Saturday Beagle Blogging!

Harley is back!
(and still asleep!)

not very diplomatic dimplomats

Trouble In Paradise
Sounds like the Odd Couple are at odds.

A full 10 seconds of silence passed after a reporter asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld what the intense secrecy and security surrounding their visit to Iraq signified about the stability of the country three years after the U.S.-led invasion. Rice turned to Rumsfeld to provide the answer. Rumsfeld glared at the reporter.

"I guess I don't think it says anything about it," he snapped. He went on to say that President Bush had directed him and Rice to go to Iraq to "meet with the new leadership, and it happens that they are located here," a reference to the heavily fortified Green Zone where U.S. officials -- and many Iraqi leaders -- live and work.

(First Draft)

Dems protesting in Sudan

“Five Congress members were willingly arrested and led away from the Sudanese Embassy in plastic handcuffs Friday in protest of the Sudanese government’s role in atrocities in the Darfur region. ‘The slaughter of the people of Darfur must end,’ Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), a Holocaust survivor…, said from the embassy steps before his arrest.” Much more in today’s Progress Report.

(Think Progress)

Wow! That's pretty damn ballsy!

Hopefully, people will start rallying around this issue - obviously, its way past time already

and more from Think Progress:

“Public outrage, sporadic before, is growing over the continuing bloodshed in Darfur,” the New York Times reports. George Clooney, Russell Simmons, U.S. Olympic gold medal winner Joey Cheek, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and dozens of others will be joining Darfur rallies around the country on Sunday. As Clooney said today, “What we cannot do is turn our heads and look away and hope that this will somehow disappear. It’s the first genocide of the 21st century.“

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hookers!

‘As Many as a Half a Dozen’ Members of Congress May Be Involved in Prostitution Scandal
(Think Progress)
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Will the "liberal media" pick up on this story? Since sex is involved, it seems a little more likely, but since repugs are involved, I'm not holding my breath.

$4 BILLION?!

The American Prospect reports that $4 Billion of money for the Iraq War is missing!
And where is the investigation?

still more on the repugs' version of "supporting the troops"

• Support the troops -- or send bill collectors if they're injured

Talk is cheap. And there's a lot of cheap talk about supporting the troops. Instead, the Bush Administration is dunning injured soldiers -- and hounding them for the money:

After suffering paralysis, brain damage, lost limbs and other wounds in war, nearly 900 Army soldiers ran up $1.2 million in debt because of the military's "complex, cumbersome" pay system, congressional investigators said Thursday.

The report from the Government Accountability Office said another 400 who died in the wars had $300,000 in debt but that the Defense Department doesn't pursue collection of people killed in combat."We found that hundreds of separated battle-injured soldiers were pursued for collection of military debts incurred through no fault of their own," said the report. It said that included seeking reimbursement for errors in pay or for equipment left on the battlefield.

(Americablog)

any reason at all to believe this?

Bush Vows Better Hurricane Response
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And why will it be better? Has anything been done to improve anything at all?
As usual, just a lot of bs from this ass....
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Funny - more from Americablog:

Bipartisan Senate Katrina report faults Bush

Now isn't this interesting. Remember that sham commission that Senator Frist and George Bush wanted instead of the REAL Katrina commission? They didn't want the independent commission because they were afraid it would blast Bush? Well, it seems the congressional commission, the sham commission, is now blasting Bush.

A Senate inquiry into the government's Hurricane Katrina failures ripped the Bush administration anew Thursday and urged the scrapping of the nation's disaster response agency. But with a new hurricane season just weeks away, senators conceded that few if any of their proposals could become reality in time.

The bipartisan investigation into one of the worst natural disasters in the nation's history singled outPresident Bush and the White House as appearing indifferent to the devastation until two days after the storm hit.

First off, who first criticized Bush for being indifferent to Katrina even before the hurricane hit? Why, I believe it was a blog... hmmm... which one would that be?

Second, the Republicans are in all-out "throw Bush under the bus" mode at this point. There is simply no way they would permit the report to blame Bush so directly unless they saw Bush as a major liability.

He's radioactive.

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wonder why gas prices are so high?

Chevron Earnings Soar 49 Percent to $4B
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What a surprise! Gas prices go up (yet again) right before summer and big oil earns record profits (yet again).
There was a big oil apologist from the WSJ on the Daily Show the other night and her only answer for Jon's questions about why are the prices so high and yet the profits are so immense was "supply and demand". No explanation of how the profits continue to rise if the companies are paying more for the crude product and simply passing those increases to us.
Wouldn't it be refreshing if someone just said, "yeah, we're screwing you - what are you going to do - stop driving?"
Though it would be far more refreshing if someone was truly researching alternative fuels, so that we would have an option, instead poo-poo-ing them, as the sycophant from the WSJ did on the Daily Show.

how has she not yet been sued?

Coulter: "[B]efore we knew Gore was clinically insane," he "seemed kind of gay"
(Media Matters)
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I don't know if I can say that this is the most outrageous thing that she's said, but seriously, how can she get away with this?
These "people" are revolting...

why on earth would he do this?

ABC's Shipman: "Probably one of the first things" Snow is going to do is change White House TV channels from Fox News
(Media Matters)
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What a truly bizarre comment!
Why a former Fox employee would ever even think of doing anything like this is beyond the reasoning of any normal human being.
I mean, of course, the administration should not be watching Fox, but why would a Fox employee ask them not to?
Beyond the beyond....

repugs continuing to compromise our security

Conservatives Bow to Industry, Block Amendment to Scan All Shipping Containers

Early this afternoon, conservatives in the House Homeland Security Committee voted down an amendment by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) that would have mandated 100 percent scanning of American-bound shipping containers for radiological weapons.

The vote followed an “aggressive lobbying campaign” by a “coalition of industry groups” who pressed conservative members to oppose the amendment. Yesterday, committee chairman Peter King (R-NY) announced that he was caving to industry interests. His excuse was that Markey’s plan was “not realistic“:

There’s no sense putting something in the bill if it’s not realistic, if it’s not going to be implemented and can’t be done. We want a real bill, not a headline.

In fact, the plan is realistic: for well over a year, Hong Kong has been successfully using high tech screening machines to inspect every single container. Achieving that in the United States will undoubtedly take time, but it is technologically feasible, and should be our number one port security priority. Businesses that rely on shipping simply don’t want to spend the money, and conservatives are bending to their will at the expense of our homeland security.

(Think Progress)

more of the same re:bush hirings

Bush Picks SVP of Multibillion-Dollar Firm to Head Small Business Administration
The stated goal of the Small Business Administration is to “strengthen the nation’s economy by aiding, counseling, assisting and protecting the interests of small businesses.”

President Bush this week nominated Steven Preston as the new SBA head, continuing his legacy of appointing individuals to oversee agencies they will try to destroy. Preston “does not have experience running a small business,” and currently serves as a senior vice president of a “multibillion-dollar corporation” called ServiceMaster which is known for bullying small businesses.

(Think Progress)

Media Matters looks back at "Mission Accomplished"

Read this and try to keep your lunch down.
I'm just glad that I wasn't watching much TV at that time. I thought it was a pathetic - and completely unrealistic (in so many ways) - publicity stunt. 3 years later, it seems at that much more absurd.
And where again is that "liberal media" that we keep hearing about?

violating privacy of millions of kids

Suit Claims Defense Dept. Data Use Illegal
NEW YORK - The Defense Department is violating the privacy of millions of high school students nationwide with a detailed database it uses for military recruitment, a federal lawsuit filed Monday claims.

The New York Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of six high schoolers, saying the department is ignoring privacy rules set by Congress regarding the collection and distribution of students' personal information.

Military officials have said they have about 30 million names in the database. The Pentagon said last year the list includes high school students ages 16-18 and college students, and includes such information as the students' Social Security numbers, gender and race.

Hope Reichbach, a 17-year-old senior at Hunter College High School in Manhattan and a plaintiff, said she contacted the NYCLU after she had tried unsuccessfully to get her name removed from lists and databases that she said subjected her to repeated phone calls from military recruiters.

"I want them to leave me and other students alone," Reichbach
said.

The department is flouting a 1982 military recruitment law that specifies that it refrain from collecting information on students under 17, that it store the information for no more than three years and that the information be kept private, the lawsuit said.

The current database includes information on 16-year-olds, is storing the information for five years and is being shared with law enforcement and other agencies, the lawsuit said.

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First seen at Americablog

even more new low poll numbers!

Bush and Congress hit new lows -- again

This time it's NBC/Wall Street Journal. Approval for Bush is at 36 -- Congress is at 22, yes 22:

According to the poll, just 22 percent approve of the job Congress is doing, a drop of 11 points since March. “That’s a lot of movement in a four- to six-week period,” says McInturff, the GOP pollster, who attributes the drop to a sharp decline in approval by Republican respondents.

Asked to rank the top one or two reasons for their disapproval of Congress, 44 percent say they are tired of Democrats and Republicans fighting with each other, 36 percent say Congress doesn’t seem to get that much done, and 34 percent say members are corrupt and unethical.

These numbers aren't great for the party in power. This latest poll showed voters prefer a Democratic Congress by a 45-39 margin, but those numbers have dropped from earlier polls.

The American people don't love Bush and the GOP-controlled Congress -- only 24% think the country's moving in the right direction. The only real opportunity to change that direction is to change control of Congress. It's the only way to rein in Bush.

(Americablog)

ok, whose absurd idea is this?

Senators to push for $100 gas rebate checks
Under proposal, every U.S. taxpayer would get one

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Every American taxpayer would get a $100 rebate check to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote Thursday.

However, the GOP energy package may face tough sledding because it also includes a controversial proposal to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, which most Democrats and some moderate Republicans oppose.

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What a ridiculous proposal! I think they have to realize it, also. This money won't really help people and as Americablog says below, where is the money going to come from?
I suppose coming up with nonsensical ideas are easier than actually trying to do something about the roots of the problem.
How long can we continue to survive with these lunatics in power?

More from Americablog here and here

Rumsfeld Critics Must Grin and Bear It
WASHINGTON - Senate Republican critics of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld are deferring to President Bush's support for the Pentagon chief, mindful that his fate is out of their hands.

But in the aftermath of calls by several retired generals for Rumsfeld's ouster, those GOP lawmakers remain uncomfortable with him. Given the chance, they offer no words of support.

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Even right-wing repugs can't back this loser any longer!
But, bush does, so the rest of us are screwed!

maybe we will see a little justice?

Judge Won't Dismiss Case Against Libby
WASHINGTON - A federal judge refused Thursday to dismiss charges against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former top White House aide who was indicted on perjury and obstruction charges last year in the CIA leak scandal.

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understandable, but completely out of line

Congresswoman's Son Gets Jail for Slashing Tires
MILWAUKEE (April 26) - A congresswoman's son and three Democratic campaign workers were sentenced Wednesday to four to six months in jail for slashing tires outside a Bush-Cheney campaign office on Election Day 2004.

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I thought that these tales were just myths spread by the repugs. But, goes to show that if you're a Dem, you take responsibility and you also have consequences.
How many repugs were convicted of interferring with the voting process? Considering the extremely large number of cases reported (not even including the proven Diebold machine charges), isn't it kinda surprising (no, I know, not really) that no repug has been even arrested?

life under bush - health care edition

More Americans Going Without Health Insurance
NEW YORK (April 26) - The percentage of working-age Americans with moderate to middle incomes who lacked health insurance for at least part of the year rose to 41 percent in 2005, a dramatic increase from the 28 percent in 2001 without coverage, a study released on Wednesday found.
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The percentage of individuals earning less than $20,000 a year without insurance rose to 53 percent, up from 49 percent in 2001. Overall, the percentage of people without insurance rose to 28 percent in 2005 from 24 percent in 2001.

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it's rove's turn!

Breaking: Rove Meeting With Special Prosecutor About Leak Case
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Fox News: Rove to testify before grand jury.
(Think Progress)
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Will he be able to weasel his way out of this or will justice be served?
Unfortunately, these things take way too much time!

November is much too far away

Bush needs a GOP Congress or he's really screwed

Bush's ability to further destroy America depends on a GOP-controlled
Congress:
President Bush is not on the ballot in November, but he might as well be. Republican losses could make an already difficult situation in Congress almost untenable for him.

If his party loses control of one, or both chambers of Congress, the next two years could be a political nightmare for Bush and his GOP allies on Capitol Hill.

It will be a national nightmare if Bush remains unchecked until 2009. The only way to control him is to change control of Congress. The White House knows this. That's why Karl Rove is going to get really, really ugly this year -- even uglier than usual.

Instead of waiting around for the GOP attacks, the Dems. need to take the offensive. Attack first. Out Rove Rove.

(Americablog)
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I'm really afraid of what is going to happen between now and November. But, no matter what, if the public still elects repugs, then this country deserves to be destroyed. Unfortunately, the good people who have tried to make a difference will go, as well.
I do still firmly believe that as long as bush is in power, we are on the verge of the end of the world, cuz that lunatic is capable of anything.

way past disgusting

Hullabaloo reports on the conservative version of humor, which seems to consist of absurd, baseless insults, being proud of ignorance and intolerence and plenty of threats of violence.

religion kills!

Lightning kills 5 praying kids
Mexico City - Five Mexican children were killed after a large metal cross they were praying at was struck by lightning, said reports.

It was reported that five children between nine and 16 years died and several others suffered burns after lightning struck a white-painted metal cross set on a hill in Santa Maria del Rio early on Sunday.

Red Cross chief Eduardo Suarez said: "The lightning went straight into them and they were killed instantly."

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Think that someone is trying to tell us something!

bush shows his concern for Earth Day

Bush Rides Roughshod Over Protected Federal Land
Yesterday, President Bush joked about his difficult bike ride through the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument:

I just spent some quality time in [Congresswoman Mary Bono’s] district, and I forgot to tell you that I had the privilege of riding my mountain bike in the desert, as well. The national monument that she helped put together to preserve open spaces - she’s got a lot of humility, she didn’t name the national monument after herself. If I were to name it I would say, Really Hard Bike Ride Monument.

But the Palm Springs Desert Sun reported that by riding through the area, Bush had ignored the “voluntary avoidance” guidelines at the Monument. The guidelines are meant to protect a species of endangered bighorn sheep:

Jim Foote, acting manager of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, said the Clara Burgess trail is also among those monument managers ask people to avoid part of the year to prevent disrupting endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep.

The trail is one of about 10 in the monument under a “voluntary avoidance” program. People are asked to stay off the Clara Burgess trail from Jan. 1 to June 30 during the sheep lambing season, he said.

If this latest Bush bike ride was like his others, a “massive entourage,” including a “long convoy of SUVs and off-road vehicles,” came along for the ride.

Apparently the White House isn’t involved in the Bureau of Land Management’s “comprehensive, multi-agency planning effort … to ensure the survival of the sheep.”

(Think Progress)

news snippets from Think Progress

ThinkFast: April 25, 2006
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Rep. Charles H. Taylor (R-NC) is single-handedly blocking a $10 million request to buy land for a memorial to the passengers and crew of Flight 93. Taylor, “a large landowner in the mountains of western Carolina,” believes the federal government already owns too much land.
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In Alaska, lab reports discovered that several cruise passengers had suffered from an outbreak of bacteria that “normally grows on shellfish harvested in much warmer waters.” The outbreak “highlighted how surprisingly and directly global warming can affect human health, particularly in terms of infectious diseases.”
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The Pentagon plans to “release” 141 detainees from Guantanamo Bay, but Reuters notes that only 22 of them will actually be freed. The other 119 will be transferred to prisons in their home countries.
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The Washington Post slams the new conservative House ethics bill as a “watered-down sham that would provide little in the way of accountability or transparency. If the Senate-passed measure was a disappointment, the House version is simply a joke.”
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6 million: Number of people in the Horn of Africa at risk of dying from the “worst drought in two decades.” Oxfam director Barbara Stocking: “This crisis might be getting less attention that the tsunami did. … But the number of people needing help is even greater.”
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And finally: President Bush yesterday explaining his efforts to avert war: “I can look you in the eye and tell you I feel I tried to solve the problem diplomatically to the max and would have committed troops both in Afghanistan and Iraq, knowing what I know today.”

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yet another new low!

A really low new low for Bush

Wolf just reported in the "Situation Room" that CNN's latest puts Bush's approval rating at 32% -- with a 60% disapproval.

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UPDATE: Link to the CNN poll story. It's clear to Americans that Bush sucks.

(Americablog)
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Its not going to stop! Wouldn't it be nice if we could just have a "do-over" election?! I wonder how many people who voted for this clown feel like idiots now? And they should, since none of this is a surprise to those who were paying attention.

god is screwing with bush again

Almighty-based foreign policy

It's god's fault Iraq is such a disaster. Bush is just his vessel:

Later, Bush said: "I base a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true. One, I believe there's an Almighty. And, secondly, I believe one of the great gifts of the Almighty is the desire in everybody's soul, regardless of what you look like or where you live, to be free."

Bush gets more frightening by the day.

(Americablog)
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So, basically, bush is saying that his foreign policy is based on his belief in an imaginary friend.
That's comforting! Especially since that means that bush believes in the apocalypse and possibly thinks that encouraging it is a good thing.

bush is determined to sell our security to Dubai

Another Dubai port deal?

Asia Times

In a deal similar to one that led to the Dubai ports furor in the US earlier this year, Dubai International Capital has purchased for US$1.24 billion Doncasters Group Ltd, a private British aerospace manufacturer that works on sensitive weapons programs such as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

The administration of US President George W Bush is conducting a security review of the takeover, and then it will present its findings to Congress...

(Americablog)

leaking info on illegal activities

Associates Say CIA Officer Not Leak Source
WASHINGTON - The CIA officer fired for unauthorized contacts with the media denies being a source for The Washington Post's award-winning story on secret CIA detention centers.
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Stephen Kohn, chairman of the National Whistleblower Center, said he believe McCarthy could have a strong case to contest her firing.

"If she was blowing the whistle on something that's illegal, it's our position you cannot classify the illegal conduct of government. You can't say that's a secret," Kohn said.

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Not sure what to believe at this point, but obviously, whoever did leak the info, did nothing wrong, since they were whistle-blowing.

More on this from Americablog:

Bush administration lied about reason for firing CIA agent last Friday, wasn't because she leaked about CIA prisons

The Bush administration said explicitly last Friday that a CIA agent was fired for leaking classified information, assumed to be regarding the existence of secret CIA prisons in former Soviet gulags in Eastern Europe.

Today we find out they were just kidding.

She didn't leak any classified information.

She didn't say anything about the secret prisons.

Oh, she's still fired, we just don't know why. Then why was she fired? And why did the Bush administration tell the world that she was a leaker when she wasn't?

They fired this woman ten days before she was due to retire. Then they lied about why. Sounds to me like this was one more bit of retribution by George Bush against a woman whose expert analysis of the facts didn't toe the Bush pro-war line.

Someone on the Hill needs to launch a major investigation of this case because it's beginning to look like this impeccable public servant just got screwed.

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and still more from Crooks and Liars

doesn't this seem like a bad idea?

Bush Eases Environmental Rules on Gasoline
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Easing the environment rules will allow refiners greater flexibility in providing oil supplies since they will not have to use certain additives such as ethanol to meet clean air standards. The suspension of oil purchases for the federal emergency oil reserve is likely to have only modest impact since relative little extra oil will be involved.
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Bush said that high gasoline prices are like a hidden tax on consumers and businesses, although he said the nation's economy was strong. He urged Congress to take back some of the billions of dollars in tax incentives it gave energy companies, saying that with record profits, they don't need the breaks.

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How many times is he going to relax his already lax standards for pollutants?
And he, of all people, is asking for a cut in tax incentives to big business?!

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and, from Think Progress (click the link for the exact quote):

Bush Flashback: Using Strategic Oil Reserve To Lower Prices Damages “National Security”

Today, Bush did precisely what he criticized President Clinton for five-and-a-half years ago.

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this week's Top Ten Conservative Idiots

From Democratic Underground

It's all Harry Reid's fault!

First Draft reports
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Obviously, Harry is doing something right when the repugs have to resort to this many baseless attacks!
Makes me proud to live in Nevada!

way to go, Mick!

Cue Nelsom Muntz with a British accent.

PRESIDENT George Bush can’t get no satisfaction — after Mick Jagger grabbed his hotel room.

The Rolling Stone splashed out £3,600 a night for the suite days before the US leader tried to book it.

Now Mick, 62, who has been a fierce critic of the Bush-led war in Iraq, is refusing to give it up.

The veteran rocker hired the luxury Royal Suite at the five-star Imperial Hotel in Vienna, Austria, for June when the Stones are due to play a gig in the city.

Bush’s aides then tried to book it to tie in with a summit meeting.

But Mick put his foot down and insisted he was keeping the booking.
[snip]
“Bush’s people seemed to be under the impression that they would just hand over the suites but there was no way Mick was going to do that.”

The classically-designed suite is said to be among the top 100 hotel rooms in the world. It boasts a 7ft 4in bed, chandeliers and oil paintings.

Former presidents Ronald Reagan, John Kennedy and George Bush Snr all stayed there while they were in office.

(First Draft)
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Freakin' hilarious! Almost makes me wanna buy a new Stones record!
Is there any reason in the world why Jagger should have given this up? Just cuz petulant child bush wanted it? Hell, Mick ain't even a US citizen!

and still more proof of the lies

60 Minutes: CIA Official Reveals Bush, Cheney, Rice Were Personally Told Iraq Had No WMD in Fall 2002
(Think Progress)
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Will there ever be any accountability?

now up to 8!

8th General Calls For Rumsfeld’s Resignation
(Think Progress)

santorum's version of "supporting the troops"

Santorum for Veterans?

The Beaver County Times tells us about Lloyd "Skip" Haswell, a Marine Corps veteran who was recently listed as a member of a group of "Veterans for Santorum." It seems that Rick's recent vote against an amendment to provide "an assured stream of funding for veterans health care," and his failure to respond to Mr. Haswell's inquiries about that vote, have caused Mr. Haswell to reconsider his support for Rick.

(Santorum Exposed)

"dear mr president"

Watch Pink sing "Dear Mr. President"

Watch an amazing performance by Pink singing "Dear Mr. President" at You Tube. You have to see it. Seriously.

(Americablog)
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I am far from a Pink fan, but this is good!
She's come a long way from being a spokesperson for a brand of pens!
I believe that it's fantastic that artists (other than underground punk bands) are finally speaking up about the disaster that is bush, but why has it taken so long? I know that there have been a few exceptions - Green Day is an obvious one, though I believe that has to do with their punk background - but where has everyone been for the last 5 years? We are in the midst of the biggest political debacle since the 60's and hardly anyone is talking about it? Is it because the mainstream media is so conservative that artists will be reviled and are scared of the bad publicity? Are they simply scared of condemning this insane "war president"? Why isn't every artist that has an ounce of integrity not writing songs about this mess? How can you not?
I was a musician/songwriter for 25-30 years - it seems impossible to NOT write about the state of the world today.
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On a related note, more on Neil Young's new album here

even bush occasionally acknowledges the blindingly obvious

Bush Rejects Idea of Massive Deportation
IRVINE, Calif. (April 24) - President Bush, rebutting lawmakers advocating a law-and-order approach to immigration, said Monday that those who are calling for massive deportation of the estimated 11 million foreigners living illegally in the United States are not being realistic.

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I have to admit to being somewhat surprised that he's not keeping this option "on the table", as he does other horrible ideas. I guess even he doesn't want to piss off millions of voters!

No More Mr Nice Blog reports on the repug reaction to this news!

Democrats helping New Orleans

DNC Meets in New Orleans

I like this and the Democrats should hammer the Republicans on the ongoing disaster that is Katrina from now to November and beyond.....

Wielding hammers, crowbars and shovels, Democrats plan to clean out hurricane-ravaged homes in this slowly recovering city, a project designed to highlight the party's criticism of the Bush administration. The choice of New Orleans for the Democratic National Committee meeting that begins Thursday was part of a political calculation, as is a three-day agenda for the 400 delegates that combines party business with community service.

Eight months after Hurricane Katrina and the widespread criticism of the administration's response, Democrats hope their reconstruction work leaves an image with voters that lasts through the congressional midterm elections.
SNIP
Post-hurricane New Orleans "is not just a symbol of Bush's incompetence but it's also a reminder that we can't leave our fellow Americans behind," Karen Finney, a party spokeswoman, said.
SNIP
Groups of Democratic delegates will clean up lawns and clean out, stabilize and demolish homes in disrepair. Others will distribute clothing and other necessities to victims and pack groceries for the needy.

(First Draft)

feel safer?

Losing The GWOT
Terrorist attacks worldwide TRIPLED last year.

(First Draft)
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Thanks bush!

The Daily Show on Rumsfeld

From Crooks and Liars - its good, but also scary!

wow!

Wanted: One Virgin Bride

Virgins over the age of 24 need not apply.

Michael Thelemann, 45, of Bray, OK, has put a sign in his yard offering to pay $1,000 for a virgin bride between the ages of 12 and 24. His neighbors are none too pleased, with at least one saying she feels like she’s “living down the street from a pedophile.” Gee, I can’t imagine why she thinks that. Thelemann, on the other hand, just thinks his neighbors are “wicked.”

(Shakespeare's Sister)

Harry Reid speaks sense again

Harry Reid: No Good Military Options in Iran
(Think Progress)

a crime to speak out for human rights?

Bush administration looking at charging Chinese dissident with a crime

The woman had the nerve - the nerve, I tell you - to tell the Chinese dictator visiting Washington to stop the torture and the killing.

And for that the Secret Service is considering charging her with "intimidating a foreign official."

Yes. Great message to send to the Chinese. Bush tells them to welcome free speech, then moments later we threaten this women with jail for speaking out against China's horrible human rights record.

Maybe it's time for someone in China to speak out against our human rights record too.

(Americablog)

continuing saga of the repug version of "supporting the troops"

To "support the troops," Senate bill cuts funding for their gear

"Support the troops" is a great slogan. But, as usual, with the GOP-led Congress, actions speak louder than words:

A Senate measure to fund the war in Iraq would chop money for troops' night vision equipment and new battle vehicles but add $230 million for a tilt-rotor aircraft that has already cost $18 billion and is still facing safety questions....

To pay for the Ospreys, the Senate Appropriations Committee - guided by the Corps - cut into funding for night vision goggles, equipment for destroying mines and explosives, fire suppression systems for light armored vehicles and new vehicles that can be transported into battle inside the V-22.

This should be shocking. It's not. That whole "We're at war" mantra apparently doesn't actually mean providing equipment and resources to the soldiers who actually fighting the war.

(Americablog)
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How can anyone who has any interest in the people who make up the military have anything except contempt for this administration?

bush's supreme court pick

Harriet Miers may get the axe

From Supreme Court nominee to knife in the back. So much for the famed Bush loyalty.

Mr. Bolten is said by a number of Republicans in Washington to feel that Ms. Miers is indecisive, a weak manager and slow in moving vital paperwork through the system.

Not to mention, uh, the woman was Bush's Supreme Court pick. We're now to believe, six months later, that she's indecisive and weak? So, that would make Bush an incompetent idiot for appointing her to the Supreme Court, no? I can't wait for this one.

(Americablog)

33% - in a FOX poll!

33%

From Atrios, Fox has Bush at 33%.

Yes, 33%.

Even the Fox poll shows almost everyone hates their President.

(Americablog)

well, duh!

Schools may ban hurtful T-shirt slogans
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Public schools can bar clothing with slogans that are hurtful, a U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday in the case of a student who wore a T-shirt saying "Homosexuality is shameful."

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Free speech does not extend to harassment - this one was a no-brainer, and obviously, the person wearing the shirt is also a no-brainer!
Why do bigots think that they have the right to say or do anything, no matter how hateful or hurtful, but others don't have a right to simply exist?

i doubt that the dead find it "amusing"

Rumsfeld: ‘The Implication That There Was Something Wrong with the War Plan is Amusing’
(Think Progress)
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This entire administration is just a bunch of schmarmy dicks!
So, once again, rumsfeld blames the troops - how does that "support" them?

insane!

$10 billion a month for Iraq (and Afghanistan)

We're going to be paying for Iraq for a very long time. The actual money spent continues to spiral. But, hey, the White House is getting a new press secretary:

The cost of the war in U.S. fatalities has declined this year, but the cost in treasure continues to rise, from $48 billion in 2003 to $59 billion in 2004 to $81 billion in 2005 to an anticipated $94 billion in 2006, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The U.S. government is now spending nearly $10 billion a month in Iraq and Afghanistan, up from $8.2 billion a year ago, a new Congressional Research Service report found.

Annual war costs in Iraq are easily outpacing the $61 billion a year that the United States spent in Vietnam between 1964 and 1972, in today's dollars. The invasion's "shock and awe" of high-tech laser-guided bombs, cruise missiles and stealth aircraft has long faded, but the costs of even those early months are just coming into view as the military confronts equipment repair and rebuilding costs it has avoided and procurement costs it never expected.

(Americablog)

the cost of bigotry

Baptist bigots may lose $10 million because of their anti-gay hate

Hate doesn't pay.

The boyfriend of a Kentucky college student expelled for declaring his homosexuality on the Internet called Wednesday for a halt to $10 million in state funding for the private Baptist school....

Brett Hall, a spokesman for Gov. Ernie Fletcher, said Wednesday the governor hasn't yet decided whether to use his line-item veto power to remove the funding for the pharmacy school from the state budget.

Hall said Fletcher is concerned that the proposed pharmacy school might not be able to win accreditation because of its policy against accepting gay and lesbian students. Hall said the governor also has sought a legal opinion from his general counsel about whether the state can give money for a building project to a religious institution.

(Americablog)

but who hasn't asked this question?

Rolling Stone asks if Bush is the worst president in history

Isn't it cute how insignificant Clinton's foibles look compared to Bush launching a war based on a lie and spying illegally on the American people like some communist dictator?

From Rolling Stone

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.

(Americablog)
---
Unfortunately, I wouldn't put it past bush to consider creating a "cataclysmic event" just to help his presidency.
Gawd help us all!

some common sense!

Poll: Nelson Holds Wide Lead in Fla. Race
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Republican Rep. Katherine Harris, who became a household name amid the 2000 presidential election dispute, remains far behind in her bid to oust Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, a new poll released Thursday shows.

Nelson was favored by 56 percent of those surveyed, compared to 27 percent who preferred Harris in the poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

---
This woman is a nutjob and needs to be shunned and scorned and forgotten!
Thank goodness people seem to be making the logical decision for a change!

who do these assholes think they are?

Minutemen to Bush: Build Fence or We Will
---
Do they really think that they can order around the president of the united states? Especially this asshole of a president who could give a f'k what anyone thinks?
These idiots are completely absurd!

rove's replacement

Rove's Replacement Was Florida '2000 Recount 'Rioter'
New WH Policy Chief Was "Brooks Brothers"

To the Burberry ramparts!

The man Bush tapped to fill Karl Rove's spot as his policy wizard is none other than Joel Kaplan, who took part in the infamous "Brooks Brothers riot" of 2000. That's when a bunch of Washington GOP operatives, posing as outraged Floridians, waved fists, chanted "Stop the fraud!" and pounded windows in an effort to intimidate officials engaged in the Florida recount effort.

In George Bush's Washington, there's no shame in staging a fake protest to undermine a democratic election, apparently: last year, the Washington Post's Al Kamen noted that "the "rioters" proudly note their participation on resumes and in interviews." Kaplan was even the one to cheekily dub the fracas the "Brooks Brothers Riot."

(Democratic Underground)

interesting "reasoning"

Tony Snow Attributes High Gas Prices To “People Complaining About Donald Rumsfeld”
(Think Progress)

bush the kindergartener at it again

Bush: "I'm The Decider and I Decide What Is Best"
(Crooks and Liars)

a rare pro-choice victory

Finally Some Good News
Kansas's freak of an attorney general thwarted in his panty sniffing quest:

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- In a victory for an abortion rights group, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that abortion clinic doctors and other professionals are not required under Kansas law to report underage sex between consenting youths.The ruling by U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten was a setback for Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, an abortion foe.

Kline contended a 1982 Kansas law requiring doctors, teachers and others to alert the state and law enforcement about potential child abuse covers consensual sex between minors. He argued that the law applies to abortion clinics, and later extended that to other health professionals and teachers.

(Eschaton)

still another new low!

Bush's Approval Remains Low,Pessimism Grows, Poll Shows

President Bush's job-approval rating slipped for the third consecutive month and remains near the lowest mark of his presidency, according to a new Harris Interactive poll.

Thirty-five percent of 1,008 U.S. adults surveyed in the telephone poll think Mr. Bush is doing an "excellent or pretty good" job as president, down from 36% in March and significantly lower than 43% in January.

---

still another transitional fossil!

Fossil Suggests Snakes Evolved on Land
NEW YORK - A new fossil discovery has revealed the most primitive snake known, a crawling creature with two legs, and it provides new evidence that snakes evolved on land rather than in the sea.

Snakes are thought to have evolved from four-legged lizards, losing their legs over time. But scientists have long debated whether those ancestral lizards were land-based or marine creatures.

The new find reveals a snake that lived in the Patagonia region of Argentina some 90 million years ago, said Hussam Zaher of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, who describes the find in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. Its size is unknown, but it wasn't more than 3 feet long, he said in a telephone interview.

It's the first time scientists have found a snake with a sacrum, a bony feature supporting the pelvis, he said. That feature was lost as snakes evolved from lizards, and since this is the only known snake that hasn't lost it, it must be the most primitive known, he said.

The creature clearly lived on land, both because its anatomy suggests it lived in burrows and because the deposits in which the fossils were found came from a terrestrial environment, he said.

So, if the earliest known snake lived on land, that suggests snakes evolved on land, he said.

Little new evidence had appeared in recent years in the land-versus-sea debate, he said, and "we needed something new. We needed a new start. And this snake is definitely a new start for this debate."

While the creature still had two small rear legs, it crawled like a modern-day snake, he said. It probably used its legs only on occasion, though it's not clear for what, he said.

The creature, named Najash rionegrina, is "a fantastic animal," said Jack Conrad, a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and co-curator of an upcoming exhibit on lizards and snakes.

"It's really going to help put to rest some of the controversy that's been going around snake evolution and origins," he said. Conrad said he never took sides in the land-versus-sea debate, but "but this is starting to convince me."

Olivier Rieppel, a fossil reptile expert at the Field Museum in Chicago, called the find important and said Najash is clearly the most primitive known snake.

If snakes did evolve on land rather than the sea, their fossil record might be less complete because early fossils would have been better preserved in a marine environment, he said.

That, in turn, suggests "we may not know all the lineages of early snake evolution," he said. Maybe several snake lineages lost the legs of their lizard ancestors independently, he said.

The creature's name comes from a Hebrew word for snake and the Rio Negro province of Argentina, where the discovery took place.

---
I cannot comprehend how people can continue to deny the obvious overwhelming evidence of evolution!
These new finds truly are fantastic!

maybe he should come up with a coherent plan then?

President Bush Says Failure in Iraq 'Is Not an Option'
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I would think that this type of rhetoric would be more believable if he was actually trying to accomplish something over there - other than anarchy and civil war - and was listening to advisors. Hopefully, some good with come out of the chaos eventually, but not without some changes, which bush seems completely unwilling to entertain.

bush trying diplomacy?

President Bush Will Seek Chinese President Hu Jintao's Help, Urge Changes
WASHINGTON -- President Bush faces a delicate political balancing act Thursday when he welcomes Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House: seeking China's help to end nuclear standoffs in Iran and North Korea, while urging changes to economic, military and political policies that critics say hurt U.S. interests.

For Bush, the success of Hu's visit will be judged largely by whatever concessions Washington wins on a long list of complaints. Those include allegations that China mistreats its citizens, that an undervalued currency hampers U.S. competition, that China's growing military strength could lead to conflict in the Taiwan Strait, and that Beijing has pursued energy deals with countries the United States considers tyrannical.

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And what do we have to offer in return?
Good luck with this - its not like bush is particularly diplomatic!

stubborn, like his boss

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Says He Hasn't Considered Resigning After Criticism
---
Gawd forbid that any of these clowns take any responsibility for their actions, or even admit their mistakes.
Instead, its time to attack the military once again, that they claim they are supporting.

is this one of those schools that we painted in the "good news" stories?

2 Iraqi Teachers Reportedly Slain in Front of Their Pupils at Two Schools in Baghdad, Gov't Says
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Guess we should have provided security, as well....

McClellan's had enough!

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan Resigns
Bush said McClellan had "a challenging assignment."

---
I think that's putting it mildly! I don't know how anyone could handle a job that required constant lying and an ability to talk incessantly without answering a single question. It's a talent, but it has to take its toll!

DeLay gets away with one count

Appeals Court Upholds Ruling That Dismissed Tom DeLay's Conspiracy Charge

AUSTIN -- An appeals court Wednesday upheld a judge's ruling throwing out a conspiracy charge against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

DeLay, who announced this month that he is resigning his congressional seat, still faces a money-laundering charge and another conspiracy charge stemming from the financing of state legislative races in 2002.

A lower court judge dismissed one conspiracy charge against DeLay in December, agreeing with defense arguments that a conspiracy law did not cover election code violations when the offense allegedly was committed in 2002.

---
Hopefully, justice will prevail on the other counts, though I'm not holding my breath.

coulter - are the rumors true?

Ann Coulter Stands Up For Her Community
The truth, both stranger and funnier than fiction. From PageOne.

Conservative commentator and best-selling author Ann Coulter neglected to answer Question #15 on her Palm Beach County, FL voter registration form, PageOneQ has learned. The question asks the registrant to indicate sex by checking 'M' or 'F' on the form.
[snip]
Arthur Anderson, Jr., The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, confirmed to PageOneQ that Question 15 had not been answered on the original form.
[snip]
"I object," said a transgender activist who spoke with PageOneQ today, "To the state of Florida expecting its citizens to answer questions which are not relevant for voter registration." When asked about Coulter's voter registration form, the activist declined to speak specifically about Coulter. "Generally speaking, I hope there is a day when transgendered people can be open about who they are without fear of retribution from employers, colleagues and neighbors. With that in mind, I hope anyone with a high media profile would use that opportunity to be honest with the American people."

(First Draft)

america blocking progress

John Bolton is a Dick

The UN building is considered delapidated and in need of renovation but the US is holding things up....

He [plan's director, Louis Frederick Reuter IV] said the current impasse had arisen when the United States emerged as the only country blocking $100 million that was to have been approved for the project by April 1. He calculated that the delay was increasing costs by $225,000 a day.

John Bolton,the American ambassador, said Monday that the United States had offered $23.5 million but was not convinced that the larger amount was needed at the moment. "I don't think the justification has been made yet on the full $100 million," he said.

"We're not trying to slow this down," Mr. Bolton said, "but we want to proceed in a careful and prudent fashion. The United States thinks that $23.5 million is a lot of money and should carry a pretty good distance until we can have decisions by the General Assembly on some of the other critical questions, like what strategy the organization wants to follow."

Still hard at work on his his lose 10 stories renovation plan I see.

(First Draft)

anti-Falwell site

Jerry Falwell is Teh Gay
Looks like Nelson Muntz will be paying a visit to the Rev. Falwell.

Evangelist Jerry Falwell lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal Monday of a case that sought to shut down a Web site with a similar name but opposite views on homosexuals.

Falwell claims that a gay man from New York City improperly draws people to a site by using a common misspelling of the reverend's name as the site's domain name.
[snip]
Last year, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and said Lamparello was free to operate his "gripe site" about Falwell's views on gays at http://www.fallwell.com. Lamparello "clearly created his Web site intending only to provide a forum to criticize ideas, not to steal customers," the court said.

The Supreme Court has now refused to take Falwell’s appeal of that ruling.

Falwell's Web site, http://www.falwell.com, is more high-tech, with pictures of the minister and sales material for books and videos.

Lamparello's Web site, which has a link to the Falwell Ministries' site, is mainly in black and white, with no photographs or items for sale. He contends Falwell is wrong in preaching that gay people are sinners who could become heterosexual if they wished. At the top of the site a disclaimer reads: "This Web site is NOT affiliated with Rev. Dr. Jerry Falwell or his ministry."

(First Draft)

terrorist media!

Rumsfeld: War Critics Being Manipulated By Zarqawi and Bin Laden’s ‘Media Committees’
(Think Progress)
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just....wow.....

"good progress"

Rummy: Ignore my critics, progress is good in Iraq

Like his boss, George Bush, Rumsfeld can't stop spinning and and lying about Iraq:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld asserted today that "progress has been good" in the war in Iraq and said he is unruffled by calls for his resignation by six retired U.S. generals.

Good progress, Rummy-style:

Four Marines were reported killed in fighting west of Baghdad, bringing the U.S. death toll for this month to 47 _ compared with 31 for all of March.

(Americablog)

lunatic-in-chief

"All options are on the table"

Keeping to the script: \

Bush was asked if his administration was planning for the possibility of a nuclear strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.

"All options are on the table," he said.

Uncanny how the timing of Iran is playing out against the 2006 elections.

(Americablog)

obsessing about sex

New Bush Policy: All Gays Should Be Celibate
Earlier this year, the Administration for Children and Families ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced new guidelines for organizations applying for grants for abstinence-only education programs.

In addition to being costly, inaccurate, and ineffective, the programs must now operate under a strict new definition of abstinence:

Abstinence curricula must have a clear definition of sexual abstinence which must be consistent with the following: “Abstinence means voluntarily choosing not to engage in sexual activity until marriage. Sexual activity refers to any type of genital contact or sexual stimulation between two persons including, but not limited to, sexual intercourse.”

Later, the guidelines explicitly define marriage:

Throughout the entire curriculum, the term “marriage” must be defined as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as a husband and wife, and the word ’spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.” (Consistent with Federal law)

In other words, if you’re gay, the Bush administration has decided that you should be taught to never, ever engage in “any type” of “sexual stimulation” — ever.

(Think Progress)

the new swiftboating

Right Wing Swiftboats Generals Who Called on Rumsfeld to Resign
(Think Progress)

Americablog on TV

Crooks and Liars has the video of John Aravosis from Americablog on CNN this weekend.

michelle malkin endorses death threats for protesters

Crooks and Liars reports

tax refund!

Cheney is getting a $2 million tax refund this year
(Americablog)

what McClellan would come home to, if life was fair

take it away, World O'Crap!
---
and, McClellan's dream

Neil Young new album

With a track called "Impeach The President"!
Check out the story.
I know that Young has a conservative side to him, but I don't think that any sane person could agree with the direction this country has gone in the last 5 years.
And when I saw Young a couple of years ago, he was still as great and on-the-edge as ever!

Reid continues to be strong

Hey W: Don't mess with Harry

Bush is getting in to the ring with the wrong Democrat when he takes on Harry Reid. Reid fights back. Hard:

"President Bush has as much credibility on immigration as he does on Iraq and national security. If he were actually committed to comprehensive immigration reform he would have stopped his own party from filibustering it twice last week.

"If the president is serious about moving forward, then he should join me in calling on Senator Frist to bring immigration reform back to the Senate Floor when we return. Hopefully by then, President Bush and his Majority Leader will have found the backbone to stop the extreme elements of the Republican Party from blocking improvements to America's security."

Bush has no cred. And, he has no backbone when it comes to the right wingers. That pretty much sums it up.We need to see more of this...from more Democrats.

(Americablog)

US military secrets for sale in Afghan bazaar!

"Just outside the main gate of the huge U.S. military base in Bagram, Afghanistan, shopkeepers at a bazaar peddle a range of goods, including computer drives with sensitive — even secret information — stolen from the base.

"This week, an NBC News producer, using a hidden camera, visited the bazaar and bought a half dozen of the memory drives the size of a thumb known as flash drives. On them, NBC News found highly sensitive military information, some which NBC will not reveal." Earlier, the Los Angeles Times had published what indeed appeared to be sensitive material.

“This isn't just a loss of sensitive information,” Lt. Col. Rick Francona (ret.), an NBC News military analyst, said. “This is putting U.S. troops at risk. This is a violation of operational security.”

(Editor and Publisher)
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This is boggling! How can something like this happen?

Mehlman scandal

Make Kenny come clean

The Chairman of the GOP -- who also ran Bush's re-election campaign -- is in the middle of a major scandal. If we know one thing about the Bush team, we know they don't tell the truth. So make Ken testify under oath:

Ken Mehlman, former director of the White House political office and current chairman of the Republican National Committee is fighting Democratic efforts to force him to testify under oath in a civil suit about the New Hampshire scandal. Mehlman said the calls from James Tobin -- a consultant who in 2002 led the RNC's New England effort -- were for the White House to get the latest information about a close race, which would be unexceptional on election night. He said none of the calls to him or his staff involved the phone-jamming operation.

While under no legal obligation to do so, the RNC has paid more than $2.5 million in legal fees incurred by Tobin, who in 2004 was the New England director for the Bush-Cheney campaign.

So Mehlman was on the phone that day with a guy who was breaking the law. How coincidental. If Mehlman has nothing to hide, he would just testify under oath, wouldn't he?

(Americablog)
---
We know that nothing that this administration does is coincidental. It has been proven over and over that there is nothing that will stop them from their objectives and no law that they are unwilling to break.
And there has yet to be any major accountability.
Will we ever see justuce for what they have done to this country and the world?

6 generals asking that Rumsfeld resign

Check out just WHO the generals are calling for Rumsfeld's resignation - they're HUGE
(Americablog)
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But, of course, we know that bush doesn't listen to the military and doesn't care about them. He has his own agenda and that is all that matters.

repugs lie about Harry Reid (so, what else is new?)

Republicans plan anti-Reid ads Spots to air on Spanish-language radio stations

The 60-second spot states in Spanish that Reid "blocked our leaders from working together" and blames Democrats for legislation that passed the Republican-controlled House that would make illegal immigrants subject to felony charges.

The Senate has not voted on the issue of penalties. In the House, Republicans drafted legislation to make illegal immigrants subject to felony charges. Democrats say they were denied a chance to eliminate criminal penalties from the bill.
---
Many Democrats, including members of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, voted against the amendment because they opposed any criminal penalties. Nevada Republicans Jon Porter and Jim Gibbons also voted against the amendment, which failed. The felony provision remained in the bill, and it passed the House on a largely party line vote.

"No amount of spin by the Republican leadership can alter the fact that the House bill, including the felony provisions, were authored by Republicans and ultimately passed by Republicans," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said.

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So, repugs are blaming Dems for the felony provisions that the repugs authored and passed? The Dems attempted to remove ALL criminal charges and by doing that, the repugs are saying that the Dems voted FOR felony charges?!?!
Whew! That is one heck of a spin!!!
Lies are really all the repugs have, aren't they? If they actually told the truth no one at all would voted for them.
What a bunch of twisted f'ks!

more horror in Iraq

6 Iraqi Policemen Slain, Dozens Missing
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Dozens of policemen were missing Friday and at least six were dead after insurgents ambushed a police convoy near a U.S. base, officials said. A series of bombings killed at least five people in three Iraqi cities.

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the continuing saga of our embarassment of a prez

First Draft continues its never-ending report.
I like how bush feels he has to explain the term "grassroots". Does he think he's talking to Kellie from American Idol or something?

more pharmacists refusing to do their jobs

The latest escalation in the pharmacy wars: Pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions for vitamins and antibiotics simply because they come from a women’s health clinic that performs abortions.

(Think Progress)
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Where does this stop? And how do these lunatics continue to keep their jobs? This is literally crazy!

people don't trust bush re: Iran

In a telling reflection of Bush's erosion in public support, 54% said they did not trust him to "make the right decision about whether we should go to war with Iran," while 42% of respondents said they trusted him to do so.

(LA Times - first seen at Think Progress)

even Powell

Powell criticizes Bush/Rummy's handling of Iraq

Chicago Sun-Times:

"We made some serious mistakes in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Baghdad," Powell told a crowd of thousands at the McCormick Place conference.

"We didn't have enough troops on the ground. We didn't impose our will. And as a result, an insurgency got started, and . . . it got out of control."

There are only three people who had a say in these matters. Bush, Rumsfeld and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. If things are a disaster now, it's their fault.

(Americablog)

wha...? (Scalia edition)

Scalia's Proud

Proud, yet also increasingly bizarre:

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Wednesday called his 2004 decision not to recuse himself from a case involving Vice President Cheney, who is a friend of his, the "proudest thing" he has done on the court.

The conservative justice's remarks came as he took questions from law students during a lecture at the University of Connecticut.

Scalia's not exactly the model of judicial temperament these days.

(Americablog)

this is really effective!

Watch List Delays Reservist's Homecoming
MINNEAPOLIS - A Marine reservist returning home after eight months in Iraq was told he couldn't board a plane to Minneapolis because his name appeared on a watch list as a possible terrorist.

Staff Sgt. Daniel Brown, who was in uniform and returning from the war Tuesday with 26 other Marine military police reservists, was delayed briefly in Los Angeles until the issue was cleared up.

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"A guy goes over and serves his country fighting for eight or nine months, and then we come home and put up with this?" he asked.

---
So, has anyone other than authors and soldiers been stopped because of this "watch list"? It appears to be an extremely arbitrary and pretty useless system.

convicted for refusing third tour of duty

Briton Who Refused 3rd Iraq Tour Sentenced
LONDON - A military court Thursday convicted a British air force doctor of disobeying orders and sentenced him to eight months in prison after he called the Iraq war illegal and refused to return for a third tour of duty.

Flight Lt. Malcolm Kendall-Smith, who said U.S. actions in Iraq were on par with those of Nazi Germany, was convicted by a panel of Royal Air Force officers, dismissed from the service and sentenced to prison after a three-day court-martial.

Kendall-Smith, 37, had served twice in southern Iraq but refused to return a third time in June because he said he was not prepared to take part in an "act of aggression."
---
The Pentagon says more than 5,500 U.S. servicemen have deserted since the war started in Iraq. It is unclear how many have challenged the legality of the war.

---

is this progress in Iraq?

Shiites Ask: Why Convene Iraq Parliament?
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A top Shiite lawmaker said Thursday that names of selections for top posts in the new Iraqi government must be agreed upon before parliament can meet next week, casting doubt on whether the legislature will convene as announced.

In continuing violence, officials reported that at least seven people were killed — including a U.S. soldier — in scattered shootings and bombings, and six bodies were found.

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I wouldn't think that that was the kind of question that you would want to hear at this point if you were hoping for a stable government in Iraq.
Of course, it doesn't seem like anything is stable there these days.

how many times will AOL recycle this headline?

"Bush RatingsAt All-Time Low"
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I think that they will have many more opportunities to use this!

"hold your noses"?!

Poor Little Ricky
He's stupid and he's ugly and nobody likes him:

In the course of a one-minute speech delivered recently at the Abington Township Rockledge Boro Republican Organization Annual Dinner this past Friday, Renee Amoore, co-chair of the state GOP committee, stated:"...Regarding Santorum, I know some of you may want to just hold your noses, but please vote for him anyway!"Shouldn't the Montgomery County Republican Committee be united in the most important election of 2006?

(Eschaton)
---
And that's coming from a republican who wants you to vote for Santorum!!! Wow! What a stirring endorsement!

yes, but Clinton was a POPULAR president

Popularity
I hate beating up on David Shuster because he's one of the better ones, but here's yet another example of how deeply the press internalized the notion that impeachment/Monica madness caused a drop in Clinton's popularity. His popularity soared during this period, something the Washington press could never quite get themselves to understand.

Clinton was unpopular in 1994, that was basically it. Right before Monica madness hit, Gallup polled Clinton at 59. Subsequently, the poll never fell below 58 (hitting that number once) throught the entire impeachment saga. His lowest job approval rating throughout his entire second term was 53, and his highest disapproval was 42.

(Eschaton)

and again, how can people believe in "young earth" "theories"?

Geologists Find Ancient Worm Feces
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Swedish geologists have found fossilized feces from a worm that lived some 500 million years ago, media reports said Wednesday.

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repugs setting this country back scientifically

Singapore Woos Top U.S. Scientists
CHICAGO - Singapore's siren song is growing increasingly more irresistible for scientists, especially stem cell researchers who feel stifled by the U.S. government's restrictions on their field.

---
thanks, religious right and nutjob repugs! The US will fall far behind in science since our "leaders" don't believe in it!
Unfortunately, some of us enjoy the fruits of research!

and still even MORE evidence of evolution!

New Fossil Links Up Human Evolution
WASHINGTON - Fossils have long provided snapshots of the human family tree, but a new find in Africa gives scientists a kind of mini home movie showing man's primal development.

Because the 4.2-million-year-old fossil is from the same human ancestral hot spot in Ethiopia as remains from seven other human-like species, scientists can now fill in the gaps for the most complete evolutionary chain so far.

"We just found the chain of evolution, the continuity through time," said Ethiopian anthropologist Berhane Asfaw, co-author of the study being reported Thursday in the journal Nature. "One form evolved to another. This is evidence of evolution in one place through time."

The species, Australopithecus anamensis is not new, but its location is what helps explain the giant leap from one early phase of human-like development to the next, scientists say. All eight species were found in a region called the Middle Awash.

"It's like 12 frames of a home movie, but a home movie covering 6 million years," said study lead author Tim White, co-director of Human Evolution Research Center at University of California at Berkeley. Fossils in the region cover three major phases of human development.

"The key here is the sequences," White said. "It's about a mile thickness of rocks in the Middle Awash and in it we can see all three phases of human evolution."

Modern man belongs to the genus Homo, which is a subgroup in the family of hominids. What evolved into Homo was likely the genus Australopithecus (once called "man-ape"), which includes the famed 3.2 million-year-old "Lucy" fossil found three decades ago.

A key candidate for the genus that evolved into Australopithecus is called Ardipithecus. And Thursday's finding is important in bridging — but not completely — the gap between Australopithecus and Ardipithecus.

In 1994, a 4.4 million-year-old partial skeleton of the species Ardipithecus ramidus — the most recent Ardipithecus species — was found about six miles from the latest discovery.

"This appears to be the link between Australopithecus and Ardipithecus as two different species," White said. The major noticeable difference between the phases of man can be seen in Australopithecus' bigger chewing teeth to eat harder food, he said.

While it's looking more likely, it is not a sure thing that Ardipithecus evolved into Australopithecus, he said.

The finding does not completely rule out Ardipithecus dying off as a genus and Australopithecus developing independently.

The connections between Ardipithecus and Australopithecus have been theorized since an anamensis fossil was first found in Kenya 11 years ago. This draws the lines better, said Alan Walker of Penn State University, who found the first anamensis and is not part of White's team.

Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program, agreed: "For those people who are tied up in doing the whole human family tree, being able to connect the branches is a very important thing to do."

---
I absolutely cannot fathom how people can continue to deny the reality of evolution - and even more, some people actually think that the world is something like 6000 years old! Just incredible that folks can hold onto superstitions in this day and age!

but why don't we hear the "good" news?!

U.S. Death Toll in Iraq This Month Hits 35
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Four more American soldiers were killed in Iraq, the U.S. military said as the U.S. death toll for the month surpassed the total for all of March. More than 40 Iraqis also died, including at least 22 in a car bombing near a Shiite mosque northeast of Baghdad.

Meanwhile Wednesday, key Shiite politicians cast doubt on a plan to convene parliament next week, saying they still have not decided whether to replace their candidate for prime minister to break a deadlock over forming a new government.

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bush lies, media reports the fact of the lie, bush demands an apology - and gets it!

Report Raises New Questions on Bush, WMDs
WASHINGTON - The White House faced new questions Wednesday about President Bush's contention three years ago that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq.

The Washington Post reported that a Pentagon-sponsored team of experts determined in May 2003 that two small trailers were not used to make biological weapons. Yet two days after the team sent its findings to Washington in a classified report, Bush declared just the opposite.
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The Post did not say that Bush knew what he was saying was false. But ABC News did during a report on "Good Morning America," and McClellan demanded an apology and an on-air retraction. ABC News said later in a clarification on its Web site that Charles Gibson had erred. McClellan said he had received an apology.

"This is nothing more than rehashing an old issue that was resolved long ago," McClellan said. "I cannot count how many times the president has said the intelligence was wrong."

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So, we now know for a fact that bush knew that what he was saying was not true, the paper reports the facts and does not even say the obvious truth - that bush knew that what he was saying was false - but for some reason, the WH insists on an apology - and gets one!
Wow! Our "liberal media" is out of control!!

Oh, and nice headline, too! "Raises questions"?! No, it exposes the LIES.

More from Americablog and Think Progress

so tragic what we have done to the country

Better Off Under Saddam
Hey, it's a simple fact.

As a result of water-borne diseases and a lack of medical supplies, infants born in the southern city of Basra are subject to abnormally high mortality rates, say officials of an international NGO devoted to child health issues.
[snip]
Many doctors in the area say that the local health situation has deteriorated markedly since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003. "The mortality of children in Basra has increased by nearly 30 percent compared to the Saddam Hussein era," Dr Haydar Salah, a pediatrician at the Basra Children's Hospital, pointed out. "Children are dying daily, and no one is doing anything to help them."

(First Draft)
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I know that it is impossible for us to even have a complete count of the Iraqi lives that have been lost due to our military strikes, but the number of lives that have been lost indirectly due to our invasion must be astronomical.
We have destroyed the country's infrastructure and thrown them back into the dark ages. Will history ever forgive the US?