Contemplating Existence

John McCain Is No "Maverick"

2006-05-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

Mark Salter's response to Rohe and the New School debacle was really the crying pained howl of someone who knows that his boss, McCain, is going down the drain and his dream to become President which he wishes above all else are slipping away.

The claim made that Hilary is triangulating issues and so stands for nothing is correct,I would say McCain is doing the same thing trying to be all things to all people while kissing up to the extreme faction of his party.

McCain is no "maverick" and never was what he was and is and always will be is a staunch REPUBLICAN who believes in the philosophy of that party: Pro corporate, anti labor, cut taxes to the rich, "fix" Social Security by privatizing it, get rid of abortion, fully supporting this irresponsible and illegal invasion of Iraq.

Never, ever buy into the carefully crafted media image of McCain as a "maverick".

That game is up.

Tom Friedman - NY Times "wise man"?

2006-05-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Besides his absolute fundamentalist, true believer fanaticism (yes I used terms associated with religion on purpose) involving the "free market" and globalization Tom Friedman is supposed to be considered a "sage" of foreign affairs.

Check out some words of wisdom of old Tom concerning Iraq "turning the corner" over the last couple of years. Like a needle stuck in a record here is Tom......

"The next six months in Iraq—which will determine the prospects for democracy-building there—are the most important six months in U.S. foreign policy in a long, long time."
(New York Times, 11/30/03)

"What I absolutely don't understand is just at the moment when we finally have a UN-approved Iraqi-caretaker government made up of—I know a lot of these guys—reasonably decent people and more than reasonably decent people, everyone wants to declare it's over. I don't get it. It might be over in a week, it might be over in a month, it might be over in six months, but what's the rush? Can we let this play out, please?"
(NPR's Fresh Air, 6/3/04)

"What we're gonna find out, Bob, in the next six to nine months is whether we have liberated a country or uncorked a civil war."
(CBS's Face the Nation, 10/3/04)

"Improv time is over. This is crunch time. Iraq will be won or lost in the next few months. But it won't be won with high rhetoric. It will be won on the ground in a war over the last mile."
(New York Times, 11/28/04)

"I think we're in the end game now…. I think we're in a six-month window here where it's going to become very clear and this is all going to pre-empt I think the next congressional election—that's my own feeling— let alone the presidential one."
(NBC's Meet the Press, 9/25/05)

"Maybe the cynical Europeans were right. Maybe this neighborhood is just beyond transformation. That will become clear in the next few months as we see just what kind of minority the Sunnis in Iraq intend to be. If they come around, a decent outcome in Iraq is still possible, and we should stay to help build it. If they won't, then we are wasting our time."
(New York Times, 9/28/05)

"We've teed up this situation for Iraqis, and I think the next six months really are going to determine whether this country is going to collapse into three parts or more or whether it's going to come together."
(CBS's Face the Nation, 12/18/05)

"We're at the beginning of I think the decisive I would say six months in Iraq, OK, because I feel like this election—you know, I felt from the beginning Iraq was going to be ultimately, Charlie, what Iraqis make of it."
(PBS's Charlie Rose Show, 12/20/05)

"The only thing I am certain of is that in the wake of this election, Iraq will be what Iraqis make of it—and the next six months will tell us a lot. I remain guardedly hopeful."
(New York Times, 12/21/05)

"I think that we're going to know after six to nine months whether this project has any chance of succeeding. In which case, I think the American people as a whole will want to play it out or whether it really is a fool's errand."
(Oprah Winfrey Show, 1/23/06)

"I think we're in the end game there, in the next three to six months, Bob. We've got for the first time an Iraqi government elected on the basis of an Iraqi constitution. Either they're going to produce the kind of inclusive consensual government that we aspire to in the near term, in which case America will stick with it, or they're not, in which case I think the bottom's going to fall out."
(CBS, 1/31/06)

"I think we are in the end game. The next six to nine months are going to tell whether we can produce a decent outcome in Iraq."
(NBC's Today, 3/2/06)

"Can Iraqis get this government together? If they do, I think the American public will continue to want to support the effort there to try to produce a decent, stable Iraq. But if they don't, then I think the bottom is going to fall out of public support here for the whole Iraq endeavor. So one way or another, I think we're in the end game in the sense it's going to be decided in the next weeks or months whether there's an Iraq there worth investing in. And that is something only Iraqis can tell us."
(CNN, 4/23/06)

"Well, I think that we're going to find out, Chris, in the next year to six months—probably sooner—whether a decent outcome is possible there, and I think we're going to have to just let this play out."
(MSNBC's Hardball, 5/11/06)

Thanks to FAIR for this info.

Theft Of The 2004 Presidential Election?

2006-05-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

Watch Mark Crispin Miller give a speech on the theft of the 2004 election, yes the 2004 election here.

Mark has written a book called Fooled Again about this very subject that has been out since October 2005.

Now you may be asking yourself why you haven't heard of this book until now.

That is a very good question.

The answer should be fairly obvious.

Think about it.

Harry Truman: A Real Democrat

2006-04-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

"Harry Truman was no centrist, and neither was he a radical. Still, listening to his ferocious ad-libs back in 1948 (which was, incidentally, not during the Great Depression), his audience could have had few doubts about what the Democratic Party stood for. Truman was explicit: “[T]he Democratic Party is the people’s party, and the Republican Party is the party of special interest, and it always has been and always will be.” He reveled in what Mr. Klein would call “class war,” calling a Republican tax cut a “rich man’s tax bill” that “helps the rich and sticks a knife into the back of the poor” and describing politics as a contest between the “common everyday man” and the “favored classes,” the “privileged few.” Even more astonishingly, Truman went on to talk policy in some detail, with special emphasis on Mr. Klein’s hated “jobs, health-care, and blah-blah-blah”: He called for the construction of public housing, an increase in the minimum wage, expansion of Social Security, a national health-care program and the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act. And this sort of high-octane oratory propelled Truman on to win the election in a historic upset."

This is a small part of Thomas Frank kicking Joe Klein's DLC loving centrist ass.

Read it all here.

Randi Rhodes Before Congress Video

2006-04-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

I think it is just the Democrats in congress so that doesn't count because they aren't in charge of anything.

Karl Rove Is In Big Trouble

2006-04-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

"In his fifth appearance before the grand jury, Rove spent considerable time arguing that it would have been foolish for him to knowingly mislead investigators about his role in the disclosure of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame to the media, the source said. His grand jury appearance, which was kept secret even from Rove's closest White House colleagues until shortly before he went to court yesterday, suggests that prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald remains keenly interested in Rove's role in the case.

Rove for the first time partly waived his attorney-client privilege to detail conversations he had with his attorney, Robert Luskin, about the leak and his knowledge of it, the source said.

Rove's testimony focused almost exclusively on his conversation about Plame with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper in 2003 and whether the top aide later tried to conceal it, the source said. Rove testified, in essence, that "it would have been a suicide mission" to "deliberately lie" about his conversation with Cooper because he knew beforehand that it eventually would be revealed, the source said. Lawyers involved in the case said yesterday that they expect a decision on Rove's fate soon."

This would be hilarious if it wasn't so serious. Does Karl Rove really think people are this stupid and gullible? I know he got Bush elected President twice....but still.

Check the it out here.

Are You Aware Of This Fact?

2006-04-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

There is NOT going to be any exit polling done this November because it is believed that it is "unreliable" now?

This is very scary news.

Nancy Pelosi Blasts Bush On His Energy Policy

2006-04-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

This is great but what she said in the few minutes leading up to it was right on target as well.

The idea that two oilmen who wrote our energy policy behind closed doors with oil execs isn't going to lead to this is absurd.

Tricky Dick Or George Bush? You Decide.

2006-04-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

Bush Approval Rating Pool

2006-04-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

I want to start a pool for the date when Bush will fall below 30%.

Doesn't that sound like fun?

I am picking June 1.

Media Omission

2006-04-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

I was at the protest of Bush in St Helena when they took this video. It is very interesting that they mentioned how many protesters were there, which was about 300 and they were accurate about that. However, they never mentioned nor gave any indication of how many supporters of the president were there, if you watch the video they talked to three protesters and two supporters of the president. I would guess this was to provide "balance" as they like to call it. You might ask what was wrong with that?

Here is what was wrong with it. There were 300 protesters and at one time only 6 supporters of Bush there. I know I counted them.

Now if the newscaster has said there were only 6 supporters of Bush there I wouldn't have had a problem OR if they had shown a shot of them to give perspective and context I wouldn't have minded. Naturally that wouldnt' have looked very good now would it?

This is the equivalent of a fireman watching a house burn. It is called not doing your job. This is willful and blantant. It is as bad as lying. By leaving out the context of the situation they are misinforming the public.

Plain and simple.

Bush At 32% Approval

2006-04-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

According to a new CNN poll Bush is at a 32% approval rating. This means Cheney is at about 15% I would guess.

How are they going to react?

They are going to wage an all out war to make sure they don't lose the house. If they do they will be investigated. This cannot happen.

Remember that swiftboating of Kerry back in the now ancient year of 2004?

That will be kids stuff compared to what is coming down the road.

Rove isn't going to sit back and let it happen they are going to go on the offensive.

The big media will go along with it.

Guaranteed.

Tyler Drumheller Interview On 60 Minutes

2006-04-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

Tyler Drumheller is another piece of the not so hard to figure out puzzle of the WMD/Iraq propaganda and misinformation campaign conducted by the Bush administraton.

Cherry picking is the correct term for what he describes.

Will the big media pick up on it?

Is anything going to get done about it?

Stay tuned.

George Bush - I Am The Decider

2006-04-20T04:58:00.000-07:00

I am the decider and I decide what is best.

Get it?

Keith Olbermann Swats Bill O'Reilly

2006-02-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

There really is no other way to say it, except that it is hilarious as well. Go to Crooks & Liars to check it out. Nothing like a good laugh to start your day off. I feel better already.

Debra Saunders - Conservative Misinformer

2006-01-30T08:24:00.000-08:00

Does Debra Saunders believe the readers of the San Francisco Chronicle are stupid? There is really no other explanation for her latest column in which she states that Democrats don’t care about ethics and then goes on to tell you that the reason people oppose someone like Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania is this:

“Other Republicans, however, seem guilty mostly of being targeted by Democrats for defeat in 2006. Take the prim Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. He is cited -- get this -- because his kids attend a Pennsylvania charter school (instead of a school in Virginia) and because he supported legislation to clarify the mission of the National Weather Service after a group gave his campaign $2,000. Oooooooo. (CREW's Melanie Sloan did not get back to me by my deadline.)”

You can go to this website called Santorum Exposed to find out why someone might really oppose the “prim” Santorum. Maybe in Debra’s world “prim” Rick is just a normal, everyday Republican out to do good for the country even if the country doesn't know what's "good" for them. No, it isn’t possible that Santorum is an extreme conservative who makes statements like this:

"In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might confess that both of them really don’t need to, or at least may not need to work as much as they do… And for some parents, the purported need to provide things for their children simply provides a convenient rationalization for pursuing a gratifying career outside the home."

"But unlike abortion today, in most states even the slaveholder did not have the unlimited right to kill his slave."

"And if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does. It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution, this right that was created, it was created in Griswold — Griswold was the contraceptive case — and abortion. And now we're just extending it out. And the further you extend it out, the more you — this freedom actually intervenes and affects the family."

She also mentions Tom DeLay being in trouble for getting a golf trip paid for by Abramoff. Wow, that's all Tom is in trouble for Debra? Couldn't possibly be anything else?

I will have to do some research on Richard Pombo who appears to be a favorite of Ms. Saunders. If Debra is backing him he must be a swell guy though.

Scarred For Life By A Unnecessary War

2006-01-29T14:54:00.000-08:00

I don’t really know how else to explain this:

“He won't talk about the weeks that followed. He only mentions moments, like still frames from a film. The day his column barely survived an ambush, escaping through a broken door as bullets struck near their feet. The morning he woke up to discover that a cat had taken up residence in the open chest cavity of an Iraqi body nearby, consuming it from within.
The day he discovered that Demarkus Brown had been killed.
"When we found out, I told a couple of my buddies who were close to him, too. We just sat around, and we didn't say much at all," Miller said. "You didn't have the heart to cry."
But it wasn't those terrible benchmarks that affected him the most, Miller said. It was the daily chore of war: the times he had to raise his rifle, peer through the scope and squeeze the trigger to launch a bullet, not at a target, not at a distant white truck, but at another human being.
"It's one thing to be shot at, and you shoot a couple rounds back, just trying to suppress somebody else," Miller said. "It's another thing when you see a human being shooting a round at you, knowing that you're shooting back with the intent to kill them. You're looking through a scope at somebody. It's totally different. You can make out a guy's eyes."

Or this:

"I really didn't want to go. ... There was a possibility we would be shooting people," he said. "We could be going into another (urban warfare) environment just like Iraq, except this would actually be U.S. citizens.
"Here we go, Fallujah 2, right here in the states."
Not long after they arrived, as Hurricane Rita bore down on them, the Marines were packed into the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima to wait out the storm offshore. And one day, as Miller headed for the smoke deck with a Marlboro, a passing sailor made a whistling sound just like a rocket-propelled grenade.
"I don't remember grabbing him. I don't remember putting him against the bulkhead. I don't remember getting him down on the floor. I don't remember getting on top of him. I don't remember doing any of that s -- ," Miller said. "That was like the last straw."
On Nov. 10, 2005 -- the Marine Corps' 230th birthday and one year to the day after the Marlboro Man picture appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Miller was honorably discharged after a medical review. His military career was over. “

Democracy Is A Wonderful Thing

2006-01-27T08:35:00.000-08:00

I wonder how much Bush thinks so now. The White House says it wasn't surprised by Hamas winning. If you believe that I have a lovely tower in Paris I would love to sell you.

Katie Couric Is A Walking GOP Talking Point

2006-01-26T22:47:00.000-08:00

Go to Crooks and Liars to check it out. If you believe there is some kind of liberal bias in the news explain Katie and this "interview" with Howard Dean to me.

Disgusting.

Addicted To Oil

2006-01-26T08:23:00.000-08:00

This is just insane and so is this. The answer is quite clear in so many ways don't you think? Not when you are fighting absolutely nutty ideas like this. Are we really this stupid? Or is it just big business doing what it does best, making money for itself in the short term with out taking in account people or the long term damage? Nah, that couldn't possibly be.

Medicare Drug Program Disaster

2006-01-26T08:09:00.000-08:00

Did you expect anything else from a BushCo idea? Nearly everything they touch is just a disaster. Seriously, think about it. Naturally this is going to be good for the insurance companies and bad for people. How do we know this? Because the program was written by the companies that's how. This isn't rocket science.

All of this this Medicare Drug Program and Health Savings Accounts business is a complete joke that does nothing to get at the fundamental problem. We need single payer national health care, it is the only answer for our country. All of these "private"sector the free "market" will dictate and "work" out everything idea is just putting off what needs to be done.

George Bush Scorecard

2006-01-25T08:56:00.000-08:00

Let's see what we have and in no particular order:

1) Iraq rebuilding debacle and incompetence

2) Bush and Jack Abramoff

3) A torture fan

4) Privatize Social Security

5) Misinformation and lies about Iraq war

6) Health Savings Accounts: Increase patient responsibility!

to be continued.....

Chris Matthews Unofficial GOP Spokesman & Whitehouse Apologist

2006-01-21T11:38:00.000-08:00

He has swallowed so many Karl Rove/GOP talking points whole lately that he can't tell the difference between Michael Moore and Osama Bin Laden. Of course when he is called out on making this horrible statement he says he was "misunderstood". I would say you could only not understand what he said if you didn't speak the english language. Otherwise, it is quite clear what he said.

What is really going on here is that the Bush administration has got this country and specifically the media to the point who are basically unpaid spokesman for this neo-con group of criminals that ANY objection to their "war on terror" even if it involves invading a country that was no threat to the U.S. and had no involvement in 9/11 is akin to treason and "siding" with the enemy. I am sure Chris Matthews would be offended by this but that is too bad because he deserves it. How do you like being compared to this guy Chris?

Reichmarschall Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg trials: "Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."

As was pointed out at here by Peter Daou can you imagine the uproar and foaming at the mouth vomit that would be spewed by the media and neo-cons if someone had compared Limbaugh or Hannity to Osama?

Karl Rove couldn't be happier than to have an idiot talking head like Chris Matthews say this kind of stuff even though it is Bush and his neo-con pals who have created this situation of increased terrorist attacks around the world. We won't even mention not capturing Osama Bin Laden. You don't hear Bush mentioning this guy much anymore do you?

There is a website dedicated to this horrible statement by Matthews. Check it out.

Letter To The Datebook Section Of The SF Chronicle

2006-01-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

Editor -- Being a fan of Mark Morford's column I was distressed to read two letters (Jan. 11) from people who dislike his work and want him removed. I can sympathize with how they feel, for one of my fondest wishes is to never see a Debra Saunders column in The Chronicle ever again.
As that underrated philosopher of the '60s Mick Jagger once said, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need."

This was published Tuesday in the Datebook section of the Chronicle. They called last Thursday asking if they could use it and I left a message saying yes and never heard back. Thought they weren't going to use it after all. I was surprised to find it this morning when I happened to remember and checked online.

Isn't Debra Saunders just wonderful?

A Wonderful Post From A Canadian About Iran, The USA & Nukes

2006-01-17T13:42:00.000-08:00

"Speaking as a Canadian who is fond of judicious language, I feel that this situation deserves careful and measured thought. So let me just open with:
Is your entire f*cking country on crack??? Are all you Americans out of your cotton picking minds??? Are you completely freaking delusional? Homicidal? Psychotic? Have you lost any shred of a moral compass? WHAT IN THE NAME OF JESUS H. CHRIST ON A CRUTCH IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!!!"

Go read it here.

This is not anything new to think about unless you weren't paying attention, but boy does he nail it. I find out about it at This Modern World which you should always read.

Bush Loves Revisionist History

2006-01-12T08:18:00.000-08:00

“You know when I was growin’ up, or other baby boomers here were growin’ up, we felt safe. Because we had these vast oceans that could protect us from harm’s way. September the 11th changed all of that.”

That’s a quote from our Supreme Allied Commander in the “war on terror” George Bush himself. A more flagrant bit of revisionist history you will not read in your lifetime. You could even call it a lie. I could explain why but all you have to do is go over to This Modern World and see for yourself. If I am not mistaken Tom Tomorrow is almost exactly the same age as me and probably has many of the same reference points as I do from our very early years on this blue ball floating in the cosmos.

Another GOP Lie Revealed

2006-01-11T19:36:00.000-08:00

Remember all the conservatives talking about how great Chile's private pension plan and "personalized accounts" were doing and we should get rid of Social Security and do something similar? Here is a NY Times story on how it is in need of repair. Guess who is making money on it?

Republican Policy Kills Soldiers

2006-01-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

I don't quite know how else to put it. The GOP would rather give tax breaks to the rich than send enough body armor to Iraq to help those soldiers dying in their invasion and occupation of Iraq. Read about it here.

Keep voting Republican and watch the country go down the drain even more. And no, I don't mean because of gays marrying but because of economic policy, which is the real issue.

As If You Needed Another Example...

2006-01-06T22:51:00.000-08:00

....of how absolutely clueless and non- reality based your president and mine, George Bush really is, just check out this video courtesy of Crooks & Liars.

Try to believe your president was visiting wounded soldiers at a hospital and while there supposedly giving praise to how much honor they bring to the country he mentioned how he got wounded by a Cedar but won in the end.

Unbelievable.

Poor and working class people still think he is "one of them" which shows how out of touch they really are.

As Molly Ivins has said for years "Bush was born on third base and thought he hit a triple".

Absolutely fucking right Molly.

It is actually worse than I thought. Here is some more video of his visit at the hospital and he mentions how he is working for peace in 2006 and how great the economy is doing and naturally how much illegal wiretapping is really needed to protect you.

George Bush, have you no shame?

What's Wrong With Kansas?

2006-01-04T23:11:00.000-08:00

I have just started reading the book, a little late I know, but I had read interviews with him and heard him interviewed on the radio as well so I had a fairly good idea where he was coming from. His book is really well written and as frightening as you can imagine as you read about the self- flagellation of poor and middle class people voting against their own interests over and over again.

You have to admire the GOP and the propaganda they have used to pull this off. It is brilliant but evil of course they are just promoting their own interests and getting people to vote for them on "cultural" and "moral" issues while they raid the treasury.

Astonishing.

Republican Party Is Corrupt...Nothing New!

2006-01-03T21:42:00.000-08:00

It is laughable when you have a political party proclaim itself to be righteous and filled with the only "real" Americans after all the members that have come under legal "difficulty" as they say.

Scooter Libby
Bill Frist
Jack Abramoff
Tom DeLay
Bob Ney
Duke Cunningham

The list will just keep on growing and growing. It will be interesting to see how the media are going to ignore the fact that they are all from one party. You know the elephant in the room nobody talks about!

Bill O'Reilly is going to get "into their lives"

2006-01-03T21:16:00.000-08:00

Coming from the the falafel king this is quite an interesting thing to say. He gets quite upset about "personal attacks"and really dislikes the New York Times and Frank Rich in particular. You can read about it at Media Matters.

For those with short memories you can read about Bill's fantasies here.

We already know about Bill's personal life more than most of us would care to.

U.S. & U.K. Supports Torture In Uzbekistan

2005-12-29T13:56:00.000-08:00

A former diplomat named Craig Murray who was the UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan has the proof here and here. In a strange twist he is no longer in that position anymore. I wonder why?

Remember kids, it is all supposedly done for you!

It's like deja vu all over again, the U.S.A has a nasty history of doing business with dicatators, generals and other thugs and killers all in the name of "national interests". Of course, once they are not our "man" anymore and don't stay on the leash properly, then they turn into Hitler like evil beings who must be wiped out.

Bush Tried To Stop NY Times From Printing Snoop Story

2005-12-20T08:38:00.000-08:00

“President Bush came out swinging on Snoopgate—he made it seem as if those who didn’t agree with him wanted to leave us vulnerable to Al Qaeda—but it will not work. We’re seeing clearly now that Bush thought 9/11 gave him license to act like a dictator, or in his own mind, no doubt, like Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.” Read about it at Newsweek.

It only took the mainstream press 5 damn years to wake up to these guys but it looks like they have finally done it. Now they need to look at everything this cult has done since coming into office.

For those with short memories, which in the country is the vast majority of the population, Clinton was almost impeached for lying to a grand jury about fellatio with a willing participant. But that was about sex, that dirty, dirty thing and this is about spying on citizens you can't compare the two.

I agree not even in the same ballpark.

Impeach the bastard and his vice president the thug also and the whole administration.

Pennsylvania Judge Calls "Intelligent Design" Proponents LIARS

2005-12-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

A judge in Pennsylvania calls them as they are and so what you have is the word liar being used to describe “intelligent design” proponents:

"The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the Board who voted for the ID Policy," Jones wrote. "It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy."

I don't have a problem with Jesus just some of his followers who don't follow the tenets of their own religion. Very, very strange.

I still can't figure out why the title of the article I found on yahoo didn't mention that he called them liars in it. Can you?

I can't wait for Pat Robertson or someone like him tell the people of Dover that they are on their own since they have abandonded God and if some natural disaster happens to strike in the area.

Daddy, what did you do in the War on Christmas?

2005-12-17T14:30:00.000-08:00

You have to read this absolutely brilliant article by Diane Dees on this phony war on Christmas being waged by Bill O'Reilly and his Billbot followers, plus others of the same mind set stirring rubes and dupes up into a frenzy over this waste of time.

As she points out people have been celebrating winter solstice for centuries before Christ was born. So in fact Christians have stolen a traditional holiday from the rest of us.

I shouldn't use the term Christian so loosely, I have friends who are Christian and they resemble O'Reilly and his kind about as much as a giraffe does.

We Have A President Not A King

2005-12-17T14:19:00.000-08:00

"We have a president, not a king, and that's the way he's talking,'' Feingold said in an interview with CNN. What he's doing, I believe, is illegal. And it's really quite a shocking moment in the history of our country." Read about it here.

Excactly.

I do not believe in a monarchy, however Bush and his like do which I suspect comes from their religion or I should say their version of it.

Kingdom of heaven with the big guy called God at the throne.

If he really believes God has put him into office at this time to do what it is he keeps on doing then naturally he would feel that man made laws are not up to his "fathers" higher law.

Why Should It Be News That A Couple Just Had Their 17th Child?

2005-12-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

I am sorry but this isn't something that should be celebrated in any way. With over 6 billion on the planet already where does everyone think the resources are going to come from? Over population is a serious issue and these people in my opinion are absolutely crazy.

Tucker Carlson Is So Tough When Talking About Canada

2005-12-16T23:24:00.000-08:00

Watch that bow tied conservative Tucker Carlson make the comments of a 12 year old on a school yard about Canada on national tv.

Tucker you are so tough when you are in a studio. I wonder how tough you would be saying this on the streets of Toronto?

Actually, Since you are so badass why don't you join up and go fight in Iraq where you can really show everyone how it's done.

Of course, Tucker has no facts to back up any of his adolescent ranting, but that is ok, facts and reality have nothing to do with his world. You know the one conservatives make up in their minds. Where Bush is popular, the war in Iraq is popular and everything is going great!

Watch the video at Media Matters.

Watch McClellan Squirm Trying To Defend Bush

2005-12-16T23:19:00.000-08:00

McClellan says there is no inconsistency in the President declaring DeLay innocent and not commenting on the Plame case because that has always been the policy.

Watch it over at Crooks & Liars.

This administration is the biggest bunch of liars, crooks, hypocrites and war mongers ever in the modern era.

Disgusting.

I wonder in a few years if you are going to be able to find almost anyone but the most hard core Republican who will admit to voting for this guy the second time he ran.

I also wonder how long moderate Republicans are going to take to realize the party is run by right wing radicals or a cult as Seymour Hersh likes to say.

It is refreshing for the press to finally start noticing how horrible these people really are. I guess they don't like being lied to by a bunch of crooks.

Jack Cafferty on Bush Administration: Just Do It!

2005-12-16T23:06:00.000-08:00

Jack Cafferty of CNN gets it oh so right about the Bush Administration.

Here is the video courtesy of Crooks & Liars.

Frist & Bush: Who Needs A Doctor In The RoomOr A Judge!

2005-12-16T08:28:00.000-08:00

First there was Senator Bill Frist diagnosing patients while watching them through a television screen and now we have President George Bush declaring Tom Delay innocent of money-laundering charges brought against him in Texas. Before the trial.

Wow.

Who needs a physician in the room with a patient or a trial by jury when have we such “moral” and “righteous” keen eyed Republicans around to determine things for us. Why they can save billions of dollars a year just in medical fees and the costs of trials around the country.

The statement by Bush is especially galling considering he will not comment on the Valerie Plame investigation or the impending trial of Scooter Libby. Now apparently it is a “presidential prerogative” according to Scottie the White House front man for the press.

What hypocritical liars these people are.

Unbelievable.

Read about it at the Post.

Big Brother Is Watching!

2005-12-15T00:13:00.000-08:00

No, it turns out it is just the Pentagon spying on us. Doesn't that make you feel better? Check out Crooks & Liars for the video.

"Domestic Intelligence Gathering" has kind of a nice tone to it!

Executions & Tookie Williams

2005-12-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

Regardless of who the person is I am against executions for a variety of reasons.

I believe it to be state sponsored revenge.

It does absolutely nothing to stop violent crime. If you believe it does just think about how many executions we have already had in this country. If so violent crime should have stopped centuries ago.

The chance that an innocent person could be executed is too high. Let's be realists here and say that innocent people have already been executed who knows how many times.

Class has a great deal to do with who gets the death penalty.

The impulse for revenge is quite wired into us human beings, if someone killed my wife or brother or friend naturally I would be angry and want to exact justice. That is why we have courts and not vigilante mobs which I am thankful for. Emotions run way too high.

The True Meaning Of Rubes & Dupes

2005-12-13T08:56:00.000-08:00

Fox News uses the word Holiday(s) eleven times on their website. Not Christmas, I repeat, Not Christmas!

All hands to the battle lines in this "War On Christmas" Fox News must be brought down!

Hypocrite: A person who professes beliefs and opinions that he does not hold.

Rube: Not very intelligent of interested in culture. An unsophisticated country person.

Dupe: An easily deceived person. A person who functions as the tool of another person or power.

Screengrab courtesy of Bob Harris.

Phony War On Christmas, The Rubes & Dupes!

2005-12-13T08:47:00.000-08:00

Bill “falafel” O’Reilly, John Gibson, Pat Robertson and all the rest of those who have created this phony controversy called ……drum roll please….”The War On Christmas” are simply playing people for rubes and creating a controversy where none exists. It is so disgusting that words are hardly able to describe my feelings over this complete waste of time. Sam Seder of the Majority Report on Air America does a fine job “debating” Bob Knight from Concerned Women For America and pokes fun (courtesy of Crooks & Liars) at this phony war that is really a fund raising exercise for these pure “Men Of God” (cue choir singing in background) or whatever they choose to identify themselves by and the rubes and dupes are the target. I’ll bet they’re doing quite well in this department. Now Bill and Gibson have a slightly different motive...more viewers which would translate into more money also.

On a related note, for some reason when I turned on the television the other day the first thing I saw was Pat Robertson on his 700 club talking about something called the “Chairman” level of donation, which costs $10,000 a year. Apparently someone who donates this amount of money gets to be on an hour long conference call with Pat once a month to listen to the pearls of wisdom from this “Man Of God” (cue choir again) and one of the things Pat mentioned was that he hears a lot of stuff and well recently he recommended a stock that went up 40% and you know if you get something like that going well it could pay for what it costs to join the “Chairman” level.

Words are useless at times like this but I wonder how do you go from reading the Bible where Jesus talks about the poor, the least among us and so on and get to this point? How do you reconcile giving this hateful demagogue your hard earned money? For one thing he says things that are very strange for a “Man Of God” (choir again) like assassinating a foreign head of state for example.

Victor Davis Hanson Fantasy World - Democrats Flummoxed By Bush

2005-12-12T08:47:00.000-08:00

Victor Davis Hanson lives in a fantasy world where George Bush is a cunning “conservative” not a radical who is outwitting those stupid Democrats. How you might ask?

“Take the economy. In Bush's first term, the president ballooned the federal deficit. But that red ink wasn't because of too little money coming in. In fact, the ensuing growth of the economy produced more annual adjusted revenue for the Treasury than had been produced before the Bush tax cuts. This year there has been a whopping 14.6 percent increase in federal income over last.”

Then there is this beauty.

“Democrats have tried the ``tax cuts for the wealthy'' approach. But, then, how is it that almost every American got some tax relief -- and that most in the upper brackets still pay over 50 percent of their salaries when federal, state, local and payroll taxes are considered altogether? Furthermore, unemployment and interest rates remain low, while consumer spending and the gross domestic product soar.”

Golly Victor maybe it is because the biggest chunk of the tax cut went to the top 1 percent.

Anyone with a functional memory knew that Bush was reenacting the voodoo economics or trickle down economics of Reagan. So what was to be expected? The biggest defecits in history, just as Reagan had done in the 80’s, although Bush had a surplus when he got in office which makes his feat all the more amazing. This isn’t rocket science this is simply what the radicals like Grover Norquist want ““My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”

He is not joking he is very, very serious. Creating a huge deficit is part of it, by lowering the amount of money that the government collects you will eventually have to start cutting back. Where do you think that will be? Social Security, Medicare and any kind of social safety net of course.

So we know Mr. Hanson is not a conservative as everyone thinks the term means, he is a neo-con which is quite different. A classic conservative would be appalled by the deficits that have been created by the Bush administration as well as his foreign adventure in the middle east and I am sure many of them are. The GOP has been taken over by radicals or a cult as the journalist Seymour Hersh has called it.

Seymour is correct and we haven't even gotten into the delusional statements on Iraq. That would take too much time and in the reality based world I live in I have to go to work.

Wake up U.S.!

The Bush Administration Are Not Conservatives

2005-12-11T22:29:00.000-08:00

They are radicals, the journalist Seymour Hersh says the country has been taken over by a "cult", which I don't disagree with. If what he says is true, how did it happen?

Support The Troops - Join The Army!

2005-12-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

It really is as simple as that. Stickers really don't mean anything, if you have such strong a belief in this war, back it up.

The Grover Norquist Wet Dream Continues

2005-12-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

The insanity must stop. This is not an accident and not a mistake. As Grover Norquist put it “My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” That is what this is all about, starving the government so that these radical conservatives can get rid of any social safety net in this country. They despise it and don't believe in it, if they tell you different, they are lying.

“The House passed a two-year extension of the 2003 tax cut on capital gains and dividends Thursday, but the difficulty Republicans have had pushing through such a core element of President Bush's economic program illustrated the political and fiscal problems the party now faces.
The debate often turned raucous and sarcastic, as Democrats pounded Republicans for extending a tax cut for wealthy investors just three weeks after trimming programs for the poor to rein in budget deficits.
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., pulled out two red Christmas stockings labeled rich and poor, taking packages from the poor stocking and adding it to the rich, until he reached a lump of coal.
"What might be left down here for poor people?" he asked, digging to the bottom of the stocking. "Look at that! A lump of coal. Poor people better save that lump of coal because there's nothing in here for heating bills, and all they're going to have to heat their house is the lump of coal the Republicans put in the poor people's sock."
Democrats pushed a $45 billion, five-year tax-cut package, which left out the extension of the capital gains and dividend tax cuts, but otherwise largely mirrored the host of special tax subsidies in the Republican bill. Democrats claimed that their bill would not increase the deficit because it also called for rolling back Bush's tax cuts for those earning more than $500,000 a year. “

The idea that Democrats would offer any kind of alternative is just disgusting. These tax cuts have created the defecit we are in they need to be abolished and we need to go back to the tax rate we had in 2000 before Bush was elected, I mean appointed.

Read about it here.

John Lennon, Handguns & The USA

2005-12-08T22:15:00.000-08:00

The U.S. is a very, very violent society:

“In 1996, handguns were used to murder 2 people in New Zealand, 15 in Japan, 30 in Great Britain, 106 in Canada and 9,390 in the United States.”

Get more info here.

If anything we have only gotten more violent and paranoid in the last 25 years.

Harold Pinter, The USA And Guatemala = Perfect Timing

2005-12-08T08:45:00.000-08:00

Reading the newspaper this morning about the British playwright Harold Pinter's comments while accepting the Nobel Prize I found this part of interest:

“The playwright Harold Pinter turned his Nobel Prize acceptance speech Wednesday into a furious howl of outrage against American foreign policy, saying that the United States had not only lied to justify waging war against Iraq but had also "supported and in many cases engendered every right-wing military dictatorship" in the last 50 years.
"The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them," Pinter said. "You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis."

Then a few pages later I read this article about recently discovered national police documents in Guatemala that provide proof of what happened to the missing leftists in that long civil war down there.

Timing in life is sometimes too perfect.

Alabama Says No To Shoot First Law

2005-12-07T23:55:00.000-08:00

Nice to know some people have a little sanity left in them. Read about it here.

Bill O'Reilly And His Christmas Crusade

2005-12-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

Bill is so fucking stupid that he wishes Jon Stewart of the Daily Show a Merry Christmas. How stupid is that? Jon Stewart is Jewish that's why. Bill called Comedy Central "Secular Central" as a joke. Good one eh? Want to remember that one for the next cocktail party you attend. Jon went after Bill tonight and let's just say old Billy should never mention Jon Stewart again as long as he lives because his clock was cleaned. Ouch! But the subject of the satire doesn't have to get it for it to be satire to sort of quote Al Franken. Check it out at Crooks and Liars.

Happy Hanukkah, Bill!

Bill O'Reilly And His Jihad Against The Phrase: Happy Holidays

2005-12-07T23:12:00.000-08:00

Bill “American Commissar” O’Reilly is at it again in his ongoing slow descent into delusion. Last year he and some other of his fellow comrades of Fox News started a war against those who are saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. You know, those secular humanists the evil of all evil. Not content with real problems in the world Bill “falafel” O’Reilly is now going to manufacture one.

Here is Bill in all his glory courtesy of Media Matters:

“I am not going to let oppressive, totalitarian, anti-Christian forces in this country diminish and denigrate the holiday and the celebration. I am not going to let it happen. I'm gonna use all the power that I have on radio and television to bring horror into the world of people who are trying to do that. And we have succeeded. You know we've succeeded. They are on the run in corporations, in the media, everywhere. They are on the run, because I will put their face and their name on television, and I will talk about them on the radio if they do it. There is no reason on this earth that all of us cannot celebrate a public holiday devoted to generosity, peace, and love together. There is no reason on the earth that we can't do that. So we are going to do it. And anyone who tries to stop us from doing it is gonna face me.”

“There is no reason on this earth that all of us cannot celebrate a public holiday devoted to generosity, peace, and love together.”

This is my favorite part of the whole rant, besides the delusional belief of Bill’s that somehow he is all powerful, you know like a King or a Czar and is going to personally stop anyone who he thinks is denigrating the holiday, the really troubling thing about it is that I am not Christian and I don’t celebrate Christmas. Just like Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and billions of other people on this planet don’t and Bill and his Billbot followers don’t get it. Celebrate your holiday and leave the rest of us alone.

Remember who you are dealing with a sexual harasser, falafel lover and his teenage fantasies.

Intelligent Design Might Be Meeting Its Maker

2005-12-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

Intelligent design was never a scientific theory it was simply a tool to throw doubt on evolution and stir the fundamentalist Christians of this country into a frenzy. Or to put it more simply another weapon in the god, gays and guns arsenal of the conservative movement of this country. Seems like the game is up though according to this article.

“On college campuses, the movement's theorists are academic pariahs, publicly denounced by their own colleagues. Design proponents have published few papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
The Templeton Foundation, a major supporter of projects seeking to reconcile science and religion, says that after providing a few grants for conferences and courses to debate intelligent design, they asked proponents to submit proposals for actual research.
"They never came in," said Charles L. Harper Jr., senior vice president at the Templeton Foundation, who said that while he was skeptical from the beginning, other foundation officials were initially intrigued and later grew disillusioned.”

It is actually quite funny when you think about it. When the time came to put up or shut up.....well it is quite obvious what this is.

Just What Christ Would Have Done

2005-12-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

Read about it here.

Your President Thinks He Is On A Mission From God

2005-12-04T23:30:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Seymour Hersh and this article.

“Current and former military and intelligence officials have told me that the President remains convinced that it is his personal mission to bring democracy to Iraq, and that he is impervious to political pressure, even from fellow Republicans. They also say that he disparages any information that conflicts with his view of how the war is proceeding.”

“Bush’s closest advisers have long been aware of the religious nature of his policy commitments. In recent interviews, one former senior official, who served in Bush’s first term, spoke extensively about the connection between the President’s religious faith and his view of the war in Iraq. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the former official said, he was told that Bush felt that “God put me here” to deal with the war on terror. The President’s belief was fortified by the Republican sweep in the 2002 congressional elections; Bush saw the victory as a purposeful message from God that “he’s the man,” the former official said. Publicly, Bush depicted his reëlection as a referendum on the war; privately, he spoke of it as another manifestation of divine purpose.”

Are you scared yet? If not, here is some more good news on the man who is supposedly running the country by the name of George Bush.

“The former senior official said that after the election he made a lengthy inspection visit to Iraq and reported his findings to Bush in the White House: “I said to the President, ‘We’re not winning the war.’ And he asked, ‘Are we losing?’ I said, ‘Not yet.’ ” The President, he said, “appeared displeased” with that answer.
“I tried to tell him,” the former senior official said. “And he couldn’t hear it.”

There is much more than that if you have the stomach for it.

Gulf Of Tonkin Incident And Iraq - Just Like Deja Vu All Over Again

2005-12-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

“According to National Security Archive research fellow John Prados, the American people have long deserved to know the full truth about the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The National Security Agency is to be commended for releasing this piece of the puzzle. The parallels between the faulty intelligence on Tonkin Gulf and the manipulated intelligence used to justify the Iraq War make it all the more worthwhile to re-examine the events of August 1964 in light of new evidence."

I couldn’t have said it better.

Read the declassified documents here.

The Bill O'Reilly Breakdown

2005-12-02T08:58:00.000-08:00

If you haven't been following the recent rants of the new Conservative Commissar it really is worth your time. Here at Media Matters you can follow the collapse. Those poor Billbots, what are they going to do when their hero goes down?

Enjoy.

Andrea Mitchell Thinks The American People Are Idiots

2005-12-02T08:40:00.000-08:00

Just saw this over at Crooks and Liars.

Imus: What else is going on-how's Woodward doing, is he going to get off?
Mitchell: Why I don't know, it's just a mess for everyone involved...
Imus: It is?
Mitchell:...but I think Iraq is really what people are focused on here in Washington...

Andrea are you really that dense are you just hoping people don't get it? Or are you hoping people are really that gullible?

Valerie Plame is about Iraq. Even a simpleton knows this. You think she was outed because she works for the post office and her husband is a baker?

These mainstream media people really must go. They are apologists to power, especially GOP power.

Say what you want about the blogs and alternative media but we wouldn't have a clue if it was just these stenographers to power like Mitchell running around telling people misleading information about the world.

Or did you think it was some coincidence that many people in this country thought Iraq had something to do with 9/11?

Sure the president and many others pushed it but who let them say it without correcting them?

Fewer Suicide Bombings in Iraq in November

2005-12-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

Here is the kicker in the article: "85 U.S. troops died during the month, one of the highest tolls since the invasion. "

Kind of puts things in perspective doesn't it?

The Unfortunate Costs Of Doing Business In California

2005-12-02T08:16:00.000-08:00

Read this article and tell me what you think this really means. The company in question was sued for doing something it shouldn't have been doing in the first place and the response is completely ridiculous. This is big business in this country. It is disgusting.

Bombings In Iraq Show Decline

2005-12-01T22:21:00.000-08:00

At least that is what the headline for this article first said when I saw it this afternoon. The reason it caught my eye was because it made no sense if you know what is going on in Iraq. Of course once I read the article I realized it was about suicide bombings. Strange that they should choose to not go with the headline that is up now in the first place. It makes one wonder doesn't it?

The Nation Has A Great Editorial

2005-11-30T23:20:00.000-08:00

Read it here. It slams most of the Democrats for not opposing this war which is a "moral and political catastrophe" and most of the country is finally coming to grips with this fact. Please, somone in the party get some balls and call it for what it is. A disaster that many people predicted and opposed from the start.

President George Bush Has A Plan For Victory

2005-11-30T23:12:00.000-08:00

I am wondering what that victory would be exactly? You mean where the Shiites control the southern part of the country, the Kurds the north and the Sunnis well they get the left over middle with no oil. This of course, is after a bloody and brutal civil war which embroils the rest of the middle east and destabilizes it even further. Mission accomplished.

It actually comes down to the same thing he has been saying all along. Stay the course. Even though the course is a train track heading into an abyss of death and destruction. But hey, who cares he is on a mission from god. All is well.

Rush Limbaugh - A Hate Filled Hillbilly Heroin Addict

2005-11-30T23:07:00.000-08:00

Read about it here. Do you think even his listeners once in a while as they are shaving in the morning or brushing their teeth ever have a moment when they have a brief realization that this guy is a raving, hate filled blowhard and liar? I wonder.

Chris Matthews - Bush Apologist

2005-11-30T23:00:00.000-08:00

This guy is really unbelievable. Read about it here.

Joe Conason Article On Bob Woodward

2005-11-23T11:46:00.000-08:00

Bob Woodward is a shell of what he once was. If you haven't been following Woodward's comments on this whole affair let me put it to you this way. He has been supporting the White House and denouncing the Fitzgerald investigation on a regular basis and claiming there has not been any damage by Plame being outed by that horrible creature of the right wing Bob Novak. But basically in a nutshell all that can be said is that Woodward has been a Bush apologist. It is disgusting. Does any of this have to do with Woodward being a republican?

few credible reports of contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda involved attempts by Saddam Hussein to monitor the terrorist group

2005-11-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

Evidence Keeps Coming Out About the Bush administration Deception On Iraq and the witholding of info from everyone else. Do you think his rating will go up with this now out in the public? What kind of reaction are we going to see from this cornered group of liars? Read about it here.

Below is a small excerpt for you to ponder.

"One of the more intriguing things that Bush was told during the briefing was that the few credible reports of contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda involved attempts by Saddam Hussein to monitor the terrorist group. Saddam viewed Al Qaeda as well as other theocratic radical Islamist organizations as a potential threat to his secular regime. At one point, analysts believed, Saddam considered infiltrating the ranks of Al Qaeda with Iraqi nationals or even Iraqi intelligence operatives to learn more about its inner workings, according to records and sources. "

Did we ever hear anything before the war about this subject. Of course we did many people commented on the fact that Saddam considered Al Qaeda dangerous to his regime. Why? Because he was a secular dictator and Bin Laden considered him an enemy.

Then there is this little nugget.

"The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked the White House for the CIA assessment, the PDB of September 21, 2001, and dozens of other PDBs as part of the committee's ongoing investigation into whether the Bush administration misrepresented intelligence information in the build up to war with Iraq. The Bush administration has refused to turn over these documents. "

Normally I would be reluctant to call people liars. Not so with this neo-con bunch. Not at all.

Keep all this in mind when the administration and their apologists attack anyone who questions their distortions and lies.

George Bush Wanted To Bomb al-Jazeera And No This Is Not A Joke

2005-11-22T11:17:00.000-08:00

Tony Blair talked him out of it. These people are nuts. Yes, I really mean it. Certifiable. Read about it here.

Republicans Refuse To Honor Springsteen

2005-11-21T17:11:00.000-08:00

Now you know how vindictive, petty, mean and nasty they are. These guys never forget or forgive. Your either with them or against them. No in between with this black and white thinking self righteous group.

Dick Cheney - Desperate Liar

2005-11-21T17:00:00.000-08:00

See Dick on the attack now you know what a human equivalent of a cornered dog looks like. You would think there wasn't any videotape out there showing all the things Dick said in building up the fear in this country over WMD in Iraq, linking Iraq to terrorists and Al Qaeda specifically. Oh yeah, I forgot, everyone saw the same intelligence. That's right. Golly gee, sorry Dick.

Now if you would like to buy this lovely tower I own in Paris...

It must be asked: Are they stupid or lying?

Don Rumsfeld - I Didn't Advocate Invasion

2005-11-21T16:56:00.000-08:00

STEPHANOPOULOS: If you had known that no weapons of mass destruction would be found, would you have advocated invasion?
RUMSFELD: I didn’t advocate invasion.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You didn’t?
RUMSFELD: No, I wasn’t asked. If you read all the books and the things —
STEPHANOPOULOS: Why weren’t you asked? That’s very puzzling.
RUMSFELD: Well, I’m sure the president understood what my views were. But as a technical matter, did he ever look and say, “What should we do? Should we go do this or not do that?” This something the president thought through very carefully.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you trying to distance yourself from the war with that –
RUMSFELD: Of course not. Of course not. I agreed completely with the decision to go to war and said that a hundred times. And don’t — don’t even suggest that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I’m just asking.
RUMSFELD: Well, you know better.

Now maybe my memory is really bad but I seem to remember Richard Clarke talking about a meeting held right after 9/11 and they were talking about going into Afghanistan and Rumsfeld said there were no good targets in that country but that there were lots of them in Iraq. Am I remembering this wrong?

Jerry Falwell And His Holy War For Christmas (It's A Christian Holiday Didn't You Know)

2005-11-20T09:51:00.000-08:00

This is a Christian country! Fundamentalists are very worried about the "secularization" of Christmas. Gee, I thought they said commercialization! They aren't worried about that aspect though because their conservative big business friends make way to much money to bring it up. Read about it here.

The Man Who Sold The War

2005-11-19T23:24:00.000-08:00

Alerted to this article published by Rolling Stone magazine over at This Modern World and just the first few paragraphs are like your worst nightmare come to life concerning the selling of this war. Unbelievable and it just gets worse the more you read.

Syriana

2005-11-19T23:10:00.000-08:00

Just saw Ebert & Roeper review the film and both agree it is one of the best of the year. The movie trailer is here and looks very good. The movie is based on a book by a former CIA middle east agent named Robert Baer, so it probably has an element of the truth to it.

Are They Stupid Or Lying?

2005-11-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

Absolutely brilliant and on target comic by Tom Tomorrow about the current revisionist history concerning Iraq by the Bush administration and their apologists .

Are they stupid or lying?

Exactly.

You can print it out and carry with you at all times in case an Iraq war apologist starts ranting. Then remove and make apologist read. Then watch apologist not get it and return to ranting.

GOP Politics Of Withdrawing From Iraq

2005-11-19T15:01:00.000-08:00

Jean Schmidt of Ohio and newest GOP right winger in the Congress calls John Murtha a coward using another person's words and then says she really didn't mean it. These people are pathetic. But of course this is normal conduct from the right wing of this country.

Check out the video courtesy of Crooks and Liars.

Patrick Fitzgerald Is Not Done - Bush, GOP Nightmare Continues

2005-11-18T09:46:00.000-08:00

Unless you think he is doing this for fun.

Want To Hear A Song That: Helps Teach American Youth That ‘Bush Was Right’!?

2005-11-17T16:38:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of the The News Blog

This "song" apprently is by the Right Brothers and the song is called Bush Was Right.

Apparently it is not meant as a satire.

Haven't had time to hear the tune but they use part of the music of a Billy Joel song called "We Didn't Start The Fire". Sort of, I didn't know Billy was a republican!

Here are the lyrics for you to enjoy!

Freedom in Afghanistan, say goodbye TalibanFree elections in Iraq, Saddam Hussein locked upOsama’s staying underground, Al Qaida now is finding outAmerica won’t turn and run once the fighting has begunLibya turns over nukes, Lebanese want freedom, tooSyria is forced to leave, don’t you know that all this meansBush was right!Bush was right!Bush was right!Democracy is on the way, hitting like a tidal wave All over the middle east, dictators walk with shaky kneesDon’t know what they’re gonna do, their worst nightmare is coming trueThey fear the domino effect, they’re all wondering who’s nextBush was right!Bush was right!Bush was right!Ted Kennedy - wrong!Cindy Sheehan - wrong!France - WRONG!Zell Miller - right!Economy is on the rise kicking into overdriveAngry liberals can’t believe it’s cause of W’s policiesUnemployment’s staying down, Democrats are wondering howRevenue is going up, can you say “Tax Cuts”Bush was right!Bush was right!Bush was right!Cheney was right, Condi was right,Rummy was right, Blair was rightYou were right, We were right, “The Right” was rightand Bush was right…Bush was right!Bush was right!What We're AboutWhat We're Fighting For.

A Few Things To Keep In Mind About White House Attacks On Democrats

2005-11-17T15:26:00.000-08:00

These are very, very desperate people. With the President at 36%-38% and the Vice President at 19% in the polls you would think they would look at policy and maybe make some changes. That is not how this bunch operates. They go on the attack.

Here for you to arm yourself with information are the many false or distorted statements made by members of the Bush administration about Iraq.

You can thank Congressman Henry Waxman for this info.

Hawkish Democrat Calls for Iraq Pullout - GOP nightmare gets worse

2005-11-17T12:21:00.000-08:00

"It is time for a change in direction," said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., one of Congress' most hawkish Democrats. "Our military is suffering, the future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf region."

"The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion," Murtha said.

"Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, said Murtha's call for withdrawal was "reprehensible and irresponsible."
"It shows the Democratic Party has chosen a policy of retreat and defeatism which will only encourage the terrorists and threaten the stability of Iraq," Granger said.

These people will never stop connecting Iraq with terrorism even though Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or with Al-Qaeda. The nerve they have to talk about the stability of Iraq after that country was bombed and invaded based on misinformation, distortion and flat out lies is absurd. They are in complete denial of what they have done and continue to do.

Debra J. Saunders - Just Another Conservative. Yawn.

2005-11-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

Debra is at it again, yes that intrepid conservative commentator at the "ultra liberal" San Francisco Chronicle wants you to know how things really are and old Debra is going to lay the facts out for you. Guess what? It turns out that conservatives like her are right and liberals are wrong. It just turns out to always and naturally be that way didn’t you know?

Her new commentary is on global warming. Basically many conservatives don’t like to hear that global warming is caused or substantially helped (fueled?) by pollution from humans on this planet. Why they don’t want this to be true is easy to understand. To change this would involve reducing pollution which would involve a curb on big business and a drastic lifestyle change in the U.S. and conservatives can’t comprehend that sort of thing. I highly recommend you read her commentary if you want a good laugh.

I feel that most people will be able to see the fallacy of her argument quite easily.

Hint: Scientific consensus has been wrong in the past so it must be wrong now. As long as the consensus is not something conservatives want.

Going To A Local Anti-War Rally Tonight

2005-11-16T17:08:00.000-08:00

This will be about my sixth time going to one since February 2003 including one in Sacramento and one in San Francisco. I have also written a couple of letters to the editor against this war and the Bush administration that were all published in our local paper. It is a little different now because the majority of the people are against what is going on. I wonder if it has anything to do with all of the information that has come out lately (in the mainstream media) about how we were deceived into this war with Iraq? Plus, all the dead and wounded both Iraqi and Americans. I was wondering when the swing would happen and it has finally.

Bill O'Reilly - The New McCarthy!

2005-11-15T22:40:00.000-08:00

Bill plans to publish an online enemies list. I can't wait for him to wave a bunch of papers around in his hand and declare that there are over 300 "far left internet smear sites" in the country!

This is a very sick man. He is a dangerous combination of ego, vanity, delusion (he thinks he wields great power and his opinion has great weight in the country) and paranoia. He doesn't know that only his billbot (patent pending) followers believe his misinformation, distortion and flat out lies. Naturally he considers himself a moral person who is correct on all the issues and dispenses the "word" to all liberals and leftists on how things really are.

Me, I just keep thinking about the falafel king and his little teenage sexual fantasies. But maybe you wonder how the woman who was the focus of his lust could afford an 800k condo in New York after settling her sexual harassment lawsuit with Bill. Portable recording devices are wonderful things.

John Cusak - A Not So Nice Rant

2005-11-14T22:58:00.000-08:00

He nails the Bush adminstration and the neo-cons right on the head with his commentary. He also has advice for the Democrats and they would be wise to listen.

Wal Mart - The High Cost Of Low Price

2005-11-14T22:32:00.000-08:00

Me and my wife had a screening last night for the excellent new movie, The High Cost Of Low Price from director Robert Greenwald, who also made the Outfoxed dvd which came out last year about the Fox News channel for which we also had a screening. We had ten people over, mostly friends, and most of us knew something about how awful Wal Mart is but none of us really knew it was this bad. These people are just horrible and on just about every level you can imagine. Health insurance, sexism, anti-union, pay, environment and it just goes on and on. I highly recommend both documentaries.

Good Night, And Good Luck

2005-11-14T08:05:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen the movie yet, go and see it before it's out of the theatres. Extremely relevant and always will be like all good art. Do you think it will be screened in the Whitehouse theatre?

Median Wage Increases

2005-11-14T07:18:00.000-08:00

Kevin Drum has a common sense way to check on the real growth of the economy at the Washington Monthly.

Bill O'Reilly - His Followers Are Now Called Billbots

2005-11-13T23:08:00.000-08:00

Bill O'Reilly is a special case. A man who somehow thinks he weilds great power and has delusions of grandeur to go along with his ego and persecution complex. He went after SF because he didn't like some measures that the people of that city voted on and he definitely didn't like the outcome. You can read about it here.

So in honor of Bill's latest outrage I have a proposal. Rush has his dittoheads, what does Bill have to call his own? I propose we name anyone who listens to this guy and who believes what he says now be called a billbot. All billbots will speak in a monotone voice with no emotion, and no humanity as they greet each other by saying for example, "I am billbot John Smith from Little Rock do you reside in the no spin zone?" If you do not reside in the no spin zone like a billbot does you are deemed unworthy and will be shunned by all good billbots. It would be the official greeting of the like minded.

If I was a writer on the Daily Show I would try and write a funny little script about it. Bill is perfect material. I don't know if Bill is aware of what satire is though, but that doesn't matter, as Al Franken noted "Satire is free speech, even if the object of the satire doesn't get it".

Former Senator John Edwards - I Was Wrong

2005-11-13T22:32:00.000-08:00

What is he be talking about? I wonder what it could possibly be?

Debra Saunders - San Francisco Chronicle

2005-11-13T09:51:00.000-08:00

The right wing commentator of the "ultra liberal" San Francisco Chronicle was on a local tv show this morning and is apparently tired of Democrats doing "revisionist" history concerning the reason for invading Iraq. "They thought Iraq had WMD also", she says. While Democrats may have and voted for it and should be ashamed let us take a real world based approach to this subject. I don't know about you but I can only take so much of this "create their own reality" crowd.

Democrats and Republicans didn't pursue this war with Iraq, the Bush administration that is full of neo-cons did and they used 9/11 and the "war on terror"as a cover for it, or as the Project For The New American Century put it, they needed a "Pearl Harbor like event" to pursue their middle east domination fantasies (control resources, dominate the world etc.) that they have had for quite some time. This war was rolled out by the White House Iraq Group as a marketing strategy to sell the public on this invasion starting in September of 2002 and as it was put by Andy Card "from a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August".

It is now coming to light about fake documents that were supposed to be from Niger were forgeries that came out of Italy and were passed on to the U.S. Naturally the pertinent question is who created these forgeries and for what purpose? Of course right wingers such as Saunders would downplay this by either ignoring it completely, saying it is irrelevant or claiming that it is just "conspiracy nuts" who believe this is important.

They would also downplay the Downing Street Memos that were leaked from our close allies the British who joined our country in this neo-con fantasy of bringing "democracy" to the Middle East by invading and killing tens of thousands of people who just happen to live on an oil rich country.

We don't hear anything about WMD or mushroom clouds anymore just that this is all part of the" war on terror" and that Saddam was a "bad" man. I agree he is a very nasty and brutal dictator and has been since he took power. We liked him just fine when he invaded Iran and started a long war with that country and we still liked him even after he used chemical weapons on his own people. We had no problem with that. We only had a problem when he did something that wasn't part of the paradigm which involved invading Kuwait and stopping the flow of the "spice", sorry I mean the oil!

If we as a country are so interested in "liberating" so many people from oppression I am sure the people of Burma/Myanmar and Tibet are waiting for their freedom any time we can get to them.

I could go on and on about this, there is plenty of information out there if you want to find out the truth as they call it, but suffice it to say a conservative apologist like Debra Saunders would never allow any of this to enter her consciousness.

Revisionist history.
Exactly right Debra, but not in the way you think.

My brother wrote to me with a very good point I forgot to mention, which is that the members of congress did not see the same intelligence that the administration did, which has been mentioned by other people also. So what was the raw data saying? Was there "cherry picking" as it is called. The answer is quite obvious.

The picture used in this blog is not from the show I saw today.

George Bush - Case For War Not Believed

2005-11-13T07:36:00.000-08:00

A picture is worth a thousand words. The sleeping people wake up from their slumber.