McCain will add torture ban amendment to every piece of legislation until Bush accepts it

THIS is the kind of thing the Dems should be doing, whether with the body armor amendment (forcing the Bushies to actually help our troops get the body armor they need), the independet Katrina commission, and any other obvious feel-good amendment we can find. Brilliant move by McCain.

Girding for a potential fight with the Bush administration, supporters of a ban on torturing prisoners of war by U.S. interrogators threatened Friday to include the prohibition in nearly every bill the Senate considers until it becomes law.

The no-torture wording, which proponents say is supported by majorities in both houses of Congress, was included last month in the Senate's version of a defense spending bill. The measure's final form is being negotiated with the House, and the White House is pushing for either a rewording or deletion of the torture ban.

On Friday, at the urging of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, the Senate by a voice vote added the ban to a related defense bill as a backup.

Speaking from the Senate floor, McCain said, "If necessary - and I sincerely hope it is not - I and the co-sponsors of this amendment will seek to add it to every piece of important legislation voted on in the Senate until the will of a substantial bipartisan majority in both houses of Congress prevails. Let no one doubt our determination."

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UN report: Halliburton rips off Iraq for $208M

Classy move, ripping off a country struggling to recover from the US invasion. The greed factor with Cheney-Halliburton is revolting not to mention absolutely stupid considering the administration is supposed to be building a long term friend in the region. The UN report blasts KBR (Halliburton) and is asking them to repay up to $208M to the Iraqi government. This is what happens when government allows private enterprise to mix with political policy. Surely this causes ill will, not to mention fueling anti-Americanism by the Iraqi people. As if the US does not have enough problems in Iraq without this new mess.

The work was paid for with Iraqi oil proceeds, but the board said it was either carried out at inflated prices or done poorly.

Some of the work involved postwar fuel imports carried out by K.B.R. that previous audits had criticized as grossly overpriced. But this is the first time that an international auditing group has suggested that the United States repay some of that money to Iraq.

The group, known as the International Advisory and Monitoring Board of the Development Fund for Iraq, compiled reports from an array of Pentagon, United States government and private auditors to carry out its analysis.

So does this mean that the neocons in the Senate are going to open an investigation on this scandal or are those limited only to countries and people who were against the invasion of Iraq? Read More......

Cheney keeping Bush all riled up and clueless

US News reports that Cheney and Bush are hunkering down and worrying only about their right wing base. They are girding for battle. And, Cheney is the designated pit bull in the relationship:

Cheney is described by White House insiders as combative and eager to rally the GOP faithful. Behind the scenes, Cheney is feeding Bush's instinct never to give ground when under attack, White House advisers say, despite rising concern among Republicans that the president doesn't realize the depth of his political trouble.

Bush has always been unaware. But, it seems fun knowing that Cheney is pulling the strings now. Great job. What is clear is that George Bush cares about what Dick Cheney says and what the right wing thinks:

President Bush, meanwhile, is thinking in bigger terms. Friends say he has decided that he will never catch a break from the Democrats or the media--on the CIA case or anything else--so he will govern from the right, as he did on most issues in his first term. "He seems content to remain a 51-percent president, unlike other presidents who wanted to increase their job approval far beyond that," says a friend. "In fact, as long as he gets one more vote than the other side, he seems happy."

This all begs the question of how you can be a 51-percent president when you have a 35-percent approval rating. Read More......

Mikulski to W: come clean

She's a tough one, that Barbara Mikulski:

Mikulski said the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was part of a "remarkable" few weeks of Republican scandal, including the investigation of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

"I can't remember a situation like this since the Watergate scandal brought down the Nixon administration," she said.

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Open thread

Off to dinner with Kyle and another bud. Read More......

Cheney's new chief of staff, David Addington, allegedly advocated ignoring the Geneva Conventions

Colin's Powell's former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, lets go of another bombshell.

What happened was that the secretary of Defense, under the cover of the vice president's office, began to create an environment -- and this started from the very beginning when David Addington, the vice president's lawyer, was a staunch advocate of allowing the president in his capacity as commander in chief to deviate from the Geneva Conventions. Regardless of the president having put out this memo, they began to authorize procedures within the armed forces that led to, in my view, what we've seen....

I'm privy to the paperwork, both classified and unclassified, that the secretary of State asked me to assemble on how this all got started, what the audit trail was, and when I began to assemble this paperwork, which I no longer have access to, it was clear to me that there was a visible audit trail from the vice president's office through the secretary of Defense down to the commanders in the field that in carefully couched terms -- I'll give you that -- that to a soldier in the field meant two things: We're not getting enough good intelligence and you need to get that evidence, and, oh, by the way, here's some ways you probably can get it. And even some of the ways that they detailed were not in accordance with the spirit of the Geneva Conventions and the law of war.

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Why do the "family values" folks lie so much?

The latest missive from the extreme right Family Research Council blames "partisan politics" for the Alito confirmation hearings starting in January instead of December. Of course, it's Senate Committee chair, the very Republican Arlen Specter, who chose the January date, so how exactly is this the Democrats' fault?

Oh silly me. There I go again expecting self-proclaimed mouthpieces of God to actually tell the truth. At some point the religious right's followers need to ask themselves why they follow people who are so morally corrupt.

From the FRC Web site:

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced that hearings on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito would be delayed until Monday, January 9. Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins released the following statement:

"We are at a loss to understand why stalling tactics have been employed against Judge Alito's nomination. This does not reflect President Bush's expressed hopes for final confirmation by the end of the year.

"There is no reason for Judge Alito to wait 70 days to begin his confirmation hearings. Following 13 years as a federal judge, Justice Ginsburg was able to begin confirmation hearings 28 days following her nomination. Judge Alito with 15 years on the federal bench should receive the same due process. With many important Supreme Court cases pending, it is imperative that the Senate reconsider its schedule for confirmation hearings. It appears that partisan stalling tactics have triumphed over a fair and timely confirmation process."

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Open thread

Off with Kyle of AmIPatriotic.com fame (and the same guy who was our Hurricane Katrina correspondent in New Orleans) to discuss our new server configuration, AMERICAblog 2.0, etc. Kyle is the brains behind our redesign, move, etc. We're still looking for another $14,000 to pay for the move, the hosting, the bandwidth, the redesign, etc. If any big donors out there get tired of giving $2m to massive non-profits for they're-not-sure-what and have a hankering to give $14,000 to the number 4 (or so) political blog on the left, feel free to inquire. Best return on your investment ever.

Chat amongst yourselves. Read More......

Pentagon reneges on $15,000 bonuses for re-enlistment

With all of the difficulties finding new recruits and retaining current troops you have to wonder what impact such a move will have. So does this mean that a signed deal means nothing?

According to a state Guard spokesman, Maj. Phil Osterli, at least 15 Washington National Guardsmen and women signed re-enlistment forms promising them a tax-free $15,000 bonus in return. Many of them were stationed in Iraq at the time, he said.

Latson, 35, said Friday that the bonus was a big incentive to re-enlist. At the time it was offered, he was serving in Iraq as an enlisted aide for a general at the Balad Army base near Baghdad.

He signed a re-enlistment form Jan. 17, just after he took the oath from his commanding officer. "For a 6 year reenlistment/extension I will receive a total bonus of $15,000," reads the official Army National Guard form.

"It has made a significant impact on my life," said Latson. "For them to offer a bonus when we're at war, when we're risking our lives, and then to turn around and not pay it when we return is the wrong message to send to me, to any soldier. It's not fair."

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John Dean says Cheney is in trouble

If Libby or anybody else is pardoned, that is the end of this presidency. Though Bush may do as daddy did, pardon all the traitors on his last day. Anyway, interesting analysis from John Dean, who knows a thing or two about indictments:

It has been reported that Libby's attorney tried to work out a plea deal. But Fitzgerald insisted on jail time, so Libby refused to make a deal. It appears that only Libby, in addition to Cheney, knows what Cheney knew, and when he knew, and why he knew, and what he did with his knowledge.

Fitzgerald has clearly thrown a stacked indictment at Libby, laying it on him as heavy as the law and propriety permits. He has taken one continuous false statement, out of several hours of interrogation, and made it into a five-count indictment. It appears he is trying to flip Libby - that is, to get him to testify against Cheney -- and not without good reason. Cheney is the big fish in this case.

Will Libby flip? Unlikely. Neither Cheney nor Libby (I believe) will be so foolish as to crack a deal. And Libby probably (and no doubt correctly) assumes that Cheney - a former boss with whom he has a close relationship -- will (at the right time and place) help Libby out, either with a pardon or financially, if necessary. Libby's goal, meanwhile, will be to stall going to trial as long as possible, so as not to hurt Republicans' showing in the 2006 elections.

So if Libby can take the heat for a time, he and his former boss (and friend) may get through this. But should Republicans lose control of the Senate (where they are blocking all oversight of this administration), I predict Cheney will resign "for health reasons."

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Saturday Morning Open Thread

That South America trip is a real p.r. coup for the President. The rest of the world really, really hates him. Read More......

Even Harriet Outpolls Scalito

The latest AP/Ipsos poll found that Harriet had more support from the public than Scalito does. When asked if the Senate should confirm him, Scalito is at 38 percent. Harriet was at 41 percent.

And he's doing way worse than Roberts even among Bush's base:

Almost two-thirds of evangelicals supported Roberts' confirmation with half strongly backing him. For Alito, about half of evangelicals support his confirmation, one-third strongly. There were similar drops among Republicans and among people who make more than $75,000 a year.

Alito's selection followed the implosion of the Miers nomination, which could leave some people slow to embrace President Bush's latest nominee, said presidential scholar Charles Jones, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

''That has led to a hesitancy among some Republicans, conservatives and evangelicals,'' Jones said. ''The Miers experience really raised doubts about the president and his judgment, it's more of a wait-and-see.''

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Paris rioting continues for another night - PM drags his feet

Silver-spoon-in-the-mouth and never elected Prime Minister Villepin has finally reached out to the troubled neighborhoods around Paris that have been rioting. Impressive display of leadership after riots have spread for nine nights. In a nutshell, this problem is all about racism and lack of opportunity based on race. The areas that are rioting are home to Arab, North African and African communities and these are the people who have been rejected by France though I would say you can find similar situations across Europe.

For years Europeans have loved to talk about racism in America and yes, it has been a problem and continues to be a problem. One big difference as I see it is that in the US there have been attempts to address this problem. Americans also talk about the problem whereas in Europe, it's not widely discussed or debated and people just ignore it all. Whenever I have raised the subject here, people will tell me about laws in place, blah, blah, blah but the reality is if you have color in your skin and have a name that doesn't look European, your opportunities are very limited. Nobody is asking to be given jobs but they want fairness and hope.

Earlier this year in France there was talk of having people remove their names from their resumes because it was proven that those with Arabic sounding names had a substantially lower chance of being hired. Much like in the old south, people who are note white can get lousy, low paying jobs to sweep floors but oh no, don't ask for anything more. There have been some fields where these people could rise above this (IT possibly being one) but in general there is such desperation within these poor areas because people do not see their situations improving. Especially now with the sagging economy and 10% unemployment, these are people who stand even less of a chance to get jobs and get ahead. Unemployment in these areas runs very high, often two or more times the national rate.

I'm completely against the violence but am not surprised by it. I almost wonder how it has managed to stay calm for so long because these areas just never seem to improve even after two or three generations. Without jobs and without seeing any future, this is what happens. Broadly speaking, there is no sense of understanding of the problem but what is disturbing is that Interior Minister Sarkozy previously was one of the few in government who talked about the problem but his recent comments have been very inflammatory, making each night of rioting worse.

Whenever the rioting finally stops, France and Europe are going to have to get serious and take a long hard look at their own policies and figure out how to create opportunity for everyone, regardless of name or skin color. The problem over here though is that people really hate change so change is going to take time. Villepin's nine days of foot dragging and finger pointing (with his political competitor Sarkozy) before setting a meeting with community leaders speaks volumes for the government's inability to even recognize that a major problem exists.

This is a long term problem that won't get better until somebody in government gets serious about addressing the racism. Read More......

America's Summit chaos

Are the cost of these events really worth it any more? I can't remember many gatherings of world leaders in recent years that did not trigger outbreaks of violence and chaos. With the limited results coming from these mega events I can't even see the value of them because the costs to the local authorities for hosting them seem to be too high. Lots of hand shaking, promises and photo ops and so few results. With this most recent summit, it sickens me to even hear talk of free trade which has to be one of the most over used, bullshit phrases used these days.

It always seems to be free when one country (most often the largest economies) has the upper hand and then restrictions, import duties and subsidies when it there might actually be a chance for another country to have the ability to pick itself up with its bootstraps and succeed. What a waste of time and money. The violent protestors are once again tarnishing an otherwise valid argument that "free trade" is politico-babble and simply rubbish. Read More......

Bush is sending White House staff to "ethics" school

He's gotta be kidding. They're gonna take ethics classes? Right. Is Bush attending the classes? Is Cheney?

And if the president is so concerned about "ethics," then why is Karl Rove still working in the White House after he outed a CIA agent during war time, AND after the president already promised that Karl would be fired if he was found to have been involved in the outing?

Ethics rule number 1: Keep your word. Read More......