WooHoo!!!

Sunshine!

Morning all. Lots going on again today.

I’m not a conspiracy nut after all! This stuff really happens!

Hi, Christy — thanks for this post. The cold, cynical willingness of Bush-Rove to manipulate every single tenet of what defines our democracy, while pretending that is their motivation in the Iraq-debacle, is a stunning lesson in the dangers of taking democracy for granted.

“I don’t have a problem with dictatorships, as long as I get to be dictator….” GW Bush, pre-9/11

I’m thinking I want to read The Lucifer Effect to help me understand just how the kool-aid crowd in the WH and the Washington [media] establishment could be so bloody complacent compliant about all this.

We need more coffee. I’ll get it going and find some bagels.

Good morning Christy. Good for the authors for hanging in there as long as they did.

ps. Don’t say anything nice about Broder. Just a thought. ;-)

“. . .There is a reason that real
oversight is required constantly in
government, and it is to prevent just
this sort of manipulation of mathematics,
statistics and science for political ends. . . .”

this “revision” to the
voter fraud report smells
like last weeks’ limburger,
sittin’ out in the sun, on
a steamy-philadelphia-afternoon. . .

so — i agree — 100 percent.

But Mike Allen said we would over reach and people don’t want oversight…I guess Mikey was wrong and everyone loves oversight

when is politico going under…or is the rightwing pocket protector deep?

Crossing fingers for Immanentize, today’s the big news.

(((Scarecrow)))!

As always, I really appreciate your thoughtful insight.

Yours, too, Christy!

Christy Hardin Smith @
3

Morning all. Lots going on again today.

‘Morning!

katherine graham cracker @8
“rightwing pocket protector”

Love that!!!

they sure don’t discourage easily…

when is politico going under…or is the rightwing pocket protector deep?

Katherine – having a chuckle at your question as I was just over there and their threads are riddled with spam – vi*gra, off-label xan*x, etc. although no appearances yet from the Nigerian Prince – teehee

Christy Hardin Smith @
3

Morning all. Lots going on again today.

My country’s 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder, Guilder to frame for it . . . Oh, wait. That’s someone else’s “to do” list.

via CNN -

Fred Thompson has been diagnosed w/a *treatable* form of lymponia (sp?).

Good morning Christy! I hope you (((and yours))) are feeling better.

Yep, the report should say election fraud is a problem, not voter fraud. Election fraud is what happens. Voter fraud, not so much.

Nola Sue @ 11

(((Scarecrow)))!

As always, I really appreciate your thoughtful insight.

Yours, too, Christy!

Thanks. And I appreciated your comment on the last thread.

I want to fight the Bush administration. No appeasement, conciliation, no bi-partisianship from my party. That is so yester year. I want impeachment hearings and on-going criminal investigations. The Republicans and certainly the Bush girls and boys look at compromise as weakness. I no longer subscribe to the notion that ‘politics is the art of compromise’. I want prosecutions and jail time and heavy fines. Is there a way I can be more clear on this?

epu’d from last thread,
but naturally fits here. . .

nolo @ 107

lee5 @ 105

nolo @ 92

…i swear, on a stack of
anatomy of deceits(!), that one
early version of the new york times
story on this latest senate judiciary
letter to gonzales named none-other-
than ARLEN SPECTER, republican senator,
as one of the signers to the letter. . .

I saw that also, although I can
only swear on a single copy of AoD,
not a whole stack …

Did they really change that
story? And did Specter sign the
letter? too much if they changed
the story.

my hunch — and it is only a
hunch — is that specter backed
out of being a signer when conyers
issued his supoena duces tecum yesterday.

i think that spooked specter.
[side note: all sorts of pun possibilities!]

but i have no way to really find out.

OT- from HuffPo

Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse stopped short of saying the department would fight the subpoena. But he said legal concerns about violating privacy rights of people mentioned in the documents have kept Justice from releasing them.

Oh, no. What is it this time? Pages? Jeff Gannons run rampant? Hours of i-porn?
Where I work, Nothing is private on my computer. (And people get fired for any of the above.)
I look forward to every post- excellent brains at FDL.

When I read this (during my first cup of tea), I thought: This is not only an issue related to trying to depress the vote, it is also an issue related to the misrepresentation of scientific information!

What galls me about this mis-administration is their desire to totally control information – to skew everything, including research studies.

How in the name of heaven can we possibly believe what they are telling us about Iraq? Or Iran? Or anything?

Because they are absolutely bent on presenting things as they want them to be, not as the facts or statistics or whatever may demonstrate.

This is just one more example of a spider web of nonsense and propaganda and downright deceit!!!

AND I AM MAD! MADDER THAN MAD!

These people sure know how to drive a person mad! (and I mean it in both senses)

Scarecrow @ 7

Good morning Christy. Good for the authors for hanging in there as long as they did.

ps. Don’t say anything nice about Broder. Just a thought. ;-)

C’mon Scarecrow, we recognize your point that this column represents a creaking opening door for the Dean, a suggestion that maybe the Dear Leader might want to listen to the voice of the people. Most of the reaction is the general thinking that Bush and the Republicans are not going to change at this date, and, going to the next step, looking at what the Democrats should do. John Emerson and I suggested a short term extension of funding that would require another vote and another opportunity for the Republicans to get right or cement their allegiance to Bushism in the run-up to election.

The domestic agenda of the Rove/Cheney/Bush crowd is very simple: corrupt the political system to create a one-party state (and a lot of corporations and people have been willing to help them do this). It goes against everything the founders sought to do, and it would be spiffy if we could merge the US Attorney’s scandal and the vote suppression scandals into a wider “premanent Republican majority” meme. People understand the basic premise of multiparty democracy even if they haven’t read the Federalist Papers, and any time the word “Republican” is dragged into the discussion of corruption, we get closer to making it a dirty word.

Waccamaw @ 17

via CNN -

Fred Thompson has been diagnosed w/a *treatable* form of lymponia (sp?).

Fred Thompson says he has cancer

Morning, Christy!

Why are there so few Republics with a conscience? It seems that a party purge is in order. Have they all been so compromised by Bush that they are helpless to right their sinking ship?

I would love to see an in depth analysis on the DLC.

Hey, subject change…

Sorry for your pain (Penut) last week, check Lactose intolerance, even mild can cause a lot of sickness in a child !

Oklahoma kiddo @
20

I want to fight the Bush administration. No appeasement, conciliation, no bi-partisianship from my party. That is so yester year. I want impeachment hearings and on-going criminal investigations. The Republicans and certainly the Bush girls and boys look at compromise as weakness. I no longer subscribe to the notion that ‘politics is the art of compromise’. I want prosecutions and jail time and heavy fines. Is there a way I can be more clear on this?

coming in late to the conversation, but my sentiments exactly!
What? we need more data?! what’s to negotiate! Jeez Impeach the bastards already!!!!

masaccio – I agree with the strategy of forcing multiple votes.

Harry at 30 — Thanks, but it was a case of the flu. Her entire preschool class, and the teachers therein, all had it. And then, so did I. But we’re all much better now. :)

Peterr @
16

Christy Hardin Smith @
3

Morning all. Lots going on again today.

My country’s 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder, Guilder to frame for it . . . Oh, wait. That’s someone else’s “to do” list.

It’s very dangerous with this crew to gt us going on a movie reference…see last night’s TRex, for example.

crikey! forgot to ixnay on the i*gra-vay – sorry mods

Good Morning Christy,

just in case anyone needed further evidence the justice system is completely broken under this regime . . .

via TPM
linky

now this hippie is wondering if it was just terror cases that tied up so many FBI resources – wonder if they wasted just as much chasing voter fraud phantoms

twolf1 @ 26

Waccamaw @ 17

via CNN -

Fred Thompson has been diagnosed w/a *treatable* form of lymponia (sp?).

Fred Thompson says he has cancer

I suppose he doesn’t have young children so it’s alright for him to run for prez?

eCAHNomics @ 36

twolf1 @ 26

Waccamaw @ 17

via CNN -

Fred Thompson has been diagnosed w/a *treatable* form of lymponia (sp?).

Fred Thompson says he has cancer

I suppose he doesn’t have young children so it’s alright for him to run for prez?

No, silly, it’s ‘cuz he’s a Republican (cf Rudy Giuliani, John McCain).

twolf1 @ 26

Waccamaw @ 17

via CNN -

Fred Thompson has been diagnosed w/a *treatable* form of lymponia (sp?).

Fred Thompson says he has cancer

He would now be shredded by the Republic noise machine if he were not a Republic himself.

Meanwhile, Repug leaders across US worried about 2008 and the future in general. From the NYTimes:

WASHINGTON, April 10 — Republican leaders across the country say they are growing increasingly anxious about their party’s chances of holding the White House, citing public dissatisfaction with President Bush, the political fallout from the war in Iraq and the problems their leading presidential candidates are having generating enthusiasm among conservative voters.

(snip)

sumpl @ 22

OT- from HuffPo

Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse stopped short of saying the department would fight the subpoena. But he said legal concerns about violating privacy rights of people mentioned in the documents have kept Justice from releasing them.

Oh, no. What is it this time? Pages? Jeff Gannons run rampant? Hours of i-porn?
Where I work, Nothing is private on my computer. (And people get fired for any of the above.)
I look forward to every post- excellent brains at FDL.

I am confused, I thought the USA’s are public servants working at the pleasure of the President. BY Rove’s own accord they are political appointees. Suddenly, after the American people want to know what they were discussing about these political appointees is now of paramount importance to the appointees right to privacy? I see a constitutional showdown unfolding.

As for destroying everything they touch – the Boston Globe has a front page article on how the retention rate of West Point grads is the lowest ever since Vietnam, because of multiple redeployments. I’ll get the link in a minute.

MarkC @ 25

Your comments fit with mine. Sanity – we need huge doses of sanity.

And only by recognizing all the illicit and heinous acts and words of these people bent on one-party rule will we be able to cleanse ourselves of this infestation – WMD by means of illogic, fear, contempt, bribery, you name it!

cbl @ 35

crikey! forgot to ixnay on the i*gra-vay – sorry mods

Good Morning Christy,

just in case anyone needed further evidence the justice system is completely broken under this regime . . .

via TPM
linky

now this hippie is wondering if it was just terror cases that tied up so many FBI resources – wonder if they wasted just as much chasing voter fraud phantoms

It probably helps Neil Bush sleep better.

Here is the west point article http://www.boston.com/news/nat…..high_rate/

TheraP @ 42

MarkC @ 25

Your comments fit with mine. Sanity – we need huge doses of sanity.

And only by recognizing all the illicit and heinous acts and words of these people bent on one-party rule will we be able to cleanse ourselves of this infestation – WMD by means of illogic, fear, contempt, bribery, you name it!

Maybe they will have achieved a long period of one-party rule only not by the party they thought.

We need to make The Dunce even more irrelevant. From the NYTimes:

Republican leaders pointed to a number of factors for the Republican malaise, including the perception that Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Romney and Mr. McCain were awkwardly altering their positions to appeal to conservative voters, and a general exhaustion that comes after having Republicans in power for more than eight years.

Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia, said the Democratic takeover of Congress and the continuing grim news from Iraq had rendered Mr. Bush nearly irrelevant.

From the annals of Silver Linings?

It seems that W et al have been very busy manipulating the system to create the vaunted (when did vaunted become a dirty word?) permanent R majority. And it will take years to rip those efforts up by the roots.

However, it seems like while they were spending their time on dirty dirty tricks, they were’nt paying attention to policy.

It’s the policy, stupid.

Can someone explain just EXACTLY whom, to where and to what end the Democratic Leadership Council intends to lead?

masaccio @ 24

“C’mon Scarecrow, we recognize your point that this column represents a creaking opening door for the Dean, a suggestion that maybe the Dear Leader might want to listen to the voice of the people. Most of the reaction is the general thinking that Bush and the Republicans are not going to change at this date, and, going to the next step, looking at what the Democrats should do.”
_________________________

FWIW (and I don’t mean to speak for the way-more-articulate-than-I Scarecrow!), but I heard his point being more about Broder’s influence — and not on the dimwit Preznint, but on the MSM and, ultimately, on public opinion & Congressfolk of all flavors, D & R.

So I respectfully disagree that the general thinking of R elected officials won’t change. They’re feeling more & more pressure, and they’re beginning to show a few cracks.

My Sen Norm Coleman has already bailed on a few issues, and it was featured on last night’s local news that he sent a very cranky letter to the now nationally-infamous new US Atty here, Rachel Paulose. IMO, this wouldn’t happen if the Broders & Joe Kleins weren’t taking these little baby steps. Even if they are a lot late and $500 billion short.

Let’s keep up the pressure — go jayackroyd @24 downstairs, who suggests a Roots Project effort to target the 21 republican senators up for reelection in 08. Like mine!!!

My personal fantasy is for Norm to be one of those R leaders who marches up to the WH, in the footsteps of Goldwater, to give Shrub some very bad news.

Gnome de Plume @ 41

As for destroying everything they touch – the Boston Globe has a front page article on how the retention rate of West Point grads is the lowest ever since Vietnam, because of multiple redeployments. I’ll get the link in a minute.

One piece of the picture about how W broke the army so bad it can’t be fixed. This particular piece is called hollowing out.

Brisingamen @ 113

EPU’d from prior thread:

corry342 @ 78

What happens if Bush refuses to compromise, which he has never done in any case, and the Democrats refuse to fund the war? After shuffling the credit cards for a month or two, what?
What am I missing? If Bush and Congress don’t budge, what happens?

There is nothing that says the Congress HAS to pass ANY funding request Bush submits — this is the power of the purse-strings.

What happens?

The possibilities are — Defense moves money from another spending category in its’ regular budget to fund keeping the troops in Iraq.

If they do that, something somewhere isn’t going to be funded, and anyone employed in that area is going to be furloughed.

Or, Defense does the logical thing, and starts bringing the troops home in defiance of Bush/Cheney’s wishes. (I find this extremely unlikely.)

When any Department in the Executive Branch runs out of money or is not funded at the beginning of a fiscal year, it closes, furloughs its’ employees, and waits until Congress funds it either by an appropriation bill or by a continuing resolution.

Mutant Poodle @
34

It’s very dangerous with this crew to gt us going on a movie reference…see last night’s TRex, for example.

Yeah — who stole my strawberries?

OT — “ICE-ed”

Developing North Dakota/national story I just heard on the car radio running errands, an interview by Ed Schultz [yes, that Ed] on his state morning show.

Call it: They came for the Denby Dairy Farmers.

The family dairy operation was raided yesterday by ICE. ICE’s official statement is they followed every standard legal practice….would that be before or after the latest Patriot Act dirty tricks?

Farmer Zimmerman said they were like the Gestapo, breaking down doors, handcuffing a guy coming out of the shower, gun to the head of another guy. Over 40 law enforcement in 15-20 vehicles. 13 employees were taken away, leaving seven family/emploees to try to take care of the dairy herd.

And those were some unhappy cows.

This is a developing story…will be interesting to follow. As Niemoller might note, once they come after the family dairy farmer, who’s gonna be left?

sumpl @
22

OT- from HuffPo

Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse stopped short of saying the department would fight the subpoena. But he said legal concerns about violating privacy rights of people mentioned in the documents have kept Justice from releasing them.

Oh, no. What is it this time? Pages? Jeff Gannons run rampant? Hours of i-porn?
Where I work, Nothing is private on my computer. (And people get fired for any of the above.)
I look forward to every post- excellent brains at FDL.

Office computers, no privacy applies.

In the biz world, every employee’s email accounts, Internet activity is subject to scrutiny by the boss.

Surely the CEO-Prez gang knows they are lying SOBs….

Donetta Davidson is ex-Colorado Secretary of State, which office handles all voter registration apparatus and elections. She is a renown GOP political hack.

In 2002, the voters put a constitutional amendment reigning in corporatist leaning campaign finance rules. The GOP fought this, but had to retreat when it passed by 2/3′ds majority.

Among the new rules they loathed was to eliminate corporate contributions to sitting general assembly members. Read: Pay to play legislators.

After its passage, Davidson focused on watering down the new rules, which rules were supported by Common Cause and the League of Women Voters. They did battle with Davidson’s considerable efforts to water down the new rules.

Davidson also had at least one campaign finance complaint filed against her after the new rules came into effect. BUT, the new legislation required complaints be heard by her desk, thus she was, in effect, handling a complaint about her, before her.

Governor Owens was the subject of campaign finance complaints as well. One, was settled out of the hearing, canceling the thrust of the issue.

The GOP was fighting hard, through their hack Davidson to keep the money flowing to the GOP, until Bush, likely through Rove, who, being from Utah had/has close ties to the local GOP political machine. Eventually, in 2005, our Benighted Emperor appointed Davidson to head his sham commission which resulted in rigging the study with its false conclusion that there is considerable voter fraud to be dealt with.

No doubt, the words of this conclusion were used to berate the USA’s into having their Democratic Voter pogroms.

Nice Fascist system we’ve st up and are now running, eh?

Nola Sue @ 49
Let’s keep up the pressure — go jayackroyd @24 downstairs, who suggests a Roots Project effort to target the 21 republican senators up for reelection in 08. Like mine!!!

Would someone mind either posting a list of these senators or a link to the same? Thanks!

“Legal concerns about violating privacy rights of people mentioned in the documents have kept Justice from releasing them.”

The Irony Fairy should be getting combat-pay today.

OT but interesting:
georgewbush.com takes you to GOP.com.
rnchq.org takes you to the same place.
gwb.com takes you to moveon.org.

A modern day deepthroat might say “Follow the emails.”

Waccamaw @ 17
via CNN -

Fred Thompson has been diagnosed w/a *treatable* form of lymponia (sp?).

twolf1 @ 26

Fred Thompson says he has cancer

eCAHNomics @ 36

I suppose he doesn’t have young children so it’s alright for him to run for prez?

Actually, per Wiki, he’s got 2 young children — born in ‘03 & ‘06 from his 2nd marriage.

Of course, I hope his cancer remains in remission.

Badwater @45

I love your conclusion!

It’s going to take a long, long time to straighten all this out – if ever…

Frank Probst @ 57

“Legal concerns about violating privacy rights of people mentioned in the documents have kept Justice from releasing them.”

The Irony Fairy should be getting combat-pay today.

What?! No Federal employee with a computer on their desk has ANY “privacy rights.” We’re plainly told that any and all of our activities on our office computers is monitored.

Sheesh…

How’s this for skewed?

More partisan smears against Pelosi.
This time from the Republican Jewish Coalition.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/…..st-pelosi/

Goopers havin a hell of a time finding even ONE viable presidential candidate- so far they have NONE!

rwcole @ 63

Goopers havin a hell of a time finding even ONE viable presidential candidate- so far they have NONE!

Jeb ‘08!

Nola Sue @ 59

Waccamaw @ 17
via CNN -

Fred Thompson has been diagnosed w/a *treatable* form of lymponia (sp?).

twolf1 @ 26

Fred Thompson says he has cancer

eCAHNomics @ 36

I suppose he doesn’t have young children so it’s alright for him to run for prez?

Actually, per Wiki, he’s got 2 young children — born in ‘03 & ‘06 from his 2nd marriage.

Of course, I hope his cancer remains in remission.

To be fair to them, he certainly must stay home with them. Oh I forgot, IOIYAR.

As for destroying everything they touch – the Boston Globe has a front page article on how the retention rate of West Point grads is the lowest ever since Vietnam, because of multiple redeployments. I’ll get the link in a minute.

Gnome de Plume
thanks for the link – not having read it yet, but feel this is an important companion piece wrt to getting at how badly broken it all is

this is US fatalities by State – pls take a look at the ‘rank’ column –

http://icasualties.org/oif/Statecity.aspx

overwhelmingly tragic on every level

Within three months- the wake begins for Clusterfuck’s war. If his “SURGE” ain’t workin by then- he might as well start fillin the boats- cause this thing is over. How’s it goin Clustefuck? Are ya prepared to have the gooper congress rise up to fricasse you? They ain’t gonna lose another one fer the Gipper.

Brisingamen @ 56

Nola Sue @ 49
Let’s keep up the pressure — go jayackroyd @24 downstairs, who suggests a Roots Project effort to target the 21 republican senators up for reelection in 08. Like mine!!!

Would someone mind either posting a list of these senators or a link to the same? Thanks!

CQ Politics has an article listing the seats & situations. IIRC from ‘06, they’re conservative (methodologically, not necessarily ideologically) in developing their ratings, i.e., they’d weight more heavily toward an incumbent. And as the ‘06 election drew near they frequently revised their predictions as the tide was clearly turning.

HTH!

Re: Fred Thompson. My personal feeling is that if he still wants to run for President, this shouldn’t stop him. But the practical side of me is saying that it’s never going to happen. Every time he sneezes, he’s going to have answer questions about his disease. It’s weird, I think. Hearing the word “cancer” just scares the shit out of a lot of people. “Heart disease” doesn’t seem to scare anyone, which I’ve never understood. Heart disease kills more people. And by all accounts, the current Veep has a pretty bad case. He really could just drop dead at any moment. But nobody ever seems to bring it up. Best wishes to Thompson.

rwcole @ 67

Within three months- the wake begins for Clusterfuck’s war. If his “SURGE” ain’t workin by then- he might as well start fillin the boats- cause this thing is over. How’s it goin Clustefuck? Are ya prepared to have the gooper congress rise up to fricasse you? They ain’t gonna lose another one fer the Gipper.

The Republic strategy is to find a way to blame the Democrats. Only if they cannot will they rise up.

On Repugs having a hard time finding 2008 candidates:

“My level of concern and dismay is very, very high,” said Mickey Edwards, a Republican former congressman from Oklahoma who is now a lecturer in public policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton. “It’s not that I have any particular problem with the people who are running for the Republican nomination. I just don’t know how they can run hard enough or fast enough to escape the gravitational pull of the Bush administration.”

“We don’t have any candidates in the field now who are compelling,” Mr. Edwards said, adding: “It’s going to be a tough year for us.”

Ooops, added downstairs by mistake, my bad…..

twolf (my beloved url provider *g*) -

Caught that tidbit with the one ear that stays semi-tuned to the idiot box. Your article says he claims to be in remission. Well, break out the tinfoil box………. but doesn’t that imply that he has known about this for some time? Color me suspicious but maybe a question of Thompson getting the news *out there* before it gets leaked?

Badwater @ 70

rwcole @ 67

Within three months- the wake begins for Clusterfuck’s war. If his “SURGE” ain’t workin by then- he might as well start fillin the boats- cause this thing is over. How’s it goin Clustefuck? Are ya prepared to have the gooper congress rise up to fricasse you? They ain’t gonna lose another one fer the Gipper.

The Republic strategy is to find a way to blame the Democrats. Only if they cannot will they rise up.

The vote to override Bush’s veto is going to take away their last fig leaf. I think there’s a LOT of negotiating behind the scenes to keep that from happening. Every Republican Congressman will have to explain that vote to the people in the 2008 campaign. And the Democratic challengers can all say, “If they’d voted the other way, the war in Iraq would be over now.”

Waccamaw @
72

Ooops, added downstairs by mistake, my bad…..

twolf (my beloved url provider *g*) -

Caught that tidbit with the one ear that stays semi-tuned to the idiot box. Your article says he claims to be in remission. Well, break out the tinfoil box………. but doesn’t that imply that he has known about this for some time? Color me suspicious but maybe a question of Thompson getting the news *out there* before it gets leaked?

Yes, the tinfoil hat is well justified.

twolf -

The funny thing is, I just had the daymn box out earlier this a.m. for baking needs. Apply to head instead ;-)

More on Repug malaise:

“The war in Iraq and public opposition to it has put a pall on Republicans,” said John C. Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri.

Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York, said, “As long as the war appears not to be doing well, it’s going to hurt Republicans.”

The biggest problem, several Republicans said, is the disparity between the level of enthusiasm on display among Democrats and that on the Republican side.

Badwater @ 70

rwcole @ 67

Within three months- the wake begins for Clusterfuck’s war. If his “SURGE” ain’t workin by then- he might as well start fillin the boats- cause this thing is over. How’s it goin Clustefuck? Are ya prepared to have the gooper congress rise up to fricasse you? They ain’t gonna lose another one fer the Gipper.

The Republic strategy is to find a way to blame the Democrats. Only if they cannot will they rise up.

Somebody please help me: Badwater’s comment is what I see playing out. The White House keeps saying it’ll be the Democrats’ fault if the war fails. Well, pretty much the war’s been failing since it started, but — as has happened so often since dubya took over — the message replaces the reality.

Waccamaw @ 75

twolf -

The funny thing is, I just had the daymn box out earlier this a.m. for baking needs. Apply to head instead ;-)

Tinfoil: Apply directly to the forehead.

Frank Probst @ 69

Re: Fred Thompson. My personal feeling is that if he still wants to run for President, this shouldn’t stop him. But the practical side of me is saying that it’s never going to happen. Every time he sneezes, he’s going to have answer questions about his disease. It’s weird, I think. Hearing the word “cancer” just scares the shit out of a lot of people. “Heart disease” doesn’t seem to scare anyone, which I’ve never understood. Heart disease kills more people. And by all accounts, the current Veep has a pretty bad case. He really could just drop dead at any moment. But nobody ever seems to bring it up. Best wishes to Thompson.

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is similar and often regarded interchangeable with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Mr. S has CLL.

Best wishes to Mr. Thompson that he always stays in remission. I wish for him and for Mr. S. who just successfully completed treatment for a second time that “in remission” remains operable all the time.

But life isn’t always fair, or kind. And the reality is regular testing and the knowledge that things can change abruptly, dramatically, fatally.

Support stem cell research. And not the trojan horse bill that Coleman is pushing for Bush. Support stem cell research…and science… and add this to reality that there are so many BushCo dots to connect the picture is almost black.

Why we must work for change…and restoration of democracy in America.

Pat at 7:52

Clusterfuck has publicly said he fully intends to just wait out his occupation of Iraq and leave the mess to the next administration.
Whoever it is.

“In recent months, the commission has been criticized for failing to provide proper oversight of the technology laboratories that test electronic voting machines and software.“

“Pernicious influences” are actively and illegally inhibiting this software oversight, which should be one of the bedrocks of any voter-fraud laws othe 110th might pass.

Since when could a software company legally deny auditors access to it’s digital machinations? There are laws already on most state books that demand full transparency in all levels of voting equipment and policy. When Diebold found out that North Carolina was going to enforce one of these laws and look into their voting machine guts, Diebold pulled all of their machines out of the state, overnight, and canceled their deal with NC for future voting machine contracts.

Their claim of proprietary protections should be met with subpoenas and indictments every time they try to evade those voter-fraud laws already on the books. There should be absolutely NO secrets to hide from the public scrutiny, and that sunshine you speak of, Christy, needs to be focused on these software developers, they represent one of the most dangerous and anti-democratic influences in the short, glorious history of our democratic republic.

NOLO: Were you able to find the letter Specter signed yesterday?

“The White House keeps saying it’ll be the Democrats’ fault if the war fails. Well, pretty much the war’s been failing since it started, but — as has happened so often since dubya took over — the message replaces the reality.”

This is a true picture of, say, 2 years ago. But, Bush’s credibility in the all important perceptions of the audience – American people – has been eroded and continues to erode.

And, the key messenger – Rove – has had his credibility eroded, and his ethics. We should all remember that a year ago, joe-sixpack did not even know who he was. Now, he does.

Thus, the big lie method has been eviscerated.

twolf -

Google and ye shall find……was never sure exactly what was meant by that tinfoil hat term……God bless the urban dictionary!

Prairie Sunshine @ 53

OT — “ICE-ed”

Developing North Dakota/national story I just heard on the car radio running errands, an interview by Ed Schultz [yes, that Ed] on his state morning show.

Call it: They came for the Denby Dairy Farmers.

The family dairy operation was raided yesterday by ICE. ICE’s official statement is they followed every standard legal practice….would that be before or after the latest Patriot Act dirty tricks?

Farmer Zimmerman said they were like the Gestapo, breaking down doors, handcuffing a guy coming out of the shower, gun to the head of another guy. Over 40 law enforcement in 15-20 vehicles. 13 employees were taken away, leaving seven family/emploees to try to take care of the dairy herd.

And those were some unhappy cows.

This is a developing story…will be interesting to follow. As Niemoller might note, once they come after the family dairy farmer, who’s gonna be left?

Wow. I’m not sure, but I think ND is part of the MN district? That came up in the KSTP extended interview with US Atty Rachel Paulose, and, like a good “loyal Bushie,” she definitely pushed the talking points and “human trafficking” — including immigration — was one of the DoJ’s Six Priorities she discussed. She also spoke with some pride of the ICE raid at the Swift Company plant in Worthington, MN.

Very interesting, and worth looking into further.

Everything is just ducky

Is it me, or are the GOP CYA excuses getting harder and harder to buy these days? Here’s to a whole lotta sunshine-CHS

Wink wink nod-ht Monty Python.

Is it me, or are the GOP CYA excuses getting harder and harder to buy these days?

You mean you’ve actually been buying them up til now?

I have a simple system: in the absence of concrete evidence to the contrary, I assume that every word that comes out of a Republican’s mouth is a lie. It’s not a foolproof system – once in a while, one of them will slip up and tell the truth – but it works much better than giving those lying GOP scumbags the benefit of the doubt.

Puesto @ 83

Thus, the big lie method has been eviscerated.

This may be true for the majority of the people, but it is not yet true for the majority of the Republics now in office. They still put their party above all else.

Nola Sue, ND has its own USAtty.

I was curious as to how this will play out down the road. Bush stole the election in 2000 AND most likely in 2004. That was voter fraud and yet they try to make voter fraud an issue where it wasn’t. So does history in 50 years look back at the record and say, look, there is no voter fraud. It bends my mind how they take what is, make an issue that isn’t and bend it back around to what was muddying the water to confuse those who aren’t paying close attention. Accusing innocent others of doing what they are guilty of. And I want future generations to KNOW what a terrible, awful, no good president bush was.

nolo @
8

“. . .There is a reason that real
oversight is required constantly in
government, and it is to prevent just
this sort of manipulation of mathematics,
statistics and science for political ends. . . .”

this “revision” to the
voter fraud report smells
like last weeks’ limburger,
sittin’ out in the sun, on
a steamy-philadelphia-afternoon. . .

so — i agree — 100 percent.

That wouldn’t be Rust Limberger would it?

Wanker of the Day competition heats up early -

AP – USA Scandal

“There are a couple of problems: The evidence is largely circumstantial, and the proof is missing.”

meet the newest water carrier

Oklahoma kiddo @
20

I want to fight the Bush administration. No appeasement, conciliation, no bi-partisianship from my party. That is so yester year. I want impeachment hearings and on-going criminal investigations. The Republicans and certainly the Bush girls and boys look at compromise as weakness. I no longer subscribe to the notion that ‘politics is the art of compromise’. I want prosecutions and jail time and heavy fines. Is there a way I can be more clear on this?

I’m wit you… And don’t stop until they are all in jail or run out of this country (which the don’t like anyway) on a rail – with tar and chicken feathers (no disrespect meant to chickens.

Thanks, Prairie Sunshine — in the interview, the reporter & Paulose made references to MN & “the Dakotas,” so I was curious if it were treated as one territory.

Still, an important story, and in that interview, she talked a lot about “human trafficking” across the Canadian border.

(((Christy & Peanut)))

Hope you both feel better very soon.

Christy. Thank you BIG TIME for hammering away on this topic. Ohio’s a very nervous place around election days lately. At least we managed to get a big enuf vote to elect Dem. Governor & Secystate, not to mention SENATOR Sherrod Brown, yahoo. But the voting system is still far from safe here-abouts.

We desperately need solid reform and oversight nationwide. Your posts, and all the energy & terrific brain-storming evident throughout the comments here, daily, give everyone hope. It still won’t be easy cleaning up the current mess, but it now seems possible.

Thank you ALL! ;->

(((FDL)))

From TPM, with link to AP story:

GOP says there’s no evidence of wrongdoing in the US Attorney Purge.

Watch for the stonewall as they attempt to keep the evidence of wrongdoing suppressed.

But it seems to me that if the GOP argument is “no evidence” the Dems should be hammering the point that attempts to withhold evidence do not reflect principled considerations, but are just tawdry self-serving Watergate style manipulations to keep the truth from coming to light.

I saw the article on this at WaPo (I think) and was astounded at the dishonesty and hypocrisy of the revised report. EVERYTHING is open to debate, so that change is particularly disingenuous. This panel does a wonderful job of demonstrating Mark Twain’s old saw about lies – there are 3 kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.

And re:the discussion fo the war up around the 70s comments, the geniuses in charge of the Iraq war plans have a new one – gated communities in Baghdad (and I’m certain they aren’t talking about exclusive areas where residents can walk their poodles with fear of being approached by minorities). This is an interesting approach that reflects exactly how critically wrongheaded the administration is on the war. This approach has been used in the past, by the French in Algeria, by the US in Vietnam, and by the Israeilies and it DID NOT WORK. So now it’s come to using failed policies from the past? This is the new idea from Bushco? This, from the administration that vows to veto any war spending bill that includes a plan to get out of Iraq? Now let’s see, at the rate of 4 American deaths per day (current average), we might expect another 2640 American deaths in Iraq between now and when Shrub struts back to Crawford a couple of Januaries from now.

http://news.independent.co.uk/…..439530.ece

RESEARCHERS have demonstrated for the first time that the progression of Type 1 diabetes can be halted — and possibly reversed — by a stem-cell transplant that preserves the body’s diminishing ability to make insulin, according to a study published today. The experimental therapy eliminated the need for insulin injections for months or even years in 14 of 15 patients recently diagnosed with the disease. One subject, a 30-year-old male, hasn’t taken insulin since his stem-cell transplant more than three years ago, according to the study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. (So where has this treatment been hiding the last few years?)
http://www.latimes.com/news/sc…..k=ntothtml

…someone may have already referenced this, I haven’t had a chance to read all the posts today, so forgive my redundancy if it is blatant, but my question is, if they have had this stem cell cure for so many years now, why isn’t the public privvy to it?

And does anyone else think it is very suspicious that there has been such a proliferation of diabetes testing equipment advertising in the past few years? My internal conspiracy theorist alarm is ringing loudly about this, along with the timing of the Anna Nicole crap (they have known the results for a couple weeks, why did they release it on the eve of Congressional subpoenas?)

So why does it seem to me that there’s been a deliberate effort to keep stem cell research stifled?

Surely the pharmies and the HMO’ers wouldn’t hold back life-saving treatment just for some easy profit, and do it all in the name of the “right to life”? (snark notification)

Oklahoma kiddo @
20

I want to fight the Bush administration. No appeasement, conciliation, no bi-partisianship from my party. That is so yester year. I want impeachment hearings and on-going criminal investigations. The Republicans and certainly the Bush girls and boys look at compromise as weakness. I no longer subscribe to the notion that ‘politics is the art of compromise’. I want prosecutions and jail time and heavy fines. Is there a way I can be more clear on this?

;->

How’s this for skewed logic?

From ABC News:

Army proposing extending duty for everyone in Iraq
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/….._0410.html

I’ve been saying since 2000 that the Bush administration siezed power through a coup d’etat.

In 2002 they manipulated the vote in Georgia, had Paul Wellstone assassinated, and clearly played dirty tricks in New Hampshire, too.

In 2004, they completely stole the election. The RNC paid Nathan Sproul and Associates $9 million – most of which wasn’t billed until well after the election – for “voter registration” drives. Oddly, he would either destroy Democratic registrations or change them to read Republican…all part of the plan to lay the groundwork for widespread vote theft by creating the illusion of a groundswell of new Republican voters.

Nathan Sproul should be found and interrogated – completely outside the law, mind you – until he admits what he was part of. From there, it’s open season on any member of the Bush administration because they are not, have never been, and will never be a legitimate administration. They are usurpers of power and they need to be treated thusly.

[Mod Note; Comment edited by Mod. Please, no references to violence, especially towards public figures. Thank you.]

Meanwhile, in the NYObserver, Joe Conason reminds us of Guiliani’s incompetence as Mayor:

Against the advice of real experts, he stubbornly insisted on placing his immensely expensive emergency-command center in a World Trade Center building, although terrorists had struck there already and were determined to do so again. The command center went down with the rest of Ground Zero, leaving the Mayor and his aides to wander downtown as the buildings fell.

The city’s frantic efforts to cope with the disaster were lethally hindered by faulty communications equipment that the Giuliani administration had purchased—also against the advice of experts who knew better. Both of those fateful errors are more troubling when viewed against the backdrop of political and financial influences that probably distorted the decision-making process.

We are dealing with the forest and the trees. Republics are seeing the trees, i.e., voter fraud. We are seeing the forest, i.e. election fraud. Of course, they also can see the forest but it would go against the talking points.

Lou Costello @ 100

How’s this for skewed logic?

From ABC News:

Army proposing extending duty for everyone in Iraq
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/….._0410.html

Also on Rawstory ( http://rawstory.com/news/afp/U…..02007.html )

“The ‘war on terror’ is failing and actually increasing the likelihood of more terrorist attacks,” the Oxford Research Group said in its study, titled “Beyond Terror: The Truth About The Real Threats To Our World.”

This will be the Bush’s legacy.

dakine01 @ 103

We are dealing with the forest and the trees. Republics are seeing the trees, i.e., voter fraud. We are seeing the forest, i.e. election fraud. Of course, they also can see the forest but it would go against the talking points.

that is a clarifying post, thanks for that perspective, it illustrates quite simply a very complex issue. I think it is safe to say the individual ACORN issues that Domenici wanted pursued by Iglesias certainly represent small-scale “voter fraud” compared to Florida and Diebold’s egregious “election fraud” that we would all like to see some sunshine applied to.

How will this help? Just another stupid admin layer, a waste of taxpayer’s money:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is considering naming a high-powered official to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and report directly to President Bush and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

The goal would be to improve the coordination of military and civilian efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan by different parts of the government.

(snip)

Biodun @ 106

How will this help? Just another stupid admin layer, a waste of taxpayer’s money:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is considering naming a high-powered official to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and report directly to President Bush and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

The goal would be to improve the coordination of military and civilian efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan by different parts of the government.

(snip)

from the WaPo, via ThinkProgress
Retired Marine Gen. John J. “Jack” Sheehan: Sheehan rejected the offer because he “believes that Vice President Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq.” He stated, “There’s the residue of the Cheney view — ‘We’re going to win, al-Qaeda’s there’ — that justifies anything we did. And then there’s the pragmatist view — how the hell do we get out of Dodge and survive? Unfortunately, the people with the former view are still in the positions of most influence.”
http://thinkprogress.org/

Maybe this guy actually ought to take the job, I sure like his integrity and his chutzpah.

jep @ 98, I suspect the diabetes and cancer profiteers are lobbying hard to defeat stem-cell research. My circumstantial proof is that the Republicans are adamantly opposed to the research.

Biodun @ 106

How will this help? Just another stupid admin layer, a waste of taxpayer’s money:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is considering naming a high-powered official to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and report directly to President Bush and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

The goal would be to improve the coordination of military and civilian efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan by different parts of the government.

(snip)

In theory (having seen something of interdepartmental skirmishes between State and DOD years ago), having someone able to knock heads together and get something done would probably also end up saving money and energy otherwise wasted arguing between Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon.

Of course, what this administration does with a good theory is divorce it from reality and twist it into a pretzel.

A new article by Greg Mitchell at Editor & Publisher addresses the topic of Beltway inbreeding that Christy brought up yesterday in “Spine”.

He looks at how McClatchy, using an outside-the-beltway-orientation, was the first of the MSM to break the US Atty story.

The current scandal swirling around the firing of eight U.S. attorneys first reached the mainstream media in a major way via a report from McClatchy Newspapers’ Washington, D.C., bureau. That scoop had been fed by items that had appeared for weeks on political blogs. How is it that the resource-rich Washington Post and New York Times did not break the “AttorneyGate” story above ground?

One reason was that McClatchy’s Marisa Taylor had only worked inside the Beltway for less than a year and had brought with her years of experience covering federal courts in distant parts of the country.

(Emphasis mine)

Definitely worth reading the whole thing, even though he didn’t give enough credit, IMHO, to Josh & TPM.

Fresh thread, up and running for everyone.

“exclusive areas where residents can walk their poodles with fear of being approached by minorities).”

Pogo, be very careful what you say about poodles on this blog…

JEP @
98

RESEARCHERS have demonstrated for the first time that the progression of Type 1 diabetes can be halted — and possibly reversed — by a stem-cell transplant that preserves the body’s diminishing ability to make insulin, according to a study published today. The experimental therapy eliminated the need for insulin injections for months or even years in 14 of 15 patients recently diagnosed with the disease.

…someone may have already referenced this, I haven’t had a chance to read all the posts today, so forgive my redundancy if it is blatant, but my question is, if they have had this stem cell cure for so many years now, why isn’t the public privvy to it?

And does anyone else think it is very suspicious that there has been such a proliferation of diabetes testing equipment advertising in the past few years?

The study was done in Brazil. Since the results are just now being published, it’s not surprising that we haven’t heard about them before. Exciting news! Wonder how long it will take the FDA to approve the procedure. :-(

Someone should ask Fred Thompson his position on stem cell treatments and research. If he comes out of remission, he may well require stem cell treatment some day.

As for the ads for diabetes testing equipment, I think it follows in the wake of people getting mail order prescriptions and the people who sell such things saw an opportunity. It may also be that testing supplies are now an insurance-covered item and weren’t in previous years, although it’s hard to believe that insurance is covering more than it used to.

Oklahoma kiddo @ 29

I would love to see an in depth analysis on the DLC.

OKKiddo:

Jumping back online to answer this because it gets asked so often…at least this thread is still up.

Right Web has several links but you can start here:
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1463

The Nation did an excellent piece about them called “Going Nowhere”:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050321/berman

From HuffPo:
“Sean Donahue wrote in 2004:

Most of the major contributors to John Kerry’s presidential campaign are corporations or employees of corporations that have ties to a network of organizations dedicated to moving the Democratic Party to the right. These organizations, which include the Democratic Leadership Council, the New Democrat Network, and the Progressive Policy Institute, are dedicated to pursuing a policy agenda that includes support for high levels of military spending and an aggressive role for the U.S. military around the world. Kerry has a history of political links to these organizations as well, and though he has been using progressive rhetoric during his campaign, the details and nuances of his positions indicate that Kerry is still dedicated to pursuing their conservative agenda.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..39287.html

More here:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/ind…..ip_Council

dakine01 @
103

We are dealing with the forest and the trees. Republics are seeing the trees, i.e., voter fraud. We are seeing the forest, i.e. election fraud. Of course, they also can see the forest but it would go against the talking points.

Actually, I’d say that the R’s are buying fake Xmas trees, decorating them with lots of Shiny Things, and plunking them down in the forests, then saying, “Look! Trees! Unnatural!”

The R’s use the trees as big fat matches.

Ahgoo @ 82

NOLO: Were you able to find the letter Specter signed yesterday?

erh — sorry. — no.

especially given that the last
four signers appear on a separate
sheet of paper, unmarked — i suspect
that specter balked. or, the nytimes.com
simply got the list wrong — though specter
crossing party lines to sign such a letter
is the sort of thing one would expect a
fact-checker would specifically verify,
before posting to the web. . .

so — if specter signed some OTHER
letter yesterday, i haven’t seen it;
but he certainly isn’t a signer to
the final letter released last night
by leahy’s office. just fyi.

thanks for asking.

dakine01 @ 91

nolo @
8

“. . .There is a reason that real
oversight is required constantly in
government, and it is to prevent just
this sort of manipulation of mathematics,
statistics and science for political ends. . . .”

this “revision” to the
voter fraud report smells
like last weeks’ limburger,
sittin’ out in the sun, on
a steamy-philadelphia-afternoon. . .

so — i agree — 100 percent.

That wouldn’t be Rust Limberger would it?

in fact — it would.

he he! good on ya’!

re: the science, mathematics, proprietary software, etc. of the vote:

Following the 2004 presidential election, after Bush had re-assumed his throne, questions remained in scattered spots thoughout Ohio. I happened across an article on the web, from a smalltown Ohio paper. Local challenges & investigations were happening in several places. The challenge described in the article hinged on software manipulation by agents of the voting machine company during & after voting/counting. The charges were very detailed and explained how the machines had allegedly been modified to shift votes in real-time from Kerry to Bush, such that a minimum margin of victory occurred (thus minimizing any suspicion of tampering).

“That’s evil”, I thought to myself.

So I went about collecting final vote data from a handful of randomly selected unchallenged Ohio districts. At the same time, I was putting together sample code in my head for a method to achieve the real-time vote shift described in the article.

Once I had the Ohio data & my hypothetical algorithm ready, I started crunching in reverse. The results were depressing. They matched the results from the challenged district within fractions of a percentage point. Cookie cutter stuff. How many do you want? I could punch them out all day.

Sometimes it becomes extremely hard to keep the faith.

(EPU’d right? Just like the 2004 Ohio count :)

nolo @ 117

Ahgoo @ 82

NOLO: Were you able to find the letter Specter signed yesterday?

erh — sorry. — no.

especially given that the last
four signers appear on a separate
sheet of paper, unmarked — i suspect
that specter balked. or, the nytimes.com
simply got the list wrong — though specter
crossing party lines to sign such a letter
is the sort of thing one would expect a
fact-checker would specifically verify,
before posting to the web. . .

so — if specter signed some OTHER
letter yesterday, i haven’t seen it;
but he certainly isn’t a signer to
the final letter released last night
by leahy’s office. just fyi.

thanks for asking.

Is this the letter y’all were looking for? It’s the Sen Judiciary committee’s request to Gonzo for more documents, dated Monday, 4/9 (linked here via TPM documents).

Specter signed, along w Leahy, Feinstein & Schumer. HTH.

“. . .Is this the letter y’all were looking for?
It’s the Sen Judiciary committee’s request to Gonzo
for more documents, dated Monday, 4/9
(linked here via TPM documents).

Specter signed, along w Leahy, Feinstein & Schumer. HTH. . .”

no. the reports yesterday
had SPECTER signing the SAME
letter that leahy put out
last night. . . it was far
snark-ie-er, than the april 9 one.

and THAT would have been VERY
newsworthy. don’t get me wrong.

i like that specter signed the april 9
letter — we were told, via nyt, that
he signed the april 10 one as well. . .

so — good diggin’!

thanks.

we think the deal didn’t get done.

just to be clear.

nolo, I’m sleep-deprived bc my kid was up most of the night w/ a sick tummy, but the letter I linked to is signed by Specter.

Maybe I’m missing your point? Completely possible!

Nola Sue @ 122

nolo, I’m sleep-deprived bc my kid was up most of the night w/ a sick tummy, but the letter I linked to is signed by Specter.

Maybe I’m missing your point? Completely possible!

sorry — we passed each
other in edits.

we agree now. take a look.

and sleep well. . .

nolo — in the words of Emily Latella, never mind.

;-) and zzzzzzzz….

he he!

good diggin’!

carry-on. . .

With all due respect, I don’t consider mentioning violence against members of the Bush junta to be inappropriate.

They have stolen the reins of government and proceeded to destroy our nation, the environment, our reputation, the treasury, etc.

At what point do we rise up and beat them down? When is enough enough?

[Modnote: this blog does not tolerate advocacy of violence against public officials, period.]

GeorgeSimian @ 4

I’m not a conspiracy nut after all! This stuff really happens!

How about that WMD conspiracy?

malcolmjames @ 126

With all due respect, I don’t consider mentioning violence against members of the Bush junta to be inappropriate.

They have stolen the reins of government and proceeded to destroy our nation, the environment, our reputation, the treasury, etc.

At what point do we rise up and beat them down? When is enough enough?

[Modnote: this blog does not tolerate advocacy of violence against public officials, period.]

Just being tried for war crimes and receiving lifetime sentences. Or being dropped down in Baghdad butt ass naked.

Malcolmjames — sorry, but there is no conclusive evidence that Paul Wellstone was assassinated as you said in 101 without qualification.

There were three investigations and none reached this conclusion or even close to it. One of those investigations was overseen by Paul’s lawyer and principle fund raiser, who happens to be a leading US litigator in this field (Sam Kaplan) — and his report entirely independent of the NTSB investigation and analysis, ruled out this proposition.

It was a tragedy. As someone who volunteered a year of my life to Paul’s first campaign (1990) bringing to the table 20 years of various Campaign Management skills and experience, I understand the immediate reaction to the plane crash — there must be some sort of conspiracy here. But the very thorough investigation over several years produced absolutely no evidence of this. Were there irregularities, yes, quite a few of them, but they don’t add up.

Now why make an issue of this? Well in many of our minds it diminishes Paul’s work, particularly the unfinished work still on the table, to construct a tale of that plane crash that is conspiracy fiction. It conveys a message of “why bother” to the thousands of Minnesotians now engaged in trying to take back the Wellstone Seat. It disempowers those who are moved to get involved and rebuild the team that made possible a true progressive politics. That’s why.

IrishJim @
40

sumpl @ 22
OT- from HuffPo
Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse stopped short of saying the department would fight the subpoena. But he said legal concerns about violating privacy rights of people mentioned in the documents have kept Justice from releasing them.
——
Oh, no. What is it this time? Pages? Jeff Gannons run rampant? Hours of i-porn?
Where I work, Nothing is private on my computer. (And people get fired for any of the above.)
I look forward to every post- excellent brains at FDL.
——

I am confused, I thought the USA’s are public servants working at the pleasure of the President. BY Rove’s own accord they are political appointees. Suddenly, after the American people want to know what they were discussing about these political appointees is now of paramount importance to the appointees right to privacy? I see a constitutional showdown unfolding.

I can see that the inJustice Dept has a legitimate requirement to protect certain personal information about their employees from arbitrary disclosure. I’ve signed tons of privacy agreements where a company say they will not disclose my information EXCEPT as required by law. BUT, isn’t a subpoena a legal requirement? What would
DOiJ say about a defendant who refused to respond to a subpoena because of privacy concerns?

Of course there’s no “conclusive” evidence that Paul Wellstone was assassinated; the Bush/Cheney FBI was on the scene before the NTSB even got there.

Think about it just in terms of political expediency: Wellstone was a thorn in the side of the Bush junta. He was vehemently opposed to their plans for war in Iraq and he wasn’t playing politics about it. He didn’t vote to authorize the war and he was pulling ahead of Norm Coleman in the Senate race. They needed to gain control of the Senate in order to enact their plans for war and for a one party state.

His plane mysteriously went down with zero radio contact, no warnings, nothing. It was either a barometric bomb or it was an EMP device that fried the planes electronics. If you don’t think the Military Industrial Complex (see: Carlysle Group/Halliburton) has the resources to bring down a small King Air plane, then you’re naive.

Either way, I haven’t been wrong about much with respect to the Bush junta’s rise to power and I’d be willing to bet your life that I’m right on this one.

I was glad when the Dems won so I wouldn’t have to hear any more about Diebold machines, etc.

malcolmjames @ 131

Of course there’s no “conclusive” evidence that Paul Wellstone was assassinated; the Bush/Cheney FBI was on the scene before the NTSB even got there.

Think about it just in terms of political expediency: Wellstone was a thorn in the side of the Bush junta. He was vehemently opposed to their plans for war in Iraq and he wasn’t playing politics about it. He didn’t vote to authorize the war and he was pulling ahead of Norm Coleman in the Senate race. They needed to gain control of the Senate in order to enact their plans for war and for a one party state.

His plane mysteriously went down with zero radio contact, no warnings, nothing. It was either a barometric bomb or it was an EMP device that fried the planes electronics. If you don’t think the Military Industrial Complex (see: Carlysle Group/Halliburton) has the resources to bring down a small King Air plane, then you’re naive.

Either way, I haven’t been wrong about much with respect to the Bush junta’s rise to power and I’d be willing to bet your life that I’m right on this one.

Aren’t you concerned about posting this kind of speculation? What if it’s true? I’d hate to be you.