GOP getting the crap beaten out of it over its $100 gas rebate idea

This is priceless:

The Senate Republican plan to mail $100 checks to voters to ease the burden of high gasoline prices is eliciting more scorn than gratitude from the very people it was intended to help.

Aides for several Republican senators reported a surge of calls and e-mail messages from constituents ridiculing the rebate as a paltry and transparent effort to pander to voters before the midterm elections in November.

"The conservatives think it is socialist bunk, and the liberals think it is conservative trickery," said Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, pointing out that the criticism was coming from across the ideological spectrum.

Angry constituents have asked, "Do you think we are prostitutes? Do you think you can buy us?" said another Republican senator's aide, who was granted anonymity to openly discuss the feedback because the senator had supported the plan.

Conservative talk radio hosts have been particularly vocal. "What kind of insult is this?" Rush Limbaugh asked on his radio program on Friday. "Instead of buying us off and treating us like we're a bunch of whores, just solve the problem." In commentary on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume called the idea "silly."

Said the drug addict to the whore. Read More......

Open thread

So what's coming up this week? Read More......

"Not It!" is not a way to run a government

As Joe notes below, Colin Powell today criticized George Bush, says Bush did not listen to Powell when the former Secretary of State said we needed more troops than Bush was planning for the invasion of Iraq.

How does our current Secretary of State, Condi Rice, respond?

"When it came down to it, the president listens to his military advisers who were to execute the plan."

So it was the generals' fault, not Bush's. Bush simply listened to those stupid generals at the Pentagon. They're the ones who told him to send too few troops. The general in specific would be the new-retired Tommy Franks who developed and executed the Iraq invasion. So Condi is saying that Franks screwed up. Love to see his thoughts on that.

Do you catch how it's never Bush's fault, even though he's the boss? Well, Powell cuts through that bull pretty quickly.

"The decisions that were made were not made by me or Mr. Cheney or Rumsfeld. They were made by the president of the United States," [Powell] said.

"And my responsibility was to tell him what I thought. And if others were going in at different times and telling him different things, it was his decision to decide whether he wanted to listen to that person or somebody else."

I think Powell is having a bit of fun with Bush's "I'm the decider" line. Powell flips it around on Bush and basically says, sure Bush got some advice from me, and other advice from Rummy and Cheney and Tommy Franks. But in the end, Bush is the president, he's the decider, and he's the one responsible for being smart enough to choose the best advice from the varied counsel he's given.

And what happened? Bush wasn't smart enough. That's was Colin Powell said today.

Still think Larry Wilkerson is acting without Powell's okay? Read More......

"Double or Nothing" is not a foreign policy

Excellent analysis of the Iran situation from Josh Marshall.

With respect to what's coming on Iran, what is in order is a little honesty, just as was the case with the Social Security debate a year ago. The only crisis with Iran is the crisis with the president's public approval ratings. Period. End of story. The Iranians are years, probably as long as a decade away, and possibly even longer from creating even a limited yield nuclear weapon. Ergo, the only reason to ramp up a confrontation now is to help the president's poll numbers....

It turns on how far a desperate president will go to avoid losing control of Congress.

Go to his heart. Go to his weaknesses. Though the realization of the fact is something of a lagging indicator, the man is a laughing stock, whose lies and failures are all catching up with him.

To the president the Democrats should be saying, Double or Nothing is Not a Foreign Policy.

The great bulk of the public doesn't believe this president any more when he tries to gin up a phony crisis. They don't believe he'd have much of an idea of how to deal with a real one. Enough of the lies. Enough of the incompetence and failure.

No buying into another of the president's phony crises.

Read More......

It's Condi v. Colin

Well, Powell's comments today about Iraq had one positive outcome. He threw Condi off her game:

Just back from Baghdad and eager to discuss promising developments, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice found herself knocked off message Sunday, forced to defend prewar planning and troop levels against an unlikely critic - Colin Powell, her predecessor at the State Department.

For the Bush administration, it was a rare instance of in-house dissenter going public.

On Rice's mind was the political breakthrough that had brought her and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to Iraq last week and cleared the way for formation of a national unity government.

Yet Powell sideswiped her by revisiting the question of whether the U.S. had a large enough force to oust Saddam Hussein and then secure the peace.

Powell's gone. But the rest of the crowd who screwed up Iraq -- Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Condi -- are still around. Now, they're making plans for Iran. It will be very helpful for our country if people on the inside who know better speak out earlier this time instead of waiting three years. Read More......

Blair sagging in UK polls

UK voters are getting fed up with Blair and his government. I'm not sure where they can go though because it's not like the Conservatives were against the war and even though they are trying to soften their image with pro-green images, I would not count on them being much better. Maybe everyone will get lucky and Blair will be sent out to pasture sooner than later.

• 64 percent of those surveyed saying he [Blair] was doing badly.
  
• 57 percent of respondents said Blair's government was "sleazy and incompetent."

Read More......

Another former general -- Colin Powell -- criticizes Rumsfeld (and Bush)

Criticism of Rumsfeld and his boss, George Bush, from Powell during an interview on British television courtesy of Think Progress. Iraq was a disaster from the beginning -- and Powell was complicit. If he thought there weren't enough troops, why didn't he speak out then? Powell had the moral authority to stop the madness. He didn't. Read More......

Another gorgeous day in DC

Off to do a Politics TV taping. Read More......

VIDEO: Colbert ripping Bush at dinner

Crooks & Liars has the video, it's good. Read More......

Bush cracks himself up -- but he's still the President

Funny stuff from the Prez:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I feel chipper tonight. I survived the White House shake-up," the president said.

Ha Ha. Unfortunately, it's not a joke. The White House can do all the "shake-ups" they want -- they know the press eats it up and spends endless hours discussing what it means. It means nothing. Bush is still the President. Cheney is still the Vice President. Iraq is still a quagmire. Their policies still are destroying America.

It's also more than a little ironic that Bush and the media were yukking it up last night just when we learn that Bush wants to prosecute reporters as spies. Read More......

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Condi's making the rounds -- again -- because we're on the "March to Victory," by the way. And the White House Network is hosting two top staffers, Bolten and Snow. They're not even subtle.

Here's the line-up via the Wash. Post:

FOX NEWS SUNDAY.... White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and incoming White House press secretary Tony Snow .

THIS WEEK...: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), actor George Clooney and former senator J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.).

FACE THE NATION...: Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rice .

MEET THE PRESS...: Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman , Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), American Petroleum Institute President Red Cavaney , TheStreet.com co-founder Jim Cramer and author Daniel Yergin .

LATE EDITION (CNN), 11 a.m.: Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), former CIA director R. James Woolsey , former Israeli intelligence director Efraim Halevy and Rice

Read More......

Is the US a nation of laws or just a banana republic?

Seems like Bush prefers to pick and choose in his little kingdom. Congressional lapdogs have gone along with it, always eager to please their master. This is why the Democrats must take back Congress in the fall because Bush needs to held accountable and balance needs to be restored.

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.

Read on... Read More......

Stephen Colbert rips Bush at Correspondent's Dinner - Bush NOT amused

Oh. My. God. Read More......

Baptist bigots break with national church

Good, and good riddance. Who needs you? Why does any church need people who think the most important thing about being a good Christian, in being Christ like, is hate? These people aren't Christian. I don't know what they are - though the result of a lot of hard work by Satan certainly comes to mind - but Christians? Hardly.

If it were my church, I'd let them walk, gladly.

There are many answers to the question "What would Jesus do?" But the only answer you'll never hear is "hate." Read More......

Open thread

In with the good air... Read More......

Wash Post: Ned Lamont giving Lieberman a real challenge in primary

Good. It's time Connecticut chose an actual Democrat to be its Democratic senator.

"Some of the party brass said, 'Ned, don't jeopardize a safe seat,' " Lamont recently told students at Southern Connecticut State University, who gathered for a meet-and-greet session. "But you're not going to lose a senator. You're going to gain a Democrat."

Read More......

Open thread

Bush is down the block at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Joe saw Judy Woodruff on the street. Security is everywhere because the un-President is going to be there. Read More......

US claims it can't release Gitmo detainees because then other governments would oppress them

Uh huh. Yeah, I'm sure George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld are really, REALLY concerned about the human rights of the detainees at Gitmo and THAT'S why they can't release them, because they're SO concerned about their human rights.

Somewhere a Soviet propagandist is smiling. Read More......

Another open thread

It's just too beautiful out in DC to get angry. Read More......

New Battlestar Galactica spin-off announced

I had to find out from a reader because the Sci-Fi channel isn't reaching out to bloggers (even though Duncan, Markos and I are all Sci-Fi freaks - tsk, tsk).

Anyway, too fracking cool!

SCI FI Channel announced the development of Caprica, a spinoff prequel of its hit Battlestar Galactica, in presentations to advertisers in New York on April 26. Caprica would come from Galactica executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, writer Remi Aubuchon (24) and NBC Universal Television Studio.

Caprica would take place more than half a century before the events that play out in Battlestar Galactica. The people of the Twelve Colonies are at peace and living in a society not unlike our own, but where high technology has changed the lives of virtually everyone for the better.

But a startling breakthrough in robotics is about to occur, one that will bring to life the age-old dream of marrying artificial intelligence with a mechanical body to create the first living robot: a Cylon. Following the lives of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas (the family of William Adama, who will one day become the commander of the Battlestar Galactica), Caprica will weave together corporate intrigue, techno-action and sexual politics into television's first science fiction family saga, the channel announced.

Read More......

Open thread

Sunny and gorgeous today in DC Read More......

Bush wants to prosecute reporters as spies

This president is destroying American values in every way he can. Now he's absolutely intent on stifling and undermining the free press. Prosecuting reporters as spies is downright Soviet:

But the Bush administration is exploring a more radical measure to protect information it says is vital to national security: the criminal prosecution of reporters under the espionage laws.

Stalin would be so proud. Read More......

Bush: We're on the "March to Victory"

Victory, he says, again. The spin:

"Yet, the enemies of freedom have suffered a real blow in recent days, and we have taken great strides on the march to victory."

The reality:

As of late Thursday, at least 69 Americans had died in Iraq in April. The toll was 31 in March, 55 in February and 62 in January.

Is this the same victory as the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq from November 25, 2005?



Or the same victory as "Mission Accomplished" on May 1, 2003?
Read More......

The Wash. Post is on the GOP hooker scandal

This is getting really fun:

Federal authorities are investigating allegations that a California defense contractor arranged for a Washington area limousine company to provide prostitutes to convicted former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) and possibly other lawmakers, sources familiar with the probe said yesterday.

In recent weeks, investigators have focused on possible dealings between Christopher D. Baker, president of Shirlington Limousine and Transportation Inc., and Brent R. Wilkes, a San Diego businessman who is under investigation for bribing Cunningham in return for millions of dollars in federal contracts, said one source, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Read More......

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Rove, Rush and a GOP hooker scandal. What a week. Read More......

Battle for next President of France turns ugly - Chirac/Villepin in a panic

It's no secret that Chirac/Villepin detest Sarkozy. With Chirac/Villepin offering more of the same (i.e. no change) a lot of people have been attracted to Sarkozy who seems to be serious about making bold changes in France. Plenty of people on the French left also despise Sarko, believing that he is too heavy handed and dictatorial. Be that as it may, Sarko used to be Chirac's right hand man but was tossed aside by Chirac like so many others before and after him, with Villepin being the most recent case. After that incident Sarko moved away from Chirac and set out his own course and has a very strong and loyal following. Chirac is meanwhile nearing the end of long career and may have to face very serious allegations of corruption which could lead to jail or financial problems so having close friends in high places will be important for him when his term ends next year.

In that context, a real bombshell landed yesterday when a retired senior intelligence official revealed that Villepin, on the order of Chirac, had organized a brutal smear campaign against Sarko to discredit him and send him into legal quagmire. An judge had received documents and a CD with bank details that was suggesting Sarko had offshore bank accounts where he hid money. Previous reports have suggested connections to Villepin and the bogus information and yesterdays evidence in court seems to point in that direction. And to think that these guys are all in the same political party.

General Philippe Rondot says M. Villepin - on Jacques Chirac's orders - asked him to conduct an investigation in January 2004 into allegations of financial corruption against his fellow minister, M. Sarkozy. The allegations turned out to be a crude forgery.

The only part of this that is truly shocking is that they still have not raided Villepin's office and have only suggested that the raid is coming within a few days. The rumors of Villepin's involvement in the offshore bank information have been there for a long time so why are they are giving him a heads up and why has it not already happened? Hmmmmm. Read More......

Prodi government trips coming out of the gate

In order to win this most recent election in Italy, Prodi had to round up a broad coalition of the left that included everything from Catholics to communists. The talk has been that holding it all together would be challenging, making any chances of actually governing nearly impossible. Add to that thin majorities and you are looking at more stagnation in Italian politics. Berlusconi had somehow stayed in office for the full term, a rarity in modern Italian politics, though his results hardly lived up to his promises.

Italian friends of mine tell me that making changes of any kind in Italy is not possible without major structural reform and anyone who even tries to reform won't last. With all of that in mind, Prodi can't even assign key roles in his new government so it might just be time to start watching the clock and seeing if he can hold on for six months.

The parliament, meeting for the first time since Prodi's Union coalition won a hotly-contested elections earlier this month, failed to elect Speakers for either the lower house Chamber of Deputies or the upper house Senate.

Read More......

Okay, I think someone messed with Santa

I'm having a debate online with my friend Dave in San Francisco. We both remember the Rudolph cartoon containing the line "Eat, Papa, eat. Nobody likes a skinny Santa."

But when watch the cartoon now, it's not there. What they say is:

Mrs. Claus: Eat, Poppa, eat.
Santa Claus: How can I eat? That silly elf song is driving me crazy.
Mrs. Claus: You're gonna disappoint the children. They expect a fat Santa.

So why is it that I, Dave, and the entire Internet seem to remember the other line? There are TONS of links to it on Google, and even lots of collectible Christmas thingies based on that phrase?

I have a theory, and I'm not kidding. I think they changed the dialogue. It used to say nobody likes a skinny Santa and the PC police got upset. There are a number of sites complaining about how the line promotes bulimia.

Either that, or we're all suffering from some mass delusion.

Tell me my childhood wasn't a mass delusion.

So, find me the answer, damnit. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

A panoramic shot of a sea of phalaenopsis (moth) orchids at Hausermann's Orchids in the Chicago area. I visited it last week and thought I'd play with the panoramic function I just discovered in photoshop. I just love going to greenhouses - not always to shop, it's just fun walking through the literally 10 or so greenhouses full of flowering plants a place like Hausermann's has.

Click the image and hopefully you'll see the much larger version I uploaded. Enjoy! Read More......

Cliff's Corner

The Week That Was 4/28/06

Another week. More preposterousness to report.

I am having a difficult time concentrating on the task at hand right now, as I am eagerly awaiting my $100 check from Congress to see if I can get myself “hooked up” with any of Randy Duke Cunningham’s friends. A paltry sum to be sure, and I don’t have the votes to trade for venereal disease and am not a Republican political hack running the CIA (apparently Porter is concentrating on the wrong kinds of leaks), but I figure in George Bush’s Washington, one must dare to dream.

So members of the family values party—you know the front for Limbaugh’s Larry King-like marriage relay, the militarystud.com reporter, phone-sex falafels, congressmen who only minimally asphyxiate their mistresses and mayors who support amendments outlawing gay marriage while surreptitiously Scouting the local Cubs---it turns out, enjoy trysts with strangers in the night at their favorite nostalgic den of sin the Watergate. I knew this was a group that had figuratively been caught with their pants down on virtually everything that has happened since the dawn of the Bush Era, but I wasn’t aware they had the kind of commitment that would take this thing to the next level, with women they would see drawn and quartered if their base ever got its way.

Where is Pat Robertson when we need him to direct God’s wrath in a particular direction? Because when God’s done with those heathens in Dover, PA, the malevolent members of Corporate Mammon would seem to be the guys that should next be bracing for a lightening bolt. I admit I haven’t read my Bible lately, but I am guessing we’re way past Golden Calf territory here.

I mean I know their abstinence programs in our schools have led to more STDs than an average week for Courtney Love, but I thought the grown-ups in the Republican Party understood how important chastity was if we’re going to win the War on Terror. How is Tony Snow’s hair going to explain this one when it’s soon required to take the podium? How will Hot Tub Tom keep his promise of making this nation safe again for Christians with this kind if amoral behavior taking place right under his nose? How will President Bush react to more corrupt GOPers he has likely struck a pose with in numerous photos while only remembering casually meeting at the White House Kwanzaa Party? And how can we allow this to go on when Ken Mehlman has remained corporally unsullied while he waits to meet the perfect womanly companion?

To take this a step further, what if Joe Lieberman’s right? I mean if criticizing the president is tantamount to undermining the War on Terror, then what does copulation with prostitutes say when the man’s own wife has already complained that Desperate Housewives is her surrogate husband when darkness comes hither? We’re talking aiding and abetting Al Qaeda now.

So let me end by saying, please Republicans, stop undermining the War on Terror. The values that we all hold dear should not be auctioned to the nicest pair of lower hind limbs. If you should feel an urge, and it is simply uncontrollable, I am sure Clarence Thomas can apprise you of where to find the appropriate viewing material to get you past the primordial DTs. Read More......

Limbaugh Mug Shot T-shirts Now AVAILABLE

The AMERICAblog Rush Limbaugh Mug Shot Shop is now at your service. This is the image that is on the products.



Below is a sample ringer-t (they come in various colors).



And who can resist the mugshot mug.



Click here for the shop, we got it all. Read More......

You can never have too many of these

Read More......

Limbaugh's Mug Shot

The things that happen when I try to get out of the house. Read More......

Rush Arrested

Breaking on CNN..Rush has been arrested for prescription fraud.

Yes, there is now a Rush mug shot. Read More......

GOP governor, and former head of the Republican, Haley Barbour now tied to phone-jamming felony

It's time to throw the Republicans out of Washington and get our country back. Read More......

Buy Glenn's Book

Liberal blogger Glenn Greenwald's new book, "How Would a Patriot Act?", hit #1 this week on Amazon.com's sales and it hasn't even been released yet. Please check it out via the link at left (just click the book), and consider buying a copy. It's not that expensive, and is an important book - and a great example of a blogger putting his expertise where his mouth is, so to speak :-) Read More......

April is now deadliest month in 2006

67 soldiers dead and April isn't over yet:

An American soldier was killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Friday, as April became the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Iraq this year.

Is this progress? Read More......

Open Thread

Keep it coming. Read More......

3,000 terrorist attacks worldwide in 2004, 11,000 in 2005 - you do the math

Of course Bush says we just can't compare 2004's stats with last year's stats. Oh no, of course not.

Perhaps my favorite part of the new report is the following:

Leaders of al-Qaida lost some control of the terror network last year due to the arrests and deaths of top operational planners...

Sure, the number of terrorist attacks increased four-fold last year, but at least Al Qaeda is less in control. I'm sure the dead will find that very comforting.

If this is success, I have a civil war in Iraq I'd like to sell you. Read More......

Another GOP Hooker Scandal

Not that we ever doubted it, but Jeff Gannon isn't the only GOP hooker. Looks like he's got company. Lots of it. TPM Muckraker has the latest update on the developing scandal about lobbyist sponsored "hospitality suites." Seems those suites were full service.

The GOP gives new meaning to the term "pay to play." Lots of action in that Republican Party which is always so concerned about everyone else's moral values (and don't forget, they'll soon be voting again to "protect marriage.")

Georgia10 at DailyKos has a good update on the hooker scandal, too.

Wonder if the traditional media will be able to cover this story -- unlike the Gannon scandal which they basically ignored.

UPDATE: Even more. Think Progress has the transcript of an interview on Scarborough Country last night with Dean Calbreath from the San Diego Union Tribune:

We and a number of other papers have been on this for about six months or so. We have all been looking for the break in this and the Wall Street Journal found it, which is the confirmation that the feds were actually looking at this. For the past six months there we have been hearing a lot of rumors that not only the Congressman Cunningham but as many as a half dozen other Congressmen may have been involved in this. And we’ve also been hearing about the limousine service that Brent Wilkes used to bring prostitutes to the Watergate hotel and the Grand Westin in Washington.

Read More......

Bipartisan Senate Katrina report faults Bush

Now isn't this interesting. Remember that sham commission that Senator Frist and George Bush wanted instead of the REAL Katrina commission? They didn't want the independent commission because they were afraid it would blast Bush? Well, it seems the congressional commission, the sham commission, is now blasting Bush.

A Senate inquiry into the government's Hurricane Katrina failures ripped the Bush administration anew Thursday and urged the scrapping of the nation's disaster response agency. But with a new hurricane season just weeks away, senators conceded that few if any of their proposals could become reality in time.

The bipartisan investigation into one of the worst natural disasters in the nation's history singled out
President Bush and the White House as appearing indifferent to the devastation until two days after the storm hit.

First off, who first criticized Bush for being indifferent to Katrina even before the hurricane hit? Why, I believe it was a blog... hmmm... which one would that be?

Second, the Republicans are in all-out "throw Bush under the bus" mode at this point. There is simply no way they would permit the report to blame Bush so directly unless they saw Bush as a major liability.

He's radioactive. Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

What will Bush do to destroy the constitution today? Read More......

State Department report tells us what we already suspected

Iraq is becoming the place to be for terrorists of the world and is making the threat from terrorism even worse than before. I can already see the medal of freedom being handed out to Rummy and Condi for the heckuva job they have done.

The official told CNN that, with al Qaeda's senior leadership scattered and on the run, autonomous cells inspired by al Qaeda's extremist ideology present a greater challenge because they are smaller, harder to detect and more difficult to counter.

The annual State Department's Patterns of Global Terrorism report will also cite Iraq as a key front in anti-terrorism efforts. The official acknowledged that Iraq has become "both a war and a cause," which has further radicalized Muslims.

Read More......

So much for promoting democracy around the world

Instead, the White House is selectively choosing when and where to talk about democracy. Bush is now sending out Cheney to do the talking with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, two countries generally not associated with links of any kind to democracy other than repression. Good ol' Condi meanwhile is heaping praise on Equatorial Guinea, another country known for repression, torture and naturally, heaps of oil. Equatorial Guinea is also good friends with Robert Mugabe, someone who is lacking oil and has been brutal with political dissent but somehow makes it on to the bad list for the WH.

So are we going to support world democracy or are we going to deepen our ties to oil dictators? Read More......

Nepal parliament to reconvene, new PM named

After a tense period of mass protests and violent responses from state security forces, Nepal appears to be settling down, for now. Parliament, which had been dissolved by the king, is scheduled to start and a new PM is due to be sworn in. The fact that he is ailing and might not be able to attend the ceremony is odd but all sides seem ready to come together. The Maoist rebels have even called for a three month cease fire to give the new government a chance to address issues. Read More......

Open thread

I'm sure if Joe mentioned this, but if and when Karl Rove gets indicted, we are so popping the champagne. I think we're throwing a party as well. Actually, we'll all need to throw parties, and take pics, and post them. Read More......

Rove is still on the hot seat

Despite all the pro-Rove spin in this morning's papers, he's still facing the possibility of prosecution:

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case, is expected to decide in the next two to three weeks whether to bring perjury charges against Karl Rove, the powerful adviser to President Bush, lawyers involved in the case said Thursday.

With the completion of Mr. Rove's fifth appearance before the grand jury on Wednesday, Mr. Fitzgerald is now believed to have assembled all of the facts necessary to determine whether to seek an indictment of Mr. Rove or drop the case.

So, despite what he's wanted us all to believe, Karl is not off the hook. Far from it. And this paragraph says so much:

A lawyer with knowledge of the case said that Mr. Rove had known for more than a month that he was likely to make another appearance before the grand jury, and that he had known since last fall that he would be subject to further questions from Mr. Fitzgerald before the prosecutor completed his inquiry.

Yes, Karl knew a month ago that he'd be back for appearance number 5 before the grand jury. What a coincidence, then, that he was "demoted" just last week.

The White House is clearly worried. Yet, not so worried that they bounced Karl...instead, they changed his portfolio. But you can imagine Karl still has his grubby little paws in everything. And, he still has his security clearance despite outing an undercover operative during war.

It's going to be a long two to three weeks while we wait. Read More......

Condi's laying the groundwork on Iran

That Condi, she's a toughie. She's more than ready to send other people's kids to die again. And it's clear that Condi really knows her role in the Iran script:

"Is the Security Council going to be credible?" Rice asked after meetings with NATO foreign ministers.

Tehran faces a Friday deadline from the Security Council to stop enriching uranium, a process that can lead either to nuclear power for electricity or to development of weapons. "It's pretty clear Iran is not going to meet those requirements," Rice said. "When that happens the international community, represented by the Security Council, is going to have a choice."

Is she challenging the manhood of the Security Council? Read More......

Specter issues threat that's not really a threat

Arlen Specter's acting all tough with the President again. Whatever:

Noting that Congress holds the power of the purse, a frustrated Senate chairman threatened to try to block money for President Bush's domestic wiretapping program.

But as usual, Specter's not going to follow through:

"Institutionally, the presidency is walking all over Congress at the moment," Specter said. "If we are to maintain our institutional prerogative, that may be the only way we can do it."

Specter made clear that, for now, the threat was just that.

"I'm not prepared to call for the withholding of funds," he told reporters later.

Ooooh. He's so tough. The Bush team must be so scared. Or they'll just kick Specter around and he'll cave. Well, cave from the threat that's not really a threat -- he already admitted that.

Instead, this is just another p.r. effort by Specter to make it look like someone in Congress has a spine. Actually, he's confirming -- again -- that the Bush administration does walk all over Congress. Read More......

Support the troops -- or send bill collectors if they're injured

Talk is cheap. And there's a lot of cheap talk about supporting the troops. Instead, the Bush Administration is dunning injured soldiers -- and hounding them for the money:

After suffering paralysis, brain damage, lost limbs and other wounds in war, nearly 900 Army soldiers ran up $1.2 million in debt because of the military's "complex, cumbersome" pay system, congressional investigators said Thursday.

The report from the Government Accountability Office said another 400 who died in the wars had $300,000 in debt but that the Defense Department doesn't pursue collection of people killed in combat.

"We found that hundreds of separated battle-injured soldiers were pursued for collection of military debts incurred through no fault of their own," said the report. It said that included seeking reimbursement for errors in pay or for equipment left on the battlefield.

Read More......