Open Thread and Diary Rescue
8 minutes ago
Monday, May 08, 2006
Open thread
24 is getting a bit stale. This season just feels more soap-opera-ish, you sit there for an hour and nothing quite happens. Sigh.
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Bush offers olive branch to CIA agents who quit under Goss
Ok, this is interesting.
Bush can blame Goss all he wants, but there's only one person responsible for Porter Goss being in charge of the CIA, and his name is George Bush. It's four and a half years after September 11 and we're picking up the pieces of the CIA because George Bush and his appointees destroyed it. This is a disgrace. Read More......
Under the plan, Vice Adm. Albert M. Calland III would be replaced as deputy director by retired CIA official Stephen R. Kappes, who quit in November 2004 in a dispute with then-Director Porter J. Goss.Let's not forget that Porter Goss launched an ideological purge of the CIA, and it's hard to believe that such a purge wasn't done at the White House's behest. Now Bush is trying to make nice, a year and a half after his petty "I'm always right" hubris has seriously damaged the CIA and our national security.
The move was seen as a direct repudiation of Goss's leadership and as an olive branch to CIA veterans disaffected by his 18-month tenure, during which many other senior officials followed Kappes out the door.
Bush can blame Goss all he wants, but there's only one person responsible for Porter Goss being in charge of the CIA, and his name is George Bush. It's four and a half years after September 11 and we're picking up the pieces of the CIA because George Bush and his appointees destroyed it. This is a disgrace. Read More......
General Hayden's CIA nomination may have violated the law
I didn't post this earlier because I wanted to confirm it more, but Sailor over at Vidiot Speak blog noted that there seems to be a law on the books that says either the Director of Central Intelligence or his deputy can be active or retired military, but not both. Since, as the blogger notes, the deputy director of the CIA is military, the director can not be (and GENERAL Hayden most certainly is).
While I was trying to confirm all of this, and from what I found the law does seem pretty clear, Sailor emailed me a new AP story that notes that the deputy director is now being moved out of his job. What AP doesn't say, or doesn't realize, is that blogger Sailor might have found the reason the guy was being moved out of the number 2 slot at CIA - Hayden's appointment might have otherwise been illegal.
Any legal minds curious to see if this is the case? If so, it's just another example of how sloppy George Bush is with his appointments to some of the most important positions in the land. Read More......
While I was trying to confirm all of this, and from what I found the law does seem pretty clear, Sailor emailed me a new AP story that notes that the deputy director is now being moved out of his job. What AP doesn't say, or doesn't realize, is that blogger Sailor might have found the reason the guy was being moved out of the number 2 slot at CIA - Hayden's appointment might have otherwise been illegal.
Any legal minds curious to see if this is the case? If so, it's just another example of how sloppy George Bush is with his appointments to some of the most important positions in the land. Read More......
Hillary and Rupert Murdoch are becoming buds
Hmmm... I don't know if this is good or bad. It's just weird.
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Stephen Colbert roast of Bush back online
And, as Atrios notes, the video is not funny, so please don't enjoy yourself.
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Should Al Gore run for president in 2008?
The Wall Street Journal is opining about a possible Gore run for president in 2008. I'm just curious what you all think about that - good idea, bad idea, not sure? Also, be sure to indicate how you felt about Gore the first time around in 2000.
As for me, I wished Gore had Clinton's personality, but at the time I also remember thinking there was a part of Gore's seriousness that was good and necessary after the Clinton scandals. Still, it seemed that Gore, like Kerry, had a real problem bouncing back and forth between his advisers, never really quite finding his own voice.
Anyway, I'm intrigued by the idea of Gore running again. A friend the other day - or maybe it was one of the folks at the AMERICAblog coffee meet-up we had in NYC last week - said that maybe this is why Gore has been laying low the past five years, so he can come back on the scene "new and improved" for the 2008 election.
It's an interesting idea. And I might just support it. I wasn't thrilled on Gore running again right after he lost, but now...
Your thoughts? Read More......
As for me, I wished Gore had Clinton's personality, but at the time I also remember thinking there was a part of Gore's seriousness that was good and necessary after the Clinton scandals. Still, it seemed that Gore, like Kerry, had a real problem bouncing back and forth between his advisers, never really quite finding his own voice.
Anyway, I'm intrigued by the idea of Gore running again. A friend the other day - or maybe it was one of the folks at the AMERICAblog coffee meet-up we had in NYC last week - said that maybe this is why Gore has been laying low the past five years, so he can come back on the scene "new and improved" for the 2008 election.
It's an interesting idea. And I might just support it. I wasn't thrilled on Gore running again right after he lost, but now...
Your thoughts? Read More......
Bush tells German paper he caught the largest fresh-water perch in world history
UPDATE: Our intrepid readers have discovered that the White House transcript says (or now says) that Bush referenced a bass and not a perch. The question is whether the White House transcript said that initially, where the press got the "perch" language from, and whether anyone has it on film or tape? Perhaps someone from the German press can help us out.
Uh huh.
Bush told the following to a German newspaper yesterday:
So Bush either doubled the world record, and didn't report it, or he's a liar.
(Major kudos to the Stacy Taylor Show on KLSD-AM in San Diego for catching this.) Read More......
Uh huh.
Bush told the following to a German newspaper yesterday:
Bush told weekly Bild am Sonntag when asked about his high point since becoming president in January 2001.The only problem is that the world's record for the largest freshwater perch caught is 4 pounds 3 ounces.
"I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound perch in my lake."
So Bush either doubled the world record, and didn't report it, or he's a liar.
(Major kudos to the Stacy Taylor Show on KLSD-AM in San Diego for catching this.) Read More......
Gay leaders throw Mary Cheney a bone in today's Wash Post
Fascinating op ed by Hilary Rosen and Elizabeth Birch, two of the most powerful women in the glbt movement.
Both women have chosen to take the "embrace Mary" tack. She can provide a useful teaching moment for America. And that's true. I do, however, think there's enough between the lines in the op ed, especially the last line, to gets us back to the main point. That point is that the Cheneys, including Mary, need to do more than just point out that they love each other - they need to do something to help the millions of other Cheney-type families being threatened by gay-bashing Republican politics.
It's great (if not totally unsurprising) that Mary is herself pro-gay, supports gay marriage, believes gays should adopt, and is opposed to the anti-gay constitutional amendment. While good news, those facts elicit a bit of a "well, duh." What's important is that Mary chose not to help her community when it mattered the most - when her father and his boss were trying to write our second-class citizenship in the US Constitution. As Mary now concedes, no one forced her to sit back silently while her father's administration - HER administration - dehumanized her own lover. George Bush offered her the chance to go public and defend her community. But Mary CHOSE to sit back silently and do nothing.
While a book is a good start at doing something, the proof will come when Mary has the courage, the self-awareness, and the sense of community to recognize that she has the power to stop the Republicans' gay-bashing in its tracks. She has the name to shame the Congress and the Republican re-election machine into leaving gays alone, at least for the next three years.
The question is whether this time Mary will rise to the challenge. Read More......
Both women have chosen to take the "embrace Mary" tack. She can provide a useful teaching moment for America. And that's true. I do, however, think there's enough between the lines in the op ed, especially the last line, to gets us back to the main point. That point is that the Cheneys, including Mary, need to do more than just point out that they love each other - they need to do something to help the millions of other Cheney-type families being threatened by gay-bashing Republican politics.
It's great (if not totally unsurprising) that Mary is herself pro-gay, supports gay marriage, believes gays should adopt, and is opposed to the anti-gay constitutional amendment. While good news, those facts elicit a bit of a "well, duh." What's important is that Mary chose not to help her community when it mattered the most - when her father and his boss were trying to write our second-class citizenship in the US Constitution. As Mary now concedes, no one forced her to sit back silently while her father's administration - HER administration - dehumanized her own lover. George Bush offered her the chance to go public and defend her community. But Mary CHOSE to sit back silently and do nothing.
While a book is a good start at doing something, the proof will come when Mary has the courage, the self-awareness, and the sense of community to recognize that she has the power to stop the Republicans' gay-bashing in its tracks. She has the name to shame the Congress and the Republican re-election machine into leaving gays alone, at least for the next three years.
The question is whether this time Mary will rise to the challenge. Read More......
Bush preparing for "post-White House life"
Bush and many of us actually have something in common. We are all pondering a future when he will no longer be the President:
The funniest thing in this typical puff profile by Elisabeth Bumiller is that Bush wants to start a think tank. Can there be a bigger oxymoron than "Bush think tank"? Read More......
Whatever Mr. Bush decides, one thing is obvious: Two and a half years before he leaves office, with his popularity at record lows, Mr. Bush is actively thinking ahead to his post-White House life.If Bush is so anxious for a post-White House life, he can always just resign. His job is, as he told us, hard work.
The funniest thing in this typical puff profile by Elisabeth Bumiller is that Bush wants to start a think tank. Can there be a bigger oxymoron than "Bush think tank"? Read More......
Monday Morning Open Thread
This should be another interesting week. Starts with Bush announcing the nomination of Hayden to head the CIA. The White House is in full spin mode on that one....Stephen Hadley did all the morning talk shows to tell us all how great Hayden is.
And, then, there's the continued fallout from the Goss resignation. Read More......
And, then, there's the continued fallout from the Goss resignation. Read More......
Cheney: Be democratic unless you have oil
Yes, it's hard to envision Dick Cheney as the mouthpiece for democracy. But the true lesson from his freedom tour is that in Bush/Cheney world, oil trumps democracy:
Vice President Dick Cheney made democratic reform his calling card throughout his just-completed overseas trip - everywhere except Kazakhstan, a land judged poor in human rights but rich in oil and gas.Read More......
"Obviously Kazakhstan is important given their considerable resources," the vice president told reporters Sunday aboard Air Force Two on the way home. "It's one of the few places where we're going to see an increase in oil production from a non-OPEC state over the next few years."
Another bank merger
Just what consumers need, another big bank swallowing up a smaller bank. Remember when fighting the Cold War how we used to hear about American competition? Don't worry, those days are long gone as bigger is better and the GOP is helping corporate American get rid of pesky competition and scrap choices. At least the big banks are good financial providers to political campaigns.
Only last night over dinner with ex-pat friends, we were talking about how amazing it is that France of all places has to much competition with phone and internet services. For around 30 euro (roughly $38) per month you have your choice of numerous suppliers who will give you high speed internet, unlimited "free" land line calls in France plus a few dozen countries including the US plus about 100 TV channels. None of us could believe that France actually has better competition than the US. Oh how times have changed. Read More......
Only last night over dinner with ex-pat friends, we were talking about how amazing it is that France of all places has to much competition with phone and internet services. For around 30 euro (roughly $38) per month you have your choice of numerous suppliers who will give you high speed internet, unlimited "free" land line calls in France plus a few dozen countries including the US plus about 100 TV channels. None of us could believe that France actually has better competition than the US. Oh how times have changed. Read More......
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