And, yes, I DO take it personally: 05/07/2006 - 05/14/2006
Mandy: Great blog!
Mark: Thanks to all the contributors on this blog. When I want to get information on the events that really matter, I come here.
Penny: I'm glad I found your blog (from a comment on Think Progress), it's comprehensive and very insightful.
Eric: Nice site....I enjoyed it and will be back.
nora kelly: I enjoy your site. Keep it up! I particularly like your insights on Latin America.
Alison: Loquacious as ever with a touch of elegance -- & right on target as usual!
"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it."
- Noam Chomsky
the blogosphere has been awash with speculation and no one has been more on top of what's been going on with patrick fitzgerald's investigation than jason leopold at truthout...
Within the last week, Karl Rove told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, as well as a few other high level administration officials, that he will be indicted in the CIA leak case and will immediately resign his White House job when the special counsel publicly announces the charges against him, according to sources.
Details of Rove's discussions with the president and Bolten have spread through the corridors of the White House where low-level staffers and senior officials were trying to determine how the indictment would impact an administration that has been mired in a number of high-profile political scandals for nearly a year, said a half-dozen White House aides and two senior officials who work at the Republican National Committee.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, sources confirmed Rove's indictment is imminent. These individuals requested anonymity saying they were not authorized to speak publicly about Rove's situation. A spokesman in the White House press office said they would not comment on "wildly speculative rumors."
Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, did not return a call for comment Friday.
Rove's announcement to President Bush and Bolten comes more than a month after he alerted the new chief of staff to a meeting his attorney had with Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in which Fitzgerald told Luskin that his case against Rove would soon be coming to a close and that he was leaning toward charging Rove with perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators, according to sources close to the investigation.
rove's indictment may be the end of bush... it's hard to see how he'll be able to continue if the very person with whom he has been joined at the hip for over 30 years bites the dust... but the wh is already trying to spin it...
"We need to start fresh and we can't do that with the uncertainty of Karl's case hanging over our heads," said one White House aide. "There's no doubt that it will be front page news if and when (an indictment) happens. But eventually it will become old news quickly. The key issue here is that the president or Mr. Bolten respond to the charges immediately, make a statement and then move on to other important policy issues and keep that as the main focus going forward."
oh, puh-l-e-e-e-eze... it AIN'T gonna become old news quickly... bush is going to have to figure out how to proceed after suffering a lobotomy and i, for one, don't think he can pull it off... god knows, he's been having enough trouble already...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
"Growing accustomed" is a thin excuse for allowing criminal activity
if a story intro like the following was dreamed up by the wapo to suggest that, "oh, well, what the hell, people are getting used to being spyed on so what's the big deal?" it fails miserably...
Consumers Grow Accustomed to Surrendering Personal Data
i said in a previous post that i came to the conclusion years ago that all of my electronic communication and transactions were being logged and passed along to my government, but that doesn't make it any the less outrageous, or ok, or, for that matter, legal...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
Assuming Bush wants to make America safe from terrorists is a flawed assumption
that's never been the intent and continuing to make that assumption has become a particularly dangerous form of denial... if bushco's aim was to make america safe from terrorism, we wouldn't be in the state we are now... however, when you frame the seemingly incompetent and irrational actions of the bush administration as a massive effort to instill fear, gain unfettered power, and exert absolute control over world resources, they become the essence of logic and reason...
George W. Bush’s warrantless phone data collection may not only violate the U.S. Constitution but expend so much money and manpower that America is made less safe – by diverting resources away from more practical steps, like inspecting cargo and hiring translators.
CIA head Porter Goss announces his resignation next to George Bush Mr Foggo's retirement came days after the resignation of Porter Goss US federal agents have searched the house and office of the outgoing executive director of the CIA.
Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, formerly the third-ranking official at the spy agency, announced his retirement earlier this week.
He has been linked to a probe into possible corruption involving agency contracts, but denies any wrongdoing.
The raid comes at a time of upheaval for the CIA after the shock resignation of its head, Porter Goss, last week.
FBI agents with warrants searched Mr Foggo's home in Virginia and his office at the CIA headquarters, FBI spokeswoman April Langwell said.
She said Mr Foggo was being investigated by five government agencies.
had to get po'go outta there b4 the shit hit the fan...
with 29% in the polls, the telco/nsa revelations, the goss/foggo/wilkes/cunningham mess, retired generals baying like bloodhounds on the chase, and a likely rove indictment, there's no way bushco's gonna be able to bail water fast enough to keep the garbage barge afloat...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
i remember with a vivid clarity that it was precisely this news that preceded the iraq strike...
Concern is building among the military and the intelligence community that the US may be preparing for a military strike on Iran, as military assets in key positions are approaching readiness...
[...]
Two air-craft carriers are already en route to the region, RAW STORY has found. The USS Abraham Lincoln, which recently made a port call in Singapore, and the USS Enterprise which left Norfolk, Virginia earlier this month, are headed for the Western Pacific and Middle East. The USS Ronald Reagan is already operating in the Gulf.
In addition to aircraft carrier activity, Gardiner says, B-2 bombers would be critical.
"I would expect the B-2's, the main firepower asset, to be flown on missions directly from the United States," Gardiner explained. "I would expect B-52's to be flown in strikes from the UK and Diego Garcia."
"Finally," he added, "a large number of cruise missiles would be fired from the carrier support ships."
we cannot and must not stand by and let our government undertake such a patently foolish move...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
The "fine print" says I consent to disclose my phone records
ummmm... 'scuse me... there's ACTIVE consent and then there's PASSIVE consent... if i've PASSIVELY consented to reveal my entire telephone history to george bush, i may just get myself a tri-band phone from a carrier in another country instead of a tri-band phone from a u.s. carrier... screw 'em... i don't have to play that game...
as it is, i generally use local cell phones in whatever country i happen to be in for local and regional calls and a voip service for everything else... in the u.s., my phone is mostly just to have one... most of my communication is over the internet...
in any case, i came to the conclusion several years ago that, for all practical purposes, all of my electronic communications and transactions were being logged... it's outrageous that it's happening but i refused to stick my head in the sand and continue to believe that MY GOVERNMENT would NEVER do something like THAT...!
One government lawyer who has participated in negotiations with telecommunications providers said the Bush administration has argued that a company can turn over its entire database of customer records -- and even the stored content of calls and e-mails -- because customers "have consented to that" when they establish accounts. The fine print of many telephone and Internet service contracts includes catchall provisions, the lawyer said, authorizing the company to disclose such records to protect public safety or national security, or in compliance with a lawful government request.
"It is within their terms of service because you have consented to that," the lawyer said. If the company also consents, "and they do it voluntarily, the U.S. government can accept it."
so, when the bush house of cards finally topples, is there anybody out there who has experience in re-assembling shredded documents - like the bill of rights...?
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
29%...! holy shit...! i mean, good lord, how low can you go...?? on the other hand, who the hell are the 29% who still think this s-o-b is still doing an "excellent or pretty good" job...?
The walls are closing in on George - and what excellent timing...!
if this ups the chances that hayden is going to be grilled ever-so-slowly on a spit over extremely hot coals, so much the better... the american people have been kept in the dark for far, far too long and our congress has been entirely too docile... let's get back to some checks and balances, fercryinoutloud...
The report rekindled the controversy about domestic spying.
Several lawmakers predicted the new disclosures would complicate confirmation hearings next week for Gen. Michael V. Hayden, formerly the head of the N.S.A., as the president's nominee to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.
yer damn right they "complicate" hayden's confirmation - as well they should... hayden's nomination would warrant intense interrogation under any circumstances, but never more so than now...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
Over the past several years, the word "Orwellian" has sometimes been overused in describing George W. Bush's authoritarian policies. But a newly disclosed government operation to electronically warehouse the phone records of 200 million Americans over their lifetimes does truly capture the essence of George Orwell's Big Brother nightmare.
i do have a small nit to pick... we've been living in an orwellian nightmare since the supreme court decision of 12 december 2000... the depth and dimensions of this ceaseless bad dream are only now coming to light...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
The "self-righteous political partnership" is fading away
self-righteous, arrogant, bullying, lying... did i mention grandiose...?
This week Mr Bush's popularity drooped to 31% in the polls; his party faces a beating and the possible loss of one or both houses of Congress in November's mid-term elections (see article). In Britain meanwhile, much of the Labour Party, which Mr Blair reinvented and led through three consecutive election victories, wants to bundle its saviour into retirement and replace him with Gordon Brown (see article and article).
Neither man is going right away. Mr Blair may hang on for another year. Unpopular lame duck though he may be, Mr Bush will stay in office until January 2009. And the path may not be all downhill: the dysfunctionality of the Democrats may yet let the Republicans limp home in the mid-terms. But an era is plainly drawing to an end. No matter how long they remain in office, the self-confident and often self-righteous political partnership that shaped the West's military response to al-Qaeda and led the march into Afghanistan and Iraq is now faltering.
hello, darkness, my old friend... they're both slipping into the void...
as i've said many, many times, my fondest wish is that bush will not finish his term... god knows, there are enough skeletons in his closet to warrant imprisonment, to say nothing of resignation...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
This just confirms what I've suspected for quite a long time
and anybody who thinks this started with bush had better think again...
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
[...]
"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.
the good news is that it's finally coming out into the open... the bad news is that it's not news...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
In a rational world, risk is equal to impact multiplied by probability. As the Linguasphere Dictionary puts it: "In professional risk assessment, risk combines the probability of a negative event occurring with how harmful that event would be." But the administration has spent four years urging Americans to ignore that way of thinking
But one can protect against the threat of terrorism with courage, calm and resolve -- the attributes that have always defined our nation as it has confronted other threats. Hysteria and fear-mongering are the opposite of strength.
Most people know individuals in their lives who live in this type of irrational, all-consuming fear -- people who are scared, pathologically risk-averse, always hiding and exerting excess caution lest something go wrong. In its more extreme version, that sort of fear manifests as a life-destroying mental disorder
The Bush administration has been trying to reduce this country to a collective version of that affliction. And it is hard to imagine what a nation fueled by such fear can accomplish.
The administration has managed to get away with the Orwellian idea that fear is the hallmark of courage, and a rational and calm approach is a mark of cowardice. They have been aided in this effort by a frightened national media and political elite that lives in Washington and New York -- two "target-rich" cities -- and that has been so petrified of further attacks that they were easily pushed into a state of passive, uncritical compliance in exchange for promises of protection.
The Bush administration long ago abandoned the idea that intelligence should ever be permitted to curb this president's imperial hubris or political agenda. Were it otherwise, the president would not be turning over control of the CIA, long presumed to be a civilian check on the military, to an active-duty general whose loyalty to the president was proved by his eagerness to conduct illegal wiretapping of unsuspecting Americans.
The Bush administration is facing pressure both in the United States and overseas to drop its long-standing refusal to talk directly with Iran about its nuclear program, particularly in the wake of the unusual 18-page letter sent this week to President Bush by Iran's president.
talking... my god, you'd think it was just invented... the bizarre thing is that it took a letter from ahmadinejad to turn up the heat... un-friggingly- believable...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
Who's this "us," my so-called democratic friend...?
robert parry reports on the "centrist" dems who, to use a word i have come to hate but that nonetheless applies here, want to adopt a policy of "appeasement..."
Reporting about a booklet issued by the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank of the Democratic Leadership Council, the Washington Post wrote, “these centrist Democrats … warned against calls to launch investigations into past administration decisions if Democrats gain control of the House or Senate in the November elections.”
“Many of us are disturbed by the calls for investigations or even impeachment as the defining vision for our party for what we would do if we get back into office,” said pollster Jeremy Rosner, calling such an approach backward-looking.
look... let's be real here... i'm no fan of ongoing, endless investigations, nor am i jumping up and down with excitement at the prospect of the agonies of a bush impeachment process... but, and it's a BIG BUT... bush, even though he may be a stooge and a puppet, is still at the head of the worst gang of criminals and constitutional scofflaws that have ever inhabited the white house... we need TRUTH and we need it bad... it's about time the dem leadership woke up and smelled the coffee...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
Former National Security Agency director Bobby Ray Inman lashed out at the Bush administration Monday night over its continued use of warrantless domestic wiretaps, making him one of the highest-ranking former intelligence officials to criticize the program in public, analysts say.
"This activity is not authorized," Inman said, as part of a panel discussion on eavesdropping that was sponsored by The New York Public Library. The Bush administration "need(s) to get away from the idea that they can continue doing it."
this guy used to be in the news a lot... while i wasn't paying nearly the close attention to national and international affairs then that i am now, i recall that he seemed to be one of the more level heads around... although his language sounds like he's talking about getting someone to stop biting their nails, i think the fact that he is speaking out at all is a huge indicator of just how far down the criminal path our president and his cronies have gone...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
cenk uygur at the huffpo thinks hayden's nomination is just another way for bushco to throw a patch on the dam that's springing leaks all over the place...
Michael Hayden was the unofficial spokesperson for the administration when it became clear that they were breaking the FISA law and ignoring the Fourth Amendment. As the former head of the NSA, he went on a publicity tour touting the wonders of warrantless spying. What are the chances this guy puts the brakes on a program at the CIA that has gone overboard? None.
General Hayden can be trusted -- not necessarily by the American people, but more importantly, by the Bush team. If they need him to cover up, he can do that. If they need him to lie to Congress, he can make that happen. If they need him to carry out yet another program of questionable legality, no problem. He's their go to man in the CYA.
steve at twn thinks hayden may be negroponte's strategy to pull the cia back from being swallowed whole by rummy and the pentagon...
I'm not an apologist for Michael Hayden, whom I think played 'loyal soldier' a bit too much on the warrantless wiretap front -- but the opposition to him regarding his military credentials is silly.
The balls to keep the eye on are DONALD RUMSFELD and the religious crusading defense spy chief, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Lt. General WILLIAM BOYKIN.
Hastert and his colleagues need to wake up, study the gaming going on, and understand that while they may not like Hayden -- something needs to be done to balance the deck between Negroponte and Rumsfeld.
I think it's smart to have General Hayden in place to shut down General Boykin and his team.
sorry, steve... i have to go with cenk on this one... your argument may have merit and, given your penchant for meticulous backgrounding, i'm sure it does... however, it strikes me a little like our perennial national problem in presidential election years - voting for the candidate who appears to be the "least worst..." saying hayden "played 'loyal soldier' a bit too much on the warrantless wiretap front" is like saying rove may have "lied a little too much" on the matter of outing valerie plame... the latter is a criminal and the former is aiding and abetting criminal activity...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
of course it does... very careful... very fair... very thoughtful... very probing... very thorough... very informative... very in-depth... very honest... very forthcoming...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
Iran's top nuclear negotiator called the surprise letter a new "diplomatic opening" between the two countries, but Rice said it was not.
"This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort," the top U.S. diplomat said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It isn't addressing the issues that we're dealing with in a concrete way."
take away the diplomacy-speak and whaddaya got...? we might as well have flipped him the dirty digit (which is probably exactly what dear leader did in private)... why...? it's so simple it's almost not worth pointing out... they want war... screw this talk shit... talking is for sissies...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
Rove is a liar and the poor memory defense is a pants-load
rove hasn't forgotten a goddam, friggin' thing in his entire life... the "i forgot" defense doesn't work with kids who don't do their homework, why the hell should it work with george bush's top aide of 30+ years...? patrick fitzgerald is no fool and neither are we, the american public...
Fitzgerald is weighing Rove's foggy-memory defense against evidence he has acquired over nearly 2 1/2 years that shows Rove was very involved in White House efforts to beat back allegations that Bush twisted U.S. intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to sources involved in the case.
yes, he lied... he lied through his teeth... rove is a congenital, pathological liar... he has made deceit, deception and slander the hallmarks of his career... he needs to be held to account...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
karl, you can place it squarely where the sun does not shine... you should not only be grilled by angry democrats, you and your criminal compadres should be grilled by the entire american populace oh-so-slowly over a very hot fire until nothing is left but fine ash...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
Thomas Nelson has been practicing administrative law for most of his professional life, but after September 11th he first began offering pro bono work for immigrants detained in broad FBI terrorism sweeps. He is currently leading a little-discussed case that may contain the first documented evidence of an illegal wiretap, and believes that as a result, he himself has been subjected to warrantless -- and therefore illegal -- wiretaps and physical searches, the kind of clandestine operation that Nixon referred to as "black bag jobs." And as a result of extreme carelessness by the FBI, Nelson may have his hands on the only solid evidence of these searches.
Government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said the letter would be the first in 27 years from an Iranian leader to an American president.
The letter was sent via the Swiss Embassy, which hosts a U.S. interests section in Tehran, Elham told a news conference.
The United States has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since the 1979 storming of the American Embassy in Tehran.
In the letter, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposes "new solutions for getting out of international problems and current fragile situation of the world," Elham said.
if ahmadinejad can swallow his pride enough to make such an offer, why can't the so-called leader of the free world respond in kind...? an even better question is why didn't bush take the initiative...? but we know already what the spin will be... i can hear it all now... "ahmadinejad blinked first..." puh-l-e-e-e-e-eze...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
Another piece falls into place on the Goss "mystery..." Or not...
maybe... maybe not... if you can believe anything these days...
A little-known White House advisory board convinced a reluctant President Bush to launch yet another high-profile shakeup of the nation's intelligence community and can CIA Director Porter Goss, sources said yesterday.
[...]
Alarms were set off at the advisory board by a widening FBI sex and cronyism investigation that's targeted Kyle (Dusty) Foggo, the No.3 official at the CIA, and also touched on Goss himself.
If this country [the U.S.] is so blessed, why did god put all the oil under the people who hate us?
speaking of cnn, i'm currently watching wolf blitzer's late edition... he's interviewing mowaffak al-rubaie, the iraqi national security advisor, and giving him a very rough time... al-rubaie sounds like his talking points were written by karl rove and i wouldn't be surprised if they were... i wish wolfie would give the domestic bigwigs as tough a time as he's giving this guy...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
Rather than steer away from a Hayden nomination because of the controversy, the White House seems ready for a new fight over it, convinced that it has public support and that Democrats opposing Hayden's confirmation would risk looking weak on terrorism.
and let's hope that our esteemed democratic leadership doesn't chicken out like they've been doing every other time they've been put to the test... this "weak on terrorism" bullshit is just that - bullshit...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
It is bad enough that Mr. Rumsfeld and others did not tell Americans the full truth — to take the best-case situation — before the war. But they are still doing it.
negroponte is one tough, nasty, son-of-a-bitch, with the scars to prove it, dating all the way back to iran-contra... if somebody (like me) was to speculate that negroponte, coveting the position of all-powerful intelligence czar, seized on the cunningham scandal and dusty foggo's possible implication in it, to oust po'go (as lukery at wot is it good 4 calls him) and put in his man, hayden, instead, THAT i might be tempted to believe...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
Conservative whites are picking up the reins in New Orleans
ok, look... there was some speculation that the reason for the evacuation of the impoverished and physically disadvantaged new orleans residents to such far-flung venues as houston, salt lake city, denver, washington d.c., et al, was to decrease the likelihood of their return... well, golly gee, do ya suppose that might have more than a grain of truth in it...? lookee here...
i've maintained all along that the appearance of bushco incompetence is just that - an appearance... as usual, however, our fearless media steadfastly refuses to connect the dots...
Submit To Propeller
Tweet
The first rule when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.
so, by extension, when you find that you've spun yourself into the ground, the first rule is to stop spinning... unfortunately, the nyt seems to feel the need to support the initial bogus spin from anonymous "senior administration officials" with yet more spin...
Porter J. Goss, who was forced to resign Friday, was seen as an obstacle to an effort by John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, to focus the agency on its core mission of fighting terrorism and stealing secrets abroad. General Hayden, who will be nominated to the post on Monday, is currently Mr. Negroponte's deputy, and he is regarded as an enthusiastic champion of the agency's adoption of that narrower role.
have i mentioned lately just how sick and tired i am of being lied to...?
at least the nyt has the courtesy to refer to what may well be the REAL reason behind goss' resignation, albeit obliquely...
Kyle Foggo, a longtime agency officer whom Mr. Goss elevated to the agency's No. 3 job, plans to resign in the coming days, a senior intelligence official said Saturday.
Mr. Foggo is a longtime friend of Brent R. Wilkes, one of the military contractors mentioned in the indictment of Randy Cunningham, a former Republican congressman from California. Mr. Foggo's ties to Mr. Wilkes have been investigated by the C.I.A.'s inspector general.
but not without restating the same bullshit...
The clashes over the agency's priorities were among the reasons that Mr. Goss finally lost the support of Mr. Negroponte and the White House, the officials said.
Kyle (Dusty) Foggo, the No. 3 official at the CIA, could soon be indicted in a widening FBI investigation of the parties thrown by defense contractor Brent Wilkes, named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randall (Duke) Cunningham, law enforcement sources said.
A CIA spokeswoman said Foggo went to the lavish weekly hospitality-suite parties at the Watergate and Westin Grand hotels but "just for poker."
Intelligence and law enforcement sources said solid evidence had yet to emerge that Goss also went to the parties, but Goss and Foggo share a fondness for poker and expensive cigars, and the FBI investigation was continuing.
anybody who falls for the spin that goss was canned for incompetence is smoking some very powerful stuff... incompetence, hackery, and unquestioned bush loyalty are the most prized characteristics for any bushco appointee... the day that bush starts firing cronies will be a very cold day in hell...
An alternative look at NEWS THAT MATTERS: current events, politics, opinion, perspective, discussion, analysis, issues, debate, and insight - national and global.
