Georgie Anne Geyer writes today in the Dallas Morning News about President Bush’s strange behavior during a recent meeting with “[f]riends of his from Texas.”
But by all reports, President Bush is more convinced than ever of his righteousness.
Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated “I am the president!” He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.”
This is the second time in recent weeks that accounts have surfaced of Bush lashing out or “ranting” in private meetings when responding to criticism of his Iraq policy. Chris Nelson of the Nelson Report offered a similar account earlier this month:
[S]ome big money players up from Texas recently paid a visit to their friend in the White House. The story goes that they got out exactly one question, and the rest of the meeting consisted of The President in an extended whine, a rant, actually, about no one understands him, the critics are all messed up, if only people would see what he’s doing things would be OK…etc., etc. This is called a “bunker mentality” and it’s not attractive when a friend does it. When the friend is the President of the United States, it can be downright dangerous. Apparently the Texas friends were suitably appalled, hence the story now in circulation.
Like the tearful House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Bush needs to channel his bottled up emotions towards a more worthy end — winding down the war in Iraq rather than defending the status quo.
(Think Progress) --- It is so frightening to me that someone with this tenuous grasp on reality and sanity is our president. How does the American public let this happen? I guess no one could have forseen that he would go this nutz.
NASA Administrator: Global Warming Is Not A ‘Problem’ (Think Progress) --- Isn't t kinda funny that pretty much all deniers are ultra-right-wing conservatives? The same people who deny most scientific reality? Unfortunately, those of us who live in the real world often are affected by these reality-deniers.
Bush Officials Spreading Lie About Governor Who Blew Whistle On National Guard Shortages (Think Progress) --- They just get more and more blatant by the day. But, i guess they count on people just hearing the lies and not the retractions/corrections, so they hope that will help their cause more than the blatant lies will hurt their cause. Utterly and grotesquely disgusting, though...
Via Atrios, Bill O’Reilly and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) discuss immigration:
O’REILLY: But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you’re a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right. So I say you’ve got to cap with a number.
MCCAIN: In America today we’ve got a very strong economy and low unemployment, so we need addition farm workers, including by the way agriculture, but there may come a time where we have an economic downturn, and we don’t need so many.
O’REILLY: But in this bill, you guys have got to cap it. Because estimation is 12 million, there may be 20 [million]. You don’t know, I don’t know. We’ve got to cap it.
once agian, something that you would not believe if it wasn't under the bush administration
Army returning amputees to combat. Tales from a broken Army: “In an about-face by the Pentagon, the military is putting many more amputees back on active duty — even back into combat, in some cases.” Sgt. Tawan Williamson, “a 30-year-old Chicago native who is missing his left leg below the knee and three toes on the other foot, acknowledged that some will be skeptical of a maimed soldier back in uniform. ‘But I let my job show for itself,’ he said. ‘At this point, I’m done proving. I just get out there and do it.’”
Religious right spokesman blasts Mary Cheney birth. Stephen Bennett, a spokesman for the Concerned Women for America, reacts to the birth of Mary Cheney’s baby: “Heather Poe is Mary Cheney’s live-in lesbian lover. … Heather Poe is NOT the baby’s real parent. … If the Vice President and his wife Lynne are joining their daughter Mary in playing this homosexual game of ‘house,’ then all have chosen their roles and designated lesbian lover Heather Poe as the ‘Daddy.’ … We are all grown adults. Playing ‘house’ is a game for children, not for The White House or the Vice President and his wife.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Arkansas City-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.
Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.
MADRID (Reuters) - Council meetings in Reus could take a turn for the bizarre after the northern Spanish town voted in a councillor who promised to turn up dressed as Elvis Presley and wants to turn the square into a nudist pool.
Ariel Santamaria, a former postman, stood for a small independent party dressed in full Elvis regalia complete with sideburns and won enough votes last weekend to take a council seat.
It remains to be seen how other parties will take his proposals for Reus, a town of 100,000 people near Barcelona.
His platform included plans to paint the town hall pink, plant marijuana in the parks and give the town police global positioning systems to find people who might need a light while rolling a joint.
CONCORD, N.H. - Gay couples in New Hampshire can start applying for many of the rights and responsibilities of marriage as early as January under a law Gov. John Lynch signed Thursday establishing civil unions.
"We in New Hampshire have had a long and proud tradition taking the lead in opposing discrimination," Lynch said. "Today that tradition continues."
---
I do find it funny that people still strongly resist the word "marriage" when speaking of gays, though. I just can't understand what the big deal is. But, bigotry is very important to some people. At least some small steps are being taken to bring equal rights to all Americans.
WASHINGTON - Labor legislation that is a priority for Democrats has become the definition of "veto bait" for the White House.
Five of the 24 veto threats President Bush has issued since Democrats took control of Congress target bills with provisions that benefit unions and their members.
Measures passed by either the House or Senate making it easier for unions to organize workplaces, stiffening penalties for union busting or establishing more collective bargaining rights for federal employees are among those under veto threats. Often they're tucked into the fine print provisions and not the major subject of the bill itself.
"There's really a lot of examples where he's looked at legislation, it seems, from the perspective of, 'Will this help workers?' 'Will this help workers win representation?' And if the answer is yes, he finds a reason to veto it," said William Samuel, the AFL-CIO's chief lobbyist.
MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that tests of new Russian missiles were a response to the planned deployment of U.S. missile defense installations and other forces in Europe, suggesting Washington has triggered a new arms race.
--- It is kind of amazing that in pretty much any other time in history we would be decrying this type of talk, but under bush we simply shrug and say "yeah, that's pretty true"...
WASHINGTON - Economic growth skidded to a near halt in the first quarter, with the worst showing in more than four years raising concerns about how long the country's sluggish spell will last.
WASHINGTON - President Bush, seeking to blunt international criticism of the U.S. record on climate change, on Thursday urged 15 major nations to agree by the end of next year on a global target for reducing greenhouse gases.
--
Environmental groups were quick to criticize Bush's plan.
Friends of the Earth president Brent Blackwelder called the proposal "a complete charade. It is an attempt to make the Bush administration look like it takes global warming seriously without actually doing anything to curb emissions."
National Environmental Trust president Philip Clapp said, "This is a transparent effort to divert attention from the president's refusal to accept any emissions reductions proposals at next week's G-8 summit. After sitting out talks on global warming for years, the Bush administration doesn't have very much credibility with other governments on the issue. "
And, Daniel J. Weiss, climate strategy director for the liberal Center for American Progress, said the Bush administration has a "do-nothing" policy on global warming despite U.S. allies' best efforts to spur U.S. reductions.
---
Pretty typical - bush won't agree with anyone else and wants to make the rules himself. The world can't be rid of this self-serving jackass fast enough!
In the last few months, Mr. Gibbons, a Republican, announced a plan to turn coal into jet fuel to raise money (problematic, as Nevada has no coal to speak of) and proposed paying for a $3.8 billion shortfall in highway construction money by selling water rights under state highways (it turns out the state did not actually own the rights).
He told a local editorial board he could not pronounce the name of his energy adviser because she was “Indian” — she is Turkish — and vetoed a bill that would stop budget-busting tax breaks for builders of “green” buildings before issuing an executive order to end them anyway (with the exception of four companies).
No one accuses Gibbons of being uncreative. During his gubernatorial campaign, he said that “liberal, tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, hippie, tie-dyed liberals” ought to be used as human shields in Iraq.
Critics will no doubt say I am accusing the Bush administration of being Hitler. I’m not. There is no comparison between the political system in Germany in 1937 and the U.S. in 2007. What I am reporting is a simple empirical fact: the interrogation methods approved and defended by this president are not new. Many have been used in the past. The very phrase used by the president to describe torture-that-isn’t-somehow-torture - “enhanced interrogation techniques” - is a term originally coined by the Nazis. The techniques are indistinguishable. The methods were clearly understood in 1948 as war-crimes. The punishment for them was death.
UPDATE: A group of experts advising the intelligence agencies on interrogation techniques are arguing that “the harsh techniques used since the 2001 terrorist attacks are outmoded, amateurish and unreliable.”
The psychologists and other specialists, commissioned by the Intelligence Science Board, make the case that more than five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration has yet to create an elite corps of interrogators trained to glean secrets from terrorism suspects.
While billions are spent each year to upgrade satellites and other high-tech spy machinery, the experts say, interrogation methods — possibly the most important source of information on groups like Al Qaeda — are a hodgepodge that date from the 1950s, or are modeled on old Soviet practices.
DeLay says that when, in the coming years, he is not fighting the indictment in Texas (he insists that he is not guilty) he will be building a conservative grass-roots equivalent of MoveOn.org. “God has spoken to me,” he said. “I listen to God, and what I’ve heard is that I’m supposed to devote myself to rebuilding the conservative base of the Republican Party, and I think we shouldn’t be underestimated.”
(Think Progress)
---
What a nutcase! Hopefully, the law will prevail and this wacko will be behind bars before long for the crimes committed against democracy.
money-grubbing corrupt repug (I suppose that is a redundant statement)
FBI probing remodeling of Sen. Stevens home. The FBI and a federal grand jury are currently investigating how, in 2000, “Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) jacked his house off the ground, inserted a new first story and placed the old first floor on top, thanks to the help of a top executive at local oil company Veco Corp. who hired at least one key contractor to complete the feat of a job.” Two former Veco Corp. executives recently pleaded guilty to federal bribery and conspiracy charges, which includes paying $242,000 in illegitimate consulting fees to Stevens’ son, Ben, a former Alaska state senator.
In many places around the country, members of the Sheehan-Reid-Obama-Clinton cult disrupt military funerals, but I doubt they would attempt to perform their disgusting ritual in a fine place as described here.
The only “cult” that travels the country disrupting military funerals is the “anti-gay hate group Westboro Baptist Church,” whose leader Fred Phelps has picketed dozens of funerals with messages such as “Thank God For AIDS” and “God Hates Fags.” There are only 70 members of the church, “60 of whom are related to Phelps through blood or marriage or both.”
Obviously, Sens. Harry Reid (D-NV), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) have nothing to do with Phelps’ group. (”As for Sheehan,” Attaturk notes, “she had to attend one funeral for sure, HER SON’S!“) Just last year, the Senate unanimously passed legislation prohibiting Phelps and others from protesting around military funerals.
Ledeen’s effort to smear people by associating them with a vicious hate group is particularly notable since Ledeen is an adviser to Karl Rove:
One is Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute, whose specialties include terrorism and the Middle East. His latest book, according to the official summary, asserts that “America must topple the regimes of the terror masters to eliminate the threat of terrorism.”
The two met after Bush’s election. “He said, ‘Anytime you have a good idea, tell me,’ ” Ledeen said. Every month or six weeks, Ledeen will offer Rove “something you should be thinking about.” More than once, Ledeen has seen his ideas, faxed to Rove, become official policy or rhetoric.
Ledeen later issued a “correction,” claiming that while the funeral protesters he mentioned were from a “disgusting anti-gay church,” the “anti-war cultists staged their own mock funerals, led by Sheehan’s followers at Code Pink.” This is more intellectual dishonesty. Phelps’ hateful demonstrations have nothing in common with Code Pink’s processions, which feature “mothers grieving the sons and daughters lost to war.”
(Think Progress)
---
Man, these scumbags are not even pretending to exist in the real world anymore. Utterly disgusting.
I think I would faint dead away is a conservative told the truth just once...
FORT WORTH, Texas - Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside President Bush's ranch, said Tuesday she's done being the public face of the movement.
"I've been wondering why I'm killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to George Bush," Sheehan told The Associated Press while driving from her property in Crawford to the airport, where she planned to return to her native California.
"I'm going home for awhile to try and be normal," she said.
In what she described as a "resignation letter," Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the Daily Kos blog: "Good-bye America ... you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.
BERLIN - The United States rejects the European Union's all-encompassing target on reduction of carbon emissions, President Bush's environmental adviser said Tuesday.
HAMBURG, Germany - European and Asian foreign ministers agreed to set a 2009 deadline to complete negotiations on a new international climate change pact to limit greenhouse gases, diplomats said Tuesday.
GLYNCO, Ga. - President Bush attacked opponents of an immigration deal Tuesday, suggesting they "don't want to do what's right for America."
--- He is just being a childish dick now whenever anyone doesn't agree with him (which no one does). I can't believe that this temper-tantrum-throwing-child is the "leader of the free world". "Embarassing" doesn't even begin to describe this.
BAGHDAD - Ten American soldiers died in roadside bombings and a helicopter crash on Memorial Day, the military reported Tuesday, making May the deadliest month of the year for U.S. troops in Iraq.
Congress showing results. The 110th Congress has now been in session for 150 days. During that time, the House has passed all 10 bills it promised during the 2006 campaign, including enacting the 9/11 Commission recommendations, lobbying reform, a minimum wage hike, and stem cell research. The Senate has passed 6 of the 10; 3 others are currently being considered. The White House has signed just two of the bills. It has vetoed or threatened to veto 5.
(Think Progress) --- Why doesn't Congress vote to impeach this madman?
“The United States is preparing to reject new targets on climate change at a Group of Eight summit next month, dashing German and British hopes for a new global pact on carbon emissions.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel has sought to “win agreements for a global reduction in emissions of 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 and bold commitments to energy efficiency strategies.”
Yesterday on Fox News’s Your World With Neil Cavuto, Leslee Unruh, president of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse, argued that this pill a “pesticide” that will make women “like men.” She called it an “attack on children and families,” ending the segment with shouts of, “I want more babies. More babies. We love babies.”
(Think Progress)
---
What is it about the anti-choice movement that makes people completely insane?
Under Virginia law, Mary’s partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, “will have no legal relationship with her child. She can’t adopt as a second parent. She won’t have her name on the birth certificate.” President Bush will still not say whether or not he supports gay adoption.
Liberty U. student arrested over ‘napalm-like’ bombs. “A small group of protesters gathered near the funeral services to criticize [Jerry Falwell,] the man who mobilized Christian evangelicals and made them a major force in American politics — often by playing on social prejudices. … Campbell County authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several homemade bombs in his car. The student, 19-year-old Mark D. Uhl of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service. The devices were made of a combination of gasoline and detergent.”
Confirmed: Iraq Timelines Dropped (Think Progress) --- I am literally sickened that the Dems folded on this vitally important issue in which the majority of the world - especially America and Iraq - agrees with them. How does this impotent little shrub still have the power to defy the will of the people and the world? How can no one fight this prick who everyone hates and no one agrees with? What the hell is wrong with this world? How have we let this sick, twisted little hitler take over the planet? Will we ever get our country back? --- At least Pelosi is sticking to her guns: Pelosi: ‘I’m Not Likely To Vote For Something That Doesn’t Have A Timetable’ (Think Progress)
Military took a year to fill ‘urgent’ equipment request. The Marine Corps “waited over a year before acting on an ‘priority 1 urgent’ request to send blast-resistant vehicles to Iraq.” As Danger Room notes, “the request for over 1,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles came in February, 2005. A formal call to fulfill that order did not emerge until November, 2006.” Approximately 1,373 U.S. soldiers have been killed by roadside bombs in Iraq.
I've been kinda on vacation and kinda really busy at work, so things here will be sporadic and i'll play catch-up once in a while. Obviously, i'm liking Think Progress lately and am linking to their stories often. I think that they are covering a lot of pertinent issues and are very good and comprehensive. I never know whether anyone reads this blog or not (and i keep it that way by not having a counter) because i want to do this mainly for myself. I hope that those who do come across this thing appreciate the stories, though.
ANNANDALE, Va. - Openly armed firearms enthusiasts packed a normally sedate government building, hoping to win a pistol or rifle and at the same time send a defiant message to gun-control advocates, especially New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
WASHINGTON - Democratic congressional leaders on Friday offered the first concessions in a fight with President Bush over a spending bill for Iraq, but the White House turned them down.
The Democrats, in a meeting with Bush's top aides on Capitol Hill, said they would strip from an emergency appropriations measure billions of dollars in domestic spending. They also pledged to give Bush authority to waive compliance with a timetable on the war.
But no agreement emerged.
"To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an understatement," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
At stake is the more than $90 billion the president says is needed to cover the costs of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan through September. The Democratic-controlled Congress on May 1 sent Bush a bill that would have funded the war but also would have demanded that troops start coming home Oct. 1.
Bush swiftly rejected that bill, saying he would not accept any timetable on the war. He also said he was against any extraneous spending. Unable to override his veto, Democrats have been trying to find a way to pass a new bill by Memorial Day that funds the troops but still challenges Bush's Iraq policy.
Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi emerged from a closed-door meeting with White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten to say they had offered the concessions to no avail.
Bush has said he is open to setting standards for the Iraqi government to meet, but has not said whether he would accept consequences if Baghdad fails.
"It is clear that the difference between the president and Democrats is accountability," said Pelosi, D-Calif.
---
Bush continues to be a completely unreasonable obstructionist who is defying the will of the American - and Iraqi - people while the Dems show good faith and continue to try to work with this temper-tantrum-throwing child. bush continues to show that he doesn't give a f'k about the troops of the American public - he only wants his way or he will hold his breath! Disgusting...
“Troops don’t need bigger pay raises, White House budget officials said Wednesday in a statement of administration policy laying out objections to the House version of the 2008 defense authorization bill. … Bush budget officials said the administration ’strongly opposes’ both the 3.5 percent raise for 2008 and the follow-on increases, calling extra pay increases ‘unnecessary.’“
Brownback thinks he has a uterus. During last night’s presidential debate, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) repeatedly motioned to his stomach to argue against pro-choice policies. “Here in the womb,” he said, there “is a child that we’re talking about doing this to.” Brownback argued specifically for prohibiting rape and incest victims from obtaining an abortion.
Glenn Beck: ‘Pathetic losers’ = ‘Girl-fighters.’ Yesterday on his CNN Headline News program, host Glenn Beck attacked lawmakers for advocating redeployment from Iraq. He said that Congress is “sending a clear message to our enemies that we’re just weak and pathetic.” He then added, “Is it possible to convince the Middle East that we’re not a bunch of losers and, you know, girl-fighters?”
With House and Senate officials set to meet in conference to hammer out new Iraq legislation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) made clear again today during a press conference that all options are on the table:
There’s nothing that’s going to be off the table in conference. I had a meeting last night with Speaker Pelosi. And she’s bound and determined that the conference we have — and the president’s going to be involved in that, through his spokesperson, Josh Bolten — is not going to be everything the president wants. He’s not going to have the blank check. There’s a Congress and he has to deal with us.
And I have a very strong person to work with from the House, and that’s an understatement: Speaker Pelosi. Nothing is off the table. The goal remains to fully fund our troops and change course in Iraq. Again, we hope the president and congressional Republicans will negotiate in good faith so that we can provide our troops the funding they need and an effective strategy. And we need to do it by next week.
NEW YORK - Sixteen cities around the world will begin cutting carbon emissions by renovating city-owned buildings with green technology under a program spearheaded by former President Clinton's foundation.
ISTANBUL, Turkey - Environmental activists are building a replica of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat — where the biblical vessel is said to have landed after the great flood — in an appeal for action on global warming, Greenpeace said Wednesday.
BAGHDAD - A car bomb exploded near a market in a Shiite enclave northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 32 people and wounding 50, police said Wednesday. Hospital officials and victims said chlorine gas may have been used in the attack, but police denied that.
Clashes also broke out in the mostly Shiite city of Nasiriyah in southern
Iraq, when militants fought with police who had arrested two wanted militia members, police said. Nine Iraqis were killed and 75 wounded, police said.
In Baghdad, at least nine mortar rounds or rockets slammed into the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, killing two Iraqis and wounding 10 people — none of them Americans, U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said. It was the second such attack in as many days.
The Green Zone, a sprawling complex on the west bank of the Tigris River, also was hit by a rocket Tuesday, wounding nine foreigners. Fintor said he could not provide specific nationalities but they were not Americans or Iraqis.
A recent increase in mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy and major Iraqi government offices, has raised concern, especially since they are occurring during the U.S.-led crackdown.
--- I guess this is more of the "progress" due to the surge...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A hazy ring of dark matter spawned by a colossal cosmic crash eons ago offers the best evidence to date that vast amounts of this mysterious stuff reside in the universe, scientists said on Tuesday.
Images taken by NASA's orbiting Hubble Space Telescope allowed astronomers to detect this ring of dark matter created by the collision of two galaxy clusters 5 billion light-years from Earth.
"This is the strongest evidence yet for the existence of dark matter," astronomer Myungkook James Jee of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore told reporters.
Astronomers believe dark matter -- as opposed to ordinary matter making up the stars, planets and the like -- comprises about 85 percent of the universe's material, but evidence of it has been difficult to come by.
Dark matter cannot be directly seen. It does not shine or reflect light, but astronomers infer its existence in galaxy clusters by observing how its gravity bends the light given off by even more faraway galaxies. They do not know what it is made of, but think it could be a kind of particle.
Astronomer Richard Massey of the California Institute of Technology, not involved in the research, said the findings are facing skepticism within the astronomical community.
"It's really exciting if it's right. But to be sort of convinced of the ring, astronomers would really want to see some independent observations verifying it," Massey said.
Previous Hubble observations showed another collision between two galaxy clusters in which dark matter appeared to behave differently.
Scientists came across the new evidence while studying the distribution of dark matter within a galaxy cluster designated as Cl 0024+17.
Wondering about the genesis of this ring, the researchers came across earlier work showing that the galaxy cluster had run into another cluster 1 billion to 2 billion years ago.
'RIPPLE OF DARK MATTER'
They developed computer simulations of such collisions that indicated when two clusters collide, the dark matter cascades toward the center of the newly combined clusters, then moves back outward while slowing under gravity's pull.
"The collision between the two galaxy clusters created a ripple of dark matter that left distinct footprints in the shapes of the background galaxies," Jee said.
"It's like looking at the pebbles on the bottom of a pond with ripples on the surface. The pebbles' shapes appear to change as the ripples pass over them. So, too, the background galaxies behind the ring show coherent changes in their shapes due to the presence of the dense ring," Jee added.
Dark matter previously has been detected in other galaxy clusters, but the scientists said the stuff never previously had been found to be so distinctly separated from the hot gas and the galaxies that make up these clusters.
"Given that dark matter is the most common stuff in the universe, the fact that we know almost nothing about it at the moment is really rather embarrassing," Massey said.
Warm temperatures melted an area of western Antarctica that adds up to the size of California in January 2005, scientists report.
Satellite data collected by the scientists between July 1999 and July 2005 showed clear signs that melting had occurred in multiple distinct regions, including far inland and at high latitudes and elevations, where melt had been considered unlikely.
“Antarctica has shown little to no warming in the recent past with the exception of the Antarctic Peninsula,” said Konrad Steffen of the University of Colorado, Boulder. “But now large regions are showing the first signs of the impacts of warming as interpreted by this satellite analysis.”
Changes in the ice mass of Antarctica, Earth's largest freshwater reservoir, are important to understanding global sea level rise. Large amounts of Antarctic freshwater flowing into the ocean also could affect ocean salinity, currents and global climate.
NBC News reports that former congressman and current Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) is being investigated by the FBI for potentially receiving “a fancy vacation and perhaps other lucrative benefits” from defense contractor Warren Trepp in exchange for “multi-million-dollar government contracts.”
Billions in oil missing in Iraq. “Between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq’s declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for and could have been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling, according to a draft American government report. Using an average of $50 a barrel, the report said the discrepancy was valued at $5 million to $15 million daily.”
How could anyone possibly think this was a good idea?
During the last night of the trip, staff members convinced the 69 students that there was a gunman on the loose. They were told to lie on the floor or hide underneath tables and stay quiet. A teacher, disguised in a hooded sweat shirt, even pulled on a locked door.
After the lights went out, about 20 kids started to cry, 11-year-old Shay Naylor said.
"I was like, 'Oh My God,' " she said. "At first I thought I was going to die. We flipped out."
(Americablog) --- Someone doesn't have his talking points with him! bush says we're not leaving as long as he's president - cuz he wants to leave this mess to the next person!
And big surprise here, it was the Republicans working with the gun lobby who got the law passed. Because, you know, the biggest problem we face in America is the injustice of a crooked gun dealer illegally selling weapons. The Republicans are amazing.
What do they teach the law school students at Pat Robertson's law school? Looks like the Robertson's most notorious graduate, Monica Goodling, had free rein to undermine the justice and the rule of law at the Department of Justice:
Two years ago, Robin C. Ashton, a seasoned criminal prosecutor at the Department of Justice, learned from her boss that a promised promotion was no longer hers.
“You have a Monica problem,” Ms. Ashton was told, according to several Justice Department officials. Referring to Monica M. Goodling, a 31-year-old, relatively inexperienced lawyer who had only recently arrived in the office, the boss added, “She believes you’re a Democrat and doesn’t feel you can be trusted.”
Ms. Ashton’s ouster — she left the Executive Office for United States Attorneys for another Justice Department post two weeks later — was a critical early step in a plan that would later culminate in the ouster of nine United States attorneys last year.
Ms. Goodling would soon be quizzing applicants for civil service jobs at Justice Department headquarters with questions that several United States attorneys said were inappropriate, like who was their favorite president and Supreme Court justice. One department official said an applicant was even asked, “Have you ever cheated on your wife?”
Ms. Goodling also moved to block the hiring of prosecutors with résumés that suggested they might be Democrats, even though they were seeking posts that were supposed to be nonpartisan, two department officials said.
Monica was a big problem. She was out of control.
(Americablog) and more on Karl Rove's part in this also from Americablog
Long before our solar system formed and even before the Milky Way assumed its final spiral shape, a star slightly smaller than the Sun blazed into life in our galaxy, formed from the newly scattered remains of the first stars in the universe.
Employing techniques similar to those used to date archeological remains here on Earth, scientists have learned that a metal-poor star in our Milky Way called HE 1523 is 13.2 billion years old-just slightly younger than 13.7 billion year age of the universe. Our solar system is estimated to be only about 4.6 billion years old.
WASHINGTON - Worried Congress' support for Iraq is deteriorating rapidly, Baghdad dispatched senior officials to Capitol Hill this week to warn members one-on-one that pulling out U.S. troops would have disastrous consequences.
--- I find this pretty interesting since just this week other Iraqi officials have demanded that we leave! I guess that their government is as divided as ours is!
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran and North Korea have agreed to step up bilateral contacts, an Iranian news agency said on Friday, signaling closer ties between two countries which were part of U.S. President George W. Bush's "axis of evil."
Iran's Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki signed the agreement with visiting North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il on Thursday evening, the student news agency ISNA said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government "is interested in expanding ties with North Korea in the political, economical and cultural fields," Mottaki was quoted as saying.
"Therefore it is necessary to remove some barriers to provide and recognize new fields of cooperation," he said, suggesting North Korea's debt to Iran was one such barrier without giving details.
Under Thursday' accord, the foreign ministries of the two countries would every year send delegations to each other to "exchange ideas" over different international issues.
Bush branded the two countries as well as Iraq as part of an "axis of evil" after he took office in 2001.
Since then, Iran has defied Western pressure to suspend its nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at making atom bombs, a charge Tehran denies.
North Korea drew international condemnation when it conducted its first nuclear test in October, but agreed in February this year to shut its nuclear facilities in return for energy aid.
Gonzales to Congress: Move on. In his opening statement to be read at tomorrow’s House Judiciary Committee hearing, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales challenges Congress to “move on” past the U.S. Attorney scandal and allow “the Justice Department to focus on its mission: fighting crime.”
WASHINGTON - President Bush, under growing political pressure, said Thursday the White House will seek agreement with Congress on benchmarks to measure progress in Iraq.
LOS ANGELES - Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore is under investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department for taking ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers to Cuba for a segment in his upcoming health-care documentary "Sicko," The Associated Press has learned.
The investigation provides another contentious lead-in for a provocative film by Moore, a fierce critic of
President Bush. In the past, Moore's adversaries have fanned publicity that helped the filmmaker create a new brand of opinionated blockbuster documentary.
"Sicko" promises to take the health-care industry to task the way Moore confronted America's passion for guns in "Bowling for Columbine" and skewered Bush over his handling of Sept. 11 in "Fahrenheit 9/11."
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control notified Moore in a letter dated May 2 that it was conducting a civil investigation for possible violations of the U.S. trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba. A copy of the letter was obtained Wednesday by the AP.
"This office has no record that a specific license was issued authorizing you to engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba," Dale Thompson, OFAC chief of general investigations and field operations, wrote in the letter to Moore.
In March, Moore took about 10 ailing workers from the Ground Zero rescue effort in Manhattan for treatment in Cuba, said a person working with the filmmaker on the release of "Sicko." The person requested anonymity because Moore's attorneys had not yet determined how to respond.
Moore, who scolded Bush over the
Iraq war during the 2003 Oscar telecast, received the letter Monday, the person said. "Sicko" premieres May 19 at the Cannes Film Festival and debuts in U.S. theaters June 29.
Moore declined to comment, said spokeswoman Lisa Cohen.
In a statement Thursday, "Sicko" producer Meghan O'Hara said the Treasury investigation might be an attempt to undermine the film.
"Our health-care system is broken and, all too often, deadly," O'Hara said. "The efforts of the Bush administration to conduct a politically motivated investigation of Michael Moore and `Sicko' will not stop us from making sure the American people see this film."
After receiving the letter, Moore arranged to place a copy of the film in a "safe house" outside the country to protect it from government interference, said the person working on the release of the film.
Sept. 11 rescue workers "risked their lives searching for survivors, recovering bodies, and clearing away toxic rubble," O'Hara said. "Now, many of these heroes face serious health issues, and far too many of them are not receiving the care they need and deserve."
Treasury officials would not comment specifically about Moore's case. But department spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said OFAC is "required to investigate potential violations of these programs. In doing so, OFAC issues hundreds of letters each year asking for additional information when possible sanctions violations have occurred."
The letter noted that Moore applied Oct. 12, 2006, for permission to go to Cuba "but no determination had been made by OFAC." Moore sought permission to travel there under a provision for full-time journalists, the letter said.
According to the letter, Moore was given 20 business days to provide OFAC with such information as the date of travel and point of departure; the reason for the Cuba trip and his itinerary there; and the names and addresses of those who accompanied him, along with their reasons for going.
Potential penalties for violating the embargo were not indicated. In 2003, the New York Yankees paid the government $75,000 to settle a dispute that it conducted business in Cuba in violation of the embargo. No specifics were released about that case.
"Sicko" is Moore's followup to 2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11," a $100 million hit criticizing the Bush administration over Sept. 11. Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" won the 2002 Oscar for best documentary.
A dissection of the U.S. health-care system, "Sicko" was inspired by a segment on Moore's TV show "The Awful Truth," in which he staged a mock funeral outside a health-maintenance organization that had declined a pancreas transplant for a diabetic man. The HMO later relented.
At last September's Toronto International Film Festival, Moore previewed footage shot for "Sicko," presenting stories of personal health-care nightmares. One scene showed a woman who was denied payment for an ambulance ride after a head-on collision because it was not preapproved.
Moore's opponents have accused him of distorting the facts, and his Cuba trip provoked criticism from conservatives including former Republican Sen. Fred Thompson, who assailed the filmmaker in a blog at National Review Online.
"I have no expectation that Moore is going to tell the truth about Cuba or health care," wrote Thompson, the subject of speculation about a possible presidential run. "I defend his right to do what he does, but Moore's talent for clever falsehoods has been too well documented."
The timing of the investigation is reminiscent of the firestorm that preceded the Cannes debut of "Fahrenheit 9/11," which won the festival's top prize in 2004. The Walt Disney Co. refused to let subsidiary Miramax release the film because of its political content, prompting Miramax bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein to release "Fahrenheit 9/11" on their own.
The Weinsteins later left Miramax to form the Weinstein Co., which is releasing "Sicko." They declined to comment on the Treasury investigation, said company spokeswoman Sarah Levinson Rothman.
