Need A Laugh?

This posted over at the Daily Kos. The quote comes from the right-wing hack blog Powerline:

It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can't get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.

More Adventures beyond the looking glass

Top Bush Aides Get Small Pay Boost

The top pay for senior White House aides, including Chief of Staff Card, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Legislative Affairs Director Candida Wolff, was boosted to $161,000 at the beginning of July, according to a list sent to Congress and obtained by National Journal.

Amongst the others receiving the bump: Stephen Hadley, Scooter Libby. The era of personal responsibility is dead! Long live the era of personal responsibility!

The ever downward spiral

30's, here we come!

by kos

Wed Jul 27th, 2005 at 07:49:44 PDT

Quinnipiac Univ. 7/21-25. MoE 3.2% (May 25)

Bush approval ratings

Approve 41 (44)
Disapprove 53 (50)

The poll has a lot of great data on attitudes toward abortion. 61-32 say Judge Roberts should answer questions about his views on abortion. 57 percent think it should be legal in all or most cases. 36 want to criminalize it in all or most cases. But when it comes to some restrictions, there is broad support -- 70 percent for a 24-hour waiting period, 74 percent support parental notification, and 76 oppose late-term abortions except to save the life of the mother. 42 percent of Republicans agree with Roe v. Wade, as do 79 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of independents.

Sunday night funny

Quote from Fox's American Dad:

Stan (to Roger the alien): I will rig the [student body] election!

Roger: Wow, can you really do that?

Stan: Rigging elections is my bread and butter, Roger. Do you really know how many votes George Bush got in the first election? Seven.

Abu Ghraib photos and videos Bush is hiding may contain the rape of little boys

This is from John over at AmericaBLOG, I feel it is much to important to let slide.

So, as you may know, the Bush administration is now violating a court order to release the rest of its Abu Ghraib photos to the ACLU. Editor & Publisher has done a great job of helping suss out what those remaining photos are:

So what is shown on the 87 photographs and four videos from Abu Ghraib prison that the Pentagon, in an eleventh hour move, blocked from release this weekend? One clue: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress last year, when the scandal was still front page news: "I mean, I looked at them last night, and they're hard to believe." They show acts "that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhumane," he added.

A Republican Senator suggested the same day they contained scenes of "rape and murder." No wonder Rumsfeld commented then, "If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse."

Now, this is probably my favorite part of the article. Regarding the government's excuse for NOT releasing the photos as the court has ordered:

One Pentagon lawyer has argued that they should not be released because they would only add to the humiliation of the prisoners.

Yeah. Please don't expose me as a torturer because that might add to the humiliation my victim has to face. Sure, exposing me as a torturer also means I'll probably have to stop torturing my victim, the victim I care so much about that I don't want to humiliate him by informing the world that I'm torturing him. Yeah, right.

So, here's what E&P was able to deduce might be in the photos and video - the photos and video that would pretty much expose our government to, what, war crimes tribunals?

A military report about that abuse describes detainees being threatened, sodomized with a chemical light and forced into sexually humiliating poses.

"'The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience,' Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told reporters after Rumsfeld testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. 'We're talking about rape and murder -- and some very serious charges.'

"A report by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba on the abuse at the prison outside Baghdad says videotapes and photographs show naked detainees, and that groups of men were forced to masturbate while being photographed and videotaped. Taguba also found evidence of a 'male MP guard having sex with a female detainee.'

"Rumsfeld told Congress the unrevealed photos and videos contain acts 'that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman.'"

In the same period, reporter Seymour Hersh, who helped uncover the scandal, said in a speech before an ACLU convention: "Some of the worse that happened that you don't know about, ok? Videos, there are women there. Some of you may have read they were passing letters, communications out to their men….The women were passing messages saying 'Please come and kill me, because of what's happened.'

"Basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys/children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. The worst about all of them is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror it's going to come out."

The rape of little boys. Well God bless America. I'm so damned proud of my country right now, I could just, well, rape a little boy.

Yeah, I sure wouldn't want to know that my government was sanctioning, and then engaging in a cover-up, of those kind of actions. After all, the little boys who are being raped might be humiliated if we intervened and stopped them from being raped.

Letter to Red Staters

Dear Red States,

We're ticked off at the way you've treated California, and we've decided
we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other
Blue States with us.

In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon, Washington,
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and the entire Northeast. We
believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the
people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get
stem cell research and the best beaches. We get Elliot Spitzer. You get Ken
Lay. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get OpryLand. We get Intel and
Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole Miss.

We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get
Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue; you get to make the red
states finally pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian
Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single
moms. And of course, 31% higher unwanted pregnancies.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and
we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need
people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently
willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you
don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you
success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to
spend our resources to find them.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the
country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92
percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines
(you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90 percent of all cheese, 90
percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all
living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools,
plus Stanford and Cal Tech.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88
percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92
percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90
percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually
100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University,
Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.
Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was
actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless
we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that
evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11, and
61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals
then us lefties.

By the way, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they
grow in Mexico.

Sincerely,


Author Unknown in New California.

Police powerless on outdoor orgies

Who would have thought this was actually a problem anywhere in the world...

Dutch police and park rangers have admitted they are powerless to stop a growing trend of outdoor sex orgies.

In the latest incident, a large group of people were found romping naked on a beach in the Bussloo area of the country.

They including 10 couples who were being "particularly boisterous" with each other while the others watched.

But police called to the scene admitted they were powerless to act despite numerous complaints from other beach users, and could only give the naked orgy lovers a verbal warning.

The head of one of Holland's biggest national parks says the problem is getting worse and has called for the government to make clear guidelines on outdoor sex orgies to allow police to act.

Eric Droogh, who is director at the Veluwe National Park, said: "A national debate on wild sex parties in the countryside is essential.

"Police and park wardens currently have too little scope to intervene. The only possibility is to catch the transgressors red-handed.

"Outdoor sex is now commonly occurring in national parks and other public places. In some cases they just stopped beside the road in the picnic area or a meadow for the orgies."

He called for clearer guidelines and sanctions to deal with the outdoor sex phenomenon.

This is the scariest thing I have ever seen

"Beam me up, Scotty"

James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original "Star Trek" TV series and movies who responded to the command "Beam me up, Scotty," died Wednesday. He was 85.

Rove Undermined U.S. Security

July 13, 2005

There is a rogue element at the highest level of the Bush White House. The American public now knows that the president's top adviser (Karl Rove) directly undermined U.S. national security by disclosing the name of a covert CIA agent (Valerie Plame) in an orchestrated effort to discredit her husband (Joe Wilson), an opponent of the administration's use of intelligence in the run up to the Iraq war. Regardless of whether Rove is eventually indicted for violations of federal law, the president's chief political "architect" is no longer worthy of the public's trust.

• Rove identified a covert CIA agent to a reporter and knew that his actions were wrong. As email records from Time reporter Matt Cooper show, Rove identified Valerie Plame as "Wilson's wife," a clear violation of at least the spirit of the law outlined in section 421 of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, which states that "any information identifying [a] covert agent" is illegal. Rove's insistence of strict confidentiality in this discussion also shows that he knew precisely what he was doing and that his actions were at a minimum wrong and unsavory.
  
  
• The president must live up to his promise to fire anyone involved in the case. This is no longer just about Rove. It's about the president's credibility. He has repeatedly told Americans that he would fire anyone at the White House who was involved in the matter. Rove has been fingered and the president should live up to his promise by removing him from his duties.
  
  
• President Bush also owes Americans an explanation for how Rove was elevated to deputy White House chief of staff—a position that is responsible for coordinating national and homeland security policy. Rove has top level national security clearance in his current job, yet clearly cannot be trusted with this information. The public deserves to know what the president asked Rove about this case and what he learned in return before elevating him to such a senior position. Did the president know, or bother to ask, about Rove's role in leaking classified information before giving him a promotion?

To visit the Talking Points archives, please click here.

Ah this is the White House Press Corps that I miss

Watch Simple Scottie sweat under the lights at this morning's gaggle. The reporters will not let up. Ah, can you smell the fear... ha ha ha

Video available from Crooks and Liars

Is Karl going to do the perp walk soon?

Pretty damning article. Looks like Rove intentionally disclosed Plame's name to Matt Cooper, possibly Judith Miller, and most likely The Prince of Darkness. Although Novak said there are two White House officials who confirmed the name of Valerie Plame...can anyone say Emperor Cheney.

Clearly, the prosecutor and the judges who have seen this case see the need to continue. One can only speculate who all is involved beyond Rove. I guess we'll see...

Rush Limbaugh won't be outdone

Is it bad of me to wish for the swift incarceration of Rush for doctor shopping?  You know what, I don't care.  Fuck him!  Rush?  I hope you rot in prison for the rest of your fat, nazi ass life, and while you are at it, SHUT UP!...

 

This from Media Matters for America: 

 

Rush Limbaugh, meanwhile, suggested that everyone should just get over it, implying that "40 people dead" just isn't a big deal:

That's, ah, the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. Very powerful, excellent. And it was such a great contrast to what we're seeing in our own media this morning with the hand-wringing I was speaking about and the "Oh, woe is us" and "Oh, what did we do to cause this?" and "Oh, does this mean we're going to get hit?" and "Oh ..." It's like I said -- 40 people dead, 150 seriously wounded, 1,000 wounded, out of over 1 million people in that transit tube. It's not a successful terrorist attack, folks.

Limbaugh also accused Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Democrats, and critics of the prisoner treatment at Abu Ghraib of "aiding and abetting" the terrorists, adding that Osama bin Laden "sounds like John Kerry":

When bin Laden talks about the "evils" of the United States and why it must be attacked -- it sounds like John Kerry in his 2004 presidential campaign. When whoever did this in London explains why they did it -- sounds like any liberal criticizing a successful capitalist country to me. So when you want to talk about, Sen. Boxer, the insurgents are winning the propaganda war, my question is, "Who's helping them? Who's assisting them? Who's going ape and bananas over Abu Ghraib and Gitmo? Who is aiding and abetting them? Who, who is it when they speak in this country -- the terrorists sit back and laugh themselves silly?" It's you, Sen. Boxer, and members of your party.

Rehnquist Rumors: Senate GOP Predicts Announcement Circa 10AM on Friday

Good god... I think I said at one point that if it got too much worse I would seriously consider leaving the country. Well, it is about to get a whole lot worse. Who knows, there might even be a third retirement this summer as well. Kennedy is 85, and while he is not ailing, his is still 85. For Bush to be able to nominate 3 SCOTUS justices is quite possibly the worst thing in the world, especially 2 moderates. Rehnquist is a wash, Bush could nominate Gangus Khan and it would not be any different, but O'Connor and Kennedy are both moderates. Outside of other moderates, the balance of the court will radically lurch into the relm of radical right. Here's what we can expect:

Roe v. Wade - gone
any possibility that DOMA or these state bans on gay marriage deemed unconstitutional under the equal protection clause - gone
campaign finance laws - gone
environmental protection - gone
corporate governence and regulation - gone
who knows, even labor standards and minimum wage

We could really be entering into the darkest period of this country's history. We'll play it by ear, I guess.

Terrorist Attack in London

The most recent report I saw was 300 injured and 40 dead in the coordinated 3 bomb attack in London. It could have been a lot worse. Our thoughts and prayers are with all British people not just Londoners. I am glad you are okay Steve.

Um I guess this is warranted.

Happy Birthday George.

 

Hopefully, by the time your 60th birthday comes around you can spend it full-time in Crawford.

Oh God...What's happening to me

So now twice in as many weeks, I found myself doing something I thought I would never do...

Siding with Scalia and Thomas and routing for the torture czar, Alberto Gonzales.  Good god!

 

I found myself saying that the conservatives of the SCOTUS were probably right in their eminent domain decision.  Big corporations should not be able to pressure city councils and town officials into condeming private property to build a new plant or whatever...

 

Now that Sandra Day O'Connor has retired, I find myself saying that Alberto Gonzales might be the best choice the president could put forward as a nominee.  I mean compared to Pricilla Owens or Janice Rogers Brown or Willam Pryor...good jesus...my body is going to shock just thinking about that prospect.  Insert Dark Ages Here.

 

This of course leaves me scratching my head with the absolute horror and fear that both Renquist and Kennedy retire this year.  Then what?  Well...  Insert Rise of the Fourth Reich Here.

 

Hopefully, the squatter in the White House is impeached and removed from office before that happens and Speaker of the House Pelosi assumes the presidency for two years and can nominate someone perhaps a little more mainstream and in-line with 67% of America.

 

Oh god.................