bush again "doesn't care" about bin Laden

Bush Tells Barnes Capturing Bin Laden Is ‘Not A Top Priority Use of American Resources’
(Think Progress)
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Unlike bush, most Americans would like to see the worst mass-murderer of Americans captured and brought to trial.
But, bush knows that bin Laden is his biggest ally in perpetuating this insane war. As long as bin Laden is on the loose, bush has a boogeyman that he can use to instill fear in the American public.
Nothing is going to happen until bush, or at least the republican congress, is out of office.

posts will be sporadic for a while

Life is crazy and I don't have nearly as much free time as I did.

I might be playing catch-up today, but I know I won't be here regularly for a while.

Just in case anyone cares!! I will be back eventually!

i can't imagine why

5 years after 9/11, many angry at U.S.
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Can anyone imagine what this world would be like if we had a competent leader who would not have squandered the good will that we had in 2001, but had used it to build partnerships, instead of destroying them?

And, possibly, someone who would have been vigilant enough to stop these attacks from happening in the first place, instead of remaining on vacation?

Or hell, even someone who would be repairing the damage that bush has done to this country instead of compounding it?

I know...it is now very difficult to imagine such scenarios....

nah, no conflict of interest at all here

Kean Hasn’t Talked To Clinton About Path to 9/11 Because ‘He Was Out Campaigning Against My Son Yesterday’
(Think Progress)

secret prison flip-flop

Hates Them Secret Prisons
Your president thinks secret prisons are very bad.

If you're a -- you know, you find these secret prisons where people have been tortured, that's unacceptable.

Of course that quote from December 2005 was in regards to Saddam's secret prisons.

He thinks his secret prisons are just dandy.

(First Draft)

our classy prez

Hubris
David Corn and Michael Isikoff's new book, Hubris, is going to be a best-seller.
President Bush was driven by a visceral hatred of Saddam Hussein, which he privately demonstrated in expletive-laden tirades against the Iraqi dictator. In May 2002--months before he asked Congress for authority to attack Saddam-Bush bluntly revealed his ultimate game plan in a candid moment with two aides. When told that reporter Helen Thomas was questioning the need to oust Saddam by force, Bush snapped: "Did you tell her I intend to kick his sorry mother fucking ass all over the Mideast?" In a meeting with congressional leaders, the President angrily thrust his middle finger inches in front of the face of Senator Tom Daschle to illustrate Saddam's attitude toward the United States.
After the invasion, Dick Cheney's aides desperately sifted through raw intelligence nuggets in search of any evidence that would justify the war. On one occasion they sent the WMD hunters in Iraq a satellite photo that they suspected showed a hiding place for WMDs. But it was only an overhead photo of a watering hole for cows.

(First Draft)

Americans are wising up!

Poll: Many separate Iraq and terrorism
Most people in this country view the war in Iraq as a separate conflict from the war on terror, polling indicates.

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Bizarrely enough, though, 55% of people approve of bush's handling of terrorism, even though they think that everything that he has done has made us less safe (as we all know).
But at least its a start!

yet another corrupt repug

Ex-Ill. gov gets 6 1/2 years in prison
CHICAGO - Former Gov. George Ryan, who was acclaimed by capital punishment foes for suspending executions in Illinois and emptying out death row, was sentenced Wednesday to 6 1/2 years behind bars in the corruption scandal that ruined his political career.
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Ryan was convicted in April of racketeering conspiracy, fraud and other offenses for taking payoffs from political insiders in exchange for state business while he was Illinois secretary of state from 1991 to 1999 and governor for four years after that. The verdict capped Illinois' biggest political corruption trial in decades.

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bolton update

Dodd Says Bolton Has ‘Endangered Our National Security’ and Should Be Filibustered

Today in the Senate, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) delivered a fiery speech calling for the Senate to filibuster U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.

Dodd said Bolton had earned a “failing grade” for his work as ambassador and had already “largely burned his bridges with his colleagues” at the United Nations. Moreover, he said Bolton’s effort to have two intelligence analysts fired after they refused to support his conclusions had “endangered our national security” and were “so outrageous that they show that Mr. Bolton does not even deserve a vote.”

(Think Progress)
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Getting rid of bolton would certainly be a step in the right direction for this country and for the world!

what a bizarre thing to care about

Tom DeLay’s New Cause: Conservative Takeover Of ‘Dancing With The Stars’
(Think Progress)

another Fox WTF moment

Fox’s E.D. Hill impersonates Helen Thomas.
(Think Progress)
Just take a look - this person is completely wacko and makes no sense whatsoever.

lots more on ABC's 9/11 fantasy from Think Progress

New ABC Docudrama Blames Clinton For 9/11, Praises Bush
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Writer of ABC’s 9/11 ‘Docudrama’ Is Avowed Conservative Activist
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Under Fire, ABC Yanks Official Blog of 9/11 Docudrama
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Richard Clarke Blasts Key Scene In ABC’s 9/11 Docudrama
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ABC Planning Massive Free Distribution of 9/11 Docudrama
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ABC’s 9/11 Docudrama Mangles Facts, Smears Washington Post
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“It’s a total fabrication. It did not happen.”
Clinton national security adviser Samuel R. Berger, responding to a key scene in ABC’s The Path to 9/11.
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Top Bush Counterterrorism Official: ABC’s Path to 9/11 Is ‘Shameful,’ ‘Straight Out of Disney and Fantasyland’
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ABC Refuses to Provide Copies of Path to 9/11 to Clinton, Albright, Berger
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Kean on Key Scene from Path to 9/11: ‘I Don’t Think The Facts Are Clear,’ ‘It Could Have Happened Any Number of Ways’
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bush admits to more illegal activity

Bush acknowledges secret CIA prisons
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Wednesday acknowledged previously secret CIA prisons around the world and said 14 high-value terrorism suspects — including the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks — have been transferred from the system to Guantanamo Bay for trials.
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The announcement from Bush was the first time the administration had acknowledged the existence of CIA prisons, which have been a source of friction between Washington and some allies in Europe. The administration has come under criticism for its treatment of terrorism detainees.

European Union lawmakers said the CIA was conducting clandestine flights in Europe to take terror suspects to countries where they could face torture.

"Today the administration finally recognized that the protections of the Geneva Convention should be applied to prisoners in order to restore our moral authority and best protect American troops," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "Today's shift in policy follows the sad legacy of five years during which this administration abused our Constitution, violated our laws and most importantly failed to make America safe."

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repugs are willfully ignorant

65% of Republicans think, wrongly, that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks
(Americablog)

wow, they are getting desparate!

Condi Rice equates Iraq war critics to people who didn't want to free the slaves

Or something. Her comments don't even make sense, let alone are laughable from a woman who hasn't exactly been Rosa Parks the last six years.

"I'm sure there are people who thought it was a mistake to fight the Civil War to its end and to insist that the emancipation of slaves would hold," Rice tells Essence. "I know there were people who said, 'Why don't we get out of this now, take a peace with the South, but leave the South with slaves?'"

So we now have the Bush administration trying to equate the Iraq war to World War II and the Civil War. Neither of those cute analogies are working, so what's next? Iraq war critics would have surrendered the Alamo?

Pathetic.

Not to mention, a more apt analogy would be the North's decision to liberate the slaves by attacking Canada.

(Americablog)

more on the 9/11 fantasy show

Bush anti-terror official: Disney/ABC Sept. 11 show is “something straight out of Disney and fantasyland. It’s factually wrong. And that’s shameful.”

On last night's Scarborough Country, via ThinkProgress:

SCARBOROUGH: Roger, let me begin with you. There are points of this docudrama that are more drama than fact. But talk about Bill Clinton and the central premise by ABC that he should have done more to get Bin Laden.

CRESSY: Joe, it’s amazing, based on what I’ve seen so far is how much they’ve gotten wrong. They got the small stuff wrong such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed instructing Ahmed Rassam to carry out the millenium attacks. Then they got the big stuff wrong, this fantasy about how we had a CIA officer and the Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Massoud looking at Bin Laden and they breathlessly call the White House to say we need to take him out and the White House said no. I mean it’s sheer fantasy. So, if they want to critique the Clinton administration and the Bush administration, based on fact, I think that’s fine. But what ABC has done here is something straight out of Disney and fantasyland. It’s factually wrong. And that’s shameful.

(Americablog)

repugs will nominate anyone, no matter how crazy!

Katherine Harris wins GOP nomination
MIAMI - Rep. Katherine Harris, who as secretary of state oversaw Florida's 2000 recount that gave George Bush the presidency, easily won the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Bill Nelson, shrugging off critics who derided her campaign as spectacularly inept.

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Wow, the repugs really must be desperate, or else they feel that they still owe this woman for giving bush the presidency.

Harry Reid: Remove Rumsfeld

A month ago I asked you to join with me and other leaders in the House and Senate asking President Bush to end his "Stay the course" strategy in Iraq. We have yet to receive a reply, but that does not mean we can take the pressure off or that we should stop voicing our opinions.

The first step towards changing the course in Iraq would be removing the current civilian leadership of the Pentagon -- namely Donald Rumsfeld.

Join me and tell President Bush it's time to replace Rumsfeld by visiting:

http://giveemhellharry.com/rumsfeld

The Pentagon's new report last week indicates that President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld's speeches are increasingly disconnected from the facts on the ground in Iraq.

Even the Pentagon now acknowledges that Iraq is tipping into civil war. Failed Republican policies have left America bogged down in Iraq, with our military stretched thin and less able to fight and win the war on terror.

Secretary Rumsfeld's reckless comments last week show why America is not as safe as it can or should be five years after 9/11. The Bush White House is more interested in lashing out at its political enemies and distracting from its failures than it is in winning the War on Terror and in bringing an end to the war in Iraq.

If there's one person who has failed to learn the lessons of history it's Donald Rumsfeld. He ignored military experts when he rushed to war without enough troops, without sufficient body armor, and without a plan to succeed.

Under this Administration's watch, terror attacks have increased, Iraq has fallen into civil war, and our military has been stretched thin.

We have a choice to make today. Do we trust Secretary Rumsfeld to make the right decisions to keep us safe after he has been so consistently wrong since the start of the Iraq War? Or, do we change course in Iraq and put in place new leadership that will put the safety of the American people ahead of partisan games? For the sake of the safety of this country, it is time to make a change.

Tell President Bush to remove Secretary Rumsfeld by visiting:

http://giveemhellharry.com/rumsfeld

Thank you,
Harry Reid

P.S. You can see our letter to President Bush here

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repugs fought Clinton in order to help terrorists

GOP Congress blocked Clinton push for anti-terror legislation

CNN, July 30, 1996
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, emerged from the meeting and said, "These are very controversial provisions that the [Clinton] White House wants. Some they're not going to get." ....[Hatch] also said he had some problems with the president's proposals to expand wiretapping.

So Bill Clinton, rather than just breaking the law as Bush did (then again, perhaps this is why Bush broke the law - he knew from history that the Republicans controlling the congress would oppose his efforts to expand wiretapping), decided to go to the Republican congress in 1996 and ask them for increased authority to do more eavesdropping in order to stop the terrorists - stop September 11. Senior Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, one of the GOP's top picks for the Supreme Court and a GOP committee chair, objected.

The Republicans stopped President Clinton from getting all the tools he needed to stop the next September 11 - well, no, actually they opposed giving President Clinton all the tools he needed to stop the actual September 11. Could September 11 have been stopped if the GOP had given President Clinton the tools he requested to stop Osama and Mohammad Atta from killing 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington?

Maybe we need to ask the Republicans up for re-election why they wanted to appease the terrorists?

President Clinton urged Congress Tuesday to act swiftly in developing anti-terrorism legislation before its August recess.

"We need to keep this country together right now. We need to focus on this terrorism issue," Clinton said during a White House news conference.

But while the president pushed for quick legislation, Republican lawmakers hardened their stance against some of the proposed anti-terrorism measures.

There's even an audio clip of President Clinton practically begging the Republicans to give him the tools he needed to stop Osama and the terrorists. Trent Lott said no. Orrin Hatch said no. Do these men really deserve to run the Congress during a time of war?

(Americablog)

the "liberal media" remembering 9/11

Creator of ABC's fictional mockumentary about 9/11 blames everything on Clinton, not a word about Bush
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Disney/ABC sending its 9/11 revisionist tale to every American schoolkid
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ABC lies about Clinton role in "letting bin Laden go"
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All from Americablog

priorities!

Republicans in US House will devote this week to banning the eating of horses, or something

I'm not kidding. This is their legislative priority for the week. Forget about finding Osama or figuring out what the hell to do with Iraq. Forget about astronomical gas prices and the shaky economy. The Republicans who control congress think the most important issue facing Americans this week is horse meat.

NYT
The major legislation on the floor in the House this week is a bill that would ban trading in horses to be slaughtered for human consumption.

(Americablog)

so much for "wanted: dead or alive"

Bush ally Pakistan says bin Laden is free to go on his way

Oh yes. Apparently bin Laden and his top lieutenants are now free to live a happy life in Pakistan so long as they lead a peaceful life. Nice. I suppose Disney/ABC will blame Bill Clinton.

(Americablog)

when is a Dem not a Dem?

GOP allegedly channeled millions of campaign dollars to Lieberman

(Americablog)