The Roll of Honor: Those Who Tried to Stop the Iraq Disaster

As part of my penance for having been a pro-war Democrat, I offer this excellent article by Eric Alterman listing those who were most prominent in warning that disaster in Iraq would follow an invasion and occupation. I hated Saddam so much for being the merciless bastard that he was that I was blind to the dangers of our policy. These people weren't. Take a look.

Top Aide to Republican Crook Tom DeLay Pleads Guilty

Hi everybody! I'm back! Let's end my hiatus with this enlightening story about Tony Rudy, former top aide to Top REPUBLICAN House Criminal Tommy Boy DeLay, hypocrite bastard from Texas. Seems Rudy faces up to five years in prison for playing footsie with recently convicted REPUBLICAN criminal Jack Abramoff. Let's hope he helps tighten the case against his former boss, whom I think would look damn good in an orange jump suit, don't you?

On Hiatus Until 31 March

We're getting ready to put the house up for sale and it's truly hectic right now. I'll resume my attack on Bush and the rest of the right-wing evil empire at the end of the month.

The Republicans: Party of Religious Fanaticism

As part of the radical rightwing goal of destroying everything our country is founded on, Far-right Republican Mike Huckabee of Arkansas has sought the backing of a group claiming it wants to "Reclaim America for Christ". (Funny, since the majority of Americans are already Christians. What's to "reclaim"?) Georgia10 on DKos has the scoop:

This weekend, Huckabee spoke at a conference for the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ. The Center's mission is to "To inform, equip, motivate, and support Christians; enabling them to defend and implement the Biblical principles on which our country was founded." The five goals Huckabee aligned himself with are described as the "five key fronts of the modern-day culture war: (1) Religious Liberties, (2) the Sanctity of Life, (3) the Homosexual Agenda, (4) Pornography, and (5) Promoting Creationism." Huckabee made it clear at the group's conference that he shares their goal of dismantling the constitutional wall between church and state.

Translation of the Center's five goals: 1. Ram fundamentalist Protestantism down everyone's throats. 2. Interfere with the reproductive rights of every woman in America. 3. Persecute the faggots. 4. Tell adults what they can and cannot look at. 5. Teach fairy tales and mythology in school instead of science.

Our country was founded on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Our public officials swear to uphold the Constitution--NOT THE BIBLE. The Republican goal is simple: destroy our republic and replace it with a theocracy. A kind of collective insanity is gripping the lunatic right--the lunatic right that controls the Republican Party from top to bottom. For the sake of our country's future, these people must be stopped. As for me, I will fight them to my dying day.

Because, you see, if they succeed in destroying America, it will not have been my fault.

The Incredible Shrinking "President"

Courtesy of Radical Russ, this map shows Bush's approval ratings on a national scale over time. Watch the map turn more and more blue as the months pass. It's entertaining.

Democrats, wrap the anvil of Bush's disapproval rating around the throats of every Republican running for office this year--and watch the rightwingers sink into the electoral ocean.

Democrats, He's DOWN. Go for the Throat!

Stop cowering to Bush (as Russ Feingold, my new hero, has accused his fellow Democrats of doing). Attack him HARD, hammer and tongs. He's lost the people, irretrievably so. The new Gallup numbers are a disaster for the miserable little punk who calls himself our "leader". Pour it on, and don't let up. Bush is down 36-60. Yes, SIXTY PER CENT DISAPPROVAL. The people are ready to stand with the Democrats. GIVE THEM A REASON TO!

Impending Disaster in Iraq

They tried to warn the Boy Emperor, the one who brooks no disagreement. One hundred forty thousand U.S. personnel, however superbly trained, would not be sufficient to maintain civil order in one of the world's most violent and religiously divided regions. Those who warned of this were dismissed, like General Shinseki, ignored, or called traitors by Bush, Cheney, and a howling corps of right wing thugs on cable television and hate radio. Now, the worst seems to be emerging in Iraq, a full scale civil war with execution style murders and all the rest. (Juan Cole has more grisly details if you're interested.)

Stupid bastards. They only listen to people who tell them what they want to hear. They ignore informed warnings, warnings based on deep knowledge and long experience. They plunge forward, blindly, ignorantly, recklessly, idiotically. Could they have a made a worse mess of things? No. Is this the last of the disasters Iraq will face? No. Is Iran next?

Watch this space.

Sam Brownback: The Most Dangerous Fanatic in the U.S. Senate

Senator Sam Brownback (Republican--what else?--from Kansas) envisions a United States governed by the most conservative, authoritarian version of Christianity possible, a nation governed by the "Bible" in much the way that Muslim lunatics demand their countries be governed by Sharia, or Koranic law. Brownback wants all abortion outlawed, of course, even if a woman was impregnated by a rapist who tortured her or by her own father. But also he wants to see to it that fundamentalist Christians (he is an ultraconservative Opus Dei Catholic) force their religion on everyone else, reserving for themselves rights no other faith would have. He thinks homosexuality should be a criminal offense, he wants the "secular" public school system abolished, he wants Social Security abolished, he wants all women to work only in the home and be subordinated to men, and in general he favors what I can only call a right wing religious dictatorship--a theocracy. Naturally, the lunatic Religious Right wants him to be president. You can read all about this horrifying fanatic here, courtesy of Rolling Stone.

Brownback and his followers MUST be stopped. If they attempt to seize power and impose their agenda on America, it will trigger a Second American Civil War.

Count on it. And guess which side I'll be on.

Conservatism Exposed As the Fraud It Is

Hunter on DKos delivers the definitive smackdown on the fairy tales, lies, mythology, and self-delusion that is conservatism. Among my favorite parts:

The liberal critics of the Iraq War? Right. The media figures who challenged conservative-spun "facts", and were roundly punished? Right. The deficit hawks? Right. And they were right from the start -- they didn't need years of resultant unending bungled mess to drill it into their skulls.

And so, the conservative walkback begins anew. Again. And we're seeing it take the usual forms. Denying the "conservative" label to all the conservative ideas that, once tried, failed, and attacking their critics as being the mean, cruel, partisan ones. Especially ironic, given the blistering attacks these jackasses have given any critic of administration policies, no matter how patently obvious the failures were. Criticism was treason, we were told. Absolute, America-hating, Constitution-punching treason. What unbelievable hacks. What sorry, simpering little fucks.

Being right was partisan griping -- but being universally, spectacularly and muleheadedly wrong, we're expected to believe, was the more noble and clever path? What utter pomposity. These blowhards should be tarred and feathered, not redeemed yet again for another science-bashing, expert-bashing, reality-bashing clusterfuck of so-called "conservative" strategery.

Damned right. No matter how many times they fail, conservatives will shout that they were right. Their whole philosophy is a fraud and a lie, built entirely on a false worldview and a complete misunderstanding of human nature. I think of all the things that horrify me about conservatism the attack on science has to be the most disturbing, for it is here that conservatism veers into outright insanity, the kind that can have catastrophic consequences.

Conservatism must be defeated. Among the tough but necessary steps:

• The Fox News Network needs to be totally discredited and ruined. Right now it is the chief propaganda outlet for the Radical Right. (The ideal solution would be for a liberal billionaire to buy out Rupert Murdoch, and then clean out the whole filthy rat's nest--O'Reilly, Hannity, John Gibson, Cavuto all of them.)
• The whole apparatus of right wing conspiracy--and yes, folks, that's what it is--has to be exposed, along with its supporters--the Coors Family, Sun Myung Moon, Richard Mellon Scaife, and all of the lunatic right organizations they support. The so-called Council for National Policy is perhaps the most dangerous. Do some digging here and you'll be horrified at what you find. (Please, please, PLEASE click this link and read all of it.)
• Christians on the political center and left need to wage war against the so-called "Christian" Right, and reclaim the faith for the true Christian majority.
• The Democrats need, obviously, to recapture both houses of Congress THIS year. It can be done, if we're willing to work for it.
• The Fairness Doctrine needs to be reinstated. Doing this will require a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President. The Right Wing Noise Machine of lunatic right hate radio started to be built up after the Fairness Doctrine was repealed in the 80s. Reinstating it would be the equivalent of taking a sledgehammer to right wing radio. It would force stations that use the public airwaves to provide equal time for all political views. It would be the radio equivalent of kicking Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, and all the other right wing scum on the aiwaves squarely in the crotch. (What an enjoyable image!)
• Democrats and progressives need to ramp up their confrontations with conservatives who are trying to take over school boards so as to institute the Radical Right agenda. This perhaps is job #1.

All in all, those who truly love America have to work to tear out the whole conservative philosophy by the roots. The conservative assertion that their philosophy is built on "personal freedom" is such utter bullshit that I'm amazed anyone buys into any more. Conservatism is built on the very worst features of the human mind--fear, prejudice, hatred, greed, and the desire to force one's way of life on everyone else. The battle may last for decades, but we must win it. The fate of our country--and the world--is riding on it.

Can You Give Me Hope?

I am emotionally exhausted right now. Despite the scientific community's mountain of evidence and irrefutable proof otherwise, the majority of Americans believe humans were created in their present form. A young Marine recruit tells me that the Marines are being told to gear up for an attack on IRAN. Women in South Dakota are being told, in essence, that they are second-class citizens. Conservatives see more humanity in a zygote than an uninsured, desperately ill actual child. Despite being massively unpopular, Bush continues to get just about everything he wants. Right wing thugs shout that people like me are traitors. The Democrats themselves show more ineptitude than courage. And as long as Republicans control the voting machines in most of the country, I am without hope of a Democratic comeback. In short, unless something changes, I must conclude that the United States of America has begun the process of dying and disintegrating. Unless the right wing fanatics are removed from power, they will create conditions that must inevitably lead to America's death. I look to the Democrats and I see, over and over, lack of preparation, lack of nerve, and lack of determination to win. Unless electoral reform is made the priority, the Republicans who count the votes will call the shots.

I'd like to think there's hope, but right now it looks grim.

Evolution Marches On

New evidence from the human genome confirms the fact that evolutionary changes are continuing, and that evolution has shaped many recent developments in our species. The key section of the article:

Providing the strongest evidence yet that humans are still evolving, researchers have detected some 700 regions of the human genome where genes appear to have been reshaped by natural selection, a principal force of evolution, within the last 5,000 to 15,000 years.

The genes that show this evolutionary change include some responsible for the senses of taste and smell, digestion, bone structure, skin color and brain function.

Many of these instances of selection may reflect the pressures that came to bear as people abandoned their hunting and gathering way of life for settlement and agriculture, a transition well under way in Europe and East Asia some 5,000 years ago.

Fascinating. The influence of evolution can be found all around us. That's why understanding it matters.

The Shocking Depths of Bush's Malice and Incompetence

Paul Krugman lays them out here. From Iraq to Katrina to Medicare, Bush has utterly dropped the ball. Moreover, if anyone in his administration tries to point this out to him, Bush immediately moves to attack that individual. For me, the most telling points in Krugman's analysis were these:

Knight Ridder's Washington bureau reports that from 2003 on, intelligence agencies "repeatedly warned the White House" that "the insurgency in Iraq had deep local roots, was likely to worsen and could lead to civil war." But senior administration officials insisted that the insurgents were a mix of dead-enders and foreign terrorists.Intelligence analysts who refused to go along with that line were attacked for not being team players. According to U.S. News & World Report, President Bush's reaction to a pessimistic report from the C.I.A.'s Baghdad station chief was to remark, "What is he, some kind of defeatist?"

Yes, reality isn't what it is. It's whatever Bush and his disgusting toadies and enablers decree it is.

And the entire world is paying the price.

America: A Republic, Not a Theocracy

This terrifying article about Christian "Reconstruction" led me to start thinking about just what it is that the far right of the Republican Party really wants. And what it wants is nothing less than the destruction of our country's entire political system and its replacement with a "Christian" theocracy. (This appalling resolution in Missouri is further evidence of it.) Am I exaggerating? Check out this quote from the article:

Reconstructionists aren’t shy about what exactly it is they are pursuing: “The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise,” Gary North, a top Reconstruction theorist, wrote in his 1989 book, Political Polytheism: The Myth of Pluralism. “Those who refuse to submit publicly…must be denied citizenship.”

First of all, if anyone tries to deny my citizenship and my right to vote, I will take up weapons and fight them. And no, I don't mean rhetorical weapons. I mean the machine gun/rifle/.38 magnum kind. They will take away my right to vote when they pry it out of my cold dead hands. I'm not the only one who feels this way, not by a long shot. I guarantee any attempt to forcibly impose fundamentalist, "Biblical"Christianity as the test of citizenship will start a Second American Civil War.

And I will be part of it.

What in God's name is wrong with these lunatics? Are they that ignorant of western civilization's history? Have they no knowledge whatsoever of the terrible religious wars that swept over Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries? Don't they understand that the principle of Church-State separation is ultimately designed to protect them? Christian Reconstruction, and its cousin, Dominion theology (espoused by Jerry Falwell, Tom DeLay, and Pat Robertson) is nothing less than an attempt to destroy our country. If fundamentalist Protestant Christianity is imposed legally, will the State order a mandatory tithe? (Don't laugh--some locales did in colonial America.) What will be the status of Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians? What will happen to Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, and agnostics? Will homosexuals be physically exterminated? (Again, don't laugh-Christian Reconstruction demands the death penalty for homosexuality.) Christian Reconstruction has very real ties to the Republican Party, which it sees as the vehicle for its success. The threat it poses is very real.

I love the Christians in my life. Most of my family is Christian. Most of my friends are, too. They would never dream of trying to impose their beliefs on my doubting, Deistic self. But the Christian Reconstructionists and Dominionists are utterly unlike them. They constitute the American Taliban, as many have said. They are anti-American fanatics, domestic versions of the Muslim fundamentalists waging war on us. Their doctrines are a cancer which must not be allowed to spread.

The authors of our Constitution, in their wisdom, prohibited religious tests for the holding of public offices. They forbade the establishment of an official faith. The omission of the word God in the Constitution was not an oversight; it was deliberate and intentional. The men who built our legal system were steeped in the history of Europe. They understood the demons that are unleashed when any religion attempts to impose itself on the rest of us. They would be horrified at the Reconstructionists, and would fight them with all their strength.

As for me, I'll simply say this: any attempt by the Reconstructionists to strip me of my citizenship on the basis of my religious beliefs will not be carried out over my dead body.

It will be over theirs.

The Last Bastion Falls

Bush has banked his success in American politics on his perceived "strength" in dealing with terrorism. It was always a lie. Bush is the most incompetent clown imaginable when it comes to fighting terrorists. Now, the U.S. public seems to be catching up, as this latest L.A. Times poll demonstrates. It seems a majority is no longer deceived into thinking that Bush is "protecting" anything more than his own miserable ass and the financial interests of his friends and supporters. This was the last issue on which the Republicans led the Democrats in public opinion. Now it seems to be collapsing.

It's clear why Osama Bin Laden released a video statement in the latter part of the 2004 campaign. Bin Laden knew it would benefit Bush, the candidate he passionately wanted to see re-"elected". Bush is a dream come true for Bin Laden, an American leader so misguided, so incompetent, and so ignorant of his enemies that he represents an asset in and of himself to worldwide terrorism. From ignoring repeated intelligence warnings about 9/11 to authorizing torture against Muslim suspects to embracing the UAE as a partner in "fighting" terrorism, Bush has done more to undermine this nation's security than any other president in American history. Bush is a disaster of the first magnitude. That's why Bin Laden loves him, and why the American people may--finally--be turning against Bush on this issue.

What We Must Do

"I don't have to tell you things are bad, we know things are bad."--Howard Beale in Network

There is no point anymore to me posting more items about the screw-ups, smears, lies, and disasters of Bush and the lowlife bastards around him. You know my opinions: In 2000, Bush was the least qualified candidate for the presidency since William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Following a campaign of astonishing dishonesty, aided and abetted by media figures determined to destroy Al Gore, and with the help of an outright coup d'etat in Florida, he seized the presidency. After Bush ignored numerous warnings about an impending attack, 3,000 Americans were killed by terrorists. The campaign against those terrorists has been utterly bungled. A tragically unnecessary war has been launched, with no end in sight, a war that has been mismanaged at every level and in every way. Right-wing religious fanatics and Halliburton officials make our domestic policy, and a level of corruption unseen in my lifetime washes over Washington like the overflow of a Republican cesspool. In a five year period Bush and the Republican Congress have added three trillion dollars to our nation's debt. Our "prosperity" rests on borrowed money and borrowed time. Science is under attack, reproductive rights are under attack, and an outright traitor, Karl Rove, is making policy. An utterly disastrous attack on Iran is being contemplated. The situation is nothing short of catastrophic.

It's now or never, my beloved friends--either we get rid of the Republicans, or they're going to get rid our nation's future. A Democratic victory of major proportions this November, followed by the election of a Democratic president in 2008, is all that will (maybe) rescue us. We have the candidates. We now need the money, the sweat, and the turnout to make it happen. But one huge factor stands in our way:

IN TOO MANY LOCATIONS, THE REPUBLICANS GET TO COUNT THE VOTES.

I will go to my grave convinced that Al Gore was elected President on Tuesday, 7 November 2000. I am increasingly convinced that John Kerry was ripped off in Ohio and possibly Florida. The Republican Party is led by criminals, and it will stop at nothing to win. The Republicans will break any law, hack any computers, rig any voting machines necessary to "win". Ohio is already rigged perhaps beyond fixing, as the Republican legislature there has rammed through a law forbidding challenges to election outcomes. Our task is therefore clear:

ELECTION REFORM MUST BE OUR PRIORITY.

Look at the polls, folks. The Republican President is in the thirties; the Republican Congress is in the twenties. The people are ready to hand us a landslide victory--if their votes are counted. It is our job to make sure the Republicans are prevented from stealing another election. I'll be writing about this more in the days to come. In the meantime--

JOHN PAVICH FOR CONGRESS IN IL-11

GIVE TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE HERE.

And get yourself ready for electoral war.

CBS: Bush Approval at a Pathetic 34%

You read that right, folks. Thirty-four lousy percent. This represents a new ratings low for the Boy King.

Why do two-thirds of all Americans hate America? Those who disapprove of Dear Leader must be siding with the terrorists. (Just trying to think like a Republican.)

DeLay, Abramoff, and Russian "Business Men"

This caught my attention immediately when I saw it. It details the ties between REPUBLICAN bagman Jack Abramoff and certain "energy" interests in Russia. Millions of dollars have been sent to REPUBLICAN connected individuals in Washington through phony front companies. Key section:

$3,617,238.

Marina Nevskaya and Alexander Koulakovsky, two executives of the Russian energy company Naftasib with close ties to the Russian government and security services, appear to have funneled at least that much money to three DC GOP lobbyists between 1997 and 2004.

Almost $3.4 million [in Russian money] went to Jack Abramoff and Ed Buckham of Alexander Strategy Group, arguably the two most powerful Republican lobbyists in town at the time, both with close ties to dethroned House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX).

Hmmm. Close ties to Russian government and security services. I wonder how many of those security services could simply be called "Russian Mafia"?

Keep on eye on this. I know I will.

Attention Everybody: The Republicans WILL Cave In and Give Bush His Way on the Dubai Ports Deal

What other explanation could there be for this little "face saving" manuever being cooked up by the Republican leadership? Trust me, an Arab state that was involved in 9/11 is soon going to be running parts of 21 (not just six) American ports.

Remember, the UAE--

• Is the home of several of the 9/11 hijackers.
• Funnelled money to the 9/11 terrorists.
• Resisted U.S. efforts to trace the money.
• Is part of the Hate Israel chorus in the Middle East.

The truth of the matter is, Bush and his family (and his business cronies) have long ties to the anti-American Arab world. When you boil it right down, money trumps country every time with these people. And the Republicans have managed to convince millions of people that the Republicans are the "patriotic" party. WAKE UP, AMERICA, AND LOOK AT THE DAMNED FACTS.

UPDATE: Check this out, too.

Fox News Strikes Again

The old Soviet Union had Pravda, the government run newspaper. Bush and the Republican Party have Fox News.

Neither one was or is worth a rat's ass.

The Bush Family's Ties to the United Arab Emirates

Lou Dobbs has the details here.

Check Out This New Ad From the ACLU

It's more than a little disquieting.

Is Iraq Heading for Civil War?

Here is some genuinely frightening news. Sunni retaliation for the bombing of a sacred Shia shrine in Iraq has begun. And there's more. The violence appears to be spreading rapidly.

From Juan Cole's blog:

The hardline Shiite Mahdi Army has come out of Sadr City and is all over Baghdad. They are clashing with Sunnis in Basra. Sunni leader Tariq al- Hashimi threatened reprisals for reprisal killings. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim blamed the US for holding back the Badr Corps. Grand Ayatollah Sistani called for nonviolent street protests that he must know won't be nonviolent. Iran is blaming Bush and the Israelis, which is ridiculous but already widely believed in Iraq and Iran. The threat of terrorism and attacks on Americans just went way up.

And we've got Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld managing things back here in the States.

We are so screwed.

Arianna Rips Hannity and Coulter New Ones

The hilarious details are here. Sean Hannity is a two-bit lying punk, a loud mouth weasel who doesn't deserve a job panhandling, much less helping to conduct our nation's political dialogue. He's due for a fall, and I'll do anything I can to help bring it about.

I've got another question as well: how in the hell did Rush Limbaugh (draft dodger, drug addict), Ann Coulter (alleged anorexic, alleged cocaine user, alleged prominent New York slutbag), Sean Hannity (no military service, no distinct public record of any kind), and Bill O'Reilly (loud mouthed show biz reporter and sexual harasser) come to be the ones who get to determine who is or is not a "real" American? I'm ashamed and embarrassed to acknowledge these idiots as my fellow countrymen. They give the proud title "American" a bad name. They think I'm a traitor for being a Democrat and a fierce critic of the Boy King, AKA the Worst President in American History? To hell with them. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, I wear their condemnation like a badge of honor.

Bush Ignored a Major Warning Prior to 9/11

Eric Alterman has the story. Bush, Cheney, and the other incompetent idiots who run our country had serious warnings in early 2001 about the possibility of a terrorist strike and chose to do nothing. (This is in addition to Bush ignoring the August 2001 PDB entitled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike the United States"). The opening of Alterman's post is damning:

Shortly after he was inaugurated, back in early 2001, just after the USS Cole was attacked, the Bush administration received a blue-ribbon commission report warning of the dangers of a catastrophic terrorist attack. Headed by Gary Hart and Warren Rudman, the report detailed the urgent steps necessary to begin the process of protecting the United States against a terrorist attack. “States, terrorists and other disaffected groups will acquire weapons of mass destruction, and some will use them,” the report warned. “Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers.” Hart even presciently predicted that the country was vulnerable to “a weapon of mass destruction in a highrise building.” The authors called for the creation of a department of homeland security combining and superseding the functions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Border Patrol, and the Customs Service, a recommendation converted into legislation by Senator Joseph Lieberman.

Bush's response? He ordered Cheney to do a "review" of our security preparations WHICH WAS NEVER DONE.

And you know the rest.

Damn it, how can people possibly trust these clowns to do what's truly necessary to secure our country?

The Happy Story of Ralph Reed

In a fun and easy format. Hee hee!

The Bush Administration Manipulated Pre-War Intelligence

So says respected former CIA analyst Paul Pillar in the prestigious journal Foreign Affairs. Pillar's conclusions, based on his personal involvement and observations, are devastating. To me, these are the key passages:

The Bush administration's use of intelligence on Iraq did not just blur this distinction [between intelligence gathering and policymaking]; it turned the entire model upside down. The administration used intelligence not to inform decision-making, but to justify a decision already made. It went to war without requesting -- and evidently without being influenced by -- any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq. (The military made extensive use of intelligence in its war planning, although much of it was of a more tactical nature.) Congress, not the administration, asked for the now-infamous October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq's unconventional weapons programs, although few members of Congress actually read it. (According to several congressional aides responsible for safeguarding the classified material, no more than six senators and only a handful of House members got beyond the five-page executive summary.) As the national intelligence officer for the Middle East, I was in charge of coordinating all of the intelligence community's assessments regarding Iraq; the first request I received from any administration policymaker for any such assessment was not until a year into the war.

The Bush administration deviated from the professional standard not only in using policy to drive intelligence, but also in aggressively using intelligence to win public support for its decision to go to war. This meant selectively adducing data -- "cherry-picking" -- rather than using the intelligence community's own analytic judgments. In fact, key portions of the administration's case explicitly rejected those judgments. In an August 2002 speech, for example, Vice President Dick Cheney observed that "intelligence is an uncertain business" and noted how intelligence analysts had underestimated how close Iraq had been to developing a nuclear weapon before the 1991 Persian Gulf War. His conclusion -- at odds with that of the intelligence community -- was that "many of us are convinced that Saddam will acquire nuclear weapons fairly soon."

People, the run-up to the war was marked by an astonishing series of lies and manipulations of the facts. This is nothing less than a national scandal, and the Pillar article deserves wide circulation. This is further proof that Bush and his people desired war with Iraq whatever the evidence showed. It is another piece in the picture of the most appalling, malicious, and incompetent administration in American history.

Countering the Heritage Foundation's Tax Arguments

The right-wing Heritage Foundation continues to be a major propaganda outlet for conservatives. A recent release by Heritage bemoans the fate of those in the highest tax brackets. I found this item to be interesting in particular:

The often repeated myth that lawmakers are dumping more of the tax burden on low-income families is simply false. From 1979 through 2003, the highest-earning 20 percent of Americans—who earn 52 percent of all income—saw their share of the federal tax burden rise from 56 percent to 66 percent of all taxes. By contrast, the lowest-earning quintile of Americans—who earn 4 percent of all income—saw their share of the federal tax burden drop from 2 percent to 1 percent. (See Chart 1 and Chart 2.) Clearly, the rich are shouldering an increasing share of the tax burden.

Hmmm. Interesting. So I went looking for some other data that might shed some light on this situation.

Percent of total net worth in the United States in 2001 by households:

Top 1%. 33.4%.

Top 5%. 59.2%.

Top 10%. 71.5%.

Top 20%. 84.4%.

Bottom 80%. 15.5%.

Bottom 40%. 0.3%.

(Link).

So I looked a little more and found these interesting tidbits:

"There were an estimated 7.7 million millionaires in the world at the end of 2003, half a million more than at the end of 2002, as stock markets and economic growth picked up and the rich took more risks with their cash.These wealthy individuals saw their riches increase by 7.7 percent to $28.8 trillion in 2003, recovering to levels seen before the global recession took hold in 2001, according to a survey on Tuesday from U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch and technology consultancy Capgemini. And the rich are set to get richer, with their wealth forecast to grow by seven percent a year and to exceed $40.7 trillion by 2008, the survey predicted... The survey also highlighted a small, but fast-growing global group of 70,000 super rich individuals with more than $30 million in financial assets. It found that this group was growing at a faster pace than those in the $1 million-plus bracket." (World's richest worth $29 trillion in 2003; Survey: Wealthy now back at level before dot-com bust. MSNBC.com, June 15, 2004,)

Very Richest's Share of Income Grew Even Bigger, New York Times, June 26, 2003

In the late 1970s, the top one percent of the US population held 13 percent of the wealth; in 1995 it held 38 percent. (Levy, Frank. The New Dollars and Dreams ).

In 1998 the top 1 percent of the population owned 38 percent of the wealth, the top 5 percent owned over 60 percent (source: www.inequality.org/fatcsfr.html).

The top ten percent of the U.S. population owns 81.8 percent of the real estate, 81.2 percent of the stock, and 88 percent of the bonds. (Federal Reserve Bank data in Left Business Observer, No. 72, Apr. 3, 1996, p. 5).

One percent of the U.S. population owns sixty percent of the stock and forty percent of the total wealth. (Hawken, Paul, The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability. New York: HarperBusiness, 1993).

The top one percent of U.S. households owned 42 percent of all stock in 1997... The top ten percent of households owned 82 percent of all stock-market wealth...Only 27 percent of households held more than $10,000 in stock in 1997...57 percent of Americans didn't own any stock at all...The top fifth of households saw their income rise 43 percent between 1977 and 1999, while the bottom fifth saw their income fall 9 percent....Since 1973, every group in society except the top 20 percent has seen its share of the national income decline, with the bottom 20 percent losing the most. They have just 3.6 percent of national income, down from 4.4 percent a quarter century ago. Indeed, the top fifth now makes more than the rest of the nation combined...Rebecca Blank, who recently left the President's Council of Economic Advisors, pointed out, ‘We've gone back to levels of income and wealth inequality that this country hasn't seen since the teens and 1920s.’" (Source: Merrill Goozner, Crash of '99?, Salon.com, Oct. 1, 1999).

The top one percent of Americans receive more income than the bottom 40 percent. (Korten, David. When Corporations Rule the World, p. 108).

When he was worth $40 billion, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was worth more than the bottom 110 million Americans (the bottom 40 percent of the population). By 1998, Gates was worth $59 billion; a year later, he was worth $85 billion. Gates is twice as wealthy as the second richest American, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (worth $40 billion). (Source: open letter from Ralph Nader (December 1998), citing Edward Wolff of New York University, whose calculations included home equity, pensions and mutual funds, but excluded personal cars, based on Gates' then-current net worth of $40 billion).

Also interesting. So I looked a little further and found this interesting site. Among other things, it points out that when you add Social Security taxes into the federal tax picture, you find that those with incomes of $30,000 a year pay about 15% of their adjusted gross income in taxes while those in the $200,000 plus range pay about 28%.

In my view, when you consider the impact of sales taxes, property taxes, and state income taxes, the poorest Americans pay just about the same percentage of their income in taxes as the richest.

The issue is NOT simply federal income taxes. It is the total tax picture that matters. Even more importantly, it is about who controls this country. And brothers and sisters, it's the people in the top 10% of income. WEALTH IS POWER. Only the dishonest or naive think otherwise. And power in America resides in those for whose plight Heritage feels so deeply.

Bush Scraping Bottom in New Survey USA Poll

Hey everybody! Let's start the weekend off with the happy news that El Presidente, His Fraudulency I, is tanking in the new SUSA poll (which was taken before the Cheney hunting fiasco). He's down 40%-57% nationwide. In Illinois, I am proud to say, he's rejected 33%-64%. (Ha!) He has a negative rating in 40 out of 50 states; he's tied in one, and has a net positive approval in only 9. He's one of the most unpopular presidents in American history. And don't let anybody tell you differently.

The American People Do NOT Want War With Iran

Gallup (via My DD) has the details. Only nine per cent of the poll's respondents want military action against Iran now. The vast majortity want diplomatic and economic pressure brought to bear. If Bush tries a military attack on Iran, he will be doing so without the support of the people of this country.

Biologists Are Blasting Down the Walls of "Intelligent Design"

Intelligent Design theorists (creationists by any other name) have argued that certain structures are "irreducibly complex" and cannot be accounted for by natural selection. They claim that a prize example of this complexity is the flagellum at the end of a sperm cell. Now scientists are closing in on this mystery and are handing the ID proponents yet another defeat. The mechanisms behind the evolution of this structure are slowly but surely being elucidated. Soon another "irreducible complexity" will be reduced.

To me, the most illuminating passage in this article was the following, referring to biologist Michael Behe, who is an ID proponent who recently argued the ID side of the Dover, Delaware case:

Perhaps the strongest rebuke to ID in the Dover case concerned the claim by Behe and others that it would be impossible for evolution to produce the immune system. Miller testified that since Behe wrote his 1996 book, evolutionary biologists have built a rich account of the immune system--a point Judge Jones highlighted in his ruling."[Behe] was presented with fifty-eight peer-reviewed publications, nine books, and several immunology textbook chapters about the evolution of the immune system," Jones wrote, "however, he simply insisted ... that it was not `good enough.'" (Emphasis added.)

That's right. No matter what genuine science says, it will never be enough to dislodge the blindness of ideological fanaticism. The fight will not be to convince the Michael Behes of the world. It will be to convince our children and grandchildren.

The Republican Radicals Hate Reason, Hate Scientific Truth, Hate Any Dissent

Kevin Drum has been on fire lately on the issue of the Republican war on science. The Republicans are now led by fanatics determined to crush all scientific opinions that contradict the lunatic Right's fondest beliefs and mythology. Go check Drum's post out. (The links are great, too.)

Stalin tried to outlaw genetics. Hitler tried to outlaw the teaching of relativity. Fanatical religious fundamentalists are trying to kill evolution. It ain't gonna work. REALITY IS WHAT IT IS. I feel as if I've said this a million times in my life. OK, I'll make it a million and one: there is no such thing as "Marxist" science. There is no such thing as "National Socialist" science. There is no such thing as "creation" science. There is just science.

In the name of sanity, we MUST win this fight.

The Voice of the Insane: Creationist Ken Ham

You really need to see this article to believe the level of pure, unadulterated lunacy this guy has reached. He travels throughout America brainwashing innocent children with his fantastic lies and nonsense. To me, this represents the worst of them:

How did Noah fit dinosaurs on the ark? He took babies. Why didn't a tyrannosaur eat Eve? All creatures were vegetarians until Adam's sin brought death into the world. How can we have modern breeds of dog like the poodle if God finished his work 6,000 years ago? He created a dog "kind" — a master blueprint — and let evolution take over from there.

We have to fight this insanity with all our hearts and minds. Creationism is not only wrong, it's a perversion of knowledge itself. It's an insistence on seeing the world as we want it to be, not as it is. It's also a perversion of religion, out and out blasphemy in its worst form. I'm sick of these pinhead little creationists and their tiny little God wrapped up in His tiny little universe. They want a God they can understand, not the God of a universe billions of years old and billions of light years across. They take stories written in the Bible that were never meant to be taken as anything but allegories and demand that they supplant all that humans have learned about themselves and their world. Ken Ham is an evil, deluded man doing untold damage to our country's future. It's time to send him and all the other creationists a message: You're about to become the most defeated people in history.

Count on it.

It's Evolution Sunday!

So named because it's both the 197th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the occasion of an important event: a declaration from hundreds of church pulpits that science and religion are compatible. Read the statement signed by more than 10,000 clergy across the United States (including my brother in-law Rick) I like this part in particular:

We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as “one theory among others” is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children.

Yes! The Christian center and the Christian left pretty heavily outnumber the Christian right. The right just makes more noise. It's time that changed, and I think it will.

Bush: Screw the Veterans, Screw the Active Military

Among the many preposterous myths that the radical right has spread over the years is the one that claims Republicans are "pro-military". Ha! That's a laugh, albeit a bitter one. If the conservatives were so damned pro-military, you'd think they would have been more eager to be a part of it. (Check out this wonderful site that lists every prominent rightwing fraud, liar, hypocrite, and chickenhawk.) Now, thanks to georgia10 at DKos, we have further proof that Bush's pro-military rhetoric is yet another lie. Check out georgia's devastating story about the lousy pay hikes, faulty body armor, and reduction in veterans' health benefits being pushed by our "pro-military" Republicans in Washington. Key section:

The military's health care program, TRICARE, supports some 9.2 million beneficiaries. Veterans from wars too soon forgotten depend on the program. From military families who have buried their husbands or wives, to those who dread a call in the middle of the night about those who currently serve, the program is designed to take care of those families--our families. First, Bush's plan would eventually cause some 600,000 retirees to be dropped from the military's healthcare program. Bush's budget also makes across-the-board premium increases to TRICARE retirees under the age of 65. Veterans will see an increase of 41% for single or family coverage within two years; senior enlisted and officer retirees will see increases of up to 204%. By 2009, healthcare premiums for our veterans will TRIPLE. (See PDF of TRICARE fee increases here).

If this doesn't make your blood boil, I don't know what will.

VETERANS AND CURRENT MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES: Vote for the people who REALLY support you. Vote for the people who REALLY honor your service. Vote for the people who are REALLY pro-military. VOTE DEMOCRATIC!

Cheney: A Cancer on America

Andrew Sullivan carries a good set of links today on the person who may just be the most evil, morally bankrupt, corrupt human who has ever guided the affairs of our beloved country: Dick Cheney. When you think of it, there really is no form of criminality and mendacity in which Cheney has not engaged. While the CEO at Halliburton, Cheney actively sought trade with Iran and Libya. He also used complex manuevers to hide the fact that he was helping to prop up Saddam Hussein's government. Cheney has lied repeatedly about these matters. It is Cheney and Karl Rove, ironically, who are behind the campaign to label all critics of Bush as traitors. It is Cheney and Rove who have perfected the smear campaign, the kind that denigrates and ridicules the service of Vietnam vets (like McCain, Gore, Cleland, and Kerry) while declaring that draft dodgers (like Limbaugh, Bush, Cheney himself, and Rove) are the true patriots. It is Cheney who was the driving force behind the disastrous Iraq war. It is Cheney who has consistently campaigned on the corpses of the 9/11 victims. It is Cheney who said, notoriously, "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter." In other words, it is Cheney who truly controls the United States. It is Cheney who is driving our nation off the cliff. It is Cheney, above all, who is killing our country. The political destruction of Cheney must be one of our top objectives. It starts on Tuesday, 7 November 2006, with the election of a Democratic Congress.

But that will only be the beginning.

The Fighting Democrats

Introduced by none other than the Original Fighting Democrat himself,Max Cleland.

Now this is what I like to see!

Angry Thoughts on a Tuesday Night

• The pathetic rightwing clowns who are bitching and moaning about Rev. Joseph Lowery and former President Jimmy Carter "politicizing" Coretta Scott King's funeral can go blow it out their asses, especially waste of human skin Sean Hannity, aka The Punk. The conservative bastards who are saying these things fought against everything Mrs. King stood for. They were her enemies in life; they have no right to say ANYTHING about how her funeral was conducted. Lowery and Carter said what needed to be said. They spoke the truth. If their criticism offended the Boy King who was there ONLY for a photo op, that's too damned bad.
• No Muslim radicals anywhere are ever going to tell me what I can say, what I can write, what I can look at, or who I can make fun of. If I want to criticize Muhammad, or even make a Muhammad look-alike sock puppet I can play with, I'll damn well do it. If they don't like it, they can kiss my ass. Those who are rioting, burning, and killing over a few freaking cartoons are proving to the world the point the cartoonists were making. The West can NEVER back down in the face of murderous psychotics like these.
• When will the Democrats stop cringing in fear before the Republicans? When will Barbara Boxer be selected as leader of the Senate Democrats? When will the Democrats get behind John Murtha and let him nationalize the 2006 elections? When will the Democrats get serious about challenging Republican election fraud? How many stinking elections have to get stolen from them before the Democrats fight back?

Rev. Joseph Lowery's Beautiful Tribute to Coretta Scott King

You owe it to yourself to see this. Rev. Lowery honors Mrs. King and speaks truth to power. Awe-inspiring.

Science is Under Constant Siege in the Bush Administration

Now the issue is the reality of the Big Bang. NASA scientists are under pressure by Bush political appointees to refer to the Big Bang as just a "theory" (meaning in this sense a hypothesis) in order to placate fundamentalist religious sensibilities. The story of this latest round of Bush-driven lunacy is here.

This is one of the most frightening and disturbing aspects of Bush's reign. The assault on evolution, the attempt to stifle evidence related to global warming, the booklets at national parks that tout creationist explanations for the age of the earth, are nothing less than an attempt to subordinate reason to religious dogma. The denial of reality when that reality contradicts cherished beliefs is the fundamental basis of insanity. Josh Marshall is right. It's as if empiricism itself is under assault by these people. No wonder 48 Nobel laureates endorsed Kerry in 2004. No wonder that such popular magazines as Scientific American have severely criticized Bush on these issues. No wonder the scientific community is appalled by Bush and his ignorant, scientifically illiterate thugs.

Bush and the Religious Right are the enemies of science. They are determined to destroy astronomy, cosmology, physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and all the related subfields of those areas. Why? Because the findings of these fields are not in line with the radical right's preposterous mythology. This fight for science, therefore, is nothing less than a struggle to maintain the integrity of rational inquiry itself. Upon the outcome of this struggle rests the future of our civilization.

Paula Zahn: Right Wing Clown

Mother Jones has the story. Zahn is a big fan of Ratbastard Limbaugh and a relentless cheerleader for Bush. It's time for her--and the rest of CNN--to get the message: We're calling on you on your crap. You've become FOX-lite, part of the Right Wing Noise Machine, and no rational person should listen to you.

Or buy anything from your sponsors.

Newsweek: Libby's Defense Full of Holes

Seems Valerie Plame was actually covert at the time certain members of the Bush Administration treasonably outed her. The details are here.

Bonddad Crushes Republican Fraud Luskin

It's right here, folks. Yes, the Republicans are still trying to argue that Clinton's Administration was an economic failure and Bush's is a rousing success, even though every single piece of evidence contradicts them. I think this is what pisses me off most about these people. They lie with impunity, they distort and twist facts to suit their purposes, and then they claim not only the mantle of honesty but assert that it is they who are the realists. Well, in economics folks, I got news for ya: actual reality has this nasty way of walking up and biting you on the ass, regardless of what lies and nonsense you're spouting.

Even if you're a Republican.

Gallup: Country Has Turned Even More Strongly Against Bush on Iraq

Read the interesting details here. Key section:

A new Gallup Poll, conducted in late January, reveals that just 39% of Americans approve of the way President Bush is handling Iraq, with 58% disapproving. Over half (53%) now say the administration "deliberately misled the American public about whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction," with 46% disagreeing. Gallup notes that this finding is "essentially reversed" from one year ago. (Emphasis added)

Yes, over HALF the people now think Bush lied to us about the reasons for a war that has consumed more than 30,000 lives. But since Bush didn't engage in illicit oral sex in the White House, he'll continue to get a free pass from most of the corporate media.

Check Out This Ad

It makes a comparison I think you'll find interesting.

Let's Help Dump Chris Matthews' Miserable Ass Off of TV

It's something that's long overdue, especially since Matthews recently speculated that a series of church bombings in Alabama may have been carried out by liberals or gays. This son of a bitch is, as I've recently noted, a disgusting, Republican-ass kissing clown. He's a perfect example of how cable news has descended to the level of sheer imbecility. Yes, he has a right to free speech, but that doesn't mean he automatically deserves a platform for it. Go to Open Letter to Chris Matthews (here) and find the addresses of Hardball's sponsors.

I smell boycott!

The Idiot Right Strikes Again

This time it's an assault against--demon opera! The pathetic details are here.

The parents involved in this protest are conservative idiots, and I feel sad for their children who will probably grow up to be the same way.

If This is True, It's Reason Enough to Force Bush from Office

The Guardian isn't my favorite British newspaper. It's too far left for my tastes. So I take its articles with a grain of salt. But if this one is true, it's shocking. It's nothing less than proof that Bush was determined to go to war no matter what the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq reported. Read it and see what you think.

Some 2,500 U.S. dead and 30,000 dead Iraqis later, we are reaping the fallout from Bush's determination.

The Current Republican Frontrunner

Lifted directly from Tapped online:

BUSH 2.0

Conservatives touting George Allen as the second coming of Dubbya have another piece of evidence to point to: Allen's continuing attempts to match, and raise, George W. Bush's studied ignorance of what's happening in his own government. Witness:

When asked for his opinion on Bernanke's nomination, all Sen. George Allen (R-VA) could muster was the response, "For what?"

"Told that Mr. Bernanke was up for the Fed chairman's job, Mr. Allen hedged a little, said he had not been focused on it, and wondered aloud when the hearings would be. Told that the Senate Banking Committee hearings had concluded in November, the senator responded: 'You mean I missed them all? I paid no attention to them."

I'm speechless. Even Ronald Reagan knew who the Fed Chief was. With this sort of blithe inattention to governance, Allen's a shoe-in for 2008. There's really no reason to fight it, so I, for one, welcome our new Virginian overlord. May he be merciful and kind.

The terrifying thing is that Allen is stupid enough and vicious enough to win both the Republican nomination and the presidency. It's not like it would be the first time, after all.

New House Republican Leader Just as Big of a Crook as DeLay

He's John Boehner, a product of the utterly corrupt Ohio Republican Party. He's been a notorious bagman for Republican-connected lobbyists for years. He's going to clean up the cesspool of Republican corruption in the House? That's a joke. The only way to clean up Republican corruption in the House is to VOTE THE RIGHTWING REPUBLICAN BASTARDS OUT OF IT.

HAW HAW HAW! Watch O'Reilly Getting Ripped a New One

Courtesy of Keith Olbermann. This is damned funny, so be patient as it loads. It's worth it.

The Potential Disaster of War With Iran

You may not have seen this article a little more than a year ago in The Atlantic Monthly but it's something you need to read. At the invitation of the magazine a group of some of the sharpest strategic thinkers and defense analysts in the United States came together to "war game" a potential strike against Iran. The essence of their conclusions:

The most important hidden problem, exposed in the war-game discussions, was that a full assault would require such drawn-out preparations that the Iranian government would know months in advance what was coming. Its leaders would have every incentive to strike pre-emptively in their own defense. Unlike Saddam Hussein's Iraq, a threatened Iran would have many ways to harm America and its interests. Apart from cross-border disruptions in Iraq, it might form an outright alliance with al-Qaeda to support major new attacks within the United States. It could work with other oil producers to punish America economically. It could, as Hammes warned, apply the logic of "asymmetric," or "fourth-generation," warfare, in which a superficially weak adversary avoids a direct challenge to U.S. military power and instead strikes the most vulnerable points in American civilian society, as al-Qaeda did on 9/11. If it thought that the U.S. goal was to install a wholly new regime rather than to change the current regime's behavior, it would have no incentive for restraint.

What about a pre-emptive strike of our own, like the Osirak raid? The problem is that Iran's nuclear program is now much more advanced than Iraq's was at the time of the raid. Already the U.S. government has no way of knowing exactly how many sites Iran has, or how many it would be able to destroy, or how much time it would buy in doing so. Worse, it would have no way of predicting the long-term strategic impact of such a strike. A strike might delay by three years Iran's attainment of its goal—but at the cost of further embittering the regime and its people. Iran's intentions when it did get the bomb would be all the more hostile.

Bear this in mind in the coming months as the war talk against Iran intensifies. Bush and the people around him may be tempted to strike. But if they do, the result could make our current difficulties in Iraq look minor by comparison.

Har! The Onion Nails It!

Yes, it's time for a new cabinet position.

Goodbye to Coretta Scott King

May God bless you always.

The D.C. Democrats Cave In Again

Winston Churchill, when a member of the opposition in the British Parliament, rose to speak after the Munich Agreement between Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler had been concluded. In his opening remarks, he said, "We have sustained a total and unmitigated defeat." That's exactly how I'm feeling tonight. I feel betrayed and let down by the Washington, D.C. Democrats--again.

The cloture vote to stop debate on the Alito nomination has won, with the help of a substantial number of Democratic Senators. This paves the way for Samuel Alito--perhaps the most radically rightwing member in the whole federal judicial system--to be confirmed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. It means that reproductive rights will be sharply curtailed. It means that workers' rights will be consistently ignored and crushed. It means that Bush will be allowed virtually unlimited executive power. It is, in short, a disaster. It was a disaster made possible by cowardice and lack of moral character. And America will pay for it by being stuck for decades with a quietly-spoken radical who will help the Republicans smash what's left of the Bill of Rights.

The Democrats caved in when THEY HAD THE VOTES TO BLOCK ALITO. They caved in to a President THAT A MAJORITY OF THE COUNTRY IS READY TO REMOVE FROM OFFICE. The Democrats who did this are cowards, weaklings, and appeasers. But why should I be surprised? The only battle we've won in recent times was over saving Social Security, and ordinary people and the netroots led that fight. The DC Democrats got beat in the recount in 2000 and failed to contest Bush's "certification" in the Senate in 2001. They failed to contest Ohio's results in 2004, despite clear and overwhelming evidence of fraud. They have allowed the most brazen criminals in modern American history to run rings around them--and now this.

Damn it, it makes it so hard to fight for them when they won't lift a G-d damned finger to fight for me.

No, Bush is NOT "Inching Up" in Popularity

He's still the most unpopular U.S. president since Nixon. Check the evidence out and see. There has no increase whatsoever in the Boy King's approval since December. None.

And I don't give a damn what the corporate media tell you.

New York Times: Bush Lying Through His Teeth on Wiretapping

Today's editorial pulls no punches. I particularly like the way the piece's author nails Karl Rove's despicable arguments:

We keep hoping that Mr. Bush will finally lay down the bloody banner of 9/11, but Karl Rove, who emerged from hiding recently to talk about domestic spying, made it clear that will not happen — because the White House thinks it can make Democrats look as though they do not want to defend America. "President Bush believes if Al Qaeda is calling somebody in America, it is in our national security interest to know who they're calling and why," he told Republican officials. "Some important Democrats clearly disagree."

Mr. Rove knows perfectly well that no Democrat has ever said any such thing — and that nothing prevented American intelligence from listening to a call from Al Qaeda to the United States, or a call from the United States to Al Qaeda, before Sept. 11, 2001, or since. The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act simply required the government to obey the Constitution in doing so. And FISA was amended after 9/11 to make the job much easier.

Why does anyone, at this point, expect Rove to be anything but what he is--a pathological liar and a smear artist extraordinaire? Rove has decided to campaign this year on terrorism because it is the ONLY issue the Republicans have left. Their only hope is to attack Democrats as traitors. Thank God there are some in mainstream media who will still call them on it.

Think Private Schools Are Better Than Public? Think Again

Some surprising (to some--not me) evidence that public schools, after controlling for various socioeconomic factors, do just as well or better than private schools.

I'm a public school teacher and I get pretty tired of conservatives and their ugly and unfounded attacks on my colleagues and me. Here's some tangible evidence that the rightwing attack on public schools remains what it has always been--a fraud.

Remember: public schools must, by law, accept everyone. We in the public schools don't have the luxury of turning kids down or kicking them out whenever we feel like it. Private schools do. And can you imagine the "science education", with its emphasis on creationist idiocy, that a lot of kids in religious private schools are getting?

Our Problem, According to Bush? We Have TOO MUCH Health Insurance

Yes, amazingly, that's apparently the line he's going to push in the State of the Union Address. The health care problem isn't that almost 50 million people have NO insurance, or that something like 80 million people go without health insurance at some time or another in a five year period, or that millions of American kids have no coverage at all. You see, it's that we're OVERINSURED. It's OUR fault, not that of the fanatic rightwingers in Congress who have consistently killed any efforts to construct a coherent health care system.

What. A Freaking. Bastard.

G-d Damn It, the Abramoff Scandal is a REPUBLICAN Scandal!

And I don't give a rat's ass how hard Katie Couric and the utterly insufferable Tim Russert are trying to make it look otherwise. The Poor Man has the knockout blow argument here.

The Media, as I said earlier today, are overwhelmingly controlled by corporate Republicans. The attempt to smear the Democrats with the excrement of the Abramoff Scandal is infuriating but not surprising. Don't buy NBC's bullshit on this story. Abramoff is the #1 Extreme Rightwing Republican bagman of all time, and the Abramoff Scandal is a REPUBLICAN scandal that overwhelmingly benefited the Republican Party. Period.

BTW: Here's a link to the American Prospect story on this issue.

The Media: Whitewater "Scandal"--Huge. NSA Spying--Minor

Media Matters has a tremendous post today contrasting the grotesquely disproportionate coverage of the so-called "Whitewater Scandal" by the mainstream media to the relatively modest coverage being given to Bush's outright and brazen violation of U.S. law in the NSA spying matter. Go take a read, and see if it doesn't piss you off all over again (or for the first time, for that matter).

Remember, Whitewater was the tool by which the radical right engineered the monstrous power grab known as the Clinton impeachment. It was the "story" about which the New York Times ran repeated articles in an effort to discredit Clinton. It was the excuse that sex pervert/lowlife Kenneth Starr used to pry into Clinton's PERSONAL AND PRIVATE SEXUAL AFFAIRS (lest we forget that such things ARE private). It was the "issue" the Wall Street Journal used to fuel the savagely anti-Clinton editorials flooding out of its psychotically rightwing editorial board. In short, Whitewater was used to try to destroy a president on no actual grounds whatsoever--because there was no "scandal" in the so-called "Whitewater Scandal". The entire accusation was pure out and out bullshit. Period.

George W. Bush's crimes, on the other hand, are real and monstrous. From helping to engineer the 2000 coup d'etat to starting a war with Iraq based on lies to authorizing torture to presiding over rampant corruption to conducting illegal wiretapping, Bush's Administration has been a ghastly series of shocking offenses against our laws. As noted in one of my recent posts, more than half of the American people want to get rid of Bush if he broke the law in the wiretapping scandal. And yet, of the two most recent presidents, Bill Clinton was harassed and tormented 10 times more than Bush has been. No more than 30% of the American people wanted him impeached, and yet the mainstream media drove the impeachment farce relentlessly.

And the rightwingers actually have the nerve to use the label "Liberal Media"? Bullshit. The media in our country are controlled overwhelmingly by pro-Republican corporate interests. That's why they've been comparatively easy on Bush.

After all, you don't kick your bed partner.

The Rude Pundit's Reasons for Filibustering Alito

The Rude Pundit is for filibustering Alito, as am I. It's not, he says, that the average American knows or cares who Alito is. It's because the Democrats need to make a statement. His language is, well, rude, but he's hit it right on the head:

Then here's a brief list of reasons to filibuster Alito that have nothing to do with Savage Sammy:

- Because President Bush authorizes spying on Americans without a warrant.
- Because President Bush authorized torture by Americans and through renditioning.
- Because President Bush detains people without charge for an indefinite period.
- Because President Bush ignores whatever laws he wants, even if he signs them.
- Because President Bush lied about Iraq to get us into the war.
- Because the Army is stretched "to the breaking point."
- Because the reconstruction of Iraq is being fucked up, too.
- Because President Bush refuses to acknowledge what it's gonna take to help the people of the Gulf Coast.
- Because Ford is getting rid of 30,000 employees.
- Because Karl Rove still has a job.
- Because President Bush and the Republicans fail to fully fund the bullshit "No Child Left Behind" program.
- Because President Bush denies the existence of global warming.
- Because the Medicare prescription drug program is a clusterfuck that will end up in people dying because of its existence.
- Because President Bush denies any connection to Jack Abramoff.
- Because President Bush refuses to speak before any audience that doesn't adore him.
- Because Dick Cheney exists.
- Because Osama Bin Laden is either living free or died free.
- Because Donald Rumsfeld still has a job.
- Because the White House has stymied every investigation into its fuck-ups.
- Because President Bush calls spying "terrorist surveillance" and pollution "Clean Skies" and money to churches "Faith-Based Initiatives."
- Because Richard Scaife doesn't need another tax cut.
- Because there has to be a line in the sand, somewhere; otherwise, it's just one long desert until who-knows-when.

Damned right. How much longer can Democrats fight for a party that won't fight for them?

Republican Psychotic Coulter "Jokingly" Calls for the Murder of Justice Stevens

You can read the details here. This is in line with her "joke" about terrorists killing everyone at the New York Times. If any Democrat made a "joke" like this, he or she would be arrested. Coulter has the mentality of a criminal. She's also the true face of both the conservative movement in general and the Republican Party in particular.

Ann Coulter IS the Republican Party.

Little Ricky, Pathological Liar

This item is simply bizarre. It's Soon to Be Ex-Senator Rick (Little Ricky) Santorum denying that he's met or associated with Grover Norquist, when in fact there is videotape of him being introduced at a meeting by Norquist himself. Talk about a lying con-man.

It's these Holier-Than-Thou types you gotta be careful of. They like to come off as morally upright and better than you and me--but they're usually corrupt, thieving bastards.

Like Santorum.

52% Now Say Impeachment of Bush Should Be Considered

And 59% of the Independents. The details are here.

Funny, isn't it? Support for Clinton's impeachment never reached much higher than 30%, and yet rightwing fanatic bastards were able to turn the entire country upside down for two years with their garbage investigation. More than half of the American people say we should consider removing Bush from office, and you don't even hear about it from most of the "liberal" media. What does that tell you?

Join the War on Chris Matthews!

Check out this site and get in on the fun!

Matthews is a liar and the worst kind of media whore. He's a sickening Bush worshiper who consistently characterizes those who dare to criticize Dear Leader as the spawn of Osama. He's a fraud, a phony "journalist" who enjoys dumping on Democrats because he thinks we won't fight back. He's in for one damn rude awakening.

And he can take this "The Democrats sound like Osama" bullshit and blow it out his ass.

Want to See the Financial Catastrophe Bush and the Republican Congress Are Creating?

Then look here and here. This isn't some whacked out ultra-leftwing site reporting this; this is the freaking Government Accountability Office, for crying out loud. This is the impact of unbridled spending paired with unprecedented tax cuts in wartime.

I'd also like you to take a look at this graph the GAO prepared. You'll notice that the 1990s (Clinton) was a period of unparalleled fiscal responsibility. You'll also notice that the 1980s (Reagan) and 2000s (the Boy Emperor) were/are periods of rampant fiscal irresponsibility and a disastrous growth in the national debt

The message is clear: Republican financial policies are driving this country into disaster. Only a Democratic victory in 2006 and a succession of Democratic presidencies starting in January 2009 has any chance of saving our country from ruin.

Dear Friends: Type the Name Margie Schoedinger Into Google

See what you get. I had never heard of her until today, but apparently in 2002 she filed a suit against George W. Bush for an alleged rape committed in the 90s. The suit was dismissed in 2003, but not for lack of evidence.

You see, Ms. Schoedinger "killed herself" by means of a gunshot wound to the head. You can read about the case by following the links contained here.

Maybe there's a reasonable explanation for all this. For my part, I follow the national news and politics as closely as anyone I know. Why didn't I ever hear of this?

And for that matter, why didn't you?

Republicans or the Mafia?

Here's a helpful guide to help you figure it out.

Haw! This is PRICELESS!

I'm not a big fan of Michael Moore but I thought Chris Matthews' recent comparison of Moore to bin Laden was wildly over the top. Moore has fired back using PhotoShop. Have fun checking the results out!

D.C. Democrats, the Country is With You! FIGHT THE REPUBLICAN CRIMINALS HARD!

New research from Pew by way of Emerging Democratic Majority demonstrates it beyond question. On virtually every issue, the American people stand with the Democrats. Key paragraph:

These data can be broken down by the type of national problem cited by respondents. Democrats had strong advantages in every area but one (security/terrorism): the economy (+21); social/domestic (+22); Iraq (+19); and foreign policy (+30). This compares to last January, when Republicans were actually favored overall and on social/domestic issues (by a point) and Democrats only led by 5 points on Iraq and 17 points on foreign policy. Even on security/terrorism, while the GOP still leads by 18 points today, that’s down from an overwhelming 39 point margin at the beginning of last year.

No wonder Master Thug Karl Rove plans to run the 2006 campaign on stirring up fear of terrorism--it's literally the ONLY advantage the Republicans have left. And we can beat them on the terrorism issue if we play our cards right.

D.C. Democrats, SHOW SOME BACKBONE! FILIBUSTER ALITO! THUNDER OUT THE MESSAGE AGAIN AND AGAIN THAT THE ABRAMOFF SCANDAL IS A REPUBLICAN SCANDAL! REMIND PEOPLE THAT BUSH TRIED TO DESTROY SOCIAL SECURITY AND THAT THE FAR RIGHT WANTS TO DESTROY THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. And above all, ask this question again and again:

WHY IN THE HELL IS OSAMA BIN LADEN STILL ALIVE AND THREATENING US?

Bush and the Political Uses of bin Laden

Master criminal and ultimate scumbag Osama bin Laden is once again making threats against the United States. Personally, I'm not sure he's credible any more (he did, after all, offer a "truce", which sounds more like weakness than anything else). Still, I can't help but wonder why in the hell bin Laden is still alive and able to make threats in the year 2006. Let's look again at some quotes made about bin Laden by President Bozo, courtesy of our friends at Buzzflash:

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."
- G.W. Bush, 9/13/01

"I want justice...There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'"
- G.W. Bush, 9/17/01, UPI

"...Secondly, he is not escaping us. This is a guy, who, three months ago, was in control of a county [sic]. Now he's maybe in control of a cave. He's on the run. Listen, a while ago I said to the American people, our objective is more than bin Laden. But one of the things for certain is we're going to get him running and keep him running, and bring him to justice. And that's what's happening. He's on the run, if he's running at all. So we don't know whether he's in cave with the door shut, or a cave with the door open -- we just don't know...."
- Bush, in remarks in a Press Availablity with the Press Travel Pool,
The Prairie Chapel Ranch, Crawford TX, 12/28/01, as reported on
official White House site

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

"I am truly not that concerned about him."
- G.W. Bush, repsonding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts,
3/13/02 (The New American, 4/8/02)

And why should Bush focus on destroying bin Laden? The Saudi-born terrorist has been a political gold mine for El Presidente and the right-wing thugs that run this country.

Fear of bin Laden was used to propel Republicans to their narrow victory in 2002. At the start of that year, White House Traitor/Smear Artist/Professional Con Man/Trusted Bush Advisor Karl Rove was openly speculating about how Republicans could use the terrorism issue to their political advantage. During the campaign, the White House directed lying attacks against Senate Democrats, questioning their commitment to fighting terror. Rove and Ralph Reed helped slander triple amputee Vietnam vet Max Cleland by (absurdly) associating him with bin Laden. Cleland's crime? He had dared to question Dear Leader's conduct of the terrorism war. It worked.

Bush issued one phony terror alert after another during the 2004 campaign, including an outrageously fraudulent one right after the Democratic Convention that year. Have you noticed that the terror alerts have UTTERLY AND COMPLETELY stopped? Every one of the 2004 terror alerts was pure Republican bullshit, designed to distract attention from the Kerry campaign. And bin Laden himself popped up on videotape the week before the election, when Kerry was starting to pull ahead. Walter Cronkite suspected Rove timed the release of the tape; I have no reason to doubt it. Its release was one more Republican effort to campaign on top of the corpses of the 9/11 victims.

And now, with Republican scandal rocking the nation, bin Laden pops up again. If I didn't know better, it would almost seem like he's trying to help the Republicans out.

After all, it's more than four years after 9/11 and bin Laden is still a free man, the U.S. is bogged down in a useless war in Iraq, and huge numbers of Muslims hate America more than ever.

Isn't it clear? Bin Laden regards Bush as a gift from Allah.

John Stossel, Right Wing Hack, Smears the Public Schools

John Stossel, one of America's most dangerously biased and irresponsible "journalists", recently devoted an entire hour of 20/20 to a grotesquely slanted attack on the public schools. Stossel is closely associated with a number of far-rightwing groups whose goal is the destruction of the public school system. Fortunately, the public schools are well defended here by DeweyCounts at DKos. Dewey rips Stossel a new one (well deserved) and stands up for the last great unifying institution in America. It is the egalitarianism of the public schools that conservatives hate the most, and it is the factor animating their perverse desire to destroy it.

Stossel is a pathetic liar and he, 20/20, and 20/20's sponsors deserve to be boycotted. I'm damned sick and tired of right-wing bastards like Stossel throwing garbage in my face, and I'm going to fight back.

UPDATE: Bob Somerby weighs in as well here.

Religious Right Fraud Ralph Reed Up to His Neck in Abramoff Scandal

You can read all about it here.

I know and love many, many Christians, but I don't love sanctimonious, thieving, lying right-wing Republican criminals who shout about their holiness and righteousness and then break evey single rule with impunity. Ralph Reed is one of the worst of these people, a stalking horse for the evil, demented Pat Robertson and a friend of Jack Abramoff for 25 freaking years. He's a hypocrite and a con-man and, by God, it's time his squalid little fifteen minutes were brought to an end.

I particularly like this quote from the article, by the way:

"Ralph Reed? He's a politician," said David Loudenflager, a Republican who retired after working 32 years for the Arrow Shirt Company. "He was involved with Jack Abramoff and the Indians and all those."

Loudenflager does not like the Democratic Party -- "they give away everything" -- but he puts no stock in the Christian Coalition: "All these people running around telling you how good they are, and how right they are. You better be careful and hold on to your wallet."