The death of diplomacy

Diplomacy is obviously a dirty word in the Cheney/Rumsfield ... er ... I mean "Bush" administration. First, Colin Powell was successfully muzzled and then marginalized, and then, in a move so craven and cynical that only doughboy Karl Rove could have come up with it, he was replaced by Condoleezza Rice, thereby making it a statement of BOTH racism and sexism to criticize the Secretary of State. Meanwhile, the visibility of the Secretary of State has become even further diminished. In truth the position has become a mere adjunct to the fiefdom of the Secretary of Defense, an executive position occupied by a man that more than half of the military brass would like to see ass-kicked from one end of the Pentagon to the other. And the sad thing is that the rest of the world knows better than to take the meager appearances of Condoleezza Rice seriously. She is no diplomat. Merely the Angel of Death flying Neocon Airlines.

The other "diplomat"of the Bushite Reich is of course interim UN Ambassador John Bolton. His is the true face of what passes for diplomacy in the "New American Century." A divisive, contemptuous, war-pimping blowhard, Bolton's first mission was to terrorize the vote-recounters in Miami, FL after the 2000 dejection, lest they find out that Al Gore really did win Florida. The specter of Bolton as permanent UN ambassador is suddenly rising again (see here and here). God help us. This creep is yet another preternaturally unbalanced chickenhawk whose red-faced (and in your face) concept of international diplomacy is unending war. Here's Jesse Helms on the man: "John Bolton is the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon, if it should be my lot to be on hand for what is forecast to be the final battle between good and evil in this world."

Uh, wrong side, Jesse.

Blowing the Whistle on Diebold

On July 13, the Pensacola, Fla.-based law firm of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a “qui tam” lawsuit in U.S. District Court, alleging that Diebold and other electronic voting machine (EVM) companies fraudulently represented to state election boards and the federal government that their products were “unhackable.”

Kennedy claims to have witnesses “centrally located, deep within the corporations,” who will confirm that company officials withheld their knowledge of problems with accuracy, reliability and security of EVMs in order to procure government contracts. Since going into service, many of these machines have been linked to allegations of election fraud.

-- JOHN IRELAND, In These Times. Whole article here or here.

The Price of Fantasy

Paul Krugman reflects on the Neoconservative madness:

07/21/06 "New York Times' -- -- Today we call them neoconservatives, but when the first George Bush was president, those who believed that America could remake the world to its liking with a series of splendid little wars - people like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld - were known within the administration as "the crazies." Grown-ups in both parties rejected their vision as a dangerous fantasy.

But in 2000 the Supreme Court delivered the White House to a man who, although he may be 60, doesn't act like a grown-up. The second President Bush obviously confuses swagger with strength, and prefers tough talkers like the crazies to people who actually think things through. He got the chance to implement the crazies' vision after 9/11, which created a climate in which few people in Congress or the news media dared to ask hard questions. And the result is the bloody mess we're now in. This isn't a case of 20-20 hindsight. It was clear from the beginning that the United States didn't have remotely enough troops to carry out the crazies' agenda - and Mr. Bush never asked for a bigger army.

As I wrote back in January 2003, this meant that the "Bush doctrine" of preventive war was, in practice, a plan to "talk trash and carry a small stick." It was obvious even then that the administration was preparing to invade Iraq not because it posed a real threat, but because it looked like a soft target.

The message to North Korea, which really did have an active nuclear program, was clear: "The Bush administration," I wrote, putting myself in Kim Jong Il's shoes, "says you're evil. It won't offer you aid, even if you cancel your nuclear program, because that would be rewarding evil. It won't even promise not to attack you, because it believes it has a mission to destroy evil regimes, whether or not they actually pose any threat to the U.S. But for all its belligerence, the Bush administration seems willing to confront only regimes that are militarily weak." So "the best self-preservation strategy ... is to be dangerous."

With a few modifications, the same logic applies to Iran. And it's easier than ever for Iran to be dangerous, now that U.S. forces are bogged down in Iraq.

Would the current crisis on the Israel-Lebanon border have happened even if the Bush administration had actually concentrated on fighting terrorism, rather than using 9/11 as an excuse to pursue the crazies' agenda? Nobody knows. But it's clear that the United States would have more options, more ability to influence the situation, if Mr. Bush hadn't squandered both the nation's credibility and its military might on his war of choice.

So what happens next?

Few if any of the crazies have the moral courage to admit that they were wrong. Vice President Cheney continues to insist that his two most famous pronouncements about Iraq - his declaration before the invasion that we would be "greeted as liberators" and his assertion a year ago that the insurgency was in its "last throes" - were "basically accurate."

But if the premise of the Bush doctrine was right, why are things going so badly?

The crazies respond by retreating even further into their fantasies of omnipotence. The only problem, they assert, is a lack of will.

Thus William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, has called for a military strike - an airstrike, since we don't have any spare ground troops - against Iran.

"Yes, there would be repercussions," he wrote in his magazine, "and they would be healthy ones." What would these healthy repercussions be? On Fox News he argued that "the right use of targeted military force" could cause the Iranian people "to reconsider whether they really want to have this regime in power." Oh, boy.

Mr. Kristol is, of course, a pundit rather than a policymaker. But there's every reason to suspect that what Mr. Kristol says in public is what Mr. Cheney says in private.

And what about The Decider himself?

For years the self-proclaimed "war president" basked in the adulation of the crazies. Now they're accusing him of being a wimp. "We have been too weak," writes Mr. Kristol, "and have allowed ourselves to be perceived as weak."

Does Mr. Bush have the maturity to stand up to this kind of pressure? I report, you decide.

-- PAUL KRUGMAN

More G8 Summit funnies

A link to the infamous Merkel grope by our asshole of a president. Leader of the free world, eh?

Eretz Yisrael

As an ethnic -- though not religious -- Jew, I find myself frequently conflicted about Israel. For one, the very existance of a "Jewish state" bespeaks of a perceived "otherness" by which Jews have been alternately isolated and persecuted for centuries. Zionism in and of itself has sometimes seemed to me a handoff to anti-Semites everywhere, not too far afield from suggesting that all African Americans should be sent "back" to Africa. Yet I have watched with pride as generations of Israelis made the Negev bloom, advancing dryland agriculture with an ingenuity and efficiency unmatched elsewhere in the Middle East, and constructed a parlimentary democracy in region beset by despots and self-appointed royal families.

But something began to change over the last decade or two, as the right wing of Israeli politics rose to power and saw a trump card in the concurrent rise of the Neocon ideologues in American politics. “This society no longer recognizes any boundaries, geographical or moral,” wrote Israeli intellectual and anti-Zionist activist Michel Warschawski in his 2004 book "Toward an Open Tomb: The Crisis of Israeli Society." Kathleen Christison is a former CIA political analyst and has worked on Middle East issues for 30 years. In a recent issue of "Counterpunch," she writes:

"Critics of Israel note increasingly that Israel is self-destructing, nearing a catastrophe of its own making. Israeli journalist Gideon Levy talks of a society in 'moral collapse.' Michel Warschawski writes of an 'Israeli madness' and 'insane brutality,' a 'putrefaction' of civilized society, that have set Israel on a suicidal course. He foresees the end of the Zionist enterprise; Israel is a 'gang of hoodlums,' he says, a state 'that makes a mockery of legality and of civil morality. A state run in contempt of justice loses the strength to survive.' As Warschawski notes bitterly, Israel no longer knows any moral boundaries -- if it ever did. Those who continue to support Israel, who make excuses for it as it descends into corruption, have lost their moral compass."

These are strong and heated words, that I find almost distasteful in their abject condemnation of Israeli society. But I can't help thinking of my abiding impression of Israeli youth, a number of whom I have met while traveling in Europe, Australia, Asia and South America. Over half had served in the Israeli military for the prescribed 2 years; a few were draft dodging. All expressed a sense of nearly complete alienation from their government, from Zionist principles, and exhaustion with the endless cycles of war between the descendents of Abraham's two sons. Maybe vagabonding only attracts a certain stripe of young Israeli, and these sentiments were unrepresentative of the mainstream - I don't know. But the acerbic cartoons and acid satire sent to me frequently by several Israeli colleagues well beyond their youth, tells me that still waters of this type must run deep in Israeli society.

Do the Israelis get to see the consequences of their nation's military endeavors? Perhaps not. But even this may be changing.

Surely the Likud-dominated government of Israel believed they had the green light from the Bush administration. And all indications from the White House, and statements by our resident pitbull in the UN, John Bolton, suggest the same. Afterall, do you think the largest receipent of U.S. foreign aid dollars would dare act without American approbation?

As Rabbi Michael Lerner writes: "The champions of American global empire are using the latest upsurge of violence in the Middle East to give new life to their discredited plan to extend the war in Iraq to Syria and Iran. The neo-con Weekly Standard has taken the lead in its July 24th cover issue, proclaiming that the current violence is 'Iran's Proxy War' against the West. Bush and his advisors in the neo-con camp see in the current violence yet another opportunity to reframe the Middle East struggle as one that will provide ex post facto justification for the war in Iraq and enticement for new militarist adventures to destabilize or overthrow oppressive regimes in Iran and Syria."

And so, it is Lebanon that must pay for the trespasses of Hezbollah. Lebanon that has aleady been through one dark night of the soul too many. Lebanon, with a democratically elected government and a large, well-educated and cosmopolitan population, many of whom are Christian. And sadly, you know this is exactly the response that Hezbollah wanted to engender fom Israel. These are the people dying by the hundreds, not terrorists.

Watching Hillary Clinton blandly reciting her pop-eyed testament of support for Israel in this dreadful endeavor, literally turned my stomach. Of course, she was hardly alone among the ranks of Democratic politicians to express similar platitudes. So, can we then conclude that this sort of carnage [WARNING: Graphic images depicting the reality and horror of Israel's aggresson in Lebanon] enjoys the support of the junior senator from New York?

And there are some of us, Jews by birth, humans beings by birthright, who say no to this brutality.

Visit Jewish Voice for Peace.

Babbling Bush

There he was, at the G8 summit, stuffing buttered rolls into his face like some hungover frat boy. The full transcript of the famous "open mike" session, via the Washington Post:

Someone, probably an aide, asks Bush something, evidently whether he wants prepared closing remarks for the end of the summit:
BUSH: No. Just gonna make it up. I'm not going to talk too damn long like the rest of them. Some of these guys talk too long.
The camera is focused elsewhere and it is not clear whom Bush is talking to, but possibly Chinese President Hu Jintao, a guest at the summit.
BUSH: Gotta go home. Got something to do tonight. Go to the airport, get on the airplane and go home. How about you? Where are you going? Home?
BUSH: This is your neighborhood. It doesn't take you long to get home. How long does it take you to get home?
Reply is inaudible.
BUSH : "Eight hours? Me too. Russia's a big country and you're a big country."
At this point, the president seems to bring someone else into the conversation.
BUSH: It takes him eight hours to fly home.
He turns his attention to a server.
BUSH: No, Diet Coke, Diet Coke.
He turns back to whomever he was talking with.
BUSH: It takes him eight hours to fly home. Eight hours. Russia's big and so is China.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair approaches.
BUSH: Blair, what are you doing? You leaving?
BLAIR : No, no, no, not yet.
Blair, standing over Bush as the president eats, tries to engage on the stalled global trade negotiations.
BLAIR: On this trade thing . . .
Some of the ensuing conversation is inaudible. Blair evidently wants Bush to make a statement on the talks.
BUSH: If you want me to. I just want some movement. Yesterday, I didn't see much movement. The desire's to move.
BLAIR: No, no there's not. It may be that it's impossible.
BUSH: I'll be glad to say it. Who's introducing me?
BLAIR: Angela. [German Chancellor Angela Merkel ]
BUSH: Tell her to call on me. Tell her to put me on the spot.
Bush then changes the subject, presumably to a gift Blair must have given him for his recent 60th birthday.
BUSH: Thanks for the sweater. Awfully thoughtful of you. I know you picked it out yourself.
BLAIR: Oh, absolutely.
Both of them laugh. Then Bush turns serious, asking Blair about comments apparently made about the Middle East crisis by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, another guest at the summit.
BUSH: What about Kofi? That seems odd. I don't like the sequence of it. His attitude is basically ceasefire and [then] everything else happens. You know what I'm saying?
BLAIR: Yeah. No, I think -- the thing that's really difficult is we can't stop this unless you get this international presence agreed. Now, I know what you guys have talked about but it's the same thing.
The next remarks are i naudible, but the conversation turns to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
BLAIR: . . . see how reliable that is. But you need that done quickly.
BUSH: Yeah, she's going. I think Condi's going to go pretty soon.
BLAIR: Right. Well, that's, that's, that's all that matters. If you -- see, it'll take some time to get out there. But at least it gives people a --
BUSH: A process, I agree. I told her your offer too.
It's unclear what offer he means, but apparently Blair offered to make some sort of public statement.
BLAIR: Well, it's only if it's -- I mean, you know, if she's gotta -- or if she needs the ground prepared, as it were. Obviously, if she goes out, she's got to succeed, as it were, whereas I can just go out and talk.
BUSH: See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over.
BLAIR: Who, Syria?
BUSH: Right.
BLAIR: I think this is all part of the same thing. What does he think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if we get a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way, he's [inaudible ] . That's what this whole thing's about. It's the same with Iran.
BUSH: I felt like telling Kofi to get on the phone with Assad and make something happen. We're not blaming Israel. We're not blaming the Lebanese government."
At this point, Blair notices the microphone and turns it off.

A friend told me that Al Gore was interviewed on the Charlie Rose show not too long ago. Gore tried to make the case that to call Bush stupid was to make a grave error in judgement. I think Al was being very charitable.

Aaron Russo redux

Brian Ragle is a progressive blogger who has critically analyzed the main points of Aaron Russo's libertarian scarefilm "America Freedom to Facism," for which I expressed some restrained enthusiasm some weeks ago. Ragle has continued his critique, and I have to admit, I feel somewhat chastened.

"I now hate Aaron Russo for forcing me into the position of defending anything Bush has said or done. However, in the interest of outing one asshole, I am forced to aid another." -- Brian Ragle

Pentagon Reduced to Recruiting Neo-Nazis

"Ten years after a scandal over neo-Nazis in the armed forces, extremists are once again worming their way into a recruit-starved military."
-- by David Holthouse, Intelligence Report, AlterNet July 8, 2006

Here's another article on the same scary situation:

Group says racists joining military

By JOHN KIFNER New York Times
A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, estimated that the numbers could run into the thousands, citing interviews with Defense Department investigators and reports and postings on racist Web sites and magazines.

"We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad," the group quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report to be posted today on its Web site, www.splcenter.org. "That's a problem."

A Defense Department spokeswoman said officials could not comment because they had not yet seen the report. The center called on Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to appoint a task force to study the problem and declare a new zero-tolerance policy.

The report quotes Scott Barfield, a Defense Department investigator, saying, "Recruiters are knowingly allowing neo-Nazis and white supremacists to join the armed forces, and commanders don't remove them from the military even after we positively identify them as extremists or gang members."

Barfield said Army recruiters struggled last year to meet goals.

The Top 10 Power Brokers of the Religious Right

"The United States is home to dozens of Religious Right groups. Many have small budgets and focus on state and local issues; the most powerful organizations conduct nationwide operations, command multi-million-dollar bank accounts and attract millions of followers. They have disproportionate clout in the halls of Congress, the White House and the courts, and they wield enormous influence within the political system."

by Rob Boston, Church and State, AlterNet, July 7, 2006.

All the news that no one prints

"Although President George W. Bush was scheduled to meet with fellows at the Hoover Institution on Friday, the presence of more than 1,000 protestors forced him to change his plans and meet with advisers and faculty members at the residence of former Secretary of State and Hoover Fellow George Shultz on the outskirts of the Stanford campus. "More than 100 armed law enforcement and Secret Service officers lined the streets outside of Encina Commons, as students, parents, faculty members and local residents protested Bush’s anticipated arrival on east campus. While the protest was peaceful, three Stanford students — seniors Claire Wagenseil, Diogo Pereira and Caroline Martin — were arrested as police pushed the crowd out of Serra Street." -- Stanford Daily, April 24, 2006, by Amit Arora, full article here. The first I heard of this was in a recent Paul Craig Roberts column. Now, why is that, you suppose?

Goin' fishin'... ag'in

Yup, heading north. Call it rehearsal for retirement (apologies to P. Ochs). But I got lot's stored up upon which to comment, so maybe, if the motel has a high-speed internet connection ...

If not (since where I'm going the phone doesn't ring), see you in a few.

VIGILANCE!

An Inconvenient Truth

Caught Al Gore's brilliant and passionate film about the thin ice upon which are we skating in regard to the future of our children and grandchildren. It was supremely difficult to resist pondering what America's recent history might have been if the winner of the popular vote (and with little doubt the electoral college) in 2000 was currently nearing the middle of his second term.

The reality of global warming is set forth in such a sublimely visual way that the dumbest cluck on the planet would get the message by optic osmosis. Gore also deftly punctures the smug sanctimony of nay-sayers who call nearly a thousand peer-reviewed scientific journal articles "pseudoscience" while citing supercilious pap promulgated by deceptively named organizations that are really fronts for the corporate interests with the most to lose by taking the steps necessary to scale back our carbon-loading of the atmosphere.

Which got me nostalgic for my brief interaction with a right-wing blogger by the name of Jason Coleman. Jason is a personable guy, clearly bright, somewhere in his mid-thirties or so I would hazard to guess. For a while we went at it regarding the subject of climate change (among other things), both on my blog and his, but I soon realized that the debate was pointless.

Mr. Coleman has continued to rail against what he calls the "junk science" of global change, citing dubious sources such as the industry affiliated think tank the Hoover Institution. Mr. Coleman purports to be a scientist, but as far as I can see his brand of "science" appears to be writing code for computer games, not exactly what I would call science scholarship. You can go the top of his blog and search "global warming" to see more of his perspective.

The reason I bring this up is not to single out Mr. Coleman, with whom I would probably be able to to sling back a few cold ones without us shooting each other. It's to show you just what we are up against.

Thank you, Lt. Watada

Let us honor this singular young man for his courage.

Fort Lewis, Washington (June 22, 2006) - U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren K. Watada reported to duty at 2:00 a.m. early this morning, Thursday, June 22nd and refused orders to move to the adjacent McChord Air Force Base to prepare to fly to Iraq. Lt. Watada believes that the war and occupation in Iraq are illegal, and thus participation in the war is also illegal. At this time he has been restricted to base and has been ordered to have no communication with non-military personnel.

“I refuse to be silent any longer. I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression. My oath of office is to protect and defend America’s laws and its people. By refusing unlawful orders for an illegal war, I fulfill that oath today.”
- U.S. Army First Lt. Ehren Watada

Thank him yourself.

Gone fishin'

Still alive, just on vacation. No TV, no newspapers, and a respite from righteous indignation. We all need it once and a while to stay sane.



(That's me right at snow line).

America: Freedom to Facism

Producer Aaron Russo's arresting new documentary opens on July 28. The film explores the subversion of American democracy by an international corporate/financial cabal that seems bent on insuring that we become comfortable slaves. From the movie's web site:

"Determined to find the law that requires American citizens to pay income tax, producer Aaron Russo ("The Rose," "Trading Places") set out on a journey to find the evidence. This film which is neither left, nor right-wing is a startling examination of government. It exposes the systematic erosion of civil liberties in America since 1913 when the Federal Reserve system was fraudulently created. Through interviews with U.S. Congressmen, a former IRS Commissioner, former IRS and FBI agents and tax attorneys and authors, Russo connects the dots between money creation, federal income tax, and the national identity card which becomes law in May 2008. This ID card will use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips which are essentially homing devices used to track people. This film shows in great detail and undeniable facts that America is moving headlong into a fascist police state. Wake up!"

Now, Russo is a libertarian, and the film pretty much marches to the libertarian line I am sure (with which I have some significant issues), but as with Paul Craig Roberts and Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), some of these libertarians have been providing the clarion wake-up calls about the Bush/Neocon junta in progress. What I don't understand is why they always align themselves with the Republican party?

Anyway, I plan to see the flick and I think you should, too. Here's one early review:

"FOUR STARS (Highest Rating). The scariest goddamn film you'll see this year. It will leave you staggering out of the theatre, slack-jawed and trembling. Makes 'Fahrenheit 9/11' look like 'Bambi.' After watching this movie, your comfy, secure notions about America -- and about what it means to be an American -- will be forever shattered. Producer/director Aaron Russo and the folks at Cinema Libre Studio deserve to be heralded as heroes of a post-modern New American Revolution. This is shocking stuff. You'll be angry, you'll be disgusted, but you may actually break out in a cold sweat and feel a sickness deep in your gut; I would advise movie theatre managers to hand out vomit bags. You may end up needing one." --- Todd David Schwartz, CBS

The Theft of the Century (Again)

Maybe now that Bobby Kennedy, Jr. has written about the chicanery that cost Kerry Ohio in 2004 and the nation dearly ever since, the American people will start to wipe the fairy dust from their eyes. I was convinced even before Mark Crispin Miller's book came out, but, well, that's me.

If you haven't read Kennedy's article, go here.

More on George W. Bush's "Sanctity of Marriage" gay marriage constitutional ban

More good stuff from Wayne Madsen:

George W. Bush's marital problems have just taken another turn for the worse. Apparently, Mr. Bush has not only engaged in an extra-marital affair with a member of the opposite sex who is also a senior member of his Cabinet, but also a member of the same sex. WMR received the following release this morning from Leola McConnell, Democratic candidate for Governor of Nevada (who has been endorsed by WMR). McConnell is a one-time professional dominatrix.

"President Bush's speech to the nation Monday. If he doesn't say he's a gay American or at the least a bisexual one then he shouldn't be making one at all. And the notion that it would be in regards to writing bigotry into our nation's Constitution is reprehensible. Too bad it isn't me doing the rebuttal because in 1984, I watched him perform (with the enthusiasm of homosexual male who had done this many times before) a homosexual act on another man, namely Victor Ashe. Victor Ashe is the current Ambassador to the nation of Poland who should also come out like former Governor McGreevey of New Jersey and admit to being a gay American. Other homo-erotic acts were also performed by then private citizen George Bush because I performed one of them on him personally. I am the woman this website (bushssecretlifein84.tripod.com) speaks of that has been posted on the net nearly two years now. None of this would be the business of anyone but President Bush's little ruse to save his failed presidency by using DOMA [Defense of Marriage Act] to divide Americans one from the other has to be exposed as the act of a desperate closeted homosexual man. The only crime in being GLBT is in the hiding. The President needs to come clean with the American people about his own past sexual behavior before he tries to besmirch the humanity of people in search of sincerely committing to the same bonds of matrimony he's afforded. He violated his own vows of monogamy having a homosexual affair with a long time family friend of whom his wife had no knowledge. His hypocrisy seems to know no bounds. I had planned to run for governor of Nevada without going into any of this but his planned nationally televised address to the nation makes it necessary for me to address his attempt at division in as public a way as he picked to try this Bushification of reality regarding same sex marriages.

"Sincerely,
Leola McConnell
Liberal Democratic candidate for Governor of Nevada"

Here's a great compendium of the numerous skeletons in Bush's closet.

Deliciousness

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

June 2, 2006 -- A White House source, speaking on background, vehemently denied to WMR that there are marital problems between President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush over a reported extramarital affair between Mr. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. However, two mainstream media sources have confirmed that their sources also have reported an ongoing affair between Mr. Bush and Rice.

The mainstream media is hamstrung in reporting stories about Bush's personal life. For example, in 2001, the media highlighted Bush's comments about his passing out from choking on a pretzel while watching a football game in the White House. In reality, Bush, who claims he gave up drinking years ago, passed out from being inebriated. Washington's movers and shakers knew the story about Bush's drinking but the media studiously avoided it.

June 1, 2006 -- Rocky shoals for Bush marriage? Informed sources Inside the Beltway report that First Lady Laura Bush has established temporary residence in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC as a result of a tiff with President Bush over an extramarital relationship involving her husband. Mr. Bush's tryst is said to involve Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It is not known how long Mrs. Bush plans to remain at the Mayflower, however, her security detail has been present at the hotel during hours when the First Lady would normally be residing in the White House. While she was National Security Adviser, Rice, who has never been married, referred to George W. Bush as "my husband" before she corrected herself and said, "the president." Rice was speaking at a dinner when she made her "husband" remarks.

Affirmative Action, Republican style

A 26-year-old college dropout who carries President Bush’s breath mints and makes him peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches will follow in his boss’s footsteps this fall when he enrolls at Harvard Business School (HBS).

Though it is rare for HBS—or any other professional or graduate school—to admit a student who does not have an undergraduate degree, admissions officers made an exception for Blake Gottesman, who for four years has served as special assistant and personal aide to Bush.

Gottesman, a Texas native who attended Claremont-McKenna College in California for one year, has long had ties to the Bush family. He dated the president’s daughter, Jenna Bush, nearly ten years ago when he attended St. Andrew’s Episcopal School of Austin.

-- PARAS D. BHAYANI, Harvard Crimson. Read the rest here.

Coming soon to a bookstore near you

Jorge no comprende

Bush administration planted fake news stories on American TV

Federal authorities are actively investigating dozens of American television stations for broadcasting items produced by the Bush administration and major corporations, and passing them off as normal news.

Some of the fake news segments talked up success in the war in Iraq, or promoted the companies' products.

Investigators from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are seeking information about stations across the country after a report produced by a campaign group detailed the extraordinary extent of the use of such items.

The report, by the non-profit group Centre for Media and Democracy, found that over a 10-month period at least 77 television stations were making use of the faux news broadcasts, known as Video News Releases (VNRs). Not one told viewers who had produced the items.

The range of VNR is wide. Among items provided by the Bush administration to news stations was one in which an Iraqi-American in Kansas City was seen saying "Thank you Bush. Thank you USA" in response to the 2003 fall of Baghdad. The footage was actually produced by the State Department, one of 20 federal agencies that have produced and distributed such items.

-- Andrew Buncombe, The Independent. Read the rest here.

Cheney aide is screening legislation

Adviser seeks to protect Bush power

By Charlie Savage, Boston Globe Staff May 28, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The office of Vice President Dick Cheney routinely reviews pieces of legislation before they reach the president's desk, searching for provisions that Cheney believes would infringe on presidential power, according to former White House and Justice Department officials.

The officials said Cheney's legal adviser and chief of staff, David Addington , is the Bush administration's leading architect of the "signing statements" the president has appended to more than 750 laws. The statements assert the president's right to ignore the laws because they conflict with his interpretation of the Constitution.

The Bush-Cheney administration has used such statements to claim for itself the option of bypassing a ban on torture, oversight provisions in the USA Patriot Act, and numerous requirements that they provide certain information to Congress, among other laws.

Read the rest here.

Most ironic road sign ... ever

In Washington DC.

Why do the all scumbags find God AFTER they're convicted?

Ken Lay after conviction on fraud and tax evasion:

"Despite what happened today, I'm still a very blessed man. At my left is this beautiful lady that's my wife. I have a very warm, loving, Christian family. And, most of all I believe God, in fact, is in control and that, indeed God works all things good for all who love the lord. We love our lord, all this will work for good." (By the way, a number of print media accounts dropped the "Christian" adjective before "family" in their accounts - listen to an unedited audio if you can find it).

This is not a good man. This is a man who stole millions of dollars from stockholders and employees, who bilked millions of energy consumers in California. And, of course, this is a man who got a sleepover at the White House, secret energy policy planning sessions with Herr Cheney (we can only assume he was one of the attendees). And now this callow creep tells us what a good Christian he is! Just like Tom Delay.

So tell me, is this how you do business in Texas? Commit evil, and then invoke Jesus Christ when you get caught?

Bipolar America

Staunch Republican and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, in an essay last fall, said the following, with a sense, as she put it, that "we're at the end of something:"
"I think there is an unspoken subtext in our national political culture right now … a sense that the wheels are coming off the trolley and the trolley off the tracks. … It's beyond, 'The president is overwhelmed.' The presidency is overwhelmed."

Much as it almost makes me choke to say so, I think Peggy Noonan is on to something. Americans are steeped in the twin mantras of "get-it-while-you-can" and "do-it-if-it-feels-good" as delivered by the commercial media, which conflicts with the strong streak of puritanism that runs like an underground stream in our collective subsconscious. We want it all, but feel guilty about it at the same time. In sum, the effect is that our culture is bipolar. I think that most Americans, whether right or left-leaning, view themselves as centrists. "Don't rock the boat" even if the boat is leaking. While we dislike politicians whose incompetance and superficial messianic willfulness courts national and international disaster, we loathe those that 1) suggest we change our ways and 2) lose elections. The "comeback kid" Bill Clinton succeeded in bouncing back after defeat because of his uncanny way of connecting with people (or seeming to) and his pragmatic - and decidedly centrist - approach to policy. While the majority of my fellow citizens collectively sense that change is needed in some amorphous way, they revolt at the suggestion that they individually must change their ways. Sadly, I do not believe that "centrist" politics offers much hope for the profound problems that out society faces in the decades ahead.

Why I can't support Hillary

Hillary Clinton is very smart. No one of sound mind could claim otherwise. Were she to occupy the Oval Office, she would probably bring into the administration a lot of equally smart or even smarter people, some of whom would probably have pretty good progressive credentials.

But like many smart people, Senator Clinton has blind spots. Hers are frequently of the forehead-slapping kind. Attending a fund-raiser hosted by the Neocon propaganda king Rupert Murdoch is one such of recent vintage in a long history of making bad decisions.

But that alone is not why I can't support Hillary Clinton as Democratic candidate for the 2008 Presidential election. The real reason is, plain and simple; I don't think she can win. Certainly not against John McCain, once the great centrist of the Republican party, the heir to Barry Goldwater, who despite humiliating himself in his pandering to the Republican machine and the failed Bush Presidency [check out the scene in the film "Why We Fight" when McCain interrupts his condemnation of Iraq policy to take a phone call from VP Cheney - priceless!] is likely to pull many independents and right-leaning Dems into his camp, especially if the Dems retake Congress in November.

Why don't I think Hillary can win? Because a huge swathe of the progressive base, the heart and soul of the Democratic party, including MANY women that I have talked to, feel as I do - that there's just a little too much opportunism, a little too much power-mongering, and way too much pandering towards corporate America and some imagined right-of-center contingent in the Democratic Party on the part of Hillary Clinton. And it was exactly those policies of Bill Clinton's, such as NAFTA, which rose out of the same political philosophy, that wrecked havoc here and abroad, despite his overall reasonable success as chief-of-state.

Read Molly Ivins take on the same issue here.

Pragmatism

Jan Frel's rumination at Alternet on the lesser of evils and what it means for the body politic really struck a chord with me.

"The big names in the Democratic Party have even lower numbers than Bush -- is that because everyone's ignoring the crisis in our politics?"

"Be pragmatic. Take a good, long look at reality, and recognize that even though there isn't a Democrat in Washington who will admit that our political system is profoundly sick and obsolete, in the real world, the Democratic Party is currently all we have. So support it anyway.

"That's what I've been telling myself, but boy can it be hard to swallow. Take, for example, the sea of problems Hillary Clinton poses to any political idealist. Hillary Clinton may represent many awful things -- Iraq, corporatism, insane military spending -- but the truth is, millions of Americans may well have health care if she becomes president, and they won't if she loses to a Republican in the next election."

Read the rest along with many great comments here.

All of which leads me to my next post.

'Shock therapy' and the freefalling greenback

"The dollar has embarked on a big decline that will see it fall against all leading currencies. The plunge is being prompted by America's $800 billion current-account deficit"-- David Smith, The Sunday UK Times

"We are in meltdown mode"-- David Brown, chief-European economist at Bear Stearns

The dollar is getting hammered almost daily now. It's like watching the blood ooze from an open wound. In just one month the dollar has tumbled from $1.20 to $1.29 vs. the euro; an astonishing 7% retreat.

Can't the American people see what is happening to their future? In just 6 years Bush has taken the world's strongest currency and chopped it into finally ground hash. By the time people rouse from their stupor, the greenback will be eye to eye with the peso.

Bush has piled up more debt than all the other presidents combined. His tax cuts have fattened the bankrolls of his constituents but they've put the dollar on a downward slide. Since he took office the once-mighty greenback has plummeted a whopping 35%.

Read the rest here.

-- Mike Whitney, The Smirking Chimp

And don't miss Mike's equally depressing 'The economic tsunami, just months away'

Telcos Seek to Deceive Bloggers with Cartoon

Coming to a blog near you is a telecom-sponsored advertisement dressed up as an underground cartoon. It's the latest in the ongoing campaign by large phone companies to pull the wool over the eyes of the American public.The cartoon is a product of a front group funded by AT&T and BellSouth.

The group, Hands Off the Internet, is headed by Mike McCurry, the former Clinton Press Secretary who has been widely discredited for selling out his integrity to become the telephone industry's spokesmodel.McCurry's group is now attempting to buy its way into the blogosphere, spending tens of thousands of dollars on a misinformation campaign against network neutrality -- the principle that keeps the Internet free and open to all.

The ad and the animation it links to are an example of Stephen Colbert’s “truthiness" in action. Telco giants cloak their real interests behind a populist message that sounds plausible, while undermining the work of genuine public and consumer advocates.No where throughout this propaganda do they identify the nation’s largest telecom companies as the money behind the production. Instead, they dress up www.dontregulate.org as an authentically amateur effort -- complete with hand-drawn cartoons, a scraggly, counter-culture net-guy as protagonist and a David vs. Goliath subtext.

They frame the issue as pitting corporations against the people, the rich guy against you, and bureaucracy against the free market. They even give the URL a “dot-org” tag to cover their corporate tracks.

They paint the SavetheInternet coalition as seeking drastic regulation of the Internet. In fact, this group of more than 500 organizations, bloggers, educators and small businesses is asking only that Congress preserve Net Neutrality, the guiding principle that has kept the Internet free and open since its beginning.It is AT&T and BellSouth that are asking Congress to radically re-regulate the Internet by stripping Net Neutrality from the wires. It's the largest phone and cable corporations -- with their monopoly control of broadband access across more than 50 percent of America -- that pose the biggest threat to the free and fair enterprise and democratic discourse. (These are the same companies have handed over to the National Security Agency the personal phone logs of tens of millions of ordinary Americans -- a betrayal of their customer privacy agreements. Now, they want us to entrust them with the Internet?).

Without Net Neutrality protections, companies like AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon will swoop in to dismantle Internet diversity in favor of websites that pay their tax for speed. Industry-supported legislation now before Congress would hand over control of the Internet to these massive telcos, allowing them to set up tollbooths along the onramps and exits of the information superhighway.Shoved to the margins will be the small businesses, open-source innovators, bloggers, independent musicians, political organizers and everyone else who can't afford the toll.

These Web outsiders and upstarts have been the lifeblood of the Internet. Many are already creating their own animations and PSAs to call public attention to AT&T and Verizon's Internet swindle, while coming to the defense of Net Neutrality. While these homegrown videos don't have a big-money ad buy behind them, they are spreading of their own volition across the blogosphere.

This type of grassroots creativity wouldn’t stand a chance under a regime where the largest ISPs limit access to high speed Internet to the companies that pay them the most. McCurry's powerfully deceptive cartoon is a part of this telco scheme. It’s designed to convince bloggers and net users to support a plan that goes against their best interests.

For a frame-by-frame debunking of the telco cartoon, visit www.savetheinternet.com/=lie

-- Timothy Karr Media Citizen

Ya gotta love it

Photo courtesy of the Brad Blog.

ChoicePoint INC. and the Bush war on America

So, big surprise, right? Another Republican-run corporation feeding at the trough of crony credit, courtesy of the taxpayers. But this one's a little different. Let Greg Palast tell it:

"I know you're shocked -- SHOCKED! -- that George Bush is listening in on all your phone calls. Without a warrant. That's nothing. And it's not news.This is: the snooping into your phone bill is just the snout of the pig of a strange, lucrative link-up between the Administration's Homeland Security spy network and private companies operating beyond the reach of the laws meant to protect us from our government. You can call it the privatization of the FBI -- though it is better described as the creation of a private KGB.

"The leader in the field of what is called "data mining," is a company, formed , called, "ChoicePoint, Inc," which has sucked up over a billion dollars in national security contracts. Worried about Dick Cheney listening in Sunday on your call to Mom? That ain't nothing. You should be more concerned that they are linking this info to your medical records, your bill purchases and your entire personal profile including, not incidentally, your voting registration.

"Five years ago, I discovered that ChoicePoint had already gathered 16 billion data files on Americans -- and I know they've expanded their ops at an explosive rate.They are paid to keep an eye on you -- because the FBI can't. For the government to collect this stuff is against the law unless you're suspected of a crime. (The law in question is the Constitution.) But ChoicePoint can collect if for "commercial" purchases -- and under the Bush Administration's suspect reading of the Patriot Act -- our domestic spying apparatchiks can then BUY the info from ChoicePoint.

"Who ARE these guys selling George Bush a piece of you? ChoicePoint's board has more Republicans than a Palm Beach country club. It was funded, and its board stocked, by such Republican sugar daddies as billionaires Bernie Marcus and Ken Langone -- even after Langone was charged by the Securities Exchange Commission with abuse of inside information."

Read the rest here.

Oh, in case you forgot; yes, these are the clowns who sold credit card data for 145,000 citizens to a criminal ring, and also compiled horribly erroneous "felony" data on thousands of (predominantly black) Florida voters in the 2000 election, thereby preventing them from casting their vote.

Save Internet freedom!

AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth want us to trust that they’ll be good stewards of Internet freedom. Meanwhile, they’re selling out ordinary Americans to the National Security Agency.

A report in May 11's USA Today tells how these three carriers secretly provided to the NSA the phone call records of tens of millions of people — most of whom aren’t suspected of any crime.

These companies apparently have no qualms about betraying customer trust — or breaking federal law.

According to the report, Section 222 of the Communications Act, prohibits companies from giving out information regarding their customers’ calling habits: whom a person calls, how often and what routes those calls take to reach their final destination, and who calls in to the number. When asked about their potentially illegal handover of this personal information, AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth declined to comment, citing “national security matters.”

Now they are asking Congress to strip away Net Neutrality protections so they can become benevolent overlords of the World Wide Web.

Would you trust these corporations with your Internet?

Just days ago, a Republican-dominated congressional committee struck a blow to Internet freedom by voting to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment.

The full House will vote on whether to preserve Internet freedom next week. Then, all eyes turn to a key Senate Committee.

The time for action is now.

Here's what you can do:

1 - Sign a petition to Congress.

2 - Call your representatives.

3 - Write your representatives.

4- Blog or put the "Save the Internet" logos and links on your web page.

5- Add "Save the Internet" as a a friend on MySpace.

Want more info? Get it here or here.

Much of this text was copied from Savetheinterenet.com's blog.

Bush Approves Takeover of Military Plants by Dubai

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (April 28) - President Bush on Friday approved a deal for a Dubai-owned company to take control of some U.S. plants that manufacture parts for American military contractors.

Initial reactions from Congress indicated that there would not be the opposition to the deal that prevented another Dubai-based company from taking over operations of several U.S. ports.

"This was a transaction that was thoroughly reviewed and closely scrutinized," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in confirming the deal. "In the view of the committee, it does not compromise our national security."

As a condition of the president's approval, the company signed an agreement that promised an uninterrupted supply, McClellan said. The White House was in the process of informing key members of Congress of the president's decision.

House leadership aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said lawmakers from both parties on the relevant committees had been briefed on the deal, and had agreed that necessary safeguards were in effect. They said there had been numerous contacts with the administration.

And watch those Bush family fortunes soar. Remember, from his perch the economy looks pretty darn good.

Dear Mr. President

"Dear Mr. President"
by Pink

Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye

Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me
Would you

Listen to the song and view some moving accompanying videos here.

It's my dream, too...

Is this why Porter Goss resigned as CIA chief?

Sex, Lies, and Government Contracts

5/07/06 -- -- The most extensive federal corruption scandal in a century is growing. In March, former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison (the longest sentence ever given to a member of Congress) for accepting $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for lucrative defense contracts. Yet Cunningham's crimes, the "magnitude and duration" of which are compared to the Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s, may end up a mere prelude.

According to recent reports, federal investigators have traced the outlines of a far more extensive network of suspected corruption, involving multiple members of Congress, some of the nation's highest-ranking intelligence officials, bribery attempts including "free limousine service, free stays at hotel suites at the Watergate and the Westin Grand, and free prostitutes," tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts awarded under dubious circumstances, and even efforts to influence U.S. national security policy by subverting democratic oversight.

The ringleader

At the center of the storm is California defense contractor Brent Wilkes -- aka "Co-Conspirator #1" in government documents -- "who gave more than $630,000 in cash and favors" to Cunningham "for help in landing millions of dollars in federal contracts." Wilkes devoted much of his 20-year career to "developing political contacts in Washington," a task at which he excelled, serving recently both as a county finance co-chairman of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R-CA) campaign and as the state finance co-chairman for President Bush. "Wilkes, his family members and his employees were heavy campaign contributors to several members of Congress," and he frequently invited members -- including Cunningham, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), and House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) -- on chartered corporate jets.

The efforts paid off handsomely: "Wilkes won tens of millions of dollars worth of defense contracts for his companies through the process of closed-door congressional earmarking of the federal budget." Indeed, "many of the contracts Wilkes secured" were for projects the Pentagon never even requested. Wilkes has thus far avoided any criminal charges, but federal officials are investigating instances of quid pro quo, since the "timing of Wilkes' many political donations closely parallels the approval of earmarks for Wilkes' companies."

'Red lights on Capitol Hill'

For more than a decade, Wilkes curried favor with lawmakers and CIA officials by hosting weekly parties at lavish hospitality suites at the Watergate and Westin hotels in Washington. Guests would gamble, socialize, and sometimes receive prostitutes; according to Harper's magazine, the festivities "began early with poker games and degenerated" into what one source described "as a 'frat party' scene -- real bacchanals." Mitchell Wade, another defense contractor who pleaded guilty in February to bribing Cunningham, has "told federal prosecutors that he periodically helped arrange for a prostitute for the then-congressman."

But investigators are digging for more: FBI agents "have fanned out across Washington, interviewing women from escort services, potential witnesses and others who may have been involved in the arrangement," attempting to determine "whether any other members of Congress, or their staffs, may also have used the same free services." Last week, a reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune said that "as many as a half dozen other Congressmen" may ultimately be implicated in the scandal. (Several have already denied ever attending Wilkes' parties.) Also, investigators are reportedly "trying to determine whether Cunningham and other legislators brought prostitutes to the hotels or prostitutes were provided for them there"; there is speculation that Wilkes may be subject to felony federal sex-trafficking charges if the Virginia-based limousine service he used transported the prostitutes into Washington.

CIA's third in command admits he attended parties

The highest-ranking CIA official to admit he attended the poker parties thrown by Wilkes is Executive Director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the agency's third-ranking official. (Foggo even "occasionally hosted the poker parties at his house in northern Virginia," though he denies ever seeing prostitutes at the gatherings.) Foggo's relationship with Wilkes goes back 30-plus years; the two were roommates in college, best men at each others' weddings, and even "named their sons after each other."

By the 1980s, Foggo had joined the CIA and "was sent to Honduras to assist the Nicaraguan Contra rebels," where his "position was essentially a contracting officer -- he could get anyone anything they needed." Meanwhile, Wilkes had established himself in Washington and made his living "ferrying congressmen to Central America, where he would introduce them to Foggo and the Contras." Foggo's connections to Wilkes and fellow contractor Mitchell Wade are now the focus of an investigation into CIA contracts by the agency's inspector general, first made public in March. One of Wilkes' companies, Archer Logistics, won a contract to provide supplies to CIA agents in Afghanistan and Iraq despite having "no previous experience with such work, having been founded a few months before the contract was granted."

CIA director Goss tied to scandal?

Last week, Harper's magazine reported that party-goers "under intense scrutiny by the FBI are current and former lawmakers on Defense and Intelligence committees -- including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post." CIA Director Porter Goss is perhaps the only individual who fits such a description. ("This is horribly irresponsible. He hasn't even been to the Watergate in decades," a CIA spokeswoman said. When asked if Goss had attended Wilkes' parties at the Westin or other locations, she repeated the denial. "It's horribly irresponsible. Flatly untrue.") But the alleged links between Goss, Foggo, and Wilkes have led some to return to questions raised when Goss initially selected Foggo to be executive director in November 2004.

At the time, the decision was viewed with skepticism since Foggo's previous position was as a "midlevel procurement supervisor," and because following his unexpected selection, "Porter Goss lieutenant Patrick Murray went to then-Associate Deputy Director of Operations for Counterintelligence Mary Margaret Graham and informed her that if anything leaked about other Goss appointments -- in particular, Foggo's -- she would be held responsible." Project on Government Oversight fellow Jason Vest reported last week that much of Foggo's counterintelligence file "has to do with various social encounters over the years, none of which he's been deceptive about when polygraphed, and all of which have been deemed to be of no threat to operational security -- but are still the types of things that could be embarrassing for Goss and the Agency." Vest suggests the latest reports raise important questions about the "relationship between Foggo and Wilkes, and the relationship of each with Goss."

Even the limo service is corrupt

Another piece of the puzzle is Shirlington Limousine and Transportation Inc., the firm that Wilkes used to "transport congressmen, CIA officials, and perhaps prostitutes to his Washington parties." Shirlington's president, Christopher Baker, has a "lengthy history of illegal activity," detailed in his 62-page rap-sheet which "runs from at least 1979 through 1989 and lists charges of petty larceny, robbery, receiving stolen goods, assault, and more." Shirlington Limo also "operates in what looks to be a deliberately murky way. The limo company does business under at least four different names; in addition, the office addresses listed on its business filings regularly change. A number of those office addresses are actually at residential buildings or business suites, and calls to the listed phone numbers are taken by an answering service."

The company was sued in 2004 for failing to make payments on buses it had purchased, has received eviction notices from its offices, and even had its federal license revoked by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in both 2001 and 2004. Despite all of this, the Department of Homeland Security last fall awarded Shirlington a $21 million contract "to provide transportation, including limo service for senior officials." Shirlington also won contracts "with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (for $519,823) and...the Federal Highway Administration (for $142,000)." What role did Wilkes play in Shirlington receiving these federal contracts?

The Defense Appropriations Committee 'Cabal'

A common thread links the members of Congress that Wilkes courted most aggressively, such as Cunningham and Reps. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), and John Doolittle (R-CA). All were (or still are) on subcommittees overseeing defense and intelligence spending. On Monday, prominent conservative strategist Ed Rollins described the main players in the scandal as a "real little cabal on the defense appropriations committee." In particular, the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense is "aggressively courted not just by defense contractors, but by lobbyists for foreign governments interested in swinging US defense spending in certain directions," investigative journalist Laura Rozen notes. "It is really where the checks are signed, and decisions about funding sometimes wholly un-debated aspects of U.S. national security policy are made."

Indeed, many of the figures tied to the scandal have histories of involvement in reactionary conservative elements of U.S. foreign policy: Kyle Foggo worked extensively with the Nicaraguan contras, Mitchell Wade headed a White House-contracted group called the "Iranian Democratization Foundation", and Wilkes was reportedly set to receive a contract to "create and run a secret plane network" for the CIA before his links to Cunningham were made public. The roots of this scandal may be as much in profiteering as they are in "this club's conviction that the law is an impediment to the national security cause, that the way to run things is through these informal networks.

-- The Progress Report (American Progress Action Fund)

Original post here.

Huh? (or was that Como?)

On Cinco de Mayo, our President demanded that, "Those who come here to our country have a responsibility to learn the English language."

In the belief that responsibility begins at home, here is the same President's February 4, 2005 explanation of how he will "save" our Social Security system:

"Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE TO YOU? IT'S KIND OF MUDDLED. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. This is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- that that growth is affect, it will help on the red."

Hmmmmm.

(A tip of the MJ hat to Greg Palast).

Thank you, Stephen Colbert

Post a "thank you" to comedian Stephen Colbert for using comedy to deliver the message to President Bush that the media just won't. And if you didn't see Colbert's masterful performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner, you can watch it there as well.

Dear Laura

Would you like to send the following Mother's Day message to Laura Bush?

Dear First Lady Laura Bush:

I'm sure that for Mothers Day you'll be celebrating the fact that you have two great daughters growing up and moving into the professional world.

But I'm writing to ask that you take a moment to reflect on the thousands of other American mothers who won't be celebrating Mothers Day this year. Instead, for those who have lost their sons and daughters in Iraq, this day will only be a reminder of grief and sorrow.

Now, your husband is rattling his saber against Iran and threatening a military attack. I beg of you -- please convince him that war should not be an option. The so-called Iranian "crisis" can be resolved through diplomacy and coalition-building -- not dropping bombs and sending in troops.

So, please have a word with your husband. Ask him if he would still attack Iran if your two daughters were in the military and scheduled to be in the first units sent in. If the answer to that question is no, then how can he ask other moms and dads to make a sacrifice that he's not willing to himself?

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME HERE

If so, click here.