Fitzrootz!

Fitz. Yes. Alberto, please, no!

Great post. The sheer recklessness and ruinousness of this junta is simply staggering. It’s time for Dems to be SCREAMING every point noted here.

EPU’d from the last thread:

Byron York has his latest hit piece up on Kos:

http://article.nationalreview……xMjQ0OWIzN ThiNTQzOTY=

There was some discussion this weekend on how we need to engage York in political discourse … that we have to be careful not to be pejorative, and instead engage him in substantive political discussion. Yeah, right.

York and the other kool-aid drinkers are not interested in a substantive political discussion – because they would lose and they know it. So instead they trot out the same Rovian tactics. First, trivialize the discussion by personalizing it, and then smear the person making the argument. Rovian Political Tactics 101.

There are those who say we should do the same to them, but I would rather see us educate the MSM and voters on what they are doing, and somehow find a way to inoculate the voting public from this type of trash. Maybe Geoffrey Nunberg’s book ‘Talking Right’, could give us some ideas. Maybe it would help if we identified the three main Rovian tactics and called them out as soon as Drudge, Fox, NR trot them out. For example:
1. Using strawman
2. Personalizing and smearing
3. False Framing

(I don’t know if that’s the list – it’s just a suggestion.) Here is the link to Nunberg’s latest article:

http://www.rawstory.com/showar……latimes.c om%2Fnews%2Fopinion%2Fcommentary%2Fla-op-nunberg11jun11%2C0%2C2471282% 2Cprint.story%3Fcoll%3Dla-home-commentary

This is what we get for allowing an incoherent narcissistic messianic venal helium-head into the White House. He’s bankrupting the nation in every way possible — including the moral.

From an earlier thread: “Republican spokesmodel” mAnn Coulter, LOL!!!

Love it.

O/T – some years ago here in Vegas some cocktail waitresses sued over having to wear the spike heels and dental floss thong oufits.

Casinos’ response: help wanted ads thereafter for “beverage models” and “bevertainers.”

Jeesh.

Bobby G said at 8:38am:
He’s bankrupting the nation in every way possible %u2014 including the moral.

And he and his enablers have managed to convince a lot of people that taxes are bad, so we should have fewer and smaller taxes. Of course, those taxes apply mostly to people with seven or more digits to the left of the decimal in their annual income, but when has truth ever stopped them? The rest of us, whe ones who are rarely mentioned in stories about the economy or taxes and spending, we’re the ones who will be footing the bill (again).

the answer to restoring fiscal responsibility is to win back the Congress in November and cut off the money for the war.

It’s worth keeping in mind that Bush doesn’t decide what happens after he leaves office. Even long-term plans can be changed.

All we have to worry about is that he does office. In 2009, or sooner, if possible.

So if the Bill is no longer the one the House of Representatives has passed, is it still passed?

Bush speaks of an Iraq ready and able to defend itself. This capability is linked to our leaving. Why isn’t he asked to define this ability? Iraq is surrounded by nations sharing simmering hostilities towards each other. They’ve waged war against Iran. When will Iraq be permitted the type of military able to repulse another nation’s aggressions. Where will they get the money and who will they be permitted to buy weapons from? They’ll properly need advanced fighter jets, mechanized artillary, short range missiles, attack helicopters and all the advanced training and supplies to support it all. In short they need to be on par with their neighbors and Israel. When does Bush plan to enable and assist in this? And finally, how does he plan on keeping all that weaponry from being turned on American troops once it’s in Iraqi hands? The answer? Iraq isn’t getting such a military. Ever. And Bush’s professed desire they have the ability to defend themselves is nothing but a pack of gaudy lies. Lies the press and Congress won’t call him on.

steve duncan 10 -

Yep, You are dead-on. The entire Iraq invasion and occupation is an unmitigated disaster, one whose ill effects will linger for decades.

What we get with a Pretend President.

OT but not quite: CNN.com has a piece by Craig of Craigslist on Net neutrality with a link for comments. Go speak your piece at them; I did, with specific reference to the telcos currently being paid by users at both ends.

They had to get rid of that provision,the’ve been building the bases for awhile now.Strange world we live in,up is down,black is white,the clean air act,no child left behind,Big Brother loves us.

DMM: Big Brother does love us.

Support the Troops – bankrupt them.

Golly willikers! I sure do hope none of those 50,000 troops will be downwind of the fallout from our nuclear strike on Iran!

MaryAnn @4

Linky no worky
:(

My Senator, Harry Reid, Salon.com interview excerpt:

“…But I think we’ve come to learn that the intelligence community in America is run by one person — one person — and that’s the vice president. [Sen. Pat] Roberts, who is the supposed chair of that committee — I shouldn’t say “supposed chair”; he is the chair — he can’t do anything without [Dick Cheney].

Let me give you an example. Jay Rockefeller had surgery, and it turned out a lot worse than we expected. It was spinal surgery, so he could not do his job. He had to stay home. We had worked and struggled to have a three-member Democratic oversight committee to oversee NSA stuff. They could review everything. That was the deal that was made — Rockefeller, Levin and [Dianne] Feinstein. Rockefeller can’t be there, so I talk to [Senate Majority Leader Bill] Frist, and I say, “What we need to do is have somebody replace, at least on a temporary basis, and the fourth person in seniority is [Oregon Sen.] Ron Wyden.”

So Frist, he doesn’t do anything. After a couple of days, he says, “Talk to Pat Roberts, talk to Pat Roberts.” And a day or two later, Pat Roberts says, “The vice president doesn’t want me to do that.”

Everything is run through the vice president — everything.”
_____

Darth Cheney is running the administration. Bush is just the Play President.

I know. “That’s news?”

A “Discharge Destination=20″ would be way beneficial to the nation.

OT (but not a lot), in response to me-to-me’s question from the previous thread about examples of media bias…

The absolute best overview of this I’ve seen yet is a recent column by Peter Daou. Here’s a link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..14431.html

Among other things, Daou makes the crucial observation that whatever the particulars of the “balance” or lack thereof in a particular story, it’s not the story but the overall storyLINE that is important for shaping perceptions, and the MSM’s line follows the Bush administration’s words and images (or to use a term I learned on the C-SPAN broadcast of a YearlyKos panel, “framing”) to an incredible degree, day in and day out, for the past five years. I hope you’ll check Daou’s column out. I think it deserves even wider circulation than it’s gotten.

OK, I know this is a pipe dream but….

Instead of PAYING Halliburton for services in Iraq, we should make Halliburton and the oil companies PAY FOR the war. The result would be an increase the price of oil to its true cost to us. Bet we would have not problems finding alternative energy sources then.

If we question the sanity of building permanent bases in Iraq, they will surely say it’s treasonous.

Which calls to mind Patrick Henry’s speech:“…If this be treason, make the most of it.”

Good post, Jamie. I learned this weekend (over dinner table conversation) something about the chronic and ever worsening under funding of the Coast Guard; so much for Homeland security!

Sorry about the links in #4, you can see the language article on the front page of raw story (right side):

http://www.rawstory.com/
(title: ‘Linguist: Dems still talk like Losers’)

and you can see York’s hit piece on front page of the National Review Online.
http://www.nationalreview.com/

Jamie:

Thank you for bringing this topic front and center — it has gotten precious little attention from the media and from democrtas over the past 6 years.

The one thing I take exception to is

“Today we learn that Bush is planning on keeping a force of about 50,000 troops in Iraq for years to come”

Perhaps the exact number of troops we learned today. But in fact, we have known about this administration obsession with forward bases in the Middle East since at least September of 2000

The deep desire for such bases was clearly one of the underlying reasons we really invaded Iraq and no one – I repeat, no one – should be the least bit surprised by the news that 50,000 US troops will be staying on indefinitely. Americans sons and daughters will be dying in Iraq for many, many years to come. Anyone who has read the PNAC report could have told you this several years ago.

We have to stop treating this as some kind of new revelation. It is part and parcel of this admistration’s long standing agenda and it has been since the day George W Bush first took the oath of office.

“Darth Cheney is running the administration. Bush is just the Play President.”

don’t you find it interesting that on Google Earth where Cheney lives at the Naval Observatory is fuzzed out, while the White House is crystal clear?

This a repeat of W’s Crusade remark. The result of the disastrous combination of arrogance and ignorance is the inability to even recognize mistakes much less learn from them.

Thanks MaryAnn… Now how ’bout a coconut cream pie?

:-)

Todays math question: If there are to be 50,000 troops in Iraq for years to come, how long will it be before one member of the Bush family serves in the military?

vivian darkbloom 24-

It could not be more clear that Cheney is the Man Behind The Curtain.

Destination 20, puleeze!

OT

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WEATHE…..index.html

Well, Alberto jumps right outta’ the gate getting hurricane season off to a rousing start. Pray for the people on Florida’s northwest coast. Only the second full week of June and we’ve already got a hurricane making landfall on the U.S. coast.

And pray that New Orleans doesn’t get hit again this year-we (and they) have still got a long way to go.

Dr. Bong: Here ya go (hope this works)
http://holiday.allrecipes.com/AZ/CcntCrmPi.asp

jacqrat — you out there? Thanks for that link to School House Rock’s version of the Preamble; I’ll use it in our next session on Wednesday morning.

This morning we covered the Stamp Act, the Townshend Act, the Intolerable Acts, the Tea Act, the general anger of the colonists against taxation without representation and the the Boston Tea Party, the Declaration of Independence, what the Declaration meant and how these two key sentences in the Declaration form the underpinnings of the entirety of the Constitution….

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Phew…I’m actually hoarse after one hour straight of reading, discussing, answering rapid fire questions. And that’s only two kids. Thank goodness I don’t do this for a living. Thank goodness there are teachers who love to do this every day for our kids.

Wednesday’s syllabus: the Preamble and the First and Second Constitutional Congresses.

p.s. You know what the toughie was today, of all the questions? Mom, if the people can alter the government, why can’t they fire George Bush? Agh. Damned good question.

This story is actually a positive development. These plans have been in place from the outset, but have not been given anywhere near the publicity they demand.

The plan for a permanent force of this size has to be on the table before any realistic discussion of US policies regarding Iraq can take place.

It calls into question the whole notion of Iraqi sovereignity. It makes a lie out of Kerry’s withdrawal proposal and Murtha’s redeployment plan.

The US policy is not and never has been to stand down as the Iraqis stand up. The Iraqi army has not been permitted to acquire the materiel (armor, air power etc) necessary to defend their country from an outside invasion. They do not have the logistical capability to wage any kind of serious military action. The plan has always been for the US to be the primary defense resource against outside attack.

The profound failure of the media and the democrats to report on this is disturbing, but, now, at least it is out in the open.

Permanent basing in Iraq has been a long term goal of the neocon agenda. Yes, despite the disaster that is Iraq they are still around. What you are seeing in Iraq is not one but two policies that are evolving semi independently. The first is the ongoing military containment of Iraq’s undeclared civil war, also known as the quagmire. The second is the neocon dream of using Iraq as a platform to project American power throughout the region. Bush and company would like to transition from the first of these to the second, reducing troops (and casualties) but maintaining its strategic goals. The problem is that there is no indication that such a transition is possible. There are many reasons for this: the lack of sufficient troops to create security in Iraq, the weakness of the Iraqi government, the continuing unwillingness of the Bush Administration to recognize the basic realities on the ground (that there is a civil war going on and that the government is not a grouping of parties but an assembly of militias that have little to no interest or experience in governance).

As for the money, budget estimates are projecting an on budget deficit between $300-340 billion. Add to this the $94.5 billion of the supplemental and the $187 billion borrowed from the Social Security surplus and you have the ~$600 billion dollar off budget (or real) deficit for 2006. Maybe the reason that we’re in such trouble fiscally is that no one in government can add but more likely it is just that why should they care? It is other people’s money after all.

Oh yeah, just one more thing:

Mission Accomplished

mc 29 -

Global warming. Read Tim Flannery’s frightening and depressing scientific book “The Weather Makers”.

Pretend President “What?-Me-Worry?” can pretend all he wants that the causes and effects are not known and real and severe, but they’re here, and will only worsen.

Pacifica #20:

I couldn’t agree more. I remember reading that even before the current Iraq war, someone had calculated that the real retail price of gasoline, including all the U.S. spending to keep oil fields, sea lanes, etc. secure was understated by ~ $1.00/gallon. It’s gotta be ‘way more now, and headed higher. There are enormous distortions of resource allocation baked into our economy based on this factor alone.

Iraq WILL NOT be the No. 1 issue in upcoming elections because AIPAC will de-fund any candidate who dares call for a pullout.

The candidates will only talk about what AIPAC lets them talk about. That’s why nobody would go to the war protest in DC — Barney Frank said they were threatened by AIPAC.

al-Scooter 37 -

Economists call such things “externalities.” If ALL of the true costs associated with petrol fuels were honestly and explicitly accounted for (e.g., militarily defending the distribution lanes, environmental and health impacts, etc), hydrogen would be competitive in terms of BTU/quantity.

RE: Bush v. Cheney

Just beware of allowing Bush to go scot-free while Cheney takes all the political heat for being a baddie. The repukes have deliberately set things up that way so that they can push through their right-wing agenda while allowing Bush to get off the hook because “it’s not him it’s Cheney.” That’s crap. They’re all in it together.

BUSH is the one elected. BUSH is the one we need to hold accountable.

OT – Czech Republic 2, USA 0
near the end of the first half.

Rayne,

honey, you are going to have to take one for the team – will be sending some remedial students to your place on Weds. – don’t worry, you’ll recognize them from the drool, wide yellow streaks, and the name tags safety pinned to their shirts -

P. Roberts, A. Specter, and C. Levin (for balance, doncha know) for starters

feel free to use any and all means necessary to get them up to speed (believe corporal punishment is still allowed in Michigan)

thanks !

#10 Bionic –

What happened last week was a compromise was reached between the House and Senate Appropriation Committees. They both decided to scrap the provision banning permenant bases. There was some language differences between both versions. The Senate had it written to the point that the money in this bill could not go to fund the bases while the House was a more widespread ban on money from this and other bills being used to build bases.

Both houses are scheduled to take up this bill on their respective floors this week so it could still be delayed if another new amendment gets passed through in either house. Of course with Bush and his reckless signing of bills, he may well choose the one he likes best and sign it. We know he does have a history of exercising the constitutional unconstitutional misconduct.

Permanent bases were and are the foundation reason for the Iraq Invasion and the ongoing occupation; besides, taking over the oil fields. It is just that corporate media has been lying about it from the beginning. Their Storyline is “will this or that bring the troops home” when the Truth is “will this or that pacify Iraq so most of the troops can come home and the rest withdraw into the permanent bases”.

We are getting big rainfall here in the middle of the state already. Good for putting out all the brushfires. Longboat Key–not so good. They are getting hit with 70MPH winds.

From Rep. Paul Craig Roberts on antiwar.com

The neoconservatives could not care less about public opinion. Neocons are contemptuous of the American people. Leo Strauss taught neocons that it was their duty to deceive the clueless American people in order to implement their agenda of global domination. The neocons believe that they have a perfect right, even the obligation, to manipulate the public through propaganda and black ops in order to create acceptance and support for their wars of aggression.

hmm

link seems off so heres the article

“White House Moron…”
http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=9127

#35.
Maybe someday WE will be able to say mission accomplished. That would be the day every jackass in that think tank is in prison.

ccmask

Keep your head down and lease keep us posted. Could be a long summer for folks in Florida.

That’s why nobody would go to the war protest in DC

Except for the hundred thousand people who went.

O/T -

I was just reading over on AlterNet about how the NSA is now mining personal stuff over on MySpace.

LOL!!!

At YearlyKos some speaked brought up the utility of progressives networking via MySpace. Right. I recently opened a MySpace account just to be able to hawk the band I work with hin Vegas (Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns), and now I repeatedly get these fucking obvious emails from “Jenny” etc who so Wants To Be My Friend. Lovely fetching photo included on the link.

Get LOST. I’m 60 years old and married and Not Looking – and not naive. MySpace is a waste of time. Perfect place for the NSA.

Why is it that when you proof read something, you see what you thought you wrote, not what is actually there?

There are a plethora of people appearing on television advocating a pro war position, [we must stay the course, cannot cut and run, we cannot be perceived as being unpatriotic, etc.] both on the news and the cable talk shows, while the anti-war voices to be seen and heard on the airwaves are almost non-existent. Not even that liberal darling, Keith Olbermann, sees fit to allow the anti-war point of view to be seen and heard on Countdown, a program which Olbermann and others considers to be the antithesis of The O’Reilly Factor.

Superhighway sucking more jobs out of US:

http://www.humaneventsonline.c…..p?id=15497

Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn.

Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman’s Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation’s most modern highway straight into the heart of America. The Mexican trucks will cross border in FAST lanes, checked only electronically by the new “SENTRI” system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, their new Smart Port complex, a facility being built for Mexico at a cost of $3 million to the U.S. taxpayers in Kansas City.

As incredible as this plan may seem to some readers, the first Trans-Texas Corridor segment of the NAFTA Super Highway is ready to begin construction next year. Various U.S. government agencies, dozens of state agencies, and scores of private NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have been working behind the scenes to create the NAFTA Super Highway, despite the lack of comment on the plan by President Bush. The American public is largely asleep to this key piece of the coming “North American Union” that government planners in the new trilateral region of United States, Canada and Mexico are about to drive into reality.

BobbyG,
check out the Roots project page,not a total waste of time.And something has to wake up the younger genaration.
You make me want to post Fu*k the NSA on my page,I’m probally on a list already.
Do you think they don’t monitor us here?

From Think Progress:
“Libby trial about to heat up? ABC News notes that a conference with presiding Judge Walton, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and the Libby defense team is scheduled for this afternoon”
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/…..o-heat-up/

Followup to Jamie at 43 — The conference committee is supposed to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill, and then the result is voted on again by each house. This is another process that the Republicans have perverted in the cause of putting party power above country and democracy. In tradition and any rational interpretation of the conference process, this provision couldn’t possibly be removed; instead, some compromise language between the two versions would be decided.

But the GOP leadership doesn’t give a damn about what the people want, as expressed through their representatives. And the rules for the conference process don’t say they can’t do it (just like the rules to basketball don’t say you can’t use hand grenades), so the will of the people is subjugated to the will of the Republican leadership. Again.

tom — chicago at 54: Damn. I remember when the Mexican trucking thing was rammed through, but the focus then was on the safety implications, so I didn’t get the anti-union connection.

DMM 55 -

I’m sure we’re all monitored. And, those assholes can pull up my FBI background check and fingerprints (I was a bank officer from 2000 – 2005).

I will check the Roots project cite you mention.

Oh, and fuck the NSA.

Besides, I ratted myself out a long time ago:

http://www.bgladd.com/Total_In…..eport.html

These people do NOT want to end this war. It is MONEY MONEY MONEY for their buds in the M/I complex. The point is not to WIN war, or find OMDs or democracy or anything but find a way to funnel tax dollars into the the M/I complex.

There is no intention of leaving or wining, but SPENDING… tax dollars spend on the military MOSTLY go to corporations and in the smallest percentage to military pay and benefits. Get it? PEOPLE MAKING MONEY FROM WAR. simple as that.

It is staggering to observe Dubya’s congressional lackies going so far to prove Osama Bin Ladin’s fears and warnings to islamic nations warranted.

Lmao,
Soooo, let’s build a useless wall to keep Les Immigres out,and then build an express lane through the country.BRILLIANT!!!

Tom in chitown 38

In a nutshell, that describes how broken our govt is. Apologies the women here, but the only issue at hand for America is our ME policy. The question is this: In a room with AIPAC lobbyists, how much difference is there between a Democratic and a Republican Senator?

Answer: Not a fvcking bit.

Off topic, via Atrios:

The Washington Post editorial board gets net neutrality entirely wrong, and even includes the idiotic heart monitor reference.

BobbyG,
I’ll get ya the URL
http://www.myspace.com/rootsproject
I’m the first friend on the list,see ya around.

JIm @ 44

You are absolutely right. Permanant bases, a “footprint in the heart of the Middle East” was always the real rationale for the war. If Bush gets his bases, then the mission WILL be accomplished.

Of course, it will turn out in the long run to be a bigger disaster than the war itself, if such a thing is possible.

And too many Democrats will go along lest they be considered weak on defense. We are well and truly screwed. In my darker moments I think that the only thing that will save us is a general economic collapse, like the depression, which willfinally wake people up to the reality of the dangers of empire.

History had proven over and over that empire kills democracy, and destroys itself in the end.

Bobby G – if it’s any consolation, I’d guess that 95% of the stuff that the myspace.com spies have to sit through is on the order of what my 13 year old daughter writes/receives. This attempted approximation of it falls way short because my acronymology is not up to par.

(and I’m like OMG, did you see what Jasmine was wearing today? and she was all “yeah, but Adam doesn’t like you anyway” and then I was like “whatever”…oops, pir, brb)

The actual version would have much fewer vowels.

BobbyG

Since this is a public forum, anyone on the planet is free to monitor FDL. Personally, I think if a few NSA-type folks spend some small amount time monitoring FDL, well, they’ll be all the better because of it. They’ll certainly be better informed on the Plame case than most citizens.

Ed N Sted 68 -

That is an excellent point. LOL!

Good point,Ed n Sted

MaryAnn

I read the Byron York piece at the link you priveded and, considering the source, I didn’t think it was too bad at all.

For example the quote from Kos wherein Kos campares the views of militant Ilsamic extremeists on issues like gay rights, women’s rights, religion in schools, etc. was ful and fair quote and I’m glad to see it out there.

That dark, ominous “now the work of looggers is going to be scrutinized” is bad news for me B/C i can’t typw worth a damn and am always in too much of a rush to proofread, so I can be held up to a lot of ridicule. But I am also a big girl, and am capable of taking responsibilty for for proofreading (even if that means fewer or shorter posts)if I can’t handle the critism.

We WANT our message to get out.. We WANT is reported in the MSM. We WANT people, regular people, people who may not own a computer (not everyone is as fortunate as we are) to be talking about the things we post.

We WANT them to be exposed to our ideas.

Once again, I have no truck with Byron York, but on balance that article did our cause a lot more good than harm. He IS ENGAGING US ON SUBSTANCE, though I don’t think he meant to.

Unlike Democratic campaign consultants and the hacks at the DCCC, our ideas are fresh and challenge people to think. York may or may not have inteded to, but he just put out some progressive ideas to his readership. And , oh frabdishjoy, he chose the “right wings conservative christains have more in common with right wing conservative islamisats than they do with regular amercains” and “the guys in power now wet their pants with fear everytime Osama says. boo” as the points to pass on?

I’m cool with that.

to keep bases in iraq’s a pipe dream — it’s rove’s idea: he wants the republican candidate to be able to say in 2008 that we must vote for her because she needs to finish the job — but rove, like all washingtonians, knows nothing about economics — by then all our leaders will be living on what america’s paymasters deign to give them

“Now let’s think back to the days following the September 11th attacks and when the number one question in America was “why do they hate us”? During that time numerous answers were given, including the bogus answer by Bush that “they hate us for our freedoms”. The only real truthful answer to that question is given by Richard Clarke,”

1. Bingo. Right on target, Jamie. If one studies the many writings/speeches of Bin Laden, you’ll NOT find him complaining about “capitalism”, or “Jeffersonion democracy”. [by contrast, you could find tons of literature from the old Soviet Union era crtiqueing such institutions]

Bush is either incredibly stupid about bin Laden, or an incredible liar. I’m not sure which one it is…but either choice is very bad.
Ghostman

lotus says:

June 10th, 2006 at 7:20 am

Do “Lobster” and “Lobstergirl” live in the same shell?

No….I am unacquainted with this other crustacean…..

perception problem.

Permanent bases – > enduring bases

problem solved… right?

Oh, wait – stupid reality based crowd clamoring for their precious reality.

Sorry to start out with a criticism but let’s drop once and for all the “richest nation in the world” moniker. That is not Uncle Sam anymore. We’re flat broke. So how then do we remain the “richest nation in the world”? The sad truth is that most Americans don’t realize this. It would be a helluva political weapon if we chose to use it.

Next, liberals have known about the permanent bases for at least two years. Only in the last two months have a few reports filtered into the MSM. We shipped over self-propelled artillary there long ago to set up Vietnam-style firebases. If so much as a sparrow moves within the kill zone, it will rain metal.

Well, I’ve started and stopped about three posts today – damn it’s hard to work and keep up!

I heard this morning on Washington Journal that John Boehner (hang some long ears on him and he IS Deputy Dawg – thanks lotus!) was going to rekindle the Iraq debate that backfired on them, when, instead of embarrassing the Dems, their hastily-drafted “immediate deployment out” bill turned into a Murtha-bashing event that made the GOP look like the cheap-shot bastards they are. Boehner wants another swing at the ball, this time hoping for a home run.

What this says to me is that the level of politics that is infused into any debate on the war is what is helping to make such a mess of it. Boehner, for example, would apparently prefer to design an event for the sole purpose of providing election-year fodder for GOP House and Senate members, who have nothing else to run on at home, rather than gather whatever brain power can be rustled up in DC to find ways to extricate us from this debacle. And when the usual scare and embarrass tactics rear their ugly heads again, I think the Dems HAVE TO call them on it; they have to refuse to accept the role the GOP has assigned to us.

At a minimum, one thing they should immediately do is stop with the fiction that this is emergency spending. It is clearly an integral part of our budget, and as such, should be included in it, not set off to the side where it can be conveniently ignored whenever this administration wants to make rosy economic forecasts. It is sucking the life out of us, contrary to what we are being told.

Next, they need to get the contracting aspect of military spending under immediate oversight that is not subject to overrule by those who created this gravy train. We should not be paying out billions of dollars to contractors who can’t substantiate where the money they are being paid has been spent. I have a feeling there is enough fat in the contracting end of this to restore and maintain our existing base infrastructure.

Finally, the Dems have to refuse to allow the GOP to claim that their catch phrases and slogans represent anything resembling a real policy. We have to demand that they explain what “doing whatever it takes” actually means, and then demand to know how they plan to pay for it.

Grrr.

The point to the bases is that whatever political entity emerges in Iraq will have to deal with their existance, which means that we will get to influence who gets the contracts to “develop” the oil fields. Texaco, British Petroleum? You betcha!

gleex 75

Permanent bases – > enduring bases

Operation Enduring Free-base
No Pryor Convictions required

Brian Jackson 76 -

We are the “richest nation in the world” in the same manner in which Enron was touted as the “7th largest U.S. corporation.”

Yeah, I would say that throwing a World Cup soccer score into a blog like this is way off topic – and a large spoiler. Please do not do this.

As to the US “footprint” in Iraq. Well, if anyone with any history can recall–this excludes the dry-drunk in chief, it was the US presence in Saudi Arabia that was one of Bin Laden’s prime drivers for his actions.

I wonder if the US presence in the Shiite heartland will produce some new Shiite Bin Ladens?

-GSD

Also, Moqtada Al Sadrs Mahdi Army engaged the British this weekend in southern Iraq…..Bin Laden meet Al Sadr.

oops – sorry ’bout the soccer spoiler – didn’t think about that. bad form.

“I wonder if the US presence in the Shiite heartland will produce some new Shiite Bin Ladens?”

Well GSD, maybe. But here’s what it IS doing: while al queda actually has a very small presence in Iraq, those present are receiving the finest on-the-job training in terror tactics one can receive.

They are learning how to go up against the world’s finest military, in an environment where the military also owns the skies, and where they are out-manned and out-gunned. They’ve learned how to set up intel, recon, scouting, bomb-making, target selection, personnel replacement, and group security. All in a very hostile environment.

Perhaps only 1000 al queda are in Iraq? Picture this: just 10% of these skilled terrorists migrate onto US soil. Imagine the havoc just 100 al queda types can wreak here stateside. Not good.
Ghostman

My wife just sent me this:
_____

THREE THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:

1. COWS
2. THE CONSTITUTION, and
3. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

COWS
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give them all a cow.

THE CONSTITUTION
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don’t we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it’s worked for over 200 years and we’re not using it anymore.

TEN COMMANDMENTS
The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse…….
You cannot post “Thou Shalt Not Steal,” “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery” and “Thou Shall Not Lie” in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians – it creates a hostile work environment.

BobbyG,
That is fucking great!I’ll be passing that on

BobbyG @ 6:

In the blackwhite world, such rank publicity whores are converted to tastefully lit spokesmodels for the New Perfect Surreality…Hawking their tainted ideologies as indispensable curatives and telling feel-good falsehoods to a public whose rose-colored looking glass has an past due date with a hammer.

‘May the Lord take a likin’ to your oil, and blow you up real good soon’

;>)

The issue of bringing the troops home and no permaentn bases in Iraq should be at the top of the Democratic agenda this fall. This action by repugs hands us the issue.

like many of you did, I just got an Email from Senator John Kerry asking me to please call my two Senators to support US withdrawal from Iraq by the end of this year. The Senate is going to be discussing Iraq this afternoon. Kerry enclosed the handy clickable map showing your Senators phone numbers http://www.johnkerry.com/actio…..e.20060612

darkblack –

I’ve been trying to digest the Dtournement info since yesterday — how do you see it having a useful function in the political world?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detournement

http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/detourn.htm

He IS ENGAGING US ON SUBSTANCE, though I don’t think he meant to.

No he doesn’t mean to. One of the things that I think has disappointed J&M is that CtG did not ignite controversy. If YKos is what it takes, well that’s all to the good.

It could turn into an entertaining period of dueling quotes. Kevin Drum likes this one from Delay, re Columbine:

Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare, the teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth control pills.

I don’t talk much with the defense contractors I used to work with, but I get the feeling that they’re a lot less busy these days. The R and D side of military funding is slowly being drained into the war, as well. I imagine that things that have immediate applicability to the war in Iraq or Afghanistan are well funded, but anything more long term is going to take a back seat right now.

The other problem that I see is related to what Jamie is writing about. If there are going to be 50,000 troops in Iraq for the forseeable future, facing what appears to be an insurgency that cannot be ended by American soldiers, what is that going to do to recruiting? Most kids smart enough to be eligible for the service ought to be able to recognize that they stand a good to excellent chance of spending a tour in Iraq during their first term of service. Any who are willing to talk to folks who’ve been in the service know that’s closer to “excellent”. There won’t be many recruits in the next few years who are in the service so they can pay for their college education. That means less brainpower in the military, and that’s not good. Modern weapons require minds that can comprehend them.

This is a disaster long term for the armed forces, or at least the ground component. In the end, it may be as bad as Vietnam.

Anne – That would be the same John Boehner that was recently in E’ville, raising campaign $$ for John Hostettler – the sole Republican (I think) to vote against the war.

OTOH, Boehner was able to get some good old fashioned Republican issues addressed on the trip. He was flown in gratis on a corporate jet and spent the bulk of his trip golfing at the newish Victoria whatevertheycallit golf course.

*s*

BTW – *ilson, I think I saw your Reps name listed on the brief filed in the ACLU/NSA suit on behalf of a chunk of members of Congress.

punaise at 79

Operation Enduring Free-base
No Pryor Convictions required

lol. It’s becoming a ‘Fro fire zone in here.

*ilson46201
Clickable map doesn’t work for Arizona….Oh thats right, I don’t have representation, only Kyl and McCain.

ljt 56, msnbc has more details on today’s pre-trial status hearing. According to them, Judge Walton’s priorities for today are:

1) The status of discovery.

2) Whether additional motions (other than motions already filed in other preliminary hearings) will be filed.

3) Whether the government will be asserting any claims of executive privilege.

4) Whether the parties believe it is necessary to issue early returnable trial subpoenas to resolve anticipated claims of testimonial privilege.

Should be interesting.

Mary: it’s nice to have a Congresscritter who votes right. This weekend hecklers at the Gay Pride Parade were shouting that gays were going to hell. Ms.Carson spoke at the Pride Event, saying if gays were going to hell — well, pull up a chair for her too — she’d be right there too … she wanted to be with friends!

O/Tm but a very interesting read. A Lamont supporter’s encounter with Lieberman in CT.
http://www.laresistance.us/blo…..azeboy/309

Speaking of fiscal criminality irresponsibility, see this from ThinkProgress:

SOURCE: Obscure Trade Settlement Could Create $480 Million Slush Fund for White House

The gist of it seems to be that the administration might be able to keep Congress out of the loop as to how money from the Canadadian timber settlement will be dispersed. The details, however, seem sketchy and somewhat speculative.

Great article about the Lamont race at #98!

There’s more about Lamont in this Yearly Kos wrap-up at MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13190686/
“At blog-fest, it’s not politics as usual”

If the hecklers and the other Christians for Hatred are going to heaven, then in the words of Hatuey, “I would prefer to go to Hell”

Mary – is it a measure of how strongly the GOP wants to hold onto the House that the leadership would hold its nose and raise money for someone who deviated from the program?

If we had a majority in the Senate, would we be doing the same thing with Lieberman, rather than risk the loss of a seat by putting up a newcomer?

Food for thought, I guess.

hmmmmm….raw story:

In a striking post, AdAge magazine, a leading magazine for the advertising community, has asked Godless author Ann Coulter to kill herself, RAW STORY has discovered.

Buried in the article, a humorous attack on the mainstream media, was the following quote.

“Would it kill you, ‘Godless’ author Ann Coulter, to do us all a favor and kill yourself? (Oh, well, yeah, I guess it would kill you.)

We’re two hours past the start time. Any word on the Libby hearing? Do we even know if Fitz was there?

mui,
good read,thanks.

OT – California Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is reported to be shilling for Republican friends Clint Eastwood & Peter Uberroth and other Pebble Beach Company power players by interferring with the California Coastal Commission public hearing on Wednesday where a vote is expected on the fate of the endangered Del Monte Forest old growth towering Monterey Pines.

The hardworking Coastal Commission staff is opposed to the plan and this has sparked some desperation for PBC and they tapped their old pal Speaker Nunez to save their sorry asses.

Our hapless California Party raised nearly $2 million dollars during a recent Spring fundraiser in Pebble Beach with the help of ATT when lobbyists and business executives paid between $10,000 and $45,000 for a weekend outing with Democratic state lawmakers.

Thanks for indulging this OT but the story was breaking on the eve of YKos and the only thing that pissed me off more was having to cancel the long awaited weekend with my fellow firepups to track this story.

Have some great links but await Jane or Christy’s ok before posting anymore OT. Thanks everyone!

Link below to Josh’s/TPM list of Senators and Net Neutrality – so very disappointed to see my prom date: Russ Feingold in the “finger in the wind” category

so I sent him a note. There is no easier way for him to vaporize his own growing base than to screw us on this – maybe it’s a case of gamemanship with the caucus, maybe his strong stance for net neutality isn’t yet known to Josh’s folks, but he better get on it

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/net-neutrality.php

You know what political ad I want to see this year? One that is something like this: A 500lb bomb blowing up but with the cost of that expensive item written on the screen (written in order to still reach those who use mute buttons). Follow this with an image and price tag of what that money could have done here for such things as education, infrastructure, funding for VA hospitals and Medicare, etc. You know, all those useless social spending issues. Maybe toss in a few screens of the future shortfalls in programs that people depend on like Medicare, or a fwe economic facts like the size of the deficit and the associated drop in the value of the dollar.

I’d really like to see ads discussing/illustrating the cost of the war in terms of how it will impact Social Security and Medicare, and point out clearly and loudly that the war has eroded, if not eliminated, the ability of the government to fund the basis for the average American’s retirement. Think that will get people’s attention?

For too long the cost of this war has been the item left out of discussion, like it is somehow unseamly to talk about this very real issue. And maybe if we frame it in terms of how it affects each and every American both now and in the future people might begin to see that this “adventure” has a huge price for the vast majority of us. Somehow I don’t think the average working American would willingly flush the Social Security and Medicare portions of their retirements.

To me the expense of the war has been all about enriching those who profit from this Forever War, with the added neocon benefit of destroying the ability of the government to uphold the remains of the New Deal and the Great Society. Just like they always planned to.

#92-I think “they” prefer a less intelligent military. Anyway a permanent base won’t be a recruiting problem because it is only meant to be a black hole for the Haliburton supply lines and a recurring revenue stream for Dick.

Looking at that long list of Senators under “No
Information,” I have to wonder if they even know what Net Neutrality is.

Opportunities for providing information abound.

Court Expands Permissability of DNA Tests
Death Row Inmate Can Use Evidence to Appeal Conviction

Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 12, 2006; 2:05 PM

The Supreme Court today expanded the ability of death row inmates to challenge their convictions in federal courts based on DNA evidence produced long after their trials.

The 5-3 ruling was the first by the high court to consider post-conviction appeals in the context of the evidentiary revolution produced by the new technology of DNA analysis…
_____

The 3 “no” votes? Roberts, Scalia, Thomas. Alito would surely have been a 4th but did not vote because the case was heard prior to his coming to the Court. Bush gets to appoint one more, we got deep shit for decades.

Jamie – This great post garnered top billing at the Daou Report – congrats.

cbl (42) — Carl is definitely on my list this week. I promise. I have more subjects to educated him on than the Constitution. Like Net Neutrality and Crashing the Gate.

And I will definitely need to establish a Drinking Liberally branch here because I will damned well need to drink liberally after a stint educating a Senator…

Great article at 98.

Makes me wonder if there is somewhere online where we can keep track of Lieberman’s speaking engagements. Does anyone know?

I would love to show up and politely ask him a few questions about his party affiliation.

No new post since 8:29. Help I’m going into withdrawals!

Here is an article in the Oregonian (via corpwatch) on the “enduring bases” and the world’s largest embassy being built in Iraq.

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13538

They are probably still recuperating from their Yearly Kos hangovers! LOL

ck @ 90:

Detournement…how do you see it having a useful function in the political world?

Caution: Excessively wordy and theoretical ;>)

I see it (from the arts/communications perspective) as a reclamation of objective context by forcing the induction of critical thinking within the individual…They are challenged to compare their subjectively held beliefs to the inverse burlesque created of same. The level of cognitive dissonance thus created and discharged affects the belief structure in ways subtle and broad.

With this approach, one sees clear dividing lines emerge between those ‘well-meaning’ types who have merely been duped and wish to reclaim their moral equilibrium, the wilfully criminal who seek to profit from the moral vacuum created by global divisiveness, and the genuinely lost who have neither the capacity to entertain realpolitik concepts or the sense of individual free will and responsibility, who must thus enthrall themselves to those whom they perceive to be more powerful as de facto slaves to feel ’safe’. (We all know one of those, don’t we? ;>) )

From an applied political perspective, it means heightening the ambiguities and contradictions inherent within all of one’s opponents efforts to the point where even the most credulous can see them and thus reject their viability. Humor is fundamental to this approach, IMO.

Neoconservatives have studiously debased language for decades so that words with formerly unambiguous meanings (such as ‘liberalism’, for example) become cheap labels, all-purpose ‘Post-It notes’ used to demean their opposition in an ad hominem fashion. By doing so they, wittingly or unwittingly, practise a form of detournement…In this case, recontextualising an argument to their favor by using linguistic sleight of hand.

The ‘Americanised’ usage of detournement, ‘culture jamming’, seeks to fold back the conventional mass media message upon itself by corrupting the positive concepts of commercialism and (in Wikipedia’s words) ‘the vectors of corporate image’. Such a concept could certainly be used against a ‘culture of corruption’, no?
All that blah blah being said, detournement is but one small component of an overall strategy…Vision, goals, moral clarity and many other concepts play an equal or greater part, also.

To sum up: Crashing your opponents message so that they are forced to rethink on the defensive allows you space to put forward your own message, loudly and repeatedly.

A relentless approach to this two-pronged attack portends success in message penetration…And keep the crowd smiling.

KitE–

I agree that the cost of the war can be a winning issue if played correctly. Better to personalize it for the average taxpayer, IMO,
such as in a “Harry and Louise” commercial (wouldn’t it be great to find the same actors?) where a couple are noting the cost for their ailing parents of the war so far and wondering if there aren’t bettter ways to spend our money. “It would be more than worth it,” they could say, if we were really confronting terrorism, but I’m afraid all we’re dong with our involvement there is creating more terrorists.”

One of the best moments in Fahrenheit 911 was the clip from the Defense contractor saying in a presentation something like “There will be plenty of money in this war for ALL of us.” That should be played and re-played throughout the election.

I’m sure the answer to this is buried in some thread, but have there been any sightings or news on the Libby hearing today?

tom %u2014 chicago says:
June 12th, 2006 at 10:03 am

NAFTA = no accolades for this administration (?)

i see Watertiger is going to be doing a once a week roundup of the leftie blogs. Should be cool. That lady is da snark.

http://derenegade.blogspot.com/
A quick note to let you rockin’ guys and gals know that I’ve been asked by the lovely ladies at Firedoglake to write a weekly round-up of the numerous snarkalicious sites in the left blogosphere.

So if you don’t have time to read ‘em all, swing by FDL on Sunday afternoons and catch up!

when it says “Libby, Libby, Libby on the label” you know some journalists will be at the Court’s table ! It has been quiescent on that front today so far…

Today’s We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us article:

http://tinyurl.com/sxshl

Hat tip to TPMuckraker.

Slightly OT but worth the quick read and worth watching this court case. The ACLU has asked a US District judge here in Detroit to “abolish the Bush administration’s program of intercepting international phone calls in its fight against terrorism”.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs…..6606120387

Bustedknukles,
Props,higher praise one could not ask for.Two thumbs up!

*ilson46201 says:
June 12th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
when it says “Libby, Libby, Libby on the label” you know some journalists will be at the Court’s table ! It has been quiescent on that front today so far%u2026
———————————————————-
You would think. But we’re now three hours after the hearing was supposed to start, and I haven’t seen anything about it yet. I don’t even know if Fitz is in the building.

Busted #122:

Outstanding! Can’t wait…!

al-Scooter…

That link, sounds like Moran is going to “Jefferson” us.

Sun-Gazette subheading, WTF?

“Reaching the most affluent audience in the Washington D.C. metro area”

Is that aimed at the readers or the advertisers?

The state of our economy is strong.

-The Decider

*Dow 10,794.34 Down 97.58

I’ve got to go,got quarterly taxes to do.Considering the post,thats not really off topic,is it?

Rayne – while you’re at it, mention to him that Lindsey Graham is not his best pal and that being the Democratic face to the Republican talking point that we don’t need no stinking habeas corpus and trials cuz we’re The United State — bad plan.

http://www.slate.com/id/2136422/
Invisible men.
No one disputes that the real criminals at Guantanamo should be brought to justice. But now we have proof that most of the prisoners are guilty only of bad luck and that we are casually destroying their lives.. . .
Most detainees are being held for the crime of having “associated” with the Taliban or al-Qaida—often in the most attenuated way, including having known or lived with people assumed to be Taliban, or worked for charities with some ties to al-Qaida. Some had “combat” experience that seems to have consisted solely of being hit by U.S. bombs. Most were not picked up by U.S. forces but handed over to our military by Afghan warlords in exchange for enormous bounties and political payback.. . .
The only real justification for the continued disgrace that is Guantanamo is that the government refuses to admit it’s made a mistake. Releasing hundreds of prisoners after holding them for four years without charges would be big news. . . .Better to drain the camp slowly, releasing handfuls of prisoners at a time. Last week, and with little fanfare, seven more detainees were let go. . . . . Are these men who are quietly released the “best of the worst”? No. According to the National Journal one detainee, an Australian fundamentalist Muslim, admitted to training several of the 9/11 hijackers and intended to hijack a plane himself. . . . . A Briton said to have targeted 33 Jewish organizations in New York City is similarly gone. Neither faces charges at home.
Guantanamo represents a spectacular failure of every branch of government. Congress is willing to pass a bill stripping courts of habeas-corpus jurisdiction for detainees but unwilling to probe what happens to them.
BTW – thank you Senator Levin for being Graham’s patsy on this one.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Rasul v. Bush conferred seemingly theoretical rights enforceable in theoretical courtrooms. The right to challenge a government detention is older than this country and yet Guantanamo grinds on.
It grinds on because the Bush administration gets exactly what it pays for in that lease: Guantanamo is a not-place. It’s neither America nor Cuba. It is peopled by people without names who face no charges. Non-people facing non-trials to defend non-charges are not a story.

GSD-
I pilfered this from a comment at DKos:

Dow Jones Industrial Average

1/20/93 – 3,241.95
1/20/01 – 10,587.59
6/12/06 – 10,892.00

The first date is the day Bill Clinton became President. The second date is the day George W. Bush became President. The third date is today.

Big round of applause for the “CEO President”. I’m sorry, I mean the “MBA President”. Wait. That’s wrong. I mean the “Reformer With Results”.

When will people wake up and realize that this idiot puppet isn’t qualified to work the fry machine at Burger King?

STOP THE PRESSES!!!!!

OMG!!!

FIRST PICS OF BRAD AND WHATSERNAMES BABY!!!!
http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/

puhlease God help us.
Next missing white woman update in 3..2..1..

Frank Probst – thanks for answering my 12:21 question.

Man the cornerites at the National Review seem a little obsessed with the DailyKos convention.

I smell fear. Nice.

I need a Fitz fix.

Why no “breaking news” alerts from any of the MSM?

Is some epic battle still raging on in Judge Walton’s court room?

Inquiring minds want to know,

Cathy,

Bernanke doesn’t even make the move on the rates until the end of the month…
Gonna be a looong month for the stocks.

As Jim Cramer said of Bush–”He’s a CEO president, but he’s like the CEO of Enron”.

-GSD

Primordial #129:

Advertisers. They do most of the bill-paying.

As for Moran, sure, I’d crash the gate so that he could re-distribute the graft appropriations to his friends instead of his opponents’.

OT: sorry if a repeat, but I had to share

“Magazine asks Coulter to Kill herself” at rawstory.com

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2….._0612.html

Mwahahaha!

Well didn’t the Harvard Business School just accept Bush’s 26 year old advisor who didn’t have a college degree? Looks like Bush’s MBA alma mater really can’t stand up to some serious scrutiny.

Ooze at 129, the Sun-Gazette is free and goes to everybody.

Funny how the strikethrough appears in Preview but not in the actual comment when posted. Way funnier than me trying to be clever. Note to self: keep it short, play it straight, try not to look like a fool next time.

bustednuckles @ 12:23pm

i see Watertiger is going to be doing a once a week roundup of the leftie blogs. Should be cool. That lady is da snark.

I think that is a great idea! And if I can put in my 2 cents: It would be great if it were written for a broader audience who may not be as familiar with all of the inside jokes and background. It should be marketed to every MSM outlet in the country. Also, add the ability for people to subscribe to an email version and provide an easy way to send invitations to people to subscribe.

I think that the content in the blogosphere is important enough that it should be available to every person in this country, regardless of whether they have the time, interest, or ability to follow the blogosphere or not.

I can already imagine working on some of my moderate Republican “friends” to subscribe and read it for a few weeks. You know, the ones who get their info from the MSM who stare at you blankly when you ask them how they can still be a Republican considering what their party has come to represent!

Jeebus , What a maroon.

Democrat Vows to “Earmark the Shit” Out of Approps Gig

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000881.php

Order setting the status conf in Libby:

In light of the production ordered by the Court in response to the discovery motions filed by the defendant, and in order for the parties to appraise the Court of the status of the discovery process, it is hereby this 2nd day of June, 2006,
ORDERED that the parties shall appear for a status conference on June 12, 2006, at 1:30
p.m., in Courtroom 5 at the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, 333 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. It is further
ORDERED that the parties shall be prepared to discuss, among other things, (1) the status of discovery; (2) whether additional motions (other than motions in limine) will be filed;
(3) whether the government will be asserting any claims of executive privilege; and (4) whether the parties believe it is necessary to issue early returnable trial subpoenas to resolve anticipated claims of testimonial privilege.

With the privilege issues, there may be some closed door portions. The first round of the CIA production should have been proffered now and they were supposed to make their privilege claims with each batch. Testimonial privilege – that could get interesting, but I would expect that the interesting parts would be under seal in some fashion at this point until the court rules on the privilege issues.

Anyone have a link to a story re a federal judge shot in the courthouse in Nevada yet?

WTH is Moran thinking?

Stupid comment, bad sentiment.

Moran is a Moron.

-GSD

ccmask @12:56pm:
from cnn.com (not as bad as you maybe thought)

RENO, Nevada (AP) — A family court judge was shot Monday at the Washoe County courthouse, and police were searching the building and nearby parking garages for a sniper.

Judge Chuck Weller was shot in the chest while he stood near a window on the third floor of the Mills B. Lane Justice Center about 11:15 a.m. local time, police said. He was rushed by ambulance to Washoe Medical Center, Reno police spokesman Steve Frady said.

Police do not know if the shots were fired inside the courthouse or if they came from outside, Frady said.

cc, here ya go:

http://www.krnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5019609

Thanks for that info at #133 cathy–I’ve been wishing that more people would publish the graphs of Bush’s years in office at the Dow. Since we have stocks, I keep track, and I can tell you it’s done CR*P since the Decider took over (and will continue to do so til he’s gone)!

ccmask says
June 12th, 2006 at 12:56 pm

Please try this:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/…..index.html

That quote by Moron is the quote now….

Imagine the ads that are getting written as we read.

“Look at what the Democrat Liberals in Congress want to do with YOUR money”…

That is the one of the most stupid things I have ever heard a politican say.

-GSD

New thread

OT but important — this EPU’d exchange from last thread:

Margaret said:

“… The thing that bothers me about the ability to work with and interact with other Democrats through the blogs is that I am often left feeling that, although I share the attitudes and concerns of what you all call [’]progressives,[’] I am left out of true participation in the process. My thoughts are either ignored, or misunderstood. It may be a generational thing, and maybe, I should just leave off commenting and let the rest of you do your thing the way you think it should be done. But, so much of the thinking, sometimes, is too much on the surface, getting into petty analysis of things that don’t matter, and the bigger picture gets lost.

“Attacking politicians, such as Boxer, who has an overwhelming sympathy for most of our causes, backed up by action where it counts, is stupid. A courteous letter to her office, or a phone call would be a finer way to let her know what you think about Lieberman, and your criticisms of her, and anyone else who passes in your cross-hairs, would have more posibility of having an impact. … “

then mommybrain said:

“Dear Margaret,

“With all due respect, because I know you are coming from sincerity, manners in politics these days get you exactly nowhere. When the [’]other side[’] can say on national tv things like 911 widows and orphans are whores, it’s time to take the gloves off and join the fight on their turf. You want us to sit down, shut up and then raise our hands to see if they’ll acknowledge us? Ain’t gonna happen anymore, on either side.

“In your daily life, manners matter. When it comes to politics, they are playing by an entirely different set of rules and we lose if we don’t play by them, too.”

lotus says:

mommybrain, I could not possibly disagree with you more on this one. The goopers don’t hold exclusive title to the rules they play by, it’s true — but that’s no concern of ours because our project is (rather than learning to play their game by their rules) to impose our own game’s rules (#1 of which is “Integrity every day in every way”).

Their howlingly-incompetent governing policies grew out of their “bright shiny” but 100% spurious politics. The last thing we need to do is follow them there (and the minute we do, I, for only one, am outta here).

That said, I also disagree with Margaret’s first graf. What’s going on at FDL is never primarily superficial (though some of it is, because we’re sane human beings and want to stay that way). Rather, I think it’s our nice balance of serious weightiness and comic relief that keeps this multilogue fizzing so creatively along.

It’s a beautiful heuristic we’ve got here at FDL: our box for putting our chaos in — a container in which we capture and hold zooming thoughts long enough to make sense of them and find out what we think.

Whenever I’m reading to catch up to a thread that was written hours before, I love watching this phenomenon. Example: The other night, when TeddySanFran got upset enough about the “tranny”-bashing creeping into the comments on Ann Coulter to excuse himself for a few hours, the responses of those he left behind gradually, chaotically, led to a sure “sense of the caucus” that “TSF is right, we’re above that sort of thing, so we’re not gonna do it anymore.”

That one is, I grant you, tending to the superficial — but just as often, I watch our finest-minded Firedogs (Jane, Christy, Pach, Mary, Peterr, looseheadprop — and that’s just for starters) trotting about until they Find the Bone (i.e., something absolutely crucial to further our efforts on behalf of our nation’s well-being).

My point is, FDL is all about giving us A Safe Space for thinking out loud and teasing (in both senses of the word) out enlightenment.

And thank the Goddess for it just the way it is!

/speech

Just saw Chalmers Johnson on CSPAN last night, the guy who wrote Blowback, and he says the Pentagon that we have hundreds of bases in other countries. He is sure there are even more than what the Pentagon admits to, but they have to be kept secret.

In regards to the Judge in Nevada. Let’s not forget the words of the recently departed Majority Leader Tom Delay:

“The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today,” he said, referring to the judges. [LA Times, 4/1/05]

-GSD

darkblack –

I see [Detournement] (from the arts/communications perspective) as a reclamation of objective context by forcing the induction of critical thinking within the individual … They are challenged to compare their subjectively held beliefs to the inverse burlesque created of same. The level of cognitive dissonance thus created and discharged affects the belief structure in ways subtle and broad.

Reading the bopsecrets thingy, it seems like Detournement has some problems in the political sphere — in that it intends to disrupt the perceptual reality of the observer, and in it’s most potent form, does so in ways that lead to indeterminate outcomes.

Meaning, you might scramble the casual voter’s world view, but not get them to vote the way you want.

From an applied political perspective, it means heightening the ambiguities and contradictions inherent within all of one’s opponents efforts to the point where even the most credulous can see them and thus reject their viability. Humor is fundamental to this approach, IMO. …

The ‘Americanized’ usage of detournement, ‘culture jamming’, seeks to fold back the conventional mass media message upon itself by corrupting the positive concepts of commercialism and (in Wikipedia’s words) ‘the vectors of corporate image’. Such a concept could certainly be used against a ‘culture of corruption’, no?

Maybe — maybe not. Political strategies that are too clever by half are often doomed to fail. While we might understand the underlying theory, making it work in the real world of hand-to-hand political combat with two second soundbites is the challenge. Brecht’s didactic theater was intended to hasten the revolution, but has launched a thousand graduate seminars instead.

What Henry David said — Simplify, simplify . . .

To sum up: Crashing your opponents message so that they are forced to rethink on the defensive allows you space to put forward your own message, loudly and repeatedly.

A relentless approach to this two-pronged attack portends success in message penetration… And keep the crowd smiling.

Turn your opponents message against them —

Make them look ridiculous –

and Entertain your audience.

Cujo359 at 11:11am

Most kids smart enough to be eligible for the service ought to be able to recognize that they stand a good to excellent chance of spending a tour in Iraq during their first term of service.

Gee, ya’d think so — especially at this point — but just last week a woman my brother works with was upset that her son had gotten shipped to Iraq. Apparently, the recruiter told the kid he’d be spending his tour in Germany. Then, for reasons unknown, “some paperwork got fouled up”, and presto, number 1 son is headed to Baghdad. Darn those pesky paper pushers anyway. My brother, who served in Korea and has his own recruiter horror story, decided the truth could serve no useful purpose and simply commiserated with his coworker and wished her and her son well.

sofistic at 114:

I worked once at the firm designing a lot of it. the office building itself is of average size, the overall size is gained because it’s being designed to be as self-sufficient as possible with all US staff living on base (as pointed out in the article).

the one in Kabul is prob. about half that.

al-Scooter @ 12:25 pm (#123) – Where would American politics be without pork-barreling and gerrymandering, eh? I’d sure like to find out.

Primordeal Ooze (#101):

George Bernard Shaw: “I want to go to Hell. All of the interesting people will be there.”

Ed N Sted @ 1:07 pm (#159) – I wonder if anyone has a collection of these stories, with names and places, etc., so that we can distinguish them from urban legends. That story is as old as the hills, and more than one veteran has told it to me about his own experiences. The truth is that they can tell you just about anything they want, and once you sign up your butt is the army’s (or whatever service you signed up with) for the duration of your enlistment period.

This mini city embassy deal in Bagdhad is proof enough of the intention.There’s no plan to leave,ever.So Iraq and all points outward in the Middle East is now some kind of new bizarre USA industrial park/toxic waste dump/killing field/annex? Is that the idea? WTF is the MATTER with these people?

Some dumb ass on the radio today said the suicides at Gitmo over the weekend are “publicity stunts,designed to make the US look bad”?And the person was quoting a US government official?I was in the car with a kid post oral surgery so I didn’t catch who the idiot was who supposedly said this.What the hell has happened to people’s souls and and notion of empathy?It breaks my heart,then it pisses me off.

I should stop now,before I just lose it in various explatives.

All I can say is that we need it ALL,we have to multi-task,we can do it,there’s enough work for everyone.From protests to gatherings like YKos,to people pressuring government officials,to exposing scandalous and corrupt behavior(with facts to back it up.These people have become so inflated and arrogant,evidence is all over the place,IMO it needs to be gathered and USED.Go hardcore,it needs to be done.We’ll knock it off when they stop smearing and lying and dehumanizing us),to assuring fair elections,to legal actions against lawbreakers when and wherever possible,to running for office or working for candidates,I’m not even against a little schmoozing and playing the game if it helps(proceeding with caution and ego in check).We need people in and out of the system,under it,over it,around it.And somehow we have to start weaving a web that includes all of that,as much as is possible.There’s power in numbers.We may have different problems we want fixed,but in the end most people want the same things.That boils down to the best life possible for the most people.

Progressives who are gaining a foothold in the system and getting the attention of the powers that be also need,IMO,to reach outside the political realm to other people who are creating home grown solutions to various”single issues”of importance to Progressives in general.Veterans groups,labor unions,small businesses,groups that feed the poor and work with the homeless,urban and rural food/farm/garden co-ops,educators,domestic abuse shelters and rape crisis centers,doctors and nurses groups,social workers,etc.These are people working in communities now,trying to fix stuff that’s broken and doing stuff for their communities,one person or family at a time.They know who’s who,and probably even know a bit about the local political atmosphere.These groups and progressive politics share many of the same goals and are seeking solutions to the same problems,for the most part it would be a good match.There’s the potential to accelerate the process of creating an infrastructure by inviting those folks to crash the gates too.A simple model is a beehive,bees have different jobs to keep the hive alive and healthy.Without all those bees,there’s no honey,or any new baby bees,or food,or much of anything.And theres lots of humming and communication amongst everyone all the time,it hardly ever slows down,something’s always abuzz(yes,I’ve studied bees a little in my day,lol).

Political action matters,but it’s not the only thing that needs to be happening.If there’s a way to somehow bring together a larger web of people,in and outside of politics,it might help us put this country back together a bit faster.

ck @ 159:

‘Reading the bopsecrets thingy, it seems like Detournement has some problems in the political sphere in that it intends to disrupt the perceptual reality of the observer, and in its most potent form, does so in ways that lead to indeterminate outcomes.’

Quite true, because of the element of chaos introduced as a medium for change. It must be acknowledged that there is as much a reactionary point on the scale of potential outcomes as there is a revolutionary one, and that the potential for either extreme is based on purely subjective issues within the individual that are not under general control. I suspect that the authors (Debord and Wolman) of the Les Levres Nues article found on bopsecrets.org were limited by their own ideological prism of European situationism…A compulsive desire for upheaval until all existing societal structures were altered unrecognizably. But detournement is not limited conceptually or operationally by ideologies, being at core a vehicle for heightening contrasts, and there are marked degrees of subtlety available within the overall application that can be directed toward specific goals.
For example, the difference between ‘minor’ and ‘deceptive’ detournements, ‘minor’ involving an element which, by itself, has no importance and thus draws its power from the context into which it is placed…And ‘deceptive’, using an element of some importance to alter the context. Subsequently, a greater detournement is composed using both minor and deceptive form with infinite combinations.
For those who might find such Byzantine machinations distasteful, simple everyday adaptations used within conventional frameworks exist, such as advancing the meme, ‘pol A advocates position X’, then restating ‘position X’ in such a way as to make ‘pol A’ look irredeemably foolish…Or revealing the cause and effect previously kept ‘backstage’: ‘Pol A’ voted for/against ‘Proposition X’ even though ‘Pol A’s’ vote would be seen to be contradictory to a previously held stance, because ‘Pol A’ was under pressure to make a deal for votes on their own ‘Proposition Y’.

culture jamming…Such a concept could certainly be used against a culture of corruption, no?

Maybe…maybe not. Political strategies that are too clever by half are often doomed to fail. While we might understand the underlying theory, making it work in the real world of hand-to-hand political combat with two second soundbites is the challenge.
*
This would then force the user of detournement to use broad strokes rather than a pointillistic approach, to use a painting metaphor. The art would be in selection of the soundbite and its subsequent placement for maximal impact and advantage.

To sum up: Crashing your opponents message so that they are forced to rethink on the defensive allows you space to put forward your own message, loudly and repeatedly.

A relentless approach to this two-pronged attack portends success in message penetration…And keep the crowd smiling.

Turn your opponents message against them…

Make them look ridiculous…

and Entertain your audience.
*
Exactly, but one must also have a concerted effort made to get an easily understandable, truthful accounting of one’s own ideas writ large into the public arena, and make efforts to vigilantly defend them.

BobbyG 12

It’s amazing how accurately Dick Cheney and the first President Bush anticipated what a quagmire an invasion of Iraq would turn out to be. In 1998 Bush wrote: “Had we gone the invasion route, the U.S. could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different — and perhaps barren — outcome.” Cheney’s comments in 1991 were similar.

Your source link on the 50,000 permanent troops info is to a U.K newspaper which, in turn, cites “US media.” Do you have a link to any of these US media? Haven’t heard any mention of this on any of the evening news shows. Has it not hit their radar or is it simply being ignored?

The plan for permanent bases in Iraq was in place from the very beginning, even implied in the 1990’s PNAC imperium blueprint. The corporate media have begun to mention it only since the whole Iraq project has become manifestly, irredeemably SNAFUed. Some of us in the antiwar movement tried to draw attention to the basing plans from the beginning, but were drowned out.

To those who believe that the construction of the permanent bases and the embassy fortress means that the US will never leave Iraq, I’d like to remind them that the US thought it would have permanent bases in Vietnam, too. Sooner or later (it can’t be soon enough for me) the US will be driven out, the only question being how much blood and destruction it will entail. Everything that will have gone into those fortresses will be lost — except for the billions paid out to Haliburton, Bechtel, et. al., of course.

Jamie;

I think the whole point of the deletion of the amendments is not about differences between the House & Senate versions. It was done to protect Bush from having to veto it (or do a ’signing-statement-veto’).

If he had to do that, it would send the ultimate message to Iraqis that ‘we’re never leaving, even if you guys work out your differences’ and ‘when you stand up, we’re not standing down.’

It’d destroy all incentive to stand up. It’d say ‘despite your new democracy, I’m still your daddy’ and their new puppetocracy would thus be official.

It’d also say: ‘achieving this neocon vision is the real reason we invaded. It’s our oil, dammit.’

As far as stimulating the recruiting for Bin Laden, I think Bush knows this and is doing it to say ‘recruit all you want; we’ll kick your new guys’ asses, too’. And the troops bear the brunt of that arrogance, of course.

Finally, regarding the neocon’s claiming ‘Mission Accomplished’, I hope that proves as true as the last time their empty-suit-in-chief said it, everything went to hell and he became the country’s top fool. If PNAC follows that precedent, they’ll soon become the Beltway bagladies, talking their crazy shit to thin air.