Yeah, let's NUKE 'em...! (And the military chiefs are PISSED...!)

was it only a week ago tomorrow that i posted the london telegraph story on the meeting that was scheduled this past monday in the defence ministry of the uk...?

The [UK] Government [was] to hold secret talks with defence chiefs . . . to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.

because they believe...

that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme.

so, THAT story languished in the dustbins of u.s. media for a full friggin' week before we hear from a u.s. media source, seymour hersh in the new yorker, only NOW we're escalating to TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS...

One of the military’s initial option plans, as presented to the White House by the Pentagon this winter, calls for the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against underground nuclear sites.

and this ain't just idle conversation either...

The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups.

the military chiefs are so pissed off they're talking about resigning, and who can blame 'em...?

The attention given to the nuclear option has created serious misgivings inside the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he added, and some officers have talked about resigning.

we're living a six-year, recurring, intensifying bad dream, but the only escape from THIS nightmare is going TO sleep, not waking up... too bad we can't just sleep through it all... if bush has his way, we're may all go PERMANENTLY to sleep...

(thanks to raw story...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Oh, guess what...? Niger FORGED the documents...

well, this has been the rumor all along but, by all means, let's get the rest of the cards on the table...

step into the spotlight, ambassador wilson, and take a bow - and will SOMEBODY please go collar george before he gets away...? he's a slippery little devil...

Two employees of the Niger embassy in Rome were responsible for the forgery of a notorious set of documents used to help justify the Iraq war, an official investigation allegedly found, The London Sunday Times' Mick Smith will report in Sunday papers, RAW STORY has learned.

According to NATO sources who spoke to the SUNDAY TIMES, the investigation has evidence that Niger's consul and its ambassador's personal assistant faked a contract to show Saddam Hussein had bought uranium ore from the impoverished west African country.

The documents, which emerged in 2002, were used in a State Department fact sheet on Iraq's weapons programme to build the case for war. They were denounced as forgeries by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) shortly before the 2003 invasion.

According to the SUNDAY TIMES' sources, an official investigation believes Niger's Adam Maiga Zakariaou, the consul, and Laura Montini, the ambassador's personal assistant, known as La Signora, forged the papers for money.

now, do we get to find out what "unspecified 'intelligence' organization" put up the money...? this is a LOT more suspenseful than CSI but you really have to have both the patience and the stomach for it...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Knight Ridder obviously isn't Bush's poodle

couldn't the wapo sign up some of their folks for a few courses on REAL news reporting from the good people at knight ridder...? hell, the white house did an "ethics refresher," why can't the wapo do a similar thing for journalism...?

The revelation that President Bush authorized former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to divulge classified information about Iraq fits a pattern of selective leaks of secret intelligence to further the administration's political agenda.

[...]

[S]ecret information that supports their policies, particularly about the Iraq war, has surfaced everywhere from the U.N. Security Council to major newspapers and magazines. Much of the information that the administration leaked or declassified, however, has proved to be incomplete, exaggerated, incorrect or fabricated.

anyone who can't see this pattern is either deaf, dumb and blind, deliberately obtuse, brain-cell deficient, oozing kool-aid, or has a gun held to her head... (now that i think about it, for our august media, anyway, it's more likely the latter...)

(once again, thanks to atrios and eschaton...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

If you think you have the power, even if you don't, you do

and here ya have it... just don't lose sight of the fact that the coup d'etat became a fait accompli when george w. bush took the oath of office on january 20, 2001, or, perhaps more accurately, when the supreme court handed down its decision of december 12, 2000...

This theory [of the unitary executive], taken to its logical conclusions, gives the President the ability to treat anyone living in the United States, including particularly U.S. citizens, as wartime enemies without having to prove their disloyalty to anyone outside the executive branch. In so doing, it offers him what can only be called dictatorial powers-- that is, the power to suspend ordinary civil liberties protections on his say so. The limits on what the President may do under this theory are entirely political-- the question is whether the American people will stand for what the President has done if they discover what he has done in their name. But if the American people don't know what their executive is doing, they can hardly be in a position to object. And so the President has tried to keep secret exactly what he has done under the unreasonable and overreaching theory of Presidential power that his Administration has repeatedly asserted in its legal briefs and public statements.

Attorney General Gonzales' latest admission should hardly surprise us once we understand how much power the President actually thinks he has. Given that we will probably never know what the President has been doing in our name, we can only hope that he has not actually tried to exercise all the power he (wrongfully) thinks he possesses.

"how much power the President actually 'thinks' he has" discounts the hardcore reality... as the old aphorism about negotiation goes...

"If you don't think you have the power, even if you do, you don't. If you think you have the power, even if you don't, you do."

(thanks to atrios and eschaton...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

And then there's Maureen

who, of cour$e, we CAN'T read unle$$ we've paid to vault the $tupid nyt firewall...

If W. wants the information out, it's good for the country to make it public. If W. doesn't want the information out, it's bad for the country to make it public.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

And the talking point spin about the leak...?

it is to laugh...

Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman, disputed the charge of a double standard on leaks. "There is a difference between declassifying information in the national interest and the unauthorized disclosure" of national security information, Mr. McClellan said Friday. Of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, part of which Mr. Libby shared with Judith Miller, then a Times reporter, Mr. McClellan said, "There was nothing in there that would compromise national security."

ah, yes... every parent in the world will immediately recognize the old "do as i say, not as i do" argument... what a gigantic pantsload...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

At least the NYT has the huevos to present a modicum of reality

in both the headline...

For President, First a Leak; Now, a Jam

and in the article itself...

• a particularly awkward time for the administration
• the report that the president was himself approving a leak may do serious political damage
• "It does give the public such a powerful example of hypocrisy that I think it might linger for a while"

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

WaPo's VandeHei - and his buddy, Smith - front for Bushco once again - on the front page

you betcha... put it right up there on the front page where everybody can see that it's the top news of the day...

Disclosures Are Called Unrelated To Plame Case
Libby's Lawyer Rebuts Special Prosecutor's Filing

By R. Jeffrey Smith and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, April 8, 2006; Page A01

The revelation of former White House official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's involvement in authorized disclosures of sensitive intelligence information does not undermine Libby's contention that he "innocently forgot"* about conversations he may have had with reporters regarding covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, Libby's attorney said yesterday.

and then spend the bulk of an extra-large, 21-paragraph story repeating over and over that libby's revelation...

• is irrelevant to Libby's defense
• "is a complete sidelight"
• [has] "nothing to do with Wilson's wife"
• the CIA's employment of Plame was of "peripheral" interest to Libby at the time
• "is not material in any way to what he charged, which is perjury"
• authorized disclosures of sensitive intelligence information does not undermine Libby's contention that he "innocently forgot"* about conversations

while at the same time not-so-subtly casting patrick fitzgerald as the bad guy...

• "allegations"* by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald
  
• Fitzgerald's filing was meant specifically to undermine Libby's claim
• Lawyers who have been closely following the case offered contrasting views of the impact Fitzgerald's "allegations"* would have
• Fitzgerald's court filing does not provide the date when Bush and Cheney -- who have both been interviewed by the special prosecutor -- said they authorized Libby's disclosures

[* quotes added for emphasis]

and giving prominent play to the predicted outcome...

• Libby continues to expect to be exonerated at trial.

the only impression you can have after reading this article (and for headline-only readers, it's a no-brainer) is that we are witnessing a ploy by a grandstanding special prosecutor to ratchet up the importance of his investigation and create public support for it by focusing on libby's higher-ups, accusing them of the basest motives in what was not an illegal move in the first place... to give front-page space to the predictable spin from a defense attorney and twist it in this fashion is precisely the kind of "journalist-in-your-pocket" performance we've come to expect from our country's leading news media when they should be asking seriously hardball questions... it's shameful...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Questions, questions and more questions for Dear Leader

jamison foser at media matters poses a few questions...

[T]here are some questions the media should get to the bottom of:

* Is there a process the president must follow in order to declassify a document?

* If so, was that process followed in that case?

* If not, what authority, law, or executive order gives him the ability to ignore the normal declassification process? What is the specific language that gives him that ability?

* If the president does not have to follow any process and can simply declassify a document or information without telling anyone, that means that the rest of the government -- including, for example, the national security adviser, the secretary of defense, and the director of central intelligence -- will continue to think the material is classified. Is that conducive to effective government? Is it a tenable situation for the highest-ranking officials in our government to have different understanding of what is and what is not classified?

and here's some more...

Questions reporters should pursue:

* If Bush declassified the document before Libby met with Miller on July 8, 2003, why did it need to be declassified again on July 18?

* McClellan says the material was declassified because "[i]t was in the public interest that this information be provided, because there was a debate going on in the public about the use of intelligence leading up to the decision to go into Iraq. This is regarding prewar intelligence. And there was a lot of misinformation being put out. There were accusations being leveled against the president and against this White House and this administration that intelligence was misused or manipulated."

* Given that the administration thinks it is in the public interest to provide information relevant to the debate about the use of intelligence leading up to the decision to go into Iraq, will it now publicly release the one-page NIE summaries prepared for Bush that one "senior official" reportedly described as the "one document which illustrates what the president knew and when he knew it"? Or does the administration think only information that seems to support its contentions is "in the public interest"? The summaries reportedly told Bush that the Energy Department and the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research believed that Saddam Hussein's "procurement of high-strength aluminum tubes" was "intended for conventional weapons" -- not, as Bush told the country, for the development of nuclear weapons.

and, while we're in the questioning mood, here's even more...

it's way, way past friggin' time that that worthless bag of crawford shit starts coughing up at least a half-assed response to the american citizens whom he purports to represent as president of the united states...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Karen Hughes gets a BGO (and reveals just how unqualified she is for her job)

absolutely, totally astounding... karen hughes gets a B(linding) G(limpse) of the O(bvious) when she discovers...

...that Americans and foreigners must stand in separate lines in airport immigration, and that the process as a whole is not very "welcoming."

great jumpin' jehoshaphat... airport immigration areas in every country i've ever visited - and that's a lot - have separate lines for citizens and non-citizens (or in the case of eu countries, eu and non-eu)... what this tells me is that 1) karen has done little foreign travel, and 2) the travel she HAS done has been the typical VIP variety where you arrive, deplane, step into a waiting vehicle, and are whisked off for special VIP arrival treatment... nothing like having the person in charge of "improving the U.S. image abroad" reveal herself as a foreign travel ignoramus... but, then again, what would we expect from a bush crony appointment...?

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Happiness (and capitalism) defined...

good enough to share...



(thanks to s in skopje...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

A most interesting question for Bush and Fitz

josh marshall made a very interesting point yesterday about the latest libby/plame/wilson/cia/bush/cheney revelations (see previous post), but robert parry raises an even more interesting question in today's consortium news article...

Lewis Libby’s testimony identifying George W. Bush as the top official who authorized the leaking of intelligence about Iraq’s alleged nuclear weapons program raises two key questions: What did the President tell the special prosecutor about this issue in 2004 and what is Bush’s legal status in the federal criminal probe?

Bush’s legal danger came into clearer focus with the release of a court document citing testimony from Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff who claimed that Bush approved the selective release of intelligence in July 2003 to counter growing complaints that Bush had hyped evidence on Iraq’s pursuit of enriched uranium.

i sure as hell hope dear leader feels the walls closing in... i know you're never supposed to let 'em see you sweat but it would be nice if, at least in private, he's beginning to perspire heavily...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

If it isn't true that Vice President Cheney told Libby that Bush had authorized him to disclose classified information.........

josh marshall in talking points memo raises a damn good point...

Here's a question. If I understand this right, Scooter Libby has sworn under oath that Vice President Cheney told him that President Bush had authorized him to disclose classified information.

Let's set aside the whole question of whether the president can do that or whether there's a specific procedure he has to follow. Just set that issue aside.

If it isn't true that Vice President Cheney told him that, then Vice President Cheney must know that Libby has again perjured himself. I would think the Vice President has an affirmative duty to come forward and say that Libby's testimony is false.

all i can say, josh, is that the only affirmative duties that cheney acknowledges are those that he accepts as legitimate and the only legitimate duties he acknowledges are those he deems as legitimate...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Grandpa's on baby-sitting duty

J-A-C-O-B...! go into the bathroom, get your underpants out of the trash and put them into the laundry basket where they belong...!!

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Juan Cole has the big picture on the "leaker-in-chief"

pictures, links, timeline, all the grisly details... you can't tell one player from another without a program and professor cole does us all a terrific service - as usual... plus, he has this terrific "by-the-way..."

By the way, isn't anyone else outraged that Karl Rove remains in the White House after it was openly revealed that he personally outed an undercover CIA operative for petty political purposes? Why isn't the press demanding his resignation every day?

I predicted this "every man for himself" scenario last November. It seemed to me that the loyal thing to have done would have been to plead guilty, take three years of jail, and then have Bush pardon Libby just as he was going out of office. Libby is loyal to no one but himself, obviously.

when you're a criminal and a thief and surround yourself with criminals and thieves, you reap what you sow...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

The net is tightening, George...

and i don't wanna hear any crap about how you're just an innocent dolphin caught up in the tuna net...

A former White House aide under indictment for obstructing a leak probe, I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that he gave information from a closely-guarded "National Intelligence Estimate" on Iraq to a New York Times reporter in 2003 with the specific permission of President Bush, according to a new court filing from the special prosecutor in the case.

The court papers from the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, do not suggest that Mr. Bush violated any law or rule. However, the new disclosure could be awkward for the president because it places him, for the first time, directly in a chain of events that led to a meeting where prosecutors contend the identity of a CIA employee, Valerie Plame, was provided to a reporter.

it don't look good, george... not good at all...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Gloves off...? Ok... I'm waiting... And waiting... And waiting...

georgia10 at daily kos fantasizes about how the house dems might decide to band together against corruption and abuses of power...

i sure as hell hope it comes to pass real soon cuz, god knows, we've already waited much, much too long...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Iran's U.N. Ambassador speaks

of course, his remarks will be roundly pooh-pooh'd by the wh/neo-con gang who are dead set on regime change in iran and are working long and hard to bring the pot to a rolling boil...

the first and last paragraphs from today's nyt...

The controversy over Iran's peaceful nuclear program has obscured one point in particular: There need not be a crisis. A solution to the situation is possible and eminently within reach.

[...]

Pressure and threats do not resolve problems. Finding solutions requires political will and a readiness to engage in serious negotiations. Iran is ready. We hope the rest of the world will join us.

the sad thing about today's media, political and foreign relations environments is that it's extraordinarily difficult to determine when someone's telling the truth or just posturing... as more and more ugliness leaks out, it appears more and more that posturing and spin are the order of the day...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

DeLay being persecuted for his Christianity...? What a gigantic crock o's***...!

how typical of everyone who orbits in the upper reaches of the bushco/r universe... he's being hounded from office because of his RELIGION, not because of his unethical behavior... PUH-L-E-E-E-EZE... i think the vast majority of the american people, myself included, have great respect for people of faith... an elected leader enriching himself, fortifying the power of his political party at taxpayer's expense, and selling favorable influence and legislation to the highest bidder while claiming to be a person of the highest moral and religious principles is another matter entirely...

Blame it on the vast anti-Christian conspiracy. That was the explanation offered by U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas and his supporters last week for the whirlpool of legal difficulties that finally led the ex-leader of the Republicans in Congress to admit it was time to call it quits.

The convener of a "War on Christians" conference held in the nation's capital outrageously depicted the former House majority leader's political plight as the unwarranted crucifixion of a Christ-like leader by God-haters. And, with his trademark gall, the infamously ethically challenged DeLay eagerly embraced this explanation when it was his turn to speak to the adoring crowd.

"We have been chosen to live as Christians at a time when our culture is being poisoned and our world is being threatened," thundered the Texan pest-control entrepreneur who rose to become one of America's most powerful politicians. "The enemies of virtue may be on the march, but they have not won."

the CHAMPIONS of virtue are the ones who are speaking out about the criminals that have taken over our government and the religious fanatics that are trying to shove a one-size-fits-all religious fundamentalism down everyone's throats...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Guantanamo Teach-In

what a terrific idea...! maybe, just maybe, this could be the start of the national debate we so desperately need as our constitution is being shredded in front of our very eyes...

Seton Hall University School of Law

The Guantanamo Teach-In: The Constitution, the Rule of Law and the Role of Lawyers

On October 5th, academic institutions across the United States will join together in the first national effort to study the unprecedented action of our Government in indefinitely detaining at least 517 individuals claimed to be "enemy combatants" but not "prisoners of war." The Constitution, the Rule of Law and the Role of Lawyers will explore, in Teach-In format, the legal, political, and moral implications of the Detention Center at the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

While all Americans agree on the need to deal effectively with the threat of terrorism, it is increasingly clear that few of the so-called "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo continue to pose a threat to the United States, if they ever did. A group of attorneys dedicated to the rule of law has long struggled to secure for the detainees the rudiments of American due process -- a fair hearing before impartial judges. The Guantanamo Teach-in will be your opportunity to understand, participate in, and critique these efforts.

(thanks to jeralyn at talkleft...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Maybe having Dubai Ports running things wasn't such a bad idea...?

do you have any idea how many of those 40-ft. containers go in and out of the u.s. on a daily basis...? conservatively, i would peg it at least in the low 6 figures...

these poor folks just so happened to get caught...

Twenty-two Chinese nationals were in custody Wednesday after they apparently let themselves out of a 40-foot cargo container that had been used to smuggle them from China, officials said.

The 18 men and four women, all believed to be in their 20s and 30s, seemed to be in good physical condition after about two weeks in the container, said Michael Milne, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Port of Seattle security guards spotted the group about 1 a.m.

Milne said there was no evidence of "any real criminal or terrorist activity ... just an alien smuggling operation."

oh, just your garden variety alien smuggling operation... oh, well then... clearly nothing to be concerned about...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Jesus' General hits a home run on the Mexican flag issue

no comment necessary...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Important information from Homeland Security

Do not drive a station wagon
if a power pole is protruding
from the hood.

absolutely hysterical... made my day... before looking at these and releasing laughter endorphins, the day was slowly heading south... by all means, go look at the rest...

(thanks to john at americablog who in turn credits linda in the comments for the link...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Tommy-boy - manipulative, vindictive, mean and self-pitying

looks like the hammer was playing "whack-a-mole" with his own potential successors...

Under siege from state and federal probes into his actions and those of his closest aides and advisers, Rep. Tom DeLay had considered resigning on several occasions over the past four months. But he waited until after he had vanquished his challengers in the Republican primary to deny them the chance to become his successor, associates said.

ok, now it's time to get out your handkerchiefs...

They also cited what the Texas Republican has privately described at his frustration at no longer being a part of the House leadership, and his diminished satisfaction with rank-and-file congressional life.

w-a-a-a-a-a-aah...! ~rubs tears out of my eyes~

i'm tempted to say let's see how he likes being just one of the hoi polloi but i suspect he's someone that will bust his butt to find a way to continue to breathe the rarified air of big money and power...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Democracy in Iraq...? Forget it...!

Democracy In Iraq Not A Priority in U.S. Budget

While President Bush vows to transform Iraq into a beacon of democracy in the Middle East, his administration has been scaling back funding for the main organizations trying to carry out his vision by building democratic institutions such as political parties and civil society groups.

The administration has included limited new money for traditional democracy promotion in budget requests to Congress. Some organizations face funding cutoffs this month, while others struggle to stretch resources through the summer. The shortfall threatens projects that teach Iraqis how to create and sustain political parties, think tanks, human rights groups, independent media outlets, trade unions and other elements of democratic society.

The shift in funding priorities comes as security costs are eating up an enormous share of U.S. funds for Iraq and the administration has already ratcheted back ambitions for reconstructing the country's battered infrastructure.

'scuse me...! 'SCUSE ME...! i read that wapo front page headline and nearly fell out of my chair... we've been lied to all along about iraq, we've heard one justification after another for an illegal war, had the u.s. mission to export democracy around the world shoved down our throats, and now THIS...? where in god's name does it all end...?

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Amnesty International report issued

i posted yesterday that amnesty international would issue their report last evening... actually, it was released today... raw story has the scoop and you can read the full report here...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Greg Sargent comments on Murray Waas and Valerie Plame

i posted on murray waas' national journal article last week... greg sargent builds on murray's article and 'splains it all for you...

The history of recent presidential deception tells us that the small, initial cover-ups, ones which at first appear to make little sense, are frequently motivated by a desire to prevent other, larger damaging revelations from surfacing. If Waas is right, it seems plausible that the whole sordid saga unfolded this way:

White House officials, including Bush himself, withheld critical information it had about doubts over supposed evidence of Saddam's nuke ambitions in order to better make the case for war. Then they subsequently discovered that hard evidence existed of that duplicity. Then, anxious that this evidence might surface before the 2004 reelection, they engaged in a relentless campaign to cover up what really happened during the Iraq run-up and to prevent an aggressive congressional investigation until after the election. They relied on Pat Roberts to run a pseudo-investigation; they withheld the daily briefs; they leaned on Hill allies not to talk to the press. And they obscured their role in the outing of Plame to prevent an outcry that would have certainly forced Congress and the press to probe far more aggressively than they did. And they succeeded: If Congress and the press had been more aggressive -- and this may be the real significance of Waas's story -- it's perfectly possible that John Kerry would now be president.

If that’s how it happened, then it may be only a matter of time before the whole story comes tumbling out. Waas has reported that there’s a piece of paper out there that proves Bush deceived the nation during the run-up to the war. The nation’s premiere investigative reporters, one would think, would very much like to see that piece of paper for themselves. And if there’s one thing recent history tells us, it’s that the small, short-term cover-ups never do succeed in preventing the larger story from coming to light. That larger story is still waiting to be told in all its gristly detail – and, eventually, reporters other than Murray Waas will get around to telling it.

dribble, dribble, drip, drip, piece by piece, we're gettin' the truth... i'm just sayin'...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

DeLay's departure: follow the money

arianna huffington shares some observations on the timing of delay's exit...

In this morning's Washington Post, R. Jeffery Smith reports that under federal election rules DeLay is permitted to "convert any or all of the remaining funds from his reelection campaign to his legal expenses, whether or not he resigns, is indicted or loses the election.
Election lawyers say one advantage of bowing out of the election now is that the campaign cash can be converted to pay legal bills immediately, instead of being drained in the course of a bid to stay in office."

Now that's what I call a money graph!

Lending credence to "the money made him do it" theory is the Hammer himself, who said of his sudden resignation: "I think I could have won this seat but it would have been nasty. It would have cost a fortune to do it."

A fortune he apparently thinks would be better spent on his pending money-laundering trial and on the federal conspiracy charges that could be heading his way. Take note: as of February 15th, DeLay had close to $1.3 million squirreled away in his campaign war chest -- 1.3 million reasons for moving out of the House sooner than later.

them attorneys tend to want their pound of flesh and they really ain't too keen on doing such a hot job for you if you don't pay 'em...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Rumsfeld and the R's "stamping out dissent...?" Who knew...?

i've spoken with a number of both active duty and retired military over the past three years and, to a man, they despise rumsfeld and believe he's destroying the u.s. armed forces... but they also acknowledge that speaking out, even if you're retired, is tantamount to painting a target on your back in the current climate of repression of open debate...

"I feel I'm working for a bunch of politicians," said one outstanding officer of the generals and admirals he works for. "Only in their not-for-attribution speeches at the war colleges they say they need more troops for Iraq. Gen. Zinni is my hero." Retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni -- former commander of U. S. Central Command, which includes Iraq -- has spoken out publicly about the folly of invading and occupying Iraq.

[...]

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton recently wrote in The New York Times that "in the five years Mr. Rumsfeld has presided over the Pentagon I have seen a climate of groupthink become dominant and a growing reluctance by experienced military men and civilians to challenge the notions of the senior leadership."

[...]

Congress owes it to itself and the country to call in the chiefs and ask them point blank if they are really speaking their minds on Iraq and other life-and-death issues.

And if not, why not?

a reluctance to challenge is heavily linked to the instinct for survival...

(thanks to think progress...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

And his legacy lives on

do ya think he's gonna hafta pay his own green fees now...?
~ponders~
pro'ly not...

Criminally-indicted Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) announced last night that "he will not seek reelection and will leave Congress within months." According to DeLay, he has been chosen as a "target" because he was "effective" and accomplished "some pretty amazing things." But the truth is that Tom DeLay's extensive corruption and bitter ultra-partisan activism had finally caught up with him -- costing him his Majority Leader title, turning him into a national political pariah, and eventually shifting his conservative Texas district against him. DeLay will reportedly leave Congress by the end of May, and says he plans to "pursue an aggressive speaking and organizing campaign aimed at promoting foster care, Republican candidates and a closer connection between religion and government." But despite his absence, the House of Representatives will remain the House of DeLay. The overwhelming majority of House conservatives supported the "DeLay Rule" that was "custom tailored for Majority Leader DeLay to avoid stepping down even after indictment." House conservatives rigged the ethics committee to protect DeLay from being penalized. And they rushed to his side with support even after the full extent of his corruption became evident. As Josh Marshall writes, "He's their guy. Their rule rests on his machine. They can run but they can't hide."

(thanks to the progress report..)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Oh. Dear. God.

A CBS Deal With Katie Couric May Be Near

CBS's long courtship of Katie Couric has moved close to a conclusion. A deal to recruit her away from NBC's "Today" show and into the nightly anchor chair at CBS News may be completed as early as this week, people close to the negotiations said yesterday.

I realize that it's just me...or is it? I have never gotten Katie Couric's appeal.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Meet the Mexican multi-billionaire who owns most of Latin America and a big chunk of the rest of the world

Carlos Slim Helú

Verizon Communications announced Monday that it was selling its interests in phone companies in Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic for $3.7 billion, saying they no longer fit in with its business focus.

All three transactions involved América Móvil, a large cellular telephone service provider controlled by the Mexican multibillionaire Carlos Slim Helú that has grown steadily across Latin America as global telecommunications companies withdrew from some national markets.

Carlos Slim Helu

Born: 28-Jan-1940
Birthplace: Mexico City, Mexico

Nationality: Mexico
Executive summary: World's 4th richest man, 2005

Primarily invested in telephone industry, Carlos Slim Helu is Latin America's richest man. He runs Mexico's largest cellular phone company (América Movil), as well as the virtual monopoly on landlines (Telmex). But Slim's greatest asset is diversification: his investment group Grupo Carso owns an ISP (Prodigy), an online bank, department stores, a cigarette company (Cigatam), and a restaurant chain with hundreds of locations.

Member of the Board of Philip Morris
Member of the Board of SBC
New York Stock Exchange President, Latin-American Committee NYSE Administration Council
Lebanese Ancestry

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Whoop, Whoop, Yee-HAH, Y-E-S-SSSSS...!

so long, tommy-boy, and don't let the screen door hit you in the ass on the way out...

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texan touched by a lobbying scandal that ensnared some of his former top aides and cost the congressman to his leadership post, won't seek re-election to Congress, a Republican official said Monday.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Jason Leopold at Truthout has a major story on Fitz and Plame

the thumbnail is that fitz has known the leaker's identity since february 2004 and. . .

. . . that John Hannah, a senior national security aide on loan to Vice President Dick Cheney from then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John Bolton, decided to cooperate with the investigation or face criminal charges for his involvement in the leak.

rove may still be goin' down... read it all here...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Amnesty International documents CIA rendition flights

the report, entitled "Below the Radar: Secret flights to Torture and 'Disappearance'," was scheduled to be released at 7 p.m. EDT this evening...

Amnesty International is set to release a report claiming that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used private aircraft operators and front companies to hide CIA rendition flights and "black site" detention facilities in foreign countries.

The report also details dozens of destinations around the world where planes associated with rendition flights landed and took off. In addition, the report lists the private airlines with permission to land at U.S. military bases worldwide.

like i keep saying, bit by bit, dribble by dribble, the truth is coming out...

(thanks to raw story...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Brazil's Lula lashes out

a week ago today, march 27, brazil's president spoke at the 8th conference of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8) in curitiba, brazil... he pointed out some of the very same things i've been repeatedly pointing out on this weblog, the most recent of which was yesterday...

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva . . . castigated the wealthy and technologically advanced countries of the world for failing to live up to their responsibility in tackling poverty and environmental degradation on the planet.

[...]

In his speech at a ministerial-level meeting on biodiversity, the popular Brazilian leader, known widely as "Lula", also criticised the West for what many economists consider unsustainable patterns of consuming the world's resources, which are contributing to an alarming level of poverty. In 1980, the rich had 30 times more wealth than the poor, noted Lula. Now that ratio has almost doubled.

"The industrialised nations spend about 900 billion dollars to defend their national borders," the Brazilian president said. "But they allocate less than 60 billion dollars for development in poor countries, where hunger has become a silent weapon of mass destruction."

Lula told delegates that the developed world is willfully neglecting the widening gulf between the rich and poor because it continues to cling to a model of development that has no room for collective sharing of resources and lacks concern for environmental degradation.

590 million people in latin america will have gone to the polls by early 2007... that's over 80% of the population... as ever more countries in the region make a left turn, it would behoove the u.s. and the rest of the so-called "first world" to listen a bit more closely to those who are articulating displeasure with their policies...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Chomsky: Bush adminstration consciously increasing the threat of terror and making it impossible to carry out social policies

let's take it from the top... one more time... bushco's agenda has been abundantly clear for quite a while but, understandably, it's so appalling that a lot of folks just don't want to believe it...

NOAM CHOMSKY: Bush administration policies have, again, consciously been carried out in a way, which they know is likely to increase the threat of terror. The most obvious example is the Iraq invasion. That was undertaken with the anticipation that it would be very likely to increase the threat of terror and also nuclear proliferation. And, in fact, that's exactly what happened, according to the judgment of the CIA, National Intelligence Council, foreign intelligence agencies, independent specialists. They all point out that, yes, as anticipated, it increased the threat of terror. In fact, it did so in ways well beyond what was anticipated.

NOAM CHOMSKY: [T]hey have barely managed to hold on to political power and are attempting to use it to dismantle the institutional structure that has been built up over many years with enormous popular support -- the limited benefits system.The tax cuts, overwhelmingly for the rich, are purposely creating a future situation -- first of all, a kind of fiscal train wreck in the future -- but also a situation in which it will be virtually impossible to carry out the kinds of social policies that the public overwhelmingly supports.

• establish a climate of global chaos, violence and general unrest

• create and maintain a high level of fear in the u.s. and globally

• accumulate increasing levels of power in the executive, disregarding the balance of powers and checks and balances

• eliminate any implied or explicit social contract

• establish social controls through direct government interference and indirectly through alliances with extremist religious groups

• insure vast sums of money are flowing to those who are committed to staying in power

• exercise tight controls over the flow of information

any one of us could easily go through the above list, point by point, and fill in all of the tactics that have been utilized to accomplish each item... when the full realization of how we have been duped finally hits, it will blow our socks off, even those of us who have been paying attention... chomsky closes with this thought...

NOAM CHOMSKY: [T]he U.S. population is opposed [to what the Bush administration is doing], but is excluded from the political system. That's a democratic deficit. It's one we can deal with, too.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Cheese-eating surrender monkeys buy U.S. company

after the dubai ports debacle, this is simply too good a snark to pass up...

France's Alcatel yesterday said it agreed to acquire Lucent Technologies Inc. for about $13.4 billion in stock in a deal analysts said would create the largest equipment supplier to telephone and wireless carriers around the world.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

MEMO To: Condi; Cc: Jack; SUBJECT: While you were out

(thanks to juan cole...)

In a macabre harvest, 42 bodies were found in various places in Iraq on Saturday, killed in night-time sectarian reprisals.

AP counts another 19 killed in separate incidents in Baghdad, Basra and elsewhere. In Basra, a Sunni cleric was killed. On Friday evening a minibus full of Shiites was shot up, with 5 deaths.

The price of fuel in Iraq has gone way up.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

If putting all electronic communications in Bush's hands doesn't make your blood run cold, you may already be dead

read this very carefully... the implication is nothing more and nothing less than that, if this is fully implemented, we can kiss our access to truth goodbye...

This is the age of information warfare, and details of how this new military doctrine will affect everyone on the planet are contained in a report, entitled The Information Operations Roadmap, commissioned and approved by US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld and seen by the Sunday Herald.

The Pentagon has already signed off $383 million to force through the document’s recommendations by 2009. Military and intelligence sources in the US talk of “a revolution in the concept of warfare”. The report orders three new developments in America’s approach to warfare:

• Firstly, the Pentagon says it will wage war against the internet in order to dominate the realm of communications, prevent digital attacks on the US and its allies, and to have the upper hand when launching cyber-attacks against enemies.

• Secondly, psychological military operations, known as psyops, will be at the heart of future military action. Psyops involve using any media – from newspapers, books and posters to the internet, music, Blackberrys and personal digital assistants (PDAs) – to put out black propaganda to assist government and military strategy. Psyops involve the dissemination of lies and fake stories and releasing information to wrong-foot the enemy.

• Thirdly, the US wants to take control of the Earth’s electromagnetic spectrum, allowing US war planners to dominate mobile phones, PDAs, the web, radio, TV and other forms of modern communication. That could see entire countries denied access to telecommunications at the flick of a switch by America.

this tells you everything you need to know about why the u.s. was so opposed to the shift of the control of icann and the governance of the internet to an international body at the world summit on the information society in tunis last year...

The United States argue[d] that giving the control of Internet domain names to international bureaucrats and governments may lead to massive censorship that could destroy the freedom of the Internet as a public space.

"may lead to massive censorship..." HA...! ya gotta love the spin... now, please excuse me while i go toss up my blt and baked beans...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Planning an attack in Iran - deja vu all over again...

haven't we already seen this movie...?

The [UK] Government is to hold secret talks with defence chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.

A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran.

It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme.

[...]

The United States government is hopeful that the military operation will be a multinational mission, but defence chiefs believe that the Bush administration is prepared to launch the attack on its own or with the assistance of Israel, if there is little international support. British military chiefs believe an attack would be limited to a series of air strikes against nuclear plants - a land assault is not being considered at the moment.

[...]

Tactical Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from US navy ships and submarines in the Gulf would, it is believed, target Iran's air defence systems at the nuclear installations.

That would enable attacks by B2 stealth bombers equipped with eight 4,500lb enhanced BLU-28 satellite-guided bunker-busting bombs, flying from Diego Garcia, the isolated US Navy base in the Indian Ocean, RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Whiteman USAF base in Missouri.

we simply cannot allow this to happen... we simply MUST not allow this to happen... this is flat-out friggin' INSANITY...!

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, former head of Central Command for US forces in the Middle East, ain't buyin' it

yep, yep, yep... besides thanking god he's retired, zinni's also probably wondering when his retirement pay is going to be axed...

Gen. Anthony Zinni . . . this morning on Meet the Press...

RUSSERT: Do you believe the American media is distorting the news from Iraq or presenting an accurate picture?

ZINNI: Well, I think the American media is being made a scapegoat for what’s going on out there.

[...]

And you have to remember that it’s hard to dwell on the good things when the bad things are so overwhelmingly traumatic and catastrophic. So I think that’s an unfair blame that’s put on the media. I think that there probably are good things at the lower level, but are they balanced out by the bad things that are happening? All the good things happening out there will mean nothing if this unity government doesn’t come together.

of COURSE there's some good things happening... it'd be a nightmare beyond comprehension if there wasn't... but, zinni's goddam right, the weight of the on-going horror FAR outweighs the good stuff and it's good to hear bush and rove being called on their bullshit...

(thanks to think progress...)

[UPDATE]

Zinni: There’s a series of disastrous mistakes. We just heard the Secretary of State say these were tactical mistakes. These were not tactical mistakes. These were strategic mistakes, mistakes of policies made back here. Don’t blame the troops.

(thanks to crooks and liars...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Condi and Jack's excellent adventure

ain't it sweet that they're getting along so well...? condi shows jack the deep south in the u.s., jack shows condi around jolly old england, and, suddenly, whaddaya know, they take off for a romantic weekend in iraq...



the caption of this bbc photo says that
condi appeared "stiff..."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw have met Iraq's leaders for talks during a surprise trip to Baghdad. The pair travelled on an unannounced visit from the UK, after Ms Rice's two-day stay there hosted by Mr Straw. The talks with Iraqi PM Ibrahim Jaafari and President Jalal Talabani come as Iraqi politicians are struggling to form a government of national unity.

Ms Rice said the US regarded the formation as a "matter of urgency". Mr Straw added: "We need to see progress and that is in everybody's interest."

meanwhile, outside the green zone...

• At least four bodies are found in the Iraqi capital

• Insurgents are reported to have blown up a small Shia mosque in the village of Kibba near Baquba, north-east of Baghdad, but there are no reports of any casualties

• Two pilots of a US helicopter that crashed after coming under hostile fire on Saturday are presumed dead, the US military says

• Two US soldiers were also killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol in central Baghdad late on Saturday.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Shame, shame, shame

the nyt allocates shame in two of today's editorials...

• Iraq is becoming a country that America should be ashamed to support, let alone occupy. The nation as a whole is sliding closer to open civil war. In its capital, thugs kidnap and torture innocent civilians with impunity, then murder them for their religious beliefs. The rights of women are evaporating. The head of the government is the ally of a radical anti-American cleric who leads a powerful private militia that is behind much of the sectarian terror.

• [J]ustices do have a duty to avoid off-the-bench behavior hurtful to the court's reputation and mission, which Justice Antonin Scalia, sad to say, keeps ignoring.
  
  In January, Justice Scalia skipped the swearing-in of Chief Justice John Roberts for a trip sponsored by the Federalist Society to a luxury resort in Colorado. In February, he suggested that those who adhere to a vision of an evolving Constitution, rather than his originalist philosophy of judging, are "idiots." This past week found the conservative justice insisting that a hand gesture he used while answering a question about church-state jurisprudence was not vulgar.
  
  And speaking on March 8 at a university in Switzerland, he dismissed as "crazy" the notion that military detainees are entitled to a "full jury trial..."

yes indeed, there's a great deal we can all be ashamed of and the majority of it has accumulated in just the past six years...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

You're right, Mr. Spock. By today's standards, not wanting to rake in huge profits is illogical.

Oh! My! God! how can A-N-Y-B-O-D-Y NOT be in it for the money...???

There is another breed of rival lurking online for traditional media, and it is perhaps the most vexing yet: call it purpose-driven media, with a shout-out to Rick Warren, the author of "A Purpose-Driven Life," for borrowing his catchphrase.

These are new-media ventures that leave the competition scratching their heads because they don't really aim to compete in the first place; their creators are merely taking advantage of the economics of the online medium to do something that they feel good about. They would certainly like to cover their costs and maybe make a buck or two, but really, they're not in it for the money. By purely commercial measures, they are illogical.

Probably the best-known practitioner is Craigslist.org, the online listing site. Although it is routinely described as a competitor with — and the bane of — newspaper classified ads, the site is mostly a free listings service that acts as a community resource.

[...]

And let's not forget that Google began life as one of these
ventures . . .

[...]

The shining example is the Firefox browser* that is available free for download and has emerged as a credible rival to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. And, for icing on the cake, Firefox makes money for its not-for-profit owners because Google pays to be its search engine.

let the competition scratch their heads until they're bald... seeing successful enterprises arise that are doing "something that they feel good about" is truly inspiring...

* Note: profmarcus is a very satisfied firefox user...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Peru considers joining most of the rest of S. America in taking a left turn

the good news is that at least peru isn't having to contend with a fujimori comeback...

[P]oor Peruvians are helping make a front-runner out of Ollanta Humala, an authoritarian, nationalistic ex-military commander who promises to redistribute wealth like a 21st-century Robin Hood.

[...]

Foreign critics often compare Humala to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The two are friends who share a penchant for tough talk, revolutionary rhetoric and a deep distrust of the free-market policies that many economists say have helped Peru achieve record economic growth . That growth, Humala contends, hasn't translated into new jobs, relieved the poverty and illiteracy plaguing the countryside or increased social services.

"We are living a dictatorship of the rich," Humala, 43, said last week while campaigning in the southern city of Tacna. "I am happy that the rich and powerful call me anti-system if it is their system that keeps Peru in poverty and misery."

the world, particularly the u.s., would do well to seriously ponder why argentina, bolivia, brazil, chile, ecuador, uruguay and venezuela have tilted decidedely left, why peru may head that way this week, and why mexico could very well do so in july...

the vaunted benefits of globalization, privatization, and free trade have done little to alleviate the chronic poverty of the latin american people... the giant global corporations are killing domestic businesses in latin america in much the same way that wal-mart is killing off mom and pop stores throughout the u.s... (there are now 12 wal-mart supercenters in argentina... other latin american countries with a wal-mart presence are brazil, costa rica, el salvador, guatemala, honduras, mexico, and nicaragua...) pick up any product off the shelves of an argentine supermarket and find the manufacturer's name at the bottom of the label on the back side... what you will see is proctor and gamble, unilever, nestle, etc...



what needs to be kept in mind by us navel-gazing folks in the u.s. is that, in an 18-month period between mid-last year and early 2007, 520 million people in 19 latin american countries will have gone to the polls... that's 80% of the population of latin america... if the trend to center-left and left continues, we may soon have a deep blue southern hemisphere...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments