White House shifting rationale for Soc Security reform - now say private accounts will do NOTHING to help make SS more solvent

UPDATE: Oops, the link is right now.

Absolutely incredible. As OddJob notes in the comments to a previous post, it's just like the rationale for the Iraq War all over again. Bush pulls some prefabricated plan out of his pocket - i.e., something he's always wanted to do anyway - then just starts changing the reason for it week by week until he gets his way. Read More......

Senate tells world torture is ok, Geneva Conventions not so much

They'll all have a lot of explaining to do the next time one of our captured soldiers is mistreated - oh that's right, there's no longer such a thing as "mistreating" a captured soldier. And the funny part, is the majority of our military supposedly voted for these guys, so they can kiss their asses goodbye. Read More......

Open thread

Onwards. Read More......

Did Focus on Family Violate the Law?

The IRS is being asked to investigate. Let's see, what are the chances that the IRS will be allowed to really investigate James Dobson's organization? From this AP article, sounds like they should:

An organization that monitors religious groups has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family broke the law by trying to sway presidential election voters.

In a letter Tuesday to the IRS, Citizens Project complained about a November article in a magazine printed by Focus comparing presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry and their positions on abortion, stem-cell research and same-sex marriage.

"You're pro-life, and you want to preserve the traditional definition of marriage for the next generation," the article states. "So which of the presidential candidates comes closest to sharing your values?"

As a nonprofit organization, Focus on the Family is forbidden to endorse political candidates or parties.

There are very strict restrictions on political activity by non-profit organizations. Although, one gets the sense that some right wing groups think those rules don't apply to them. Let's see if the IRS has the gonads to do a thorough investigation. Read More......

CATO Institute becomes George Bush's latest Bitch

Apparently, lies are now part of the program at the CATO Institute. Though someone needs to tell them that it helps when you don't link to your own press release proving that you're lying.

Compare this from CATO's blog post today:

The anti-reform coalition has made a mantra out of the phrase “there is no crisis” when it comes to Social Security. They have even constructed a blog dedicated exclusively to convincing the world there is no Social Security crisis called “There Is No Crisis.”

But it appears the anti-ownership crowd has miscalculated in making this their principal talking point. According to a Cato Institute survey conducted by Zogby International, only 6.7% of all Americans agree with this sentiment. Meanwhile, a majority of Americans (52.2%) believe Social Security “is facing serious problems" and requires "major changes." Moreover, a plurality of older Americans (37.8%) feel Social Security is facing serious problems and requires major changes. You can read the entire poll by clicking here.

In addition to being untrue, the “there is no crisis” argument against Social Security choice is simply -- literally -- unbelievable.

Wow. Their own poll shows the majority of Americans believe there is a crisis. Or does it? Check out the rest of that poll they cite, detailed in their own press release posted 5 days ago on their Web site:

"[F]ew voters (14 percent) agreed with President Bush that Social Security was in 'crisis.'"

Uh, so your point would be?

Kudos to Matt Stoller at ThereIsNoCrisis.com for catching this. Read More......

Lieberman says Bush's treatment of detainees at Guantanamo is "progressive"

Pretty progressive, incarcerating people indefinitely without having charged them with a crime, giving them no access to a lawyer and no option to go before a court. But it's ok, we all KNOW they're guilty in our guts - I mean, they are Muslim and do have dark skin, after all - so it's okay.

Now, sure, some would call that kind of reasoning, oh, authoritarian or totalitarian. Some would even compare it to the way the Nazis treated the Jews, or Stalin treated his millions of victims, or what Mussolini did in fascist Italy, or any other two-bit mass murderer throughout history. But this is different. Because we say it is. And hey, I understand those Japanese-Americans were living high on the hog during the 40s in their little US-built concentration camps.

Lieberman, being Jewish, should know better. I am quickly tiring of his bullshit. Read More......

This Is Great!

The London Review of Books has a damning article by Eliot Weinberger called "What I Heard About Iraq." He simply strings together one quote after enough from Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld et al from when they took office to the present day. No more scathing example of their constant shifting of stories, contradictions and idiocy could be imagined than this article which simply throws their own words back at 'em. I love LRB and -- bless 'em -- they've made this accessible to non-subscribers as well. Here's a taste, but go to the entire story. It's compulsively readable.

From The London Review of Books:

"In 1992, a year after the first Gulf War, I heard Dick Cheney, then secretary of defense, say that the US had been wise not to invade Baghdad and get ‘bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq’. I heard him say: ‘The question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is: not that damned many.’

In February 2001, I heard Colin Powell say that Saddam Hussein ‘has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours.’

That same month, I heard that a CIA report stated: ‘We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since Desert Fox to reconstitute its weapons of mass destruction programmes.’

In July 2001, I heard Condoleezza Rice say: ‘We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.’

On 11 September 2001, six hours after the attacks, I heard that Donald Rumsfeld said that it might be an opportunity to ‘hit’ Iraq. I heard that he said: ‘Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.’

I heard that Condoleezza Rice asked: ‘How do you capitalise on these opportunities?’

I heard that on 17 September the president signed a document marked top secret that directed the Pentagon to begin planning for the invasion and that, some months later, he secretly and illegally diverted $700 million approved by Congress for operations in Afghanistan into preparing for the new battle front.

In February 2002, I heard that an unnamed ‘senior military commander’ said: ‘We are moving military and intelligence personnel and resources out of Afghanistan to get ready for a future war in Iraq.’

I heard the president say that Iraq is ‘a threat of unique urgency’, and that there is ‘no doubt the Iraqi regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised’.

I heard the vice president say: ‘Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.’"

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Afternoon open thread

Snowing in DC. Cool. Read More......

Frog penis scandal erupts in Britain

Oh, wish I were kidding.

Apparently, there's a very popular frog used to sell cell phone ring tones in Britain. For some reason, his designers gave him a small penis (and testicle I think). The family values crowd is not happy (perhaps they only like their frogs well-hung). What will the children think, they ask. Probably that the frog is a boy.



You can read more about the scandale here, and here's the frog's home page. Read More......

Morning thread

what's up? Read More......

US condoned Iraq oil smuggling during embargo

The reason given was because the US wanted to help keep neighboring countries as allies (yes, the US isn't the only government influenced by oil) which I can perhaps accept. What still bothers me is the continued bashing of foreign governments who the Republicans do not like. Somehow the GOP likes to point the finger at other countries that were no more, no less involved in propping up the former regime. Saddam had accomplices from many countries during his long stay in power and the US government and Americans played a role in that situation, just like countless other government and individuals.
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Georgian PM dies from a gas leak

As you may remember, Zurab Zhvania helped lead the revolution against Eduard Shevardnadze. Nobody has suggested so far that this was anything other than an accident but to die from a natural gas leak inside someone's apartment makes one wonder. The PM was only 41 years old.
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