OMG, there’s a police helicopter overhead saying that there is an eight year old girl with jeans and blond hair missing. Never made it home from school…

Boy, ya can’t get nuthin’ by these guys.
Did they slap their foreheads and say D’OH! too?

Bum zed. Sorry. To read now.

Ohhh, no.
Jeeze, I hate to hear that!

Eli!

Sigh…but when I express what my parents knew was happening…I’m told to put aluminum foil on my friggin’ head. My parents knew what they hell they were talking about, and it was real.

Someones baby girl.

Physio!

It just never ends.

Eli,
I truly look forward to your insightful analysis.

Bush with his vast right wing noise machine has still not managed to get his ass above 25% approval.

We don’t have anything close to a democracy in this country.

Money counts for everything. The supremes said so.

But it’s worse than HRW sez. When the election doesn’t turn out the way W wants it too, the whole population is locked in a prison & starved to death.

Me too!

I’m pretty sure I’m due for some.

They don’t press governments on the key human rights issues that make democracy function — a free press, peaceful assembly and a functioning civil society that can really challenge power.”

Were lowering the standards over there so folks wont pay attention to the lowering of standards over here.

Bush has run around screaming about elections in the Arab world and when they have them and the results are not to their liking they try to strangle the winners.

Hezbollah and Hamas were both electoral winners.

Meanwhile autocrats like Mubarak, the Saud’s and Musharraff get unqualified US support.

Stoke regional cynicism much?

-G

I ran across this from Buzzflash. The connection to your article is this: Bush (and Congress) do not think democracy actually removes autocratic leaders or dictators. We get this insight from John Conyers office on the subject of impeachment. In the Conyers analysis–even in our own American democracy—elections do not constrain the behavior of the President under the laws of the land. Impeachment , once believed to be a check on “high crimes and misdemeanors”–i.e., “laws” in some form or other–does not actually apply to illegality at all. Confused? So was I.

http://www.opednews.com/articl…..r_says.htm

the country my great parents escaped from

Eli! Ya didn’t even touch on rigged elections abroad like Kenya(and here)! Many of the issues you raise reverberate here… ;-)

Not that Pakistan is an Arab country mind you.

-G

I can’t remember who it was on one of my recent posts who kept saying money was speech (maybe it was you?).

I don’t think I quite got it at the time, but I think I do now. All other things being equal (some people are able to compel attention, others simply don’t want it) our voice in this country is roughly proportional to your net worth.

It hit me really in the gut what we have become when Whitehouse invoked the Nuremburg defense twice with our chief law enforcement officer.

They hauled off Aristide who was elected in Haiti. Didn’t like his populism.

They tried to pull a coup on Chavez who was elected cos he wants the NATION’s wealth to help the people. Very undemocratic notion.

Q: Why does President Bush like to talk about “spreading democracy”?

A: Because “bending democracy over my desk” tested poorly in the focus groups.

Ahem.

Perhaps you need to speak with Suzanne about appropriate police procedure.

*sirens whooping*

“OK, step out of your vehicle, put your hands on the top of the car, and spread your legs apart. . .”

I agree, Eli. It has got to stop. When I think about how screwed our country has become in seven years, it just boggles. It’s like the Master Plan people were able to find so many other crooks, it all just fell into place.

I think I’d be scared to death if I were involved in this destruction, knowing what can happen to them with impeachment off the table. Sometimes I think that maybe the good people in congress have a plan…

Is that like, put your money where your mouth is?

Well, the key is that all we require is the presence of elections. Doesn’t matter whether they’re valid or not.

Although, as some have pointed out, to some extent our view of their legitimacy is colored by our approval of the outcome.

Which makes all the sham elections that we *have* rubber-stamped very telling indeed.

We are down, way down the bunny hole.

-G

Big.

they have killed the opposition leader and his associate in Kenya…and they ar blowing up PET markets in Iraq…i cant bear to watch anymore

Eli is was probably me, but owning the media and buying access to congress critters makes laws go your way?

No congress critter will take your or my call, but if you had lots of dough, whadya know! Hello, How can I help you today?

The female political analyst that Bill Moyers has on every few weeks is a dead ringer for Trent Lott.

-G

That absolutely takes my breath away. I am speechless.

I don’t think this analogy was from the police procedure aspect…

MIne too.

Allende was elected too and he just had to go because he wanted to get out from under the thumb of transnational corporations.

The CIA fixed that.

NO suprise. They don’t care about anything but power and money for themselves and their friends.

Why else would they have done what they have done. It certainly has not been out of the good of their hearts. There is nothing redeeming I can say about the current bunch of criminals controlling our country and thus the world.

Tax cuts for the rich, a war that makes them rich, sham elections at home and abroad. This is old news unfortunately.

So who is going to keep an eye on the election this year.

I just voted early on suspect electroic machines. That really made me nervous.

Spreading democracy is simply a way to get rid of all our “excess” democracy here.

Bottom line: Who the hell is “they”????

Please see the link at #16. It’ll make you madder.

McCain Ad:

“Social Conservative”
True, but how do you blend that in with all that war.

“True Conservative”

Interesting way to label himself. Wonder if he will drop that Socialist tag.

One of the things that frustrates me is how much more time and effort it takes for us to have even incremental impact on Congress, as opposed to corporate lobbyists. We have to mobilize tens or hundreds of thousands of phone calls and faxes and letters and e-mails and we move the needle a leeeetle bit, but all they have to do is send a few lobbyists to write some checks, and they get immediate results.

I mean, look at telecom immunity, which is completely indefensible on any kind of rational or legal grounds. But the telecoms paid for it, and they mean to get it.

What were the election results I saw for some place, Russia? that were like, 100% in favor of a certain politician.
97-100% IIRC.
Yeah, they had an election all right.
Vote yes while I polish this revolver over here, it’s all good.

Indeed not…

In response to Loo Hoo. @ 24
ya know (please cover your ears)the phrase…IMPEACHMENT IS OFF THE TABLE….is by far the dumbest thing i have ever heard a politician say ever…when does one ever take a political tool OFF THE TABLE …she is a dumb pussy

—-

You know sadlyyes that is correct, that is the best analysis of Democratic leadership since the primary races started. For real.

“They”

Ironically, Impeachment is the one procedure mentioned the most in the Constitution, 19 separate times IIRC… 8-(

They kitty.

And that’s the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee…

McCain Ad:

“Social Conservative”

Since that is actual a label like “Compassionate Conservative”, and “True Conservative” does not mean anything – or would offend some subset of the R-subset.

But it doesn’t matter (apparently) per John Conyers office..see link at #16

and they make fun of France….. working persons paradise compared to the US

Ironically, Impeachment is the one procedure mentioned the most in the Constitution, 19 separate times IIRC… 8-(

——–

And Corporations zero (though theoretically not existing).

*ahem* are you speaking of assume the larry craig position?

My second choice of topic for tonight was to point out that for all the Straight-Shooting Maverick spin the press will surely throw around if McCain is the nominee, I don’t think there will be any way to conceal or spin the fact that McCain wants us to stay in Iraq FOREVER.

The advocacy group Human Rights Watch on Thursday said that the Bush administration was giving lip service to the promotion of democracy around the world by endorsing suspect elections while allowing human rights violations in those countries to go unchecked.

——–

This has been done by a decent amout of Presidents el al.

It really makes it seem that all is lost. That story ought to be front paged in a post, dontcha think? Or add it as an update to yours?

Whats tapping yer toes got to do with anything?
/snark

This is true, but I think Dubya has raised both the rhetoric and the other-way-looking to a new level. And he’s probably diminished democracy at home probably more than anyone since Jim Crow days.

everything.

Did you see the YouTube intercutting McCain on the stump and Dr. Strangelove (the War Room sequence)? War is just “the cost of doing business” in the world for a guy like McCain. It’s the “overhead” you pay for democracy.

Anti-jobs and Pro-war

Didn’t Romney write that script for the Democrats himself?

It probably doesn’t fit exactly with mine, but I agree that it needs more attention. I’ll run it up the FDL flagpole and see if anyone salutes.

Thanks. I’ve just downloaded the report and will read it. The only saving grace of Bush and Cheney is that they are so incompetent. They can only bully a population which is predisposed to trust them by default because they are that peoples’ putative lawful government. In other words, us. Everyone else can play them like the simplest rube marks who were ever born.

Bush wanted elections in Palestine, and didn’t get the results he wanted, so went ahead and tried to subvert the results of those elections. That act of bad faith fully revealed the horrible mess that his misguided and vicious Israel/Palestinian policy created for all to see.

I have suspected this vile ploy was part of their plan for quite awhile. I hope the report delivers the hard evidence to convict them.

Nothing quite so vile and so effective as a corrupt electoral process to destroy any form of democratic govenment and socieity.

So wait, Eli, you’re saying they are being hypocritical? That sounds so harsh. Bush I am sure really does like Democracy. I think it was a teddybear Dick gave him.

My second choice of topic for tonight was to point out that for all the Straight-Shooting Maverick spin the press will surely throw around if McCain is the nominee, I don’t think there will be any way to conceal or spin the fact that McCain wants us to stay in Iraq FOREVER.

———-

Or it could be beyond that (or just his common sense) the Iraq War II was going to disappear (and is in fact frozen or worse while arming Sunni).

So the media in fact already has a pre-strategy. Funny how stupid the stooges they put out as their front men (excepting KO; and perhaps RayGun was a media-type and that is the problem; Bush sure as hell was not the CEO-type Prez).

Summarized from the book Simulacra and Simulation, there are four phases of image:
1) the image is the reflection of a profound reality (the orginal)
2) the image masks and denatures a profound reality (a careful counterfiet)
3) the image masks the absence of a profound reality (mass produced knockoff)
4) the image has no relation to any reality whatsoever; it is its own pure simulacrum, a copy without a model (pure shlock; the only hook is what it’s called).

We’ve now reached phase 4 of “democracy”.

BTW, Simulacra and Simulation is the book in which Neo hides his disks at the start of The Matrix. It’s a real book.

Right, because if we don’t keep invading people they’ll just come over and take our democracy away.

Maybe we should have invaded BushCo, then.

They don’t press governments on the key human rights issues that make democracy function — a free press, peaceful assembly and a functioning civil society that can really challenge power.”

————-
it is really hard to believe,that kinda sleazy is just an absolute zero at SofS…..a black woman…double minority…argh!@#$%^&*!@#$%^&!@#$

Uhh, I thought we elect our critters to conduct ‘Oversight’ and purportedly represent ‘We the People’… Impeachment is a very useful tool in pointing out that the Chimperor has no clothes… Damn, I’m naive… ;-)

This is true, but I think Dubya has raised both the rhetoric and the other-way-looking to a new level. And he’s probably diminished democracy at home probably more than anyone since Jim Crow days.
—-
The atomic bomb does come to mind as well. Plus the strategy for oil since 1945.

Ding!

they all believe that…that is what they figure into the cost of a gallon of gas…course a handfull of OLDISH men get all the PROFITS

In response to Eli @ 58
This is true, but I think Dubya has raised both the rhetoric and the other-way-looking to a new level. And he’s probably diminished democracy at home probably more than anyone since Jim Crow days.
—-
The atomic bomb does come to mind as well. Plus the strategy for oil since 1945.
———-

I think its more his lies that are all crimes that is the worst, its a real gross 1-2 punch.

We really have a crew of criminals, incompetents, liars and thieves in this administration.

This is treading over ground covered several times in the last year, but I do think that the founders envisioned impeachment as a remedy for bad government more broadly than we do today. I will look for Hamilton’s quote that impeachment was a remedy for political crimes. I think it was from one of his addresses to the NY ratifying convention. And as covered by many blogs and commenters here, including me, Madision did advocate impeachment in the first Congress for many acts clearly committed by the Bush administration. The clearest and most notable example is the president appointing subordinates who clearly put protecting him and others in his administration above the enforcing the law.

I once suggested writing a Republican dictionary, you know with words like bipartisanship or phrases like “Supporting the troops” because these things obviously don’t mean what they think they mean.

Yes. I agree. My son will be cannon fodder in about 14 years at this rate.

Naive, and probably underdressed. Hi CT!

Once again Exxon has shattered the all-time profit margin of any company…

OT:

Has anyone researched or linked to the snow crisis in China?
5.8 million stranded on the road. Snow everywhere and no way to go anywhere, often no electric or heat, some roofs falling in, at some train stations 500,000 people stranded.

I gotta check it out if possible. I hope they are all safe.

It’s called Conservapedia.

YUP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOSZwEwl_1Q

One reason I supported Edwars was that I thought he would be much more aggressive in pushing for needed reforms that Obama and Clinton, and foremost among them is in voting integrity. My understanding is that Canada uses paper ballots and a public ballot counting process.

I would like to see a process like that adopted in the US. I hope Obama or Clinton would push for something like that.

Naive, and probably underdressed. Hi CT!

Aloha! Heck no, I’ve several layers on as it’s freezing here… But, of course I’ll get no sympathy…! ;-)

The problem with the impeachment process is, it’s akin to being on trial where the jury is made up of your most loyal friends and your worst enemies. The outcome will be entirely determined by whether you have more friends or enemies sitting in that box, and your actual guilt or innocence is irrelevant.

(Also, pretend that verdicts are decided by a simple majority…)

i could post some notices at the pump,like REBEL you Rubes….a few old men are making BILLIONS

707!

and also in response to dakine @ 33:

My initial reaction was that Bush sees himself as the John Wanye — Lone Ranger — Matt Dillon sheriff of the world. “If I say ’spread ‘em,’ you ask ‘how wide?’”

In a related development, storage of coal used for electricity generating has declined to 21.29 million tons, less than half of the normal amount, according to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

China’s 17 provincial-level regions adopted power-rationing measures as coal shortages cut power generation. Continuous freezing and snowy weather across large areas of China sharply raised electricity demand, but also hindered coal transportation, which exacerbated power shortages.

Power plants that produced seven percent of the country’s thermal power were shut down because of a lack of coal, the latest figures from the State Electricity Regulatory Commission showed.

Yeah, that is true. that is why we need to elect a grassroots Congress. But I noticed one commenter suggested enrolling citizen juries for impeachment trials. Wow! And I thought I was a radical on impeachment. That is an interesting idea.

George Bush isn’t fit to take a drink out of John Wayne’s spittoon.

The impeachment thingy is a stupid law.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

http://www.math.ku.edu/~evanvleck/yosemite.gif

Oh, I would love to see that. But only if they could find jurors nonpartisan enough to decide based on evidence rather than personal loyalties.

I think that would take some pretty serious Constitution amending, though.

Of course not! It’s well below freezing, raining, the wind is blasting from the East, bearing the scent of unwashed Nova Scotians, and you want sympathy??

‘Bout half of that!

mebbe thats Chenois?

It’s called Conservapedia.

or dicktionary
or theocratsaurus
or illexicon

by the by….Network is on TCM tonite

My view was more along the lines of the scene in Pulp Fiction just before Zed gets dead.

Heh, I could be one of those Nova Scotians if I choose too… My eldest is attending Grad school at Bowling Green and she snapped at her mother last nite… “You’re freezing? The wind chill has it below zero…!” Not much sympathy was shown… ;-)

Impeachiness.

Here is the McCain-Dr Strangelove YouTube.

Nighty-night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nqtL-P8kzo

Kinda like the Christmas I called my sister in New Hampshire when I was on Oahu:

I said, “Yeah, it’s a kinda nasty day and I’m gonna have to grill some chops on the lanai rather than under the sun.”

She said, “I don’t wanna hear it you little SOB, I’m running a temperature of 102 and it’s 13 degrees and snowing outside and I’m wedged next to a fireplace.”

Aloha, Dude!

What a stunningly appropriate mashup!

My girlfriend lives in South Carolina, and recently informed me that “freezing” is actually 45 degrees, because that is the temperature at which she turns blue.

g’nite, dude – good dreams!

Eli, I believe James Bond said something once about “shared bodily warmth.” If she’s freezing, you’re not doing your part.

It’s all relative to what your body is used to. When I first got to Hawaii, I’d been in mostly cold areas of New England and MI for 2 1/2 – 3 years. Temp got down to 60, I was still feeling like it was springtime. After four years in the islands, temps got down to the sixties, and I’m bundled up, looking to turn on the heat.

This is not a permalinked image:

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/FULLDISK/MTIR.JPG

but you can see the jet of clouds over eastern China that has caused such problems.

Well, I try not to make Al Gore cry, but I *do* set my thermostat a little higher than 45 degrees.

foremost among them is in voting integrity. My understanding is that Canada uses paper ballots and a public ballot counting process.
—-

Ding. Clean elections & voting. This public ballot counting is much more public that America?

-
OT:
Snow-stricken China warned that worst is to come
1 hour, 36 minutes ago
BEIJING (Reuters) – China is not yet over the worst of a winter weather crisis that has killed 60 and doomed millions to a cold dark Lunar New Year holiday next week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200…..ther_dc_43

Bush and the GOP are pro-democracy in the same way that they’re pro-life: They focus solely on surface metrics like elections and births, but categorically reject the core principles that give democracy and life meaning.

Ding!

We also need to place this beside the manipulation of elections here at home, in Florida and Ohio. To Bush, it is the appearance of Democracy that counts. Furthermore, place this next to the Democratically elected victory of Hamas in Palestine, and you see again how much (or how little) our Preznit values Democracy. He likes Democracy as long as it produces leaders acceptable to himself.

Bob in HI

In Santa Monica, freezing is temp under 50F and less than full sun.

(so why did I move to the SF bay…where we have trouble breaking 50F?

oh, yeah: for the waters.)

Bill Moyers did a great interview with Waxman. Rice comes off as a mendacious asshole. She should be in jail. They all should.

Hilliary is going done on her Iraqi vote kabuki. She keeps digging herself in deeper. Smart gal, fatal flaws. Politics ruined her ethics.

China’s 17 provincial-level regions adopted power-rationing measures as coal shortages cut power generation.
——-

Yes, and the leader are even 500 meters down in the coal mines (well out of Bejing) doing PR as well they should, and telling sorry to 500,000 people stuck at the rail. I hope they call as loud an emergency as possible and help all the people.

I *like* cold weather. A lot more than I like hot weather. I remember after my first semester in college in CA, when I came back home to NYC for Christmas break, I was so happy to see snow that I walked around with my coat open, and I’ve never felt better.

We learned in 2000 what W thought of “elections” when he sent his goons unleashed to Florida, with fixer James Baker III at the helm. Why would we expect anything different? This is what democracy looks like to George W Bush — and it’s what he’s exporting and extolling abroad.

When he looked into Putin’s soul, he saw his own reflection.

Moyers sounds interesting tonite…!

It’s not democracy that they like, it’s winning and cheating is just one of the rules they play by.

And turning Karen Hughes into an international superstar.

Did Suzanne lose power again?
She disappeared.

Someday there are going to be some very confused detectives around her place.

” Hey Charlie, look, over here, there’s another one.”

‘Another what?’

“Another broken plastic fork, they are everywhere!’

” FRED! Come here, quick!
Look at that huge pile of ‘em over here by this power pole!’

‘ Wow dude,I’m scared.”

Moyers is a national treasure. We need more Moyers, More Hamshers, more HardinSmiths, more Amy Goodmans, More Glens, Marcys, Murphys, Elis, Scarecrows. We need more of them. CLONES are the answer!

no disappeared, just reading along busted

HEE HEE

An animation of the storm in China can be found here also not permalinked

http://www.weather.gov.hk/wxin…..e=playback

FORK!

Busted!

Can I get a hundred Feingolds and four hundred Waxmans to go, please?

What an effing joke – Karen Hughes as an ambassador. Just look as them Lorita Doan… and she is still there! With so many bright, talented ethical people they put those dolts in responsible positions.

This is like through the looking glass.

I will give them credit for one thing Chutzpah…

The world considers the USA a rogue state!

We have done little to disabuse them of that notion.

“George W. Bush” and “democracy” do not belong in the same sentence.

Microsoft is trying to take over the world. ICK

And rightfully so. If we don’t straighten up, there will come a time when they will band together to take us down. Maybe not militarily, but certainly economically. Like if China and everyone else stops lending us money…

Just put the word “hates” in there and it works okay.

I see that Schiff and Becerra are Obama supporters…

If we’re lucky MicroSoft will self destruct and windows will disappear from the known universe.

Hilliary is going done on her Iraqi vote kabuki. She keeps digging herself in deeper. Smart gal, fatal flaws. Politics ruined her ethics.

Excellent thought..Then I tried to think of an exception. Wellstone perhaps? FISA has eliminated the current Senate class.

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. Perhaps George Bush will wake up, not see the shadow of a legacy, and go back into his hole until January 2009.

After last year’s Davos, there was a story that if the US elected another Republican, it would be the end of the line (for valuing trades in dollars, for buying US securities)…

Who?

Now that Bill Gates has retired, that’s a fairly likely scenario.

More likely he’ll just keep doing the same things over and over again.

Recnt GOP efforts at subverting honest elections focus on voter suppressin and discriminatory manipulaton of regristration. Need a system to strongly encourage high participation rates in elections that is robust to bad faith charges of illegal registration and voter fraud.

In addition to transparent vote tabulation, can’t forget that regristration angle.

We’re probably on much thinner ice than most people realize…

They don’t have to, we are in debt to them and they are buying us a fire sale prices.

We won the cold war… hahaha.

China sat back and look who’s top dog now!

Russia lost and is rolling in oil and gas cash. hahaha

Our government… failed us. And it screwed us.

They are dripping totalitarian poison into America’s veins, and it has to stop before we become the country our parents warned us about.

OmG, that’s some good writng. And it’s EXACTLY how I feel. Look at Kenya for crying out loud. A stable democracy for years and suddenly the thug steals the election and takes power. Why not? He’s seen Bush steal two elections and nothing happened to him.

My God: there was more coverage in the US about the stolen U-fucking-Kranian elections than the Ohio and Florida thefts. Remember the negative 18,000 votes in Florida? Remember that? The guy who ran for mayor and got NO votes even tho he’s pretty sure he voted for himself.

I’m still waiting for the provisional ballots in Ohio to get counted. And two republican officials got convicted of felonies for phoneying up the recount and it gets ZERO attention nationally. Froomkin points out Bushie’s latest signing statements — WHERE HE PROMISES TO VIOLATE FOUR BRAND NEW LAWS — GETS ZERO STORIES IN THE NYT, WAPO, ETC.

There used to be a word for a leader who violates the law. It’s called a “criminal.” Dictator. Fascist.

I think vote suppression is actually a bigger problem than vote manipulation. Plus it doesn’t carry the same risk of a smoking gun or the confession of a tormented soul.

Sorry, didn’t intend to reply to you… Adam Schiff and Xavier Becerra, two House reps from CA!

And the word for the media is “accessories”.

I think the momentum of this government and its hideous policies is not going to change. It’s simply going to crash and take millions with into oblivion.

After that perhaps something better will arise. I give is 4 or 5 years. Nothing can stop this, not even a democratic exec and congress.

There has been ZERO accountability. Lying is de rigeur for pols. Lying is accepted practice in the media.

Where’s my Ipod? Gotta watch the super bowl…

You’re watching the Superbowl on your iPod? That does not sound… optimal.

(Although now I’m picturing a very surreal Superbowl party where everyone just brings their own portable players…)

MARK COLVIN: Meanwhile, ‘peak oil’ – the idea that the world’s supplies of oil have either peaked or will soon start declining, has suddenly gained new respectability. It’s been derided by the big oil companies for years, but at the end of last week came a turnabout. The Chief Executive of the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, Jeroen van der Veer put out a paper on Friday forecasting the end of easy oil. Mr Van der Veer said the result could be a worldwide scramble to mitigate climate change.

What?
The Super bowl is on?

hahaha Never watched it and never will.

JIM BUCKEE: It is the underlying decline of the world’s major fields that is the dominant driving factor here. If you think that at the moment the world is consuming 30-plus billion barrels a year of oil and is finding seven or eight billion barrels a year. And this state of affairs has been going on now for 20 or more years. It’s obviously unsustainable and the world is increasingly drawing on the bigger older fields. You couple that notion with the irreversibility of decline and you’ve got a very alarming picture.

stupor bowl?

Happy birthday, Busted!

(belated)

The commercials.
Remember the cowboys herding the cats across the desert and crossing the river?
I thought I was gonna cough up a lung I was laughing so hard.

They are dripping totalitarian poison into America’s veins, and it has to stop before we become the country our parents warned us about.

Too late. We’ve already had 7 years of illegal domestic spying (the spying began BEFORE 9/11), 6 years of indefinite detention, torture, loss of habeas, secret prisons… We also have a Congress hell-bent on passing legislation rendering the illegal spying forever hidden from examination while at the same time legalizing illegal, unconstitutional domestic spying on the mere whim of de facto dictator/Presidents henceforth.

I’ve seen this coming and have been taking steps: multiple anonymous email accounts accessed via tor anonymity servers (there is no way to tie the emails to me), 4096-bit PGP keys for each account, and “other things” one needs to live without acquiescing to dictatorship like a “good German”.

The United States ceased to exist, officially, in 2000 when a completely politically compromised Supreme Court actually picked the President. The slide down from that corpse of a free nation accelerated after 9/11 when already illegal activities by our own government were vastly accelerated with the full support of a totally compromised and criminal cohort in Congress.

Game over. Take steps to deal with the situation while throwing monkey wrenches into the works at every possible opportunity.

Thanks Kirk!

I am going to get in bed and watch the idiot box.

Tomorrow will be colder. Tomorrow I will be older.

STRUGGLE!

One of the funniest things in life, a cat swimming.

re superbowl – i put $10 in the office pool – and get back $200 if the score at the end of the quarters is Patriots (score ending in 0) and the other guys (score ending in 8). Let me know if i win anything!

Mr Van der Veer said the result could be a worldwide scramble to mitigate climate change.

Sorry..Too late..that train left the station around 1980. I hope the Dutch are looking for higher ground.

Busted (hands on hips a la Suz) – step away from the kitty.

and..

what Praedor said

(all our Lake wrenches being non-violent, natch)

calling puniase….

Waxman is a waste of balding skin. Not a single investigation of his goes anywhere. He is as happy to let the clock run out as is Pelosi and the other criminals in the Congress. Hell’s bells, one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) scandals of all time, the Sibel Edmonds case, has been languishing on Waxman’s desk for years.

Same as all his other so-called investigations. Fact is, if any of his “investigations” ever get into danger of actually putting anyone in the Bush Administration into legal jeopardy, he outright terminates it.

Apparently, instead of looking for higher ground they are designing floating houses.
http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/…..hitecture/

2000, eh? How millennial of them.

There’s only so much he can do when Pelosi refuses to call a vote on inherent contempt. Although I do wonder whether he’s pushing her or not.

Is there nobody willing and able to buy a Super Bowl spot to tell our fellow Americans what’s going down in the Senate on Monday?

This is pretty funny too…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200….._pr/romney

Mittmo “The Tax Whisperer” Romnuts could be out as soon as next week?

Further proof that the Noize Machine is loosing influence fast. Mittens has been the Chosen One for the BigMedia since he entered, and this was proven with the Lush Limpballz and other talkers’ support, but it’s not making a difference. The BigMedia isn’t even able to sway enough of their own base. This is great news!

Also more reason that we must stop worrying how “the media” will portray us and those who take Liberal positions. As the Obamas say, I’m sick of being ruled by fear.

Full steam ahead Liberal soldiers!

To be honest, I had a bit of a brainlock and Waxman was the best Representative I could come up with with good name recognition. If Darcy Burner’s consultant hadn’t mouthed off, I probably would have picked her.

I’m sure none of them will be able to support McCain in the general election, right? They’ll probably just sit it out…

(Or Paul Hackett – he’s not exactly super-liberal, but at least he’s not afraid to fight)

I don’t think he wants to spread “democracy”….what he really want to spread is “capitalism”, another word for “greed”….democracy just sounds better.

Damn shame that Bush depends on Zionist money and propaganda to stay in power.

If Clinton gets the nom, they’ll back CrazyTrain. If Obama gets the nom, they might sot out or even back him in some cases. Just my first instinct.

She won’t call a vote on the pending contempt citations..bad for bipartisanship..ACK

I don’t think he’s requiring capitalism of any of these dictatorships any more than he’s requiring real democracy. Just as long as they make nice with us and have the occasional fig-leaf election, they can do whatever they want.

Hi everyone…

I don’t buy it. I’m paranoid enough to wonder whether some of the McCain hatred is faked, to make him look more “moderate” for the general election. (”Well, if Rush hates him, he can’t be all bad…”)

It’s not that monolithic. Fox News went gonzo for Guiliani; talk radio (probably better controlled) went Romney, but reporters love McCain. But certainly the Repuke base has fractured (did anyone else notice that Joe Scarborough wanted to punch Charlie Crist’s lights out when he endorsed McCain?), and it’s better than anything Ben and Jerry ever came up with!

Hiya, Biodun!

If they can manage to afford even a 30 second spot, it could be done. But the thing is that Super Bowl halftime commercials? Are obscene in terms of time bought for that piece of time. Regular ads are pricey to begin with, Super Bowl time? Probably 2 to 3 times, if not higher than that! We’d have to have several groups band together for that. (which is possible but it’d be a long term project for next year. *grin* )

If Obama gets the nom, they might sot out or even back him in some cases. Just my first instinct.

Obamacans?? Wishful thinking..The fundies and the other Thugs don’t want to give up the free tax dollars, money will trump ideology.

I liked Hackett. Loved it when he took Limpballz on. He probably would’ve annoyed us on some issues, but we can’t expect everyone to vote perfectly on everything. Hell, there’s a lot of disagreement within the Liberal blogs.

No, I promise you, they really do hate McCain. Hell Coultergiest endorsed Clinton (over McCain).

That, or a single wealthy individual. A Robert Redford, a Soros, etc.

“I said it, I meant it, I stand behind it.”

Every Democrat should have that tattooed on the inside of their eyelids with glow-in-the-dark ink.

“Ann Coulter needs publicity in the same way that a tapeworm needs a large intestine.” (Rachel Maddow)

That one is easy:

“Ann Coulter needs publicity in the same way that a tapeworm needs a large intestine.” (Rachel Maddow)

It’s all about her.

Yup. That too, several options but the big thing is funding to GET that spot. The commercial can be simple and fairly inexpensive as long as it’s clever.(which is why the audience watches in the first place, instead of ignoring them as usual!) Believe me, a snarky political spot would be perfect. We know for sure we’ve got some excellent talent out there to make it too.

Ann Coulter needs publicity in the same way that Ann Coulter needs a tapeworm.

for you
http://www.dependablerenegade……y-you.html

Can I go OT for a sec? Is anyone having trouble with the link button. I suspect it’s my computer but wanted to be sure before I called my son personal techie.

Probably true for the most part, but from a lot of anecdotal from friends, many Repubs will be willing to vote for Obama. Plus we’re starting to see more stories like this, where establishment Repubs are saying they’ll support Obama.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlan…..-obam.html

I can’t see this happening with Clinton (Coulter doesn’t count). In fact, just the opposite with Hillary.

Hi Eli!

My first time on your thread. This past few days have been a week for firsts..

Democracy, human rights: these are terms BushCo bandies around without knowing their ramifications…

Then how ’bout Joe Scarborough?

Ann thinks dissing McCain increases her audience. What does that say about her audience?

McCain will get security conservatives. He will not get social or movement conservatives. Wall street conservatives are probably split.

On further thought, perhaps I’m wrong about that. Would some Repub women vote for Hillary secretly? If so, seems likely they would also do that for Obama as well, so maybe that’s a wash, if it is true. Hmmm…

Cool! And welcome.

I actually had a post a couple weeks ago about all the things the Republicans pretend are important to them.

That’s what I thought I had been observing for a very long time. I thought perhaps I wasn’t keeping up carefully enough with the reportage. I’m almost sorry to see someone else spelling it out so carefully. We truly are screwed. And the bastards didn’t even smile and say thank you.

I think we have already become the country my parents warned me about.

If only sufficiently wealthy individuals who deeply care about American freedom read FDL…

Oh wait! SOME OF THEM DO!

If you’re reading this, and you think maybe I’m talking to you, then I AM.

USE SOME OF YOUR VAST PERSONAL WEALTH TO PUT A FRICKIN’ AD ON THE FRICKIN’ SUPER BOWL BROADCAST TELLING THE PEOPLE WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE SENATE ON MONDAY!!! OUTRAGE THEM!!! MOBILIZE THEM!!!

MAKE IT HAPPEN. TONIGHT!!!

LMAO

Goooood kitty.

I may be wrong but I don’t recall Bush ever talking about human rights. Don’t want to offend the Saudis. It’s all freedom and democracy.
Have you ever known a person with less self-awareness? Everything he criticizes is exactly what he’s trying to do here.
“We need fair elections” is my personal fave.

Ann thinks dissing McCain increases her audience. What does that say about her audience?

She is a parasite..she needs to be outrageous, then she gets invites to be on other people shows.

They have to start planning tonight. Then they have to get up crew and put it together just before the next superbowl. Logistics are always a bit harder to do than getting money together. :P That’s what they don’t tell you about showbiz. Behind every cute, clever commercial is a harried director, crew and talent. That’s not counting a slew of techies for CGI, sound, and whatnot, which only equals a fraction of what it costs to make that thing. Buying the spot is the hardest thing, making sure you PAY those that make the spot is the next part while they make it.

(i’m not sure when the spots go up for ’sale’ during the regular part of the year. All i know is the process of production and a general idea of how marketing works thanks to some mass media class and observation, and my own work in various dramatic arts and broadcasting.)

Not quite. If she had endorsed John Edwards no one would have invited her to be on their show. Hating McCain is a very popular choice among movement conservatives. Being outrageous about it increases her salability, but only because it reinforces hating McCain.

Wow. Just watched a CNN interview with Michelle Obama online…damn, she is very, very impressive. She seems so honest and real.

WHERE HE PROMISES TO VIOLATE FOUR BRAND NEW LAWS — GETS ZERO STORIES IN THE NYT, WAPO, ETC.

In general I agree with your outrage, but just as a matter I’d point out, Froomkin is in the WaPo.

Watertiger’s got good stuff!

BTW, new post up.

Ann the worm : warning graphic image
http://firedoglake.com/2007/03…..und-drang/

No No No You are not getting it at all… It is about exposing the evidence to the public. Letting citizens know what is being done to them and their rifhtss…the right of their children, and loved ones freinds and neighbors.
It is getting it out everyone not the netroots who already know some of it. There is much much more to reveal. You cannot fix the patient or make the diagnosis until you know the undrlying cuases that create the simptoms:
1. Broken economic system
3. The legal system
3. The Public Policy toward We The People
4. The Foriegn Policy
5. The monetary policy and you name it.
6.Medical care system
Impeach to expose the evidence if conviction does not happen in the senate it will happen in the court of public opinion where it counts at the ballot box.

But what’s the mechanism for making it public? The media’s not going to report it, and the Democrats (and the bloggers, for that matter) don’t have a big enough megaphone.

cspan

candidate adds