Christy!

Good morning Christy!

That bird photograph is hilarious. But somehow I identify. Yo, where are our investigations?

And once again, no Lieberman to gum up the works.

What caught my eye is Salon’s analysis
of the Sampson grilling.
How could Sampson even think of putting
Fitzy on the second team when the Plame mess
was smouldering?
When asked by Schumer, Sampson was very coy…
He “could not remember” if he talked to Rove about the deal…
Hmmmmmmmmm

retirin’ in five @ 2

And once again, no Lieberman to gum up the works.

Any day without Lieberman is a good day.

Excellent piece in the WaPo this morning on the politicization of
US Attorney appoinments under Bush.

‘morning all!

this morning i listened to a lecture by mark crispen miller, from the cambridge forum.

at the end, during the q&a, he said something that resonated with me about our media environment…. which i think applies especially well to the sunday morning talk shows. here’s my rough transcript:

i think the establishment is rotten to the core, rotten to the core… both parties, and the press.

i swear if i see chris mathews one more time bellowing about, you know, joe biden’s gaff or hillary’s chances.

our establishment treats our politics as a celebrity culture – and it’s all about them. and schumer and rahm emanuel got all these plaudits and praise for the fact that a lot of people turned out to vote in a sensible way. the people are the ones that deserve the credit.

but, you see, the commercial media is an advertising based system. so they actually have a very cynical view of the public – they’re consumers. we’re trying to stimulate them, we’re trying to get ratings points out of them. so the conceive the citizenry as a kind of inert mass, that one or the other party has succeeded in getting to a boil.

oh, and earlier in the talk, he said that right now, the closest thing we have to a free press is the blogosphere.

just thought i’d share…

W’s World: Somalia now in total war & crisis again.

On the other hand (and isn’t there always one at the Post?),
we have the latest ramblings from Broder (no link provided – you’ll have to dig for yourself through the compost heap that is the Op-Ed page):

By contrast, the previous speaker, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, played the crowd like a virtuoso, lowering his voice to a confidential whisper to brief them on his views on Iraq — you could have heard a pin drop —

– I went back to see if …Daily Kos had more on the Russian’s intelligence story Bush to strike Iran on April 5th. Well, it is there. And additional exposure set forth in the German press. Not a peep here. Of course.

allan_in_upstate @ 6

Excellent piece in the WaPo this morning on the politicization of US Attorney appoinments under Bush.

remember when economists started getting pissed about the bush campaign lying about their budgetary numbers (krugman during the 2000 campaign)… then it was the scientists … and now the prosecutors.

in every arena… it’s been a roll back of enlightenment values.

my cousins try to tell me that everyone is entitled to their own opinions. i’ll know i’ve gotten through when they realize that we’re not entitled to our own facts.

DELBERT MATHANEY @ 10

– I went back to see if …Daily Kos had more on the Russian’s intelligence story Bush to strike Iran on April 5th. Well, it is there. And additional exposure set forth in the German press. Not a peep here. Of course.

Any day, like today, that we wake up & W hasn’t bombed Iran is a good day.

Ann in AZ @ 5

retirin’ in five @ 2
And once again, no Lieberman to gum up the works.

Any day without Lieberman is a good day.

so long as we don’t bomb iran.

As long as it’s a slow Sunday, and we’ll be talking about the USAs dismissals, I wanted to get Christy’s take on that study done by the two Professors. I believe it was like 298 investigations or prosecutions of Dems, something like 67 Repugs, and 10 Inds. Obviously this is way out of balance, but without actual prior studies or proof, don’t you think that people will be easily convinced that the numbers are so skewed because Dems are so much more corrupt. The general public has not shown themselves to be so astute as to refute this, and you know the repugs are going to try to exploit the study in just that way.

So Hatch is going to play the ‘witch hunt’ card. Will Leahy defend himself?

Apropos of nothing in particular… post 9/11 I was an avid reader of the NYT, and paid retail ($1.00 per copy) every day for the following couple of years. When I was in Lyon, I paid 2 EUROS every day for the International Herald Tribune (a NYT entity).

Now, I take pains never to visit their website, particularly the effing “Select” section, even though a very fine blogger gave me a free pass. I suppose I miss a few things, but I am still so angry at Raines and Keller and the rest of the slimeball editorial crew that I just cannot bring myself to shell out any more of my meagre cash-stash for their fishwrap.

I miss Anthony Lewis – the guy could think and write rings around Richard Cohen, Freidman, or any of the rest.

now i’m listening to Gilbert Burnham’s (co-director, CRDR, Johns Hopkins and co-author of the lancet studies on iraqi death rates) lecture, “Counting the Dead in Iraq”, given in february at the MIT Technology and Culture Forum.

not a happy way to start the day.

LaFourmiRouge @ 16

Apropos of nothing in particular… post 9/11 I was an avid reader of the NYT, and paid retail ($1.00 per copy) every day for the following couple of years. When I was in Lyon, I paid 2 EUROS every day for the International Herald Tribune (a NYT entity).

Now, I take pains never to visit their website, particularly the effing “Select” section, even though a very fine blogger gave me a free pass. I suppose I miss a few things, but I am still so angry at Raines and Keller and the rest of the slimeball editorial crew that I just cannot bring myself to shell out any more of my meagre cash-stash for their fishwrap.

I miss Anthony Lewis – the guy could think and write rings around Richard Cohen, Freidman, or any of the rest.

I just send copies of their most egregious stories to public@nytimes.com, with the subject line reading: Proud yet?
MSM is going out of business thru slo-mo suicide.

Somebody called me?

I’ve been wondering for weeks why Tolman’s name never comes up with respect to Specter or Hatch in this USA’s story since he served as both of their staffer and his insertion of the text into the 2006 Patriot Act. Over this past weekend, I finally found some sources of excellent discussion that puts a name and face on this piece of the story.

Follow his career path and where he serves now and see if it doesn’t fit perfectly in your mind:

See here:
tpm link
deseretnews
andrewsullivan link
swampland link
swampland

C-SPAN talking about Brit hostages in Iran. Nothing intelligent yet. I sent an email saying I thought Iran ought to give the hostages a choice: continue to be held by Iran or turned over to U.S. to be held in Abu Ghraib. Somehow I don’t think my email will be read on camera.

I love that picture. *g* Couldn’t help myself and had to use it this morning. Julie has some really amazing shots, but I liked the little sparrow with attitude for today.

Pouring the rain down here, gang, and my perennials are drinking it in this morning. It’s going to be a great day to putter around the house and maybe get my lettuce planted.

egregious @ 19

Somebody called me?

I accused NYT of being you.

The money quote from the Wapo article. Think Meathead can read?
“Sampson sought to be a U.S. attorney, too, and he was the administration’s preferred choice last year to be chief prosecutor in his native Utah. But he was nudged aside for another GOP lawyer, Brett L. Tolman, who was favored by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah). Tolman was counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee in late 2005 when, at Justice’s request, he had language inserted into USA Patriot Act legislation that allowed Gonzales to circumvent Senate confirmation by appointing interim U.S. attorneys indefinitely. Congress is in the process of repealing the provision.”

Since it’s April Fools’ Day….I assume that’s why Hatch, Bartlett, McConnell, Bond, etc. have been invited on the Sunday circuit.

Hey, pups – Saint McCain is holding a presser from the sunny streets of Iraq at 9:15 PDT. Anyone want to bet he’ll be touring the marketplace with his cameraman, unescorted by security?

Republicans thrive when people believe that both parties are equally “rotten to the core”. The years of total Republican control have demonstrated that they are in a class by themselves.

I keep waiting for Tolman to be subpoenaed. Why hasn’t this happened yet?

Come and meet a wonderful artist.

LaFourmiRouge @ 26

Hey, pups – Saint McCain is holding a presser from the sunny streets of Iraq at 9:15 PDT. Anyone want to bet he’ll be touring the marketplace with his cameraman, unescorted by security?

Kinda like landing on an aircraft carrier?

LaFourmiRouge @ 26

Hey, pups – Saint McCain is holding a presser from the sunny streets of Iraq at 9:15 PDT. Anyone want to bet he’ll be touring the marketplace with his cameraman, unescorted by security?

It’s so safe that he has to make an unannounced visit.

I’d like to see someone in the msm put all these Bushies stories together in one place. The Attorney Generals are just the latest example of Bush replacing more qualified and respected people with “loyal Bushies” in important jobs in all fields of Government. I’m not going to research it right now, but I remember there was a story not too long ago about how, for example, the person in charge of rebuilding hospitals in Iraq was replaced by a Bushie who had no qualifications and went on to screw it all up. Then there the FEMA Brownie stuff. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security, which is now the largest branch of Government, is full of traded favors and incompetence for the same reasons. These stories are all out there. They just need to be put together into some coherent form and explained to the American people in a way that they could see how expansive the damage is.

Then, there’s the massive outsourcing of everything to corporations – not just Halliburton – who are loyal to Bush because he’s got his hands in their pocket. This stuff goes to all departments. Guess who’s listening to your phone calls. Even that gets outsourced. But I guess that’s a separate story.

eCAHNomics @ 15

So Hatch is going to play the ‘witch hunt’ card. Will Leahy defend himself?

I thought the talking point was “show trial,” as in: We don’t want it to be a show horse trial, right brownie? Heckuva job!

Badwater @ 31

LaFourmiRouge @ 26
Hey, pups – Saint McCain is holding a presser from the sunny streets of Iraq at 9:15 PDT. Anyone want to bet he’ll be touring the marketplace with his cameraman, unescorted by security?

It’s so safe that he has to make an unannounced visit.

I’m guessing that his bobblehead routine could give Ban Ki Moon a run for his money… one can only hope…

These are my requirements for discussion on the purge of USA’s
-mention Karl Rove’s role
-mention the WaPo article
-mention gwb43.com
-mention Rove’s blackberry
-mention ‘the gap’
-mention the Patriot Act provision
Otherwise, it’s just a perfect ‘April Fools’ Day

The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a piece this morning that tries to preserve the myth that the US Attorneys were fired for good cause. Pretty pathetic case, actually. (I put the URL in the “Website” because it didn’t seem to come out right.)

msnbc

Reuters: Several small blasts heard, smoke seen at U.K. Embassy in Tehran.

cnn

Several small blasts heard, smoke seen rising inside British Embassy compound during protest over 15 detained British sailors and marines, witness in Iranian capital tells Reuters

http://www.cnn.com/

I wish the last 6 years had been all April fools days.

Neil @ 33

eCAHNomics @ 15
So Hatch is going to play the ‘witch hunt’ card. Will Leahy defend himself?

I thought the talking point was “show trial,” as in: We don’t want it to be a show horse trial, right brownie? Heckuva job!

Is a Congressional hearing a trial? In this case, I would like it to be, but don’t think it is quite yet. Of course, it is a symbolic trial for the court of public opinion.

Here is a great quote from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer this morning:

“Reps. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., and Jay Inslee, D-Wash., were angered enough by the Justice Department’s firing of Seattle U.S. Attorney John McKay that they suggested he be given his job back. McKay’s response? Thanks, but no thanks.”

McKay teaches law now at Seattle University. Here is a great snippet of what he is focusing on in his Constitutional Law and Terrorism class:

“In class this week, the topic [of his firing] didn’t come up. Instead, McKay leaned against a table and peppered his students with questions about varying legal definitions of torture, posing a series of hypotheticals: If they represented a high-level terrorism suspect who had been subjected to harsh interrogation techniques such as “waterboarding,” how would they proceed? If they represented CIA agents who used the techniques, what defense would they offer? If they worked for the Justice Department and were directed to advise case agents how rough they could get with suspects, what would they say?”

Perhaps he is in a better place now.

Here is the link: seattlepi

Stephanopolous asked Bartlett why Iglesias was fired. Long talking point. Stephanopolous offers lots of facts including great perf. reviews, wasn’t added to the list until date, Rove reqested it.

Sen. Specter (R-PA) still wants Rove and Miers to testify with transcript (in private, no oath.)

Bartlett said “we think our offer isfair.”

Bwa haa. Supbeona time.

Rootless Cosmopolitan has the temerity to point out that pulling out of Iraq is not happening anytime soon.

This is going to be a real problem for democratic presidential candidates. Clinton may have been wise to get out ahead of this issue by admitting she plans a continued occupation.

Long story short, the Iraqi defense forces cannot defend the country. Iraq has no air force or armored divisions, nor any logistical capability. The current defense force is really just an internal security force. The country is surrounded by countries with formidable forces, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia all of whom have ethnic ties to groups different groups in Iraq. Syrian and Saudi Arabia to Sunnis, Iran to Shiites and Turkey to Kurds and Turkomen. The Saudis are clearly very distressed to have a new Shiite government on its border, the Turks are worried about the Kurds desire for a state, and Iran is sitting pretty at the moment with allies in power.

The US has built permanent bases in Iraq designed to hold about 50,000 troops. The US is doing nothing to create an armed force in Iraq that can defend itself against outsiders. The plan, all along, was for Iraq to serve as the base of operations for the US in the Mid-east. There is no sign that this plan has changed, as Clinton recently admitted.

Democratic candidates has have to think long and hard about what to do about Iraq. Right now, they can get away with saying that they favor withdrawal, but as the elections get nearer, they’re going to have to be clearer about what they mean by that.

Between Bush and a pliant media, there has never been a policy debate in this country about any aspect of the occupation. The plan for ending that occupation is not at all well-formed, nor is it clear which of the candidates do actually support ending the occupation.

[Open link closed by moderator]

ewww– Nile Gardiner– ewww.

morning all.

alright, I’ve clarified for myself the neo con strategy;

“if you say it, that makes it so”

Gonzales with his “there is nothing illegal about these wire taps” and “there is no constitutional protection against warrantless search”

with cheney’s “there is no doubt Saddam was in league with bin laden”

the list goes on, but here is their strategy;

“say it, say it as if it’s as true as water being wet, do not back down from your interpretation, even in the face of absolute proof, simply say that proof is subject to interpretation”

I was listening to tom harman (you should get him to guest blog here christy, now that he had you on your show)

anyway, I was listening to tom hartman and he had some moron from some institute with the NERVE to say “taxes are immoral”

IMMORAL !

this is what they do, they use words that invoke emotion to make believe their point is the only accurate point and any proof otherwise is just an interpretation

so they say things that can’t possibly be true but they say it as if everyone knows it and bing, their minions follow along

remenber cheney’s “they are in the last throws of insurgency”?

he continues to say he was absolutely correct by the way…now gonzales, in the face of the absolute facts continues to say there was nothing political about these firings…and continues to claim he is fighting for the truth

rediculous but he continues on and on

Glub. G’morning from MN, the land of one great honking lake. More rain. Everyone depressed and cranky. Oh, wait. We were depressed and cranky before it started raining. Bush Syndrome.

Speaking of whom . . . was anyone else totally embarrassed to see Junior shooting off his mouth at the egregious (morning, E) seizure of British sailors? I get that the U.S. should probably weigh in on this, but it is beyond the pale that the master of deception and flapdoodle be our spokesman. Ick.

Back to my cave.

Meat: the Puppet

starring Tim “Pumkinhead” Russert
with Orrin “Booby” Hatch

A criminal mastermind plots to take over the justice department with the help of several dozen Gary Burghof clones and a talking head. Their plot is foiled when a new chairman of the Senate judiciary committee is sworn in with subpoena power and the “Burghofs” turn on each other amidst much mayhem and gore.

The withdrawal timeframes stated in the house and senate authorzation bills, whether binding as in the house bill or non-binding as in the senate bill, is wholly unacceptable to the white house.

The WH talking point is why Congress wants to substitute its judgement for the generals’ judgements.

Is it not obvious to everyone in this country that generals are not in charge of increasing troop strength or deciding to redeploy? That authority is the deciderers and the Congress is telling him, you get 18 more months another 100 Billion?

Bush chimed in the Iran “hostages.” Way to escalate George. You couldn’t just let Blair deal with this himself, no, you had to chime in with your .02 cents.

This Week round table on now.

jayackroyd @ 43

Rootless Cosmopolitan has the temerity to point out that pulling out of Iraq is not happening anytime soon.

This is going to be a real problem for democratic presidential candidates. Clinton may have been wise to get out ahead of this issue by admitting she plans a continued occupation.

Long story short, the Iraqi defense forces cannot defend the country. Iraq has no air force or armored divisions, nor any logistical capability. The current defense force is really just an internal security force. The country is surrounded by countries with formidable forces, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia all of whom have ethnic ties to groups different groups in Iraq. Syrian and Saudi Arabia to Sunnis, Iran to Shiites and Turkey to Kurds and Turkomen. The Saudis are clearly very distressed to have a new Shiite government on its border, the Turks are worried about the Kurds desire for a state, and Iran is sitting pretty at the moment with allies in power.

The US has built permanent bases in Iraq designed to hold about 50,000 troops. The US is doing nothing to create an armed force in Iraq that can defend itself against outsiders. The plan, all along, was for Iraq to serve as the base of operations for the US in the Mid-east. There is no sign that this plan has changed, as Clinton recently admitted.

Democratic candidates has have to think long and hard about what to do about Iraq. Right now, they can get away with saying that they favor withdrawal, but as the elections get nearer, they’re going to have to be clearer about what they mean by that.

Between Bush and a pliant media, there has never been a policy debate in this country about any aspect of the occupation. The plan for ending that occupation is not at all well-formed, nor is it clear which of the candidates do actually support ending the occupation.

[Open link closed by moderator]

I think the only way for Democrats to get ahead of the Iraq mess is to say that the situation is changing so rapidly that there is no way of knowing now what we are going to do in a year and half. And they could add that Bush says he has information that he won’t share with them so it’s impossible to make these kinds of decisions without knowing all the facts.

Connect the dots..

My money says, after reading two articles this morning – Digby’s about Our Messianic Emperor’s evangelical implants throughout his administration, and; The Wapo about the US Attorney’s who Bush appointed, and who “made the cut” from Pearl Harbor day last year -

..”Evangelical Faith” is the missing ingredient that Sampson, Goodling, Jennings, Meyers, et al “forgot” on what it took to stay off the hit list. To me, it is patently obvious.

No one.. NO ONE will open up this pandora’s box. “Did you use faith as a hiring/firing criteria?” “Did he go to the prayer breakfasts?” “Is he active in his church?”

Someone should do a study of how many USA’s appointed after the 2004 election graduated from an evangelical law school. Wapo talked around this obvious thread. Why?

MSM will not touch this with a ten foot pole.

Neil @ 49

Bush chimed in the Iran “hostages.” Way to escalate George. You couldn’t just let Blair deal with this himself, no, you had to chime in with your .02 cents.

This Week round table on now.

Blair jumped on the PNAC world domination express. Now he wants off. Sorry Tony. This ride’s going all the way to the end.

I think the only way for Democrats to get ahead of the Iraq mess is to say that the situation is changing so rapidly that there is no way of knowing now what we are going to do in a year and half. And they could add that Bush says he has information that he won’t share with them so it’s impossible to make these kinds of decisions without knowing all the facts.

My preferred D response is: W went into the china shop & broke all the dishes, and now they expect Ds to put them back together again?

So there’s a piece in the NYT Week in Review on the declining power and independence of US Attorneys.

Yet the geography of prosecutorial power has shifted in the past two decades. Prosecutors struggle more and more with straitened budgets and rules, and a Justice Department that holds a far tighter leash.

“Last two decades”? How about “the last six years.” There are no examples given from the Clinton years or the Bush I years of this tighter leash.

“Power is much more centralized in the Department of Justice than it ever had been,” said Professor Bruce Green, a former assistant federal prosecutor in New York and director of the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics at Fordham University School of Law. “Nowadays, the Justice Department knows much more about which cases you’re bringing and the sentences you’re handing out.”

Here you have a clear statement of central control of prosecutors as if it came down, unbidden, from the skies.

“In the past we felt more empowered to ignore them,” he said.

The Internet has aided the collection and centralization of information, greatly expanding the Justice Department’s ability to track a wide variety of cases on the local level.

Finally, there is the regimen imposed by the Justice Department, which places a high premium on loyalty. President Bush’s first attorney general, John Ashcroft, required that his prosecutors seek the toughest sentences, particularly in terrorism and death penalty cases. All of this chews at the core of a prosecutor’s power, which is about the exercise of choice.

Rather than a story about the unprecedented degree of control and politicization of the US Attorneys under the Bush administration, the story treats it as though it were something in the water.

eCAHNomics @ 53

I think the only way for Democrats to get ahead of the Iraq mess is to say that the situation is changing so rapidly that there is no way of knowing now what we are going to do in a year and half. And they could add that Bush says he has information that he won’t share with them so it’s impossible to make these kinds of decisions without knowing all the facts.

My preferred D response is: W went into the china shop & broke all the dishes, and now they expect Ds to put them back together again?

I like that too, but I’m not sure it works when you’re trying to woo people who voted for Bush in 2004.

Badwater @ 27

Republicans thrive when people believe that both parties are equally “rotten to the core”. The years of total Republican control have demonstrated that they are in a class by themselves.

that both parties are rotten to the core does, in NO WAY, suggests that they are equally rotten.

for example, in miller’s talk, he describes a republican party undermining and corrupting our elections… and a democratic party that is unwilling to address this.

a dramatically different level of rotteness.

in my experience (i don’t claim to any special expertise… just lots of experience talking to republicans – i don’t believe people don’t change their views)… i do better if i’m willing to be completely honest about the faults of dems when i’m trying to get someone to face the real and much more significant problem with today’s republicans. and i’m committed to striving for intellectual honesty.

eCAHNomics @ 53

My preferred D response is: W went into the china shop & broke all the dishes, and now they expect Ds to put them back together again.

Put them back together again when many of the pieces have been hidden or discarded. Where are they? I can’t remember.

Wow. Can anyone think of when MtP had a lineup like that? I can’t recall a time. I’m with Christy: I want to see what Monsignor asks Hatch.

OT, re: Roots Project beta site

If you set up your account and start posting some of your own content to your own blog there, Matt Browner Hamlin and I will be looking daily for original material generated by the community to promote to the front page. You’ll also WIN FREE STUFF.

Well, maybe not, but anyway, it’s next generation Internets that we’re building, and you can be a a part of it. Check it out.

Please also make note of our new fundraising thermometer on the right sidebar of any FDL page. When I get an update from Jane on the latest contributions, I’ll update it.

My preferred D response is: W went into the china shop & broke all the dishes, and now they expect Ds to put them back together again?

My point here is

1) That’s not gonna be good enough for the entire campaign cycle.

2)This is a very serious problem that we have to face.

3)The Average Joe does not, I believe, understand that a rapid withdrawal is not possible, and that there is little possibility of the occupation ending in the next several years unless there is a significant policy change.

4) What to do to get out of Iraq has to be discussed. It’s not enough to come up with talking points.

5) I want to know what the Democratic candidates are really planning to do. Clinton’s copped to the 50,000 soldier indefinite occupation. If Obama or Edwards have different ideas, they should spell them out.

From the list of talking heads it seems as if Bartlett is playing defense for the Bushies. They are too chicken to send Rove out on the circuit. Think they have something to hide?!

I don’t have TV so depend on you fine folks to tell me how bad Hatch is whining.

The NYT’s Editorial really hammered Rove, The Rovian Era, this morning.It is ALL Rove!

….

Mr. Rove’s efforts to maintain one-party rule go deep into the government. Last week, we learned about a meeting set up by Mr. Rove’s staff with officials of the General Services Administration that was wildly inappropriate and perhaps illegal. The aim, as outlined by Mr. Rove’s deputy, Scott Jennings, seems to have been to take advantage of the billions of dollars in contracts put out by the agency every year to return Republicans to the majority in Congress in 2008. It included PowerPoint slides on vulnerable House and Senate seats.

This sort of behavior should not be all that surprising. It was not that long ago that the Bush White House embraced the priorities of the Republican governor of Mississippi and virtually ignored the far greater needs of Louisiana’s Democratic governor after Hurricane Katrina.

…

eCAHNomics @ 53

I think the only way for Democrats to get ahead of the Iraq mess is to say that the situation is changing so rapidly that there is no way of knowing now what we are going to do in a year and half. And they could add that Bush says he has information that he won’t share with them so it’s impossible to make these kinds of decisions without knowing all the facts.

My preferred D response is: W went into the china shop & broke all the dishes, and now they expect Ds to put them back together again?

that doesn’t address how to get the Ds to concieve of and commit to a plan that ends our occupation of iraq.

after all… our staying in iraq does nothing to create an iraqi civil defense.

angie @ 44

ewww– Nile Gardiner– ewww.

morning all.

I tried to get through to C-SPAN and ask is this there idea of balance. A neo-can war monger from a republican front organization that has been at Iran’s throat for 25 years and a LA Times reporter? Punkinhead couldn’t hae done a better job.

barbara @ 57

eCAHNomics @ 53

My preferred D response is: W went into the china shop & broke all the dishes, and now they expect Ds to put them back together again.

Put them back together again when many of the pieces have been hidden or discarded. Where are they? I can’t remember.

They’ve gone to the great WMD place in the sky.

georgesimian at 50:

I think the only way for Democrats to get ahead of the Iraq mess is to say that the situation is changing so rapidly that there is no way of knowing now what we are going to do in a year and half

Unfortunately, this is not true. The situation is not changing much at all. Ethnic cleansing continues. Iraq is in a very violent stasis.

CNN-suicide vest found inside Green zone. My army major efriend tells me Green Zone “security” is very penetrable. So keep alert for more news of that sort, possibly worse.

jayackroyd @ 59

My preferred D response is: W went into the china shop & broke all the dishes, and now they expect Ds to put them back together again?

My point here is

1) That’s not gonna be good enough for the entire campaign cycle.

2)This is a very serious problem that we have to face.

3)The Average Joe does not, I believe, understand that a rapid withdrawal is not possible, and that there is little possibility of the occupation ending in the next several years unless there is a significant policy change.

4) What to do to get out of Iraq has to be discussed. It’s not enough to come up with talking points.

5) I want to know what the Democratic candidates are really planning to do. Clinton’s copped to a the 50,000 soldier indefinite occupation. If Obama or Edwards have different ideas, they should spell them out.

Why isn’t a rapid pullout impossible? Why is a slow pullout any better? Why should the candidates come up with a concrete plan when the President isn’t? It’s fine for them to say one thing or another, but it will be almost two years before any of them get into office, and so much can change between then and now. They should at least wait until closer to the November election to see what’s going on in Iraq before committing to a plan now.

Reading a book that last night referenced the Hundred Years War, which made me literally quake. What name will history place on George’s War when it ends and if there is a world left to comment upon it when that happens. I am in such a terribly doomsday mode. Lifeline, anyone?

Republicans thrive when people believe that both parties are equally “rotten to the core”.

Yup, because if people believe that both are equally bad, they figure “Why bother voting?” — and since the GOP typically has a higher percentage of hardcores who vote, guess who wins?

This is also why the Republicans do everything in their power to a) keep poor and non-white people from being able to vote, and/or b) keep their votes from being counted: Because the Republicans do best when the least amount of folk vote, and those people vote Democratic tickets anyway. The preferred method for suppressing their votes, as the US Attorney purge scandal has made abundantly clear, is to lodge fake “voter fraud” charges against local and state Democratic Party orgs.

CNN in background: god has almost an many hits on the Internet as sex.

Jokes write temselves.

barbara @ 67

Reading a book that last night referenced the Hundred Years War, which made me literally quake. What name will history place on George’s War when it ends and if there is a world left to comment upon it when that happens. I am in such a terribly doomsday mode. Lifeline, anyone?

armegeddon.

lina @ 70

barbara @ 67
Reading a book that last night referenced the Hundred Years War, which made me literally quake. What name will history place on George’s War when it ends and if there is a world left to comment upon it when that happens. I am in such a terribly doomsday mode. Lifeline, anyone?

armegeddon.

The Rapture.

A rapid withdrawal would be very very difficult. First you’ve gotta get the 100,000 contractors out, which is tricky because a number of them are working security. Then what?

I know this brings to mind Mayor Daley telling Johnson to just put them onto planes and fly them out, but what do you envision?

The simplest plan would be to not rotate people in as people are rotated out, taking a proportionate number of contractors out that same time. Then gauge the size of the resulting conflagrations in the now American-free areas.

You guys are working hard to cheer barbara up here.

My view: we have survived terrible leaders and terrible conditions in the past, and with a lot of hard work and involved citizens we will survive again.

Let’s keep going.

Apparently the military mom who embarrassed Obey on tape was given a police escort from Pelosi’s office after waiting 8 hours to see Grandma about funding more war.

This and more here (as in have you heard any mention of “Republican” on Rush, Little Green Footballs, Drudge, etc. since November? Nope, gone. Now the word is “conservative.” Teh taint of the Brand.)

Morning Christy. Morning All.

Cute little Tree Sparrow. We luvs those lil guys. Usually get a bunch in dead of winter, and only saw one this winter!

Sayyyy. Didn’t see it mentioned.

C-Span 1 has a replay Sen. Judiciary grilling of Sampson this morning starting at 10:35a EST, if anyone wants to tape or dance to it. ;->

Abu’s TOP aide for 2 yrs? Really??? NAWWWW! GWANNN!

“I know nohthing, 122Xnohthing, um, honest?”

Fox News Sunday up in Boston Fox Ch 25. What? No Juan Williams on the panel today?

barbara– no lifeline here, but here’s a (((hug))) and it is spring and we do have Big Hank and Leahy and others…

klyde– good question, wish you could have gotten through! Nile Gardiner is one of the most repellant baby-faced Brits that I have ever encountered.

From his Heritage Foundation bio:

Director, Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, and Margaret Thatcher Senior Research Fellow

(snip)

Nile Gardiner’s key areas of specialization include the Anglo-U.S. Special Relationship, the United Nations, post-war Iraq, and the role of Great Britain and Europe in the U.S.-led alliance against international terrorism and ‘rogue states’, including Iran.

As a leading authority on transatlantic relations, Dr. Gardiner has advised the Executive Branch of the United States Government on a range of key issues, from the role of international allies in post-war Iraq, to U.S.-British leadership in the war on terror. Dr. Gardiner’s policy papers are read widely on Capitol Hill, where he is regularly sought after for advice on major foreign policy matters. He has testified several times before Congress, and frequently briefs delegations of political leaders and journalists from across the world. Gardiner served as an expert on the 2005 Gingrich-Mitchell Congressional Task Force on the United Nations.

He needs to be tossed to the curb. A dangerous fellow indeed.

jayackroyd @ 59

5) I want to know what the Democratic candidates are really planning to do. Clinton’s copped to the 50,000 soldier indefinite occupation. If Obama or Edwards have different ideas, they should spell them out.

Granted, TV and primt media do craptastic job of covering candidates’ stances, as opposed their hairstyles. But you could always go to the candidates’ websites, you know. They have these little tabs marked “issues” that you can click on.

Here’s the very first paragraph on the issues page for John Edwards’ site:

America’s leadership role in the world has grown out of our compassion and moral strength, as well as our unparalleled economic and military strength. We can be proud of our long history of using our strength to fight for the freedom of others, but our standing in the world has been badly tarnished. America can once again be looked up to and respected around the world. The first step is by immediately withdrawing 40,000-50,000 troops from Iraq, with the complete withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq within 12-18 months — allowing the Iraqis to assume greater responsibility for rebuilding their own country. It also means working to restore our legitimacy by leading on the great challenges before us like the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the genocide in Darfur, extreme poverty, and living up to our ideals in the fight against terrorism.

And here’s Barack Obama on Iraq:

Before the war in Iraq ever started, Senator Obama said that it was wrong in its conception. In 2002, then Illinois State Senator Obama said Saddam Hussein posed no imminent threat to the United States and that invasion would lead to an occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. Since then, Senator Obama has laid out a plan on the way forward in Iraq that has largely been affirmed by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group led by James Baker and Lee Hamilton.

At the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations in November 2005, Senator Obama called for: (1) a reduction in the number of U.S. troops; (2) a time frame for a phased withdrawal; (3) the Iraqi government to make progress on forming a political solution; (4) improved reconstruction efforts to restore basic services in Iraq; and (5) engaging the international community, particularly key neighboring states and Arab nations, to become more involved in Iraq. In January 2006 he traveled to Iraq and met with senior U.S. military commanders, Iraqi officials and U.S. troops in Baghdad and Fallujah.

Senator Obama introduced legislation in January 2007 to offer a responsible alternative to President Bush’s failed escalation policy. The legislation commences redeployment of U.S. forces no later than May 1, 2007 with the goal of removing all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008 — a date consistent with the bipartisan Iraq Study Group’s expectations. The plan allows for a limited number of U.S. troops to remain in Iraq as basic force protection, to engage in counter-terrorism and to continue the training of Iraqi security forces. If the Iraqis are successful in meeting the 13 benchmarks for progress laid out by the Bush Administration, this plan also allows for the temporary suspension of the redeployment, provided Congress agrees that the benchmarks have been met.

“I don’t oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.”

-Barack Obama Anti-War Rally, Chicago 2002

“Credit Obama with helping establish a framework for our politicians to move away from partisanship and think constructively about what to do about the war in Iraq.”

-Chicago Sun-Times, Editorial, November 26, 2006

There you go.

Neil @ 76

Fox News Sunday up in Boston Fox Ch 25. What? No Juan Williams on the panel today?

The CBC demanded Juan Williams be removed as a condition of letting Faaux hold the debate.

Getting a late start and haven’t had a chance to check all the comments yet, but wanted to remind about something Timmeh said earlier this week on “Today.” He reported he spent the whole previous day looking for a Repub to come on MtP to defend AG, and he finally found Hatch.

I found that kind of annoying, and marvelled that he didn’t bother to call Sampson’s BFF first, but then it hit me another way: think of all the other Rs would might be there, but aren’t.

Hmmmm….

Dr. Gardiner has advised the Executive Branch of the United States Government on a range of key issues, from the role of international allies in post-war Iraq,

Ah yes, the expert who’s be wrong about everything. All the more reason to give him a platform.

Potatohead leads with Gonzalez. Video of Gonzalez testifying. Video of Sampson testifying. Ouch. Leahy and Hatch discuss.

egregious @ 73

You guys are working hard to cheer barbara up here.

My view: we have survived terrible leaders and terrible conditions in the past, and with a lot of hard work and involved citizens we will survive again.

Let’s keep going.

(sign of a micro-second smile) You know, for most of my life, I have been incurably optimistic. Not Pollyanna, but generally hopeful. And definitely not morose. So it has taken a crushing load to compromise that. And I suspect I’m not the only one.

There is always hope. I do believe that at some primal level. Crikey, otherwise we might as well drink the damn Kool-Aid (I wonder why they haven’t used this in their product marketing . . .) and be done with it.

The FDL community underscores hope. There are others brooding about the same things I am, and many of you are actually DOING something about it. That’s why I have gotten into the habit of stopping here first thing in the morning (well, sometimes second thing).

I continue to believe at some level that it’s time for the peasants to storm the Bastille. That said, I’m not certain what that looks like. And it’s the twisting slowly in the wind that is so freaking hard.

jayackroyd @ 72

A rapid withdrawal would be very very difficult. First you’ve gotta get the 100,000 contractors out, which is tricky because a number of them are working security. Then what?

I know this brings to mind Mayor Daley telling Johnson to just put them onto planes and fly them out, but what do you envision?

The simplest plan would be to not rotate people in as people are rotated out, taking a proportionate number of contractors out that same time. Then gauge the size of the resulting conflagrations in the now American-free areas.

That sounds like a plan. If it were me, with my totally incomplete knowledge of warfare and local politics, I would pull nearly all the soldiers out, leaving a strong, but smaller force to protect the borders. The contracters would have to fend for themselves, by which I mean, get out if they think they should. I don’t know what most of them are doing there now anyway except taking work away from Iraqis. And it’s not like they’re exactly safe now. Also, aren’t most of the contractors over there supporting the troops, doing things like feeding them?

But I would also add, that then it would be possible to reassess the situation without our troops being part of the problem. There is an assumption that there will be civil war, but that’s an assumption that may not happen.

But I may change my mind in two years!

jayackroyd @ 72 –

logistics is something our army is proud to be experts at. someone’s got to tell them to plan a withdrawal – and see what they come up with.

in the mean time coordinate on the diplomatic arena.

just ‘cuz we don’t know how to design a withdrawal plan (i couldn design an invasion plan either), doesn’t mean we get to ignore the people who do know. take advantage of their expertise.

the problem is that if bush is in charge of the withdrawal – you know it will suck. maybe that is a good enough reason to wait for the 2008 election – although i don’t think so, ‘cuz bush’s occupation sucks too.

eCAHNomics @ 79. CBC? For real or joke?

When talking about Iraq,why is it no one mentions(or rarely does)the gigantic embassy we’re building there? It’s not like it’s a little storefront dealie or even a single building compound,it’s the size of Vatican City.

There is no intention of us leaving there. Ever. Unless there’s a serious change in our country’s leadership. Who built this thing? How much is it costing US taxpayers? What is it’s REAL purpose? I can’t even find it on satellite pictures of the region anymore.

Did someone say Talking Herds?

-GSD

Thanks PW–and that little bit of snark there about clicking on the tabs made me laugh.

all combat troops from Iraq within 12-18 months

So what about “non-combat” troops? Is the US going to leave armor and air behind, with trainers and advisers? How many of them will there be?

The plan allows for a limited number of U.S. troops to remain in Iraq as basic force protection, to engage in counter-terrorism and to continue the training of Iraqi security forces.

This is incoherent. Force protection is only needed if there is a force to protect. Counter-terrorism can mean anything. And we’re on a permnanent training mission?

In short, I think they are committed to the same 50,000 troop permanent force that was the plan from the outset. They just aren’t saying it as clearly.

Puesto @
51

Connect the dots..

My money says, after reading two articles this morning – Digby’s about Our Messianic Emperor’s evangelical implants throughout his administration, and; The Wapo about the US Attorney’s who Bush appointed, and who “made the cut” from Pearl Harbor day last year -

..”Evangelical Faith” is the missing ingredient that Sampson, Goodling, Jennings, Meyers, et al “forgot” on what it took to stay off the hit list. To me, it is patently obvious.

No one.. NO ONE will open up this pandora’s box. “Did you use faith as a hiring/firing criteria?” “Did he go to the prayer breakfasts?” “Is he active in his church?”

Someone should do a study of how many USA’s appointed after the 2004 election graduated from an evangelical law school. Wapo talked around this obvious thread. Why?

MSM will not touch this with a ten foot pole.

Article VI of the Constitution (my emphasis):

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

AOB,

That embassy is over 900 million dollars in cost. And the Republicans were bitching about Nancy Pelosi spending money on a jet.

Sick.

I also tell the religious types that the US is building the new Temple of Babylon.

Their heads explode.

-GSD

Phoenix Woman @ 78 –

the obama and edwards quotes you give state that they are for the withdrawal of all combat troops. but, i understand, that is only about half the troops. i’d like more clarification from them about the non-combat troops and the bases we’ve built (will we be turning them over to the iraqis?).

there’s time for this… it’s still very early in the cycle. but at some point, i’d like more clarification…

Neil @ 86

eCAHNomics @ 79. CBC? For real or joke?

Mwaaahahahaha. Sorry (not) that my sarcasm was capable of being mistaken for truth.

I wrote up a bit more of the interview Al Gore did on Swedish television yesterday. Click my name to read.

Off to church.

jayackroyd @ 89 –

well said. thank you.

This is one of those mornings where I’m immensely grateful for the bliss that is coffee.

FWIW, Iglesias is a fundie. So prolly correct, why he did not make the original cut.

angryoldbroad at 87

Yeah, that’s part of my point. The plans to establish Iraq as the US base of operations in the middle east are ongoing, and little discussed.

Renee in Ohio @ 94

I wrote up a bit more of the interview Al Gore did on Swedish television yesterday. Click my name to read.

Off to church.

thank you, sounds like a great interview. to your knowledge, did anyone make an audio clip or a youtube?

also, thank you for the time reminder. i better get going or, i’ll be late too! *g*

Tommy Thompson is running for President. He said, “I am a reliable conservative.”

LOL

barbara.

I think you have lots of company.

It’s not that anyone here is pollyanna-ish.

It’s more like thinking we could never live with ourselves if we didn’t try…

But, yes, it’s sooo deeply depressing, and frightening.

I will never truly understand people like jr. & shooter. such wanton, nonsensical cruelty and disregard for anything but themselves…

It’s easier to understand the spineless toadies who do the bidding of those at the top. But it must surely be horrible living with themselves if they have any self-awareness at all.

So Tommy T is also not a Republican but a “reliable conservative.”

I can only imagine that after seeing the video footage of the British detainees in Iran, large numbers of the Muslim world find Iran to be much more humane and compassionate towards prisoners than the US and the UK.

-GSD

Great Ben Sargent cartoon: Link

jayackroyd @ 98

angryoldbroad at 87

Yeah, that’s part of my point. The plans to establish Iraq as the US base of operations in the middle east are ongoing, and little discussed.

My army major efriend assures me that the military hates being in Iraq and that the plans are to turn the bases over to Iraq. He’s in a position to know, as he works in the Pentagon. I don’t care what he says–I think he’s wrong. I think the decision is way above his pay grade & that there is no attention to leave. Imagine turning over all those hi-tech bases (how many–30?) to Iraq. That’s the Iraq that has very little weaponry, no tanks, no air force.

The alternative is to blow up the bases. Anyone think that’s likely?

I am in mourning for my beloved and overmatched Bruins – BTW, with Georgetown, the only blue-state reps in the final four…

Tom Toles is great today: LINKY

Re the bases, Iraq will need “reconstruction funds” which will be used to hire Halliburton to run the bases.

Leahy is a doing a fine job explaining why Congress needs to get to the bottom of the US Attorney firings and replacements without Senate consent. Leahy is clear explaining why Gonzolez has credibility problems.

Hatch’s defense is based on a POV that ignores the WH’s attempt to replace the USA without Senate consent. Leahy points that out effectively.

Potatohead, through a series of emails from WH counsel, demonstrates that WH counsel mislead DOJ about the arkansas case. Hatch is on the spot and tries to spin effectively. He’s pissed and delivers his message with passion (and anger.) Orrin “The Severe” shows his fangs.

This first 19 minutes of MTP are pretty good this week.

Adie @ 101

barbara.

I think you have lots of company.

It’s not that anyone here is pollyanna-ish.

It’s more like thinking we could never live with ourselves if we didn’t try…

But, yes, it’s sooo deeply depressing, and frightening.

I will never truly understand people like jr. & shooter. such wanton, nonsensical cruelty and disregard for anything but themselves…

It’s easier to understand the spineless toadies who do the bidding of those at the top. But it must surely be horrible living with themselves if they have any self-awareness at all.

Thanks, Adie. Okay, I’m through whining. For today anyway. For this hour. For the moment. And not for the first time, I wonder if Bush shows up at his bathroom mirror every morning a la Groundhog Day, and says, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”

GSD @ 103

I can only imagine that after seeing the video footage of the British detainees in Iran, large numbers of the Muslim world find Iran to be much more humane and compassionate towards prisoners than the US and the UK.

-GSD

That was the point. Iran’s much better at propaganda than the U.S. I’m waiting for the Iranian interviewer to ask them whether they’d rather be in Iran or in U.S. custody in Abu Ghraib. Go for the zinger.

The part of the Stormin’ Mormon will be played by Orrin Hatch.

-GSD

Orrin was a brutally unctuous mountebank on MTP today. That has to be about as bad as it gets.
Russert as usuual stuck to his damn notes and as a reult missed the news and lost control of the show.

Oh oh.

I hope they have the helicopters ready:

“TEHRAN, Iran – About 200 students threw rocks and firecrackers at the British Embassy on Sunday, calling for the expulsion of the country’s ambassador because of the standoff over Iran’s capture of 15 British sailors and marines.”

Deja vu all over again.

-GSD

Christy Hardin Smith @ 96

This is one of those mornings where I’m immensely grateful for the bliss that is coffee.

Me too Christy. I’m on cuppa two, french roast, yum. I think I have final four hangover. Yesterday, EW mentioned you might have taken a five college course with Sarat. Was she joking? I listened to live to you on Hartman Friday. Great job. I was hoping to hear a coo or chirp from Peanut in the background. He he.

Hatch calls the investigation of Gonzalez accountability as “nitpicking.” Bwa ha. Then Hatch plays the race card , first hispanic american AG. Wow.

Watching mtp. Orin Hatch’s pants are on fire.

DELBERT MATHANEY @ 10

– I went back to see if …Daily Kos had more on the Russian’s intelligence story Bush to strike Iran on April 5th. Well, it is there. And additional exposure set forth in the German press. Not a peep here. Of course.

I have a suspicion that this kind of news that pops up elsewhere and is suppressed at home is a warning to the White House: We are reading your non-governmental emails, idiots. We know what you are doing.

Heh. It’s happened far too many times over the last several years for this to be merely coincidence.

barbara, think about that one for a bit. Tickles me, must say, to think that the hubris is being punctured regularly and they sit around saying, “Wha…? How’d they know?? Now we have to start all over again!”

Bay State Librul @ 4

What caught my eye is Salon’s analysis of the Sampson grilling. How could Sampson even think of putting Fitzy on the second team when the Plame mess was smouldering? When asked by Schumer, Sampson was very coy…He “could not remember” if he talked to Rove about the deal…Hmmmmmmmmm

Sampson very slyly ran a trial balloon past the Senate Judiciary Committee; would they believe that Rove wasn’t involved? Would they believe that Fitz being on the list was only his harebrained off-the-cuff idea? He also tried to develop a different narrative, too. Not good; I don’t think for a second that any of the Dems believed this was anything more than an attempted head-fake.

There are lot more questions Sampson needs to answer — and I think his phone records need to be collected.

Speaking of questions to be answered, I also think the House Oversight Committee ought to call Scott Jennings and ask him whether he made that same presentation at GSA to any other functions or departments. He ought to be asked if he prepared the PowerPoint presentation, if he didn’t then who did, and whose project was it to do this kind of “outreach”. I also think that Sara Taylor needs to be asked if she knew anything at all about this, before she slips out of sight; her resignation was too convenient by far, rather like Susan Ralston’s alleged transfer out of the EOP and eventually out of government, don’t you think?

Neil at 115: Then Hatch plays the race card , first hispanic american AG. Wow.

Um, who fired Iglesias, Orrin? Nice.

“Gonzalez is incapable of lying.” It was OUR fault, we misunderstood him.
- Sen. Hatch

“Hatch says Gonzalez has been truthful. He has not been truthful to the US Senate.”
- Sen. Leahy

Yeah, after the Republicans repulsive election year Rovian attack on immigrants and Latinos the Republicans have suddenly found solidarity with Hispanics over Seedy Gonzalez.

Funny if it were no so sick.

-GSD

Well, I *planned* to go to church, but the brakes started making bad noises.

Don’t know if there will be a YouTube video of Al Gore on the Stina program, but I was able to watch it here.

Neil @ 115

Then Hatch plays the race card , first hispanic american AG.

Tell me again, which party spends all their time scapegoating Mexicans? Let’s ask Michelle Malkin and Lou Dobbs.

I finally read the Malkin’s John Doe Manifesto (catching up on old threads. It’s straight out of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” (the tone, the cadence, etc.) She should have said “I am John Galt”– but maybe had a thought about plagiarism… Anyway, it’s been too long since I read Atlas Shrugged, but I think an excerpt similar to this is findable.

First hispanic AG, and teh Last?

On Face The Nation. Bartlett responds to Matthew Dowd’s (Bush former campaign strategy advisor) charges about Bush.

But First, Schumer about Ginzalez.

My army major efriend assures me that the military hates being in Iraq and that the plans are to turn the bases over to Iraq.

I agree with you, ECAHN. No politician wants to talk about this, because retaining a significant force there will be very unpopular, but seems to be inevitable. Steve Gilliard (I do hope he is improving–sounds like Jen is going through hell) has said for some time that the US will be forced out following a major attack on the green zone.

I’m afraid that anything short of that will leave the US in Iraq for a very long time.

Schumer makes a great point. If all the top people in DOJ claim they were notdriving the decision about which US Attorneyto replace, then its essential to talk to the White House about it.

Specter up now.

Now watching Face the Nation. Did you notice the reporters are using the word ‘lied’?
The Reps are sticking to ‘misrepresented’ etc.
Now, I want them to start using the word ‘liar’.

i’d like more clarification from them about the non-combat troops and the bases we’ve built (will we be turning them over to the iraqis?).
there’s time for this… it’s still very early in the cycle. but at some point, i’d like more clarification…

i find it interesting that someone might actually think the Busheviks would consider leaving the USer ‘bases’ in Iraq for the Iraqis…

i think it incredibly unlikely, for the same reasons that no one blanches at the idea that more troops must die to vindicate the useless, meaningless deaths of the ones who have died–in vain–so far…

if any ‘bases’ are to be given-up, they’ll be the ones in otherwise untenable locations, probably in the shiite regions…the ones in kurdistan–which are and have always been the most strategically relevant and will remain the most defensible–will remain in USer control, manned by USer troops, until the oil runs out…
./

Whatever gappened to the fake April 1 headlines, anyhow? April 1, 2007: If only. The faux news were the real news.

Iglesias opinion (as former Cheif of Staff for Gonzalez) that Iglesias should NOT have been fired is a BIG PROBLEM for Gonzalez and at least one person in the White House becuase it goes to competence, AGAIN!

Rich @
36

The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a piece this morning that tries to preserve the myth that the US Attorneys were fired for good cause. Pretty pathetic case, actually. (I put the URL in the “Website” because it didn’t seem to come out right.)

The Inquirer stopped being a newspaper long time ago. Presently, it’s owned by the PR flack who defended the Catholic Archdiocese in the abuse scandals of not so long ago.

Even the fish object to being wrapped in that rag.

jayackroyd @ 126

My army major efriend assures me that the military hates being in Iraq and that the plans are to turn the bases over to Iraq.

I agree with you, ECAHN. No politician wants to talk about this, because retaining a significant force there will be very unpopular, but seems to be inevitable. Steve Gilliard (I do hope he is improving–sounds like Jen is going through hell) has said for some time that the US will be forced out following a major attack on the green zone.

I’m afraid that anything short of that will leave the US in Iraq for a very long time.

An attack on the Green Zone is not out of the question. Did you see my earlier comment about how security there is not all it’s cracked up to be? Of course, an attack is different from a major attack. Insurgents don’t have any air power.

Stephen Parrish @ 90. Darn good refresher. What if congress could prove that the religion test was operative?

To Barbara,

I am not an evangelist. I don’t know if I have a religion. However, from a scientific point of view, the book of revelations does seem to pick up on a pattern of human behavior relating to conflict. It is my humble opinion that the biology and physics of the world gives us paths of truth that can lead us out of the problem of armeggedon. The pattern in humanity is that the culture of violence has often throughout history destroyed whole cultures of people and may one day destroy the majority of us. It is plausible.

The solution is that we follow the examples of many of our greatest, most highly regarded leaders. Jesus Christ makes the case that no matter what someone is doing to us, we can be at peace in our hearts if we are living a life of integrity and peace> His example is that we can do this even as we are being tortured. Martin Luther King also demonstrated this position in the way he lived his life. Buddha also role modeled the concept of inner peace over power and control and the focus on changing others.

We may not be able to control our leaders, or people in another country, or terrorists but we can control our reactions to the world. We can control the way we live our lives and whether or not we role model the solutions to the world. I think of Ghandi’s quote and feel that now more than ever, it is important for us to be the change we most want to make in the world. This is the only solution that does not have a negative consequence and ripple effect on humanity. It’s ripple effect is positive instead of the negative effect that violent changes make on our lives.

Violence and power and control hurt the human race. When we support this behavior by taking it on in our personal lives and in the way we view the solutions to problems we become part of the problem. THis means that when we yell at our children or use vote for violence as a solution we are partipating in the problem.

What I know is that the only thing we can really control is our own reactions to the circumstances on earth. To me, this is where hope and empowerment lie. The locus of control is within me. My anxiety can be decreased by the choices I make in responding to the plight of the world.

This thinking requires a paradigm shift. My belief is that this is what revelations refers to. Those who have made Jesus their savior will be those who have put their focus on their own behavior and reactions to the conflict. (many evangelicals miss the true message of christ, by the way.) We will stay out of it and help and love those that we can. Do I think it’s about Jesus as the son of god?? No. I am going from facts. Those people who do this will survive and progogate and the paradigm shift would be complete. We would finally dwindle in numbers, and if any of us survives we will finally shift our behavior and the shift the paradigm. Eventually the violent ones will die out, they will kill each other.

I am a pragmatic not religious. I believe that this position is a plausible scientific explanation for the pattern referred to in revelations. Time and time again, violence and it’s consequences has destroyed one culture after another. I believe that a total world war is the only way that the whole human race can be exposed to the consequences and it’s solutions at the same time.

Some of us already “see” it. Since we know and accept that we cannot “force” others to “see” it, that this would be a complete denial of the reality that we “see”, then we have only one recourse. That recourse is to live in peace, despite the rest of the world.

There is always hope, there is always something we can do.

I don’t know if this is the “end times” but I do know that the solution is the same, regardless.

Christy Hardin Smith @ 96

This is one of those mornings where I’m immensely grateful for the bliss that is coffee.

And I’m grateful that this place is just a couple of blocks away. And yes, they ship. I recommend Joe’s Black Magic Blend for tempering the brain for simultaneous blogging and toddler duty. (Scooter turns 2 this month.)

Even the fish object to being wrapped in that rag.

Heh. I like that one.

Hatch on MTP (1/2 later in NYC) sez that Lam worked on Clinton’s campaign in CA. Is that accurate?

Neil @ 131

Iglesias opinion (as former Cheif of Staff for Gonzalez) that Iglesias should NOT have been fired is a BIG PROBLEM for Gonzalez and at least one person in the White House becuase it goes to competence, AGAIN!

The reasoin I say its a problem for someone in the White House is because neither Gonzalez nor Sampson acknowledge they were responsible for the decision of who to terminate.

The WH strategy is coming clear. They will not disclose on who’s advice any particular US Attorney was terminated. They will use the long list of acceptable reaons that could possibly apply in each given case.

Bartlett is up on Face The Nation. Startegy: turn the tables. Claim Dems motive is purely political. Shiffer doesn;t buy it. “Well, you’ve said that before.” Wow wow wee wah. Schiffer is on his game.

Bartlett: “There is a broader politcal agenda underway by the democrats.” “They hired an outside law firm for $225,000.”

The Iraqi oil steal is detailed in this article:

http://www.commondreams.org/ar…..03/30/201/

We need more sunshine on this legislation. The shiney objects such as “Democratic Pork” are diverting from the real intentions of privatizing the oil and every possible utility of the country.
Sorry if this is OT, but I don’t know of another alert mechanism for this gathering of seekers of the truth.
Karen

Hatch has been taking his G.W. Bush approved approved “Act like a 10 Year Old” pills.

-GSD

The plan allows for a limited number of U.S. troops to remain in Iraq as basic force protection, to engage in counter-terrorism and to continue the training of Iraqi security forces.

This is incoherent. Force protection is only needed if there is a force to protect. Counter-terrorism can mean anything. And we’re on a permnanent training mission?

Actually, force protection makes sense as the Iraqi insurgents aren’t going to just step aside and promise not to shoot at us if we agree to leave. As the troop levels drop, the chances of a fighting retreat increase.

As for the combat/non-combat differential and the “50,000 permanent advisors”: It’s all a moot point, because the US can barely hold the Green Zone and their bases right now with the current troop level. Once the US force levels drop below 100,000 (75,000 tops), they all will have to go if they want to live.

katie Jensen @ 135

Elegantly said, katie.

eCAHNomics @ 138

Which of course means that Lam is completely unqualified for the job of USA, if this is true…at least according to the White House standards of performance.

Insurgents don’t have any air power.

Neither did the Vietnamese. But they had something the Iraqis don’t have–a unified fighting force with a common goal. I suppose that if the Sunnis either leave or get forced into ghettoes that a unified Mahdi army could pose a significant threat.

And, of course, Iran has air power. I strongly doubt they’d do anything directly. But what if they offered to supply Iraq with aircraft? I hope they don’t think of that–it would make all too clear who is the sovereign in Iraq, which would not be a good thing in the short haul or the long haul.

But that brings me back to my original point. The lack of a sovereign Iraq government goes hand in hand with not permitting a true Iraqi military which, again, has the US as an occupying force for the indefinite future, regardless of who is in the White House.

This has the seeds of a one term Democratic presidency–which doesn’t permit enough time to clean everything up. Like Carter following Nixon.

No proof. No proof. No proof.

Ahem, Sen. Hatch. The investigation is just beginning. Proof will come. Bank on it.

Bartlett makes me sick!

Interesting …the Dems ask for Rove and Meirs testimony and get the no transcript junk so they just say OK we’ll ask the underlings then try again and compare testimony…hmmm

barbara @ 83

egregious @ 73

You guys are working hard to cheer barbara up here.

My view: we have survived terrible leaders and terrible conditions in the past, and with a lot of hard work and involved citizens we will survive again.

Let’s keep going.

(sign of a micro-second smile) You know, for most of my life, I have been incurably optimistic. Not Pollyanna, but generally hopeful. And definitely not morose. So it has taken a crushing load to compromise that. And I suspect I’m not the only one.

There is always hope. I do believe that at some primal level. Crikey, otherwise we might as well drink the damn Kool-Aid (I wonder why they haven’t used this in their product marketing . . .) and be done with it.

The FDL community underscores hope. There are others brooding about the same things I am, and many of you are actually DOING something about it. That’s why I have gotten into the habit of stopping here first thing in the morning (well, sometimes second thing).

I continue to believe at some level that it’s time for the peasants to storm the Bastille. That said, I’m not certain what that looks like. And it’s the twisting slowly in the wind that is so freaking hard.

I believe the main reason the 08 Prez. campaign has started so early is so people can look forward to getting out of the swamp.

As for the combat/non-combat differential and the “50,000 permanent advisors”: It’s all a moot point, because the US can barely hold the Green Zone and their bases right now with the current troop level. Once the US force levels drop below 100,000 (75,000 tops), they all will have to go if they want to live.

I think there’s a lot of truth in this. They’d have to hunker down behind the walls, with constant air patrols.

Look, I’d rather see a complete withdrawal, and let the chips fall. But I don’t see anybody who is going to be in the Oval Office who sees it that way.

As ECAHN says, what are they gonna do? Blow up the bases? Turn them over, leaving air and armor behind?

It’s just going to get worse and worse, with whoever is in control temporizing until we’ve got a helicopters on the roof scenario.

Mutant Poodle @ 106

I am in mourning for my beloved and overmatched Bruins – BTW, with Georgetown, the only blue-state reps in the final four…

WTF? Ohio went for bush in 04 thanks to massive voter fraud committed by rethug SoS blackwell. 2 years later we turned the entire rethug machine out of office. Dems hold all but two state wide offices in Ohio and Voinivich is going down next time. A red State?

jayackroyd @ 144

Insurgents don’t have any air power.

Neither did the Vietnamese. But they had something the Iraqis don’t have–a unified fighting force with a common goal. I suppose that if the Sunnis either leave or get forced into ghettoes that a unified Mahdi army could pose a significant threat.

And, of course, Iran has air power. I strongly doubt they’d do anything directly. But what if they offered to supply Iraq with aircraft? I hope they don’t think of that–it would make all too clear who is the sovereign in Iraq, which would not be a good thing in the short haul or the long haul.

But that brings me back to my original point. The lack of a sovereign Iraq government goes hand in hand with not permitting a true Iraqi military which, again, has the US as an occupying force for the indefinite future, regardless of who is in the White House.

This has the seeds of a one term Democratic presidency–which doesn’t permit enough time to clean everything up. Like Carter following Nixon.

Bingo on all your points. I too have thought that Iran might think about supplying air power, but that doesn’t pass the giggle test both from Iraq & Iran’s POVs. Iraq probably has no qualified pilots anymore & Iran could trump up no plausible deniability.

The back & forth this morning is representative of the truth, which is that there is (1) no solution, (2) no way to prdict what will happen in Iraq, except that it’ll get worse in some unknown way before it gets better.

eCAHNomics @ 138

Hatch on MTP (1/2 later in NYC) sez that Lam worked on Clinton’s campaign in CA. Is that accurate?

I tried working the Google on that one. I came up with some execrable Yorkie spin.

But the Yorkie doesn’t say Lam worked on Clinton’s campaign.

jayackroyd @ 144

Insurgents don’t have any air power.

Neither did the Vietnamese. But they had something the Iraqis don’t have–a unified fighting force with a common goal. I suppose that if the Sunnis either leave or get forced into ghettoes that a unified Mahdi army could pose a significant threat.

And, of course, Iran has air power. I strongly doubt they’d do anything directly. But what if they offered to supply Iraq with aircraft? I hope they don’t think of that–it would make all too clear who is the sovereign in Iraq, which would not be a good thing in the short haul or the long haul.

But that brings me back to my original point. The lack of a sovereign Iraq government goes hand in hand with not permitting a true Iraqi military which, again, has the US as an occupying force for the indefinite future, regardless of who is in the White House.

This has the seeds of a one term Democratic presidency–which doesn’t permit enough time to clean everything up. Like Carter following Nixon.

I think Charlemagne was the last one to successfully put down an insurgency…Cheney/Bush/Petreaus not in the same league. By far.

eCAHNomics @ 145

No proof. No proof. No proof.

Ahem, Sen. Hatch. The investigation is just beginning. Proof will come. Bank on it.

It is, the most transparent of talking points but it plays into the meme that this is all being caused by those aweful Democrats politicing a big misunderstanding caused by Gonzalez “mis-spoken statements.” The polls on the issue are schizophrenic: some 70% think the terminations involved wrong doing while some 70% think the dems are pursuing this for poilitcal advantage.

The thing with any alleged plans to keep any American presence of any sort in Iraq is that it simply cannot happen.

Right now, we have the bare minimum amount of troops needed to hold our bases and the Green Zone. We can’t “project our power”, we can barely keep a stasis.

Once the troop levels start dropping, we won’t even be able to do that. And then everyone who’s left will have to skedaddle fast, because even with the high-tech weapons they won’t be able to protect themselves for long from the various parties who want us gone (namely, 99.99999% of Iraqis not named Ahmad Chalabi).

Hatch had a difficult job, which he handled poorly. Stammering, contradictory, haughty faux indignance…craptacular.

Leahy, peace be upon him, kept getting calmer. Brought up the bullshit “patriot” act snuck-in provision twice. Timmeh didn’t follow up–shocker–but the info got out.

eCAHNomics @ 145

No proof. No proof. No proof.

Ahem, Sen. Hatch. The investigation is just beginning. Proof will come. Bank on it.

Some say there is a great deal of proof that Orrin Hatch is both a bully and a pearl-clutching sanctimonious hypocrite. Others may refer to it as anecdotal evidence. To me, there exists a mountain of proof.

klyde @ 149

Mutant Poodle @ 106

I am in mourning for my beloved and overmatched Bruins – BTW, with Georgetown, the only blue-state reps in the final four…

WTF? Ohio went for bush in 04 thanks to massive voter fraud committed by rethug SoS blackwell. 2 years later we turned the entire rethug machine out of office. Dems hold all but two state wide offices in Ohio and Voinivich is going down next time. A red State?

Not to mention those of us in Oh-15 almost dumped the Pryce is Wrong, bazillion year incumbent. Missed by a thousand votes!

Neil @ 115

Hatch calls the investigation of Gonzalez accountability as “nitpicking.” Bwa ha. Then Hatch plays the race card , first hispanic american AG. Wow.

First corrupt Hispanic American AG. The Stormin’ Mormon forgot that little qualifier, corrupt.

This definitely caught my eye this a.m.,CHS. Iran’s Baztab News op-ed:

The Americans Only Look Simple-Minded

Neil @ 153

eCAHNomics @ 145

No proof. No proof. No proof.

Ahem, Sen. Hatch. The investigation is just beginning. Proof will come. Bank on it.

It is, the most transparent of talking points but it plays into the meme that this is all being caused by those aweful Democrats politicing a big misunderstanding caused by Gonzalez “mis-spoken statements.” The polls on the issue are schizophrenic: some 70% think the terminations involved wrong doing while some 70% think the dems are pursuing this for poilitcal advantage.

Part of the “no proof” mantra is very wishful thinking.

We know if we can follow this thread uninterrupted that we will find Hatch at one end of a skein, standing next to Rove.

Of course Hatch must say “no proof’; real proof looks like Hatch being slapped up by the Ethics Committee and perhaps even stepping down.

Unfortunately, I was taking the laundry downstairs just as Orrin was ranting. What a putz!

Just had to get that off my chest. They’ve gone to commercial, and I’ve gotta get these loads done.

Later!

A simple question. If W really wanted to support the troops, why wouldn’t he accept the Iraq bill from Congress and simply issue a signing statement asserting that the parts about a deadline for leaving violate the Unitary Executive? (Apologies if this is a commonplace.)

Tim Russert let Orrin fillibuster for nearly the last ten minutes of the interview. Leahy got about a minute at the end.

Dick Cheney controls Tim Russert.

hackworth @ 156

eCAHNomics @ 145

No proof. No proof. No proof.

Ahem, Sen. Hatch. The investigation is just beginning. Proof will come. Bank on it.

Some say there is a great deal of proof that Orrin Hatch is both a bully and a pearl-clutching sanctimonious hypocrite. Others may refer to it as anecdotal evidence. To me, there exists a mountain of proof.

A week ago I ran into an acquaintance I hadn’t seen for some time. We took a 2 hour bus ride together so got to talk in depth. USAs cam up. He didn’t know what it was about. I said: obstruction of justice. Of the 8, 1 was replaced by a Karl Rove hack, 5 were pursuing R corruption, 2 were not pursuing trumped-up D correction. (#s may be inaccurate but point is.) He said: why aren’t they saying that? Yep. MSM hasn’t said what is as plain as the nost on your face.

Leahy makes a great point. The WH has not sent up one name, not one name, of a replacement US Attorney.

It is inconceivable that BushCo,intent on using US Attorneys to help the Republican cause, had not determined the names of candidates for US Attorney who would fit the profile. I suspect the WH would vet these names with Republican Senators and Congressmen from those districts. It time for the MSM or blogosphere to be asking this question to out elected representatives: has the White House discussed the names of prospective replacement US Attorney?

This caught my eye:

An Open Letter to the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, M.P.

Dear Mr Brown,

Standing in Afghanistan, you called the Iranian holding of fifteen British sailors who it is likely strayed in to Iranian waters: ‘Cruel, callous, inhumane and unacceptable.’ Breathtaking.Compared to the behavior of the UK and US troops, their treatment in Iran is seemingly a health spa.

‘Cruel, callous, inhumane and unacceptable’, is the total destruction of the country you were standing in. The boiling to death of several thousand prisoners, held in metal trucks in the sweltering summer, under the watch and very possibly at the hands of our American allies (complex accounts differ.) It is the bombing of village after village, of wedding parties and funerals, of goatherders, farmers, shepherds. It is reducing the country to a radioactive nightmare, where families bombed out of their homes have been found living in contaminated bomb craters – and suffering all the signs of radiation poisoning, according to the Uranium Metal Research Project, bleeding from all orifices with other accompanying appalling symptoms.

‘Cruel, callous, inhumane and unacceptable’, is the prison at Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase, where people are ‘rendered’, disappeared, shackled, forced to wear diapers, their eyes covered, and flown to Guantanamo Bay ‘the gulag of our time’, as cited by Amnesty International. Uncharged and untried, with rare access to lawyers, they are left to rot, between bouts of torturing.

much more here:

link

*xyz @ 163

Tim Russert let Orrin fillibuster for nearly the last ten minutes of the interview. Leahy got about a minute at the end.

Dick Cheney controls Tim Russert.

Tim Russet, revealed at last.

Brit Hume was so much more relaxed this week, no dissenting “facts” from Juan. Not once did Brit look like he was going to lose his lunch.

Mornin’ Christy and Firedogs,

Orin Hatch’s pants are on fire.

I was gonna make some crack about Nomex™ ‘garments’ – but then I’d be called an intolerant hippie . . .

y’all’s comments have intrigued me enough to at least tivo MTP and see if I can watch any of it

and from Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame)

Call that humiliation?

No hoods. No electric shocks. No beatings. These Iranians clearly are a very uncivilised bunch

http://www.commondreams.org/ar…..03/31/208/

Fresh thread, up and running for everyone.

NickOdemus @ 152

jayackroyd @ 144
Insurgents don’t have any air power.

Neither did the Vietnamese. But they had something the Iraqis don’t have–a unified fighting force with a common goal. I suppose that if the Sunnis either leave or get forced into ghettoes that a unified Mahdi army could pose a significant threat.

And, of course, Iran has air power. I strongly doubt they’d do anything directly. But what if they offered to supply Iraq with aircraft? I hope they don’t think of that–it would make all too clear who is the sovereign in Iraq, which would not be a good thing in the short haul or the long haul.

But that brings me back to my original point. The lack of a sovereign Iraq government goes hand in hand with not permitting a true Iraqi military which, again, has the US as an occupying force for the indefinite future, regardless of who is in the White House.

This has the seeds of a one term Democratic presidency–which doesn’t permit enough time to clean everything up. Like Carter following Nixon.

I think Charlemagne was the last one to successfully put down an insurgency…Cheney/Bush/Petreaus not in the same league. By far.

The Mau Mau uprising in the 50s.

But the Brits eventually left Kenya.

Orrin Hatch makes me ill. I’m SO sick of lying liars.

jayackroyd @ 72

A rapid withdrawal would be very very difficult. First you’ve gotta get the 100,000 contractors out, which is tricky because a number of them are working security. Then what?

I know this brings to mind Mayor Daley telling Johnson to just put them onto planes and fly them out, but what do you envision?

The simplest plan would be to not rotate people in as people are rotated out, taking a proportionate number of contractors out that same time. Then gauge the size of the resulting conflagrations in the now American-free areas.

Fuck the contractors! We would be better off if none of the Blackwater forces [redacted by CHS: NO, and I mean no, violence or wishes therefor. Period.] Private mercenary forces destroy democracy.

barbara @ 46

. . . was anyone else totally embarrassed to see Junior shooting off his mouth at the egregious (morning, E) seizure of British sailors? I get that the U.S. should probably weigh in on this, but it is beyond the pale that the master of deception and flapdoodle be our spokesman. Ick.

Embarrassed wouldn’t be my choice of words. Is there a word for locking an obnoxious drunk in the closet so that the party can go on?

Jesterfox @ 174

jayackroyd @ 72

A rapid withdrawal would be very very difficult. First you’ve gotta get the 100,000 contractors out, which is tricky because a number of them are working security. Then what?

I know this brings to mind Mayor Daley telling Johnson to just put them onto planes and fly them out, but what do you envision?

The simplest plan would be to not rotate people in as people are rotated out, taking a proportionate number of contractors out that same time. Then gauge the size of the resulting conflagrations in the now American-free areas.

Fuck the contractors! We would be better off if none of the Blackwater forces [redacted by CHS: NO, and I mean no, violence or wishes therefor. Period.] Private mercenary forces destroy democracy.

Sorry about that. I should have said that the contactors are not our responsibilty and that they can make their own way home as they are able. They are better equipped and better paid than our forces. I am sure that they have plans for this eventuality.

While Bob Schieffer made his summary on MtP
(have the politicians not learned their lesson after Watergate and Iran Contra that lying, in Positions of Trust, does not pay?), I was thinking to myself: I wonder why the Constitution recommends the death penalty for certain acts of treason.

Maybe it is that those who never suffered from too short a memeory in the first place, but rather from a very long plan to subvert the Constitution cannot come back time and again and do their nefarious deed again.

Hm, I never supported the death penalty, but I cannot find fault with the Constitution either.

That Orrin Toady Hatch that you have been exposed to of late is the same, undimminished Orrin Toady Hatch of Watergate and of Iran/Contra hearings. In his life he has shown no growth of character, remaining the same sorry appologist for executive criminality in all cases. George W may be a right hoor, Orrin Toady Hatch will never in his life be anything but a cute hoor, count on it. If it is evil, it is Orrin.

Hey! I know that bird!

I’d post about politics, but I have to do spring cleaning, so I must flee.

Good to see another of my pics up here :)

–julie

If a small part of the public agrees with Bush because they must follow their leader, and a large part is only mildly concerned because it just reads MSM, imagine how hard it will be for a Democratic Congress or even President to get the resources to Undo all this damage? “Gee, what are you spending time on that for?”

Rove has given the Dems another major headache: exposing this stuff while keeping the MSM-reading public’s attention. “Yes, Virginia, I know what it says in the Constitution and your civics book and Time magazine. But they really did do that.”

I loved when Leahy said “I’ve had it” when he referred to the AG “declining the dates that they offered” Leahy went onto say “no more closed door meetings, we want this under oath and public”

Hatch was clearly flustered.

Rangel was simply amazing on Russert’s MTP. I swear I saw tears in Russert’s eyes as Rangel described his service in Korea. Rangel was focused on military service for all. Compulsory! That will sure change things.

Matthews Sunday program has me asking once again what is with Mattthews addiction to the Clintons private lives and superficial issues. He is either talking about how Hillary is not “warm and fuzzy”, or on Clintons marital hanky panky. Chris always has a smirk when it comes to the Clintons, his agenda is clear, take them out.

I sure wish Matthews would focus on more substantive issues having to do with the Clintons, like policies and Bill’s focus on the Aids issue. No Matthews twist the focus by inferring that Hillary may spank Bill like Ricki (I Love Lucy) spanked Lucy for sticking her nose into his business. I find Matthews petty when he so chooses to focus on such silly mattters.

This morning on Chris Matthews program Andrea Mitchell said “Republicans are going to crack” in regard to support for the war. Andrew Sullivan called the war in Iraq a “Republican branded war”. Sullivan also said that the public looks at the Republican party as “incompetent, nasty and intolerant”.

On Matthews show there was also talk about how many Republicans are pissed at Hagel, for his stance against the ongoing mess in Iraq. They said it made him look like an independent.

I say “Hagel run as an independent” Would love to see this door open again, with Hagel, Gore and Nader all running as Independents. The time could not be more right!

#244 allan in upstate. Yes Nader and anyone else who wants to run as an Independent. I am not one of the herd who blames Nader for the 2000 Selection of our President. I blame the Supreme Court Judicial coup. While I would have never voted for Nader (too dangerous) and spent endless hours trying to talk mostly young voters out of doing so. Nader had every right to run, voters were naive enough to vote for him that ended up being a real problem.

# 249 Katy mine. Scott Ritter has been trying to tell the American people the truth about Iraq and Iran for a very long time. Ritter is in good and reliable company about his asessment of Iran. Iaea El Baradei, General Wesley Clark, Iaea Hans Blix and Flynnt Leverett at the New American Foundation have similar asessments of Iran’s “alleged” nuclear program that the “cakewalk in Iraq” liars keep repeating as facts.

Thank goodness for these summaries. Sirius Satellite Radio recently dropped C-SPAN radio which had the best commercial free Sunday Public Affairs rebroadcasts. I cannot sit still and watch liars not get called on their lies in real time. The condensed version is bad enough. Maybe I’ll get C-SPAN radio again when Sirius and XM merge

Buzz Flash reporting on Andrea Mitchell saying that Petraeus has promised “progress” by September – whatever the hell progress means – and being told that Republicans to whom he’d made that promise, had replied that if there isn’t any progress, Republican support would be withdrawn. No given statement of what that would mean in specifics, perhaps in relation to funding or…. But I wish to God people would start talking about the reality of the permanent bases and hammering that big.

And the fact that Petraeus hs clearly stated that there really was no real intention of a brief “surge,” that the plan all along was for a long term commitment – I’ve noted this before but don’t have a cite to give now.

I’m so disgusted by the failure of the MSM to truly report what the heck is going on.

When I watched Hatch this am early I was laughing but also crying in disgust for this pathetic idiot of a man; so glad to have read that he was the last choice for a Repub spokesperson. But why didn’t Tim report on that reality/context? Oh, yes, that would surely have been much too much to ask. God forbid that there be any real contextual honesty.

Blessings to all,

The other day I saw some talking heads saying that they thought that the female British prisoner didn’t appear to be a smoker and it looked like the evil Iranians had given her a cigarette in captivity and forced her to pretend to smoke it, presumably to make her look bad to people in the Middle East.

But the video of the capture itself shows her sitting in the rubber boat, nervously dragging on a cigarette like a veteran smoker. And as a smoker, I can tell.

Don’t these aholes ever even watch their own news videos before they begin to babble away like this?