King George Is Brilliant

Thank you Power Line somehow we didn't notice It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can't get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile. When you're finished rolling on the floor laughing, you can see perfect examples of his brilliance at here. "Never again in the halls of Washington, D.C., do I want to have to make explanations that I can't explain." —George W. Bush, Portland, Oregon, Oct. 31, 2000. "If affirmative action means what I just described, what I'm for, then I'm for it." —George W. Bush, during the third presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., October 18, 2000 "It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it." —George W. Bush, Reuters, May 5, 2000 And my favorite "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" —George W. Bush, Florence, South Carolina, Jan. 11, 2000 Why I'll be damned he really IS brilliant.....NOT. As a friend of mine so aptly pointed out, "If those quotes weren't coming out of the mouth of the 'leader of the free world'....they would be funny". How true, and how scary to think that this imbecile has his finger on the button to launch nuclear weapons.

Ethics In Journalism At Roll Call?

Via dKos we find out just how fair their reporter is when reporting abut the latest ad campaign by the GOP targeting Sen. Robert Byrd. .....Roll Call writer Lauren Whittington got the story from the GOP with the ground rule that she not call anyone else for the story. In a news media that has fallen mightily, this is just one more gross failure of established journalistic process MORE.....

Ohio Election Campaign Gets Down and Dirty

It looks as though the gloves have come off in the Schmidt/Hackett election campaign for Ohio's 2nd congressional district. Via Steve Gilliard Schmidt has focused her campaign on family values, but now it looks like her Campaign Manager may have used the internet to satisfy his bizarre sexual fetishes. If this is true, it is the ultimate in hypocrisy. Here's how this whole thing came about. People who emailed the Schmidt campaign had their email's bounce back. The details of the bounce back showed that the email joe@jeanschmidt.com actually went to deanofcorn@aol.com. This is important because it shows that Schmidt Campaign Manager Joe Braun was using his AOL account for campaign purposes. People googled this AOL account and apparently found that the same email account being used for the Schmidt campaign was also being used for a profile on a BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadomasochism Shades of Jeff/Jim Gannon/Guckert?

Barefoot And Pregnant

I guess that's how Mandog Santorum likes his women. Why do I think this is what he likes? Well click on the link below and take a look at his assessment of use of birth control. To his way of thinking Birth control is harmful to women and society and it's "not a healthy thing for our country." Santorum Exposed

Bolton Recess Appointment Likely

Unfortunately, the prediction that I made here last month looks to be coming true. As I said back then, King George will force Bolton on the world whether it is the correct thing to do or not. The jerk will lie, cheat or anything he has to do to get his own way. Reuters is reporting Two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was Bush's intent to make a recess appointment. An announcement could come as early as Monday Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE)a critic of Bolton, warned the White House "A recess appointment is not in the interest of the country. Mr. Bolton does not have the full confidence of the Senate. Sending him to the U.N. without the Senate's approval would send a mixed message to friend and foe alike." Of course King George's "me right - you always wrong" attitude will make that warning from Biden fall on deaf ears. I have to wonder now however, if this just might anger the Dems in the Senate to use the fillibuster over the nomination of John Roberts when his nomination to the SCOTUS comes up for vote. A recess appointment, along with all the negatives coming to light about Roberts, look like the gathering of a "perfect storm". Batten down the hatches my friends, come September we are in for a bumpy ride.

Frist Screws The Right - Could It Be For $$$$$ ?

Isn't it amazing how all of a sudden Bill Frist has decided to screw the Religious Right and change his mind on stem cell research? Some say he has lost the support of that group if he decides to make a run for the Presidency in '08. I don't think that is the reason he flip-flopped at all. According to the AP Frist says his break from the right and the President was because "It's not just a matter of faith, it's a matter of science," [SNIP] "While human embryonic stem cell research is still at a very early stage, the limitation put into place in 2001 will, over time, slow our ability to bring potential new treatments for certain diseases," the Tennessee lawmaker said in his speech. "Therefore, I believe the president's policy should be modified. We should expand federal funding ... and current guidelines governing stem cell research, carefully and thoughtfully, staying within ethical bounds," he said. Of course this outraged the right-wing as we see from The Christian Defense Coalition, who said "Senator Frist should not expect support and endorsement from the pro-life community if he votes for embryonic research funding," it said. "Senator Frist cannot have it both ways. He cannot be pro-life and pro-embryonic stem cell funding," said Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, director of the group. "Nor can he turn around and expect widespread endorsement from the pro-life community if he should decide to run for president in 2008." Well I don't think Frist much cares at this point. He is not running again for the Senate, and I think he has seen the writing on the wall and knows he won't get the nomination for President, or elected if he does. Let's not forget, this guy owns a chain of hospitals and we also know he loves money more than principle. The money to be made with any medical discoveries from this research will skyrocket. He know's this kind of research is already being done in Israel and will lead to massive profits for the drug manufacturers. And Frist has never met a drug manufacturer or their lobbyist he didn't love. This self-serving hypocrite wants in on the ground floor. The Frist family fortune comes from HCA Inc. (Hospital Corporation of America), the largest for-profit hospital chain in the country, which was founded by Frist’s father and brother. It wasn't enough that they could rake in money hand over fist with this chain, but they wanted even more as was seen by a near-decadelong federal investigation into how HCA for years had defrauded Medicaid. This investigation was of course shut down by King George when it was decided that they wanted Frist in as Senate Majority Leader by forcing out Trent Lott. All engineered by guess who? Karl Rove. More can be read on this at LA Weekly. Frist may be a crook and a hypocrite, but he is definitely not stupid. He is going where the money is now that his stint in the Senate is almost over. Let the Federal Government finance the research, and his medical group can make even more money at the taxpayer's expense. If Frist thought he had a snowball's chance in hell of winning the Presidency he would have stayed on the side of Bush on this one. But since he can't be the big man in the WH, he may as well make mucho bucks instead right?

Miller Gets No Sympathy From Arianna

Do not count Arianna Huffington among those participating in the wailing, moaning and knashing of teeth over Judy Miller's imprisonment. Ms. Huffington brings to light Miller's special relationships with the neocons in the WH with her post yesterday at The Huffington Post Miller’s special relationships go much further than Scooter Libby, Richard Perle and the rest of the neocon establishment. Take her involvement as an embedded reporter during the war with the Pentagon’s Mobile Exploitation Team (MET) Alpha -- the unit charged with hunting down Saddam’s WMD. As extensively reported by both Kurtz and New York Magazine’s Franklin Foer, Miller’s time with the unit was highly unusual. First, there was the fact that she landed the plum assignment in the first place. It would give her first dibs on the biggest story of the war… the hoped-for reveal of Saddam’s much-touted WMD (with much of the touting done by Miller herself and her special sources). Was this the reward for her pro-administration prewar reporting? Foer cites military and New York Times sources as saying that Miller’s assignment was so sensitive that Don Rumsfeld himself signed off on it. Once embedded, Miller acted as much more than a reporter. Kurtz quotes one military officer as saying that the MET Alpha unit became a “Judith Miller team.” Another officer said that Miller “came in with a plan. She was leading them… She ended up almost hijacking the mission.” A third officer, a senior staffer of the 75th Exploitation Task Force, of which MET Alpha was a part, put it this way: “It’s impossible to exaggerate the impact she had on the mission of this unit, and not for the better.” What did Miller do to create such an impression? According to Kurtz, she wasn’t afraid to throw her weight around, threatening to write critical stories and complain to her friends in very high places if things didn’t go her way. “Judith,” said an Army officer, “was always issuing threats of either going to the New York Times or to the secretary of defense. There was nothing veiled about that threat.” Thank you Arianna!! Finally someone has enough spunk to write the truth about that witch with the blood-stained hands. She is just as much to blame for the needless deaths of not only Iraqi's, but the young men and women in the US military as King George himself. Through her constant trumpeting of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld lies regarding the reasons the Iraq war was necessary. There is a special place in hell reserved for this bunch. It's too damn bad they couldn't be imprisoned in Abu Gharib first. I would urge you all to go to the link below and read Arianna's entire post and the comments that were left. I assure you it will be very eye-opening. MORE.....

Housewives In The Crosshairs

Look out Bree, Lynette, and Gabrielle!! Run for cover Edie and Susan!!! Run away from home Julie, and it sure is a good thing you left this world Mary Alice (even if it was by your own hand). Why? Because the Wysteria Lane neighborhood has been declared a bastion of prostitution, adult-teen sexual relations, infidelity, deception, seduction, adultery, promiscuity [and] sadomasochism. That's right ladies you are all going to hell in a handbasket.......and so are your admirers. Well the American Family Association founder and chairman Don Wildmon thinks so at least. According to Agape Press Donny Boy is coming after you and your sponsors now. Along with the help of OneMillionMoms. (I don't believe I am even writing about this!) It seems they have already conviced one sponsor, Mary Kay Cosmetics to withdraw sponsorship. Says Wildmon "Mary Kay's philosophy -- 'God first, family second, and career third' -- is what has drawn countless women to the company in the first place," he said. "We are happy to see Mary Kay disassociate itself from such a wretched show." Give me a friggin' break! It's a damn TV program. A comedic farce you fools.......GEEEEEESH! You have a hitleresque puppet in the White House creating policies that hurt average Americans daily, conducting an illegal war and occupation in Iraq that has caused thousands of deaths of not only innocent Iraqi's but your own young men and women also. You have an administration that condones the weakening of the country's national security by outing an undercover CIA operative, (because your mad at her husband for being honest) that may also have caused deaths but we definitely know has weakened the security of the country. And all you "supposedly" concerned moms and "so-called" christians can do is worry about what someone else is watching on their TV. Change the damn channel! Or is that to simple for you morons. There are serious issues being caused by this bunch of fascists occupying the government. Protest against that in the name of your God and mine. Do something useful with your own lives for once instead of insinuating yourselves in ours. Now that I have had my say, I think I will go write a TV drama about prostitute whose teenage daughter is having an affair with the married man next door. Of course his wife frequents S&M clubs when he is working the night shift and if that's not bad enough, he discovers his sister and brother are both gay. Then to really piss you idiots off I will call Ford Motor, GM and Microsoft to be sponsors. But only after I make sure they still have their equal treatment policies in order that include the language saying they can't discriminate due to sexual persuasion. Have a nice life you hypocritical wingnuts.

Fitzgerald The Fisherman

It looks as though special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has the instincts of a fisherman. According to the Washington Post, there are more fish being snagged from the WH than previously thought. The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case. In addition to the people we know about already, prosecutors have also questioned: former CIA director George J. Tenet and deputy director John E. McLaughlin, former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, State Department officials, and even a stranger who approached columnist Robert D. Novak on the street. In doing so, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has asked not only about how CIA operative Valerie Plame's name was leaked but also how the administration went about shifting responsibility from the White House to the CIA for having included 16 words in the 2003 State of the Union address about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Africa, an assertion that was later disputed. Not only should this article from The Post worry King George and the rest of his crime family, but they will also have to take notice that one of the largest newspapers in the nation, The LA Times in an editorial, came right out and accused them of being involved in a coverup. What starts out looking like a small, isolated incident gradually reveals itself to be part of a larger abuse of power. Meanwhile, an unraveling coverup adds new elements. Is that happening now with the scandal over White House leaks of the identity of a CIA agent? There are those who are claiming the scandal is decreasing more and more each day as we learn more about it. But as the LAT goes on to say: We don't buy it. However they came to learn about this juicy factoid, people in the Bush administration misused an intelligence secret to discredit a critic of its Iraq policy. And outing Plame, whether illegal or not, did harm to our national security. Plame may work in Langley, Va., but she worked with others who work in more dangerous locales. You only need to imagine how Republicans would have treated such a leak in the Clinton administration to dismiss their protestations that it's all no big deal. It's a good bet that there has already been some lying under oath. One theory about the puzzling tenacity and ferocity of special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald — why he is sending journalists to jail for refusing to provide information he already has about an activity that probably wasn't even a crime by people other than the ones he is persecuting — is that he's switched his attention from the leak itself to perjury by White House officials who were asked about it earlier in the investigation. [SNIP] Why didn't Bush two years ago just ask Karl Rove and a few others in the administration whether they had leaked Plame's identity to Bob Novak and the others? Why doesn't he ask Rove now? Is it because he knows the answer? Or because he doesn't want to have to fire Rove? For a man who is a self-described man of God and claims that God speaks directly to him, he obviously hasn't spoken with Him in a long while. Either that or he just doesn't like the words he is hearing either Devine or from the people. As the LAT ends its' editorial The coverup, in short, is going well.

Clinton Influence Alive And Well

For those of you who thought the Clinton era was over, look again. The LA Times reports today that Hilary Clinton has been chosen by The Democratic Leadership Council to direct a new initiative to define a party agenda for the 2006 and 2008 elections. The appointment solidified the identification of Clinton — once considered a champion of the party's left — with the centrist movement that helped propel her husband to the White House in 1992. It also continued her effort, which has accelerated in recent months, to present herself as a moderate on issues such as national security, immigration and abortion. I know this is not going to sit well at all with the progressive or left leaning sector of the Democratic Party, but I think we just have to get used to it. As much as we would like to see the Democrats move more to the left, there is no way in hell if they do they will win the much needed congressional seats in '06 or the presidency in '08. Let's face it folks, I would love to see the Dems get out of the middle of the road also, but the only way they will be elected is to appeal to that middle. There is a way to do this and still be true to the roots of the Democratic Party. Bill Clinton did it and we were all quite happy with his presidency (except of course for his misjudgement with Miss M and her blue dress). My personal opinion is that this is a "test-run" for Hillary, and if she is successful she will seek and get the nomination come 2008. Many shudder at the thought of Hillary in '08 because they know the way the Repugs will frame everything by constantly shouting far and wide about Bill and his indiscretions. That is why winning those congressional seats in '06 are so important. To my thinking, if the righties and scum spreaders in the Republican party want to try to taint Hillary with Bill's problems they will shoot themselves in the foot. If you think about it that is exactly why they have not been out front and center pushing the latest book about her (that is mostly filled with unreliable sources and outright lies), because they don't want to make a victim out of her thereby increasing her popularity. Now don't get me wrong. I most definitely DO NOT agree with the DLC and it's policies. But that is my point. Maybe it is a pie in the sky way of thought, but with Hillary on the inside at DLC, perhaps she can push them a bit closer to true Democratic values and goals. If by chance it works out the other way around, and Hillary bows to them........then I for one will do nothing here to give her support for an '08 presidency bid. Read more about Hillary's appointment and what she said in her speach HERE,,,,

Is America Too Oppressive & Extreme?

I recently received an email from a reader asking What does Canada think about America? Are we to oppressive and extreme to other countries on our hemisphere, and what can we do with out giving up our moral values and Christian Beliefs. So, what do you think give me your honest opinion! Thanks Concerned, but Proud American This was my reply to "Concerned but Proud American" I am glad you are a Proud American, but IMHO, you should be concerned. Admittedly, there is an element of Canadian society that is very "anti-American", but please do not include me with that sector. I am very Pro-American actually. That is why I have this blog, to hopefully bring to everyone's attention the way this administration, in their lust for power is attempting to not only muzzle the voice of the people in the US but also weaken their rights. As for giving up your moral values and Christian beliefs, of course you should not give those up. However, can you please explain to me how this administration can claim to be Christian while at the same time killing innocent Iraqi citizens? How can they claim to be Christian while letting innocents die on the African continent by pledging money in the fight against AIDS, but attaching a restriction on that money by limiting it to only those countries who will not use it for the teaching of safe sexual practices and instead preaching abstinence? Can they be Christian when using a brain dead person for political purposes and photo-ops? I could go on and on, but I think you can see where I am coming from. In otherwords, I am not Anti-American, far from it. I am however, Anti-this administration. I am "Anti" anything or anybody who tries to limit the rights of people, and attempts to turn a great and caring nation into one of a dominating occupier. Thanks for writing, canuk I would be interested what other readers have to say about this topic. Please feel free to comment as always.

Is Attorney General Gonzales A Co-Conspirator In Leak?

In an op-ed piece today in The New York Times Frank Rich informs us that "As White House counsel, he was the one first notified that the Justice Department, at the request of the C.I.A., had opened an investigation into the outing of Joseph Wilson's wife. That notification came at 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2003, but it took Mr. Gonzales 12 more hours to inform the White House staff that it must "preserve all materials" relevant to the investigation. This 12-hour delay, he has said, was sanctioned by the Justice Department, but since the department was then run by John Ashcroft, a Bush loyalist who refused to recuse himself from the Plame case, inquiring Senate Democrats would examine this 12-hour delay as closely as an 18 1/2-minute tape gap. "Every good prosecutor knows that any delay could give a culprit time to destroy the evidence," said Senator Charles Schumer, correctly, back when the missing 12 hours was first revealed almost two years ago. A new Gonzales confirmation process now would have quickly devolved into a neo-Watergate hearing. Mr. Gonzales was in the thick of the Plame investigation, all told, for 16 months." Did this give Andrew Card time to maybe get things in order before he officially notified the staff to "preserve all materials" regarding the Plan leak? Gonzales even admitted the delay today on CBS "Face The Nation" with Bob Schieffer. when he told Schieffer that he was contacted by the Justice Department at 8pm and, after telling them everyone had gone home for the night, he apparently asked if it would be okay if he waited until 8am the next day to notify The White House Staff to "preserve all records" etc. and was given permission to do so. That's a 12 hour delay for heaven's sake yet he still "as a courtesy" found the time to notify Bush's Chief of Staff Andrew Card immediately after the call. Would this not give Card time to cover a few tracks and get others to do so also? Everyday, this entire scandal reveals more and more questions as to who in this administration knew what and when, and every day the answers smell worse and worse. We now have the following people possibly involved. Rove, Libby, Card, Gonzales....the list goes on and on. And yet we are scorned and laughed at when we say this is worse than the Watergate scandal. The NYT article is available HERE. If you wish to read a PDF of the "Face The Nation" transcript, it is available HERE. A WMP video of this portion of FTN is also available at Crooks and Liars.

Never Feel Secure When Cheney Is Missing

Many have wondered where Dickhead Cheney has been, since he has been out of the spotlight the past few weeks. Well here is one thing he has been up to. From the The Washington Post.... Vice President Cheney met Thursday evening with three senior Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to press the administration's case that legislation on these matters would usurp the president's authority and -- in the words of a White House official -- interfere with his ability "to protect Americans effectively from terrorist attack." And apparently this isn't the first time he has attempted to influence decisions made by Republican Senators who dare to think for themselves. It was the second time that Cheney has met with Senate members to tamp down what the White House views as an incipient Republican rebellion. The lawmakers have publicly expressed frustration about what they consider to be the administration's failure to hold any senior military officials responsible for notorious detainee abuse in Iraq and the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Can someone please explain to me how protecting prisoners from abuse and holding military superiors accountable takes away protection from the American people? Furthermore, the administration also.... bluntly warned in a statement sent to Capitol Hill on Thursday that President Bush's advisers would urge him to veto the $442 billion defense bill "if legislation is presented that would restrict the President's authority to protect Americans effectively from terrorist attack and bring terrorists to justice." If this restricts King George's authority GOOD. He is too damn stupid and incompetent to have this unlimited authority, and Dickhead Cheney is too damn dangerous to be allowed to pull the puppet strings. MORE....

Media-Whore McCain... Doesn't Know Negligence?

Where it concerns John McCain, I guess it should be .. it depends on what the meaning of hypocrite is. When Clinton said it depends on what the meeting of IS ... is, he was one of the first to demand accountability and feign moral outrage. Now he answers a question regarding Rove the same way. After Stephanopolous reads the Non-disclosure agreement Rove had to sign this is what went on.... "I have been advised that any breach of this Agreement may result in the termination of any security clearance I hold; removal from any position of special confidence and trust requiring such clearances; or the termination of my employment..." Stephanopoulos: Do you believe that this agreement should be abided by? McCain: I do, but that also implies that someone knowingly revealed... Stephanopoulos: This covers negligent disclosures McCain: Again I don't know what the definition of "negligent" is. I guess it only matters to Media-Whore John when it involves a blow job in the "Oral Office".......not when it involves NATIONAL SECURITY. Of course it would take some integrity to be honest, and he lost that when he started being an apologist for King George.

Quote Of The Day

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.".....Joseph Goebbels was born in 1897 and died in 1945. Goebbels was Hitler's Minister of Propaganda

Conyers Reports From Hearing

Via ConyersBlog Among other things, I was most interested in testimony about the ripple effects a diclsosure like this has on all of our intelligence gathering capabilities in the war on terrorism. Colonel Lang, among others, aptly described the trust that is necessary to recruit and retain foreign assets to help us gather intelligence. When it becomes known that the United States does not protect its own covert assets, foreign assets begin to have serious doubts about whether the United States will protect their identities. The disclosure of Mrs. Wilson's covert identity has other more immediate ripple effects as well. She had set up a front company, Brewster-Jennings, and the disclosure of her identity likely led to the disclosure of others affiliated with Brewster-Jennings and others affiliated with them. A web of connections literally can become unraveled when something like this happens. I know many of the most ardent White House defenders are in denial about this and want to say the leak didn't matter. They rely on misleading and out of context quotes and deliberate deceptions about how covert operations really work to try to sow confusion. Despite their level of contempt for the intelligence of the American public, the truth will eventually come out, and the White House, if they don't come clean soon, will face even more serious consequences. MORE.....

Lies, More Lies And Damn Lies........

The lies are starting to catch up with King George's White House and its' slimy gang of treasonous thugs. The Washington Post documents some of the contradictions that are becoming known from the Grand Jury testimony Bloomberg and the New York Times move the ball forward today, courtesy of what appear to be a growing number of leakers. And here, culled from those and other reports, are what would seem to be some of the harder-to-reconcile contradictions in the case, which started out as an investigation into who leaked a CIA agent's identity -- but which now could be turning into another testament to the Washington maxim that the cover-up is always worse than the crime. · White House chief political strategist Karl Rove reportedly told the grand jury that he first learned of Valerie Plame's identity from columnist Robert Novak -- but Novak's version of the story is that Rove already knew about her when the two spoke. · Rove didn't mention his conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper to investigators at first and then said it was primarily about welfare reform. But Cooper has testified that the topic of welfare reform didn't came up. · Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby apparently told prosecutors he first heard about Plame from NBC's Tim Russert, but Russert has testified that he neither offered nor received information about Plame in his conversation with Libby. · And former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer apparently told prosecutors that he never saw a classified State Department memo that disclosed Plame's identity, but another former official reportedly saw him perusing it on Air Force One. If these reports are accurate, then Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald may well be zeroing in on not only perjury charges against present and former WH officials, but this has the appearance of an outright obstruction of justice. If the administration had nothing to hide, why the coverup and why the lies? I don't like to see the term "conspiracy" used flippantly, but this is a case when it may just well be accurate. And that is not tin-foil hattery my friends. Take a look at the entire timeline from the NYT HERE, and more from The Washington Post HERE.

Leak Story Continues To Gain Strength......

King George may have thought when he pushed up the date for appointing his nominee for the Supreme Court that the story would lose ground. NOPE.....and it ain't going to happen Georgie. As is said on Kos, The Plame Floodgates Open. And it couldn't have been described better. The leak has become a flood, and is flooding the White House. Read the entire compilation of links Kos has put together.

Testimony At Hearing Slams Bush's Inaction

The testimony given today at a hearing conducted by Senate and House Democrats over the implications of exposing Valerie Plame's identity, took King George to the woodshed for his inaction. According to The Washington Post, Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst testified: "I wouldn't be here this morning if President Bush had done the one thing required of him as commander in chief _ protect and defend the Constitution. The minute that Valerie Plame's identity was outed, he should have delivered a strict and strong message to his employees." Now there is a novel idea, this President actually defending the US constitution and meaning it!!!! That treason enabling pile of crap wouldn't know the Constitution if it jumped up and bit his ass. He and the rest of his power hungry administration would need to tell the truth, and that is something they know nothing about. Johnston, a registered Republican by the way, voiced his displeasure also with Republicans in congress, when he said "Where are these men and women with any integrity to speak out against this?" Johnson asked. "I expect better behavior out of Republicans." So does the rest of the nation Mr. Johnston, but you are thinking of a Republican party of old. This Republican Party has become nothing but a cesspool of lies, deception and photo-ops. The Constitution is far less important than say..... whether or not an artificially fed brain dead woman should have her feeding tube removed. Why King George even took precious time to fly back in the dead of night to sign phony legislation.

Rove's Lies Tipped Off FBI

According to The American Prospect, it was Rove himself who raised the FBI's interest. Seems he couldn't keep his lies straight. White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove did not disclose that he had ever discussed CIA officer Valerie Plame with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper during Rove’s first interview with the FBI, according to legal sources with firsthand knowledge of the matter. The omission by Rove created doubt for federal investigators, almost from the inception of their criminal probe into who leaked Plame's name to columnist Robert Novak, as to whether Rove was withholding crucial information from them, and perhaps even misleading or lying to them, the sources said. Also leading to the early skepticism of Rove's accounts was the claim that although he first heard that Plame worked for the CIA from a journalist, he said could not recall the name of the journalist. Later, the sources said, Rove wavered even further, saying he was not sure at all where he first heard the information. If Fitzgerald is as honest and thorough a prosecutor as he appears this could be the unravelling of King George's entire house of cards. Combine this with the memo leaks from Downing Street and the winds of trouble are headed his way.

Kodak Eliminates Another 10,000 Jobs - More Proof Bush Economy In The Tank

First it was 12,000 to 15,000 layoffs targeted 18 months ago, now Eastman Kodak in Rochester NY has announced that it will eliminate an additional 10,000 jobs. As reported by Associated Press The lightning transition to a world without film is forcing an extreme makeover at the world's biggest maker of the product and coincided with the disclosure of a second-quarter loss. The company's shares dipped more than 2 percent. Kodak's new chief executive, Antonio Perez, said "Sales of our consumer traditional products are declining faster than expected".... "Although we have been moving rapidly to get our costs down ... we are picking up the pace dramatically. This is what the company needs to succeed as a digital company." The disturbing thing about this massive amount of job elimination is that the majority will hit the City of Rochester NY. A city that enjoys the claim of the third largest urban area in New York State with a population of of 219,773 could lose the majority of the 7000 jobs in the manufacturing area. According to The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle The new cuts will almost certainly end Kodak’s decades long run as the region’s largest employer. At the end of 2004, Kodak employed 16,300 people in Rochester, just ahead of the University of Rochester and its medical center. Just imagine, if the jobloss numbers are acurate, 7000 people out of work in ONE CITY that employs over 16000 of its' population. And thanks to a budget that had a record surplus in the Clinton era, and is now a record deficit because it was piddled away by King George through his needless war and even more needless tax cuts to the most wealthy, many of these people will suffer unemployment for years to come and the Rochester region will take a massive hit to its' economy. That my friends is downright tragic and disgusting!

Quote Of The Day

I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave..... H. L. Mencken

Why The Rush And Why This Nominee?

Well from what I am reading I fear for the rights of US citizens. If this was truly King George's preferred candidate he sure has abandoned his plan to find a nominee that would bring the country together. The more I read the more he looks like nothing more than a political hack with only two years experience on the bench. WOW that is some nominee for a President who was supposedly only two days ago still reviewing the list carefully. My take is that this was NOT his first choice, but a nominee that he knows will cause a political fight and I think that is exactly what he wants. IMO he chose this guy purposefully in order to remove the focus from Rove to Roberts, probably on Rove's orders since he pulls the strings on puppet George. He knows damn well this will enrage the Democrats. I only hope the Dems and also all the progressive groups will take heed and not fall for this trick. Voice your opinions for the next day or so then hold it until September when the hearings begin. We must not lose focus on the treasonous acts of Rove and the rest of this illegal administration. Hopefully, Rove will get at the most two or three days reprieve from the spotlight if that, then the press will get back on Rove's and King George's back and hold their feet to the fire.

Reid statement on Roberts:

STATEMENT OF SENATOR HARRY REID ON THE NOMINATION OF JOHN ROBERTS TO THE U.S. SUPREME COURT The President has made his choice. Now the Senate will do its job of deciding whether to confirm John Roberts to a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court. The President has chosen someone with suitable legal credentials, but that is not the end of our inquiry. The Senate must review Judge Roberts¹s record to determine if he has a demonstrated commitment to the core American values of freedom, equality and fairness. The nominee will have an opportunity to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and make his case to the American people. I will not pre-judge this nomination. I look forward to learning more about Judge Roberts. That may be Reid's statement, but you can bet your bippy there's going to be a fight on this one. Take a look at some of his profile in the news: A 2002 article in a cattle industry publication says that Roberts served as a lawyer for Nebraska Cattlemen Inc. in a case pitting the group, along with the National Cattlemens Beef Association, and the Department of Justice against cattle producers.The plaintiffs wanted to opt out of a mandatory fees marketing program that was established in a 1985 farm bill. (Feedstuffs, 07/29/02) Roberts's name appears on the government's brief defending the gag rule under which federally funded family-planning clinics were barred from offering abortion counseling. The brief (Rust v. Sullivan) argued in passing, as the Bush administration contended at the time, that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. In another case, Mr. Roberts argued for the government that the activities of abortion protesters did not constitute discrimination against women. (Washington Post, June 7, 2001) As a former deputy solicitor under the first President Bush, Roberts successfully argued on behalf of the federal government in a 1990 Supreme Court case that private citizens do not have the right to sue over environmental violations unless they have been directly affected by the violation. (Environmental Magazine, December 31, 2003) Involved in three rulings and all thee somehow manage to infringe on rights of the plaintiff. More profile is available HERE

John C. Roberts Jr. Is Nominee

CBS News is reporting President Bush has chosen federal appeals court judge John C. Roberts Jr. as his nominee to the Supreme Court.

A Choice For Republicans - BUSH OR AMERICA?

Not only is Karl Rove in deep doo doo (as you will see from remarks by John Dean in this piece), but so are Republicans if they don't wake up soon. In an opinion piece for Yahoo News, Ted Rall writes "Karl Rove is loyal to President Bush," a correspondent wrote as Treasongate broke. "Isn't that a form of patriotism?" Not in a representative democracy, I replied. Only in a dictatorship is fealty to the Leader equal to loyalty to the nation. We're Bush's boss. He works for us. Unless that changed on 9/11 (or 12/20/00). Rove had no right to give away state secrets, even to protect Bush [snip] Rove may avoid prosecution under the Intelligence Identities and Protection Act, says John Dean, counsel at the Nixon White House. "There is, however, evidence suggesting that other laws were violated," he says, alluding to Title 18, Section 641 of the U.S. Code. The "leak of sensitive [government] information" for personal purposes--say, outing the CIA wife of your boss' enemy--is "a very serious crime," according to the judge presiding over a similar recent case. If convicted under the anti-leak statute, Rove would face ten years in a federal prison. Even if Rove originally learned about Plame's status from jailed New York Times journalist Judith Miller, Dean continues, "it could make for some interesting pairing under the federal conspiracy statute (which was the statute most commonly employed during Watergate)." Conspiracy will get you five years at Hotel Graybar. As Rall so aptly put in his opinion piece, it is time for Republicans to realize they represent more than the Republican Party or loyalty to George Bush. They are there to serve all the people of the US. If they don't recognize this soon, they will be discredited forever. Now it looks as if they are going to try using the announcement of King George's pick for a SCOTUS nominee to deflect attention away from Rove and his treasonous act. Hopefully now that the press has awakened, they won't fall for this blatant move. You can read the entire opion piece by Ted Rall HERE.....

Rove And Cheney Not Alone In Leaking

In my previous post I reported how "Dickhead" Cheney also leaks, now Time Magazine confirmed that Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis ''Scooter" Libby, was a second source in the leak of Valerie Plame's name. Of course as you remember, King George and his crime family in the WH have vehemently denied this just as they had denied that slimy Karl wasn't involved either. Via Common Dreams During the conversation with Rove, Cooper learned that Wilson's wife -- whom Rove did not name -- worked at the CIA on weapons of mass destruction and that she -- not Cheney -- was responsible for sending Wilson to Africa. Rove ended the call by saying he had ''already said too much," though Cooper was not sure what he meant. The next day, Cooper repeated details gleaned from Rove to Libby. According to Cooper's article in this week's Time, Libby, speaking on the record, denied Cheney had any role in or knowledge of Wilson's trip to Niger. At one point, when the conversation was on background, Cooper asked about Wilson's wife sending her husband to Niger. ''Libby replied, 'Yeah, I've heard that, too,' or words to that effect," according to the article. His article reveals the ''microscopic, excruciating detail" sought by the grand jury and special prosecutor in his 2 1/2 hours of testimony Wednesday and echoes comments he made yesterday on news shows. The lies are starting to catch up with you and your buddies Georgie....guess it's time to name that SCOTUS nominee. As reported by Reuters in my previous post Sources said the timing of an announcement had been moved up in part to deflect attention away from a CIA leak controversy that has engulfed Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove..... "it helps take Rove off the front pages for a week." More on the Libby story available HERE.

Leaks Nothing New For Bush White House

Cheney Confirmed Classified Info on Connection between Iraq and Al-Queda -- Every Government Employee Must Sign Nondisclosure Agreement Prohibiting the Confirmation of Information Already Leaked. From CREW Washington, DC, — Long before the Karl Rove scandal grew into today’s political maelstrom, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sent a letter to President Bush on January 28, 2004 asking that he call upon the White House Counsel to investigate Vice President Cheney's confirmation of leaked classified information in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News on January 9, 2004. As of today, no such investigation has taken place. Federal law prohibits leaking classified information. In addition, every government employee must also sign a nondisclosure form which prohibits confirming information that has already been leaked. A briefing booklet explaining the form warns that “further dissemination of the [classified] information or confirmation of its accuracy is also an unauthorized disclosure.” In a Jan. 9, 2004 interview, Mr. Cheney referred to a story that appeared in The Weekly Standard's November 24, 2003 issue that discussed a Defense Department memo which included a list of CIA, NSA and Defense Intelligence Agency raw reports regarding possible links between Al Queda and Iraq. Mr. Cheney, responding to a question regarding the relationship between Iraq and Al Queda, called the Standard's story "the best information out there." Mr. Cheney’s comments conflicted with the Pentagon's November 15, 2003 press release stating that news reports that characterized the contents of the memo were "inaccurate" and excoriated the leak as "deplorable and maybe illegal." The Pentagon also stated that leaking such information does "serious harm to national security." "Mr. Cheney's reference to classified information and Mr. Rove’s confirmation of Ms. Plame’s identity, accompanied by the ensuing silence from the White House, shows a distinct pattern: leaking classified information that the administration deems beneficial, without any consequences for those who disclose, is standard operating procedure," Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of CREW said today. “White House officials are simply not abiding by federal law.” *** Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit, progressive legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions. CREW drafted the complaint against Tom DeLay, filed by former Congressman Chris Bell, for which DeLay was admonished last year.

Supreme Court Announcement 9PM ET

President Bush will disclose the name of his nominee to the Supreme Court tonight at 9 pm, Eastern time.

Time To Divert Attention From Rove...Name A Supreme

Yes it looks as though King George would rather divert attention away from his bum-buddy Rove than seriously look at his Supreme Court Nominee. Don't you find it curious that all of a sudden you see this report from Reuters "The time is now," said a Republican strategist close to the White House of Bush's announcement. A leading candidate is Judge Edith Clement of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans, the Republican said. Sources said the timing of an announcement had been moved up in part to deflect attention away from a CIA leak controversy that has engulfed Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove. A Republican strategist with close to the White House described Clement as the leading candidate. "She's pretty untouchable," he said. "Plus, it helps take Rove off the front pages for a week." So there you have it. Rather than take the necessary time to really examine all possible nominees, this corrupt bunch has decided to try and save slime-ball Karl's ass and move up the nomination process.

Similar Administrations - Nixon and Bush

Former U.S. Rep. Pete McCloskey, who made the first floor speech suggesting consideration of the impeachment of President Nixon for obstruction of justice notes the similarities in the administrations of Richard Nixon and George Bush at Common Dreams. Both administrations..... *Won re-election to a second term. *Both were at war. *Both faced what they felt was disloyal, if not treasonous, conduct by former federal employees. Both in 1971 and 2003, the actions of these zealous presidential aides had dire results. Both brought on Justice Department investigations. Ultimately, not only Ehrlichman and White House Chief of Staff Robert Haldeman, but two attorneys general, John Mitchell and Richard Kleindienst, lied to a grand jury and/or congressional committees, and all four were indicted. The truth came out, not by the Justice Department, but by two courageous reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and vigorous investigations by Sen. Sam Ervin's committee and the House Judiciary Committee. Less than two years after his smashing re-election, Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace. Now, in 2005 as in the Nixon days, there again appears to be White House obfuscation. The only difference I see between then and now is the fact that the media had not yet grown soft and allowed themselves to be led around by the Republican noise machine. MORE.....

More Verification - NBC Transcript

The official transcript has been put online by NBC's "Meet The Press". The relevant snip For the record, the first time you learned that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA was from Karl Rove? MR. COOPER: That's correct. The complete transcript is available HERE.....

Family Tradition

If there is one trait that has followed the Bush family through generations of privilege, it is the ability to escape scandal – a skill that will be put to the test again over the leaking of the identity of an undercover CIA officer, apparently to get back at her husband for criticizing George W. Bush’s case for invading Iraq. Read more at ConsortiumNews

Cooper Verifies Rove Identified Plame

Matt Cooper wrote this in the coming issue of TIME Magazine, and proved Rove and Bush are BOTH OUTRIGHT LIARS As for Wilson's wife, I told the grand jury I was certain that Rove never used her name and that, indeed, I did not learn her name until the following week, when I either saw it in Robert Novak's column or Googled her, I can't recall which. Rove did, however, clearly indicate that she worked at the "agency"--by that, I told the grand jury, I inferred that he obviously meant the CIA and not, say, the Environmental Protection Agency. Rove added that she worked on "WMD" (the abbreviation for weapons of mass destruction) issues and that she was responsible for sending Wilson. This was the first time I had heard anything about Wilson's wife. Rove never once indicated to me that she had any kind of covert status. I told the grand jury something else about my conversation with Rove. Although it's not reflected in my notes or subsequent e-mails, I have a distinct memory of Rove ending the call by saying, "I've already said too much." This could have meant he was worried about being indiscreet, or it could have meant he was late for a meeting or something else. I don't know, but that sign-off has been in my memory for two years. [SNIP] So did Rove leak Plame's name to me, or tell me she was covert? No. Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes. Did Rove say that she worked at the "agency" on "WMD"? Yes. When he said things would be declassified soon, was that itself impermissible? I don't know. Is any of this a crime? Beats me. At this point, I'm as curious as anyone else to see what Patrick Fitzgerald has. Well none of us know what Fitzgerald has in mind, but I put this forth. The Non-Disclosure Agreement signed by Rove describes unauthorized disclosure as: Before … confirming the accuracy of what appears in the public source, the signer of the SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified. If it has not, … confirmation of its accuracy is also an unauthorized disclosure. Well my friends, he most certainly DID confirm Plame's identity as you can see for yourself in what was written by Cooper. This kind of gives a broadside slam to the current meme touted by King George's spin machine, that it was a reporter who told him (Rove) about Plame. Now it is very possible that some other reporter (Miller?) told this to Rove, but he still confirmed not only her identity, but what she was working on (WMD). There is more available from this report from Reuters.

Watch Out For That Open Mic!!!

Here it for yourself. CNN's "That's Bullshit" comment. This is too funny. Lou Dobbs Tonight, (7/15/05) as Lou was introducing a piece on the Rove story. Lou says, "...Rove testifying that he first learned about Plame from columnist Robert Novak, a CNN contributor. Danna Bash reports." Immediately after that you can clearly hear a female voice on mic whispering "that's bullshit". Then Dana Bash continues with her report. **Note, Windows Media Player file: Via Crooks And Liars

Welcome To Karl's "AmeriKa"

An eye-opening description of the "New AmeriKa" according to Karl Rove should send chills down your spine. But first you have to care enough to understand it. Unfortunately too few bother to even try. Paul Krugman wrote in the NYT yesterday What Mr. Rove understood, long before the rest of us, is that we're not living in the America of the past, where even partisans sometimes changed their views when faced with the facts. Instead, we're living in a country in which there is no longer such a thing as nonpolitical truth. In particular, there are now few, if any, limits to what conservative politicians can get away with: the faithful will follow the twists and turns of the party line with a loyalty that would have pleased the Comintern. What a sad, sad commentary on what has become of a wonderful country, when it willingly let's itself be led around by the nose by a slimeball like Karl. This (man?), no I can't refer to him as that!! Let's use his boyfriends' name for him "Turdblossom" much more fitting. Back to what I was saying, how sad that the people let themselves be lead around by turdblossoms' view of things. As Krugman points out in his op-ed, the most telling example is the use of 9/11 for political gain. But the real demonstration that Mr. Rove understands American politics better than any pundit came after 9/11. Every time I read a lament for the post-9/11 era of national unity, I wonder what people are talking about. On the issues I was watching, the Republicans' exploitation of the atrocity began while ground zero was still smoldering. Mr. Rove has been much criticized for saying that liberals responded to the attack by wanting to offer the terrorists therapy - but what he said about conservatives, that they "saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war," is equally false. What many of them actually saw was a domestic political opportunity - and none more so than Mr. Rove. We need look no further than the rising and lowering of the terror alert in unison with King George's approval ratings. And now there is the uproar over Heil Karl's involvement in the Plame leak. Look at the way his spin machine is at work since the facts of his involvement came out. Instead of the media going after him (longer than two or three days), they are now lapping up the slime like a cat to milk in order to cover his ass. We don't know yet if he committed a crime or not, but what we DO KNOW is that he definitely damaged the country's national security for purely partisan political reasons. And to hell with the consequences. But what we're getting, instead, is yet another impressive demonstration that these days, truth is political. One after another, prominent Republicans and conservative pundits have declared their allegiance to the party line. They haven't just gone along with the diversionary tactics, like the irrelevant questions about whether Mr. Rove used Valerie Wilson's name in identifying her (Robert Novak later identified her by her maiden name, Valerie Plame), or the false, easily refuted claim that Mr. Wilson lied about who sent him to Niger. They're now a chorus, praising Mr. Rove as a patriotic whistle-blower. As Krugman so rightly points out, this is, in the long run about Bush. He knew this man was a thug and a slimeball just by the way he helped get his daddy elected through smear attacks. And that is exactly why Jr. didn't make any attempt to find out if he was the leaker. My opinion is he didn't have to ask him, he knew all along, and now he is sitting back and letting him shaft the American people once again. Krugman asks at the end of his piece, "How did our political system get to this point?" The answer is quite simple in my opinion. We have a kiss-ass, spineless press corps who doesn't ask questions, and when they do, and get a diversionary response, they won't push, and push harder to find the truth. Then there is the public that cares more about Michael Jackson's latest nose job and some nut-case who runs away from her wedding than they do about not only the future of their country, but their own civil rights and freedoms that are being pissed away by a corrupt government.

Quote Of The Day

I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.....James Madison

We Can't Let This Drop

After a week full of Karl Rove news, if you're anything like me you have probably almost (or have) reached the saturation point. I got to the point yesterday that I thought if I heard that slimeball's name one more time I would kill the TV or Radio (or God forbid my computer!!...fat chance of that). Well I took a brief hiatus from blogs, Radio and TV and just read a book. Well that was all wonderful, until I decided to feed my addiction to the PC and check my email. So what's in there? An email from a dear friend of mine saying "Did your get this?" and there low and behold another mention of Rove. Should I go on, or shut down the PC now? Well thank goodness I didnt for what she had sent me was an email that had been sent by Rep. Louise Slaughter and I would like to share part of it with you. As I write this email more than 18,000 of you have signed up to send your own personal pink slip to Karl Rove demanding his firing. Excellent progress in just 48 hours. If we are to reach our goal of sending 100,000 pink slips to Karl Rove at the White House in the next few days, we must act now to spread the word. Please use the following link to invite 5 of your friends to join our effort by sending their own personalized pink slip to Mr. Rove. Rep. Slaughter then goes on to remind me, as I remind you now: Karl Rove should be fired and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There can be no gray area here. What Mr. Rove did is reprehensible. Putting the life of an undercover CIA agent and our national security in jeopardy cannot be tolerated. He clearly deserves his pink slip, and that's why we must call on our friends, family and co-workers to join us by sending the President and Karl Rove a message. Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter. Please either go the link on the right side of this blog, or visit the Rove's Pink Slip website. You know what? Louise Slaughter is correct. This needs to be done and needs to be done immediately. Whether you have reached your saturation point as I have or are on the verge keep it up. This is just what the corrupt administration of King George and his thugs want. As usual, they want to takeover the news coverage and send us off-topic by masquerading the obvious with the meme "it must mean he broke the law". And of course our media is led around by a ring in their nose once again and doing so. That's is horse crap and you and I both know it. Sure it may be hard to nail slimeball Rove with the legal definition the law (as written) requires. But although this is important, and I would love to see little Karl doing the "perp walk" but let's keep something else in mind. This man (and I use that term loosely) called 6 (YES SIX) different reporters with the same information. He has security authorization, and he should NOT. HE is the one who chose to put dirty politics ahead of the national security of the US. HE is the one who placed not only Ms Plame's life in danger, but also that of everyone she had contact with. For this and this alone he should have his security clearance revoked and sent packing by King George. Once again, I urge you to either go the link on the right side of this blog, or visit the Rove's Pink Slip website. Not just to support Rep. Slaughter in her efforts, but to support your country and its' security.

Degrading Treatment At Guantanamo Called "Humane"

An official report released to the the Senate Armed Services Committee says that interrogators "degraded and abused" a prisoner but did not torture him. According to the report by AP A military report presented before the Senate Armed Services Committee stated a Saudi man, described as the "20th hijacker" slated to have participated in the September 11, 2001, attacks on America, was forced by interrogators in late 2002 to wear a bra and had women's thong underwear placed on his head. U.S. interrogators also told him he was a homosexual, forced him to dance with a male interrogator, told him his mother and sister were whores, forced him to wear a leash and perform dog tricks, menaced him with a dog and regularly subjected him to interrogations up to 20 hours a day for about two months, the report said. The general who presented this report apparently stated "As the bottom line, though, we found no torture. Detention and interrogation operations were safe, secure and humane." Humane? How the hell can they call this kind of treatment humane? At the risk of being told I am aiding or feeling sorry for terrorists or called a whining liberal let me say this. Prove the person guilty, lock 'em up and throw away the key if their guilt is proven. But damn it this is not the way a civilized country treats its' detainees no matter how evil they are. I don't feel sorry for the detainee at all, but what I do feel sorry for is the reputation of a nation that was once the most respected and admired country in the world for its' civility and humaneness. Thanks to King George and the rest of the neocons in that illegal administration, not to mention their right-wing extremist enablers in Congress, the US is fast becoming one of the most despised countries in the world. What's worse, is that the honest and decent peoples that make up most of the population are painted with the same brush.

Rehnquist Hospitalized

3:10 p.m. EDT........... CNN is reporting Chief Justice William Rehnquist was taken to hospital for observation after complaining of high fever, a spokeswoman says More when available UPDATE.......3:45 p.m. EDT.... Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said "was admitted for observation and tests," Tuesday night. Via CBS/AP He [has] been coming to the court daily until Wednesday. Court officials, questioned about his absence, revealed that he was in Arlington Hospital outside Washington. Confirmation of the hospitalization followed unusual comings and goings at Rehnquist's suburban Virginia town home. A court police officer made several trips to the house, leaving each time with various personal items. The officer first carried out Rehnquist's distinctive cane and a shirt. Later, he brought out shoes and pants. MORE.....

Two Important News Releases Today

Scientists today found the original source of Mad Cow disease has been located in Texas. It finally exposed itself when it kept insisting "the war in Iraq was winnable". I've have been saying all along that there's a lot of mad cow disease in the U.S., but the Feds have been covering it up. *********** Also in the news today, it was reported that authorities have seized the answering machine tapes from Karl Rove's home. It was reported that when his phone is answered it says.."I am unavailable at the moment..........please leave your name and I will leak it shortly".

Ex-CIA Officer Explains The Real Damage Done By Rove

A retired CIA officer Larry Johnson, who was also a classmate of Valerie Plame, tells us the REAL damage that has been done by Rove and the rest of this Administration. They were leaking Ms. Plames identity for no other reason than trashing Joe Wilson's name because he spoke out against the Bush claim that Iraq was receiving uranium tubes. In other words, there is a case of cover-up going on with this corrupt administration because they were caught lying about on of the many false reasons they gave for the occupation of Iraq. Here are some excerpts from TPM. I would urge you to read the entire post however so you can see for yourself that this illegitimate administration will stop at nothing to protect their asses. [snip] The misinformation being spread in the media about the Plame affair is alarming and damaging to the longterm security interests of the United States. Republicans' talking points are trying to savage Joe Wilson and, by implication, his wife, Valerie Plame as liars. That is the truly big lie. For starters, Valerie Plame was an undercover operations officer until outed in the press by Robert Novak. Novak's column was not an isolated attack. It was in fact part of a coordinated, orchestrated smear that we now know includes at least Karl Rove Of course now because they have been caught red-handed in a lie they again are trying to discredit Wilson and Plame with their current talking points. [snip] The lies by people like Victoria Toensing, Representative Peter King, and P. J. O'Rourke insist that Valerie was nothing, just a desk jockey. Yet, until Robert Novak betrayed her she was still undercover and the company that was her front was still a secret to the world. When Novak outed Valerie he also compromised her company and every individual overseas who had been in contact with that company and with her. The Republicans now want to hide behind the legalism that "no laws were broken". I don't know if a man made law was broken but an ethical and moral code was breached. For the first time a group of partisan political operatives publicly identified a CIA NOC. They have set a precendent that the next group of political hacks may feel free to violate. They try to hide behind the specious claim that Joe Wilson "lied". Although Joe did not lie let's follow that reasoning to the logical conclusion. Let's use the same standard for the Bush Administration. Here are the facts. Bush's lies have resulted in the deaths of almost 1800 American soldiers and the mutilation of 12,000. Joe Wilson has not killed anyone. He tried to prevent the needless death of Americans and the loss of American prestige in the world. Now that the MSM has decided to cover the story (although some of them are doing so incorrectly and are still mouthing the Republican talking points), we need to keep the heat on. This administration knowingly lied to justify the occupation of Iraq. That is an impeachable offense and Rove and Cheney were the masterminds. You can read the entire post by Mr. Johnson ....HERE.

Quote Of The Day

The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.....Plato

Clinton Chides Bush On Security

click to enlarge During a speech in Colorado on Sunday, Hillary compared King George to the mascot of Mad Magazine when she said, "I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington." A sentiment many of us share when describing him. Of course Republicans went on the attack the same way they always do, by evading the issues and attacking the person. Via the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle State GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik fired back that Clinton should stop running for president and instead help New Yorkers. "Maybe Hillary Clinton should focus on her own job, rather than trying to get someone else's job." Perhaps Mr Minarik should ask his fearless leader to start correcting the problems he created instead of evading the issues instead of concentrating on whether or not Sen. Clinton intends to run for President in '08. Of course Hillary did not back down on her comments, in fact she stepped up her remarks by saying [The] Republican administration, not just Bush, handles tough issues like the economy, health care and the national debt with a sentiment similar to Neuman's catch phrase: "What, me worry?" "When we try to raise these issues and present solutions for what we think will work better, we're basically told not to worry about it," she told reporters. "From my perspective, I worry a lot about this." Of course the Republicans have more important things to worry about. Like holding on to the reigns of power Congress and the White House. As Hillary pointed out At the Democratic fundraiser, Clinton gave a stinging political critique of the Republican administration in Washington that sounded part pep talk to local Democrats and part stump speech for her own future. She knocked the administration for squandering the national surplus built during her husband's two terms and credited Democrats for shooting down Bush's plan to revamp Social Security. Bush visited Greece in May to drum up support for his plan. Clinton also talked tough about homeland security and the nation's failing fight against crime, two areas critics say she'll need command of if she runs for president. She charged that Republicans gave tax breaks to the rich instead of making sure communities were safe. "We need to get the message out that the leadership in Washington has not done what it should do to make sure that every state, every county, every city has the resources that we need," she said. Once again however rather than focus on these issues an often mentioned candidate to run against her for the Senate in NY, Edward Cox a Manhattan attorney and son-in-law of the late Richard Nixon (now there's a legacy to have on your resume!!!), responded through a spokesman "While Mrs. Clinton is busy traveling the country insulting the president, she's failing to deliver the homeland security and transportation funding necessary to keep New York safe." Hey there Eddie you better check your facts instead of worrying about Senator Clinton's possible bid for the Presidency. It was your own party that removed funding that had been requested by the Democrats for more funding of mass transit. Not only in NY but ports and transit systems throughout the country. MORE.....

Tell the President to Keep His Word.

As the Gentle Lady from New York's 28th district Rep. Louise Slaughter has stated in the comments section for my post HERE.... Thank you for posting my comments regarding Karl Rove.It is incredibly important that we hold the President accountable. He said he'd fire whoever leaked the identity of Valerie Plame, an undercover agent for the CIA. Now that we know Karl Rove was, at least in part, responsible for the leaking of this information it is time for President Bush to his word and fire Karl Rove. I hope you will encourage your readers to visit www.votelouise.com/rove and sign our petition. We need to build critical mass on this issue so that the White House will be unable to ignore it as they did during yesterday's press briefing. -LMS I urge you with as much convincing as I can muster, to please sign her online petition HERE....I am sure Rep. Slaughter has more important things to do than take time to post on my little blog and I am extremely proud that she has done so. This just goes to show all of you the dedication and importance she places on opening the doors and letting the cool breeze of truth blow into this administration. (Well at least as much truth as possible from King Georges' reign of power). While at the same time requesting the accountability and actions that were promised by the American President Therefore, I urge you once again to please SIGN HER PETITION As I posted earlier about the stone-walling from the Administration about the Rove involvement in leaking classified information on this site in a post titled, Read It And Weep For Your Democracy . It is imperative that the Progressive Blogosphere needs to keep the pressure on the White House to STOP THE SECRECY AND TELL THE TRUTH. In addition to reading and signing Rep. Slaughter's online petition please visit her main homepage HERE and see for yourself the kind of dedication the woman not only show's her own constituents but the US nation as a whole. I long for more like her and Congressman John Conyers Jr (D-MI-14th) to take the leadership of not only the House, but the Senate in "06 and the Presidency itself come '08. Remember my friends in the US, the fate of the free world also rests on your voices not just the future of the United Statrs of America. This just goest to show you the dedication and importance she places on opening the door and letting in the cool breezes of fresh air bring for the truth. I respectfully remind you though, no matter the method you choose to contact anyone, please follow these guidelines: 1) Make your letter, email or LTE straightforward and bring out your point of view. 2) Remain respectful. Most emails and letters are opened by staff members who are only doing their job. There is no need to be abusive to them. 3) If by chance you are successfull to be directly in touch with your Representative, Senator,and/or Editor, keep it short, to the point and extremely respectful. Nothing will be gained by ranting. That is what blogs like this and others are for.

Quote Of The Day

"It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do."..... Edmund Burke - (1729 - 1797) Source: Second Speech on Conciliation, 1775

"A Deficit In Decency."

You said it Zell not us!!! From Pam's House Blend Zell caught taking $61K from the taxpayer cookie jar. Experts are voicing concerns about how and why former Gov. Zell Miller departed the Governor's Mansion with over $60,000 in taxpayer dollars. Every living Georgia governor, including Jimmy Carter, says they would not have kept the money or considered that it belongs to them. Miller is busy promoting his new book, "A Deficit in Decency." But his critics say the former U.S. Senator needs to write another chapter about the money some say did not belong to him. To millions of Americans, Miller is a national treasure, the senator who stands for what's right. "He's somebody who's done the right thing at the right time for all of us," said one Miller fan. Records uncovered by Channel 2 Action News are raising some experts' concern. "If there's even an inkling of a conflict or an inkling of an integrity issue then that should have been addressed as he left office," said Dr. Hasan Crockett, a political science professor who teaches at the Brisbane Institute of Morehouse College. The issue goes back to 1999 when Miller retired. He packed his track and in his words was, "Headed for the mountains." He also left with the mansion allowance, an account provided by Georgia taxpayers, which had ballooned to an estimated $61,000. Said Crockett: "To drain the account and leave the next governor without that account and take that account for whatever reason ... that's very unethical, and I think an issue that should be looked at further." THIS from the same man who took center stage as a Democrat at the Republican lovefest they call a convention, and slammed his fellow Democrats as liars and theives. What have you to say for yourself now Mr. Turncoat? MORE.....

The Day Of Reckoning For Supreme Announcement

Tuesday is the day of the big meeting with His Highness King George I would love to be a fly on the wall in that room. Bush is to meet with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and the committee's top Democrat, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy. Knowing his track record the meeting will accomplish nothing, and Reid and Leahy may as well just stay at home. The White House spin machine would have us believe Bush has been reviewing background material and the legal opinions of more than half a dozen potential candidates. Give me a break!! This imbecile couldn't even read "My Pet Goat" without Laura's tutoring. Leahy is reported as saying "There are potential candidates who would unite Americans, and those who would divide us. Meaningful consultation is more than checking off a box. It means a real dialogue that can help the President find a good nominee who could have overwhelming bipartisan support". Save your breath Patrick, he will do exactly what his puppet masters Rove and Cheney tell him to do. We need only look to the fact that he hasn't yet reprimanded or even made an official statement about the Rove/Plame leak mess. He is not man enough to stand up to that slimeball and in my opinion is afraid of him. More than likely because knowing Rove's way of doing things, he probably has too much dirt on Bush himself for him to ever try and do anything to "unite Americans".

Bush Now Exporting Fear To Other Countries

It's bad enough that SOB King George has his own citizens walking around in fear, now he decides to export it to Canada and Australia. From the World Conference on Disaster Management in Toronto on Monday. Conference speaker Ty Fairman, who has worked with the FBI investigating bombings and chemical attacks around the world, said Canadians need to wake up to the possibility that they could be targets. "Osama bin Laden stated that there are five Christian nations that will be attacked," said Fairman, of the National Security & Intelligence Society Inc. "The United States has been attacked. Spain has been attacked. The United Kingdom has been attacked. Then there's Australia and Canada." He called many Canadians naïve. "They have an unreasonable expectation of law enforcement and the federal government to protect them against terrorist attacks. There's no way they can. There's not enough law enforcement nor intelligence to do so." Well if King George and his neocon buddies hadn't decided to get involved in an illegal occupation of Iraq, and instead gone after Bin Laden maybe the world wouldn't have to worry about this crap!!!! This bastard makes me so damn angry I could scream. Him and his ruthless quest for oil and power are disgusting in the extreme. Oh how I hope the Democrats regain the leadership in Congress in '06 and they can impeach that bastard! MORE.....

Bush Should Keep His Word & Fire Rove - Rep Louise Slaughter

Via Rep. Slaughter's post at Dkos Slaughter to President: "Keep Your Word." Bush Should Fire Karl Rove Washington, DC - Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, today called on President Bush to keep his word and fire Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for his role in leaking the identity of Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, an undercover agent for the CIA. "It is time for the President to keep his word. Karl Rove should be fired and prosecuted to the full extent of the law," said Rep. Slaughter. "There can be no gray area here, regardless of how he phrased it, regardless of how much detail he provided, he revealed the identity of an undercover CIA agent. What Mr. Rove did is reprehensible. Putting the life of an undercover CIA agent in jeopardy can not be tolerated. He clearly deserves his pink slip," she continued. I am so happy to see Democratic Members of Congress keeping their feet to the fire over this. The Republicans and their talking heads like Limbaugh and the bunch over at Faux News are always quick to point at others and label them as "traitors" or "aiding and abetting the enemy", lets see how they respond to one of their own outed for being a REAL traitor. Remember guys..... According to Title 50, Ch. 15, Subch. IV, Sec. 421 intentionally revealing the identity of a covert CIA agent is punishable by 3-10 years in prison or $15-50k in fines or both.

Reid Statement On Rove

Washington, DC – “I agree with the President when he said he expects the people who work for him to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. The White House promised if anyone was involved in the Valerie Plame affair, they would no longer be in this administration. I trust they will follow through on this pledge. If these allegations are true this rises above politics and is about our national security.” Give 'em hell Harry!!!!

Suspend Rove's Security Clearance - CREW

CREW Sends Letter to President Bush: Suspend Karl Rove's Security Clearance Pending Outcome of Plame Investigation As reported today in Newsweek, Karl Rove was a confidential source for Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper on the identification of a covert CIA agent. Rove disclosed that Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s trip to Iraq to investigate charges that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Niger was authorized by Mr. Wilson’s wife, a CIA employee working on issues related to weapons of mass destruction. At that time, Valerie Plame, Ambassador Wilson’s wife, was a covert operative with the CIA whose identity as such had not yet been publicly revealed. Under federal law, it is a crime to “intentionally disclose[] any information identifying” a covert agent “to any individual not authorized to received classified information.” 50 U.S.C. §421(a). Thus, by disclosing to Matt Cooper Ms. Plame’s relationship with the CIA and thereby identifying her as a covert agent, Mr. Rove appears to have committed an illegal act. “Considering that it is a federal crime to identify covert agents, and that President Bush signed executive orders identifying the vital role the President plays in protecting national security secrets from unauthorized disclosure, it is appropriate for the President to suspend Mr. Rove’s clearance pending the investigation’s outcome,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today. “The evidence uncovered so far raises serious questions about Mr. Rove’s conduct and his ability to safeguard highly sensitive classified information. Until those questions are resolved, CREW believes it is not appropriate for Mr. Rove to have continued access to classified information. Anything short of suspension raises an unacceptable risk to our nation’s security,” The letter today was sent by Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of CREW.

Waxman Calls For Hearing On Rove

Monday, July 11, 2005 -- Rep. Waxman says White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove should testify under oath about his role in identifying Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. Letter to Tom Davis, Chairman of Committee on Government Reform Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing regarding recent reports that provide new details about the involvement of Karl Rove, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, in the disclosure of Valerie Plame's identity as an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency. An article in the Washington Post this morning and recent disclosures in Newsweek and other reports are extraordinary. If true, they indicate that the President's top political advisor played a central role in the outing of a covert CIA agent. According to the Washington Post account, Mr. Rove's attorney insists that Mr. Rove did not identify Ms. Plame "by name." But Mr. Rove did identify her as the spouse of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV, which would seem to be a distinction without a difference. The new disclosures also raise issues about whether Mr. Rove acted alone or whether there was a conspiracy with other White House staff to use classified information for the political purpose of discrediting Ambassador Wilson. I first wrote to you to request a hearing about this matter on September 29, 2003, and I renewed my request in a second letter on December 11, 2003. During this period, we met with Ambassador Wilson, but you turned down my request for a hearing because you wanted to see what the investigation of Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald would uncover. The recent disclosures about Mr. Rove's actions have such serious implications that we can no longer responsibly ignore them. The intentional disclosure of a covert CIA agent's identity would be an act of treason. If there were evidence of such a serious breach during the Clinton Administration, there is no doubt that our Committee would have immediately demanded that the Deputy Chief of Staff testify at a hearing. This would have been the right course of action then, and it is the right course now. For this reason, I am renewing my request that the Committee schedule an immediate hearing at which Mr. Rove is called to testify. A congressional hearing at which Mr. Rove testifies under oath remains the simplest and most effective means for Congress and the public to learn the truth about this disgraceful incident. I congratulate Rep. Waxman for this, but you and I both know as long as the Republicans control all committees, the chances of this happening are slim to none.

Read It And Weep For Your Democracy

If you can stomach the hypocrisy, stonewalling, and outright lies put forward by Scott McClellan today you can read the entire back and forth with the press here from Think Progress Excerpt: QUESTION: Does the president stand by his pledge to fire anyone involved in a leak of the name of a CIA operative? MCCLELLAN: I appreciate your question. I think your question is being asked related to some reports that are in reference to an ongoing criminal investigation. The criminal investigation that you reference is something that continues at this point. And as I’ve previously stated, while that investigation is ongoing, the White House is not going to comment on it. The president directed the White House to cooperate fully with the investigation. And as part of cooperating fully with the investigation, we made a decision that we weren’t going to comment on it while it is ongoing. QUESTION: I actually wasn’t talking about any investigation. But in June of 2004, the president said that he would fire anybody who was involved in this leak to the press about information. I just wanted to know: Is that still his position? MCCLELLAN: Yes, but this question is coming up in the context of this ongoing investigation, and that’s why I said that our policy continues to be that we’re not going to get into commenting on an ongoing criminal investigation from this podium. The prosecutors overseeing the investigation had expressed a preference to us that one way to help the investigation is not to be commenting on it from this podium. Now why would this be true if Rove's own lawyer is commenting all over the place for the last 6 days? QUESTION: Do you stand by that statement? MCCLELLAN: And if you will recall, I said that, as part of helping the investigators move forward on the investigation, we’re not going to get into commenting on it. That was something I stated back near that time as well. QUESTION: Scott, this is ridiculous. The notion that you’re going to stand before us, after having commented with that level of detail, and tell people watching this that somehow you’ve decided not to talk. You’ve got a public record out there. Do you stand by your remarks from that podium or not? MCCLELLAN: I’m well aware, like you, of what was previously said. And I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time. The appropriate time is when the investigation. MCCLELLAN: If you’ll let me finish. QUESTION: No, you’re not finishing. You’re not saying anything. You stood at that podium and said that Karl Rove was not involved. And now we find out that he spoke about Joseph Wilson’s wife. So don’t you owe the American public a fuller explanation. Was he involved or was he not? Because contrary to what you told the American people, he did indeed talk about his wife, didn’t he? MCCLELLAN: There will be a time to talk about this, but now is not the time to talk about it. QUESTION: Do you think people will accept that, what you’re saying today? MCCLELLAN: Again, I’ve responded to the question. What outright arrogance!!!! Obviously he and this administration think they are above being questioned or TRUTHFULLY answering to the American people about anything. As you can see, this White House and its' group of thugs are disgusting in their illegitimate and possibly illegal actions. Be careful if they don't like what you say or do or you will suffer the same consequences as Valerie Plame - or worse. Video of this is also available at Crooks And Liars.

Scotty Stonewalls

The WH press corps must have grown a spine over the weekend. Or perhaps they were given a push by progressive bloggers as usual. It seems when we bloggers start on a story it takes the MSM to finally do something at least 7 days to make it an issue. Well this is day seven, and finally they did it. From The Associated Press . For two years, the White House has insisted that presidential adviser Karl Rove had nothing to do with the leak of a CIA officer's identity. And President Bush said the leaker would be fired. White House press secretary Scott McClellan refused to discuss the matter at two news briefings Monday. He said he would not comment because the leak is the focus of a federal criminal investigation. "The prosecutors overseeing the investigation had expressed a preference to us that one way to help the investigation is not to be commenting on it from this podium," McClellan said in response to a barrage of questions about Rove and the previous White House denials. "I'm well aware, like you, of what was previously said," McClellan said. "And I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time." He said the appropriate time would be when the investigation is completed. Well just when will that be Scott? After the blogosphere uncovers the truth and you have no choice? Here is a suggestion to the suddenly awakened press corp. What did King George know about Rove and WHEN did he know it? If he meant what he said per your own words from back in September of 2003 saying that if anyone at the White House leaked Plame's identity he or she should be fired and "pursued to the fullest extent by the Department of Justice". "That is not the way this White House operates. The President expects everyone in his administration to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. No one would be authorized to do such a thing." Why is Rove still employed by the White House, and more importantly, why does he still have secutiry clearance in light of recent reports? The American People are waiting Scott, it is time for you're boss to stand up and tell the truth for once in his forsakenaken life!!!