According to Fark and this guy (NSFW) Fox News was showing a promo over and over during all their prime time shows last night about a story that apparently had something to do with porn- during the promo this graphic (NSFW) flashed on screen- they tastefully blurred out the breasts but left in the penetration.

You just know they'll find a way to blame Clinton.

I'm almost sure I have this sitting on my TiVo right now- I'll cap it tonight, then watch it over and over. Then I'll upload it here.

Update: My TiVo missed it... darn.
Update to the Update: This guy has it.

...Starting Monday, July 19.
The stations are:

Houston(KIKK-AM)
San Diego (KPLN-FM)
Tampa (WQYK-AM)
Pittsburgh (WBZZ-FM)
Orlando(WOCL-FM)
Austin (KQBT-FM)
West Palm Beach (WPBZ-FM)
Rochester (WZNE-FM)
Fresno (KRNC-FM)

This is a fairly big deal- he was kicked off six of right-wing Clear Channel's stations, and he's still under attack by Colin Powell's son at the FCC.

Stern is notoriously hard to syndicate. His show goes from 6 AM until whenever he feels like stopping, and he'll often decide to continue a segment in lieu of a commercial break for over an hour. Stern doesn't give his show away like Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh do- buying syndication rights to The Howard Stern Show is not cheap. It takes a dedicated radio station to keep him on the air. They have to want it.

Congratulations to the nine markets getting the only morning radio show worth listening to.

Yankee fans told Cheney to go fuck himself... in so many words.

Just a short clip from yesterday's Daily Show where they covered Paul Bremer's quick exit.

It's no secret that Bill O'Reilly is afraid to debate David Brock and has been ducking him for months.

Yesterday Jack Mathews wrote a great column challenging O'Reilly by reprinting his lies. The column is titled, "Hide this, Bill O'Reilly"

Here's O'Reilly's pathetic response on his show last night. He manages to call the article ridiculous and dishonest, but doesn't bother to address the lies that Mathews and Media Matters for America pointed out.

After reading Slate's update of Richard Perle's threat to sue Sy Hersh for libel, I noticed the picture of Perle accompanying the article:

I did a google image search and this appears to be the most popular picture of Richard Perle by far. What did he ever do to deserve this? (I mean, aside from getting all those people killed in the Middle East, obviously.)

Okay- I don't think it's much of a surprise at this point that the administration demands that reporters submit questions in advance. Telling? Yes, surprising? Not so much... but here's what's most shocking to me about the whole thing: Even with the advantage of being able to script out answers for the President to parrot back, he still manages to embarrass himself consistently.

Dan Froomkin writes in his column today that he will be looking into why exactly Irish TV and Radio reporter Carole Coleman was required to submit her questions in advance. Here's what Carole said:

"He was tough. He was very tough. And the policy of the White House is that you submit your questions in advance, and so they had my questions for about three days. They knew I was going to ask tough questions and I think he was prepared for that. . . ."

I think the White House press corps is lying to us. Again and again suspicions of scripted press conferences and pre-approved questions have been raised only to be knocked down by the White House reporters. Either somebody outside the White House press needs to look into this or someone inside needs to grow a pair and start questioning the way they do business.

Frankly, I suspect they're ashamed- so they're hiding it.

They punt Padilla, but say the enemy combatants in Gitmo have the right to go to court.

Can't we just rename the "Enemy Combatants" to "Combatant Enemies" and keep them in secret prisons until another Supreme Court case comes along?

Meanwhile maybe the President will rule the majority opinion holders on the Supreme Court are supporting terrorists. Bush still thinks he's above the law... what's to stop him from sending this "Hate America First" crowd from the Supreme Court off to Gitmo?

...and let me tell you something- if this movie doesn't get you worked up and motivate you to action nothing will.

Vince Vaughn was hilarious and Ben Stiller as the bad guy was pure genius.

If I were Bremer I would have busted ass to get out of that country before the shit hit the fan too.

I heard Geraldo refer to the early handover as "a brilliant maneuver" this morning of Fox. This brought to mind all kinds of unpleasantness.

I know that Ricardo "Dirty" Sanchez is moving on shortly (but not because of all the torture that went on during his watch, right?)

He's apparently our top guy in Iraq right now. [shrug]

Sometimes it takes an Irish broad to ask the tough questions- this interview (updated link- interview starts at 15:00 mark) is really worth watching.

Why can't American reporters be this direct?

Also, after days of denying the administration is attempting to link Iraq with 9/11 the president links Iraq with 9/11:

Q Indeed, Mr. President, but you didn't find the weapons of mass destruction.

THE PRESIDENT: Let me finish. Let me finish. May I finish?

He said -- the United Nations said, disarm or face serious consequences. That's what the United Nations said. And guess what? He didn't disarm. He didn't disclose his arms. And, therefore, he faced serious consequences. But we have found a capacity for him to make a weapon. See, he had the capacity to make weapons. He was dangerous. And no one can argue that the world is better off with Saddam -- if Saddam Hussein were in power.

Q But, Mr. President, the world is a more dangerous place today. I don't know whether you can see that or not.

THE PRESIDENT: Why do you say that?

Q There are terrorist bombings every single day. It's now a daily event. It wasn't like that two years ago.

THE PRESIDENT: What was it like September the 11th, 2001?

Well... touché Mr. President.
/sarcasm

The guy is just unstable, but I guess hiding in an underground lair for three years can do that to a person...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney blurted out the "F word" at Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont during a heated exchange on the Senate floor, congressional aides said on Thursday.

The incident occurred on Tuesday in a terse discussion between the two that touched on politics, religion and money, with Cheney finally telling Leahy to "f--- off" or "go f--- yourself," the aides said.

"I think he was just having a bad day," Leahy was quoted as saying on CNN, which first reported the incident. "I was kind of shocked to hear that kind of language on the floor."

Great speech today by Al Gore at Georgetown:

To begin with, our founders wouldn't be the least bit surprised at what the modern public opinion polls all tell us about why it's so important particularly for President Bush to keep the American people from discovering that what he told them about the linkage between Iraq and al Qaeda isn't true. Among these Americans who still believe there is a linkage, there remains very strong support for the President's decision to invade Iraq. But among those who accept the commission's detailed finding that there is no connection, support for the war in Iraq dries up pretty quickly.

And that's understandable, because if Iraq had nothing to do with the attack or the organization that attacked us, then that means the President took us to war when he didn't have to. Almost nine hundred of our soldiers have been killed, and almost five thousand have been wounded.

Thus, for all these reasons, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have decided to fight to the rhetorical death over whether or not there's a meaningful connection between Iraq and al Qaeda. They think that if they lose that argument and people see the truth, then they'll not only lose support for the controversial decision to go to war, but also lose some of the new power they've picked up from the Congress and the courts, and face harsh political consequences at the hands of the American people. As a result, President Bush is now intentionally misleading the American people by continuing to aggressively and brazenly assert a linkage between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.

full text

Drudge cut and pasted Salon.com's article and claimed it as his own on his site. You can tell because of some odd spacing and missing letters that Matt didn't bother correcting.

Watch the commercial and check it out on Salon's site.

...and they're finally waking up.

Poll: Sending troops to Iraq a mistake
By Susan Page, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Most Americans now say that sending U.S. troops to Iraq was a mistake, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll finds. For the first time, a majority also says that the war there has made the nation less safe from terrorism.

The survey taken Monday through Wednesday shows a turnaround in views toward the war in less than a month. Continued violence in Iraq and questions about the war's justification apparently are eroding support even as the U.S. moves to turn over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government next week.

link

I said earlier that I thought the June 30 hand over date for full Iraqi sovereignty would be pushed back. Now it seems Bush has stuck to his guns on the date, but as for the sovereignty... well, not so much.



Here's a nice commentary on what sovereignty actually means.

Full steam ahead to full-limited-faux-sovereignty!

CampaignDesk.org catches The Washington Times misquoting Kerry.

Note that the right-wing Washington Times is owned by the Messiah.

Was Bush buddy (and soon to be indictee) Ken Lay on the energy task force? Were these criminals writing our energy policy with Cheney? I think that's something we all ought to know when going into the voting booth.

So, while destroying your privacy, the Supreme Court of the United States is allowing unprecedented secrecy to a government that's ostensibly by the people and for the people.

Creepy Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas is an enemy of free speech. He attached a bill to raise FCC fines to a huge defense bill, so that if you voted against it you're not only against the troops, you're an evil pornographer who wants to corrupt the children.

Senator Brownback is closely tied with "The Family" - never heard of them? You're not alone- Click here to read about this secret religous cult also known as "The Fellowship"

Meanwhile the FCC is so busy censoring free speech they can't administrate the federal E-rate program, which was intended to link rural and poor schools to the internet. The program is rife with fraud and abuse, and Colin Powell's son is at fault.

We need to encourage Colin Powell's son to do his real job. They're attempting to make all media friendly to that mythical six year old who's constantly listening to Howard Stern.

We're not all six year olds, and most of us don't shit ourselves when Bono says something is "fucking brilliant."

Sickening.

I'm a little late to this party, as many others have commented (probably more intelligently) on this, but I just have to talk about William Saletan's "Kerryisms" feature on Slate- "Kerryisms" is an apparent attempt at balance. Since Slate has "Bushisms" which are quotes from George W. Bush, they must also have "Kerryisms" which take John Kerry quotes and make them shorter- often in the process distorting and perverting what Kerry actually said. Some balance.

The beauty of Bushisms is it's simplicity- no long explanation needed, no instructions. It's just a quote from the president. You know, like, "This is historic times."

Kerryisms are a different animal- these aren't quotes, these are distortions authored by a Republican hack.

Kerryisms were first introduced with instructions which later had to be clarified, then a few days ago a whole article had to be published explaining it all over again.

It was only after this third attempt at explanation that I took an interest- I read the first quote- it's a critique of the administration and the Pentagon's response to the prisoner abuse scandal, in Saletan's version of the quote the Pentagon is left out of the quote. I'm afraid I don't understand how excluding the Pentagon simplifies the quote. The reason Kerry mentions the Pentagon is because he is talking about the Pentagon. You can't just arbitrarily drop a few nouns and expect the statement to convey the same meaning.

Slate might drive up traffic in the short term printing sloppy stuff like the "Kerryisms" column, but in the end they are paying a high toll in credibility.

A few Saletanized quotes, just for fun:
FDR: "Bad Day"
JFK: "Do [things] for [the] country."
MLK: "Can't we all just get along?"
Reagan: "Tear down wall."
Clinton: "It was just her hand."

E.D. Hill (The Manly One) and Steve Doocy (The Metrosexual One) of Fox & Friends alleged this morning that the record breaking sales of Bill Clinton's new book (available at fine bookstores everywhere) were a result of the Democratic National Committee purchasing 200,000 copies on the first day. They offered no evidence to back up his claim and the claim was left unchallenged.

Update: Doocy also attempts to ridicule Clinton's non-fiction sales record by comparing it to the record for fiction.

Here's the video.

Developing...

Also, the next segment was a fair and balanced report from the editorial page editor of the right-wing Washington Times (which is owned by the Messiah) on how Clinton's presidency will be remembered in the history books. (Answer: All our problems for the next fifty years are Clinton's fault.) Meanwhile George W. Bush's presidency will be remembered as "a story that emits light and yellow and God and love."**

**Actually that's a quote from Rosie O'Donnell describing something completely different, but you get the idea.

Updated: both Hill and Doocy made the charge.

An interesting article about Jack Ryan at Slate.com quotes:

O'Reilly complained, "Just think about it, any politician or somebody thinking about running for office, if they have an ex-wife who is mad at them or an ex-girlfriend, they are dead, they are toast, because you can make any accusation in the world. … It discourages everybody from getting into the arena."

I love this. The same people who went after Clinton are now forced to defend a Republican sleazeball or risk losing control of the Senate.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said this week that reporters in Iraq are too scared to cover all the wonderful school openings going on in Iraq right now- so they're just covering the bad stuff, like people getting beheaded and stuff.

Are you guys going to take that?

P.S.- Somebody fire this guy already...

Joe Biden is my hero- from Richard Leiby today:

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) might not be invited back to the Oval Office anytime soon to do his Donald Trump imitation. In May he dispensed blunt advice to President Bush on whom he would fire. As Biden recounts in the new Rolling Stone:

"I turned to Vice President Cheney, who was there, and I said, 'Mr. Vice President, I wouldn't keep you if it weren't constitutionally required.' I turned back to the president and said, 'Mr. President, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld are bright guys, really patriotic, but they've been dead wrong on every major piece of advice they've given you. That's why I'd get rid of them, Mr. President . . .' They said nothing. Just sat like big old bullfrogs on a log and looked at me."

link

This has been bubbling for months on John Gorenfeld's website and he's written about it on Salon and Gadflyer- a Congressman crowned the Rev. Sun Myung Moon king of the universe (or something) on March 23rd of this year. So, as a result, Moon is now by all appearances- your God.

Various Congressmen were in attendance- 81 was the number put out by Moon. Many have since claimed they were mislead and didn't know they were attending the coronation of a new deity. At least one denied being there, until a photo surfaced of him speaking at the event.

Moon not only got a bunch of powerful Congressmen to crown him the Messiah, but apparently historical figures now are followers as well:

Moon has claimed to have spoken in "the spirit world" with all deceased U.S. presidents, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed and others. At the March 23 event, he said: "The founders of five great religions and many other leaders in the spirit world, including even Communist leaders such as Marx and Lenin . . . and dictators such as Hitler and Stalin, have found strength in my teachings, mended their ways and been reborn as new persons."

Apparently this story was only reported vaguely by the Washington Times (owned by Moon) on their web site, then the article was "disappeared." That was more coverage than any other newspaper gave it at the time. Now a Moon associated web site has "disappeared" the coronation video.

Check out Gorenfeld's site if you haven't already.

This whole thing is wacky-ass, that's all I'm saying...

Here's a simply great segment on yesterday's Daily Show detailing the Bush administrations' new front on the war on terror- the press. Oh... and the segment includes the video of Cheney lying.

Why is this on a comedy show and not on CNN?

link

Also by request, here's Jon's smackdown delivered to Stephen Hayes. Remember Stephen Hayes?

(video now fixed)

Please feel free to mirror the video if you have some bandwidth to spare.

It's amazing that it's come to this.

The government "did not expedite their response ... they did not produce the file within the time required by law, and they will not now estimate when the file might be produced or even confirm that an effort has been initiated to retrieve a copy from the microfilm at the Texas archives," the lawsuit says.

In the absence of any privacy objection by the president and in light of the importance of the file's release in advance of the November election, says the lawsuit, AP seeks a court order to compel the release of records "that are being unlawfully withheld from the public."

The released records were from the Texas Air National Guard at Camp Mabry and the Defense Financing Accounting Service in Denver.

Under Texas law, a copy of military personnel files of those serving in the Texas Air National Guard must be retained on microfilm at the Texas archives.

The lawsuit says that no one has looked at any of the Texas Air National Guard records maintained at the state archives since 1996.

Responding to AP's request, the Texas Air National Guard concluded that Bush's file was a federal record under control of the U.S. Air National Guard.

When the government did not produce the documents, AP appealed to the Pentagon, saying that by law, the microfilm copy should have been produced within 20 days. The Pentagon said it could not respond within the legally required period.

link

This morning Stephen Hayes who wrote "The Connection: How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America" was on Fox and Friends. The hosts were bubbling over with excitement that a possible connection had been found in Saddam Hussein's security team to al Qaeda planners of 9/11. 9/11 Commissioner John Lehman had said words to that effect on Meet the Press on Sunday- indicating that one of Saddam's Fedayeen officers had attended the September 11th planning meeting.

Stephen Hayes seemed much less excited and burst their bubble ever so slightly by saying he doubted it was the same guy.

I was surprised to hear this, since Hayes's book is pretty much a list of Doug Feith's NeoCon talking points for invading Iraq- most of which have since been discredited. Reading what I can find about the book, it sounds like this story is the lead-off chapter of his book. On top of that, he wrote an article in the Weekly Standard this month about it... surely he's going to defend it?

Nope. Not this time.

According to Newsday, the CIA had long ago investigated and dismissed this connection. Hayes obviously had gotten notice that this was a dead end and was attempting to downplay it- perhaps he should have tipped off the moronic hosts of F&F before the interview started.

It seems like new information is coming out daily that discredits Hayes's book- another claim he makes is that Mohammed Atta went to a meeting in Prague in April of 2001- cell phone, credit card and telephone records indicate otherwise, but Hayes claimed most people would lend their friends their cell phone if they're going out of the country. He didn't mention anything about the credit cards.

It seems to be a case of "the facts don't fit the situation, so change the facts."

The Fox hosts really did seem relieved that there was finally a connection between Saddam and al Qaeda. Too bad for them it didn't pan out. I'm not expecting a correction anytime soon- but if they were honest they would lead with one tomorrow.

Except for that one chapter.

But it'll sell like crazy.

It turns out "Fahrenheit 9/11" has been saddled with an R rating because of the repeated use of the word, "motherfucker." Here I thought it was because of all the violence...

The biggest sticking point in the ratings flap appears to be the use of the word "motherfucker" several times by an American soldier in Iraq. In the single scene, a young tank crew explains how they play a heavy metal version of "The Roof Is on Fire" when they go into combat. Repeating the lyrics of the song, they use the expletive several times. link

This is a movie about a war, which has graphic images of real death and destruction- but that's not a concern for the ratings board- it's all about the "motherfuckers"...

I wonder what will happen to those who turn 17 right around the release of this movie and hear the word for the first time in a theater... will they die of shock?

If we're running that risk, should anyone be allowed to see the movie?

Naughty words, while perhaps rude, never killed anyone.

The ratings board is meeting right now to decide the appeal.

Update: R rating is upheld. If it's just for language I'm gonna shit.

As if the Supreme Court didn't do enough damage installing Bush as president...

You can now be arrested for not identifying yourself. I gather the logic is that if you refuse to identify yourself you must be hiding something, therefore you must have done something wrong, therefore the government can arrest you... and then I suppose it's off to Gitmo.

This circular logic is maddening- it reminds me of something that happened to me in seventh grade- the punishment for not showing up for detention after school was three detentions after school. One day I wasn't sure if I had been a bad boy or not, so I decided to check with the detention monitor- a teacher we'll call Mr. Dickweed.

As I approached, Mr. Dickweed asked if I was in or out today- he was well aware of my history (though I should point out that the great majority, though less spectacular, of my offences involved being late and soaking wet for the class that immediately followed gym.)

Not wanting to sit in detention for the rest of the week, I asked if I was on the list- Mr. Dickweed looked down at his list, looked back up at me, then back at the list. He cocked his head to the side, looked at me one more time, and finally croaked, "Get in here." while pushing me into the detention room.

Clearly I wasn't on the list, but since I asked I was handed an extra day of detention. On top of that, I still had to come back for the next day's detention- the one I actually earned.

From that day forward I knew that if I came forward and asked Mr. Dickweed if I was on the list I would be added to the list. My detentions multiplied exponentially after I learned this little lesson, but at least these were detentions I had earned on some level.

I realize it's probably advantageous for a policeman on the beat to consider every person he or she meets a threat, just as Mr. Dickweed figures anyone who would ask if they're on the list is obviously supposed to be on the list, but it's dangerous to codify this suspicion of guilt into law.

The phrase "probable cause" has been retired, replaced with the phrase "promotion of legitimate government interests." It used to be "innocent until proven guilty," but now it's just Mr. Bush's catch phrase, over and over- "9/11 changed everything."

Yeah, just like Osama wanted it to.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go join Ashcroft's TIPS program and spy on my mailman... oh wait... it works the other way around? Whatever.

(Clarification: Yes, I was comparing my junior high teachers to al Qaeda.)

Al Kamen:

No Longer So 'Well Confirmed'

Noted without comment.

June 17, 2004. Vice President Cheney talking to CNBC's Gloria Borger.

Borger: "Well, let's go to MohamedAtta for a minute, because you mentioned him as well. You have said in the past that it was, quote, 'pretty well confirmed.' "

Cheney: "No, I never said that."

Borger: "Okay."

Cheney: "Never said that."

Borger: "I think that is . . . "

Cheney: "Absolutely not. What I said was the Czech intelligence service reported after 9/11 that Atta had been in Prague on April 9th of 2001, where he allegedly met with an Iraqi intelligence official. We have never been able to confirm that nor have we been able to knock it down."


On Dec. 9, 2001. Cheney talking to NBC's Tim Russert.

Cheney: "Well, what we now have that's developed since you and I last talked, Tim, of course, was that report that -- it's been pretty well confirmed that he did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April, several months before the attack. Now, what the purpose of that was, what transpired between them, we simply don't know at this point, but that's clearly an avenue that we want to pursue."

I guess we could chalk this up to inertia... I didn't watch a lot of news this weekend, but what I did see got the Paul Johnson Jr. story wrong.

Check it out. (RealVideo)

The battle against ignorance is lost if even the reporters can't keep straight the who, what, when, and where.

...or lack thereof.

Great clip from last Thursday's episode covering the 9/11 commission's disagreement with the White House over the Saddam/al Qaeda connection.

Link

I'm not entirely sure what the motivation is, but Matt Drudge posted an old photo of Michael Moore with a story about his current film- is Drudge trying to paint Moore out as just another long-hair hippie?

Whatever... two can play the old picture game...

Here's more on a story Atrios originally published yesterday- this is from Dan Froomkin's White House Briefing:

Blogger Atrios and his readers are having a field day zooming in on a high-resolution version of this AP photograph and reading Bush's notes.

Indeed, you can read the following:

"Saddam Was A Threat --

"Sworn Enemy of US

"Destabilizing Force

"Volatile part of world

"Had Weapons of Mass D . . .

"Tied to terrorist orgs . . . "

And over on the right, it looks like someone else printed a list of all the reporters in the pool yesterday:

"Deb Riechmann (AP)

"David Morgan (Reuters)

"Roger Runnigen (Bloomberg)

"John Roberts (CBS)

"Bob Hillman (DMN) [That's Dallas Morning News]

"Ann Compton (ABC Radio)"

Runnigen and the others never got their chance. Bush only called on Riechmann and Morgan. But he did indeed stick largely to those talking points.

The thing that strikes me is that he actually writes this stuff down... why? I mean, it's the same thing every day- "Saddam was a threat." "Enemy..." "Destabilizing..."

After three years of regurgitating the same talking points over and over he can't just internalize this stuff and spit it back out? This guy does not have sufficient candlepower to lead.

The FBI asked the Justice Department last fall to seek permission from a secret federal court to use the most controversial provision of the USA Patriot Act, four weeks after Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said that part of the law had never been used, according to government documents disclosed this week.

A one-paragraph memo -- saying the FBI wanted to use the part of the law that allows investigators in terrorism and espionage cases easier access to people's business and library records -- was in a stack of documents the government has released under court order, as debate persists over whether use of the anti-terrorism law violates civil liberties.

Not like this is really news to anyone paying attention. I guess it's nice to have suspicions confirmed, even if those suspicions are disturbing.

Also, I've been wondering what exactly the purpose of a secret federal court is in an open and free society? Is it's existance mandated somewhere in the constitution? Since the court is "secret" could the Supreme Court even issue a ruling on it's constitutionality? If they did, would the decision also be secret?

All kinds of questions...

More from Rummy's press conference yesterday regarding hiding a prisoner from the Red Cross illegally:

Q: And the last thing. (Off mike.) How is this case different from what Taguba was talking about, the ghost detainees?

SEC. RUMSFELD: It is just different, that's all.

Since choosing just one of Hannity's distortions is too difficult, here are fifteen examples

This is just sickening- there's no other word for it- Rummy today:

"But let me just say this: I have read this -- editorials, "torture" -- and one after another. Washington Post the other day -- I forget when it was -- just a great, bold "torture."

The implication -- think of the people who read that around the world. First of all, our forces read it. And the implication is that the United States government has, in one way or another, ordered, authorized, permitted, tolerated torture. Not true. And our forces read that, and they've got to wonder, do we? And as General Pace said, we don't. The President said people will be treated humanely, and that is what the orders are. That's what the requirements are.

Now, we know that people have done some things they shouldn't do. Anyone who looks at those photographs know that. But that's quite a different thing. And that is not the implication that's out there. The implication that's out there is the United States government is engaging in torture as a matter of policy, and that's not true. Think of the second group of people who see it. All those people in the region and in Iraq and in Afghanistan, that we need their cooperation, we need their help, the people in those countries, the people in the neighboring countries, and think how unhelpful that is for them to gain the inaccurate impression that that is what's taking place.

Third, think of the people who, for whatever -- whenever -- today, tomorrow, next year -- capture an American civilian or American military personnel and will use all those headlines about torture and the impact in the world that people think that's what's taking place, and use that as an excuse to torture our people. So this is a very serious business that this country's engaged in.

Now, we're in a war, and I can understand that someone who doesn't think they're in a war or aren't in a war, sitting in an air-conditioned room someplace can decide they want to be critical of this or critical of that, or misstate that or misrepresent something else, or be fast and loose with the facts. But there's an effect to that, and I think we have to be careful. I think people ought to be accountable for that, just as we're accountable."

He's not angry about the torture so much as the press reporting it and following the story up to the point where he is implicated. He's unhappy that the press is doing it's job- exposing his corruption, his evil deeds.

If our soldiers are tortured when captured as revenge the blame doesn't lie with the press, it lay with morons who not only allowed but encouraged this behavior- Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice.

via
via

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is holding terrorism suspects in more than two dozen detention centers worldwide and about half of these operate in total secrecy, said a human rights report released on Thursday.

Human Rights First, formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, said in a report that secrecy surrounding these facilities made "inappropriate detention and abuse not only likely but inevitable."

"The abuses at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib cannot be addressed in isolation," said Deborah Pearlstein, director of the group's U.S. Law and Security program, referring to the U.S. Naval base prison in Cuba and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq where abuses are being investigated.

link

Yesterday on CNN White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett said:

"President Bush has made it very clear that there was not direct evidence linking to the 9/11 plot, and never did he make that suggestion."

I call shenanigans.

On the day Bush invaded Iraq he sent this letter to Congress stating that he had the legal right to invade because Iraq was responsible for 9/11.

link

If the CIA asks you to commit a war crime, is it really a war crime? We shall see.

Since it's the United States committing the war crime, and we're obviously better than every other country, should international laws apply? I mean, we are better than everyone...

Lt. Gen. Ricardo "Dirty" Sanchez was ordered by Rumsfeld to keep a prisoner locked up and off the books, away from the prying eyes of the Red Cross. This is a violation of international law, plain and simple.

Rumsfeld approved it. Rumsfeld is a war criminal. He'll never be punished. Because we're above the law. Only those other piddly countries are bound by decency, humanity, and international law.

(Ricardo "Dirty" Sanchez's new nickname stolen directly from The Daily Show.)

Bush said yesterday that Abu Musab Zarqawi's very existence was the best evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda only to be contradicted by the 9-11 commission today.

This is all getting really absurd... now they're being deceitful about lying about the original mistruths.

My head hurts.

Compares her to Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie. Link

What a scumbag. I don't sit here and make fun of his attempts to cover up his baldness with that stupid hat. Oh, wait... I do.

Still, attacking the wife of a candidate... where have I heard this story before?

It's being reported today that Bill O'Reilly walked out of the premiere of Fahrenheit 9/11 in New York last night.

Sounds like my kind of movie.

Drudge headline:



How is that a shock? After more than a year of this shit, how can anyone possibly be the least bit surprised at the celebrations following the attacks?

Is there really anyone so delusional that they still think the Iraqis should be thrilled we've shocked and awed them? Apparently yes- his name is Matt Drudge, the moron in the hat.

Developing.... HARD!

Another "Compassion = I talk to black people" moment on GWB's campaign web site.


Update: This is so funny/disturbing I had to post it as well- this is the banner across the top of the page:

The faces of the non-black children are obscured. This is pathological.

Writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens said, "When hard questions of domestic relations are sure to affect the outcome, a prudent course is for the federal court to stay its hand rather than reach out to resolve a weighty question of federal constitutional law."

He added, "Newdow lacks prudential standing to bring this suit in federal court."

Translation- This is a tough one- we love God and want Him in our pledge, but it's not legal. This judgin' is hard! Dismissed on technicality!

Pussies.

Dan Froomkin has what could be George W. Bush's worst joke to date (not counting the Iraq war):

"You're probably wondering how I got to be the family spokesman. (Laughter.)

"Well, we polled the family. And rumor has it, somewhere in our large family, the tiebreaking vote for tonight's speaker was cast by a fourth cousin by the name of Chad. (Laughter and applause.)

"While holding his son above the crib, Chad's father reports that the lad burped, and it sounded like, "George W." (Laughter.)

"Once again, my life was affected by a dangling chad. (Laughter and applause.)"

There's "so bad it's good" and then there's George W. Bush. ...and then there's Texas.

I'll bet he's had more divorces than all the gays combined.

Dan Froomkin's indispensible White House Briefing column:

Steven Thomma of Knight Ridder Newspapers reports that shock jock Howard Stern's on-air crusade to defeat President Bush is having an impact.

"Nationwide, 17 percent of likely voters listen to Stern's radio show, according to the poll released Thursday by the New Democrat Network, a Washington-based group. They favor Kerry over Bush by 53 percent to 43 percent, and by 59 to 37 percent in 18 battleground states."

The group's poll memo notes that "four percent of likely voters this fall are swing voters who listen to Howard Stern, showing Stern's potential ability to impact the race."

...from Bush Campaign Spokesman Scott Stanzel on Farenheit 9/11:

"Voters know fact from fiction coming from Hollywood. It's designed to entertain. American voters want fact, not fiction, when determining their vote. And everyone knows where Michael Moore is coming from."

Moore was right in his Oscar speech- Bush was lying. Iraq is a fake war.

People remember that.

Bush was grilled about the torture memos and his involvement yesterday- a few quotes from him:
"The authorization I issued was that anything we did would conform to US laws and would be consistent with international treaty obligations."
Of course the Justice Department went to work bending the laws to allow torture- sounds like a non-denial denial to me.

"What I've authorized is that we stay within U.S. law."
Ditto.

Bush is digging a hole- I'm starting to wonder if he can make it to the election before he's indicted...

Note to bystanders in Washington D.C. this week - Screaming "God bless you Nancy!" while her husband's coffin is unloaded from a hearse is inappropriate. Clapping and shouting "Woo!" as the horse-drawn caisson makes it's way down Constitution Avenue? Also inappropriate.

And one last thing, folks- how about wearing long pants for this thing, huh? Not to mention all the tank tops. There's a distinct lack of respect there. It's like turning a state funeral into a tourist attraction- that's a bad thing. I know it's hot, but if it's too hot for you to wear adult pants don't fucking go.

From the Washington Post:

The same can't be said for many of his mourners, some of whom trundled past his flag-draped coffin yesterday wearing flip-flops, cargo shorts and T-shirts, their flabby midsections exposed. Some young women wore ultra-mini skirts and halter tops. Altogether, the sweaty masses clashed with the crisp honor guard in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, perhaps America's most sacred secular site.

Bobby Golike, 20, showed up to pay his respects to the 40th president in shorts, sock-less sneakers and a black T-shirt that read, "Slackers Unite! Tomorrow."

"Americans are more casual," said the Virginia college student. "I had a collar shirt and nice pants that I was going to change into, but it was kind of hot outside."

Many of the formally challenged cited the heat, the sun and the wait for their lack of funereal attire. Others split hairs, saying that paying respects to Reagan's coffin was different from attending the state funeral scheduled for today.

"It's not a formal function," said David Skorda, 34, of Annandale, in shorts and a yellow T-shirt emblazoned with, "Don't Tread on Me."

The St. Petersburg Times has a much linked-to article that confirms (finally) that there were several flights in the wake of 9/11 which flew several Saudi nationals around the country and presumably back to their home countries.

I admit I'm a little puzzled, since anyone who saw Richard Clarke's testimony saw him confirm that there were several flights and members of the bin Laden family were flown out of the country. Before that Michael Moore wouldn't shut up about it. Then there was Craig Unger... Now it's finally being covered by the mainstream press. Welcome to the party.

An article in The Hill out a few weeks ago had Clarke taking full responsibility for approving the flights, though who originated the request remains a mystery.

Clarke says: “It didn’t get any higher than me,” and “On 9-11, 9-12 and 9-13, many things didn’t get any higher than me. I decided it in consultation with the FBI.”

I think Clarke was wrong to allow the bin Laden family to leave. Why would he do it? I have a theory, but that's all it is:

Clarke says the request didn't go higher than him- here's the thing- Clarke wouldn't need to seek approval from the White House if the White House originated the request.

Here's The Daily Show's hilarious take on the Enron tapes. This is a must-see.

Remember, Enron's CEO was off writing the country's energy policy while this was all going on.

The documents, read to The Times by two sources critical of how the government handled the Lindh case, show that after an Army intelligence officer began to question Lindh, a Navy admiral told the intelligence officer that "the secretary of Defense's counsel has authorized him to 'take the gloves off' and ask whatever he wanted."

Lindh was being questioned while he was propped up naked and tied to a stretcher in interrogation sessions that went on for days, according to court papers.

In the early stages, his responses were cabled to Washington hourly, the new documents show.

link

Rumsfeld's name is on the cover page.

He's the one who classified it. For ten years. Oops.

It's also marked NOFORN which means no foreigners are allowed to read it. You Canadians are shit out of luck. Americans are the only ones allowed to click here.

Rummy knew.

PDF from The Wall Street Journal Online

So, the news breaks yesterday that the president now has the authority to set aside the law- never mind what that constitution of yours says.

Today the NY Times has this:

Another memorandum obtained by The Times indicates that most of the administration's top lawyers, with the exception of those at the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, approved of the Justice Department's position that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to the war in Afghanistan. In addition, that memorandum, dated Feb. 2, 2002, noted that lawyers for the Central Intelligence Agency had asked for an explicit understanding that the administration's public pledge to abide by the spirit of the conventions did not apply to its operatives.
link

When staffers are hired into this administration I imagine their instructions from the top are to say one thing, do another. Repeat.

[originally posted June 12, 1987]
Today while visiting Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany, a red-faced Ronald Reagan delivered a shrill, angry diatribe. His gestures becoming sharp and angry, he screamed- "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" At one point it appeared that Reagan had slipped into an unnatural state... Developing...

/parody

context
context
context

Intel Dump has the story from the WSJ and better analysis than I could ever muster.

Right-wingers like Bill O'Reilly who constantly "poo-poo" UN involvement in Iraq have siezed on the UN oil for food scandal for the past several months. They cite secret evidence which Ahmed Chalabi holds.

Now, in the post-"busted for being an Iranian spy" phase of Chalabi's career, the US decided to just take all those documents he was goading over us. So, we have the evidence, right? Eh... not so much.

In fact, a "long-time acquaintance" of Chalabi happens to be the man investigating the UN Oil for Food scandal. He claims his hard drive was wiped out the same day Chalabi's house was raided. The backup was lost too. The hackers ate his homework.

From the Telegraph article:

Last night, it emerged that on the same day as the raid, computer files belonging to the British consultant investigating the oil-for-food scandal were destroyed by hackers and a back-up databank in his Baghdad office wiped out.

Claude Hankes Drielsma, a British businessman and long-time acquaintance of Mr Chalabi, accused America and Britain of mounting a "dirty tricks" campaign to obstruct his inquiry.

There are so many possible motivations from all sides- is this a cover-up by the UN? The US? Was there even any evidence to begin with? (We are, after all, talking about Chalabi who was so helpful with all that info about WMD...)

Unfortunately, we may never know, but what's clear as day is that Bill O'Reilly and others of his ilk have shot their credibility to hell by putting all their eggs in one Chalabi.

George W. Bush was in France this weekend chatting up former mortal enemy of freedom Jacques Chirac. During the press conference that followed a French journalist and Bush had the following exchange:

Q Thank you, sir. I would have a question for Mr. Bush. Once, President Kennedy said, "Everyone has two countries, their own, and France." And why is it that your policy tends to be pushing your country and France to divorce?

Second point, some in public opinion have accused you of state terrorism, and do you not believe that what has happened in Abu Ghraib has put you in the same basket, as it were, of Saddam Hussein, especially in the eyes of an international tribunal, and especially in light of the unfound weapons of mass destruction?

PRESIDENT BUSH: To paraphrase President Kennedy, there's America, and then there's Texas.
We have great relations with France.

video

First- can this be considered a paraphrase? Really? "Everyone has two countries, their own and France" vs "There's America, and then there's Texas?" Really? Okay- so maybe Bush was paraphrasing another quote from Kennedy- well... I couldn't find it in Google. If someone can point me to such a quote I know I'd feel a tiny bit better knowing that Bush has the mental capacity to pull an obscure quote from a previous President.

So- the other question I have- does this guy realize he's in another country? Does he realize that bashing America while in Paris might not go over as well as it does back on the ranch? Does he even realize he's in Paris? Has he been told directly that he's not at the ranch?

The transcript really doesn't do it justice- check out the brutal silence that follows Bush's lame Texas line.

Doesn't this little exchange just sum it all up? Kennedy was quoting Jefferson who was saying, "We're all together in this," Bush is just sqawking, "Don't mess with Texas."

Damn I miss having a competent President.

The punchline? The article is headlined, "CBS Poll: Vets Favor Bush"

Bush said Tenet had done "a superb job for the American people."


I think once again Mr. Bush believes the word "superb" means bad.

Tenet cited "personal reasons" for the resignation, which presumably includes being ordered to resign by President Bush.

Update: To clarify- Tenet is being scapegoated- he's less to blame for the disaster in Iraq than Cheney, Bush, Rummy, Rice and Powell in that order.

It's up. What are you waiting for? Go watch!

Here Alex Polier recalls a call to The Sun's Brian Flynn, who was the first to print her name in the Kerry/intern fake scandal:

Afraid I would lose my temper, I asked my editor to call [Brian Flynn] first.

“I was calling to ask you who your source was for your story which named Alex Polier as the intern in the Kerry story,” she said.

“Ah, many people have asked me; it was a fantastic source,” he said. “I broke that story to the world, you know,” he added proudly. “But your source was wrong,” she pointed out. He paused, startled. “You’ve just ambushed me,” he cried. “You’ve ambushed me!”

“I think you should speak to Alex,” she said and passed me the phone.

“Hello,” he said, sounding nervous.

“I’d like to talk to you. I’m writing a piece and have some questions.”

“It’s not a good time right now,” he said. “Let’s meet up next week.”

“Why did you quote my mother when she wasn’t even home?” I persisted.

“I really can’t talk about this right now, Alex,” he said.

She later catches up with him at work and at his home.

From Drudge pussying out with a lame, "mistakes were made" type defense, to ABC's Chris Vlasto foaming at the mouth to smear Kerry- Alex covers it all.

Read this.

This goes along with the President's "Compassion" photo gallery, featuring all manner of black folks.

Why does the wind hate America and our freedoms?

This is just bad on so many levels:

American officials reported that in the cable to Tehran, the Iranian official recounted how Mr. Chalabi had said that one of "them" — a reference to an American — had revealed the code-breaking operation, the officials said. The Iranian reported that Mr. Chalabi said the American was drunk.

Prosecuting the loose-lipped drunk is step one- those that cozied up to Chalabi all these years also need to be dismissed. They're too gullible to be in charge. There's simply nothing to excuse this treasonous activity.

Tapes! Dude, TAPES! You gotta read this.

Before the 2000 election, Enron employees pondered the possibilities of a Bush win.

"It'd be great. I'd love to see Ken Lay Secretary of Energy," says one Enron worker.

That didn't happen, but they were sure President Bush would fight any limits on sky-high energy prices.

"When this election comes Bush will f------g whack this s--t, man. He won't play this price-cap b------t."

Crude, but true.

"We will not take any action that makes California's problems worse and that's why I oppose price caps," said Mr. Bush on May 29, 2001.

via Kevin Drum

Afghanistan constitutes George W. Bush's clearest victory since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The Taliban regime has been overthrown, eliminating al-Qaida's most important base. But the overlooked war continues with no end in sight. Narcotics trafficking is at an all-time high. If U.S. forces were to leave, the Taliban -- or something like it -- would regain power. The United States is lost in Afghanistan, bound to this wild country and unable to leave.
link

That's the clearest victory? Damn... what's failure look like? Oh...

Dana Milbank explores Bush's habit of pointing to "some people" who are always wrong in Making Hay Out of Straw Men:

On May 19, Bush was asked about a plan by his Democratic opponent, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), to halt shipments that are replenishing emergency petroleum reserves. Bush replied by saying we should not empty the reserves -- something nobody in a responsible position has proposed. "The idea of emptying the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would put America in a dangerous position in the war on terror," Bush said. "We're at war."
link

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush is using Air Force One for re-election travel more heavily than any predecessor, wringing maximum political mileage from a perk of office paid for by taxpayers.

While Democratic rival John Kerry digs into his campaign bank account to charter a plane to roam the country, Bush often travels at no cost to his campaign simply by declaring a trip "official" travel rather than "political."

Every suspicion I've ever had about this administration eventually comes to pass. Cheney is facilitating no bid contracts for Halliburton.

Vice President Dick Cheney was a guest on NBC's Meet the Press last September when host Tim Russert brought up Halliburton. Citing the company's role in rebuilding Iraq as well as Cheney's prior service as Halliburton's CEO, Russert asked, "Were you involved in any way in the awarding of those contracts?" Cheney's reply: "Of course not, Tim ... And as Vice President, I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts led by the [Army] Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the Federal Government."

Cheney's relationship with Halliburton has been nothing but trouble since he left the company in 2000. Both he and the company say they have no ongoing connections. But TIME has obtained an internal Pentagon e-mail sent by an Army Corps of Engineers official—whose name was blacked out by the Pentagon—that raises questions about Cheney's arm's-length policy toward his old employer. Dated March 5, 2003, the e-mail says "action" on a multibillion-dollar Halliburton contract was "coordinated" with Cheney's office. The e-mail says Douglas Feith, a high-ranking Pentagon hawk, got the "authority to execute RIO," or Restore Iraqi Oil, from his boss, who is Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. RIO is one of several large contracts the U.S. awarded to Halliburton last year.

The e-mail says Feith approved arrangements for the contract "contingent on informing WH [White House] tomorrow. We anticipate no issues since action has been coordinated w VP's [Vice President's] office." Three days later, the Army Corps of Engineers gave Halliburton the contract, without seeking other bids. TIME located the e-mail among documents provided by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group.

link

They lie, and they won't stop lying- even when caught. We've got people in the administration who are benefiting personally by waging war- that's a fucking problem and we need to stop them.