How long would Diebold sell ATMs with this feature, and of course, NO paper trail?

“Diebold has made the testing and certification process practically irrelevant,” according to Dechert. “If you have access to these machines and you want to rig an election, anything is possible with the Diebold TS -- and it could be done without leaving a trace. All you need is a screwdriver.” This model does not produce a voter verified paper trail so there is no way to check if the voter’s choices are accurately reflected in the tabulation."

Read the rest at Booman

"The world is pissed and saying so"

Danny Schecter
Day 18: Bush Blinks

"The United States seems to have suddenly backed down and modified its policy. Bush Blinked. Condi Rice was dispatched back to the Middle East for a second visit. She arrives today and will muscle Israel tonight. She was ordered to back down on her demand for a stall in a ceasefire in the name of a so-called “sustainable settlement.”

That posture suffered a humiliating rejection by the nations meeting in Rome and you can bet there has been growing behind the scenes pressure from among others the UK, Saudia Arabia, China, Russia and just about every Arab state and Muslim Nation. No one but Israel boosters, neo cons and miitary meshuganers are supporting the bloodletting anymore.

The world is pissed and saying so."

Finally...

It's Sunday so read this...

Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock

That damn' news is biased!

Actually it seems to depend on how fervently you hold your views, and from which side of the great divide you view the news.

Read 'Two Views of the Same News Find Opposite Biases'


Of course, that's probably biased too...

The news has been so wretched lately...

...that I returned to this article, and find myself wondering that if the universe actually became aware, if it's first reaction would be the cosmic equivalent to putting a finger down it's throat.

Here are three posts at the Whiskey Bar

A stream of consiousness on the Israeli-Hezbolla-Libia-Syria-Iran clusterfuck by Billmon.

The Definition of Losing

A Parting of the Ways

and

The Debacle

What Does the Christian Right Want?

You really need to go here and read.
Then follow the links to the original articles.

Well, what did you expect?

Go here read it.

Which will you save? The Baby or the freezer?

Dave Johnson at 'Seeing The Forrest':

"I don't know if you have heard this pro-choice and pro-stem-cell-research riddle: Suppose there is a fire at a fertility clinic. In one room is a freezer with 100 embryos. In another room is a baby. Now, suppose you have only enough time to enter ONE room. Do you save the baby, or the freezer?"

He goes on to say
"Here's what I want you to do. There is an election coming. In your local Congressional districts, please show up at a "meet the candidate" event and ASK the Republican candidate if they would save the baby or the freezer. Demand a clear answer. Write letters to you local newspaper's "letters to the editor" asking the Republican candidate to put their answer on the record - baby or freezer?"

Will someone please ask Asa this question?

Economic Talking Points for Democrats Part 2

I have posted on this subject before, here.

And Bonddad makes reference to that too.

"According to a recent NPR poll, the economy is the second most important issue in competitive districts. Only that little thing in Iraq is more important. So – maybe you should start talking about the incredibly poor performance of Bush’s economic policies for everybody except the top 10% of income earners in the country? Last week, I gave you three points to make over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. I even backed up all of my assertions with those silly things called facts – which are optional in Republican economic discourse. In case you forget them, here they are:

WORST RATE OF JOB CREATION IN 40 YEARS

BUSH’S JOBS PAY $9000 LESS PER YEAR

WORKING PEOPLE HAVEN’T HAD A PAY RAISE IN 5 YEARS"

Read the rest of the post at My Left Wing

Israel and the The "hiding among civilians" myth

"Israel claims it's justified in bombing civilians because Hezbollah mingles with them. In fact, the militant group doesn't trust its civilians and stays as far away from them as possible."

"analysts talking on cable news about Hezbollah "hiding within the civilian population" clearly have spent little time if any in the south Lebanon war zone and don't know what they're talking about. Hezbollah doesn't trust the civilian population and has worked very hard to evacuate as much of it as possible from the battlefield. And this is why they fight so well -- with no one to spy on them, they have lots of chances to take the Israel Defense Forces by surprise, as they have by continuing to fire rockets and punish every Israeli ground incursion."

"And the civilians? They see themselves as targeted regardless of their affiliation. They are enraged at Israel and at the United States, the only two countries on earth not calling for an immediate cease-fire. Lebanese of all persuasions think the United States and Israel believe that Lebanese lives are cheaper than Israeli ones. And many are now saying that they want to fight."

Read the article

Does anyone remember- Iraq?

Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory:

"For the media, new wars are always more exciting than old wars, but the Israel-Lebanon war is not (yet) "our war," despite the zealous dreams of American warmongers. What is very much our war is the true disaster taking place in Iraq. What is going on there is not just devastating for Iraqis -- although it is very much that -- but for American national security as well. And yet the proponents of this war seem to be eager to simply forget the whole thing and just move on to their next little project, blithely accepting the fact that Iraq is going to be engulfed by civil war and anarchy and that there is not much we can do about it."

"It really seems as though the "plan" now in Iraq is just to step back and allow the whole country to collapse. That impression is strongly bolstered by the fact that war proponents seem eager to ignore Iraq and focus on other matters just as the civil war and destruction of that country seems to be reaching the point of no return. War proponents continuously argued that chaos, violence and instability in Iraq would be a grave threat to American security and a great ally of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. And yet exactly that situation has resulted from our invasion, and now the proponents of the war -- and apparently much of the media -- want to just forget about all of that."

More here

The Newspeak of John Bolton

From the Frameshop:

"'Newspeak,' is a term used George Orwell's political novel 1984 (published in 1949) and also in an earlier essay Orwell wrote caled 'Politics And The English Language.' it means, roughly: words and phrases that people in power create and use with the specific goal of masking the truth of government action."

"What was Bolton hiding in these statements about the Middle East? The answer is not hard to find: The Bush administration is talking about 'peace,' but in fact they are quite interested--if not satisfied--with the current 'war.' If you want war, but need the American public to think you want peace--get John Bolton on the phone. He has all the newspeak you need to mask your true intent."

More here

Gore Vidal intervied in 'The Progressive'

By David Barsamian

August 2006 Issue
The Progressive

"Vidal: The people don’t matter to this gang. They pay no attention. They think in totalitarian terms. They’ve got the troops. They’ve got the army. They’ve got Congress. They’ve got the judiciary. Why should they worry? Let the chattering classes chatter. Bush is a thug. I think there is something really wrong with him."

"Q: Today the United States is fighting two wars, one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, and is now threatening to launch a third one on Iran. What is it going to take to stop the Bush onslaught?

Vidal: Economic collapse. We are too deeply in debt. We can’t service the debt, or so my financial friends tell me, that’s paying the interest on the Treasury bonds, particularly to the foreign countries that have been financing us. I think the Chinese will say the hell with you and pull their money out of the United States. That’s the end of our wars."

"...our media has collapsed. They’ve questioned no one. One of the reasons Bush and Cheney are so daring is that they know there’s nobody to stop them. Nobody is going to write a story that says this is not a war, only Congress can declare war. And you can only have a war with another country. You can’t have a war with bad temper or a war against paranoids. Nothing makes any sense, and the people are getting very confused. The people are not stupid, but they are totally misinformed."

There is a lot more here

McCain: That straight talkin' guy.

"Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) likes to joke that the campaign-finance reform measure that bears his name is so well-known that a large part of the country thinks his first name is "McCain." As it turns out, that may not be a problem anymore."

"When the New York Sun asked for an explanation, McCain's office refused comment. But "several people involved in discussions about the legislation" said McCain will probably abandon the public-financing system during his 2008 campaign, so he had to give up on a measure he's championed for years to avoid hypocrisy."

So, what else has McCain given up on?
More at The Carpetbagger.

The day we do this is the day America dies.

"the Bush administration is proposing legislation that would allow the government to discard the protections under the Bill of Rights to which you are entitled should someone in federal law enforcement determine you are a terror threat "

"Would making nasty references to the administration on your blog qualify? We generally assume that the answer would be a resounding "NO!" to those questions, but can you be sure? For example, we know that innocent people can be put on the government's terror watch list for "acting suspiciously" during a domestic or international flight, merely so some US Air Marshals can meet their monthly quotas."

More

Who determines if you are a risk? It certainly won't be you.

If The Ten Commandments Really Were the Foundation of US Laws

Mark at Spittle & Ink lays out a table showing:
Commandment, Current status as Federal US Law and Law if the US really was based on the Ten Commandments.

Read it

Simmering rage within the GOP

WTF is it Now?
Read it

How is encroaching totalitarianism like a trip to Boulder?

"The gradualness of the transitions between your starting point and each station along the way are so easy, and the internal adjustment you make to each point so subtle, that you never notice that your brain is starving and hallucinating a little more each minute. You're getting stupider and stupider while your internal monitors are telling you that you're fine."

"Or maybe even getting smarter, until you find yourself walking naked through 3-foot drifts of snow, or believing that there really were WMDs in Iraq, or that Saddam really did plan 9/11, or that outing CIA spies during a time of war is acceptable, or that massive warrantless wiretapping of American citizens is a great idea, or that constant and escalating Presidential lying is A-OK…for reasons that seem perfectly valid at the moment."

A simple parable from Driftglass

This will not go down as the Israeli military's finest hour.

The simple reason is that Hezbolla is eating their lunch. For Israel to win they must totally defeat(as in completely destroy) Hezbollah. On the other hand, all Hezbollah has to do, is remain standing. And when the Israelis are the best recruiters for Hezbollah... Well, you get the picture.

Digby: "For Israel and the US it couldn't be worse. They have systematically chipped away at any moral authority they had while demonstrating that their military, diplomatic and economic power are paper tigers. What an excellent strategy for all concerned. Oh, and too bad about all the dead bodies that have been produced to create that sad outcome. "

Winning those hearts and minds. Oh, yeah.

New York Times:
Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah

"the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements."

"The Saudi royal family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who were initially more worried about the rising power of Shiite Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington."

They are figting harder because they know they are losing.

At Pen and Sword:
"For a long time, I dismissed much of the administration's self contradictory rhetoric as garden-variety political blather. But I started getting worried back in summer of 2005 when young Mister Bush said of the terrorists, "I think they're losing. That's why they're still fighting."

"That's when it hit me. This "still fighting because they're losing" business wasn't just some misstatement that belly-flopped its way off the end of Mister Bush's tongue. It was a carefully crafted talking point invented at a conservative think tank and blessed by Karl Rove for distribution to the administration's anointed echo chamberlains. "

"And I realized that the core essence of the neoconservative cabal is out-and-out March Hare madness. "

Helluva reputation we've earned.

"Construction of a children's hospital championed by first lady
Laura Bush has been put on hold after it fell behind schedule and went over budget, one of dozens of halted or delayed U.S. health projects, Iraqi health officials said Friday. "

"This comes as a sharp contrast to the Japanese," Ali said. "They have promised and delivered 13 hospitals around the country, including three cutting-edge cancer centers. The Japanese have been very faithful to us, unfortunately, the Americans aren't like that."

Read it

Bolton lies. And who is surprized?

Bolton wants to blame the screw-up in North Korea on, who else, Bill Clinton. (Damn, Bill was a busy boy!)

See:Bolton Lies; Righties Confused

The war on terror ought to now officially be renamed the "terrorist creation program."

"Because that is exactly what these half-assed, piss poor planning jobs from George Bush and his neocon cabal have been foisting on all of us. "

"Yep, that’s right. We’re creating our enemies faster than Saddam ever could have done so. This is Osama Bin Laden’s wet dream, and George Bush is handing it to him like an Adam and Eve bonus box. Our biggest hope was that moderate Muslims — which were the majority of Muslims according to every report I’ve read in and around 9/11 and in the couple of years afterward — would somehow pull things back from the brink from inside "

Christy Hardin Smith - Go, Read, Seethe!

MSNBC online poll with more than 250,000 responses - over 86% believe Bush should be impeached

Here

More on Sibel Edmonds. I wonder what we'll find when we can follow the money.

This is the first paragraph of "Is the Turkish Mafia Mucking Around in America?"
by Mike Mejia at No Quarter


"French filmmaker Mathieu Verboud is set to release a new documentary for European television this fall, which will reveal important new insights into the case of former FBI translator and president of the National Security Whistleblower’s Coalition Sibel Edmonds. Edmonds, a Turkish-American whose wrongful termination lawsuit was suppressed by the government’s invocation of the all-too-common “state secrets privilege”, reported to her superiors espionage and deliberate mistranslations on the part of fellow Turkish translator, Melek Can Dickerson. It seems Ms. Dickerson had relationships with targets of FBI investigation working at the Turkish Embassy and the American Turkish Council, a fact which meant that anything she translated was likely to be false. However, instead of receiving a promotion for bringing Ms. Dickerson’s’ espionage to the attention of her bosses, Edmonds was fired after she went in frustration to the U.S. Senate. The FBI refused to investigate Edmonds’ claims, at least in part, because the contract linguist had discovered quite a messy scandal: the content of the mistranslated documents revealed that some very powerful people in the U.S. government, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, were connected to foreign organized crime. Even worse, these foreign criminals connected to the high and mighty in the U.S. were also connected internationally, through the heroin trade and associated money laundering, to international terrorist organizations like al Qaeda."
(emphasis mine)

That's a grabber, isn't it? Read the post to see if you need a tinfoil skullcap... or not.

The question seems not to be when to impeach him, but when does the revolt begin.

The Existentialst Cowboy:

"Pressured by his own party, Nixon spent a night talking to portraits and getting down on his knees in prayer with an embarrassed Henry Kissinger. By night's end, as the story goes, Nixon had had an epiphany. He would resign.



What brought him to a night of prayer was his decision to comply with an order of the US Supreme Court to turn over the secret recordings of his Oval Office conversations. They were notable for what was missing: an 18 minute gap, and also what was present: a tape recorded "smoking gun" in which then White House Counsel John Dean had warned Nixon of a "cancer on the Presidency".


But, Bush —Dean points out —is not Nixon. In the same or a similar situation, Bush will not budge. Bush will defy the Supreme Court of the United States. In doing so, America will no longer have the legal recourse of removal; impeachment will be a dead issue. If impeached, Bush will not leave the office. Having subverted every protection afforded the people by our founders, Bush will leave us no choice but slavery under a dictatorship or a popular uprising. Bush will leave us, therefore, no choice but revolution. "

Read the post

Define Prisoners of War.

"Bring 'em on," the man said three years ago. "We've got the force necessary to deal with the security situation" . . .

"...Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday extended the tours of some 3,500 members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. It was scheduled to be leaving now, but instead, most of its 3,900 troops will serve for up to four more months."

Swopa at Needlenose

Now That's what I'd call prisoners of war.

It's the Oil, Stupid!

Blood in Beirut: $75.05 a Barrel

"The failure to stop the bloodletting in the Middle East, Exxon’s record second-quarter profits and Iran’s nuclear cat-and-mouse game have something in common — it’s the oil."

That's how Greg Palast leads his article.
He muses,
"Am I saying that Tehran, Riyadh and Houston oil chieftains conspired to ignite a war to boost their petroleum profits? I can’t imagine it. But I do wonder if Bush would let Olmert have an extra week of bombings, or if the potentates of the Persian Gulf would allow Hamas and Hezbollah to continue their deadly fireworks if it caused the price of crude to crash. You know and I know that if this war took a bite out of Exxon or the House of Saud, a ceasefire would be imposed quicker than you can say, “Let’s drill in the Arctic.”

Read the article

Damn fine job there, Bushie!

Digby posts an Iraq scorecard. (So that we can see how well things are going there)

We're Killing the planet so that Exxon can have record profits.

Sounds like a HELL of a bargain to me.

"DALLAS - Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday it earned $10.36 billion in the April-June period, the second largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company."

"GRANTS PASS, Ore. – Bottom fish and crabs washing up dead on Oregon beaches are being killed by a recurring "dead zone" of low-oxygen water that appears to be triggered by global warming, scientists say."

Wonderful. Read more.

It must be 'librul' propaganda.

NPR: Poll Suggests GOP Control of House Is Tenuous

"On the question of which party would do a better job on "values issues," like stem-cell research, flag-burning and gay marriage, Democrats prevailed by their biggest margin in the entire poll: 51 percent to 37 percent."

"And when we list values issues like stem-cell research, flag-burning and gay marriage, these are the issues that Republicans took the initiative, used their control in Congress to get on the air to be voting on, to be talking about," Greenberg says. "What this says: By 13 points, voters say they are more likely to vote Democratic because of hearing about these issues. Which suggests that the strategy of using the Congress to get out the base is one that's driving away a lot of voters."

Read more

It must be a bitch when you are a right-winger and find yourself admitting that those 'wussy' lefties were correct, all along

White House speechwriter David Frum (who coined the 'Cut and Run' refrain) now finds himself expressing opinions sounding suspiciously like those of John Murtha.

NBC/WSJ poll: The nation is going to hell in a handbasket.

Read the article

(Thanks Jim)

I said earlier that I think that the era of conventional war is over

I said earlier that I think that the era of conventional war is over... Never thought I'd be citing Tom Friedman.

"When the world is flat," Friedman explained to Tim Russert , "everybody's really got access to the same tools... which give them more and more equal power to innovate, operate, communicate and, unfortunately, destroy. So the real question, then, the real variable, is what imagination you bring to those tools."

Read more at Huffington.

Isn't it great to live in the land of the relativly free?

Clever, those Bushies! Protecting us from those nasty ole' terrorists. Soon Bin Laden won't hate our freedom. Because we won't have any!

"You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they're reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it.

The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments. "

Read more

Write letters, call calls!

This is about Arlen Specter’s Bill S.2453. This bill would essentially forgive(!) Bush's spying and give cover from here on out. If you value youe freedom, call or write.

More information here

Hard to put a shine on the Bush - Maliki news conference

And there it floats in the punch bowl...

Maliki's Testy Visit: Is This What Our Troops Are Dying For?

Larry Johnson again...

"The Israeli military would be well advised to study the U.S. failure to dislodge the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong from the Iron Triangle in Vietnam. If you have not heard the names “Cedar Falls” and “Junction City” it is time to get out your history books."

Failing to Learn the Lessons of Vietnam in Lebanon and Iraq

by Larry C Johnson

Maybe we could get Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to run as a democrat in this country.

This is how 2000, and 2004 should have been handled.

What is Hezbollah up to?

I'm beginning to think that the era of conventional war is just about over.
That really shouldn't be such a surprize to us in the USA. After all, that's how we won independence from England's King George. It's not a good time to be attempting to be the King George of the 21st century.

"Nasrallah (leader of Hezbollah) is under no illusions that his small guerrilla movement can defeat the Israeli Army. But he can lose militarily and still score a political victory, particularly if the Israelis continue visiting suffering on Lebanon, whose government, as they well know, is powerless to control Hezbollah. Nasrallah, whom the Israelis attempted to assassinate on July 19 with a twenty-three-ton bomb attack on an alleged Hezbollah bunker, is doubtless aware that he may share the fate of his predecessor, Abbas Musawi, who was killed in an Israeli helicopter gunship attack in 1992. But Hezbollah outlived Musawi and grew exponentially, thanks in part to its followers' passion for martyrdom. To some, Nasrallah's raid may look like a death wish. But it is almost impossible to defeat someone who has no fear of death. "
...more

Israel caught Hezbolla, now what are they going to do with it.

"Hawkish pundits in Israel and the United States are celebrating the move by Sunni regimes in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan to take an anti-Hezbollah line in the current conflict. This is blinkered and short-sighted. Popular sentiment in all three states is running sharply against Israel and in favor of its adversaries. Osama bin Laden's longtime contention that the United States, Israel, and the Arab world's homegrown autocrats have banded together in an anti-Muslim conspiracy are seemingly vindicated by these events. Nothing threatens American interests more in the long run than actions which push the Islamic world's masses into the arms of the extremists. That is precisely the main effect of this incursion. "

Friendly Advice from Matthew Yglesias

Let's put Jesse James (no, not that one!) in charge of the ballot box.

"Jesse James was reportedly asked why he robbed banks and he replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” Some things are so blindingly obvious, it’s funny to be reminded.

Another obvious association would be elections and political power. Try asking your least favorite politician why he steals elections and, like Jesse James, he’ll say, “Because that’s where the power is.” Right?"

" We’re now in an age of vote counting done by corporate trade secret software. This makes elections the secret, private property of the corporation chosen by the government officials who “won” the last election. With this secret vote counting, nobody can prove the totals correct, and the public can’t even peek."

...So what do we do? Why, use the Jesse James Principle, of course!

A whole 'administration' of empty suits.

"After seeing Bolten eviscerated by Tim Russert on Meet the Press this morning, I can say with some confidence that he's not only an empty suit, but he's also, like President Russia is big and so is China Bush, patently unqualified to be handling what's commonly referred to as "national issues." Nor will his appearance ameliorate the incompetence meme."

It makes you wonder if it there is something contageous, or is it just that slime attracts slime...

Read the post.
Russert Watch: You're Doing A Heckuva Job, Yosh!

I never said I was a writer...

All I intend to do is to point thoughtful people to some of the powerful ideas of the inhabitants of the blogosphere. Lately, it has been a feast. Although the object of the 'feast' is foul, rotten and obscene. That would be, of course, the current 'administration'.

Going again to Firedoglake for yet another convenient compilation of incompetence and corruption.

A potential catastrophic bloodbath in the offing in the middle east

"American troops all over central and northern Iraq are supplied with fuel, food, and ammunition by truck convoy from a supply base hundreds of miles away in Kuwait. All but a small amount of our soldiers’ supplies come into the country over roads that pass through the Shiite-dominated south of Iraq . . .

Southern Iraq is thoroughly infiltrated by Iranian special operations forces working with Shiite militias, such as Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army and the Badr Brigades. Hostilities between Iran and the United States or a change in attitude toward US forces on the part of the Baghdad government could quickly turn the supply roads into a "shooting gallery" 400 to 800 miles long."

Does that get your attention? It should. The odds are 140,000 to 35 million, and I don't care what kind of weapons you have, that ain't good. Especially when your weapons depend on that long fragile supply line.

Christy at Firedoglake has compiled a number of sources into one hair raising post.

Read it

Digby combines his thought with some of Maureen Dowd's latest.

Sustainable

In which digby notes that everyone in the mid-east is unable to apply the brakes. Not even Israel. It all seems to live a life of it's own now.
Will Bush and his Sweet Neo-cons ever recognize what he's done to the U.S. as well as the rest of the world?

Read it.

Wonder how the right-wingers will cover this one?

Mr. Buckley, 81, still continues to contribute a regular column to the conservative National Review, the magazine he started 51 years ago.
CBS interviewed him and this story resulted.

Buckley: Bush Not A True Conservative

In Exclusive Interview, Buckley Criticizes President For Interventionist Policies

NASA! Say it Ain't so!

I guess there was a little too much science in NASA for Shrub and his puppeteers...

NASA’s Goals Delete Mention of Home Planet

By ANDREW C. REVKIN

Published: July 22, 2006

From 2002 until this year, NASA’s mission statement, prominently featured in its budget and planning documents, read: “To understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe and search for life; to inspire the next generation of explorers ... as only NASA can.”

In early February, the statement was quietly altered, with the phrase “to understand and protect our home planet” deleted. In this year’s budget and planning documents, the agency’s mission is “to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.”

Read all

John Brummett gets a hearing In Booman.

There are several schools of thought on what Democrats should do to win elections in the south, and about what Northern Democrats should think about those strategies. I mean, we know we don't need to see these southern strategies in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, but what about in Oklahoma and Arkansas. My answer to the question involves moving away from DLC pro-corporatism towards a much more populist brand of politics. Not anti-Wall Street exactly, just pro little guy. But, even then, it ain't so simple. What if they ask you about gay adoption for example? I mean shit. Should you be honest and say who the fuck cares? Let's see what an Arkansas liberal has to say.

Charles Barkley: “I was a Republican - until they lost their minds”

Read this at Crooks & Liars

Soon, I don't think we'll have Iraq to kick around.

Opinion piece by Arthur Silber featuring this, from Reuters.

"Iraqi leaders have all but given up on holding the country together and, just two months after forming a national unity government, talk in private of "black days" of civil war ahead.

Signalling a dramatic abandonment of the U.S.-backed project for Iraq, there is even talk among them of pre-empting the worst bloodshed by agreeing to an east-west division of Baghdad into Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim zones, senior officials told Reuters."

I guess apologies are better than nothing. Which is what we are getting form Rush, O'Liely, Malkin, etc.

Cenk Uygur: We were right.

Bush's nifty 'Fan Diplomacy'

Let's Side With Israel and Say We Didn't
How to root for one side and pretend to be disintrested
Read it here

Bush can't handle the truth. But it WILL bite him in the ass one of these days.

Unfortunately, it will have bitten all of us, first.

On the day Harry Reid declared Civil War in Iraq, we learn that our Intelligence Czar, the Reagan era, Central American war criminal, John Negroponte, has blocked the Central Intelligence Agency from producing a new, long overdue, National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq.

Why?

Because the CIA is ready to call Iraq what it is: a gigantic Clusterfuck that has devolved into full blown Civil War, but Negroponte won’t let the CIA give their analysis because he, “doesn't want the president to have to deal with that.”

Read the post

Our Moral president strikes again.

"The President shall provide to the Congress a report detailing the estimated costs over the period from fiscal year 2006 to 2011 of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, or any related military operations in and around Iraq and Afghanistan, and the estimated costs of reconstruction, internal security, and related economic support to Iraq and Afghanistan… the report referenced above shall be submitted no later than January 1, 2005."

He didn't He decided that laws only apply to others.

If you need something to worry about besides global warming, the middle east or the loss of democratic government in the U.S...

Here's Molly Ivins.
This should reassure you about the financial well being of our country.

Sure is good to be the good guys!"

Soldiers Say Ordered to Kill Young Men
"Four U.S. soldiers accused of murdering suspected insurgents during a raid in Iraq said they were under orders to "kill all military age males," according to sworn statements obtained by The Associated Press.

more

Larry Johnson - Lebanon--The Rut Becomes A Grave

"Israel's latest offensive to root out and destroy Hezbollah probably will fail and in the process will ignite a new round of international terrorist attacks that will put the United State squarely in the crosshairs. It is as if we are watching a plane crash in slow motion."
Read it

Join the "War Against Terror-able diseases"

The Daily Show.
See it

I say again, " Aren't things going swimingly in the ME?"

Perhaps not.

"This is what failure looks like: "Iraq as a political project is finished," a top government official told Reuters -- anonymously."
Booman


"Republican lawmakers acknowledge that it is no longer tenable to say the news media are ignoring the good news in Iraq and painting an unfair picture of the war."
Crooks & Liars

Answer these questions President 'Morality'. And coherently, if you please.

Oh, I forgot... co·her·ent (k-hîrnt, -hr-) adj. Marked by an orderly, logical, and aesthetically consistent relation of parts: a coherent essay.
co·herent·ly adv.

...Damn.

adv. - Adverb

1. The part of speech that modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb.

2. Any of the words belonging to this part of speech, such as so, very, and rapidly.


Now answer Senator Harkin - if you can.

9/11 changed things...

It sure did. And I think THEY won.

Aren't things going swimingly in the ME?

Oh, yeah!

Larry Johnson - Here We Go Again

Huffington read the Latest News

Did you ever wonder about those wretched, er.. righteous leaders of the Religious Wrong, er... Right?

Read this short post. Then take a deep breath and follow the two 'Read On's.

I did, and I think I'm still the same...

Everybody knows the Republicans get all the campaign money, right?

Well, maybe not! And what can this mean?

I hope it means a real interesting election this year.

THE WORST RATE OF JOB CREATION IN 40 YEARS. BUSH'S NEW JOBS PAY $9000 LESS PER YEAR. WORKING PEOPLE HAVEN'T HAD A RAISE IN 5 YEARS.

And the answer is... Economic facts to repeat when we are told that we are in Bush's 'Economic Paradise' due to the tax cuts that benefit the extreme rich.

Repeat them loud and long. (Suitable for almost any gathering.)

Another reason Leiberman matters to me.

Remember that smelly port deal of Dubya's? ( See below )
Well, here's Joe's take on port security.
"We don't need no 'steenkin' port security!"
As evidenced by his vote last month

Carl Rove Lied!

I know it surprizes the hell outta' you, that Mister Personality would utter an untruth, but there it is.

Are you as heartbroken as I?

This is even worse than Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre.

And you see how the 'Librul Press' is hounding that fine Mr. Bush over it.

Not!

At least someone is willing to call it to attention. Read Dan Froomkin. (Librul, ya know)

Remember the the Dubya Dubai Ports World scandal

It's back!!!!


What would we do for fun without Shrub? But wouldn't you love to find out?!

Georgie and the Stem Cells

I really can't express myself about this without lapsing into language of which my mother would not approve. So, I will rely on the eloquence of others.
There's this,

This

and

This

And finally this comment (You really should read it) to this

We don't just watch questionable financial activities, we grow our own too!

The whole thing probably would have gone on without anyone giving it a second thought, except for that forced landing. Perhaps the financial doings at "The Lord's Ranch" was brought to center stage by divine providence.
Warwick Sabin in the Arkansas Times.

It's long and it's angry. And you need to read it.

America’s Long Descent into Madness

The decider decides.

Murry Waas: Bush Blocked Justice Department Investigation

"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee today that President Bush personally halted an internal Justice Department investigation into whether Gonzales and other senior department officials acted within the law in approving and overseeing the administration's domestic surveillance program."

"A senior Justice official said that the refusal to grant the clearances was "unprecedented" and questioned whether the clearances were denied because investigators might find "misconduct by those who were attempting to defeat" the probe from being conducted. The official made the comments without knowing that Bush had made the decision to refuse the clearances."

I just can't leave that 'Massage' alone

Here's James Walcott's take.


Like Walcott, I wonder what Laura thought about this.

Another study of the middle east by an expert on non-conventional war

Bilmon: On War

"Military analyst William S. Lind has posted his initial take on the Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah war and its potential significance, both for the Middle East and the future of warfare."

"Lind describes this as a watershed moment in the history of war:"

(Lind says)"Given that Israel is unlikely to achieve its strategic objectives (the destruction of Hamas and Hezbollah). Lind suggests the result is likely to be an unprecedented defeat for the Jewish state, with implications that will be felt worldwide:"

Read the whole thing.

Sidney Blumenthal is always good for a clear point of view...

In the Guardian, Sidney gives a quick concise discription of how the middle east came to the hideous mess it's in.

Does anyone still want to drink a beer with this 'man'.

Open mics at the G8 caught the conversation... and no, I don't mean that part.

Instead, Cenk Uygur point's out that we aparantly have a functional third-grader for a president.

"What I found to be the most damning is the least quoted part of Bush's comments. As you read this transcript, remember that this is not a small child talking, but the President of the United States of America:"

Read all of Uygur's post


I am so embarrassed.

I HAD to use Bilmon's headline...

Rub a Dub Dubya

"You know, when I was in college I actually had fair to middling luck with the let-me-give-you-a-nice-back-rub approach. But I think when you're 60 years old, and the President of the United States, you really ought to be able to come up with a better pick-up line."

...OK what do you think? Is this creepy or not?

I'm sure you've heard someone say this...

"We ought to kill them all!"
Well, here is an essay on just how idiotic that statement really is.

Genocide is Not a Valid Foreign Policy

Bush acts like a Hot Dog, but is really just a weenie

The Mahablog:

"Past presidents of both parties would have been actively — hell, pro-actively — engaged in the current conflagration. Bush doesn’t appear even to be trying. Other than his lame statement that Israel has a right to defend herself — which of course she does, but that’s not exactly the issue at hand — he’s sitting the whole mess out."
Read it.

Speaking of election irregularities...

Even if we manage to circumvent election fraud and the democrats win a chamber, there is always this possibility

If the GOP should lose the House and/or the Senate on Election Day, they will pick out a handful of the "closest" races--as many as they need to hang on to majority control--and start to scream like hell about ELECTION FRAUD.
Read on...

Sorry I haven't posted in the last couple of days...

It's just been a busy time for me. And with the way things have gone down in the mid-east, and our eloquent president holding forth that "They" should do something.... In Mexico the election was much like 2000. It sure appears that the conservatives sabotaged and stole the vote. However, Obrador, the man in the 'Al Gore' role, is standing up and demanding a recount.

Geez Louise!

That's just depressing. How much better off would we, and the rest of the world, be?

Then there is this.

Is the U.S. Bankrupt?

Last week, the White House announced that the U.S. budget deficit has fallen to a tiny 2.3 percent of GDP. Also last week, Professor Kotlikoff made headlines when he came out with yet another of his projections showing that the country is deeper in the hole than ever. Some readers may wonder who is right.


If anyone wants me, I'll be under my bed.

A note from Wes Clark

Today:

I am a proud member of the Democratic Party, and I believe it is our party’s responsibility to support the will of the Democratic primary voters in Connecticut. I personally look forward to supporting the candidate CT voters elect as the Democratic nominee. Though, as an aside, I must say I find it ironic that Senator Lieberman is now planning a potential run as an independent after he continually questioned my loyalty to the Democratic Party during the 2004 presidential primary.

For Mac users...

Mark Moreford Strikes again!

Go, read. ROTFLYAO

Support the troops - verse 647

I love to be reminded to support the troops. 'Cause I KNOW everyone else is. I guess wanting them to be safe and properly equipped just isn't enough.

The Rise and Fall of a War Profiteer

Just months ago, bulletproof vest-maker David H. Brooks was living large, having raked in millions selling the military body armor. But it was his last hurrah.

Read the post

...And now for something completely different

As I said, different.

Photo in Calif. could be world's largest

Thu Jul 13, 9:12 PM ET

IRVINE, Calif. - What is believed to be the world's largest photo was successfully created in a hangar that had been converted into a massive camera at the former El Toro Marine Corps base.

About 30 people showed up Wednesday to see the fuzzy, 28-by-108 foot black-and-white image taken by six photographers from the nonprofit Legacy Project. The photo, taken Saturday, shows the control towers, palm trees and a portable toilet.

Remember that day in Viet Nam?

You know, at the embassy. All the helicopters and the people crowding into them. That was the day the dominoes fell.
Don't look now but they are falling again, in Iraq.


The Iraqi Cival War Has Begun

My God, what have we done? What have we unleashed?

The answer, unfortunately, is all out civil war. There is no way we, or anybody else, is going to get this genie back in the bottle. Through our arrogance, carelessness and even malice, we started a sectarian battle between the different ethnicities of Iraq. And that battle has now blossomed into an absolute war.

Read the post

and

Baghdad starts to collapse as its people flee a life of death

By James Hider, of The Times, from Baghdad

As I hung up the phone, I wondered if I would ever see my friend Ali alive again. Ali, The Times translator for the past three years, lives in west Baghdad, an area that is now in meltdown as a bitter civil war rages between Sunni insurgents and Shia militias. It is, quite simply, out of control.
Read the article

When you take on the characteristics of terrorists, the terrorists have won.

Thay are terrorists because they kill and torture the innocent. What, then are we?

When Torture Isn't Good Enough

July 14, 2006 | Congress has demanded that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld hand over a raft of documents to Congress that could substantiate allegations that U.S. forces have tried to break terror suspects by kidnapping and mistreating their family members. Rumsfeld has until 5 p.m. Friday to comply.

It now appears that kidnapping, scarcely covered by the media, and absent in the major military investigations of detainee abuse, may have been systematically employed by U.S. troops.
Salon has obtained Army documents that show several cases where U.S. forces abducted terror suspects’ families. After he was thrown in prison, Cpl. Charles Graner, the alleged ringleader at Abu Ghraib, told investigators the military routinely kidnapped family members to force suspects to turn themselves in.

...more

What Iraq is costing you. Murtha compares cost of war and domestic expenses

Murtha compares cost of war and domestic expenses

We are spending $8 billion a month in Iraq. That equates to $2 billion a week, or $267 million a day, or $11 million an hour.

The following are some comparisons between what we are spending in Iraq as we "stay the course" indefinitely and what those funds could be used for instead.

Read the report...

Plame sues Cheney, Rove and Libby !

Firedoglake

Now THIS Is Interesting…

...wish she'd included Robert Novak.

More dirt on Cheney?

Booman considers both the statements of Larry and Steve Clemmons' commentary on those claims.

Steve Clemons has interesting things to say about Larry Wilkerson. Wilkerson, you might recall, was Colin Powell's chief of staff during his time at the State Department. And Wilkerson came to the conclusion that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are insane.

Now Wilkerson is essentially calling Cheney and Rumsfeld war criminals and suggesting that some international court might be inclined to convict them for murder and torture based on already publicly available evidence.

Read the whole post

Lawsuits abound on touch-screen voting machines.

We are about to see interesting times! And so will Diebold and others!

From Bradblog ...

FIRST RFK JR. VOTING MACHINE WHISTLEBLOWER LAWSUIT NOW FILED IN FEDERAL COURT! NEW DETAILS!

Attorney Papantonio on Mike Malloy Show: 'We're gonna shut down some of these companies'!

and

Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia Sued By Competitor for Patent Infringment!

Avante International Technology Corporation Files Suit Against Use of Paper Trail Printer, Op Scan Technology by Voting Machine Giants…

and

New Lawsuit Seeks Immediate Decertification of Diebold Systems in Georgia!

Cites Extraordinary Security Flaws Recently Discovered in Touch-Screen Systems Used in State…

A short essay on the occupation of Iraq

Lagauche muses about the writing on the wall about the perils of Iraq. These "warnings" were there to be seen in 1992...

According to U.S. predictions, by now Iraq should have been up-and-running with its infrastructure repaired and modernized and the oil spigots would be flowing at such a rate that Iraq would have paid for its own reconstruction and foreign entities would be raking in the cash from oil sales. Iraqi citizens would be living in a democracy and they would be awash with consumer items that they could only have dreamed about in the past.

(snip)

The most powerful country on Earth, with billions of dollars to spend, has left Iraq in shambles. Many Iraqis are now calling the embargo years, "The Golden Years," compared to post-invasion Iraq. ...more

Is there a split between Dubya and 'Big Dick'

There have been some strange happenings lately within the mis-administration. Policy changes and (some) stances taken that actually seem to make sense.

What's up?


from My Left Wing...

I haven't seen this administration go this much on the defensive and actually reconcile themselves to somewhat saner versions of hare-brained policies in the six years since I've been watching them.

And there can be only one reason for this in my mind: a deep and personal rift between President Bush and V.P. Cheney that has now moved into actual policy considerations.

...more

Riverbend...

Read it and weep. For all of us.

Lambast the Times and keep mum about this? That's about what I would expect.

Larry Johnson at No Quarter points out that there was a breach of security that day. Top secret previously unknown intellegence was disclosed to the public, and it wasn't in the New York times!

A Real Security Breach

by
Larry C Johnson

After reading Ron Suskind's book, The One Percent Doctrine, I am wondering whether the attack on the NY Times for its report that the CIA was receiving SWIFT data was intended to divert public attention from the astonishing revelations in his book.

Click and laugh

I just found this on Firedoglake.

Credit has becoming critical in american life.

Those late fees and overages may literally eat you out of house and home...




The Plastic Loan Shark in Your Wallet

How many voters in Red State America would strongly consider electing a Democrat if it meant the cost of their credit cards would go down? How many swing voters would be swung by such an appeal? Most importantly, how many economically-struggling non-voters would take the time to register and vote if they were promised an end to 28% or 29% interest rates on their credit cards? The answers seem obvious, but that doesn't mean the Democratic Party is paying attention.

...more

Paralyzed Man Uses Thoughts to Move a Cursor

A paralyzed man with a small sensor implanted in his brain was able to control a computer, a television set and a robot using only his thoughts, scientists reported yesterday.

Those results offer hope that in the future, people with spinal cord injuries, Lou Gehrig’s disease or other conditions that impair movement may be able to communicate or better control their world.

“If your brain can do it, we can tap into it,” said John P. Donoghue, a professor of neuroscience at Brown University who has led development of the system and was the senior author of a report on it being published in today’s issue of the journal Nature.

Finally, a light at the end of the No Contract nightmare!

It's about damn time, too!

Read In The Cards at Firedoglake

...the exclusive, no-bid contract glory days are over in Iraq for Halliburton (at least where the Army contracts are concerned).

We’ve been hearing all sorts of rumbles that there would be a troop draw down or pull out in advance of the elections this fall. And with that, the gravy train will be pulling out of the station.

It's long, involved and smells like Florida.

Arthur, at Once Upon A Time...
Goes into the mexican election, how it is being perverted, and the implications for the U.S.

Rogue Waves - Wow!

Rogue Giants at Sea

"Enormous waves that sweep the ocean are traditionally called rogue waves, implying that they have a kind of freakish rarity. Over the decades, skeptical oceanographers have doubted their existence and tended to lump them together with sightings of mermaids and sea monsters.

But scientists are now finding that these giants of the sea are far more common and destructive than once imagined, prompting a rush of new studies and research projects. The goals are to better tally them, understand why they form, explore the possibility of forecasts, and learn how to better protect ships, oil platforms and people."

Supporting the Troops, take 246...

Damn, this is getting old!

If troops are sent in harm's way, they are then veterans, plain and simple. Right?. You would think the least they should expect is GI benefits, wouldn't you?
It would appear that the expence of supporting Halliburton, KBR, and tax cuts for the 1% precludes that.

Hillary Fires One Over the Bow in Election Fraud

Clinton feeds theory of Ohio vote tampering

Hillary Clinton took a shot at Secretary of State Ken Blackwell of Cincinnati...
... by saying, "Let's make sure that we count every vote in our elections.''

"Clinton said, "One of the people running for high office is actually running the election. That should not be permitted. It's a conflict of interest. ... We've got to take back our democracy.''

Things sure are getting better in Iraq...

Wonder how the White House feels about this?

Iraq says to ask U.N. to end US immunity
"Iraq will ask the United Nations to end immunity from local law for U.S. troops, the government said on Monday, as the U.S. military named five soldiers charged in a rape-murder case that has outraged Iraqis.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki"We're very serious about this," she said, adding a lack of enforcement of U.S. military law in the past had encouraged soldiers to commit crimes against Iraqi civilians."

Turnabout

"Remember the old law-and-order saw about how "a conservative is a liberal who got mugged"? How about this: A liberal is a conservative who got thrown in jail without charge. An update to reflect the times...."

Gloom Doom and Avian Flu

From the July 6 Arkansas Times Observer column. (Drop down to the second bullet)

"last week, we went to see Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, who was speaking at the Clinton School of Public Policy. His bona fides: He’s the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, a professor at the University of Minnesota and an associate director within Homeland Security of the nation’s food protection program. He painted a picture of what a flu pandemic will look like. Not would, will."

I happened to be at that lecture. (Being a media geek has it's rewards.)
When Dr. Osterholm bemoaned the lack of any leadership in pursuit of means to lessen the impact of this calamity, noting that instead we had just seen the senate burn two days in support of anti-flag burning legislation, he received a spontaneous ovation from this group of 200 and more. Many of those present were substantial members of the Little Rock medical community, and it was apparent that his message was thoughtfully received, if not happily.

"What the country needs is a leader, Osterholm said. Fairly thin ice he skates on there.

About that thin ice. We asked Osterholm after his talk if he had factored global warming into the economic picture. “Don’t even go there,” he said."

Here is the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota Avian Flu Site. Poke around on the entire site... If you have a strong stomach.

- Clyde

Bloggers Are Mean and They Suck

Susan Madrak at Huffington...

Go. Read.

Football and your tax dollars

A look at the fine workmanship the no-bid contractors are providing in exchange for your hard earned tax money. Oversight? We don't need no steenking oversight!

Why does the Leiberman - Lamont race matter to me?

Digby has the answer.

Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Peter Hoekstra, sent a nasty gram to the White House

Sounds like someone is trying to stand up for constitutional government, doesn't it? Well, remember, this is Washington we're talking about.

Check out Larry Johnson's take at No Quarter

Go to this site, listen to Penn & Teller

All that protects us from their evil is their incompetence.

In a bit over two minutes, Penn & Teller tell you pretty much everything you need to know about the Patriot Act.

The headline said that tax revenues are up. I said to myself what is 'the rest of the story?'

The answer is "It's not trickling down, fools"

The Rise and Fall of The Enron Empire

Don't tell anyone, but that's all of us.


The Existentialist Cowboy:

"It was the Reagan administration that began the corruption of American values despite sticking on the word "family". In retrospect, the Reagan administration can be thought of as proto-Bush. Adding their own absurdities to the the moral rot, the Bush regime threatens to bring down this country like Enron, like the Twin Towers, like a collapsing bag. To greed is good has been added Thom Friedman's what does being right have to do with anything?

Thus Friedman has made his lasting contribution to American culture. In the future, when one wants to describe a society in which nothing of value is valued, where only lies are celebrated, they will quote Friedman. Indeed, if being right has nothing to do with anything, what difference did it make that Enron's subsidiaries were almost all entirely fictitious? Friedman may consider himself 'lucky' for claiming that dubious phrase; it might have been puked up by an Enron executive some six years ago."

Nineteenth Century Bush

From Uggabugga:

"much of what Bush does is not reality based, but saying so does not give the listener an idea of what Bush is for. A better charge, in our view, is calling the president 19th Century Bush. It's a snappy phrase (matches the well known "20th Century Fox") and it discribes where Bush is heading this country. Bush is trying to dismantle many of the developments that made the last hundred years The American Century."

Damn! that must smart.

Ann Coulter was scheduled on the Adam Carolla radio show, yesterday. She called an hour and a half late, then complained she was short on time.

Carolla's answer "Alright, well, get lost."

And cut her off. (mp3)

Friday Nights with Dubya

The Secret Service reveals that Jack Abramoff visited the White House four more times than was earlier admitted to.

That this information was released on a friday night when no one would notice surprises anyone?

Dubya - The albatross around Uncle Sam's Neck

Mark Morford was at as watering hole recently and among those present were two sixty something, lifelong republicans.

"Bush came up, as a topic, as a cancer, as a fetid miasma in the air. They were both shaking their heads. They were sighing heavily. They were both, in a word, disgusted. The more staunchly conservative of the two even went so far as to say he was so embarrassed and humiliated by this president, by this administration, so appalled at all the war atrocities and the wiretapping and the misuse of law, the fiscal irresponsibility and the abuse of the lower classes and the outright arrogance, that if the Dems could somehow produce a decent moderate candidate with a brain, he'd have zero problem switching allegiances and voting for him. Or her."

"What a difference a handful of years makes. Now, overseas, we are a joke. A threat. A toxin. We are considered reckless and arrogant and ignorant, dangerous not just to the rest of the world but to the overall health of the planet. No one anywhere understands how a man like Bush can be the leader of the Free World,"

Thoughts on third world elections

E. J. Dionne has some thoughts on the mexican election...

"Imagine the global outcry if Mexico chose its president indirectly through some sort of electoral college that gave advantage to smaller states over bigger ones and permitted the loser of the popular vote to become president. The world would be merciless in deriding Mexico as a backward place living under undemocratic laws written in the early 19th century. Mexicans can be proud that this won't happen."

And...

"How would it look if the governor of the state was your own brother? What would people think if the top official in charge of elections was your sibling's partisan ally who made every key decision in your favor?

The American media would go nuts. On Fox, Bill O'Reilly would condemn the sleaze and nepotism while declaring, confidently, "Thank God such a thing could never happen in the United States of America!" "

What a scandal that would be.

What has happened to this country?

A veteran (you know, one of those guys we are supposed to support) was at a VA hospital, minding his own business. What follows is simply insane.

Just the words I want to hear from my president... Check it out at Carpetbagger.

'Maybe I don't know and don't want to tell you I don't know'

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