Are Safer Yet?

From Crooks and Liars:
"Cutting and Running at DHS

By: Nicole Belle on Saturday, December 16th, 2006 at 1:36 PM - PST

AlterNet:

With all the Bush Administration bluster about border security, you'd think that keeping track of the comings and goings of non-citizens might be a high priority. But given that FEMA — which is supposed to be taking care of our own citizens — can't even develop a computer program to track whether Katrina victims are getting housing assistance, should it be surprising that the Department of Homeland Security has squandered over a billion dollars on the U.S. VISIT program, and then decided to scrap a major part of it?

But that's par for the course for DHS, which bleeds over $10 billion to government contractors a year, when a lot of them just take the money and run. That is, they start the project, and then they throw up their hands and say it can't be done. Screw the public, which is footing the bill without a money-back guarantee. Even if the project is a "top priority", as DHS claims U.S. VISIT is.

DHS has decided that it's just too complicated and expensive to develop the technology to track who's leaving the country (and, in the case of people overstaying their visas, who's not). Now I'm no anti-immigration nut and am certainly not a fan of the biometric technology, like the facial, fingerprint or iris recognition techology that was under consideration for the U.S. VISIT program. But this story really isn't about border security. It's about corruption and our broken government. Read on…

International Herald Tribune has more on the VISIT program. On a related note, DHS will start requiring passports for all travel outside the US starting in 2007, touting the new e-passports for tracking and security purposes. One problem: they're easily cloned. Is there nothing about "homeland security" at which they aren't completely inept? Feel safer, folks? "

Not Hopeless

CNN:

"From sleeping on the streets to Wall Street
By Taylor Gandossy
CNN

(CNN) -- He is now rich several times over, but Christopher Gardner once walked San Francisco's streets homeless, pushing his toddler son and their belongings in a stroller.

It wasn't that Gardner didn't have a job. He did; in 1982, he was in a stockbroker trainee program, with a $1,000 a month stipend. But he also was a single father trying to pay for diapers, day care and food for two. And the rooming house where he was living when his girlfriend brought him his young son, well, it didn't let kids stay there.

As he once said, he was homeless, but not hopeless. . ."

Ghosts of 'Nam

For this first time since the Vietnam era, a robust movement of organized active-duty U.S. military has surfaced to oppose a war while still in course.

From Marc Cooper and HuffPo: Exclusive: Active Duty Troops Organize to Oppose The War

"Hundreds of U.S. soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen -- many of them currently serving on the front lines in Iraq-- are formally petitioning Congress to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home.

After the so-called Appeal For Redress materialized just a handful of weeks ago, almost 1,000 active-duty personnel have signed on, including dozens of officers. The voice of hundreds of active-duty soldiers joining the anti-war movement brings enormous moral clout to the effort to get the troops home.

Read the story as well as excerpts from interviews of participating troops and officers by clicking here."

Noon Snippet Fest, Part 3

The NYT says: "Morgan Stanley gave its chief executive, John J. Mack, $40 million in stock and options for 2006, the largest bonus ever awarded to a Wall Street chief. But the record may be short-lived as press reports and analysts are predicting even bigger rewards for the C.E.O.s of rival investment banks. . ." Well, ain't that just special. Starving kids, failing schools, body armor. . . sigh.

Would Jesus surf at AOL (via AP) ?' Group Enlists Pastor in New Anti-Wal-Mart Ad LITTLE ROCK (Dec. 14) - A new television ad by the union-backed group WakeUpWalMart.com features a pastor asking, "Would Jesus shop at Wal-Mart? Should you?"'

Left Behind Killer Video Games flayed at FireDogLake: ". . .Since we now have a President whose desire to measure wartime success by body count is indicative of someone who has probably spent more time playing Ultimate Doom than reading French existential literature (despite protestations to the contrary), I think we can all see the potential danger here. Which is why it is such a shock that WalMart, who wouldn't carry John Stewart's America: The Book because John Paul Stevens' dong was too long, ignores continued cries to stop peddling religious violence for Christmas.

As a former member of WalMart's board , Hillary Clinton is in a particularly good position to get the ears of those who could save the children and stop the madness. We await her critical foray into this terrible, terrible problem."

Civil liberties! You don't need no steenking civil liberties (from AMERICABlog):"Not that this should surprise anyone. From Wired:

The first public meeting of a Bush administration "civil liberties protection panel" had a surreal quality to it, as the five-member board refused to answer any questions from the press, and stonewalled privacy advocates and academics on key questions about domestic spying.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which met Tuesday, was created by Congress in 2004 on the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, but is part of the White House, which handpicked all the members. Though mandated by law in late 2004, the board was not sworn in until March 2006, due to inaction on the part of the White House and Congress. . ."

Unions are the future. Taylor Marsh talks about my favorite: ". . .John Edwards is talking about something that matters, not only to people struggling, but to the entire American way of life. As the middle class goes so goes this country. With the new Congress elected and so many populists now in office, John Edwards is telling a tale that will have many people jumping on board; mainly because they're already waiting for that train to visit their state."

Tuning out. Back to work.

Marsh Questions President McCain

". . .McCain wants more troops and it looks like he's going to get them.

So where does that leave the American people?

No one is listening to us. We the People are supposed to have the power to change the course of our own country. We put these politicians in power. Bush serves because he got the most votes, but doesn't he have a duty to listen?

What about McCain? This man wants to be president, but he's also showing that he will not listen to those who put him in office if given the opportunity.

It's time to ask a simple question. With our troops in the middle of a civil war, why are they being asked to solve the Iraqi's inner strife? Is it not immoral to ask this of our troops, who signed on to protect American, not some country that now has voted, has a government, but still cannot get along amongst themselves?

The November elections sent a clear signal, one that Mr. Bush is ignoring. Senator McCain is too. Now we've got a senate that could be, once again, in Mr. Bush's hands if Senator Johnson is too ill to continue his Senate duties.

Right now the senator from the great state of South Dakota is in critical condition. That is also the condition of Iraq, America and the situation in which the troops find themselves. We have no control anymore. The power may have already shifted back to Bush and his fat cats."

Let Sleeping Bushes Lie

HuffPo:

People's interviewer also mentioned that readers had asked if he takes sleep aids. Bush said generally not, but he does occasionally when he travels.

"I must tell you, I'm sleeping a lot better than people would assume," he said.

Liberal Avenger On Malkin

"Malkin announces that she’s going to Baghdad

December 14th, 2006 by LA

Oh, this is rich!

Malkin is so concerned about the Associated Press’ efforts to make things look “really bad” in Iraq when things are really actually going really well, that she has accepted Eason Jordan’s invitation to send her to Iraq. . ."

Hmm. We'll see about that.

Noon Snippet Fest, Part 2

Blogger Beta annoyance continues via snippet posts:

Newsvine reports that "WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, the latest agency subjected to controls on research that might go against official policy. . ."

Solar terrorists at work: "Solar bursts prompt station crews : A violent solar explosion sent a dangerous wave of radiation through space late Tuesday, prompting NASA to order the crews of Discovery and the International Space Station to take shelter overnight. . ." sez Flordia Today.

Liberal Oasis reports "Yesterday, Dem Sen. Ron Wyden proposed a universal health insurance plan, flanked by the head of the Service Employees International Union and the CEO of Safeway. . ."

TPMCafe says Edwards leading the pack:"We now have our first poll out of Iowa — and it finds that Dem insiders in Iowa are the only ones hedging on Tom Vilsack. Iowa voters, are, too. The Des Moines Register reports that a new poll by Harstad Strategic Research finds Vilsack's support at a measly 9%, while the leader of the field is Edwards, with 36%. The two big political "rock stars" of the moment, interestingly, trailed way behind Edwards, with Hillary Clinton at 16%, and Barack Obama at 13% — but at least those two can say they're ahead of Vilsack. If these numbers hold up, pretty soon the donors will start closing their wallets and the insiders will suggest that he's not long for the race." Edwards/Clark '08!

Long Time Dying

Yahoo News:

"2-dose Fla. execution sparks criticism

By RON WORD, Associated Press Writer

STARKE, Fla. - Death penalty opponents criticized the execution of a convicted murderer who took more than half an hour to die and needed a rare second dose of lethal chemicals.

Angel Nieves Diaz, 55, convicted of murdering a Miami topless bar manager 27 years ago, appeared to grimace before dying Wednesday, 34 minutes after the first dose.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said she doesn't believe Diaz felt any pain and had liver disease, which required the second dose. . ."

Don't think a grimace rises to the heights of torture (or cruel and unusual).

Oil Choices

Charles Karel Bouley in the Huffington Post:

Warnings? Warnings? The Words Shove It Come To Mind

". . .OK, America, it's time we make a choice, and this means our corporate leaders and our government leaders. Either we get off the tit of oil all together, right away, starting in 2007, or we lay in bed with these people. And I, for one, want out. Build nuclear plants in the U.S. We'll make them safe. We'll have to. Other nations do. Explore other areas of fuel. Get the Oil Tar fields in Canada going much faster. Sacrifice. Yes. Sacrifice. Rolling blackouts. Limited travel. Whatever. It's worth it to get away from being in bed with these people. I am sick of them telling us what to do, because they hold the cache of our drug of choice. . ."

Terrorists In Space

Yahoo sez:

"WASHINGTON - The Bush administration warned Wednesday against threats by terrorist groups and other nations against U.S. commercial and military satellites, and discounted the need for a treaty aimed at preventing an arms race in space.

Undersecretary of State Robert G. Joseph also reasserted U.S. policy that it has a right to use force against hostile nations or terror groups that might try to attack American satellites or ground installations that support space programs.

President Bush adopted a new U.S. space policy earlier this year. . ."

One can only assume that terrorists living in caves without running water would catapult camels at DirecTV satellites, upstaging sunspots as the new worry for Dexter-interruptis.

Swifties Roasted With Fines

from TPMuckraker:
"FEC Fines Swift Boat Vets $300K
By Paul Kiel - December 13, 2006, 11:52 AM

Is the era of the millionaire-backed attack group coming to an end?

The Federal Election Commission hit the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth with a $299,500 fine today for playing too fast with election rules. The Swift Boat Vets were a "527" organization, which has no limits on contributions, but were acting like federal political committees, the FEC charged. 527s are allowed to work for or against certain candidates, but if they have no other "major purpose," according to FEC spokesman Bob Biersack, then they should register as a committee.

That's a huge difference. Committees can only accept $5,000 in contributions per person per year. The Swift Boat Vets, by comparison, accepted $4.4 million from GOP money man Bob Perry in 2004. Perry played the same trick in this year's election, throwing $9 million at three different 527 attack groups, which used it to target dozens of Democratic congressional candidates all over the country. Democrats have also taken advantage of 527s, and two liberal groups were fined today: MoveOn and the League of Conservation Voters. . ."

Publish

One More In Extra Innings

Off The Kuff reports:

". . .U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla conceded defeat to former congressman Ciro Rodriguez in a stunning upset that completed the Democratic takeover of Congress.

The Republican incumbent lost Bexar County for the first time in his political career Tuesday night, and trailed Rodriguez, his Democratic challenger, in total votes across the sprawling Congressional District 23.

The Associated Press called the election for Rodriguez shortly before 9 p.m. Bonilla telephoned Rodriguez to concede around that time, according to his spokesman, Phil Ricks.

So that would make the score Democrats 36, Publicans 0.

Deciding Delayed

No one wants to be the last man to die for a delay. . . From the New York Times:

"WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 — The White House said Tuesday that President Bush would delay presenting any new strategy for Iraq until early next year, as officials suggested that Mr. Bush’s advisers were locked in internal debates on several fronts about how to proceed.

The absence of an immediate new American plan for Iraq is adding to anxiety among Iraq’s moderate neighbors, who identify with the country’s minority Sunni Arab population, and has opened the way for new proposals from many quarters, in Iraq as well as in Washington, about the next steps. But several administration officials said Mr. Bush had concluded that the decisions about troops, political pressure and diplomacy were too complicated to rush in order to lay out a plan to the nation before Christmas. . ."

Vile Inker Busted (Again)

From Raw Story we learn that Mallard Fillmore's creator has been busted again:

"Hoosier Edward Bruce Tinsley, creator of the conservative comic strip Mallard Fillmore, was arrested in Columbus Dec. 4 and charged with operating a vehicle under the influence -- his second alcohol-related arrest in less that four months, according to the Bartholomew County Sheriff's Department.

Tinsley, 48, who lives in Columbus, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.14 -- almost twice the level at which an Indiana driver is considered intoxicated. He posted $755 bond. On Aug. 26, Tinsley was arrested for public intoxication, according to the sheriff's department.

Mallard Fillmore, about a conservative duck, appears in almost 400 newspapers nationwide, including The Indianapolis Star. . ."

Noon Blog Fest Snippet Doodle

. . . or why Beta Blogger has disrupted my work flow.

Why our food supply is always, it seems, contaminated with something. Yep. It's the Publicans again.

French honor an American spy.

Too much preaching and promotin' in the military.

Liberal flightless birds of the frozen south enthuse wingnutia.

The Hammer blogs. Don't go there.

Actor212 explains why women like the handsome stranger.

Enron Crook Won't Go To Prison

"HOUSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court will allow ex-Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling to stay out of prison while it considers granting him bail, according to a report published on the Wall Street Journal's Web site on Monday.

Skilling was scheduled to report to a federal prison in Minnesota on Tuesday to begin a 24-year sentence for his role in hiding Enron's financial condition from investors as the company's fortunes eroded prior to its 2001 collapse. . ."

Well, isn't that just damn special.

Hot To Trot In Colorado

... or more gay preachers outed. From Shakespeare's Sister comes the bottom line:
I love this response from the associate pastor at Barnes' former church when asked if this situation would "expose the evangelical community to further charges of hypocrisy":

'". . .The criticism is valid if you look at perfection being the mark, because the next person who stands at our pulpit is going to be guilty of not being perfect as well," he said. "Does that mean we have to change what we say about the word of God? We can't do that."

Well, actually, you can. There was a time when the word of God supposedly justified slavery, for instance—and I bet you're not preaching that these days. But aside from that, it's not what you say that's the problem—it's more the fact that you're pursuing/supporting discriminatory legislation based on your beliefs, which is predicated on judgment, condemnation, and punishment, all of which are meant to be left up to the Almighty according to the same book you cite as justification for hating on the gays. Just keep your damn noses out of other people's business, and I think you'll find that a lot fewer people give a crap what you say about the word of God from your own pulpit.'

Huffy ISG Snark

Huffington at HuffPo:

"Good News, Everybody: We've Got a New Iraq Slogan!

Not surprisingly, the Bush administration is already backing away from most of the proposals put forth by the Iraq Study Group. The New York Times, with unintended comic irony, noted it this way: "Administration officials say their preliminary review of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group's recommendations has concluded that many of its key proposals are impractical or unrealistic." Thank God we have George Bush to protect us from doing anything impractical or unrealistic in the Middle East. . .

. . .Bush may not be into things like facts, truth, or reality, but he loves a good slogan.

So while Bush may not like any of the Group's 79 proposals (so impractical and unrealistic), he's ready to adopt its slogan, "New Way Forward." Newsweek says that next week "Bush is expected to announce what he calls 'The New Way Forward,' his latest plan to salvage the mission in Iraq.

Of course, that's been the problem during this entire fiasco -- the substitution of rhetoric for policy -- the belief, even at this late date, that reality can be changed simply by changing the language used to describe it. Bush makes a big show of his religious faith, but what's truly impressive is his incredible faith in the power of PR, and, accordingly, his lack of faith in the American people. . ."

Bomb Iran On The Way Out

Fred Barnes hopes the “lame Duck” Bush bombs Iran on the way out the door

From C&L:

"Barnes:…and the day before he leavers office—carry out the military option in Iran. Wipe out their nuclear facilities….

That's just wonderful. Bomb Iran and leave it for the next president to clean up. That's the type of spot on analysis that makes Fred Barnes a true American hero. Memo to John Carroll. I wasn't being serious by calling Fred Barnes a hero."

Get Out Now!

From Military.com:

"Leave Iraq Now

Joe Galloway | December 08, 2006

After nearly four years of living in what can be charitably described as a state of denial, everyone in Washington, from President Bush to the Baker Commission to incoming defense secretary Robert Gates, to outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to the study group assembled by Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has finally admitted that pretty much nothing is going right in Iraq.

Duh.

Our president, who froze the whole process of planning and fighting a war by declaring that he was "staying the course" even when the course was obviously wrong, finally abandoned those words, if not his dogged pursuit of "victory" in a place which has denied victory to a string of foreign invaders dating back to Alexander the Great. . ."

Fox Flakes Flogged

'After enduring years of posturing on Iraq by Fox’s Brit Hume and the National Review’s Bill Kristol on the Fox News Sunday roundtable, Juan Williams reached his limit. This morning, Williams said, “Sometimes I just want to scream. You guys have been going on since this thing began.”Williams noted that Hume and Kristol “don’t give credit to people…who said from the start this is a mistake.” Instead, “now it’s everybody’s a surrender monkey or impatient or squeamish or weak.”' Video at the link.

Who's Serious?

"It remains the case that the primary prerequisite for being considered "serious" on matters of foreign policy and national security is that you were wrong on the most momentous foreign policy and national security decision of the last few decades. If your judgment was faulty, your understanding lacking, your foresight non-existent, your ideology blinding, then you are someone whose opinions should be listened to. If you supported what may be the single biggest foreign policy debacle in our nation's history, you are "serious." That disastrous error in judgment, which has so far resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 U.S. troops, also makes you "strong on defense," not to mention "pro-military" and someone who "supports the troops."

Take The Test

A Quiz for Lawmakers

"by emptywheel

Jeff Stein tells us that the rising Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Silvestre Reyes, doesn't know whether Al Qaeda and Hezbollah are predominantly made up of Shiite or Sunni Muslims. Well, the BCIS has decided to revamp the test required of applicants for citizenship. So I think we, the blogosphere, should put together our own new test--fifty questions a legislator should be able to answer correctly before he or she can vote on laws relating to those subjects. I've made a start below. Once we get a bunch I plan to put this into a document and send it to Pelosi and Reid. Hell--at the very least, maybe they can get their legislators to cram for the quiz so they don't sound quite so embarrassing in interviews. . ." Click to take the test.

Peter Beinert, Your Bad

(Grammar troll: no, I intended the post to say "Your" not "You're." You figure it out.)

Taylor Marsh has something to say:Peter Beinert Can Kiss My ...:
". . .And the next time a supposed Democrat talks about Iraq being OUR mistake, the entire progressive blogosphere needs to unload on the hapless ass. I've had enough of these supposed 'hawks' who have no clue what the word means. See James Webb, or look into the eyes of our military men and women who are now being handed another load of crap from the Iraq Study Group, the Pentagon and whatever other face saving organization with a piece of paper and a plan; all of whom have been charged with one mission: saving President Pathetic.

Get lost, Peter, and take the rest of the cowardly, change course, without actually changing course, crowd with you when you leave."

Darwin Drank Milk

Study Detects Recent Instance of Human Evolution - New York Times: "By NICHOLAS WADE
Published: December 10, 2006

A surprisingly recent instance of human evolution has been detected among the peoples of East Africa. It is the ability to digest milk in adulthood, conferred by genetic changes that occurred as recently as 3,000 years ago, a team of geneticists has found.

The finding is a striking example of a cultural practice — the raising of dairy cattle — feeding back into the human genome. It also seems to be one of the first instances of convergent human evolution to be documented at the genetic level. Convergent evolution refers to two or more populations acquiring the same trait independently.

Throughout most of human history, the ability to digest lactose, the principal sugar of milk, has been switched off after weaning because there is no further need for the lactase enzyme that breaks the sugar apart. But when cattle were first domesticated 9,000 years ago and people later started to consume their milk as well as their meat, natural selection would have favored anyone with a mutation that kept the lactase gene switched on. . ."

Lonely, Knowing Guy

Bush Aides Seek Alternatives to Iraq Study Group’s Proposals, Calling Them Impractical - New York Times: "Andrew H. Card Jr., the president’s chief of staff until last spring, said that whatever Mr. Bush did in Iraq would probably fall short of many of the commission’s recommendations, and that he was likely to continue making decisions that he believed were right even if unpopular. Referring to Mr. Bush’s secret intelligence briefings, Mr. Card said, “The president by definition knows more than any of those people who are serving on these panels. . .”

The opportunities for comedy are approaching galactic proportions.

“The president’s obligations sometimes require him to be very lonely,” he said."

Corrupt College Faculty

College instructor accused of trading grades for cash - CNN.com: "NEW YORK (AP) -- A computer science lab instructor at a community college changed students' grades for cash and wine and told a student to lie before a grand jury in an attempt to cover up his lucrative scheme, prosecutors said.

Elvin Escano was charged with grand larceny, falsifying business records, computer tampering and forgery, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

Escano, 46, was arrested Wednesday after a six-month investigation. He was arraigned and was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

In a statement, Brown said Escano used his position over a 29-month period as an instructor and lab technician at LaGuardia Community College to inflate student grades for courses and exams: In exchange for better grades, students gave him cash payments ranging from $200 to $2,500 or items such as wine and alcohol . . ."

Bad News Dem

Scandal-hit Jefferson wins Louisiana runoff - CNN.com: "NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- U.S. Rep. William Jefferson easily defeated his fellow Democratic opponent in a runoff election Saturday, despite an ongoing federal bribery investigation.

In complete but unofficial returns, Jefferson, Louisiana's first black congressman since Reconstruction, received 57 percent of the vote over state Rep. Karen Carter, who had 43 percent.

Carter was unable to capitalize on a scandal that included allegations the FBI found $90,000 in bribe money in Jefferson's freezer. . ."

Say It Ain't So!

There Is No Blog: No Bait and Switch, Nancy: "No Bait and Switch, Nancy
It's hard to believe, but the Democratic bait-and-switch on progressives has already begun over a month before our Majority congress takes office. Fresh on the heels of her famous promise to make this next Congress most ethical congress ever, the capitulations to corruption and the backtracking on ethics vows have already begun.

According to the New York Times, it appears that Democrats are having trouble figuring out whether they should really and truly ban privately funded trips as they promised the voters--or whether they should just pretend to ban them and leave enough loopholes in place that nothing really changes. . ."

Bogus 9/11 Film Out Again

AMERICAblog: A blog for a great nation that deserves the truth: "Disney/ABC showing unedited defamatory version of 'Path to 9/11' around country
by John in DC - 12/09/2006 04:44:00 PM

Well, American Airlines, Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton and Sandy Berger take notice. The original, unedited, factually incorrect and defamatory version of the Disney/ABC fictitious account of 9/11 is now touring the country. The nerve of them to use the original unedited version, when the version was edited because it was factually incorrect about what actually happened.

Disney/ABC hired a right-winger to make this movie and they got what they paid for, a right-wing hit job. It's still surprising that Disney and ABC continue to augment their defamation damage the movie did by continuing to broadcast the portions they now know to be incorrect and defamatory."

GOP Senator Blasts Congress

GOP senator upbraids colleagues - The Boston Globe: "WASHINGTON -- Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire yesterday used his last major floor speech as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee to blast his own party's leadership in Congress, accusing Republican leaders of engaging in the type of fiscal recklessness that he said led voters to oust the GOP from power. . .

"The American people took the reins of government away from the Republican Party relative to the Republican Congress in this last election," Gregg said in a speech on the Senate floor. "They did so, I think, in large part because they were tired of our hypocrisy as a party on the issue of fiscal responsibility. And it would appear that their concerns are justified. It is true, I guess."

Gregg went on to say that Democrats will also probably be irresponsible stewards of the nation's finances, "but at least they won't be hypocritical about it. . ."

The Real Left Behind

The Blog | Gerald Bracey: Things Fall Apart: No Child Left Behind Self-Destructs | The Huffington Post: "For the record, my first anti-No Child Left Behind (NCLB) article was commissioned by Newsday in late 2000 and published January 28, 2001. At the time, NCLB was a no-name plan, the administration not yet having ripped off the slogan of the Children's Defense Fund. But even then I saw not a great civil rights act as some, but yet another Orwellian double-speak program like Clear Skies, Clean Waters, and Healthy Forests--a program to accomplish the opposite of its avowed intent . . .

. . .But as the law enters its fifth year, even its supporters can no longer ignore that the law is imploding. On November 30, Frederick Hess, Education Director for the American Enterprise Institute and Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation convened a conference, "Fixing Failing Schools: Are the Tools in the NCLB Toolkit Working?" I attended.

After the first four presentations, moderator Finn declared that instead of providing sweet cakes and coffee, "I should be handing out mood altering pharmaceuticals, those that deal with depression." No later presentations offered anything to elevate Finn's mood as one scholar after another delivered evidence on this failed provision or that failed provision and the law's failure to accomplish its stated goal: to elevate the achievement of poor children and minorities. . ."

NARAL Selling Out

Hullabaloo: ". . .I'm a good Democrat and I'm also someone who likes to think strategically. As I argued above, I think it's a huge mistake for advocacy groups that represent fundamental rights to ever negotiate (leave that to the politicians.) But I could theoretically support any strategy that would ensure a woman's right to choose. On the substance, however, this is no more subject to compromise to me than habeas corpus or torture or slavery. It defines what it is to be an autonomous human being. If every woman in this country doesn't own her own body then she is not free.

I've never trusted politicians on this issue and now it looks like we can't trust one of the premier pro-choice advocacy groups either. They are no longer effective. But there are plenty of others that can use my money and I'll be sending it to them rather than NARAL from now on. We need savvy people doing this right now."

Foley Report Boiled Down

Sullivan has the bottom, definitive, line on the Foley Report. From The Daily Dish: Hastert and Trandahl: ". . .So the straight Republicans covered up or ignored Foley's grossness and an openly gay man did all he could to stop it."

That speaks volumes.

Bill Bennett On The ISG Report

The Corner on National Review Online: ". . .In all my time in Washington I've never seen such smugness, arrogance, or such insufferable moral superiority. Self-congratulatory. Full of itself. Horrible. "

And Mr. Bennett would certainly recognize those mirrored attributes.

Ignoring History

The Blog | Sherman Yellen: Don't Look Back? Who are they Kidding? | The Huffington Post: "It started early this week as I expected it would. The chorus from the right, those Heritage Foundation types cautioning us on C-SPAN and elsewhere not to look back on the causes of the Iraq disaster, blame nobody, swallow hard, and look ahead to new solutions, whatever they may be. But don't look back to the origins of this war.
It was as if we were Lot's wife, warned by God's angels not to look back on Sodom, else this whole country turn into a pillar of salt. As soon as the Iraq Study Group report came in with its knuckle rapping of the President and his advisers for their conduct of the war, with not a word about the President's past criminal acts; putting the nation at risk by starting this war with lies, arrogance, slogans, and fantastic hubris, one would have thought the right would have been placated. . ."

Bad Iraq Poll

AP Poll: Few expect victory in Iraq - Yahoo! News: "At the same time, dissatisfaction with President Bush's handling of Iraq has climbed to an alltime high of 71 percent. The latest AP-Ipsos poll, taken as a bipartisan commission was releasing its recommendations for a new course in Iraq, found that just 27 percent of Americans approved of Bush's handling of Iraq, down from his previous low of 31 percent in November. . ."

Dems Blocking Pay Raise For Self

CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker: "Dem leaders hope to block Congressional pay raise
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Members of Congress are in line for a $3,300 pay raise effective Jan. 1 unless they block it, and Democrats said Thursday they intend to try.

Officials said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California and Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the party's leaders, had notified Republicans they will try to add the anti-pay-raise provision to a bill that provides funds for most government agencies through Feb. 15. Congress must pass the funding bill before it adjourns for the year, and the target for that is Friday.

Under federal law, lawmakers, like many federal employees, receive a cost of living increase on each Jan. 1. The increase for 2007 is pegged at 2 percent, and would put the salary for rank-and-file lawmakers at $168,500. . ."

How Low Can Approval Go?

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall December 7, 2006 04:28 PM
"Ouch! It's just one poll. But the latest Rasmussen poll has approval of Congress down at 13%. Has the number ever been that low?"

Pain Bill Rejected

House Rejects Bill on Notice of Pain to Fetuses - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime

"The House of Representatives today rejected the Republican-sponsored bill that would have required notice to women getting abortions that the fetus might feel pain.

In the House, Republican leaders gave its anti-abortion base one final shot at abortion legislation before Democrats take over control of the agenda.

The House rejected a proposal that would have required abortion providers to inform women at least 20 weeks pregnant that abortions cause pain to the fetus. The vote was 250-162, short of the two-thirds majority needed under a procedure that limited debate. . ."

The Good Old Days

. . . for neoncons was when people didn't think the following was one of the stupidest ideas in the universe.

The Raw Story | NY Post turns Iraq Study Group into 'surrender monkeys' on front page: "Thursday's front page of the New York Post depicts the two chairman of the Iraq Study Group as 'surrender monkeys,' suggesting that the bipartisan independent panel has urged the U.S. to 'give up' and admit defeat in the war in Iraq.

The faces of James Baker, a former chief of staff for President Reagan who led President Bush's recount fight in Florida six years ago, and former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton, who also served as Vice Chair for the 9/11 Commission, were photoshopped on to the bodies of monkeys."

Bush To Baker

James Baker's New Test In Diplomacy, Co-Chair Of Iraq Study Group Has Been A Political Operative And Statesman, Often To The 1st President Bush - CBS News: ". . .But this president may not be in much of a hurry to accept Baker's ideas about that — or much else. Asked if Baker would help implement the report, a spokesman for Mr. Bush said, 'Jim Baker can go back to his day job.' "

Paying For Benefits

Let's Give Ourselves Health Care and a Raise - The Smirking Chimp: ". . .Wal-Mart is not 'bad' because it pays low wages or skimps on providing health care. If they did that, Target could cut their wages and health care and charge lower prices, and customers might go to Target instead. They're just doing their job, as WE, the people, through our government, define it through our laws.

So whose job IS it to provide for higher wages and health care? It is OUR job - the people - through OUR laws and regulations. WE are the ones who have dropped the ball on higher wages and health care. WE tell companies what to do - or the system doesn't work. If WE, through our government, require ALL companies to pay higher wages and provide health care that levels the playing field for Wal-Mart's competition with Target. . ."

First Amendment and Xmas Decorations

The Raw Story | Man's anti-Bush Christmas light creates furor: "A New Mexico man is drawing the ire of neighbors--and his homeowners association--after putting up a politically-charged, lighted sign on his house to go with his holiday decorations.

Roberto Vasquez of Albuquerque said his sign, showing George Bush's name crossed over by a red bar as though banning it, has caused people to shoot at the projector, try to pull out its bulb, and even threaten to 'blow up the house,' he tells local TV station KOAT.

Vasquez says he's 'proud' of his message and defends the sign as 'tasteful.' His neighborhood HOA, on the other hand, says it's against the rules and wants it to come down. A KOAT reporter says that it 'may take a court of law to decide which way to flip the switch . . .' " Video back at the link.

None Have Served

NONE Of The New GOP Congress Members Has Served In The Military... | The Huffington Post. Click to get the list.

Work Week Hypocrisy Check

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall December 6, 2006 09:51 AM: ". . .Late Update: An anonymous TPM Reader responds to Rep. Kingston[R-- who was complaining about the new five day Congressional work week cutting into "family time"]: 'As an active duty military member I’m pretty offended by members of congress crying about working a 5 day work week. And for Rep Kingston’s comments about families, give me a break! How about the thousands of military marriages that have ended because of husbands and wives being deployed for a year multiple times?'"

On Managing Disaster

Crooks and Liars » Al Gore on Iraq: “This was the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States.”: "Al Gore was on The TODAY SHOW and brought some sober thoughts to the discussion of the Iraq Study Group and the war.

Gore: Well, the report this morning is actually one of several studies. There's one in the Pentagon. There has reportedly been one in the White House itself is (garbled) up. They're all basically saying the same thing, Matt–this is an utter disaster. This was the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States and now we as a nation have to find a way, in George Mitchell’s words—'to manage a disaster.' but—I would urge the president not to try to separate out the personal issues of being blamed in history for this mistake and instead recognize it’s not about him. It’s about our country and we all have to find a way to get our troops home and to prevent a regional conflagration there. "

Finding The Center

The Blog | Cenk Uygur: The Bipartisan Myth: Democrats Won 35-0 | The Huffington Post: ". . .But here is the big difference. I recognize that the center is NOT between where the Democrats and the Republicans stand now. The center has stayed the same but both political parties have moved way to the right. So, now the center stands squarely where the Democratic Party is currently. That's partly why many liberal activists complain about the Democratic Party these days.

You know who understands this best? The American people. That's why they gave the Democrats the 35-0 victory last month. Because the Democrats are now exactly in the center, where the American people want to be.

This is why I have written in the past that the American people are not dumb, as many claim, but they are a little slow sometimes. In time, they know exactly where they want to be and always find a way to punish extremism and get back to the sensible center. . ."

Gonna Work Like Dogs

Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week - washingtonpost.com: "Forget the minimum wage. Or outsourcing jobs overseas. The labor issue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own: They will have to work five days a week starting in January.

The horror. . ."

Dole Dumping Self?

The Raw Story | Dole denies blog report she won't seek re-election: "Elizabeth Dole, the Republican Senator from North Carolina, who was a one-time candidate for President of the United States, will not seek re-election in 2008, according to the blogger who was the first to publish former Congressman Mark Foley's e-mail exchanges with teenage male Congressional pages. Dole's office denied the claim.

Lane Hudson, who blogged at Stop Sex Predators anonymously before being 'outed' at Radar Online, reported the news at his new blog called News for the Left, citing a 'confidential source on Capitol Hill.' He claims that in the aftermath of the Republican Party's failure to secure their majority in the US Senate, Dole has become so 'completely demoralized' that she is no longer interested in standing for re-election. . ."

Gates In

AMERICAblog: A blog for a great nation that deserves the truth

Gates approved by Senate committee for Defense post
by John in DC - 12/05/2006 07:48:00 PM

No surprises there. The guy has a creepy past, but there's really no way the Senate can block him. Rumsfeld is gone, that's the important thing, as is Bolton. You can't fight every battle, and we've already won two just out of the gate. And with Gates saying that we're not winning in Iraq, in this administration that practically makes him a prophet (or a heretic).

Code Blinkers

If you want to know why Jose Padilla was led to the dentist blindfolded, consult Whiskey Fire: I Will Be Eternally Hateful.

The answer will astonish you.

Dawn Breaks For Gay Rights?

On the Wrong Side of History, Again - The Smirking Chimp: ". . .A post-election survey of evangelicals conducted by Beliefnet and summarized in their article 'Evangelicals Sour on Politics' documented that '40.2 percent of the evangelicals surveyed favored the idea of Christians taking a 'fast' from politics.' The survey also revealed that nearly 60 percent of non-evangelicals have a more negative view of Jesus because of Christian political involvement. And chief among that 'political involvement' is the vile – and distinctly unChristian – campaign against gay and lesbian Americans, their children and families.

The American public is turning – slowly but surely – against hate-mongers who advocate discrimination in the name of religion. A recent Opinion Dynamics/Fox News poll documented that '60 percent of Americans favored some form of legal recognition for gay unions, 30 percent favored gay marriage, and 30 percent favored civil unions. . .'"

Gates On Iraq

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide: "Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Robert M. Gates, President George W. Bush's pick to replace Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, acknowledged the U.S. is not winning the war in Iraq and he warned Congress that leaving the country in ``chaos'' would risk a ``regional conflagration'' in the Middle East.

Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee that, if confirmed, he would consider ``a wide range of ideas and proposals'' for stabilizing Iraq that would ultimately lead to a reduction in U.S. forces there. . ."

Not My War

The Blog | Ellis Weiner: Swoonin' With Noonan | The Huffington Post: ". . .At first I took this to mean that all of us were equally culpable in the obscenity that is Bush's war of choice, and that therefore all of us should be on our best behavior as the wise men descend from their Carlyle Group board room and help set things aright. Graceless partisan hot-head that I am, I read this and became somewhat cross. 'What you mean 'we,' Keemosabe?' was essentially my response.

Because--and everyone knows this, with the possible exception of the Mad Decider in the White House--'we' are not all equally responsible for this hideousness. The administration and the Republican Party, of which Noonan has been and remains a proud advocate, are. Oh, they were abetted by some fearful, spineless Democrats in Congress, and by a spineless, fearful news media. But by and large this carnival of death, destruction, corruption, mismanagement, and ineptitude is a Republican creation. . ."

Lest we forget.

A Win For Planet Earth

ABC News: Brazil Protects Great Swath of Amazon: "RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil Dec 4, 2006 (AP)— A swath of Amazon rain forest the size of Alabama was placed under government protection Monday in a region infamous for violent conflicts among loggers, ranchers and environmentalists.

Known as the Guayana Shield, the 57,915-square-mile area contains more than 25 percent of the world's remaining humid tropical forests and the largest remaining unpolluted fresh water reserves in the American tropics. . ."

Strange But True

COMMENTS: "The Number Of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Cases Reported Is Higher During Conservative Presidencies

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2006 the years where a Republican President was in office show that the number of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Cases Reported is Higher than when a Democratic President was in office. . ."

Blood-sucking, swollen ticks and Republicans. . . you do the tirangulation.

Flogging Blogging, Part II

Hammer Of The Blogs: ". . .Look, I am all for full disclosure when one of our virtual Thomas Paines is getting bankrolled by someone they're talking about. I think it would also be helpful to know about every possible conflict of interest the Legitimate Media might conceivably have, so that we can understand the level of conditioning that goes on when million-dollar anchors show up at the same society functions as the people they cover in their nightly readings of prepared news scripts.

I think the spirit of probity is worth crawling up everyone's ass with a microscope and reporting every polyp. Otherwise, you know, we might have to wonder why, say, Katie Couric feels the need to inflict the likes of Rash Limpballs or Crazy Columbine Dad on unsuspecting viewers.

Perhaps an ethics panel is in order. We should really get to the bottom of all this. For the children."

AutoChimp

The Blog | Trey Ellis: The Bushbot Is on Autopilot | The Huffington Post: ". . .Dick Cheney took Bush Senior's carefully orchestrated straw son and turned him into the Manchurian Candidate. At first I thought Bush Junior was just stubborn, but it's gone way beyond that. I think someone should investigate the possibility of mind control. I'm serious. I've known stubborn people in my life but this President's levels of denial are way beyond pathological. He single-handedly destroyed the Republican dynasty and still he won't change course. Now he's threatening to disregard the recommendations of his handpicked commission. The disgruntled preppy turned affable but faux good ol' boy now seems like a freakish automaton, marching forward into the immovable wall that is Iraq, banging his head against it, getting dented, broken, slowly destroyed -- but simply incapable of stopping or even just turning around.

If he weren't taking all those poor soldiers with him I'd say there's just no talking to him, and let him just keep banging away till he topples over or runs out of batteries."

Oxy Dep In Wingnut Medialand

Crooks and Liars » MSNBC makes a story out of a caller from CSPAN that slams Jimmy Carter: "Jimmy Carter was on CSPAN talking about his new book this weekend. CSPAN is famous for the whacky calls they take during their programs. On the Washington Journal they have a separate Republican and Democrat call in lines. Why is MSNBC making a big story out of one of these callers? Am I missing something here?

Video-WMP Video-QT

Nico: During an interview yesterday, an anonymous C-SPAN viewer called former President Jimmy Carter “a bigot and a racist and an anti-Semite,” and accused him of “cozying up with every dictator, thug, Islamic terrorist there is.”

How is this news? I wonder if they'll make a story out of this angry commenter on Malkin's other blog that is furious over Bolton not keeping his job and hopes for the UN to be blown up."

Commenting On Will, Part III

Howard Kurtz Slaps Fellow Postie George Will For Smearing Webb | TPMCafe: "Today a Post reader asked Kurtz in the chat about the omission: 'Why hasn't the Post issued a correction to George Will's column on Jim Webb? Is misrepresentation by omission acceptable for columnists?'

Here's the key part of Kurtz's reply:

It seems to me there was a key omission in which Bush preceded his response to Webb's get-them-out-of-Iraq comment by saying, 'I didn't ask you that.' That does make clear that both men, not just Webb, were being snippy.

That is nowhere near as hard-hitting as it should be, given the nature of Will's clear-cut and obviously deliberate effort to deceive Post readers. But still, we'll take it: After all, this came amid a hurried chat with readers, Kurtz and Will are colleagues, and Kurtz did accuse Will of a 'key omission.'

Relatedly, there are well over 100 pages of comments on the Post's site about Will's column, many of them bitingly critical. . ."

America's Holy Book

The Blog | David Kuo: America's "Holiest Book"? | The Huffington Post

". . .So the Bible is America's holiest book? Was there a vote? Did Oprah decide? Was it Jefferson? And if so was it his version of the Bible? Does that mean it is true of every American citizen? Even Kevin Federline? And if it is true then America, with its indifference to the poor and lust for money and power, would be seriously backsliding and in need of spiritual counseling.

No, the BIble isn't Ameirca' holiest book. America doesn't have a holy book. It does have two holy documents, however. One is called the Constitution. The other is known as the Declaration of Independence. That's it. Book study finished. . ."

Sanity and the War on Terrorism

A thoughtful analysis. If you are interested in a winning strategy, check this post out (it is what you've always believed, isn't it?):

PPI: Rethinking the War on Terrorism by Kevin Croke: "Five years into the war on terrorism, Americans find themselves searching for new ideas and strategies. PPI Foreign Policy Fellow Kevin Croke proposes a new paradigm for understanding the conflict -- the war on terror as counterinsurgency. In this paper, Croke outlines key tenets of counterinsurgency theory and how they apply to the war on terror. . ."

Flogging Blogging, Part I

A typical trick of the MSM exposed by Atrios.

Eschaton: "The Straw Blogger

There are so many ways to write articles casting bloggers in a poor light. First, invent arbitrary ethical or journalistic standards which apply to no one else in the universe, and then show how bloggers violate them. Second, assume beliefs and motives of bloggers, lumping them all together, and then invent charges of hypocrisy. Third, invent arbitrary benchmarks for accomplishments which if achieved prove bloggers have superpowers, but if not achieved prove they are teh suck. Fourth, elevate an invented concept of 'civility' as an all-important value. Fifth, the practice of 'nutpicking,' attributing the comments in unmoderated comments sections to the blogger him/herself. . ."

A developing theme, besides the "civility issue" is that bloggers have somehow sold out, which would be a neat trick considering that 99.9% of all bloggers don't get paid anything from anybody. But even at its "best" that comment is specious-- compare the, say, thousand bucks a mythical blogger got to wrote a fluff post on some politician or corporation, then compare that to the literally millions dumped on the MSM looking for favorable news coverage. Same ballpark? Nope. Not even the same universe.

Flogging The Media

Firedoglake - Firedoglake weblog » The President’s Report Card: ". . .But then the federal government’s abysmal response to Katrina provided all the evidence anyone needed to prove that the government under Republican and Bush leadership had become incapable of meeting the most basic requirements of public safety and welfare; competent governance seemed beyond the regime’s abilities and even outside their intentions. But this revelation did not come about through persistent media effort, digging into facts and looking behind the scenes and official statements. All it took to show the problem was a television camera and a reporter standing in the midst of a flooded city and an abandoned people.

So except for showing the obvious in NOLA, not paying attention was the media’s problem; and worse, for the most part, the traditional media just didn’t seem to care enough to do their jobs, to ask the questions they should have been asking and to search out answers from sources other than the Administration flacks who were feeding them. We didn’t just have a “rubber stamp Republican Congress.” It was worse than that: we had a rubber stamp fourth estate. But that seems to be changing, and changing fast. . ."

UnCivil Bloggers

Panties are in a bunch at various places over civility issues, with some writers insisting that bloggers shouldn't have a voice on issues because. . . wait for it . . . they cuss and stuff. Check-out Steve's reaction to this nonsense at the THE NEWS BLOG.

Be ready. No sugar-coating there.

Walrus Tears

News from The Associated Press: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his recess appointment expires soon, the White House said Monday. . ."

Big Drug Whining Forecast

Robert Reich's Blog: A Test Case for the Dems: Big Pharma or Medicare Bargaining for Lower Drug Prices: "A Test Case for the Dems: Big Pharma or Medicare Bargaining for Lower Drug Prices

When I worked in Washington, the biggest lobby – after Big Oil, and the big military contractors – was the big pharmaceutical companies – Big Pharma. Early in the Bush administration Big Pharma pushed the new Medicare drug benefit through Congress, releasing a $600 billion dollar gusher in their direction. The bill included a guarantee that Medicare wouldn’t use its huge bargaining leverage to negotiate lower prices with the drug companies – an extra bonus. If this isn’t corporate welfare, I don’t know what is.

Nancy Pelosi has announced that one of the Dems first priorities ('first hundred hours') would be to end this ban and have Medicare use its bargaining clout to get lower drug prices for seniors. But Big Pharma is already on the attack . . ."

Kansas Outlaws Evolution

Kansas Outlaws Practice Of Evolution | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "TOPEKA, KS—In response to a Nov. 7 referendum, Kansas lawmakers passed emergency legislation outlawing evolution, the highly controversial process responsible for the development and diversity of species and the continued survival of all life. . ."

Uh, check the source.

Commenting On Will, Part II

Bark Bark Woof Woof: "Given the fact that the Republicans mastered the art of disrespect for the office of the presidency during the Clinton administration, regularly high-fiving each other for dissing the Clintons as Arkansas hillbillies and illegitimate usurpers and that their behavior as the majority party during the last six years has been more closely compared to schoolyard full of sugar-bombed six-year-olds, and adding the fact that the Bush administration, including the president, has raised the act of being 'insufferably full of themselves' to a high art, and not to mention that the GOP and their allies in talk radio, bow-tied punditry, and the right-wing blogosphere has made boorishness and incivility the basis for nearly all of their commentary, Mr. Will's complaints about Mr. Webb's behavior at the White House is roughly equivalent to an alligator complaining about all those nasty carnivores out there.

As for the characterization of Mr. Bush's question about Mr. Webb's son -- a Marine serving in Iraq -- as 'a civil and caring question, as one parent to another,' Mr. Will demonstrates the same kind of tin ear that the president showed for the feelings of Mr. Webb along the lines of 'Well, other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?' It may sound like an innocent question, but how thick is the president to not know that Mr. Webb was elected to the Senate literally wearing the boots of his son and campaigning on the theme of getting the troops out of Iraq? Is the president that insensitive? Or is he more like the bully who knows how to push the buttons of his victims and then act all coyly innocent when he gets the desired response of outrage and anger? Given the president's background and prior acts of carelessness towards the feelings of others, I suspect the latter. (It's also a little more than ironic that while Mr. Webb's son is serving in Iraq, Mr. Bush's children are partying their asses off in Buenos Aires.). . ."

Commenting On Will

skippy the bush kangaroo: But will they read them?:
"94 pages and counting of replies to George Will's misleading and silly column about Jim Webb at WaPo this am. So does Will read the comments? Let me pause from a bout of hysterical laughter. How about the editors? Bwahahaha. These guys are the scrutinizers. They survey the world and tell us what to think. Do you think they would ever williningly submit themselves or their work to anyone's scrutiny? . . ."

A Terrorist You Don't Know

Orcinus: "The other kind of terror
Thursday, November 30, 2006
-- Dave

Imagine, for a moment, what would have happened if a Muslim extremist with an apparent hatred of the American government had been apprehended in, say, Tennessee, and charged with plotting to blow up Congress with a briefcase bomb.

Do you suppose that the case would then be relegated to the back pages of the local papers? Do you suppose it would go unmentioned by the 101st Keyboard Kommandos in their ever-vigilant search for proof that the War on Terror is right here in our midst?

Of course not. You can be certain Fox News would have splashed the case across its broadcasts, and Michelle Malkin and Little Green Footballs would have been all over it.

Now consider the case of Demetrius 'Van' Crocker, who just happens to be a white right-wing extremist:

Demetrius 'Van' Crocker of McKenzie, convicted in April of attempting to obtain a chemical weapon and possession of stolen explosives, was sentenced to 30 years in prison Tuesday by U.S. District Judge James Todd in Jackson.

Crocker, who told undercover FBI agents of his desire to explode a briefcase bomb while Congress was in session, was found guilty by a jury in about 90 minutes in April.

The 40-year-old farmhand and father of two was convicted of accepting what he thought were ingredients to make Sarin nerve gas and a block of C-4 explosive from undercover agents in October 2004.

The maximum penalty Crocker could have faced for the convictions would have been a life sentence. Todd did order lifetime supervised release for Crocker once he gets out of prison.

In all, Crocker was convicted on five charges: one count of attempted possession of a chemical weapon, one count of inducing another person to acquire a chemical weapon, one count of possession of stolen explosives, one count of possession of explosive material with intent to harm an individual or damage or destroy a building, and one count of possession of an unregistered destructive device.

During the trial, prosecutors introduced video- and audio-taped conversations that Crocker had with undercover agents, laced with profanity, racial slurs and Crocker's open hatred of all things to do with the government.

Of course, this story is not even on the front page of the Jackson paper, so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any Fox coverage, either."

Drug War Nears Bushies

". . .Just another casualty of Mexico's drug wars? Perhaps. But Padilla had no connection with the drugs trade; he seems to have been the victim of a case of mistaken identity. Now, as a result of documents disclosed in three separate court cases, it is becoming clear that his murder, along with at least 11 further brutal killings, at the Juarez 'House of Death', is part of a gruesome scandal, a web of connivance and cover-up stretching from the wild Texas borderland to top Washington officials close to President Bush.

These documents, which form a dossier several inches thick, are the main source for the facts in this article. They suggest that while the eyes of the world have been largely averted, America's 'war on drugs' has moved to a new phase of cynicism and amorality, in which the loss of human life has lost all importance - especially if the victims are Hispanic. The US agencies and officials in this saga - all of which refused to comment, citing pending lawsuits - appear to have thought it more important to get information about drugs trafficking than to stop its perpetrators killing people. . ."

Orbital Money Platforms

The Raw Story | Conservative media site claims Bush will seek funding of orbital anti-missile satellites: "A story on a conservative media site is claiming that the Bush Administration will ask Congress to fund development of an 'orbital battle station,' aimed at destroying missiles launched against the United States.

The article, published by Pajamas Media, attacks Democrats' opposition to an missile defense system and alleges that such orbital 'stations' would actually be satellites carrying 40 to 50 small 'kill vehicles' that would attack enemy missiles during their initial ascent.

Opponents to the the missile defense program -- which is aimed at shooting down incoming nuclear projectiles -- note that it has rarely worked during testing. They also assert that such programs are more likely to result in a new arms race, in which other nations continue to expand their nuclear arsenal. . ."

The Face of Dishonor | The Huffington Post

The Blog | E. A. Hanks: The Face of Dishonor | The Huffington Post
. . .If you want to go to the Westboro Baptist homepage, then just google "god hates fags."

It'll tell you that "Matthew Shepard has been in hell for 2974 days!" and thus beats out Diane Whipple, who was a San Francisco woman mauled to death by dogs. I couldn't figure out why shed' been in hell other than the fact that she was mauled to death by dogs in San Francisco, and thus the dogs had dubious standards but then I clicked on the link near her name. Gee, this website is helpful! It will even tell you where and when the next Love Crusade is. If you're wondering what that is, it's what they call it when they stand outside the funerals of our fallen soldiers and scream how that's what they get.

For the record, I'd like every political hack, every war mongering neo-con, every Vice President, who has ever said that protesting in the streets and lobbying for peace dishonors our troops to take a good look at what dishonor really looks like."

No sarcasm intended-- Amen.

Worried Allies

Mideast allies near a state of panic - Los Angeles Times: "WASHINGTON — President Bush and his top advisors fanned out across the troubled Middle East over the last week to showcase their diplomatic initiatives to restore strained relationships with traditional allies and forge new ones with leaders in Iraq.

But instead of flaunting stronger ties and steadfast American influence, the president's journey found friends both old and new near a state of panic. Mideast leaders expressed soaring concern over upheavals across the region that the United States helped ignite through its invasion of Iraq and push for democracy — and fear that the Bush administration may make things worse. . ."

Five Worsts At Once

'Wash Post' Sunday Debate: Is Bush Worst President Ever?: "
'By E&P Staff

Published: December 02, 2006 3:30 PM ET updated Sunday

NEW YORK Five op-eds in Sunday's Washington Post may set off an intriguing debate, pro and con. On the front page of the Post's Outlook section, famed Columbia University historian Eric Foner proposes George W. Bush as the worst president in our history -- and author Douglas Brinkley disagrees, but very slightly: He thinks Bush only ranks as poorly as Herbert Hoover.

Another historian, David Greenberg, believes that only Nixon was worst. Meanwhile, Michael Lind pegs Bush at #5 --from the bottom. But Vincent J. Cannato, a historian at the University of Massachusetts, cautions: 'Today's pronouncements that Bush is the 'worst president ever' are too often ideology masquerading as history.'

The Washington Post editorial page, ironically, has been a strong backer of the Iraq war from the beginning. . . "

Couping Time

The Blog | Steve Young: IS WHITE HOUSE WHISTLEBLOWER READY TO BRING DOWN THE PRESIDENT? | The Huffington Post: "I don't want to go Woodward and Bernstein all over you, but last week, just after Air Force 1 lifted off towards a meeting with Iraq's Prime Minister al-Maliki, someone in the administration who had had enough of the President's insistence that he knows what he's doing, sent a message that everyone seems to have missed: an administration mutiny is in the offing.

The coup d'état warning came in the form of a leaked memorandum that national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, had sent Bush three weeks ago describing, as the New York Times editorial put it, 'how Iraq was being pulled apart by sectarian hatreds and warning that Mr. Maliki was either 'ignorant of what is going on' or unwilling or unable to stop it. . .'"

Clift Understands Webb

Clift: Senator-Elect Webb Not to Be Toyed With - Newsweek Eleanor Clift - MSNBC.com: "No Pandering Here
Virginia Senator-elect Jim Webb is the rare Washington figure who doesn't suck up to power.

By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 2:42 p.m. ET Dec 1, 2006

Dec. 1, 2006 - Every so often a politician comes along who doesn’t pander to the president. Fresh off a nasty campaign that centered on the war in Iraq, Virginia Senator-elect Jim Webb had no interest in a picture of himself with President Bush, and he didn’t want to exchange small talk with the man whose war policies he opposes. So he skipped the receiving line at a White House reception for newly elected members of Congress, creating the first of what we should all hope will be many ripples in Washington. . .

The lords of Washington will say that Webb got off to a rocky start, but so did Paul Wellstone, another iconoclastic citizen turned politician who dared to violate social protocol. It was another Bush and another gulf war, but Wellstone’s initial impropriety set the stage for what turned out to be a distinguished and even inspirational career that was tragically cut short by a plane crash four years ago. A professor of political science at Minnesota’s Carleton College, Wellstone was antiwar even then and had run on a progressive platform. At a White House reception in 1991 for newly elected members, Wellstone used his time in the receiving line with President George H.W. Bush to press his opposition to the first gulf war that loomed on the horizon and to urge more attention to education and health care. After he moved through the line, Bush was overheard saying, “Who is this chickens--t?” It's a sentiment the son surely shares."

Phone Jam Scam Settlement

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall December 2, 2006 07:50 PM: "This morning we noted that the civil suit arising from the GOP's 2002 phone-jamming scheme in New Hampshire had been settled yesterday, but there was no immediate word on the terms of the settlement. Since then, the terms have been disclosed. The New Hampshire Republican Party will pay $125,000 over five years. The RNC and NRSC will each kick in $5,000, for a settlement total of $135,000. The proceeds will go to two charitable organizations, not the Democratic Party."

An Obama Diss

The Blog | David Sirota: Barack Obama Is the Almighty - Bow Down To Him Now | The Huffington Post: "There was an intense discussion at the Huffington Post and DailyKos about my post on Illinois Sen. Barack Obama - sorry, I mean, the Lord of all living beings. The threads of attack are pretty predictable, falling into two camps: 1) Barack Obama was a great state legislator in Illinois even if he hasn't done much OR EVEN TRIED TO DO MUCH in the Senate, and therefore he is the second coming of the Almighty or 2) Barack Obama is just really incredibly awesome for no actual substantive reason, and therefore he is the second coming of the Almighty. . ."

I'm sure there is a parable in this somewhere. (I tend to agree with Sirota, by the way)

Another Worst Ranking

He's The Worst Ever - washingtonpost.com: ". . .Historians are loath to predict the future. It is impossible to say with certainty how Bush will be ranked in, say, 2050. But somehow, in his first six years in office he has managed to combine the lapses of leadership, misguided policies and abuse of power of his failed predecessors. I think there is no alternative but to rank him as the worst president in U.S. history."

Kuo Responds To Attacks

David Kuo: J-Walking, David Kuo blog, faith, politics, christian blog, tempting faith:

". . .To make it easier for you, here is a quick synopsis of my argument:

1. Our hope, as Christians, will never be found in an oval office, on a judicial bench, or in a legislative body. Our hope is found in Jesus.

2. Jesus' name is being destroyed in the name of partisan politics such that people now identify him more with issues like abortion and gay marriage and with wickedly partisan attacks than they do with the Good News. . . " More here.

Crazy For Bush

You knew this.

Crooks and Liars » Bush Supporters Psychotic

By: Nicole Belle on Friday, December 1st, 2006 at 2:15 PM

"I swear, that was from a study. Sometimes, the jokes just write themselves.

This Modern World:

Anyone who's spent any time reading right wing blogs already understood this to be true:

Lohse, a social work master's student at Southern Connecticut State University, says he has proven what many progressives have probably suspected for years: a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush.

Lohse says his study is no joke. The thesis draws on a survey of 69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election. Lohse's study, backed by SCSU Psychology professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola, found a correlation between the severity of a person's psychosis and their preferences for president: The more psychotic the voter, the more likely they were to vote for Bush.

But before you go thinking all your conservative friends are psychotic, listen to Lohse's explanation.

"Our study shows that psychotic patients prefer an authoritative leader," Lohse says. "If your world is very mixed up, there's something very comforting about someone telling you, ‘This is how it's going to be.'"

The study was an advocacy project of sorts, designed to register mentally ill voters and encourage them to go to the polls, Lohse explains. The Bush trend was revealed later on.

The study used Modified General Assessment Functioning, or MGAF, a 100-point scale that measures the functioning of disabled patients. A second scale, developed by Rakfeldt, was also used. Knowledge of current issues, government and politics were assessed on a 12-item scale devised by the study authors.

"Bush supporters had significantly less knowledge about current issues, government and politics than those who supported Kerry," the study says.

So authoritarian, ill-informed AND severely psychotic? That explains so much to me, especially about FOX News. How about you?"

For Whom The Bells Toll

Bush, Maliki and That Memo - New York Times: ". . .The president’s advisers need to tell him all the harsh truths about Iraq in the vivid terms they require; they need to tell him how little time he has left to act. This administration has been orchestrating a foreign policy disaster of epic proportions, and history will remember both that the president failed to hear the warning bells and that many others failed to ring them loudly enough."

Some people rang the bells quite loudly and were flogged like dogs for their effort. Remember them well.

More GOP Sexual Surprises

The Seattle Times: Local News: Well-known GOP activist held in sex-predator sting: "Well-known GOP activist held in sex-predator sting

By Christine Clarridge

Seattle Times staff reporter

Larry Corrigan, a well-known activist in local Republican politics as a backer of U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert and King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng, was arrested Wednesday in an Internet sting for allegedly trying to arrange sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Corrigan was the director of financial operations at the prosecutor's office for more than 25 years and was deputy treasurer in Reichert's 1997 and 2001 runs for King County sheriff. He was also a supporter without an official role in Reichert's congressional campaigns. . ."

People To Blame For Iraq

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: ". . .Here's the lede to Mort Kondracke's new column in Roll Call (emphasis added) ...

All over the world, scoundrels are ascendant, rising on a tide of American weakness. It makes for a perilous future.

President Bush bet his presidency — and America’s world leadership — on the war in Iraq. Tragically, it looks as though he bit off more than the American people were willing to chew.

The U.S. is failing in Iraq. BushÂ’s policy was repudiated by the American people in the last election. And now AmericaÂ’s enemies and rivals are pressing their advantage, including Iran, Syria, the Taliban, Sudan, Russia and Venezuela. We have yet to hear from al-Qaida.

Let's first take note that the 'blame the American people for Bush's screw-ups' meme has definitely hit the big time. It's not Bush who bit off more than he could chew or did something incredibly stupid or screwed things up in a way that defies all imagining. Bush's 'error' here is not realizing in advance that the American people would betray him as he was marching into history. The 'tragedy' is that Bush "bit off more than the American people were willing to chew." That just takes my breath away.

Now come down to the third graf. Bush gets repudiated in the mid-term election ... "And now ..." In standard English the import of this phrasing is pretty clear: it's the repudiation of Bush's tough policies that have led to the international axis of evil states rising against us. Is he serious? The world has gone to hell in a hand basket since the election? In the last three weeks? The whole column is an open war on cause and effect.

This is noxious, risible, fetid thinking. But there it is. That's the story they want to tell. The whole place is rotten down to the very core.

-- Josh Marshall"

What Josh said. Once again, let's invite war-lovers like Mort to jump up there on the front lines and get after it. Let's see how much he wants to chew the war rations himself.

But, no matter how thin Bush and his enablers try to slice it, the meat of the matter remains baloney. It was Bush's decision to destabilize an entire region, not ours. It was his disastrous management of the post-war effort that has led to Publican repudiation, not the American people. We the people are not the blame for your mess, Mr. Bush. You and people like Mort are at fault, not Joe, nor Jane, nor Jim.

New Intel Chair

TPMmuckraker December 1, 2006 10:32 AM: "AP: Pelosi Taps Reyes for House Intel Chair
By Justin Rood - December 1, 2006, 10:32 AM

AP reports:

House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has chosen a Border-Patrol-agent-turned-congressman to take over the House Intelligence Committee, according to congressional aides.

The two aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they considered it an internal party issue, confirmed that Democratic leaders are contacting congressional and other political officials to tell them Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, will be the new chairman of the committee when Democrats take control in January."

Bad Rat Media

Spocko' s Brain: Morgan and KSFO host show no Respect to Pelosi and Parent Company Disney

". . .And then Melanie Morgan gets national attention and is written up by Media Matters and earns her second “Worst Person in the World” award on MSNBC. She gets caught NOT once but TWICE talking about putting a bull’s eye on Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi. Morgan incites violence toward the Bay Area’s own Congressional representative. And still management supports her.

At this point even the notoriously lax Disney and ABC Radio management (who seem to care nothing about their brand image) must have told her, “Okay, do one of those fake apologies where you don’t really apologize for what you just said. . .”

This is just a small piece of this comprehensive post on a vile radio station.

Spades Is Spades

The Carpetbagger Report » Blog Archive » ‘On Calling Bullsh*t’: "‘On Calling Bullsh*t’
Of all of my criticisms on the traditional mainstream media, my biggest complaint is news outlets’ reluctance to tell the public when someone is lying. Every controversy becomes a he-said/she-said squabble, in which competing ideas are presented to the public as equally legitimate and accurate, even when one side is clearly, demonstrably wrong. . ."

Amen.

Quit That!

As long as we're on the humor beat . . .

Crooks and Liars » Single? Under 30? You are in grave danger. Your government says so. Please, stop laughing

By: Nicole Belle on Friday, December 1st, 2006 at 5:38 AM

"We've mentioned this before, but this op-ed in my local paper had me laughing so hard I thought it was worth sharing. Kudos to Hugh for calling my attention to it.

SF Chronicle:

It is the only way to account for something like, say, the latest twist in the Abstinence Education Program from Bush's increasingly laughable Department of Health and Human Services, a $50 million slice of embarrassing government detritus that is now actually encouraging all states to tell their single, youngish residents that they should — how to put this so you don't shoot coffee through your nose? — that everyone should avoid sex entirely, until they turn 30.

See? See your reaction? You are like: No way. You are like: Is the United States government really saying that? You are like: Laughter, a smirk, maybe a shrug and a sigh and a sad shake of the head and another glass of wine because, you know, what the hell is wrong with these people?. . ."

Heavy Haggard Snark

Mrs. Betty Bowers' Words of Christian Concern for Ted Haggard's Delicious Disgrace: ". . .But I guess it is no more difficult to be a homosexual who purports to dislike homosexuality than it is to be a strike-first warmonger who purports to follow the Prince of Peace. Indeed, if only lying were a car, instead of a way of approaching the world, maybe one of them would have finally traded it in for something else by now. . ."

A small sample from a really funny post. Go click.

Iraq Panel Says Pullout

Iraq Panel to Urge Pullout Of Combat Troops by '08 - washingtonpost.com: "By Peter Baker and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 1, 2006; Page A01

The bipartisan Iraq Study Group plans to recommend withdrawing nearly all U.S. combat units from Iraq by early 2008 while leaving behind troops to train, advise and support the Iraqis, setting the first goal for a major drawdown of U.S. forces, sources familiar with the proposal said yesterday.
The commission plan would shift the U.S. mission in Iraq to a secondary role as the fragile Baghdad government and its security forces take the lead in fighting a Sunni insurgency and trying to halt sectarian violence. As part of major changes in the U.S. presence, sources said, the plan recommends embedding U.S. soldiers directly in Iraqi security units starting as early as next month to improve leadership and effectiveness. . ."