Cheney's company refused to tell US troops that they were contaminated

Time for another Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq were exposed to contaminated water last year and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton, couldn't get their company to inform camp residents, according to interviews and internal company documents.

Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, disputes the allegations about water problems at Camp Junction City, in Ramadi, even though they were made by its own employees and documented in company e-mails.

"We exposed a base camp population (military and civilian) to a water source that was not treated," said a July 15, 2005, memo written by William Granger, the official for Halliburton's KBR subsidiary who was in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait....

While bottled water was available for drinking, the contaminated water was used for virtually everything else, including handwashing, laundry, bathing and making coffee, said water expert Ben Carter of Cedar City, Utah.

And funny how it's the Democrats who are chairing an investigation into this because the Republicans care more about protecting special interests than they do about the safety our troops:

The Associated Press obtained the documents from Senate Democrats who are holding a public inquiry into the allegations Monday.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who will chair the session, held a number of similar inquiries last year on contracting abuses in Iraq. He said Democrats were acting on their own because they had not been able to persuade Republican committee chairmen to investigate.

Tell me again how the Republicans love our troops? No body armor and poisoned water. This is what you people voted for? Read More......

NY Daily News discusses possible gay top Bush aide

Look at this little gem buried in a piece in today's NY Daily News:

Facing a bruising reelection contest, Arnold Schwarzenegger is importing Bush-Cheney political A-teamers to try to salvage his stumbling campaign.

The California governor has hired Steve Schmidt, Vice President Cheney's top strategist and spokesman, and Matthew Dowd, a senior Bush-Cheney campaign consultant credited with playing a lead role in Bush's 2004 day-to-day strategy....

Schmidt, who was the top attack dog in the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign war room, heads west next month to take over the campaign's day-to-day operation.

Schmidt is a formidable political pugilist whose battles range from taking on Democrats over the Supreme Court nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to killing Internet rumors accusing a top Bush aide of being gay.

Gee, I wonder if that top Bush aide's name rhymes with "men"? Read More......

Open thread

Just had a super-secret two-hour conference call with a few friends. Let's just say that I think Chris Matthews and his bosses at MSNBC aren't going to be very happy campers in the next day or so...

In the meantime, and totally unrelated, feel free to visit my old Web site StopDrLaura.com. It's a really successful advertiser boycott a group of us launched several years ago against a TV show. Read More......

Tell NBC not to cave to the bigoted American Family Association

Gang, please do this action alert now.

NBC is under attack by the bigoted American Family Association for airing a new TV show that - God forbid - includes gay characters and Christian characters who aren't perfect in the eyes of the AFA. The AFA has called for a boycott of the show's advertisers, and we cannot afford to have them running around claiming yet another victory, even if this "victory" like far too many of their victories is an outright lie.

You'll recall that the AFA is the same bigoted organization that launched a so-called boycott against Ford because Ford provides benefits to its gay employees, includes sexual orientation in its diversity training, and because Ford advertises in magazines geared to the gay community. You'll also recall that AFA is the organization that has a little problem with Jews and Muslims, in addition to gays.

Please contact the NBC CEO Jeff Zucker and NBC President Kevin Reilly and tell them not to pander to extremist bigots. Give "The Book of Daniel" a chance, or the bigots at the AFA will be on their back for the next five years dictating the terms of every single show they run in the future. Not to mention, the AFA will do to NBC the exact same thing it did to Ford. They'll crow victory so loudly that NBC will forever be marked as the tool of extremist bigots.

CONTACT THESE NBC HEADS NOW:

- jeff.zucker@nbcuni.com CEO of NBC
(I'm working on getting his phone and fax numbers)

- kevin.reilly@nbcuni.com President of NBC,
phone: 818 840 6046, and 818 840 6022
fax: 818 840 6630

MESSAGE: Does NBC agree with the American Family Association that a Jewish upbringing leads you to a life of crime? Does NBC think gays were behind the Holocaust? Does NBC think Muslims breed "faster than we do?" Does NBC think the Jews control Hollywood? Does NBC think AIDS is a "gay plague?"

If NBC caves to the American Family Association, it is making it clear that it accepts the American Family Association's message of hate and intolerance. I would imagine a lot of Jewish, gay and Muslim-American viewers might just have a problem with NBC cozying up to an organization that spouts this kind of venom.

So, NBC, whose side are you on? We're watching. Read More......

McCain: Bush broke the law by spying on Americans without a warrant

Think Progress has the transcript from Fox News:

WALLACE: But you do not believe that currently he has the legal authority to engage in these warrant-less wiretaps.

MCCAIN: You know, I don’t think so, but why not come to Congress? We can sort this all out. I don’t think — I know of no member of Congress, frankly, who, if the administration came and said here’s why we need this capability, that they wouldn’t get it. And so let’s have the hearings.

If Bush didn't have the legal authority, it means he committed a crime. The consensus is -- even from Bush himself -- that they didn't have the legal authority to conduct the domestic spying operation. So, let's just call that what it is: a crime. That's what McCain said today. Read More......

CBS's Bob Schieffer is latest "journalist" to accuse Democrats and moderate Republicans of treason

UPDATE: The correct link to contact Bob Schieffer at Face the Nation is here.

You see, according to CBS and NBC, the majority of Americans who have a problem with how Bush is handling the war in Iraq are actually borrowing a page from Osama bin Laden.

We think like bin Laden, according to CBS and NBC.

We talk like bin Laden, according to CBS and NBC.

So I suppose it must logically follow that we act like bin Laden, according to CBS and NBC.

Enough is enough. It's one thing for FOX News and other Republican surrogates to accuse Democrats and Moderate Republicans of treason simply because we actually believe in our democracy, in what the Constitution says, and what the flag stands for. But it's quite another for "real" media like NBC and CBS to start accusing the majority of Americans of treason during war time.

That's not journalism, it's Jerry Springer.

It's time for NBC and CBS to apologize to the 60%+ of Americans who don't agree with President Bush that the war in Iraq is going great. NBC and CBS can choose to be rah-rah chearleaders for a war that their shoddy journalism got us into, but they shouldn't take their guilt out on the majority of Americans who are patriotic enough to speak their opinions.

You can contact Bob Schieffer here (select "Face the Nation" as the show) and Chris Matthews here. Please be polite. Read More......

John Boehner for GOP Majority Leader? Can you say "back pocket of special interests"?

Oh yeah, he's going to be a big change from Tom Delay:

BOEHNER ELIMINATES COMPETITION FOR LARGEST CONTRIBUTOR.
From the Chronicle of Higher Education
January 13, 2006

With Rep. John A. Boehner a leading candidate to be the next majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Ohio Republican's ties to Sallie Mae are coming under scrutiny by the news media and some lawmakers.

The nation's largest student-loan provider has been one of the top contributors to the campaign war chest of Mr. Boehner, who as chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce has been shepherding through Congress student-loan legislation that will affect the company's bottom line.

According to Federal Election Commission records, Sallie Mae officials contributed more than $100,000, both individually and through political-action committees, to Mr. Boehner during the 2003-4 election cycle -- a time in which he was drafting legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the law that governs most federal student-aid programs. That total is equal to about 40 percent of the $259,000 that the student-loan industry as a whole donated to the congressman during that period of time.

On several occasions, Mr. Boehner has been a guest of Albert L. Lord, Sallie Mae's chief executive officer, on the corporate jet, primarily for golf outings in Florida. The company also helped sponsor a party that Mr. Boehner threw in New York at the 2004 Republican National Convention.

In addition, Mr. Boehner's daughter, Tricia, works for General Revenue Corporation, a loan-collection company owned by Sallie Mae.....
__________

Paying a Higher Price for Education
By Dan Auld
San Diego Business Journal
January 6, 2006

Congressman John Boehner told a gathering of bankers in December that he had some "tricks up my sleeve to protect you," during a debate over student loans.

Late last year, the rabbit came out of the hat. At 3 a.m. on Dec. 19, the House of Representatives passed the single most anti-competitive, anti-consumer law in America today.

They outlawed the refinancing of student loans.
__________

Sallie Mae's sweet romance with Rep. John Boehner
By Froma Harrop
Providence (Rhode Island) Journal
Wednesday, January 11, 2006

But actually, they more than made up for that setback with fine-print changes that will let lenders rake in more money than ever.

For example, Boehner's legislation gives banks the power to stop certain borrowers
from leaving their clutches and entering a federal program for people who can't earn enough money to pay off their loans. (The banks make money whether their captives pay or default.)

Read More......

MSNBC doesn't want you to know that Osama sounds like Mehlman "only less gay"

Finally someone nailed Bin Laden's real alter ego, via Crooks and Liars. Air America's Rachel Maddow revealed it during an interview with Tucker Carlson:

This is a global war on terror. This is a war for you or for us to win. You need patience...He sounds like Ken Mehlman when he's saying that only less gay. I mean this is ridiculous.

Now, you won't find that on the MSNBC transcript anymore. They "scrubbed" it...can't ever "dis" the GOPers on MSNBC...and god forbid anyone think Ken is a homo:

MADDOW: He sounds like Ken Mehlman when he‘s saying that. This is ridiculous.

CARLSON: I‘m going to blow by that comment. But I will say—you...

So, it's okay to say that Bin Laden sounds like Michael Moore and John Kerry, but it's not okay to say he sounds less gay than Mehlman.

The new news standard at NBC is that just because you say something on an NBC, doesn't mean you really said it. Remember, they scrubbed Andrea Mitchell's reference to Amanpour. Read More......

The Taliban reconstituted

Bush has spent a lot of money -- and caused a lot of death and injury -- to wipe out the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Not happening. Does this mean we invade Pakistan?:

Two years after the Pakistani Army began operations in border tribal areas to root out members of Al Qaeda and other foreign militants, Pakistani officials who know the area say the military campaign is bogged down, the local political administration is powerless and the militants are stronger than ever.

Both Osama bin Laden, who released a new audiotape of threats against the United States this week, and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are believed to be living somewhere in the seven districts that make up these tribal areas, which run for more than 500 miles along the rugged Afghan border and have been hit by several American missile strikes in recent weeks.

The officials said they had been joined by possibly hundreds of foreign militants from Arab countries, Central Asia and the Caucasus, who present a continuing threat to the authorities within the region.

The tribal areas are off limits to foreign journalists, but the Pakistani officials, and former residents who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution, said the militants - who call themselves Taliban - now dispensed their own justice, ran their own jails, robbed banks, shelled military and civilian government compounds and attacked convoys at will. They are recruiting men from the local tribes and have gained a hold over the population through a mix of fear and religion, the officials and former residents said.

Bush and the White House spin machine keep saying Bin Laden is living in a cave. Bottom line is that he is living. And, it's not like he was hanging out in a villa on the beach before 2001 anyway.

Bush and Bin Laden really owe each other a lot. In a sick way, they've made each other's careers. Bush's failure to deal with Bin Laden's impending attack on the U.S. made Bin Laden a legend. And, the invasion of Iraq has generated a slew of new recruits for Al Qaeda. On the other hand, by continuing to issue threats against the U.S., Bin Laden gives Karl Rove the ability to keep pushing national security as a political weapon against Democrats. Bin Laden's message before right before the 2004 election helped at a critical time. And, let's not forget that Bin Laden has given Bush the excuse to break the law in the U.S. by illegally spying on American citizens. Read More......

Sunday Morning Open Thread

Let's get it started...and once we start, we can't stop. Read More......

Two more WVA miners die

What a bad time for miners. Let's hope that the politicians get serious about work safety and re-think the issue because it's pretty obvious that there is a problem. Labor laws and worker safety regulations were in place for reasons. I'm hearing quite a lot of talk but it better turn into action quickly. Read More......