Think Progress summarizes Alito’s Way.
The reason for record oil company profits is now clear. DoG has obtained photographic evidence that Exxon Mobil Chairman and CEO "Lee Raymond" is actually intergallactic crime lord Jabba the Hutt. Sadly, after this photo was snapped, "Raymond" slammed his meaty palm down on a button beside the platform upon which he was reclining, sending the brave DoG photographer through a trap door and into the lair of the mighty rancor. He was immediatley devoured, but the camera and its contents survived.
I know you people lead busy lives. You don’t have time for nonsense. So I’ve gone ahead and read the twenty-two page Libby indictment so you don’t have to. I’m sure you can find a better, more detailed analysis almost anywhere else. But here are the relevant points as I see them:
Disclosure of the fact that such individuals were employed by the CIA had the potential to damage the national security in ways that ranged from preventing the future use of those individuals in a covert capacity, to compromising intelligence-gathering methods and operations, and endangering the safety of CIA employees and those who dealt with them.
Valerie Wilson was employed by the CIA, and her employment status was classified. Prior to July 14, 2003, Valerie Wilson’s affiliation with the CIA was not common knowledge outside the intelligence community.
On or about June 11 or 12, 2003, the Under Secretary of State orally advised LIBBY in the White House that, in sum and substance, Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA.
LIBBY participated in discussions in the Office of the Vice President concerning how to respond to Pincus.
On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Vice President of the United States that Wilson’s wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Division. [ed. – they're trying to counter the proliferation of nuclear weapons] LIBBY understood that the Vice President had learned this information from the CIA.
That official [Libby’s Principal Deputy] asked LIBBY whether information about Wilson’s trip could be shared with the press to rebut the allegations that the Vice President had sent Wilson. LIBBY responded that there would be complications at the CIA in disclosing that information publicly, and that he could not discuss the matter on a non-secure telephone line.
LIBBY asked that the information LIBBY provided on the topic of Wilson be attributed to a “former Hill staffer” rather than to a “senior administration official,” as had been the understanding with respect to other information that LIBBY provided to Miller during this meeting.
LIBBY spoke to a senior official in the White House (“Official A”) who advised LIBBY of a conversation Official A had earlier that week with columnist Robert Novak [ed. – better known as Douchebag of Liberty] in which Wilson’s wife was discussed as a CIA employee involved in Wilson’s trip.Who is Official A? And is he sweating in his skidmarked underpants this weekend?
Irving Lewis Libby (I refuse to call a grown man “Scooter”) was indicted today on five charges including perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements.
Let’s say it all together now, right-wingers – Perjury isn’t a real crime. It’s only lying. We lie every day! And as long as we don’t lie about sex, who cares?
In the meantime, the Rove investigation is ongoing. Guess what Asshole is going to do.
As Rove departed his home in Washington Friday morning, he told reporters, "I am going to have a great Friday and a fantastic weekend and hope you do too."In the meantime, let us not forget this:
Bush suggested at the beginning of the investigation that he would fire anyone on his staff who was involved in the leak.See? They lie all the time!
He appeared to set a higher standard in July, saying, "If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration."
So. It looks like Libby’s going to be indicted, but Rove isn’t. Yet. But don’t let that fool you. I don’t want to hear any platitudes from the Bush administration (although I’m certain we will) about being vindicated or exonerated. He is most definitely guilty. They just can’t quite connect the dots. Yet.
This is his M.O. Do the most underhanded, illegal, and in this case treasonous dirty trick you can think of, but stay removed from it just enough to keep your fingerprints off it directly. It’s OK if everyone suspects you as long as they can’t prove it. He’s done this so many times before. Read Bush’s Brain (or watch it you lazy-ass). In it you’ll hear about all his nefarious schemes, like when he bugged his own office and blamed it on the Democrats. Everyone knew Rove did it. All the evidence pointed to Rove doing it. They just couldn’t prove it. But after Rove showed the bug to the press, his candidate made huge gains in the polls - just enough to win. This is what he does.
But let me ask you – just because O.J. was acquitted, do any of you think that he didn’t kill his wife? I didn’t think so.
Of course, even guiltier than Rove – Vice President Cheney. But I guess we can all go fuck ourselves, eh, Dick?
Hey everyone, we're still paying Brownie's salary!
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday defended FEMA's decision to extend former director Michael Brown's post-resignation employment by an additional 30 days.
[gimme an s! gimme an n! gimme an i-p!]
Brown, heavily criticized for the federal government's slow response to Katrina, initially was permitted to stay on the FEMA payroll for 30 days at his $148,000 annual salary. The agency recently agreed to extend his contract for another 30 days.
Exxon Mobil, kind-hearted, puppy-loving protector of the environment/energy company has reported their profits for the quarter.
Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, on Thursday reported quarterly profit surged 75 percent, pushed up by record crude oil and natural gas prices.Profits up 75%? Imagine if you got a 75% raise in your salary four times a year. Think about it.
Hard-hearted harbinger of haggis...
I just had to get that out of my system before she goes away forever. Poor, sweet, innocent Harriet Miers. She couldn’t take the heat, so she got out of the metaphorical kitchen. More accurately, she was tired of crying herself to sleep every night because of the meanies in the newsrooms and the Senate. Or perhaps even more accurately, Bush finally came to terms with the notion that just because she’s his BFF, doesn’t mean that she’s our BFF. But I’m sure he told her she did a “heckuva job” before he slammed the door in her face.
Indeed she did.
Then it’s back to business. “Turd Blossom! Get in here! What the… Nancy, where in tarnation is Karl, dammit!”
“He’s in a meeting with his lawyers, sir.”
The White House wants The Onion to stop using the presidential seal on it's fake news stories. My favorite part is the headline and sub-headline:
White House to Onion: Stop using seal
Symbol 'being used inappropriately,' says spokesman
Some of you may have noticed that I've been conspicuously absent from Delusions of Grandeur lately. Many (ok, none) of you have asked where I was and what I was doing. Well, our records have recently been declassified, so I am finally able to reveal the truth:
I've been on a secret diplomatic mission to Niger, investigating various claims about "yellowcake." Unfortunately, by the time I got there, the only thing left was cinnamon babka.
Long story short: the FBI might be abusing the PATRIOT ACT.
Records turned over as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit also indicate that the FBI has investigated hundreds of potential violations related to its use of secret surveillance operations, which have been stepped up dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but are largely hidden from public view.
[s-to-the-nip]
In other cases, agents obtained e-mails after a warrant expired, seized bank records without proper authority and conducted an improper "unconsented physical search," according to the documents.
The ACLU, which has led the fight against the expanded federal powers, issued a statement saying, "The revelation was only further proof that Patriot Act reforms are needed."
But the FBI official rejected the argument, saying the process of reporting every potential violation of even the most technical mistakes is a 20-year-old practice that long predates the Patriot Act.
Sadly, we have another milestone in Iraq. 2,000 American soldiers killed. I’m not hyping the number in some ghoulish attempt to show Bush how destructive his war has been. It’s just that we as a people tend to ignore things until they reach a number divisible by five or ten. Then we think about it for a day. Let’s remember who has lost the most in all of this, and it’s not Scooter Libby.
Unless of course you are in the military leadership. They’d like us to forget.
The spokesman for the American-led multinational force called on news organizations not to look at the 2,000 death as a milestone in the conflict. Lt. Col. Steve Boylan described 2,000 figure as an "artificial mark on the wall."Adding, “Hey, if God in His infinite wisdom had given us 12 fingers instead of 10, we’d have until 3,456 soldiers were dead before you got all noticey about it. Did I just blow your mind? Oooo-weeeee-ooooo."
The Washington Post has an interesting story about our Vice President.
The Bush administration has proposed exempting employees of the Central Intelligence Agency from a legislative measure endorsed earlier this month by 90 members of the Senate that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoners in U.S. custody.
The proposal, which two sources said Vice President Cheney handed last Thursday to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the company of CIA Director Porter J. Goss, states that the measure barring inhumane treatment shall not apply to counterterrorism operations conducted abroad or to operations conducted by "an element of the United States government" other than the Defense Department.
"This is the first time they've said explicitly that the intelligence community should be allowed to treat prisoners inhumanely," said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "In the past, they've only said that the law does not forbid inhumane treatment." Now, he said, the administration is saying more concretely that it cannot be forbidden.
Cheney's meeting with McCain last week was his third attempt to persuade the lawmaker, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, to accept a less broad legislative bar against inhumane treatment.
You know, I've been thinking a lot of deep, serious (and not always pure) thoughts about Harriet Miers lately. And I've come to one conclusion:
She looks like a Star Trek villain. You know, someone who would take over Kirk and Spock's minds and make them strip to the waist and fight to the death. I dunno, maybe it's just me.
I know, I know, it might be Fitzmas today. And I’m excited too, don’t get me wrong. But right now, there’s something under the radar that you may not have noticed.
Alan Greenspan, Bush apologist and Fed chairman, is retiring soon. (Rumor has it that Andrea Mitchell wears him out in the sack.) Bush nominated this new guy that I bet you’ve never heard of - Ben Bernanke. I was worried at first. I mean, when you think of the Michael Browns and the Harriet Mierses, the new guy was likely to have been the dude who did Bush’s taxes back when he used to drop off his receipts in a shoebox at H&R Block every April 14th.
But alas, my new favorite Slate columnist Bruce Reed uncovered an unlikely endorsement from none other than the New York Times’ wonkiest wonk Paul Krugman from January of this year.
If Mr. Bernanke were appointed directly from his current Fed position to the chairmanship, there would be general acclaim.I guess they worked together back at Princeton, but no matter. If The Krug is into him, I’m down.
This weekend I heard a story on NPR about the new Iraqi constitution. Specifically, it was about the preamble. You can read the whole preamble here, but the part that really struck me was:
...and in the midst of an international support from our friends and those who love us, marched for the first time in our history toward the ballot boxes by the millions, men and women, young and old, on the thirtieth of January two thousand and five, invoking the pains of sectarian oppression sufferings inflicted by the autocratic clique and inspired by the tragedies of Iraq's martyrs, Shiite and Sunni, Arabs and Kurds and Turkmen and from all the other components of the people and recollecting the darkness of the ravage of the holy cities and the South in the Sha'abaniyya uprising and burnt by the flames of grief of the mass graves, the marshes, Al-Dujail and others and articulating the sufferings of racial oppression in the massacres of Halabcha, Barzan, Anfal and the Fayli Kurds...
Last night I saw Al Gore give a brilliant lecture on global climate change. He was funny, lively, and engaging, the exact opposite of the stiff, boring drone that the "liberal media" has portrayed him as for last 15 years or so. Of course, he didn't help that perception by running one of the most uninspired presidential campaigns in history. But I tell ya, if the guy who delivered the lecture last night had run for president in 2000, the world would be a very different place today. Some of the highlights:
- There was a brief technical difficulty with his laptop at the start of the show. A tech ran out to help him, and after a few seconds Gore muttered "You're doing a helluva job, Brownie." Thunderous applause. He then profusely apologized to the tech, saying that he hadn't meant to imply that HE was Brownie.
- After giving the academic version of global warming and climate change, he said "Or you might prefer this explanation." Cut to a clip from Futurama (the show his daughter used to write for) featuring animated greenhouse gas thugs beating the crap out of a series of friendly Mr. Sunbeams and piling their corpses in Earth's atmosphere.
- Gore showed a dramatic series of pictures of glaciers taken 30 years ago juxtaposed with pictures taken today. Um, yeah. The glaciers are now either small lakes or gone altogether.
- Gore showed a nice series of slides about the Bush administration's attempts to portray global warming as a controversial matter, when in fact there is an overwhelming consensus among the scientific community. He especially had fun with Phillip Cooney, an oil company lobbyist who Bush installed at the EPA. Cooney resigned after it came out that he had deleted a bunch of information about global warming from an EPA report. Cooney got a job at (I think) Exxon soon after resigning. He also took a few shots at John "Uncle Pecos" Bolton, who deleted vast swaths of data about global warming from a UN report. Wankers.
- Another funny moment came when he showed a picture from a conference that the George H.W. Bush administration held on the environment. It was a drawing meant to suggest that we must find a balance between economics and environmental policy. It showed a scale, with a bunch of gold bars on one side and the entire world on the other. The gold was heavier. Said Gore, "Hmmmm. Some gold bars. And the ENTIRE WORLD. Call me crazy, but I think the loss of the entire world might somewhat diminish your enjoyment of the gold bars."
- Finally, and I think most importantly, he talked about how even people who acknowledge the fact of global warming and climate change (i.e. intelligent people) tend to think that the problem is too big and we can't do anything about it. He then drew a comparison between the issue of CFCs and the hole in the ozone layer. At the time, everyone said "CFCs are used all over the world, there's no way we can possibly reduce their use and make a difference." Bullshit. A summit was held on the issue, policy was changed, and CFCs have been virtually eliminated, and the ozone problem has been reversed. All it takes is a commitment to change and a willingness to enact policy, like, oh, I dunno, the Kyoto Protocol, to get us back on the right track.
Joe Conason compares and contrasts Patrick Fitzgerald and Ken Starr.
Starr was appointed by Republican judges, under the dubious influence of Republican Sens. Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth. He had no prosecutorial experience and proved to be an inept partisan. His investigation meandered repeatedly into new areas far afield from his original brief, took nearly five years to complete, required many grand jury extensions, and cost approximately $70 million. Starr and his prosecutors leaked promiscuously to favored reporters throughout the probe, thereby ensuring favorable press coverage and inflicting political damage on their White House targets.I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Fitzgerald was appointed by the Bush administration's own deputy attorney general, as noted above, at the request of the CIA director. He boasts extensive experience and success as a federal prosecutor. He is not only skilled but absolutely free of any partisan taint, having prosecuted both Republicans and Democrats in Illinois. His investigation of the CIA leak will be wrapped up after less than two years, without any grand jury extensions. His office has been remarkably free of leaks, which may help explain why he gets none of the fawning publicity that was once lavished on Starr.
Do you know who Paul Hackett is? He’s the Iraq War vet who came back and ran for Congress as a Democrat in Ohio’s 2nd District, which always votes Republican by large margins. He barely lost running on a tough talk, anti-war campaign. Democrats took notice. What's that? We're allowed to stand up to these assholes? Maybe so, my spineless friends. Maybe so.
Anyway, Mr. Hackett has a message and a pledge for you to sign at Democracy for America.
Every day, more American soldiers are killed and wounded in Iraq. The violence and attacks on innocent Iraqi citizens continues to go unchecked. Billions of dollars have been spent, yet, we have no coherent exit plan.Go ahead and sign it. You know you want to.
As a Marine, I witnessed first-hand the devastation and destruction of this war. The mistruths and deception of the Bush administration have created a quagmire. That's why I signed the pledge to only send responsible leaders to Washington. And I'm asking you to do the same.
I pledge to only support candidates who:It's time for leaders to step up to the plate and face the Iraq mess head-on because the situation only keeps getting worse. But, before we can fix it, Washington must first acknowledge the crisis we are in. You can help. Take a stand and sign the pledge to hold candidates accountable on the Iraq war.
- Acknowledge that the U.S. was misled into the war in Iraq
- Advocate for a responsible exit plan with a timeline
- Support our troops both at home and abroad
www.democracyforamerica.com/iraqpledge
I served my country on the front lines in Iraq and saw the consequences of failed leadership up close. We need new leadership in Washington that will face this crisis with courage.
Join me and tens of thousands of Americans by standing up and telling Washington to start planning our exit now. Sign the pledge today:
www.democracyforamerica.com/iraqpledge
Thank you,
Paul Hackett
Right wing freakshow Neal Boortz says what everybody else is thinking.
OK, now here's the story. And it says, "The Homeland Security Department launched internal probes yesterday into whether its officials tipped off friends and relatives to a possible subway terror plot days before average New Yorkers were alerted." So the real gripe here is that it seems that some wealthy people got notified of the terror plot before the great unwashed, before the others. Now, the Daily News in New York has a headline: "Rich got terror tip." Rich got terror tip. OK, let's get logical about this, folks. Let's play logic with this. This is as it should be.Personally, I think we should save all the beautiful women between the ages of 18 and 27 first. Uggos and fatties need not apply.
OK? If we are faced with disaster in this country -- let me ask you this, OK? You just be logical. Get all of the emotion out of this. Get all of the emotion out of this. But if we are faced with a disaster in this country, which group do we want to save? The rich or the poor? Now, if you have time, save as many people as you can. But if you have to set some priorities, where do you go? The rich or the poor? OK? Who is a drag on society? The rich or the poor? Who provide the jobs out there? The rich or the poor? Who fuels -- you know, which group fuels our economy? Drives industry? The rich or the poor?
Now if you -- all of a sudden, somebody walks up to you and says, "Hey, Boortz listener. You're gonna have a -- you have to make a choice. You're going to -- we're gonna move you to another country. And you're just gonna have to make your way in this other country. We have a choice of two countries for you. In this country, people achieve a lot and they are wealthy because of their hard work. In this country, people don't achieve squat. They sit around all the time waiting for somebody else to take care of them. They have children they can't afford. They're uneducated. They can barely read. And the high point of their day is Entertainment Tonight on TV. Which country do you want to live in? The country of the high achievers, or the country of sheep, the country of followers?" You know what you're gonna do. I don't see what the big problem is. I just don't. I mean, if you -- who do I want to save first? The rich.
Dear DoG,
How can I tell if my special prosecutor is a partisan hack on a witch hunt or if he is an honest man doing the job he was assigned to do?
Sincerely yours,
Confused in Columbus
ps – you are the funniest blog in the world!
Dear Confused,
There’s a simple test you can perform on your special prosecutor to figure out whether he’s doing the job of the American people or if he is beholden to outside interests, (e.g. – corporations, a political party for which he may have worked his whole life, his BFF in Texas, etc.). Observe the grand jury process. Is it secret (as the law specifies)? Is it free of leaks to biased and poorly written websites? Is there wild speculation about the final outcome because no one honestly has any idea whatsoever?
If the answer to each of these questions is yes, congratulations! You have an honest prosecutor doing an honest job.
If, however, there are massive leaks of titillating sexual details having no relevance to the case actually being investigated, uh oh! There’s your politically motivated witch hunt.
Happy prosecuting!
Oh yeah, that chick. She’s all wanting to be like a judge or something? Anyway, I guess she’s all no abortions for anyone ever or some junk.
So Georgie, let’s not play that game that you can’t recall if she’s ever talked about abortion before. OK? That ship has sailed.
Verne Gay gives Bill O’Reilly the reach around in today’s Newsday. In it we learn that crusty old O’Reilly isn’t such a tough guy after all. Inside he’s soft and squishy like a Care Bear. And he hurts.
Dear Diary – I just don’t get why those yucky jerkfaces in the liberal establishment media are so mean to me! They live in New York too, don’t they understand when you’re the most handsomest, most powerful man in all of media, it’s not such a big deal to fuck your employees? And all they do is bring it up day after day, almost a year after I gave that harpy her hush money. I had to cancel my new Lexus to pay for that! And if I hear one of those dirty hippies at the Post call me a liar one more time, I swear! I mean, they act all like facts are so important. What’s so important about facts anyway? We didn’t bother with crummy facts when we won all those awards on Inside Edition. Stupidheads. I’ve had enough of this crap. I’ll show them! I’ll just quit. Then they’ll be sorry. You won’t have O’Reilly to kick around anymore, poopyface!Wow. I just wouldn’t have thought Bill O’Reilly would keep a diary. He seems more like a collection of hidden camera videotapes kind of guy to me.
A senior aide to the Vice President is going to sing like a canary.
Individuals familiar with Fitzgerald’s case tell RAW STORY that John Hannah, a senior national security aide on loan to Vice President Dick Cheney from the offices of then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, John Bolton, was named as a target of Fitzgerald’s probe. They say he was told in recent weeks that he could face imminent indictment for his role in leaking Plame-Wilson’s name to reporters unless he cooperated with the investigation.I don’t know guys, it’s not looking good. I have a prediction that I will tout repeatedly if I’m right and pretend never happened if I’m wrong: Something mind-bogglingly huge is going to come out of this. This is Watergate. Believe it.
Others close to the probe say that if Hannah is cooperating with the special prosecutor then he was likely going to be charged as a co-conspirator and may have cut a deal.
...
To many following the case, Hannah’s involvement will not come as a surprise. Wilson pointed to Hannah as a possible leaker in his book, The Politics of Truth.
“In fact, senior advisers close to the president may well have been clever enough to have used others to do the actual leaking, in order to keep their fingerprints off the crime,” Wilson writes.
“John Hannah and David Wurmser, mid-level political appointees in the vice-president’s office, have both been suggested as sources of the leak …Mid-level officials, however, do not leak information without the authority from a higher level,” Wilson notes.
On September 24, 2005, a deadly biological agent was detected in Washington D.C. Have you heard anything about it?
On Sept. 24, 2005, tens of thousands of protesters marched past the White House and flooded the National Mall near 17th Street and Constitution Avenue. They had arrived from all over the country for a day of speeches and concerts to protest the war in Iraq. It may have been the biggest antiwar rally since Vietnam. A light rain fell early in the day and most of the afternoon was cool and overcast.Hey, I’m not trying to freak you out or anything. We’ve got two branches of government and a number of lackeys who can do that. I’m just saying if this was a trial run that failed, maybe next time we won’t be so lucky. And it’s curious that in a culture of irresponsible news agencies who thrive on scare stories, we didn’t read about this a number of times already.
Unknown to the crowd, biological-weapons sensors, scattered for miles across Washington by the Department of Homeland Security, were quietly doing their work. The machines are designed to detect killer pathogens. Sometime between 10 a.m. on Sept. 24 and 10 a.m. on Sept. 25, six of those machines sucked in trace amounts of deadly bacteria called Francisella tularensis. The government fears it is one of six biological weapons most likely to be used against the United States.
It was an alarming reading. The biological-weapons detection system in Washington had never set off any alarms before. There are more than 150 sensors spread across 30 of the most populated cities in America. But this was the first time that six sensors in any one place had detected a toxin at the same time. The sensors are also located miles from one another, suggesting that the pathogen was airborne and probably not limited to a local environmental source.
...
"It is alarming that health officials ... were only notified six days after the bacteria was first detected," House Government Reform chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., wrote in an Oct. 3 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "Have DHS and CDC analysts been able to determine if the pathogen detected was naturally occurring or the result of a terrorist attack?"
Government officials say the sensors detected a natural event. "There is no known nexus to terror or criminal behavior," Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Washington Post. "We believe this to be environmental." "It is not unreasonable that this is a natural occurrence," says Von Roebuck, spokesman for the CDC. "There are still no cases of tularemia."
However, Salon has spoken to numerous people who were at the Washington Mall on Sept. 24. Four say they got sick days later with symptoms that mirror tularemia.
...
A World Health Organization Committee in 1969 estimated that dispersal of 110 pounds of F. tularensis over a city of 5 million would incapacitate 250,000 people and 19,000 of them would die.
How much would you pay for the adventure of a lifetime?
Don’t answer yet. What if we threw in this lovely M-16 submachine gun? But wait, there’s more! You and your closest friends can endure 120 degree days and 50 degree nights with the constant worry of children wearing bomb vests and guerilla fighters lobbing grenades at your unarmored vehicle. Now how much would you pay?
But don’t answer now, what if we told you that you couldn’t leave until you were dead or seriously wounded, even after your tour of duty was over? And that’s not all. With this special one-time television offer, we can see to it that you lose a limb or possibly even one of your favorite senses! That’s right!
Act now, and for five easy payments of only $1,240 per month, you too can have the fun and adventure of learning to write with your left hand!
Operators are standing by.
Bush doesn’t like reality TV. He likes phony photo-ops where he can show off his junk or dress up like a fake cowboy on his fake ranch.
So yesterday, when Bush was gonna get real and rap with the kids who are putting their lives on the line, he made sure that no one spoke unless spoken to. In other words, the White House told everyone exactly what they were going to do and say.
A brief rehearsal ensued.And who says the president lives in a bubble?
"OK, so let's just walk through this," Barber said. "Captain Kennedy, you answer the first question and you hand the mike to whom?"
"Captain Smith," Kennedy said.
"Captain. Smith? You take the mike and you hand it to whom?" she asked.
"Captain Kennedy," the soldier replied.
And so it went.
"If the question comes up about partnering — how often do we train with the Iraqi military — who does he go to?" Barber asked.
"That's going to go to Captain Pratt," one of the soldiers said.
QUESTION: How were they selected, and are their comments to the president pre-screened, any questions or anything...Yeah. Totally. So after it comes out and the reporters get all pissy about, you know, the lying, we discover that when the going gets tough, the tough take out their frustration on old ladies.
MCCLELLAN: No.
QUESTION: Not at all?
MCCLELLAN: This is a back-and-forth.
THOMAS: It has nothing to do with -- Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.Yo, Scott. Helen Thomas is like a million years old and you gotta be beastin’ on her? Grow a sack, Scott. Oh yeah, and um... expressing concerns about an illegal, unnecessary, expensive, deadly and poorly-run war – that’s not treason. Your boss’ campaign to out an undercover CIA operative on the other hand...
McCLELLAN: Well, you have a very different view of the war on terrorism, and I'm sure you're opposed to the broader war on terrorism. The President recognizes this requires a comprehensive strategy, and that this is a broad war, that it is not a law enforcement matter.
Terry.
TERRY MORAN: On what basis do you say Helen is opposed to the broader war on terrorism?
McCLELLAN: Well, she certainly expressed her concerns about Afghanistan and Iraq and going into those two countries. I think I can go back and pull up her comments over the course of the past couple of years.
MORAN: And speak for her, which is odd.
McCLELLAN: No, I said she may be, because certainly if you look at her comments over the course of the past couple of years, she's expressed her concerns --
THOMAS: I'm opposed to preemptive war, unprovoked preemptive war.
MR. McCLELLAN: -- she's expressed her concerns.
I would like to take a moment to wish my good friend and avid DoG reader Sara a fantastic, happy, transcendent birthday today. Would that we could see each other more often, but alas, she has chosen a lesser "big" city in which to live. When are you going to give up on the midwest, Sara?
Happy Birthday!
Wow.
President Bush's overall job approval rating has reached the lowest ever measured in this poll, and evaluations of his handling of Iraq, the economy and even his signature issue, terrorism, are also at all-time lows. More Americans than at any time since he took office think he does not share their priorities.Better late than never, I guess. Just wait until Rove is indicted.
Oh my God!! Bombs on the subway! Terrorist infants running mad!!!
On a day when it’s announced that Karl Rove is going to go before the grand jury for a fourth time; when Bush gives another speech invoking 9/11, and the federal government says that the intelligence is dubious – you know it’s fucking dubious.
On the other hand, Mayor Bloomberg was blowing off a mayoral debate last night. Excellent... The pupil has surpassed the master.
Alexander Hamilton (that dude on the ten-dollar bill) drops his two cents on the Harriet Miers nomination to the Supreme Court in the Federalist Papers. I guess he had a time machine or something, because he wrote this in 1788.
The President is "to nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not otherwise provided for in the Constitution.Oh, oops! That’s where he was mistaken.
...
To what purpose then require the co-operation of the Senate? I answer, that the necessity of their concurrence would have a powerful, though, in general, a silent operation. It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity.
...
The possibility of rejection would be a strong motive to care in proposing. The danger to his own reputation, and, in the case of an elective magistrate, to his political existence, from betraying a spirit of favoritism, or an unbecoming pursuit of popularity, to the observation of a body whose opinion would have great weight in forming that of the public, could not fail to operate as a barrier to the one and to the other. He would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure.
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Though it might therefore be allowable to suppose that the Executive might occasionally influence some individuals in the Senate, yet the supposition, that he could in general purchase the integrity of the whole body, would be forced and improbable.
The New York Times discovers Harriet Miers' true qualification for the high court in George Bush’s mind.
By 1979, Harriet E. Miers, then in her mid-30's, had accomplished what some people take a lifetime to achieve. She was a partner at Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely, one of the most prestigious law firms in the South, with an office on the 35th floor of the Republic National Bank Tower in downtown Dallas.So, she was a partner in a Texas law firm, she felt all empty inside –- go figure –- and so she “found” Jesus. Because that’s what the court needs more of – a person so lacking in critical thought that she accepts a popular book of colorful allegories as historical truth. I know someone who says “beam me up, Scotty” every time he leaves a room. Should he be on the Supreme Court too?
But she still felt something was missing in her life, and it was after a series of long discussions - rambling conversations about family and religion and other matters that typically stretched from early evening into the night - with Nathan L. Hecht, a junior colleague at the law firm, that she made a decision that many of the people around her say changed her life.
"She decided that she wanted faith to be a bigger part of her life," Justice Hecht, who now serves on the Texas Supreme Court, said in an interview. "One evening she called me to her office and said she was ready to make a commitment" to accept Jesus Christ as her savior and be born again, he said. He walked down the hallway from his office to hers, and there amid the legal briefs and court papers, Ms. Miers and Justice Hecht "prayed and talked," he said.
She was baptized not long after that, at the Valley View Christian Church.
I’ve known a few of these so-called evangelicals, and they tend to not be so much with the mercy and the peacemaking.Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
President Bush is fond of saying, “There is no litmus test for Supreme Court justices,” which in the first place is a blatant lie. But in any case, do you actually think Bush even knows what litmus paper is?
Slate’s Bruce Reed found a funny line from the Post’s story about Ms. Miers this morning.
"As Bush's staff secretary, she was known to correct spelling, grammar and even punctuation errors in memos to the president. But she has no judicial experience and not much appellate experience."Ive changed my upinion, about Herret Myers. Spling and punkchutation is way more imporant then judgy thingees. Two bad she cudent fix Bushs "nukyular" problim.
Yeah, so Harriet Miers, eh? Strange bird, this one. Until now, Bush had stuck to only appointing his unqualified cronies to out of the way posts like head of FEMA and Secretary of State. Now, he wants to put his undereducated, obsequious, chief lotto drawing expert on the Supreme Court. I’m of two minds about it, since you asked. Clearly, she’s unqualified. Southern Methodist University? I’m sure it’s a great school, but come on, even Bush went to Yale and Harvard. She’s never sat on a park bench, let alone a court bench. I think she can find the Supreme Court on a map, but she’s never been in its halls as had our new Chief Justice. She’s a hack. A Bush flunky. That’s bad because in other words, the only reason Bush picked her is because he knows exactly how she’ll vote on everything, which is to say on the side of corporate and government fascism and against the people.
But on the other hand, if the Senate gets bitchy about it and doesn’t approve her, I can see Crybaby Bush saying, “Fine, then. Fuck you, here’s Satan, try him on for size.”
Those on the extreme right are complaining about her, which is a good thing, but I don’t get it. Bush is a religiofascist, so she must be too. They might not have it on paper, but she is. No fear of a Souter here. And that’s what worries me. There are three types of Supreme Court justices. There are those with an ideological axe to grind, (Scalia). There are those who are intelligent, fair, deliberative analysts of the constitution and civil rights, (Souter, Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer). And there are those who are too stupid and unqualified to do anything but be subservient to the person who appointed them or to their total BFF on the court, (Thomas). I fear that Miers is the latter. And that’s no better than a Priscilla Owen or a Janice Rogers Brown.
Did you see it? Are you reading this from that other hemisphere where there are unconfirmed rumors of other countries? A creepy solar eclipse. In Burundi:
In the tiny central African nation of Burundi, residents in the capital, Bujumbura, poured water into buckets and watched the reflection of the eclipse to avoid harming their eyes.Upon hearing his comments, President Bush added Mr. Ndaruvukanye to the short list of candidates to replace Harriet Miers in the White House Counsel’s office.
"It looks like sunset, but it is only midday," said one observer, Thadee Ndaruvukanye. "This is a strong sign from God to show us that he is the most powerful."
