“No, sir,” said the pilot. He explained that he was from Florida’s Hurlburt Field Air Force base—roughly 200 miles from New Orleans—which contained an entire fleet of search-and-rescue helicopters. “I’m just here because you’re here,” the pilot added. “My whole unit’s sitting back at Hurlburt, wondering why we’re not being used.”

My bold the Bushies just don’t get sarcasm do they? I knew I should have asked Dave about Eliminationist humor at the book club.

The military helicopters were not being used because Don Rumsfeld was engaged in a turf war.

Are you trying to say that maybe Bush does not hate Black people?
Kanye West was wrong?

Did Rummy’s book come out yet? Are all these leaks preemptive? Are they trying to discredit Rummy before the book comes out or is there another reason?
Is Rummy being set up as the fall guy for torture for Bush?
Either or both works for me but am I missing something?

“Rumsfeld, what the hell is going on there? Are you watching what’s on television? Is that the United States of America or some Third World nation I’m watching? What the hell are you doing?”

Bush calls Rummy out how heroic Karl planted this story make Rummy the fall guy and subtly for a GOPer at least try and make Bush look better.
I doubt this conversation EVER took place.

Who has a turf war when a hurricane hits and people need help? It takes Bush how long to notice there was a problem?
I’m not sure whats worse Rummy’s ego, Bush’s stupidity or Karl’s desperation in leaking this story to smear Rummy and make Bush look good er slightly better than before.

The whole story at GQ is pretty enlightening and damning. The Decider Guy MBA was hardly blameless, and his legacy-makers out there are trying to use Rumsfeld as a fall-guy.

I’m sure that Rummy was a Cheney pick for the team, Daddy Bush could not stand him, and after Cheney “selected himself” as the leader of the VP search team, he probably told Donny that there wold be a place for him in the New World Order/Permanent Republican Majority to come undo everything that the DFH Carter had done to his DoD.

Rumsfeld was a petty guy, the problem was he worked for one who was even more petty and vindictive, Bush. So if two wrongs don’t make a right, what do two assholes make besides trouble?

Katrina. Iraq. Resurgent Taliban. Bank failure. Energy crisis. Global Warming…. and on and on.

Looks like it’s gonna be a “he said; he said” morning at the Washington Journal…..glad Graham gets the last word and let’s hope he pulls one of the better hosts (as opposed to greta):

“9:00-9:30 RONALD KESSLER
Author “Escape From the CIA”
ronaldkessler.com

RONALD KESSLER
Newsmax.com
Chief Washington Correspondent

http://www.politico.com

Topic: The administration’s decision not to release photos reportedly showing abuse of U.S. detainees abroad, the CIA’s decision last week to deny former Vice President Cheney’s request to declassify CIA memos that he says show valuable intelligence was gained from the use of harsh interrogation techniques, how the CIA works and how the agency gathers information. Guest is also the Author of a forthcoming book, “In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents they Protect.”

9:00-9:30 Newspaper Articles/Phones

9:30-10:00 BOB GRAHAM
Former U.S. Senator, D-Florida
1987-2005
Locator dl: Miami

Topic: What Senator Graham, as a Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman, learned in briefings about harsh CIA interrogation techniques in the early 90s. This is same era that Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims the CIA misled Congress about such interrogations.”

[edited to reflect exact quotes taken from the C-Span web site - *G*]

Omerta is breaking down. Retaliatory leaks from DoD will start appearing in the WaPo and NYT this week.

Lay in a supply of poppin’ corn. As the smoldering, ruined hulk of the good ship “43″ slips below the waves, there’s a gonna be a ratfight royale.

It doesn’t absolve Bush at all. The conversation came well after these helicopters were needed and came only after Bush saw his poor performance ratings plummet into the low 30s.

If every single word I’ve heard on this is true, that Rummy was engaged in a turf war while people in New Orleans drowned, that doesn’t make either him or Bush look good. It makes them both look like complete nitwits who, many years into Bush’s term in office, still had no clue.

Does it disprove the notion that Katrina was a plot against that big chunk of African-American voters (”Bush didn’t hate black people, he just hated black voters“) who made Louisiana a reliable of Democratic votes? Hmm, that may be Roves’ hand at work.

Good morning, pups. It’s Cohen and Krugman in the NYT today. In “Arabs, Persians and Jews” Roger Cohen says President Obama should tell Benjamin Netanyahu the status quo is not in anyone’s interest. In “The Perfect, the Good, the Planet” Prof. Krugman says the climate change legislation now on the table isn’t the bill we’d ideally want, but it’s vastly better than no bill at all.

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, and the biscuits are out of the oven. I’ve found a sucker lovely person at my private client’s office who wants rosemary cuttings so I’m off to get the clippers. Maybe if I find lots more folks who want cuttings we’ll be able to get out the front door again… That plant is determined to take over the world. Have a great day.

Let me know if you find needy homes for still more rosemary. *G* It’s truly amazing how well the stuff likes a coastal environment. About a half-dozen plants I put out six years ago are something like chest high now….simply glorious in the early spring covered in blue bloom and the bees just love it. And those bushes will tell you they have. not. been. babied. *GGG*

Are you enjoying the modo kerfuffle wrt her plagiarism of Josh’s material? I’d be a lot more forgiving had she not been such an ass about Biden’s use of quotes. It’s so enjoyable when one can see an example of karma actually coming home to roost. I read through some of the hundreds of comments at her editorial and it’s very telling that I didn’t see ANY pertaining to what she had done. Can you say “edited” to play down the dust-up?

Rerun of Brian Lamb interview with Melanie Sloan (CREW) from yesterday’s Q&A on C-Span1 right now.

Morningpups. Will repeat a funny from the last thread. Rumsfield and Cheney’s defence: ‘I was only gving orders.’

What amazes me about all that is coming out is how truly incompetent (let’s set aside the evil for a moment) our top magistrates were: starting with the very top. Think of the cast: Bush, Cheney (who in my ignorance believed would be the ’stabilizing’ influence on the obviously incompetent and unstable Bush); Rumsfeld, Ashcroft. The only capable person in the top five was O’Neill, and he got shoved out. Whitman gets a pass, too, but I wouldn’t vouch for her competence. A little further down the scale you have Rice. I mean, it is just amazing. It would be hard to pick a bigger bunch of losers if you set your mind to it.

Needless to say, it says a lot — actually too much — about the Washington press that they did not call out these nincompoops for what they were and are. Nary a word. No sir. Move along folks, nothing to see here.

Sounds like Seymour Hersh is firing a new (at least to me) salvo at cheney:

http://www.thaindian.com/newsp…..94038.html

My rosemary bloomed all winter long, even through the freezes. I was going to cut it back then, but wasn’t about to take the blossoms away from the bees which were still visiting it. Now they’re around the sage, and I’ve got baby basil plants coming on. Basil seems to be their great love in my garden.

I worked all day yesterday, so was completely unaware that MoDo had stepped in it until this morning. Although I shouldn’t be too surprised, because that column seemed suspiciously cogent!

This was also reported at The Nation’s website.

It seems fantastical even for Cheney, but no one has ever made money betting against the guy’s capacity for malevolent acts.

Morin Joe is screaming at his guest!

Thankee……cheney = malevolent R us. Wiki oughta just put his picture beside the word and leave it at that……would save a lot of band width.

What about? It’s scuzzy miserable weather here and I ain’t gonna add to the overcast by clicking on that POS.

rumsfeld and cheney have been partners since nixon however I believe the box was rumsfeld not cheney

that’s when they created their alternate reality based “team b” designed specifically to undermine any peace process whenever they arose

have a look, published long before we went to war in Iraq but if you change the date you’ll see exactly the same scenario with exactly the same players, creating war

they are war profiteers

Raven -

You and the Dragon will be particularly interested in this one:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05…..38;emc=rss

“A Leader of Veterans Is Exposed as a Fraud”…..he started an organization called the Colorado Veterans Alliance……..hmmmmmmm,….Colorado……now what could possibly make me think that just *might* be a reich-wing veterans group?

How bizarre.

Oh, spit! It looks like it was mostly dem pols who got sucked in by him………if the Denver Post can be trusted:

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12373595

Double spit!

I wish MSNBC would trade him to Fox for…, I dunno, maybe a coffeemaker or something.

While the Americans initially won a great victory in Afghanistan, it was mainly a CIA-Air Force affair, with very few military boots on the ground. The DoD just didn’t have any plans. So, when we had bin Laden cornered in Tora-Bora, there were not the resources to finish him off. Again, Rumsfeld was responsible.

The Scary Duo petrifies me.

I believe it’s worse then that, I believe there was an actual stand down order

will try to find that link

from The Nation story:

It was disclosed by reputed US journalist Seymour Hersh while talking to an Arab TV in an interview….

Sy Hersh is a “reputed” journalist? Isn’t that like saying that Dick Cheney is “reputed” to be an asshole?

“No, sir,” said the pilot. He explained that he was from Florida’s Hurlburt Field Air Force base—roughly 200 miles from New Orleans—which contained an entire fleet of search-and-rescue helicopters. “I’m just here because you’re here,” the pilot added. “My whole unit’s sitting back at Hurlburt, wondering why we’re not being used.”

Wonder if that pilot is currently serving in the AF.

uggg

we have spam, cleanup please on 32 nd 33

Wow! We’re getting a whole new variety of spam troller!

the thread seems to have acquired a foot fetish….

I hope whoever can delete those posts would “just do it”

I hope whoever can delete those posts would “just do it”

looks like they just “did it”.

cigarettes now being smoked in the Mod Lounge….

Who says that Post headline writers don’t have a sly sense of humor?

Sen. McConnell Skirts Bunning Endorsement

Hard to know what to make of this.
Same publications???

link:
http://www.nation.com.pk/
web site currently down for service.

but see:
http://www.thenation.com/
no mention of Hersh story

Oh yea! I’d like to see the dd14s from all the Gathering of Eagles and Rolling Thunder dopes too!

Now I see. Per its URL the nation is an english language Pakistan daily newspaper.

Exactly!

Not to be confused with thenation.com. There’s this item from May 6 anent the al-Hirari death attributed to Wayne Madsen, a certified nutbar. He bases his findings on the research of Hersh, to wit:

What Madsen had revealed has drawn storms of reactions that demand Cheney be prosecuted. Madsen founded his revelations on the information uncovered by American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh and released them after establishing them.

On the 3rd of last March in Minnesota, Hersh revealed that a secret Delta Force Commandos unit known as the ‘Assassinations Wing” and Frogmen units have been assigned to carry out assassinations around the world even without passing by the Secretary of Defense and apart from the Pentagon; only through Cheney’s office.

“It’s a special wing of our special operations’ community that is set independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Clinton and Bush days. They reported directly to the Cheney office…It’s an executive assassination ring essentially and it’s been going on and on,” Hersh said.

If anyone wants to follow up on this here’s the Hersh item from the Minn Post from last Mar: Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes ‘executive assassination ring’.

New Orleans like Saint Sebastian is filled with arrows from the quivers of men who will never be made to acknowledge their deeds. These men will be long dead before justice can be done. And New Orleans is the tiniest of misdeeds committed by them.