He asks how has Bush affected me personally.

When 9/11 happened I suppose I wasn’t affected *personally*, but we are a nation, not a countryside populated by individuals.

I feel less safe.
I used to live in a Modern Democracy, but now it feels like fascism is creeping in.
I apparently owe about $70,000 more than last year (my part of the national debt).
I, like many, felt our election system was the world’s best, but now it just feels like shit.
We were admired the world around, but now we’re laughed at for having ‘elected’ a boob.
I used to feel good about the military and New Orleans, now a good part of both is simply gone.

The list goes on and on.

Thousands of our children are dead. Thousands of their children are dead. We have become what we abhorred.
The better question would be, how can this person not be affected by such things.

I think that the democrats take the house but not the senate, but the republicans will have a one or two vote majority in the senate at best. As for other things: Did your gaydar scream when you saw Michael Scanlon and read about his life guard buddies in Reheboth Beach? Mine did too. Given that Jeff Gannon let himself go and there was an obvious audience at the white house (and other places), I’m just thinking that maybe Scanlon was useful for lots of reasons. Maybe we find out.

Hope for next year:
We get Cheney and Rumsfeld out before they blow up the world. Then we can investigate/impeach/imprison as needed.

I also hope that HuffPo can do something about the obnoxious trolls infesting it: there are far too many of them. (That comment is one of the better behaved trolls!)

With a disengaged, incompetent government, we are simply at the mercy of contingent events. Que sera, sera.

Bush resigns.

To the Bush supporter at Huffpo:

1. cost of fuel gouging by Bush buddies has cost my family a good paying job, plus the skyrocketing cost of fuel and energy to heat our home.

2. Because Bushco/GOP congress let contributions to the pension fund slide for the past 5 years my retired dad may be out his pension, or at least his health insurance.

3. Because of the GOP/Bush Medicare drug scam my retired parents will get less coverage while Bush’s buddies get to scam the system.

4. Because of the Iraq occupation, the debt ceiling is being raised again. And yes Bush voter if you are in the middle class you will pay for it, and so will your grandchildren.

5. Anyone affected by Bush? Ask people in NOLA and Florida and the gulf coast. That is, those who aren’t dead already.

6. Anyone affected by Bush? Ask anyone waiting for VA treatment because they were kicked off of active duty rolls. You know, to save money for Dear Leaders great war.

I think it counts as something that Bush KoolAiders don’t quite have the same goose in their step. If the best Bush defense is “Prove that he’s personally fucked up your life, because things don’t look any worse to me,” well it sure is 10,000 leagues away from “best president ever.”

Here’s hoping justice prevails in 2006.
Take care everyone!

To all the Bush haters, Your life is not so bad under Bush and you have remained safe. Could any of you point to specific incident in your life that worsened under the Bush administration caused by a Bush Policy. As a conservative I would like to know.
———————————————————–
I was written out of the Constitution in my home state of Texas, and my cousin was shipped off to Iraq to fight in an unprovoked war. Your turn: How did Bill Clinton’s blowjobs personally make your life worse?

I’d like to respond to that HuffPo commentator, that as a Liberal,

1: “Your life is not so bad under Bush, and you have remained safe.”

I was safe before Bush, I never worried about my own government monitoring my emails, calls or mail, my Social Security I’ve paid into for decades and decades was safe, unlike under Bush who threatens it’s safety daily. I didn’t waste $38 Billion a year of my taxes on a damn “Homeland Security Agency” that issues color warning charts.

Tell New Orleans how safe Bush keeps us.

2: “Could any of you point to a specific incident in your life that worsened under the Bush administration caused by a Bush Ploicy.”

Personally , I don’t live in New Orleans, nor Afghanistan, nor Iraq. So, personally, no.

However, I do believe there was a $150 billion surplus our government was running when Bush was installed by his republican cronies on the USSC, we were balancing our budget, unemployment was low, we were actually paying down on our Debt, not just making the “minimum payment due” like Bush is doing, while opening more and more “credit card debts.” This seems the Only strategy Republicans know for “balancing” the budget: Borrow and Spend. Euros were 81 cent, now they cost me $1.20. My dollar shrinking, attacks on my retirement, feds spying on us, a bubble economy

yeah, I feel “safe” now, mr. conservative.

I’d ask: are there ANY restrictions, in your mind, on the Executive branch breaking laws?

michael72 | 12.31.05 – 9:33 pm

Thanks for the kind words. I admit, though, that I didn’t take on much that isn’t already swirling about. I didn’t say this, but my sense (hope?) is that there is a “somebody” who is going to emerge from “nowhere”, and provide the flashpoint to bring down BushCo.
-

I really like the sound of the valley girl’s (domestic) predictions!

though I fear we are in for a major upset, disaster and a big media distraction when the bushivites make an attack of some sort on the Iranian nuclear program/sites. it ain’t gonna be pretty, as all the war games run by the DoD/NSC have predicted.

on the domestic front I think valley girl pretty well sums up my hopes, although in addition I do hope that 2006 brings a big return of the DemoRats to power in both houses. they’re like the cowardly lion, and just need a little courage!

I wonder what scandal it will be that will break bush’s back and the republican stranglehold?

at least the media seems to be getting into a feistier mood since late summer with Cindy. and the media follows the mood of the country, ultiimately, so it’s a good sign.

notjonathon,

That part of California was my stomping ground in the ’50s (mostly northern Marin, but relatives in all the places you mentioned). Your Mendocino property doesn’t happen to be anywhere near Philo, does it? Ever heard of El Rancho Nararro?

Re: “Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program”

In March of 2004, when Card and Gonzales were trying to hold AshcroftÂ’s hand steady so that he could sign authorization for continued NSA data mining and domestic spying, Spain had been attacked and its voters had immediately thrown BushÂ’s buddy out of office. Back home, we had just been re-awakened to the continuing viability of John Poindexter’s Total Information Awareness effort. We were told by the Associated Press that it had simply been transferred to the NSA.

Why are we continually passing through the same stories without some resolution . . . resolutions, oh yeah, . . . letÂ’s be resolved not to let 2006 be a continuing, tragic Ground HogÂ’s Day like what has been going on in this country since November of 2000.

It is time to rearrange the deckchairs…

“To all you Bush haters, your life is not so bad under Bush, etc.”

This is the voice of fascism incarnate. It’s exactly what a contented German would have said about Hitler in 1937. Get rid of the Constitution, declare a dictatorship, do whatever you want as long as I can drive my SUV to the mall. Beyond disgusting.

The The Psychotic Patriot thinks that since the old propaganda won’t work again, the perfect trigger to bomb Iran will be an attack on the White House. Think about it. Total message control, no evidence except what they want it to be, the press already moved across the street, and a few staffers killed, maybe even Bush, leaving Cheney in his real job. You notice they’ve already reshuffled the Doomsday Squad?

Unless there is an actual attack, Repubs face potentially large losses in the midterm elections, on top of all the legal problems flowing through DC these days.

I predict this happening in the next 90 days.

dear FDL friends … I avoid celebrating new years but spend this day cleaning out odd bits of stuff in the house and then recreate the ritual we used to share at a UU church many years ago when we would write our sorrows of the year down and then burn them in a fire, a fire which grows as we move into the new…

and so for 2006, I ask the goddess to send us

the illuminating fire of truth exposing all the hidden corners of this evil regime

the cleansing fire of justice driving out the evil doers

and the warming fire of community to nurture this little corner of the universe we call FDL as we speak and act and laugh together

In 2006, I would just like to get some of that feeling back that I had on about June 12, 1999 when a UN peacekeeping force entered Kosovo while on the same day George W. Bush announced his intention to seek the Republican Party’s nomination for President of the United States.

Bill Clinton’s approval rating stood at 73% and it seemed like the only thing we had to worry about was what would happen to the clocks when they clicked on Y2K.

Re: “Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program” — Ashcroft had gall bladder surgery in March of 2004. The UN began its investigation of the oil-for-food program while he was recovering. Don’t I recall that a good deal of NSA spying was directed at the UN . . .

Happy New Year everyone.

May all good people everywhere begin to stand up and protest about the evil being perpetrated in our name.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to Reddhedd and Jane and all visitors of FDL.

When Kerry lost in 2004, I was disappointed, but I understood that Bush needed to harvest what he had sown. Justice would not be served if Kerry had to pay the price of defeat in Iraq, a disastrous undertaking. And 2006 will be the year of harvest for Bush, the GOP and the not so Christian supporters. Life is justice in action.

I believe 2006 is going to be a VERY tumultuous year. Abramoff & Plamegate will be exploding. Iraq will be imploding. The Republican Party will be under attack and collapsing. Dems will re-take Congress; but I’m not sure if the Voters will be voting FOR Dems or AGAINST Repubs, but either way….. The day after the Dems re-take Congress, the shit hits the fan, as all Repubs know Congressional Investigations and Impeachment Hearings will commence at daybreak. I fear for the Economy. The housing bubble finally pops, speculators flee the market, housing markets constrict, prices flatten or fall; highly levereged homeowners are upside down and lenders start clamping down. Housing construction, which has not only driven the American Economy – it HAS BEEN the American Economy – shuts down as housing inventory skyrockets, lenders slam shut the loan window, and interest rates shoot up. Trade deficit continues to skyrocket and Bushco pisses off China enough that they stop buying US Treasuries. With Bushco and Repubs going down in flames, do they take the American Economy with them??? This part of the equation scares the hell out of me. Our Economy is far more fragile and teetering than most people realize. Won’t take much for a SERIOUS downturn. Bush &/or Cheney COULD be gone before the end of the year. Delay & Frist will be. Something approaching chaos could rule the day by the end of the year.

My advice: pay off the credit cards, don’t buy a car or house, stash as much cash as possible. SIT TIGHT. Stock up on popcorn, fasten your seatbelts and hold on for the ride of a lifetime.

IT’S GONNA BE SOMETHING!

Happy New Year! Thanks to Jane Hamsher, ReddHedd, the O’Glake clan and all the doggies here for taking so much time away from my (other) hobbies.

Ten hopes for 2006:

1. The dynamics of Kurd drive toward independence, the US-Israeli threats and preparations against the Iranians and Syrians, and Turkey’s growing turbulance over these things, all strangely resolve themselves without an expansion of the war.

2. Fitz sets up a rolling finesse of the whole WHIG set.

3. Abramoff fingers a hundred politicians in felony conduct (hopefully more).

4. The AIPAC investigation proceeds comprehensively, rather than minimally, as has been the case.

5. O’Conner’s seat remains open.

6. The Democrats discover that reconciliation with the Greens brings two million new voters to their side of the 2006 election.

7. ALL our troops get better equipment.

8. The biggest repudiation of incumbents in the history of the U.S. House occurs with 50% turnover.

9. The resultant changes in the congress immediately lead to more NSA and CIA types talking about the true nature of what they have been doing since 2002.

10. Jane and Redd are awarded MacArthurs.

Jane, After reading your comment I checked out the article Wilson cited- for others, this is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01…..01spy.html
-

I believe 2006 is going to be a VERY tumultuous year. Abramoff & Plamegate will be exploding. Iraq will be imploding. The Republican Party will be under attack and collapsing. Dems will re-take Congress; but I’m not sure if the Voters will be voting FOR Dems or AGAINST Repubs, but either way….. The day after the Dems re-take Congress, the shit hits the fan, as all Repubs know Congressional Investigations and Impeachment Hearings will commence at daybreak. I fear for the Economy. The housing bubble finally pops, speculators flee the market, housing markets constrict, prices flatten or fall; highly levereged homeowners are upside down and lenders start clamping down. Housing construction, which has not only driven the American Economy – it HAS BEEN the American Economy – shuts down as housing inventory skyrockets, lenders slam shut the loan window, and interest rates shoot up. Trade deficit continues to skyrocket and Bushco pisses off China enough that they stop buying US Treasuries. With Bushco and Repubs going down in flames, do they take the American Economy with them??? This part of the equation scares the hell out of me. Our Economy is far more fragile and teetering than most people realize. Won’t take much for a SERIOUS downturn. Bush &/or Cheney COULD be gone before the end of the year. Delay & Frist will be. Something approaching chaos could rule the day by the end of the year.

My advice: pay off the credit cards, don’t buy a car or house, stash as much cash as possible. SIT TIGHT. Stock up on popcorn, fasten your seatbelts and hold on for the ride of a lifetime.

IT’S GONNA BE SOMETHING!

Wow, Wilson, that one blew my head off. That deputy was Comey.

i predict great things for firedoglake. you ladies have been killing lately.

New to FDL, but already seasoned in my admiration. My last beloved blogger folded up shop, so please please know how breathlessly appreciated you are, and have a fantastic new year.

Predictions? More lying from the GOP, More sucking from the Press, Scott McClellan grows a new sphincter and meets his replacement, Tom Cruise in divorce court, McDonalds closes all chains in Castro district in response to pressure from the AFA, gays are the new jews, and contractors are the new doctors. How’s that?.

It would be easy if you could predict the price of gas.

That’s what makes it or breaks it for the people who live in the big fat center of what we call “America” and they can’t even find on a map. They’re only about 10-15% of the population, tops, but they decide everything.

Rights? Torture? Iraq? Abramoff? Jesus? Freedom? Moral values?

Who gives a fuck? All they see is the price on the pump when they gas up, and if it’s low they’re content with the status quo, and if it’s high they vote the bums out.

Democracy, ain’t it grand?

I can see New Year’s eve is crazy time (even without a drink?), but it’s noon tomorrow here, and it took me two hours to catch up with all the posts.

In Japan, we say “akemashite, omedetou,” the first time we meet someone after the new year begins, It means (as best I can translate it), “Congratulations, it has dawned.” I can only hope that the new year will be a new dawn for America and especially all of you here at FDL, whose community has given me a chance to interact with my peers.

I’ve lived in Japan for the past fourteen years, and, although I get back annually, the longest single span I’ve been able to spend in the U. S. in that time has been three weeks.

To Mrs. K8 and zennurse, Redd and Jane, and others who who are obviously better people than I am, I salute you–and I’ll try to become a better person myself.

And to all of you in Northern California, where I spent 25 precious years (Palo Alto and environs, La Honda on the San Mateo coast, Fairfax, 11 years in Santa Rosa–I still own property on the ridge between Boonville and the coast in Mendocino County), including the great El Nino years of ‘64-’65 and ‘82 (I wrote a poem about that one), I hope the rains let up and the floods abate.

The first year I got to California for college, it didn’t rain until the weekend of the Big Game (that’s another story). I do remember chiding my roommate: “Sunny California, indeed. I come here expecting nice weather, and not 84 days later, it rains.” Suffice it to say, I never spent more than three months in Texas again.

In 2006, may all the chickens come home to roost, may the kicked dog bite, and may the Democratic party wash their spines with Pepsodent.*

Most will be too young to get that one:
You’ll wonder where the yellow went,
When you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.

-Abramoff’s DC restaurant will be renamed “Under the Table”.

VG: I hope you sent that one to Josh Marshall at TPM; it’s spot-on.

Thank you Jane And ReddHead

No gender misintrepetation intended, but as an old Yankee in the Spirit of 76, and in an obsure historical reference, you two are the embodiment of Molly Pitcher.

You are truly ’stand up’ women.

You fearlessly step into the breach.

Bless you, givem hell.

I hope that this time next year we will be cheering about what a great year it was putting all the bad guys in jail and that the American people finally woke up. Maybe we’ll even be talking about Bush’s impeachment hearings and how great they were.

Assuming we don’t have another 9-11…

Some probable, and not so probable predictions… you decide..

-Nick Lampson will defeat Tom DeLay in TX-22, if DeLay hasn’t already resigned.
-Bernie Sanders will win in VT.
-Deborah Howell will resign as Ombudsman for WaPo.
-Someone will try to assassinate GWB.
-Dennis Hastert will have a heart attack.
-The “bomb Al Jazerra” conversation (etc.) between Bush and Blair will be published on the internet.
-Judy Miller will become an anchor for Fox News.
-Rove will be indicted for perjury.
-Barbara Bush Sr. will die in a car accident.
-Fitz will expand his investigations.
-Abramoff’s DC restaurant will be renamed “Under the Table”.
-James Carville will be talking a lot about his movie “All The Kings Men”.
-Roy Blunt will be fingered when Abramoff sings.
-Cindy Sheehan will run for a major political office.
-FDL will get another major Blog award

—more, I’m sure, but it’s late in the eve, and I’m running out of steam.

“Anyone willing to go out on a limb and look into their crystal ball for the new year?”

The Dem’s need to step up and beat Alito to a pulp during the confirmation hearings and ‘BORK’ him. Let’s start with that, one step at a time ; )

Jay | 12.31.05 – 6:53 pm | #
ROFL, especially the Rove segment.

Prognostications? I dunno. My idealism always gets let down by actual events. The populace’s capacity for apathy never ceases to amaze.

Hopes? Rove indicted, DeLay jailed, Cheney to a permanent undisclosed location (you know, the one guarded by Cerebus), Kenny Boy and Skilling jailed, all of Abramoff’s buddies taken down, public outrage over NSA snooping, etc.

Hey, a guy can dream, n’est-ce pas?

GrandmaJo — “a few good men” and don’t forget Barbara Jordan, whose passion and eloquence on Constitutional principles inspired many on that generation.

2006?
When the sh*t hits the fan
We find out
Who is running the show.
Will they honor the courts
Or take to the mattresses,
Batten down the hatches
And dump the Republic…
Or what is left of it?
John Q Public has traded
freedom
for comfort.

“Hitler’s not so bad – at least he got the trains to run on time.”

I agree with your point Garamond, but even that old canard doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Hitler’s Germany was rife with corruption, incompetence and cronyism. Even the vaunted German war machine was not so efficient as often thought. At the beginning of the war when they should have been at peak efficiency, the Germans were able to produce fewer military aircraft than the british alone.

I made my toast in the last thread, but it seems appropriate to repeat it here:

Let me add my good wishes to one and all for the New Year. Many thanks to our gracious hosts, Jane and Redd, for their wit and wisdom, and for drawing together such a great group of people. Sometimes, when I think I’ve seen too many New Years, I try to remember what keeps me going, and it comes down to this: as in the movies, I know that there are plenty of good guys out there, and I’m curious to find whether (and how) they are going to win. To us!

in response to the mental cripple at huff post who shat this:

“To all the Bush haters, Your life is not so bad under Bush and you have remained safe. Could any of you point to specific incident in your life that worsened under the Bush administration caused by a Bush Policy. As a conservative I would like to know.”

first, in what way did bill clinton lying about private sex acts affect the Republic or conservatives such that he was impeached?

the busheviks and the huff post guy are nickle and dimers. the business types who will steal and skim from you a drop of blood a day and tell you that it dosn’t really matter, until one day you are a quart low and you fall unconscious.

but specifics are the point i presume:

family related bushevik hits to the kuvasz family.

1. pension health benefit problems for chronically ill kuvasz dad and step mom, raising their doctor visit and drug co-payments due to changes in federal pension plan regulations.

2. kuvasz niece student loans cut due to federal funding reduced per capita. best opition? join army.

3. kuvasz military brother now in second combat deployment in middle east. he’s increasingly fucked up each time i see or talk to him.

4. kuvasz sister loses job at VA when VA administration per capita funding cut.

5. kuvasz own consulting customers driven out of business by bushevik “free-trade” policies that grant favored nation status to slave labor countries.

what the fuck else does that scum sucking pig want? that my dogs were fed poisoned dog food because the ag dept reduced inspections of rendering plants?

Oh, Thank You Jane, and Thank You Redd —

My (derivative) New Years Eve two cents . . .

As his annus horribilis draws to a close, Bush appears to have expended the turning points. Welcome to victory.

And Thank You, Sidney — those who can see both the over-arching narrative AND distill it’s stiletto essence are treasures of the realm . . .

We can only hope . . .

Could any of you point to specific incident in your life that worsened under the Bush administration caused by a Bush Policy. As a conservative I would like to know.

Where to begin . . .

A) Bush-vs-Gore. “If we count the votes, Bush will be irreparably harmed.” Democracy, Elections, the Constitution, and the SCOTUS are debased at a single stroke. But those are abstract — and concrete examples are requested.

B) 9/11. More than 50 — count ‘em, FIFTY — warnings given by the DCI to the POTUS; the DCI who’s “hair was on fire”; warnings given by every foreign intelligence service you can name; an August 6, 2001 PDB titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US”; and the POTUS does — nothing.

Nothing, except call off the dogs who are investigating his Saudi good buddy friends . . .

Beyond the ideology trumps competence that failed to do squat to prevent 9/11, BushCo has affected me in many ways — but none that are as tangible as that.

C) Turning Iraq into an Army destroying sink hole of BushCo corruption and a grad school for Islamic terrorism is the curse that will keep on giving for decades to come — but this is the poison fruit of the poison 9/11 tree.

D) Economic and tax policies that favor the uber-rich but screw everyone else (with the biggest pain reserved for future generations) while doing nothing to improve the economy is the most egregious of the domestic pocketbook crimes of BushCo — but a right wing whore masquerading as a conservative cannot see or feel that pain — I guess it goes with the territory.

you get my drift . . .

Mussolini got the trains to run on time: Hitler built the autobahnen (Interstates)… give the devils their due!

SteveAudio | Homepage | 12.31.05 – 6:27 pm |

Very thoughtful post on your homepage, Steve. My hope for the new year is that Jack and Julie Sixpack start hearingÂ…and actually believingÂ…those sound bites before the ‘06 elections.

First, I am hopeful that the new year will bring an indictment of Rove and he will have to leave the White House and Bush. And I also have hope that Abramoff will bring down a few congressmen with him – probably not as many as could be but hopefully enough that the public will take notice.
And the biggest hope of all is the end of the career of Tom Delay – however it happens – preferably with trials and jail time.

Then I hope the Dems, with some new leadership blood of Reid and Dean – will show some courage.

I am more hopeful tonight at the end of 2005 than I was last year at this time. But I am trying to keep my hopes from getting too high – I will never forget how I felt election night when I thought Kerry had won and then he lost.

Then, I want to add to the other commentors about how much I love this place, the wisdom and wit, and most of all the community.

I will have a prayer or two tonight. For Redd and Jane – may your voice continue into the new year – and may you and yours have health, wealth, and happiness.

And a special prayer for the good health, safety, and continued courage of Patrick Fitzgerald. I too am old enough to remember Watergate. And while I was not a political junkie then as now, I do remember that there were a few good men that managed to put an end to the overreaching power grab of Richard Nixon. May history repeat itself.

That poster you quote is the kind of person who would have said, “Hitler’s not so bad – at least he got the trains to run on time.”

Scarecrow,

“So even though the program went around the procedures in FISA, there was a judge involved at some point (why?)”

Not acting in his “official” capacity as judge is the way I read that, consulting.

There will be no impeachment.

There won’t even be public hearings.

There will be brief, closed hearings — security, don’tcha know — and nothing will come of them.

The Bush administration is now sitting on the largest collection of blackmail material the world has ever seen, and will use it to good effect.

Remember:

The Global War on Terra is only how you get all that lovely power.
The Global War on Terra is not why you want all that lovely power.

Wilson and Cozumel: re WaPo’s next installment: The disclosures just keep coming.

In addition to the disclosure than even top (read, political) DoJ attorneys had problems with the program, we have this:

“Officials have suggested that until that time, the N.S.A. was operating without clear probable cause guidelines. Concerns about the program expressed by national security officials, government lawyers and a judge prompted the Bush administration to suspend elements of the program briefly and revamp it in 2004.

“Even after the Justice Department audit, the N.S.A. still had the authority to choose its eavesdropping targets and did not have to get specific approval from Justice Department or other Bush administration officials before it began surveillance on an individual’s phone calls or e-mail messages, officials have said.”

So even though the program went around the procedures in FISA, there was a judge involved at some point (why?), which would explain the resignation of one of them. And contrary to the impression that the President specifically approved this only “about 30 times,” that’s not clear any more. He wasn’t approving individual applications, one at a time, after review of the guidelines. Since the NSA had the authority (and who else?) to approve specific targets and applications without going back for approval from anyone, we have no idea how many incidents there were. Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? With few guidelines and little or no oversight for each incident, there is no limit on the number of abuses (are you reading this Krauthamer?) that could have occurred, even if one accepts the position that some warrantless surveillance on some communicatins could have passed the still secret but reportedly “more stringent guidelines.”

Still no answer on whether any of the incidents were such that the NSA/DoJ could have complied with the warrant procedures of FISA.

Investigations of the NSA domestic spying and subsequent revelations lead to serious impeachment talk even in the deLay free house of reps. Cheney steps down for ‘health reasons’ before the Nov. elections.

Under pressure Bush withdraws 50% of the troops currently in Iraq, (the good news).
Iraq continues to deteriorate and fractionalize, (the bad news).
The billion dollars a week the US Taxpayer has been spending on the Iraq War finally sinks to only 2/3 of a billion per week. bushies hail this as sign that their strategy was right all along.

The average price of gas settles in around $3.25 a gallon. Many Americans are just happy it isn’t $4.25. what a great economy. (they continue to think)

The Colts win the super bowl.

The Bay City Rollers release a comeback album that tops all the charts. Rollerblade and Rollerskate stocks Soar.

Three be the things I shall never attain: Envy, content, and sufficient champagne. — Dorothy Parker

Wishing Jane, Redd, and faithful commenters here more envy, content, and champagne in the hours and days ahead.

I’m also wishing the Dems get their house in order before the end of January and hit the ground running as a single machine to take back this country. I need no crystal ball since I’ve already spent half my day working on refurbishing the new office space of a new Democratic organization here in my home town; there are many other Dems working on the same goals as I type this. Once the bubbles of the champagne have fizzled out and the headached subsides, let’s take names and kick some ass together in the year ahead.

I thank Jane and Redd for getting a jump start on this for us in 2005, for reminding us every day to be the loyal opposition. Look forward to much more of the same in 2006!

‘To all the Bush haters, Your life is not so bad under Bush and you have remained safe. Could any of you point to specific incident in your life that worsened under the Bush administration caused by a Bush Policy. As a conservative I would like to know.’

Hmmm. A specific incident caused by a Bush Policy? Ask Cindy Sheehan, or anyone who lives in New Orleans

To quote Scarecrow, FDL is an “Island of sanity in a sea of insanity” and am very thankful for its’ existence. Gosh, what a nightmare it has been since 2000 but as others have said, the pendulum is really starting to swing in our direction now and lets hope it continues.

Peace my friends..

I predict that by early summer the Republicans will be so desperate for an infusion of positive news that their fearless leadership opts to stick to what they do best, imagery and spin, by changing the party name to : The Lowering Taxes and Kickin Some Asses party. Red State America loves it but the Evangelical base, in light of the recent conviction of 34 GOP Congressmen dragged down in the Abramoff scandal, finally realize that murder, lies, hypocrisy, greed and bigotry (well maybe not the bigotry) are wrong and they vote Democrat in November. The Democrats take back both houses and Al Franken is voted in as Senator in Minnesota. John Conyers (with the assistance of Boxer and Franken) is able to draw up articles of impeachment but the lack of support from their own party renders the effort a failure and Bush remains in office (only to have a nervous breakdown in 07′ and have to resign, but that’s for next year). Kerry, Clinton, Obama, and Biden are on the fence but decide it’ll be safer to bury their heads between their legs, cross their fingers and hope that nobody notices that once again they’ve taken the cowardly route. It works!

In April, Karl Rove is found lying dead and in drag (lipstick smudged up to his nostrils) outside of Tom Delays K St. Townhouse, the last number dialed from his cellphone is traced to Bob Novak, who happens to have been seen just hours before Rove’s body is found toasting over martini’s at the Four Season’s with Bill Bennett, Jeff Gannon and Frank Luntz.

In an underground bunker in Northern Appalacahia Dick Cheney sits, cackling and counting stacks of $1,000 bills while he puffs on a Cuban Montechristo with an IV hooked to his wrist feeding morphine and Lipitor directly into his bloodstream.

Happy New Year FDL’ers. You guys are the best!

this midnight will be interesting: I live in the inner-city which is very sociable about celebrating the New Year: people fire off shotguns, strings of firecrackers and shoot bottle-rockets. This is all very noisy and I have 4 high-strung pitbulls living with me. My pitbabies race around inside the house barking wildly — I have to be the calm one, trying to chill them out.
I may be preoccupied at 12M so I wish you-all a happy and prosperous 2006, full of indictments and convictions for all the multitudinous malefactors…

Also from the NYT article….

“Several senior government officials say…”

“One government official said…”

“Officials with knowledge…”

“said the officials, who asked for anonymity …”

Bush is going to blow a gasket! LOL

Dayamit, Grampa, I just spewed my coffee all over the keyboard!

Happy New Year!!!!

Jane, I hate to say this, but it looks like somebody’s about to squeeze one of those “twin beacons” from the last thread. You just have to learn to read the signs.

Our federal elected representatives who call themselves “Democrats” will work on behalf of ALL AMERICANS, regardless of Political Party, WITH EVERY OUNCE OF THEIR STRENGTH AND UNTIL THEY ARE EXHAUSTED, RUN-DOWN, AND READY TO DROP, in an attempt to save that “piece of paper” known as the American Constitution, and what’s left of our democracy [EVEN IF it might cost their Party some seats in a future election].

At least, that’s my HOPE because that IS what it is going to take to turn our ship of state around. All those who are paid to represent their fellow American citizens in the federal Congress should savor this holiday, because it must last them for a year, at least. No special trip perks, no long weekends, no rest for the weary, IF you care to save our country. The people you represent got you this far, it’s your turn to carry the baton forward.

It’s that simple. It will be VERY, VERY hard work (moral character-wise AND physically). An attorney named Pat Fitzgerald can show you how it’s done… Your long, long idleness is at an end, Congress. Make sure you plan for reinforcements and work in relays to stay as fresh as possible. Then get cracking.

Time’s a wastin’ and 2006 has yet to arrive in these United States of America.

Happy New Year Europe, and especially, I hope, TO IRAQ AND IRAQIS.

That bunch of sleazeballs affected me personally by passing the bankruptcy bill as a payback to the financial interests. It will increase my income, at the expense of my mostly middle class clients. I see its effects every day of my life: the pain and misery inflicted on people whose principal sin was to be sick, divorced or to lose a job in a two job family.

this latest NYTimes story brings two strands of our story together: Comey is the straight-shooter who refused to certify Bush’s illegal NSA-wiretapping program as well as the straight-shooter who appointed the ultimate staright-shooter: our own Fitzy!

punaise- the blague, no? http://www.haloscan.com/commen…..19/#206409

George, Condi, and Harriet will be caught in a three-way.

RSS can be your friend…

ROFL! Wilson46201

Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 – The top deputy to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft refused two years ago to approve important parts of the secret program that allows domestic eavesdropping without warrants, prompting two leading White House aides to try to win the needed approval from Mr. Ashcroft himself while he was hospitalized after a gall bladder operation, according to officials knowledgeable about the episode.

http://nytimes.com/2006/01/01/…..r=homepage

More to chew on…

NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01…..nted=print
Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program
By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 – The top deputy to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft refused two years ago to approve important parts of the secret program that allows domestic eavesdropping without warrants, prompting two leading White House aides to try to win the needed approval from Mr. Ashcroft himself while he was hospitalized after a gall bladder operation, according to officials knowledgeable about the episode.

as to the person who asked what Bush policy touched my life. His not helping keep the fuel costs down cost my employer to not be able to pay for fuel and cost me my job. I have not had a good time finding another so far. I bet there are alot of people out there in my shoes.

That comment from that poor deluded idiot HuffPo reader shows what we have to fight against: the dreary and almost overpowering stench of complacency and selfishness.

I hope Abramoff is jailed, Cheney and Bush are driven from office, if not by impeachment, by an honest election, and that people finally listen to the pregressive beating of their own hearts.

Repost from end of last thread:

Happy New Year to all, and special thanks to Jane and Redd (so happy I found this blog) and all the brilliant commenters. Islands of sanity in a sea of insanity.

And for Zennurse, Mrs. K8 and others, all I can say is, bless you, and “this too will pass.”

Some of us lived through Watergate, Nixon’s coverups and the “White House horrors” of that era, and it’s all happening again. I’ve been waiting for the pendulum to start swinging back the other way; it was hard to see, but I think the pendulum slowed down beginning last summer on the roads to Crawford Texas, and came to a stop soon after; it’s swing back is now gaining momentum, and I don’t think it can be stopped. There are disclosures coming almost every day now, and they will keep coming.

Fasten your seat belts, not just for tonight but for all of 2006. We’re in for an exiciting, sometimes scary, but ultimately fulfilling year. Justice is coming. Trust in yourselves and the incredible powers you have been exercising. It’s a privilege to watch you all.

I will say that the repubs are in for a harder year than the last. Jack will spill the beans on how the party has gotten most of its money and, hopfully, the rest of America will be as disgusted as I am about how polotics are funded in this country. If I were to have one wish for the coming year, it is not the impeachment of Bush, but rather the drying up of the dirty money that funds the elections.

Karl Rove indicted. Fitz keeps the GJ open and keeps on working for higher ups

Tom Delay on trial, takes long enough to remove him from his position in the House.

Abramoff scandal snowballs and avalanches

Dems get off their butts and speak up and work hard to take the House and Senate. Make sure the American people know what they believe in and how they are different from Repubs. Set their own agenda, and don’t let Rove set it for them.

Somehow, the Senate actually has hearings on the NSA spy scandal and they take off despite Repubs in charge.

Touch screen voting machines outlawed. Only pen and paper can be used and hand count.

Truth comes to light. Americans wake up.

Some checks and balances come into play. Bush gets checked by the House and Senate in Nov 2006

2006: war of aggression expands to our attacking Iran and Syria.

God help us.

Between the Plame and Abramoff scandals, in ‘06 the Republicans will be able to field a full baseball team at the Federal Penitentiary, and still have a very deep bench.

Repeat from last thread:

A hearty toast to Jane and Redd for their scoops, insights, analyses, and best of all, their delicious and razor-sharp snark.

FDL is the place to be in 2006…

Happy new year!!!!!!