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Look who is coming for a roundtable discussion with Mr. Fitzgerald:
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is likely to face questions about the allegedly mediocre status of U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald when he arrives here Tuesday for a scheduled round table discussion and press conference.Gonzales is supposed to be at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse to discuss the "Project Safe Childhood" campaign designed to protect kids from online predators. But he's likely to be asked to field inquiries about Fitzgerald being ranked as undistinguished on a chart sent to the White House from the Justice Department in 2005, as well as the controversial fall firings of a group of U.S. attorneys.
Gonzales is to appear for a round table discussion of the project with Fitzgerald and Ernie Allen, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
The mediocre rating has been the subject of much joking among prosecutors, federal agents, defense lawyers and the press in the city, and especially at the building where Fitzgerald has earned accolades for sweeping public corruption investigations....
Gonzales's trip will come as he faces mounting pressure over the firings last fall of eight federal prosecutors. He has received support from President Bush, but a growing group in Congress has called for him to step down.
Questions about Gonzales's credibility have grown sharper since March 13, when he denied taking part in discussions about the firings which some allege were politically motivated. Documents later showed Gonzales was in meetings on the topic and approved the moves. (emphasis mine)
Well, that should make for quite the comfortable roundtable discussion and presser, eh? Especially with the conservative Chicago Tribune lauding Fitzgerald's performance as a prosecutor, and calling Gonzales' credibility into question before he ever gets to town. Funny how a little thing like integrity can stand out -- especially when people are questioning whether or not you have any, eh, Mr. Attorney General? Quite the contrast between the AG and Fitzgerald. One wonders how their discussions will go. I know I'll be keeping an eye on that.
(H/T to Effwit for spotting this one. Nice.)
PS -- Nothing but best wishes to Tony Snow and his family.
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FITZ!
Madness…..Madnesss……MADNESSSS
We are on the brink of attacking Iran.
Alberto isn’t fit to shine Fitz’ shoes.
Berto’s not even fit to have one of those shoes implanted in his backside.
Oklahoma Kiddo, linkage on Iran please?
Don’t know if toast itself will be on the table, but roasted gonzo probably will…
Oh…for once I wish my spouse would make some of his high-carbon toast just for this event.
Mmm-mmm.
Christy!
Won’t someone think of the children?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 3
EPU’d from previous:
The UK wants its soldiers back.
Please come in for a nice little chat, Gonzo.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17810017/
Dirksen is right around the corner from me… I’m thinking about staking out the office just to get a glimpse and an autograph from Abu (could be a collector’s item shortly).
Oh, the irony!
Abu could take some lessons from Fitz.
Who am I kidding?Abu isn’t fit to shine Fitz’s shoes.
brendancalling @ 4
U.S. launches show of force in Persian Gulf
Aircraft carriers, warplanes feature in
maneuvers off the coast of Iran
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17810017/
Can Ms. Goodling assert her 5th amendment right against self-incrimination and refuse to testify about her role, and the role of others at the White House and at the Department of Justice, regarding the US Attorney firings?
First, it doesn’t allow you to refuse to testify about matters which involve the commission of possible crimes by others. Put another way, to the extent you are being asked questions regarding the actions of others, and not about your own actions, your 5th Amendment privilege to refuse to testify does not apply.
The one exception to this rule is where your testimony about another person would also invariably incriminate yourself, as well. For example, consider a criminal conspiracy where the actions of each participant in the conspiracy are imputed to the other conspirators. In that case, one could arguably assert the right against self-incrimination with respect to testimony about any of the other alleged conspirators, particularly if that testimony would allow the government to identify you as a member of the conspiracy.
continued
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/27/7153/12598
Last night Joe Scarborough sounded positively giddy when talking about the possibility of a US attack against Iran.
Someone mentioned Gulf of Tonkin.
Let’s all remember the 80’s. The US shot down an Iranian passenger jet because they mistook it for a fighter plane.
A few weeks later the Iraqis took out the Vincennes with an exocet missile.
More traffic, more games, more risk.
Upping the ante is the name of the game.
-GSD
And Good morning Mrs. Redd Hedd, I hope all is well in your neck of the woods.
kdh22 @ 9
And the U.S. and the British want to attack Iran.
I can hear it now: It depends on what the meaning of ‘mediocre’ is.
freedom toast, right ?
OT: But again, best wishes to Tony Snow and his family. I’m just heartsick at the news. Cancer really sucks.
On topic: Apparently they will be covering the news conference with Alberto and Fitz live on Chicago TV. Boy, would I love to watch THAT.
OK and angie -
iran situation does seem to be heating up.
i am now kicking myself for not asking my rep WHEN we would have the iran stand alone bill on iran.
cbl at 21 — You have no idea how I dithered this morning about using a lovely photo of some french toast, for just that reason.
mwahahahaha…
Will he show?
Project Safe Childhood was getting publicity on the local ABC affiliate last Friday evening, including interview with the local USA. This is doubtless a well orchestrated campaign around the radar nationwide. Unfortunately for Gone-zo and Co, it’s not getting the diversionary traction they were aiming for.
****
Sending caring thoughts to Tony Snow and his fmaily. Tough times cancer survivors live with. May he find serenity and marvelous healers to sustain him. And stay away from the bad stress–not a good mix with cancer.
annx - do you know which channel ? I have WGN News @ Noon tivo’d but would hate to miss it in real time on line somewhere
This whole thing is gonna get worse before it gets better: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/n.....E_ID=54861
EPU’d from last thread:
What a beautiful place is Firedoglake. One day we’re calling Tony Snow a complete lapdog and a tool (when he more than deserves the verbal abuse), but when real life intrudes with devastating news we could not be more compassionate.
Strength and hope flowing to Mr. Snow and his family.
Ditto, add my best wishes for Tony Snow and his family.
I wish the very best for Tony Snow and his family, along with the respect due to anyone who is his situation.
French toast and freedom fries. Yum yum. And some of Christy’s coffee.
“pops” or “props”?
Or littleprops? [lhp]
selise @ 23
Not to worry. Secretary of State Rice has everything under control.
AP - Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed to meet every two weeks to discuss day-to-day issues, in a quickening diplomatic pace that eventually could spur talks on a final peace settlement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced Tuesday.
I am curious as to how gonzo reacts when he sees a real prosecutor who actually knows and understands the law and the role of gov’t…
This news of Tony Snow’s cancer is so sad. I hope the outlook for him is positive. Cancer is just so nasty. I know first-hand, second-hand, too.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 19
Oh yeah, they’ve had that hard-on for some time now.
[Mod Note: zig alert]
Last night I started to write up some of what Tanya Erzen said at the presentation she gave at my church the other night, which was about the two years she spent studying the “ex-gay” movement and how it fits into the agenda of the “Christian right”. But, man, was some of that stuff depressing and anger-inducing. So I decided to share some other things first, which fit in with the notion of churches (and individuals) practicing “radical welcome“.
I’ve written more about that here.
Click here to read Now *that’s what I call “good news”!
With little kids as props, I’m sure that the Preznit would feel a real pull to dress like SpongeBob.
OT– Feinstein tying FBI to the personnel decisions at DOJ…says she may have to bring the special agents in. Mueller says they were told not to talk with the media…Grants that Congress has authority to call them in.
epu’d– Oh and Nancy?? Where’s the promised stand alone legislation wrt Iran?
Oh, how far we’ve come from the day that Attorneys General had integrity. I keep thinking back to how Elliot Richardson and William Ruckelshaus resigned in protest instead of firing Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. I have come to one conclusion: that whoever testified that dismissals of the eight USAs was for performance reasons was absolutely telling the truth. They wouldn’t perform as puppets in the scenarios designed for them. So, of course, Repug doctrine dictates that the strings had to be cut. Only the doctrinaire should be allowed to serve at the pleasure of the President. Goes to show that the old adage is true: power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. If this isn’t a case of Abuse of Power, I don’t know what is.
I have a cancer question. A small growth was discovered last year in Snow’s lower right pelvic area, and it was removed on Monday. With his history, why wasn’t it removed much sooner?
Re; the ‘exercise’ in the Persian Gulf.
To;
Our Generals, Commanders, Officers and Enlisted, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t allow Bush/Israel to push ‘us’ into War again. This one we won’t win and it will destroy everything we hold dear..
The only thing that will solve the oppression of Palestinian people will be to give them a homeland and for the U.S. and the rest of the world to treat these people with the same dignity and respect with which we treat the Jewish people.
Sorry to hear that about Tony Snow, and having small children at that - both my parents had died of pancreatic cancer by the time I was 35 years old. Trust me, its heart-wrenching. My best thoughts to people like the Snows and the Edwardses.
Badwater at 41 — I was under the impression that teh growth was a more recent discovery at a routine follow-up appointment for him. I didn’t think much time had elapsed between the discovery and the surgery, based on his statement at the briefing the other day.
As MSNBC explains it:
The transcript for Monday’s Hardball is not up yet but if you go here:
click on:
HARDBALL VIDEO
• Vilsack supports Clinton;
sit through a thirty second commercial; and then go to 1:52 you’ll hear Chris Matthews cut off Mrs. Vilsack as she was praising Hillary Clinton’s experience.
I guess all that MSNBC stuff about the meaning of “off the record” and “on background” only applies to Republican sources.
[Mod Note: please take care to close your blockquotes, thanks]
The late Richardson and Rukelelshaus. Two who give lawyers a good name.
jackie @ 29
Agreed. I wouldn’t wish cancer on anybody. (But understand, Tony, that my contempt for the job you do and the way you do it remains unsubsided.)
Christy@45 - On Yahoo, the AP story says that it was discovered last year.
I remember reading a discussion yesterday about Monica Goodling (maybe at kos?) - the poster could not find any information about her ever having passed the bar - at least under the name “Goodling.”
Anybody know if she’s been married or divorced since she got her position at DOJ?
Wouldn’t she have had to pass the bar for her DOJ position?
Some were wondering about that “Messiah” religious right college and its ability to prepare any of its students to go out in the world and actually practice law - maybe its only purpose is producing ideal candidates for republican political appointments.
Anybody know anything about this Monica Goodling’s credentials?
fyi - Chicago Broadcast Networks links
ABC News Affiliate
NBC News Affiliate
CBS News Affiliate
Get well, Tony! Best wishes. Hope everything comes out all right.
You are so much more entertaining than Scotty.
My typos are terrible this am. Sorry Mr. Ruckelshaus
Lou Costello @27:
This was covered a few threads ago, Corsi is the Swift Boat author, so beware, also see emptywheel’s take at Last Hurrah website.
Seems Corsi is trying to tip the perception of gonzales as he tours the country on his “protect the children” theme.
Consensus here seems to be that Bush Co is throwing him under the bus, along with McNulty,(by selectively leaking email to ABC) and Libby, who has already been caught under the wheel.
IMHO, best not to propogate the Corsi story.
Please pass the syrup.
I always hope that when someone aweful gets a life threatening disease, that that person will “see the light” so to speak and realize what’s really important in life is truthfulness, honesty, and love and living one’s life by those measures.
Unfortunatly, it didn’t happen to Arlen Specter.
McClatchy on Goodling
doesn’t mention where, if anywhere, she passed the bar
leslie @ 16
pastor john hagee’s heart is expanding at the thought of burning iranians like a cantelope injected with cyanide
okay this will probably be deleted. and i run the risk of being labelled a small person.
but if leni reifenstahl had been diagnosed with a severe illness just prior to completing the ‘brilliant but evil’ Triumph of the Will how appropriate would it have been for Hitler’s political opponents to wish her ‘healing and godspeed?’
Maybe Bush can “convert” all of his current problems:
Taking a page from the Big Dawg: compartmentalizing.
leslie @ 16
It was Rosie O’Donnell who mentioned the Gulf of Tonkin, in a clip from the View. Scarborough derided her comments. Paraphrase: “Since when is she an expert on foreign policy?”
We do not have enough woman and man power to fight in Iraq, let alone Iran. So the only option is bombs. Ah… but what kind of bombs and missiles?
Here’s the latest from Waxman:
On Wednesday, March 28 at 10:00 a.m., the Oversight Committee will hold a hearing to inquire about allegations that GSA Administrator Lurita Doan failed to follow proper procedures for awarding federal contracts, attempted to intervene in contract negotiations, and engaged in partisan political activities on federal property.
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1224
Oklahoma kiddo @
3
Are you refering to this? http://www.dailykos.com/storyo.....131442/082 with particular regard to this http://www.inteldaily.com/… ?
There seems a high probability of intel fingerprints there. Someone is worried and wants intel made public. All the best…….
Christy Hardin Smith @ 45
The latest news I heard was that it had spread to his liver. I think that means it has metasticized. This does not look like a good prognosis. So sorry he has to go thru all that. We make fun of the Snow job a lot, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have true sympathy for him and his family, or that we don’t wish him well, which I think we all do.
I’m thinking Fitz would really like to tell Abu what he thinks but he’s smart enough to let his record speak for itself.
I’m also thinking he is really going to enjoy watching the dismantleing of a complete tool.
I’m afraid the news is not good for Tony Snow. His cancer has spread to his liver. See the recommended diary at DKos.
We are very moved, Tony. We wish only the best for you and your family.
To the Mods: my bad! I’ll clean it up.
Lou Costello and others . . .
bwaahaaahaaa ! Corsi is on Abu on behalf of the Tancredo and Sensenbrenner factions - they’re po’d about the 2 Border Guards in jail - a lot like when conservates banged on Nixon about Watergate when in fact they were actually pissed about him going to China
a source of no small personal amusement for me in this unfolding story - the usual suspects (Lowry, et al) are coming out against Abu as they have in the past O’Neil, Clarke, eventually Rummy - the whole time thinking they are carrying WH water - whereas in this case the WH does not want him receiving the usual slime - their own Frankenstein hurting their case - mwaaahaahaaa!
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 60
As someone aptly noted at DailyKos, cancer is bi-partisan. No one deserves it, it is part of the human condition. As progressives we care for the human, even if we do not care for their actions.
Besides, there is both room and a need to appreciate the “loyal opposition”; would that the opposition actually grok that point.
Early morning check-in, because I find this news so stupifying.
Good to know that Abu Gonzales is busy hiding-behind-the-children on a day when many teachers across America make less than some bank tellers.
At what point in his sanctimonious comments about The Importance of Protecting Children can I expect Abu Gonzales be Photo Op’d holding that dead celebrity’s daughter? Cause hey, I wouldn’t want to miss it!
it is heartening to see Abu Gonzales preparing for a future Law School teaching career — perhaps he’ll be qualified to offer a seminar on The Fundamentals of Photo Op Opportunism?
Constitutional Law… not so much.
While they’re at it, maybe they can ask Gonzalez about the progress of the Mark Foley and the Congressional pages investigation.
cbl @ 56
hmmm…I looked on the ABA site and didn’t see anything - I would assume if she was performing any sort of legal work for DOJ she’d have to have passed the DC bar, or at least SOME state bar- but if she was merely an advisor or spokesperson, maybe not? I mean, you’d hope there’d be some standards, but do any of our lawyer folk (Christy) know for sure?
EPU’ed from prev thread:
—————
GSD @ 94
From Free Republic.
“We are getting dangerously near the point where the Democrats might attempt a military coup and take over the White House and Congress.
Mercenary troops from Pakistan or Norway or some other Blue-helmet soldiers would have to be imported, but it is a very real possibility.
I am perfectly serious.”
If you see a battalion of blonde haired, blue eyed soldiers wearing blue helmuts coming your way, batten down the hatches, the coup has begun.
-GSD
—————
My first reaction is to recall that the normal modus operandi of wingnuts is projection — i.e., the imputation of one’s own perceptions and motivations to others, particularly (in political contexts) one’s enemies. In that light, imho wingnuts are in the process of preparing and then declaring a fascist monarchy.
To enforce this, they appear to have been marshaling deputized Blackwater mercenaries as a sort of brown-shirted praetorian guard, whose helmets are (presumably) not blue.
And they hate it that (because of the incompetence and corruption of this “Administration” that will explode before dictatorship can be consummated) that this vision is dissolving before their eyes. So they twist it around and project it out on us.
1,467 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen oklahoma kiddo and the Firepup Patriots:
If the USA bombs Iran before Great Britan gets her sailors back, we will lose the Brits completely and Tony Blair will be toast and Brown will be hard pressed to survive also…I don’t think the Bush administration survives 1 month after bombing Iran in this case.
KEEP THE FAITH, NO FEAR AND NO COMPROMISE!!!
S.O.S. from MA @
73
—————
My first reaction is to recall that the normal modus operandi of wingnuts is projection — i.e., the imputation of one’s own perceptions and motivations to others, particularly (in political contexts) one’s enemies. In that light, imho wingnuts are in the process of preparing and then declaring a fascist monarchy.
To enforce this, they appear to have been marshaling deputized Blackwater mercenaries as a sort of brown-shirted praetorian guard, whose helmets are (presumably) not blue.
And they hate it that (because of the incompetence and corruption of this “Administration” that will explode before dictatorship can be consummated) that this vision is dissolving before their eyes. So they twist it around and project it out on us.
If Bush thinks he has an insurgency on his hands in Iraq, try martial law in America enforced by mercs.
It’ll never work.
-GSD
The question is: Will Gonzo survive until next week?
I hope Fitz gets the last laugh in this USA firings scandal.
More good news for us:
White House prods justices into retail arena
By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer
3:06 PM PDT, March 26, 2007
WASHINGTON — Bush administration lawyers urged the Supreme Court today to repeal a nearly 100-year-old rule that bars manufacturers from fixing the retail prices of their products.
They argued that the rigid rule makes it harder for companies to market their products with special displays in retail stores.
But several justices said a repeal would hurt consumers and lead to higher prices. It could mean that “every American will pay far more for the goods they buy,” said Justice Stephen G. Breyer, citing examples ranging from jeans to drugs. Why, he asked, should the court run that risk?
So manufacturers should be allowed to set prices to whatever they want, and the consumer gets scr*wed again. Way to go, guys. (Read that second paragraph a couple of times. Does that make sense? When was the last time you were in a store that didn’t have special product displays?)
Kinda reminds me of the song from the 70’s, Won’t You please come to Chicago.
I don’t know a lot about medical matters, but perhaps stem cell research, if begun in earnest about seven years ago would help cancer victims today.
personally, I think US statements about the British Sailors being solely “a British problem” is the usual catty, petty payback for the Brits announcing their withdrawal from Iraq, just as the Chimp was introducing his shiny new surge
SOS_MA ~ Talkin’ about projection: Tom Delay
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gm....._like.html
EPU’d from thread below:
Again, I think it’s a maneuver to buy some time for behind-the-scenes negotiations.
Yes, BUT. . .if you are Pat Leahy, before you give anybody any immunity, wouldn’t you have to weigh which is better realpolitiks–actually getting Moncia Goodling’s truthful testimony that, we assume, she was instructed by (1)Harriet Miers (?); (2) Abu Gonzo(?); (3) Karl Rove(?)to “misinform” Paul McNulty so as to cause him to purposefully mislead Congess and frustrate their oversight responsibilities, OR having Goodling and others at DOJ all claim their 5th privilege when subpoenaed to Congress to talk about the circumstances of the firings? Now you’ve got the world talking about how the highest levels of the Bush Adminsitration US DOJ-charged with the responsibilities of prosecuting and enforcing federal criminal laws– are all claiming they realistically believe themselves to be criminals!!! I think if I’m Pat Leahy I’m going to enjoy all those claims of 5th A privilege for awhile before anybody gets immunity.
I have some immediate experience re: the metastasis of colon cancer to the liver.
Sometimes the barium scan does not show the kind of “heat” that comes from cancer. They may have some suspicions that the cancer is growing based on blood readings and such, but the mass may not clearly come up as cancer. So they watch it.
Sometimes exploratory surgery, as Snow had, is what determines that the cancer is active again.
The cancer in the liver can be cut out, and the liver will re-generate.
Chemo and radiation should follow. Particularly if one is young.
It is a battle. Cancer sucks, as they say at M.D. Anderson.
Maybe Katie can interview him.
Ach, it was such fun dissing Tony Snow (with good cause). And now . . . 180 degrees of separation. Best wishes for health and healing, Mr. S.
Maybe the WH will appoint Katie Couric to stand in for him. You see? I can’t help myself.
Even Nancy Reagan, mega conservative, has a distaste for those who work and propagandize on behalf of anti-stem cell research zealots.
So instead of Swiftboating, perhaps a new term is needed.
Perhaps “Pulled a Katie” in honor of her accession to to the top of crap heap.
1,467 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen oklahoma kiddo and the Firepup Patriots:
With everything comin’ down domestically, with the Iraq surge apparently runnin’ outta steam and the saber-rattling over Iran, it would seem a good time to ask where our military lines up if the Chimpenfeurer tries ta invoke the Patriot Act martial law clause. I think we’re lookin’ at a Nixon situation here…the military would refuse.
KEEP THE FAITH AND KEEP THE CHILDREN INDOORS, THIS THING IS MOVIN’ PRETTY FAST!!
We know all too well that cancer is not political.
I wish him and his family all the best.
I don’t understand why the cigarette case isn’t being given a lot more traction. According to several interviews with Sharon Eubanks, the lead prosecutor, the DOJ micromanaged her case and cost the taxpayers hundreds of billions of bucks, in favor of their corporate masters. Is this not illegal? It’s almost like throwing a fight would be to a fighter. They let her win, but not by much comparatively. Leahy said he has never heard of a prosecutor who was given a script for a closing statement and told to read it verbatim. Isn’t this where the beef is?
Yes, but what about the global south?
Millineryman @ 86
Couric always struck me as the “perky,” hyena-laughing, back-stabbing member of the high-school cheerleader entourage.
Oklahoma kiddo @
14
U.S. launches show of force in Persian Gulf
Aircraft carriers, warplanes feature in
maneuvers off the coast of Iran
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17810017/
I can see it all now…
“Well if they fire one, we’ll fire one.
Fire one. Aye…”
tommy yum @ 89
Well that certainly sounds reasonable. I would never have thought of that.
tommy yum @ 92
That about sums it up.
tommy yum @ 93
Heather.
Lou Costello @ 81
Give that man $100, he said the secret woid!! :) Got that one right, bro :) What a loathsome bugman he still is. Why he gets media time (like Coulter, Goldberg, D’Souza… …) while we DFHippies get dribs and drabs is beyond me.
March 27th, 2007 at 7:51 am
cbl at #68 says:
To tell you the truth, I’m not tickled about the two border guards in prison either. Can’t remember if that was ever covered here. Don’t know which of the USAs is responsible for putting them in prison, but it sure appeared like a miscarriage of justice to me. If I were the other border guards, I’d be looking for other employment.
Anyone hear the comment last night about Gonzo from the guy on Hardball (can’t remember his name) that he’s not the kinda lawyer you’d even hire to do your real estate closing?! COL.
Ann in AZ @ 90
It’s all part of the same story, I think - the purchase of the government by big business (oil, tobacco, defense contractors, etc.) and the alignment of all departments of government, including DOJ, to the service of same. And part of the mission of government, in the Bush ideology, is to perpetuate its hold on power by any means necessary, both legal and scummy (questioning Dem’s patriotism), unethical and scummy (the tobacco case), and downright illegal (interfering with the decisions of USA’s based on an agenda to criminalize your opposition or using the threat of prosectuion to depress voter turnout.
In Watergate, everything was about protecting the covert ops. Here, everything is about perpetuating power with every tool available.
Geez, now I need a tinfoil hat.
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 59
I would like to visit Iran, but it will remain a dream. Such beautiful photos here:
http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html
Re: cancer.
Elizabeth said it best. From the “famous” 60 Minutes interview, with Katie cutie pressing:
OT..But this is not good.
“Two US carriers in Gulf war games for first time since 2003
AFP
Published: Tuesday March 27, 2007
The US Navy said on Tuesday it is staging major war games in the Gulf with two aircraft carriers for the first time since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, at a time of heightened tension with Iran.”
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/T.....72007.html
I have read on several sites that the Iran war window opens in the third week in April. I guess this war game fits that prediction.
tommy yum @
8
I’d rather not.
NorskeFlamethrower @ 86
We have a winnah! Love it, will use it, with thanks (if not outright attribution) 2 U :)
portia.vz @ 67
Oh wow, I hate to hear that. I really do. Are we facing an epidemic, here? Is it just my imagination? I just can’t help but believe toxins in our environment are responsible for this. So many people I know who are not high-profile people, like Snow and Elizabeth Edwards, have also been affected. It really seems the rates are going up, but that’s just anecdotal of course. I have no stats on that.
The impression here, and ‘impression’ is all it is, is that if Bush orders an attack on Iran the military will do it. I don’t really think Bush gives a whatever about Blair. But I could be wrong on this. ;0)
OT - A proposal to share FDL with a broader audience.
Small and medium-sized city newspapers are often starved for content and will publish just about every letter to the editor they get.
I think it would be very effective if FDL readers in small and medium-sized towns across the country wrote their local newspapers a letter to the editor specifically mentioning and endorsing Fire Dog Lake, maybe by tying FDL to a specific current event that is of popular interest.
What an incredible and powerful way for FDL to gain new readers across the country, and thereby build its voice and influence!
There is nothing like one local citizen telling another about something important. Word of mouth is perhaps the single greatest persuader of all. And, through the FDL readership, we have that in abundance. Letters to the editors would be a highly effective way of leveraging this fact.
So, I humbly propose a Fire Dog Lake local letter to the editor introduction project.
Thoughts?
From the famous 60 Minutes interview. Katie teaches Edwards a thing or two about politics:
I am a proponent of stem cell research. I do not admire politicians who, for political reasons, or for that matter, any reasons oppose this. Period!
NorskeFlamethrower @
87
USA Patriot Act section by section analysis by Senator Patrick Leahy
1,467 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
And as for Katie Couric, her performance just served to show the entire country how much courage and class BOTH of the Edwards have when juxtaposed to a corporate-created, brainless bimbo. If you can stomach any more Couric shit…go back and take a look at her “interview” of Michael Moore. He took her apart in sections: “If people like you had been doin’ your job I wouldn’t have had to make this film…”
KEEP THE FAITH AND NO MORE SHIT FROM ANYONE!!
US Generals/Admirals threaten resignation over Iran 2/25/7
guess it’s time for some hippies to start surfing DoD press releases . . .
Rayne @
70
Amen to all of the above…
Biodun @ 101
Pretty insensitive stuff, considering what happened to Katie’s husband. And unnecessary, completely unnecessary. I feel for John and Elizabeth having to go through these ridiculous exercises time and again. But Elizabeth has her head on straight and I’m sure she’s used to this kind of silliness. She’s such an impressive gal. I like her! I’d like for her to be my First Lady, dammit!
thanks for sharing that mulligatawny @ 102– Iraq and Afghanistan were beautiful too, many bombs ago.
These people deserved to live.
;(
Cancer rates (among many other diseases and horrific injuries) are up in the two countries we have attacked, too.
They don’t have access to medical care or much of anything at all except misery.
Mandrake @ 98
yeah. whatsisname. made a funny. and it WAS hilarious to me also, at the time.
imho, he’s a male couric. enjoy ‘is snark while it’s to yer advantage, but don’t turn yer back…
Belated g’mornin’ to everyone. Really slow here, & thunder resolutely marching our way, so I shouldn’t even be on line. But had to say Hi to my favorite crowd! *waves*
I’d luv to stay & enjoy [some of] the news with y’all, but better not. Luv the rain. Lightning - not so much…
OOPS! Too close! ..over & out…
(((((PEACE)))))
Mandrake @
105
Tony’s cancer would appear to have a genetic basis. His mother died of colon cancer in 1973.
Breast cancer is not unexpected as the population of baby-boomer women ages. Plus, breastfeeding was discouraged for a lot of women back in the 60’s but it is thought to be protective now. So, maybe we’ll see less breast cancer in the future.
Mutant Poodle @
73
I believe she was the liason to the WH which presumably would not necessarily require passing the bar…(Unless it’s the one on the corner…)
or environmental?
here’s to jr’s history wretched, shameful history of rolling back environmental protection laws & health care…
Gosh, Katie?
Katie, please, no more.
That’s sure rotten news about Snow and Edwards; my heart and sympathies go out to both people and all their dear ones. Let’s remember though that as a WH employee and the spouse of a Senator, they’ll both have access to the best health care their insurance and their own resources can cover.
I tell my wife (who is now our major wage-earner) that no matter what her employers paid her last year, we have to remember with gratitude the ~$400K bonus for covering my thus-far-totally successful radiation treatments at the Mass. General Hospital for prostate cancer.
So imho health insurance for the general populace is a good thing and should be a national priority. These tragic diagnoses should help reinforce that laudable notion.
no matter what any liberals say katie couric is not ‘capitalzing’ on being a ‘perky,’ ‘blond,’ ‘pretty,’ and ‘popular’ cheerleader for war.
and hey it’s Tuesday! the cafeteria has ’spanish rice’ today! and after lunch in science class we get to dissect a frog. Gross!
then we have an assembly and principal Cheney is going to talk to us about serving our country!!!
NorskeFlamethrower, can I just say how much I love your comments and insight?
Keep ‘em coming!
Helpless Dancer @
79
“We must ch-aa-aa-nge the world..
Re-arr-aa-nge the world…”
CSNY songs should all be back in vogue
WWJS (What Will Jay Say?)
Will TIMES MAG’s WA Editor James “Jay” Carney chime in about Tony’s cancer and what would be appropriate?
I thought the Edwards’ were amazing in the mean-spirited Katie Couric interview - and I think that they answered all the “some say” questions thoughtfully, honestly and seriously and showed themselves to be kind and hopeful - which ends up as a huge net positive for them and a huge net negative for an already in-ratings-and-credibiity-trouble Katie.
But I was secretly wishing that once - just once - one of them would have asked, “exactly who are these some people?”
dakine01– I have seen Goodling’s title as both counsel to the AG and doj liason to the WH…
Mandrake @ 114
Hmmm, if I were an Edwards kid, would I want my last memories of my mother to be that she wound down her activities significantly and sat around looking at me wistfully as she melted away to a fragment of her former self, or would I want to remember her as a vibrant, hard-working, loving mother who helped my Dad become president?
Or would I want to remember her as the person who told Katie Couric to go Cheney herself?
From Free Republic.
“We are getting dangerously near the point where the Democrats might attempt a military coup and take over the White House and Congress.
Mercenary troops from Pakistan or Norway or some other Blue-helmet soldiers would have to be imported, but it is a very real possibility.
I am perfectly serious.”
Surely there’s a Garrison Keillor skit in this somewhere…
Mutant Poodle at #99 says:
All I can say is that John Dean was right. This administration is worse than Watergate.
NorskeFlamethrower @ 87
Like the computer in the movie “War Games” when it came to the conclusion at the end of the movie concerning nuke-you-lur war that “The only winning move is not to play”.
That was the case in Viet Nam, that is the case in Iraq, and it appears increasingly so in Afghanistan, and would definitely apply to any hostilities with Iran.
angie @ 113
Depleted uranium is the primary cause of the increased rates of cancer and birth defects. But what the heck, it’s such an effective weapon and it’s not like its our country.
[/sarcasm]
Biodun @
110
Some have suggested that 60 Minutes made an extremely poor choice of Couric as interviewer. Some people say that Couric via her appearances on the Today Show capitalized on her family’s battles w/cancer.
Oh horrors!, you can’t imply that…
Speaking of serving something, when will they serve the subpoenas? They have authorized them, but they just sit there holding them. What’s the hold up?
Adie @ 119
I don’t know that environment *can’t* play a role in the development of colon cancer but these things do tend to run in families and if Tony’s dad didn’t get it, or any of his neighbors, that would support the genetic aspect and not the environmental one.
It’s funny how years of rat studies make everyone think that environmental factors cause cancer. While they contribute to cancer, people in research will tell you that rats get cancer from a lot of stuff. They are just prone to it. I can’t tell you why because I’m not an animal tech person but I’ve heard this said on more than one occasion. Feed a mouse or rat enough of just about any substance and they will get cancer. This doesn’t necessarily apply to humans.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 106
Didn’t a bunch of generals state that they would resign if Bush ordered an Iranian attack?
Has anyone an opinion as to what Ms AIPAC Pelosi will do if ?when Bush attacks Iran?
It seems to me she might be a bit like Marilyn standing over the grating but minus the undies!
I like this from Salon’s Walter Shapiro:
My bold.
mulligatawny, angie, and others,
I was lucky enough to spend plenty of time in Iraq and Iran in my misspent youth
strangers in Samarra gave me proper clothing to enter the Mosque that was destroyed last year - and then had me in their homes for dinner - I experienced this hospitality to strangers again and again in Iraq
was twice protected from danger during the Revolution in Iran - by folks who were not friendly to the Shah or his American sponsors
so there are some personal connections that make it all the more heartbreaking and maddening
1,467 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen sunny and the Firepup Patriots:
“Speaking of serving something, when will they serve the subpeonas?”
They won’t be served until all the geese are completely cooked…
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE GRAVY!!
Why don’t certain politicians support stem cell research? These guys would deny the benefits of such research to everyone. Ask a life long anti-stem cell pol on his or her death bed as a result of a life threatening disease, if they could do ‘it all over again’, and that this research might very well have spared them, how would they have voted. What do you think they would say. Lord, I dislike hypocrisy.
Adie @ 118
I know I keep harping on this, but as a geneticist, it’s my job: If you have ANY family history of cancer, you need to make sure your doctor knows about it. If you have a first degree relative (parent or sibling) who was diagnosed with cancer of any type before age 50, you should ask for a referral to a specialist in cancer genetics. The screening recommendations for high-risk patients are much different than those for the general population (breast MRIs, for example), and your prognosis is better the earlier any sort of tumor is detected.
Marcy has some posted some very interesting analysis of the Monica Goodling 5th Amendment gambit:
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.c.....nica_.html
[snip]
Christy and Steven D and Josh’s readers have made compelling cases that Monica Goodling’s claimed basis for invoking the Fifth Amendment is not supported by law. But I think some are jumping to conclusions about what the implications of this improper claim are. I’m unconvinced this is just an opening bid in an immunity deal.
[snip]
Ann in AZ,
see the link at my 8:20 above
Biodun @ 138
I love someone with Cancer. And I vote.
NorskeFlamethrower @
89
The US military has over the past 4 years had ample occasion to understand at first hand that subduing a civilan population in their own territory is a very difficult thing to do. And I doubt that they can be convinced that they will be welcomed as liberators in, say, New York or Chicago.
Ann in AZ @ 138
There is it seems always someone who will do the dirty work. Witness; Robert Bork.
The evangelical Christians like Good-ding are as loose with their interpretation of the law as they are with their interpretation of the Bible.
Ann in AZ @ 131
And by every tool, I mean Karl Rove, Abu Gonzales, Scooter Libby, etc….
Fresh thready goodness, up and ready for the reading.
heck with the 5th! as a graduate of Regent, shouldn’t she be more concerned about the 9th Commandment ;)
no matter what any liberals say katie couric is not ‘capitalzing’ on being a ‘perky,’ ‘blond,’ ‘pretty,’ and ‘popular’ cheerleader for war.
Good thing because Katie isn’t all that perky, a true blonde, or even pretty. Her ratings would make the whole popular argument fall flat on it’s face.
sunny @ 133
What’s the hurry? It pays to be methodical. They should do exactly what they’ve been doing: Gather testimony from everyone who’s willing to testify voluntarily, and then stop and take stock of where they’re at. Gonzo and McNulty are already up to their ears in shit. Sampson is up next. The soon-to-be-fired Goodling may or may not invoke the fifth when she’s called. Why throw subpoenas right now?
Has anyone mentioned this:
Embattled AG now accused in teen sex scandal ‘cover-up’
http://rawstory.com/showoutart.....E_ID=54861
Sitting here listening to the radio waiting for Rush Limpd*** to tell his listeners how Tony Blow should conduct his life while battling his illness…hhmm..still waiting…..waiting…
Oh, and by the way, isn’t it sad when a self-avowed “conservative” comic strip gets the USA scandal better than the beltway pundits… (Warning - this link probably won’t work after today, March 27.)
Oklahoma kiddo @
149
Or the fascist Colonel Olly North, traitor extranordinair and moral grunge.
“Tony’s cancer would appear to have a genetic basis. His mother died of colon cancer in 1973.”
I was thinking the same thing after it was mentioned that his entire colon was removed at the time of his first surgery. “Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colon Cancer”?..70-80% lifetime risk of developing colon cancer.
cbl– thanks for sharing that. That part of the world that so many deride have no idea of the hospitality, kindness and cultural beauty of the people and the beauty of the landscapes, both natural and architectural. I really liked Sean Penn’s speech the other day in its entirety, but this stood out in this context:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....44172.html
Oversight & Government Reform Committee Schedule
Committee hearings will be broadcast on the web.
Upcoming Hearings and Meetings
Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia business meeting
Tuesday, March 27, 2007, 2:00 p.m.
Full Committee hearing on “Allegations of Misconduct at the General Services Administration”
Wednesday, March 28, 2007, 10:00 a.m.
Full Committee business meeting
Thursday, March 29, 2007, 9:30 a.m.
Subcommittee on Domestic Policy hearing on “’Build It and They Will Come’: Do Taxpayer-financed Sports Stadiums, Convention Centers and Hotels deliver as promised for America’s Cities?”
Thursday, March 29, 2007, 10:30 a.m.
http://oversight.house.gov/schedule.asp
Oklahoma kiddo @ 144
Yeh, Blackwater comes to mind… do they have more & bigger guns than we do? And more concentration camps to put us in? Hope not…
I thought I’d make an on-topic comment:
I wish somebody at that session would ask Fitz about Rove’s emails on his RNC account. Did he know about them or not?
If not, should he re-open his investigation?
If he did, why didn’t he subpoena them?
sean penn’s speech is extrordinarily impresssive. Intelligent, passionate, perceptive, compassionate, angry.
I also got a kick out of his ‘bad boy’ routine at the Toronto International Film Festival when he insisted on smoking during an interview (all public places are non-smoking).
(no I do not smoke. yes I lost a loved one to lung disease due to smoking. I just liked his attitude that’s all)
tommy yum @
91
How’d you know?
Portia.vs @117
Do the math: for a woman to have been breastfed by her mother in the 1960’s, she would be 2007-1960= 47, well below “baby-boomer age” I think you meant the 40′ and 50’s, when most baby boomers were bottle fed thanks to nestle and the fear of society to see a breast in public.
If anything, the 60’s were a revolution in bare breasts and breastfeeding.
But even for the liberated 50’s mom, as my husband’s mother tells it, she had a cigarette in one hand and martini in the other while she breast fed her children. (none have cancer yet, all boomers)
Quzi at 78, Fitzgerald gets the last laugh in the US Attorneys firings? Excuse me, but he was not one of the 7 or 8 who were fired. I hate to see this issue being turned into a referendum on Fitzgerald while the real victims are minimized here. Unlike Fitzgerald these other US Attorneys do not have a strong PR mechanism working for them, but IMHO what Carol Lam did in San Diego trumped by far what Fitzgerald accomplished in the CIA Leak Case.
naschkatze @ 169:
I think Fitzgerald is a great prosecutor, but thank you for citing Lam’s work, for the reminder that the other attorneys really did lose jobs, and don’t have the PR machine.
Maybe a good post for FDL or any high traffic bloggers would be a detailed and interesting post about the strengths and past successes of the individual fired US Attorneys. I’ve read something on each one, but could stand to learn more.
As I think about it, one thoughtful post about these attorneys is a drop in the bucket and not worth doing. Stupid suggestion by me. I think there’s a sense that Fitzgerald is a strong US Attorney still standing, possibly untouchable, and that his quality being called into question helps highlight how the WH and the AG were NOT interested in giving this country a great Justice Department, but in covering the GOP’s corrupt tail end.
David Brooks (yes, indeed) made a good point in a recent column that while the US Attorney position is “political,” it should ONLY be so insofar as the cases they choose to prosecute tend to support the major policy initiatives and focus of an administration. That is, if an administration wants to focus on terrorism, so should and can its prosecutors.
But that political-as-in-policy bias should NOT extend to protecting the political party behind it.
Biodun @
122
I know this is already EPU’d, but just had to say something. This tone-deafness to other people’s pain is nothing new for Katie. Anyone else remember her personal one-on-one interviews with grieving parents, only 2 days after the massacre at Columbine High School? Disgusting! The “lady”s a pure ambulance-chaser with a very cold heart indeed. imo.
Thanks Frank, Portia, et al.
Sorry - just got back to the thread now, after dodging some lightening storms.
Yes. Thank you for your helpful comments. I know you’re right - sci. background here too, so that was a gratuitous cheap shot. I’m just in such a foul mood today because of dumbya, he makes a big tempting target, #&*@ll that he is.
Even his live statement on Tony Snow sounded hollow & utterly phoney, -uh-, like Katie does… harumph!
*blush* you guys make me feel better already.
thanks. ;->
can’t help it. gotta say it. I still miss Molly horribly, & I always will. *sniffle*
Biodun @
92
Is this a credible account? Are we really that tone-deaf diplomatically? Was John Bolton the honoree of that dinner? Have I gone insane? Have I lost the ability to make a declarative statement?
Re: Gonzales is to appear for a round table discussion of the project with Fitzgerald and Ernie Allen, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Check out……
Embattled AG now accused in teen sex scandal ‘cover-up’
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/n.....E_ID=54861
CNN just reported that Monica graduated from Messiah College in PA and law school at Regent U. in VA. Messiah???
Here’s clear proof, that at the first sign of trouble, the administration is the first to CUT AND RUN.