The Bonehead award for Tuesday

CNN apologizes for Obama gaffe in Bin Laden graphic

A Monday night broadcast of CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer confused America's "number one enemy" with one of America's most popular senators, RAW STORY has learned. CNN apologized for the error, which came after a series of incidents in recent months in which Illinois Democrat Senator Barack Obama was subtly or directly linked with militant Islamic personalities who have been hostile to the United States.

But instead of asking "Where's Osama?" the graphic over the two Islamists read "Where's Obama?" referencing the surname of popular Illinois Democratic Senator Barack Obama.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/CNN_comments_on_Obama_gaffe_in_0101.html

From Obama's office:

Senator Obama's Press Secretary also added "We really appreciate the people in the blogosphere who brought this to our attention, and act as our eyes and ears."

Yes, thanks for blogsphere. An absolute embarrassment for CNN.

Experts fear journalist testimony in CIA leak case will erode freedom of press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some journalists who made careers out of questioning government officials and bearing witness to history may soon find themselves answering questions from prosecutors as key witnesses in the CIA leak case.

Ten or more reporters from some of the most prominent news organizations could be called to testify in the perjury and obstruction case of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. It's rare enough for reporters to become witnesses. But the Libby case is even more unusual because journalists will be dueling witnesses — some called by the defense team, some by prosecutors.

"It will be unprecedented and, as far as I'm concerned, horrifying," Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said of the case, for which jury selection begins in two weeks.

Prosecutors want to show that Libby lied to investigators about his conversations with journalists regarding outed CIA officer Valerie Plame, and they are expected to rely on former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper and NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert to make their case.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-02-cia-leak-reporters_x.htm?csp=34

Since Libby's case is surrounding around leaking a CIA covert's identity to reporters, it is the civil duty of the reporters to tell the truth and cooperate with the court. Other reporters I would like to see added in the witness list:

Robert Novak

Bob Woodward

Chris Matthews

David Brooks

Andrea Mitchell

Vivica Novak (no relation to Robert Novak)

The Lesson George W. Didn’t Learn

One of the lessons the president might have learned when he visited Vietnam was about the number of “surges” Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson delivered from 1961 through 1968. The first American troops arrived in the country in strength in 1961, although advisers had been there since the early 1950s when the French left after their defeat at Dien Bien Phu.

By 1965, troop strength had “surged” to 125,000 from 75,000. At the end of the year, they had surged again, to 200,000. By January 1957, they had surged to 389,000. By July 1967, troop strength had surged to 475,000.

And, of course, by January 1968, they had surged to more than 500,000, when Gen. William Westmoreland, the military commander at the time, was reporting that the Vietnam insurgency had largely been quelled. Then the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong staged a surge of their own during the Lunar New Year. An estimated 165,000 civilians are believed to have died, creating millions more refugees. Hundreds of GIs and Marines died as the Viet Cong fought their way to the US Embassy in Saigon. The battle for the old imperial capital of Hue killed hundreds of US Marines and virtually destroyed perhaps the most beautiful city in the country.

Westmoreland asked for another 200,000 troops. At that point, Johnson, beleaguered in the White House as Bush has never been over Iraq, brought in Clark C. Clifford, a long-time Washington, DC insider, as Secretary of Defense to reexamine the US mission in Vietnam. After several weeks, Clifford concluded that “there is no concept or overall plan anywhere in Washington, DC for achieving victory in Vietnam.”

That may sound familiar to those reading the conclusions of the Iraq Study Group, headed by James A. Baker III, the 2006 version of the Washington Wise Man. The group’s report basically concluded that the war in Iraq cannot be won by the US. Recommendations include withdrawing US combat troops by March 2008, leaving only a limited number to help train and advise the Iraqis and involving Syria and Iran in negotiations as client states for the insurgents. The ISG’s belief that surges are out of the question has not been received warmly by the president.

Iraq and Vietnam are obviously vastly dissimilar. Iraq is in the middle of a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites as well as an insurgency against US troops. Fundamentalist Islam and jihadi fervor are on the rise. Vietnam had its own nationalist insurgency led by the communist Viet Cong that was augmented direct over-the-border invasions by the North Vietnamese Army in set piece battles from the Ia Drang Valley in 1965 to Khe Sanh and Con Thien.

More on the story.

Hello, Grisham -- So Long, Hemingway?

This is pretty sad...

You can't find "Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings" at the Pohick Regional Library anymore. Or "The Education of Henry Adams" at Sherwood Regional. Want Emily Dickinson's "Final Harvest"? Don't look to the Kingstowne branch.

It's not that the books are checked out. They're just gone. No one was reading them, so librarians took them off the shelves and dumped them.

Along with those classics, thousands of novels and nonfiction works have been eliminated from the Fairfax County collection after a new computer software program showed that no one had checked them out in at least 24 months.
Public libraries have always weeded out old or unpopular books to make way for newer titles. But the region's largest library system is taking turnover to a new level.

More on the story.

Cry baby of the day:Chief Justice Roberts laments ‘constitutional crisis.’

He says pay for federal judges is too low. Roberts earns $212,000 per year. Judges on federal appeals courts earn $175,100..

May I suggest that Judge Roberts either switch careers, go back to being an attorney, quit bitching, or get a life. He hasn't been in his job that long and now he wants a raise?

New sheriffs in town:The First 100 hours will be free of GOP obstructions

The House Democrats aren't going to let the Republicans ruin the first 100 hours according to The Washington Post:

As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.House Democrats intend to pass a raft of popular measures as part of their well-publicized plan for the first 100 hours. They include tightening ethics rules for lawmakers, raising the minimum wage, allowing more research on stem cells and cutting interest rates on student loans.But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories.

WMDgate - "Hubris" and Uranium from Africa

Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War by Michael Isikoff, David Corn

What was really behind the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq? As George W. Bush steered the nation to war, who spoke the truth and who tried to hide it? HUBRIS: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War (Crown, September 8, 2006) takes us behind the scenes at the Bush White House, the CIA, the Pentagon, the State Department, and Congress to answer all the vital questions about how the Bush administration came to invade Iraq. HUBRIS, a gripping narrative, is filled with new revelations. The book disclosures include:

* After the invasion, Dick Cheney's aides desperately sifted through raw intelligence nuggets in search of any evidence that would justify the war. On one occasion they sent the WMD hunters in Iraq a satellite photo that they suspected showed a hiding place for WMDs. But it was only an overhead photo of a watering hole for cows.
* A critical memo in the CIA leak case was based on notes of a State Department official that were (as this official told the authors) inaccurate. This memo reported that former ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife was a CIA employee who played a key role in sending him on his trip to Niger. Yet the State Department official now acknowledges his notes did not describe Valerie Wilson's role accurately.

* At the time of her outing, Valerie Wilson was an undercover officer in the CIA whose mission had been to gather intelligence about WMDs in Iraq. She was the operations manager of the Joint Task Force on Iraq, a unit in the clandestine service of the CIA. This unit desperately tried to obtain evidence to back up the Bush administration's assertions about Saddam's WMDs, yet it found no such evidence.

* Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, was the original leaker in the CIA leak case. But as he was disclosing information to columnist Robert Novak, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and other top White House aides were engaged in a fierce campaign to discredit Joseph Wilson. Rove even told MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews that the Wilsons "were trying to screw the White House so the White House was going to screw them back."
* Karl Rove and his lawyer did not turn over a critical piece of evidence in the CIA leak case (a document covered by a subpoena from the special prosecutor) for nearly a year.

More..

While You Were at War ...

A very good piece...

By Richard A. Clarke
The Washington Post

In every administration, there are usually only about a dozen barons who can really initiate and manage meaningful changes in national security policy. For most of 2006, some of these critical slots in the Bush administration have been vacant, such as the deputy secretary of state (empty since Robert B. Zoellick left for investment bank Goldman Sachs) and the deputy director of national intelligence (with Gen. Michael V. Hayden now CIA director). And with the nation involved in a messy war spiraling toward a bad conclusion, the key deputies and Cabinet members and advisers are all focusing on one issue, at the expense of all others: Iraq.


National Security Council veteran Rand Beers has called this the "7-year-old's soccer syndrome" - just like little kids playing soccer, everyone forgets their particular positions and responsibilities and runs like a herd after the ball.

In the end, there are only 12 seats at the conference table in the White House Situation Room, and the key players' schedules mean that they can seldom meet there together in person or on secure video conference for more than about 10 hours each week. When issues don't receive first-tier consideration, they can slip by for months. I learned this firsthand: In the early days of the Bush administration, I called for an urgent meeting to discuss the threat al-Qaeda posed to the United States. The Cabinet-level meeting eventually took place - but not until Sept. 4, 2001.
Without the distraction of the Iraq war, the administration would have spent this past year - indeed, every year since Sept. 11, 2001 - focused on al-Qaeda. But beyond al-Qaeda and the broader struggle for peaceful coexistence with (and within) Islam, seven key "fires in the in-box" national security issues remain unattended, deteriorating and threatening, all while Washington's grown-up 7-year-olds play herd ball with Iraq.

As the president contemplates sending even more U.S. forces into the Iraqi sinkhole, he should consider not only the thousands of fatalities, the tens of thousands of casualties and the hundreds of billions of dollars already lost. He must also weigh the opportunity cost of taking his national security barons off all the other critical problems they should be addressing - problems whose windows of opportunity are slamming shut, unheard over the wail of Baghdad sirens. More on the story..

Hope everyone enjoy your New Years festivities. Be back with a new posting on January 2! Cheers!

Superb fireworks display in Sydney as world ushers in 2007

Happy New Year 2007 Justice Bloggers!

With more than 81 dead, 2006 one of the worst years for journalists

Let's not forget the journalists...

Paris- The year 2006 was one of the worst years for journalists worldwide, with 81 reporters killed while practising their profession in more than 21 countries, said Paris-based organization Reporters without Borders (RSF) on Sunday. The last time the death toll was higher was in 1994 with 103 killed, the organization stated, adding that the 2005 death toll was 63.

In addition, 56 journalists were kidnapped, primarily in Iraq and the Gaza Strip. A further 32 people - including drivers, translators and technicians - were killed aiding journalists, compared to five in 2005. For the fourth year running, Iraq was the most dangerous country for the media, with 64 journalists and their support personnel killed.

Iraq was followed by Mexico, with nine dead, and the Philippines, with six. In 2006, at least 871 journalists were arrested, 1,472 attacked or threatened and 921 media outlets censored, according to RSF.

http://rawstory.com/news/2006/With_more_than_81_dead_2006_one_of__12312006.html

In the 70s, Betty Ford really was a remarkably hip First Lady

Take a look at some of the things Betty Ford said and did back in the 1970s. She really did speak her mind honestly. This was back in the days when there were normal Republicans. Betty Ford was not out of the mainstream of her party then. Take a look at some of the things Betty Ford said and did back in the 1970s. She really did speak her mind honestly. This was back in the days when there were normal Republicans. Betty Ford was not out of the mainstream of her party then.

She was a product and a symbol of the cultural and political times — doing the Bump along the corridors of the White House, donning a mood ring, chatting on her CB radio with the handle First Mama — a housewife who argued passionately for equal rights for women, a mother of four who mused about drugs, abortion and premarital sex aloud and without regret.

Her candor about her battle with breast cancer, which led to unprecedented awareness among American women about detecting the disease, and her later commitment to alcohol and substance abuse treatment, stemming from her own abuse history, set the stage for widespread acknowledgment and advocacy that is commonplace today.

Given her impact on these crucial health issues and her influence over the modern East Wing, Mrs. Ford’s effect on American culture may be far wider and more lasting than that of her husband, who served a mere 896 days, much of it spent trying to restore the dignity of the office of the president.

More on Betty Ford..

Tricky Dick Cheney hails Ford's pardon of Nixon

WASHINGTON - The nation honored Gerald R. Ford in funeral ceremonies Saturday that recalled the touchstones of his life, from combat in the Pacific to a career he cherished in Congress to a presidency he did not seek. He was remembered as the man called to heal the country from the trauma of Watergate.

Ford's decision to pardon Richard Nixon, so divisive at the time that it probably cost him the 1976 election, was dealt with squarely in his funeral services by his old chief of staff, Vice President Dick Cheney.

"It was this man, Gerald R. Ford, who led our republic safely though a crisis that could have turned to catastrophe," said Cheney, speaking in the Capitol Rotunda where Ford's body rested. "Gerald Ford was almost alone in understanding that there can be no healing without pardon."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061231/ap_on_re_us/gerald_ford

No healing without a pardon... Gee, I wonder if Cheney was referring to Nixon or himself when he gets caught with his crimes... It makes you wonder...

It's My Pet Goat all over again: the chimpster fast asleep when Saddam's execution happened

We went through all of this trouble to go into Iraq, remove Saddam and execute him; yet our own President -- the man responsible for this invasion -- did not even bother to stay awake when the execution took place.

Yet, while this was so important for us to go to war, remove Saddam and execute him, President Bush was fast asleep when the execution took place:
Bush was informed by national security adviser Stephen Hadley around 6:15 p.m. CST (0015 GMT) that the execution would take place in a few hours and was asleep when it occurred, said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

Forget the fact that the Duelfer Report proved Saddam Hussein was a diminishing threat, not a grave and gathering one. Forget that Saddam Hussein did not posses weapons of mass destruction. Forget that the American people were lied to over and over about this war. Still, after all this Iraq hype, shouldn't the man behind the invasion at least garner up the motivation and energy to stay awake past his normal bed time? Since he is in Texas, he would have had to fall asleep before 9 PM CT in order to miss the execution. That means he probably got ready for bed in the 8 PM hour. What President goes to bed that early? Major world events are happening, and our President chooses to sleep. This is like "My Pet Goat" all over again.

http://thebluestate.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/12/bush_fast_aslee.html

NY Times: Justice investigating whether Interior officials steered oil-trading contracts to favorites

Federal investigators are scrutinizing whether government officials made choice consulting arrangements with oil companies, The New York Times is reporting.

"The Justice Department is investigating whether the director of a multibillion-dollar oil-trading program at the Interior Department has been paid as a consultant for oil companies hoping for contracts," writes Edmund L. Andrews. "The director of the program and three subordinates," the article continues, "have been ordered to cease all contacts with the oil industry until the investigation is completed."

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/NY_Times_U.S._official_overseeing_oil_1230.html

I hope there is an investigation into ex employee of Interior for the WH, Gale Norton since she now works for Shell. In fact, check all of the WH Administration officials' portfolio and connections to the oil companies...

Open Thread...

What is on your mind today?

What is your reaction to Saddam's execution?

What is your reaction to the death of Gerald Ford?

What is your prediction of 2007?

Woodward Reveals Tape That Finds Ford Referring to Cokie Roberts' Father: 'He's Nuts'

Be careful what you say and do...


Some of Woodward's account is based on what he calls previously unmentioned tape recordings of Ford's chats with Nixon. In one, then-congressman Ford joins in speaking ill of the powerful Rep. Hale Boggs, father of commentator/columnist Cokie Roberts.

Here is that part of Woodward's story.

*At times, their friendship was the gossipy sort, as two longtime politicians sorted through the Washington rumor mill. They were so comfortable with each other that they openly traded nasty personal assessments of others.

On April 6, 1971, for example, Nixon called Ford to find out what was going on with House Majority Leader Hale Boggs (D-La.). Boggs had just taken to the House floor alleging that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was regularly wiretapping members of Congress, and Nixon wanted to know why Boggs was going public.

"He's nuts," Ford told Nixon in the call picked up by Nixon's secret taping.

"He's on the sauce," Nixon said, suggesting the majority leader was drinking.

"Isn't that it?"

"Well, I'm afraid that's right, Mr. President."

"Or is he crazy?" Nixon asked.

"Well, he's either drinking too much or he's taking some pills that are upsetting him mentally," Ford replied.

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003525887

The leaker-in-chief leaks out that there are a lot of leaks

Q Thank you, sir. Mr. President, did you or your Chief of Staff order an investigation of the leak of the Hadley memo before your meeting with Prime Minister al Maliki? And if the leak wasn't authorized, do you suspect someone in your administration is trying to undermine your Iraq policy or sabotage your meeting with Prime Minister al Maliki a few weeks back?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm trying to think back if I ordered an investigation. I don't recall ordering an investigation. I do recall expressing some angst about -- about ongoing leaks. You all work hard to find information and, of course, put it out for public consumption, and I understand that. But I don't appreciate those who leak classified documents. And it's an ongoing problem here, it really is -- not just for this administration, but it will be for any administration that is trying to put policy in place that affects the future of the country.

And we've had a lot of leaks, Mark, as you know, some of them out of the -- I don't know where they're from, and therefore I'm not going to speculate. It turns out you never can find the leaker. It's an advantage you have in doing your job. We can moan about it, but it's hard to find those inside the government that are willing to give, in this case, Hadley's document to newspapers.

You know, there may be an ongoing investigation of this, I just don't know. If there is -- if I knew about it, it's not fresh in my mind. But I do think that at some point in time it would be helpful if we can find somebody inside our government who is leaking materials, clearly against the law, that they be held to account. Perhaps the best way to make sure people don't leak classified documents is that there be a consequence for doing so.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/12/20061220-1.html

The chimpster sheltered during tornado alert

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- President Bush and first lady Laura Bush were moved to an armored vehicle on their ranch Friday when a tornado warning was issued in central Texas, the White House said.

The vehicle was driven to a tornado shelter on the ranch at 1:30 p.m. CST, and the president, Mrs. Bush and their two Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley, sat inside until the weather cleared, deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel said. They were never moved into the shelter, he said. The shelter is a few hundred yards away from the president's house on the ranch.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_TORNADO?SITE=OHCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

When is that man *not* sheltered?

Mwahahahahahahaha!

Saddam Hussein reportedly executed

Condemned Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging along with his half-brother, CNN International is quoting two Arab television sources. CNN has not independently confirmed the reports.
The deposed strongman's reported execution just before 6 AM Baghdad time comes just as the Muslim world begins to celebrate the feast of Eid ul-Adha.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Saddam_Hussein_has_been_executed_1229.html

Apple admits board minutes were falsified over Jobs options

Apple Computer yesterday admitted that records of the board meeting that handed chief executive Steve Jobs 7.5m share options were fabricated. But the independent committee investigating the illicit backdating of stock awards cleared Mr Jobs of wrongdoing.

In its report published yesterday Apple reiterated the independent committee's findings from October that, while Mr Jobs "was aware or recommended the selection of some favourable grant dates, he did not receive or financially benefit from these grants or appreciate the accounting implications".

In a separate statement, the chairman of the special investigative committee, former presidential candidate Al Gore, and the head of Apple's audit and finance committee, Jerome York, said: "The board of directors is confident that the company has corrected the problems that led to the restatement, and it has complete confidence in Steve Jobs and the senior management team."

The scandal of backdating, by which the exercise price of share options was set with the benefit of hindsight at favourable levels, has already led to the exit of several senior executives. Apple said yesterday that the mis-dating of 6,428 different share options packages awarded on 42 dates between 1997 and 2002 has cost it $105m (£53m) on a pre-tax basis.

The 7.5m options were given an exercise price of $18.03 on October 19 but they should actually have been dated December 18 at which time Apple's shares were trading at $21.01.
In fact both sets of options were cancelled in March 2003 before they were exercised. Apple said in its report the committee's investigation "raised serious concerns regarding the actions of two former officers in connection with the accounting, recording and reporting of stock options". It did not name the two people.

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1980075,00.html

Government vs. a free press

PERHAPS IT is fitting in the last week of 2006 that Americans would be reflecting on the "long national nightmare" created by an elected leader's abuse of power.

It is imperative to remember: The system worked only because the criminal acts of the Nixon White House became known to the public. And the critical elements of that story of a government run amok were unearthed only because two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, were able to assure key sources (including "Deep Throat") that their identities would remain confidential.

The BALCO investigation

The story: As part of their extensive investigation of the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs in sports, San Francisco Chronicle reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada obtained the federal grand-jury testimony of baseball stars Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and other elite athletes.

What the government wants: To force Williams and Fainaru-Wada to reveal how they obtained the testimony, which drew worldwide attention after it was first published in The Chronicle.

Journalists' argument: The reporters, fully supported by the newspaper and its parent company the Hearst Corp., maintain that they obtained the testimony legally and that betrayal of confidential sources would undermine the ability of journalists to do their job.

Status: U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White held the two reporters in contempt in September and ordered them imprisoned for up to 18 months unless they reveal their sources. They are appealing the ruling, with the next hearing set for February.

New York Times vs. Gonzales

The story: Two New York Times reporters learn in December 2001 that the federal government is about to freeze the assets of two Islamic charities (one in Texas, the other in Illinois) suspected of supporting terrorism. The reporters allegedly called the charities for comment just before the FBI raided their offices. Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald then began investigating whether any government officials were involved in the leak.

What the government wants: To obtain the reporters' phone records.
Journalists' argument: The possibility that government could seize a news organization's phone records poses a serious threat to news gathering.

Status: In August, a federal appeals court ruled, 2-1, that reporters' phone records are not privileged. The Supreme Court refused to take the case, clearing the way for prosecutors to review the phone records.

More..

Official: Saddam to Be Executed Tonight

An adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saddam would be executed before 6 a.m. Saturday, or 10 p.m. Friday EST. Also to be hanged at that time were Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, the adviser said.

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fapnews.myway.com%2F%2Farticle%2F20061229%2FD8MAPK000.html

The real question is: is that really Saddam or a double?

Ghost of President Past

Ford Disagreed With Bush About Invading Iraq
By Bob Woodward
Washington Post Staff Writer

Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford's own administration.

In a four-hour conversation at his house in Beaver Creek, Colo., Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously. In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice President Cheney -- Ford's White House chief of staff -- and then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his Pentagon chief.

"Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction," Ford said. "And now, I've never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do."

In a conversation that veered between the current realities of a war in the Middle East and the old complexities of the war in Vietnam whose bitter end he presided over as president, Ford took issue with the notion of the United States entering a conflict in service of the idea of spreading democracy.

"Well, I can understand the theory of wanting to free people," Ford said, referring to Bush's assertion that the United States has a "duty to free people." But the former president said he was skeptical "whether you can detach that from the obligation number one, of what's in our national interest." He added: "And I just don't think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701558.html

Wow, "nearly three hours" of work today

Wow.. I will say it backwards: Wow...

President Bush worked nearly three hours at his Texas ranch on Thursday to design a new U.S. policy in Iraq, then emerged to say that he and his advisers need more time to craft the plan he'll announce in the new year.
Pretty casual attitude, I'd say

The Stand-off on the Iranian Nuclear Issue– A Reappraisal Before the Final Countdown

For the Indian general Vinod Saighal, President Ahmadinejad’s provocations will not succeed in dissuading the United States to destroy Iran. The war is programmed in Washington, to conquer oil fields, to strengthen Bush presidency and to satisfy Israel at the same time. Nothing can stop it, and Teheran is wrong to believe in its friends’ protection, whether they are Muslims, Russians or Chineses.

Before the US invasion of Iraq, Iran’s ambitions in the Gulf were kept in check by the surrounding Arab countries. Now Tehran and Washington remain the only real players, because Iraq has ceased to be the traditional counter-balance to Iran. Axiomatically, the Arab countries feel obliged to place greater reliance on the West. They fear that in rejecting the West, Iran could be gaining the admiration of many countries that are against American policies.

On the other side of the Iran – US divide, at the helm of affairs stands George W. Bush. The Iranians have clearly miscalculated by underestimating the US President and the forces that brought him to the White House in January 2001 and for the second time in January 2005. In pushing the crisis to the point of eruption in 2006 they would have clearly been influenced by the perceived US setbacks in Iraq and the increasing difficulties in the face of the resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan. Undoubtedly, the US tiger may have been mauled to an extent in Iraq in so far as they have not been able to consolidate their gains in the country. However, as mentioned at another forum in November 2005 [4] , the American failures have been exaggerated by opponents of the US President. As a matter of fact, taking the longer-term view of their geo-strategic enterprise in the Middle East, the Americans may have succeeded admirably in some respects. At the very least, the principal backers of the second invasion of Iraq in March 2003 have benefited handsomely from the venture and may continue to do so for a long time to come.

In earlier writings [5] it had been mentioned that the US invasion of Iraq had been decided soon after George W. Bush’s occupation of the White House. At about the same time Iran was included in the countries forming the ‘axis of evil’. Iran had to be taken out then. Iran will in all probability be taken out. The US was looking for a plausible casus belli. The Iranians have given one, almost on a platter, to George W. Bush. Mr. Ahmadinejad and his backers would be making a grave mistake in presuming that the low rating of the US President will force him to change course. The US President and his team, notably the Vice President, Dick Cheney and the Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld have been accused of messing up the intervention in Iraq. They are said to have won the war, only to lose the peace. Their opponents have read the US presidential hierarchy wrong. George W. Bush is not a quitter. He has already spoken about World War III and the long drawn out war on global terrorism.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article144391.html

The picture of two wars

This is a picture (right) of Flynt Leverett's op-ed, redacted by the White House to prevent us from knowing that they squandered an opportunity to build a cooperative relationship with Iran. I'll have some more analysis on this shortly. But I thought it worthwhile to point out the parallelism. Once again, the White House is reacting to a NYT op-ed with massive paranoia and an extralegal response.

This the NY Times Op-Ed article:


But Tehran was profoundly disappointed with the United States response. After the 9/11 attacks, xxx xxx xx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xx set the stage for a November 2001 meeting between Secretary of State Colin Powell and the foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s six neighbors and Russia. xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxx Iran went along, working with the United States to eliminate the Taliban and establish a post-Taliban political order in Afghanistan.

In December 2001, xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx x Tehran to keep Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the brutal pro-Al Qaeda warlord, from returning to Afghanistan to lead jihadist resistance there. xxxxx xxxxxxx so long as the Bush administration did not criticize it for harboring terrorists. But, in his January 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush did just that in labeling Iran part of the “axis of evil.” Unsurprisingly, Mr. Hekmatyar managed to leave Iran in short order after the speech. xxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxx the Islamic Republic could not be seen to be harboring terrorists.
xxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxx xxxx xx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xx xxxxx xxx xx xxxxxxx This demonstrated to Afghan warlords that they could not play America and Iran off one another and prompted Tehran to deport hundreds of suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives who had fled Afghanistan.

Those who argue that Iran did not cause Iraq’s problems and therefore can be of only limited help in dealing with Iraq’s current instability must also acknowledge that Iran did not “cause” Afghanistan’s deterioration into a terrorist-harboring failed state. But, when America and Iran worked together, Afghanistan was much more stable than it is today, Al Qaeda was on the run, the Islamic Republic’s Hezbollah protégé was comparatively restrained, and Tehran was not spinning centrifuges. Still, the Bush administration conveyed no interest in building on these positive trends.
xxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx x xxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxx xx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxx xxxxxxxx x xx x x xxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xx xxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xx
From an Iranian perspective, this record shows that Washington will take what it can get from talking to Iran on specific issues but is not prepared for real rapprochement. Yet American proponents of limited engagement anticipate that Tehran will play this fruitless game once more — even after numerous statements by senior administration figures targeting the Islamic Republic for prospective “regime change” and by President Bush himself that attacking Iran’s nuclear and national security infrastructure is “on the table.”

What Should Congressional Democrats Do, When the Bush Administration Stonewalls Their Efforts To Undertake Oversight?:

Part Two in a Three-Part Series
By JOHN W. DEAN

"We see a war coming on Capitol Hill," a well-connected Republican attorney based in Washington recently told me, as I reported in my last column on the subject. The clash is not surprising, because Vice President Dick Cheney -- who is at the center of many of the subjects the Democratic Congress will be investigating -- is strongly opposed to Congress' inquiring into these areas. He believes the power of the presidency is at stake. Accordingly, as I noted earlier, he has made it quite clear that he is not going to cooperate with these investigations.
Before the conflict develops, it might seem helpful to go over the rules of game -- to appreciate who is on solid ground, who is on shaky ground, and why this is the case. But as it happens, there are no rules!

That is, there is simply no well-established law of the land regarding what Congress can require a president, or a vice president, to provide them. Similarly, there is no well-settled law regarding what the president can, and cannot, withhold from Congress by citing "executive privilege" or other rationales. Thus, while this ground has been traveled many times, it still remains essentially uncharted.
Of course, there are precedents, and even U.S. Supreme Court rulings, in this area. But they have virtually no applicability when the contest involves Congress and the White House. Also, while forests have doubtless been consumed to publish copious learned treatises, essays, articles, and reports on this subject, at bottom, this is a matter not of law, but purely of politics. There is, however, evidence regarding this matter that can be drawn from history.


The Bush Administration has been reluctant to claim "executive privilege" - given the bad name Nixon gave the use of the privilege. Accordingly, the Administration has on several occasions claimed a "deliberative privilege" - even though no such privilege exists, and it is merely another name for executive privilege.

Often, Congress folds when the president invokes executive privilege, for there is no real judicial remedy (as noted above, courts tend to punt, citing the "political question" doctrine). However, a determined Congress - or committee thereof - can prevail over a recalcitrant president (or vice president) if its members are determined and persistent.

Thus, if the 110th Congress, controlled by the Democrats, fails to get the information it needs-- and the public wants - about the workings of the Bush/Cheney presidency, it will not be because it does not have the tools with which to obtain that information. Rather, it will be because it lacks the will to use those tools.

More on the article.

17 days before Libby trial

1:2005-cr-00394-RBW
USA v. LIBBY
Judge Walton
01/15/2007
09:30AM
Courtroom 5
Jury Trial


Here are the court schedules from 12/28/06 to 1/16/07.

Find the Terrorist Game: The chimpster wins the Villain of the Year by a landslide

Priceless...

President Bush came out on top in this year's AP-AOL News poll, winning as "hero" and "villain" for 2006. But while Bush won "villain of the year" by a "landslide," in earning the "hero" honor, the president triumphed over the U.S. troops fighting the war in Iraq by a much smaller margin.

The Associated Press chalks up Bush's victories in opposite categories as "a sign of these polarized times," noting that "Bush was the choice of 43 percent of Democrats for villain, and 27 percent of Republicans for hero."

"When people were asked to name the candidate for villain that first came to mind, Bush far outdistanced even Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader in hiding; and former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who is scheduled for execution," Darlene Superville writes for the A.P..
A companion A.P article gives more details on the telephone poll of 1,004 adults which was conducted from December 19 to 21 by polling firm Ipsos.
Excerpts from A.P. article:

VILLAIN OF YEAR: Bush was the choice of 43 percent of Democrats for villain of the year, higher than the 27 percent of Republicans who chose Bush as their hero. Bush was far ahead of any other figure in the race for villain of the year. The runners-up were Osama bin Laden, who earned just 8 percent of mentions, Saddam Hussein, at 6 percent, and the president of Iran with 5 percent of mentions. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il rounded out the top five with just 2 percent of all mentions.

HERO OF YEAR: In the race for hero of the year, Bush won by a smaller margin, with the troops in Iraq coming in second place with 6 percent of mentions. Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama and Jesus Christ rounded out the top five with 3 percent of mentions each. Older adults were more likely to name Bush as hero than younger adults. Those 35 and older, 16 percent, were twice as likely as those under 35, 7 percent, to name Bush as hero. Fully a quarter of white evangelical Christians named Bush as hero, more than all Protestants, 18 percent, and Catholics, 12 percent.

Steve Jobs Allegedly Steals $455,625,000 Worth of Apple Shares in 2001

Man, I was completely shocked of this story. I had a lot of respect for Steve Jobs and his empire..

In one of the saddest cases of rank CEO theft, greed and lying I have ever seen Apple computer announced yesterday Steve Jobs stole 7.5 million shares from the company and later lied by altering records to show Apple’s Board approved the 7.5 million option grant.

An option grant of 7.5 million without Board approval is theft.

Jobs does not run or own Apple, its Board and the public does, and those records would not have been falsified had they not feared the truth of theft seeing the light of day.

[An option is a gift of company shares at a pre-determined price, say $20 a share. If two years later the price is $40 the owner exercises the option and pockets the difference, $20 a share.]

It gets much worse. At the end 2000 Jobs was given an option grant of twenty…million…shares at $43.59. 20 million shares! Even with just a potential $10 gain that’s $200 million dollars. Can someone explain to me how anyone would need $200 million in this world?

But just a year later Apple’s stock was at $18.30, a 41% drop. For an option holder the market share value is flipped in reference—he or she wants the price low to gain as much out of the market price as possible. Drooling at all that money just missed by a matter of months, Apple and Jobs back-dated Jobs’ options—they lied about the date for a lower option price so Jobs could squeeze more fortune from twenty…million…shares.

UAE To Sell Dollars For Euros

Int'l. Herald Tribune:

The United Arab Emirates plans to convert 8 percent of its foreign-exchange reserves to euros from dollars before September, the latest sign of growing global disaffection with the weakening U.S. currency.

The U.A.E. has started, "in a limited way," to sell part of its dollar reserves, the governor of the country's central bank, Sultan Bin Nasser al-Suwaidi, said in an interview. "We will accumulate euros each time the market appears to dip" as part of a plan to expand the country's holding of euros to 10 percent of the total from the current 2 percent.

The Gulf state is among oil producers, including Iran, Venezuela and Indonesia, looking to shift their currency reserves into euros or sell their oil, which is now priced in dollars, for euros. The total value of the reserves held by the U.A.E. is $24.9 billion, Suwaidi said.

The dollar has fallen more than 10 percent this year against the euro.

Part of the reason for the decline is the outlook for slower U.S. growth, which makes the dollar a less attractive investment.

But fears that the dollar's level is unsustainable because of the heavy indebtedness of the United States to other countries is also behind the weakness this year, analysts said

Saddam's Farewell Letter: Don't Hate the U.S.

On November 5, after being convicted at trial, Saddam Hussein wrote a letter. His lawyers have confirmed its authenticity.

''I call on you not to hate because hate does not leave space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking,'' said the letter, which was written in Arabic and translated by the AP.

''I also call on you not to hate the people of the other countries that attacked us,'' it added, referring to the invasion that toppled his regime nearly four years ago.

Woodward: Ford bitchslapped the chimpster about Iraq

The three amigos: Ford, Rummy, Dead Eye Dick

The former President did an embargoed interview with Bob Woodward back in July of 2004. The Post also has the audio of the interviews on the website. Ford was none too happy with Bush and his former staffers, Cheney and Rummy, about Iraq. A lot of people disagreed with this crowd, but didn't speak out. A lot of people are dead because of that:

Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford's own administration.

In a four-hour conversation at his house in Beaver Creek, Colo., Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously. In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice President Cheney -- Ford's White House chief of staff -- and then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his Pentagon chief."Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction," Ford said. "And now, I've never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do."
This morning, Bush said Ford was a "man of complete integrity." Cheney said Ford was the embodiment of "decency, integrity, and devotion to duty."

Here is an interesting timeline that I dug up:

August 9, 2004, Nixon resign from the Presidency.

August 20, 1974, Ford was sworn in as President.

September 8, 1974, Ford pardoned Nixon.

Ford's first press secretary and close friend Jerald Franklin terHorst resigned his post in protest after the announcement of President Nixon's full pardon. Ford also voluntarily appeared before Congress on October 17, 1974 to give sworn testimony—the only time a sitting president has done so—about the pardon

Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former congressman and ambassador Donald Rumsfeld. In 1975, Rumsfeld was named by Ford as the youngest-ever Secretary of Defense. Ford chose a young Wyoming politician, Richard Cheney, to replace Rumsfeld as his new Chief of Staff and later campaign manager for Ford's 1976 presidential campaign Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall of 1975 has been referred to by political commentators as The "Halloween Massacre."

2006 Foot-in-Mouth Awards

Drum roll please...

"One of the things I've learned on the Google is to pull up maps. It's very interesting to see -- I've forgotten the name of the program -- but you get the satellite, and you can -- like, I kinda like to look at the ranch. It reminds me of where I wanna be sometimes."-- Bush, asked during an interview with CNBC if he ever googled anybody.

"The Google." How quaint -- if it were coming from your grandmother. (And that would be Google Earth, Mr. President.)
- - -
Here's a real beaut, also from a prominent political figure. For breathtaking cluelessness it actually surpasses Bush by a wide margin. But coming as it does from a mere U.S. senator, it must necessarily be subordinate. Rank has its privileges.

"They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material."-- Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) deconstructs the frustrations of (we think) file sharing, during a speech opposing net neutrality before the Senate Commerce Committee.

OK, the guy is 85 years old. Ordinarily, you'd cut him some slack. But Stevens chaired that committee -- which oversees regulation of the internet.
- - -

In the interest of being fair and balanced, like Fox News, it should be noted that famous liberals can have trouble getting it, too. Here's CNN's Larry King, admitting that he's never used the internet before:

"What do you do? Punch little buttons and things?"
- - -
And how about this one, from Eric Schmidt, CEO of internet Wirtschaftswunder Google:

"We actually did an evil scale and decided (that) not to serve at all was worse evil."

Google's motto is "Don't be evil." When the company started doing business in China, it had to amend that motto slightly. Google took heavy flak for bending to the oppressive regulations severely limiting free speech on the internet there. Schmidt defended staying in the market (an important word to remember here), saying that even though "we weren't wild about the restrictions, it was even worse to not try to serve those users at all." This is what Schmidt's "evil scale" concluded, apparently. Presumably, his accountants concluded the same thing, but for very different reasons. A number of parody sites drew their own conclusions.
- - -
This next quote, by Seagate CEO Bill Watkins, doesn't necessarily qualify as lame. It's certainly cynical, but to some folks it probably just sounds honest:

"Let's face it. We're not changing the world. We're building a product that helps people buy more crap -- and watch porn."-- As quoted by Fortune magazine during a corporate dinner in San Francisco recently.


More..

Ford Pardon Sealed Watergate Shut

The accusations of Nixon's Watergate misdeeds "hang like a sword over our former president's head, threatening his health," Ford said. But his primary concern was for the nation.

"My conscience tells me clearly and certainly that I cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to reopen a chapter that is closed," he said. "My conscience tells me that only I, as president, have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this book.

"My conscience tells me it is my duty, not merely to proclaim domestic tranquility but to use every means that I have to insure it."

Ford revisited the pardon is his autobiography.

"I simply was not convinced that the country wanted to see an ex-president behind bars," he wrote. "We are not a vengeful people; forgiveness is one of the roots of the American tradition. And Nixon, in my opinion, had already suffered enormously."

And, Ford said, so had the nation.

"It was the state of the country's health at home and around the world that worried me," he said.

Still, he accepted the statement and made his way to the Oval Office. Ford turned to face the cameras, and the nation.

"Finally, it was done," Ford wrote in his book. "It was an unbelievable lifting of a burden from my shoulders. I felt very certain that I had made the right decision, and I was confident that I could now proceed without being harassed by Nixon or his problems any more."


More on the story.

No Libby Pardon under the Holiday Tree?

Via C&L, I see Christmas has come and gone yet Scooter Libby found no pardon in his stocking.
President Bush issued 16 pardons on Thursday and commuted the sentence of an Iowa man who was convicted on drug charges.

The list did not include former White House aide I. Lewis"Scooter" Libby, charged in the CIA leak case with perjury and obstruction.

The comment of the day

Remember the chimpster is at his ranch "rethinking" his strategy in Iraq? Interesting observance by a blogger..

The closest advisor
By Swopa
Dec 26 2006 - 7:59pm

Remember what Bob Woodward said, talking about Dubya on "60 Minutes" last October?
"Late last year he had key Republicans up to the White House to talk about the war. And said, 'I will not withdraw even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me.' Barney is his dog,"

Novak: Conservatives may resign from board if Spanky hired as lobbyist;

In a Christmas Eve column for the Chicago Sun-Times, conservative columnist Robert Novak claims he has heard of potential resignations of board members at the American Conservative Union, should former GOP Texas Congressman Tom DeLay, who was indicted on state campaign finance charges, be hired as a lobbyist for the organization.

Ex-Rep. DeLay told the The New York Times just last week that he would be announcing some new "career moves" soon, but said that the "one career that he was not considering" would be lobbying.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Novak_Conservatives_may_resign_over_DeLay_1225.html

Gerald Ford passed away

LOS ANGELES - Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of
Richard Nixon's scandal-shattered White House as the 38th and only unelected president in America's history, has died, his wife, Betty, said Tuesday. He was 93.

He was the longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagan, who also died at 93. Ford had been living at his desert home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., about 130 miles east of Los Angeles.
Ford was an accidental president, Nixon's hand-picked successor, a man of much political experience who had never run on a national ticket. He was as open and straight-forward as Nixon was tightly controlled and conspiratorial.

He took office minutes after Nixon flew off into exile and declared "our long national nightmare is over." But he revived the debate a month later by granting Nixon a pardon for all crimes he committed as president. That single act, it was widely believed, cost Ford election to a term of his own in 1976, but it won praise in later years as a courageous act that allowed the nation to move on.

Ford also earned a place in the history books as the first unelected vice president, chosen by Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew who also was forced from office by scandal.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061227/ap_on_re_us/obit_ford

Lies and Obfuscations from the chimpster

In the spirit of holding our political leaders accountable, this year-end review will tabulate the worst lies told by Bush and company, along with several stories that were underreported in the media. Much of what was generated got lost in the fog of war, but the long arm of history will retrieve these moments. As the president said in his news conference this week, if they're still writing about No. 1 - George Washington - there's plenty of time before the historians can properly evaluate No. 43. Judging by the mess in Iraq, it could be 200 or 300 years - if ever - before Bush is vindicated.

Bush has shifted his rhetoric in deference to the grim and deteriorating reality on the ground in Iraq. Asked by a reporter on Oct. 25 if we are winning the war, Bush said, "Absolutely, we're winning." Offered the opportunity at his press conference to defend that statement, Bush has adopted a new formulation. He now says, "We're not winning, but we're not losing." That sounds like the definition of a quagmire

The administration had the media snookered much of the time. Stories that were underreported largely because they ran counter to administration spin include:

·A study that shows the death toll among Iraqis has reached as high as 655,000. Extensively researched by teams of doctors commissioned by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Md., the study - and the controversy over its sampling methodology - was given scant attention by the media because it was so far out of line from the administration's projection of perhaps 50,000 civilian deaths. That's still a horrendous death toll of innocents in a country the size of Iraq. Now, 100 bodies routinely turn up every day in Baghdad's morgues, the victims of sectarian violence, and the report, published in October in The Lancet medical journal, seems to be closer to the truth than anything the Bush administration has acknowledged.

·Private contractors in Iraq. There are 100,000 government contractors in Iraq, a number that rivals the 140,000 U.S. soldiers in the country. It's dangerous work; some 650 contractors have died there. They do a lot of the jobs the military used to do, everything from providing security and interrogating prisoners to cooking meals for the soldiers. They work for military contractors like KBR and DynCorp International, which are helping train the Iraqi police force. This is the largest contingent of civilians ever operating in a battlefield environment, and there's been no congressional oversight or accountability. That should change with the Democrats taking over the investigative committees on Capitol Hill. The abuses may be just waiting to be uncovered.

·America's secret torture prisons, whose existence Bush acknowledged as part of his tough-guy campaigning this fall. Set up in the aftermath of 9/11 to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely, the legality, morality and practicality of these so-called "black sites" have come under scrutiny. After a brief flurry about the use of torture tactics like "water boarding," where a prisoner is made to feel he's drowning, the story of these CIA-operated overseas prisons faded. Yet they contributed to the central tragedy of the Bush administration, the collapse of America's standing around the world.

OMG! The chimpster reads a newspaper article

Yes, it’s come to this. Expectations for the president have fallen so low, the New York Times devoted an entire piece to Bush’s recent claim that he read a newspaper article.

Is there hope for newspapers after all? Readers may be abandoning the printed versions, but over the last couple of years, at least one person seems to have started reading them, at least sometimes. He lives in the White House.
President Bush declared in 2003 that he did not read newspapers, but at his final news conference of the year last week, he casually mentioned that he had seen something in the paper that very day.

Asked for his reaction to word that Vice President Cheney would be called to testify in the C.I.A. leak case, the president allowed: “I read it in the newspaper today, and it’s an interesting piece of news.”

If the president had read something in the newspaper, it is a break with his admitted habits. In September 2003, Bush told Fox News’ Brit Hume, “I glance at the headlines just to kind of [get] a flavor for what’s moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are [sic] probably read the news themselves.” (”Probably”?)

Pelosi and Conyers-- Smarter than Impeachment-

A lot of people are angry with Nancy Pelosi and John Conyers because they say impeachment is not on the table. I say "thank goodness."

You see, I'm in a hurry. I want to see the big cleanup in Washington happen much faster-- including showing Cheney and Bush the door, and maybe, the prison yard. Pelosi and Conyers are doing things exactly right and they have a better chance of my goal-- removal of Bush and Cheney from office-- than if they were going the impeachment route.

Pelosi has already stated that it is her constitutional responsibility to investigate. I am certain that within days of the opening of the new congress, Conyers, Waxman and others will begin holding hearings.

They will begin investigating some of the most obvious problems and questions and they will happily go where those investigations lead them. They will be using prosecutors on their investigative teams. One of the most effective ways prosecutors work is to interrogate and "nail" smaller, lower level perpetrators who then "roll over" to inform on higher ups. This is what will be happening all over Washington.

The sweet thing about congressional hearings is that there are no lawyer-client confidentiality priveleges. Yep. The lawyers have to squeal like stuck pigs or face contempt of congress charges-- which they are not very likely to do.

The rolling over will quickly reach the upper echelons of power. The evidence and testimony will build. First, Cheney will be in the targets. Like Spiro Agnew, Nixon's vice president, Cheney will resign rather than face serious prison charges. At that point, Bush will submit his appointment of a vice president replacement for both houses of congress to approve.

Bottom line-- I am quite comfortable that impeachment is off the table. Impeachment did not bring down Nixon. Hearings and investigations did. I am fine with all the people advocating for hearings. Their pressure will motivate the Conyers and Waxmans in congress to do their investigations, knowing they are on the same page as the griping impeachment advocates. I am confident that Pelosi, Conyers, Waxman and enough other members of congress want Bush out as much as we do. They just know that there's a better way and their executing that strategy.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rob_kall_061225_pelosi_and_conyers__.htm

NY Times asks: How is the chimpster coping with the stress?

Yesterday's NY Times ran an article titled, "Bush-Watchers Wonder How He Copes With Stress." Ms. Stolberg apparently wants to find some sign that the Iraq war he started and has mis-managed is getting to him:

Can the president really believe, as he said on Wednesday, that “victory in Iraq is achievable,” when a bipartisan commission led by his own father’s secretary of state calls the situation there “grave and deteriorating?” Is he truly content to ignore public opinion and let “the long march of history,” as he calls it, pass judgment on him after he is gone? Does he lie awake at night, as President Lyndon B. Johnson did during the Vietnam War, fretting over his decisions?

U.S. Iraq War Toll Passes That of 9/11

NEW YORK (AP) - In a span of a few hours, 2,973 people were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In a span of 45 months, the number of American troops killed in Iraq exceeded that grim toll as the war continues.

The milestone in Iraq came on Christmas, nearly four years after the war began, according to a count by The Associated Press. In announcing the Monday deaths of three soldiers, the toll from those fighting the war surpassed the toll from those killed by terrorists in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fapnews.myway.com%2Farticle%2F20061226%2FD8M8JKNO0.html

With $1 billion wasted, more Katrina abuse yet to emerge

WASHINGTON (AP) — The tally for Hurricane Katrina waste could top $2 billion next year because half of the lucrative government contracts valued at $500,000 or greater for cleanup work are being awarded without little competition.
Federal investigators have already determined the Bush administration squandered $1 billion on fraudulent disaster aid to individuals after the 2005 storm. Now they are shifting their attention to the multimillion dollar contracts to politically connected firms that critics have long said are a prime area for abuse.

In January, investigators will release the first of several audits examining more than $12 billion in Katrina contracts. The charges range from political favoritism to limited opportunities for small and minority-owned firms, which initially got only 1.5% of the total work.

http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fwashington%2F2006-12-25-katrina-waste_x.htm

The White House Lawyers Up

The Baltimore Sun reports:
President Bush is bracing for what could be an onslaught of investigations by the new Democratic-led Congress by hiring lawyers to fill key White House posts and preparing to play defense on countless document requests and possible subpoenas.
Bush is moving quickly to fill vacancies within his stable of lawyers, though White House officials say there are no plans to drastically expand the legal staff to deal with a flood of oversight. . . .

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002231.php

Open Thread...

Spending time with family for Xmas....

Congratulations to the CREW

The Watchdog
By Staff Writer, Rolling Stone
December 28, 2006

As executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Sloan helped clean up the most corrupt Congress in recent history. A former sex-crimes prosecutor, she engineered the ethics complaints that led to the downfall of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Rep. Curt Weldon, for their abuses of public office. She was also one of the first to obtain Rep. Mark Foley's predatory e-mails, which she forwarded to the FBI in July.

Chris Gardner: An inspirations to others

What a story. I plan on seeing the movie over the holidays... A man with a dream..

It took him 10 months of knocking on doors to land a trainee spot. The stock business was a white man's profession, but Gardner doesn't blame race for how hard it was to get a foot in. He says it was "place-ism" -- or really, class. He didn't have a college degree or parents who were professionals. He didn't play golf or have a network of well-to-do friends who could be prospective clients.
Finally, he got a break. He had survived several rounds of interviews at Dean Witter, and had one more to go. That's when a police officer checking his tags discovered he had $1,200 in outstanding parking tickets.

With no money to pay them he was jailed for 10 days. When he got out, he discovered his girlfriend, his son and all his clothes gone. He showed up for the interview in the same clothes he'd worn before going to jail. Rather than try to make up a story, he told the truth. Turned out the interviewer had been through a messy divorce or two. Gardner got the job.

A few months later, his girlfriend showed up at his boardinghouse with their son. She couldn't take care of him anymore, she told Gardner. It was his turn. The boardinghouse did not allow children, and with another mouth to feed and diapers and day care costs on his $1,000-a-month trainee salary, Gardner and his son took to flophouses, soup kitchens and the streets.
Between the help from Glide and his slow but steady success as a stockbroker, Gardner says, he was able to break free after a year of homelessness.

He moved over to Bear Stearns, and a few years later, he moved to New York City to work for the firm on Wall Street. Then, in 1989 he opened his own stock brokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co., in Chicago. And he finally bought that Ferrari: from Michael Jordan.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/10/10/DDGVLF4AI81.DTL

Seasons Greetings from FDL

T'was the night before Christmas and throughout Cellblock A,
Not an inmate was stirring, not even Bob Ney.
The jail guards on duty watched their screens with one eye
As Jack Abramoff tossed in his bunk with a sigh.

Over at the White House, George Bush slumped in his chair
And stared at the trees blooming in warm winter air.
A bottle of Jack sat on the desk by his hand
He wondered why nothing had gone like they'd planned.

Upstairs, Laura lay in the First Couple's bed
And watched the sugar plum fairies dance 'round her head.
Jenna and her sis drank their way through the night
And scoffed at the thought that they should join in Dad's fight.

At the Veep's house, Darth Cheney fondled his nub
And growled lustfully at all the cash in his tub.
Lynne was still steamed at how the news had made hay
That her lesbian daughter was in the family way.

Rumsfeld slept soundly despite the Iraq folly
His first speaking fee gaining interest, by golly.
So a few thousand soldiers had given their lives
This is how a messy new democracy thrives.

No campaign in her future, just more of the same,
Where her "husband" fucked up and she took the blame.
Condi sat at her piano and longed for the day
She returned to Stanford and could be openly gay.

What happened to their plan, the one now deceased?
Where they'd control all the oil in the Middle East?
The one where the military industrial complex thrives
While it destroys countless American lives?

You see, the giant had woken;
a disturbance was heardSomewhere over by Constitution and Third.
A woman "dressed in Armani" had taken the helm
And proposed some big changes in King George's realm.

A quick glance at some video and you got the gist
America had grown tired of Bill "Cat-Killer" Frist.
Voters refused to re-elect someone so dumb
As self-righteous git, Senator Rick Santorum.

A giddiness coursed through the globe's hemispheres
For a return to good government soon would be here!
Six long, painful years the world had suffered the crimes
Of a President who claims to believe in End Times.

But now is not the time to ease up on Dim Son.
Real change still needs to come out of Washington.
Sure, the Chimperor speaks of bipartisanship
But his word is as good as three week-old spinach dip.

The media, as well, must be made to account,
While the numbers of dead continue to mount.
Like eager freshmen donning their Rush Week beanies
Pundits sacrifice truth for their damned cocktail weenies.

Now right-wing nutjobs frantically scramble to find
A new bugaboo they can all get behind.
A Muslim American sworn in on a Koran?
My god, what will come next? We all move to Iran?

So go K.O., go Fitzy, go Media Matters!
Keep up the pressure on all these Mad Hatters.
On A-list, on B-list, and C-Z list bloggers
Fingers fleet like the feet of Riverdance cloggers.

One of these days we'll finally be able to shout
We worked as a team to kick the criminals out.
So those of you still doubting, be of good cheer.
The Internets, The Google, and Youtube are here.

A cynical optimist, I cling to the hope
That idiots hang themselves when given the rope.
That these villainous fiends who spread war like the plague
Will all wind up shackled in the dock at The Hague.

Happy Holidays to all and peace to the world. And as soon as possible, please.

Lynne Cheney: Putting Scooter Libby On Trial ‘Does Not Reflect Well On Our Judicial System’

Today on Fox News, Lynne Cheney, the wife of the Vice President, described Libby as “a man who spent a great deal of his life as a dedicated public servant who’s done an awful lot of good.” Ms. Cheney said putting Libby on trial “does not reflect well on our judicial system.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/24/lynne-cheney-libby/

The chimpster thinks he is FDR

Must be the cannabis... He must had a visit from the ghost of Christmas past...

Bush ponders £10bn New Deal to create jobs in Iraq

THE White House is expected to announce a reconstruction package for Iraq as part of a plan for a “surge” of up to 30,000 troops into Baghdad when President George W Bush unveils America’s new strategy next month.


Bush is being urged to give up to $10 billion (£5.1 billion) to Iraq as part of a “New Deal” that would create work for unemployed Iraqis, following the model of President Franklin D Roosevelt during the 1930s depression.

http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesonline.co.uk%2Farticle%2F0%2C%2C2089-2517659%2C00.html

The Be-Bop Santa

These lyrics were passed along to me by blogger Jackie:

The Be-Bop Santa Claus
by
Lee "Babs Gonzales" Brown

'Twas the black before Christmas
And, all through the dorm,

The scene was deserted,
But for old Pops and Mom.

There they sat, hung.
In their big easychair,

Goofed on sherry, eggnog, and beer.

Sis and Little Junior lie snoozing in bed,

While visions of Cadillacs dance in their heads.

Moms jumped up and said to Pops,
"Let's quit it to bed.

We can't let Santa catch us with our eyes all red."

Then, out on the stoop, oo-wee! such a clatter

That Pops split to the porthole to see what was the matter.

His heart did the jumps and he fell straight back,

When his glimmers fell on a red Cadillac.

Stashed in front was a cat cool as any,

With a red beaver Stetson on and a red cashmere benny.

His ground pads was red shoes

And his red tweed vine cost heavy dues.

He wore a red-on-red shirt and a white mink tie

And some crazy-rimmed glasses that covered one eye.

Old Pop's peepers grew large, round, and white

As he dug this vista on Christmas-Eve night!

The cat sprang from his short and laid down his sack.

He began whaling like mad the cool "Applejack."

Then, up to the rooftops the Cadillac flew

And The Cat In Red followed on through.

Pops was wigged behind this crazy scene

And, before he was straight,

Down came the cat through the chimney grate.

A bag of jive he had on his back,

As he stood digging Pops, who was blowing his stack.

His eyeballs was hid by some coal-black shades

And old Pops knew that this cat was made.

A king-sized cigarette hung from his chops

As he eased in close and sounded on Pops.

"I'm The Be-Bop Santa from the cool North Pole

"And I've been down since the days of old.

"I'm known all over, from here to eternity,

"And a stud's real square, if he don't dig me!

"So, cast thine eyes in my righteous bag and see

"What insane object I shall lay on thee!

"Here's a record cut by Diz, before he was two,

"A real boss arrangement of 'Ool-Ya-Koo.'

"For Moms, a mink outfit and Chanel No.5.

"And for you, little kiddies, my new book on jive."

"So, that's it, Pops!" Santa did shout.

Then he buttoned his cashmere and quickly cut out.

Pops was wigging and he was out of his head

To dig this character who was dresssed all in red.

He split to the kitchen to cop him a drink

And to calm his nerves and help him to think.

Just then, from above his head, someone did shout,

"Have a crazy, cool Christmas and knock yourself out!"

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0606c&L=ads-l&P=259