NRO: Leading the Pack of Loss Leaders since . . . oh, who cares?

First…. Amendment

The Fitz! ammendment.

These people know EXACTLY what the role of the Press is. That’s why they’re working so hard to create a propaganda environment that will help them undermine the Press. In other words, folks, this isn’t simple ignorant reactionary policy, this is a deliberate assault on the Constitution DISGUISED as simple ignorant reactionary policy.

These guys want to create a fully fascist totalitarian state, with themselves as the beneficiaries of being on top.

A GREAT POST…..
Thanks jane…..You nailed those losers to the floor!

Rain!

Glenn Greenwald’s latest on the right-wing attacks on the NYTimes is a must read. Make sure to read the part about how the Bush Administration has previously published that it was using SWIFT data to monitor financial transactions. For political purposes, of course….

In light of the evidence presented by Glenn (Read It!), it’s hard to see the right-wing attacks as anything but an attempt to eliminate a political enemy (i.e., a free press).

I’m not a regular reader of the NRO, thank God, but when have they ever stood up for a free press?

To judge by the NRO’s comments about the Times, the ability to publish and comment is a privilege granted by the government, not a right that belongs to the people.

You know, I like the term Loss Leader

Leaders who
Lose the respect of the world comunity
Lose large amounts of conventional explosives while looking for fictional WMD
Lose the City of New Orleans
Lose the seperation of Church and State
Lose the Constitution
…
Yeah, we got your Number One Loss Leader right here
propped up by a rubberstamp loss leader Congress

fitz! Jane! firepups!

I feel that we are already in a fascist state which has the shadow memory of a democracy.

All the institutions are here, but they are broken.

We have a free press, but it is drowned out by controlled media, produced news and propaganda.

We have a justice system that can’t follow the laws because Abu says HE is the law… and the Supremes can issue a decision specially done for the right wing

We have a congress of “elected” representative who represent special insterests, not the people.

You can go on and on… all the institutions are there.. but the are not working.

We have slid into a fascist state… and they are now in the period of consolidating it.

False flag attacks and fake enemies created out of whole clothe… eg Islam

FIGHT BACK!!!!!!

The Times has never adequately explained, at least to my liking, why they held the NSA spying story until after the election. Did they cave to pressure from the administration? What gives?

The Times reporting on the various administration scandals has seemed to languish, certianly behind the LA Times in the traditional media and the various “Internets.” Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad thing for the Times to face a more direct administration challenge? Have Gonzales take them to court. Perhaps transparent attempts at marginalizing Times reporters, as opposed to the more clandestine administration attacks on the press (Gannon, Judy Miller), might shake up Punch and Co.

Face it, its not the reporters (excluding Judy Miller) who are as much to blame as the editors.

A real challenge might shake some of the editors off their entitled perches to do some real investigative, challenging work.

Twin Planets @7 – Glenn Greenwald’s blog is THE GO-TO blog for erudite writing on the Bush administration’s Constitutional abuses. Gotta get Glenn’s book.

Welcome back, Jane. My condolences for your loss.

Conservatives in general are comfortable with hierarchical organizations, clear lines of control, authority being exercised down the chain of command, etc. Liberals are comfortable with ambiguous structures, free-wheeling efforts that depend on agreements and arguments rather than authority. So a messy free press, looking here, there, and everywhere, with NO ONE IN CONTROL is anathema to the conservative mind.

In fact, now that I think about it, that’s probably the source of the Right’s attributing some sort of “kingpin” status to Kos: someone must be in control. It can’t be that all these people are just operating on their own…

It is hard to defend the NYT or as Bilmon calls it New Pravda… but this is going to far!

Peter the dude who supported the terrorist IRA King want to kink the Times to the gutter? Gimme a break!

And how can we be rid of that creep?

That video made my day. Baker gave all of us a “How-To” example: THIS is what reframing a radical right talking point looks like.

What is most gratifying is…IT WORKS! Radical righties simply implode. Oh I can barely contain my excitement!!!!!
*giddy*
Let’s see more of this, OKAY?

From the recently translated al Quaeda playbook:
“Naji believes the way you really hurt empires is to make them commit their military far from their base of operations,” according to McCants.

According to Naji, this strategy has two main benefits. First, there is the propaganda victory of forcing a superpower to challenge al Qaeda directly.

“The point is to make them come in,” McCants said. “You’ll be seen as fighting the crusaders directly so you’ll win over the public.”

RJRoss @ 13 — thanks :)

I have Glenn’s book: read it on flight to Vegas and got him to sign it at YKos! I have a good friend who’s a 1st Amendment lawyer who also thinks quite highly of Mr. Greenwald. (This friend thinks that the Bush Administration is “dying a legal death of a thousand cuts”, and that there’s no way they’ll be able to fend off all the legal challenges to their abuses of power.)

Jane, what I do not understand is why the media is playing along on this. It’s like those old junior-high cliques where the reigning queen decides which of the group is going to get hazed and the others either join in, or do nothing to stop it for fear they will be the next target.

Their passivity is appalling in light of the stakes.

I think one also has to wonder why they think Bush’s control over the media is a good thing for THEM. Do all these right wing journalists really think that at some point THEY won’t be the target of the Bush censorship? This, ultimately is about control. Control over EVERYONE!

It does boggle the mind

This is kinda OT, but I’m hoping you guys can help?

I think it was TRex(?) that blogged one evening about not answering questions that were made to bait the guest, or to turn the tables on them with an equally absurd question? Anyone happen to know what date that was, or would you happen to have the link handy?

Now a suggestion (from a daily visitor & mainly lurker) if I may? – Would it be possible to categorize by posters to FDL? Also, there are a slew of posts listed under “Uncategorized” that actually have a category or two assigned to them already, making it necessary to wade through entries already in another category. Hope that made sense.

Thanks for the help.

Just ask the NRO if they think President Hillary Clinton should be able to tell them what they can or can’t print.

That’ll shut em up.

NRO=New Republican Obfuscators

The press wants to have access – those statements issued “by unnamed senior administration officials speaking on deep background”. Once upon a time, that kind of line indicated a scoop; today, it’s an indication of spin.

Continuing the High School analogies, the Press is the kid who get used and used and used by their significant other, but doesn’t want to piss the SO off for fear of being home alone on Friday night while everyone else is out having fun.

Odd, though: even when they go out on Friday with an SO like that, they don’t end up having much fun . . .

When will they ever learn? When someone gets hurt.

At first I thought, what degree of self loathing is required for someone to actively campaign for the destruction of their own profession? But then, wait a minute, I realized I misunderstood. They are not journalists, they are propagandists, a profession diametrically opposed to journalism. Of course the propagandist would want to destroy the journalist, since journalism, i.e. the telling of facts, is their worst enemy.

Our founders considered the free press the bulwark of democracy and it’s fiercest protector. Jefferson said that given the choice between a government with no free press or a free press with no government, he’d choose the latter. It is no accident that the freedom of the press, and the command that “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press” is in the First Amendment. First as in No.1, prime, fundamental, highest, greatest, paramount, vital, essential, and of greatest importance. Given Jefferson’s choices, Bush, in no sense a democrat with big or little “D”, is obviously going with option A.

The only thing that stands between us and tyranny is a free press and an independent judiciary. Well, we still have one of the two, sort of, I hope.

terre, I think you’re looking for this post:

http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..-the-tape/

One wonders if they’ve ever read the Constitution.

Of course not. All they do is jerk off to the Second Amendment. The rest of it – feh!

Exercising freedom of the press in our democract is now deemed to be “costly, arrogant defiance” of the White House? When I read those words in the post above, I was going to ask whether the NRO’s writers and editors have ever read the Constitution. Then I read Jane’s line, “One wonders if they’ve ever read the Constitution.”

A fair amount of the press is OWNED and paid for .. they are not reporters or a free press as you thought.

#14 I think this goes pretty far to the heart of the matter. Anne Coulter types aside, I don’t really think that the Republican Right are fascists on the pure-blood model. But in the (very large) degree that the Republican Party is the instrument for the upper executive levels of American business, the hierarchical model comes naturally. Follow orders or get a new job. That was in fact the model that the Bush administration tried, and partly succeeded, in imposing on the Federal Civil Service when the Home Land Security Agency was established.

There are many problems with applying models of business governance to the public enterprize of Governing. But surely the most imposing one at the present time is the failure to understand that ‘consent of the governed’ is part of the equation. For this crowd, securing assent is essentially a marketing campaign, carried on with the same tools that sell tooth paste and erectile disfunction pills.

Running a government like a business doesn’t even succeed in ways that businesses often succeed. The Federal Government can be run like Enron, and currently is.

Another brilliant dispatch from an undisclosed lamb squadron, somewhere in the Midwest . . .

OK – this is a way to turn this around. How the f*ck is the press supposed to know which “leaks” to go with and which “leaks” to not print for national security “reasons.”

Remember Joe Wilson’s wife?

Why doesn’t someone ask Tony Snow to explain the difference between this NY Times story and the JudyJudyJudy being spoon fed stories by Ahmed Chalabi and Scooter Libby?

Albatross at 4

Well said. I agree.

Was this posted this morning? I am SO busy these days I get about half FDL read each day…
LA Times editor Baquet responds to why he ran the Treasury tapping story. Good things said:

“But we also have an obligation to cover the government, with its tremendous power, and to offer information about its activities so citizens can make their own decisions. That’s the role of the press in our democracy.

The founders of the nation actually gave us that role, and instructed us to follow it, no matter the cost or how much we are criticized. Thomas Jefferson said, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” That’s the edict we followed.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/op…..t-opinions

Sorry, I forgot the third leg of the stool that protects our freedoms, the right to vote in free and fair elections. Thank god we have reliable, fool proof and tamper proof electronic machines overseen by honest, non-partisan election officials to insure that. Or, maybe not so much. Never mind.

OT-Sorry, but.
Jomentum strikes again, the lying sacks of…
Kos-can I swear?
Colin McEnroe is on Joe like flies on… (h/t Duncan)
http://blogs.courant.com/colin…..t_cit.html

Jane speaks of the irony that “the NRO exists as part of a free press it would very much like to see dismantled.”

The NRO does not see itself as part of the free press. The NRO is a willing part of the Lapdog press. The NRO hates freedom.

Great post, Jane. And speaking of Lapdogs, for anyone who has not yet read that book by Eric Boehlert, which was featured in Sunday’s FDL book salon, I urge you to do so. I am still reading it, and I am not exaggerating to say that much of its contents shock me. I knew things were bad; I didn’t realize how bad.

I was about to post this on the last thread, but saw it would be EPU’d. More or less as on-point here, so . . .

I’m wondering how many more Bruce Feins may be coming to at least a simmer over there on the Right, and what — short of Jeff in TX 17’s scenario [Bush tries to void the ‘08 election] — will bring them to the boil?

Anybody got a read on that?

Surely if Bush/Cheney (Bush/Rice?) tried to void an election, even the Scalias and Thomases among ‘em would fly up against it?

Uh.

W o u l d n ‘ t t h e y ?

THAT’S the ONE!! Thanks Rex! :o)

Nebraskans among us, how d’ya feel about Chimpy’s new TV ad for Ben Nelson?

Not kidding — Wolfie just showed it.

By the way, in the interest of full disclosure, Kos, our esteemed Kingpin, ordered me to post the above comments. I hope they meet with his approval. I am grateful for his telepathic abilities which allow him to channel his thoughts directly into my sheep-like mind and so avoid any incriminating e-mails, which, of course, will now need to be fabricated.

Off to get my rabies shot, hope it’s not too late.

This again. Back from the grave. The undead.

President Bush pledges to try to phase out Social Security again after the November election.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c…..008854.php

lotus:

What? Does Bush have a new Favorite Democrat? Maybe that means he has given up on Joementum’s chances for reelection. Or maybe they are just waiting a while to release THAT ad….

We’ll jes’ hafta gather and surmise, neurophius, jes’ gather and surmise . . .

…or maybe Rove just decidedthat an endorsement by Bush would do more harm than good in Connecticut.

Forgot to add social security BS-ing around to Lieberman’s sins yesterday…. guess he was kind of lost in the crowd of other fearless Democrats and so-called moderate Republicans on that, so I forgot to put it in.

Timewarp@33, Baquet addressed the question of when to hold a story and when not to…

We considered very seriously the government’s assertion that these disclosures could cause difficulties for counterterrorism programs. And we weighed that assertion against the fact that there is an intense and ongoing public debate about whether surveillance programs like these pose a serious threat to civil liberties.

We sometimes withhold information when we believe that reporting it would threaten a life. In this case, we believed, based on our talks with many people in the government and on our own reporting, that the information on the Treasury Department’s program did not pose that threat. Nor did the government give us any strong evidence that the information would thwart true terrorism inquiries. In fact, a close read of the article shows that some in the government believe that the program is ineffective in fighting terrorism.

In the end, we felt that the legitimate public interest in this program outweighed the potential cost to counterterrorism efforts.

Seems like it’s the editor’s call, and sure there’s gray areas and questions, and that’s what a “free” press is all about—the opportunity and challenge to make choices of how to inform the readers. I must say personally, the Treasury story has been a thrill to watch. I’d about given up that the core press was going to give any coverage at all that stories or investigations that challenged power, was complicated, or didn’t entertain. It’s a small bit, but perhaps an important one.

Who’s the Repug vs. Ben Nelson?

Weird kind of Rovian ju-jitsu, isn’t it.

Looks like the Israeli incursion into the Gaza strip has begun.

-GSD

I linked to this in Late Nite – good for a chuckle so hope nobody minds it resurfacing. from a Kos diary:

Markos Moulitsas Facts

#Markos Moulitsas does not own a computer. He calls the server from a payphone and hisses the site updates in raw binary.

# Markos Moulitsas was the fifth Beatle.

# Markos Moulitsas is the only person Keyser Soze fears.

Jane – if you haven’t already read this, it’s worth a look, for the mentality of secrecy, Comstock and Corallo references, Ashcroft policies continued now, attack on Lichtblau, etc.

http://www.watchingjustice.org…..enburg.pdf

Its a 40+ page pdf, but lots of info and readable.

Given that Corallo, now Rove’s spokesperson, was at Matlin’s fundraiser for Libby (not like they would ever be swapping stories and info) and is heavily relied upon for the veracity of is info re: Rove’s “exoneration” here’s a little bit from the report re: Corallo’s truthiness about the Lichtblau situation:

When his press pass failed to work, Lichtblau asked the security staff what the
problem was. “It’s been cancelled,” said the guard from the other side of the glass. “On
whose orders?” Lichtblau asked. “Mark Corallo,” said the guard, identifying the head of the Department’s public affairs office. After Lichtblau called the office to object, a
young press office staffer hustled down to escort him into the building. A few days later,
after an angry call from Lichtblau’s editor, his credentials were restored. The Times did
not make the incident public. When the Washington Post learned of it more than half a
year later, Corallo said that Lichtblau’s press pass was pulled as part of a routine policy of canceling the credentials of reporters who seldom visit the Department. Lichtblau says he was in the building every week, sometimes several times.

They’re not thinking it through. The more they attack the press, the worse the coverage will get. Ask Richard Nixon.

Also, most fast food franchises no longer hire workers to flip burgers. It’s usually automated.

I’d rather have a human do it and I respect the dignity of any kind of work, especially the low-paying variety.

Apparently Ben Nelson’s opponent is Pete Ricketts. Don’t know anything about him. But apparently Chuck Hagel hasn’t received Rove’s marching orders. He is campaigning for Ricketts, referring to Nelson as a “pretend Republican.” That’s funny, I thought Nelson was a pretend Democrat.

Rush Limbaugh featured in Viagra ad?

Say it isn’t so!:

http://darted.wordpress.com

-Monk

Omfg,Et Tu Reuters?Popped over to catch latest news thread. Honest to God headline. Michael Jackson to move to Europe to resume career.

Can someone please give me a credible, fast breaking news source?Not Raw Story,please.

Forget the name Baker……

Remember the name Ward, as in Bernie Ward, because it was he who did the right thing and in so doing induced the queen to toss his tierra.

And all Ward had to do was stick to the issue – which is the constitution. To do so he repeatedly aske he who’s name we’ve already forgotten if he wanted the government decide what a newspaper can or cannot print.

That’s all it took.

There’s a powerful message in there for a whole lotta folks I reckon

.

Recall that a number of traditionally-Right ed boards (e.g., the Orlando Sentinel) endorsed Kerry in ‘04. They must be getting more restive by the day. And Bushie’s asking for it . . .

timewarp — Good point. If the WH had “revoked the press privileges of the NYT,” whatever that means, does that mean that Scooter would not have been able to pass phony intelligence info to Judy Miller and that we wouldn’t have gone to war in Iraq?

Apparently, NRO believes that the WH can determine not only who sits in the WH press briefings (who cares?), but also who can even publish a newspaper.

Ian #12: I don’t think the editors of the NYT need any further lessons re the threats to a free press posed by this Administration and the righthowlers they can call up. I’m pretty sure they get it. Whatever you may think about past reporting, in this fight, the NYT is our ally and a supporter of the 1st Amendment, because if the NYT can be intimidated by threats of prosecution, there is no newpaper in the country that can sustain its independence. It’s important to know who your friends are.

ok, off topic, but really, back on our original topic

what the hell is going on with the plaim investigation?

is it possible that’s it?

libby gets a trial for obstuction to which he will surely get pardoned, everyone laughs at joe wilson, and nobody id held to account?

it looks like that’s what’s going to happen

ah me

CNN confirming air attacks by Israel on Gaza and “tanks are on the move”

OT: Jon Stewart’s take on “The Miami Seven”, those dangerous sorta, kinda terrorist wannabees, is now up at Crooks and Liars:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..ami-seven/

Grand time for DC to be flooding — CNN now talking about how poorly prepared for this (any evac/emergency situation) the area is . . .

What is a White House press credential and why aren’t more members of the press turning theirs in voluntarily? I’m guessing it gets you into those ridiculous press briefings. What else? I can’t imagine you need one to cover a story or even print a newspaper. It seems to me the White House needs the press sitting at briefings more than the press needs to be wasting its time there.

Cafferty’s on signing stmts.

Question: When is okay for a president to revise, re-interpret, or ignore a law?

Cafferty on CNN trashing Bush on signing statements – question of the day is when is it ok for a president to ignore the law or similar wording – check their site and get your emails flowing!

#64

I know – it is not as if Scottie or now Snow job ever answers a question. They may as well watch it on c-span.

scarecrow – if the ny times fights back on this, I might be tempted to once again take out a subscription. I just might.

lotus #62
There should be some FEMA trailers float by anytime now.

wasnt it Bob Schieffer of CBS-News that suggested since the White House daily presser was so unforthcoming with news, that the media should simply send over summer interns to pick up the press releases ….

Aw hail, busted, they’s all in Hope, Arkansas!

Punaise

Not being a cruel man, Markos Moulitsas brought the man back to life a final time after he’d watched him die, but by this time the poor man’s brain had been so damaged by lack of oxygen that he could only find work as a Washington pundit.

When my grandmother told me this story , before Markos was born the pundit was Lee Siegel.

What is a White House press credential and why aren’t more members of the press turning theirs in voluntarily? I assume it gets you into those ridiculous briefings. What else? You don’t need one to cover a story or even print a newspaper.

siun– God help those people, siun. That horrible foreboding I have been had just came to pass. It’s going to be very, very bad; and our govt did nothing. ;(

whoa– bad emotional typos; sorry. “I have been having” & double siun. oh my.

The Constitution. Oh Jane, that’s so sweet. The Constitution….awwww. You’re such a romantic!

The NRO, who is an obscene manque representative of the free press, should be held up as an example of why the whole concept of free press is naive and therefore must be abolished regulated nurtured.

It’s the same with our whole government: we’ve stumped along for centuries with a system that would never really work. That’s perfectly clear now, thanks to these bugfuck crazy power drunk kleptomaniacs. So, they’ve really done us a favor. If we’re lucky they’ll spare us the “told you so.”

From the same pdf, I just can’t help sliding this in too – Corallo while at DOJ, was a helpful guy with reporters trying to get info on the Plame investigation – or maybe not?

“Now,” the reporter continued, “they only
process information through a select few political appointees, and that information has
sometimes been questionable.” The reporter cited the Valerie Plame leak investigation,
when the press office erroneously reported for several days that the Justice Department
had not opened a full fledged criminal leak investigation. “So the first few days of
coverage were misleading,” adds the reporter.
Corallo took responsibility for the Plame error, which he said resulted from
internal miscommunication.

uh, yeah

The National Review.
The Elitist Fascist Asswipe.

Sorry about the double post. Have fun in New Haven, Jane. It’s a great place. I was just there for my 25th reunion and turned some Lamont fanatics onto firedoglake.

Maybe THIS will finally get some congresscritters down to bidness on DHS.

I feel for y’all in the storm corridor, though.

Here’s my $.02: BushCo isn’t really pissed about the bank-tap leak, but they’re really pissed at the NYT for the Casey cut-and-run leak. They’re shouting down the Casey story with the NYT “treason” because they know the Casey story makes the Congressional GOP look stoooopit.

Just a theory. After all, who knows what evil lurks in the soul (?) of Rove (except darkblack).

What’s this about flooding? Where?

So the NRO is having a Star Trek-a-thon? Oh that’s precious.

Live long, prosper, and give generously to support our unprofitable rag.

These people were the ones wearing wool suits and skirts during the end of spring semester, looking dour and carrying The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugs in their leather satchels. They always stiffly cheered the football team (not out of a real love for the sport, but as an implicit rebuke to such idiocies as protesting for Ethnic Studies or divestment from South Africa) and sized up every class in terms of how good a rec the prof would provide for law school. They were OCD level clean, especially the good-looking blonde who couldn’t believe people were talking about Adrienne Rich and patriarchy instead of the divine cheerleader/scholar aura that had brought all of her high school friends and teachers into awed submission. She was always on the “Feminism: Too Far?” panels griping about Take Back the Night and contraceptives, while her floppy-haired, Brooks Brothers bow-tied comrades sought to explore the esoteric, Straussian meaning to traditional morality, which conveniently enough would turn out to be “Let the philosophers do the bone dance with abandon.”

But that’s just a general impression, you know.

GSD and Siun -

H/t for the breaking news (bad as it is).

Gee, and the BBC is carrying the Hamas plan’s “recognition” of Israel and the UK Guardian website says “Hamas plan recognizes Israel.”

Guess an outbreak of peace wasn’t good news for someone in the chain of command.

OT Bush on NPR was saying how he needs that line item veto to keep down government spending. Somehow he didn’t mention that the Republicans control the Presidency, the Senate, and the House and he hasn’t used the regular veto, but that was probably just an oversight.

when Bush put Eliot Abrams (of all people) in charge of the US management of the Palestinian crisis, I knew no good could come of it … it’s like making Rush Limbaugh webmaster for FDL !

Kirk– Peace would just foul everything up.

EPU’d. Drats!

Apologies if this has been discussed, but:

My mom taught me not to be a tattletale, but this post in the Flag Thing (2 threads below) made my troll-dar go off:

Maria says:
June 27th, 2006 at 10:42 am

I might be overreacting, but maybe some nice moderator can take a looksee?

[Moderator: Thanks! it has been extraordinarily rendered to either Romania or Poland for further analysis…]

CNN: airstrikes (missiles) into n. Gaza; tanks or border not on the move yet.

tanks oN border

OT Harry Reid vows to block Congressional pay raises.
I love the last line.
Reid wouldn’t spell out the specific tactics he would employ to block the congressional pay raise — which is triggered each year with the passage of an appropriations bill not by a vote on a stand alone bill to increase pay for members.

But he warned, “I know procedure’s around here fairly well.”

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

timewarp — their lead editorials have been scathing re Bush since at least last December — on the Iraqi occupation, on Abu G, on NSA, on signing statements, on lying about WMD (which they own up to re their part) and so on. It appears they now hold him and Cheney in utter contempt and are pulling no punches. It is no surprise that the WH is going hard at NYT, and not LA Time or WSJ. E.g, Snow says the NYT deserves “special” criticism.

http://www.editorandpublisher……1002728765

Ooooh!

On C-SPAN 2 Sen. Lautenber just showed the a big blow-up of the president signing the flag….sweet!

“One wonders if they have ever read the Constitution”.

They’re the same breed of cat that were run out of the country after our Revolution had succeeded in overthrowing King George III.

I’ve long had ambivalent feelings about that occurence.

Largely because it flew in the face of Lincoln’s “malice toward none, charity for all” admonition, spoken weeks prior to the crushing of that counter-revolution.

But that ambivalence is now extinguished. Those people are as craven as they are servile. If they don’t like it here, they should likewise head out, and settle somewhere where they might best serve new masters, without the deluded hypocrisy evidenced in thinking themselves patriots, and those in opposition traitors.

DC area is flooding with no relief in sight, neurophius.

I apologise for being grossly off-topic here, but I just saw this ad and had to share http://www.massequality.org/index.php Unfortunately the site doesn’t show the add, except as a slide show. But it *is* a beautiful thing.

Re #59

Scarecrow, I’m unconvinced that the editors of the Times fully recognize the threat to 1st Amendment protections. Its my belief, and this comes from discussion with several friends that work at the Times, that the senior editors have no real concept of the current political reality–that instead of conducting policy the administration is in a perpetual state of campaign, where all decisions made are subservient to “winning” elections and enriching cronies and business interests. The political landscape is so very different and the way policy is conducted so politicised, that I’m not sure that the editors of the Times have retooled in such a way as to confront challenges to their traditional political role.

Beard5

That was VERY cool–thanks for sharing!

Bush: “We’re at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America.”

In an unrelated development, George Bush has officially changed his name to United States of America.

Jane,

I’m busy busy busy, and don’t have time to go through the comments thread here, but I just want to say, this is so spot on it makes me want to jump and cheer. Thank you for your work here.

The National Review.
An Elitist Fascist Asswipe.

TeddySF — you could be right. Or it could be that the Casey briefing leak was deliberate by the minions of the Leaker in Chief — the idea being that it’s wrong, according to Bush, for the Congress to impose an “arbitrary” timetable (polls oppose that) but okay if the military defines its own, consistent with Iraq conditions (polls and Bush support).

So the deliberate leak was to get out the story that the Repubs had a “plan,” but theirs is a good plan, not a bad plan. Problem is, the Dems beat the WH in framing the “plans” as the same. It’s one of the few times the Dems have done that — an encouraging sign of intelligent life, I thought, . . . or maybe the press has actually turned a little and was finally able/willing to hear the Dem’s message. Who knows?

Ian #96

I agree. Those who run the corporate media will be about as easy to wake up as the DINOs in Congress. Both show signs of stirring now and then but soon slip back into their accustomed slumber. It is for us to be the needles that eventually prick them into consciousness and action.

hey, Monk’s back! (55)

Weren’t you all pleased to read in Froomkin that Richard Morin, the lousy WaPo pollster, is leaving for Pew WorldWide Polling? Good for the Post, bad for Pew. Maybe the Post will get someone who knows how to ask about impeachment, or knows how to poll at all….

All but one of my WaPoO chat questions were chosen! — including three kinda snarky ones for Doug Bailey, the UNITY08 dude. I got some good digs in at Karl (esp. in the Gene Robinson chat) and “the consultant party.”

Smack ‘em, Teddy! RAH!

Kirk, Angie and GSD – gotta get those missiles flying before anyone notices that the *democratically elected* Hamas offers peace … how dare they!

Why on earth would Pew be interested in Morin?

The Bush administration demands complete obedience from everyone, including the media which has happily marched along with them. If you disagree with them, you are a disloyal American. If you report the truth about their corruption, criminality and their efforts to keep it hidden, you are a traitor.

This link has some relevance to this discussion. The lead article is called “Bush Declares New York Times Enemy Combatant”
http://assimilatedpress.blogspot.com/

Jane, love the way you mince words.
I told a new friend about FDL and asked him to pass it on to his many blue-state friends. Each of us should aggressively take every opportunity to meet people, find out their feelings about bushco, recommend FDL, and ask them to pass it on.

Ian — I hope it’s not that bad. I’m interested in what your contract might be saying.

I’m reflecting my take on the editorial page; you’re talking about the reporting side’s editors, a different group, and we could both be right (or wrong). There is certainly a range of competence/wisdom among the various political reporters — some very good and courageous, others not so much, and one wonders how such a range of stories gets through the same editors. But I still think on this issue, they have few illusions. And after getting pounded without mercy over this story, they should have none left.

Ian — oops, what your contacts might be saying.

Morin brings Pew some “journalistic credibility,” maybe? For people who haven’t been paying attention? Was Morin one of those who took the recent WaPo buyout? I don’t recall, maybe his work has simply become embarrassing — the recent Jon Stewart study fiasco springs to mind, as well as the intransigence on impeachment polling when directly challenged during chats….

I am shaking with rage and despair, siun. Rice is over visiting Pakistan and Afghanistan and blew right by Palestine/Israel. Never have I seen a government so disengaged and ruinous. NEVER. I guess the Gaza disengagement was just window dressing, like I thought all along.

“Journalistic credibility”? MORIN? What can Pew be thinking? Maybe they’ll send off to Asia or somewhere . . .

In other news (Times o’London):

Divorce for US Marine whose face intrigued the nation

And how many more to come?

the Gaza Kerfuffle will not help Condi while sojourning in Afghanistan and Pakistan…too bad!

not sure a Rice visit would have helped – she’d probably just buy new shoes to wear to the massacre

and how much will we learn about what’s happening? no much I bet

Voting on the flag amendment.

Here’s hoping I don’t EPU’d…

Jane says (in part):

Barbara Comstock already pulled this stunt with Eric Lichtblau when she was at the Justice Department

Does anyone know if this Comstock (not that common a surname) is any relation to the Comstock of the Comstock Act. That was the one that made it illegal to sell prophylactics, pornography and about anything else the sexually repressed puritans of that era were worried about. I’d find it some sort of confirmation that acorns don’t fall far from the oak if she were.

On this topic, you all should rent (or buy!) the 2004 documentary Orwell Rolls In His Grave. It makes it clear how rags like the Orlando Sentinel can endorse Kerry and then put on a gas mask through a second Junior term. Basically, Dubya serves their interests — especially in taking the regulatory component out of the FCC.

As far as the US and fascism, we’re closer than many people think. Fascism has varying definitions, but the common thread is the intermingling of corporate and governmental power. This is what’s going on here, now. It’s a problem, because governments have coercive power (eminent domain, imprisonment, fiscal sanctions, etc.) The sort of garbage we’re seeing out of the Supreme Court (it’s okay for my town to exercise its eminent domain power, then turn around and give my property to Big Pharma to build its corporate research park; the fruits of illegal searches don’t necessarily have to be excluded from trial evidence, etc.) is part and parcel of the far-too-close association of government and corporate powers.

[Rant Mode OFF]

BC

OT here, but relevant to a previous CHS thread: Andrew Cohen concludes the President must be practicing his penmanship.

Didn’t Morin also do that WaPo push-poll the day after the NSA spying story broke, which other media outlets then cited in their own defenses of the administration?

Ah yes protected the flag and shred the Constitution, that will keep us safe.

I guess The New York Times and other naughty newspapers need to get rid of their executive editors and let The Decider choose what news is fit to print.

Cafferty on CNN talking about signing statements right now

Morin’s WaPo poll on the NSA spying was completed within 15 hours of the story breaking, IIRC, and yes, regardless of that little flaw, was used extensively in the Day Two “No Big Deal” articles.

I don’t recall that he or (heaven forfend!) Little Debbie ever addressed that….

neurophius @ 2:57 pm (#121) – You have to admit that life would be much simpler if we didn’t have all those other people telling us what’s going on. Having just one voice is so much simpler.

Cafferty – 500 emails, only 2 are pro-signing statements.

Cafferty just read about seven good anti-Bush letters on signing statements, none pro-Bush. What! Isn’t CNN “balanced”? Or are there just no viewers out there willing to defend Bush’s preposterous position?

Bargain Countertenor says: “Does anyone know if this Comstock (not that common a surname) is any relation to the Comstock of the Comstock Act.”
June 27th, 2006 at 2:52 pm

Might it be her husband who is related, however distantly, to him?

OT

Cafferty said to the 500 emails he got for his question on signing statements, only 2 said it was okay.

So what will Brooks be calling the Freepers who have been attacking the NYTs today?

The metaphoric possibilities leave me me drooling like a rvl.

McCafferty for CNN Pres! Cool.

Whenever I see “signing statement” I just imagine Emily Latella going off on a rant about “singing statements.” I just can’t read it the right way!

RIP Gilda

terre- re the categories assigned to posts.

Funny, just yesterday I was thinking about creating a category by name for some of the “specialty” posters like TRex. I like that idea. And it would at this point be easy to do, and stock with TRex links.

Dealing with the uncategorized stuff would be a huge time committment at this time, and moderators are pretty overwhelmed with V*iagra. As far as I can tell, most of those “uncategorized” posts date from before the move to WordPress. Now it is possible to have categories, before it was not, hence so many uncategorized.

I think the press is getting pissed off, or is that wishful thinking? Matthews framed the debate as the Pres. vs the media, and even Dobbs is going to be talking about electronic voting machines…

VG 134,

I don’t know much about Wordpress, but I stumbled across this today (also sent it to Redd).

Bargain Countertenor and Stephen Parrish CPA

The Comstock Act was enacted in 1873. Any relation to Barbara Comstock would be somewhat distant.

http://www.petericketts.com/fu…..icle_id=77

siun 106 -

“gotta get those missiles flying before anyone notices that the *democratically elected* Hamas offers peace … how dare they!”

scary what can happen when the electorate wants peace – bad for bidness.

thank goodness for electronic voting and partisan secretaries of state.

and big shiny red objects, too.

and an endless suppply of enemies – first abroad, then at home.

Do you mean to say no one in the MSM is breathlessly giving a blow by blow of that important debate on flag burning that went on in the capitol today?

Gosh golly, me oh my, could it be, could it be, that they are getting less gullible?

Or is it just that Joe Sixpack and Mrs Soccermom don’t give fart about the flag burning thingy and so that story is a ratings killer?

I am so cynical.

Stephen Parrish @ 128:

The basic bios for Ms Comstock don’t refer to her marital status. But thinking that some poor schmuck is married to that bag of vitriol really gives me the dry heaves…

If there is a Mr. Comstock, I know a few good DR attorneys …

BC

Jimbo at 109, I introduced my Uncle Fidel (Hi Fi!) to FDL. To put it in perspective, I consider myself rather to the left of Ted Kennedy. Fi considers himself slightly to the right of Barry Goldwater and we both agree that FDL is a treasurre greater than jewels.

Amen, Teddy.

angie 113 -

“I am shaking with rage and despair, siun. Rice is over visiting Pakistan and Afghanistan and blew right by Palestine/Israel. Never have I seen a government so disengaged and ruinous. NEVER.”

words fail me. thank you for finding yours.

I think getting Dobbs to talk about the voting machines is a big breakthrough (someone told me that Court TV did something on them too).

Personally, I’m waiting for Cafferty to just walk over and smack the snot out of Blitzer. Except I don’t watch enough anymore to where I would get to enjoy it.

Neurophius 137 – before you leap to that conclusion – have you made note of the lenghth her incisors and whether or not she casts a reflection?

I’m not disputing your conclusion, but there are a few things we may need to rule out first.

Dover Bitch- thanks. The front page of Word Press also has a huge list of plugins- don’t know if these are there or not. I glazed over trying to figure out what’s what. Jane is the person who would have to install any, I believe. And I surely don’t know up from down re: plugins. If you happen to run across one that automatically closes unclosed tags in a comment, THAT is at the TOP of my wish list.

Wolfie’s IQ must be in the 90 range.

The vote is coming up….Wingnuttia at it lowest. What a sad sad day. Everytime, I think things can’t get worse, they do!

see Joe. see Joe implode.

TPM Muckraker:

CT-SEN: Lieberman Deals With Even More ‘BS’
By Rachel Weiner | bio

Ned Lamont has a new ad that Hotline says could become ‘legendary.’ In the ad, Joe Lieberman’s voice comes out of George W. Bush’s mouth. At the end, a picture of Lieberman slowly morphs into one of Bush. Lieberman called the ad ‘BS’ in front of AFL-CIO delegates today. He also sent out a statement in which he described himself as a ’scathing critic of the Bush Administration.’

See Joe scathe? maybe not.

punaise……#149…LMAO

Voting machines … feh!

We need laws requiring all electronic voting machines meet certain minimum standards:

1. That they produce a properly marked ballot confirmed by the voter.

2. That any electronic tallies within the machines are unofficial. Official tallies are produced by reading the ballots turned in by the voters.

3. That all software used be open-source.

4. That the coding used by county clerks also be open source and available to any interested party together with the software for verification.

5. That the code used in tallying the votes be open-source and available to all interested parties for verification.

Do that, and I’ll start considering electronic voting machines as a potential substitute for real ballots.

BC

“The Legend of Scathing Joe”

It’s a screenplay that almost writes itself.

Somebody get Bob Iger on the phone!

Well, al-Scooter we DO have an in in Hollywood . . .

Mary 3:13 p.m.

ROFL I guess to investigate properly I would need to actually get near her. I’d better not do that without wearing a garlic necklace, had I?

lotus #153:

Natural Born Scather

I think you’re onto something.

Bargain Countertenor: Venezuela developed and uses precisely such a voting system as you describe except an element of practicality: the electronic results are used unless a recount is called for, in which case, the paper ballots reign official…

Bargain Countertenor @ 3:17 pm (#151) – Unfortunately, things seem to be going in exactly the opposite direction. Even the validation of the machines isn’t an open process.

I think you are right, though, and these are the criteria I hold up as a minimum, along with proper and open QA and testing.

Not to mention a rabies shot.

Punaise at 148:

Fun with Ned and Joe

See Joe.
See Ned.
See Ned run.
Run, Ned, run.
Beat Joe, Ned.

See Joe whine.
Whine, Joe, whine.
Scathe the Preznit, Joe.
Scathe him Joe, scathe him.
Scorch Ned clean with holy fire.
Scorch, Joe, scorch.

Apologies to McGuffey’s Readers.

“A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. . .” James Madison

“[Americans]have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible divine right to the most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers.” John Adams

“Let the people know the facts and all will be safe.” Abraham Lincoln

“[The FOIA would] make it considerably more difficult for secrecy minded bureaucrats to decide arbitrarily that the people should be denied access to information on the conduct of government or on how an individual government official is handling his job. … [No] matter what party has held the political power of government, there have been attempts to cover up mistakes and errors . . . [E]xcessive restrictions on access to government information is a nonpartisan problem.” Donald Rumsfeld

Yep, that Rumsfeld, when he was in Congress and the original FOIA was going to plague Johnson. Once it became Ford’s plague, however, with amendments – Rumsfeld’s position “shifted” slightly.

OT – Is it time for Fitzgerald to send to send the Viagra pen on for more specialized applications?

Bargain Countertenor 159 – ROFDL*

(*ROFL at FDL)

Landrieu has to be on that NEXT TO GET RID OF list…the last 6 votes she has voted with the ReTHUGS…and look what it got her state…they should run her out of Louisiana ASAP!

Faster, Pussycat, Scathe, Scathe, Scathe!

*ilson @ 156:

I agree, it would be practical to rely on the machine tallies, but I don’t trust these worthless motherhumpers as far as I could throw them.

Before we can trust machine tallies again we need a few election cycles where the official tally (per the real ballots) and the unofficial tally (per the machine) are within counting error of each other.

BC

Neuro 154 – people do say not to “cross” her.

OH GOODY!

Guess who’s favoring our li’l area to start the race at the Daytona Speedway of the Fo’th?

(wait for it)

SHOOTER!

Yessirree, direct from he undisclosed location. Will he be packin’?

I think Joe is confused. Scathe vs. Scaife

punaise 3:15 p.m.

I guess from now on we should routinely refer to Lieberman as “scathing.” If he’s scathing now, I’d like to see his face on primary election night. No, on second thought, I wouldn’t.

Actually, after the election returns come in, Joe will probably be “scatting,” not scathing.

Before we get to far with this production, the Props Dept. wants to know if a scathe is something like a scythe. Anybody?

Maybe Fox News can help. They’ve gotta have miles of footage of Joe, so I’m sure he’s used a scathe somewhere in all that tape.

They Shoot Scathers, Don’t They?

I *think* I just heard the 34th NO vote on the flag burning amendment, which would kill it. Right?

Bargain C – what about smiting? Will Joe not smite?

(recited with pom poms)
Swing to the right, swing more to the right
Stand up, sit down, Smite Joe Smite.

lotus #165:

Will Laura Bush be competing?

Wow, DB — can it be?

I figured they wouldn’t have called the vote without knowing they had the votes.

neurophius 167

Actually, after the election returns come in, Joe will probably be ’scatting,’ not scathing.

scatting and seething.

The Great Escathe?

Punaise @ 166

ROFLOL w/ FDL.

Is there any way I can edit my 159?

Scaife, Joe, scaife … etc.

BC

Laura doesn’t have the thrust — they’s talk of a certain AC, though . . .

Scather, Rinse, Re-Teat

To quote a button I have from the first Bush era, that seems even more apropos now –

Protesters burn the flag and wrap themselves in the Constitution. Our president, on the other hand…

hehehe
thought this lou dobbs poll result was noteworthy

Do you believe that e-voting machines should be disallowed until their integrity can be assured?
Yes 97% 1493 votes
No 3% 44 votes
Total: 1537 votes

Ah, punaise. You just too good.

lotus @ 173

You’re kidding, right?

Cat-Killer can’t count beyond 10 without taking off his shoes.

Not that it matters, this was at the behest of 1600 as a distraction from things that really matter.

BC

If you ask me, Joe is scathing on thin ice.

Yep, I’m right. The three morons who want to burn a flag tonight can go for it.

the Constitution Desecration Amendment fails 66-34

neuro #175: Winner!

AW RIGHT, DB!!!

Joe is the Scatherer-of-Chief
Joe put the Wince in W

Welcome back, Jane! A great post. Once again, conservatives seek not only to silence their opponents, but to dismantle the very framework for opposition. Opposition to the illegality of the NSA programs and support of oversight should not be partisan issues. The Fourth Amendment, The First Amendment… really, who needs them?

Resolution failed…Boxer speaking…..Alll the ReTHUGS are talking above her, because they didn’t get their way…TROLLS!

Mary @ 171

Smiting is sooo …

Old Testament …

ya’ know? Oh wait, Holy Joe’s Orthodox, isn’t he?

Never mind.

BC

New thread, my lambs…

Hard to believe that we were just one imbecile away from changing the Constitution over this (ok, from sending it to the States, but still…)

“To Scathe and Scathe Not”

“Scathecoach”

“The Scathers”

“The Unscathables”

“Mrs. Scathefire”

“Scathing away, Scathing away
On the thin ice of the new day”

(JoeThro Dull channeling Jethro Tull)

Look to see Rove review his NSA tapes and “pictures” files, and the flag amendment to pass on a second vote, with a senator or two switching sides to vote for it.

*ilson @ 184

You have to be kidding me. The forces of reason can only muster 34 votes against that piece of irrelevant nonsense?

Things are worse than I thought. And I thought they were pretty awful…

BC

So they take one on the chin for the moment. Good.Now they can regroup and come up with the next cockamamie time waster.

November is coming.

lotus at 173 — keep in mind that they don’t care if they win or lose the vote. If they win, they’ve got a ballot issue to start taking to the states, if they lose, they’ve got a “patriotism” issue to try to slam the Democrats with. As with gay marriage, none of this was about winning the vote. (In fact, I bet they’d prefer to lose by one or two votes than to win.)

Also amusing, Ana Marie Cox has an insightful piece on the, um, beauty of breasts posted at Cnn.com:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/artic…..ml?cnn=yes

al Scooter, back at you:

For a Fistful of Scathers
Easy Scather
Fice Easy Scathers
How the West was Scathed
Paint Your Scather
Scathico

Remember that story I linked to a couple of days ago about the desert-busted Humvees, etc., coming home for rehab?

CBS says that that item alone is going to cost $18B — that’s $18 BILLION — a year “for as long as the war lasts, and far beyond.”

Bargain Countertenor 3:36 p.m.

There may be others who would be willing to be the deciding vote against the flag thing if needed, but otherwise didn’t want to stick their necks out. I imagine Harry was counting the votes pretty closely.

neurophius @ 195

Maybe. Probably not, though. Procedure requires that a member on the prevailing side raise the motion to reconsider. If they had someone voting strategically for a motion to reconsider they could have carried the motion by changing that vote.

Blackmail, on the other hand …
Blackmail is such an ugly word. Let’s call it … extortion.

BC

To follow up, that’s why we this is another issue where we need TRex’s “Attack, attack, attack.” Hit them nonstop for doing nothing but useless symbolic resolutions while the country has actual important problems to deal with.

If the White House pulled the credentials of the NYT, then the NYT might have to scour the public record for news. Without access to WH spin, they might actually have to do some reporting.

OT from remarks of Sen. Durbin on the Flag Protection Amendment:

“The real issue here isn’t the protection of the flag, it is the protection of the Republican majority. We are not setting out to protect Old Glory; we are setting out to protect old politicians. That is what this is about.”

Good to hear that this shabby political pandering has been defeated. What were they going to do next, imprison anyone who sang the National Anthem offkey?

Redshift 3:39 p.m.

I’m all for that.

new thread

http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..s-america/

Redshift

There’s a talking head (”Lionel”) on Lou Dobbs right now arguing that flag burning, gay marriage, etc. are diversions by the thugs.

Bargain Countertenor #196

There were 59 cosponsors in addition to the sponsor Orrin Hatch.

Scythe Me in St. Louis
Abbott and Costello Meet Scythenstein
The Scythefather (II, III)
Scythy (II, III, IV)
Scythefellas
King Scythe
Mighty Joe Scythe
This Is Scytherama
Around the Scythe in 80 Days

Re: #64 What is a White House press credential and why aren’t more members of the press turning theirs in voluntarily?

An invitation to all of the right cocktail parties?

I came across this article on the internet and I recommend it highly as it applies to President Bush and his assault on our rights.
Cato Policy Analysis no. 271, March 31, 1997
“Deriliction of Duty”
The Constitutional Record of President Clinton
by Timothy Lynch
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-271.html

It strikes me as so funny that right wing groups are so silent when it applies to them. hypocrisy seems like too small a word to describe them.

Don’t forget the NATIONAL BOYCOTT/STRIKE!click here

Odd that one heard no criticism of the press from the nattering nabobs when the press was piling on every leak from Judge Starr’s commission, or when the press–particularly the NY Times–was editorializing for sending out the torches and pitchforks against Clinton’s presidency.

Nor did they complain when the press–particularly the NY Times–saw fit to publish administration leaks from unreliable sources (Miller’s Curveball, anyone?) which supported Bush’s case for war, and when the NY Times editorialized in favor of war based on that reporting.

From that alone, the bias at the core of their complaints is obvious. What I haven’t figured out yet is whether they are someone else’s useful idiots (and if so, whose), or that they are just idiots.

Do these foolish-looking twits ever do any research before venting their rage before TV cameras?

1. (from a comment on thinkprogress.org) BUSH ALREADY BLEW THE COVER OF THE BANKING ACTIVITY.

George W. Bush
Hershey Lodge and Convention Center
Hershey, Pennsylvania

WhiteHouse.gov

http://www.whitehouse.gov/ news/ releases/ 2004/ 04/ 20040419-4.html

Before September the 11th, law enforcement could more easily obtain business and financial records of white-collar criminals than of suspected terrorists. See, part of the way to make sure that we catch terrorists is we chase money trails. And yet it was easier to chase a money trail with a white-collar criminal than it was a terrorist. The Patriot Act ended this double standard and it made it easier for investigators to catch suspected terrorists by following paper trails here in America.

Looks like Bush is the guy who let the cat outta the bag on this one. Let’s start the investigation.

AND

2. From a document issued by the Department of the Treasury, with a forward by Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, dated April 22, 2006, Page 4 (link below)

Working shoulder-to-shoulder with dedicated public servants in the U.S. Government, our allies ab road and our partners in the private sector. Treasure follows the terrorists’ money trails aggressively, exploits them for intelligence, and severs links where we can. Our collaborative efforts have al Quida and other terrorist groups feeling financial pressure and grasping for new channels through which to move money.

ustreas.gov/press/releases/reports/tfi_factsheet.pdf

Constitution?, Constitution?, We don’t need no stinkin Constitution.

Where were all of these outcries about “National Security” leaks and the traitorous media when Clinton was in office? It’s apparently A-OK for the Executive Branch to shit on the Constiution as long as a (literal) right-minded man holds the office.

I would venture to guess they’ll go back to their old “anti-liberal” vitriol once a Democrat again takes office to clean the messes the Repuppetcans always make.

If / when FGL gets no spin zone / ( fair & balanced ) air time every month you know your on the right track.

If / when FDL gets 1000K readers per day you will have a serious impact — keep trying.

Then FDL can expect the threat of treason / national security charges from our elected officials.

If that doesn’t shut you up, maybe a costly leak source investigation will teach you a lesson.

After all the terrorist’s are dumb and would not think we would data mine phone calls or have GPS phones or track bank account activities or … or ….

What is going on is so simple and basic, but government educated masses plus high school sports (school colors / patriotism ) makes it pretty easy, go team USA.

Bush, the GOP and Fox News will have people believe that the terrorists knew nothing about the banking tracking system before the NY Times/Wall Street Journal published something about it….but, let’s see who was the first to officially and publically notify the terrorists:

OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT OF GEORGE BUSH AND HIS TREASURY SECRETARY AT THE TIME DISCLOSING *THEMSELVES* THEIR “FOREIGN TERRORIST ASSET TRACKING CENTER” TO THE ENTIRE WORLD (including the Terrorists) almost 5 years before the New York Times (and Wall Street Journal):

SEPTEMBER 24, 2001 White House Lawn

Bush opens with:

THE PRESIDENT: “Good morning. At 12:01 a.m. this morning, a major thrust of our war on terrorism began with the stroke of a pen. Today, we have launched a strike on the financial foundation of the global terror network.”

and:

“I’ve signed an executive order that immediately freezes United States financial assets of and prohibits United States transactions with 27 different entities. They include terrorist organizations, individual terrorist leaders, a corporation that serves as a front for terrorism, and several nonprofit organizations.”
“Just to show you how insidious these terrorists are, they oftentimes use nice-sounding, non-governmental organizations as fronts for their activities. We have targeted three such NGOs. We intend to deal with them, just like we intend to deal with others who aid and abet terrorist organizations. This executive order means that United States banks that have assets of these groups or individuals must freeze their accounts. And United States citizens or businesses are prohibited from doing business with them.”

and:

“We have developed the international financial equivalent of law enforcement’s “Most Wanted” list. And it puts the financial world on notice. If you do business with terrorists, if you support or sponsor them, you will not do business with the United States of America. I want to assure the world that we will exercise this power responsibly.”

and:

And, by the way, this list is just a beginning. We will continue to add more names to the list. We will freeze the assets of others as we find that they aid and abet terrorist organizations around the world. We’ve established a foreign terrorist asset tracking center at the Department of the Treasury to identify and investigate the financial infrastructure of the international terrorist networks.

FULL TRANSCRIPT AND VIDEO:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news…..924-4.html

I’d never suggest that the Wingnut Welfare brigade should be denied the right to cover what is going on with the administration.

It seems to me there’s a connection between this and the position of people like Jim Dobson. Religious organizations and leaders have always been a major force in American life, and religion has always been a factor in politics. For most of our history, it was understood that religious leaders would contribute to the discussion.

What seems to have changed now is that a small group of people is claiming that they are being shut out and simultaneously demanding that they be the *only* voice in the discussion and shut out everyone else in reparation. BushCo demands that no other voices be heard but theirs, and the traditional media have fallen mostly into line with that. The religious groups on the far right allow for no compromises, even with other religious groups.

I’d dearly love to be able to ask one of these people advocating for a “Christian nation” which version of Christianity they want to use and why.

“right-wing talk show host Chris Baker . . . stormed off after refusing to answer a simple question %u2014 did he think the government should determine what the media reports? It’s obvious he does, as does the NRO.”

Except, of course, when it’s them. IOKIYAR, etc.

Oops, bad link. Ahem.

Except, of course, when it’s them.