial would be more and more sordid as past scandals surfaced; his family that he professes to care about (his three children are adopted, by the way) would be subjected to more media scrutiny; and he certainly wouldn't be back in the Senate doing the job he claims to prize.

Is he crazy? Or is the Republic Senator from Idaho an egomaniacal, not-too-bright man who will protect his pseudo-heterosexuality at any cost?

Does it matter? Probably not. But it is fascinating to contemplate.

Monday, September 3, 2007

A Silver Lining

There may be an upside to Senator Craig's recent public disgrace and resignation - it shows that the outrage over his gayness is coming almost exclusively from the Republics and their followers.

Which means that most of the population DOESN'T CARE ABOUT TEH GAY.

The reaction to Democratic New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey's public coming-out was, as reported at the time, a collective shrug. Overwhelmingly, New Jersey residents felt his sexuality was his business - what they were upset about was the fact that he was using his power as Governor to reward his lover with a highly-paid job for which the lover was not qualified.

Of course, New Jersey is a liberal state, but national statistics on gay rights issues are encouraging. After all, we all know someone who's gay, and we all love someone who's gay, whether we know it or not.

It seems that Americans are starting to realize that ostracizing and punishing people for being themselves is NOT a moral value. And that might just be a silver lining.